Bellular Warcraft rounds up Forever's beta changes: what the client confirms

2026-11-04 · ForeverDB

Bellular Warcraft's catch-up video walks through what has changed in WoW Forever during the beta: weather, RP-PvP realms, gold-buyer bans and a late round of class and racial changes. We checked the class claims against the beta client. The client confirms the new Shieldsworn talent lets Protection paladins block spells and that Ice Lance has an 8-second cooldown, but its Ice Barrier shows +15% Frost damage, not the 12% the video mentions. Weather, bans and racials are things the client can't show yet.

This is a community video by Bellular Warcraft, not a Blizzard post, so everything in it is the creator's claim or finding, and we refer to them by name. We checked the class claims against the WoW Forever beta client (build 1.60.1.70790); the ability numbers and levels below come from the client. Weather, realm tech, dungeon XP, bans and racials are things the client can't show, so we say so.

Six days into the Forever beta, Bellular Warcraft put out a catch-up on everything that has changed since BlizzCon. Most of it is things the client can't confirm on its own: weather, layering, dungeon XP tuning and the gold-buyer bans. A handful are class and talent changes we can check. Here is what the client says, claim by claim.

The short version

• The client confirms the new Paladin talent Shieldsworn Shieldsworn lets Protection paladins Block spells. Its tooltip says Holy Strike now "allowing you to Block spells for 6 sec", learned at level 40. The "100% of the time" the video adds is a behaviour the client text doesn't show.
• Ice Lance Ice Lance does have a cooldown in the client: 8 sec, learned at level 20. The video's point holds.
• The client's Ice Barrier Ice Barrier raises your Frost damage by 15% for 1 min, and another 5% while the shield holds, not the 12% the video mentions.
• Berserk is gone for Feral druids. It's a Season of Discovery spell still sitting in the client files, and nothing in Forever (no trainer, quest or talent) teaches it.
• RP-PvP is back: the client carries the "(RP PvP)" realm label. Weather, the world-refresh fixes, dungeon XP, the gold-buyer bans and the racial overhaul are things our client data can't show, so treat those as the creator's report.
• Below: a claim-by-claim check, and what the client has and what it doesn't.

Claim by claim

The class rows are checked against the Forever beta client. Full rank-by-rank lists are on each class's changes page, for example Paladin, Mage and Druid.

Paladin: Shieldsworn

Shieldsworn Shieldsworn is a new talent in the client, Protection tier 7, one rank, learned at level 40. Its tooltip: "Reduces the cooldown of your Holy Strike ability by 4 sec. Additionally, Holy Strike now strikes with your shield, triggering your active Holy Shield and Shield Specialization talents without consuming their charges or triggering their cooldowns, and allowing you to Block spells for 6 sec." So the client backs the video's point: Protection paladins can Block spells, for 6 sec after a Holy Strike. The "100% of the time" is a number the client text doesn't give, so we can't confirm it yet. See the Paladin, Paladin changes and Paladin talent calculator.

The new Shieldsworn talent, pro paladins can now block spells 100% of the time. Bellular Warcraft, Watch This Before You Log Into Forever (9:00)

Mage: Ice Barrier and Ice Lance

Ice Barrier Ice Barrier in the client is Frost tier 7, learned at level 40, one rank, 30 sec cooldown, 305 mana. Its tooltip: "Shield yourself, absorbing 431 (+10% of Frost spell power) damage and increasing your Frost damage by 15% for 1 min. While shielded, your Frost damage is increased by an additional 5% and you do not lose casting time when you take damage." In Classic Era it only absorbed damage and stopped spell pushback; the Frost-damage buff is the Forever change. The client shows 15% plus 5%, not the 12% the video mentions, so that number disagrees.

Ice Lance Ice Lance is a new Frost talent, learned at level 20. The client gives it an 8 sec cooldown, 45 mana, and 26 to 30 Frost damage (300% more against frozen targets). So the video is right that it has a cooldown. See the Mage, Mage changes, Mage talent calculator and the Frost Mage simulator.

Frost mages got an extra 12% frost damage from Ice Barrier. Bellular Warcraft, Watch This Before You Log Into Forever (9:15)

Druid: Berserk

Berserk Berserk is in the client files, but as a Season of Discovery spell: nothing in Forever (no trainer, quest or talent) teaches it, so Feral can't use it. That matches the video's point that Feral lost the cooldown. The Resto talent the video says could open a "busted build" isn't named, so we can't match it to a client talent. See the Druid, Druid changes, Druid talent calculator and the Feral Combat Druid simulator.

RP-PvP realms

The client carries the realm-type label "(RP PvP)" in its own interface text, so the ruleset exists in the client. The video says it was added back after being cut.

Forever will literally launch with a whole game rule set that Blizzard had originally removed. Bellular Warcraft, Watch This Before You Log Into Forever (6:38)

Weather, layering, dungeon XP and gold bans

These are art, realm tech, server tuning and account bans. Our client data has no weather tables, XP values, realm-grouping or ban counts, so we can't confirm any of the numbers. We're passing them on as the creator's report, including the gold-buyer figures.

They had hit over 2,100 beta accounts for buying gold, plus 1,600 for selling and botting. Bellular Warcraft, Watch This Before You Log Into Forever (7:38)

Racials

The video says the weapon-specialisation racials were removed and swapped for crit chance or crit damage, that humans got 10% spirit, and that orc Command came back at 5% pet damage. Racials aren't in our class-change data, and the client only exposes the Crit Chance and Pet Damage stat labels, not the racial values. We can't check these numbers yet.

Where the client and the video differ

• Ice Barrier: the video says an extra 12% Frost damage; the client's Ice Barrier shows +15% for 1 min and another +5% while the shield holds Ice Barrier.
• Shieldsworn: the video says paladins block spells "100% of the time"; the client says Holy Strike lets you "Block spells for 6 sec" and gives no percentage Shieldsworn.

What we have, and what we don't

We can check the class and talent claims: Shieldsworn, Ice Barrier, Ice Lance and Berserk are all in the client, with their tooltips, levels and cooldowns. We can also confirm the RP-PvP ruleset from the client's realm label. What the client can't show is weather, layering and world-refresh behaviour, dungeon and group XP (the server works those out), the gold-buyer ban counts, the oceanic day/night cycle, the Skyborn models and the racial numbers. Those stay the creator's report until a beta player can test them in-game.

Sources

• Watch This Before You Log Into Forever (Bellular Warcraft, YouTube)
• Paladin: changes from Classic Era (ForeverDB, from the client)
• Mage: changes from Classic Era (ForeverDB, from the client)
• Druid: changes from Classic Era (ForeverDB, from the client)
• Bellular Warcraft (creator's site)