BLIZZARD · THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5 · LAUNCH

Team notices on launch day

Forever is open and, according to players themselves, the launch is going fairly smoothly. These are the notices the Blizzard team has given in the first hours.

Lost boats and zeppelins

Some transports were getting "lost" in the storm for a long time.
Temporary fix: they have placed portals near most docks and inside the zeppelin towers so you can change continents.
Blizzard says the proper fix goes out in the morning and, once they verify it, the portals will be removed.
Notice posted at 07:39 (Spain)* on Thursday the 5th.

Zones that feel empty

Blizzard knows some zones, such as the main cities, look less populated than they should.
They will tweak some numbers "tomorrow" to make it feel livelier. They have not said what exactly changes.
Notice posted at 07:35 (Spain)* on Thursday the 5th.

Invite-a-Friend: fixed

Players who joined with an "Invite a Friend" code ran into odd limits: some chat channels, leveling past 10, guilds, parties and trading.
A hotfix that is already live solves it. If it happened to you, log out and back in.
Notice posted at 03:43 (Spain)* on Thursday the 5th.

Pouch of Violet Dust toy

Watch any eligible World of Warcraft stream on Twitch during launch week and you get the toy.
It turns your camp campfire purple and extends its benefits by one hour.
It is ephemeral: it can only be used during the celebration event, which ends in early December.
Window: from November 5 at 01:30 to November 13 at 01:30 (Spain)*.

Known issues (Blizzard list, 5 Nov)

Dungeons: in Razorfen Kraul there is a cauldron next to Roogug that you can fall into and get stuck.
Gamepad: an error may appear when deleting more than one rare or epic item, and the push-to-talk button instructions may show up when you join a voice channel.
PvP vendors: they are temporarily unavailable in every city (Orgrimmar, Stormwind and Dalaran).
Quests: "Vorsha the Lasher" in Ashenvale is disabled until a crash bug is fixed.
Interface: bank pages show up as separate pages and the tabs end up outside the frame.
World: the Stormwind Keep entrance may look wrong, with flashing textures.
Blizzard says this is not a complete list and that they will keep updating it. List updated at 16:42 (Spain)* on Thursday the 5th.

Groups: phase change by hand

According to Wowhead, when you join a new group in Forever you have to request the phase change yourself to see your groupmates; it is no longer automatic.
It matches what the beta showed: you get a prompt and choose when to move. It is not a separate official notice.

First urgent fixes from Blizzard (November 5 hotfixes)

Durotar: Yarrog Baneshadow was respawning more slowly than intended; this is now fixed.
Zephras Isle: the trainer Lotheluum Starbreeze now trains Druids, as he should. Tradeskill supply vendors now sell the apprentice bags.
Zones: some murlocs in Dustwallow Marsh were respawning too quickly, and Pelluk in the Swamp of Sorrows sometimes failed to spawn.
Items: Mild Spices now sell to vendors for 1 copper each (was 2).
PvP: Plainsrunning can no longer be stacked during a battleground's preparation phase, and stacks are cancelled when you carry a flag.
Quests: incorrect text fixed in «The Sisterhood of Elune», and Deathstalker Erland respawns much faster for the quest «Escorting Erland».
Published by Blizzard at 03:34 (Spain)* on Friday, November 6 (the post is dated November 5).

Urgent fixes of November 6 (Blizzard)

Legacy talent: «The Quick and the Dead» now works as intended; it sometimes failed. The cooldown manager now shows the right duration of crowd control, even with diminishing returns.
Druid: Bloom now heals the right target. Texts for Bear Form, Ravage and Swiftmend are corrected; real damage does not change.
Mage: the Research spell is no longer lost on reconnect (Study arrives when you complete its quest), and Arcane Blast lasts 18 seconds.
Warlock: the Voidwalker gains about 40 health at every level, and the Soul Siphon talent no longer makes Wrack increase its own damage.
Rogue and warrior: only texts for Shank and Reckless Swings are corrected.
Dungeons: Zaetar's Spirit appears again in Maraudon; creatures in Blackmaw Hold and The Drowned City no longer leash by mistake, and the portal to The Drowned City takes you in correctly.
Professions: the leatherworking Tanning Rack asks for skill 125 instead of 140, and its skill-ups drop by 15 points.
Quests and world: «Vorsha the Lasher» no longer hits everyone; «The Sleeper Has Awakened» gives you the Horn of Awakening from the start; several quests drop more items; better visibility of other players at long distance.
Races: shadow-form night elf druids can no longer use Ravage or Pounce, and some orc warlock pet abilities benefited too much from Blood Fury.
Published by Blizzard at 02:07 (Spain)* on Saturday, November 7 (note dated the 6th).

Class changes announced for Tuesday the 10th

Hunter and warlock (Voidwalker): pets hold up less as tanks than intended. Blizzard wants them closer to Classic Era and will adjust their stats.
Affliction warlock: today it pays to use only Wrack. Blizzard will make Siphon Life, Corruption and Bane of Agony worth using alongside Wrack, without changing the spec's total damage.
Enhancement shaman: Intellect and Spell Power perform better than Strength and Attack Power. They want Strength to always be the main stat; if you level an Enhancement shaman, gather Strength and Attack Power gear.
More problems may appear this weekend and there will be more changes on the following Tuesdays if needed. Big changes come in December. The notice does not mention dungeon experience, layering or auction house fees.
Announcement published at 22:11 (Spain)* on Friday the 6th.

More dungeon experience (November 8, Blizzard)

With a hotfix, Blizzard has raised the experience enemies give when they die inside dungeons by 50%, to make running them more worthwhile again.
The notice gives no further details and does not say whether quest experience is also affected.
It was applied around 20:05 (Spain)* on Sunday, November 8.

November 9 fixes (Blizzard)

Dungeons: Drowned City dealt 30% more damage than intended and this has been fixed; in Marrow of the Immortals enemies have 25% less health and their attacks and the guardian's shield have been softened. Zarla Ober (Alcaz Island Prison), Vitrix, Snowtalon and Cinder (Shaper's Terrace) now drop loot. In Blackrock Depths the Heart of the Mountain can be looted several times, and you can no longer mount inside Stratholme.
Classes: fixes for druid (Feral and the cooldown manager), hunter, mage (Flamestrike no longer consumes Clearcasting), paladin (Consecration), priest (Shadowform with Fear Ward), shaman, warlock (Incinerate only for Destruction) and warrior.
Quests and items: several group quests now appear for every member; Ambush Boxes and Artisan Certificates drop in dungeons again; the Clever Chronometer no longer shares a cooldown with movement abilities.
Population has also been reduced in congested zones, with a bigger change on the PvP rulesets.

November 11 fixes (Blizzard)

Quests: most quests of level 48 or higher now also give gold. Blizzard explains that Forever has no level-60 XP-to-gold conversion like the original game, and wants those quests to be worth doing while you level and afterwards. Quests that already give valuable items, repeatable ones and trivial ones are unchanged. Several individual quests were also fixed (Darkshore, Feralas, Western Plaguelands, Arathi Highlands, Riverglades and Duskwood).
Tailoring: several bags came out smaller than intended. They now cost one extra bolt and are bigger: Red Mageweave Bag (5 bolts, 14 slots), Green Silk Pack (5, 12), Black Silk Pack (6, 12), Green Woolen Bag (5, 10) and Red Woolen Bag (5, 10). Blizzard also lowered what vendors pay for some crafted pieces that are meant to be made only once for yourself.
Druid: Feral's Rend and Tear now works with the Pounce bleed. Hunter: Volley no longer triggers procs and stops channeling if you move. Paladin: Judgement now counts as a ranged attack (it no longer triggers melee effects and uses your ranged hit chance). Retribution: Unsealed Fury no longer generates echoes from Windfury Totem attacks. Shaman: Flametongue Totem rank 2 works again. Priest: fixes for Confounding Flash (gnome) and Twilight Focus in Shadowform. Warlock and warrior: Bane of Havoc is fixed and Sweeping Strikes no longer loses charges if you don't hit a second target.
Items and professions: racial vendor mounts are now Bind on Pickup; Coarse Grinding Stone gives skill-ups up to 90; the Journeyman Campfire Kit requires Cooking 90; Swiftstrike Shot and Swiftfeather Arrow are no longer Bind on Pickup (they won't be available until raids open).
Item Restoration service: temporarily disabled while a critical bug is investigated.
Auction House: the November 10 changes have been pulled for now and will return with the weekly maintenance on November 17.

Fixes of November 10 (Blizzard)

Auction house and mail: the minimum deposit drops to 1 copper (was 1 silver). Fixed unread mail wrongly showing as from the "Stormwind Auction House" for everyone, and some mail arriving in 2 minutes instead of the intended 60.
Hunter: pets mistakenly had 150% of their health and are now at 115%. Arcane Shot and Summon Hawk cost 11% of base mana at every rank (almost unchanged at levels 6 and 60; slightly lower in between). The hawk's melee damage goes up by about 80%.
Shaman: you can now use a weapon imbue and a weapon totem at the same time (for example, Windfury Weapon with its totem). Enhancement: Stormstrike deals 100% weapon damage (was 150%) and has an 8 s cooldown (was 6); Mental Dexterity converts less Intellect into attack power (33/66/100%); Maelstrom Weapon now reduces cast time and mana cost by 20% per stack and its chance rises with rank (6 to 10 times per minute), depending on weapon speed. Blizzard wants Enhancement to revolve around Windfury and Strength again, before the raid opens.
Warlock: pets gain 15% health and the Imp's first ranks of Firebolt deal more damage. Affliction: Soul Siphon only counts Corruption, Siphon Life and Bane of Agony (up to 36%); Wrack deals 30% less damage and becomes a 6 s channel that makes those three periodic effects tick twice as fast, without changing their duration.
Druid, paladin and priest: Nature's Swiftness also makes Wild Growth instant (Restoration); Redoubt and Maelstrom Weapon can be tracked in the cooldown manager; fixes for Omen of Clarity, Revelation and Holy Nova.
Applied with the server restarts of November 10.

PvP faction balance (November 10, Blizzard)

The team wants to get close to a 50/50 split between Alliance and Horde on the PvP rulesets. According to Blizzard, the most unbalanced region is around 55/45.
Character creation will take each region's balance into account: in the short term it will be harder to create on the more populated faction, which is currently Horde on North American PvP and Alliance on European RP-PvP.
Many players think the figure understates the problem and ask for stronger measures; Blizzard says it has seen no evidence that test characters skew the split.

Tip: the "The Great Outdoors" quest

The camping tutorial quest sometimes gets stuck on "sit near the campfire". According to Wowhead, it works if you use /sit while already sitting. Wait a minute and you get a small rested bonus. This is not an official notice: it is what players have found.

* Times are Spain time. Mexico: subtract 7 hours (winter); Chile and Argentina: subtract 4 hours. For example, the urgent fixes came out at 20:34 on Thursday the 5th in Mexico and 23:34 in Chile and Argentina; the known issues list came out at 09:42 in Mexico and 12:42 in Chile and Argentina; the fixes of the 6th came out at 19:07 on Friday the 6th in Mexico and 22:07 in Chile and Argentina; the class changes announcement, at 15:11 and 18:11 on Friday the 6th; the dungeon experience increase was applied at 13:05 in Mexico and 16:05 in Chile and Argentina on Sunday the 8th; the transport notice came out at 00:39 in Mexico and 03:39 in Chile and Argentina. The toy window starts on November 4 at 18:30 in Mexico and 21:30 in Chile and Argentina, and ends on the 12th at those same times.