Blizzard Overhauls Racial Abilities in World of Warcraft: Forever Beta

Blizzard Entertainment released a new beta update for World of Warcraft: Forever that overhauls many racial abilities, according to GameSpot. The update removes weapon-specific passive bonuses for humans, dwarves and orcs and replaces several of them with new effects.

Humans now gain 2% increased critical strike chance through Ruthless, while orcs gain 1% increased critical strike chance through Savage. Dwarves' Mace Specialization was replaced by Earth Fury, which grants 2% increased critical damage and healing.

Other racial changes include Tauren's Plainsrunning, which now also grants a 3% mounted movement speed buff that stacks with other mount buffs, and Cultivation, whose cooldown was reduced to 15 minutes from 60. War Stomp's cooldown was reduced to 90 seconds from 2 minutes. Dwarves' Find Treasure now grants a chance to find additional items in most chests.

For Skyborne, the Wind Blessed haste bonus was increased to 3% from 1%, and Skysight and Read Leyline can now be cast while moving. Orcs' Blood Fury cooldown was increased to 3 minutes from 2, and Shatter Curse now dispels Curses and Banes with magic damage reduction lowered to 5% from 15%.

Undead's Touch of the Grave proc chance and cooldown were adjusted for consistency, while Gnomes' Eureka is now an 8-second buff with no charges. Night Elf Quickness now stacks with other movement speed buffs, and Troll Regeneration's health bonus increased to 20% from 10%.

In WoW Classic, racial weapon specializations granted increased weapon skill and hit chance with specific weapons. The beta is scheduled to end on October 21, and the game launches on November 4. Blizzard previously discussed pushing the envelope with new content in Forever in an interview with GameSpot.