The tents are already going up on the field south of Goldshire: the Darkmoon Faire opens on Monday, November 9 and runs for one week. It is the Faire's first stop in WoW: Forever, and it lands in Elwynn Forest — Alliance territory. The dates sit in every player's in-game calendar; Wowhead reported the schedule on November 8 at 09:00 US Central (23:00 Beijing time).

Figure scope: dots = QuestieDB "Darkmoon Faire Banner" object reference points (pinned cac1eff8, 22 points); the marker is the Selina Dourman info-desk spawn; not game-verified.

Darkmoon Faire campsite in Elwynn (site client map render with reference scatter)

Elwynn Forest — the Faire campsite sits just south of Goldshire (① info desk, Selina Dourman at 41.7,69.2; the gold scatter shows the banner-object spread across the grounds, QuestieDB reference coordinates): head out of Stormwind, follow the main road south past Goldshire

Alliance players can walk to the Faire. Horde players have to cross a continent.

For the Alliance this is a home game: the faire grounds sit south of Goldshire, a short ride from the Stormwind gates, and players passing through Elwynn on Sunday could already watch the setup. For the Horde the math is different. Wowhead's headline point — the Alliance gets the first home-field advantage — means the Horde's first home crowd is somewhere else, later, on a schedule nobody has published. Under the classic rotation the Faire alternates monthly between Elwynn Forest and Mulgore, but neither Blizzard nor Wowhead has laid out a Forever rotation. Getting to this week's Faire means crossing most of the Eastern Kingdoms through Alliance-guarded zones.

That 10% damage buff won't follow you into raids

The Faire's offering is the familiar trio — minigames, reputation, rare items — which the report mentions only in passing. The part that moves players is the signature fortune: in Classic, Sayge's Dark Fortune of Damage granted 10% damage for 2 hours, the stock-in-trade of world-buff raid nights. Forever changes the rule: per Wowhead, world buffs won't be allowed in raids, though they still work in the open world.

That line comes from a single outlet, with no official link in the article and no Blizzard statement behind it as of drafting — how raids will enforce it, and in what form, is something to verify in-game. The direction is clear either way: the fortune shifts from a pre-raid ritual to an open-world leveling and farming tool, and those 2 hours deserve planning.

Still unanswered: the Horde's stop, the closing hour

Known: opens Monday, November 9; runs one week; the grounds are in Elwynn Forest; the calendar shows it. Not announced: the exact closing time (only "one week" is given); when — or whether — the Faire reaches Mulgore; whether Forever added surprises of its own, a question Wowhead itself answered with "wait and see"; how Darkmoon prize tickets and the other Sayge fortunes work in Forever.

How to spend the week

Once the gates open Monday, take a few minutes to learn the layout and entrances, then save Sayge's buff for your longest open-world stretches — leveling pushes, farming runs — where 10% damage actually compounds. Horde players: weigh the trip against your week. If crossing a continent isn't worth it, the in-game calendar is the only schedule that matters until a Mulgore date shows up.Walk the grounds once to learn the banner points (the gold scatter above) and the entrance, and find the Sayge stage before opening day crowds arrive.

Quick reference links