DiigiiThe World of Warcraft: Forever beta is about to get its second stretch of road. Blizzard has announced that the next beta build raises the level cap from 20 to 30.
Tomorrow morning PDT, we will take the WoW Forever Beta offline for maintenance. Several hours later, the Beta will resume with an updated build that includes changes and fixes, with the level cap raised to 30.
Kaivax, Community Manager, on the Blizzard forums, 30 September (Pacific time)
- Level cap
- 30, up from 20
- Offline
- The morning of 1 October, Pacific time. That is the evening of 1 October in central Europe
- Back online
- Several hours later, which is early on 2 October in Europe
- Full notes
- Promised by Blizzard for 1 October. Not posted yet when this was written
- Beta ends
- 21 October is the last full day of testing
- Launch
- 4 November, 3:00 p.m. PST, which is 5 November at 00:00 CET
What is confirmed, and what is not
Blizzard's post is two sentences long, and for now that is all there is. The cap goes to 30, the build carries changes and fixes, and the details will be added to the beta development notes once the build is live. When we looked on 1 October, shortly before 13:00 UTC, that thread still showed the notes from 24 September.
The rise to 30 was always the plan. When the beta opened on 17 September, Blizzard wrote (opens on another site) that the cap would start at 20 and be raised to 30 later, and that more zones, dungeons and the new battleground would open for testing as the beta continues.
The road from 20 to 30
The first two weeks of the beta covered all zone content up to level 20, the Skyborne and their home on Zephras Isle, and two dungeons: Hall of Thanes (levels 13 to 18) and Ruins of Lordaeron (levels 15 to 20). Those ranges are Blizzard's own.
Two more dungeons sit in the range the new cap reaches. The Excavation Site in the Wetlands is reported at levels 24 to 29, and Dalaran in the Alterac Mountains at 28 to 33. Both ranges were reported at the BlizzCon 2026 panels and have not been verified in the beta, and Blizzard has not confirmed that either dungeon opens with this build.
What the last build changed
While we wait for the new notes, here is what the build of 24 September changed. It was a large one, and the full notes are worth reading if you play one of the classes below.
Camping got kinder
Campfires are where Forever asks you to slow down, and the last build removed most of the friction around them. You can now buff each other, cast and craft while you wait for your Campfire buff, and you earn it whether you are sitting, sitting in a chair, sleeping, lying down or kneeling.
A cheap way to try another build
For the beta only, resetting your talents costs 1 silver if you have not changed them recently. After a first reset the price is much higher, and it drops back to 1 silver once an hour has passed.
Class changes worth knowing
- Paladin: Holy Strike now climbs from 25% to 50% of weapon damage across its eight ranks, where it used to stop at 40%. For Holy, its cooldown drops from 12 seconds to 10 and the Improved Holy Strike talent is gone, because its effect is now built in. Retribution's Vengeance stacks 3 times, down from 5.
- Druid: Wrath's base damage is up by roughly 50%. Feral's Mangle is now called Primal Bite, because the debuff that gave it its name was removed.
- Mage: Arcane Missiles checks line of sight once, at the start of the channel. For Fire, Wake of Fire lasts 30 seconds (it was 20) and Hot Streak lasts 20 (it was 15).
- Shaman: Flametongue Totem no longer has a duration, and it no longer stacks with Flametongue Weapon or Windfury Totem. Elemental Fury and Elemental Alacrity swapped places in the Elemental tree.
- Warrior: Bloodthrill in the Arms tree is twice as likely to trigger at every rank, up to 20%, but only from main hand attacks. Slam's cooldown rises from 15 seconds to 18.
- Hunter: Tame Beast no longer works on beasts above your own level, and Furious Howl's Attack Power bonus is 40% smaller.
- Anyone with a wand: wands no longer gain damage from your spell damage.
Healers also got a quiet fix. Rejuvenation, Tranquility, Wild Growth, Renew and Riptide can now land critical hits, which Blizzard describes as correcting an issue.
Two interface features in testing
The Cooldown Manager takes important timers out of your buff bar and action bars and lets you put them where you want. It is off by default and lives under Gameplay Enhancement in the options. Druid, Mage, Priest, Warrior and Warlock can test it so far, and it does not yet support spell ranks.
Gamepad support gained class flyouts: shapeshifts for Druids, pet controls for Hunters and Warlocks, auras for Paladins and stances for Warriors. A new compact action bar shows only the bar that is active at that moment.
If you are in the beta
- Expect the beta to be unavailable for several hours on 1 October.
- The beta runs through 21 October, so there are just under three weeks to test the road to 30.
- If you try the Cooldown Manager, Blizzard has asked for one thing above all: the spells you wish were tracked by default.
A Server Slam, a few hours in which anyone can join the beta, is still planned for later in the test. Blizzard has not announced when.