Final development notes: power budget raised for every class, tougher mobs, Rogue rebuilt around Shank

Blizzard says keeping each class inside its Classic power budget meant every new talent had to be paid for by weakening something else, so it raised damage for all classes and gave higher-level creatures more health to compensate. No big tuning is planned before raids open on 9 December except bugs and serious outliers; a large pass follows once many players are past level 30.

Changes every character feels: new spells no longer jump onto action bars, bags no longer auto-equip, training from 1 to 60 costs about 206 to 207 gold for every class, low-rank spells trigger talents normally again (except Blizzard with Arcane Concentration, Frostbite and Fingers of Frost), proc roots have diminishing returns, race base stats were corrected and the Quitter debuff is 40 seconds.

Blessing of Salvation, Mass Salvation, Revoke and Blessing of Light are gone. Bear Form threat is 115% (was 50%), Defensive Stance 80% (was 30%), Righteous Fury trains at level 10 with 33% more threat and 90% extra Holy threat.

Rogue: Shank (level 24) is an off-hand strike that costs 5 Energy, cannot miss and generates 15 (25 at rank 2). Poised makes your opener cheaper from full Energy. Assassination lost Murder and gained Venom and Blood Splatter; Combat renamed Improved Eviscerate to Coup de Grace and Improved Sinister Strike to Efficient Strikes and added Composure and Flash of Steel; Subtlety lost Quietus, Cutthroat, Thousand Cuts and Improved Distract and gained Boot Knife, Quick Getaway and the 31-point Death Mark.

Shaman: Lava Burst removed, Call of Thunder added, Lightning Overload 10/20/30%, Lightning Bolt about 80% harder at max rank, Chain Lightning 2.5 seconds, Stormstrike 150% weapon damage on a 6-second cooldown, Riptide a heal over time only, Totemic Call teleports totems.

Warrior: Reckless Swings and Improved Whirlwind in Fury, Bloodthirst requires Death Wish, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization up to 6%, Slam on a 15-second cooldown. Druid: Shred 200%, Claw 140%, Ravage 435%, Lacerate as a row-4 talent, Berserk removed, Primal Bite and Shifting Power as two 31-point talents, Bloom replaces Gift of the Earthmother. Hunter: Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot, Serpent Sting and Sniper Shot up, all traps on one 30-second cooldown. Mage: Frost Blast and Piercing Ice removed, Ice Barrier adds Frost damage, Critical Mass back to 3 points. Paladin: Holy and Protection reshuffled with Oath of Light and Shieldsworn. Priest: Shadow Word: Death failure costs 30% health, Holy Binding replaces Binding Heal. Warlock: pets gain 2 health per Master's Stamina point, Wrack raised, Spellstones Shadow-only.

Every class page on this site has the per-class list with links to the new tooltips.

Sources

• Blizzard: WoW Forever Development Notes, 2 November
• All class changes