WoW Forever new zones: Riverglades, Mount Hyjal, Shen'dralas and Zephras Isle — plus nine dungeons, two raids and a battleground, all in Blizzard's words

Blizzard's own summary line is 'restore Hyjal, uncover forgotten history in Shen'dralas, build a future on the Riverglades frontier, and take your first steps through Zephras Isle'. Only the Riverglades has a published level range and quest count; only Zephras Isle has a published level range at the start; Hyjal and Shen'dralas are described by story and location.

Blizzard gives more about the Riverglades than any other new region, and its two recaps disagree slightly on one number. The What's Next recap: 'a rugged frontier of rivers, grasslands, trade routes, struggling communities, and old grudges, with more than 150 new quests across much of the mid-30s to mid-40s experience'. The Found Photos recap: 'a mid-level zone roughly the size of Stranglethorn Vale, built from a previously inaccessible part of the Classic world and filled with nearly 200 quests for Horde and Alliance players'. Both are Blizzard; this site quotes the range as 150–200 and notes the discrepancy.

The zone 'is connected to surrounding regions like the Burning Steppes, Redridge Mountains, the Swamp of Sorrows, and the Badlands, but previously beyond players' reach'. Its port is Powderfuse Port, the destination of a new ship route from the Steamwheedle Cartel in Tanaris. Its inhabitants: 'Gnoll camps continue the conflicts of neighboring lands, fresh ogre threats create points of tension and opportunities, and groups like the new Powderfuse goblins, the Twilight's Hammer, and the Brotherhood of the Horse help connect the area to Warcraft's history'. The Riverglades page has everything published about it.

Blizzard sorts new content into three kinds and names an example of each: 'Anticipated: Places players have long known about or wanted to explore, such as Mount Hyjal. New but familiar: Fresh stories grounded in Warcraft history and existing locations, like the Riverglades. Unexpected: Surprises used more sparingly' — the Skyborne. Hyjal is the sealed mountain Classic players could only glitch into; Forever opens it to 'explore the aftermath of Archimonde's defeat, journey through Darkwhisper Gorge, and help shape the future of a recovering land', with 'emerging factions' to 'form alliances' with.

Shen'dralas is the less expected of the two: 'a long-hidden mystery between Mulgore and Desolace becomes a new adventure tied to the Shen'dralar, Eldre'Thalas, Dire Maul, and the centaur tribes of the region', reached 'south of Desolace through the Valley of Bones'. The Shen'dralar are the highborne ghosts of Dire Maul; the Skyborne's own origin story starts with 'rebels who fled Eldre'Thalas', so the two additions share a root. Neither zone has a published level range.

The new zones are the headline, but Blizzard describes changes to existing ones too. Starting zones — 'Valley of Trials, Shadowglen, or another starting area' — gain 'NPCs, quests, profession hooks, recipes, and small moments'. 'Wetlands gains quests and opportunities to build upon existing characters and threads, while Desolace's centaur faction quests receive additional content and faction rewards.' Tirisfal Glades gets Bandarion Keep in the Whispering Wood for the Forsaken Paladin storyline. And the renderer adds 'rivers that flow through Elwynn Forest, mist over the waters of Darkshore, and moonlight breaking through the trees in Ashenvale'.

Travel changes are concrete: 'Stormwind Harbor to Auberdine opens an early path between the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, while Menethil, Southshore, and Auberdine add another route with more flexibility for leveling. The final route begins with the Steamwheedle Cartel in Tanaris, pointing players beyond known shores toward the Riverglades.' Stormwind Harbor did not exist in Classic; its addition is one of the largest changes to the original map.

'Nine new dungeons that bring long-discussed places in the original world to life. You'll venture into the Hall of Thanes beneath Ironforge, the Ruins of Lordaeron, a mysterious excavation site above Whelgar's Excavation, the chaotic City of Dalaran, Blackmaw Hold, the Drowned City, Krol'dok Stronghold, Alcaz Prison, and the Shaper's Terrace.' The follow-up sentence attaches a theme to five of them: 'helping the Forsaken reclaim the Ruins of Lordaeron', 'strange magical trouble in Dalaran', 'titan mysteries in Un'Goro' (the Shaper's Terrace), 'naga and pirates around the Drowned City', and 'unsettling corruption stirring in the depths of Blackmaw Hold'. Levels, bosses, loot and locations for the rest are not published. The dungeons page keeps the list and adds nothing to it.

'Hyjal Summit and the Barrow Deeps set the stage for raid encounters, new tier sets, and a legendary reward we're looking forward to revealing in full. The Barrow Deeps is planned as a maximum-level 10-player challenge, while Hyjal Summit will bring 20-player raid encounters to one of Warcraft's most important locations.' The roadmap line adds the date: 'New raids unlock on December 9.' Boss names, tier-set names and the legendary are unpublished.

For PvP: 'the Darkspear Islands will introduce a 15 vs 15 Battleground off the coast of Kalimdor, combining strategic control points with Arathi Basin-style flag captures and defense'. That is the entire published description. The raids and battleground pages hold each to that line.

Blizzard's four pillars for Forever are 'approachable and familiar, the world as the main character, the journey before the destination, and protecting and nurturing the social experiences that make Azeroth feel alive'. The zone design follows from the second and third: no flying, no level scaling, ship routes rather than portals, and content 'woven throughout the level 1–60 journey' rather than stacked at the cap. The Found Photos recap explains the storytelling rule — 'found photographs', stories 'that feel as though they may have been part of Classic Azeroth all along', in a 'time bubble' set in 'the early Year 1 period of Azeroth, before Kazzak reopened the Dark Portal'.

Practically, that is why the Riverglades slots into the mid-30s rather than adding an endgame zone, and why Hyjal's story is 'the aftermath of Archimonde's defeat' rather than a new invasion.

Blizzard describes Forever's additions in counts rather than percentages, and the counts are the honest way to size the change. 'More than a thousand new quests' across a 1–60 journey; 'over 600 new recipes across professions and level ranges'; nine dungeons on top of the original set; two raids at the 9 December unlock; one battleground. Against that, the level cap stays at 60 and the original continents remain the frame — 'the original level 1–60 world, expanding events, characters, and locations that exist—or could have existed—within that foundational era'.

The chart below lays the launch numbers side by side on a log scale so the thousand-quest figure does not flatten the rest. None of them is a percentage of Classic; Blizzard has not given one.

It will not publish sub-zone maps, quest chains, rare spawns, flight paths, dungeon entrances or level ranges that Blizzard has not published. Several fan sites created in the past four days have zone pages with all of those; they are inferred or invented. When the beta opens on 17 September, datamined layouts will circulate; this site adds a fact when Blizzard states it or when it is verifiable in the live game and labelled as such.