Burning Crusade Classic's Anniversary realms are in an odd place. Phase 3 landed on August 27 with Black Temple and the Battle for Mount Hyjal, tier 6 is the current gear ceiling, and Arena Season 3 is running — but the expansion's finish line has no date on it. Phase 4, Fury of the Sunwell, is officially pencilled in only as "later in 2026," and the beta for World of Warcraft: Forever opens September 17, three days from now, with launch on November 4.

That combination is the whole story this week: a Classic-era progression server waiting on its last raid, while Blizzard's permanent Classic+ product opens its doors to the same players.

Original editorial illustration by RealmList, generated for this article. This is artwork, not game footage or official promotional material.

What Blizzard has actually committed to

The distinction that matters is what is published versus what is circulating. Blizzard has:

• Confirmed Phase 3 content and shipped it on August 27 — Black Temple, Mount Hyjal, the Netherwing daily hub and Arena Season 3.
• Placed Phase 4 on the 2026 roadmap as "later in 2026," with no day, no week and no window.
• Left the official news banner reading "Black Temple Now Live" as of early September.

The October and November Sunwell estimates that show up in search results are third-party guesses, not Blizzard dates. There is no evidence of a delay here — Blizzard simply has not announced anything, and Phase 3 content is only about three weeks old.

Why the anniversary population is nervous anyway

The anxiety is not really about Sunwell's release date. It is about November 4.

Forever is a permanent level-60 realm with new zones, new dungeons, two raids and a new playable race, included with an existing subscription or game time. It is not a replacement for Classic anniversary realms, and it does not touch them — but it competes for exactly the same players' evenings. Blizzard's forums have carried a steady thread of players asking the studio to state plainly what happens to Anniversary, Era and Mists of Pandaria realms next.

Two things are worth separating from the noise:

• Nothing is being wiped. Forever launches on its own servers as its own product. Anniversary characters, gold and gear stay where they are.
• Nobody outside Blizzard knows the population impact. Predictions of a dead realm within weeks are opinion. Blizzard has not published a roadmap for where Anniversary goes after Sunwell — that is the legitimate open question.

What is still worth doing on an Anniversary realm

If you are mid-progression, the case for continuing is straightforward and does not depend on a Sunwell date:

The one thing worth avoiding is treating the Anniversary realms as permanent infrastructure. They are time-limited progression servers by design, and the honest advice from every previous Classic cycle applies: play the content you enjoy, but do not assume any specific realm will be there in two years.

How to read the next two months

Three dates are worth tracking, and only one of them is a Blizzard date:

• September 17 — Forever beta opens (confirmed). Expect the Anniversary population to dip over the following week; how much it recovers is the real signal.
• Blizzard's next Classic communication — whenever the studio publishes a Sunwell date, expect roughly the same notice window it gave Phase 3. Until then, treat "Phase 4 in October" as unconfirmed.
• November 4 — Forever launches (confirmed), which is the point at which the two products genuinely compete.

Our WoW Forever beta guide covers what actually gets you into the beta on the 17th, including the pack that does not include access.