Your First WoW Forever Raid: Readiness Plan

Planned — roadmap milestone: December 9, 2026. Blizzard's roadmap card lists Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20, and Onyxia's Lair for 40. These are announced plans, not a report of live access. Use the schedule to organize a group now, then recheck the official post and your client when opening details are available.

Start With the Announced Roster Lanes

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The developer Q&A describes separate 10- and 20-player lanes without flexible sizing at the start, and says the design aims to help dungeon groups move into 10-player guilds. It also describes Onyxia as a 40-player launch option. Pick the lane your group can sustain, and recruit for that announced size instead of assuming the raid will scale around whoever arrives.

Set Group Boundaries Before Recruiting

Blizzard’s ruleset article says players group and raid with others on the same ruleset, and that Horde and Alliance players still cannot group together. Ask potential members which ruleset and faction they use before counting them toward attendance. A roster that meets the size on paper still needs to meet those announced boundaries.

Keep one roster note with the intended instance, planned group size, each player's ruleset and faction, and whether their attendance is confirmed or tentative. Recount the group against the chosen fixed-size lane as people answer. Treat this as your organizer's planning record, not an official attendance rule. Keep each raid commitment explicit so interest in one instance is not counted as a promise to attend every planned raid.

Keep composition questions open until official guidance settles them. Blizzard’s recap plans Barrow Deeps as a maximum-level 10-player challenge but gives no exact entry gate. The sources checked for this plan do not specify required raid roles, attendance policy, encounter order, a written attunement rule, gear target, consumable list, or reset schedule. Do not turn a familiar Classic habit or an empty field into a Forever requirement.

On Blizzard's October 8 WoW: Forever Podcast, a designer said nothing will stop you from walking into the new raids, though some parts may take digging to get the full experience. The same answer says Onyxia's Lair still needs its attunement, per character at least at launchReported, press or datamine, not confirmed. Our podcast recap has the full answer.

The level-30 gear options guide shows how to compare sourced item choices; it sets no raid gear target. The Consumables guide records item effects, not a mandatory raiding list.

Use the Date Carefully

The roadmap groups the three names on a December 9 “Raids Unlock” card. Separately, Blizzard's Opening Ceremony recap says “two new raids,” while that card contains three raid entries. Keep the count discrepancy visible instead of calling all three new raids. The Q&A's 40-player Onyxia launch wording and the roadmap's shared milestone do not settle whether Onyxia has a separate opening date; do not assign one without a clarifying official notice.

Verify the Details When the Opening Arrives

• Recheck Blizzard's dated schedule and any later change.
• Confirm your group size, ruleset, and faction.
• Read the current instance prompt before assuming entry.
• Use confirmed guidance for gear, supplies, and requirements.
• Check an instance-specific guide before planning encounters.

Those checks turn today's roster plan into an actual entry plan without guessing. Start with the raid index for the named instances and update this readiness list when Blizzard publishes an entry rule or a current client prompt can be checked. An announced unlock date alone cannot establish individual eligibility, an attunement, or a raid's current state.

Share Image: Blizzard roadmap with planned December 9 raid milestone and the 10, 20 and 40 player entries