On the WoW Forever maps, a red arrow points to a mountain pass that did not exist on the Classic map. It starts in the Badlands, drops toward the Redridge Mountains and leads to a brand-new zone, Riverglades. It is the opening example of 720 Zone, who reviewed 54 maps on October 21, 2026: 40 zones, 4 new zones, 6 capitals and 4 battlegrounds.
Everything comes from the beta client, before the November 4 launch, so the WoW Forever maps can still change. The Classic maps used for comparison come from map.wow.tools, Marlamin’s tool. Many barely move. Dun Morogh, Durotar, Elwynn Forest and Moonglade only get retouched labels and marker colors, while Teldrassil and Loch Modan stay identical.
All 54 maps in one table
This table lists the WoW Forever maps in the order of the video, which roughly follows how you progress in game. For each map, it says what changes on the drawing you open with M. The note « Map unchanged (the game itself changes) » flags zones whose terrain moved without the drawn map following.
| Map | What changes on the drawn map |
|---|---|
| Dun Morogh | Labels and marker color only |
| Durotar | Labels and marker color only |
| Elwynn Forest | Labels and marker color only |
| Moonglade | Labels only |
| Mulgore | Skywatcher Plateau added in the northwest, frame shifted |
| Teldrassil | No change |
| Tirisfal Glades | West part filled in: Shadowvale and Bandarion Keep |
| Westfall | Cave marker added (Deadmines exit), inn icon removed |
| Loch Modan | Cave marker added (Deadmines exit), inn icon removed |
| Darkshore | Bear cave removed, shortcut to Ashenvale marked |
| Silverpine Forest | Map unchanged (the game itself changes) |
| Duskwood | Map unchanged (the game itself changes) |
| Redridge Mountains | Map widened for the new path on the east side |
| Stonetalon Mountains | Map widened for the new path on the east side |
| Thousand Needles | Map widened for the new path on the east side |
| the Barrens | Warsong Gulch cave entrance removed |
| Ashenvale | Pond added on the path to the Ruins of Stardust |
| Wetlands | Pond added on the path to the Ruins of Stardust |
| Hillsbrad Foothills | Pier added at Southshore |
| Alterac Mountains | Dalaran shield removed, whole city drawn |
| Desolace | Path from the Valley of Bones to Shen’dralas, Kolkar Village indicator |
| Arathi Highlands | Arathi Basin entrances removed for both factions |
| Swamp of Sorrows | Arathi Basin entrances removed for both factions |
| Stranglethorn Vale | Zul’Gurub label and color removed |
| Badlands | New mountain pass in the south, toward Riverglades |
| Tanaris | New mountain pass in the south, toward Riverglades |
| Dustwallow Marsh | New mountain pass in the south, toward Riverglades |
| the Hinterlands | Revantusk Village indicator removed |
| Azshara | Talrendis Point flight point removed |
| Searing Gorge | Thorium Point flight point removed |
| Blasted Lands | Thorium Point flight point removed |
| Feralas | Thorium Point flight point removed |
| Felwood | Thorium Point flight point removed |
| Western Plaguelands | Chillwind Camp flight point removed |
| Un’Goro Crater | Chillwind Camp flight point removed |
| Burning Steppes | Chillwind Camp flight point removed |
| Deadwind Pass | Chillwind Camp flight point removed |
| Eastern Plaguelands | Map redrawn for New Avalon, two PvP towers marked |
| Silithus | Map redrawn for New Avalon, two PvP towers marked |
| Winterspring | Mazthoril cavern marker removed |
| Zephras Isle | New zone: Skyborne starting area |
| Shen’dralas | New zone: contested zone for levels 38 to 40 |
| Riverglades | New zone: the largest of the four |
| Mount Hyjal | Zone remade: new raid at the top, Nordrassil redrawn |
| Orgrimmar | Zone remade: new raid at the top, Nordrassil redrawn |
| Stormwind | West side redrawn for the harbor, northern area built |
| Thunder Bluff | West side redrawn for the harbor, northern area built |
| Ironforge | West side redrawn for the harbor, northern area built |
| Undercity | West side redrawn for the harbor, northern area built |
| Darnassus | West side redrawn for the harbor, northern area built |
| Alterac Valley | Faction colors removed, Icewing Cavern removed, a cave added elsewhere |
| Warsong Gulch | Map unchanged, real zone repainted under snow |
| Arathi Basin | Map unchanged, real zone repainted under snow |
| Darkspear Islands | New PvP zone |
Three WoW Forever maps redrawn so much that their frame shifts
Three maps are redone so heavily that their frame shifts. This is the drawn map, the one you open in game with M, as opposed to the real terrain. They are Mulgore, the Redridge Mountains and the Eastern Plaguelands.
Mulgore
Mulgore opens the series. 720 Zone spots an addition in the northwest corner: the Skywatcher Plateau, the new arrival zone for the Horde’s Skyborne, which also serves as a passage to Desolace. This space was empty in the original version, and 720 Zone sees it as a good use of what used to be filler between two zones.
Redridge Mountains
A new path runs along the east side of the Redridge Mountains: it comes from the Swamp of Sorrows, is reached from the north center of the zone and leads either to Riverglades or, further up, to the Badlands. The map had to be widened. 720 Zone points out that you do not enter it from the east of Redridge, the path only runs along that edge.
Eastern Plaguelands
In the Eastern Plaguelands, the rework makes room for New Avalon, behind Tyr’s Hand. It probably takes over part of what Season of Discovery had added, more terrain left unused on the Classic map. The map also shows two PvP (player versus player) towers missing from the original version, pointed out by the two arrows on the left.
A veteran player from the 2005-2009 years will find a whole sector there that they never explored. The flyover (aerial view) from the beta client shows it from New Avalon.
Tirisfal Glades
Two other zones change without their frame moving. In Tirisfal Glades, the huge empty strip west of Brill finally gets content. 720 Zone calls it the Whispering Forest. On the Forever map, the small town of Shadowvale shows in the west, and Bandarion Keep, a fortified dungeon, in the north. Again, the space had never been developed.
Desolace
On the WoW Forever maps, desolace gains a path that goes down from the Valley of Bones in the southeast toward Shen’dralas. The terrain to the south, unfinished in Classic, is now filled in and reachable. 720 Zone has always loved the zone for its giant skeletons. The other addition is a small indicator in the west for Kolkar Village, one more centaur camp.
In game, the south of Desolace, once empty, is built up. The flyover shows the zone from above, toward Shen’dralas.
Dalaran leaves its bubble, Stormwind opens a harbor
On the Alterac Mountains map, 720 Zone points out one of the most highlighted changes of all the WoW Forever maps: Dalaran’s purple shield is gone and the whole city is drawn.
The real city is much bigger than what the shield could hold. He checked several times: it would never have fit. He talks neither of a mistake nor of an inconsistency. His own version: Kirin Tor magic shrank the city to tuck it under the shield, and it regains its normal size now that the shield has fallen.
In the Hillsbrad Foothills, a pier appears at Southshore. It illustrates a quality-of-life improvement announced for the game: a boat now links Stormwind to this pier, then continues to Auberdine. 720 Zone also shows the comparison between the old and the new location directly in game.
Among the capitals, only Stormwind changes on the WoW Forever maps. The west side is entirely redrawn to host the harbor, which finally offers a simple route from Stormwind to Kalimdor. The area left unfinished north of the city is also built, with no monsters or content for now. 720 Zone sees potential there for later.
In the flyover, the harbor shows up as a wooden pier and a ship with golden sails, at the edge of a bay.
The other capitals keep their drawn maps: Orgrimmar with no change at all, and Thunder Bluff, Ironforge, Undercity and Darnassus with their original maps. Two viewer remarks complete this part:
- a comment under the video, liked 476 times, points out that on the Undercity map, the Scourge emblem has been replaced by the Forsaken one;
- another viewer notes a new mailbox next to the Darnassus auction house, which does not appear on the map.
In Silverpine Forest, the drawn map does not move: it still shows the small Greymane Wall of the original version. 720 Zone hoped for a new drawing. In game, though, the wall is entirely redone, with the whole city of Gilneas behind it.
Flight points, caves, PvP entrances: what Blizzard erases
A good share of the differences 720 Zone found on the WoW Forever maps do not touch geography. He files them himself under « map philosophy changes »: the terrain stays identical in game, only the drawn map stops showing certain places.
Flight points that disappear
On the WoW Forever maps, three flight points (the stops where you take a bird or a transport mount) have lost their marker. The first is Talrendis Point, the Alliance flight point in Azshara. The marker is so discreet that 720 Zone admits he almost missed it.
Same thing in the Searing Gorge: Thorium Point, a flight point and quest hub, was not kept. A comment under the video, liked 450 times, sums up the general view: « Thorium Point is a very strange omission. »
The third is Chillwind Camp, at the bottom of the Western Plaguelands. All three places still exist in game.
PvP entrances leave the map
In the Barrens, the northern cave on the Horde side, which leads to Warsong Gulch, is no longer drawn even though it still exists in game. 720 Zone sees a change of philosophy rather than an oversight, without knowing why.
In the Arathi Highlands, the Arathi Basin entrances for both factions have vanished too, which gives two arrows on the comparison. The entrances remain in game.
Alterac Valley raises one more question. The faction colors have been removed, along with the Icewing Cavern, while a cave appears in a spot where there is none. He wonders whether the cavern will move. In the beta client, the cave in game has not moved: we will see.
Caves added, others removed
Caves move on the WoW Forever maps too. Westfall gains a cave marker: the Deadmines exit. In exchange it loses the small icon near Sentinel Hill that marked the inn. 720 Zone sees a matter of map philosophy, because the geography has not moved at all.
Darkshore loses the cave of the bear and her cubs, near Bashal’Aran. The mushroom naga cave, further north, stays. An indication also appears in the south for the shortcut that leads to northern Ashenvale, near Blackfathom Deeps. Without it, you easily miss the passage and take the long way around.
Winterspring loses the marker for the cavern of Mazthoril, the dragon cave you cross for the quest that gives access to Onyxia’s lair.
His theory: just to the north stands a new giant door, presented as one of the three hidden entrances to the new 10-player raid, Barrow Deeps. Removing the neighboring cave would avoid confusion, or protect the secret. He says it himself, it is only a hypothesis.
Small touches
Ashenvale gains a pond on the path to the Ruins of Stardust, which has always been there in game. A comment liked 288 times says it appears on the map of the official 2004 BradyGames guide: the real question would then be why the Classic version left it out.
Stranglethorn Vale loses the label and color of Zul’Gurub, as if the raid were becoming a zone of its own. 720 Zone guesses a dedicated map when that phase arrives.
The Hinterlands, for their part, lose the indicator for Revantusk, for no reason found, and he apologizes to the trolls who live there.
For players who want a richer map than the client’s, our selection of the best WoW Forever addons covers the map options.
What the game adds that the map does not show yet
On the WoW Forever maps, 720 Zone notes the same gap in several zones: the terrain has changed in game, but the drawn map is still the Classic one. Four cases fit in one line, four others deserve more room.
- Stonetalon Mountains: the northwest, never finished and unreachable in vanilla, has been reworked and textured. Blizzard mentioned it in passing at BlizzCon, but the map has not moved.
- Swamp of Sorrows: the start of the new path to the north, through the Redridge Mountains, Riverglades and the Badlands, has no indicator.
- Wetlands: the new dungeon at the excavation site is not drawn.
- Silithus: work has been done on the Ahn’Qiraj area, in the south. He is saving the subject for another video.
Thousand Needles and Dustwallow Marsh
A new path runs along the east of Thousand Needles, from the south of Dustwallow Marsh to a freshly finished area above Shimmering Flats, with hot springs and a charred hollow tree. It is also a shortcut from Theramore to Tanaris, which 720 Zone used to swim on the Alliance side. Neither map has changed. About Dustwallow Marsh, he wonders whether the passage is meant to stay secret, without being sure.
Duskwood
Nothing has changed on the drawn map. 720 Zone expects an update when Manor Mistmantle arrives (Manor Mistmantle), a high-level 5-player dungeon that extends the story of Stalvan Mistmantle, the one you kill in the little house. Haunted house atmosphere, but not at launch: it will come in a later phase.
Un’Goro Crater
The map is identical, even though the whole area to the north is built for Shaper’s Terrace, a launch dungeon, and apparently for an associated raid later. Ruined temples, red crystals and waterfalls fill the terrain.
For Un’Goro, 720 Zone puts forward an idea: large outdoor dungeon areas would be treated as zones in their own right, like Zul’Gurub and Zul’Farrak, which are absent from their zone maps. He admits Riverglades contradicts it, since Blackmaw Hold appears on its map. For its part, Blizzard showed a map of the game’s future at PAX Australia, detailed in our article on the future of WoW Forever.
Blackrock Mountain
Blackrock Mountain is a different kind of case. On the Classic map, Nefarian’s balcony, at the end of Blackwing Lair, is visible from outside. In Forever, the rebuilt mountain has misaligned the model: it is locked in a sort of box and the balcony no longer shows from the world. 720 Zone reported the problem as a bug. He hopes it is not a sign of a move, or even a rework of the Nefarian encounter.
In Deadwind Pass nothing has changed either, and this is pure speculation. He wonders whether the game will get the Karazhan crypts as in Season of Discovery, or a level 60 Karazhan. He also imagines a flight point at the top of the tower, never implemented, or the abandoned demon raid. He is convinced the zone will be used one day.
Four new zones and a battleground under the snow
720 Zone closes his review of the WoW Forever maps with the four maps that do not exist in Classic. He played Zephras Isle and the Darkspear Islands in the beta and explored Riverglades live, and the tone changes: he no longer comments on a drawing, he tells what he saw in game.
First of the new WoW Forever maps, Zephras Isle is the starting zone of the new race, the Skyborne. He played a Skyborne in the beta and finds it very well designed, and fun. His only complaint: there is clearly more to do here than in the other races’ starting zones, which creates an imbalance.
The flyover shows floating white towers and Skyborne buildings.
Shen’dralas is a contested zone for levels 38 to 40, wedged between Desolace, Feralas and Mulgore. You enter it from Desolace’s Valley of Bones via the path opened in the southeast corner of that zone.
Riverglades is the largest of the four. 720 Zone explored it a lot live in the beta and describes it as huge. Each faction has its big city there: Bolder’ok for the Horde (he pronounces it « Boulder Rock » in the video, the map spells it Bolder’ok) and Farholde Keep for the Alliance. To the north lies the outside of Blackmaw Hold, a high-level dungeon. The map also shows Rog’Mar, Sunnyglade and Powderfuse Port. The zone borders the Badlands, the Burning Steppes and the Redridge Mountains, through the new mountain pass he showed at the start of his video.
The two big cities are easy to tell apart at a glance in the flyover: on the left, Bolder’ok, with orc buildings; on the right, Farholde Keep, an Alliance fortress on a peninsula, with its ramparts and orange roofs.
Further north lies the Blackmaw Hold region, recognizable by its purple-roofed buildings in the hills.
The nine loading screens that leaked during the beta, detailed in our article on the leaks, already hinted at zones, dungeons and a new battleground.
Mont Hyjal has been in the game since the start, but the zone has been entirely remade: new regions, new content, and a brand-new raid at the very top, the Summit of Eternity, behind a redrawn Nordrassil. In the vanilla version, you could barely see the tree. 720 Zone feels the zone finally does it justice. On the raid side, episode 5 of the WoW Forever podcast looks back at three raids, including a reworked Molten Core.
For battlegrounds, the WoW Forever maps stay almost identical to the Classic ones. The drawn Warsong Gulch map has not changed, but the real zone is repainted under snow and renamed Winter Warsong Gulch. He thinks the match plays out the same way, with a very different look. We may see seasonal versions, he says: « Who knows? » Arathi Basin stays exactly the same.
Last entry on the list, the Darkspear Islands, a new PvP zone he got to play in the beta: two islands linked by bridges, one green in the north, the other orange in the south. His description fits in one sentence: « like a mini Durotar versus Elwynn Forest ».
He ends his video on a reflection, after the debates about class changes, new talents, the hardest boss or the favorite NPC: « the main character in World of Warcraft is truly the world ».
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