WoW Forever’s stuck in combat bug keeps flagging you in and out of combat with no enemies near you, and logging out and back in is what clears it for me. It isn’t on Blizzard’s known-issues list yet. It’s happened to me loads, all through playing, and at the Thelsamar flight point it stopped me putting a campfire down.
Key takeaways
- The bug keeps flagging you in combat with nothing attacking you, which blocks campfires, mounting, eating and drinking.
- Logging out and back in clears it, but outside an inn or a major city you sit through a 20-second logout timer first.
- Blizzard’s WoW Forever known-issues list, last updated 5 November, doesn’t mention it, though stuck-in-combat reports go back years in the main game.
- Nobody has confirmed the cause. I think it might be tied to other players fighting near you, even outside your party, but that’s a maybe.
What is the stuck in combat bug in WoW Forever?
It’s when the game keeps putting you in combat while nothing is fighting you. In World of Warcraft, attacking or being attacked flags you as in combat, and your portrait flashes red to show it. With this bug, that flag keeps switching on and off with no enemy in sight.
I’ve had it loads, all through playing. You’re constantly in combat, so you spin around looking for whatever put you there, see nothing, and wonder what that waste of time was for.
The latest one hit me in town, at the Thelsamar flight point. I was trying to put a campfire down, and it kept saying I was going in and out of combat. There were no mobs near me at all.
What does being in combat stop you doing in WoW Forever?
Quite a lot, which is why a false combat flag gets in the way so fast. World of Warcraft’s combat rules list what you can’t do while you’re flagged:
- Eat or drink
- Mount up
- Accept a summon
- Use a normal resurrection spell
- Go into Stealth or Prowl
- Cast portals or teleports
In World of Warcraft you can’t log out mid-fight, and outside an inn or a major city the normal logout already takes 20 seconds. Campfires go on that list from my own play, because the game wouldn’t let me place one while it kept flagging me.
Why is my WoW Forever campfire buff not working?
If you’re stuck in combat, you may not even get the campfire down, which is where it went wrong for me. WoW Forever turns the old Cooking Fire into a Basic Campfire, and it’s a big part of levelling with camp buffs. You can build one from Cooking skill 1, and each fire holds up to three camp features from nearby players.
The buffs also need time. Blizzard says you have to sit or craft at the campsite for at least a minute before you get the benefits from the other camp features. Every camp feature also shares a one-hour cooldown, and each one needs a campfire nearby to work.
So check the basics first: is there a fire within range, have you sat for the full minute, and is your camp feature still on cooldown? If all of that looks right and the game is still telling you you’re in combat with nothing around, it’s the combat bug, not the campfire.
Is stuck in combat a known WoW Forever bug?
Not officially. Blizzard’s WoW Forever known issues list, last updated on 5 November, covers the Vorsha the Lasher quest in Ashenvale, which is disabled over a crash. It also covers PvP vendors being down in Orgrimmar, Stormwind and Dalaran, and a cauldron in Razorfen Kraul that players can fall into and get stuck. There’s nothing about combat flags.
That doesn’t mean Blizzard hasn’t seen it. The list only covers issues the team calls notable, impactful and already tracked, and Blizzard says it isn’t a comprehensive list. It’s also far from the only launch problem, alongside the WOW51900319 disconnect error and the faction lock on busy rulesets.
Stuck-in-combat reports go back years in the main game. One 2023 thread on the official WoW forums has players stuck in combat long after their fights ended, unable to mount or log out. Some said only their hearthstone got them out. Those reports are from the main game and aren’t confirmed for WoW Forever, but the symptoms are close.
What causes WoW Forever to keep putting you in combat?
Blizzard hasn’t said what causes this one. Under World of Warcraft’s normal rules, you enter combat by auto attacking, using an offensive ability or being on a mob’s aggro list. Casting a helpful spell on a friendly player who’s already in combat counts too. Some bosses also pull the whole group into combat, however far away you are.
Leaving combat is meant to be simple. In PvE, the flag drops once you’re off every mob’s aggro list, and in PvP it drops after six seconds without attacking or being attacked. A flag that keeps coming back with nothing near you doesn’t obviously fit either of those.
I think one of the causes might be tied to anyone else in combat around you, even if they’re not in your party. It’s only a maybe. On paper, the one rule that links you to someone else’s fight is the helpful-spell one, so a stranger fighting nearby shouldn’t count. Players in the older forum thread blamed other things, like critters and pets with taunts, and other posters there disputed those.
How do you get out of combat in WoW Forever?
These are the options, starting with the one that works for me:
- Log out and back in. That’s what clears it for me, but you wait through the 20-second logout timer first.
- Move somewhere else. I ran to different spots, hoping the game would stop picking me up.
- Use your hearthstone. In the older forum reports, hearthing out was the fix some players relied on, as long as it was off cooldown.
- Use a class ability that drops combat if you have one, like a hunter’s Feign Death or a rogue’s Vanish.
Logging out does fix it, but with 20 seconds to wait anyway, it’s kind of pointless. So running to a different spot and hoping is what I’ve been doing instead. If it keeps happening, report it in Blizzard’s WoW Forever bug report forum, which is where the known-issues list lives, and say where you were and who was fighting nearby.
FAQ
Why does WoW Forever say I’m in combat when nothing is attacking me? It’s a combat-flag bug that Blizzard hasn’t listed or explained yet. The game keeps putting you in combat with no enemy near you, often switching on and off.
Can you place a campfire while in combat in WoW Forever? No. While the game kept flagging me in and out of combat at the Thelsamar flight point, it wouldn’t let me put a campfire down.
Does logging out fix being stuck in combat in WoW Forever? Yes, logging out and back in clears it. Outside an inn or a major city, you wait through the 20-second logout timer first.
