Triple Spec, Faster Raid Tiers & Weird Class Nerfs Just Before Launch | WoW Forever

Content Cadence and Future Updates

WoW Forever is aiming for a major update about every four months, or roughly three times a year. The developers felt that six-to-eight-month gaps were too long, while Season of Discovery’s eight-to-ten-week cadence was too fast.

Raid tiers and PvP seasons are expected to follow that four-month schedule. The roadmap discussed in the video points to:

• Spring: New 10- and 20-player raids, dungeons, quests, and a legendary questline.
• Summer: A revamped classic raid—expected by the presenter to be Molten Core—another raid, more world content and dungeons, and profession and legacy-system updates.

Content within each update may unlock gradually over the following months rather than all arriving on patch day.

The presenter notes that this would bring new major raids faster than Retail WoW’s roughly six-month major-patch cycle, although Retail may still deliver more total content per patch.

Areas the Developers May Revisit

The team plans to revisit classic raids such as Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, and Ahn’Qiraj.

Northrend, Outland, Pandaria, the Emerald Dream, Grim Batol, the Caverns of Time, and Gilneas were mentioned as possible future destinations or development areas. For now, these would be smaller excursions; the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor are intended to remain the game’s home continents.

Silvermoon is also a possibility, but the developers are avoiding it for now because of its prominent role in Retail’s current story. The developers reportedly chose the new Skyborn elves rather than Blood Elves partly to avoid overlapping with Retail’s focus on Blood Elves and Silvermoon.

Dual Spec and Possible Triple Spec

Dual spec will be available from the start. The developers may consider triple spec later, but have no current plans to add it.

Possible uses include separate setups for farming, PvE, PvP, healing, tanking, or damage dealing. The discussion centers on whether another loadout would add useful flexibility or encourage frequent switching, as in Retail’s talent system.

Layering and Groups

The developers say beta data helped them reduce how often players are moved between layers. The final beta experience should be closer to what players see at launch.

Joining or inviting someone to a group will no longer automatically phase players. Instead, a world-refresh prompt will let a player choose when to move to the group leader’s layer, helping avoid dangerous or disruptive surprise transfers.

The team is also considering ways to support large PvP battles and possibly groups larger than the current 40-player raid limit, though no plans are confirmed.

Datamined Class Changes

These changes had not been announced in developer notes, so the presenter cautions that they could still change before launch.

• Hunters: Aspect of the Hawk and Trueshot Aura were reduced substantially, with later ranks providing about half their former ranged attack power.
• Mages: Ice Lance gained an eight-second cooldown, and Frost Blast appeared to be removed from spellbooks, though the spell remained in the game. Talent names, effects, ranks, and positions also changed:
  • Improved Fireball became Accelerant and also affects Arcane Wrath.
  • Elemental Precision became Precision and now increases hit chance for all spells.
  • Arcane Focus was removed.
  • Incineration gained ranks and can increase critical chance for several spells, while Critical Mass lost ranks and provides a smaller maximum bonus.
  • Several talents moved between rows, including Missile Barrage, which is no longer available as early while leveling.
• Root effects: Various roots from passives and talents now share diminishing returns, limiting repeated or indefinite rooting.

Racial Changes

The video describes several rounds of racial tuning. The final developer notes called these a “final pass,” though future revisions remain possible.

• Humans: Ruthless now grants 1% rather than 2% critical chance; Human Spirit’s spirit bonus increased from 5% to 10%.
• Dwarves: Lost a small critical damage and healing bonus and gained 1% hit chance for spells and attacks.
• Tauren: Endurance now only increases health, with no damage benefit. Plainsrunning no longer increases mounted speed but can build up to a 60% movement-speed bonus.
• Orcs: Lost 1% critical chance and regained Command, which boosts Hunter and Warlock pet damage by 5%. Blood Fury’s cooldown was reduced to two minutes.
• Trolls: Berserking lasts 15 seconds.
• Undead: Touch of the Grave’s internal cooldown fell from 25 to 15 seconds.
• Skyborn: Their Alliance haste bonus and lay-line regeneration were reduced. Horde Sky Sight increased to a 15% movement-speed bonus. Lay-line interactions now grant a one-hour buff that persists through death; the stronger effect lasts 15 seconds and is removed on entering a raid.

The presenter recommends choosing a race based on its appearance and animations rather than a small racial-stat advantage.

People and Sources Featured

• SignsOfKelani — Video presenter (the subtitles render the name as “Colani”).
• IGN — Interview cited for the content cadence and future-area plans.
• WoW Forever podcast — Source for discussion of layering, sharding, and large-group technology.