WoW: Forever Won't Have Shaman or Warlock Tanks at Launch

Ever dreamed of tanking as a Shaman or Warlock in WoW: Forever? You're not alone—but don't hold your breath for launch.

In an interview with GameSpot, WoW: Forever senior game designer Josh Greenfield confirmed that while the team learned a lot from WoW Classic: Season of Discovery, the more experimental roles—like Warlock tank, Shaman tank, Rogue tank, and Mage healer—didn't make the cut for Forever's launch. "Some of the more out-there things that weren't originally in original WoW, we tone them back a little bit," Greenfield said. "It's in the name: It's Forever. We can do a lot of things over years, but we wanted to kind of start from a place where the soul of the class is very coded and original-WoW-centric." So while the door isn't closed forever—"never say never," Greenfield added—don't expect to see a tanking Warlock anytime soon.

Season of Discovery was all about shaking up classic WoW's rigid class roles, and it worked: more classes could taunt and hold aggro, which helped ease the game's tank shortage. But for Forever, Blizzard wants to keep that original class identity intact. That means no Mage healers or Rogue tanks at launch either.

In the current WoW: Forever beta, Shaman tanking feels a lot like it did back in vanilla—close to viable, but held back by missing tools like a true taunt and solid damage mitigation. It wouldn't take a massive overhaul to make it work, but whether or when that happens is still up in the air.

Not everything from Season of Discovery is being left behind, though. Some pieces have carried over into Forever, including new class quests, the Undermine Reals endgame currency, and even the hidden cozy-sleeping bag quest chain. However, bigger SoD-exclusive content like the Scarlet Enclave raid and the Kharazan Crypts dungeon won't be there at launch.

WoW: Forever is a big swing for Blizzard. We went hands-on with it at BlizzCon 2026 and came away impressed by the fresh changes coming to the classic Azeroth experience. We even tried it on controller, which could be a game-changer for the MMORPG.

The WoW: Forever beta is currently live for those who preorder the new Skyborne elf race, and the full game launches on November 4. So, are you hoping to see Shaman tanks eventually? Or are you happy with the classic class roles? Let us know in the comments!