Forever gear: biome buffs, five-piece dungeon sets and tier sets for each role

Some gear in WoW Forever will do more in the right place. Michael Nuthals and Tim Jones told IGN Nordic that items can carry bonuses tied to a biome or an enemy type: a speed buff in the desert, say, or extra damage against a particular kind of foe such as dragons. Wowhead reported the interview on Sept 17.

The idea is horizontal progression. Instead of every new raid tier making the last one's loot worthless, situational bonuses give older items a reason to stay in your bags. The developers used the Onslaught Girdle as an example of gear they want to stay relevant through later tiers.

Datamining points the same way for set bonuses. Wowhead found hundreds of new and updated bonuses across the classic sets and the new raid tiers. Dungeon sets now have five-piece bonuses, and raid tier sets are split by role, with separate sets for, say, a Protection Warrior and an Arms or Fury Warrior, much as The Burning Crusade did it.

The set bonuses are datamined, not announced, so the numbers and even the pieces can change before launch. Blizzard hasn't said which biome bonuses exist or how many items get them.