Warcraft III: Reforged Shadow-Drops Forsaken Kingdom, Its First New Campaign in 23 Years, at BlizzCon 2026

Blizzard used the BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony in Anaheim to shadow-drop Warcraft III: Reforged — Forsaken Kingdom, the first new story campaign for the franchise since The Frozen Throne in 2003. The two-part campaign and the accompanying free 3.0 update went live on Battle.net the moment they were announced on September 12, with players able to buy or start downloading the new content immediately.

Forsaken Kingdom is structured as a prologue plus a main campaign, with the prologue titled "The Last Days of Lordaeron." Players experience the kingdom's final hours through the eyes of the Capital City Guard, including the throne-room massacre that defined Warcraft III's original story. From there the story shifts to the survivors of that massacre: the newly risen Forsaken, fighting to carve a home out of the ruins under the leadership of Sylvanas Windrunner. Blizzard's own description says the campaign explores "the untold story of the Forsaken as Lordaeron's fallen wrest free of the Scourge and fight for a future beneath the shattered surface of their former kingdom." The full announcement, including campaign structure, the Forsaken Paladin hero reveal and the 3.0 patch notes, is published on the official Warcraft newsroom at worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24301511.

Blizzard puts the total runtime at more than 30 hours of new story content spread across the prologue, three main campaign chapters, and additional side content. The campaign is available as a standalone purchase on the Battle.net Shop for $29.99 USD (regional pricing varies) and is also bundled with Warcraft III: Reforged for new players. A limited-time "Warcraft Forever Collection" package combines Warcraft III: Reforged, Forsaken Kingdom, the World of Warcraft: Forever Skyborne Epic Pack and Forsaken and Human Figurine Housing decor, with the storefront page live on shop.battle.net.

The 3.0 update is free for everyone who already owns Warcraft III: Reforged and is delivered alongside the new content. It adds a Definitive Edition graphics mode with substantial visual improvements, raises the unit selection cap from 12 to 24, revamps the World Editor with new lighting, fog and doodad tools, and introduces the Forsaken Paladin as a free neutral hero available to all players regardless of whether they buy the campaign. Custom lobbies can now be password-protected, and Blizzard added nine new game servers across regions including Oregon, Toronto, São Paulo, Singapore, Osaka and Belgium. One change to note: LAN mode has been removed from the Reforged client, which now requires an online connection at all times, though LAN and offline play remain available through the Classic client.

The Forsaken Paladin hero is also being carried forward into the upcoming World of Warcraft: Forever, the new permanent Vanilla-era branch launching November 4, where it will appear as a playable Paladin class for Undead alongside the planned Night Elf and Darkspear Paladins. Story-wise, the campaign bridges Warcraft III and the first days of Azeroth that the World of Warcraft series began chronicling, with character choices described as "echoing into the era of World of Warcraft: Forever."

The complete BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony recap, with the Warcraft III Forsaken Kingdom trailer, is hosted on Blizzard's newsroom and embedded in the company's official post for the ceremony.