The date changed. Your region still matters.
Blizzard’s updated forum announcement moves the stress test to October 21. Europe starts at 19:00 CEST (17:00 UTC). Americas and Oceania start at 14:00 PDT (21:00 UTC). Taiwan and Korea start on October 22 locally, at 05:00 and 06:00 respectively. Europe is four hours earlier; choosing a display timezone does not change your game region.
Older official news and search snippets may still show October 19. Use the updated forum post for the date and the regional schedule below. Our date guide explains the source difference.
You can join without a subscription
Any player with a WoW account can participate in this stress test. Blizzard’s installation announcement says no active subscription, Game Time, invitation or beta access is required. That temporary test access should not be confused with the subscription requirements for normal play after launch.
Download the Battle.net desktop app from Blizzard, choose World of Warcraft, and find World of Warcraft: Forever Stress Test under Game Version → In Development. Install ahead of your regional opening time.
Make the test useful
Blizzard asks participants to make a character, complete quests, trade items, chat and group with others. The test puts the regional production hardware through the kinds of interactions players will use at launch. Queues, disconnects and interruptions may happen during a stress test.
Treat the character as temporary. Stress-test characters, their names and guilds are wiped after the test; the wipe announcement does not say your Battle.net account or existing live-game characters are deleted.
Know what is still unannounced
The announcement describes a few hours of testing, with room to end earlier or run longer. It does not provide a precise end time. A countdown reaching zero only means the scheduled start has arrived; it cannot prove that a realm is online.
We have not confirmed a special participation reward or a public live queue feed. Our server-status page gives official places to check and a practical connection checklist without inventing a green status light.