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Category: Dragonflight

Get Ready for the Battleground Blitz Brawl

Quote from: Blizzard

The Guardians of the Dream content brings with it a variety of new content including a new mode of play allowing players to engage in PvP via a new solo queue for an 8v8 player battleground experience.

Like the introduction of Solo Shuffle, the introduction of the Battleground Blitz Brawl could start down the path toward introducing it as a rated mode

Get Into the Blitz

Players will be able to queue either solo or as a duo (if one player is a healer) for epic 8v8 PvP action in fast and furious action on one of eight initially available maps: Warsong Gulch, Twin Peaks, Temple of Kotmogu, Eye of the Storm, Silvershard Mines, Battle for Gilneas, Arathi Basin, and Deepwind Gorge. The Battleground Blitz will be active as an available brawl every week from the time of its release the week of November 7.

Team Composition

  • Each team will be comprised of 2 healers, 5-6 damage dealers, and 0 to 1 tank.
  • Opposing teams will always have the same number of tanks (0 or 1)
  • Matches that do not include a tank will not take place on any Capture the Flag maps such as Warsong Gulch and Twin Peaks.
  • Matches that have a tank as a part of the team will occur on any available map.

Map Mechanics

We’ve made some changes to how players will interact with the battlegrounds, leading to a slightly faster pace and new mechanics to utilize as you put yourself—and your team— to the test against your opponents.

  • On maps where you must cast to take an objective, the cast time has been reduced from 6 seconds down to 4 seconds.
  • On domination maps, control points are captured in 30 seconds after being contested (reduced from 1 minute).
  • On all maps, players will gain a new buff, Swift Pursuit which grants 150% increased mount speed.
  • On several maps, there are new power up runes.
    • Shield of Protection: Provides a shield equal to 50% of your maximum health for 45 seconds.
    • Into the Shadows: Provides a player with stealth and 100% increased movement speed for 30 seconds.
    • Rune of Frequency: Increases cooldown rate by 50% for 30 seconds.
    • Shadow Sight: Provides Stealth and Invisibility detection for 12 seconds.

To account for a leaner match up of teams in the 8v8 format, we’ve made some additional modifications to maps, with Eye of the Storm, Arathi Basin, and Deepwind Gorge accounting for the most significant changes.

Eye of the Storm

  • Only 2 of the 4 nodes are capturable at a time (1 per side), which award points, with the middle flag being available to capture.
    • Mage Tower or Draenei Ruins and Fel Reaver Ruins or Blood Elf Tower.
    • When the middle flag is captured, previous nodes move to neutral and reset.
    • 2 nodes (1 per side) re-activate, alternating.
  • Points for capturing a flag are significantly increased.
  • When a flag is captured, the existing available nodes will become uncapturable. After 15 seconds, the other set of nodes will become available.

Arathi Basin and Deepwind Gorge

  • 5 capturable nodes.
  • Increased resource acquisition.
  • After you capture a node entirely, you control it for 45 seconds. It then deactivates and can be captured again 5 seconds later.
  • To fully capture a node, you have to complete the 4-second cast, then hold the point for 30 seconds without the enemy team recapturing the node. There are added timers located under “Objectives” in the UI.
  • During the time a node is fully captured and your team controls it for 45 seconds, the enemy team cannot recapture the base until it deactivates and resets. A node that cannot be captured will have a shield visual on it.

Warsong Gulch and Twin Peaks

  • The flag carrier debuff, Brutal Assault, stacks 100% faster (each stack every 15 seconds, up from 30 seconds).
  • The Maximum game length is now set to 12 minutes.

Battle for Gilneas

  • Increased resource acquisition rate in the middle areas of the map.

Temple of Kotmogu

  • Increased resource acquisition in the middle areas of the map.

Due to the fast-paced nature of Silvershard Mines, there are no changes initially planned for these battlegrounds.

Cross Faction Queuing

To prioritize quality matches and shorter queues for the brawl, players will be able to queue and join the brawl more quickly no matter which faction they belong to.

Item Scaling

For Battleground Blitz, the item level for equipped gear above 312 item level will scale to 472 (4 item levels below Dragonflight season 3 Honor gear), similar to how gear scaling currently works for other unranked modes. The scaling is limited to 312 and above to avoid potential issues with over-scaling stats on items from previous expansions.

Players will also need to be at a minimum item level of 330 to queue for the brawl.

To the Victor (and Loser) Go the Spoils

Players will be able to expect rewards whether they’ve won or lost while taking part in a Battleground Blitz Brawl as follows:

  • In comparison to what brawls normally reward, Conquest has been increased for wins and will be awarded on losses where matches are close.
    • The first win of the day awards 100 Conquest.
    • Additional wins in the same day award 50 Conquest.
    • Losing by a narrow margin results in an award of 25 Conquest

In addition to the weekly “Something Different” brawl quest, two additional weekly quests have been added for Battleground Blitz. You will be able to speak with Malicia in Valdrakken to undertake these quests, with the second quest requiring the completion of the first quest.

New Achievements

You’ll be able to earn several new achievements— for fun and bragging rights!

  • Battleground Blitz Novice: Win 10 Battleground Blitz Matches.
  • Battleground Blitz Apprentice: Win 25 Battleground Blitz Matches.
  • Battleground Blitz Veteran: Win 50 Battleground Blitz Matches.
  • Learning the Ropes: Complete 25 Battleground Blitz Matches.
  • Brawlroom Blitzer: Complete 50 Battleground Blitz Matches.
  • Battle-Scarred Battler: Complete 100 Battleground Blitz Matches.

The Fine Print

It’s important to note that the deserter penalty that is applied after leaving a Solo Shuffle match will also now apply for Battleground Blitz. In addition, items, spells, and toys that currently cannot be used in Rated Battlegrounds will not be able to be used in Battleground Blitz.

You’ll need to coordinate with your team to garner a win. Don’t forget to use the tools around you, including the new Ping System feature, to make sure you keep your communication on point.

Arriving with the Guardians of the Dream content update, the Battleground Blitz Brawl will push your skills in fast and furious PvP battle. Are you ready to dance?

Enhance Your Blood Elf or Druid with New Customizations

Quote from: Blizzard

Whether you’re looking for a new hair style for you blood elf or looking for a new form of expression for your Druid, the Guardians of the Dream update has what you need.

Four New Blood Elf Hair Colors

Be a more colorful you with a new hair color when you visit the Barber Shop.

New Druid Forms

With the launch of Guardians of the Dream, we’re introducing a veritable menagerie of fantastical Druid forms for you to choose from when you visit the in-game Barber Shop.

Blue and Green Dreamsabers

Bear Form

  • Runebear: Yellow
  • Umbraclaw: Brown, White, Black
  • Bristlebruin: Green, Ash

Cat Form

  • Dreamsaber: Blue, Purple, Green

Travel Form: Ground

Golden Gladehart and Purple and Blue Dreamtalon

  • Gladehart: Green, Golden, Ashes
  • Dreamtalons: Black/Purple, Blue, Green/Red, Purple/Blue, White/Green

Travel Form: Aquatic

  • Dreaming Nae’dra

Travel Form: Flight

  • Somnowl: Slumbering, Azure, Anu’relos, Flames Guidance

Moonkin

Moonkin also has a variety of new customizations including a new colors, beaks, horns,  eyebrows, whiskers, feathers, decorations, and effects. Visit your local Barber to view all the available options.

We look forward to seeing your new look in the Emerald Dream.

Developer Insight: Universal Upgrade System Improvements for Dragonflight Season 3

Quote from: Blizzard

Dragonflight is an expansion that has introduced many changes to World of Warcraft, and one of the largest of those changes is the introduction of the new universal upgrade system in Embers of Neltharion. We’re seeing it have a healthy effect on the game, but there’s still room for improvement. In Guardians of the Dream, we’re keeping the system in place but will be making a suite of changes—many based-on player feedback—to make this system both more sustainable and more player friendly.

Increase the Length of the Hero and Myth Tracks

Fractures in Time retroactively added the Myth upgrade track to gear earned above the Hero track, allowing players to upgrade their gear from Myth 1 (item level 441) up to Myth 3 (item level 447). This did a lot of good things for high-end players, but we’re making a change to address a concern that many had regarding the disparity between the upgrade tracks.

Currently, the Hero track is five upgrade levels long. The Myth track is three upgrade levels long. We’re lengthening each of these tracks by one upgrade level. In Dragonflight Season 3, the Hero track will be six upgrade levels long, letting players upgrade their gear up to Hero 6/6. In Dragonflight Season 2 item level (ilvl) terms, this would be an increase to ilvl 444. The Myth track will now go to 4, which would be like letting people upgrade their Myth gear up to 450 in Season 2.

The reason for this change is to directly address a concern players have shared around the difference between rewards from each raid tier: that there’s no significant benefit to gear earned from Heroic raid difficulty  (and equivalent Mythic Keystone levels) over Normal raid difficulty (and equivalent Mythic Keystone levels). After all, when comparing a fully upgraded piece of Champion gear and a fully upgraded piece of Hero gear, the latter is only one upgrade level higher. However, comparing Hero track and Myth track gear in the same way, fully upgraded Myth gear is two upgrade levels higher.

We agree with this concern. Two upgrade levels is a more appropriate distinction between rewards from different difficulties of content, so you can look forward to a sixth upgrade level on the Hero track and a fourth on the Myth track.

Put PvP Gear Into the Upgrade System

For Season 2, the upgrade system was a bit of an experiment, and we didn’t want to make changes to PvP gearing that was generally working well. However, since results show this went well overall, we’re going to move PvP gear onto the same upgrade tracks as other gear in the game. This change will only affect the PvE item levels on these pieces of gear. The PvP item levels are not changing, nor is the acquisition method for any kind of PvP gear. This also means that players will no longer need Honor to upgrade their PvP gear.  We’ll have additional ways for players to spend their Honor in Season 3 instead.

As part of this change, PvP activity will now allow players to get Flightstones and Crests. Flightstones will come from all activities, and Crests will come from all rated activities with higher level Crests coming from rated play at higher rating levels.

The reason for this is twofold: one, to unify all gear into this single system that PvE players have already learned and keep it so that players only need to learn the one system. New players coming in won’t have to learn two different systems and earn two different kinds of currency to upgrade different sets of gear, as this will truly be a universal upgrade system. Two, it will give players who engage with both PvP and PvE regularly more freedom to choose how they want to use their upgrades, whether for PvP or for PvE gear. Currently those players pay an opportunity cost with their PvE gear advancement any time they play PvP instead of PvE, since those activities don’t give Flightstones or Crests. We want to remove the penalty for choosing to play one type of style over the other for these players.

No More Extra Inventory Space Used

In Season 2, players collected Crest Fragments, then used 15 of those fragments to combine into a single Crest item that was used by item upgrade vendors. Because there are four kinds of crests, this meant that as many as eight inventory slots were consumed by Crests and Fragments. This was mitigated somewhat by the fact that they could occupy space in the reagent bag, but it was still a nontrivial amount of inventory management. For Season 3 and beyond, players will instead collect Crests as a currency in their currency tab. Upgrades will require spending 15 Crests each. The acquisition methods are not changing, and the amount of play needed to earn each upgrade will be the same; essentially instead of getting Crest Fragments like you did in Embers of Neltharion you will get Crest currency in Guardians of the Dream and beyond. Players won’t need to deal with Crests taking up extra inventory in their bags anymore.

We want to put less inventory management stress on players where possible. There are always going to be patch-specific items, reagents, and quest items to find that will be stored in player inventories. Inventory management will always be a part of the game and we think that’s generally good, but it doesn’t have to be a part of the upgrade system.

Players will still be able to spend Crests to create optional reagents for crafting. However, since Crests will no longer be items in players’ bags, several new reagents called “Nascent Crests” will be available from Dragonflight enchanting trainers for purchase with Crests. Nascent Crests will be used in the crafting of Enchanted Crests.

Crest Cap Update

In Dragonflight Season 3, players will be able to earn 90 Crests per week of each type. This means that players will be able to purchase six upgrades per tier per week at most—down from ten in Dragonflight Season 2. This cap will still be progressive, meaning if you don’t earn enough to reach the cap, you won’t lose out on any ability to earn Crests in future weeks.

While it was possible for players to get all ten  upgrades very quickly, it also meant that to keep up, players needed to grind. By adjusting the maximum number of upgrades, it alleviates the pressure to not fall behind while still providing a fully progressive system. Another issue of note  is that players were also reaching their item level cap two or three weeks into the season and then having no item level rewards to look forward to. A common theme in player feedback was that this season ran out of rewards too fast for many of the most dedicated players, and we agree.

By lowering the weekly cap, we keep things the same for most players (who generally never reached any of the old caps anyway) while alleviating the pressure to max out quickly for the most engaged players so they can spend more than two or three weeks before reaching maximum item level.

Trade-Ups

One of the most common requests with this system is the ability to exchange low-level Crests for higher-level Crests. After receiving this request quite a few times, we agree that in a limited form, this would be both fun and healthy. So, in Season 3, players who have run out of upgrades to purchase with a given Crest will be able to exchange their Crests upwards. To use Dragonflight Season 2 numbers, players had no more use for Whelpling’s Shadowflame Crests after reaching ilvl 411 in every gear slot (using the same rules as the catch-up discount uses), Drake’s Shadowflame Crests at ilvl424, and Wyrm’s Shadowflame Crests at ilvl437. Trade-ups will become available at those thresholds.

Trade-ups will cost a 6-to-1 ratio; once a trade-up is available, players will be able to spend 90 Crests to get 15 crests of the higher level. This will count towards both the cap on the lower level Crest being spent (since you have to earn them) and the higher level Crest being purchased, so players have no incentive to do lower-level content for Crests, though if they’re not capped then they’ll still be able to get some benefit.

For example: Tamsin regularly runs Heroic and Mythic raids, while her sister Cariel mostly only logs in to play some medium-low Keys and do Normal raids with her friends. Tamsin has long since gone past the ability to benefit from Drake’s Crest upgrades, so she’s eligible to trade Drake’s Crests in for Wyrm’s Crests. As long as Tamsin isn’t already capped on Wyrm’s Crests, if she helps Cariel out with a Normal raid night and earns some Drake’s Crests in the process, she’ll be able to trade them in eventually for the Wyrm’s Crests she’s looking for.

The reason for this change is that we want to let players continue to progress their characters even if they can’t or aren’t interested in higher level content, though at a rate that doesn’t encourage that activity among players who are able and interested in doing the more challenging activities. Players who regularly get higher level Crests will not benefit from this exchange to get around the weekly cap, as purchasing the higher-level Crests will still count towards the cap. Additionally, players who help out their friends with lower-level content will now benefit more by making some small progress towards a reward meaningful to their progression level.

Crest Fallbacks

In Dragonflight Season 3, players who would earn Crests from an activity but cannot because of the cap will instead be awarded the next highest Crest they could earn (if any). For example, if a player is ten Crests away from their Wyrm’s Crest cap and completes a +12 Mythic Keystone dungeon within the timer, they’ll earn the ten Wyrm’s Crests to reach the cap, then get two Drake’s Crests instead of earning nothing as they would have gotten in Dragonflight Season 2. If they’re also capped on Drake’s Crests, they’ll earn Whelpling’s Crests.

Our thought for this change is simply that players who have earned Crests should get them. The caps are meant to pace progression, not make players feel like they come away from playing the game with nothing. While the player may not have use for those lower-level Crests immediately, in some scenarios they may be able to trade them in for more relevant-to-them Crests in a later week when they’re not capped anymore.

Thirty-Nine Item Levels

For Season 3, we’re increasing item levels by 39 item levels over Season 2. Usually, the jump is 26 item levels, but with the new upgrade system in place, players have been using it to achieve more and higher item levels (relative to the maximum seasonal value) than in most previous seasons. This was intended,  but a secondary effect is that keeping to the same seasonal item level jump would prevent players from earning rewards from the Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope raid dungeon or other Season 3 sources that are upgrades of their Season 2 gear.

Generally speaking, when you get a piece of gear from the new raid, it should be a useful upgrade over the previous season’s gear immediately. This change ensures that will happen.

There Is No Shadowflame, Only Dreaming

Dragonflight Season 2 Crests are called Shadowflame Crests while Dragonflight Season 3 Crests will be called Dreaming Crests. Here’s what those look like.

We look forward to seeing the updated system in action during Dragonflight Season 3 and hope that players will find it to be an improvement to the system.

We’ll see you in the Emerald Dream!

Patch 10.2 PTR Development Notes 17 October 2023

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello testers! Here are this week’s notes for Guardians of the Dream PTR:

CLASSES

  • DEMON HUNTER
    • Any Means Necessary now correctly shows the same percent value before and after talenting into it.
    • Cycle of Binding now works with Precise Sigils.
    • Inertia now triggers correctly after using Immolation Aura twice before using Fel Rush.
    • Vengeance
      • Retaliation damage increased by 50%.
      • Sigil of Flame with Ascending Flame now reapplies Frailty when hit with another Sigil of Flame.
      • Chains of Anger now correctly increases cast reticle size of Sigils.
      • Developer’s note: The below changes will be applied to PTR over the course of this week.
      • Fiery Brand duration increased by 2 seconds.
      • Shear damage increased by 10%.
      • Fracture damage increased by 10%.
      • Soul Cleave damage increased by 15%.
      • Spirit Bomb damage increased by 8%.
      • Soul Barrier absorb values increased by 25%.
      • Fel Devastation damage increased by 30%.
      • Stoke the Flames damage bonus for Fel Devastation reduced to 35% (was 40%).
      • Fel Flame Fortification and Revel in Pain talents have swapped locations.
      • Deflecting Spikes is no longer connected to Calcified Spikes and Retaliation in the talent tree.
      • Fixed an issue causing the Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope Set Bonus to fail to reduce the cooldown of Sigil of Flame.
  • DRUID
    • Balance
      • Fixed a few issues with Balance’s Mastery. Mastery’s default damage bonuses now correctly increase the damage of Wild Mushroom, Power of Goldrinn, and Orbital Strike.
    • Guardian
      • Blood Frenzy now grants 3 Rage each time Thrash deals damage (was 2).
  • MONK
    • Escape from Reality is now a 1-rank talent (was 2).
    • Brewmaster
      • Fixed an issue with targeting on damage dealt by the Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus.
      • Fixed issues preventing Charred Passions, Invoke Niuzao the Black Ox, Dragonfire Brew, and White Tiger Statue from triggering the Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus.
      • Fixed an issue causing Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus to deal less damage than intended.
    • Mistweaver
      • Clouded Focus now stacks up to 2 times (was 3) and no longer increases the healing of Vivify and Enveloping Mist before its first application.
      • Vivify and Invigorating Mist healing increased by 12%.
      • Expel Harm’s healing is now reduced by 40% in PvP combat.
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Chi Harmony now stores 20% of all healing done (was 15%).
      • Faeline Stomp’s initial heal and damage increased by 100%.
        • Developers’ note: We felt Faeline Stomp was not impactful enough on its own for how often it is pressed to activate other effects.
      • Bounce Back now triggers after receiving 12% of your health in damage (was 15%) and lasts an additional 2 seconds.
      • Unison now heals for 50% of Soothing Mist’s healing done (was 75%).
      • Life Cocoon can no longer be canceled.
        • Developers’ note: Canceling Life Cocoon early was sometimes optimal in order to trigger Nourishing Chi.
  • PALADIN
    • Holy
      • Reclamation now refunds up to 10% of Crusader Strike or Holy Shock’s mana cost (was 12%).
      • Holy Shock now costs 2.8% base mana (was 2.4%).
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Holy Reverberation healing decreased by 10%.
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Holy Reverberation may stack up to 6 times (was 3).
  • ROGUE
    • Vigor now increases energy regeneration by 5/10%. (Was 8/15%).
    • Subterfuge refreshes duration correctly when broken out of Vanish while another Subterfuge is active.
    • Lethality now interacts with Blade Flurry when talented into Deft Maneuvers.
    • Grand Melee now increases damage dealt correctly.
    • Heavy Hitter now interacts with Blade Flurry if talented into Deft Maneuvers.
    • Assassination
      • Indiscriminate Carnage distance to nearby targets is now calculated from the caster player rather than the affected target.
      • Poison Bomb now works with Caustic Spatter.
      • Kingsbane initial damage now critically strikes when used with Cold Blood.
      • Internal Bleeding applies to mouseover target if used from a mouseover macro.
      • Dragon Tempered Blades now correctly applies to Numbing Poison.
    • Outlaw
      • Killing Spree self damage is now reduced during Cheat Death.
      • Crackshot now works with Sepsis.
      • Crackshot now correctly triggers Dispatch from Between the Eyes for all Stealth conditions.
      • Take ’em by Surprise duration adjusts correctly with different stealth interactions.
    • Subtlety
      • Ephemeral Bond now correctly increases the healing done by Crimson Vile ability and Soothing Darkness.
      • Replicating Shadows distance to nearby targets is now calculated from the player, rather than the target.
      • Shadowed Finishers procs no longer incorrectly consume Goremaw’s Bite stacks.
      • Shadow Techniques takes Premeditation into account when used 2 extra combo points are generated from having Slice and Dice active.
      • Dark Brew now correctly increases damage of Instant and Wound poison.
      • Sepsis now grants full combo points with Shadow Blades.
  • SHAMAN
    • Elemental
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (2) Set Bonus – Now grants an Elemental Blast at 70% damage (was 100%) and now grants 10 seconds of all 3 Elemental Blast buffs (was 15 seconds).
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus – Bonus Lava Bursts now deal 65% of normal damage (was 100%) and Lava Burst’s burn damage is now 10% (was 15%).
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus – Fixed an issue causing some damage modifiers to apply multiple times to Lava Burst’s burn effect.
      • Further Beyond can now extend the duration of Ascendance by up to 100% (was 150%).
    • Restoration
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus – Increases the healing of Riptide by 20% (was 15%).
      • Chain Heal now costs 5.6% of base mana (was 6%).
  • WARRIOR
    • Fury
      • Storm of Swords now gives Slam a 9 second cooldown (was 12 seconds).

ITEMS

  • The Revival Catalyst will be available during the first week of Season 3. However, players will only gain a charge every two weeks instead of every week.
  • AMIRDRASSIL, THE DREAMS HOPE RAID REWARDS
    • In conjunction with the earlier opening of the Revival Catalyst, tier armor tokens will continue to drop at the current 1:3 rate relative to non-tier loot.
      • Developers’ note: By shifting more of tier acquisition to the Revival Catalyst and away from tier token drops, we expect that players will complete their set bonuses at the same rate or faster than Season 2. While raiders will still enjoy an edge as the season begins, players who prefer not to raid will be far closer behind them than previously.
    • Very Rare item drop rates have been further adjusted, and these now have a chance to drop in addition to a boss’s typical quantity of loot; for example, a 20-player group could receive one tier token, three non-tier items, and Dreambinder, Loom of the Great Cycle.
      • Developers’ note: As we continue to iterate on Very Rare items, we hope that elevating them to drop independently as bonus loot will feel less frustrating than knowing that Icewrath’s Channeling Conduit could have been a Whispering Incarnate Icon. This also ensures that drop rates are consistent across all Very Rare items.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

  • ITEMS
    • Fang Adornments (Embellishment) damage reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Leaf of the Ancient Protectors absorption reduced by 60% in PvP combat.
    • Ember of Nullification silence duration reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Caged Horror damage reduced by 60% in PvP combat.
    • Corrupted Starlight damage reduced by 75% in PvP combat.
    • Oakheart’s Gnarled Root damage and slow reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • My’das Talisman damage reduced by 55% in PvP combat.
    • Revitalizing Voodoo Totem heal reduced by 55% in PvP combat.
    • Vessel of Skittering Shadows damage reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Balefire Branch intelligence gain reduced by 70% in PvP combat.
    • Prophetic Stonescales health restored, haste gained, and damage reduction reduced by 75% in PvP combat.
    • Iridal, the Earth’s Master damage (on use effect) reduced by 75% in PvP combat.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

  • The Premade Group Finder now shows the applicant’s specialization in the tooltip.
  • The “Remove Recruit” option has been removed from the right click menu in the Recruit a Friend pane.
  • MACROS
    • Macros can no longer conditionally execute commands based on your party state.
    • Macros can no longer change equipment using /script, /run, or the Lua API. Equipment can still be changed using regular macro commands such as /equip.
    • Technical notes:
      • UI Macros have been restricted in a few ways. The general issue was there were several exploits to conditionally execute macro commands. These exploits tended to use un-restricted Lua API functions that happened to mutate states that various macro options/conditionals queried, or selectively register the globally available MacroEditBox for the event that would run commands
      • To address the state mutation, two methods were employed:
        • Converting APIs like PickupInventoryItem to be restricted when trying to change gear during combat.
        • Caching the state queried by the macro conditional when combat starts so that the state remains invariant while combat is in progress. Macro options that check party membership and composition uses the cached state approach.
      • To address selective event registration the MacroEditBox was removed from the global namespace and the event was replaced with a callback.

Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope Raid Overview and Schedule

Quote from: Blizzard

Gather your allies and join the Dream Wardens as they stand against the machinations of Fyrakk and his allies, the Druids of the Flame—for fame, for glory, for the World Tree—and for the rewards. You’ll face nine new bosses and engage in a Dragonriding encounter, leading to the ultimate showdown at the top of Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope.

Having been carefully nurtured within the Emerald Dream, Amirdrassil is preparing to bloom and cross into Azeroth. But the fate of the new World Tree cannot be secured until Azeroth’s champions come together to face Fyrakk and his molten allies before he devours the heart of Amirdrassil and bathes the world in flame.

End Fyrakk’s chaos and earn great rewards for your efforts, such as new class sets and a new Legendary weapon—Fyr’alath, the Dream Render.

Raid Bosses: 9
Difficulties: Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic, Mythic
Level: 70
Raid Finder Minimum Item Level: 424

Raid Unlock Schedule

  • Week of November 14—Raid Finder Wing 1: Incarnates Wake (Gnarlroot – Igira the Cruel – Smolderon), Normal, Heroic, Mythic
  • Week of November 21— Raid Finder Wing 2: Molten Incursion (Volcoross – Larodar, Keeper of the Flame)
  • Week of November 28— Raid Finder Wing 3: The Viridian Weave (Council of Dreams – Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle)
  • Week of December 12—Raid Finder Wing 4: Fate of Amirdrassil (Tindral Sageswift – Seer of the Flame, Fyrakk the Blazing)
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GNARLROOT

Once a devoted protector of the Emerald Dream, this formerly majestic ancient has been ravaged by flame and now only seeks to destroy.

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IGIRA THE CRUEL

Driven by cruelty, Igira is able to forge devastating weapons from the screams of her enemies. Within the verdant realm of the Emerald Dream, the torturer seeks to expand her arsenal.

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VOLCOROSS

It is said that Volcoross, the lava serpent, is so vast that no creature has lived long enough to see him in his entirety. The gargantuan viper now coils himself around the Emerald Dream to devour it whole.

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COUNCIL OF DREAMS

The Council of Dreams are steadfast in their duties as defenders. Pip employs lethal trickery to confound his victims, while Urctos relies on brute strength to demolish his enemies. Aerwynn uses her wisdom and cunning to dominate the field and guide her fellow council members.

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LARODAR, KEEPER OF THE FLAME

Once the faithful protector of the grove, Larodar succumbed to the power of flame. Now the twisted guardian is bent on reducing the Dream—and any who stand in his way—to ash.

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NYMUE, WEAVER OF THE CYCLE

Nymue was placed in this verdant realm when Eonar and Freya shaped the Dream. In Wellspring Temple, they enforce and protect the ordering of the emerald Dream, weaving its wilderness into complex patterns.

 

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SMOLDERON

As the new Firelord, Smolderon has unleashed the power of the Firelands to expand his domain and incinerate the Emerald Dream.

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TINDRAL SAGESWIFT, SEER OF THE FLAME

Obsessed with restoring immortality to the Kaldorei, Tindral Sageswift agreed to work with Fyrakk. On the cusp of Fyrakk’s victory, the Seer of the Flame stands against the champions of Azeroth, ready to ensure Amirdrassil is reborn in flame.

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FYRAKK THE BLAZING

Engorged with the power of shadowflame and wielding the legendary axe Fyr’alath the Dream Render, Fyrakk now prepares to feast on the energies of Amirdrassil itself.

All Difficulties

  • Incarnate’s Wake: Defeat the following bosses that assault the Wellspring Temple within Amirdrassil, the ream’s Hope: Gnarlroot – Igira the Cruel – Smolderon.
  • Molten Incursion: Defeat the following bosses that burn the Wellspring Temple within Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope: Volcoross – Larodar, Keeper of the Flame.
  • The Viridian Wave: Defeat the following bosses that attack all interlopers within Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope: Council of Dreams – Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle.
  • Fate of Amirdrassil: Defeat the following bosses that threaten Amirdrassil’s existence within Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope: Tindral Sageswift, Seer of the Flame – Fyrakk the Blazing.
  • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope: Defeat the following bosses on any difficulty: Gnarlroot – Igira the Cruel – Volcoross – Larodar, Keeper of the Flame – Council of Dreams – Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle – Smolderon – Tindral Sageswift,  Seer of the Flame – Fyrakk the Blazing.

Normal Difficulty and Higher

  • Cruelty Free: Defeat Igira after freeing the scorched critters in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Normal difficulty or higher.
  • Swog Champion: Defeat Volcoross after he has consumed at least 30 Sizzling Swoggers in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Normal difficulty or higher.
  • Ducks In A Row: Defeat the Council of Dreams after recruiting Seargeant Quakers to join the cause in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Normal difficulty or higher.
  • A Dream Within a Dream: Defeat Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle after successfully collecting 5 Dream Projections while asleep and defeating the Manifested Monarch in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Normal Difficulty or Higher.
  • Don’t Let the Doe Hit You on The Way Out: Defeat Larodar, Keeper of the Flame with Ivy extinguished and alive in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Normal difficulty or higher.
  • Haven’t We Done This Before?: Defeat Smolderon after dousing all 6 Runes of the Firelord in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Normal difficulty or Higher.
  • Whelp, I’m Lost: Defeat Tindral Sageswift after rescuing 6 Lost Whelps in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Normal Difficulty or higher.
  • Memories of Teldrassil: Defeat Fyrakk the Blazing after collecting six Memories of Teldrassil and returning their sprits to the Heart of Amirdrassil in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Normal difficulty or higher.

Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope Meta-Achievement

Glory of the Dream Raider: Complete the Dream’s Hope raid achievements listed—Meaner Pastures, Cruelty Free, Swog Champion, Ducks in A Row, Don’t Let the Doe Hit You On The Way Out, A Dream Within A Dream, Haven’t We Done This Before?, Whelp, I’m Lost, Memories of Teldrassil

Mount Reward: Reins of the Shadow Dusk Dreamsaber

Heroic Difficulty or Higher

Ahead of the Curve: Fyrakk the Blazing—Defeat Fyrakk the Blazing in Amirdrassil, the Dreams’ Hope on Heroic difficulty or higher before the release of the next raid tier.

Mount Reward: Renewed Proto-Drake: Embodiment of Shadowflame customization

Cutting Edge: Fyrakk the Blazing—Defeat Fyrakk the Blazing in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Mythic difficulty before the release of the next raid tier.

Mythic Difficulty

  • Mythic: Gnarlroot: Defeat Gnarlroot in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Mythic difficulty.
  • Mythic: Igira the Cruel: Defeat Igira the Druel in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Mythic difficulty.
  • Mythic: Volcoross: Defeat Volcoross in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Mythic difficulty.
  • Mythic: Council of Dreams: Defeat Council of Dreams in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Mythic difficulty.
  • Mythic: Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle: Defeat Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Mythic difficulty.
  • Mythic: Smolderon: Defeat Smolderon in Amirdrassil the Dream’s Hope on mythic difficulty.
  • Mythic: Tindral Sageswift, Seer of the Flame: Defeat Tindral Sageswift, Seer of the Flame in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Mythic difficulty.
  • Mythic: Fyrakk the Blazing: Defeat Fyrakk the Blazing in Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope on Mythic Difficulty.

Title Reward: The Blazing

Players can also look forward to a variety of new rewards including new class sets, gear, and a new mount and Dragonriding customization: Reins of Anu’relos, Flame’s Guidance  (Mythic Difficulty) and Renewed Proto-Drake: Embodiment of the Blazing customization (available in all difficulties).

New Legendary Weapon

Fyr’alath, the Dream Render: Two-Handed Axe (Death Knights, Paladins, Warriors)

New 5-Piece Class Armor Sets

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DEATH KNIGHT, MONK, DRUID, HUNTER

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EVOKER, PALADIN, WARRIOR

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ROGUE, MAGE, PRIEST

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WARLOCK, SHAMAN, DEMON HUNTER

Hotfixes: October 13, 2023

Quote from: Blizzard

October 13, 2023

Items

  • Fixed an issue that could prevent “Windborne Velocidrake: Visage of the Infinite” from dropping for some players.
  • Sockets may now be added to Dreamsurge gear.
    • Developers’ notes: Gear that was acquired through the Dreamsurge before this hotfix will not be eligible for socketing.

Quests

  • Fixed a bug that could prevent the Maruuk Centaur quest “Farrier Rondare” from proceeding as intended.

World

  • Fixed a bug preventing Zidormi from toggling to both versions of Theramore as expected.

Patch 10.2 PTR Development Notes 11 October 2023

Quote from: Blizzard

Here are the changes for this week’s Guardians of the Dream PTR update:

CLASSES

  • DEMON HUNTER
    • Concentrated Sigils has been removed.
    • Havoc
      • Tactical Retreat and Unbound Chaos have swapped talent locations.
      • Burning Hatred now generates an additional 40 Fury (was 50).
      • Inner Demon now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets.
      • Inertia damage bonus reduced to 18% (was 20%).
      • Chaotic Disposition chaos damage duplicated reduced to 17% (was 21%).
    • Vengeance
      • Darkglare Boon and Sigil of Misery have swapped talent locations.
      • Fel Devastation cooldown reduced to 40 seconds (was 1 minutes).
      • Fiery Brand now deals damage every 1 second (was 2 seconds), dealing the same total damage over its duration.
      • Burning Alive now causes Fiery Brand to spread every 1 second (was 2 seconds).
  • DRUID
    • Balance
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (2) Set Bonus: Now increases the damage of Wrath and Starfire by 100% (was 60%).
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Now increases your current Eclipse’s Arcane or Nature damage bonus by an additional 2% (was 3%), up to 10% (was 15%).
  • EVOKER
    • Devastation
      • All spell and ability damage increased by 3%.
      • Disintegrate damage increased by 15%.
  • MONK
    • Mistweaver
      • Bounce Back now reduces damage by 20/40% (was 10/20%) and triggers when you receive 15% of your maximum health in damage (was 20%). Does not apply in PvP combat.
      • Clouded Focus now stacks up to 2 times (was 3) and no longer increases the healing of Vivify before its first application.
      • Vivify and Invigorating Mist healing increased by 12%.
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Chi Harmony now stores 20% of all healing done (was 15%).
    • Windwalker
      • Developers’ note: We liked the positive effect that Fangs of the Vermillion Forge had on Windwalker single target damage, and are transferring some of that power from the class set into the base specialization as players adventure into Amirdrassil and replace their existing gear. The net effect of these changes is an overall increase in character power.Additionally, we heard player concerns that the effort required to play Whirling Dragon Punch wasn’t worth the resulting increase in power. We agree, and have increased the damage it deals as a result.We have also added additional damage to the Amirdrassil (4) set as the cooldown reduction, while fun, was not entirely meeting our goals for additional power granted by the bonus.
      • Rising Sun Kick damage increased by 10%.
      • Fists of Fury damage increased by 5% and additional damage to primary target increased by 10%.
      • Whirling Dragon Punch damage increased by 10%.
      • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible (2) Set Bonus: Rising Sun Kick bonus damage reduced to 5% (was 10%).
      • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible (4) Set Bonus: Fists of Fury primary target damage reduced to 20% (was 30%).
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Now increases the damage of Fists of Fury, Rising Sun Kick, Strike of the Windlord, and Whirling Dragon Punch by 4%.
  • PRIEST
    • Shadow
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (2) Set Bonus: Now triggers additional Shadow Word: Deaths at 15% effectiveness (was 20%).
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Now increases the damage of Shadow Crash by 50% per stack (was 100%).
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Now highlights Shadow Word: Pain and Shadow Crash at 12 stacks (was 10).
  • ROGUE
    • Improved Wound Poison, Superior Mixture, and Atrophic/Numbing Poisons have shuffled talent locations.
    • Assassination
      • Leeching Poison now grants 10% Leech (was 5%). Does not apply in PvP combat.
      • Crimson Tempest damage reduced by 5%.
      • Blindside now causes Ambush to replace Mutilate when the effect is triggered.
      • Sanguine Blades energy consumed per tick reduced to 2 (was 3) and damage duplicated increased to 25% (was 20%).
      • Sudden Demise now has a 10 second delay after triggering before being able to trigger again on the same target.
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Envenomous Explosion’s damage is increased by 150% if it deals damage to a single target.
    • Outlaw
      • Sinister Strike damage increased by 10%.
      • Audacity now causes Ambush to replace Sinister Strike when the effect is triggered.
      • Killing Spree damage increased by 25%.
    • Subtlety
      • Eviscerate damage increased by 8%.
      • Exhilarating Execution now causes finishing moves to heal for 5% of damage done (was 3%).
      • Shadowed Finishers finisher shadow damage value increased to 30% (was 25%).
      • Shuriken Tornado Shuriken Storms triggered by Shuriken Tornado no longer generate bonus combo points from Shadow Blades.
  • SHAMAN
    • Elemental
      • Fixed an issue where Splintered Elements was incorrectly granting you 4% extra Haste than intended when activating against a single target.
      • Elemental Blast can now refresh and extend the duration of the Haste, Critical Strike, and Mastery effects to up to 130% of the base 10 second duration, but will still prefer to apply a buff that you don’t already have.
      • Fixed an issue where Further Beyond would not properly extend Ascendance to the maximum duration if the extension amount would have put it beyond the maximum extension amount.
      • Fixed an issue where Further Beyond didn’t properly extend extra Ascendance activations from Deeply Rooted Elements if you were already under the effects of Ascendance from Deeply Rooted Elements.
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Fixed an issue where the 4-set bonus was being activated without having the 4-set equipped.
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Fixed an issue where subsequent Lava Bursts after Primordial Wave from the 4-set bonus were causing Splintered Elements talent to active.
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Fixed an issue where Lava Bursts benefitting from Molten Charge from the 4-set bonus were dealing 80% of expected damage rather than 100% of expected damage.
    • Enhancement
      • Fixed an issue where Splintered Elements was incorrectly granting you 4% extra Haste than intended when activating against a single target.
    • Restoration
      • Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope (4) Set Bonus: Now increases the healing of Riptide by 20% (was 15%).
  • WARLOCK
    • Affliction
      • Soul-Eater’s Gluttony has been redesigned – Soul Rot cooldown is reduced by 15/30 seconds.
      • Fixed an issue where Umbrafire Kindling would only increase the damage of Seed of Corruption to the main target.
    • Demonology
      • Doom Brand is now more consistent with summoning a Doomfiend.
      • Doom Brand now has a chance to summon a Doomfiend when dispelled, rather than only when detonated.
      • Doom Brand is now only applied when consuming a Demonic Core.
      • Immutable Hatred should no longer be lost if your Felguard is out of range. Instead, he will use it as soon as he is within range.
      • Fixed an issue where Immutable Hatred was still functioning as its previous iteration.
    • Destruction
      • Fixed an issue where Dimensional Cinders would benefit twice from Critical Strikes.
  • WARRIOR
    • Fury
      • Developers’ note: The previous design of Reckless Abandon was influencing builds and rotations too heavily, encouraging players to focus entirely on either Bloodthirst or Raging Blow at the expense of the other. We want Fury Warriors to use both abilities regularly, so we are changing the design slightly so it only affects your rotation choice immediately after using Rampage to open up more build options. These changes will be applied to the 10.2 PTR via hotfix over the course of the week.
      • Reckless Abandon now only empowers your next 1 Bloodthirst or Raging Blow (was 2).
      • Reckless Abandon’s Bloodbath and Crushing Blow bonus damage has been doubled.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

  • ROGUE
    • Outlaw
      • Killing Spree damage no longer increased in PvP combat (was increased by 5%).

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

  • To improve readability in the Quest pane, you can now choose between different background parchment colors.
  • A new celebratory popup will appear when you unlock a Great Vault slot or upgrade the reward of a slot.
  • In the Reputation pane, Major Factions are now grouped together at the top of the list.