Plainsrunning now needs Tauren to keep moving, and no longer speeds up mounts

Tauren in Forever have a racial that rewards actually running. Blizzard changed Plainsrunning twice in October: first in the 16 October development notes, then again in a final racial pass on 26 October.

No more stutter-stepping (16 October)

Plainsrunning now requires the Tauren to move a minimum distance per second to keep the effect. Blizzard’s developer note is plain: stutter-stepping is no longer enough to maintain it.

That closes the trick of tapping forward to keep the effect alive while staying more or less in place. To keep Plainsrunning, keep moving.

Blizzard adds that the minimum makes some allowance for movement speed penalties. A slowed Tauren is not automatically disqualified for moving less far than normal. The notes do not give the minimum distance, or how long you have to stop before the effect drops.

The 26 October post does not mention this rule, so it stands as last announced.

Bigger stacks, no mount bonus (26 October)

• Plainsrunning now grants 2% movement speed per stack, up from 1%, for a maximum of 60%, up from 30%.
• It no longer increases mounted movement speed.

That second line reverses part of the 16 October notes, which had given Plainsrunning 3% increased mounted movement speed, stacking with other mounted speed increases. If you planned around that mount bonus, it is gone.

The notes do not say how stacks are gained or how quickly they build.

The rest of the Tauren changes

• Endurance: on 16 October it became 2% increased critical damage and healing, instead of 1% hit chance. On 26 October Blizzard removed both kinds of modifier, and Endurance now provides only 5% increased Health.
• Cultivation: cooldown cut to 15 minutes, from 60, on 16 October.
• War Stomp: cooldown cut to 90 seconds, from two minutes, on 16 October.

The 26 October post does not mention Cultivation or War Stomp.