The Riverglades

13:18 The Riverglades is one of the three new zones of World of Warcraft: Forever: a large leveling zone for characters in their mid-30s to mid-40s on the eastern coast of the Eastern Kingdoms, between Redridge Mountains, the Burning Steppes, the Badlands and the Swamp of Sorrows. Blizzard says it is roughly the size of Stranglethorn Vale and was built on land that existed in the original world but could never be reached. It is a frontier of rivers, grasslands and trade routes, settled by the descendants of human forces who were left behind there, where humans and orcs, ogres and gnolls, goblins and murlocs all compete to survive. The zone has more than 150 new quests for Horde and Alliance players, new reputations and rewards, a neutral goblin harbor called Powderfuse Port, and an outdoor ogre dungeon, Krol'dok Stronghold. Blizzard presented it at BlizzCon on Sep 12, 2026 as the zone that best embodies its belief that "the journey matters"; it opens with the game on Nov 4, 2026.

Quick facts

A frontier in the Eastern Kingdoms

13:40 The Riverglades is "inspired by stories that stretch all the way back to the earliest Warcraft games". Years ago, human forces pursued retreating orcs into the region; when help never came, many of those settlers were forced to stay behind and build lives of their own on the frontier, and generations later their descendants still endure. Blizzard describes "a rugged land of rivers, grasslands, trade routes, struggling communities, old grudges, and new opportunities", where "no one has it easy". "This isn't a story about saving Azeroth," the What's Next panel said. "It's a story about living in Azeroth."

11:12 On the Found Photographs panel, the Classic team called it "an expansive new zone roughly the size of Stranglethorn Vale", with an expected level range in the mid-30s to mid-40s, built in an area that existed in the classic world "but was previously inaccessible. And so we decided to fix that." The team's artists, world builders and sound designers set out to make the zone fit "seamlessly in the world": players who have been through Redridge Mountains find "a new fork to the Burning Steppes" leading into it, its biomes blend into each of the neighboring zones, and the gnoll camps shown on the panel are "a continuation of the world story".

Getting there

10:28 The third of Forever's three new ship routes leaves Steamwheedle, on the eastern shore of Tanaris. The panel framed it as the kind of question behind all of Forever's new stories: "what has the Steamwheedle Cartel been up to? Are they expanding their operations? And where might this ship take us?" The answer is across the sea to a brand new zone. Blizzard's recap adds that Powderfuse Port "ties directly into the new Steamwheedle route and gives the journey across the sea a destination". The other new routes are described on Updated Zones.

Peoples and factions

12:08 Questing takes players through new points of interest, such as a camp where an ogre clan has established itself, and introduces other characters and factions along the way. The Powderfuse goblins run Powderfuse Port, while the Twilight's Hammer are enemies whose presence is felt throughout the zone, in areas such as Sunnyglade, "a call back to Warcraft's history". The panel put the zone's total at nearly 200 new quests, with stories for both Horde and Alliance players.

12:48 Each faction launches its adventures from its own base in the zone, and there players encounter "one faction in particular dating back to early Warcraft, the Brotherhood of the Horse". The team called the Riverglades "a blending of inspiration from classic historical events, new beginnings, and stories integrated into our living world", and "a love letter" to players and to "those who brought this world to life more than 20 years ago".

31:42 The zone is also meant to create mysteries. Josh Greenfield, who helps lead Forever's content and narrative direction, said the team wants new mysteries for players to wonder about, and gave two from the Riverglades: "how did the Brotherhood of the Horse end up in the Riverglades?", and how did an ogre clan that was once part of the Twilight's Hammer end up on its own, and what will that mean for its dealings with the Horde? "I don't know," he added.

Quests and Powderfuse Port

14:25 The What's Next panel said the Riverglades "introduces more than 150 new quests", with content for both Horde and Alliance players, new reputations, new rewards and "entirely new ways to progress through your levelling journey". Players also discover "a neutral goblin port that expands trade routes throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and beyond". The Found Photographs panel and Blizzard's recap of it give the higher figure of nearly 200 quests; both figures come from Blizzard. Forever's quests as a whole are covered on Quests.

3:52 Blizzard's video "Your Leveling Journey Past 30", released on Oct 19, 2026 as the beta stood at its level 30 cap, names more of what the zone holds. The Brotherhood of the Horse, elite Knights of Stormwind who broke with the Alliance after the Second War, hold Farholde Keep, while Horde players meet an ogre clan that broke away from the Twilight's Hammer, who occupy Krol'dok Stronghold and the old Horde fortress now called Twilight's Shroud. Around that story are quests such as wrecking a pirate operation, rescuing a horse and meeting Jom-Jom, and, deeper in ogre territory, the Bloodmasters' Ring, "a fighting ring where players will prove their strength against the ogres' best brawlers", which Wowhead compares to the Ring of Blood quests of The Burning Crusade.

29:12 The zone was designed to change how players level. The Classic team's lead content designer said that for the Riverglades "we wanted to provide players not only a new zone to explore with new stories, but a new level band", so they do not have to stay in the areas they already know. Its stories and levels blend with those of the neighboring zones, so a player leveling in Stranglethorn Vale who wants a break can go to "an entirely new zone with hundreds of new quests for both factions".

Krol'dok Stronghold

14:47 "For those of you looking for trouble," Blizzard said, the Riverglades holds Krol'dok Stronghold, "an enormous outdoor dungeon where a powerful ogre civilization is conducting some very questionable business". The team thought "it might be nice to have another option besides running Scarlet Monastery for the 25th time".

26:10 Presenting Forever's dungeons later in the panel, a developer described a stronghold "crawling with ogres": people have been kidnapped in the Riverglades, adventurers are invited to "end the ogre's mischief in the region", and "in the twilight hours of the night" weird chanting has been heard coming from the place. "Could it be cultists?" Krol'dok Stronghold, which Blizzard's community manager listed on Sep 15, 2026 for levels 40 to 45, is one of the nine new Dungeons.

Making the zone

27:20 The zone began with a piece of land on the eastern shores of the Eastern Kingdoms that "had never really been developed", though it existed on the map. The lead content designer described how a world builder came up with ideas for it, first as a few different biomes, while the team was unsure whether it should be a single zone. It is "about 30 chunks, which is roughly the size of Stranglethorn", and the team settled on one zone. Deciding what stories to tell took "a months long discussion", which whittled "about 10 or 12 ideas" down to a handful that became stories in the Riverglades.

28:32 Josh Greenfield added that the team bounced many of those ideas off Chris Metzen early on, and that Metzen was excited to revisit places seen in the earliest Warcraft games, "even for a single mission", such as Sunnyglade.

In creators' footage

2:45 SavixPlaylist explored the Riverglades in a preview build before the beta, in a video published on Sep 14, 2026. Entering from the Redridge side ("this is like a continuation of Redridge", he said), he met high-level gnolls, water terrain and broken areas that the gnolls "are kind of taking over", and remarked that it "feels like battle ruins over here".

3:51 Further in he found Alliance NPCs around level 40 and members of the Twilight's Hammer, and a place he took for a possible future dungeon or raid: "There's no way they would build all this to just do nothing with it." Exploring a new zone, he said, made him "feel like a little kid again".

5:55 His first impression was that the zone was "looking really good" and gave him "a classic vibe"; the only thing he did not like was that the modern-style interface "kind of takes me out of it". On the same recording the new lighting is praised as "not too too much", and "the water looks really good".

6:48 The size struck him most. He was walking around for minutes to get between areas, though "it doesn't look big on the map", and he called the zone "very classicy" because "we're going to be walking a lot". He compared its feel to Nagrand and summed it up as "massive".

10:26 The zone already appears on the world map of the build creators played at BlizzCon. Looking over the Eastern Kingdoms, Xaryu noted the unused space ("lots of room to work with") before finding the zone: "Riverglades right here."

Frequently asked questions

What level is the Riverglades? Blizzard gives the mid-30s to mid-40s.

How many quests does the Riverglades have? More than 150 new quests, according to the What's Next panel and its recap; the Found Photographs panel and its recap say nearly 200.

How do you get to the Riverglades? By the new ship from Steamwheedle in Tanaris, which connects to Powderfuse Port, or overland through Redridge Mountains.

Is the Riverglades a Horde or an Alliance zone? Both. It has stories for both factions, each with its own base, and Powderfuse Port is a neutral goblin port.

Was the Riverglades in the original World of Warcraft? The land existed on the map but had never been developed and could not be reached.

Is there an arena or fighting ring in the Riverglades? Yes. Blizzard's video of Oct 19, 2026 shows the Bloodmasters' Ring, deep in ogre territory, where players fight the ogres' best brawlers.

Is there a dungeon in the Riverglades? Yes: Krol'dok Stronghold, an enormous outdoor dungeon in an ogre stronghold.

Sources

• Your Leveling Journey Past 30 | World of Warcraft: Forever, World of Warcraft, Oct 19, 2026 (video)
• New Ring of Blood Style Quest Coming in WoW: Forever, Wowhead, Oct 20, 2026
• World of Warcraft: Forever What's Next Panel Recap, Blizzard Entertainment, September 2026
• World of Warcraft: Forever Found Photos Panel Recap, Blizzard Entertainment via Wowhead Blue Tracker, September 2026
• Krol'dok Stronghold, Blizzard Entertainment (Kaivax), World of Warcraft forums, Sep 15, 2026
• Everything Announced at BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony, Blizzard Entertainment, Sep 12, 2026
• BlizzCon 2026 - World of Warcraft: Forever - What's Next Panel Recap, MMO-Champion, Sep 12, 2026
• Blizzard Announces World Of Warcraft: Forever, Expanding Vanilla WoW With New Zones, Raids, 1,000 New Quests, Game Informer, Sep 12, 2026
• World of Warcraft: Forever - What's Next Panel | BlizzCon 2026, World of Warcraft, Sep 13, 2026 (video)
• World of Warcraft: Forever - Found Photographs | BlizzCon 2026, World of Warcraft, Sep 15, 2026 (video)
• EXPLORING WOW FOREVER BETA, SavixPlaylist, Sep 14, 2026 (video)
• Xaryu’s First Time ACTUALLY Playing WoW Forever, Xaryu, Sep 13, 2026 (video)