This is confirmed: Kaivax posted the notes in the forum's development thread on the evening of 2 November, Pacific time. They cover everything since the last full update on 15 October. The racial changes of 26 and 27 October are repeated in them; on this site they are already in the item on the racials. The same evening client 1.60.1.70753 appeared on Blizzard's servers.
Why everything hits harder
Blizzard explains the direction in two developer notes. During the beta, trying to stay roughly within Classic's power budget meant that "every new element we added needed to come at the expense of something else". So damage was raised across the game, and higher-level creatures get more health to compensate. Some changes also take back "Burning Crusade- or Wrath-era solutions" that Blizzard now calls hasty.
The second note matters for planning: "With the exception of bugs and serious outliers, we don't plan on making big tuning changes between now and the opening of the raids next month." A large tuning pass will only follow once enough players are past level 30.
For every class
- Threat: Paladins lose Salvation, Mass Salvation and Revoke, and Blessing of Light is gone too. Tanks are compensated: Bear Form and Dire Bear Form go from 50% to 115% bonus threat, Defensive Stance from 30% to 80%, Defiance to 20%. Righteous Fury comes at level 10 instead of 16 and grants 33% more threat plus 90% from Holy damage.
- Training costs: Abilities learned at the same level cost the same to train. Training from 1 to 60 now costs 206 to 207 gold for every class; for warlocks the expected grimoire costs are already subtracted.
- Low ranks: Talents no longer lose proc chance when you cast a low rank of a spell. The exception is the mage's Blizzard.
- New spells are no longer put on your action bars automatically.
Class by class
- Druid: Shred 200% weapon damage instead of 155%, Claw 140%, Ravage 435%. Rip, Rake, Ferocious Bite and Pounce are about 25% stronger, Starfire about 40%. Lacerate is a Feral talent now. New is Poised at level 32: at full Energy out of combat, your next Energy ability costs 10 less. Wild Growth has a 3-second cast.
- Hunter: Aimed Shot about 110% more bonus damage, Arcane Shot about 30% more, Serpent Sting stronger. Aspect of the Hawk now gives 20/35/50/70/90/110, Trueshot Aura 20/35/50/75/100. All traps share one 30-second cooldown.
- Mage: Frost Blast and Piercing Ice are gone. Ice Barrier now raises Frost damage by 15% for a minute, plus 5% while the barrier holds. Ice Lance shares an 8-second cooldown with Fire Blast. Arcane Blast costs less per stack.
- Paladin: The trees are rebuilt, as the client already showed on 27 October. Oath of Light, Boundless Light, Stoicism, Shieldsworn, Turn Evil and Unsealed Wrath are new.
- Priest: Shadow Word: Death costs 30% of your health if the target survives. Holy Binding replaces Binding Heal.
- Rogue: New spell Shank at 24: an off-hand strike that cannot miss and generates Energy. On top come Poised at level 18 and new talents such as Blood Splatter, Composure, Flash of Steel, Quick Getaway, Boot Knife and Death Mark. Murder, Quietus, Cutthroat and Thousand Cuts are gone. Poisons scale twice as hard with attack power.
- Shaman: Lightning Bolt hits up to 80% harder; Chain Lightning has a 2.5-second cast and costs more. Lava Burst is gone; Call of Thunder takes its place. Totemic Projection is now Totemic Call: it pulls your totems to you, with a 30-second cooldown. Stormstrike does 150% weapon damage. Riptide costs less but only heals over time.
- Warlock: Pets get 2 health per point of your Stamina instead of 7.5. Wrack hits much harder at 60, 86 damage per second instead of 36.
- Warrior: Slam cooldown 15 seconds. New talents are Reckless Swings and Improved Whirlwind. Flurry now gives 30% attack speed, with three ranks.
What this changes here
Rumors on two items are now settled. The rebuilt trees for paladin and druid are confirmed. The weaker hunter auras are not: Blizzard raises both. The talent calculator now shows client 70753. The class deep dives list where Blizzard's articles from the beta no longer hold.