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WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Mirajj - 07-18-2008
General
* The continent of Northrend is now available! To travel there, visit one of four transportation masters in either Orgrimmar, Undercity, Stormwind Harbor,or Menethil Harbor.
* The floating magical city of Dalaran is now available!
* The Barber Shop has been implemented and you can now visit one of the Barber Shops in the major cities to change your appearance.
* The all new Achievement System has been implemented.
* Transportation between Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra can be found at the Tuskarr villages in those zones.
* The level cap is currently set to 77.
* Hit Rating, Critical Strike Rating, and Haste Rating now modify both melee attacks and spells.
* Spellpower:
o All items and effects which grant bonuses to spell damage and spell healing are being consolidated into a single stat, Spellpower. This stat will appear with the same values found on items which grant "increased spell damage and healing" such as on typical Mage and Warlock itemization.
o For classes which do not heal, they should see no change in the character sheet other than new tooltip wording.
o Healing characters will see their bonus healing numbers on the character sheet decrease, however, all healing spells have been modified to receive more benefit from spellpower than they received from bonus healing, with a net effect of no change to the amount healed by their spells. Some talents have had to be rebalanced to accommodate this change, but the amount healed will remain roughly the same. In addition, some talents will provide only healing spell power.
* NPC Transportation Locations
o Horde:
+ Undercity to Vengeance Landing (Howling Fjord)
+ Orgrimmar to Warsong Hold (Borean Tundra)
o Alliance:
+ Menethil Harbor to Valgarde (Howling Fjord)
+ Stormwind Harbor to Valiance Keep (Borean Tundra)
Known Issues
* The current patch notes are incomplete, but will be more progressively more comprehensive in each patch.
World Environment Zones
* The following zones are available for testing: Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, and Grizzly Hills, Sholazar Basin, and Zul'Drak.
Dungeons
* The following dungeons are available for testing:
o Howling Fjord: Utgarde Keep (70-72)
o Borean Tundra: The Nexus (70-72)
o Dragonblight: Azjol-Nerub (72-74)
o Grizzly Hills: Drak'Tharon Keep (74-76)
o Storm Peaks: The Halls of Stone (77-79)
Classes
* All Classes are available for play. Spells and talents will be available for testing past 70.
* The Death Knight Hero class is now available for play.
* Death Knights will now start with 0 talent points at level 55.
* Creating a new Death Knight will start you at level 55 in Eastern Plaguelands.
* The Death Knight start zone, Acherus, the Ebon Hold, is fully implemented and is located in the Eastern area of Eastern Plaguelands.
Druid
* Brambles (Balance): Now increases the damage done by your Treants, and also damage caused from your Treants and Barkskin has a 5/10/15% chance to Daze the target for 3 sec.
* Celestial Focus (Balance): The stun proc now works with Starfall.
* Entangling Roots: Can now be used indoors.
* Faerie Fire (Feral): Now an 11-point talent, down from being a 21-point talent.
* Feral Charge (Feral) is now a 21-point talent, up from being a 11-point talent.
* Feral Charge (Feral): Can now be used in Cat form.
* Feral Instinct (Feral) no longer increases threat generated in Bear form, but now increases damage done by your Swipe ability by 5/10/15%.
* Focused Starlight (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.
* Force of Nature (Balance): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3.
* Hurricane: No longer has a cooldown (was 1 minute).
* Improved Faerie Fire (Feral): Now also works with spell hit, in addition to ranged and melee hit %.
* Improved Mark of the Wild (Restoration): Now a 2-point talent, down from a 5-point talent.
* Improved Tranquility (Restoration): Now also reduces the cooldown of your Tranquility spell by 25/50%.
* Mangle (Feral): Now increases the damage done by Maul in addition to Shred.
* Moonglow (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.
* Moonkin Form (Balance) no longer increases your attack power or causes you to regenerate mana off melee attacks, but now has a chance to cause you to instantly regenerate 2% of your total mana every time you critically hit with a spell.
* Nature's Focus (Restoration): Now a 3 point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 1, up from Tier 2. Now also includes Nourish.
o Nature's Grace (Balance): Now also reduces the global cooldown of your Wrath spell by 50% while in effect.
o Nature's Grasp (Balance): Can now be used and can proc indoors.
o Nature's Reach (Balance): Now also reduces threat generated by Balance spells by 15/30%.
o New Spell: Revive - Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. (Ranks 1-7 added)
o Omen of Clarity (Restoration): Now a passive spell. Now also works for spells (healing and damage). Proc rate is roughly 6% with a 10 second internal cooldown.
o Primal Tenacity (Feral) now reduces damage while stunned by 5/10/15%, and reduces the duration of fear effects by 5/10/15%.
o Remove Curse can now be used in Tree of Life form.
o Soothe Animal can now be used on Dragonkin as well as Beasts.
o Soothe Animal is now instant cast.
o Subtlety (Restoration): Now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 2, up from Tier 3. Also now only reduced threat for Restoration spells, and reduces the chance that your healing over time spells (Lifebloom, Regrowth and Rejuvenation) will be dispelled, rather than all Druid spells. Threat management for Balance can now be found in the Balance tree, within Nature's Reach.
o Survival of the Fittest (Feral): Increased to 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%.
o The mana regeneration penalty when in Bear Form, Dire Bear Form and Cat Form has been removed.
o Tranquil Spirit (Restoration) now also includes Nourish.
o Tree of Life (Restoration): 30% snare penalty has been removed.
o Tree of Life (Restoration): Can now cast Dispel Curse.
o Tree of Life (Restoration): You can now cast all Restoration spells (Healing Touch) in the form, but Tree of Life now only reduces the mana cost of your healing over time spells (Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, Regrowth and Flourish) by 20%.
o Vengeance (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.
Hunter
o All pet families now have one unique ability. New abilities have been added for families such as bears and sporebats.
o Aspects now no longer cost mana.
o Avoidance, Dash / Dive and Cobra Reflexes are now pet talents instead of pet skills.
o Bite now has no cooldown, does the same damage and costs the same Focus as Claw, so works as a Focus dump.
o Clever Traps (Survival) has been renamed "Trap Mastery."
o Concussive Barrage (Marksmanship) - Can now proc from Volley attacks.
o Deterrence (Survival) - Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, and now also increases your chance to resist spells by 60%. Now has a new spell effect.
o Every hunter pet can learn Growl, Cower and either Bite or Claw (never both).
o Hunter pets can now learn talents in one of three trees depending on family. Pets gain talent points starting at level 20 and earn an extra talent point every 4 levels.
o If a hunter tames a pet that is more than five levels beneath than the hunter's level, then the pet jumps to five levels beneath than the hunter's level.
o Improved Feign Death (Survival): Now also reduces damage taken during Feign Death by 15/30%.
o Loyalty, Training Points and the hunter Beast Training button no longer exist. Hunter pets can now learn all skills at their level. They will get new ranks automatically as they gain levels.
o Master Tactician (Survival) - Chance to proc increased to 10%, up from 6%.
o Monster Slaying (Survival) and Humanoid Slaying (Survival) has been combined into "Improved Tracking".
o New Talent - Improved Tracking (Survival) - Increases all damage done to targets that are being tracked 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Steady Shot now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use.
o Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 10/20/30% (instead of resist % chance).
o Trap Mastery (Survival) has been removed.
Mage
o Arcane Focus (Arcane) is now 3 ranks and increases chance to hit and reduces mana cost of Arcane spells by 1/2/3%.
o Counterspell now costs 9% of base mana.
o Frost Armor, Ice Armor, Mage Armor and Molten Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled.
o Invisibility now makes the caster invisible after 3 seconds, reduced from 5 seconds.
o Magic Attunement (Arcane) now also increases the range of your Arcane spells by 3/6 yards.
o Polymorph now costs 12% of base mana.
o Portal spells now cost 18% of base mana.
o Prismatic Cloak (Arcane) now also reduces the fade time of Invisibility by 1/2 seconds.
o Slow Fall now costs 6% of base mana.
o Teleport spells now cost 9% of base mana.
Paladin
o All Auras now affect all party and raid members within the area of effect.
o Anticipation (Protection) moved to tier 1, now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Avenger's Shield (Protection) cast time reduced to .5 seconds, duration increased to 10 seconds.
o Avenging Wrath no longer causes Forebearance, damage increase reduced to 20%, now increases healing done by 20%.
o Blessing of Freedom renamed Hand of Freedom. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
o Blessing of Light and Greater Blessing of Light removed. Their effects have been folded into all relevant abilities.
o Blessing of Protection renamed Hand of Protection. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. All ranks now cost 6% of base mana.
o Blessing of Sacrifice renamed Hand of Sacrifice, is now only 1 rank and transfers 20% of the damage taken to the caster, duration reduced to 12 seconds, cooldown increased to 2 minutes. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
o Blessing of Salvation renamed Hand of Salvation, now reduces total threat on the target by 2% per second for 10 seconds while also reducing all damage and healing done by 10%. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
o Conviction (Retribution) now increases critical chance with all spells and melee attacks.
o Divine Intellect (Holy) moved to tier 2, increases total Intellect by 3/6/9/12/15%.
o Divine Intervention cooldown reduced to 20 minutes.
o Divine Protection and Divine Shield now cost 3% of base mana.
o Divine Purpose (Retribution) now reduces chance to be hit by spells and ranged attacks by 1/2/3%.
o Divine Strength (Holy) moved to tier 1 in the Protection tree.
o Greater Blessing of Salvation removed.
o Hammer of Justice now costs 3% of base mana.
o Hammer of Wrath is now considered a Retribution spell, moved from Holy, mana cost reduced, missile speed increased, now usable on targets below 35% health.
o Healing Light (Holy) moved to tier 2.
o Holy Shield (Protection) cooldown reduced to 8 seconds.
o Holy Shock (Holy) range changed to 20/40 yards when used on enemies/friends respectively, cooldown reduced to 6 seconds.
o Holy Wrath is now instant cast, causes a 3 second stun, cooldown reduced to 30 seconds, radius reduced to 10 yards.
o Illumination (Holy) moved to tier 3.
o Improved Concentration Aura (Protection) moved to the Holy tree.
o Improved Concentration Aura moved from the Protection tree to tier 4 in the Holy tree.
o Improved Devotion Aura (Protection) moved to tier 4, reduced to 3 ranks, now increases armor of Devotion Aura by 17/34/50% and increases all healing done to units affected by Devotion Aura by 1/2/3%.
o Improved Hammer of Justice (Protection) now reduces cooldwon by 10/20/30 secs.
o Improved Righteous Fury (Protection) threat bonus folded into base spell, talent still reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
o Improved Sanctity Aura (Retribution) renamed Sanctified Retribution, now causes all units affected by Retribution Aura to cause 2% more damage.
o Improved Seal of Righteousness (Holy) moved to tier 1, renamed XXX, now affects Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Vengeance and Seal of Corruption.
o Improved Seal of the Crusader (Retribution) renamed Heart of the Crusader and the effects now apply to all Judgement spells.
o Judgement of Justice will no longer prevent Fear effects, only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health).
o Lay on Hands no longer drains all mana, cooldown reduced to 20 minutes.
o Pure of Heart (Holy) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces duration of Curse and Disease effects by 25/50%.
o Redoubt (Protection) moved to tier 2.
o Repentance (Retribution) mana cost changed to 9% of base, duration increased to 1 minute (10 second PvP duration), now usable against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead.
o Retribution Aura damage increased and now gains damage based on Holy spell power.
o Righteous Fury now increases threat caused by Holy damage by 90%.
o Sanctified Light (Holy) now also increases the critical chance of Holy Shock.
o Sanctity Aura (Retribution) removed.
o Seal of Justice/Judgement reduced to 1 rank with all the effects of the previous rank 2, the Judgement effect no longer prevents Fear.
o Seal of the Crusader has been removed. The effects of Judgement of the Crusader have been folded into all relevant abilities.
o Seal of Vengeance damage over time effect duration increased to 18 seconds.
o Spiritual Focus (Holy) moved to tier 1.
o Stoicism (Protection) moved to tier 2, now reduces duration of Stun effects by 10/20/30% and reduces chance your spells will be resisted by 10/20/30%.
o Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3.
o Turn Undead (ranks 1 and 2) removed. Turn Evil now granted at level 24, mana cost changed to 9% of base.
o Unyielding Faith (Holy) moved to tier 2.
Priest
o Circle of Healing (Holy): Now works on any targets in the caster's raid, and is now a "smart" heal and chooses the lowest health targets to heal first within it's range. Also now has a 6 second cooldown. Also no longer will heal summoned Snakes from Hunter's Snake Trap.
o Enlightenment (Discipline): Now also gives 1% spell damage and 1% heal per point.
o Focused Will (Discipline): Now increases healing effects on you by 3/4/5%, down from 4/7/10%.
o Force of Will (Discipline): This talent now increases your spell damage by a flat amount, rather than increasing your spells by a %. (Now increases school %, rather than selected spells damage %). In other words, your spell damage gained from this talent is now reflected on your character sheet, rather than the skill tool-tips.
o Holy Fire: Cast time reduced to to 2 seconds, down from 3.5. Damage increased roughly 60%. Duration for the damage over time effect reduced to 7 seconds, down from 10. Holy Fire now has a 10 second cooldown.
o Improved Inner Fire (Discipline) - Now also increases the bonus healing on your Inner Fire spell by 10/20/30%.
o Improved Shadow Word: Pain (Shadow) - Now increases damage done by your Shadow Word: Pain by 5/10%, but no longer increases the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain.
o Levitate now costs 3% of base mana.
o Lightwell (Holy): Cast time reduced to .5 sec, down from 1.5 sec. Charges increased to 10, up from 5. Now breaks from any attack that hits you for 30% or more of your total health. Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5.
o Mind Control now has only one rank and costs 12% of base mana.
o Mind Soothe now has only one rank, costs 6% of base mana and has no max target level.
o Mind Vision now costs 3% of base mana.
o New Talent: Improved Spirit Tap (Shadow) - Gives you a 50/100% chance to gain a 50% bonus to your Spirit after gaining a critical effect chance from your Mind Blast or Shadow Word: Death spells. For the duration, your mana will regenreate at a 25% rate while casting. Lasts 8 sec.
o New Talent: Twin Faiths (Discipline) - Increases your damage and healing by 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Pain Suppression (Discipline): Cooldown increased to 3 minutes, up from 2.
o Power Infusion (Discipline): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3.
o Psychic Scream now costs 15% of base mana.
o Searing Light (Holy): Now also increases the damage of your Holy Nova and Penance spells.
o Shackle Undead now costs 9% of base mana.
o Shadow Focus (Shadow): Now a 3 point talent, down from 5. Now also reduces the mana cost of your Shadow spells by 2/4/6%.
o Shadow Resilience (Shadow): Now reduces physical damage taken by 2/4%, but no longer reduces the chance to be critically hit by spells.
o Shadowform (Shadow): Now has an innate 30% threat reduction. Now has a shapeshift UI.
o Silent Resolve (Discipline): Now a 3 point talent, down from 5 points.
o Spirit Tap (Shadow) - Talent reduced to 3 points, down from 5. Now also leads into "Improved Spirit Tap"
o Wand Specialization (Discipline) has been removed.
Rogue
o Blade Twisting (Combat) now cause all damaging melee attacks to have a 10% chance to daze for 4/8 seconds.
o Deadened Nerves (Assassination) now reduces all damage taken by 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Fleet Footed (Assassination) now reduces duration of movement impairing effects by 25/50% rather than increasing resist chance.
o Gouge is now only 1 rank and causes damage based on attack power.
o Kick is now only 1 rank and no longer causes damage.
o Nerves of Steel (Combat) now reduces the duration of all Stun and Fear effects by 15/30%.
o Pick Lock and Disarm Trap no longer require Thieve's Tools.
o Premeditation (Subtlety) duration increased to 20 seconds.
o Riposte (Combat) now slows the target's melee attacks by 20% instead of disarming them.
o Setup (Subtlety) chance to gain a combo point increased to 33/66/100%.
o Vanish no longer requires the reagent Flash Powder.
o Vile Poisons (Assassination) reduced to 3 ranks, now increases damage of poisons and Eviscerate by 7/14/20% and increases dispel resistance by 10/20/30%.
Shaman
o All totems are now considered on the "Physical" school, and no longer magical spells.
o Ancestral Knowledge (Enhancement): Now increases your Intellect by 2/4/6%, instead of increasing your total Mana by 2/4/6/8/10%.
o Call of Flame (Elemental): Now also increases the damage of your Lava Burst spell by 2/4/6%.
o Call of Thunder (Elemental) now also increases the critical strike chance of your Thunder spell.
o Concussion (Elemental) now increases the damage of your Thunder and Lava Burst spells.
o Convection (Elemental) is now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Now lowers the mana cost of Thunder and Lava Burst.
o Earth's Grasp (Elemental) is now a tier-1 talent, up from tier-2.
o Elemental Detestation (Elemental) is now a tier-2 talent, up from tier-4.
o Elemental Focus (Restoration): Now also can proc off Lesser Healing Wave and Healing Wave, and can be used on all healing spells.
o Elemental Fury (Elemental) now requires Elemental Focus as a pre-requisite
o Elemental Precision (Elemental): Chance to hit reduced to 1/2/3% from 2/4/6%, but threat reduction increased to 10/20/30% up from 4/7/10%.
o Enhancing (Enhancement) Totems is now a Tier 1 talent, up from Tier-2.
o Flametongue Totem is now a flat spell damage totem. All ranks have been modified.
o Frostbrand's snare effect has been increased to 50%, up from 25%.
o Ghost Wolf's mana cost is now 13% base.
o Grace of Air Totem has been removed. (Agility has been rolled over into Strength of Earth Totem)
o Improved Fire Totems (Elemental) is now (again) Improved Fire Nova Totem. It now has a 50/100% chance to stun all targets for 2 sec.
o Improved Lightning Shield (Enhancement) is now Elemental Shields, and is in Tier-1.
o New ranks have been added of Water Shield, starting at level 20. (Level 20, 27, 34, 41, 48, 55, 62, 69)
o New Spell: Earthliving Weapon - Imbue the Shaman's weapon with earthen life. Increases healing done by x and each heal has a 20% chance to proc Earthliving on the target, healing an additionaly over 12 sec. Lasts 30 minutes.
o New Talent: Cleanse Spirit (Restoration) - Cleanse the spirit of a friendly target, removing 1 poison effect, 1 disease effect, and 1 curse effect.
o New Talent: Elemental Shields (Enhancement): Increases the damage done by your Lightning Shield orbs by 5/10/15%, increases the amount of mana gained from your Mana Shield orbs by 5/10/15% and increases the amount of healing done by your Earth Shield orbs by 5/10/15%.
o New Talent: Mental Dexterity (Enhancement) - Increases your Attack Power by 33/66/100% of your Intellect.
o Rockbiter ranks 5 through 9 have been removed. Windfury Weapon is intended to replace Rockbiter at level 30.
o Shapeshifting will no longer cancel Water Walking.
o Shield Specialization (Enhancement) - Now a 2-point talent, and increases the chance to block with attacks by 10/20%, and increases the amount blocked by 5/10%.
o Stoneskin Totem now increases armor instead of reducing physical damage.
o Storm Reach (Elemental): Now also increases the radius of your Thunder spell by 10/20%.
o Strength of Earth Totem now also increases agility.
o Tranquil Air Totem has been removed. (Threat is being addressed by modifications to the base threat of players and/or "baked" into tanking abilities.)
o Unleashed Rage is now raid wide.
o Windfury Totem is now a flat 20% melee haste totem. All ranks have been modified.
o Windwall Totem has been removed.
o Wrath of Air is now a flat 10% spell haste totem.
Warlock
o Aftermath (Destruction) - Now a 2-point talent, down from 5.
o All demon abilities and spells will automatically be learned as pets gain levels. Demon Master trainers will be removed.
o Blood Pact now works raid-wide (not just in party).
o Cataclysm (Destruction) - Now also increases your chance to hit with Destruction spells by 1% per point.
o Curse of Recklessness will no longer prevent Fear effects, only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health).
o Dark Pact: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects.
o Demon Armor - Now increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%, but no longer has in-combat health regeneration.
o Demon Skin, Demon Armor and Fel Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled.
o Fel Armor - Now increases your spell damage equal to 30% of your total Spirit, but no longer increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%.
o Fel Stamina (Demonology) has been merged with Fel Intellect into Fel Vitality.
o Howl of Terror now costs 15% of base mana.
o Improved Curse of Weakness (Affliction) is now "Frailty" - Increases the amount of attack power reduced by your Curse of Weakness spell by 10/20%, and increases the amount of armor reduced by your Curse of Recklessness by 10/20%.
o Improved Enslave Demon (Demonology) is now a Tier 5 talent, up from Tier 4.
o Improved Lash of Pain (Destruction) and Improved Firebolt (Destruction) have been merged into one talent, Demonic Power.
o Improved Shadow Bolt (Destruction) - Now increases damage by your next Shadow damage spells by 3/6/9/12/15%, down from 4/8/12/16/20%.
o Mana Feed: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects.
o Master Demonologist â Felguard (Demonology) - Now increases all damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and reduces all damage done to you by 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Master Demonologist â Imp (Demonology) - Now increases Fire damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Fire spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Master Demonologist â Succubus (Demonology) - Now increases Shadow damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Shadow spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Master Demonologist (Demonology) - Most effects have been altered.
o New Talent: Demonic Empowerment (Demonology) - Grants your Summoned Demon power for a short time.
o New Talent: Eradication (Affliction) - Your Corruption, Siphon Life and Curse of Agony ticks have a 5/10/15% chance to increase your spell haste by 20% for 8 sec. This effect has a 10 second cooldown.
o New Talent: Molten Core (Destruction) - Your Shadow spells and damage over time effects have a 5/10/15% chance to increase the damage of your Fire spells by 10% for 6 sec.
o Pyroclasm (Destruction) - Now also includes Conflagrate.
o Shadowfury (Destruction) - Can now be cast while moving. Stun duration increased to 3 seconds, up from 2.
o Soul Link (Demonology) is now an 11-point talent (used to be a 31-point talent), but the 5% bonus damage from this talent has been removed. In addition, the damage absorbed by Soul Link is now 15%, down from 20%.
o Soul Siphon (Affliction): Now also increases the damage of your Drain Soul.
o Suppression (Affliction) is now a 3-point talent, down from 5. Now increases your chance to hit with Affliction spells by 1/2/3%, down from 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Unstable Affliction (Affliction): Silence effect reduced to 3 seconds, down from 5.
Warrior
o Anticipation (Protection) now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%, moved to tier 2.
o Challenging Shout cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.
o Death Wish (Fury) no longer makes you immune to Fear effects.
o Death Wish and Sweeping Strikes have swapped locations in their respective talent trees.
o Defensive Stance now increases threat by 45%.
o Defiance (Protection) removed, replaced by Incite and moved to a new location on tier 2.
o Hamstring now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.
o Improved Bloodrage (Protection) now increases rage generation of both the instant and over-time effects by 25/50%.
o Improved Disarm (Protection) now reduces the cooldown of Disarm and Shield Break by 5/10/15 seconds and increases damage taken by disarmed targets by 4/7/10%.
o Improved Shield Block (Protection) now has 2 ranks and reduces cooldown of Shield Block by 5/10 secs. It no longer increases the number of blocks.
o Iron Will (Arms) now has only 3 ranks, reducing the duration of Stun and Charm effects by 10/20/30%.
o Last Stand (Protection) cooldown reduced to 6 minutes.
o Mace Specialization (Arms) can no longer trigger more than once per 6 seconds.
o Mocking Blow now only has one rank and causes weapon damage, cooldown reduced to 1 min and can now be used in Defensive Stance.
o Overpower now only has one rank and no longer causes any bonus damage (i.e. weapon damage only).
o Poleaxe Specialization (Arms) now also increases critical damage done by Axes and Polearms by 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Pummel now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.
o Shield Bash now only has one rank and will cause damage based on a % of AP.
o Shield Block now increases chance to block and amount blocked by 100% for the next attack. Cooldown increased to 30 seconds.
o Shield Slam is now available to all warriors, starting at level 40.
o Shield Specialization (Protection) moved to Tier 1, now increases rage by 2 on a successful block.
o Sword Specialization (Arms) can no longer trigger more than once per 6 seconds.
o Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3.
Professions
o The following tradeskills are available to train up to 425: First Aid, Herbalism, Mining, Skinning, Enchanting, and Leatherworking.
User Interface
o The /cower emote now has an animation.
o Macros and key bindings are now saved server-side so there is no longer a need to reconfigure them when logging in using another computer.
o Shift-clicking to loot mail: You can now hold Shift and click on mail in your inbox to automatically loot any items and gold without opening the mail. This default behavior can be changed via Auto Loot Mail in the Interface Options (Controls).
o Combat Log Changes:
+ The combat log now differentiates between a spell failure due to resistance and spell failure due to missing the target. Where once both events reported as a resist; a spell missing the target is now reported as a miss.
+ Overhealing is now reported in the combat log.
+ When a source of damage is entirely prevented (by a shield block, a full resist, or a damage shield like Power Word:Shield, the prevented amount will now be displayed.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Mavfin - 07-18-2008
The biggest things that jump out at me:
Threat's being completely redone. No Salv, no defiance, folding threat into skills and talents instead.
All warriors can off-tank now, with extra threat in def stance, and shield slam trainable. The change in imp shield block and anticipation makes me wonder if big changes are coming in crush/crit/def stuff for tanks.
I noticed auras are raid-wide for the radius they cover, but I didn't see any such note for totems.
WOA and WF=haste for spell/melee respectively, Flametongue totem=old WOA to some degree, if I read it right, and SOE now does str and agi. Basically Shaman totemage for raids/groups just changed a bunch, and the old bursty WF is gone completely.
The spelldam/heal change makes gear a lot simpler. If I read it right, +hit, crit and haste work on spell and melee. Great for hybrids that do some of both.
I don't know all the druid talents extremely well, but it looks like moonkins got a boost, I think.
Oh, and hunter pets *way* simplified. Now with talents, too.
Lots of other stuff. That's the stuff I really noticed first.
Comments?
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Artega - 07-18-2008
Adding these as I go down the list:
Quote:* Hit Rating, Critical Strike Rating, and Haste Rating now modify both melee attacks and spells.
I like this change. There seems to be a new trend towards consolidating stats, and this goes a long way towards that goal. May make those dreaded melee Mages overpowered, though.
Quote:* Spellpower:
o All items and effects which grant bonuses to spell damage and spell healing are being consolidated into a single stat, Spellpower. This stat will appear with the same values found on items which grant "increased spell damage and healing" such as on typical Mage and Warlock itemization.
o For classes which do not heal, they should see no change in the character sheet other than new tooltip wording.
o Healing characters will see their bonus healing numbers on the character sheet decrease, however, all healing spells have been modified to receive more benefit from spellpower than they received from bonus healing, with a net effect of no change to the amount healed by their spells. Some talents have had to be rebalanced to accommodate this change, but the amount healed will remain roughly the same. In addition, some talents will provide only healing spell power.
I understand this on the surface, but I think I'm too stupid to be able to imagine it being implemented. I guess I'll have to wait for screenshots and stuff to understand exactly how they're implementing this.
For talents: Strongly recommend using the patch notes in tandem with Wowhead's WotLK talent calculators, located here. It's already directed to Druid talents, since those are the first being covered. It looks like they haven't updated for these Beta notes, however.
I'm excited about the Paladin changes. It's not everything that I believe the class needs (I'm still an adamant believer in Holy Shield being made a baseline ability), but the changes they're listing so far do imply that they are listening to what the more intelligent members of the community are saying since many of them are carbon copies of what they've requested. There's still a lot of work to do on the class, but the changes listed in these patch notes leave me feeling optimistic for the first time in a long time.
A Seal of Corruption is mentioned; could Pallies be doing Shadow damage in the expansion?
Shaman talents are interesting. Restoration Shammies will be getting a slightly different version of Cleanse (curing poisons, diseases, and curses instead of poisons, diseases, and magic.) Early Enhancement will finally be worth investing in for all specs; the new Shield Specialization in particular is impressive, with an incredible +20% Block for only two talent points.
The notes don't make the Warrior changes sound like much, apart from the obvious changes to how tanking will be done come WotLK, but looking at the talent tree on Wowhead almost makes me want to bring mine out of hibernation. I fell in love with the hybrid playstyle, being able to do fight like my warrior but also be capable of healing my allies, but these proposed Warrior changes are getting me excited to try the rough-and-tumble Rage-based gameplay style again.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Artega - 07-18-2008
Supposed Paladin 51-point talents, from some dude on the WoW forums. Suggest taking with a few large blocks of salt.
Quote:51pt Holydin talent is Beacon of Light â places a beacon of light on the target healing all party/raid members within range for x amount over y duration.
51pt Retadin talent is Divine Storm â an instant attack that causes holy damage to multiple enemies within range. Divine Storm also heals up to 3 party or raid members within range for a percentage of the damage caused.
51pt Protadin talent is Hammer of the Righteous â Hammer the current target and up to 2 more targets causing a percentage of weapon damage as holy damage. Causes high threat.
It should be noted that this fella also posted the patch notes about 10 minutes ahead of MMO-Champion and all the other places, so it's entirely possible that these are true. If they are, I'm going to be one very happy Holy Pally.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Bevock - 07-18-2008
Wow, those are some big changes in the paladin class. Looks like I'll have to learn how to play all over again.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - NiteFox - 07-18-2008
No more keeping a pet slot empty just to learn new skills. Sweet, and also the automatic levelling...
I wonder if this applies to previously tamed pets. I managed to get Humar the Pridelord as a replacement to my already existing PvP cat, but lost interest levelling him after, uh, one level. Having two cats is a waste, but I'm torn between throwing away a unique-skinned (And very hard to get) pet over one that is fully trained.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Monkey - 07-18-2008
Quote:Supposed Paladin 51-point talents, from some dude on the WoW forums. Suggest taking with a few large blocks of salt.
It should be noted that this fella also posted the patch notes about 10 minutes ahead of MMO-Champion and all the other places, so it's entirely possible that these are true. If they are, I'm going to be one very happy Holy Pally.
According to MMO-Champion, these are nearly correct. Here's what they're listing:
Quote:Beacon of Light (51-point Holy) -- The target becomes a Beacon of Light, healing all party or raid members within 10 yards for 990 over 15 sec. 1.5 sec cast, 780 Mana, 40 yd range
Hammer of the Righteous (51-point Protection) -- Hammer the current target and up to 2 additional nearby targets, causing 100% of weapon damage as Holy damage. This ability causes high threat. Instant cast, 5 yd range, 6 sec cooldown
Divine Storm (51-point Retribution) -- An instant weapon attack that causes Holy damage to up to 4 enemies within 8 yards. The Divine Storm heals up to 3 party or raid members totalling 20% of the damage caused. Instant cast, 5 yd range, 10 sec cooldown
The pally changes pretty interesting. One thing that has set paladins apart as tanks is their group-centric abilities (As opposed to the target-centric abilities of a warrior or druid)--things like BoP, Cleanse, and Righteous Defense. The Wrath changes really extend this. Hand of Salvation is really a targetable Fade, and check out the new 17-point talent 'Divine Guardian':
Quote:Divine Guardian (Rank 2)
While Divine Shield is active 30% of all damage taken by party or raid members within 30 yards is redirected to the Paladin.
That's a real buff to Protection Paladins in PvP.
Also, for Mavfin, it's not in the patch notes, but WoWinsider's WWI coverage says:
Quote:Perhaps the biggest Shaman complaint since launch was answered: Shaman totems will now affect the whole raid, not just the local group.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Mordekhuul - 07-18-2008
Ahh, judgement of the wise looks nice: http://i33.tinypic.com/25hfv47.jpg
Note the judgement of blood damage =)
Here's a really cool tidbit from the EJ forums:
Quote:Ok now this is interesting. Judgment has been broken into three spells:
Judgment of Light
Judgment of Wisdom
Judgment of Justice
They all work like the original Judgment spell, but also automatically judge the named seal. So you can put up JoW, JoL or JoJ for free on a target in addition to judging whatever seal you have active (Righteous, Corruption, Blood, Command, etc).
What this means is a you just start out just Judgement of Wisdom, then use your normal Seal. This is really nice for Holy, since you save a GCD not having to load a Seal first.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Treesh - 07-18-2008
Glad they're getting rid of windwall and Tranquil Air (wasn't happy to see TA put in in the first place). I'm kind of torn about the SoE/GoA change. Since GoA is being put onto SoE, I can't do my trick of stoneskin and GoA to help mitigate incoming physical damage on any undergeared tanks I may need to heal. Agility isn't just for increasing damage! ;) Ah well.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Pantalaimon - 07-18-2008
Anybody get into the beta? :P
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - WimpySmurf - 07-18-2008
Quote:Hand of Salvation is really a targetable Fade,
How I read this it looks more like a Pally version of Pain Suppression in a way, where it does a permanent reduction in threat, but causes you to do less damage during that time. Versus Fade, which is just a temporary dump of threat that returns after the affect wears off.
If it's a permanent reduction then boy are Pally's going to have fun tossing out the short term HoS's to folks in the middle of battles.
-WimpySmurf
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Mirajj - 07-18-2008
Quote:Anybody get into the beta? :P
First round of public invites haven't gone out yet.;)
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Mirajj - 07-19-2008
Ok, I've had a chance to look through the hunter info, and play around with a talent calculator, and all I have to say is Wow, do we ever have some great stuff coming up as hunters!
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Pantalaimon - 07-19-2008
Quote:First round of public invites haven't gone out yet.;)
Ahh! So I can stave off my disappointment for a while, then! :P
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - NiteFox - 07-19-2008
Quote:Ok, I've had a chance to look through the hunter info, and play around with a talent calculator, and all I have to say is Wow, do we ever have some great stuff coming up as hunters!Looking at the MM 51 point skill... Ohmegawd. That's insane.
It's called Chimera Shot, deals 30% weapon damage and consumes whatever sting you have applied on the target for various effects.
Serpent's Sting instantly deals 40% of the sting's damage onto the target. Nice, but not spectacular.
Viper Sting instantly burns 30% of the mana drained by the sting and returns 100% of this value back to the hunter. Niiiiice.
And Scorpid Sting, the underused red-headed stepchild of the stings that is insanely useful in pretty much any situation if only more hunters would use it has the following effect.
Reduces the damage done by the target's next three attacks by 60%. The damage reduction is reduced by 20% for each subsequent attack, so it therefore reduces the first attack by 60%, the second by 40%, and the third by 20%, and lasts for 10 seconds.
You can also reapply the stings straight after consuming them with Chimera, which has a 10s cooldown and a 540 mana cast.
Beast Mastery hunters get a boost to their aspects and an extra five training points for their pets, but Survival hunters get a few neat tricks, and I'm seriously considering a Survival spec even though I've never been one. Stuff like increasing the critical chance of people affected by Frost and the new Bear Traps, increasing damage for shots more than 30 yards away, and causing crits to regenerate mana, rage, and energy for all party members.
They also get an exploding arrow.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Mordekhuul - 07-19-2008
I have no flippin clue what I'm going to play in WotLK. I know I can continue to fill a needed AOE tank role on my paladin, and enjoy retribution (looks like a ton of fun in WotLK) on the side.
Or I can turn into a rampaging demon with my warlock...or more likely raid 50/0/21 affliction to revisit the power of the SM/Ruin days...or continue leveling my fury warrior or holy priest....or holy crap the video of a blood elf death knight leveling in Andorhall looks amazingly fun.
Damn.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - NuurAbSaal - 07-19-2008
I honestly can't really imagine what tanking will be like in WotLK. The changes are definitely HUGE.
I guess I'll play around with the talent calc a bit, but I'm afraid I'll get lost right away. Good thing there are those at the Lounge who will digest all the changes and regurgitate them for me in an understandable form:).
take care
Tarabulus
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Artega - 07-19-2008
I'll be sticking with my pally and shammy. I imagine I'll make a death knight at some point (orc, of course), but I've since discovered that I don't like playing classes that can't heal. Death Knight just seems like an MS warrior that does his damage via spells instead of special attacks.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Chesspiece_face - 07-22-2008
Quote:o Blessing of Salvation renamed Hand of Salvation, now reduces total threat on the target by 2% per second for 10 seconds while also reducing all damage and healing done by 10%. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
I've seen a lot of the discussion related to this change. And for the most part I like the concept of the move towards the "Hand" system. But the one thing i never see anyone mention with this change is that Blizzard has essentially added a skill to the game which, to use effectively, requires the player to use an add-on. How is this a good design idea exactly? Unless they are planning on creating their own Threat Meter into the UI, no matter how good the "Hand" system is conceptually there shouldn't be a skill in the game which requires an add-on to use.
As it reads now, for this skill to be effective, it requires the preknowledge of each players threat status obtained through the Meter add-ons. If you don't have a Threat Meter by the time you see that someone needs the buff it's too late.
WotLK Beta Patch Notes - Jester - 07-22-2008
Quote:I've seen a lot of the discussion related to this change. And for the most part I like the concept of the move towards the "Hand" system. But the one thing i never see anyone mention with this change is that Blizzard has essentially added a skill to the game which, to use effectively, requires the player to use an add-on. How is this a good design idea exactly? Unless they are planning on creating their own Threat Meter into the UI, no matter how good the "Hand" system is conceptually there shouldn't be a skill in the game which requires an add-on to use.
As it reads now, for this skill to be effective, it requires the preknowledge of each players threat status obtained through the Meter add-ons. If you don't have a Threat Meter by the time you see that someone needs the buff it's too late.
In theory, you could know who is going to be pulling aggro and who isn't by knowing your raid, and paying attention to what everyone else is doing. It wouldn't be flawless, as you couldn't conceivably keep track of things like crit strings or variable performance. However, I know I could give you a pretty fair guess from raids I've been on who would need an emergency salv and who wouldn't.
-Jester