THE WOW FOREVER COLLECTION · DISPATCH · RESEARCH CHECKED NOVEMBER 2, 2026
Short answer: WoW Forever goes live on November 4 with the same dungeon XP rules the beta ended on. Dungeon quests give 50% less bonus XP than they first did, dungeon kills give about 20% more than the low point in early October, and nothing in Blizzard's development notes has touched XP since October 8. The forums haven't let it go. A thread opened on Halloween passed 1,247 posts in under two days, a second one asks outright how healers are supposed to level, and Blizzard hasn't replied to either. If you planned to level a tank or healer through dungeons, plan to quest, run each dungeon when its quests line up, and lean on a damage spec until dual spec at 40.
The threads
"Are we just forgetting about Dungeon XP?" went up on the US Forever forum at 4 p.m. UTC on October 31. By Monday morning it had 1,247 posts, about 6,300 views and close to 1,200 likes, which makes it the busiest Forever thread of the week. That beats the Resto Druid thread from the October 30 talent changes and the October 27 name reservation thread.
The opening post makes six points. Running dungeons with friends after work is a legitimate way to play, and the current numbers punish it. A second run of any dungeon is "completely inefficient" once its quests are done. Tanks and healers get pushed into slow solo questing. The original developers meant dungeons as a way to break up questing. Forming a group already takes real effort. And the boosting Blizzard was worried about is already handled by other changes: the AoE nerfs to Blizzard and Consecration, plus the rule that a much higher-level party member stops everyone getting XP.
The replies split three ways. Some agree it has gone unnoticed in a week of class changes. One poster called it "a dead horse at this point" and said that if Blizzard hasn't moved yet, it won't. A third group is glad, with one player saying slower dungeon XP lets them run dungeons without outleveling the zone they're questing in.
The healer thread came a day later. "How do healers level now?" asks Blizzard whether it meant to make healers slower to level and whether it plans "a viable alternative to dungeon grouping." It has 219 replies, and the most common answer is blunt: quest, cast Smite, or wait for dual spec. Meanwhile "WOW Flopever: Dungeon't," opened on October 8, is at 553 posts and still getting replies. It compares Blizzard's position to the fight over Random Dungeon Finder in Wrath Anniversary.
No blue post appears in any of the three.
What is actually live on November 4
These are the XP rules from the beta development notes. Each one is still in place, because no later note changes it.
| Change | Build | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Dungeon kill XP cut | Beta launch, September 17 | Developers said dungeon mob XP was "way down" from Classic Era. Blizzard has never posted the exact cut. |
| Dungeon quest bonus halved | October 1 | "Dungeon quests now reward 50% less extra experience beyond normal quest values." Dungeon quests still give more than a normal quest. |
| Dungeon kill XP raised | October 8 | "Increased by approximately 20%." |
| Party XP fix | October 8 | Each player's XP for killing lower-level mobs is worked out from their own level, as in Classic Era, instead of from the highest-level player in the group. |
| No-XP rule | Unchanged | If one party member is far above the mob's level, nobody in the group gets XP. |
There is one more cut that gets less attention. In late September, players comparing kills against Classic Era found that mobs below your level (the green ones) give 4% to 20% less XP in Forever, while same-level mobs give the same. Someone filed it as a bug on the community bug tracker. Senior game designer Aidan "Zirene" Moon replied on September 28: "This is Not A Bug. This is an intended part of the game now that there are various exp buffs in the game (like eating food)." Icy Veins reported the exchange on October 5. That matters for healers and tanks out questing, since a lot of their kills will be on green mobs.
One fast leveling trick is also gone. Wowhead reported on November 1 that the Alliance quest Applejack Still outside Stormwind could be turned in over and over for four vendor-bought Shiny Red Apple, worth about 170 XP each time at level 21. Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield had already said on X on October 19 that it is "not going to be a thing. Already fixed for launch."
What Blizzard has said
Blizzard's last real statement on dungeon XP is from October 8. Greenfield wrote then that "XP gain is not going to be what it was in era" and that dungeon cleaving to 60 as the best way to level "does not pass muster" with Forever's design pillars, so "we need to hold firm on these balance adjustments." He also claimed that with perfect play, dungeon leveling would be "very close, if not equal" to optimal questing. On the dungeon podcast the same week, the team said it didn't want any dungeon to be "a one and done experience" and that it would keep tweaking numbers. Our October 8 piece has the full quotes and the tester spreadsheets that disputed them.
Since then, Blizzard has reversed course on RP-PvP after weeks of forum pressure, which is why the people in the October 31 thread think more pressure will work. That's their argument, not something Blizzard has suggested. Nothing official says dungeon XP is under review. The first post-launch week is the likeliest time for any change, because it's the first time Blizzard will have XP-per-hour data from the full launch population rather than from beta testers.
How to level a healer or tank anyway
If dungeons were your plan, this is what still works.
Quest first, dungeon second. Pick up every dungeon quest in the hub before you form a group, and run the dungeon when you have most of them. First-time quest turn-ins are still the best XP a dungeon offers. A repeat run with no quests is for loot.
Level in a damage spec until 40. Dual spec unlocks at level 40, so before then you pick one tree. Every healing class has a damage tree, and you can heal a five-player dungeon at these levels from most of them. One reply in the healer thread says they healed beta dungeons "very easily" as Balance and as Shadow. Respecs happen at your class trainer, and our talent calculator has the current trees, including the October 30 Paladin and Druid rebuilds.
Group with people near your level. With the October 8 fix, a level 20 grouped with a level 25 gets level 20 XP. But if anyone is far enough above the mobs to turn them grey for the group, nobody gets anything.
Use the XP buffs Blizzard is balancing around. Zirene's reply makes it plain that food buffs are part of the expected leveling speed now. Our camping guide covers what campfires and camp features give.
Pick the class with your leveling time in mind. If you want to tank or heal at 60 but hate slow solo questing, the tier list and best class to start with show which hybrids quest fastest.
The other side
Not everyone wants the old numbers back. Blizzard's case is that when dungeon grinding is the fastest route, it decides how everyone levels: zones empty out, and boosting turns into a business. Some players agree. A thread on October 8 argued the nerf is good for the game because it cuts down on paid boosts and keeps tanks and healers in the world. In the October 31 thread, players said slower dungeon XP lets them do every dungeon once without outleveling their quests.
Both sides agree on one thing. Tanks and healers who only want to play their role between 1 and 40 have a slower road in Forever than in Era. The argument is over whether that is a fair price for busier zones.
Sources: Blizzard forums, Are we just forgetting about Dungeon XP? (opened October 31, 2026, counts as of November 2), How do healers level now? (November 1) and WOW Flopever: Dungeon't (October 8, active November 2); Kaivax, WoW Forever Beta Development Notes (October 1, October 8 and October 26 updates); Aidan Moon, reply on forever-bugs issue #138 (September 28); Icy Veins, Nerfed Experience Gains From Low-Level Mobs in WoW Forever (October 5); Wowhead, Repeatable Quest Experience Exploit Fixed for WoW: Forever Launch (November 1); Josh Greenfield on X, Applejack fix (October 19) and dungeon XP post (October 8); Blizzard forums, Dungeon EXP nerf is good for the game (October 8); Blizzard, class deep dive confirming dual spec at level 40 (September 30).