News
Older Blizzard news and blue posts about WoW Forever, newest first, each summarized in our own words with a link to the original.
Blizzard's WoW Weekly for 2 October pointed to the new WoW Forever class deep dives on 
Hunter, 
Druid, 
Priest and 
Warrior. It also announced episode 2 of the WoW Forever series, which is about class design. The rest of the roundup is about modern WoW.
KaivaxBlizzard added more Warrior changes to the 2 October Beta build's development notes, with a Fury talent rework and a reshuffled Protection tree. Extra Rage from critical strikes rose to 100% (was 75%), and a bug that gave Dual Wield Specialization's hit bonus to both weapons was fixed. Fury gains three new talents and loses two, 
Whirlwind now hits with both weapons by default, and Protection talents move up so players without a shield can reach the middle of the tree.
KaivaxOn 1 October Blizzard said it knew of an issue preventing testers from logging into the Beta and was working on a fix.
KaivaxBlizzard's 1 October update to the known-issues list adds a long list of new problems. Enemies can parry and block from behind at close range, chained casts delay the next spell's effects, Dual Wield Specialization gives hit chance to both hands and 
Retribution Aura uses the target's spell power. The install is also larger than intended.
KaivaxThe beta's level cap rises to 30, Razorfen Downs and Uldaman open, and a new dungeon, Excavation Site: Wetlands, is added. Warrior and Druid talents change widely, PvP honor costs go up, and many quests and respawns are fixed.
KaivaxIn a thread about the podcast, Blizzard pointed players to where the first two episodes of the official WoW Forever podcast can be found, with links to the forum posts for episodes 1 and 2.
KaivaxBlizzard plans to give every WoW Forever beta tester 16 Legacy points in a future beta week, so the Legacy system can be tested without long leveling first. It expects to leave the grant in place until the beta ends.
KaivaxBlizzard says it keeps acting on Beta accounts that botted for gold and on accounts that bought or knowingly received illicit gold. It will keep doing so in the Beta and after launch, plans to add an in-game warning when trading with strangers, and restates the penalties for anyone involved in illicit gold.
KaivaxOn the evening of 30 September PDT Blizzard said the Beta would go offline on the morning of 1 October for maintenance. It would return several hours later with a new build, fixes and the level cap raised to 30. At 10:12 a.m. PDT on 1 October a follow-up said the shutdown was about 45 minutes away.
Blizzard announced episode 2 of its WoW Forever series, titled Speedrunning Classes, on 1 October. Senior Game Designers Josh Greenfield and Aidan Moon and Principal Game Designer Kris Zierhut explain the beta's class design rules, then go class by class through recent and planned changes.
Blizzard's Priest and Warrior deep dive lists every change to both classes in WoW Forever, from baseline spells and Priest racials to all six talent trees. Priests get 
Shadow Word: Death at level 32, 
Gnome racial spells and new gold medal talents such as 
Penance and 
Prayer of Mending. Warriors get a reworked Rage system, 
Victory Rush and 
Tactical Mastery as baseline, and 
Weaponmaster in place of the weapon specialization talents. Blizzard says abilities and talents may still change during the beta.
Blizzard's first class deep dive covers Hunter and Druid in WoW Forever, setting out the baseline, pet and talent changes in all six trees. Hunters get 
Aimed Shot at level 20, traps in combat and a unique ability for every pet family; Druids can do far more without leaving a form and gain Lacerate, 
Revive and new capstones such as 
Berserk and 
Wild Growth. A staff reply fixed the 
Sniper Shot entry, and Blizzard says abilities may still change during the beta.
Blizzard's first class video, part one of three, describes changes to Warrior, 
Shaman and 
Rogue in Forever. It frames them as familiar classes reworked to still feel like Classic, with some modern quality-of-life improvements. For Protection Warriors, rage now flows steadily while dealing damage, tied to weapon speed, where it used to scale with how hard you hit. It is also worked out from the damage an enemy tried to deal before reduction, so better defensive gear no longer costs you rage. 
Thunder Clap works in 
Defensive Stance as a new area control tool, and 
Vanguard allows 
Charge from Defensive Stance for mobility without hurting rage or threat. There are new talents around 
Revenge for extra damage, and 
Shield Wall, 
Retaliation and 
Recklessness no longer share a cooldown. Arms gets Weapon Master, one passive that replaces the old weapon specialization talents so a new weapon does not force a new build, plus 
Spearing Strike, a low-damage attack that dismounts players and deals bonus damage to giants and dragons. Fury stays dual-wielding: the Raging Blows talent makes Whirlwind strike with the offhand weapon and lowers the rage cost of 
Cleave. Restoration Shamans get three new spells that place a customisable set of four totems in one cast, a totem bar to choose which four go with each, and 
Totemic Projection to relocate active totems. They also gain 
Riptide, an instant heal that keeps healing over time, and 
Chain Heal on a Riptide target is more effective. 
Elemental Shamans share the totem bar and projection, and totems now last 5 minutes instead of two. 
Fire Nova becomes a spell that hits enemies near your placed fire totem, 
Lava Burst adds more damage on a target under 
Flame Shock, and 
Lightning Overload gives Lightning Bolt and 
Chain Lightning a chance to cast again free at half damage. Rogue energy now recovers continuously. 
Subtlety gets more options after the opener, with stealth and bleeds such as 
Rupture and 
Garrote playing a bigger part, and the Cutthroat talent allows 
Ambush outside stealth. 
Assassination's 
Mutilate hits with both weapons, improving the chance to crit and trigger 
Seal Fate, and a new finisher, 
Venom, raises poison damage and the chance poisons proc. Combat merges its weapon specializations into 
Hack and Slash, which works with any weapon. The video ends by announcing part two, on Hunters, 
Paladins and 
Mages.
KaivaxA player asked for the Kyle questline to return to Mulgore. Blizzard replied on 28 September that it is working on it and to stay tuned.
Blizzard's video introduces six new race and class combinations in Forever. They are 
Undead Paladin, 
Dwarf Shaman, 
Human Hunter, 
Orc Mage, Gnome Priest and 
Troll 
Warlock. It spends nearly all its time on the Undead Paladin, whom the Forsaken have seen as persecutors rather than protectors for the past 20 years of WoW. The video says the origin story of Forsaken Paladins can be experienced in Warcraft III's Forsaken Kingdom, that it does not want to spoil it, and that the events there will be felt in Forever. The Paladin class quests tie into that storyline. When players meet these Paladins, they are only starting to establish their new order in Tirisfal Glades, and that is where the journey begins. The Paladins keep their keep away from the Undercity, and the distance is deliberate. The Forsaken fear and hate organisations such as the Scarlet Crusade and the Silver Hand, so they reject any Undead who channel the light as Paladins. The Dark Lady tolerates liberated Undead in the Undercity but distrusts the Paladins deeply. The central struggle of the story is therefore not only learning abilities but proving you are still Forsaken, and the video frames the quest as one of retribution rather than the usual redemption. The Undead Paladin's mount unlocks at level 40, and at level 60, after finishing the epic mount quest line, it is joined by a Forsaken charger. The other five combinations get a line each: Dwarf Shamans open the Alliance up to totems and the elements; Orc Mages turn from their fel heritage to arcane, fire and frost; Human Hunters roam the towns and farms of Stormwind with their beasts; Troll Warlocks are drawn into the dark arts by their Orc comrades; and Gnome Priests bring whimsy and ingenuity to the light. The video calls the six just the beginning. It gives no dates and no ability details.
Blizzard announced that WoW Forever would be at PAX Aus from Friday 9 October to Sunday 11 October AEDT, with a keynote, a dungeon deep dive and a beta booth. Executive producer Holly Longdale was set to open the show with the Storytime keynote, joined by associate production director Clay Stone with a detailed look at a new WoW Forever dungeon.
KaivaxBlizzard restated that RMT is not acceptable and that it is taking steps against it in the WoW Forever Beta and after launch. It says it will increasingly act against buyers' accounts, not only sellers', by removing the illicit gold and possibly taking further action up to account closure.
KaivaxOn 27 September Blizzard replied to a report of players getting a login queue after a disconnect. It found and fixed the problem that was filling the queue.
KaivaxOn 25 September Blizzard announced it would shut down and restart the Beta within minutes to apply stability fixes. The maintenance was expected to be short.
Blizzard said the first official WoW Forever podcast episode was well received. Episode 2 was announced to focus on class design with systems designers. The team asked players which other topics they want developers to discuss in later episodes.
Blizzard's WoW Weekly for 25 September led with WoW Forever articles on rulesets, names, race and class options, the Skyborne and the Legacy System. It also announced episode 1 of the WoW Forever podcast and the Escape Together event.
Blizzard announced a WoW Forever Escape Together event: a live stream on Friday, October 23 and a Scarlet Monastery escape room open in Toronto October 8–11. The streamed teams compete as Horde and Alliance before a last joint escape room challenge.
KaivaxBlizzard said on 25 September it was tracking server problems affecting some beta testers and that the fix would almost certainly mean restarting servers that day.
Blizzard is issuing forced name changes to Forever Beta characters that broke its naming policies, and removed beta access for some of the worst names. The development team carried out and individually reviewed the actions, Customer Service will not help with appeals, and testers are asked not to test the naming enforcement system Blizzard says is coming very shortly.