WoW Forever: tauren run faster, dwarves trade crit for hit

Blizzard's final development notes before the WoW Forever launch include another round of changes to racial abilities. They come on top of the orc, troll and Forsaken buffs Blizzard posted on 27 October, covered in our report on those racial buffs, which are repeated in the new notes.

Tauren get the biggest boost. Plainsrunning now grants 2% movement speed per stack instead of 1%, for a maximum of 60% instead of 30%, but it no longer speeds up mounts. Endurance is now simply 5% more health, with no extra hit chance or critical damage. A bug fix also gives every race its correct base stats, so a Tauren Warrior now starts with 5 more strength than a Human Warrior rather than 2.

Dwarves lose Earth Fury, which added 2% critical strike damage and healing, and get Artisan's Precision instead: 1% more chance to hit with spells and attacks. Humans see Ruthless drop to 1% critical strike chance from 2%, while Human Spirit rises to 10% more spirit from 5%. Orcs lose Savage and its 1% critical strike chance, and Command returns, adding 5% to Warlock and Hunter pet damage.

The new Skyborne race is toned down. Wind-Blessed Haste drops to 2% from 3%. Read Leyline now raises mana and health regeneration by 50% instead of 100% for 15 seconds and cannot be used while Innervate is active; used at a ley line, it grants Attuned for 1 hour, which brings it back to 100%. Skysight now gives 15% movement speed for 15 seconds, up from 10%, and used at an elemental convergence it grants Charged for 1 hour, raising that to 30%. Both buffs survive death and are removed when you enter a raid.

The notes also confirm the earlier changes: Troll Berserking lasts 15 seconds instead of 10, and the Forsaken Touch of the Grave now has a 15-second internal cooldown instead of 25. For Europe, WoW Forever opens at midnight on 5 November in Central Europe, so these are the racials you will start with.