[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":501},["ShallowReactive",2],{"site-settings":3,"article:\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fprivate-server-q4-2026-calendar":16,"article-surround:\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fprivate-server-q4-2026-calendar":490},{"id":4,"description":5,"email":6,"extension":7,"footerNote":8,"legalNotice":9,"locale":10,"meta":11,"name":12,"stem":13,"url":14,"__hash__":15},"settings\u002Fsettings.yml","Compare World of Warcraft realms by expansion, region, population and play style.","listings@realmlist.org","yml","An independent realm directory.","Not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment.","en",{},"RealmList","settings","https:\u002F\u002Frealmlist.org","QXaYspLUSxnrVumL6oFir6PInhNsRw-yJchxEYSe1AU",{"id":17,"title":18,"author":19,"body":20,"category":448,"description":449,"draft":450,"extension":451,"featured":450,"meta":452,"navigation":453,"path":454,"publishedAt":455,"seo":456,"sitemap":457,"sources":462,"stem":481,"tags":482,"updatedAt":488,"__hash__":489},"articles\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fprivate-server-q4-2026-calendar.md","What Private Servers Have Announced for the Rest of 2026: An October–December Calendar","RealmList Editorial",{"type":21,"value":22,"toc":439},"minimark",[23,37,40,50,55,60,260,267,271,274,284,290,294,304,325,336,342,346,349,381,397,401,433],[24,25,26,27,31,32,36],"p",{},"Private Server Hub published a consolidated roadmap for the rest of 2026 on ",[28,29,30],"strong",{},"October 1",", covering the servers in its own index. It is worth reading as a document rather than a timeline, because almost every entry is a ",[33,34,35],"em",{},"promise made by a different team"," — and the calendar is only as reliable as the least reliable team on it.",[24,38,39],{},"Here is the full list, with the time zones each team stated.",[24,41,42],{},[43,44],"img",{"alt":45,"height":46,"loading":47,"src":48,"width":49},"Editorial illustration of an adventurer''s wall calendar with several dates circled in red ink, pinned beside a weathered map",1024,"lazy","https:\u002F\u002Frealmlist.org\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fguides\u002Fprivate-server-q4-2026-calendar.webp",1536,[24,51,52],{},[33,53,54],{},"Original editorial illustration by RealmList, generated for this article. This is artwork, not game footage or official promotional material.",[56,57,59],"h2",{"id":58},"the-calendar","The calendar",[61,62,63,79],"table",{},[64,65,66],"thead",{},[67,68,69,73,76],"tr",{},[70,71,72],"th",{},"Date",[70,74,75],{},"Server",[70,77,78],{},"What happens",[80,81,82,96,112,129,145,160,176,192,208,224,240],"tbody",{},[67,83,84,90,93],{},[85,86,87],"td",{},[28,88,89],{},"October 5",[85,91,92],{},"Firestorm",[85,94,95],{},"Custom War Within Season 4, \"Fated\" begins. Free Boris boost runs October 5–11",[67,97,98,103,106],{},[85,99,100],{},[28,101,102],{},"October 7",[85,104,105],{},"Whitemane — Frostmourne",[85,107,108,109],{},"Tier 7 raids open in ",[28,110,111],{},"Heroic",[67,113,114,119,122],{},[85,115,116],{},[28,117,118],{},"October 16",[85,120,121],{},"uWoW",[85,123,124,125,128],{},"Fresh ",[28,126,127],{},"Mists of Pandaria x10"," realm opens at 19:00 Moscow (16:00 UTC)",[67,130,131,136,139],{},[85,132,133],{},[28,134,135],{},"October 17",[85,137,138],{},"WoW Circle",[85,140,124,141,144],{},[28,142,143],{},"Legion 7.3.5 x5"," realm at 16:00 GMT",[67,146,147,152,155],{},[85,148,149],{},[28,150,151],{},"October 23",[85,153,154],{},"Project Epoch Reborn",[85,156,157],{},[28,158,159],{},"Launch at 16:00 GMT",[67,161,162,167,170],{},[85,163,164],{},[28,165,166],{},"November 4",[85,168,169],{},"Blizzard",[85,171,172,175],{},[28,173,174],{},"World of Warcraft: Forever launches",", 3:00 p.m. PST",[67,177,178,183,186],{},[85,179,180],{},[28,181,182],{},"November 5",[85,184,185],{},"OctoWoW",[85,187,188,191],{},[28,189,190],{},"Blackwing Lair"," opens at 08:00 UTC",[67,193,194,199,202],{},[85,195,196],{},[28,197,198],{},"November 11",[85,200,201],{},"WOTLK5",[85,203,204,205],{},"Phase 2 of its second season begins, with ",[28,206,207],{},"Ulduar for five-player groups",[67,209,210,215,218],{},[85,211,212],{},[28,213,214],{},"December 6",[85,216,217],{},"Ashen WoW",[85,219,220,221],{},"Patch 1.9, ",[28,222,223],{},"The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj",[67,225,226,231,234],{},[85,227,228],{},[28,229,230],{},"December 10",[85,232,233],{},"TheraWoW",[85,235,236,239],{},[28,237,238],{},"Icecrown Citadel"," season starts at midnight Prague time",[67,241,242,247,249],{},[85,243,244],{},[28,245,246],{},"~December",[85,248,138],{},[85,250,251,252,255,256,259],{},"Plans a fresh ",[28,253,254],{},"Battle for Azeroth x5"," realm, with ",[28,257,258],{},"Shadowlands x5"," following around February 2027",[24,261,262,263,266],{},"Private Server Hub's own note on the list is one sentence, and it is the most important one: \"",[28,264,265],{},"Dates can still move."," We will cover the bigger launches as they happen.\"",[56,268,270],{"id":269},"the-shape-of-the-quarter","The shape of the quarter",[24,272,273],{},"Two things stand out once the list is laid out in order.",[24,275,276,279,280,283],{},[28,277,278],{},"Blizzard's launch sits in the middle of a private-server release cluster, not after it."," Three fresh realms and one major raid tier open in the fortnight ",[33,281,282],{},"before"," Forever launches — Firestorm's Season 4 on October 5, uWoW on October 16, WoW Circle on October 17, Project Epoch Reborn on October 23. OctoWoW's Blackwing Lair opens on November 5, one day after Forever. Whether that is coordination or coincidence, the effect is the same: October is crowded, and every one of these teams is competing for attention with a project that has a marketing budget.",[24,285,286,289],{},[28,287,288],{},"WoW Circle is running a three-realm pipeline."," A fresh Legion realm on October 17, a fresh Battle for Azeroth realm around December, and Shadowlands around February 2027. That is a scheduled progression through three expansions on one x5 rates model, which is the most explicit long-term roadmap on the list and also the one most exposed to slipping: each entry depends on the previous one having gone well.",[56,291,293],{"id":292},"three-entries-worth-reading-closely","Three entries worth reading closely",[24,295,296,299,300,303],{},[28,297,298],{},"Whitemane — Frostmourne, October 7 (Heroic Tier 7)."," This is the first real test of a design decision rather than a content drop. Whitemane has said Heroic Tier 7 entry requires the corresponding ",[28,301,302],{},"Normal progression",", which makes the two-week gap between Normal (September 30) and Heroic an enforced gearing and clearing window rather than a schedule. If your guild is not clearing Normal by October 7, the Heroic gate is where you find out.",[24,305,306,307,310,311,314,315,318,319,324],{},"For scale, Private Server Hub's reading of Whitemane's own realm statistics page — dated October 1, twelve days after the September 19 relaunch — gives ",[28,308,309],{},"121,160 characters, 54% Horde",", with ",[28,312,313],{},"Paladin"," the most played class and ",[28,316,317],{},"Blood Elf"," the most popular race. Two caveats before anyone reads a population estimate out of that: characters are not players, and Whitemane's own numbers are self-reported. Our ",[320,321,323],"a",{"href":322},"\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fverifying-private-server-population-claims","guide to checking population claims"," covers why the second point matters.",[24,326,327,330,331,335],{},[28,328,329],{},"Project Epoch Reborn, October 23 at 16:00 GMT."," The most consequential item on the list for anyone who plays 3.3.5a. We covered the setup requirements in detail in our ",[320,332,334],{"href":333},"\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fproject-epoch-reborn-launch-date-and-setup","launch and setup guide"," — bring your own client, no macOS launcher, and no realmlist editing. One thing the calendar format flattens: the launch lands six days before Forever's beta closes and twelve days before Forever launches. If you plan to play both, that is a genuinely awkward two weeks.",[24,337,338,341],{},[28,339,340],{},"uWoW, October 16 at 19:00 Moscow."," A fresh Mists of Pandaria realm at x10 is the least-covered entry on the list and the one with the most regional specificity — the announced time is Moscow, and uWoW's audience skews Russian-speaking. Worth noting mainly as a reminder that \"fresh realm\" announcements in this scene frequently come from single-language communities that English directories under-report.",[56,343,345],{"id":344},"how-to-read-a-private-server-date","How to read a private-server date",[24,347,348],{},"The calendar format hides the thing that matters most: how firm each date is. Four questions sort them.",[350,351,352,359,365,375],"ol",{},[353,354,355,358],"li",{},[28,356,357],{},"Who announced it?"," A date on the server's own news page is a commitment. A date inferred from a Discord message or a roadmap graphic is an intention. The difference shows up when a launch slips.",[353,360,361,364],{},[28,362,363],{},"Is it a launch or a phase?"," \"Fresh realm\" and \"next raid tier\" are not comparable. A fresh realm needs infrastructure and a population; a raid unlock needs a working encounter. The first failure mode is invisible until day one, the second is invisible until your guild pulls.",[353,366,367,370,371,374],{},[28,368,369],{},"What time zone, and is it stated?"," Half the entries above specify one (Moscow, GMT, UTC, Prague) and half do not. An unstated time zone is the most common source of \"it's not up yet\" — and it is usually the ",[33,372,373],{},"server's"," local time, not yours.",[353,376,377,380],{},[28,378,379],{},"What did the last promise from this team do?"," This is the only question that has predictive value, and it requires reading two announcements instead of one.",[24,382,383,384,387,388,391,392,396],{},"Two structural cautions apply to every row. ",[28,385,386],{},"A roadmap is not a population forecast"," — a fresh realm announcement says nothing about how many players will be there in week three, and the servers on this list range from projects running since 2006 to realms that opened this year. And ",[28,389,390],{},"a calendar entry is not a commitment to stay online",": the last twelve months of private-server history is mostly closures that were announced weeks or days in advance, for reasons that had nothing to do with content schedules. Our guide to ",[320,393,395],{"href":394},"\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fprivate-server-sustainability-signals","sustainability signals"," is the companion reading.",[56,398,400],{"id":399},"if-you-plan-to-commit-to-one-of-these","If you plan to commit to one of these",[402,403,404,410,416,427],"ul",{},[353,405,406,409],{},[28,407,408],{},"Pick a target and read its own announcement, not the calendar."," Every date above has a source; go one link further.",[353,411,412,415],{},[28,413,414],{},"Decide before the launch week, not during it."," Fresh-realm name reservation, guild formation and level-race positioning are all decided in the first 48 hours.",[353,417,418,421,422,426],{},[28,419,420],{},"Check the client requirements now."," Which expansion client, which patch build, whether a launcher exists for your OS, and whether the download has a checksum you can verify. Our ",[320,423,425],{"href":424},"\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fchecking-a-private-server-client-download","client download verification guide"," covers the four distribution models and what each one usually omits.",[353,428,429,432],{},[28,430,431],{},"Do not treat \"around December\" as a date."," The last row of the calendar is the honest one: WoW Circle's Battle for Azeroth realm has no day, and projects that announce a month rather than a date almost never hit a specific day inside it.",[434,435,436],"note",{},[24,437,438],{},"Accurate as of October 2, 2026. The calendar is reproduced from Private Server Hub's October 1, 2026 round-up of dates announced by the servers in its own index; RealmList has not verified each date against the originating server's announcement, and Private Server Hub itself states that dates can move. The Frostmourne character count, faction split and class\u002Frace leaders come from Private Server Hub's reading of Whitemane's realm statistics page dated October 1, 2026 — Whitemane's own figures, self-reported, and characters are not players. Project Epoch Reborn's launch date and setup requirements are from its own announcement as covered in our earlier guide. Blizzard's November 4 launch time is 3:00 p.m. PST. Treat every entry in this calendar as a plan rather than a fact, and expect at least one to slip.",{"title":440,"searchDepth":441,"depth":441,"links":442},"",2,[443,444,445,446,447],{"id":58,"depth":441,"text":59},{"id":269,"depth":441,"text":270},{"id":292,"depth":441,"text":293},{"id":344,"depth":441,"text":345},{"id":399,"depth":441,"text":400},"guides","Eleven dated events between October and December 2026, from Frostmourne Heroic Tier 7 to three fresh WoW Circle realms. What each entry actually commits to — and which parts of a server roadmap are worth planning around.",false,"md",{},true,"\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fprivate-server-q4-2026-calendar","2026-10-02",{"title":18,"description":449},{"loc":454,"images":458,"changefreq":460,"priority":461},[459],{"loc":48},"weekly",0.6,[463,466,469,472,475,478],{"label":464,"url":465},"Private Server Hub — Private server calendar for October to December 2026: new realms, raids and launches (October 1, 2026)","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.privateserverhub.com\u002Fnews\u002Fprivate-server-calendar-for-october-to-december-2026-new-realms-raids-and",{"label":467,"url":468},"Private Server Hub — Whitemane plans two original raids for Frostmourne: Ruins of Karazhan and Fall of the Sunwell","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.privateserverhub.com\u002Fnews\u002Fwhitemane-plans-two-original-raids-for-frostmourne-ruins-of-karazhan-and-fall-of",{"label":470,"url":471},"Whitemane — WotLK: Rebuffed realm page and news","https:\u002F\u002Fwhitemane.gg\u002Fen\u002Fnews",{"label":473,"url":474},"WoW Private Servers tracker — announcement and launch coverage","https:\u002F\u002Fwowprivateservers.vercel.app\u002Fnews",{"label":476,"url":477},"Blizzard — WoW: Forever launch details (November 4, 2026)","https:\u002F\u002Fworldofwarcraft.blizzard.com\u002Fen-us\u002Fnews",{"label":479,"url":480},"Nostalgic.gg — World of Warcraft private server listings","https:\u002F\u002Fnostalgic.gg\u002Fen\u002Fworld-of-warcraft","resources\u002Fguides\u002Fprivate-server-q4-2026-calendar",[483,484,485,486,487],"Private Servers","Calendar","Community","Data Verification","Guides",null,"_Z6TWczcjVLW_XOCIc6iHXW_SElKwk2iWu2zl9rEAq0",[491,496],{"title":492,"path":493,"stem":494,"description":495,"children":-1},"How to Enter The Forever Open: Forever's $100,000 Duel Tournament, Rules and Deadlines","\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fforever-open-duel-tournament-how-to-enter","resources\u002Fguides\u002Fforever-open-duel-tournament-how-to-enter","Sign-ups close October 4 at 11am Pacific. What The Forever Open requires — a new level 30 Horde character with a specific surname, 15 gold at check-in, your own stream — and what gets you disqualified.",{"title":497,"path":498,"stem":499,"description":500,"children":-1},"Turtle WoW's Website, Forums and Social Pages Go Offline on October 16","\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fturtle-wow-archive-before-october-16","resources\u002Fguides\u002Fturtle-wow-archive-before-october-16","The last public trace of the eight-year Vanilla project disappears in mid-October. What the court order actually covers, what is worth saving before the 16th, and why no successor can legitimately inherit the archive.",1793551967594]