WoW Forever New Class Survey: Tinker, Bard, Illusionist

The WoW Forever new class survey is a Battle.net launcher poll that asked players about potential classes for World of Warcraft: Forever, including Tinker, Bard, and Illusionist. Treat it as a pitch list, not a roadmap.

What the survey asked

The survey appeared on Blizzard's Battle.net launcher in the last week of September 2026 and asked players to gauge their interest in future additions to WoW: Forever. Participants were told not to publicly share anything from it. The full survey was posted online anyway, and content creators including Bellular covered it.

Each proposed class came with a short description, its role in a group, the kind of gear it would wear, and a breakdown of example abilities. Some entries also covered basic lore, usable weapon types, and the resources the class would use.

Which classes the survey named

These classes appeared in the survey:

• Bard
• Death Knight
• Demon Hunter
• Illusionist
• Monk
• Necromancer
• San'layn
• Tinker
• Warden
• Witch

One class was reported under several different names — Metalborn, Runemaster, Runeknight, and Runesmith all appear across the pages. Three of the listed classes — Death Knight, Demon Hunter, and Monk — already exist in the modern version of WoW, and their Forever versions would likely play very differently. The Demon Hunter entry says the class would start at level one rather than level eight as in the Midnight expansion, and would be slower and less mobile than its Legion counterpart.

Tinker, Bard, and Illusionist in detail

The Tinker pilots a mech suit and can tank, deal damage, or support, wearing mail armor. Its kit includes constructing a mech, shooting rockets, and dropping supplies to heal allies. The proposed class would have two lives — the mech and the pilot inside — similar to D.Va in Overwatch.

The Bard is a healer and support class in leather armor that performs songs to heal and buff allies and debuff enemies.

The Illusionist is a ranged damage-dealer in leather armor whose spells include creating illusory murlocs or other monsters to fight for it, and conjuring mirror images.

The other proposed classes

The Witch is a ranged damage-dealer and support in cloth armor, with a cauldron ability that buffs anyone who drinks from it and a ranged attack called "Voidbolt" that drains the caster's own life. It also summons a blood golem at the cost of the caster's own health.

The Necromancer wears cloth and uses shadow- and death-themed abilities like Bone Spear and Corpse Explosion. The San'layn are vampiric knights in plate armor who drain vitality from foes and excel in melee combat. The Warden is listed as a tank and melee damage-dealer in plate armor, and the survey notes the Wardens would open their ranks "out of necessity" to deal with greater threats. The Metalborn/Runemaster uses runic power and transmutes its body into metal to attack, wearing mail armor.

Several of these classes are listed as "support," a role that does not really exist in WoW Classic or WoW: Forever.

What a survey actually implies

A survey is not an announcement. Even if the survey is real, there is no indication of how serious Blizzard is about adding new classes, and the results could lead it to drop the idea entirely.

The survey has some players worried that any additional classes could arrive considerably more powerful than the others and damage the throwback experience. How far WoW: Forever will move away from the oldest version of the MMO is still unclear.

When new classes could arrive

WoW: Forever's beta runs until October 21, and the full launch is set for November 4. The game launches globally on November 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST.

If you want to get a head start on the classes that are actually shipping, a WoW Forever Leveling Boost handles the early grind for you.