Blizzard reworked five WoW Forever racials before launch, and left four alone
Undead, Troll, Gnome and Night Elf players can relax. Everyone else, check your racials.
Kaivax shared a new blue post on the official forums tonight, and it is Blizzard's final pass on WoW Forever's racial abilities before launch. Not every race made the list, though. Human, Dwarf, Tauren, Orc, and Skyborne all got changes in the October 26 beta development notes. Night Elf, Gnome, Troll, and Undead did not get a single line.
So if you plan to roll one of those four when name reservations open tomorrow, your racials look exactly like they did in the last beta build.
Night Elf, Gnome, Troll and Undead Stay the Same
The last changes for these four races came with the October 16 build. Since nothing changed for them this time, this is still what their racials look like:
Undead: Touch of the Dead has a 30% chance to activate for casters and 20% for Paladins, Rogues, and Warriors, with a 25-second internal cooldown.
Gnome: Eureka! is an 8-second buff with no charges, and it also works with Power Word: Shield.
Night Elf: Quickness stacks with other movement speed increases.
Troll: Regeneration bonuses sit at 20% (up from 10%).
Undead players might be a little surprised by this one. The October 16 build changed how Touch of the Dead works, and not everyone on the beta forums was happy about it. There is even a thread titled "RIP Undead" that picked up plenty of replies afterwards. If you were hoping for another look before launch, it does not seem to be coming.
Blizzard has not said if these four are in fact final, or if they simply did not need anything this round.
What Changed for Everyone Else
According to Blizzard, players felt that some of the new racials were too generic, and few were clearly stronger than others. The final pass puts racial identity first, so some races will naturally be a little better at certain roles.
That means a few role-focused racials are coming back. Orcs get Command again, with 5% more pet damage for Hunters and Warlocks. Dwarves trade Earth Fury for 1% hit chance. Humans lose half of Ruthless (now 1% crit) but get double the Spirit from Human Spirit.
Weapon specializations are not coming back, though. Blizzard says it does not want future raid and dungeon loot judged by "required" weapon types.
As always, since WoW Forever has not launched yet, so keep in mind these are still beta development notes, and things can change before November 4.
You can read the full official bluepost here, or find all the changes below.
As we approach the launch of WoW Forever, we’ve been reflecting on feedback we’ve heard on racial abilities and passive traits: Some players have expressed that some of the new racial traits feel too generic, while others have expressed concerns that some are objectively stronger than others.
In taking a final pass on these, we’ve prioritized racial identity, which means that some races will naturally be slightly more effective than others at certain combat roles. In some places where we had replaced role- or class-focused racials with generic ones, we’re rolling those changes back. One exception to this is the weapon specialization racials, like humans’ Sword Specialization or orcs’ Axe Specialization. While those have a strong fantasy component to them, it is not healthy in the long run for future raid and dungeon loot tables to be evaluated through the lens of “required” weapon types.
At the same time, we’re doing a tuning pass on some of the remaining passive bonuses to help ensure that they aren’t skewing outcomes in a way that limits player preferences.
Racial Abilities and Traits
Human
Ruthless now increases critical chance by 1% (was 2%).
Human Spirit now increases Spirit by 10% (was 5%).
Dwarf
Earth Fury (2% increased critical strike damage and healing) removed.
Added: Artisan’s Precision - Increases hit chance with spells and attacks by 1%.
Tauren
Plainsrunning now grants 2% movement speed per stack (was 1%), for a total max increase of 60% (was 30%).
Plainsrunning no longer increases mounted movement speed.
Endurance no longer provides any modifiers beyond 5% increased Health (no hit chance or critical damage modifiers).
Orc
Savage removed (1% increased critical strike chance).
Command re-added, increasing Warlock and Hunter pet damage by 5%.
Skyborne
Wind-Blessed Haste bonus reduced to 2% (was 3%).
Read Leyline now increases Mana and Health regeneration by 50% (was 100%), with a 15-second duration. This ability cannot be used while Innervate is active, and will be replaced by Innervate as a more powerful effect.
Using Read Leyline at a Ley Line now also grants “Attuned” for 1 hour. While Attuned, the benefit of Read Leyline is increased to 100% regeneration increase. Attuned persists through death.
Skysight is now a 15% increased movement speed (was 10%), with a 15-second duration.
Using Skysight at an elemental convergence now also grants “Charged” for 1 hour. While Charged, the benefit of Skysight is a 30% movement speed increase. Charged persists through death.
For more World of Warcraft: Forever updates, head over to our WoW Forever news hub.