WoW Forever launch-night addon checklist

World of Warcraft: Forever opens on 4 November at 3:00 pm PST (midnight CET going into 5 November), according to Blizzard's announcement. Queues will be long and the first hour is the worst time to discover your addons went into the wrong folder. Here is what to do before the servers open.

1. Install the Forever client early

Pre-download in the Battle.net app as soon as it is offered. The _forever_ folder only appears once the client is installed, and you need it before you can put a single addon anywhere.

2. Create Interface/AddOns yourself

A fresh install may not have the Interface and AddOns folders yet. Make them now: _forever_/Interface/AddOns, spelled exactly like that. Our install guide shows the path on Windows and Mac.

3. Point your addon manager at Forever

CurseForge, Wago and WowUp all keep one list per installation. If yours is still on retail, every addon you click will land in _retail_. Switch it to the Forever installation before you install anything.

4. Back up beta settings

If you played the beta and want your layouts back, copy the beta Interface and WTF folders somewhere safe now. Beta clients tend to get removed or wiped, and then they are gone.

5. Start small

Launch night is not the time for forty addons. Pick a handful that cover the basics and add the rest once you have seen them load:

an error catcher: BugSack with BugGrabber
a damage meter: Details! Damage Meter
boss warnings, for when the first dungeons start: Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) or BigWigs Bossmods
a bag addon such as Baganator if you play the Classic preset (Enhanced already gives you one bag)
a map helper such as TomTom

The essential list has the full reasoning, and every pick shows whether it has a Forever version yet.

6. Know the out-of-date switch

On the character screen, AddOns → Load out of date AddOns. If an addon is only out of date because its author hasn't bumped a version number, this gets it running. If it then throws errors, turn it off and wait for an update.

7. Bookmark the tracker

We update the compatibility tracker as authors ship Forever builds. If you test something, post the result in the forum's Compatibility board: one line with the addon version and what happened helps everyone queueing behind you.