The Forever beta came back up on October 1 with the level 30 ceiling Blizzard had trailed a day earlier — and with roughly 1,500 words of changelog attached, the longest single build note the beta has produced. The headline is the ten levels. The more consequential entry is five words long: "Dungeon quests now reward 50% less extra experience."

Original editorial illustration by RealmList, generated for this article. This is artwork, not game footage or official promotional material.

What actually opened

One bracket correction worth carrying forward: the notes label Excavation Site: Wetlands 26–31, which does not match the 24–29 figure in Blizzard's September 14 dungeon list and repeated in our own phase-two article. The official note is the later document.

The experience change nobody asked about out loud

Blizzard's developer note on quests reads:

"We appreciate the feedback on leveling speed as we continue ongoing discussions about the Beta. As part of those discussions, we've decided to reduce the amount of XP granted from dungeon quests with this release. Certain quest rewards have also been recalibrated."

The mechanical line is that dungeon quests now award 50% less bonus experience above normal quest values. Read against the September 22 change — which cut experience from dungeon trash and raised quest rewards — this is a partial reversal of the second half of that trade. The stated destination has not changed: quests are still meant to out-earn repeated instance farming. What changed is how much the dungeon-specific premium is worth.

The same section adds increased respawn rates across Hillsbrad Foothills, Ashenvale, Wetlands, Duskwood and Thousand Needles. Blizzard's accompanying note says Redridge Mountains and Stonetalon Mountains were adjusted in a previous build and asks players to keep reporting "any areas where you have difficulty completing quests" — which is the clearest indication that spawn contention, not quest design, is what most of these lists are actually about.

The class pass, compressed

All nine classes got entries. The ones a level 30 character will actually feel:

Two of these are corrections of things the community reported, not new design: priests losing Fear Ward-style racial exclusivity was covered in the September 30 deep dives, and the Paladin aura bug is listed as an outstanding known issue in the same post. Blizzard is now shipping and acknowledging the same defect in one document, which is at least honest.

The spell-rank rule, finally written down

Buried in the user interface section is the clearest statement Blizzard has made about how spell ranks work in Forever. Hovering Spell Damage and Spell Healing on the character sheet now explains that spells cast using ranks "vastly below your current level" take less benefit from your spell damage and healing and have a reduced chance to activate class abilities and talents. The developer note supplies the example:

"Using a Rank 1 Frostbolt at level 60 will result in a 0% chance to get a Frostbite activation. So you now are making a decision between getting a slow off quickly, or using a spell that can potentially get a Frostbite activation, instead of getting both."

That is a deliberate re-introduction of a Classic-era trade-off with the numbers made explicit. It is also the clearest signal yet that rank-one spell casting is being designed as a choice rather than a free filler button.

Datamined, but not in the notes

Community datamining of the same build surfaced three items the changelog never mentions, reported by Wowhead and relayed by Indie Kings:

• Rotmender Raiment, a levelling set with a four-piece bonus (Siphon the Grave: 600 mana over 15 seconds below 15% mana, on a 5-minute cooldown) plus Evasive and Rotmending effects.
• Spawn of Grubthor, a battle pet whose drop source is unknown — Grubthor is a level 58 rare elite in Silithus, which sits outside the beta's level range.
• The Statistics pane, blank at launch, now tracking kills, wealth, reputation, professions, battlegrounds and per-boss kills.

Treat all three as build contents rather than promises. Datamined systems have been cut before launch in every beta cycle.

Known issues, new to this build

Blizzard's own list of what it broke or has not finished:

• Chained casts do not play the next cast's precast effects or sounds until the previous one finishes.
• Enemies can parry and block from behind if you stand too close; the workaround is standing further away.
• The total installation is larger than intended and will be reduced in a later beta update.
• Switching to or from Gamepad UI resets your active edit-mode layout.
• Mages who learn Research can be locked out of it; the Scroll of Liminal Passage does not work.
• Warrior Dual Wield Specialization is granting its hit chance to both hands instead of only the off-hand.
• Faerie Fire and Demoralizing Shout do not generate threat.
• And, verbatim: "Anduin Wrynn — and many other children — unintentionally have hats."

What the build still does not include

Three gaps shape the next three weeks:

• The City of Dalaran dungeon did not open. Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield corrected himself on October 1: "I said there were two new dungeons this week, but I was mistaken. This week the Excavation Site is available, and the City of Dalaran dungeon is coming in a future beta update."
• The Darkspear Islands battleground is not in the notes. It was previewed as phase-two content; the October 1 changelog does not list it, and Blizzard has never published a level bracket or rotation for it.
• The Warrior rage bug is not fixed. The September 30 deep dives said the damage-taken Rage calculation is broken and that finding the cause "may take a couple weeks." The build raised crit Rage by 75%, which is the compensation, not the fix.

Ray Traced Shadows was also removed outright and will return "after the functionality is fixed" — the second graphics setting pulled this cycle. The installation-size entry is the one to watch: Forever's client has drawn complaints for being unusually large for a 2004-era game, and Blizzard has now confirmed the size is not intentional.