WoW Forever's Final Racial Pass: Command Returns, Ruthless and Wind Blessed Cut

The October 15 build replaced the weapon specializations with bonuses that work with any weapon. Players then argued that some of the new racials felt too generic and that others were simply stronger than the rest. Blizzard's answer, posted on October 26, is to put racial identity first: some races will now be slightly better than others in certain roles, and some class- and role-focused racials that had been swapped for generic ones are coming back.

The weapon specializations are the exception. Blizzard says it isn't healthy for future raid and dungeon loot to be judged by which weapon type a race "needs", so Sword, Axe and Mace Specialization stay gone. The passive bonuses that remain get a tuning pass instead, so that none of them decides race choice on its own.

Night Elves, Gnomes, Undead and Trolls keep their racials from the October 15 build.

Both Skyborne utility spells now last 15 seconds wherever you cast them, with a bigger reward for finding the right spot. Read Leyline (High Order) raises Health and Mana regeneration by 50%, down from 100%. Cast at a ley line, it also grants Attuned for an hour, which brings the bonus back to 100%. It can't be used while Innervate is active, and Innervate replaces it as the stronger effect.

Skysight (Windshapers) raises movement speed by 15%, up from 10%. Cast at an elemental convergence, it also grants Charged for an hour, which doubles the bonus to 30%. Attuned and Charged both persist through death, so one visit to a ley line or a convergence covers an hour of play.

• Hunters and Warlocks: Orc is a pet-class race again. Command's 5% applies to everything your pet or demon does, so it matters most for builds that lean on the pet. Compare races in the Hunter and Warlock calculators.
• Dwarves: Artisan's Precision helps every Dwarf, melee or caster, until they reach the hit cap, where Earth Fury only paid off on critical strikes.
• Humans: Ruthless becomes a small bonus, but The Human Spirit doubles, which favours Human healers and other Spirit-hungry casters.
• Tauren: Plainsrunning is twice as strong on foot, which helps while leveling, but it no longer helps once you're mounted. Tauren tanks keep the 5% Health.
• Skyborne: Wind Blessed loses a third of its haste. Spirit healers and long-distance travellers should plan their routes around ley lines and convergences.

The talent calculator and the theorycrafting tools already use the announced values. Race panels show the new tooltips, and the character sheet counts Ruthless at 1%, The Human Spirit at 10%, Artisan's Precision's hit chance and Wind Blessed's 2% haste. Pet and demon damage for Orc Hunters and Warlocks includes Command.

For the racial changes these replace, see WoW Forever Beta: Racials Reworked and Group Buffs Go Raid-Wide. The full list is in the October 26 patch notes.