Nine classes in Blizzard's own words, checked against the client

What the articles are

Until 30 September everything this site said about Forever's talents came from the client: our own snapshots of the beta trees, compared against Classic 1.12 on the Forever vs Classic pages. Blizzard had described the classes in panels and in one set of development notes, never talent by talent.

The deep dives change that, two classes per article. They list baseline abilities, every talent that is new, moved, redesigned or removed, and the row it now sits in. The first two articles came on 30 September, two more on 7 October at 22:00 UTC. The Paladin got an article of its own on 15 October at 19:00 UTC, explicitly the last of the series.

All carry the same warning: class abilities and talents "may continue to evolve throughout the beta test and are subject to additional changes."

What holds for every class

Talents start at level 10 and keep the familiar shape: the same number of rows, one-point milestone talents at 11, 21 and 31 points - and a new milestone at 16 points, the gold medal talent in row four.
Respeccing happens at a class trainer in one of the major cities, and that includes the Legacy talents.
Dual Specialization unlocks at level 40. For now: in episode 3 of its podcast Blizzard says dual spec "will come online at level 40 currently", and that the team is "talking about maybe what the right level for that to actually enable is" (45:18). "Maybe a cheeky 30" was floated, without a decision. There will be no more than two specs: beyond dual spec there are "no plans to go past that", Blizzard told TechRadar.
Several buffs that used to come from talents are now baseline, Blizzard names Blessing of Kings and Improved Mark of the Wild as examples.

Hunter, Druid, Priest and Warrior against the client

For these four classes we checked every row Blizzard names against the trees in build 1.60.1.70009, again in 1.60.1.70170 and most recently in 1.60.1.70291. The great majority match: Penance as the 21-point talent, Soul Warding and Binding Heal at 16, Prayer of Mending at 31, Lone Wolf at 11, Summon Hawk, Counterattack and Vanguard at 16, Sniper Shot, Lacerating Strikes and Berserk at 31. Bastion in row 5 and Focused Rage in row 6 - what the 24 September notes called a "swap" and the article states as both rows - was exactly what the client showed up to 70170. Build 70291 swapped the pair back without any note mentioning it (more on that under the warrior below).

Where the two do not match, the reason falls into one of three groups.

Announced for the next build - and now in it

Blizzard said three Feral changes were "new to next week's build" and not in the beta yet - written on 30 September, the day before the level 30 build went in:

Shifting Power, a second 16-point talent in the same row as Primal Bite: instantly 40 Energy for a large amount of Mana, 16 seconds cooldown. It replaces Tiger's Fury, which is removed.
Improved Shifting Power in row 5, bringing the cooldown down to 8 seconds.
Shredding Attacks moving from row 4 to row 3 and reducing the Rage cost of Lacerate as well.

In 70009 none of the three was there. In 1.60.1.70170, the build of 1 October, all three are, exactly as announced: Shifting Power in row 4 under Shredding Attacks, 55% of base mana for 40 Energy; Improved Shifting Power below it, 4 or 8 seconds off the cooldown; Shredding Attacks in row 3, now about Shred and Lacerate. The development notes confirm Tiger's Fury is gone. Blizzard also gives the reason for Shifting Power. Furor now keeps Energy while out of Cat Form but drops it in Bear Form, which stops bear-weaving and also the "power shifting" some players valued. Shifting Power brings that back as a talent.

The same build removes King of the Jungle from row 5. The article had not mentioned it - which reads differently now: it was describing a tree in which the talent was already gone.

A name that changed twice: Predatory Strikes

The druid article describes Predatory Strikes as a "new talent in row 5 that increases your critical strike damage bonus by up to 20%". The client had that talent, in row 5, but under the name Predatory Instincts. Predatory Strikes is in the client too, in row 4, and is still the Classic talent that adds attack power while shapeshifted.

The build of 1 October only moved Predatory Instincts within row 5 to make room for Improved Shifting Power. It took build 70291 of 8 October to settle it - but not the article's way. The talent is now called Natural Instinct, and according to the notes of 8 October it also adds 12 or 25% of Intellect as healing. So the article's name stays wrong: Predatory Strikes is still the talent in row 4.

Slips in the article itself

Four lines in the Priest and Warrior article contradict themselves or the rest of the article, and the client confirms the reading that makes sense:

Iron Will is listed under Fury but said to move "to row 2 of Arms". In the client it sat in row 2 of Fury up to 70170; since 70291 it is in row 1 of Protection.
Vampiric Embrace "moved to the row 3 as the 16-point gold medal talent". A 16-point talent is in row 4, and that is where the client has it.
Mental Strength "moved from row 4 up to row 4". It is in row 4.
Unbridled Rage is the article's name for the Fury talent the client calls Unbridled Wrath, its Classic name. The development notes of 1 October use both names, two lines apart, for what reads as the same talent.

None of that changes a build. It does show why we print where a statement comes from rather than which one we personally believe.

The warrior, one step past the article

A day after the article, the development notes and a separate post by Kaivax rebuilt Fury and Protection again - after a bug in Dual Wield Specialization had given the main hand its hit chance too, and "our tests needed some correcting". Three new talents (Lingering Rage in row 2 of Fury, Furious Precision in row 3, Gore Drinker in row 6), three removed (Improved Cleave, Boundless Rage, Toughness), and Iron Will moving again - this time to row 1 of Protection, which settles the article's "row 2 of Arms" in a third direction.

Kaivax wrote that these changes "made it into today's new Beta build". The trees we read out of that build did not have them, and neither did the four clients after it - 70178, 70205, 70235 and 70245 of 7 October. For the last three, the tracker that regenerates its tables from Blizzard's CDN found no change at all, not even in the Trait tables that hold Forever's talent trees. The rework arrived a week later, with build 70291: it was on the CDN at 20:25 UTC on 8 October, a good hour before Blizzard posted that day's notes. What the client shows now:

Fury: Lingering Rage in row 2, Furious Precision in row 3, Gore Drinker in row 6 behind Enrage. Iron Will, Improved Cleave and Boundless Rage are gone. Improved Berserker Rage moves from row 6 to row 5, Flurry changes column and now requires Death Wish instead of Enrage.
Protection: Iron Will in row 1, Toughness is gone. Improved Bloodrage, Improved Revenge, Improved Disarm and Improved Shield Bash each move one row up, Anticipation one row down to row 2; Vanguard changes column.
Arms: Impale requires Deep Wounds again - "once again a required talent", in the notes of 8 October.

We read further changes from the client that none of the notes announced: Precision is gone from Fury - the notes name three removed talents, the client removes four. Bloodthirst no longer requires Death Wish, and Last Stand no longer requires Improved Bloodrage. And Focused Rage now sits in row 5, Bastion in row 6 - the opposite of what the article and the notes of 24 September described. Unbridled Wrath is still called that in the client, not Unbridled Rage.

Rogue, Warlock, Mage and Shaman against the client

We laid the two articles of 7 October over the current client, 1.60.1.70291. The trees of these four classes have not changed since 70170 of 1 October, so the articles describe a state that had been in the beta for a week already. The result is clear: every row, every point count, every prerequisite and every removed talent Blizzard names is in the client exactly so. What remains are things the client shows and the articles do not mention.

Rogue

Assassination: Improved Gouge in row 1, moved over from Combat; Cold Blood as the 16-point talent, Mutilate at 21, Venom at 31; Vigor with two points in row 5; Seal Fate without a prerequisite.
Combat: Improved Eviscerate in row 1, Flawless Execution at 16, Hack and Slash in row 5. Dagger, Mace, Sword and Fist Weapon Specialization are gone from the tree.
Subtlety: Camouflage in row 1, Master of Deception with three points, Dirty Tricks and Improved Ambush in row 2, Improved Distract in row 3, Heightened Senses and Premeditation (16 points) in row 4, Quietus behind Dirty Deeds and Cutthroat in row 6, Thousand Cuts at 31. Sleight of Hand and Deadliness are missing.
Client only: Venom requires Mutilate, Thousand Cuts requires Preparation. Flawless Execution was still called Restless Blades in the BlizzCon build.

Warlock

Affliction: Improved Life Tap in row 1; Malediction, Soul Harvest and Improved Drains in row 2; Improved Bane of Agony with two points, Fel Concentration with three, Pandemic in row 3; Curse of Exhaustion as the 16-point talent next to Nightfall and Malevolence; Soul Siphon in row 5; Wrack at 31. All six removed talents are missing.
Demonology: Unholy Power and Improved Health Funnel in row 1; Demonic Aegis, Fel Vitality and Demonic Energies in row 2; Demonic Sacrifice at 11 and Master Summoner in row 3; Fel Domination at 16 behind Master Summoner; Decimation and Demonic Brand in row 4; Soul Link at 21, next to Improved Felhunter and Demonic Knowledge; Demonic Pact at 31 behind Soul Link.
Destruction: Destructive Reach and Bane in row 1, Cataclysm and Molten Skin in row 2, Ruin in row 3 with five points, Agonizing Flames and Intensity with three each, Conflagrate at 16, Fire and Brimstone behind Conflagrate, Bane of Havoc at 21, Shadow and Flame in row 6, Incinerate at 31 behind Bane of Havoc.
Client only: Curse of Exhaustion requires Amplify Curse, Wrack requires Siphon Life, Soul Link requires Demonic Sacrifice. The Succubus talent is called Improved Sayaad in the client. Soul Harvest was still Soul Harvesting up to build 70009, Wrack was Drain Hope in the BlizzCon build.

Mage

Arcane: Wand Specialization with two points; Arcane Subtlety one row lower and Arcane Resilience one higher, both in row 2, Arcane Resilience with two points and no gold medal; Arcane Geometry and Arcane Impact in row 3; Arcane Blast at 11; Arcane Meditation behind Arcane Concentration; Missile Barrage at 16; Arcane Mind and Arcane Instability without a prerequisite, Arcane Power behind Presence of Mind. Magic Attunement is gone from the tree.
Fire: Wake of Fire and Incineration in row 1, Burning Soul with three points, Heating Up in row 4 behind Pyroblast, Blast Wave without a prerequisite.
Frost: Frost Channeling in row 3, Ice Lance at 11, Ice Block at 16, Shatter without a prerequisite, Cold Snap at 21, Fingers of Frost with two points in row 5 behind Ice Lance.
Client only: Heating Up is the only one-point slot in row 4 of Fire, so it sits where the other trees have their 16-point talent - the article only calls it a "new row 4 talent". Up to build 70009 it was called Hot Streak, the very name the article gives as its inspiration. Ice Barrier at 31 requires Cold Snap.

Shaman

Elemental Combat: Reverberation and Elemental Devastation in row 2, Elemental Alacrity with three points in row 3, Improved Fire Nova, Call of Thunder at 16 behind Elemental Alacrity, Lightning Overload in row 5, Earthbound at 21, Elemental Fury in row 6 behind Call of Thunder, Lava Burst at 31. Elemental Mastery is missing, Earth's Grasp sits in row 1 of Enhancement.
Enhancement: Thundering Strikes in row 1, Mental Dexterity in row 2, Improved Ghost Wolf with two points, Elemental Weapons in row 3, Shamanistic Focus at 11, Flurry behind Mental Dexterity, Stormstrike at 16, Spirit Weapons at 21, Mental Quickness and Improved Stormstrike in row 5, Maelstrom Weapon in row 6, Rage of the Farseer at 31. Shield Specialization and the four talents that became baseline are missing.
Restoration: Totemic Focus in row 1, Mindfulness and Natural Grace in row 2, Ancestral Healing in row 3, Healing Focus with three points, Water Shield at 11, Mana Tide Totem at 16, Riptide at 31 behind Healing Way. Nature's Guidance is missing.
Client only: Lava Burst requires Lightning Overload, Rage of the Farseer requires Mental Quickness. In the BlizzCon build Elemental Alacrity and Elemental Fury had swapped places, and so had Totemic Focus and Tidal Mastery; since build 70009 at the latest they sit where the article puts them.

Out of date a week later: the build of 15 October

What stands above for these four classes is the state of the articles and of client 70291. The development notes of 15 October rebuild three of the four trees and the priest once more, and build 70425 of 16 October does exactly that:

Mage: Missile Barrage moves from 16 to row 1 and has two ranks; the new Arcane Wrath takes its old place. Wake of Fire is Improved Fire Blast again, Critical Mass has five ranks, Fire Power only three. Arcane Blast and Winter's Chill work differently from what the article describes.
Shaman: Lava Burst now sits at 21 instead of 31 and requires nothing; at 31 Elemental Mastery returns, which was missing above. Call of Thunder is removed, Improved Fire Nova is called Trial by Fire, Earthbound sits at 16. Elemental Alacrity and Elemental Warding swap rows, and so do Tidal Focus and Totemic Focus.
Warlock: Malediction is replaced by Grim Reach, which only adds range to Affliction spells.
Priest: Shadow Affinity and Improved Fade are gone, Dark Inspiration joins row 4 of Shadow; Mental Strength moves to row 2, Improved Power Word: Shield to row 3, Improved Mind Blast to row 2.

Rogue and warrior stay unchanged. Everything in detail is on the page for the week to 23 October.

Paladin against the client

We laid the article of 15 October over 1.60.1.70291; client 70374 of 13 October changed nothing in the trees. Almost everything is in the client as Blizzard describes it:

Holy: Healing Light and Unyielding Faith in row 2, Spiritual Focus with two points, Improved Seals with three; Voice of Truth at 11, Reverence and Purifying Power in row 3; Infusion of Light in row 4, Illumination behind Reverence, Divine Favor at 16; Holy Shock at 21, Divine Precision behind Holy Shock and Consecrated Ground in row 5; Light's Vigil at 31 behind Holy Shock. Consecration, Improved Blessing of Wisdom, Lasting Judgement and Improved Lay on Hands are gone from the tree.
Protection: Toughness in row 1, Precision and Anticipation in row 2; Improved Seal of Fury at 11, Sacred Duty in row 3; Swift Judgement at 16, One-Handed Weapon Specialization in row 4 with three points; Templar's Bulwark at 21, Iron Creed in row 6, Holy Shield behind Templar's Bulwark. Blessing of Kings, Blessing of Sanctuary and Improved Concentration Aura are gone.
Retribution: Deflection in row 1, Holy Conduit and Conviction in row 2, Sanctified Judgement in row 3, Sacred Arbiter at 16, Vengeance in row 5 behind Sanctified Judgement, Repentance at 21, Champion of the Light and Instrument of Law in row 6, Twist of Light at 31. Improved Seal of the Crusader, Improved Retribution Aura and Sanctity Aura are gone.

Where article and client part ways

Eye for an Eye is said to have moved "from row 4 down to row 5". In the client it sits in row 4 next to Sacred Arbiter, as in Classic and in every beta build we have read. The effect does match: it works on all critical strikes and reflects up to 10%.
Champion of the Light contradicts itself in the article. The talent text says "up to 30% of your Intellect", the explanation below it says the value was cut from 100% to 60%. The client has had 20, 40 and 60% since build 70170 of 1 October. The development notes of 15 October settled it: 10, 20 and 30% instead of 20, 40 and 60%. The 30% in the talent text was the next cut, not a typo.
Holy Conduit in the client also makes Hammer of Wrath cheaper besides Consecration, Holy Wrath and Exorcism; the article names only those three.

Only in the client

Swift Judgement requires Improved Seal of Fury.
Two Classic talents are gone without the article naming them: Improved Devotion Aura from Protection and Improved Blessing of Might from Retribution. The article lists them neither as removed nor as baseline.
Crusade was still a Retribution talent in row 4 in the BlizzCon build; it has been missing since the first beta client, and the article does not mention it.

The parts the client cannot show

Most of what the articles say is about things a talent tree does not contain, and here Blizzard is the only source we have:

Warrior Rage is rebuilt. Rage from taking damage ignores armor and absorbs, calculated as if you always had 50% damage reduction - so Power Word: Shield no longer starves a tank. Rage from dealing damage is normalised to weapon speed, and critical strikes give more Rage again, after the launch beta gave none extra - 75% in the article, raised to 100% with the build of 1 October. Druids in Bear Form get the same 75% from that build. Blizzard also said there were Rage generation bugs in the beta it was still tracking down, which "may take a couple weeks". The notes of 8 October report three of them fixed: the player's own health was used instead of the enemy's, critical strikes and crushing blows did not count, and absorbed damage did. Instead of a tank's 50%, Blizzard now balances Rage around 20 to 40% armor depending on level.
Warrior baseline: Tactical Mastery at 14 keeps 10 Rage on stance change, Victory Rush at 20, Recklessness, Retaliation and Shield Wall no longer share a cooldown, Thunder Clap works in Defensive Stance.
Priest baseline: Fear Ward and Devouring Plague for every race at 20, Divine Spirit at 30, Shadow Word: Death at 32, Renew from several priests on one target, Prayer of Healing on the target's party. Every race has two racial priest spells, re-evaluated, and the Gnome gets two new ones.
Hunter baseline: Aimed Shot at 20, traps usable in combat with a 30-second cooldown, Multi-Shot sharing Aimed Shot's cooldown. Pets scale with the hunter's gear, every family has one unique ability, and the Fox is a new pet family.
Druid baseline: potions and almost all consumables, weapon procs and racial abilities work in form, most doors open without leaving it, Nature's Grasp at 10, Omen of Clarity at 20, Revive as an out of combat resurrection at 12 and Lacerate at 42.
Rogue baseline: poisons have more charges and stay on the weapon alongside sharpening stones and weightstones. Sap no longer breaks Stealth, Distract also lowers Stealth detection for 10 seconds, Feint reduces twice as much threat. Expose Armor is as strong as five Sunder Armors of the same level and no longer blocks Sunder Armor. Rogues learn one-handed axes.
Warlock baseline: Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom are now Banes, only one per warlock and target. Curse of the Elements covers all magic damage, Curse of Shadows is removed. Firestone and Spellstone are weapon imbues that stay on alongside Wizard Oil. Life Tap scales with Spirit, Drain Soul grows surer to give a Soul Shard with every tick, pets scale with the warlock's stats.
Mage baseline: Frostfire Bolt at 40, a Fire and a Frost spell at once. The new minor tradeskill Comprehension lets mages decipher scrolls dropped by creatures. Cone of Cold lasts shorter and Improved Blizzard slows by 40% at most - both explicitly aimed at gold farmers. Ignite is per mage. Arcane Concentration and similar talents trigger less often from low spell ranks, "across many classes" according to Blizzard.
Shaman baseline: totems have a 1.0-second global cooldown, totems with a lasting buff last 5 minutes, a bar shows active totems and removes them with a right click, resistance totems cover the whole raid. Weapon imbues last 60 minutes and stay on alongside stones and oils. Fire Nova is a spell cast at your own Fire totem, Windfury and Flametongue Totem are party buffs, Tranquil Air Totem is removed. New: Totemic Recall and Call of the Elements at 20, Totemic Projection at 22, Call of the Spirits at 30, Call of the Ancestors at 40. Blizzard says a bug in the beta keeps Totemic Recall from refunding mana for now. Lightning Bolt from rank 4 and Chain Lightning cast half a second faster and gain correspondingly less from spell damage.
Paladin, baseline: Holy Strike at 6, Holy damage from half of weapon damage. Seal of Fury at 10, the tanking seal: a flat amount of Holy damage per swing - so a fast weapon is favoured -, a shield worth half of it, and its Judgement taunts at 10 yards, twice the reach of Growl or Taunt. Judgement no longer consumes the seal. Every paladin learns Consecration at 20, but it only hits the first four enemies properly, so that a paladin holds no more targets than a warrior with Thunder Clap. Righteous Fury generates less threat, Lay on Hands has a 20-minute cooldown instead of an hour, and the resistance auras affect the whole raid. Seal twisting is no longer baseline, only through Twist of Light. Salvation stops being a blessing, and the version for whole classes becomes Mass Salvation - according to the article only with a future build. Blizzard also names two Reckoning bugs it plans to fix: it does not store four charges, and the extra attacks can interrupt the current swing timer.

What happens at level 32, 40 or 42 is out of reach for anyone in this beta, which stops at 30. At level 30 you have 21 talent points; the 31-point talents such as Venom, Wrack, Ice Barrier or Riptide are visible in the client but cannot be reached. Those lines are confirmed by Blizzard and untested by anybody.