WoW: Forever name reservation needs a pre-purchase, not game time
Blizzard Customer Support says reserving WoW: Forever names from Oct 27 doesn't require active game time, only a pre-purchase of the Heroic or Epic Pack or the Forever Collection. Bundled game time is added on Nov 4. For a physical Collector's Edition you have to activate the key to claim names, and its game time starts right away.
Context: @BlizzardCS on Collector's Edition keys
Source: @BlizzardCS on X