Patch 10.2 PTR Development Notes 3 October 2023

The Guardians of the Dream PTR has been updated with the following changes:

DRAGONFLIGHT SEASON 3

• MYTHIC+
  • Throne of the Tides now has updated encounters and enemies throughout the dungeon, and the jellyfish elevator has been replaced with a portal. Available for testing in this week’s Mythic+ test.
  • Adjustments to the duration of several story scenes in Dawn of the Infinite on Mythic+ difficulty.
  • The Yalnu encounter in The Everbloom has been updated.

CLASSES

• DEMON HUNTER
  • Many talents have changed locations and/or available connections.
  • New Talent: Champion of the Glaive – Throw Glaive has 2 charges and 10 yard
    increased range.
  • Fodder to the Flame and Unleashed Power have been removed.
  • Chaos Nova cooldown reduced to 45 seconds (was 1 minute) and Fury cost reduced to 25 (was 30).
  • Concentrated Sigils no longer increases Sigil durations by 2 seconds.
  • Precise Sigils no longer increases Sigil durations by 2 seconds.
  • Live by the Glaive heal value increased to 4% of max health (was 2%).
  • Havoc
    • Many talents have changed locations or been combined into choice nodes, primarily among those in the bottom half of the tree.
    • Soulrend has been renamed to Soulscar.
    • Initiative’s critical strike chance bonus reduced to 10% (was 12%).
    • Fel Barrage now has a max duration of 8 seconds (was uncapped), Fury cost per volley has been reduced to 8 (was 15), and damage per volley has been reduced by 28.5%.
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (2) Set Bonus has been redesigned: Blade Dance consumes a charge of Throw Glaive to fire at your primary target for 100% damage and each slash has a 50% chance to Throw Glaive an enemy for 35% damage.
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus has been updated: Throw Glaive reduces the remaining cooldown of The Hunt by 2 seconds, and The Hunt’s damage over time effect lasts 6 seconds longer.
  • Vengeance
    • A few talents have changed locations and/or had new connections added.
    • Shear damage increased by 10%.
    • Fracture damage increased by 10%.
    • Soul Cleave damage increased by 7%.
    • Throw Glaive damage increased by 30%.
    • Calcified Spikes now provides its benefit if Demon Spikes is refreshed in addition to when it expires.
    • Demon Spikes can no longer be cancelled manually.
    • Meteoric Strikes now reduces the cooldown of Infernal Strike by 10 seconds (was 8 seconds).
    • Fel Flame Fortification now reduces magic damage taken while Immolation Aura is active by 12% (was 10%).
    • Feast of Souls healing value increased by 100% and no longer has an initial tick.
    • Bulk Extraction cooldown reduced to 1 minute (was 1 minute 30 seconds).
    • Soul Barrier absorb values increased by 28%.
    • Fiery Demise now increases your Fire damage dealt to enemies afflicted by Fiery Brand by 25/50% (was 20/40%).
    • Focused Cleave now increases Soul Cleave damage to primary target by 50% (was 40%).
• DRUID
  • Balance
    • Starsurge damage increased by 6%. This does not affect PvP combat.
    • Shooting Stars damage increased by 15%. This does not affect PvP combat.
  • Guardian
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (2) Set Bonus has been slightly redesigned: Rage you spend during Rage of the Sleeper fuel the growth of Dream Thorns, which wreath you in their protection after Rage of the Sleeper expires, absorbing a percentage of damage dealt to you while the thorns remain, up to a value per Rage spent.
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Blazing Thorns value capped at 100% of maximum health.
    • Fixed an issue causing Blazing Thorns damage to be dealt twice.
• EVOKER
  • Augmentation
    • Developers’ note: Our goal with these changes is to reduce the power of stacking as many Augmentation buffs as possible on the same 4 targets in raid scenarios. We want to support having multiple Augmentation Evokers in a raid, but also prevent having 4 of them feel required to do maximum damage. By forcing these buffs to spread themselves out, it should still be viable to have multiple Augmentation Evokers without being overpowered.
    • If 2 Ebon Mights are already active on an ally, Ebon Might will now seek a nearby ally with fewer than 2 Ebon Mights.
    • Ebon Might’s priority to apply to other Augmentation Evokers has been reduced and will apply to other damage dealing roles first.
    • If 2 Presciences are already active on an ally, Prescience will no longer be able to be applied to that ally.
    • When casting Prescience with an enemy selected, its priority to apply to other Augmentation Evokers has been reduced and will apply to other damage dealing roles first.
    • Shifting Sands now prefers to apply to an ally who does not already have Shifting Sands.
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope Set Bonus (4) Set Bonus: Trembling Earth now allows buff stacks to overlap.
      • Developers’ note: With Prescience having 2 charges, there is now a case where you can lose a stack of Trembling Earth since you can cast Prescience twice in a row. To alleviate that, the stacks may now overlap so you don’t waste part of the bonus.
• HUNTER
  • Fixed an issue where several talents or set bonus effects that modified damage dealt or critical damage dealt did not properly affect the damage of the Poison Injection talent.
  • Beast Mastery
    • Bonus pets from Call of the Wild now spawn on top of your target rather than by your side.
  • Survival
    • The empowerment buff from Coordinated Assault now lasts for 5 seconds (was 3 seconds).
    • Fixed an issue where the Coordinated Assault empowerment buff had the wrong spell description.
• MAGE
  • Arcane
    • Fixed an issue where Clearcasting would trigger off non-Mage spells.
    • Fixed an issue where gaining Clearcasting from Cascading Power wouldn’t correctly gain all the Clearcasting modifiers including Slipstream’s channel while casting benefit.
    • Fixed an issue where consuming a Concentration proc would not also grant Nether Precision if talented.
    • Fixed an issue with Arcane Surge not splashing beyond 5 targets as indicated on the tooltip.
    • Siphon Storm’s tooltip has been updated to clarify that it grants 1 Arcane Charge.
• MONK
  • Brewmaster
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Stagger absorb value capped at 100% of maximum health.
  • Mistweaver
    • Rising Sun Kick is now granted by default.
    • The location of Healing Elixir and Zen Pulse has swapped.
    • Starter Build has been updated.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Tear of Morning and Thunder Focus Tea’s Enveloping Mist effects to not be properly increased by 25%.
• PALADIN
  • Protection
    • Fixed an issue causing misalignment between Consecration and Mastery: Divine Bulwark.
• PRIEST
  • Shadow
    • Surge of Insanity now triggers from every 2 casts of Devouring Plague (was 3).
      • Developers’ note: The Shadow rotation slowed down more than we were intending for from our changes earlier this patch and we’ve seen similar feedback from the community. We maintain our goal to reduce how busy the Shadow rotation is, so we’re not reverting Surge of Isanity to its Fury Incarnate state, and instead reducing the casts required. We’re also increasing the Insanity generated from the associated spells to further distinguish their power from the base versions of the spells.
    • Mind Spike: Insanity now generates 8 Insanity (was 6).
    • Mind Flay: Insanity now generates 16 Insanity over its duration (was 12).
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (2) Set Bonus: Additional Shadow Word: Deaths from the set bonus are now triggered at 20% effectiveness (was 35%).
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (2) Set Bonus: Additional Shadow Word: Deaths from the set bonus now deal reduced Inescapable Torment damage.
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Now increases the initial damage of Shadow Word: Pain by 200% per stack (was 250%).
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Now increases the initial damage of Shadow Crash by 100% per stack (was 50%).
• ROGUE
  • Assassination
    • Exsanguinate renamed to Sanguine Blades.
    • Envenom damage increased by 8%.
    • Kingsbane damage reduced by 5%.
    • Indiscriminate Carnage secondary targets now prioritize enemies that are not afflicted by Garrote and Rupture.
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope Set Bonus now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets.
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope Set Bonus: Now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets (was 8 targets).
  • Outlaw
    • Triple Threat chance to trigger increased to 15% (was 10%).
    • Count the Odds chance to trigger reduced to 8% (was 10%) and can now also be triggered by Sinister Strike.
    • Hidden Opportunity effectiveness of chance to strike twice reduced to 80% (was 100%).
    • Fixed several issues that caused the Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus to be lost.
    • Refreshed duration of Roll the Bones combat enhancements now matches other enhancements.
    • Fixed some edge-cases that caused the Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus to grant a combat enhancements without a buff.
  • Subtlety
    • Shadowstrike damage increased by 7%.
    • Perforated Veins effect now applied after striking with Backstab 4 times (was 5 times).
    • The Rotten now causes your next 2 attacks that generate combo points (was 1 attack) after activating Symbols of Death to deal 35% increased damage (was 50%).
    • Replicating Shadows secondary targets now prioritize enemies that are not afflicted by Rupture.
• SHAMAN
  • Elemental
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Primordial Wave now causes your next 2 Lava Burst casts to strike extra targets (was 3).
  • Restoration
    • Chain Heal healing increased by 20%.
• WARLOCK
  • Demonology
    • Developers’ note: Caustic Presence is doing exceedingly well in single-target situations and even more so when paired with Summon Demonic Tyrant. This reduction in damage is heavy, but Caustic Presence should retain its identity as a useful AoE-centric talent while not becoming the correct answer in all situations. Additionally, we want to keep the synergistic benefit of extending Vilefiend’s duration via Summon Demonic Tyrant to capitalize on a stronger Caustic Presence. Lastly, we are increasing the throughput of Demonology’s tier set to align with the throughput of other tier sets.
    • Vilefiend’s Caustic Presence damage reduced by 50%.
    • Eye of Gul’dan now benefits from Haste and Critical Strike Chance.
    • Pit Lord now benefits from Haste and Critical Strike Chance.
    • Pit Lord’s Felseeker damage increased by 30%.
    • Doom Brand now deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.
    • Doom Brand no longer deals damage when dispelled.
    • Doom Brand damage increased by 150%.
    • Doomfiend’s Doom Bolt Volley damage increased by 150%.
    • Immutable Hatred has been redesigned – When you consume a Demonic Core, your primary Felguard carves your target, dealing Physical damage.
  • Destruction
    • Summon Infernal damage increased by 50%.
    • Shadowburn damage increased by 15%.
• WARRIOR
  • Arms
    • All ability damage increased by 6%.
  • Protection
    • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Consuming Thunderous Roar now deals 100% of its remaining damage.

ITEMS

• GREAT VAULT
  • The “Mythic Dungeons” row has been renamed to “Dungeons”.
  • Heroic, Mythic 0, and Timewalking dungeon runs now unlock rewards in the Dungeons row. These draw from the same rewards pool as Mythic+, with lower item levels. Timewalking dungeon runs count as Heroic.
• PROFESSIONS
  • The following embellishments damage and healing values have been reduced by 35%:
    • Frostfire Belt
    • Fang Adornments
    • Slimy Expulsion Boots
    • Toxic Thorn Footwraps
    • Acidic Hailstone Treads
    • Magazine of Healing Darts
    • Playful Spirit’s Fur set
    • Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch
    • Spore Colony Shoulderguards
  • Amice of the Blue damage reduced by 30%.
  • Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch self-damage has been increased by 33%.
  • Dreamwalker’s Healing Potion and Potion of Withering Dreams healing increased by 19%.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• ITEMS
  • Tainted Rageheart absorb reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
  • Nimue’s Vengeful Loom on-use effect reduced by 70% in PvP combat.
  • Augury of the Primal Flame’s effectiveness of Annhilating Flame proc reduced by 60% in PvP combat.
  • Belor’relos, the Sunstone on-use effect reduced by 75% in PvP combat.
  • Bandolier of Twisted Blades on-use effect damage reduced by 60% in PvP combat.
  • Flourishing Dream Helm absorption effects reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
  • Rashon, the Immortal Blaze damage reduced by 75% in PvP combat.
  • Gholak, the Final Conflagration damage reduced by 75% in PvP combat.
  • Thorncaller Claw damage over time effect reduced by 60% in PvP combat.
  • Dreambinder, Loom of the Great Cycle damage and slow amount reduced by 50% in PvP combat. Immobilization does not work against enemy players.
  • Ouroboreal Necklet absorption reduced by 70% in PvP combat.
  • Incandescent Essence enchantment effects reduced by 70% in PvP combat.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• In the Auction House, items with long names will always have their crafted quality icon shown instead of being cut off.