If you finished the Shaman class quest in WoW: Forever before this week's reset, open your bag and look again — the two-handed mace is no longer the weapon you turned the quest in for. Rage of the Storm, the quest reward from The Tempest's Weapons, was hotfixed on the weekly reset: attack speed slowed from 3.2 to 3.6, +12 Intellect replaced with +16 Strength, and the damage range shuffled upward to match. Damage per second did not move an inch: 35.6 before and after. What changed is the stat direction, not the power level.

The datamined hotfix record stamps the change at 19:04 UTC November 10, 2026 — 3:04 a.m. November 11 in Beijing time, day 7 since Forever's global launch on November 5. Wowhead reported it about eight minutes later, crediting the item-data diff (details and IDs in the sources section). This is datamining, not an official announcement: as of Wowhead's publication, Blizzard's official hotfix notes had no entry for the weapon, and the newest official list visible while drafting still dated November 9.

Same DPS, different stat line

The before and after (item level 40, binds when picked up, two-hand mace, durability 105 — all unchanged):

  • Attack speed: 3.60 (was 3.20)
  • Damage: 102-154 (was 91-137)
  • DPS: 35.6 (unchanged)
  • Stats: +16 Strength (was +12 Intellect); +15 Stamina (unchanged)
  • Equip: Increases the damage dealt by your Stormstrike ability by 10% (unchanged)

The arithmetic is simple: each swing now lands 0.4 seconds slower, so the per-hit range rises to compensate, and damage per second stays level. What you actually feel is a heavier single hit — and a weapon that rolls Strength instead of Intellect.

The Intellect-for-Strength swap, landing on a real item

The direction was no surprise. Blizzard's blue post in the early hours of November 7 Beijing time said Enhancement Shamans currently value Intellect and Spell Power over Strength and Attack Power, promised to make Strength their strongest stat, and told leveling Shamans in bold to start collecting Strength and Attack Power gear now (this site covered the announcement the same day; see sources). Wowhead ties the weapon hotfix directly to that announcement: as part of this change, the class weapon now matches the direction the class is headed.

For players, that advice is turning into loot. The +12 Intellect version you already own reads +16 Strength after the hotfix — no quest redo needed, the tooltip simply updates.

The Wowhead comments already show players recalculating. RedxZone wrote that he took the healer-oriented reward for dual-spec play because he didn't expect quest rewards to change; had he known, he would have picked the mace.

Known and unknown

Known: the change shipped with the hotfix push, and both tooltips share build 1.60.1.70888; the Stormstrike equip effect, Stamina, item level and durability are untouched.

Not announced: Blizzard's official hotfix notes carried no entry for the weapon as of Wowhead's publication — for now it exists only in datamined records — and there is no word on whether other classes' quest weapons will follow. Wowhead's post notes the rest of the announced class tuning should land the same day; later that day, Warlock and Hunter tuning was already marked live on the same news page. Watch the official list and follow-up coverage.

What to do now

  • Holding Rage of the Storm: nothing to redo — your weapon is already the new version. From today, gear by the blue post's rule: collect Strength and Attack Power items and leave spell-power gear to mages and warlocks.
  • Yet to do the class quest: pick it up now and the reward you claim is the 3.6-speed, +16 Strength version — think about your off-spec before choosing.
  • Two dates to keep: the remaining class tuning rolls out from November 11 Beijing time, and the first three raids open December 10 Beijing time, so sort your Strength-based set before then. The site's talent tool is a planner, not a DPS calculator — verify builds in game.