How we know
Where the news and game data come from, what the evidence establishes, and what remains unknown.
News and source-backed changes
We group coverage from the publishers listed on About. A change from reporting or Blizzard’s notes keeps its original source. Details show supporting excerpts where they were collected. AI summaries are labelled and link their sources; AI judgments of importance or class relevance are labelled separately.
Records read from the game
We read talents, class spells, racials and items from Blizzard’s public WoW Forever client files. Each API response names the build and the date we read it. We use the table definitions of the open WoWDBDefs project, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, to read the game’s tables; the field names and classification are ours.
Differences between client builds can become changes labelled datamined. A correction to how we read the same build is not a change in the game.
Evidence and availability are separate
Evidence says where a claim came from: patch notes, a developer statement, reporting or datamining. Availability says whether it is available, planned or unknown. A client record alone does not prove an item is obtainable or a feature is live. A planned change remains a plan.
What the files cannot tell us
Server-side hotfixes are outside the client files. Some client rows are encrypted and are left out, so a missing record is not proof of removal. Tooltips are read for a level 60 character before gear. Unresolved values can appear as ?; a null field has no value for that record.
Item armor and weapon damage are not read yet; an Armor stat in the API means bonus armor. Origin is our classification of where a record was first made, inferred from its game number; it is not evidence of availability. Blizzard’s own working records are excluded from default listings and can be included with internal=true.
Check the current evidence
The data evidence endpoint (JSON) shows counts and unresolved descriptions for the current reading. Those counts describe our dataset; they are not an independent accuracy check. The API index (JSON) also lists the known limits of the reading.
Class-change counts cover what our tracked sources recorded. “No nerf recorded” does not mean nothing changed. No recorded build comparisons does not mean the game has never changed.
Corrections
Send a correction or missing source to hello@wowforever.news, with the page and the original evidence. Forever News is independent and is not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment.