Auto-Shot and wanding need a much shorter stop
Correction, 23 September 2026. Blizzard has since said on the forums that this is not a change but a bug: the half-second cast before an Auto-Shot or a wand is not working properly, and a fix is coming in an upcoming beta build. What follows describes what the beta did on 21 September.
Auto-Shot and wanding fire much faster from a stop in World of Warcraft: Forever. The hidden cast time on both has been cut down hard. That changes kiting for Hunters and for every caster with a wand.
The stop that nobody sees
In Classic, Auto-Shot and wanding are what a player falls back on when the mana runs out. Both carry a brief hidden cast time, so the character has to plant before the shot goes off. Move a step too early and nothing leaves the bow.
That hidden stop is what makes kiting hard. A Hunter who runs, turns and shoots loses a shot every time the timing slips.
What changed in Forever
The hidden cast time is still there in Forever, but it is very short. A player still has to plant, only for far less time than before.
That should shake things up, particularly in PvP. A Hunter can now keep distance and keep shooting at the same time. Whether the value stays where it is after the beta, Blizzard does not say.
Two videos side by side
The player Aggravating_Doctor20 posted two comparison videos on the classicwow subreddit, in which the same ability runs in Forever and in Classic Era next to each other. The swing timer in the corner shows the difference.
The second video does the same for a wand. It drew more than 1,300 upvotes and over 400 replies in a day.
Source: Wowhead