WoW Forever beta patch notes: every week in one place

What happened in the first week of the WoW Forever beta?

The WoW Forever beta opened on September 17, 2026 with a level cap of 20, the Skyborne starting zone Zephras Isle and two new dungeons, Hall of Thanes (13-18) and Ruins of Lordaeron (15-20). Blizzard posted no change log that week, only a list of known issues, then a client update on September 22, build 69977, with Mac and gamepad fixes.

• Known issues (September 17-18): barber chairs caused a Lua error, character friends were disabled on the beta, the Legacy window opened with Y before level 25 and threw Lua errors, and two Waylaid Crate bugs were marked "fixed in the next Beta build".
• Temporary rule: guild charters "with no signatures" could be handed in.
• Combat issues listed on September 18: wrong glancing blows for casters, on-next-attack abilities disabling the spell queue window, Bear Form multiplying the armor from consumables, and resurrection sickness lasting the wrong time at low levels.
• Fixes on September 21: the Zephras Isle quest "A Firm Response" and European routing.
• Announced on September 23: a fix for the delay before a hunter's auto-shot or a wand that made shots too fast, "in an upcoming Beta build" (it came with the October 15 notes, below), and stronger weather effects "Coming soon to the Beta".

What changed in the September 24 beta notes?

The first WoW Forever change log, posted by Kaivax on September 24, 2026, made talent respecs cost 1 silver for the beta only, added the Cooldown Manager (off by default), brought Wizard Oils back to Classic Era values and tuned every class, from about 50% more Wrath damage for druids to new Holy Strike scaling for paladins. It also removed Khonsu's arrival in Silithus from the beta.

• Systems: talent respecs cost "1 silver ... temporary for the Beta only"; after a reset the price rises, then falls back to 1 silver after an hour.
• Items: Wizard Oils back to their Classic Era values (8/16/24 spell power); wands no longer gain damage from your spell damage.
• Camping: you can buff, cast and craft while waiting for the campfire buff, and you earn it while sitting, sleeping, lying down or kneeling.
• Racials: gnome Eureka! becomes "a 10% discount on Mana, Rage, or Energy abilities"; undead Dark Sacrifice scales with Spirit and no longer breaks crowd control; tauren Cultivation needs a player level equal to the herb's skill divided by 5 (level 60 above 300 skill).
• Quests and zones: new Zephras Isle areas Shen'dar Highlands and Nightclaw Cavern, a redesigned "Catching Wind" quest, monsters now present just outside the entrance of the City of Dalaran, and "Khonsu's arrival has been removed from the beta phase, and in the future will return to Azeroth once more."
• Interface: the Cooldown Manager, off by default (Options > Gameplay Enhancement) and for five classes at first; gamepad class flyouts, a Compact Action Bar and fixed party targeting.
• Bugs: a hidden Season of Discovery rune ability that had become visible was fixed; known issue: changing your party could move you to another world instance.

What changed in the October 1 beta notes?

The October 1, 2026 notes raised the WoW Forever beta level cap to 30 and added three dungeons, Excavation Site: Wetlands (26-31), Razorfen Downs and Uldaman, to the 11 already open. They also reworked the Fury Warrior, raised Honor costs by about 50%, cut the extra XP from dungeon quests by 50% and reduced how much low-rank spells benefit from spell power.

• Leveling: "Players can now level up to a maximum of level 30"; dungeon quests give "50% less extra experience beyond normal quest values".
• Low-rank spells: they get less from spell damage and healing and trigger talents less often; a Rank 1 Frostbolt at level 60 has "a 0% chance to get a Frostbite activation".
• Racials: Eureka! no longer affects periodic effects; Cannibalize can't be used while immune to Physical damage.
• Items: selling a Bind on Equip item whose appearance you haven't collected to a vendor now makes it soulbound (it was Bound to Account); the auction house shows item suffixes.
• Professions: Blacksmithing and Leatherworking recipes drop in dungeons; crafted wands sell for 1 copper; fewer Poor Copper Veins; creatures can be skinned only once; Shenthul in Orgrimmar trains Windshaper Skyborne rogues.
• Quests and zones: "Kyle's Gone Missing!" added in Mulgore; High Order Skyborne druids learn Cure Poison through "Power Over Poison"; new barbershops in Darnassus and Thunder Bluff; escort quests now start even with 25 or more quests in your log.
• Camping: a new Boosted Rest icon, and campfires "no longer deal damage to players below level 5".
• Interface: party leaders are no longer moved to another world instance when the group changes; the Ray Traced Shadows option is removed "for now"; new combo-point art.
• PvP: Honor costs up by about 50%, Honor cap raised from 15,000 to 25,000.
• Known issues: enemies can parry and block from behind if you stand close; the full installation is "larger than intended".

What changed in the October 8 beta notes?

The October 8, 2026 notes opened the City of Dalaran dungeon for testing, raised creature XP in dungeons by about 20% and gave every WoW Forever beta tester the Legacy Challenge completion worth 16 Legacy points. They also brought back Classic looting and weapon swaps within one global cooldown, rebalanced Rage from damage taken and extended the Cooldown Manager to all classes, racials and trinkets.

• Dungeons and XP: City of Dalaran open for testing; creature XP in dungeons up about 20%; group XP calculated per player again, and "if a member of the party is at a vastly higher level than the enemy being killed, then no player in the party will receive XP, as intended."
• Legacy: "All Beta players have been granted completion of the Legacy Challenge. This awards 16 Legacy Points." The cheapest Legacy respec costs 1 silver and drops one step per hour, during the beta only.
• Combat: creatures that dropped no loot can still be interacted with, as in Classic; you can swap several weapons within the same global cooldown; Rage from damage taken is balanced for "20% to 40%" armor; the early ranks of Wrath, Frostbolt, Fireball, Arcane Missiles, Smite, Lesser Heal, Heal, Lightning Bolt and Shadow Bolt were rebalanced so a new rank is always an upgrade.
• Items: several dungeon quest rewards lowered from Rare to Uncommon; the Truthseeker's Bow now requires level 40; new Desolace centaur quest rewards require level 35.
• Professions: new vendor prices for enchanting items (Minor Wizard Oil 1 silver, wands from 5 copper to 25 silver); Armor Kits no longer give double ranged attack power; Enchant Weapon - Recovery works in druid forms; the Peace Tea recipe sells for 10 copper.
• Quests and zones: quests and creatures around Shadowvale and Bandarion Keep in Tirisfal raised in level; the Gelkis and Magram centaur quests in Desolace start with "Valley of Bones" and require level 35; city barbers replaced by local barbers.
• Interface: Cooldown Manager for all classes, racials and trinkets (consumables "in a later patch"); quest types and level requirements in the tracker; updated Inspect window; "View Talents" in the context menu; Discord Voice and an In-Game Voice Mode for the Group Finder; gamepad options moved to Edit Mode.
• PvP: "Critical strikes in PvP no longer have reduced efficacy"; the Shipwreck Cove capture point on the Darkspear Islands was moved to the right place.
• Also this week: on October 6, a restart fixed quest chests, disconnects on elevators and transports, and a guild-join error. On October 7, Nethaera explained the removal of Elemental Mastery: "We could not increase Elemental Shaman damage to appropriate values in PvE and keep this talent." The talent came back a week later, in the October 15 notes.

What changed in the October 15 beta notes?

The October 15, 2026 notes, the last WoW Forever beta change log, reworked most racials, brought Elemental Mastery back as the Elemental shaman's 31-point talent and made Battle Shout, Trueshot Aura, Moonkin Aura, Leader of the Pack and four shaman totems raid-wide. Wands and Auto Shot now need you to stand still for 0.5 seconds before shooting, "matching early versions of World of Warcraft".

• Systems: "Added a new tutorial experience for new players"; wands and Auto Shot need you to stand still for 0.5 seconds before shooting, the fix announced on September 23; creatures now regenerate health out of combat.
• Racials: the weapon racials are replaced by Ruthless for humans (2% crit), Savage for orcs (1% crit) and Earth Fury for dwarves (2% critical damage and healing); tauren Endurance gives 2% critical damage and healing (was 1% hit); orc Shatter Curse now dispels Curses and Banes; troll Regeneration rises to 20%; gnome Eureka! becomes an 8-second buff; Skyborne Wind Blessed rises to 3% Haste and Walk on Air to a 90-second cooldown.
• Items: scrolls trigger the global cooldown; "Many items created by professions have had their vendor sell price reduced"; Draught of Predatory Senses becomes a combat potion.
• Legacy: Bartering no longer discounts training and repairs; Master Chef and Luremaster move one slot left (visual only); The Quick and the Dead affects more priest spells.
• Quests and zones: "Members of the Horde are no longer welcome in Dalaran under any circumstances and will be attacked on sight"; the Horde questline for the Dalaran Sewer Key no longer opens the city in the open world, and the City of Dalaran dungeon is unaffected; quest fixes in Darkshore, Mulgore, Stormwind, Teldrassil, the Wetlands and Zephras Isle.
• PvP: "Battleground Marks of Honor now stack up to 30 (was 20)".
• Interface: an equippable-level column and suffix stats at the auction house; the Cooldown Manager counts all ranks of a spell as one entry; more scrolling combat text options; /who searches by subzone; a swing timer on the gamepad reticle.

What do the beta notes tell us about the WoW Forever launch?

The WoW Forever beta notes show Blizzard pulling many systems back toward Classic Era behavior (looting, group XP, Wizard Oils, Thorns, the 0.5-second wand delay) while tuning every class each week. Values such as 1-silver respecs and the 16-point Legacy grant were for the beta only, and beta progress does not carry over. The beta closed on October 23, 2026 at 10 a.m. PDT, and launch is November 4 at 3 p.m. PST.

Blizzard extended the beta by two days: on October 20, Kaivax announced it would close "forever at 10:00 a.m. PDT on Friday, October 23", after the stress test of October 21. The last 24 hours were the WoW Forever Beta Celebration, from October 22, in Zephras Isle, Dun Morogh, Elwynn Forest, Teldrassil, Durotar, Tirisfal Glades and Mulgore, with "items and experiences that will not be a part of WoW Forever after it launches"; MMOHuts reports Azuregos and Lord Kazzak in the starting zones. On October 23, Kaivax closed the beta and confirmed that character creation opens on Tuesday, October 27.

Aggrend also wrote on October 8 that "XP gain is not going to be what it was in era", and Blizzard's designers kept warning that "Things could still change during beta" (Nethaera, about Sniper Shot). For the current state of each system, see our talents guide, dungeons guide, Legacy guide and launch guide.

Where are the official WoW Forever beta notes?

Blizzard posted the WoW Forever beta notes only on its forums, in a single thread by community manager Kaivax that was updated with each weekly build, usually on Thursday, with known issues in a second thread. There is no beta patch-notes article on news.blizzard.com or the official site, and no French version: the French forums have no beta category.

• Change log: Kaivax's thread on the US forums, mirrored on the European forums. The September 24 notes are its first post, October 1 its fourth, October 8 its fifth and October 15 its sixth.
• Known issues: a separate thread, last updated on October 8.
• Who can read them: the beta forum is open to "all players with an active WoW subscription"; posting on the NA beta forums needs an active NA license.
• Reporting a bug: Customer Support "isn't involved in the Beta testing phase", so use the in-game bug report.

Week 5: build 70374 went out on October 13 (Rommax), the October 14 maintenance ran "internal tests", and the notes of the Thursday build came on October 15 (posted just after midnight UTC on October 16). They were the last change log of the beta: players reported another build on October 22, which they said matched the stress test client, with no notes. As of October 25, 2026, this page covers every change log Blizzard posted.