Azeroth’s sealed doors open: Forever’s nine new dungeons

There are corridors beneath Ironforge that an ordinary city visit never reaches. Lordaeron’s ruins can be more than the way into the Undercity. An entire city can rise from the sea, and a sealed gate in Azshara can conceal a society of its own. Forever’s nine new dungeons build adventures around places like these.

Blizzard’s October 20 dungeon overview adds story premises, locations and preparation details to names and level ranges introduced earlier. It gives us a better opportunity to ask why we are going to these places, and what the journey says about this version of Azeroth.

A travel map from level 13 towards 60

All nine additions are five-player dungeons. These are Blizzard’s published level ranges, rather than separately confirmed technical entry restrictions.

Level ranges and locations: Blizzard’s new overview.

Treat the table as an expedition list. It cannot establish the fastest XP route on its own: quests, travel and the group itself also matter. We suggest choosing the next destination together at the end of the previous session. Everyone then has time to collect relevant quests and work out how to get there.

In the capitals’ shadows: whose history are you defending?

Hall of Thanes and Ruins of Lordaeron make an interesting pair. One concerns the resting place of dwarven rulers, disturbed by intruders. In the other, the Forsaken are trying to reclaim their lost city from the shadow of the Scourge. Both place a community’s own past at the heart of a dungeon.

That gives the journey a different starting point from an evil wizard in an arbitrary cave. Characters arrive somewhere that matters to the people — or undead — who live beyond its boundaries. In our reading, these local stakes suit Forever especially well: the player’s help matters even when the fate of the whole planet is not immediately at risk.

Travel also gives faction identity a practical consequence. Alliance groups can approach Hall of Thanes through their own capital, while Horde players must enter opposing territory. Lordaeron reverses that relationship. Blizzard is not describing these as faction-exclusive dungeons, but reaching the entrance can become an expedition in itself.

If your group wants to visit both, agree on a meeting point outside the city. For newer players in particular, travelling together is more inviting than five separate attempts to find a safe way in.

Wetlands and Dalaran: discovery meets magical chaos

Excavation Site turns the journey towards the Wetlands mountains. Blizzard describes ancient titan structures, errant constructs and a place seemingly suspended in time. At Dalaran, the barrier concealing the city has fallen, revealing magic that has slipped out of control.

Both destinations add depth to the old map. Wetlands draws attention away from the road and towards the mountains; Dalaran turns a city long viewed from outside into somewhere players must earn the right to enter. That fits the idea in Blizzard’s Found Photos recap: familiar Azeroth still contains stories waiting to be told.

Dalaran requires an attunement chain. Alliance players start with *An Alarming Request* from Emissary Jacques in Southshore. For the Horde, the overview names *Key to the City* and *Prison Break-In*, with Magus Wordeen Voidglare in Tarren Mill. Groups enter through the sewers before following multiple possible routes through the city.

Check this before assembling the party. Ask where everyone is in the access quests. Otherwise, a planned dungeon evening could begin with a lengthy wait even when every character appears to be the right level.

Mid-level expeditions: a stormy sea and an unsettled frontier

The Drowned City and Krol’dok Stronghold carry the journey away from the capitals. One explores troll ruins exposed by the sea; the other confronts an ogre fortress threatening Riverglades communities. The earlier What’s Next recap connected these destinations with naga, pirates and the conflicts of a new frontier. The latest preview gives them a clearer shape.

You dive to reach the Drowned City, but the expedition is not simply an underwater corridor. Blizzard describes an open-air dungeon whose atmosphere changes as the group advances: mist and rain build into a storm before the final encounter. It is an appealing promise about atmosphere, whose execution will need to be judged in play.

At Krol’dok, the fortress’s scale and the hint of chanting after nightfall catch the attention. Workshops, camps and interior passages suggest a place with a daily life of its own. The party enters activity already under way.

A quieter exploration evening in the Riverglades could fit between these trips. Our zone preview introduces the region and its connections to the wider world. It is not yet a tested quest itinerary linking one dungeon to the next.

Alcaz and Blackmaw: beyond the old gates

Alcaz Prison draws on a familiar Classic mystery: an isolated island and stories of prominent prisoners, including Varian Wrynn. The new overview places a conflict between the Defias Brotherhood and naga inside the prison. Varian’s connection gives the destination weight, but the preview does not reveal the story’s resolution.

Blackmaw Hold contains a furbolg city threatened by spreading corruption. Azshara’s gate leads to winding mountain passages, several routes and depths that may connect to something farther below. The new raid overview also identifies Blackmaw Hold as one of the routes connected to Barrow Deeps.

Here, the dungeon journey begins to meet the endgame. The attraction is more than finding the next item: learning the geography now may help on a later expedition. Reaching the level cap need not make the path behind you irrelevant.

Bring Un’Goro’s crystals along

Shaper’s Terrace stands in Un’Goro’s northern hills. Dinosaurs, titan structures and crystals define the setting, but the most practical detail is to bring power crystals gathered around the zone: they can be used at consoles within the dungeon.

A connection like this makes the journey interesting before the entrance. Something collected outside gains a purpose in the group’s shared adventure. Blizzard does not specify a required crystal quantity or a solution sequence in this overview, so those belong in a later, verified walkthrough.

Hear more from the developers

Episode three of the official Forever podcast discusses dungeon leveling and quest design. Countdown To Classic and Hammerdance join developers Josh Greenfield, Jay Hartman and Rowan Ryder. The video complements the written preview; the specific details in this article come from the Blizzard texts linked above. Blizzard’s episode announcement.

Our favourite way to approach the list is to choose a place whose story interests the group, then build the next evening around it. There is no need to finish everything at once. The appeal of nine destinations is that a new door can appear at different stages of the journey, with another reason to bring the same friends together beyond it.