WoW Forever Final Patch Notes Before Launch, Explained

THE SHORT ANSWER Blizzard raised damage across all classes and gave higher level creatures more health to match. Many talents moved, a few were removed (like Lava Burst, Berserk, Frost Blast and Salvation), and new ones such as Oath of Light, Shank and Death Mark were added. Training all your class spells from 1 to 60 now costs about 206 to 207 gold for every class. Gamepad support is in a working beta, and respawn rates are faster so launch crowds can play.

These are the notes covering the roughly 2.5 weeks since the October 15 beta update. Blizzard’s own list is long and full of talent row numbers, so this guide pulls out what matters and says what it means in plain words. If you only have two minutes, read the big picture and the “Before You Log In” list.

The Big Picture

More damage, more health. Blizzard raised damage on classes across the game and increased the health of higher level creatures to balance it. This gave them room to tune abilities that felt weak.
Classes should feel different. Blizzard says it is not aiming for equal numbers. Its goal is for every class to feel valuable to the groups it joins, with strong moments you only get by playing it well.
Some Burning Crusade and Wrath ideas were dropped. Blizzard says it turned to later-expansion solutions too quickly in places, so a few of those were swapped for new designs.
No big tuning until raids. Aside from bugs and serious outliers, Blizzard does not plan big balance changes before raids open next month. After enough players have leveled past 30, it expects a large tuning pass.
This is a starting point. Classes will keep changing over the months and years, just as the original game did after 2004.

Changes That Affect Everyone

Change	What It Means for You
Training costs adjusted	Learning all class abilities from level 1 to 60 now costs about 206 to 207 gold for every class. Most abilities learned at the same level cost the same.
Priest race-only abilities	These are the exception to the same-cost rule.
Warlock costs lower	Warlock costs are reduced by what you would have spent on Grimoires for pets.
New spells stay off your bars	Learning a spell no longer adds it to your action bars. You place it yourself.
Bags do not auto-equip	New bags will no longer equip themselves into open bag slots. You equip them by hand.
Quitter debuff shorter	The quitter debuff now lasts 40 seconds (it was 5 minutes).
Stun shorter	A stun effect was cut from 3 seconds to 2.5 seconds. The notes do not say which one.
Race base stats fixed	Every race now has the correct starting stats. For example, a Tauren Warrior now starts with +5 Strength relative to a Human Warrior (it was +2). Skyborne got the same fix.
Roots from procs	Roots that come from procs (like Frostbite, Entrapment, Improved Wing Clip, Counterattack and Improved Hamstring) now have diminishing returns.
Throw fix	Throw now uses its 0.5 second windup, not the throwing weapon’s attack speed.
Low rank talent penalty	Many talents no longer lose proc chance when you cast low rank spells. The spell Blizzard is the exception for a few talents (Arcane Concentration, Frostbite and Fingers of Frost) when the rank is more than 12 levels lower than you.

The Biggest Change for Each Class

Class	Headline
Druid	Berserk removed, Lacerate is now a Feral talent, bears get a big threat boost, Cat attacks hit harder
Hunter	Aimed Shot and Arcane Shot hit much harder, all traps share one cooldown
Mage	Frost Blast removed, Arcane Blast tuned, Ice Barrier now boosts Frost damage
Paladin	Salvation removed, Oath of Light added for Holy, Righteous Fury arrives at level 10
Priest	Binding Heal swapped for Holy Binding, Shadow Word: Death hurts you more if it fails
Rogue	New Shank spell, new Death Mark finisher, Poised passive, many talents shuffled
Shaman	Lava Burst removed, Lightning Bolt and Stormstrike hit harder, Riptide becomes heal over time only
Warlock	Wrack roughly doubled in power, pets have less health, Destruction talent bonus doubled
Warrior	Defensive Stance threat up to 80%, Slam cooldown down to 15 seconds, new Fury talents

Class by Class

Druid

All Druids

Lacerate is no longer learned by every Druid. It is now a Feral talent.
Ferocious Bite has a new Rank 1 at level 24. Old ranks were relabeled one rank higher.
Bear Form and Dire Bear Form threat bonus rose from 50% to 115%. This makes up for Blessing of Salvation being removed.
Poised is a new passive at level 32. When you are out of combat with full Energy, your next Energy ability costs 10 less.
Damage went up. Shred went from 155% to 200% weapon damage. Claw from 110% to 140%. Ravage from 350% to 435%. Rip, Rake, Ferocious Bite and Pounce got about 25% more base points and attack power scaling. Starfire got about 40% more base damage.

Balance

Genesis doubled to 2/4/6/8/10% more periodic damage and healing.
Moonkin Form’s crit bonus is again an increase to all crits, and it is again exclusive with Leader of the Pack.

Feral

Berserk was removed.
Primal Bite returns as a row 7 pick (3 ranks) and needs Leader of the Pack. It is the Bear-focused 31-point talent.
Shifting Power is now a row 7 talent and needs the new Predatory Discipline. It is the Cat-focused 31-point talent. Predatory Discipline makes Ferocious Bite stop turning extra Energy into damage, though it still deals bonus damage from your extra Energy.
Lacerate is a 1-point talent in row 4.
Rend and Tear moved and got stronger (3/6/9/12/15% bonus damage to bleeding targets).
Heart of the Wild moved to Restoration, swapping places with Furor.

Restoration

Naturalist now gives 2/4/6/8/10% more damage and reduces Wild Growth’s cast time.
Gift of the Earthmother was removed and replaced by Bloom. When your Rejuvenation or Regrowth ends on its own, the target is healed for 100% of your Spirit (50% if dispelled).
Swiftmend now needs a Rejuvenation or Regrowth that you placed yourself.
Wild Growth now has a 3 second base cast time.

What this means: Cat Druids hit harder, Bear Druids hold enemies better, and Feral now has two clear paths: Bear or Cat.

Hunter

Traps share one 30 second cooldown. Fire and Frost traps no longer have separate cooldowns.
Aimed Shot: bonus damage up about 110%.
Arcane Shot: base damage up about 30%, and attack power scaling up from 0.1 to 0.15.
Serpent Sting: about 20% more base damage, and 5% attack power per tick (was 3%).
Aspect of the Hawk: ranged attack power by rank is now 20, 35, 50, 70, 90 and 110.
Hunter’s Mark cannot be stacked by using different ranks. A bug that made Rank 4 weaker than Rank 3 was fixed.
Pets no longer lose their attack speed passives when you untrain them.
Marksmanship: Barrage is now 5/10/15% (was 3/7/10%). Sniper Shot bonus damage up 100%. Trueshot Aura attack power by rank is 20, 35, 50, 75 and 100.
Survival: Lacerating Strikes always overwrites your own earlier bleed. Lightning Reflexes agility bonus is now 3 to 15%.

What this means: Shots hit harder across the board, and the Hunter’s single trap cooldown means you plan which trap to use.

Mage

Frost Blast was removed.
Arcane Blast: the mana cost increase per stack dropped to 100% (was 175%). Spell damage per stack is 12% of Intellect (was 15%). It now lasts 18 seconds.
Arcane: Missile Barrage now uses up at the start of the channel and sits in row 2. Arcane Resilience moved to row 1 with up to 3 points. Arcane Focus was removed and folded into Precision.
Fire: Ignite now works on Flamestrike damage after the first hit. Incineration can take 5 points for 10% crit. Critical Mass is back to 3 points for 6%. Improved Fireball is now called Accelerant and also cuts Arcane Wrath’s cast time.
Frost: Piercing Ice was removed. Ice Barrier now gives you 15% more Frost damage for 1 minute (plus 5% while the barrier holds). Frost Warding now has a chance to fully negate a spell. Precision gives 2/4/6% hit chance. Ice Lance has an 8 second cooldown shared with Fire Blast, and its bonus on Frozen targets is back to 300%. Winter’s Chill adds 20% Cone of Cold damage per stack.

What this means: Frost has a reason to go deep into the tree for PvE, and Arcane Blast is easier on your mana.

Paladin

All Paladins

Righteous Fury is now learned at level 10 (was 16), matching when other tanks get their tanking stance. It gives 33% more of all threat, plus an extra 90% threat from Holy damage.
Salvation, Mass Salvation and Revoke were removed. Blessing of Light was also removed.
Judgement of Fury lasts 3 seconds (was 4).

Holy

Oath of Light (new): 40 yard range, costs 8% of base mana, no cooldown. Protects one ally for 5 minutes and boosts your Holy Light, Flash of Light and Holy Shock healing on them. Only one Oath at a time.
Boundless Light (new): Holy Shock gets 15/30% extra crit chance on allies who do not have your Oath.
Holy Power now boosts the crit healing bonus of Holy spells by 10 to 50%.
Light’s Vigil now works only on friendly targets.
Voice of Truth was removed.

Protection

Shieldsworn (new, row 7): Holy Strike cooldown down 4 seconds, and it hits with your shield, triggering block talents without using up their charges. It also lets you block spells for 6 seconds.
Stoicism (new): Stun and Charm effects last 10/20% shorter.
Sacred Duty no longer adds Stamina, but now shortens Forbearance by 5/10 seconds.
Templar’s Bulwark is now a Magic effect and can be dispelled.
Swift Judgement now unleashes your active Seal instantly.
Improved Seal of Fury and One-Handed Weapon Specialization were removed.

Retribution

Unsealed Wrath (new 31-point talent): your melee attacks store a copy of your active Seal for 15 seconds (up to 3). Landing an attack with a different Seal uses them up.
Conviction now gives 2/4/6% crit to all spells and attacks.
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization boosts Holy and Physical damage by 2/4/6% and lowers your threat while using a two-hander.
Vengeance stacks up to 5 and needs Seal of Command.
Turn Evil (new): faster Turn Undead that also works on Demons.
Twist of Light and Instrument of Law were removed.

What this means: Paladins tank at level 10, Holy gets a new healing tool in Oath of Light, and Retribution has a flashier 31-point talent.

Priest

Shadow Word: Death now costs you 30% of your max health if it fails to kill (was 10%). It no longer hurts you if it misses.
Power Word: Shield can now be replaced by one of equal or higher rank.
Holy: Binding Heal was removed. Holy Binding takes its place: when Flash Heal heals someone else, you get 50% of that healing too, with no threat.
Shadow: Vampiric Embrace healing can no longer crit. Devouring Contagion no longer spreads from critters. Cure Disease and Abolish Disease no longer pull you out of Shadowform.
Undead Priests: Dark Sacrifice no longer breaks crowd control.

What this means: Flash Heal on a friend now helps you too, and Shadow Word: Death needs more care.

Rogue

All Rogues

Shank (new, level 24): 5 Energy, 10 second cooldown, melee range. A guaranteed off-hand strike for 50% weapon damage that gives back 15 Energy. Rank 2 at level 44 gives 25 Energy.
Poised (new, level 18): out of combat at full Energy, your next Energy ability costs 10 less.
Poisons hit harder: Deadly Poison and Instant Poison attack power scaling doubled.

Assassination

Mutilate moved to row 7 and hits for 90% weapon damage (was 75%).
Venom is now a passive: Shank boosts your poison damage by 30% and poison chance by 20% for 6 seconds.
Blood Splatter (new) lengthens Rupture by 6 seconds and Garrote by 9.
Relentless Strikes is now a 5-point talent.
Murder was removed.

Combat

Improved Eviscerate is now Coup de Grace, and it also boosts Death Mark.
Improved Sinister Strike is now Efficient Strikes, and it also cuts Hemorrhage’s cost.
Flash of Steel (new) gives more Energy from Shank and a shorter cooldown.
Composure (new) makes Poised stronger.
Dual Wield Specialization is now a 2-point talent for 25/50% off-hand damage.

Subtlety

Death Mark (new, 1 point): a finisher that marks a target, stores part of your damage, and releases it after 6 seconds. Garrote and Rupture store at double rate. 25 Energy, 20 yard range, 10 second cooldown.
Boot Knife (new): Shank has a 20 to 100% chance to add 2 combo points.
Ghostly Strike lets your next Ambush or Garrote skip the Stealth requirement.
Quick Getaway (new): sap one more target and run faster after sapping.
Hemorrhage now boosts both Rupture and Garrote by 15%.
Cutthroat, Quietus and Thousand Cuts were removed.

What this means: Shank is your new Energy engine, and Death Mark gives Subtlety a big finishing move.

Shaman

Windfury Weapon and Windfury Totem now show an extra weapon swing animation.
Totemic Projection is now Totemic Call. It brings your totems to you, with a 30 second cooldown.
Lightning Bolt base damage went up. Each rank is now roughly 78% of Classic Era base damage, but with a faster cast.
Chain Lightning now casts in 2.5 seconds. The main target takes about 145% of a comparable Lightning Bolt, and it costs about 225% of the mana.
Shocks are back to Classic Era damage values.
Elemental: Lava Burst was removed and replaced by Call of Thunder (+5% crit on Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning). Lightning Overload now has a 10/20/30% chance. Elemental Mastery is now Lightning Mastery.
Enhancement: Maelstrom Weapon’s trigger chance doubled. Stormstrike now deals 150% normalized weapon damage with a 6 second cooldown (was 8). Mental Dexterity and Flurry also improved.
Restoration: Riptide costs about 40% less mana, but now has a 12 second cooldown (was 6) and gives no instant heal, only healing over time.

What this means: Shaman spells hit harder, Enhancement has stronger melee, and Restoration needs to plan around the Riptide change.

Warlock

Spellstones now boost Shadow damage only (before, they also boosted Fire).
Pets gain 2 Health per point of your Stamina (was 7.5).
Drain Soul is much less likely to give a Soul Shard when it deals damage without a kill.
Affliction: Wrack’s spell damage scaling doubled. Base damage per second at level 60 went from 36 to 86. Amplify Curse now works on Curse of Exhaustion and Bane of Agony. Improved Drains boosts Drain Mana but no longer Wrack.
Destruction: Shadow and Flame now gives 4/8/12/16/20% more Fire or Shadow damage (was 2/4/6/8/10%).
Bane of Agony now updates its damage correctly.

What this means: Affliction and Destruction deal more damage, and your pet is more fragile.

Warrior

Defensive Stance threat bonus rose from 30% to 80%.
Slam cooldown dropped from 18 to 15 seconds.
Arms: Two-Handed Weapon Specialization is now 2/4/6%. Bloodthrill is a 2-point talent with a 10/20% chance. Improved Slam cuts the cooldown by 2.5/5 seconds.
Fury: New talents Reckless Swings (25% of base health for +5 Rage on your next 4 melee attacks, 15 second cooldown) and Improved Whirlwind (shorter cooldown and 15/30% more damage to the closest enemy). Flurry is now 10/20/30% attack speed for 3 swings after a crit, and no longer needs Death Wish. Bloodthirst now requires Death Wish. Booming Voice also reduces Piercing Howl’s Rage cost.
Protection: Defiance threat bonus is 7/13/20%.

What this means: Warrior tanks hold threat better, and Fury has more ways to generate and spend Rage.

Race Changes

These match the tuning Blizzard posted on October 26 and 27, repeated here in the final notes.

Race	Latest Changes
Dwarf	Earth Fury removed. New: Artisan’s Precision (+1% hit with spells and attacks).
Human	Ruthless now +1% crit (was 2%). Human Spirit now +10% Spirit (was 5%).
Orc	Savage removed. Command returns (+5% Warlock and Hunter pet damage). Blood Fury cooldown 2 minutes (was 3).
Skyborne	Wind-Blessed haste 2% (was 3%). Read Leyline gives 50% regeneration for 15 seconds, or 100% while Attuned. Skysight gives 15% speed for 15 seconds, or 30% while Charged. Attuned and Charged last 1 hour, survive death, and end when you enter a raid.
Tauren	Plainsrunning gives 2% speed per stack, up to 60%, and no longer helps mounted speed. Endurance only gives 5% Health.
Troll	Berserking lasts 15 seconds (was 10).
Undead	Cannibalize can again be used while immune to Physical damage. Touch of the Grave fixed to activate more often. Its internal cooldown is 15 seconds (was 25).

Gamepad Support

Gamepad support is now in a working beta. Blizzard says you can play all major gameplay and core interface features with a controller, including movement, spells, interactions and menu navigation. You can customize it in Edit Mode and the Options menu.

Highlights:

Area-effect items on the Gamepad Action Bar can be placed at a target spot. Press the button again to confirm.
Better compatibility with add-ons.
Improved bags, with remaining space and ammo counters, clearer states and better Keyring navigation.
Gamepad support for the ruleset selection screens and for skipping cinematics.
Focus target support (LB + RB + Face Down), and clearer targeting for critters, friendly corpses and enemy players.
Flight path early exit with the Back/Cancel button.
Pet Move command support.
Many Lua error and focus bug fixes.

World and Quest Changes

Faster respawns. Blizzard adjusted respawn rates in many areas to handle launch crowds. They are fastest in starting zones and slow down as you level, matching when players spread out. After the first rush, lower level zones will be adjusted back to normal rates.
Some competition for mobs is expected. Blizzard says it is part of the experience and is not trying to remove it.
Quests. XP values changed on various quests. Prerequisites and level settings were adjusted for better flow. Many quests got objective tooltips, missing map markers, and fixes to quest log zone sorting.
Satyr fix. Some satyr were wrongly marked as humanoids. They are demons now, and Blizzard jokes they are “100% more scared of Paladins.”
Barrens: you can speak to Rethgar Deathgate to start the “Counterattack!” event if it is not active. Alliance Outrunners spawn in random places.
Darkshore: “Holy Diver” now gives XP.
Mulgore: Gloomrise Hatchlings give less XP to match their lower health.
Ruins of Lordaeron: dungeon quests now all start at level 15 or higher.
Teldrassil: slightly fewer spiders for “Twisted Hatred” in The Cleft.
Wetlands: fixes for “Carnage” and “Destruction in Deadmines.”
Alterac Mountains: Dalaran Summoners stopped summoning endlessly.
Orgrimmar: the “Hidden Enemies” insignia now leaves your bags after the quest.
PvP: In the Darkspear Islands battleground, dropping the flag no longer gives you the “Recently Dropped Flag” debuff.

Before You Log In

Set aside gold for training. Plan on about 206 to 207 gold to learn every class ability by level 60.
Check your action bars after each level up. New spells will not appear on their own.
Equip new bags yourself. They will not slot in automatically.
Do not follow older talent builds blindly. Berserk, Lava Burst, Frost Blast, Salvation and several other talents are gone or changed.
Expect crowded zones. Respawns are faster at the start, but contested mobs are still likely.
Controller players: try the Gamepad beta settings in Edit Mode and Options.

Questions Players Ask

What is in the final WoW Forever beta notes? Class tuning, race tweaks, new training costs, bag and action bar changes, gamepad support, faster respawn rates and many quest fixes.

Did Blizzard buff or nerf classes? Overall, Blizzard raised damage across classes and gave higher level creatures more health to balance it. A few abilities were removed or reworked.

Which abilities were removed? Lava Burst (Shaman), Berserk (Druid), Frost Blast (Mage), Salvation, Mass Salvation, Revoke and Blessing of Light (Paladin), Binding Heal (Priest), Murder and Cutthroat (Rogue), and several talents.

How much does training cost? About 206 to 207 gold to learn all class abilities from level 1 to 60, for every class.

Will Blizzard keep balancing classes? Yes. Blizzard says it does not plan big tuning changes before raids open, but expects a large pass once players are past level 30.

Is gamepad support in WoW Forever? Yes, in a working beta state. All major gameplay and core interface features can be used with a controller.

Why do new spells not show on my bars? Blizzard changed that on purpose. You place new spells yourself.

Do the race changes still apply? Yes. They match the October 26 and 27 tuning.