Category: Dragonflight

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.

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.