ForeverRank datamine · September 25, 2026 · client 1.60.1.69876 vs 1.60.1.70009

Build 70009:
kept, cut, rewired

Forever is Season of Discovery's codebase, which is Classic on the modern engine, and Blizzard is deciding piece by piece what survives. Four beta builds in, the client diff shows that sorting live: SoD's rune spells becoming the base kit, Forever's own early drafts thrown out, and systems nobody has announced.

69876Sep 16 · day one
69893Sep 16
69913Sep 18
69977Sep 23
70009Sep 24 · this diff
1SoD's runes are becoming the class kitMangle is now Primal Bite; Lava Burst hits 45% harder. 2Forever cut its own drafts88 of 92 deleted spells were Forever's, not SoD's. 3New systems, unannouncedA Statistics panel, race intros, Group Finder brackets, Riverglades signposts. 423 talents movedPaladins lose two; Druid Wrath gains about 50%. 5Books past twenty may pay bigItem level 58 rewards sit next to the 20-book rings.
41new spells
88Forever spells cut
197statistics
66new items
227new game files
23talents changed

Three games in one client

Every row in the client has an ID, and the ID says which era wrote it. That is how this piece sorts every change.

Classic

2004 · the original

Items1 – 99,999Spells1 – 99,999

This build: Wrath, Holy Strike, Sunder Armor and Righteous Fury retuned; Linken's Sword and four other Un'Goro and Winterspring rewards pulled.

Season of Discovery

2023 – 2025 · the runes era

Items199,000 – 238,999Spells400,000 – 470,000

This build: rune spells treated as the class kit. Mangle renamed, Lava Burst and Lightning Bolt Overload retuned, Hot Streak extended. The Mage book hunt kept and opened to everyone.

Forever

2026 · new work

Items239,000 and upSpells1,200,000 and up

This build: 41 new spells, 66 new items and 4 dungeon sets added; 88 of its own draft spells deleted.

1

Kept and retuned

In SoD, runes handed out spells for engraving. Forever gives several of them to classes outright, and this build tunes them like baseline abilities, not leftovers.

Druid · Feral

Primal Bite SoD 407995

Mangle is renamed. The rune spell reads "Bite the target" under a new icon, Forever's own three copies were renamed with it, and Ferocity and Berserk now say Primal Bite too.

Mangle→Primal Bite

Shaman · Elemental

Lava Burst SoD 408490

Base damage up on both copies of the spell, and the Forge talent now reads 164.

Rune version113 → 164
Forever version179 → 196

Shaman

Lightning Bolt SoD 4084xxClassic

The SoD Lightning Bolt variants were rebased: less damage per level, more base damage, tighter variance. Classic's own ranks moved too.

Rank 3 base35 → 45
Rank 4 base50 → 56

Mage · Fire

Hot Streak SoD 400625

Lasts longer, and its Fire partner Wake of Fire gives you more time after a kill.

Hot Streak15 → 20 sec
Wake of Fire window20 → 30 sec
2

The cutting room floor

The surprise of this build is what left. 88 of the 92 deleted spells carry Forever IDs: this is Forever throwing out its own early work.

DELETED

Forever An "Adaptive" armor line

24 pieces built around a hunt, a damage version and a healer version of each, plus 12 "Adaptation" and 11 "Contribute Reagent" spells. It reads like gear that grew as you fed it materials. All 47 spells are gone.

Slimeslayer'sdamageBeastculler'sdamageDinodestroyer'sdamageEarthcrusher'sdamage Slimetender'shealerBeastmender'shealerDinomender'shealerEarthweaver'shealer

Forever A slime fight and a Devilsaur hunt

Slime NovaSlimecontrolledExperimental PlagueCoagulateSludge SuppressorEnormous Tranquilizer DartSpike TrapDevilsaur HideTerrorizing Roar

Forever Fruit

Shiny Green AppleSweetsour GrapesWayward PomegranateTel'Abim PlantainsFlame Papaya3 × Fruit Pulp
PULLED

Classic Un'Goro and Winterspring rewards

Both rewards of Un'Goro's Linken chain left the item table, along with three Winterspring pieces. With the Un'Goro drafts gone as well, that region looks mid-rebuild.

Linken's Sword of MasterySpirit of AquementasTempestria's Frozen NecklaceFrigid RingHardened Stone Band
Black Dragon Mail lost its boots and its 4-piece bonus. It is a 3-piece set now.
1,054Spell coefficients reset to zero on passives and food buffs. Housekeeping, not balance: no spell in any class spellbook moved.
🗺Development Land, the developers' test map, was deleted.
3

New, and not announced

197 statistics arrived at once, which means a Statistics panel. The dungeon boss rows name bosses the previews never did.

Statisticsas the client defines it · values are yours to fill
  • Rath'mael kills (Ruins of Lordaeron)–
  • Durgen Dirgehammer kills (Hall of Thanes)–
  • Shade of the Archmage kills (City of Dalaran)–
  • Lyn the Ignored kills (City of Dalaran)–
  • Blazeroar kills (Alcaz Prison)–
  • Nanaya kills (Shaper's Terrace)–
  • Edwin VanCleef kills (Deadmines)–
  • Mutanus the Devourer kills (Wailing Caverns)–
  • Bazzalan kills (Ragefire Chasm)–
Tabs follow the client's own category tree (23 new categories; "Classic" was renamed "Boss Kills"). Highlighted rows are Forever-only content. For the ladder this matters: a statistic is something an addon can read.
Levels 15–20Ruins of Lordaeron
Rath'mael
Levels 13–18Hall of Thanes
Durgen Dirgehammer
Levels 28–33City of Dalaran
Shade of the ArchmageLyn the Ignored
Levels 48–53Alcaz Prison
Blazeroar
Levels 58–60Shaper's Terrace
NanayaCinderBoltSnowtalon
Rotmender's Raiment Forever
5 pieces · items not itemized in the client yet
Set bonuses
(2) Set: +10 Intellect.
(3) Set: Reduces all threat generated by 5%.
(4) Set: When your Mana falls below 15% restore 600 Mana over 15 sec. This effect can only trigger once every 5 min.
(5) Set: Grant your healing spells a chance to apply Rotmending, restoring 40 Health every 3 sec for 15 sec.
A healer's dungeon set, and the only one of the four with bonuses in this build.
Violet Sorcerer's Vestments5 pieces · no bonuses yet · City of Dalaran?
Krol'dok Battlegear5 pieces · no bonuses yet · Krol'dok Stronghold
Defias Enforcer's Garb5 pieces · no bonuses yet · Defias-themed

Three of the four new sets are defined with pieces and no payouts: work in progress, visible a build early.

Zephras Isle
Nightclaw Druids become a reputation

The druids of Shadowgale Forest on the Skyborne starting island: the eight classic races added, capped at Exalted.

Kirin Tor start neutral

Your standing used to start deep in the negatives. Now it starts at neutral, which fits a Dalaran you are meant to visit.

Respecs are rationed

Two hidden trackers swapped windows: class talent resets now count per hour, Legacy tree resets per week.

Undead Paladins lose a freebie

Humans and Dwarves still start with Holy Light. Undead Paladins now get their own row, which is not granted at creation.

Eureka! was cut down

The spell research proc's discount on your next damaging abilities is a flat 10% for everyone now, down from as much as 50%.

Five low-level items gained spell power
Buckler of the Seas
Harvester's Robe
Ironplate Buckler
Rancher's Trousers
Leggings of the People's Militia

Part of their Spirit or Stamina budget moved to spell power. Hover for before and after.

64 new quest items

New quest chains show up in the item table before anyone plays them:

A Titanic Keystone with four hearts named Ados, Modr, Golm and Neru; Menethil Statuettes; Mulgore Expansion Plans; Dragonmaw Armaments.

Potions and armor kits

Frenzy potions doubled; Spellblasting and Mender's potions up; Dragonfire and Elemental Purging down. Armor kits got real names, including new Forceful (attack power) and Mystic (spell power) kits.

A new-player intro for every raceNew "talk to" prompts name each race's first questgiver
  • HumanDeputy Willem
  • DwarfSten Stoutarm
  • Night ElfConservator Ilthalaine
  • OrcKaltunk
  • UndeadUndertaker Mordo
  • TaurenGrull Hawkwind
  • SkyborneAilee Farheart

Six are the classic starting questgivers. The seventh is new: Skyborne players start by talking to Ailee Farheart.

Group Finder brackets tightenedListings exist for Forever's dungeons; each got a narrower level range
Hall of Thanes13–20
Ruins of Lordaeron15–22
Excavation Site26–33
City of Dalaran28–35
10203040

Grey was day one, gold is now. Blizzard said there is no dungeon finder; these rows fit a Classic-style listing board where players post their own groups.

The Riverglades gets its signpostsEight new signposts at one crossroads; every town they name is a Riverglades subzone
FarholdeWindstead Powderfuse PortBolder'ok SunnygladeRedridge Badlands

The client's zone file names say what the gold boards are: Farholde Keep is the keep, Bolder'ok the ogre hub, Powderfuse Port a goblin port. Pointing to Redridge and the Badlands puts the zone between the two.

The Riverglades
Every subzone the client lists for the Riverglades
Farholde KeepWindsteadPowderfuse PortBolder'okSunnygladeKrol'dok StrongholdRog'marAshwood's FallBristle HillsEastwind ShoreElbrim's FarmForlorn PitMeadowsbrookSouthern WatchTerral's WatchThe Forbidding SeaTurner's Logging CampTwilight's ShroudWheeler's Grange

Nineteen places, the signposted five in gold. The zone holds Krol'dok Stronghold, the ogre dungeon; Twilight's Shroud and Forlorn Pit fit its Twilight's Hammer story.

Interface work in the client

Pet happiness is backHappy, neutral and angry pet icons arrived: Classic's Hunter pet happiness, it seems, returns.
A Classic-style combo point frameNew red slash art for Rogue combo points on the unit frame, drawn for the 60 look.
Tooltips compare percentagesCrit, hit, dodge, parry, block and "Casting and Attack Speed" as % differences on item compare.
Controllers, more of themRadial spell flyouts, pet flyouts, a compact bar, fixed party targeting, and button art for PlayStation and Nintendo Switch controllers.
"The world around you will refresh"Shard transfers are reworded as a world refresh, with a Refresh Now button. Rulesets are social silos: "You will only be able to interact with players who choose the same ruleset."
A shop tab and a safer unlearnThe in-game shop gains a "WoW: Forever" category. Unlearning a profession now asks you to type UNLEARN.

Also in: Discord-powered voice chat and account age checks. Those are shared-engine features that arrived with the modern client, not Forever design.

From the file list1.42 million game files per build: 227 new, 401 gone
82Stormwind Citynew building-model files, and the city's flight master moved about 13 yards. Work in the capital.
8Thunder Blufffiles for a new giant totem structure.
10Minesa new "variant A" of the classic gold mine interior that mines across the world share.
1SylvanasLady Sylvanas Windrunner's model got its first creature entry in this client, and a new NPC display uses it.
39New NPCsnew NPC appearances, mostly humans, goblins, gnomes and undead, plus three unnamed new creature models.
24Interfacenew interface files, many filed under "Camelot", Forever's internal codename: the controller flyouts, PvP rank indicators on unit frames, a character copy screen.
4

Class changes

Hover any icon for the tooltip, old text and new. All of it is live in the Forge, where the two removed Paladin talents stay struck out in place so older shared builds still line up.

Paladin9 changes
Holy StrikeHits harder on seven of eight ranks, and the cooldown drops.
12s→10s
Holy PowerIts crit bonus now covers Holy Strike too.
▲ Buff
Sacred ArbiterHoly Strike damage bonus.
10%→20%
Twist of LightAlso cuts Seal mana costs by 20%.
▲ Buff
Two-Handed Weapon SpecDamage at 3/3.
9%→6%
VengeanceNeeds a non-periodic crit now; max stacks cut.
5→3
Righteous FuryBack to Classic's number.
90%→60%
Improved Holy StrikeRemoved from the Holy tree.
✕ Removed
CrusadeRemoved from the Retribution tree.
✕ Removed
Druid5 changes
WrathAbout 50% more on every rank, and more per level. Top rank base shown.
61→91
Primal BiteWas Mangle. New name, new icon.
Renamed
Blood FrenzyWas Primal Fury.
Renamed
FerocityReworded for Primal Bite.
Wording
BerserkReworded for Primal Bite.
Wording
Warrior4 changes
SlamLonger cooldown for untalented warriors.
15s→18s
Improved SlamNow takes 3 sec off Slam at 2/2, so talented Arms lands back at 15.
▲ Buff
BloodthrillMain Hand only, but the chance doubles at 5/5.
10%→20%
Sunder ArmorSame armor stripped; bonus threat cut about 80% on ranks 2 to 5.
1013→206
Shaman5 changes
Lava BurstBase damage, rune version.
113→164
Lightning BoltRank 3 and 4 base up; SoD variants rebased.
35→45
Elemental Fury ⇄ Elemental AlacritySwapped tiers: Alacrity now sits on row 3, Fury moved to row 6 behind Call of Thunder. row 6 → 3 row 3 → 6
⇄ Moved
Rage of the FarseerSpeeds attacks only; the casting half is gone.
▼ Nerf
Flametongue and Windfury TotemRebuilt from passive placeholders into proper proc effects.
Rework
Mage2 changes
Hot StreakBuff duration.
15s→20s
Wake of FireWindow after a kill.
20s→30s
Warlock1 change
Life TapThe health cost now scales with Spirit too, so it costs as much health as the mana it returns.
▼ Nerf
Hunter1 change
Strider KickAdds 30% movement speed for 3 sec.
▲ Buff
5

The library, and what comes after twenty

SoD's Mage book hunt survives in Forever, open to every class: forty books scattered across Azeroth, handed to your faction's library.

Friend of the Library

Stormwind or Undercity library · bring books, pick a reward

SoD quest, kept
10 · confirmed
20 · confirmed
30 · ?
40 · ?

10 books choose one

Scholarly Pendantitem level 25 · neck

OR

Erudite's Amuletitem level 25 · neck

20 books choose one

Philanthropist's Ringitem level 40 · finger

OR

Field Researcher's Loopitem level 40 · flagged Rogue-only

Next tier? candidates, unconfirmed

Museum Keeper's Chainitem level 58 · neck · no level requirement
Antique Bulwarkitem level 58 · shield · no level requirement
Artifact Seeker's Pendantitem level 58 · neck · no level requirement

Why these three: the known rewards share a signature (rare, bind on pickup, no level requirement, no sell price, one particular flag) and sit in tight ID blocks. The candidates are the only other items with that signature, right next to them:

281631Collector's Edition Tabard
281634Field Researcher's Loop · 20
281635Philanthropist's Ring · 20
281636Museum Keeper's Chain · ?
281637Antique Bulwark · ?
281642server-sent item
277200Scorched Leather Pouch
277202Artifact Seeker's Pendant · ?
277203Scholarly Pendant · 10
277204Erudite's Amulet · 10
277205Cloak of the Divine Storm

Item level climbs 25, 40, 58. The names lean Explorers' League museum rather than library, so these may belong to a sibling quest drawing on the same pool. Inference from IDs and flags, not a confirmation.

Mages get more from the same hunt. They learn the hidden Research profession, whose Study ability turns Light Feathers into spell scrolls. It is the spell research system the client has carried since day one; we covered it then.

Got 20 books? Turn in book 21 through 30 and see whether a third quest appears. Tell us what it offers.

Report it on Discord
How we read the client
wago.tools · 140+ tables + the file list→build 69876 vs 70009 diff→tooltip resolver→check: reproduce the old site text→site + this article

Every claim comes from a row or a file that changed between the two client builds, pulled from wago.tools: over 140 tables, plus the full list of 1.42 million game files. Tables the older build exports without column names were matched by position and checked by near-total row equality. Tooltips are resolved from Spell, SpellEffect, SpellMisc, SpellAuraOptions and the Trait curve tables by our own resolver, which reproduces 414 of 470 Forge talents exactly; new text is only published where the old text reproduced. Eras are read from ID bands.

Server-sent items, most quest rewards among them, are in no client table, which is why the new set pieces have no stats yet. The library tiers come from Warcraft Tavern's coverage of the quests; the candidates past twenty are our own inference.