Race to Level 60

The first level 60 characters in World of Warcraft: Forever were five at once: Jokerd's team of three Undead Mages, an Undead Paladin and a Troll Shaman on Europe's Normal ruleset, about 52 hours after the Nov 4, 2026 launch. The first solo 60 was the Night Elf Hunter KSuper2 a day later. How they did it, what the trackers do and do not prove, and what Blizzard changed about dungeon experience during the race.

The first level 60 characters in World of Warcraft: Forever arrived five at a time, about 52 hours after the servers opened on Nov 4, 2026: a team led by Jokerd, playing three Undead Mages, an Undead Paladin and a Troll Shaman on Europe's Normal ruleset, timed their last kills so that all five reached 60 together on the evening of Nov 6, Pacific time, early on Nov 7 in Europe (Wowhead, Icy Veins). The first player to do it alone, the Night Elf Beast Mastery Hunter KSuper2, followed within about a day by questing (Icy Veins). Blizzard keeps no record of either: the rankings come from community trackers. For everyone else, the raids do not open until Dec 9, 2026, and the ordinary way up is on Leveling Guide.

Quick facts

First to 60	Five characters together: Jokerd Prime, Burning Speed, Vitochie Gofast, Cloud Bells and Lmgd Mmr
Their classes	Three Undead Mages, an Undead Paladin, a Troll Shaman
Where	Europe, Normal ruleset
When	About 52 hours after the 3:00 p.m. PST launch of Nov 4, 2026
Method	Pulling huge groups of monsters and killing them with area spells, full time from about level 35
First solo 60	KSuper2, a Night Elf Beast Mastery Hunter, Europe, Normal ruleset, by questing; reported Nov 8, 2026
Tracker	race.aotc.gg, run by players; it certifies nothing
Classic's first 60 (2019)	Also Jokerd; 3 days 7 hours by Guinness World Records' count

The first five

Wowhead named the five characters on Nov 6, 2026: Jokerd Prime, Burning Speed, Cloud Bells, Lmgd Mmr and Vitochie Gofast, in Forever's two-part names (Rulesets). Icy Veins gives the players behind them as Jokerd, Cloudbells, Vitochie, Lmgd and b_urning, "known legends of the Classic speedrunning community". Kami Labs, which read the race tracker at 9:17 a.m. Paris time on Nov 7, found all five at 60 and the next entry at 56; it works the moment out as about 4:00 a.m. in Paris, 52 hours after the midnight launch there, and notes that nobody has published the exact minute or the characters' played time.

The Undead Paladin and the Troll Shaman place the team on the Horde. An Undead Paladin is one of Forever's six new race and class combinations, so the first group to 60 could not have existed in the original game.

How they did it

The team leveled by area damage, not quests. According to Icy Veins it leveled normally at first, then went "full-time" on area-of-effect grinding at about level 35, moving as it outleveled each place: Dreadmurk Shore in Dustwallow Marsh, the Ruins of Zul'Mamwe in Stranglethorn Vale, Lost Rigger Cove in Tanaris, then Dalson's Tears and Gahron's Withering in the Western Plaguelands. Wowhead describes the division of work: "The Paladin would pull everything, and then the mages would use Arcane Explosion".

Two things made that faster than it sounds. The players moved between copies of a zone to find fresh monsters; Icy Veins calls it "consistent phasing to keep respawns coming, instead of waiting for mobs to show up again" (how copies of a zone work is on Servers and Realms). And they had to finish together. Jokerd said on his stream, as Wowhead reports it, that a single point of experience could leave one player behind, so the last four percent of level 59 were planned kill by kill.

1:51 Blizzard was watching the front of the pack. Twenty-two hours after launch, in an interview with Crix, the developers said they were "really excited to finally see people get past level 30", the cap the beta had stopped at: "there's a couple folks there". Thirty hours later the first five were at 60.

The first solo 60

KSuper2 (listed on the tracker as Ksuper Worldfirst) took what Icy Veins calls "a more traditional levelling route": questing as a Beast Mastery Hunter, whose pet holds enemies while the Hunter shoots. Kami Labs saw the character at 56 on the morning of Nov 7 in Europe, gaining about 64,300 experience an hour, and Icy Veins reported the 60 on Nov 8, three days after launch. It was not entirely solo: Icy Veins notes that players outside the party helped kill monsters, "a small helping hand without technically making it a group levelling run".

We rate the Hunter S tier for leveling on Class Tier List, and the first solo 60 being a Beast Mastery Hunter fits that. It says less than it seems to about Beast Mastery Hunter at 60: a leveling race measures the pet's tanking, and that is the very thing Blizzard said on Nov 6 it would strengthen for Hunter pets.

What the trackers do and do not prove

No one at Blizzard announces a first 60 in Forever, and there is no achievement for it. The standings come from race.aotc.gg, a tracker run by players that listed 100 entrants, and from a second site, worldfirst60.com; both say they certify no record, and some teams do not publish who is playing, Kami Labs points out. It also reports the arguments players had: whether changing zone copies to reset monsters is fair, and whether a team of five and a solo player belong on the same ladder. It found no accusation of cheating and no comment from Blizzard.

The comparison with 2019 needs the same care. Jokerd was also first to 60 in WoW Classic, on Aug 30, 2019, as a Gnome Mage, in what Guinness World Records counts as 3 days and 7 hours. The 52 hours of 2026 are faster, but that was one player in a different game, and this was five.

What the race showed about Forever

Leveling is not slower than Classic's. Blizzard's beta data put the average time to level 20 at 20.5 hours, against 20.4 in Classic Era (Leveling Guide); at the top end, a coordinated team beat 2019's fastest solo time by more than a day.
Dungeons were not the fast road. Neither the team nor the solo winner leveled in dungeons. On Nov 8, 2026, two days after the first 60s, Blizzard raised experience from dungeon enemies by 50% "so it feels better to go back in for more runs" (Blizzard).
Quests at 60 may pay no gold. In the original game, quests done at the level cap paid gold in place of experience. Jokerd found they do not in Forever and said a developer told him the change is intended, Wowhead reported on Nov 7; Blizzard has not confirmed it, so treat it as one player's report. See Gold Guide.
Loot above 30 is new to everyone. Items from level 30 to 60 were hidden from the game's files until someone looted them (Launch Week Developer Interviews), so the racers were also the first to see them.

We think the open-world route does not stay on top: with dungeon experience up 50%, the fastest new characters by the time the raids open will come from dungeon groups, and Blizzard will adjust dungeon experience at least once more before Dec 9, 2026. Confidence: Possible. Check by: Dec 9, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Who was the first level 60 in WoW Forever? Five characters at once: Jokerd's team of three Undead Mages, an Undead Paladin and a Troll Shaman on Europe's Normal ruleset, about 52 hours after launch.

Who was the first solo level 60? KSuper2, a Night Elf Beast Mastery Hunter, also on Europe's Normal ruleset, reported on Nov 8, 2026.

Is the world first level 60 official? No. Blizzard has announced nothing; the standings come from community trackers that say they certify no record.

How long does a normal player need to reach 60? Blizzard has published no figure past level 20 (20.5 hours on average in the beta). The racers played almost without sleep and with a planned route, so their times are not a guide.