Buying a new spell rank does not update your bars

Buying a higher rank of a spell in WoW Forever does not put it on your action bars. For classes that spend mana, the old rank stays where it was and keeps casting, which means a trainer visit can cost gold and change nothing.

Wowhead flagged the behaviour on the beta.

Who it hits

Melee classes that work on rage or energy, such as Warriors and Rogues, do not have this problem. Their bars swap to the higher rank on their own when they learn it.

Anyone who casts with mana does, and so do melee classes with mana-based abilities. Downranking has always been a deliberate tool there: a lower rank costs less mana for less effect, and the game keeps that choice open instead of overwriting it. The cost is that nothing updates for you.

So after every trainer visit, check the bars. Buying a rank is not the same as using it.

Finding the lower ranks

The spellbook hides lower ranks by default. Hover the arrow at the top right of the spellbook and pick the option to show all ranks, and the full list appears, as in the screenshot above.

Whether the default changes before launch, Blizzard has not said.