The China beta of World of Warcraft: Infinity — the Chinese edition of WoW: Forever — opened this morning, October 6, as a wipe test that runs through October 26. It is the last regional beta to open: the global test has been running since September 17, the level cap there moved to 30 on October 1, and both editions now funnel into the same simultaneous launch on November 4 in the Americas, which is November 5 in China. What Chinese players get in week one, what the operator is giving away for free during the test, and what still has not been answered — all of that landed in the last 24 hours.

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

The test window, and the one number everyone argues about

The official launch announcement confirms the frame: the beta runs October 6 through October 26, it is a wipe test — all test characters and data are deleted at the end, though submitted bug tickets and raffle eligibility survive — and access requires either the ¥388 Skyborne Epic Pack or a qualification won through official events. The ¥218 Skyborne Heroic Pack does not include beta access; community guides have hammered this point repeatedly because it is the single most expensive misunderstanding available.

On the level cap, reporting splits. IT之家's summary states the beta cap is 30; MyDrivers' writeup of the same announcement says the cap starts at 20 and rises to 30 later in the test. The global beta's own history — level 20 from September 17, level 30 from October 1 — plus the fact that the China client is a later build makes "starts at 20, rises later" the consistent reading, but the official Chinese announcement does not restate a cap at all. Anyone budgeting their three weeks around "I can hit 30" should treat that as probable, not promised.

The name reservation window also differs from the global one: Chinese players who hold the Epic Pack reserve names on November 3–4, immediately before the November 5 launch — not the October 27–November 3 window running in the West. Our pre-download guide covers the client setup; note that it was written before the official announcement settled the end date at October 26.

What is actually open in week one

Per the week-one content list carried by MyDrivers and the launch coverage:

That matches the global beta's October 1 build almost exactly — the same two dungeons, the same staged cap — which means Chinese testers are effectively entering the global test three weeks late rather than getting a parallel, divergent build. The launch itself needs nothing extra: at launch on November 5, the game is included with standard game time, and the 388 yuan is a beta ticket plus cosmetics, 30 days of game time and the name reservation.

The free stuff: three launch events worth knowing

The announcement lists three events running during the test, and they are unusual in that none of them require the 388 yuan pack:

• 无限洞察 (Infinity Insight), October 6–26. Submit bug reports in-game for a chance at the dwarf hunter and bear statue merchandise — the same pair from the original 2004 trailer, which is the emotional core of this entire product.
• 无限先锋团 (Infinity Vanguard). A Douyu streaming program: 1v1 duels, guided "tour" runs through new zones, and city-siege events. Details were promised "coming soon" rather than scheduled.
• 无限旅途 (Infinity Journey). A screenshot-and-highlights sharing event that opens in the second week of the test.

There is also the long-running giveaway from October 1–14: 1,000 Epic Packs being distributed through official activities, which is the main no-purchase path into a test whose other door is 388 yuan.

What the operator still has not answered

Three questions determine what the first night actually feels like, and none of them has an official answer: the exact opening hour ("October 6" is the entire commitment), the number and names of servers, and the queue and reconnect rules. The Asia-region experience during the global test is the only reference data available — 3 a.m. queues, and players reporting that a single disconnect re-queues them behind thousands — but as community analysis has been careful to point out, the China pool is capped by who bought the 388 yuan pack, so the absolute numbers should not be mapped one-to-one.

The mood in the community is split along the same line it has been on since the pre-download opened. One popular thread pairs the Asia-server testers' complaints (the sleeping-bag quest nerfed, the XP bean no longer granting double experience) with refund requests from players who read "level cap locked at 20 for now" as a broken promise. The counter-reading — that a staged cap was always how the global beta ran — is accurate, but the operator's decision not to restate the cap in its own launch post left the argument to the comment section.

::note This article is based on the official China launch announcement of October 6, 2026, as carried by Tencent News, cross-checked against IT之家 and MyDrivers coverage of the same announcement; where those outlets disagree on the level cap, both readings are given and neither is officially confirmed. The community reaction sections summarize Chinese-language forum posts (SMZDM) and are individual players' accounts, not verified data. Test window October 6–26, 2026; launch November 5 in China, simultaneous with the global November 4, 3:00 p.m. PST release. ::