The discoveries come from the first Forever beta client, with Icy Veins collecting the first batch of datamined mounts. As always with beta datamining, names, sources and even whether individual items survive until launch can change. Forever does not arrive until November 4, and Blizzard now has several weeks in which to move things around, rename them or quietly return something to the cupboard from which it escaped.
The Spectral Bear Comes From Legacy Progression
The most interesting completely new reward may be the Spectral Bear. The beta files identify it as a rideable spectral bear, while the current information links it to Forever’s Legacy progression.
That makes sense because Forever’s Legacy System is specifically designed to keep rewarding players after the basic character perks are already unlocked. Legacy Challenges cover leveling classes, professions, exploration, dungeons, reputations and other activities, with additional completion feeding cosmetic and prestige rewards.
We already knew about the Spectral Bear Cub as part of that reward philosophy. A full-sized spectral bear gives Blizzard something considerably more visible to place further along the progression track.
And, importantly, it still looks like something that could exist in old Azeroth rather than a motorcycle built from three dragons and a kitchen appliance.
Forsaken Paladins Get Their Charger
The Forsaken Charger is less surprising, but considerably harder to ignore.
We recently covered Blizzard’s confirmation that Forever’s new Paladin races receive unique racial mounts. Forsaken Paladins get their own undead horse, Darkspear Troll Paladins receive a raptor and Night Elf Paladins get a cat.
The beta client now contains the Forsaken version, giving dataminers a closer look at the armored skeletal Charger. It keeps the familiar undead horse silhouette but adds the unmistakable Paladin treatment, which is essentially what happens when holy ornamentation meets a horse that has already completed the dying portion of its career.
More details on the Troll and Night Elf mounts will undoubtedly follow as the beta develops.
Skyborne Get Galestriders
The new Skyborne race gets its own family of racial mounts called Galestriders. The structure follows traditional racial mounts, with unarmored versions intended for the lower riding tier and armored versions for the faster level 60 tier.
That is another substantial piece of the Skyborne package. As we covered in our look at the $29.99 Skyborne Heroic Pack, the race already comes with its own starting experience, racials, customization and unique Druid forms.
Galestriders help make Zephras feel like an actual culture rather than simply a new character model standing awkwardly beside the Stormwind mailbox.
Forever Is Bringing Back Mounts That Never Actually Released
This may be the most fascinating part for old-school collectors.
The current beta data includes the Golden Sabercat, Dark Skeletal Horse and Lavender Kodo, models that have existed in WoW’s files but were never formally made obtainable in either original Classic or Retail.
Forever is effectively giving Blizzard an excuse to reopen the archaeological department.
There are also several mounts that technically arrived in later expansions but visually belong comfortably in original Azeroth. The list includes the Venomhide Ravasaur plus recolors such as the Striped Dawnsaber, Ochre Skeletal Warhorse, White Kodo and Black Skeletal Horse.
That approach fits Forever surprisingly well. The game is not pretending Blizzard stopped creating art assets in 2004. It is asking which ideas could plausibly have belonged in that version of Azeroth if the original game had simply kept growing sideways.
The First Beta Build Is Already Making Forever Feel Less Solved
The timing is appropriate because the Forever beta begins today with a level 20 cap. Players will initially be testing Hall of Thanes, Ruins of Lordaeron, early professions, redesigned classes and Legacy progression rather than immediately racing toward level 60.
Mount collectors therefore have some waiting to do.
But the first datamined batch already tells us something useful about Forever’s philosophy.
Blizzard is creating genuinely new rewards.
It is adapting later ideas that fit the world.
And it is opening twenty-year-old drawers to see whether anything interesting was left inside.
Apparently there was.
Including at least one purple kodo.
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