WoW Forever: totems drop in a second, mages get Arcane Blast

Most of what Blizzard changed for shamans is about the time spent putting totems down. Every totem now has a cooldown of 1 second instead of blocking its neighbours, the ones that carry a group effect stand for 5 minutes, and there is a panel showing what is out with a way to dismiss any of them instantly. Weapon imbues last 60 minutes rather than needing a reapply between pulls, Fire Nova stops being a totem and becomes an ordinary spell, and 3 new abilities handle the rest: Totemic Recall picks totems back up and refunds a quarter of their mana, Totemic Projection moves them without recasting, and the Call spells put a whole set down as one group.

Each shaman tree then ends somewhere it could not before. Elemental finishes on Lava Burst, a 2.5 second cast that hits 20% harder when Flame Shock is on the target; Enhancement gets Rage of the Farseer, a cooldown the shaman uses on itself rather than on the raid; and Restoration gets Riptide, an instant heal that leaves a periodic effect behind and feeds Chain Heal. Blizzard's stated aim is to make the class's best-known tools answer faster in the middle of a fight, without taking away the part where placement and timing matter.

For mages the headline is a new spell at level 40. Frostfire Bolt counts as both fire and frost, so talents from either side apply to it and a mixed build stops being a waste of points. Mage Armor regenerates more mana, and a new trade ability called Comprehension lets a mage read scrolls for various effects. Cone of Cold has had its duration cut, and Blizzard gives the reason plainly: the spell was the backbone of paid runs through low dungeons.

The capstone is Arcane Blast, and it is not the version from later expansions. Blizzard describes it as building a stack that raises damage, after which the mage is meant to spend it on the rest of the spellbook rather than keep pressing the same button. Blizzard has been publishing these one pair of classes at a time, as it did for priests and warriors. The beta runs until 21 October, and WoW Forever opens at 23:00 UK time on 4 November, which is midnight on 5 November in Central Europe.