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WoW Forever Beta: Racials Reworked and Group Buffs Go Raid-Wide

Less than three weeks before launch, Blizzard's October 15 beta build changes every race's racials, turns eight party buffs into raid-wide ones, makes wands and Auto Shot require standing still, and rebuilds the Mage, Elemental Shaman and Shadow Priest talents. Here is what changed and what it means for your launch character.

Announced:
Published:
WoW Forever preview of race and class combinations
World of Warcraft: Forever preview screenshot © Blizzard Entertainment.

Racials: weapon specializations are gone

The biggest change in the build is to racial abilities. The three weapon specializations are replaced by bonuses that work with any weapon or spell, so Humans, Orcs and Dwarves no longer gain anything from choosing a particular weapon type:

RaceWhat changed
HumanSword Specialization becomes Ruthless: +2% critical strike chance.
OrcAxe Specialization becomes Savage: +1% critical strike chance. Blood Fury's cooldown rises to 3 minutes (was 2). Shatter Curse now dispels Curses and Banes and reduces magic damage taken by 5% (was immunity and 15%).
DwarfMace Specialization becomes Earth Fury: +2% critical damage and healing. Find Treasure can also find extra items in most chests.
TaurenEndurance grants +2% critical damage and healing instead of 1% hit. Plainsrunning adds 3% mounted speed but now needs real movement to stay active. Cultivation's cooldown drops to 15 minutes (was 60) and War Stomp's to 90 seconds (was 2 minutes).
SkyborneWind Blessed rises to 3% haste (was 1%). Skysight and Read Leyline can be cast while moving, Read Leyline lasts at least 30 seconds (was 20), and Walk on Air's cooldown drops to 90 seconds. Elemental Convergences and Leylines appear in more places.
UndeadTouch of the Grave procs more reliably: 30% for casters and 20% for Paladins, Rogues and Warriors, on a 25-second internal cooldown. Will of the Forsaken can't be used while under Scatter Shot.
GnomeEureka! becomes an 8-second buff without charges and now also benefits Power Word: Shield.
Night ElfQuickness's movement speed now stacks with other speed bonuses.
TrollRegeneration's health regeneration bonus doubles to 20%.

For melee players this removes the old pairing of race and weapon: an Orc Warrior no longer needs an axe, and a Human Rogue gets the same 2% critical strike chance with daggers as with swords. Casters benefit as well, since the new critical strike bonuses also apply to spells.

Eight group buffs now cover the whole raid

These buffs used to reach only the caster's party. From this build they affect every member of the raid:

In practice, raid leaders no longer need a Warrior, Hunter or Shaman in every group to spread these buffs, and Grace of Air can now be up alongside Windfury or Flametongue.

Paladins get a related change: Blessing of Salvation and its greater version become Salvation and Mass Salvation, which can now be active alongside a blessing. Paladins also learn Revoke to remove Salvation from a party or raid member.

Wands and Auto Shot need you to stand still

Wands and the Hunter's Auto Shot now require you to stand still for 0.5 seconds before they fire, as in early World of Warcraft. Auto Shot still fires while you cast Aimed Shot or Sniper Shot. Hunters also get an option to switch automatically between auto attack and Auto Shot, including on gamepad.

Mage, Elemental and Shadow talents rebuilt

  • Mage: Arcane Blast is redesigned, Arcane Wrath becomes the new 16-point Arcane talent, and Frost gains the new spell Frost Blast. The changes are large enough for their own article: WoW Forever Mage Overhaul: Arcane Wrath, Frost Blast and a New Arcane Blast.
  • Elemental Shaman: Elemental Mastery returns as the 31-point talent, cutting 0.5 seconds from Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst and removing Chain Lightning's cooldown for 15 seconds on a 3-minute cooldown. Lava Burst moves to 21 points with a fourth rank, Earthbound to 16 points, and Call of Thunder is removed.
  • Shadow Priest: Shadow Affinity and Improved Fade are removed, Improved Mind Blast moves to the second row, and the new fourth-row talent Dark Inspiration raises your party's Spirit by up to 15% after Mind Blast or a full Mind Flay. Improved Mind Flay now makes each tick hit harder than the last, and Devouring Contagion spreads to two targets.

The Priest's patch notes call one removed talent "Shadow Infinity"; the beta client shows it is Shadow Affinity that left the tree.

Other class changes worth knowing

ClassChange
PriestDevouring Plague drops to a 24-second cooldown (was 1 minute); Shadow Word: Death rises to 18 seconds (was 12); Vampiric Embrace can't be resisted and has a 30-second cooldown.
ShamanChain Lightning costs about 35% less mana; Fire Nova's damage, cost and coefficient are cut; Stormstrike costs 8% of base mana instead of a flat 125; Mana Tide Totem gains a rank at level 38.
PaladinConsecration's coefficient per tick drops to 0.042 (was 0.095); Righteous Fury's Holy threat rises to 90%; Reckoning stores up to 4 charges again, released on your next swing.
HunterFire traps scale with Attack Power, and one Fire Trap and one Ice Trap can be active at once. Pet abilities Dismember, Sonic Blast and Mine! are weakened.
DruidFuror keeps the Energy you had in Cat Form when you shift to Bear; Faerie Fire in Bear Form now generates threat.
WarlockGrim Reach replaces Malediction, and Shadow Mastery now grants up to 10% Shadow damage (was 5%).
RoguePoisons no longer trigger against enemies attacking you, and Sap no longer triggers weapon procs.

Dalaran turns against the Horde

Horde players are now attacked on sight in Dalaran in Alterac Mountains and can no longer earn Kirin Tor reputation. The City of Dalaran dungeon stays open to both factions, but the Horde quest chain for the Dalaran Sewer Key no longer grants free access to the city.

The build also makes scrolls trigger the global cooldown, turns Draught of Predatory Senses into a potion on the combat potion cooldown, lets Battleground Marks of Honor stack to 30, and adds a new tutorial for new players.

What to do now

  • Re-check your race. The calculator's race panel shows every racial from this build: pick a race on any class page in the talent calculator.
  • Rebuild Mage, Elemental and Shadow specs. Builds made before this patch can include talents that no longer exist; start from the Mage, Shaman or Priest calculator.
  • Rethink raid groups. With raid-wide shouts, auras and totems, one buffer per raid can do what used to take one per party.

Read the full patch notes

On Wowcalc

Sources

Official announcements this article summarizes, in its own words.

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