Gilneas is in the WoW Forever client, and a player has already walked its streets

The Battle for Gilneas loading screen from the WoW Forever client

· ForeverDB

Gilneas, the walled Worgen kingdom that was closed in original World of Warcraft, is in the Forever beta client as new zones, and Esfand has been inside it on the beta. Blizzard hasn't announced anything about it.

Datamined and seen in the beta, but not announced. What it's for, and when or whether it opens, is Speculation.

In original World of Warcraft, Gilneas sat behind the Greymane Wall south of Silverpine Forest and could never be entered; it only opened with Cataclysm. The WoW Forever beta client (build 1.60.1.70009) now has Gilneas as zones of its own on the Eastern Kingdoms map. None of them exist in Classic Era's client.

What the client has

  • Ruins of Gilneas (area 16756), a zone on the Eastern Kingdoms continent, with Gilneas City (16757) inside it.
  • Gilneas (17065), another zone record on the Eastern Kingdoms continent.
  • Battle for Gilneas (map 3005), a battleground map, with its Gilnean Stronghold and Gilnean Coast areas.
  • The Greymane Wall (230) is unchanged from Classic.

The three Gilneas zone records have no music, no exploration level and no level range set yet. That usually means content that is built in the world but not switched on.

Seen in the beta

On September 28 Esfand posted a video after being summoned inside Gilneas on the Forever beta, and explored it: the city's canals, its Gothic Worgen architecture and at least one creature standing on a roof. So the zone's terrain and buildings are in the game world today, even though the way in is closed. Watch the video.

What we don't know

  • Blizzard hasn't mentioned Gilneas for Forever in any post we track. Its official news only mentions Pyrewood Village's worgen in Silverpine Forest.
  • Whether Gilneas becomes a leveling zone, a later content update, or only the setting for the Battle for Gilneas battleground (Speculation).
  • When, or whether, the Greymane Wall opens (Speculation).

We'll update this page when a new build or a Blizzard post says more. Everything new in the game files is on the datamine page.

Sources