On October 1, Forever lead designer Kris Zierhut clarified in the podcast and on the forum how Forever splits classes into pure and hybrid, and where the Rogue fits in this picture.

In the podcast and immediately afterwards on the US Blizzard forum, Forever lead designer Kris Zierhut explained the design philosophy behind class balance and gave a benchmark for the damage gap between pure and hybrid classes.

The idea is simple and repeats what the community has long called the "hybrid tax": pure classes should deal slightly more damage, while hybrids get compensation in the form of flexibility, control, and the ability to step in for a second role.

Who's on Which Side

Blizzard posted a breakdown table on the forum. As published, the two sides look like this:

| Pure Classes | Hybrid Classes | | --- | --- | | Warlock, Mage, Hunter, Rogue | Priest, Paladin, Druid, Shaman, Warrior |

Note: Warrior sits on the hybrid side in this table — an unusual split compared to vanilla WoW, where Warrior was considered a "pure" melee class. That's how Blizzard published the table: hybrids in general can fill in for a role in the group if it lacks a healer or tank.

Numbers and Logic

The benchmark Zierhut named goes like this: pure classes should deal roughly 5% more damage than the rest. Hybrids stay competitive, but fall slightly behind in raw DPS — in return they get:

• the ability to fill in for a second role if the group lacks a healer or tank;
• access to utility: interrupts and crowd control.

So the "tax" hasn't gone away — the team is just being upfront about its size and reason.

Rogue as the Damage Benchmark

In the same podcast, Zierhut singled out the Rogue: this class will have the highest single-target damage in Forever. That's a direct benchmark for anyone picking a class for boss fights.