Data & assumptions

Spell and talent numbers come from the Forever client. The character engine below them — base attributes, conversion ratios, the hit table — is not published by any Forever source. These defaults follow the original 1.x engine and are labelled on every simulation that uses them.

Base attributes by level

Naked Strength/Agility/Stamina/Intellect/Spirit, base health and base mana per class and level are not exposed by any Forever source. Values are interpolated between level 1 and level 60 anchors from the original 1.x engine; race offsets are added on top.

Attribute conversion ratios

Agility→crit, Agility→dodge and Intellect→spell crit ratios scale with level and class. Level-60 ratios follow the 1.x engine; lower levels are interpolated.

Attack power formulas

Melee and ranged attack power from Strength/Agility/level per class, and 14 AP = 1 DPS, follow the 1.x engine.

Hit table against higher-level targets

Miss, dodge, glancing-blow and crit-suppression values against targets 0–3 levels above you, the dual-wield miss penalty and the 83% spell hit chance against +3 targets follow the 1.x engine. Attacks from behind (no parry/block) are assumed for damage dealers.

Armor mitigation and target armor

Armor reduction uses the 1.x formula armor / (armor + 400 + 85 × attacker level). Target armor is approximated from target level; bosses are assumed to be 3 levels above you.

Rage generation

Rage from dealing and taking damage uses the 1.x level-based conversion constant.

Mana and energy regeneration

Spirit-based mana regeneration per class, the five-second rule, and 10 energy per second follow the 1.x engine.

Critical strike multipliers

Melee and ranged crits deal 200%, spell crits 150%, before talents.

Threat

Threat is modelled as damage × stance/form multiplier (1.3 for Defensive Stance, Bear Form and Righteous Fury). Bonus threat on abilities such as Heroic Strike or Sunder Armor is not published for Forever and is excluded, so TPS is a lower bound.

Reference boss for tank metrics

Mitigation metrics assume a boss 3 levels above you swinging once every 2.0 s, with damage scaled by level, and the 1.x crushing-blow rules.

Healing demand

Healers are simulated against unlimited incoming damage with a fixed overheal fraction (default 20%); the result is effective healing per second for the fight length, limited by mana. Because damage is unlimited, every charge of a bouncing heal (Prayer of Mending) and every target of a party heal is assumed to be used.

Hunter pet damage

No Forever source publishes hunter pet stats, attack speed or pet abilities. The pet is modelled as dealing 50% of the hunter's own Auto Shot damage (after hit, crit and armor, without the hunter's own haste and damage multipliers), scaled by the pet talents' tooltip values (Unleashed Fury, Ferocity, Focused Fire, Bestial Wrath). Frenzy, Intimidation and pet Focus are not modelled; Lone Wolf removes the pet.

Life Tap

Life Tap's mana is gained but its health cost isn't tracked (the warlock's health is not simulated), as if a healer always tops the warlock up. Over a long fight this lets warlocks convert as much health to mana as their global cooldowns allow, which favours them relative to other casters.

Demon damage

No Forever source publishes demon stats or demon attack ranks. The active demon (Imp; Succubus for Demonology with Demonic Pact) is modelled as 10% of the warlock's own damage, scaled by talents that name pet damage (Unholy Power, Soul Link; Improved Imp and Master Demonologist's fire bonus for the Imp). Demon abilities and Demonic Knowledge's pet spell damage are not modelled.

Group role split

The planner fills 5-player groups with 1 tank, 1 healer and 3 damage dealers; 10-player raids 2/3/5; 20-player raids 2/5/13; 40-player raids 3/10/27. Forever publishes no recommended raid make-up; these follow common practice and can be changed by locking members.

How the planner values a group

Each member counts as their simulated output relative to the best spec of the same role at the instance level (healers by HPS, tanks by the tier-list tank index), raised by the group buffs other members bring (each buff's gain is simulated per spec). Every boss mechanic the group can answer (dispel, interrupt, fear counter, resistance aura, crowd control…) adds a fixed bonus — 0.6 of a member for an important one and 0.15 for a useful one, scaled by raid size — so a missing answer outweighs a small throughput gap but not a large one. Mechanics come from Classic-era boss descriptions until Forever publishes encounter data.

Spec stacking limit

The planner takes at most one member of a spec per five players (one per spec in a dungeon, eight in a 40-player raid) and at most that many of a class (but always two in a dungeon). The simulator values every member against a single target in isolation, so without a limit it would stack the top spec; in game, duplicates compete for the same loot and share limited debuff and curse slots. Locked members are exempt.

Low-level spell penalty

Spells learned below level 20 have their spell-power coefficient reduced by 3.75% per level under 20, as in the 1.x engine. Forever's client stores the unreduced coefficient (rank-1 Lightning Bolt 0.429); the rule turns it into the 1.x value (0.123). This governs how much downranking is worth.

Downranking

Casters may cast lower ranks to stretch mana over the fight. Lower ranks keep their per-level scaling up to their own maximum level (Forever client data), so they are often far more mana-efficient. The rotation picks the highest rank whose mana cost can be sustained for the rest of the fight.

Expertise

Forever items carry an Expertise stat Classic never had. Items that list Expertise 10 also say "reduces the chance for your attacks to be dodged or parried by 1%", so 10 Expertise is treated as −1% dodge and parry.

Armor and weapon proficiencies

Which armor types and weapon types each class can equip, and the levels mail/plate unlock (40), follow the 1.x engine. Items with an explicit class restriction in Forever data always use that.

Normalized weapon speeds

Instant weapon attacks use normalized speeds of 2.4 (one-hand), 1.7 (dagger), 3.3 (two-hand) and 2.8 (ranged), as in the 1.x engine.

“Simulated” talents are translated from the client's own effect data (or a spec rule using tooltip values), so a patch that changes their numbers is picked up by the next import automatically. “Utility” talents change nothing a throughput simulation measures (crowd control, movement, self-healing); “situational” ones only matter with kills, several targets or being attacked as a damage dealer. “No data” means the number isn't in any Forever source yet (server-side proc rates, missing poison spells) — the talent optimiser leaves those points where the recommended build placed them. Every talent's reason is shown in the talent calculator.

• warrior: no Forever wiki infobox for 38 abilities (Battle Shout, Battle Stance, Heroic Strike, Improved Challenging Shout, Improved Pummel, Charge, …)
• paladin: no Forever wiki infobox for 32 abilities (Devotion Aura, Seal of Righteousness, Blessing of Might, Judgement, Holy Strike, Seal of the Crusader, …)
• hunter: no Forever wiki infobox for 15 abilities (Auto Shot, Aspect of the Monkey, Concussive Shot, Revive Pet, Distracting Shot, Mend Pet, …)
• rogue: no Forever wiki infobox for 23 abilities (Eviscerate, Sinister Strike, Stealth, Backstab, Pick Pocket, Gouge, …)
• priest: no Forever wiki infobox for 51 abilities (Lesser Heal, Power Word: Fortitude, Smite, Shadow Word: Pain, Power Word: Shield, Fade, …)
• shaman: no Forever wiki infobox for 45 abilities (Healing Wave, Lightning Bolt, Earth Shock, Stoneskin Totem, Earthbind Totem, Lightning Shield, …)
• mage: no Forever wiki infobox for 28 abilities (Frost Armor, Conjure Water, Conjure Food, Polymorph, Slow Fall, Evocation, …)
• warlock: no Forever wiki infobox for 42 abilities (Demon Skin, Immolate, Shadow Bolt, Summon Imp, Corruption, Curse of Weakness, …)
• druid: no Forever wiki infobox for 16 abilities (Growl, Teleport: Moonglade, Cure Poison, Aquatic Form, Aquatic Form (Passive), Swipe, …)
• items: 125 developer/test items dropped
• items: unidentified stat codes kept but unmodelled: x134×1, x139×1, x126×1, x132×2, x125×8, x101×1, x98×1, x92×1, x115×1, x129×1
• zones: Hall of Thanes wiki loot not in the item DB: Golemguard Stave
• zones: Excavation Site: Wetlands wiki loot not in the item DB: Glinteye Slippers, Saltscale Girdle, Supple Bellyskin Leggings, Garb of Florid Feathers, Raptorclaw Greaves, Raptor's Gaze, Titan Relic, Golemsight Long Gun, Reliquary Mantle, Ring of Power Regulation, Blueprint: Greenhouse, Blueprint: Greenhouse, Serrated Raptor Claw, Songblade Stabilizer
• zones: City of Dalaran wiki loot not in the item DB: Bonebinder's Signet, Gravespike Repeater, Graveweave Bindings, Ephemeral Grips, Mana-Warped Chain Shirt, Runemender's Seal, Drape of Shifting Energy, Violet Sorcerer's Robes, Wand of Mana Concentration, Guardian's Dualblade, Refractory Scaleguards, Unstable Crystalline Shoulderpads, Blueprint: Spinning Wheel, Manascale Treads, Sliterwrap Girdle, Spine of the Devourer, Blightleaf Robe, Felbough Arm, Garb of Fallen Felbark, Bonepile Gaze, Cartilage Shapers, Tendonscraper Dagger, Archmagister's Faceted Pendant, Ponderous Orb, Violet Sorcerer's Mantle, Blueprint: Arcane Salvager, Torn Protecting Girdle, Vine Pruner's Cloak, Defender of Dalaran, Renewing Footpads, Spellguard Pauldrons, Battle Spaulders, Enchanted Sandals, Striking Staff, Larcenist's Belt, Solid Gold Band, Runebound Gloves, Violet Sash, Construct Cloak, Unstable Power Core, Arcane Infused Rod, Fallen Guard's Pendant, Gravewalker Boots, Undead Knight's Bracers
• zones: 227 encounters, 660 boss abilities (384 resolved in the Forever client)
• item availability: unknown 6808, provisional 6291, confirmed 1412, future 1256