WoW Forever beta patch notes, September 24: class tuning, Cooldown Manager, and respec cost

Blizzard updated the World of Warcraft: Forever beta with a new build on September 24, 2026, and community manager Kaivax posted the beta development notes on the official forums at 22:23 UTC. It is the first beta post with class tuning. Every class changes, four races get racial changes, and a new Cooldown Manager arrives for five classes.

Everything below is a beta change, confirmed for the September 24 build only. Blizzard can change any of it again before the November 4 launch. The permanent guides linked in the table carry each change in context.

September 24 beta changes at a glance

Talent resets and tree changes

If you have not changed your talents recently, a reset costs 1 silver. Blizzard says this "is temporary for the Beta only." After the first reset the next one costs much more, and the price falls back to 1 silver after 1 hour.

The build also moves and renames talents. Elemental Alacrity moves up to Row 3 and Elemental Fury down to Row 6. Focused Rage moves up to Row 5 and Bastion down to Row 6. Improved Holy Strike leaves the Holy tree, Mangle becomes Primal Bite, and Primal Fury goes back to Blood Frenzy.

Source conflict: the community dataset behind this site's talent calculator predates the build and places Bastion on Row 6, not the Row 5 Blizzard gives as its starting row. The Protection layout after the swap stays open.

Class changes

Druid

• Mangle is now Primal Bite; its debuff is gone.
• Talents that named Mangle now name Primal Bite.
• Primal Fury is Blood Frenzy again, with the old icon.
• Wrath base damage is up about 50%.
• Thorns scales with the caster's spell power.
• Rejuvenation, Tranquility, and Wild Growth can crit.
• Feral Charge (Cat) no longer targets allies.

Hunter

• Tame Beast no longer works on Beasts above your level.
• Furious Howl's Attack Power bonus drops 40%.
• Bat pets now get Sonic Blast.
• Pet Happiness keeps decaying at max loyalty.
• Dropping Lone Wolf no longer leaves a -4% penalty.
• Strider Kick adds 30% movement speed for 3 seconds.
• Lacerating Strikes can crit.

Mage

• Hot Streak lasts 20 seconds (was 15).
• Wake of Fire lasts 30 seconds (was 20).
• Ignite no longer double dips on damage modifiers.
• Arcane Missiles checks line of sight once per channel.

Paladin

• Holy Strike cooldown: 10 seconds (was 12).
• Holy Strike gains damage every rank, from 25% to 50%.
• Improved Holy Strike removed; its effect is baseline.
• Holy Power adds 15% crit chance to Holy Strike.
• Righteous Fury Holy threat: 60% (was 90%).
• Retribution Aura scales with spell power.
• Vengeance: non-periodic crits only, 3 stacks (was 5).
• Two-Handed Weapon Specialization: 2/4/6% (was 3/6/9%).
• Sacred Arbiter: 20% Holy Strike damage (was 10%).
• Twist of Light also cuts Seal mana costs 20%.
• Consecration and Echo of Justice bug fixes.

Priest

• Renew can crit.
• Power Word: Shield can replace a shield if Weakened Soul is absent.
• Gnome: Contingency Plan can crit.
• Gnome: Confounding Flash gets a Holy cast visual.
• Night Elf: Starshards resists pushback with Twilight Focus.
• Undead: Dark Sacrifice no longer breaks damage-sensitive crowd control.

Rogue

• Sap on a PvP-flagged target now flags you.

Shaman

• Elemental Alacrity and Elemental Fury swap rows.
• Rage of the Far Seer loses its spell casting speed.
• Lava Burst ranks 1 and 2 hit harder.
• Lightning Bolt ranks 3 and 4 hit harder.
• Flametongue Totem has no duration and cannot self-stack.
• Flametongue Totem no longer stacks with Flametongue Weapon.
• Flametongue Totem no longer stacks with Windfury Totem.
• Tranquil Air, Windfury, and Grace of Air Totems no longer stack.
• Riptide can crit.

Warlock

• Voidwalker Sacrifice scales with 10% of spell healing.
• Life Tap's tooltip now lists Spirit scaling only.

Warrior

• Bloodthrill: 4/8/12/16/20% (was 2/4/6/8/10%).
• Bloodthrill triggers off Main Hand attacks only.
• Slam cooldown: 18 seconds (was 15).
• Improved Slam cuts Slam's cooldown by 1.5/3 seconds.
• Bastion and Focused Rage swap Protection rows.
• Sunder Armor threat corrected on all ranks.

The class guides and the Arms and Protection spec pages show each change beside the older value.

Race changes

The notes list the Touch of the Grave change under the Tauren heading. Touch of the Grave is the Undead racial in Blizzard's Deep Dive recap, so this site files it under Undead.

Cooldown Manager

The Cooldown Manager is new in this build. Blizzard says it pulls information from the buff bar or action bar into a location you can customize.

• Off by default.
• Turn it on in Options, under Gameplay Enhancement.
• Testable on Druid, Mage, Priest, Warrior, and Warlock.
• More classes come in later beta updates.
• Spell ranks are not supported yet.
• Blizzard wants to hear which spells to track by default.

Seven of the build's ten new known issues are tracking gaps, listed below. The systems overview keeps the feature beside Forever's other client options.

Gamepad support

• Druid shapeshift flyout.
• Hunter and Warlock pet control and pet spell flyouts.
• Paladin aura flyout and Warrior stance flyout.
• Pet bar no longer replaces the bottom gamepad bar.
• Five new options in the Gamepad (Alpha) settings.
• Edit mode layouts work with the gamepad UI.
• Updated Map, Quest Log, and raid frame support.

The five options are Use Compact Action Bar, Fixed Party Targeting, and three swap settings for targeting sides. The gamepad support page explains each one and what is still unpublished.

Campfires, items, and interface

• Buff, cast, and craft while waiting for a Campfire buff.
• Sitting, a chair, sleeping, lying down, or kneeling all count.
• Minor Wizard Oil: 8 spell power, the Classic Era value.
• Lesser Wizard Oil: 16. Wizard Oil: 24.
• Brilliant Wizard Oil is unchanged.
• Wands no longer gain damage from spell damage.
• Some guns and bows now use ammunition correctly.
• Some quest rewards now have the right item level.
• Nameplate selection and Personal Resource Display textures updated.

The build also fixes caster precast animations, a memory leak that slowly degraded performance, Mac water display, and mail ignoring surnames. The camping guide covers what Campfires do.

Notable quest changes

• Zephras Isle: "Catching Wind" was redesigned.
• Zephras Isle: "Wounds of Betrayal" now credits healing.
• Zephras Isle: "A Firm Response" now grants credit.
• Undercity: "Exploring the Horde" completes its Sylvanas objective.
• Silithus: Khonsu's arrival is out of the beta for now.
• Dungeon quests can no longer be shared for items.
• Teldrassil: "Bounty: Gnarlpine Furbolg" needs 15 (was 20).
• Elwynn Forest: Jasperlode and Fargodeep Mines lose their candles.

"Catching Wind" is a High Order Skyborne quest, and its spawns at the Overlook Standing Stones in Shen'dar Highlands changed. Blizzard says Khonsu "will return to Azeroth once more"; no date is given. The notes spell the zone "Silthus." Faster respawns also land across Elwynn Forest, Dun Morogh, Durotar, Mulgore, Silverpine Forest, and Westfall. The Zephras Isle guide and Skyborne guide place the Skyborne quests.

Known issues in this build

• Banes and Curses lose tracking after a target swap.
• Healthstone cooldown cannot be tracked.
• Priest tracks all spells by default.
• Arcane Blast cannot be tracked.
• Mana Gem tracks only after another spell is cast.
• Pet cooldowns cannot be tracked.
• Weapon enhancements and rogue poisons cannot be tracked.
• Party changes can move you to another world instance.
• The Stormwind minimap has display issues.
• Personal Resource Display does not show combo points.

Blizzard keeps the full list in its beta known-issues topic, retitled for September 24. The beta access guide covers who can play the build.

What this confirms, and what it does not

These notes are Blizzard's own description of one beta build, so every change above is confirmed for that build. They are not launch patch notes. Values such as Bloodthrill's proc chance or the 1 silver re-spec can change again, and the re-spec price is beta only by Blizzard's own wording.

The notes also settle a few questions this site had left open. Gamepad support is in the beta client under an Alpha label, Campfire buffs work in the beta, and Blizzard now names racial Priest spells for Gnome, Night Elf, and Undead Priests. They do not publish full tooltips, so the effects of Eureka and the racial Priest spells beyond these fixes are still open.

What Blizzard has not published

• The launch re-spec cost or dual specialization.
• A Cooldown Manager date for Hunter, Paladin, Rogue, and Shaman.
• Full tooltips for Eureka and the racial Priest spells.
• A supported controller list or default button map.
• Complete talent trees for any class.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a talent reset cost in the WoW Forever beta?

1 silver, if you have not changed talents recently. The next reset costs much more, and the price returns to 1 silver after 1 hour. Blizzard says the rule is for the beta only.

What is the WoW Forever Cooldown Manager?

A new beta option that shows key buff and action bar information in a spot you choose. It is off by default, lives under Gameplay Enhancement in Options, and works on Druid, Mage, Priest, Warrior, and Warlock so far.

Was Improved Holy Strike removed?

Yes, in the September 24 beta build. Blizzard removed the Holy talent and made its effect baseline, and Holy Strike's cooldown is now 10 seconds instead of 12.

Is gamepad support in the WoW Forever beta?

Yes. The notes add class flyouts and five options to the Gamepad (Alpha) section of the game options.

Will these changes be in the launch version?

Not necessarily. They describe the beta build of September 24, and Blizzard has not published launch patch notes.