PvPness Subscribe
Obituaries

WoW Forever Frost Mage: Ice Lance Is Dead. An Obituary

31 October 2026 · Short · Watch on YouTube

Play the Short

Blizzard's own WoW Forever beta notes cut Ice Lance's bonus on frozen targets from 300% to 200% on October 16. Then a datamine, posted on Blizzard's forums on October 29, showed an 8 second cooldown on Ice Lance and Frost Blast pulled from the mage spellbook. Datamined, not announced: it can still change before launch on November 4. An obituary, read by the deceased.

Read flat

Ice Lance damage against Frozen targets changed to a 200% increase (Was 300%).

Blizzard, WoW Forever Beta Development Notes · Blizzard · beta notes · 2026-10-16

“At this point, with all of the nerfs Frost is literally playing Vanilla Minus”

Blizzard's WoW forums, a Frost player · WoW forums · 2026-10-29

Sources

Every claim in the transcript below points at one of these. The quote is the source's own words.

  1. Blizzard Entertainment (official WoW forums, WoW Forever Beta Development Notes) · Kaivax · 2026-10-16 Ice Lance damage against Frozen targets changed to a 200% increase (Was 300%).
  2. Blizzard's official WoW forums (player thread "Possible Mage Changes") · blestin · 2026-10-29 Ice Lance now has 8s CD
  3. Blizzard's official WoW forums (player thread "Possible Mage Changes") · blestin · 2026-10-29 Frost Blast still exists in data but removed from mage spellbook
  4. Blizzard's official WoW forums (player thread "New (Datamined) Mage Changes") · Dilatory · 2026-10-29 At this point, with all of the nerfs Frost is literally playing Vanilla Minus
  5. Blizzard Entertainment (news.blizzard.com) · 2026-09-12 When World of Warcraft: Forever launches globally on November 4, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. PST, access will be included with your World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time.
  6. YouTube · Xaryu · 2026-10-14 kill the Pally on the warrior, Ice Lance him

Clips and footage

Shown under criticism and commentary, credited on screen and here. They belong to their creators.

  • Xaryu: “"a Xaryu clip going around"” (YouTube, 2026-10-14)
  • Greatwizard: “GREATWIZARDX | WoW Forever Mage PvP & Duels pt2 (beta)” (YouTube, 2026-10-11)

Transcript

Obituaries — the first wound

October sixteenth. Blizzard's own beta notes1. Ice Lance on a frozen target: two hundred percent. Was three hundred. A hundred percent of a spell, gone. I know the feeling. I lost a pulse.

Obituaries — Ice Lance

An obituary. Ice Lance. The button Frost was built on. Xaryu, calling his kills6:

Ice Lance him. Then the datamine, posted on Blizzard's own forums2. An eight second cooldown. On the button Frost was built on.

Obituaries — survived by

One Frost player on the forums: "Frost is literally playing Vanilla Minus"4.

Obituaries — cause of death

It's datamined, not announced. It can still change before launch on the fourth5. I want Frost alive on day one. Cause of death: someone got frozen. Once.

I'll be here. Forever.