Forever combines hit and crit across melee, ranged attacks and spells, adds damage to healing gear, and reworks dungeon drops. Recheck the item before you pass or roll: a familiar name does not guarantee the same stats.
These are the announced changes and current preview mechanics; item values can change during beta.
The gearing changes at a glance
| Change | What it means when you're gearing |
|---|---|
| Melee, ranged and spell hit are combined | A hit item can help more than one part of a hybrid's damage. It can also improve tools such as taunts, poisons and traps. |
| Melee, ranged and spell crit are combined | Compare the item's value across your attacks and spells, rather than treating it as exclusively melee or caster gear. |
| Bonus healing also gives one third as much bonus damage | Your healing upgrades can help with questing. You still need to compare the rest of the item with dedicated damage gear. |
| Weapon-skill items give less skill per item | Weapon skill still works. The trade-off against other stats changes. |
| Some items reduce the chance of being dodged or parried | Read that effect separately from hit and weapon skill when comparing melee or tank gear. |
| Caster weapons gain spell damage and healing during leveling | Check weapon rewards while leveling a caster; weapon upgrades aren't just for melee. |
Blizzard's Deep Dive is the source for these changes.
Hit and crit on hybrid gear
Ret and Enhancement are the obvious beneficiaries: their damage mixes weapon attacks and spells. Combined hit and crit can improve both sides, so an item no longer needs separate melee and spell bonuses to do that job.
That doesn't make every hybrid item equally good. A large mana pool won't replace weapon damage for a melee build, and extra AP won't replace the spell damage a caster needs. Compare the whole item with the build you're actually playing. The Ret and Enhancement guides cover their own talent interactions.
For tanks, reliability matters outside your damage total. Blizzard specifically names taunts among the tools that can benefit from combined hit. A threat upgrade and a survival upgrade can still be different items; keep the job you're gearing for in mind.
Combined hit on gear is not a published universal hit cap. Don't use the TBC cap calculator for Forever, or assume attacks and spells now have identical miss chances. Likewise, a talent that names only melee attacks or a particular spell still has that restriction unless its own tooltip changes.
Healing upgrades are less awkward outside dungeons
Bonus healing now supplies bonus damage equal to one third of the healing amount. That helps when you leave a dungeon and go back to questing without swapping your whole set.
It doesn't mean every healing item beats a damage item. Compare spell damage, mana and the rest of the stats together. Keep pieces that solve a different job rather than vendoring your off-set just because healing gear now helps you kill mobs.
Weapon skill and dodge/parry reduction
Weapon skill still works as before, but each item offers less of it. Check how much skill you're getting against the other stats you give up.
Before paying for an old Classic must-have, check its Forever tooltip. Items that reduce the chance of being dodged or parried now give melee and tanks another option to compare.
Check quest rewards and dungeon drops again
Blizzard has re-examined every dungeon drop, improved set bonuses and added hundreds of drops. Quest rewards have also gained options for more roles. That makes old shopping lists a poor filter for deciding which quests or dungeons are worth doing.
When a set piece drops, compare the bonus you would gain with the stats you would lose from the swap. Keep useful alternatives until you've checked the set's current effects. A changed set bonus can matter more than the upgrade to one slot.
Use the dungeon list to plan your runs, then check the actual rewards. Don't assume a familiar boss still drops the same version of an item.
Situational items need a second look
Some new effects depend on the creature you're fighting or the terrain you're in. Those pieces can be worth keeping even when they aren't your everyday choice.
Check the condition before assigning loot or replacing a general-purpose item. A creature-type bonus might earn a bag slot for one dungeon even if you swap it out for the next. Keep those uses separate when your group decides who gets the drop.
For class-specific gearing choices, start with your spec guide. For what your professions add, see Forever professions.