Blizzard pushed a new WoW Forever beta build on September 24, and the beta patch notes that came with it (posted by community manager Kaivax as WoW Forever Beta Development Notes on the official forums) touch every class. Three races get racial changes, the Cooldown Manager opens for testing, and gamepad support gets a batch of new options.
The changes with the biggest effect on play: paladin tanks lose a third of their bonus holy threat, shaman air totems no longer stack, Gnome’s Eureka becomes a cost discount, and wands stop scaling with spell damage. Just as notable is what’s missing: nothing on warrior rage, one of the most discussed class complaints on the beta forums.
All of this is beta data. The beta runs until October 21, launch is November 4, and any number can change before then.
Paladin: Less Threat, a Stronger Holy Strike
What changed: Righteous Fury now raises holy threat by 60%, down from 90%. Holy Strike’s weapon damage now climbs with every rank, from 25% to 50% (ranks used to come in identical pairs), and its cooldown drops from 12 to 10 seconds. Blizzard removed the Improved Holy Strike talent that did this, saying a cooldown talent that early in a healing tree felt mandatory. Retribution gets a mixed package: Vengeance triggers from any non-periodic crit but caps at 3 stacks (was 5), Two-Handed Weapon Specialization drops to 2/4/6% (was 3/6/9%), and Sacred Arbiter’s Holy Strike bonus doubles to 20%.
What it means: leveling paladins get a real upgrade from every new Holy Strike rank. Retribution shifts damage from passives toward Holy Strike, and since the notes don’t give Vengeance’s per-stack value, the net effect at 60 is unclear. For tanks, the threat cut is a plain nerf. The 60% matches Classic’s untalented Righteous Fury, and two of the early replies in the official feedback thread argue Blizzard should have raised warrior and druid threat instead.
Shaman: Totems Stop Stacking
What changed: Tranquil Air, Windfury and Grace of Air Totem no longer stack with each other, even from different shamans in the same group. Flametongue Totem no longer stacks with Windfury Totem, Flametongue Weapon or itself.
What it means: in Classic, two shamans in one melee group could run Windfury and Grace of Air side by side, a standard Horde raid setup. In the Forever beta, a group gets one air totem effect, which lowers the value of stacking shamans. The notes give no reason, and one of the first replies asks exactly why. Elemental, meanwhile, gets a smoother leveling curve: Elemental Fury (row 3) and Elemental Alacrity (row 6) swap places, and early Lava Burst and Lightning Bolt ranks were buffed.
Racials: Eureka, Touch of the Grave, Cultivation
- Gnome, Eureka: now a 10% discount on Mana, Rage or Energy abilities for every class. Earlier beta tooltips described three cheaper spells that were also 10% stronger. The notes don’t say whether the damage bonus survives.
- Undead, Touch of the Grave: no longer breaks crowd control and only triggers from damaging abilities. Distract and Pick Pocket no longer trigger it, so rogues can’t use it to pull players out of stealth.
- Tauren, Cultivation: needs a player level equal to the herb’s required Herbalism skill divided by 5, and level 60 for herbs above 300 skill.
Our best race for every class guide ranks Gnome high for mana users. Expansive Mind is unchanged and a cost discount still helps casters, but the damage argument for Eureka is gone unless the tooltip says otherwise.
Wands, Wizard Oil and Cheap Respecs
Wands no longer gain damage from spell damage, a leveling nerf for priests, mages and warlocks who wand down mobs. Minor, Lesser and regular Wizard Oil return to their Classic Era values of 8, 16 and 24 spell power. For testers, a talent reset now costs 1 silver if you haven’t respecced recently. The price rises after a reset and drops back after an hour, and Blizzard says this is for the beta only.
Other Class Changes in the WoW Forever Beta Patch Notes
| Class | Notable changes |
|---|---|
| Druid | Wrath base damage up about 50%. Rejuvenation, Tranquility and Wild Growth can crit. Mangle renamed Primal Bite, without its debuff. |
| Hunter | Furious Howl attack power cut 40%. Tame Beast no longer works on higher-level beasts. |
| Mage | Wake of Fire lasts 30 seconds (was 20), Hot Streak 20 (was 15). Ignite no longer double dips on damage modifiers. |
| Priest | Renew can crit. Undead Dark Sacrifice no longer breaks crowd control. |
| Warrior | Sunder Armor threat corrected. Protection swaps Bastion and Focused Rage. Bloodthrill procs twice as often, main hand only. Slam cooldown 18 seconds (was 15). |
| Warlock, Rogue | Voidwalker Sacrifice scales with spell healing. Sap now flags you for PvP on flagged targets. |
The Cooldown Manager is off by default and testable on Druid, Mage, Priest, Warrior and Warlock. A memory leak that slowly degraded performance is fixed, and three quests on Zephras Isle, the starting zone from our Skyborne race guide, got fixes.
What the Notes Leave Out: Warrior Rage
Forever normalizes rage: auto attacks generate a fixed amount based on weapon speed, and crits give no extra rage. A forum thread asking for crit rage back has drawn more than 100 replies since September 20. The new notes touch warriors only through Sunder Armor, Bloodthrill and Slam, and several early replies point that out. Blizzard hasn’t said whether rage values will change.
Analysis: What This Build Says About Forever’s Direction
Most developer notes in this build justify changes with leveling feel: Wake of Fire’s duration, Holy Strike’s ranks, the Elemental and Protection talent swaps. That fits a beta still capped at level 20, with a raise to 30 announced for later. Endgame balance is largely untested.
Where Forever had drifted above Classic’s power level, Blizzard is pulling back: wizard oils at Classic Era values, Righteous Fury at its untalented Classic threat, wands without spell scaling. The totem change goes further than Classic ever did. Together with Primal Bite losing Mangle’s debuff, it suggests Blizzard wants fewer effects that push raids to stack specific classes.
What to watch next: the level 30 cap raise, any answer on warrior rage and paladin threat, and Eureka’s final tooltip. One known issue matters for groups: forming a party can move players to a different world instance.
Sources: Blizzard’s WoW Forever Beta Development Notes, September 24 and the official feedback thread, Blizzard’s beta announcement (level cap, end date), the beta forum thread on warrior rage, and Icy Veins’ coverage of the notes. Screenshot: Blizzard Entertainment.