WoW Forever Dungeon XP Increased 50%: What the November 8 Hotfix Changed, Quest XP, Best Dungeons and Leveling Plan

World of Warcraft: Forever just received its first leveling change of the live era. On Sunday, November 8, Blizzard raised the experience earned from killing enemies inside dungeons by 50 percent, four days after the game launched to what the company calls the biggest opening in the franchise's history.

The hotfix is small in wording and large in consequence. Dungeons were deliberately designed during beta as places to run once with quests in hand, then leave. Over the launch weekend, that design ran into a community that has always treated dungeons as the social heart of leveling. This guide explains exactly what changed, what did not, how the new numbers fit into the dungeon XP history of the beta, and how to plan a route to 60 now that repeat runs pay noticeably better.

What Exactly Did Blizzard Change on November 8?

Community manager Kaivax announced the change in a short post on the official forums, titled Dungeon Enemy XP Increased - 8 November: "At about 11:05 PST today, we deployed a hotfix that increased kill experience in dungeons by 50%, so it feels better to go back in for more runs. Happy dungeon crawling, and good luck with those Deviate Hides!"

That timing translates to 1:05 p.m. Central and 20:05 CET on November 8. The change was a server-side hotfix, so it required no client download, and it applies to every ruleset: Normal, PvP and Roleplaying.

Three details in that announcement matter for planning:

• Only kill experience changed. The post names enemies killed inside dungeons. It does not mention dungeon quest rewards, boss bonuses or completion rewards.
• The increase is relative. A 50 percent raise applies to the live value at the time of the hotfix. An enemy that previously granted 40 experience now grants roughly 60, as PC Gamer's coverage of the change illustrates. It is not a return to Classic Era values.
• The stated goal is repeat runs. Blizzard framed the change around making a second or third visit feel worthwhile, not around making dungeon grinding the fastest path to 60.

The Deviate Hides line is a nod to Wailing Caverns, where the Leatherworking quest material drops from the cave's deviate creatures at a famously stubborn rate. It is also a reminder that many players return to a dungeon for reasons other than experience, and the hotfix makes those trips less costly to a leveling pace.

Why Were Dungeon Kills So Low in the First Place?

WoW: Forever keeps the familiar 1-60 experience curve but changes where that experience comes from. From the earliest interviews, Blizzard described a philosophy in which dungeon trash would award significantly less experience than in Classic while dungeon quests would award significantly more. The intent was clear: the first full clear, with every available quest, should be a highlight of the level bracket. After that, players were meant to head back to the open world, where more than a thousand new quests and four new regions were built to carry most of the journey.

That philosophy had a cost that became obvious once real players were in the game. Groups that wanted to stay together, tanks and healers who prefer to level through their role, and players who simply enjoy dungeon content found repeat runs paid far below what they expected. Comparing a Forever run to memories of Classic made it feel worse still.

The Output Lag summary of Blizzard's notes lays out three written changes to dungeon experience since October:

• October 1: Dungeon quests were changed to "reward 50% less extra experience beyond normal quest values." That cut halved the bonus above a normal quest, not the quest's total reward. Blizzard attributed it to feedback on overall leveling speed.
• October 8: Dungeon kill experience was "increased by approximately 20%." The same beta build removed a penalty that reduced kill experience based on the highest-level party member. Only the individual player's level now matters, with one exception: if a party member is at a vastly higher level than the enemy, nobody in the group receives experience.
• November 8: Dungeon kill experience rose another 50 percent, four days into live play.

Developer Aggrend set out the target in October, writing that experience gain "is not going to be what it was in era" and that dungeons with perfect play should be "very close, if not equal to the speed you can level with optimal questing play." The November hotfix moves dungeons closer to that target. Blizzard has not said whether it now considers the two paths balanced.

How Much Faster Are Dungeon Runs Now?

Blizzard has not published a baseline that compares Forever dungeon kills to Classic Era, so there is no official percentage for where kills now sit. Player estimates shared on Reddit and the forums range from about 36 percent to about 45 percent of Classic Era values after the hotfix. Those figures come from players' own calculations and disagree partly because nobody outside Blizzard knows the exact pre-hotfix multiplier.

Early reports from post-hotfix runs show why a single number is hard to pin down. A level 32 Warrior tank on r/classicwow reported roughly three and a half bars of experience from a nearly hour-long Razorfen Kraul run without quests, and called it not worth the time. Replies noted that Razorfen Kraul is a level 25 to 30 dungeon, so many of its enemies were nearly gray for a level 32 character. Another player reported about one bar every five minutes during a repeat Wailing Caverns run at an appropriate level.

The practical lesson is that the hotfix rewards running dungeons at the right level. Experience still falls off sharply as enemies approach gray, so a party slightly overleveled for a dungeon will feel the 50 percent raise far less than a party in the middle of its bracket.

Do Dungeon Quests Still Matter After the Change?

Yes. Nothing in the November 8 post touches quest rewards, so the October 1 change to dungeon quest bonuses still applies, and the quests remain the single largest source of experience inside an instance. A first clear with every quest is still the most efficient dungeon trip in the game.

What the hotfix changes is the second run. Before November 8, a repeat clear without quests was difficult to justify for anyone focused on leveling. Now a second run in bracket, especially one that finishes an outstanding quest objective, a profession material or a gear upgrade, carries much less of an experience penalty compared with heading straight back to the open world.

A sensible order for each dungeon bracket looks like this:

• Collect every dungeon quest available to your faction before entering, including breadcrumbs in nearby towns.
• Run the dungeon once at the lower or middle part of its level range with the full quest log.
• Turn in rewards, then decide whether a second run fits your goals: an unfinished quest, a gear upgrade, a profession drop, or a group that wants to stay together.
• Move on before enemies start turning green or gray. That is where the hotfix stops helping.

Which Dungeons Benefit Most?

The hotfix applies to all dungeons, but its effect is strongest where the most enemies sit inside a tight level range. Classic instances such as Wailing Caverns, The Deadmines, Shadowfang Keep, Razorfen Kraul and Scarlet Monastery wings remain dense pulls with well-known routes.

Forever also added nine new dungeons across the leveling journey. Bracket listings from Wowhead's Forever overview put them at:

Brackets in the in-game group finder take priority over any third-party listing. The new dungeons overlap with classic instances in several ranges, which gives a party more options for staying in bracket. In the late 20s, for example, Excavation Site and City of Dalaran sit close to Razorfen Kraul and the Scarlet Monastery wings, so a group can rotate through fresh instances instead of repeating one dungeon until it turns gray.

For a full walkthrough of the Wetlands instance, see the Excavation Site dungeon guide.

What the Change Means for Tanks and Healers

The players with the most to gain are those who prefer to level in a group role. Tanks and healers have always been the limiting factor in dungeon groups, and a design that discouraged repeat runs made it harder for them to justify staying in instances. Warcraft Tavern's writeup of the hotfix notes that the change makes leveling as a healer or tank more viable.

That has knock-on effects for everyone. More tanks and healers willing to run dungeons twice means shorter waits for damage dealers and more groups forming for the newer instances. It also helps guilds that want to keep members together through a level range rather than splitting into solo questers.

The October 8 grouping rule is still in place. A much higher-level character in the party can wipe out experience for the entire group, so the old practice of a level 60 friend pulling a low-level party through a dungeon does not work for experience in Forever. Keep parties within a reasonable level spread.

Is Questing Still Faster Than Dungeons?

Blizzard's designers have said they do not want dungeon grinding to be the best way to level, and Aggrend's October target described dungeons as close to, or equal to, optimal questing with perfect play. For most players, a mix of both remains the efficient route. Open-world quests come with travel and competition for spawns, while dungeons come with group-forming time and the risk of wipes. The 50 percent raise narrows the gap for organized groups rather than eliminating questing.

Players looking for the most efficient path should keep doing the following:

• Quest through each zone's main hubs, especially the new content in Zephras Isle, Riverglades, Shen'dralas and Mount Hyjal.
• Run every dungeon once with all its quests.
• Repeat dungeons when a reliable group is available and enemies are still in bracket.
• Use Camping rest stops and Cooking bonuses so rested experience is not wasted.

For a route through all 60 levels, the WoW Forever leveling guide covers zone order and bracket planning.

How Did WoW Forever Become Blizzard's Biggest Launch?

The hotfix arrives as Blizzard celebrates the launch itself. On November 7, the official World of Warcraft accounts on Bluesky and X announced that WoW: Forever achieved "the biggest launch in WoW history by peak concurrent players" and "the highest number of returning players in WoW history." Executive producer Holly Longdale followed up on X, saying it is also the most new players for a WoW launch in 15 years, a span that reaches back to Cataclysm in 2010, as reported by Icy Veins.

Blizzard has not shared an actual peak figure, the record it beat or how either was measured. The hard numbers it has published concern infrastructure. A launch-day post said Forever was running on 3,924 virtual machines, 251,136 GB of memory and 70,480 CPU cores. Third-party viewership tracking gives another point of comparison: Streams Charts data cited by Icy Veins put the launch at about 1.12 million peak concurrent Twitch viewers, just below the 1,132,957 that WoW Classic drew in August 2019.

The pace at the top of the leaderboard has been fast as well. Polygon reports that a group of five players became the first to reach level 60 on Friday after about 52 hours of play. The dungeon hotfix will only make the leveling race faster for groups that continue to push.

What Other Changes Are Coming This Week?

Dungeon experience is not the only area under adjustment. The November 5 hotfix list addressed respawn timers, vendor items and a battleground issue where the Tauren racial Plainsrunning could be stacked during the preparation phase. Plainsrunning stacks are now cancelled when a player carries a flag. Separate class tuning, including changes for Hunter pets, Warlock Voidwalkers and Enhancement Shamans, is planned for November 10. The first-week class fixes article covers those plans, and the quest and dungeon fixes roundup tracks repaired objectives.

Associate production director Clayton Stone credited player feedback for the dungeon change and told Bloomberg, as quoted by Polygon, that Blizzard intends to keep developing Forever "as long as players want to go with us." Further leveling adjustments are possible, and the community reaction has been mixed: many players welcome the raise, while others argue it does not go far enough and point out that the increase is measured against an already reduced value. Blizzard has made no commitment to further dungeon changes.

Planning Around the First Raids

The leveling decisions players make this week feed directly into endgame timing. The first raid content, including Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and the returning Onyxia's Lair, is scheduled for December 9. That leaves about a month for most players to reach 60, gear up and complete attunements. Faster dungeon experience helps group-focused players arrive on time, and dungeon runs at the top end, such as Blackmaw Hold and Shaper's Terrace, double as gear preparation. The Onyxia attunement guide covers the Drakefire Amulet chain.

Players short on time who would rather start the raid push on a character already at level 60 can browse the WoW Forever accounts currently on AccountShark.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did WoW Forever increase dungeon experience?

Blizzard applied the hotfix at about 11:05 a.m. PST on Sunday, November 8, 2026, which was 1:05 p.m. Central and 20:05 CET. It was a server-side change, so no patch download was required, and it applies on every ruleset.

How much did dungeon experience increase in WoW Forever?

Experience from killing enemies inside dungeons rose by 50 percent compared with the value live before the hotfix. An enemy that gave 40 experience now gives about 60. The change does not restore Classic Era dungeon experience, and Blizzard has not published how the new values compare to Classic.

Did dungeon quest experience change too?

No. The November 8 post mentions only kill experience. The October 1 beta change, which reduced the extra experience dungeon quests give beyond normal quest values by 50 percent, remains in place. Dungeon quests are still the largest source of experience inside an instance.

Is it now worth running the same dungeon twice?

A second run in bracket is now much easier to justify, especially when it completes an outstanding quest, a gear upgrade or a profession drop. Experience still drops off as enemies approach gray, so running a dungeon at the low or middle end of its level range gives the best results.

Can a high-level friend still boost a group through dungeons for experience?

Not effectively. Since the October 8 beta change, if a party member is at a vastly higher level than the enemy being killed, no one in the party receives experience. Keep the group's levels close together.

How many players does WoW Forever have?

Blizzard has not released a player count. It says Forever had the highest peak concurrent players and the most returning players of any WoW launch, and Holly Longdale said it drew the most new players for a WoW launch in 15 years. The only published figures cover server infrastructure: 3,924 virtual machines, 251,136 GB of memory and 70,480 CPU cores.

Who reached level 60 first in WoW Forever?

Polygon reports that a group of five players became the first to reach level 60 on Friday, November 6, after about 52 hours of play. Blizzard has not published an official leaderboard.

When do the first WoW Forever raids open?

The first raid content is scheduled for December 9, 2026, with Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and the returning Onyxia's Lair. Dungeon runs in the high 50s help prepare gear and complete attunements before then.