WoW Forever: camping, riding costs and transmog you can turn off

On 13 September Blizzard published a recap of its WoW Forever Deep Dive panel. First up is camping: the Cooking Fire becomes a Basic Campfire, and placing one creates a campsite. Blizzard says players there can rest and use vendors, repairs and profession workspaces, and those who sit by the fire for a few moments get buffs that last 1 hour. A Basic Campfire takes up to 3 crafted objects from nearby players, 1 per player, and these objects share a 1-hour cooldown. Each profession has 3 objects: the first is learned at skill 20, and more advanced ones come from Blueprint recipes dropped by specific dungeon bosses. Blizzard's examples include a Blacksmith's Sharpening Wheel for Attack Power and a Herbalist's Incense Candle for Intellect; these buffs do not stack with the similar buffs that classes give. Cooks can learn bigger campfires that hold 5 or 10 objects.

A fuller list of camp objects was published on 22 September, while the beta is running. Blizzard has not confirmed it, and details could still change before launch. According to the list, a character first completes an early quest called The Great Outdoors; after that, a buff called Campfire Nearby shows up when a campsite is close. You do not need to be in a group with the player who placed it: sitting there for 1 minute is enough. The Leatherworking Camp Tent gives rested experience up to 5% of a level, and the Skinning Camp Chair gives 2% critical strike. Some objects produce materials: the Mining Rock Garden spawns a common mining node over time, the Herbalism Greenhouse grows herbs from planted seeds, and others, such as the Tailoring Spinning Wheel, create certain reagents. One detail differs from Blizzard's recap: the list says the Sharpening Wheel increases Strength, not Attack Power.

Blizzard also says there are over 600 new recipes across professions and level ranges, and crafted food has been adjusted so it can give a small experience bonus as well as stat boosts. Mounts follow the Burning Crusade approach: the up-front cost of a mount moves into riding training, and players are given a mount when they learn the riding skill. The recap gives no figures. In an interview published on 15 September, principal game designer Kris Zierhut said the training costs the full 100 or 1,000 gold, depending on the level, and the first mount then comes free. He added that a mount from a bundle sold in the shop gives no advantage, because its owner still has to pay for the training.

Transmog, which changes how gear looks, can be turned off. At a transmogrifier in certain cities, players can set up outfits or disable the system entirely; with it off, they see other players only in the gear they are wearing. Choosing Classic Mode when first launching the game turns it off automatically, and appearances are still collected in case a player turns it on later. When a bind-on-pickup Uncommon or Rare item drops in a dungeon, every eligible looter gets its appearance, so nobody has to roll against a player who needs the item just to collect the look. The appearance of an epic raid drop goes only to the player who gets the item. Plate still transmogs only to plate and cloth to cloth, and a character can use high-level appearances only from level 60.

On combat, Blizzard says an ordinary creature should take a solo player roughly 10 to 15 seconds to defeat. Spell, melee and ranged hit chance are now a single stat, as are spell, melee and ranged critical strike chance. Every dungeon drop has been re-examined and hundreds of new drops added, unique dungeon boss items are now blue quality, and world-drop epics have been improved. Talents that gave key class buffs, such as Divine Spirit, Blessing of Kings and Improved Mark of the Wild, are now baseline for their classes. There are 6 new class and race pairs, with more planned: Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin. The recap also covers the Legacy system and the rulesets that replace realms.