World of Warcraft: Forever announced with new zones, raids and 1,000 quests

World of Warcraft: Forever expands vanilla WoW with new zones, raids, quests, races and gameplay features

Blizzard has announced World of Warcraft: Forever, a new edition of the game that expands the original vanilla WoW experience while remaining within the 2004-era framework.

World of Warcraft: Forever will add new and overhauled zones, 1,000 quests covering the level 1–60 experience, nine additional dungeons and 10-20 player raids. It will also introduce the Skyborne, a new neutral playable elven race.

The new edition will include an SD/HD character toggle, additional skills and talents, new race and class combinations, and new reputations that can be used to earn items and account-wide perks.

Blizzard's trailer also shows an Undead Paladin, indicating that some class and race combinations will differ from the original game.

Three new zones are planned: Mount Hyjal, Zephras Isle and The Riverglades. A new battleground will be set on the Darkspear Islands. Blizzard has not yet revealed which existing zones will receive overhauls.

The game will also feature technical changes, including new lighting and global illumination, volumetric particle effects, a new water renderer and real-time shadows.

A beta for World of Warcraft: Forever will launch on September 17, ahead of the full release on November 4.

Blizzard is expected to reveal further details through additional panels at BlizzCon this weekend.