WoW Forever vs Classic: What's New

The big picture

• A permanent classic-style game next to modern WoW and Classic, set after the third war and before Molten Core.
• The level cap is 60 and stays there. New content adds raids, dungeons and zones, not levels.
• No flying, no level scaling and no automatic dungeon finder: the world is meant to stay big and dangerous.
• Included with a WoW subscription. Only the Skyborne race needs a paid pack.

Races

• New race: the Skyborne, who start on Zephras Isle and can join either faction (High Order or Windshaper).
• Six new race and class combinations: Orc Mage, Undead Paladin, Troll Warlock, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman and Gnome Priest.
• Every race has four racials, two active and two passive, many of them new.

More on the Skyborne race.

Classes

• Talent trees are rebalanced so every spec is meant to be viable, and each class gets new abilities from later expansions.
• Paladin: new Holy Strike, and Judgement no longer consumes your Seal.
• Warrior: Victory Rush and Tactical Mastery are baseline.
• Rogue: combo points stay when you switch targets, and Assassination gets Mutilate.
• Hunter: every spec gets Aimed Shot, Survival becomes melee, and you can no longer tame beasts above your level.
• Priest gets Penance and Prayer of Mending, Shaman gets Lava Burst and Riptide, Mage gets Frostfire Bolt, and Druid gets baseline Omen of Clarity.

Class guides:WarriorPaladinHunterRoguePriestShamanMageWarlockDruid

World and zones

• Four new zones: Zephras Isle, Riverglades, Shen'dralas and a renewed Mount Hyjal.
• Dalaran returns in the Alterac Mountains as a city dungeon.
• More than 1,000 new quests across levels 1–60, and expanded versions of many original zones.
• Updated visuals with better lighting, fog and water, and a toggle between old and new character models.
• The XP curve is the same as Classic.

Dungeons and raids

• Nine new dungeons, from Hall of Thanes at level 13 to Shaper's Terrace at 60.
• Returning dungeons keep their bosses but drop new or updated loot.
• Launch raids: the new Barrow Deeps (10 players) and Hyjal Summit (20), plus Onyxia's Lair (40).
• Raids are 10, 20 or 40 players, and world buff farming before raids is being removed.

See all dungeons.

Professions

• Every gathering and crafting profession has a personal perk, such as 5% health for miners.
• Camping: cooks build campfires, and other professions add camp objects that buff the group.
• More than 600 new recipes, and crafted food can give a small XP bonus.

Legacy system

• Account-wide Legacy Points from challenges like leveling classes, maxing professions and clearing dungeons.
• Each character spends up to 16 points in three trees: Adventure, Professions and Resourcefulness.

Quality of life

• Account-wide transmog, mounts and pets. Transmog can be turned off with Classic Mode.
• Riding works like The Burning Crusade: you get a mount when you train riding.
• Rulesets instead of realms: you pick Normal, PvP or Roleplaying, and Hardcore comes after launch.
• Modern UI options like Edit Mode, a built-in damage meter and a cooldown manager.
• Meeting stones open a group finder window but no longer summon players.

FAQ