Forever beta opens Dalaran · class fixes and 16 Legacy Points

City of Dalaran is now available to test in the World of Warcraft: Forever beta. The same update fixes class behavior and opens up more of the Legacy system for testing. Groups have a new destination, while even a familiar character deserves a quick review before the next session.

Kaivax’s development notes carry an October 8 date in the US. The post appeared at 00:32 on October 9 in Finland. This October 11 roundup covers that update; it is not announcing a fresh beta build released today.

Take your group into the City of Dalaran

Dalaran is the update’s most visible content addition. In its original Forever dungeon preview, Blizzard described a city troubled by strange magical events. That destination has now moved from an announced feature to playable beta content.

For us, that makes a good reason to gather a regular group and explore. On a first visit, discovering the route and working out what the party needs to do together can be the main attraction. We have not played the dungeon ourselves, so we are not yet judging its difficulty, length or ideal group composition.

Rage fixes affect Warriors and Druids

Blizzard corrected calculations for Rage gained from taking damage. The bugs involved Stamina gear, heavy incoming hits and damage-absorption effects, among other factors. The developer expects a typical Warrior or Druid to gain more Rage as a result.

For a tank, the useful question is whether the resource is there when the next ability is needed. The notes do not produce a single damage or threat percentage that applies to every character. Comparing the same character against similar enemies should be more informative than comparing the totals from two very different dungeon runs.

Check your Penance rank and Reckoning behavior

Priest’s Penance receives both bug fixes and rank-specific tuning: rank 1 costs 50% more mana, while healing at ranks 2 and 4 is increased. Blizzard also corrects a calculation that treated its two-second channel as a three-second spell. Paladin’s Reckoning can now trigger no more than once every 1.5 seconds.

Priests should therefore check the rank they actually use. Calling the whole package a Penance nerf would miss changes moving in different directions. For Paladin tanks, holding threat and staying alive are both useful observations; a damage meter alone cannot describe the full experience.

Sixteen Legacy Points to experiment with

All beta players have been granted completion of the Legacy Challenge and its 16 Legacy Points. The minimum cost of resetting Legacy choices is one silver, with reset costs decreasing hourly. These are beta testing provisions.

That creates room to compare choices on the same character. Our suggestion is to change one thing first, then see whether it affects how you play. Neither the awarded points nor the cheap reset should be read as a promise of starting benefits in the release version.

More tools for your interface

Cooldown Manager now supports every class, racial abilities and trinkets; consumable support is due later. The gamepad action bar has gained Edit Mode support, where players need to configure its options again.

Before setting out with a group, check both your choices and your interface. We already covered dungeon experience in our separate XP report. Its announced increase and mixed-level party calculation fix are now included in these development notes. A listed fix still differs from independently verified in-game behavior, and another beta update may change the picture again.

Image publication source: 4Gamers developer interview.