Creators cover Blizzard's week-one response: dungeon XP, faction limits and gold at 60

A human warrior: a painting from the WoW Forever client's credits

2026-11-11 · ForeverDB

Several creators have posted "Blizzard responds" videos about WoW Forever's first week. The changes they cover — a 50% dungeon XP hotfix, faction-creation limits aimed at a 50/50 split, lower crowding in congested zones, more gold from high-level quests and a run of class hotfixes — are all in Blizzard's forum posts and quoted below. Whether the fixes go far enough is the creators' opinion.

Speculation. The videos below are creator reports and opinions. The changes they talk about are real: Blizzard posted them on the forums, and we quote those posts word for word further down. What rests on community opinion is the verdict — whether the fixes are "enough", and any claimed cause of the week-one problems. Treat that as unconfirmed.

What the videos say

In the first week since launch, several creators put out "Blizzard responds" rundowns of the hotfixes and forum replies. mulltiy covers the faction changes: tighter creation limits, a goal of reaching a 50/50 split, and less crowding in congested zones, and asks whether it is enough for world PvP. Back From AFK runs through dungeon kill XP up 50%, PvP faction balance and restrictions, quest gold and the auction house, and Hunter, Warlock and Shaman updates. HelloJTello goes through the dungeon XP change and layer adjustments, and pushes back on an internet claim about the imbalance that he says has no evidence behind it.

Creator reports and opinions, not Blizzard statements on their own.

What Blizzard actually posted

Dungeon XP. On November 8, Kaivax posted that a hotfix raised dungeon kill experience:

At about 11:05 PST today, we deployed a hotfix that increased kill experience in dungeons by 50%, so it feels better to go back in for more runs. Kaivax, Community Manager

On November 10, replying to a thread asking for more, Kaivax put numbers to it:

We’ve tracked this very carefully, and the hotfix that we deployed on Sunday, November 8 took dungeon kill XP from 40% of the values in Classic Era to 60% of the values in Classic Era. We have subsequently felt that the adjustment is working well to produce dungeon leveling speeds that fit with the rest of WoW Forever content. Kaivax, Community Manager

Faction balance. Also on November 10, Kaivax posted a PvP faction balance update. The 55/45 figure the creators repeat comes straight from it:

It’s vitally important that the PvP rulesets in WoW: Forever have balanced factions where both factions vie for supremacy, creating memories of epic victories and stunning defeats that we all remember for years to come. While even the most extreme case in a region is currently at roughly a 55/45 split, that is not as close as we want it to be. Kaivax, Community Manager

The same post sets the goal and spells out the creation limits:

In the short term, that means that it will become increasingly difficult to create characters on the more populous faction in each region – currently Horde on North American PvP rulesets or Alliance in EU Roleplay-PvP. Kaivax, Community Manager

Blizzard states the target plainly: "Our goal is to bring things as close to a 50/50 faction balance as possible." The restrictions apply when you create a character, so they are server-side and can't be seen in the game files.

Crowding. In a reply the same evening, Kaivax listed a population change for busy zones, the "reduced crowding" and "layer adjustments" the videos mention:

We’ve made this an even bigger change on the PvP ruleset, following feedback from players that they felt overcrowded in several places. We will continue to monitor how zones feel and make further adjustments as necessary. Kaivax, Community Manager

The "no evidence" claim. HelloJTello's point about an internet claim lines up with another Kaivax reply in the same thread, where he addresses the idea that trial characters were skewing the split:

We did significant investigation into that, and there is no evidence that trial characters had any impact at all. Kaivax, Community Manager

He adds how the number is measured: "When we say 55/45, we’re looking at the active logged-in population across all levels over a specific period of time."

Gold at level 60. On the quest gold the creators mention, Kaivax explained that WoW Forever removed the old XP-to-gold conversion for quests handed in at max level, and that a hotfix was coming:

To address this, we’re preparing a hotfix that will add additional gold rewards to most quests with a quest level of level 48 or higher, including adding gold to quests above level 48 that never previously rewarded gold at all. Kaivax, Community Manager

Class changes. Blizzard also posted a November 9 hotfix list that touches Druid, Hunter, Mage and more. One of the Hunter lines: "Arcane Shot mana cost changed to 11% of base Mana for all ranks of Arcane Shot." The post also corrects a bug where pets had 150% of their normal health, down to 115%. That covers the Hunter part of the creators' Hunter, Warlock and Shaman updates.

What's confirmed and what isn't

Confirmed, because it's in Blizzard's forum posts:

A November 8 hotfix raised dungeon kill XP by 50%, which Blizzard later described as moving it from 40% to 60% of Classic Era values.
Character creation is being limited on the more populous faction in each region (Horde on NA PvP, Alliance on EU RP-PvP), aiming for a 50/50 split; current worst case is about 55/45.
Blizzard lowered the player population in several congested zones, a bigger change on the PvP ruleset.
A hotfix adds gold to most quests of level 48 or higher, including some that never rewarded gold.
There is a November 9 class hotfix list (Hunter, Druid, Mage and others).
Blizzard says it found no evidence that trial characters affected the faction split.

Not confirmed:

Whether these changes are "enough" for world PvP or levelling. That's each creator's opinion.
Any specific cause of the week-one problems beyond what Blizzard states. The trial-character theory is one Blizzard explicitly says it found no evidence for.
An auction house change. Back From AFK groups "quest gold and auction house" together, but we found a Blizzard post on quest gold, not on the auction house.

What the Forever client says

Dungeon XP rates, faction population and zone crowding are all decided on Blizzard's servers, so the game files can neither confirm nor deny them, the same way skinning loot couldn't be checked in the files. What the client does record is the roster these PvP rulesets are splitting:

9 playable classes: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior.
10 playable races: Dwarf, Gnome, High Order Skyborne, Human, Night Elf, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Undead, Windshaper Skyborne.

These are beta hotfixes and replies. Anything here can change again before launch, and server-side tuning like XP rates and faction limits won't show up in the game files.

Sources

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