WoW Forever News · Eternadex

Stress test moved: Wednesday, Oct 21, open to everyone

2026-10-16T20:40:00Z

Blizzard moved the free WoW Forever stress test from October 19 to October 21. Any WoW account can join, no subscription needed.

When?

Americas and Oceania: Wednesday, Oct 21, 2:00 PM PDT
Europe: Oct 21, 7:00 PM CEST
Taipei 5:00 AM and Korea 6:00 AM on Oct 22
Blizzard says it will run for "a few hours", no exact end time.

How does it work?

The beta goes offline first, the test runs on the real live servers
The beta reopens afterwards

Important: Everything is wiped after the test, names included. A name you grab during the stress test won't be yours. Name reservation starts October 27 with an upgrade pack.

Talent patch Oct 15: what changes for your talents

2026-10-16T00:15:00Z

With the October 15 beta build, Blizzard reworked several talent trees. We compared the new client build with the old one: 4 talents are new, 4 were removed and 27 changed. Priest, Elemental Shaman, Mage and Warlock are hit hardest.

✨ Priest

Shadow: Shadow Affinity and Improved Fade are gone. New is Dark Inspiration: Mind Blast and fully channeled Mind Flay raise your group's Spirit by up to 15% for 10 seconds
Improved Mind Flay now makes each tick deal 10/20% more damage than the one before, instead of extra range and a slow
Vampiric Embrace is down to a 30-second cooldown
Discipline: Mental Strength moves to row 2 and gives up to 10% Intellect; Improved Power Word: Shield moves to row 3

⚡ Shaman (Elemental)

The tree is reordered: Earthbound is the 16-point talent (Earthbind Totem roots enemies for 5 seconds), Lava Burst the 21-point talent
Elemental Mastery returns as the 31-point talent: for 15 seconds, faster Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst casts and no cooldown on Chain Lightning
Call of Thunder was removed

🔥 Mage

New at 16 points in the Arcane tree: Arcane Wrath. The game data doesn't tell us for sure whether it can already be picked in the beta
Fire: Fire Power is down to 3 ranks and scales with your Fire effects on the target, Critical Mass has 5 ranks, and Combustion now requires Critical Mass 5/5
Missile Barrage moves to the first row, Winter's Chill was redesigned

💀 Warlock

Affliction: Malediction is gone, replaced by Grim Reach (+20% range for Affliction spells)
Shadow Mastery is twice as strong (up to 10%)

Smaller changes hit Paladin (Champion of the Light now 10/20/30% of Intellect), Hunter, Rogue and Warrior. For the Druid, only names and translations changed.

⚠️ What this means for you: Talent setups from before October 15 may no longer be valid. Our talent calculator and every build on Eternadex are up to date. Old share links still work; removed points simply drop out. All other changes in the patch are in our patch notes.

Annual subscription: bonus cosmetics for WoW Forever too

2026-10-15T20:12:59Z

Blizzard rewards long subscriptions with cosmetic bonuses – three of them are exclusive to WoW Forever.

Who gets them?

Anyone who buys a 12-month subscription or 365 days of game time
One subscription covers current WoW, WoW Forever and WoW Classic (currently Mists of Pandaria Classic)

Only in WoW Forever

Tabard Tabard of Eternal Exploration (transmog)
Backpack Eternal Explorer's Backpack (transmog)
Pet Azurky
Plus another bonus for the Lunar New Year that Blizzard hasn't revealed yet

For the other versions there are mounts: Ashen Dreadglider and Giant Grrloc in current WoW, Cerulean Drake in WoW Classic.

Dates

The first bonuses arrive by October 31, 2026
The Lunar New Year bonuses follow by January 31, 2027 at the latest
Redeem by April 30, 2027
If you already have a 12-month subscription, keep auto-renewal switched on

The article doesn't list prices; you'll find them in the Battle.net shop.

⚠️ What this means for you: The bonuses are purely cosmetic and give no gameplay advantage. If you need a subscription for launch anyway, you get the three Forever items on top.

Beta maintenance today from 10:15 PM CEST: new build

2026-10-15T20:00:23Z

The WoW Forever beta goes offline today (October 15) at 10:15 PM CEST.

What's coming?

A new build with, according to Blizzard, many changes and bug fixes
It will be deployed during the maintenance and then tested internally

When will it be back?

Blizzard hasn't given a time.

Patch notes: The development notes will be fully updated after the maintenance. We'll summarize them as soon as they're out.

⚠️ What this means for you: The beta is not playable tonight from 10:15 PM CEST. There are exactly three weeks left until the launch on November 5.

Class preview: Paladin

2026-10-15T19:00:06Z

Blizzard has published the in-depth class deep dive for the Paladin. The focus is on Seals and Judgements, plus more options for Holy, Protection and Retribution. Everything can still change before launch.

Baseline abilities

New at level 6: Holy Strike, instant Holy damage (50% weapon damage plus a bonus per rank)
Judgement no longer consumes the active Seal
New at level 10: Seal of Fury – extra Holy damage on every melee hit (worth it with fast weapons) and a shield for half of that damage; its Judgement taunts the target within 10 yd
All Paladins get Consecration at level 20; it is no longer a Holy talent
Lay on Hands: 20-minute cooldown instead of 1 hour
The resistance auras affect the entire raid within 30 yd
Seal twisting is no longer a baseline technique but the Retribution talent Twist of Light

Holy

Holy Shock already at 21 points, 10 s cooldown (was 30 s)
New 31-point talent Light's Vigil: works on allies or enemies; your next Holy Shock on that target triggers no cooldown
More new talents: Reverence (mana regeneration while casting), Infusion of Light (faster Holy Light after critical strikes), Voice of Truth (6 s immunity to silence and interrupts)

Protection

New: Templar's Bulwark (21 points) – a shield equal to your maximum health for 8 s, 5-minute cooldown
New: Swift Judgement (16 points) – instantly resets the cooldown of Judgement
Redoubt no longer requires a critical hit, up to 20% block chance
Reckoning can now also trigger after blocks (40%), at most once every 1.5 s
Blessing of Kings becomes a baseline ability, Blessing of Sanctuary is removed

Retribution

New: Sacred Arbiter (16 points) – Holy Strike +20% and refreshes all Judgements on the target, including those of other Paladins
Vengeance stacks up to three times, 3% each, for 30 s
Repentance already at 21 points, Pursuit of Justice up to 15% speed
Sanctity Aura and Improved Retribution Aura are removed

⚠️ What this means for you: With a taunt, a shield and Templar's Bulwark, Protection gets a complete tanking toolkit. Retribution plays around Holy Strike and switching Seals.

Podcast episode 4: All about PvP

2026-10-15T16:18:58Z

The fourth episode of the official WoW Forever podcast is online.

Topic: PvP in WoW Forever
Guests: the streamers TipsOutBaby and Savix

So far, a new episode has come out every Thursday. You can find our overview of battlegrounds, honor and PvP gear via the links below.

Short beta maintenance on October 14

2026-10-14T14:49:49Z

The WoW Forever beta was briefly offline on October 14 from 5:00 PM CEST.

Why?

Blizzard ran internal tests. A few hours at most had been announced.

When was it back?

By around 5:50 PM CEST, Blizzard reported that the realms would be back shortly.

⚠️ What this means for you: Just a short break; nothing changes for your characters or progress.

New measure against gold buying: temporary trade restriction

2026-10-13T23:58:34Z

Blizzard is using a new tool in the beta against trading gold for real money: the temporary economy restriction.

What happens?

If an account is suspected of selling or buying gold, trading, mail, the guild bank and the Auction House are restricted.
This is meant to stop suspicious gold before it is passed on and enters circulation. It gives Blizzard time to investigate.

What happens next?

If the suspicion turns out to be wrong, the restriction is lifted automatically.
If it is confirmed, penalties against the account follow.
The restriction on its own does not remain on the account as a warning.

Good to know: The system is new, so there may be false alarms at first. According to Blizzard, normal players will hardly ever see the restriction. If it proves itself, it is to come to all versions of WoW.

⚠️ What this means for you: Turn down gold from strangers, even small gifts. Our guide shows you how to earn gold honestly.

Correction to the Class Deep Dive: Rogue

2026-10-08T21:40:00Z

Blizzard has corrected two passages in the Class Deep Dive for Rogue and Warlock (according to Blizzard, simply a human error).

Combat & Subtlety – weapons

Combat and Subtlety support all weapon types.
Combat focuses on hard-hitting direct damage and some cleave damage via Blade Flurry.
Subtlety focuses on combat tricks and bleed effects.

Puncturing Wounds (formerly Improved Backstab)

Now also increases the critical strike chance of Mutilate by a smaller percentage.
Gives Backstab a chance to grant an extra combo point.

Beta maintenance today from 6:00 PM CEST

2026-10-08T21:40:00Z

The WoW Forever beta goes offline today (October 8) at 6:00 PM CEST for maintenance and updates.

When will it be back?

The realms are expected to return by around midnight CEST.

Why earlier than usual?

Maintenance starts earlier than on previous Thursdays because several fixes for technical background issues (not gameplay-related) are being deployed and then tested internally.
A whole package of bug fixes and gameplay adjustments is also included.

What's next?

The development notes and the known issues list will be fully updated over the course of the day.

⚠️ What this means for you: from 6:00 PM CEST tonight until around midnight, the beta is not playable.

Patch notes Oct 8 – Part 2/2: Classes

2026-10-08T21:32:57Z

⚔️ Rage for Warriors and Druids

Several bugs with rage from damage taken have been fixed: until now, more Stamina meant less rage, critical and crushing blows were counted incorrectly, and absorbs were included.
Rage is now tuned for 20–40% armor (depending on level) instead of 50% tank armor. Questing Warriors and Druids get noticeably more rage as a result.
Demoralizing Shout now generates threat; Arms: Deep Wounds is once again a prerequisite for Impale; Protection: Last Stand grants the correct amount of health again

🐻 Druid

Critical strikes grant 100% more rage (was 75%), Bear Form generates 50% more threat (was 30%)
Mana potions usable again in Bear and Cat Form, Cat Form no longer lowers maximum health
Thorns: base damage as in Classic, spell power coefficient 6% (was 13.3%)
Feral: Predatory Instincts is now called Natural Instinct and additionally increases healing by 12/25% of Intellect

🏹 Hunter

Disengage now reduces threat twice as much, as originally planned
Survival: Expose Prey lasts 10 s (was 5 s), Entrapment now only when Frost Trap is triggered and with diminishing returns
Beast Mastery: Unleashed Fury now actually increases the pet's damage

🛡️ Paladin

Retribution Aura now uses your own spell power, base damage as in Classic (about a third less), spell power coefficient 6%
Protection: Reckoning triggers at most once every 1.5 s; mana from Seal of Fury talents no longer generates extra threat

✨ Priest

Discipline: Penance deals less damage and healing (it was calculated like a 3-second channel), costs more mana, ranks 2 and 4 heal more

🔥 Mage, ⚡ Shaman, 💀 Warlock

Mage: Impact no longer triggers from Flamestrike's damage over time
Shaman: Elemental Focus is no longer consumed immediately by Fire Nova, Mana Tide Totem visible again
Warlock: the old demon is stunned when a new one is summoned

📈 Spell ranks

The low ranks of many baseline spells have been adjusted, for example Frostbolt, Fireball, Smite, Lightning Bolt and Shadow Bolt. Every new rank is now a real upgrade.

⚠️ What this means for you: New spell ranks from your trainer are always worth it. Warriors and bear tanks have far fewer rage problems.

Patch notes Oct 8 – Part 1/2: Dalaran dungeon and more dungeon XP

2026-10-08T21:32:57Z

After the maintenance on October 8, Blizzard updated the beta's development notes. The most important points for everyone:

🏰 Dungeons and experience

New for testing: the dungeon City of Dalaran
Enemies in dungeons give about 20% more XP
The XP penalty for lower-level enemies in a group is once again based on your own level, as in Classic, rather than on the highest group member. If someone is far above the enemies' level, nobody gets XP, as before.
Enemies without loot can be clicked again, as in Classic

💎 Legacy

All beta testers have been credited with the Legacy challenge and therefore 16 Legacy points
Redistributing points in the beta initially costs only 1 silver, and the price drops back by one step every hour

🎮 Controls and interface

Multiple weapon swaps within one global cooldown work again (for example via macro from a two-hander to sword and shield)
The cooldown manager supports all classes, racial abilities and trinkets; consumables will follow
Many improvements for gamepads; layouts in Edit Mode are saved per input type
Quest type and minimum level are now shown in the quest log and the quest tracker; "Inspect Talents" is available in the target frame menu

⚔️ PvP and items

Critical strikes in PvP are no longer reduced
Several dungeon quest rewards are now green instead of blue, with adjusted stats
The new Gelkis and Magram quests in Desolace are only available from level 35 (was 30), and their rewards have been adjusted

📜 Quests

Many quest bugs fixed, including a faster respawn for "Blackrock Blockade" and more eggs for "Break A Few Eggs"
Quests and enemies around Shadowvale and Bandarion Keep in Tirisfal are higher level

🐞 New known issues

New textures for the Skyborne cat form and some creatures on Zephras Isle will follow later
Some icons in the professions window are displayed incorrectly

⚠️ What this means for you: Leveling in dungeons is once again much more rewarding than after the level 30 update.

Podcast episode 3: Dungeons with the developers

2026-10-08T16:26:12Z

The third episode of the official WoW Forever podcast is online.

Topic: Leveling in dungeons, questing and more
Guests: Hammerdance and Senior Game Designers Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield, Jay Hartman and Rowan Ryder
Host: Countdown To Classic

That same evening, patch notes arrived that give dungeons significantly more XP. You can find our summary in the news.

Brief beta server restart today at 11:59 PM CEST

2026-10-06T22:01:48Z

What: The beta realms will be briefly restarted at 11:59 PM CEST (October 6). This is not a big patch, just a few important bug fixes. An in-game warning appears shortly beforehand.

Fixed:

Quests whose quest items should respawn in a chest but were missing
Occasional disconnects while riding elevators or transports (ships, zeppelins)
A bug when joining or leaving a guild

⚠️ What this means for you: Log out briefly; you can continue after a few minutes. If you were stuck on a chest quest, try it again afterwards.

Class preview: Priest and Warrior

2026-10-05T21:44:52Z

Blizzard has published the next in-depth class deep dives for WoW Forever: Priest and Warrior.

What's covered:

New and adjusted baseline abilities
Reworked racial Priest spells
Changes to Warrior rage and stances
Talent changes in every specialization: Discipline, Holy, Shadow, Arms, Fury and Protection

You can find the full article via the link below.

Known issues after the level 30 update

2026-10-05T21:44:52Z

Blizzard is aware of these issues and is working on them:

Enemies can parry and block from behind if you stand very close to them. Tip: don't stand too close to the enemy.
Retribution Aura (Paladin) uses the target's spell power instead of the Paladin's.
Dual Wield Specialization (Warrior) grants hit chance to both weapons instead of only the off-hand.
Faerie Fire and Demoralizing Shout generate no threat.
When casting spells back to back, the precast animation only appears after the first spell.
The WoW Forever installation is larger than planned and will be reduced.
Switching into or out of gamepad mode resets the UI layout.
The scroll "Liminal Passage" doesn't work correctly.
Some Mages with "Research" can't access it.
Eggs for the quest "Break a Few Eggs" respawn too slowly.
And: Anduin Wrynn and other children are accidentally wearing hats. According to Blizzard, "they giggle and run away", so this may take a while. 😄

Patch Notes 10/01 (Level 30) – Part 2/2: Classes

2026-10-05T21:44:51Z

🛡️ Paladin

Protection: Redoubt block chance reduced to 4–20% (was 6–30%); Holy Shield block chance increased to 30% (was 20%)
Retribution: Champion of the Light now converts 20/40/60% of Intelligence into spell damage (was 33/66/100%)

⚡ Shaman

Ghost Wolf is more visible in bright areas
Disease Cleansing Totem lasts 5 minutes again; Totemic Recall restores mana again

⚔️ Warrior

Critical hits with normal attacks grant 100% more Rage
Rend and Sunder Armor immediately mark enemies for you
Fury heavily reworked: new talents Lingering Rage, Furious Precision, Gore Drinker; Whirlwind always hits with both weapons; Bloodthirst 45% attack power (was 35%); Berserker Rage available from level 30
Protection: the path to the middle of the tree (Iron Will, Disarm, Shield Bash) is now also available without a shield – intended as a PvP secondary spec

✨ Priest

Devouring Plague can critically hit; Shadow Word: Death bug fixed; Schattenwirken no longer fails

🐻 Druid

Bears gain 75% more Rage on crits; Swipe scales with attack power
Tiger's Fury removed; all forms immune to Disarm
New Cat talent Shifting Power: convert mana into 40 Energy

🏹 Hunter

Marksmanship: Sniper Shot has 45 yd range; pet mode "Aggressive" is back

🔥 Mage

Scrolls can no longer be used while moving; Hot Streak is now called Heating Up; Combustion has 3 charges again

🗡️ Rogue / 💀 Warlock

Rogue: A missed Expose Armor no longer costs combo points
Warlock: Hellfire can critically hit; pet mode "Aggressive" is back

⚠️ What this means for you: Paladins and Shamans will notice little of this. Warriors become significantly stronger thanks to more Rage and the Fury rework.

Patch notes Oct 1 (level 30) – Part 1/2: General

2026-10-05T21:44:50Z

New with the beta's level 30 update:

Level cap is now level 30
New dungeon Excavation Site: Wetlands (26–31)
Newly accessible: Razorfen Downs (25+) and Uldaman (30+), plus all previous dungeons
Barbers now also in Darnassus and Thunder Bluff, all staffed; city guards show you the way

⚔️ PvP

Honor costs for PvP gear and upgrade tokens raised by about 50%
Honor cap raised from 15,000 to 25,000

📜 Quests & leveling

Dungeon quests give 50% less bonus XP (Blizzard doesn't want leveling to be too fast)
Faster respawn of enemies and quest objects in Hillsbrad Foothills, Ashenvale, Wetlands, Duskwood and Thousand Needles
Escort quests can be started again even with 25+ quests in your log
Mulgore: new quest "Kyle's Gone Missing!"; Orgrimmar: more "Smooth Boulder" for "Rocks to Rests"

🏕️ Camping & items

Campfires no longer damage players below level 5 and deal less damage to players below 90% health
Clearer display of the "Boosted Rest" buff
BoE items with an uncollected appearance become soulbound (instead of account-bound) when sold to a vendor

🔨 Professions

More Blacksmithing and Leatherworking recipes available as dungeon drops
Skinning: creatures can once again be skinned only once
Fewer poor copper veins in starting zones

🖥️ Interface

Note in the character window: low spell ranks benefit much less from spell damage and trigger talents less often
The Auction House shows item suffixes ("of the Bear" etc.) correctly again

⚠️ What this means for you: Leveling through dungeon quests is less rewarding, but quest zones for levels 20–30 are more relaxed. PvP gear gets much more expensive, so start collecting honor early.

New official WoW Forever podcast

2026-10-01T22:22:18Z

Blizzard has launched its own podcast about WoW Forever. The first two episodes are online:

Episode 1: A look back at the beta launch, with Xaryu
Episode 2: Speedrunning the classes, with Sodapoppin

Blizzard cracks down on bots and gold buying

2026-10-01T22:22:18Z

Blizzard keeps banning beta accounts that farmed gold with bots, as well as accounts that bought gold or knowingly accepted it. This will continue after launch.

New: An in-game warning when trading with strangers is coming soon. In short: don't accept gold from unknown or suspicious sources, or you put your account at risk.

Possible penalties for anyone who creates, sells, buys or accepts illegitimate gold:

Gold is removed
Account is suspended
Account is permanently closed

⚠️ What this means for you: Don't accept large amounts of gold from strangers. Gold within your guild as normal help is not a problem.

16 Legacy points for all beta testers

2026-10-01T22:22:18Z

Many testers are busy collecting Legacy points right now. So that everyone can test the system without first leveling several classes or farming dungeons, Blizzard plans to give all beta testers 16 Legacy points.

When: "in one of the coming beta weeks". There is no exact date yet.
How long: until the end of the beta.
What you need to do: nothing, the points are added automatically.

16 points is exactly the maximum a character can spend.

Beta maintenance: level 30 is coming

2026-10-01T22:22:17Z

What: The WoW Forever beta has been offline for maintenance since the evening of October 1 (around 6:00 PM CEST).

Back online: According to Blizzard, early in the morning of October 2. There is no exact time.

What changes:

The level cap rises from 20 to 30
New build with changes and bug fixes
Blizzard plans to publish the full patch notes (development notes) after the maintenance

Level 30 stays until the end of the beta; everything beyond that only comes with the launch on November 4 (November 5 in Europe).