WoW Forever beta patch notes, October 15: class redesigns, racials and fixes

The October 15 WoW Forever beta update reworks several talent trees and racial abilities, extends familiar buffs to the whole raid, and addresses quest, controller and interface problems. Blizzard’s post appeared on October 16 in UTC; October 15 is the update date used here.

World, graphics and controls

• Fog no longer becomes excessively bright at lower shadow settings. Horde characters can no longer gain Kirin Tor reputation. Creatures correctly regenerate health outside combat.
• Holding Night Watchman's Torch is corrected for affected Horde characters. Drink tooltips now show the correct total Mana restored.
• New players receive a new tutorial experience.
• Bloom Intensity becomes a slider under Advanced graphics options.
• The new Auto Attack/Auto Shot setting lets Hunters switch automatically between melee auto attacks and Auto Shot, including on gamepad.
• Wands require 0.5 seconds standing still before firing.

Racial abilities

Tauren

• Endurance changes from 1% hit chance to 2% increased critical damage and healing.
• Plainsrunning additionally gives 3% mounted movement speed, stacking with other mounted speed bonuses. Maintaining it now requires a minimum distance traveled per second. Blizzard explains that stutter-stepping no longer suffices, while the requirement allows some leeway for movement penalties.
• Cultivation has a 15-minute cooldown, down from 60 minutes. War Stomp drops from 2 minutes to 90 seconds.

Dwarf

• Mace Specialization is replaced by Earth Fury: 2% increased critical damage and healing.
• Find Treasure also gives a chance for extra items in most chests.

Skyborne

• Wind Blessed grants 3% haste instead of 1%.
• Skysight and Read Ley Line can be cast while moving. Read Leyline’s minimum duration rises from 20 to 30 seconds.
• Walk on Air drops from a 2-minute cooldown to 90 seconds.
• Most Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor zones gain more Elemental Convergence and Leyline spawn locations.

Human and Orc

• Human Sword Specialization becomes Ruthless, granting 2% critical strike chance.
• Orc Axe Specialization becomes Savage, granting 1% critical strike chance.
• Blood Fury rises from a 2-minute cooldown to 3 minutes.
• Shatter Curse dispels Curses and Banes rather than granting immunity. Its reduction to magic damage taken falls from 15% to 5%.

Undead

• The post announces steadier procs and revised visuals for Touch of the Grave.
• Its detailed bullets use the name “Touch of the Dead”: a 30% proc chance for casters, 20% for Paladins/Rogues/Warriors, and a 25-second internal cooldown. They also remove scaling from Shadow increases on either caster or target, and remove the lower multiplier when using a lower-rank spell. Blizzard says the downranking penalty did not belong on a racial ability. The post does not explain the two names, so their identity remains unclear.
• Will of the Forsaken is unavailable while affected by Scatter Shot.

Gnome, Night Elf and Troll

• Eureka! becomes an 8-second buff without charges, retains its damage and ability-cost effects, and also benefits Power Word: Shield. A separate line says Eureka cannot work correctly in stealth or invisibility; it does not clarify whether this is an intended restriction or an outstanding problem.
• Quickness movement speed stacks with other movement bonuses. Shields are hidden in Wisp Form.
• Regeneration health regeneration bonuses rise from 10% to 20%.

Analysis: The former weapon specializations now grant broader combat bonuses. This changes the racial comparison beyond weapon choice; the notes alone do not establish a best race for any class.

Druid

• Higher ranks of Rejuvenation no longer block another Druid’s Rejuvenation.
• Omen of Clarity no longer procs from resource-free Faerie Fire in Cat Form, Bear Form or Dire Bear Form.
• Faerie Fire generates threat in Bear and Dire Bear Form, instead of merely starting combat at zero threat. Multiple Faerie Fire debuffs no longer coexist on one target.
• Rank 1 Shred is learned at level 20 instead of 22, addressing access to Shredding Attacks before either Shred or Lacerate.
• Heart of the Wild, Feral Swiftness, Thick Hide and Leader of the Pack correctly apply at login.

Balance and Feral

• Multiple Insect Swarm effects no longer continue reducing the target’s hit chance.
• Moonkin Aura affects only spell critical strike chance and reaches the whole raid. Leader of the Pack affects only melee and ranged critical strike chance and also reaches the raid.
• Shred’s tooltip flat damage reflects Savage Fury’s percentage bonus. Blizzard specifies that actual damage is unchanged.
• Furor retains the Energy held on the previous Cat Form visit even after Bear or Dire Bear Form. Those bear forms still prevent Energy regeneration.

Hunter

• Auto Shot requires 0.5 seconds standing still before firing. Blizzard confirms that it still fires during casts such as Aimed Shot and Sniper Shot.
• Arrows display correctly with a drawn bow. Pets benefit from Expertise and inherit whichever critical strike chance is higher: melee or ranged, rather than always melee.
• Fire traps scale correctly with Attack Power. A Hunter can maintain one Fire Trap and one Ice Trap simultaneously, instead of one trap across all types.

Pet abilities

Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival

• Summon Hawk spawns at the chosen target and keeps the Hawk attached to that target.
• Improved Mend Pet reduces Mend Pet’s Mana cost rather than increasing it.
• Trueshot Aura reaches the raid. Sniper Shot benefits from the previously missed Marksmanship talents.
• Strider Kick works while disarmed or with no main-hand weapon. Resourcefulness correctly reduces its Mana cost.
• Resourcefulness correctly triggers on critical hits, but only melee or ranged ability criticals qualify; traps do not trigger it. Blizzard attributes that restriction to preventing repeated proc generation.
• Predator's Edge’s tooltip clarifies that its critical damage bonus applies only to abilities.

Mage

Frost Blast is a new level-24 spell: a 1.5-second cast that deals low Frost damage and chills/slows movement by 40%. Frostbolt-affecting talents apply to it. Blizzard describes it as a replacement for Rank 1 Frostbolt’s utility after downranking penalties, with somewhat higher damage and Mana cost.

Arcane

• Presence of Mind is correctly consumed by casts. Missile Barrage no longer reduces a second Arcane Missiles channel’s cost and duration.
• Missile Barrage moves to row 1 as a two-point talent and can also proc from Arcane Missiles hits.
• Arcane Blast becomes a 1.5-second cast. Each cast grants Spell Damage equal to 15% of Intellect, stacking four times, and still increases Arcane Blast’s cost. The effect lasts 15 seconds from its first application rather than ending on the next spell. Base Mana cost is unchanged; damage and Spell Damage coefficients fall 40%.
• Arcane Wrath is a new 16-point gold-medal talent: a 3.5-second cast, Fireball-like base damage, additional damage calculated with Spell Power equal to 5% maximum Mana, and a 6-second cooldown.

Fire and shared fixes

• Heating Up survives a Pyroblast cast made with Presence of Mind. Each Fire Blast gives an additional charge, meaning a Fire Blast critical gives two.
• The former Wake of Fire reverts to Improved Fire Blast, loses its kill bonus and adds 8/15 yards to Fire Blast range.
• Critical Mass allows five points for 10% total critical strike chance.
• Fire Power becomes a three-point talent: 1/2/3% additional Fire damage per qualifying Fire effect on the target, capped at 12%. Blizzard names Ignite, Improved Scorch, Fireball, Pyroblast and Impact as qualifying effects. Mixed-school spells do not add a qualifying effect: Frostfire Bolt can benefit but does not generate the bonus.
• Frost Channeling correctly reduces threat. Ice Block’s excessive transparency is fixed.
• Clearcasting (Arcane Concentration) no longer rolls separately for every target hit, cannot proc from Dampen Magic or Amplify Magic, and cannot proc from abilities used outside combat.

Frost

• Ice Armor and Frost Armor can trigger Frostbite and Fingers of Frost.
• Ice Lance’s damage increase against Frozen targets falls from 300% to 200%.
• The first four Cone of Cold targets receive another 10% movement reduction and 3 additional seconds of slow. Blizzard explains that limiting this strength to four targets avoids the previous mass-control problem. Its visual position is also adjusted.
• Winter's Chill stops increasing critical strike chance and is consumed by the next Cone of Cold. The post gives two different damage descriptions: first, 40% more Cone of Cold damage per stack; later, 5% more damage taken from the next Cone of Cold plus an additional 7% of the Mage’s Spell Damage per stack, with up to five stacks.
• That later description gives Frostbolt, Frost Blast and Fingers of Frost-empowered Ice Lance a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to apply Winter’s Chill. These details are preserved separately because the post does not reconcile the two damage formulas.

Analysis: Arcane Blast’s announced bonus remains available for other casts during its duration. Winter’s Chill’s conflicting numbers prevent a reliable Cone of Cold damage calculation from these notes alone.

Paladin

• Seal of Fury is no longer overwritten by Power Word: Shield. Rank 3 training moves from the incorrect level 25 to level 26.
• Blessing of Salvation and Greater Blessing of Salvation are replaced by Salvation and Mass Salvation. Application works as before, but they can coexist with blessings.
• Learning Salvation also teaches Revoke, which removes Salvation or Mass Salvation from a party or raid member. Blizzard says this restores precise control over who receives the effect.
• Judgement of Righteousness and Judgement of Fury receive the correct instant-spell coefficients. The separately listed incorrect Judgement of Righteousness Spell Damage coefficient is also addressed.
• Seal of Righteousness no longer receives almost double its intended Spell Damage contribution.
• Consecration’s Spell Power coefficient per tick falls from 0.095 to 0.042. Righteous Fury’s Holy-damage threat bonus rises from 60% to 90%.

Holy, Protection and Retribution

• Focus macros correctly direct Light's Vigil. Infusion of Light no longer incorrectly adds 50% enemy damage to Holy Shock.
• Shield Specialization restores 4% Mana instead of 6%; its 3-second internal cooldown remains.
• Reckoning stores one charge per trigger, up to four. The next melee auto attack spends all charges for one extra attack each. Blizzard explains that delaying them until that swing preserves charge storage and prevents instant attacks from resetting the auto-attack timer.
• Champion of the Light grants Spell Damage equal to 10/20/30% of Intellect instead of 20/40/60%.
• Sanctified Judgement’s Mana restoration generates no threat.

Priest

• Higher Renew ranks no longer block another Priest’s Renew. Rank 5 Holy Fire periodic damage no longer exceeds rank 6.
• Power Word: Shield properly reports when a stronger shield prevents replacement, and no longer prints SHIELDED twice in scrolling combat text.
• Devouring Plague drops from a 1-minute cooldown to 24 seconds. Shadow Word: Death rises from 12 to 18 seconds.
• Mind Vision no longer makes its target stand up and stop drinking.

Discipline

• Inner Focus applies to one spell even when another spell is queued during Penance.
• Divine Aegis’s tooltip specifies non-periodic critical heals and states its maximum shield value.
• Power in Light increases Smite and Penance when the target has Holy Fire or Shadow Word: Pain.
• Silent Resolve reduces threat from all spells.
• Mental Strength moves from row 4 to row 2 and grants 2/4/6/8/10% Intellect. Improved Power Word: Shield moves from row 2 to row 3.
• Twin Disciplines correctly benefits Shadow Word: Death, Mind Flay, Starshards and Penance.

Shadow

• Shadow Word: Death benefits from Shadowform’s critical damage increase.
• Devouring Contagion’s bounced Devouring Plague no longer costs Mana, plays a cast animation or resets the caster’s cooldown to full. It now spreads to two targets.
• Vampiric Embrace cannot be resisted and drops from a 1-minute cooldown to 30 seconds.
• Improved Fade and Shadow Infinity are removed. Improved Mind Blast moves from row 3 to row 2.
• New row-4 talent Dark Inspiration: Mind Blast and fully channeled Mind Flay grant the Priest and party 3/6/9/12/15% Spirit for 10 seconds.
• Improved Mind Flay makes each damage instance deal 10/20% more damage than the preceding instance.
• Shadow Weaving’s tooltip clarifies that the increased damage taken applies to the casting Priest’s damage.

Rogue

• Poisons no longer incorrectly activate against attackers. Sap cannot activate weapon procs.
• Switching specializations no longer keeps Energy full.
• Assassination: Cold Blood is consumed when Mutilate critically hits.

Shaman

• Totemic Recall training costs the intended 22 silver instead of 70. Grounding Totem is destroyed after redirecting a spell.
• Windfury Weapon extra attacks appear as white hits in scrolling combat text.
• Grace of Air Totem can coexist with Windfury Totem or Flametongue Totem; Windfury and Flametongue remain mutually exclusive.
• Grace of Air, Strength of Earth Totem, Windfury and Flametongue totems reach the raid. Windfury and Flametongue correctly affect players only.
• All four Chain Lightning ranks cost approximately 35% less Mana.
• Fire Nova’s Spell Power coefficient falls from 0.214 to 0.143, with substantially lower base damage and Mana cost.
• Chain Heal’s visual gains some green while preserving its original appearance.

Elemental

• Elemental Focus’s Clearcasting cannot be spent on the Fire Nova that triggered it. Lightning Overload procs also stop consuming Clearcasting.
• Elemental Mastery returns as the 31-point gold-medal talent, requiring Lava Burst. For 15 seconds, it reduces Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst cast times by 0.5 seconds and removes Chain Lightning’s cooldown. Its own cooldown is 3 minutes.
• Lava Burst moves from row 7 to row 5 as the 21-point gold-medal talent, gains rank 4 and redistributed ranks, and loses its prerequisite.
• Elemental Fury requires Lightning Overload, which requires Elemental Alacrity. Elemental Alacrity moves from row 3 to row 2; Elemental Warding moves from row 2 to row 3.
• Call of Thunder is removed. Earthbound moves to row 4 as the 16-point gold-medal talent.
• Elemental Reach also reduces Totemic Projection’s cooldown by 10/20 seconds. Call of Flame also extends Flame Shock by 3/6/9 seconds.
• Numerous talent columns move to accommodate the revised positions and connections.
• Fire Nova’s tooltip correctly reflects Trial By Fire, formerly Improved Fire Nova.

Enhancement and Restoration

• Stormstrike’s debuff survives a missed spell and cannot be consumed by other players or their pets. Cost becomes 8% base Mana instead of a fixed 125 Mana.
• Mana Tide Totem gains a level-38 rank: ranks are learned at 25, 38, 48 and 58 instead of 25, 48 and 58.
• Restorative Totems increases all of Healing Stream Totem’s effect, rather than only its base value.
• Tidal Focus and Totemic Focus swap positions: Tidal Focus moves to row 1, Totemic Focus to row 2.
• Water Shield can trigger from any critical spell the Shaman casts, rather than only critical heals.

Analysis: Moonkin Aura, Leader of the Pack, Trueshot Aura, these Shaman totems and Battle Shout gain raid coverage. That expands their recipients; it does not establish that duplicate buffs stack.

Warlock

• Reagent Economy no longer lets Summon Incubus bypass its Soul Shard cost.
• Multiple Curse of Recklessness debuffs cannot coexist on a target.
• Affliction: Malediction is replaced by Grim Reach, increasing Affliction spell range by 10/20%. Shadow Mastery increases Shadow spell damage by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Demonology: Soul Link can correctly be cast on the pet.
• Destruction: Destructive Reach grants 10/20% Destruction spell range.

Warrior

• Battle Shout reaches the raid. Slam is immune to spell pushback.
• Overpower can trigger against substantially lower-level enemies.
• Arms: Weaponmaster’s Sword Specialization no longer triggers from Shield Bash or Shield Slam.
• Fury: Lingering Rage no longer stops post-combat health regeneration. Improved Berserker Rage correctly removes movement-impairing effects.

Gamepad support

• A swing timer appears on the center reticle. Chat Channels gains bindings to toggle voice-channel transcription. Your fishing bobber remains targetable.
• Using a ground-targeted item a second time confirms placement.
• Custom Edit Mode layouts no longer hide the gamepad action bar after relogging; cast-bar customization is corrected too.
• Class flyout actions are easier to activate. Quest reward selection no longer blocks affected completions, and quests from objects or other non-character givers can be turned in.
• Press and Hold Casting supports gamepad.
• Trade confirmation, Guild & Communities, Chat Channels and Transmog interfaces are updated for gamepad use.

Items and Legacy

• Mystic Mushroom and Enchant Weapon - Insight correctly increase Spirit.
• Morbent's Bane no longer plays its visual on nearby players.
• Scrolls trigger a global cooldown. Many profession-crafted items sell to vendors for less.
• Draught of Predatory Senses becomes a Potion, shares the Combat Potion cooldown and has a shorter duration; the notes give no replacement duration.
• Bartering no longer discounts training or repairs.
• Master Chef and Luremaster move one row left visually. Blizzard says their five-point access requirement was already in place and is unchanged.
• The Quick and the Dead should affect more Priest spells; the post does not list which ones.

Quests and the open world

• Quest items incorrectly dropping for multiple players are corrected.
• Ashenvale: more Bloodtooth Guards are available for Raene's Cleansing.
• Dalaran: Horde characters are attacked on sight under all circumstances. The Dalaran Sewer Key questline no longer grants unrestricted open-world city access, while City of Dalaran dungeon access is unchanged.
• Darkshore: more furbolg camps correctly count for How Big a Threat?. For Love Eternal can always be turned in to Cerellian Whiteclaw. In Body and Heart, Cenarion Moondust is no longer consumed on the stone, allowing a later retry to summon Lunaclaw.
• Mulgore: Novice Warriors no longer flag players for PvP during Sparring Match.
• Stormwind: The Attack! is no longer an escort and can be shared during its event. Speak to Tyrion to start an inactive event.
• Teldrassil: Lord Melenas no longer evades at low health during Twisted Hatred.
• Wetlands: respawns are increased and made more consistent in several areas, including Dragonmaw Orcs, Gnolls and Incendicite Ore.
• Zephras Isle: Halaan's Gift can correctly scry the anchors for The Anchors of Zephras.
• Battleground Marks of Honor stack to 30 instead of 20.

Analysis: The Dalaran change distinguishes dungeon access from travel through the outdoor city. Completing the key questline no longer provides safe passage through that city for Horde characters.

Interface

• Unit frames and the minimap header have revised displays. The Cooldown Manager groups different ranks of one spell into a single entry.
• The Auction House adds an equippable-level column and correctly shows stats for suffix items such as “of the Monkey.”
• Detailed scrolling-combat-text controls are added under Options → Gameplay → Combat → Scrolling Combat Text for Self → Text on Me/Text on Target. Searching for “Threat” finds Aggro Display.
• Enemy/NPC nameplate visibility above and below the player is adjusted to reduce clutter; the current target’s nameplate is unchanged.
• Level-up messages again show stat increases and talent points. In-game tutorials are updated.
• Looking For Group correctly refreshes dungeon eligibility for mixed-level parties. Show All Level Ranges correctly refreshes the dungeon list.
• Misplaced art in the Professions panel is fixed.
• Who searches include subzones: a character in Northshire Valley appears in both /who northshire and /who elwynn.
• The refresh-world prompt cannot be accepted during combat.