1.8 Patch notes

[Mirajj]

Nicked from Needlehawk's post in the Amazon Basin.

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- World of Warcraft Client Patch 1.8.0 (2005-??-??)
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Disturbance at the Great Trees
Something is amiss in the Emerald Dream. Immense dragons with the
shimmering emerald scales of the Green Dragonflight have been
sighted guarding the portals at the Great Trees... but these once-
noble creatures crawl with a new, strange menace, not the peace for
which Ysera is known. Bring many allies should you dare to confront
them; their powers are formidable and they will not hesitate to
crush any who draw near.

The Stirring of the Silithid
The arid sands of Silithus are shifting. Something is awakening
beyond the wall to the south... Aid the Druids of the Cenarion
Circle as they delve into the mysteries of the desert. Seek answers
behind the Twilight Hammer's presence. Discover more about the alien
creatures known as the Silithid as you explore their hives. Many new
endeavors await the high-level adventurer!

Hallow's End
When the decorations of Hallow's End light up Azeroth's cities, you
know there's mischief afoot! Seek special vendors in Orgrimmar or
Ironforge and get your hands on treats! Aid a sick orphan in a
little trick-or-treating! Deathcaller Yanka, attending the
Forsaken's Wickerman Festival, and Sergeant Hartman of Southshore
are seeking your aid in keeping the enemy out of their holiday
affairs -- are you up to the challenge?

General
- Instant Attacks
The mechanics of most instant melee attacks have been modified to
improve item balance. Previously, instant melee attacks did damage
based on the damage range of the weapon, plus a bonus for the
player's attack power. This bonus was then multiplied by the speed
of the weapon. As a result, slow weapons did more damage than was
intended, and fast weapons were considered inferior by most players.
We have changed the way the attack power bonus is calculated for
instant attacks. This change does NOT affect attack power
calculations for normal melee attacks. Instead of multiplying by the
speed of the weapon, the attack power bonus is now multiplied by a
fixed number pulled from the following table:
+ Two-handed weapons: 3.3
+ Daggers: 1.7
+ All other one-handed weapons: 2.4
As a direct result of this, many weapons have shifted position in
their relative power. In particular, many Epic (purple) quality
items are now more powerful than slower Superior (blue) weapons.
This change was not made to reduce the power of instant attacks,
but to correct the relative imbalance of weapon itemization. At a
given level requirement, epic quality weapons should always be more
powerful than superior quality weapons.
Please also note that all normal weapon swings will be completely
unaffected by this change. The following abilities are affected by
the design change: Sinister Strike, Ambush, Backstab, Whirlwind,
Mortal Strike, and Overpower.
- The cost per point of durability to repair plate, chain, and leather
items has been reduced to be equal to the cost of repairing cloth
items of the same quality.
- You can now repurchase up to 12 items that you have sold to a vendor.
There is now a buyback tab on all merchants that you can select to
repurchase the last 12 items you sold since you last logged in. When
your character leaves the game, this list of items will be cleared,
so if you have accidentally sold something, don’t wait to buy it
back. Buy it back immediately.
- Perception (Human Racial) is now usable while stealthed.
- There is now a spell effect when you increase your reputation to a
new level.
- The loading screen upon login now displays gameplay tips.
- Channeled spells that are cancelled by movement can no longer be cast
while moving.
- Fixed bug where the debuff Tetanus was reducing stamina by one more
than it should.
- Pets no longer break off attacks when their target is affected by
Warlock Fear.
- The "Knockout" mechanic has been renamed "Disorient" and all tooltips
that referenced this mechanic should be updated.

PvP

- Honor System
The percentage of players that may reach ranks 6 through 14 has been
increased.
Lower-level players should advance in the Honor System more quickly
than they had previously (although this change does not affect the
highest ranks they can achieve).
- Battlegrounds
Each Battleground has an individual turn-in quest associated with
its related victory/loss condition. Upon completion of a
Battleground, the winning side will be awarded three Marks of Honor
while the losing side will be awarded one Mark of Honor. Three Marks
of Honor may be turned in to the associated questgiver for Honor
Points and faction increase. Should players complete this turn-in
quest, they will find that the bonus Honor Points for completion are
twice that of normal turn-in conditions (individual).
Players of levels 10 - 19 will now be able to participate in the
battle for Warsong Gulch.
Alterac Valley has received an overhaul:
In order to keep teams in Alterac Valley more numerically balanced,
players will now enter Alterac Valley on a one-for-one basis (i.e.
if there are 30 players in the battleground for each side with 10
players in the Alliance queue and 2 players in the Horde queue,
only two players from each team will be added, bringing the total
to 32 per side).
The minimum number of players required to start a battle in Alterac
Valley has been lowered to 20 (the maximum is still 40).
Points for completing the map and winning have been slightly
decreased.
Graveyards and graveyard capture points are now at different
locations. This was done to correct the negative behavior and
tactics associated with graveyard captures and the subsequent
player swarming factor. Graveyards should be much more meaningful
now to both defense and offense.
Several terrain changes were made to fix some geometry exploits as
well as to adjust for the new graveyard mechanic.
Iceblood Graveyard has been fortified.
The Frostwolf Relief Hut now has appropriate guards.
A great avalanche has closed off both the eastern and western
segments of Alterac Valley. This has displaced the Syndicate, the
Woodpaw Gnolls, and many of the Winterax Trolls.
Due to the avalanche, Korrak the Bloodrager and a small band of
surviving Trolls have made the Snowfall Graveyard their new home.
Players will find that Snowfall is now under Korrak's control and
they must defeat Korrak and his Troll guards if they wish to take
Snowfall.
The quests Korrak the Bloodrager (Alliance), Korrak the Everliving
(Alliance), The Legend of Korrak (Horde), and The Return of Korrak
(Horde) have been removed from the game. The rewards for the
initial quest involving Korrak have been moved and can be acquired
by completing the quest associated with winning a match in Alterac
Valley. We realize that some players may have had the Korrak quest
and never completed it. These players may have already completed
the quest for killing the General and thus might not be able to
benefit from the rewards from the previous quest line. We have
opted to add an extra quest step at the end of the General kill
quests to reward players that fall under such conditions.
A new item has been added as one of the reward choices for the
quests Hero of the Stormpike and Hero of the Frostwolf.
NPC difficulty has been scaled down. All NPCs have had their power
reduced by 15-30%.
There is now a portcullis at the end of each of the entrance
tunnels inside Alterac Valley. They will rise two minutes into the
battle.
- The PvP Tier 2 Alliance and Horde Cloth armor sets have new updated
textures.

Druids
- Due to significant talent changes, talent points for Druids have been
refunded and can be respent. Training costs for all talent
spell/ability replacements have been significantly reduced.
- Hurricane - No longer a talent. Now available to all Druids at level
40. Damage and Mana cost increased on all ranks. Spell is now cast on
a targeted area up to 30 yards away and affected by Nature’s Reach.
Multiple Druids casting Hurricane will no longer stack the slowdown
effect. Radius of effect decreased slightly.
- Remove Curse - Updated tooltip to reflect that it's usable on
friendly targets only.
- Shapeshifting - Fixed a bug where the Chilled effect caused by Ice
Armor/Frost Armor was not removed properly when shapeshifting.
- Swipe - Self cooldown removed.
- Tranquility - Cooldown reduced to 5 minutes. Mana cost reduced by 25%.
- Cat Form - The attack power bonus from the base cat form will now
calculate correctly on zoning or logging in.

Hunters
- Counterattack - Now properly sets its cooldown.
- Throw - Use of this ability will no longer cause a global cooldown
with all other abilities.
- Auto-shot is now cancelled when you die.
- Added Lightning Breath pet ability for Wind Serpents. This ability
instantly hits a single target for Nature damage at medium range.

Mages
- Arcane Missiles - Should now properly report the correct "out of
range" indicator on the action bar.

Paladins
- Judgement of Light and Judgement of Wisdom will now benefit players
that are immune to Holy effects (e.g. Divine Shield).

Priests
- Psychic Scream - Updated tooltip to reflect that damage caused to the
feared target may break the effect. Included radius in tooltip.
- Devouring Plague (Undead) - Will now properly consume the Inner Focus
effect when cast.
- Shadowguard (Troll) - Tooltip updated to reflect actual functionality.
- Elune's Grace (Night Elf) - New icon.

Rogues
- Vanish - Fixed a bug where the Chilled effect caused by Ice Armor/
Frost Armor was not removed properly when vanishing.
- Parry - Minimum level to train this ability has been lowered to 12.
- Blade Flurry - This ability will now trigger correctly off of
special attacks such as Sinister Strike and Kick.
- Shoot Bow/Crossbow/Gun - Fixed a bug where these abilities could be
used faster than intended.
- Throw - Use of this ability will now only cause a cooldown with Shoot
abilities.
- Ambush - Now uses normalized attack power.
- Backstab - Now uses normalized attack power.
- Riposte - Now properly sets its cooldown.
- Sinister Strike - Now uses normalized attack power.

Shaman
- Lightning Shield - Tooltip updated to reflect actual functionality.
- Ghost Wolf - Will now correctly have its cast time reduced by
Nature's Swiftness.

Warlocks
- Death Coil - Cooldown reduced, mana cost increased, and now causes a
short Fear effect that is not diminished.
- Corruption - Duration reduced and damage per tick increased. Total
damage over duration approximately identical.
- Curse of Agony - Duration reduced to 24 seconds and damage per tick
increased. Total damage over duration approximately identical.
- Conflagrate - Conflagrate will now correctly remove Immolate rank 4
from its victim when cast.
- Bane - Now reduces casting time of the Soul Fire and Hellfire spells
in addition to Immolate and Shadow Bolt.
- Intensity - Now reduces chance to be interrupted during cast time of
Rain of Fire, Hellfire and Soul Fire spells.
- Pyroclasm - Now gives a chance to stun when Rain of Fire, Hellfire,
and Soul Fire spells damage the target.
- Soul Link - Percentage of damage split with pet has been reduced.
- Ruin - Critical damage bonus reduced.
- Summon Felhunter - Has a new, unique sound effect.
- Improved Drain Mana - Damage caused by this talent will now cause
150% damage instead of 200% damage, which is now consistent with
other damage spells.
- Lesser Invisibility (Succubus) - Tooltip updated to reflect actual
functionality.
- Fixed a bug that would cause the Master Demonologist buff to be
removed if the pet was banished.

Warriors
- Concussion Blow - Will now initiate combat when used.
- Shoot Bow/Crossbow/Gun - Fixed a bug where these abilities could be
used faster than intended.
- Throw - Use of this ability will now only cause a cooldown with Shoot
abilities.
- Mortal Strike - Now uses normalized attack power.
- Overpower - Now uses normalized attack power.
- Whirlwind - Now uses normalized attack power.
- Warriors can immediately charge after using trinkets to remove
immobilizing effects.
- Camera angles when using Charge should be improved.

Items
- Items which provide +hit chance will now be allowed to counteract the
increased miss chance penalty of dual-wielding.
- The 5-piece set bonus for the Warrior's Wrath set now works with
Whirlwind and Retaliation.
- The 5-piece set bonus for the Druid's Stormrage set now properly
displays the reduction in casting time.
- The Cenarion Druid set bonus that improves Thorns damage now properly
works when Thorns is cast on other players.
- Anathema, Benediction, Thunderstrike, and Shadowstrike will now
remember the enchantments and durability data they possessed when
they transform.
- The ability to transform Rhok'delar and Lok'delar has been removed,
but you can talk to Vartrus the Ancient to receive the item you
currently don't possess.
- The Drape of Benediction had the statistics and effects of a Superior
quality item, but was an Epic item. The item has been improved to
have the proper Epic stats.
- The effect of the Admiral's Hat has been changed. You can now click
the Admiral's Hat to provide yourself with an aura that gives you and
your nearby party members a stamina increase. Taking the hat off will
remove the effect. The Headmaster's Charge item has also been changed
in a similar manner.
- Shard of the Flame and Shard of the Scale are now unique.
- Rod of Resurgence now heals more health over time.
- The Puncture Armor ability found on the Rivenspike, Bashguuder,
Digmaster 5000, and Vibroblade will no longer stack with Faerie Fire.
- Chromatic Gauntlets no longer has a listed Holy Resistance bonus,
since there is no actual Holy Resistance.
- Ring of Binding and Blade of Eternal Darkness now have appropriate
minimum levels.
- Demonic Rune has been changed to a Good (green) item so it will
display the bind on pickup dialogue when looted.
- Invulnerability will no longer protect you from a Demonic Rune.
- Deviate Fish changed to appear in the Trade Goods section of the
Auction House.
- Jadefire Pants texture fixed.
- The icon for Flash Powder has been changed.
- Shredder Operating Manual pages will no longer drop for the Alliance.
- Gurubashi Helm now properly hides long hair.
- The Sheen of Zanza has a tooltip typo fixed.

Professions
- There is now Silithid armor that can be made by leatherworkers. The
recipes require Cenarion Circle faction to learn.
- Additional Tailoring and Blacksmithing recipes can be found in
encoded messages found on the members of the Twilight's Hammer in
Silithus.
- Two additional pieces of Dragonscale Leatherworking were added to the
Dragonscale Leatherworking Trainer.
- A Dragonscale Recipe has been added that requires killing the great
Green Dragons.
- The Blue, Green, and Black Dragonscale Leatherworking Armor pieces
are now parts of sets and have set bonuses so they should be
significantly more desirable.
- Green Dragonscale Armor has slightly reduced spirit and now has a
stamina component.
- Ironfeather Armor set bonus has been improved.
- Leatherworking item Murloc Scale Belt improved.
- Leatherworking pattern for Black Whelp Tunic added to vendor in
Redridge Mountains.
- All Wild Leather patterns for Leatherworking are now bind on acquire.
- All Wild Leather patterns for Leatherworking no longer have cash
value with vendors.
- Enchanter-made wands are now Good (green) quality and have had their
damage increased.
- The minimum level for the Artisan First Aid, Artisan Fishing, and
Artisan Cooking quest lines has been lowered to 35.
- Water Breathing potions will no longer be overwritten by Shaman and
Warlock Water Breathing spells if the potion has a longer duration.
- The Pet Healing effect of the Robe of the Void has been improved.
- Expert Alchemy requires 125 skill now instead of 100 skill.
- Free Action Potion text changed to clearly indicate that the potion
is not retroactive. No actual change was made other than the text.
- Gnomish Mind Control Cap - Is now subject to diminishing returns in
the Charm category.
- Blindweed has been increased in size, making it easier to see.

Quests
- Added level 50 class quests for the Warrior, Shaman, Paladin, and
Warlock. Trainers in the major cities will let you know where to
start your quest.
- A few new quests have been added in Tanaris. Head over to
Steamwheedle Port to see if you can help out.
- The Rin'ji's Secret quest line now has an ending and reward. If you
previously finished the Rin'ji's Secret quest out of The Hinterlands,
speak with Oran Snakewrithe in the Magic Quarter of the Undercity and
select the Oran's Gratitude quest.
- The following repeatable quests have had their levels increased to 55:
Morrowgrain to Darnassus, Morrowgrain to Feathermoon Stronghold, and
Morrowgrain to Thunder Bluff. The net result of this change is that
level 56+ characters will notice an increased amount of reputation
when turning in Morrowgrain.
- The Thistlewood Axe will no longer be an available option as a quest
reward for the Webwood Venom quest.
- The level 30 Mage class quest rewards are now Superior (blue) quality.

Raids and Dungeons
- Azuregos is now properly resistant to Frost damage.
- If you are in front of Chromaggus and can hit him with spells, his
breath attack will hit you.
- Razorgore now has the ability to summon players to him if he cannot
reach them for a time.
- Fixed a bug that was causing Broodlord Lashlayer to do less damage
than intended with his Mortal Strike.
- Fixed a bug that would cause the debuff "Burning Adrenaline" to be
able to be removed if enough other debuffs were applied to the target.
- Fixed erratic taunt behavior for Ebonroc, Firemaw, and Flamegot in
Blackwing Lair.
- You now receive Core Leather when you skin Magmadar.
- Fixed a bug that would cause High Priestess Jeklik to not be able to
summon Frenzied Bloodseeker Bats.
- Fixed a bug that would allow Hakkar's Corrupted Blood ability to
target pets.

User Interface
- To speed up game loading and reduce memory usage, several portions of
the UI have been converted to add-ons. These are completely
transparent to the player, but custom add-ons may need to be updated.
- You can now search for random suffixes such as "of the Monkey" in the
Auction House.
- Items that are in your action bar and are equipped will now display a
green border around them so it's easy to tell which of your action
bar items are equipped and therefore usable.
- The Reputation tab will now display on mouseover exactly how many
reputation points you need to attain the next reputation level with
that faction.
- When you gain reputation, the combat log message will now display the
numeric value of how much reputation you gained as well as the
previous relative message.
- There is now an option in the interface window to put a translucent
pane behind the portraits and health/mana of other party members for
easier visibility.
- When you place an auction up on the Auction House, the auctions tab
now displays your minimum bid and buyout price even if there are no
bids on the item.
- Players should no longer miss loot rolling messages when they're
outside of the immediate area.

World Environment
- The flight paths in Silithus have been moved from Valor's Rest to the
new Cenarion Hold. Characters that previously discovered the Valor's
Rest flight path will be treated as having discovered the Cenarion
Hold flight path.
- A neutral graveyard has been added to Silithus at Cenarion Hold. With
the addition of this graveyard, characters dying in Silithus will be
sent to whichever graveyard they are closer to when they die: Valor's
Rest or Cenarion Hold.
- Killing Twilight’s Hammer and Silithid enemies in Silithus now awards
reputation increases with the Cenarion Circle. You may increase your
faction to the middle of Friendly with non-elite mobs and to the
middle of Honored with elites.
- Flamekin Imps (Ragers, Spitters and Sprites) in the Burning Steppes
now drop Elemental Fire.
- A new weapon merchant who can also repair durability damage on items
has moved in to Talonbranch Glade in Felwood.
- The Silithus area map has been modified and its scale has changed.
- Modifications were made to several areas of Azeroth so that the
undiscovered areas of the map are revealed easier.
- The Woodpaw Hills sub-area of Feralas now properly grants discovery
experience when you enter it for the first time.
- Brackenwall Village now has an arrow on the minimap that points to it
when you get within range.
- Sayge’s buffs at the Darkmoon Faire are now exclusive to one another.
- Due to popular demand the general goods vendor in Undercity now sells
Morning Glory Dew.
- All graveyards that needed adjustment were changed so that a
character's spirit comes into the world facing toward the Spirit
Healer.

Bug Fixes
- You no longer become stuck and unable to loot if you try to open
clams and chests while you are a ghost.
- Fixed bug where players would get stuck in the falling animation if
they cast an instant-cast spell while jumping.


- The ability to transform Rhok'delar and Lok'delar has been removed,
but you can talk to Vartrus the Ancient to receive the item you
currently don't possess.
Intersting. I wonder why they split this up like this?

- The effect of the Admiral's Hat has been changed. You can now click
the Admiral's Hat to provide yourself with an aura that gives you and
your nearby party members a stamina increase. Taking the hat off will
remove the effect. The Headmaster's Charge item has also been changed
in a similar manner.
Thank god, now a raid can actually move forward, instead of fussing with hats for 10 minutes. ;)

[TheLuminaire]

I really like all the UI additions. As much as possible, I try not to use add-ons for the game. And with each patch, Blizzard seems to impliment some feature that I formerly needed a mod for. I'm finding less and less utility in the add-ons, and more and more in the actual game UI.

[Chesspiece_face]

Removed.

[Ruvanal]

- The ability to transform Rhok'delar and Lok'delar has been removed,
but you can talk to Vartrus the Ancient to receive the item you
currently don't possess.
Intersting. I wonder why they split this up like this?
[right][snapback]90477[/snapback][/right]

Because there are enchants or permanant mods that can be applied to bows and staves that they do not want to allow on the other. Think of say the +22 Intellect enchant being put on the staff version then transforming to the bow so that you could have +22 Int on the bow and another +22 Int on melee weapon also equiped. Even worse might be someone getting a Biznicks 247x128 Accurascope on both the staff and an equipped bow.

- The effect of the Admiral's Hat has been changed. You can now click
the Admiral's Hat to provide yourself with an aura that gives you and
your nearby party members a stamina increase. Taking the hat off will
remove the effect. The Headmaster's Charge item has also been changed
in a similar manner.
Thank god, now a raid can actually move forward, instead of fussing with hats for 10 minutes. ;)

Yes, yes........and YES!!!!

[MongoJerry]

- The effect of the Admiral's Hat has been changed. You can now click
the Admiral's Hat to provide yourself with an aura that gives you and
your nearby party members a stamina increase. Taking the hat off will
remove the effect. The Headmaster's Charge item has also been changed
in a similar manner.
Thank god, now a raid can actually move forward, instead of fussing with hats for 10 minutes. ;)

Of course, it'll also mean that they'll hardly be used from now on, since people will want to wear their own hats instead of the admiral's hat.

[lfd]

Priests
- Psychic Scream - Updated tooltip to reflect that damage caused to the
feared target may break the effect. Included radius in tooltip.
- Devouring Plague (Undead) - Will now properly consume the Inner Focus
effect when cast.
- Shadowguard (Troll) - Tooltip updated to reflect actual functionality.
- Elune's Grace (Night Elf) - New icon.
[right][snapback]90477[/snapback][/right]

Wow. Now I know how mages feel.

[Tal]

Of course, it'll also mean that they'll hardly be used from now on, since people will want to wear their own hats instead of the admiral's hat.
[right][snapback]90481[/snapback][/right]

Yep. The useability of ye Admiral's hat just became a novelty item.


And just when I was starting to make money selling them too. :(

[TheLuminaire]

Wow.  Now I know how mages feel.
[right][snapback]90482[/snapback][/right]

Yeah, that may have been one of the more useless patch updates for the Priest class. My Priest is crying.

[Lissa]

Hunters
- Added Lightning Breath pet ability for Wind Serpents. This ability
instantly hits a single target for Nature damage at medium range.
[right][snapback]90477[/snapback][/right]

Yay Ehec (Eek)! Finally he can do something other than just bite people and growl... :w00t:

[Mirajj]

Because there are enchants or permanant mods that can be applied to bows and staves that they do not want to allow on the other.  Think of say the +22 Intellect enchant being put on the staff version then transforming to the bow so that you could have +22 Int on the bow and another +22 Int on melee weapon also equiped.  Even worse might be someone getting a Biznicks 247x128 Accurascope on both the staff and an equipped bow.
[right][snapback]90480[/snapback][/right]

Hunh, makes total sense to me, now. But then, I've never had a dual item, and just assumed that the enchant carried from one form to another anyhow. I guess my 'exploiters mind' just isn't up to snuff. ;) I wonder if this is the start of the end for dual items, or if Blizz is just rethinking them (Say an enchant sticks to the form it was given?). It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

[Brista]

Wow.  Now I know how mages feel.
[right][snapback]90482[/snapback][/right]

Actually you don't

Not that I usually hold up the flag for the Mages but in this patch the Mage got two nerfs while the priest stood still

The Arcane Missiles fix seems to mean that the rather useful pvp feature of starting to channel against an opponent who is running out of range allows you to get the full spell off, no matter how far away they go is removed. There are fixes/nerfs to Frost Armour persisting through Vanish and Druid shapechange

I can see how both of these can be considered bug fixes but their game balance effect is to weaken Mages a little. In the past bug fixes that weaken a class's power have often come with a sweetener such as the fix to Hunter traps being irresistible being released at the same time as new talent trees

Fortunately this only effects the 0.1% of Mages who don't use IAE as their only attack ;)

[oldmandennis]

Edit: OMD got pwned :(

- The effect of the Admiral's Hat has been changed. You can now click
the Admiral's Hat to provide yourself with an aura that gives you and
your nearby party members a stamina increase. Taking the hat off will
remove the effect. The Headmaster's Charge item has also been changed
in a similar manner.

Depending on the strength of these, you might still want a couple on your locks who are in tank parties.

- Bane - Now reduces casting time of the Soul Fire and Hellfire spells
in addition to Immolate and Shadow Bolt.

Still wonder about this one though.

Shoot Bow/Crossbow/Gun - Fixed a bug where these abilities could be used faster than intended.

Good cause that was silly.

[Mirajj]

Damn, I wish I had that stupid "O Realy" bird from the public forums.

Or Southpark will have to do: <Stan>&nbsp; Officer Barbrady, I call shenanigans!</Stan>

Maybe its just cause I responded to the last ones as if they were real, but I'm pretty sure these are bull.

Well, that's my sceptical take.&nbsp; We'll see how it goes.
[right][snapback]90512[/snapback][/right]

Please refer to this before continuing your scoffing ways...Patch Notes for 1.8 Test Realm

[Sabra]

Of course, it'll also mean that they'll hardly be used from now on, since people will want to wear their own hats instead of the admiral's hat.
[right][snapback]90481[/snapback][/right]

This was exactly my thought.

[Ruvanal]

Hunh, makes total sense to me, now. But then, I've never had a dual item, and just assumed that the enchant carried from one form to another anyhow. I guess my 'exploiters mind' just isn't up to snuff. ;) I wonder if this is the start of the end for dual items, or if Blizz is just rethinking them (Say an enchant sticks to the form it was given?). It'll be interesting to see where this goes.
[right][snapback]90503[/snapback][/right]

The enchant carring over was broken. Whenever you transformed the item, it would permantly loose whatever enchant had been placed on it; even if you transformed it back to the previous form. The problem with Rhok'delar (bow) and Lok'delar (staff) are that the two forms it takes go into different equipment use slots (2-handed melee or ranged weapon slot). The other items that have the transform characteristic retain their same equipment usage slot as well as their current base weapon type; Anathema/Benediction (staff) and Thunderstrike/Shadowstrike (polearm). So an enchant that is applied to one of these would still only get used in the same manner as when equiping the item in its alternate form. See the note just prior to the one you first listed.

- Anathema, Benediction, Thunderstrike, and Shadowstrike will now
remember the enchantments and durability data they possessed when
they transform.
- The ability to transform Rhok'delar and Lok'delar has been removed,
but you can talk to Vartrus the Ancient to receive the item you
currently don't possess.

[Lissa]

The enchant carring over was broken.&nbsp; Whenever you transformed the item, it would permantly loose whatever enchant had been placed on it; even if you transformed it back to the previous form.&nbsp; The problem with Rhok'delar (bow) and Lok'delar (staff) are that the two forms it takes go into different equipment use slots (2-handed melee or ranged weapon slot).&nbsp; The other items that have the transform characteristic retain their same equipment usage slot as well as their current base weapon type; Anathema/Benediction (staff) and Thunderstrike/Shadowstrike (polearm).&nbsp; So an enchant that is applied to one of these would still only get used in the same manner as when equiping the item in its alternate form.&nbsp; See the note just prior to the one you first listed.
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The reason the enchantments were removed was the act of transforming the item destroyed the one you had in inventory and then created the opposition item. So everyone time you changed from one item to the other you were destroying your present one which would wipe any enchant/permanent effect.

[KiloVictor]

The reason the enchantments were removed was the act of transforming the item destroyed the one you had in inventory and then created the opposition item.&nbsp; So everyone time you changed from one item to the other you were destroying your present one which would wipe any enchant/permanent effect.
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The other thing that's fixed on test is that the new form is automatically equipped for you. It used to be that converting Anathema <-> Benediction gave you a new item in inventory which you then had to equip. Often I'd forget to do that in the heat of battle.

This should put an end to me wandering the tunnels of MC without a weapon in hand. :)

~Kv

[Zippyy]

Still wonder about this one though.
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It does not affect Hellfire in any way on the test server.

The devs don't even know what Hellfire is.

Depending on the strength of these, you might still want a couple on your locks who are in tank parties.
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So we get to be mini-imps, yay! In many instance encounters, we won't be within 30 yards of the tank, however. :(

[kandrathe]

Of course, it'll also mean that they'll hardly be used from now on, since people will want to wear their own hats instead of the admiral's hat.
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Or, you might have the designated Admiral supervising the MT and MA, just in range to give them the benefit of the +sta aura,

[kandrathe]

...
The Arcane Missiles fix seems to mean that the rather useful pvp feature of starting to channel against an opponent who is running out of range allows you to get the full spell off, no matter how far away they go is removed. There are fixes/nerfs to Frost Armour persisting through Vanish and Druid shapechange
...
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I did some tests in the Barrens with my mage initially targeting lvl 1 fauna, then switching targets to things on the far range of my vision. No problem, easily 100-150 yard range. Charging beasts would die still at range, with all 4-5 missiles completed. So, not just out of range, but WELL out of range. You could stand well outside guard aggro radius at the Crossroads and kill flagged Horde well within the town, or vice-versa if you had a target within range. It's easier from the outside in, than the inside out. :-) HUGE EXPLOIT!