The Riverglades is the answer to the question every Classic player asks somewhere in the thirties: where do I go now? It is a new leveling zone about the size of Stranglethorn Vale, with nearly 200 quests for both factions and a story about living in Azeroth rather than saving it.
Written from Blizzard’s own panels and recaps, with interviews, a Wowhead roundup and lines read out of the Forever beta client marked where they are used. Last reviewed: .
From the Riverglades section of Blizzard’s Found Photos panel recap. Image: Blizzard Entertainment.
A frontier, not a crusade
Years ago, human forces chased retreating orcs into this region. Help never came, so the settlers who followed them stayed and built lives of their own on the frontier. Generations later their descendants are still there, holding on among rivers, grasslands, trade routes, old grudges and new opportunities.
That is the whole pitch, and Blizzard says it plainly on the What’s Next panel: “This isn’t a story about saving Azeroth. It’s a story about living in Azeroth.” Humans and orcs, ogres and gnolls, goblins and murlocs are all competing to survive in a place where nobody has it easy.
The zone also reaches further back than Classic. In an interview with Sportskeeda the developers said the Riverglades carries references to the first Warcraft game — among them a ruined town called Sunnyglade.
Where the Riverglades is and how you get there
The Riverglades sits on the eastern coast of the Eastern Kingdoms, bordered by Redridge Mountains, the Burning Steppes, the Badlands and the Swamp of Sorrows. All of that land exists on the Classic map already; it was simply beyond the walls players could never cross.
The way Blizzard has shown is by sea. The last of the three new ship routes starts with the Steamwheedle Cartel in Tanaris and ends at Powderfuse Port, a neutral goblin port that also opens new trade routes through the Eastern Kingdoms. Wowhead’s open-world roundup adds a second way in by land, from Redridge through a pass in the Burning Steppes; Blizzard’s own recaps have not described that route.
All three new ship routes, with a map of the stops, are on the WoW Forever zones hub.
An enormous outdoor dungeon held by an ogre civilization that kidnaps people, raids the settlements around it and chants at night
40–45
Powderfuse Port
A neutral goblin port at the end of the new Steamwheedle route, and the zone’s link to the rest of the world
—
Sunnyglade
A ruined town, named in an interview as one of the zone’s references to the first Warcraft game
—
A quest board in the BlizzCon demo asked for adventurers “in the level 40 to 55 range” for Krol’dok Stronghold. Blizzard corrected that afterwards on the forums: the dungeon is 40–45. More on it in the WoW Forever dungeons guide.
Who lives there
Neutral
The Powderfuse goblins
A new goblin outfit running the port both factions arrive at, and the reason the zone is tied into Azeroth’s trade routes.
Threat
The Twilight’s Hammer
The cult turns up here too. Blizzard lists it among the groups that connect the Riverglades to Warcraft’s history.
Old guard
The Brotherhood of the Horse
Named by Blizzard alongside the goblins and the cult, without any detail yet about what they want in the region.
Trouble
Gnolls and ogres
Gnoll camps continue the conflicts of the neighboring zones, while fresh ogre threats — Krol’dok among them — create the tension in the middle of the map.
Quests, reputations and rewards
The Found Photos panel put the zone at nearly 200 quests for Horde and Alliance players; the What’s Next panel the day before said more than 150, so the number grew as Blizzard talked about it. Either way it is the biggest single block of new quests announced so far, and the developers told Sportskeeda that most of Forever’s new quests go into the level 30 to 50 stretch.
Blizzard also promises new reputations, new rewards and “entirely new ways to progress” through the leveling journey here, without naming any of them yet.
A zone tabard. The beta client (build 1.60.1.69893) carries a Riverglades tabard icon, which in Classic usually means a reputation to grind.
A local movement bonus. An effect named after Krol’dok raises movement speed in Stranglethorn Vale and the Riverglades — an example of the terrain-specific item effects the developers described in several interviews.
The Riverglades FAQ
Where is the Riverglades in WoW Forever?
On the eastern coast of the Eastern Kingdoms, between Redridge Mountains, the Burning Steppes, the Badlands and the Swamp of Sorrows. It is built from a part of the Classic world players could never reach.
What level is the Riverglades?
Blizzard says it covers much of the mid-30s to mid-40s experience and has not given exact numbers. The dungeon inside it, Krol’dok Stronghold, is 40–45.
How do you get to the Riverglades?
By the new Steamwheedle Cartel ship from Tanaris to Powderfuse Port. Wowhead’s open-world roundup also mentions a land route from Redridge through the Burning Steppes, which Blizzard has not detailed.
How many quests does the Riverglades have?
Nearly 200 according to the Found Photos panel recap, for both factions. The What’s Next panel a day earlier said more than 150.
Which dungeon is in the Riverglades?
Krol’dok Stronghold, an enormous outdoor ogre dungeon for Levels 40–45. Blizzard pitched it as an alternative to running Scarlet Monastery for the twenty-fifth time.
Is the Riverglades for the Horde or the Alliance?
Both. Blizzard counts the nearly 200 quests as content for Horde and Alliance players, and the port at its coast is neutral goblin ground.
Is the Riverglades in the WoW Forever beta?
Blizzard has not published a zone list for the beta, and the WoW Forever beta level cap is 30 — below the level band Blizzard described for the zone.
Is Sunnyglade a Warcraft I reference?
That is how the developers described it to Sportskeeda: a ruined town that is one of several nods to the first Warcraft game in the zone.
Not announced yet
The exact level range in numbers
Where each faction enters the zone and its quest hubs
The names of the new reputations and their rewards
A zone map, flight paths and the land route from Redridge
The black market auction house mentioned in one interview
Warrior Talents
Paladin Talents
Hunter Talents
Rogue Talents
Priest Talents
Shaman Talents
Mage Talents
Warlock Talents
Druid Talents
Human
Dwarf
Night Elf
Gnome
Orc
Undead
Tauren
Troll