Forever Handbook

Your first hour

1. Talk to NPCs with a yellow "!" above their head to pick up quests. A yellow "?" means you can hand one in.
2. Open the quest log (L) and the map (M) to see where to go.
3. Visit your class trainer in town every level or two to learn new abilities and stronger ranks of old ones.
4. New spells don't appear on your action bars by themselves. Open the spellbook (P) and drag them onto a bar.
5. New bags don't equip themselves either. Drag a bag from your backpack onto an empty bag slot next to it.
6. In the first days monsters respawn faster than usual in the starting zones, because so many players start at once. Blizzard will slow this down once the rush settles.

Before you create a character: rulesets

• Forever has no realms to pick. Instead you choose a ruleset: Normal, PvP, Roleplay or Roleplay PvP. A Hardcore ruleset comes later.
• You can only group, join a guild, run dungeons and raid with players on the same ruleset and the same faction. If you play with a partner or friends, agree on both first.
• A character can't move to another ruleset later, and character names are unique across your whole region.

First login: Experience Preset

• The first time you log in, the game asks you to pick Classic or Enhanced. You only see this screen once.
• Enhanced (Blizzard's pick if you're unsure): HD character models, quest markers on the map, one big bag, transmog on, and A/D to step sideways.
• Classic: the original look, no quest markers, separate bags, transmog off, and A/D turn the camera.
• You can change every setting later under Game Menu, Options. Dungeon appearance unlocks only show if transmog is on.

Why play it

Watch out for

Can I reset my talents?

• Yes. Visit your class trainer in a major city and pay a fee to reset all points.
• The launch price isn't announced. In the beta, Blizzard made the first reset cheap and the next ones much more expensive, with the price dropping back after an hour. Treat resets as something you do rarely.
• From level 40 you can buy Dual Specialization: two saved builds you switch between, for example one for questing and one for dungeons.

Stat priority while leveling

How XP works now

• Most dungeon XP now comes from each dungeon's quests, so pick them up before your first run. Repeat runs after the quests give much less.
• Being Well Fed gives 5% more XP from kills.
• A Leatherworking Camp Tent at a campfire tops your Rested XP up to 5% of a level. The Cozy Sleeping Bag, from a quest chain, adds a little more.
• No teleporting into dungeons. You walk there, or a Warlock summons you.

Key milestones

Cooking (take it)

Needed to build any campfire, and being Well Fed gives 5% more XP from kills.

First Aid

Bandages, healing potions (they moved here from Alchemy in Forever) and out-of-combat cures for poison, disease and bleeds.

Fishing

Feeds Cooking, and its Fish Bowl camp object gives one of the best camp buffs (more of all primary stats).

How many can I have?

• Two primary professions (for example Skinning and Leatherworking).
• All three secondary ones on top: Cooking, First Aid and Fishing.

Can I change a profession?

• Yes. Open the Professions window, click the red X next to the profession and type the confirmation word.
• You lose all skill in it and start again from 1 if you come back.
• Cooking, First Aid and Fishing can't be unlearned, but they don't use a primary slot anyway.
• Swapping a gathering profession early is cheap. Settle your crafting profession early too: many new recipes are bought with Merchant's Favor and trade faction reputation, which take time to build.

Armor

Weapons

Other notable pieces

Itemization changes

• Hundreds of new dungeon items, many with situational bonuses (for example against a creature type or in a certain kind of zone).
• When a bind-on-pickup green or blue item drops in a dungeon, everyone in the group who could use it unlocks its appearance. Epic appearances only go to the player who gets the item.
• Expertise is a new stat that lowers enemies' chance to dodge or parry. Sources disagree on how much weapon skill is left on items.

Sharing loot

• Agree on a rule before the first drop, like taking turns or whoever gets the bigger upgrade.
• When a bind-on-pickup green or blue item drops in a dungeon, you both unlock its appearance, so losing a roll doesn't cost you the look. Epics only unlock for whoever gets them.

Split professions

• Don't both take the same gathering profession. A corpse can only be skinned once, so two Skinners fight over every beast.
• Each of you can place one camp object per hour, so two different professions mean two different camp buffs at the same fire. Only the person building the fire needs Cooking.
• Mail each other materials instead of selling and buying them back on the auction house.

Travel and downtime

• Eat and drink at the same time so you're both ready together.
• Do the same quests side by side. Kill XP is shared in a party (Classic rule, assumed unchanged), but each of you gets full quest XP.

Dungeons

• A normal dungeon group is five players: a tank, a healer and three damage dealers.
• List yourselves together in the group finder, or befriend a tank and healer while questing.
• Attack what the tank is attacking, and let the tank pull.

Where and what it costs

• Sell at your own faction's house: its cut is smaller than at the neutral ones.
• Listing costs a small deposit based on the item's vendor price and the listing time. You get it back when the item sells, and lose it if it expires.
• New in Forever: a column shows the level needed to equip gear, and suffix stats (like "of the Monkey") are visible.

How to figure out a price

1. Search the item and look at the cheapest several listings, not just the lowest one. One very cheap listing is often a mistake or a dump.
2. Check again on a different day or evening. Prices swing a lot at launch.
3. List slightly under the usual price, by a few copper or silver.
4. Compare with the vendor price. If the auction price minus the cut is close to what a vendor pays, just vendor it and save the hassle.
5. If nobody buys after two listings, it's priced too high or nobody needs it. Lower it or vendor it.

First two weeks after launch

• Raw materials of every kind: few people have professions leveled, so supply is low and demand is high. Selling materials early often beats crafting with them.
• Mid-level materials (Silk, Mageweave, Iron, Mithril, mid herbs): almost nobody reaches those zones in week one, so early sellers name their price.
• Bags: everyone wants more space right away.

Worth holding for later

• Potion and flask herbs: demand jumps when the first raids open on 9 December. Stockpiling some herbs in November and selling in December is a common play.
• Runecloth and Thorium-tier materials: needed by everyone at level 60, so prices hold up as the server levels.
• Materials for your own crafting: anything your profession will need at higher skill is usually cheaper to keep than to buy back later.

Price ceilings to know

• A Black Market vendor in Powderfuse Port (Riverglades) was seen in the beta selling Black Lotus and Arcane Crystal for 50 gold each. Whether there's a purchase limit isn't confirmed. Players won't pay much more than that on the auction house.

Big expenses coming

• Riding at level 40. Start saving early.
• Talent resets get expensive fast if you repeat them.
• New ranks of abilities at your trainer every level or two.

Earn more

• Loot everything. Small amounts of silver add up to your mount.
• Sell early. Materials fetch their best prices in the first two weeks, before many players have gathering professions leveled.
• Craft to order. Most new recipes barely break even, so make items when someone asks and pays, instead of filling the auction house.
• Flip carefully. When something is listed well below its usual price, buy it and relist at the normal price. Only do this with items you've watched for a few days.
• Sell green gear from your level range instead of vendoring it. Players right behind you need it.

Spend less

• Don't die. Every death damages your gear and repairs cost gold. Don't pull more than you can handle.
• Don't buy what you can gather. If you gather for your own crafting, never buy those materials.
• Pick your talent build and stick with it. Repeat resets get expensive fast.
• Skip ability ranks you never use. If you don't press a spell, don't pay to upgrade it. Training everything from 1 to 60 costs about 206 gold for every class (Blizzard, 3 Nov).
• Stay out in the world. Camps give buffs, a Camp Tent gives Rested XP, and an Engineer's Reagent Bot lets you sell junk and buy supplies without flying back to town.
• Sell at your own faction's auction house rather than a neutral one.

Legacy perks that save gold

• Frequent Flier: flights cost half and are 20% faster.
• Bartering: up to 10% cheaper vendor prices. It doesn't discount training (including riding) or repairs.
• Reinforce: less gear damage when you die, so cheaper repairs.
• Bountiful Harvest: more rare materials from Skinning, Mining and Herbalism.

Playing as a pair

• Pool your materials. One of you crafts for both, so you never pay another player for something you could make.
• Split gathering professions so you cover more materials between you (for example, one skins, the other mines or picks herbs).
• Mail each other materials instead of selling and buying them back.