World of Warcraft: Forever beta got client build 69977 on September 23, and on September 24 the team posted detailed dev notes with class and race changes and a brand-new cooldown manager. We break down what already matters for gameplay.

The World of Warcraft: Forever beta has received a hefty bundle of updates in two days: on September 23, client build 69977 went live, and on September 24 Blizzard published an extensive set of dev notes covering classes, races and the interface. Here is what matters right now, point by point.

Build 69977 (September 23)

A foundational build with technical fixes: display and stability issues on Mac were addressed, and gamepad navigation was repaired. After the update, Mac players should see fewer graphical glitches and water artifacts.

Enhanced weather effects

Blizzard said more pronounced weather effects will arrive in beta zones soon. No specifics, no concrete zones — a promise for now.

Dev notes from September 24

The headlines:

• Talent respecs on the beta cost 1 silver. The first reset is 1 silver, the following ones cost more, but after an hour the price drops back to 1 silver. Designed specifically to make testing easier.
• Cooldown Manager is a new, customisable interface element: it pulls information about key buffs and cooldowns from the buff bar or the action bar. Off by default — switch it on in Options if you want it.

By class:

• Druid. Base damage of Wrath increased by roughly 50%. The Feral Mangle ability has been renamed Primal Bite — its signature debuff was removed because the old name no longer reflected what the ability does; every Mangle reference in the talent trees has been updated. Rejuvenation, Tranquility and Wild Growth can now critically strike.
• Hunter. Lone Wolf no longer applies a −4% damage penalty while the pet is active. Furious Howl's pet attack power bonus has been cut by 40%.
• Mage. Arcane Missiles now only checks line of sight at the start of the channel — if the target ducks behind cover, it still eats every missile. Wake of Fire buff duration increased from 20 to 30 seconds; Hot Streak from 15 to 20 seconds.
• Paladin. Vengeance (Retribution) now only triggers from non-periodic critical strikes; maximum stacks reduced from 5 to 3. Holy Strike (Holy): cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds, damage ranks reworked; the talent that lowered Holy Strike's cooldown has been removed and folded into the base ability.
• Priest. Renew can now critically strike. Power Word: Shield now always overwrites the existing shield on the target without applying the Weakened Soul debuff.
• Rogue. Sap on a PvP-flagged target now correctly flags the rogue for PvP.
• Shaman. Flametongue Totem no longer has a duration and is replaced instantly on recast; Flametongue, Tranquil Air, Windfury and Grace of Air totems no longer stack between different shamans in the same group.
• Warlock. Tooltips for Life Tap and Voidwalker Sacrifice have been updated — they now scale correctly with Spirit and spell power.
• Warrior. Bloodthrill (Arms) — proc chance increased from 2/4/6/8/10% to 4/8/12/16/20%, but only from main-hand hits. Slam cooldown increased from 15 to 18 seconds.

By race:

• Tauren. Touch of the Grave no longer breaks crowd-control effects and no longer triggers from abilities without a damage component — Distract, Pickpocket and Polymorph no longer set it off.
• Gnome. Eureka now grants a flat 10% discount on abilities that cost mana, rage or energy, across all classes.
• Tauren. Cultivation — herbs now have a player level requirement.