Blizzard raises class damage and monster health

Blizzard has posted the last development notes before the launch of World of Warcraft: Forever, with everything that changed since the beta build of 15 October. The biggest decision: damage goes up for every class, and higher-level monsters get more health to match.

In the beta, Blizzard tried to keep each class close to its power in Classic. Every new tool then had to cost something else, and some iconic abilities felt weak. With the extra room, Blizzard tunes the classes to a place it hopes feels better. The goal is not equal numbers, but that every class is valuable to its group.

Big changes should not follow before the raids open in December, apart from bugs and serious outliers. Once enough players are past level 30, Blizzard plans a large tuning pass based on its data.

For every class

• Training from level 1 to 60 now costs 206 to 207 gold for every class. Abilities from the same level cost the same, except the racial Priest spells. For Warlocks, the cost of the grimoires for their demons is already taken off.
• New spells no longer land on your action bars by themselves.
• Talents that trigger no longer have a lower chance when you cast a low rank. Blizzard is the exception: a rank learned more than 12 levels ago still triggers Arcane Concentration, Frostbite and Fingers of Frost less often.
• Roots from procs, such as Frostbite, Entrapment, Improved Wing Clip, Counterattack and Improved Hamstring, now have diminishing returns.
• Base stats of all races are fixed. A Tauren Warrior now starts with 5 more Strength than a Human Warrior (was 2).

Tanks and threat

Blessing of Salvation is gone, together with Mass Salvation, Revoke and Blessing of Light. To make up for it, tanks generate much more threat:

Tank	Change
Warrior	Defensive Stance: 80% more threat (was 30%). Defiance up to 20% (was 15%)
Druid	Bear Form and Dire Bear Form: 115% more threat (was 50%)
Paladin	Righteous Fury from level 10 (was 16): 33% more threat from everything and 90% more from Holy damage

Warrior

Talent	Change
Reckless Swings	New in Fury, row 4. Costs 25% of your base health, 15 second cooldown: your next 4 melee attacks give 5 extra Rage
Improved Whirlwind	New in Fury, 2 points in row 6: up to 2 seconds off the cooldown of Whirlwind and up to 30% more damage to the closest enemy
Flurry	Now 3 points: 10, 20 or 30% attack speed for 3 swings after a critical hit. No longer needs Death Wish
Bloodthirst	Now needs Death Wish
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization	Arms, up to 6% more damage (was 3%)
Bloodthrill	Now 2 points, 10 or 20% chance at an Overpower
Slam	15 second cooldown (was 18)

Feral Druid and other classes

Feral Druids hit a lot harder: Shred 200% weapon damage (was 155%), Claw 140% (was 110%), Ravage 435% (was 350%), and Rip, Rake, Ferocious Bite and Pounce about 25% more. Starfire deals about 40% more base damage. The new Druid and Paladin trees, which came in as hotfixes last week, are now confirmed in the notes.

• Warlock: demons get 2 health per point of your Stamina (was 7.5). Wrack deals more than twice as much at level 60. Shadow and Flame gives up to 20% (was 10%). Drain Soul gives a Soul Shard much less often when it does not kill.
• Priest: Shadow Word: Death costs you 30% of your maximum health if the target survives (was 10%), and nothing on a miss.
• Mage: Frost Blast is removed.

The big changes for Rogues, Hunters and Shamans have their own posts. The racial changes were already announced.

Bags and the world

• Bags no longer go into a free bag slot by themselves. You equip them yourself.
• Monsters respawn faster in many areas, fastest in the starting zones, so a crowd at the launch does not block you. Blizzard lowers the low-level zones again once the first rush has passed.
• Quests: experience on several quests is adjusted, objectives get mouseover tooltips, and Ruins of Lordaeron quests start at level 15 for everyone.
• The Replica Ironforge Air Rifle from Legacy gives a 40 second quitter debuff (was 5 minutes) and a 2.5 second stun (was 3).