WoW Forever: Blizzard reworks racials again before launch

On 26 October Blizzard updated the WoW Forever beta development notes with a final pass on racial abilities and passive traits before launch. Blizzard says some players found the new racial traits too generic, while others felt some were objectively stronger than others. The final pass puts racial identity first, so some races will be slightly better than others at certain combat roles, and where role- or class-focused racials had been replaced with generic ones, those changes are being rolled back.

There is one exception: the weapon specialisation racials, such as the human Sword Specialization and the orc Axe Specialization. Blizzard says they carry a strong fantasy, but in the long run it is not healthy for future raid and dungeon loot to be judged by which weapon type a race needs, so they are not coming back. Alongside the rollbacks, Blizzard is tuning some of the remaining passive bonuses so that they do not skew outcomes in a way that limits what players choose.

Humans keep Ruthless, but it now adds 1% critical chance instead of 2%, while Human Spirit now raises Spirit by 10% instead of 5%. Dwarves lose Earth Fury, which gave 2% more critical strike damage and healing, and get Artisan's Precision, which adds 1% hit chance with spells and attacks. Orcs lose Savage, a 1% critical strike chance bonus, and get Command back: it raises warlock and hunter pet damage by 5%.

Tauren Plainsrunning now gives 2% movement speed per stack instead of 1%, for a maximum of 60% instead of 30%, but it no longer raises mounted speed. Tauren Endurance is now simply 5% more health, without its hit chance and critical damage modifiers.

For the Skyborne, the Wind-Blessed haste bonus drops to 2% from 3%. Read Leyline now raises mana and health regeneration by 50% instead of 100% for 15 seconds; it cannot be used while Innervate is active, which replaces it as the stronger effect. Used at a Ley Line, it also grants Attuned for 1 hour, which brings the bonus back to 100% and persists through death. Skysight now gives 15% movement speed instead of 10% for 15 seconds, and used at an elemental convergence it grants Charged for 1 hour, which raises the bonus to 30% and also persists through death. WoW Forever opens in Europe at 23:00 London time on 4 November, which is midnight on 5 November in Central Europe.