WoW Forever launch day checklist: your first hour

WoW: Forever opens today at 3:00 pm PST (23:00 UTC). In Europe that's midnight, and in Korea and Australia it's already the morning of 5 November. Our launch hub shows the time in your zone with a countdown.

Before the servers open

• Install now, not at 3 pm. Open the Battle.net app, pick World of Warcraft, choose WoW: Forever in the Game Version dropdown and install. Blizzard's return guide has the steps.
• Update your graphics drivers and operating system. Blizzard asks for this in its new player guide.
• Check your access. Forever comes with an active subscription or Game Time. The Skyborne race needs the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition.
• Have two names ready. Every character has a main name and a second name, and the pair has to be unique in your region. Popular names go fast.

Decisions you can't undo easily

• Ruleset. Normal, PvP, Roleplay or Roleplay-PvP. Groups, guilds, dungeons and raids only work inside one ruleset and faction, so agree on it with your friends first. Hardcore isn't available at launch.
• Faction. Same reason: you can't group across factions. The PvP ruleset also locks your account to one faction, so see why you can't create a Horde character if that comes up.

Decisions you can change later

• Preset. Classic or Enhanced. You can switch in the options, so don't overthink it. We compare them in Classic or Enhanced.
• Class. You can always roll another. If you're stuck, try Which class?.

Your first hour

1. Turn on a gathering profession as soon as you reach a trainer. See professions.
2. Set up your macros for your class once you have three or four buttons.
3. Read your quest text. Forever has more than 1,000 new quests, so your Classic route may not apply.
4. Your first talent point arrives at level 10. Plan it in the talent calculator once trees are up.