THE WOW FOREVER COLLECTION · DISPATCH · RESEARCH CHECKED OCTOBER 4, 2026
Short answer: yes, Blizzard cut dungeon quest XP in the October 1 WoW Forever beta build, and it is in the official patch notes. The cut only applies to the bonus Forever added on top of each quest's Classic value. That bonus is now half what it was, so a dungeon quest still pays well above Classic, just much less than it did last week. Mob XP inside dungeons was already low and has not been touched. Players are angry because this is the second dungeon nerf in three weeks, and the main complaint thread passed 1,000 replies in about two days. Blizzard has not replied in any of the threads yet.
The exact patch note
It sits under Quests in Kaivax's October 1 development notes:
Dungeon quests now reward 50% less extra experience beyond normal quest values.
The developers' note above it now reads: "We appreciate the feedback on leveling speed as we continue ongoing discussions about the Beta. As part of those discussions, we've decided to reduce the amount of XP granted from dungeon quests with this release. Certain quest rewards have also been recalibrated."
That wording was changed after posting. Forum users who quoted the notes on the night of October 1 copied a blunter version: "We've heard a great deal of feedback about playtesters leveling too fast. In this build, we're reducing the experience granted by dungeon quests." DualShockers spotted the edit too. Blizzard hasn't said why it was reworded, but the softer version reads as a reply to people saying streamers had complained about leveling speed and Blizzard had caved.
In our level 30 build roundup we said the quest XP cut wasn't in the patch notes. That was wrong. It is in the notes, and we've fixed that article.
What "50% less extra" means in numbers
Back at BlizzCon, Blizzard cut the XP from killing mobs in dungeons and raised the XP on dungeon quests to make up for it (our original dungeon XP explainer covers that change). The idea was that you run each dungeon once or twice for its quests, then go back out into the world. Every dungeon quest in Forever pays its Classic value plus a Forever bonus. The October 1 change halves the bonus and leaves the Classic value alone.
PC Gamer's Harvey Randall tested it on Deviate Hides in Wailing Caverns:
| Version | XP for Deviate Hides |
|---|---|
| Classic | 1,600 |
| Forever beta before October 1 | about 4,650 |
| Forever beta after October 1 | 3,100 |
That is close to what the formula predicts: a 3,050 bonus cut to about 1,525. The turn-in still pays nearly twice its Classic value.
DualShockers ran the same check for a whole dungeon, citing a guild member's numbers: the full set of Shadowfang Keep quests went from 32,200 XP to 19,800. Neither of those figures comes from Blizzard. They do fit the patch note, though, and both outlets landed on the same reading.
One tester on the forums said he turned in every Wailing Caverns, Ruins of Lordaeron and two Shadowfang Keep quests after the patch and still went from level 20 to about 23 and a half.
Why players are this angry
The quest cut on its own would have been a mid-sized thread. It hit hard because it stacks on the mob XP cut, and dungeon-goers were already arguing that change went too far.
- "Are you serious you caved on dungeon quests?" went up about 20 minutes after the notes and had 1,038 posts, 12,600 views and over 2,000 likes by early October 4. The opening post: "Was the quest experience too much? Yes, but increase the mob experience. Give us a reason to run it more than once."
- "Revert the Dungeon Mob XP nerf or Open Refund" reached 601 posts. Its author calls dungeon leveling "one of the most recognizable ways people have played Classic for years" and asks why it can't sit alongside questing and grinding.
- "Guess skipping lowbie dungeons is now the correct way to play" (438 posts) and "Stop forcing everyone into one leveling playstyle" (242 posts, opened October 3) make the same argument: once the quests are done, repeating a dungeon is wasted leveling time.
- The EU forums have a matching thread, "Dungeon Quest Exp Nerf," at 130 posts.
You'll see some big numbers thrown around in these threads, like mob XP being "gutted (by 75%)" or "nerfed by 90%." Blizzard has never published a mob XP figure, and nobody has posted a clean measurement yet, so treat those as estimates.
Tanks and healers come up again and again. In Classic, dungeon XP was the reason to level a Warrior as a tank: questing alone was slow and every group wanted you. A healer's thread from late September, "Dungeon xp nerf from a healer's perspective," has 252 posts, and a newer one titled "As a healer I see no reason to play Forever with the nonstop anti-healer changes" picked up 66 posts on October 2.
There's a second grievance under the XP one: gear. On September 24 Blizzard set a number of quest rewards to "the correct item level," and the October 1 note says "certain quest rewards have also been recalibrated." Several posters say dungeon quest rewards are now weak outside a dungeon's final quest. We haven't been able to check that claim item by item.
The other side
Plenty of players think Blizzard got this right, and their threads are busy too.
The clearest case predates the patch. "Leveling IS accelerated and it's because of dungeon chaining," posted September 30 (218 posts), argued that hopping from dungeon to dungeon for quest turn-ins was skipping the open world entirely, which is the opposite of what Forever says it wants. "Dungeon Experience is Fine," opened October 2 by the player who went from 20 to 23 and a half, says the change "probably doesn't go far enough," since Blizzard keeps adding new dungeons and you could otherwise "dungeon hop your way through the game."
PC Gamer's headline sums up that view: the nerf "isn't nearly as bad as it seems." Kotaku listed it as the most controversial of the week's changes and called player reaction mixed.
Then there's a middle position that might end up being the compromise. "Dungeon XP Didn't Need a Major Overhaul" (October 3) argues the Classic balance between mob XP and quest XP was already fine, and that a small shift toward quest XP would have stopped dungeon spam without killing dungeon leveling. A lot of the angry posts ask for the same fix in different words: give some mob XP back so a second or third run is worth your time.
The argument has also become a fight about who Forever is for, which has been building since the "not for retail players" post. "Leveling is NOT too fast" (99 posts) says it already takes about 20 hours to reach 20. Its replies are mostly people saying that's exactly the point.
Are dungeons still worth running while leveling?
Once each, yes. A full set of quests for a dungeon at your level is still among the best XP you can get in one sitting, and Shadowfang Keep at about 19,800 XP is most of a level in the low 20s. Pick up every quest before you zone in. Several need breadcrumbs from towns well outside the dungeon, and a missed pickup costs you more now than it did last week.
Repeat runs are a different story. Mob XP was already low, so going back after your quests are done is for loot, not levels. If you're leveling a tank or healer and planned to level mostly in dungeons, plan on doing a lot more questing than you would in Classic Era. Our Forever zone and dungeon guide lists which dungeons sit in each level band, and the beta hub has the beta schedule and level caps.
What to watch
Blizzard hasn't answered any of the dungeon XP threads on the US or EU forums as of the morning of October 4. The team has gone back on beta decisions before when feedback stacked up: Kyle's quest came back after a big thread, and the Gnome racial has been changed twice. Next week's build is the one to watch. If any mob XP comes back, it will show up in the dev notes under Quests or Dungeons. We'll update this page if Blizzard responds.
Sources: Kaivax, Blizzard forums, WoW Forever Beta Development Notes, updated October 1 (October 1, 2026, edited October 2); Blizzard forums, Are you serious you caved on dungeon quests? (October 1 to 4), Revert the Dungeon Mob XP nerf or Open Refund (October 2 to 3), Guess skipping lowbie dungeons is now the correct way to play (October 2), Stop forcing everyone into one leveling playstyle (October 3), Dungeon Experience is Fine (October 2), Dungeon XP Didn't Need a Major Overhaul (October 3), Leveling IS accelerated and it's because of dungeon chaining (September 30), Leveling is NOT too fast (October 2), Dungeon xp nerf from a healer's perspective (September 28) and As a healer I see no reason to play Forever (October 2); Blizzard EU forums, Dungeon Quest Exp Nerf (October 2); PC Gamer, The WoW: Forever beta's nerf to dungeon XP isn't nearly as bad as it seems (October 2, 2026); DualShockers, People Are Not Happy With Latest WoW: Forever Beta Changes (October 2, 2026); Kotaku, 5 Big Things That Just Changed In The WoW: Forever Beta (October 3, 2026); Wowhead, Deviate Hides quest data (checked October 4).