The WoW Forever beta level cap goes to 30 today, after a maintenance of several hours

The wait is over for anyone who parked a character at the cap. Blizzard is taking the WoW Forever beta down today and bringing it back with the level cap raised to 30.

The timing

• Americas: maintenance starts this morning Pacific time, and the beta returns several hours later.
• Europe: maintenance starts this evening CEST, and the beta comes back early on October 2.
• Blizzard says the new build includes changes and fixes alongside the cap raise, and that all the details will be posted when it is live.

That last part matters. The last build, 70124, landed without notes, so this is the first full change log since build 70009 on September 24.

Why this cap raise is the big one

The beta opened on September 17 with a cap of 20, which covered the first stretch of the game and three or four dungeons. Ten more levels changes the test completely:

• The dungeon list opens up. Levels 21 to 30 is where Shadowfang Keep, Blackfathom Deeps, the Stockade and Razorfen Kraul sit in the chart. Our dungeon list has the bands.
• Talents get interesting. At 30 you have around 21 points, enough to pass the 11 and 16-point milestones Blizzard described in its class deep dives and start a second tree.
• The levelling debate gets real data. The dungeon experience argument has been fought entirely at levels 1 to 20. The mid-level dungeons are exactly where testers said the nerf would hurt most.
• Professions pass their first real gate. Several camp features and recipes in the files sit at skill levels you cannot reach while capped at 20.

What to do before the servers go down

1. Bank anything you are carrying. Builds have occasionally reset interface settings, and a full bag is a bad way to start a patch.
2. Note your current build. If a talent moves rows, as Protection’s did in build 70009, you want to know what you had.
3. Spend your respec charge. Resets run on 10 charges that refill hourly, so there is no reason to go into a new build on a build you dislike.
4. Do not start a long quest chain in the last half hour before maintenance.

What we will be checking first

• Whether the dungeon experience numbers moved, after a week of complaints and no reply.
• Whether the wand and auto-shot changes from the last build hold at the new cap.
• Which of the sealed instances we found in the files become reachable, if any.
• The class deep dive changes in practice, including dual specialisation, which Blizzard says arrives at level 40 and so stays out of reach for now.

We will update this article with the patch notes as soon as they are posted, and cover the class changes separately. Launch is on November 4.