World of Warcraft: Forever makes Tauren 60% faster in final pre-launch patch
World of Warcraft: Forever’s final pre-launch patch doubles Tauren’s Plainsrunning bonus to 60%, turning the race into an unlikely speedster.
World of Warcraft: Forever is getting one last pre-launch shake-up, and the biggest change is aimed squarely at the game’s famously hefty Tauren. Blizzard’s final balance patch gives the race’s Plainsrunning passive a 60% movement-speed ceiling, doubling the bonus described in the previous version of the ability. 1
The throwback MMO is built around an older style of racial design, where choosing a race can materially affect how a class performs. Blizzard has already been tuning those bonuses ahead of launch: Orcs are losing increased critical-strike chance in favour of stronger pet damage for Warlocks and Hunters, while Skyborne’s Read Leyline regeneration effect has been reduced. 1
Tauren, however, have received the change most likely to become an instant community talking point. Plainsrunning already made them move 30% faster after building momentum. The new patch doubles that figure to 60%, meaning a Tauren that stays in motion can approach the speed of a paid mount. That will not necessarily make Tauren the best choice for every class, but it could make them unusually attractive for players who value travel speed, open-world farming or simply want to lean into the joke that the enormous bovines are secretly built for racing.
The timing matters. World of Warcraft: Forever is scheduled to launch on November 4, with Blizzard still adjusting foundational racial abilities only days before release. 2 Those changes may shape the early class-and-race meta before players have even settled on their first characters. A faster Tauren could also affect PvP positioning and raid logistics, although the real impact will depend on how quickly Plainsrunning reaches its cap and whether the bonus survives further balancing.
What this means for players
This is not a reason to pick Tauren blindly. Race choice will still depend on class, racial utility and the type of character a player wants to spend dozens of hours levelling. The patch does, however, give Tauren a distinct identity beyond their visual presence: keep moving and they become the game’s most conspicuous speedsters.
The broader message is that Blizzard is willing to let World of Warcraft: Forever preserve some of the sharper edges of its old-school design. Racial abilities will not merely be cosmetic bonuses, and launch-week choices may carry genuine mechanical consequences. That should make the opening meta more interesting, even if it also guarantees a fresh round of arguments over tier lists.
Our opinion
The 60% Tauren bonus is exactly the sort of gloriously excessive tweak that can give a retro MMO character. It is memorable, easy to understand and tied to a long-running joke rather than an opaque spreadsheet advantage. The risk is that a movement bonus this large becomes mandatory for certain activities, but that is a problem Blizzard can solve with tuning once real players expose the edge cases. For now, turning the supposedly slowest-looking race into a momentum-powered roadster feels like a better launch story than another bland numerical rebalance.