newBlizzard Confirms Dungeon Kill XP in WoW: Forever Now at 60% of Classic Era Values
On day 7 after launch, Blizzard confirmed that dungeon kill experience in WoW: Forever now stands at 60% of Classic Era values — the baseline before the +50% hotfix deployed in the early hours of November 9 Beijing time was 40%, so the two official statements line up. Blizzard's verdict: the adjustment is working well, and dungeon leveling speeds fit with the rest of WoW Forever content. How the value got from the beta-era figure of roughly 10% of outdoor XP to the 40% baseline was never publicly explained. Hours after the official confirmation, US-forum threads demanded a revert to vanilla rates, and MassivelyOP's column called dungeon XP the most contentious facet of the beta and launch week. Quests remain the bulk of a dungeon's payout: fill your log before the first clear, repeat runs now pay 50% more in kill XP than before the hotfix, and with the first raids opening December 10 on the CN calendar, the dungeon-versus-quest leveling math is worth redoing.
One more clear in a WoW: Forever dungeon, and every kill on the run now pays 60% of Classic Era values. Blizzard put that number on the record in the early hours of November 11 Beijing time — day 7 after launch — with a verdict attached: the adjustment is "working well," producing dungeon leveling speeds that fit with the rest of WoW Forever content.
The confirmation fills in the ledger behind the +50% hotfix from the early hours of November 9 Beijing time. Community manager Kaivax's post at the time gave only a multiplier — dungeon kill XP up 50% — and no new ratio. Both numbers are now on the table: before the hotfix, dungeon kill XP stood at 40% of Classic Era values; after it, 60%. Forty to sixty is exactly that 50% bump, so the two official statements line up.
Where "one clear and out" came from
The beta already fought this battle. October 1 and October 4 cut dungeon quest XP twice, dropping Shadowfang Keep's quest total from 32,200 to 19,800, and on October 2 game designer Kris Zierhut put dungeon kill XP at roughly 10% of outdoor XP, explicitly to curb dungeon spam. Players answered with the one-clear-and-out routine: fill the quest log, clear the dungeon once, take the blues and recipes, write off the kills. This site's earlier piece "Dungeon XP Got Cut Twice: Are Dungeons Still Worth Running in WoW Forever's Launch Window?" (/articles/forever-dungeon-xp-nerf) keeps that record. What moved the value from that beta figure of 10% to the 40% baseline Blizzard now cites, the official record does not say.
Repeat runs pay half again as much
Quests are still the bulk of a dungeon's payout, and the first-clear rule holds: fill your log before you head in. What changed is the repeat. Kill XP went from 40% to 60% of Classic Era values, so a second or third clear today pays half again as much per kill as it did before the hotfix. Carrying a friend through, mopping up quests you missed, farming recipes — all of them read better on paper now.
The revert-to-vanilla thread landed after the official word
MassivelyOP's column, posted at 0:30 Beijing time on November 11, called dungeon XP the most contentious facet of Forever's beta and launch week, and traced why: Classic players out-leveled the world by spamming dungeons, so Blizzard nerfed dungeon mob XP hard in the first place. A few hours after the official confirmation, a thread titled "Just revert dungeon experience to vanilla rates and admit you were wrong" showed up on the US forums; another player posted a compromise suggestion. Blizzard's statement stops at its own verdict — nothing on whether the value is final, and nothing on further changes.
Before the raids open on December 10
The first three raids — Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20, Onyxia for 40 — open December 10 on the CN calendar, December 9 by the US announcement. Until then, your pace to 60 is your prep window for raid week. Dungeon-heavy routes got thicker, quest routes did not move, and mixing both is where the value sits. Two habits survive the hotfix unchanged: fill the quest log, and share everything the group can share. Then watch your kill XP on the way out — whether 60% is enough for your route, your combat log will tell you faster than a blue post. If another change comes, the forum section where Kaivax posted the original hotfix is still where it will land first.
