October 8 WoW Forever Patch Notes: Penance Ranks and Quest Rewards
Penance changes vary by rank, some dungeon quest rewards have lower rarity, and Desolace requirements are moving up. Here is what the October 8 beta notes confirm.
WoW Forever's October 8 beta patch changes how Priests use Penance and lowers the rarity of some dungeon quest rewards. If your healing feels different or a blue reward has turned green, check the updated spell rank and item stats before rebuilding your character.
These are beta changes, not final launch rules. The same update opens City of Dalaran for testing, increases dungeon kill XP and fixes several Rage calculations. Here are the changes worth checking before your next run.
Penance changes depend on the rank
Blizzard reduced Penance's damage and healing to correct a bug that treated it as a three-second channel rather than a two-second channel. That correction sits alongside separate mana and healing adjustments, so calling every rank an identical nerf misses part of the patch.
| Change | What the notes confirm |
|---|---|
| Channel calculation | Damage and healing reduced to correct the three-second calculation |
| Rank 1 mana | Cost increased by 50% |
| Ranks 2 and 4 healing | Healing increased |
| Mana efficiency | Costs adjusted to keep a consistent efficiency advantage over Heal and Greater Heal |
Smite's early ranks also received more consistent scaling. Lesser Heal and Heal were adjusted so learning a new rank remains an upgrade.
For Priests, the useful next step is to check the rank you actually cast and its current cost. Do not assume the rank-one mana increase applies to every rank, or that higher-rank healing increases cancel every other adjustment. The notes do not establish a new best build or prove that Priest can no longer heal a dungeon.
Some blue quest rewards are now green
Various dungeon quest rewards changed from Rare to Uncommon, with their stats adjusted to match. This is not just an item-color change, but it is also not a claim that every dungeon drop received the same reduction.
Inspect the reward's current stats before following an older gearing list. A recommendation based on the previous version may no longer fit your character. The patch notes do not provide a complete before-and-after list for every affected reward, so there is no reliable universal replacement order here.
Desolace has a separate restriction. The new Gelkis and Magram quests beginning with Valley of Bones now require level 35 instead of 30. Their rewards received power adjustments, and Blizzard announced a level-35 equip requirement for those items in an upcoming hotfix.
That equip restriction was announced as a follow-up, not confirmed as already deployed in these notes. The Truthseeker's Bow reward also had its level requirement corrected to 40, matching the other two rewards from its quest chain.
The rest of the patch still matters for your next run
Dungeon kills award approximately 20% more XP. The lower-level enemy XP calculation now considers each party member individually rather than using the highest-level member for everyone. A vastly overleveled party member can still prevent the group from receiving XP; the update does not remove that restriction.
Warrior and Druid Rage calculations received fixes for Stamina-related errors, critical and crushing hits, and damage absorption. Blizzard also replaced its previous 50% armor balancing assumption with level-dependent values in the 20% to 40% range. Those are balancing assumptions, not an armor target you need to reach.
All beta players received completion of the Legacy Challenge and its 16 Legacy Points. The update also adds City of Dalaran testing and expands Cooldown Manager support to all classes, racial abilities and trinkets. Consumable support is planned for a later patch.
Before spending gold or resetting talents, check your current spell ranks and changed quest rewards. Penance's adjustments vary by rank, older item recommendations need another look, and the announced Desolace equip hotfix still needs a deployment confirmation.