Countdown to Classic’s Josh Corbett and Sodapoppin joined Blizzard’s Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield, Aidan Moon and Kris Zierhut for the October 1 Forever Podcast, covering all nine classes.
Blizzard wants three or four frequently used rotation buttons, leaving room for longer cooldowns and utility. Damage budgets should keep encounters near original WoW lengths. Hybrid DPS, including Warriors, is targeted around 5% below pure damage classes, with different encounters favoring different strengths.
Druid
Wrath’s previously announced 50% base-damage buffwowseer.gg corrects damage left too low after an abandoned free-casting experiment.
Powershifting was removed because its unintuitive mechanics and constant shifting crowded out utility. The planned Shifting Powernews.blizzard.com replaces Tiger’s Fury. It spends the same mana as Cat Form for 40 Energy, on a 16-second cooldown reducible to eight. Shapeshift-cost reductions apply. This keeps mana relevant to Feral damage, while forcing a choice between extra attacks and utility such as battle resurrection.
Warrior
Critical strikes were due to regain 75% extra Rage in the recording’s current-week build. A separate incoming-damage Rage bug affects Warriors and Druids in 
Bear Form; the developers hoped to fix it the following week.
Warriors should lead sustained melee cleave. Recklessness keeps its long cooldown because more frequent use required steep cuts to regular damage. Bloodthrill deliberately gives faster weapons more frequent, weaker procs and slower weapons fewer, stronger ones. Slam remains under review, with a weaker, more frequently usable version one possibility.
Paladin
The developers said an upcoming patch would reduce 
Champion of the Light’s spell-damage conversion from 100% of Intellect to 60% and remove its healing bonus. The aim is to stop Holy Paladins feeling compelled to invest deep into Retribution.
Twist of Light and Holy Strike leave deliberate gaps for utility. A Holy Shock-focused alternative could be competitive; timed seal bonuses and a two-seal arrangement remain ideas. Lay on Hands keeps its full-mana cost despite its shorter, 20-minute cooldown.
Rogue
Deathmark is planned to replace Subtlety’s 31-point 
Thousand Cuts. It would accumulate the Rogue’s damage to a marked target, then burst after six seconds, rewarding Energy pooling before activation. The current bleed-heavy design clashes with Subtlety’s crowd-control role. There is no release date.
No Energy-generation changes are currently planned. Earlier increases forced weaker attacks to control endgame damage, hurting leveling. Rogues are intended to lead single-target damage in stationary fights.
Shaman
Enhancement should combine melee with Lightning Bolt and value spell power. Maelstrom Weapon excludes healing to limit self-sufficiency and Chain Lightning to preserve Warrior’s cleave advantage. Totem twisting was removed because its timing was unintuitive and keeping its extra buffs would cost damage elsewhere.
Maelstrom’s weak feel before instant casting is under review; proc-rate adjustments or damage-per-stack bonuses are possibilities. Separately, Leader of the Pack and Moonkin Aura could become raid-wide to reduce pressure to bring duplicate specs, but nothing is committed.
Hunter
More stable slots and ways to unlock them are planned for pets with situational abilities. No capacity or date was given. At recording, Auto Shot and wand timing bugs were awaiting fixes in a later build.
Survival should support staying in melee or weaving ranged and melee attacks, with weaving requiring talent investment. The dead zone stays as a deliberate weakness opponents can exploit.
Warlock
Destruction should mix Fire and Shadow damage, with Incinerate a core spell. 
Fear losing its talent-based range increase was an oversight; the remedy is undecided.
Demonology’s 31-point talent allows one Demonic Sacrifice buff alongside a different summoned pet, combining their benefits. Multiple sacrifice buffs cannot stack. More broadly, PvP tuning aims for effective battleground builds rather than equal strength for every spec in duels.
Mage
Blizzard and Cone of Cold’s slow changes are intended to break continuous dungeon kiting, tackling bot farming and groups bypassing tanks. Strong group AoE remains part of Mage’s role.
There are no current plans for baseline Ice Block, although Blizzard could reconsider. The team is also reviewing whether each specialization needs more rotational activity; no specific additions were announced.
Priest
Shadow should provide worthwhile damage alongside utility, rather than becoming a Burning Crusade-style mana battery. Smite/Holy damage supports questing and flexible dungeon-healing builds, with lower damage than dedicated DPS because full healing remains available.
Discipline emphasizes shields and tank healing; Holy emphasizes group healing. Power Word: Shield should preserve incoming-damage Rage generation. A shorter Holy Fire cast remains only a possibility. Tier sets will be reviewed toward beta’s end because their designs predate many class changes.
Beta updates
The episode also discussed the beta’s move to level 30. An official correction confirms one battleground and one new dungeon for the week. The next episode will cover dungeons and raids.
Shapeshift into a bear, increasing melee attack power by 120, armor contribution from items by 180%, and health by 180. Also protects the caster from Polymorph effects and allows the use of various bear abilities.
The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.
Increases your spell damage and healing by up to 33% of your Intellect.
Increases your spell damage and healing by up to 100% of your Intellect.
When your Rupture ability deals periodic damage, the Energy cost of your next Hemorrhage or Backstab ability within 10 sec is reduced by 3, stacking up to 5 times.
Strikes fear in the enemy, causing it to run in fear for up to 10 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Only 1 target can be feared at a time.
