Patch digest
Updated 23 Sep 2026
Beta builds, Blizzard posts and previews, cut down to what changes for you.
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The newest 25 of 80 launch news posts
- Two WoW licenses on one login: no account picker in betaThe Forever beta may not ask which license to use on a shared Battle.net login.
- Alchemy preview: 29 new recipes seen in demo footageDemo footage shows 29 new Alchemy recipes, from thrown potions to 30-minute elixirs, plus a title item.
- Old beta addons can cause errors on loginIf the beta throws LUA errors at login, old beta addons are the first thing to check.
- Beta build 69977: Mac fixes and better gamepad supportThe build is out now, and the next full weekly update is 24 Sep.
- Posting on the beta forum does not mean you have beta accessThe Forever beta forum is open to every active WoW subscriber, invited or not.
- What went wrong on beta launch night, according to a producerA Senior Game Producer explained the beta's first-night login drops, slow loot and server strain.
- Blacksmithing preview: new bars and three new weaponsDemo footage names new Blacksmithing materials and mentions three new crafted weapons.
- Five Steamwheedle cosmetic helms, one per townEach Steamwheedle town sells a cosmetic helm at Revered.
- Beta disconnects can leave you stuck at the character listSome beta testers were locked out after a disconnect, and Blizzard has not posted a fix.
- Coldflame Saber: one beta Mage's scroll-and-sword findA beta Mage deciphered a scroll, combined it with a Shadowfang Keep sword and got a new weapon.
- Cooking preview: six Spirit smoothiesAzeroth Commerce Authority NPCs sell six new Cooking smoothie recipes that grant Spirit.
- Dungeon quests pay far more XP than repeat dungeon runsDungeon kill experience was cut, so the first run is the strong one.
- Enchanting preview: relics, neck enchants and 40 new itemsEnchanters can craft relic-slot items and may get neck enchants, among 40 new items in the footage.
- Engineering preview: goggles, a glider and a rechargeable cloakMost of the new Engineering gadgets can be used by anyone.
- Falling frame rates in beta are being looked intoIf your frame rate drops the longer you play the beta, restarting the client clears it for now.
- No new classes or Warlock tanks at launchLaunch keeps the nine classes and their roles, and new classes are an idea for later with no plans.
- Forever's minimum graphics card generationForever will not run on graphics cards older than a set generation from each maker.
- Leatherworking preview: two new armor kitsTwo upgraded armor kits add Attack Power or Spell Power.
- Four Legacy track rewards, claimed in RatchetDatamined item text names the Legacy Reward Track rewards and where you collect them.
- You can unlearn Legacy points at a class trainerA first list of the challenges that earn Legacy points is out too.
- McDonald's Australia offers beta keys for 1,000 pointsAustralian players can trade 1,000 MyMacca's Reward points for a Forever beta key.
- Molten Core is not in at launchZierhut said they will go there eventually.
- Mounts get their own window, and a reagent bag slot is addedMounts move out of your bags into their own window, and bags gain a reagent slot.
- Beta "name already exists" error is a login bugSeeing the error when you enter the world does not mean your name was taken.
- Warlock and Shaman tanks are "not quite yet"Classes start close to original WoW, with the wilder Season of Discovery roles toned back for now.
- Paladin: the tools the Deep Dive named for each treeEach Paladin tree gets new tools, but the written recap and community rank text disagree in places.
- Raids will not be retired, and every boss has rare standout dropsNuthals said they never plan to retire a raid the way Naxxramas was retired.
- A Riverglades builder on keeping Forever's frictionMatthew Armstrong, who builds the Riverglades, says he is making Forever for the classic gamer.
- A Server Slam will open the beta to everyone for a few hoursThe slam comes later in the beta, on a day that is not set.
- Shen'dralas: the Magram, the Gelkis and TortheldrinThe Desolace centaur story leads you into Shen'dralas and its ruins.
- Skyborne character creation: every option Blizzard listsThe preview runs from 10 faces to 2 body tattoos.
- All 27 talent trees are meant to be viableThe leads say every tree works in all content, with none strong enough to stack.
- New spell ranks may not replace the old one on your action barAfter you train a new rank, check your bars: mana users may still be casting the old one.
- Sunnyglade, a Warcraft I map, is a ruined town in the RivergladesThe Riverglades has callbacks to the first Warcraft game.
- Tailoring preview: three dyes and two reagent bagsTailors get new dyes to work with and can make reagent bags.
- New travel routes: a Redridge path and a Southshore boat stopWowhead's open-world recap adds two travel routes and two dungeon tie-ins.
- Auto Shot and wands fire sooner after you stopHunters and wand users still stand still to fire, but for much less time than in Classic.
- Escaping Ban'ethil escort bug is fixed in the next beta buildThe Teldrassil escort outruns you in beta, which is a known bug.
- The starting bank is 48 slots in the betaThe beta bank is twice the Classic size, while your bags stay the same.
- Barber chairs are in the betaYou can change your look after character creation.
- Beta opens at level 20, rises to 30, and nothing carries overEveryone starts at level 1 on launch day, 4 Nov.
- Four combat bugs on the beta known-issues listBlizzard lists all four as bugs, so none of them is a launch rule.
- Character friends are switched off in the beta onlyThe friends list is disabled by a bug, not removed from the game.
- A rule-breaking beta name can cost you beta accessThe naming policy applies in the beta too.
- A Black Market Auction House sits in Powderfuse Port in the betaBeta players found the auction house in the Riverglades.
- The character pane explains your stats but lacks a few labelsHover a stat to see what it does; some labels are still missing in beta.
- Coldridge Valley stays blank on the beta mapExploring the valley does not fill in the map yet; Kaivax said the next beta build fixes it.
- The built-in cooldown manager is still a work in progressThe manager ships with the game but is not finished for every class.
- EU beta connection problems were a routing issueBlizzard has changed the routing it controls after a laggy first few days.
- Firestone ranks 3 and 4 show no item tooltip in betaWarlocks: the blank tooltip on the conjured Firestone is a known bug.
- The Zephras quest A Firm Response works againWindshaper Skyborne were stuck on this quest in beta, and the latest hotfix looks like it worked.
- First Aid cures bleeds, diseases and poisonsFirst Aid makes curatives. Three examples have been shown.
- First Aid crafts healing potionsHealing potions appear to have moved from Alchemy to First Aid.
- Glancing blow numbers are wrong in betaThe glancing chances on your character sheet are a work in progress.
- The Great Outdoors quest unlocks camping perksAfter this early quest you can use any campfire you find.
- Beta workaround: hand in the guild charter unsignedIf nobody can sign your guild charter in beta, hand it in with no signatures.
- Hall of Thanes: five quests, their rewards and how to get inThe first new dungeon has five named quests, and the walkthrough lists every reward.
- Holy Strike rank-ups are being retunedPaladins: Holy Strike rank-ups feel weak in beta, and Kaivax tagged a fix for the next beta build.
- Opening Legacy with Y before level 25 throws errors in betaIn beta the hotkey Y opens the Legacy System early, and tabs 1 and 3 throw LUA errors.
- Library books: turn in 10 for a neck, 20 for a ringIn beta, library books earn any player a neck or a ring, and Mages a profession.
- Dungeon loot you leave behind can be mailed to youThe Steamwheedle Lost and Found, run by Rix Xizzix, mails unlooted dungeon items.
- The beta minimap can sit partly off the screenThe cut-off minimap is a known issue, with no fix or workaround published.
- A first name someone else has can still be yoursOnly the full two-part name has to be unique.
- Forever is not adding resilienceThere is no PvP damage-reduction stat to gear for.
- Partners in Crime: a Deadmines ring pairs with a level 60 ringOne beta report shows a two-ring set that spans level 17 and level 60.
- Pet stats on the character sheet are wrong in betaHunters and Warlocks: the pet numbers on your sheet are a work in progress.
- Fear Ward and Devouring Plague are no longer race-lockedEvery Priest gets both spells, and each race keeps its own pair of Priest spells.
- Professions have their own window, opened with KProfessions moved out of the spellbook; the micro menu opens the window too.
- Some Season of Discovery class quests are in ForeverMore than 1,000 new quests are being added as well.
- Blizzard published the racial abilitiesThe official article includes percents, though a few numbers are still missing.
- The December raids bring tier sets and a legendaryThe 9 Dec 2026 raid wave has a legendary reward that Blizzard has not named.
- Recent Allies marks players you grouped withThe feature is Blizzard's answer to crowded quest mobs: easier regrouping, tagging unchanged.
- Dual spec and respec prices are not announcedNo official Forever recap covers either one yet.
- Riding training costs 100 or 1,000 goldThe price depends on the level, and the first mount comes free with the training.
- Rockslicer mines a few node types without MiningA Deadmines weapon lets a non-miner gather ore for a limited number of charges.
- Rulesets stay separate, with one Hardcore exceptionYour ruleset decides who you can play with, and switching rulesets means a new character.
- A Wailing Caverns set can turn a Druid into a serpentA beta Druid wearing the full set became a snake, and the form seems intended.
- Silver of the Waves: a new Loch Modan questA new quest starts from a toolbox underwater in Loch Modan.
- The Cozy Sleeping Bag quest chain is in the betaThe Season of Discovery bag is back, with an experience bonus for lying down.
- Starshards does not benefit from Twilight Focus in betaNight Elf Priests: the talent should apply to Starshards, and a fix is tagged.
- A starter-zone quest teaches one gathering professionA quest in the starting zone offers three possible rewards, and you take one.
- A Warlock summon still needs two helpersRitual of Summoning is the only summon left, and both helpers must be physically present.
- A built-in swing timer was mentioned, not confirmedWarcraft Tavern says a swing timer ships by default, but Blizzard's own list does not mention one.
- Shared tagging stays out, on purposeGreenfield says competing for tags is friction the social game needs, so shared tagging stays out.
- Vengeance triggering from periodic crits is a beta bugRetribution Paladins: in beta Vengeance can activate off periodic critical strikes, a bug fixed in the next beta build.
- Visual presets, gamepad support and new Skyborne Druid formsYou can choose modern or Classic visuals and play on a gamepad, and Skyborne Druids get their own forms.
- A cosmetic cowl is on the Gadgetzan reputation vendorGadgetzan reputation now buys a cosmetic helm.
- Two Waylaid Crate bugs are fixed in the next beta buildWaylaid Crates ask you to hand in a quantity of items, and two turn-in bugs got in the way.
- The 1-60 experience curve matches ClassicA datamined faster curve was retracted, and zones do not scale.
- How you reach Riverglades and Shen'dralasThe Found Photos panel placed the two new zones on the map and named who lives there.
- Built-in damage meter and cooldown manager, tighter addon rulesAddons stay allowed, with limits on automation.
- Alts: 16 Legacy points each, shared collections, one PvP factionEach character spends its own Legacy points, while collections are shared.
- One auction house per ruleset, and regions stay separateWith no realms, everyone on a ruleset in your region shares one auction house.
- Camping: camp objects, campfire rules and dungeon blueprintsProfessions build camp objects that buff players who sit at a campfire.
- Crafted food gives combat stats and a small XP bonusCrafted food and camp objects cover your leveling buffs, and neither replaces a raid flask.
- One dungeon difficulty, and no summoning at the stoneNo Heroic mode, no flex raids, and you still travel to the door yourself.
- Forever gear: merged stats, Rare boss loot and situational itemsStats are simpler than Classic, bosses drop Rare items, and some gear suits one place or enemy type.
- You group within the same ruleset and factionForever has no realms, but that does not mean everyone can group together.
- Item stats stay hidden until the item dropsNobody enters the 9 Dec raids knowing best-in-slot.
- Preferred Online Language: the menu path and a 24-hour cooldownThe language setting is account-wide and has a 24-hour cooldown between changes.
- A 16-point medal in every tree, and the Legacy Reward TrackEvery talent tree gains a medal at 16 points, and extra Legacy points feed a reward track.
- Meeting stones list groups and do not summonThere is no Dungeon Finder teleport: you find a group, then you travel to the door.
- Protection Paladins have a tauntJudgement taunts while Seal of Fury is active and keeps the seal; Classic Protection had no taunt.
- Launch roundup: dungeons, camp objects, names, gold and raidsNine 5-player launch dungeons are named, and raids still unlock 9 Dec 2026.
- The PvP ruleset is one faction, and there is no rated ladderOn the PvP ruleset you pick your faction at creation, and honor is the PvP track.
- Racial abilities are named for every race, Skyborne includedEach race has two active abilities and two passive abilities.
- Darkspear Islands has its own reputation trackThe new battleground comes with its own reputation and progression track.
- Traditional mob tagging staysA mob someone else tags first gives you no quest credit in Forever.
- Transmog: how to opt out, and who gets the appearanceTransmog is in, you can turn it off, and who collects an appearance depends on item quality.
- What the five-minute world refresh warning meansThe warning means you are about to move to another copy of the outdoor world.
- The four new zones and the places named in eachZephras Isle, Shen'dralas, Mount Hyjal and the Riverglades each have a few named places so far.
- The Forever basics: cap 60, 51 talent points, Legacy and SkyborneLevel 60 is the cap forever, with no flying, no WoW Token and no paid boosts.
- The nine launch dungeons and their level rangesEach dungeon is open on launch day and listed with its level range and location.
- PvP at launch: rulesets, Darkspear Islands and the honor trackA new 15v15 battleground, Darkspear Islands, joins the three classics at launch.