WoW Forever Hotfixes November 13: Dungeon XP Rule for Carries, Stun Diminishing Returns, Wild Growth Doubled and Judgement of Command

Blizzard's November 13 hotfixes for WoW: Forever change how dungeon experience works for mixed-level groups, restore diminishing returns on stuns in both directions and double the healing coefficient on Restoration Druid Wild Growth. The same list makes Judgement of Command a melee attack again, corrects Windfury Totem for off-hand abilities, fixes a long run of item stats, opens a one-time exchange for the Blessed Band of Light and smooths out more than a dozen quests that were blocking leveling routes. Here is what changed and what it means for your character this weekend.

Quick Answer

Dungeons: if a dungeon enemy is trivial (gray) to any party member, nobody in the group gets experience for killing it. High-level carries no longer feed XP to low-level characters.

Stuns: diminishing returns now apply to creature stuns on players and to player stuns on creatures.

Druid: Wild Growth heals for twice as much (6.6% coefficient, was 3.3%) but can no longer be cast while moving.

Paladin: Judgement of Command counts as a melee attack and triggers on-hit effects. Every other Judgement stays ranged.

Items: ten item fixes, plus a one-way swap of Blessed Band of Light for Channeler's Ring at Pix Xizzix until raids open.

The November 13 Hotfixes at a Glance

The patch notes were posted on November 13 in Blizzard's running WoW: Forever hotfix post, the same post that holds the November 10 and November 11 entries. It is the largest single entry since launch week. The changes fall into seven groups:

Class mechanics: stun diminishing returns, Wild Growth, Frost Nova, Judgement of Command, a Priest Legacy Perk, Windfury Totem, Siphon Life and Berserker Rage.
Dungeons: a new experience rule for trivial enemies, Sneed in The Deadmines, slower respawns in The Drowned City and a Stratholme Legacy Challenge fix.
Enemies and NPCs: spawn rate changes in Gnomeregan, Badlands, Mulgore, Stranglethorn Vale and Blasted Lands, plus an aggro bug in Eastern Plaguelands.
Items: ten stat or behavior corrections and the Blessed Band of Light exchange.
Quests: shared quest drops, a Zul'Farrak routing bug for Rogues, Pix Xizzix's weekly reset and more.
Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza: many more winners per ruleset.
User interface: Action Bar settings no longer reset for characters with Secondary Talents.

Dungeon Experience: Trivial Enemies Now Give Nobody XP

The change with the widest reach is a single line under Dungeons: killing enemies in dungeons now awards zero experience to all party members if the enemy is trivial to one or more of them. "Trivial" is the gray-level band, where a monster is low enough relative to a character that it would normally give that character no experience at all.

Before this fix, a group could contain one high-level character and several low-level characters, and the low-level members would still earn experience from every kill even though the enemies were gray to their carrier. That is the classic dungeon run carry: a level 60 clears Scarlet Monastery or Razorfen Downs at full speed while lower characters collect experience from the kills. The new rule shuts that down. One trivial-level player in the party is enough to zero out experience for everyone on any enemy that is gray to them.

Why the Timing Matters

This comes five days after Blizzard raised dungeon experience by 50% in the November 8 hotfix. A bigger dungeon XP payout made run carries far more efficient, because every kill a high-level character made was now worth half again as much to the passengers. Read together, the two changes point in one direction: Blizzard wants dungeons to be a stronger leveling route for groups playing at level, not a faster lane for paid or guild carries.

What Still Works

The rule is scoped carefully. It applies to dungeon enemies, and it triggers only when the enemy is trivial to at least one party member. That leaves several things untouched:

Groups of similar level are unaffected. If every enemy is at or above gray for every member, experience is awarded as before, including the November 8 bonus.
Quest rewards are not mentioned. Turning in dungeon quests still pays experience based on each character's own level.
Loot and quest item drops still happen. A higher-level friend can still help you finish a dungeon quest objective; the kills simply give no experience while they are in the group.
Open world leveling is outside the scope of this line. The note refers specifically to enemies in dungeons.

If you are leveling with a friend who is several levels ahead, the practical answer is to pick dungeons that sit inside both of your experience ranges. The gray threshold depends on level, so a small gap usually keeps most enemies worth experience for the higher character, while a large gap can push much of a low-level dungeon into the trivial band.

Stun Diminishing Returns Restored in Both Directions

Two bugs were fixed together. Players had no diminishing returns against creature stuns, and players also had no diminishing returns when stunning creatures.

The first bug was dangerous in leveling content: an enemy with a repeated stun could keep a character locked down for back-to-back durations with no reduction. The second bug cut the other way and favored players. Classes with several stuns, such as Rogues, Warriors, Paladins and Druids, could chain them on a single creature at full duration, which makes dangerous casters and elites much easier to control.

With both fixed, repeated stuns on the same target will shorten and eventually stop working for a period, regardless of whether the stunner is a player or a creature. Groups that relied on rotating stuns to lock down a single dangerous mob in a pull will notice it first. Interrupts and other forms of crowd control become more important, and planned stuns should be spaced rather than stacked.

Druid: Wild Growth Doubles and Stops Moving

Restoration Druids received the biggest numerical change of the day.

Wild Growth spell healing coefficient increased to 6.6% (was 3.3%). The share of your healing power that each tick of Wild Growth receives has doubled. The base healing is not listed as changed, so the gain scales with your gear: the more healing power you stack, the larger the improvement.
Wild Growth can no longer be cast while moving. A bug had incorrectly allowed it, and that is now fixed.

The November 10 hotfix made Nature's Swiftness also make Wild Growth instant, which still holds. That leaves Nature's Swiftness as the clean way to get a Wild Growth off on the move in an emergency. Under normal conditions, plan to plant your feet before casting it.

For group healers the trade is strongly positive. A doubled coefficient on a multi-target heal is a substantial throughput increase in dungeons, and the benefit keeps growing as healing gear improves. The movement restriction mostly affects habits built in the first week, when the spell could be used while repositioning.

Mage: Frost Nova Breaks Correctly

Frost Nova is now correctly broken by damage from procs and by damage from Blizzard. Previously, enemies frozen by Frost Nova could stay rooted even while taking damage from those sources.

This matters most for Frost Mages who grouped enemies, rooted them and then channeled Blizzard on top of them. That pattern now ends the root early once Blizzard damage lands. It also applies to proc damage from weapons, trinkets and talents. Area-of-effect Mage leveling still works, but it needs the usual kiting rhythm: nova, step away, and start Blizzard when the enemies are ready to move, rather than relying on the root to hold while damage is landing.

Paladin: Judgement of Command Is Melee Again

On November 11, Blizzard changed Judgement to count as a ranged attack, which removed melee item and effect procs from it and made it use the Paladin's ranged hit chance. The November 13 notes carve out one exception:

Judgement of Command now activates on-hit effects and counts as a melee attack.

Blizzard's developer note explains the reasoning: Judgement of Command was unique among Judgements as the only one considered a melee attack, and the change preserves that. The other Seals were treated as spells, but in WoW: Forever they are being considered ranged attacks. Every Judgement except Command stays ranged.

What This Means for Retribution

Judgement of Command is a core damage button for Retribution. Making it melee again means it uses melee hit chance and can trigger on-hit effects from weapons and gear, which restores much of what the November 11 change took away from that build. Paladins who adjusted their rotation or gear after November 11 should look at it again.

The November 11 Retribution change to Unsealed Fury is unchanged. Unsealed Fury still does not generate echoes from Windfury Totem attacks.

Shaman: Windfury Totem and Off-Hand Strikes

Windfury Totem is now correctly activated by all melee abilities, even if the ability does not involve your main-hand weapon. A developer note clarifies the exact behavior:

Strikes from abilities that involve your off-hand weapon, such as Whirlwind or Mutilate, do not have a chance to activate Windfury.
The main-hand strike from those abilities still does.

In practical terms, Warriors and Rogues grouped with a Shaman will see Windfury proc from more of their abilities, but only the main-hand portion of a dual-weapon strike can trigger it. It is a clean rule that matches how dual-wielders interact with the totem: the off hand never procs it, the main hand always can.

Priest, Warlock and Warrior Fixes

Three smaller fixes round out the class section:

Priest: the Legacy Perk The Quick and the Dead now correctly reduces the mana cost of Divine Spirit. Priests who picked it expecting a cheaper Divine Spirit should now see that reduction.
Warlock: Siphon Life Rank 1 can no longer be cast while silenced.
Warrior: Berserker Rage now removes Sap. That restores the expected escape from a Rogue's opener in PvP.

Dungeon-Specific Fixes

Beyond the experience rule, four dungeons received targeted changes:

The Deadmines: Sneed now properly ejects if Sneed's Shredder is stunned when it reaches 0% health. Stunning the Shredder at the end of the fight could previously stop the second phase from starting correctly.
The Drowned City: non-boss enemies now respawn 2 hours after being killed, up from 1 hour. Groups that clear slowly or take breaks inside will have far less trash to fight back through.
Stratholme: defeating Balnazzar now correctly counts toward the Legacy Challenge Master Spelunker.
Gnomeregan: Techbot respawns faster for the quest "Save Techbot's Brain!", which should reduce waiting when several groups need him.

Open World Spawn Changes

Several zones had their population tuned. The direction depends on the zone:

Zone	Change	Effect
Badlands	Lesser Rock Elementals spawn more often	Less competition for quest kills
Stranglethorn Vale	Tigers, panthers and raptors spawn more often	Faster hunting quest chains
Mulgore	Quillboar and Venture Co. spawn rates reduced in the starting area	Gentler start for new Tauren
Eastern Plaguelands	Unexpected aggro fixed, including on resurrection	Safer corpse runs near Stratholme
Blasted Lands	Nethergarde Keep guards no longer drop loot	Guards behave like other guards
Gnomeregan	Techbot respawns faster	Less waiting on "Save Techbot's Brain!"
Zephras Isle	Nyalah Brightfire in Valanaar sells more cooking supplies	Easier early Cooking

The Badlands and Stranglethorn changes target two of the most crowded mid-level questing areas, where several hunting quests ask for the same animals and large groups of players were clearing them faster than they respawned. The Mulgore change goes the other way: the Tauren starting area had been too aggressive for brand-new characters, so Blizzard reduced both Quillboar and Venture Co. spawn rates there.

The Nethergarde Keep fix is worth noting for players who had found those guards to be a source of loot. That ends now; they behave like any other guard.

Item Fixes

Ten items were corrected. Most are stat fixes, so check your bags if you are wearing any of these:

Gloves of Holy Might: tooltip corrected, and the effect now activates only from harmful spells and abilities that deal damage.
Glimmering Mithril Insignia: no longer requires the ability to wear Mail armor, so any class can use the trinket.
Cloak of the Fleshborer: now has its texture.
Taran Icebreaker: now behaves as a two-handed mace, as intended, instead of a one-handed mace.
Darkspear signet rings: Mp5 corrected to match the Alliance-equivalent rings.
Everstaring Abomination Eye: Spirit corrected.
The Bad Hat: no longer gives an incorrect amount of spell power.
Souvenir Sea Shell: stats corrected.
Blessed Band of Light: Hit stat removed.
Channeler's Ring: now has Spell Power (was Spirit).

Taran Icebreaker is the change most likely to affect a build. A weapon behaving as a one-handed mace while carrying two-handed stats could be paired with a shield or an off-hand item, and that is no longer possible. If you equipped it in one hand, expect it to move into the two-handed slot.

The Blessed Band of Light Exchange

The Blessed Band of Light loses its Hit stat in this hotfix, and Blizzard is offering a way out for players who picked it up for that stat. You can trade a Blessed Band of Light for a Channeler's Ring at Pix Xizzix. Until raids open, the exchange appears as the first item on Pix Xizzix's vendor list for characters who have the ring.

Two conditions apply:

The exchange cannot be reversed. Once you swap, you have a Channeler's Ring, now with Spell Power, and not the Band.
It is available until raids open. Blizzard has not tied it to a calendar date, so treat it as a limited window.

Casters who wanted the Band for its Hit stat and are now left with a weaker ring should look closely at the corrected Channeler's Ring. Characters who valued the Band for its other stats may want to keep it.

Quest Fixes

The quest list is long, and several entries fix problems that could stop a leveling route outright:

Shared quest drops: Deadwood Key, Drop of Stolen Life, Ring of the Fallen Soldier, Venom-dripping Heart and Blackthorne Intelligence now drop for every party member who has the associated quest. Groups no longer need to repeat kills for each member.
"The Talisman of Kazdor": Rogues were being sent into the wrong version of Zul'Farrak during the quest. Fixed.
"A Quick Grocery Run": everyone can now read Skonk's list.
Pix Xizzix weekly dungeon quests: now properly removed from the quest log on weekly reset.
"Coyote Huntin'": Sootfur's pelt is shared across the party.
Mount Hyjal: the Crow Effigy is visible when you meet the quest requirements.
"Crate Expectations": the Unstable Package no longer procs on a taxi, and its misfire damage is lower.
"Return to the Port": picking it up no longer deletes nearby players' quest items for "The Cook in the Cage".
"Yashiro's Windwalk": healers who assist Yashiro now get Doomguard Xarkul kill credit.
Riverglades: Jezap Jinglesprocket offers quests again to players working on the Bloodmaster's Ring, "Gaseous Gold" shows the correct required amount, and woodpiles are no longer lootable off-quest.
Feralas: several issues fixed in "Gordunni Cobalt."
Undercity and Stormwind: Owen Thadd and Garion Wendell accept books again. Blizzard's note adds that "our outstanding library fees have been paid."

The "Return to the Port" bug was among the most disruptive on the list, because it removed quest items from other players nearby, not from the player who caused it. The shared-drop changes are the biggest quality-of-life gain for dungeon groups, since all five items come from enemies that previously had to be killed once per player.

Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza

The weekly fishing tournament now allows many more players per ruleset to win. Blizzard's note says it is still working on performance problems with the tournament and plans more fixes in the coming weeks. Expect the event to stay crowded, but the odds of placing should be far better than in the first week.

Action Bars and Secondary Talents

One interface fix closes out the list. Characters that had acquired Secondary Talents were having their Action Bar settings reset every time they logged out. That is fixed, so dual-specialization characters should keep their bar layouts between sessions.

How This Fits Forever's First Ten Days

WoW: Forever has received hotfix entries on November 10, November 11 and now November 13, on top of the 50% dungeon experience increase on November 8. The pattern is consistent. Early fixes went after class bugs that showed up in the first days of play, while this entry turns to systems that only become visible once players reach mid-level content: dungeon group composition, Legacy Challenges, Pix Xizzix weekly quests, the fishing tournament and item stats that only matter once characters start building around gear.

The Item Restoration service that Blizzard disabled on November 11 is not mentioned in the November 13 entry, so there is no announced date for its return.

Players who would rather start further along than climb through Mulgore spawns and crowded Stranglethorn hunting grounds can find leveled characters among WoW Forever accounts on AccountShark.

What to Do Right Now

Leveling with friends: keep dungeon groups inside a narrow level range. A high-level carrier now means zero experience on anything gray to them.
Restoration Druids: retest Wild Growth with your current healing gear and stop casting it on the move unless Nature's Swiftness is up.
Retribution Paladins: Judgement of Command is melee again. Recheck hit and on-hit weapon choices made after November 11.
Frost Mages: expect Blizzard to break Frost Nova roots, and adjust AoE pulls accordingly.
Ring owners: decide whether to trade Blessed Band of Light for Channeler's Ring before raids open, knowing the swap is permanent.
Taran Icebreaker users: your mace now takes both hands.
Stuck quests: retry "The Talisman of Kazdor", "Gordunni Cobalt", "Return to the Port" and the Riverglades Bloodmaster's Ring chain.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did WoW: Forever nerf dungeon XP on November 13?

Not for groups at a similar level. The November 13 hotfix makes dungeon enemies give zero experience to the whole party if the enemy is trivial to at least one party member. Groups where every enemy is at or above gray for everyone still earn full experience, including the 50% dungeon bonus added on November 8. The change targets high-level carries.

Do dungeon boosts and carries still work in WoW: Forever?

A high-level character can still clear a dungeon and help with quest objectives, but low-level party members get no experience from any kill that is trivial to the carrier. Quest turn-in experience is not mentioned in the change, so dungeon quest rewards should still pay out.

How much did Wild Growth healing increase?

Wild Growth's spell healing coefficient was doubled from 3.3% to 6.6%. The base healing is not listed as changed, so the increase grows with your healing power. Wild Growth also can no longer be cast while moving, except through Nature's Swiftness, which makes it instant.

Is Paladin Judgement still a ranged attack in WoW: Forever?

Every Judgement except Judgement of Command is still a ranged attack. Since November 13, Judgement of Command counts as a melee attack and activates on-hit effects, which preserves its unique status as the only melee Judgement.

Can I swap Blessed Band of Light for Channeler's Ring?

Yes. Pix Xizzix offers a one-way exchange as the first item on the vendor list for characters holding a Blessed Band of Light, and it stays available until raids open. The trade cannot be undone. The Band lost its Hit stat in the same hotfix, while Channeler's Ring now has Spell Power instead of Spirit.

Does Windfury Totem proc from Whirlwind or Mutilate?

Only from the main-hand strike. Since November 13, Windfury Totem can be activated by all melee abilities, but strikes that involve your off-hand weapon, such as the off-hand part of Whirlwind or Mutilate, cannot trigger it.

Is Item Restoration back in WoW: Forever?

The November 13 hotfix does not mention Item Restoration. Blizzard disabled the service on November 11 to address a critical bug and has not announced when it will return.

When were the WoW: Forever November 13 hotfixes released?

Blizzard added the November 13 entry to its running WoW: Forever hotfix post on November 13. Hotfixes are applied on Blizzard's servers without a client download, so the changes are already in effect.