WRITTEN ARTICLE · BETA ROUNDUP
WoW Forever beta discoveries: Rockslicer mining, spell power scaling, Thorns and Scalding Ridge
The latest WoW Forever beta finds: a Deadmines weapon that mines ore without the profession, players’ spell power scaling chart, a Thorns-only duel, Survival Hunter tanking and an unmapped Scalding Ridge.
Game artwork © Blizzard Entertainment; datamined preview via Wowhead.
Rockslicer: a Deadmines weapon that mines ore without Mining
Wowhead reports that Rockslicer, a weapon from the Deadmines, lets its wielder mine Copper, Tin, Silver and Iron nodes for 30 charges without the Mining profession. Iron normally needs Mining skill 125. The charges are not visible to other players, so an inspection will not tell you whether someone’s pick is nearly spent.
For an Engineer or Blacksmith who chose two crafting professions, that is a small windfall rather than a substitute for gathering: 30 nodes is a modest supply and the weapon has to drop first. It does raise a question for the early economy, because ore reaches players who would otherwise buy it.
Spell power scaling: what the community chart claims
The most discussed beta thread of the day is a chart on r/classicwow (around 1.8K points and 1.5K comments) estimating how much spell power each spell needs in Forever to match its Classic damage. A second thread on r/wowforever shares the same comparison. The charts imply that several caster and hybrid abilities start from lower base values in Forever and rely on spell power to catch up.
Read it as a community calculation from the current build, not a measurement we have reproduced. The top reply asks whether a Forever Shaman with several hundred spell power really does less Chain Lightning damage than an Era Shaman with none; another points out that the two classes at the bottom of the chart cannot use wands. Yesterday’s roundup has the earlier spell-power reports, our gear article explains the new stat rules, and our spell-ranks guide covers a mundane cause of weak casting worth ruling out first.
A Thorns-only duel is not tuning evidence
A video on r/classicwow shows a level 20 Druid beating a Rogue using only Thorns damage. Commenters quote 26 damage per hit at that level and expect Thorns to scale with spell power. One of the most upvoted replies notes that the duel used five consumables and full spell-power gear against an opponent with none.
That makes it a curiosity, not a balance finding. Level 20 duels with stacked buffs say little about level 60. If you play a Druid, Thorns is worth keeping active in the beta; whether it needs a change is a question for controlled testing.
Survival Hunter tanking a dungeon
A Hunter on r/classicwow reports tanking a dungeon they abbreviate as HoT, presumably Hall of Thanes, the new 13–18 dungeon, as Survival. Replies suggest the dodge from Improved Aspect of the Monkey and the passive healing from Spirit Bond as the talents that make it workable, and one asks for a threat component on Aspect of the Monkey.
None of this is a recommendation from us. A low-level dungeon with a coordinated group forgives a great deal. Treat the thread as a sign that Hunter talents have changed enough to experiment with, and read our Hunter talent guide for what the trees currently contain.
Scalding Ridge: an unmapped area between Dustwallow Marsh and Thousand Needles
A player swimming along the Dustwallow Marsh coast found a passage into Thousand Needles and an area named Scalding Ridge that does not appear on the map. Commenters recognise the Shimmering Flats in the screenshots and remark on how much further the draw distance lets you see; one asks whether there is a safe way down.
An area with no map entry could be in-progress content, a placeholder or simply existing terrain seen from a new angle. It is not among the zones Blizzard has announced. Our advice is to record the route and the build number if you go looking, and not to add it to a levelling plan until it appears on the map with content.
Weather: players report rain and snow in some zones
A r/classicwowplus thread asking Blizzard to bring back weather effects drew replies saying weather is already in the beta: snow in Dun Morogh, rain in Teldrassil and heavy rain with thunder in Duskwood. Commenters recall that original WoW added weather in a later patch rather than at launch. How often it appears, and in which zones, is not established by a handful of reports.
Cosmetic-only items
Wowhead reports a Stolen Wastewander Cowl on the Gadgetzan reputation vendor at Revered for 10 gold with no stats. It is not yet known whether more such items exist or whether this one is an oversight. A r/wowforever thread on cosmetic-only rewards drew a long debate about whether they fit Forever. Our transmog guide now records the item.
How we treat these reports
Everything above is a press report or a community post from the last 24 hours. ForeverWisp has not looted Rockslicer, reproduced the spell-power chart, duelled with Thorns, tanked as a Hunter or found Scalding Ridge. Where a claim comes from a comment rather than the original post, we say so. The 24 September weekly update may change any of these.
Related reading and guides
Sources and review notes
- Wowhead: Rockslicer lets you mine ore without Mining in the Forever beta, 22 September
- r/classicwow: how much spell power each spell needs to match Classic damage, 22 September
- r/wowforever: spell power needed to match Classic base damage, 22 September
- r/classicwow: Druid beats a Rogue with only Thorns damage (video), 22 September
- r/classicwow: tanking a dungeon as a Survival Hunter, 22 September
- r/classicwow: a passage from Dustwallow Marsh to an unmapped Scalding Ridge, 23 September
- r/classicwowplus: weather effects in the beta, 22 September
- Wowhead: cosmetic-only Stolen Wastewander Cowl on the Gadgetzan vendor, 22 September
- r/wowforever: cosmetic-only rewards found in WoW: Forever, 22 September
Written 23 September from Wowhead reports and the most-discussed Reddit threads of the previous 24 hours. Every item is a press or community report; ForeverWisp has not reproduced any of them. Vote counts are snapshots from the morning of 23 September.
