Category: Dragonflight

Pathfinder will be coming in 10.2. Its implementation has not been finalized on PTR. More details will be coming soon. Unlocking pathfinder will allow you to use your non-dragonriding mounts in the Dragon Isles.

Guardians of the Dream features all new Tier Set armor for every class. We’re excited to share them with you today.

Please note that the designs and values below are a work in progress. When these sets are ready for testing, the Guardians of the Dream PTR may include values that are older than what you see here, and values may be updated on the PTR with changes to these sets via hotfix at any time.

Class Set Design

In the Guardians of the Dream update, set bonuses can interact with or modify talents anywhere on the talent tree. We expect them to shake up some builds that you’ve been using, enable entirely new builds, or further augment some high-powered abilities as you gear up in Season 3.

Set Bonuses

Death Knight

Blood

(2) Set Bonus: Consuming a Bone Shield charge has a chance to cause your next Heart Strike to apply Ashen Decay, reducing damage dealt to you by 10% and increasing your damage dealt to afflicted targets by 20% for 8 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Soulreaper’s execute damage and Abomination Limb’s damage applies Ashen Decay to enemy targets, and Heart Strike and Blood Boil’s direct damage extends Ashen Decay by 1 second.

Frost

(2) Set Bonus: Chill Streak’s range is increased by 4 yds and can bounce off of you. Each time Chill Streak bounces off an enemy your damage is increased by 4% for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.

(4) Set Bonus: Chill Streak can bounce 2 additional times and each time it bounces, you have a 40% chance to gain a Rune, reduce Chill Streak cooldown by 5 seconds, or reduce the cooldown of Empower Rune Weapon by 10 seconds.

Unholy

(2) Set Bonus: Set Bonus: Apocalypse summons an additional Magus of the Dead. Your Magus of the Dead Shadow Bolt now fires a volley of Shadow Bolt’s at up to 4 nearby enemies.

(4) Set Bonus: Set Bonus: Each Rune you spend increases the duration of your active Magus’ by 0.5 seconds and your Magus will now also cast Amplify Damage, increasing the damage you deal by 5% for 10 seconds.

Demon Hunter

Havoc

(2) Set Bonus: Each slash of Blade Dance has a 50% chance to Throw Glaive an enemy for 35% damage.

(4) Set Bonus: Throw Glaive reduces the remaining cooldown of The Hunt by 0.4 seconds, and The Hunt’s damage over time effect lasts 4 seconds longer.

Vengeance

(2) Set Bonus: Sigil of Flame’s periodic damage has a chance to flare up, shattering an additional Soul Fragment from a target and dealing additional damage. Each 40 Fury you spend reduces its cooldown by 1 second.

(4) Set Bonus: When you attack a target afflicted by Sigil of Flame, your damage and healing are increased by 2% and your maximum health is increased by 2% for 8 seconds, stacking up to 5.

Druid

Balance

(2) Set Bonus: When Eclipse ends or when you enter combat, enter a Dreamstate, reducing the cast time of your next 2 Starfires or Wraths by 40% and increasing their damage by 60%.

(4) Set Bonus: Starsurge or Starfall increase your current Eclipse’s Arcane or Nature damage bonus by an additional 3%, up to 15%.

Feral

(2) Set Bonus: Feral Frenzy grants Smoldering Frenzy, increasing all damage you deal by 20% for 8 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Feral Frenzy’s cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds. During Smoldering Frenzy, enemies burn for 10% of damage you deal as Fire over 10 seconds.

Guardian

(2) Set Bonus: 20% of your damage and healing and 100% of the armor you gain during Rage of the Sleeper fuel the growth of Dream Thorns, which wreath you in their protection after Rage of the Sleeper expires, absorbing 10% of damage dealt to you while the thorns remain.

(4) Set Bonus: Each 40 Rage you spend while Rage of the Sleeper is active extends its duration by 1 second, up to 5. Your Dream Thorns become Blazing Thorns, causing damage absorbed to be reflected at the attacker.

Restoration

(2) Set Bonus: You and your Grove Guardian’s Nourishes now heal 2 additional allies within 40 yds at 40% effectiveness.

(4) Set Bonus: Clearcasting now causes your Regrowth to also cast Nourish onto a nearby injured ally at 200% effectiveness, preferring those with your heal over time effects.

Evoker

Augmentation

(2) Set Bonus: Every third Prescience lasts 100% longer.

(4) Set Bonus: Casting Prescience enhances your next Eruption with smaller fissures for each Prescience you have active, each dealing 110% SP damage and extending Ebon Might by 0.2 seconds.

Devastation

(2) Set Bonus: While Dragonrage is active you gain Emerald Trance every 6 seconds, increasing your damage done by 5.0%, stacking up to 5 times.

(4) Set Bonus: When Dragonrage ends, Emerald Trance persists for 5 seconds per stack and grants you Essence Burst every 5 seconds.

Preservation

(2) Set Bonus: Empower spells cast Living Flame at enemies or allies struck at 40% effectiveness.

(4) Set Bonus: Living Flame has a chance to apply Echo at 100% effectiveness on allies healed, or a nearby ally who doesn’t already have Echo.

Hunter

Beast Mastery

(2) Set Bonus: Bestial Wrath summons a Dire Beast for 15 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Dire Beasts now obey your Kill Command and can gain Beast Cleave.

Marksmanship

(2) Set Bonus: Rapid Fire launches a Volley at the target for 2 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Legacy of the Windrunner now gives Volley a 15% chance to fire Wind Arrows at targets when dealing damage.

Survival

(2) Set Bonus: Fury of the Eagle increases you and your pet’s critical strike chance by 15% and critical damage dealt by 15% for 12 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Fury of the Eagle throws a free Wildfire Bomb at your current target at 100% effectiveness, generates 1 charge of Wildfire Bomb, and increases the damage Wildfire Bomb deals to your primary target by 40% for 12 seconds.

Paladin

Holy

(2) Set Bonus: When Glimmer of Light dissipates or is refreshed, it creates a Holy Reverberation on its target to heal an ally or damage an enemy for over 8 seconds. Multiple Holy Reverberations may overlap, up to 3 times.

(4) Set Bonus: The cooldown of Daybreak is reduced by 15 seconds.

Retribution

(2) Set Bonus: Expurgation lasts an additional 4 seconds and deals 50% increased damage. Casting Judgment or Divine Toll on a target with Expurgation causes Wrathful Sanction, dealing Holy damage to the target and resonating 20% of the Holy damage up to 4 nearby enemies.

(4) Set Bonus: Wrathful Sanction grants you Echoes of Wrath, causing your next Templar’s Verdict and Divine Storm to deal damage a second time at 50% effectiveness. This effect does not consume Judgment.

Protection

(2) Set Bonus: Judgment grants a stack of Sanctification, increasing your armor by 1% per stack. Upon reaching 10 stacks, your next cast of Consecration is empowered, increasing its damage and healing by 200% and its radius by 30%. Sanctification’s stacks are reset when your empowered Consecration ends.

(4) Set Bonus: While you are within an empowered Consecration, your abilities have a chance to deal 20% bonus damage or healing as Fire.

Mage

Arcane

(2) Set Bonus: Consuming Clearcasting increases spell damage by 2% for 15 seconds, stacking up to 10%.

(4) Set Bonus: After consuming Clearcasting 6 times, your next Arcane Missiles deals 75% increased damage and fires at up to enemies near your target.

Fire

(2) Set Bonus: When Pyroblast and Flamestrike critically strike you gain Searing Rage, increasing your critical strike damage by 3% for 12 seconds, stacking up to 15%.

(4) Set Bonus: Activating Combustion increases the critical strike damage bonus of Searing Rage by 100% for 12 seconds.

Frost

(2) Set Bonus: Glacial Spike damage increased by 10% and it explodes when it Shatters a frozen target, dealing 20% of its damage dealt to nearby enemies. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.

(4) Set Bonus: Casting Glacial Spike has a 40% chance to trigger Brain Freeze.

Monk

Brewmaster

(2) Set Bonus: Breath of Fire deals 20% bonus damage as Shadowflame and causes you to heal for 50% of all Fire damage dealt.

(4) Set Bonus: Your attacks against targets afflicted by Breath of Fire have a chance to deal 5% extra damage as Shadowflame, and each Celestial Brew also grants a Stagger absorb equal to the amount of Shadowflame damage you have dealt, causing damage delayed by Stagger to instead be prevented.

Mistweaver

(2) Set Bonus: Renewing Mist and its jumps apply Chi Harmony, increasing its targets healing taken from you by 50% for 8 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: 15% of all healing you do to targets with Chi Harmony is stored and then dispersed evenly among your allies with Renewing Mist when Chi Harmony fades or is refreshed.

Windwalker

(2) Set Bonus: Melee attacks have a chance to make your next Spinning Crane Kick free. Free Spinning Crane Kicks grant Ebontoes, increasing the damage of your next Blackout Kick by 100%.

(4) Set Bonus: Ebontoes empowered Blackout Kicks reduce the cooldown of Fists of Fury, Rising Sun Kick, Strike of the Windlord and Whirling Dragon Punch by 1 second.

Priest

Discipline

(2) Set Bonus: Smite and Penance damage increased by 20% and Smite extends the duration of an active Atonement by 2 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Smite has a 100% chance to cast an additional time during Shadow Covenant, dealing Shadow damage.

Holy

(2) Set Bonus: Holy Word: Serenity applies 14 seconds of Renew to its target. Holy Word: Sanctify applies 5 seconds of Renew to allies it heals.

(4) Set Bonus: Renew’s healing has a chance to cause your next Holy Word: Sanctify or Holy Word: Serenity to not consume a charge when cast and cost 50% less Mana, stacking up to 2 times.

Shadow

(2) Set Bonus: Shadow Word: Death triggers 2 additional times at 50% effectiveness. Triggers again 1 additional time at 50% effectiveness if Deathspeaker is active or your target is below 20% health.

(4) Set Bonus: Each time you take damage from Shadow Word: Death, gain a stack of Death’s Torment, increasing the initial damage of your next cast of Shadow Word: Pain by 250% or the damage of your next Shadow Crash by 50%, stacking up to 12 times.

Shaman

Elemental

(2) Set Bonus: Primordial Wave also casts an Elemental Blast at the target at 100% effectiveness, and grants you all three Elemental Blast bonus effects for 15.0 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: For 10 seconds after using Primordial Wave, whenever you consume Lava Surge, your next Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning is instant cast and deals 25% increased damage.

Enhancement

(2) Set Bonus: Primordial Wave summons a Lightning Feral Spirit that increases your Nature damage dealt by 20% for 15 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Summoning a Feral Spirit reduces the cooldown of Primordial Wave by 7.0 seconds.

Restoration

(2) Set Bonus: Chain Heal, Healing Surge, and Healing Wave mark their initial target with a Tidal Reservoir, causing them to receive 15% of all Riptide healing you deal for 10 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Riptide’s healing is increased by 15%. If Riptide is active on the same target as Tidal Reservoir, its heal over time effect has a 10% chance to create a new Riptide on a nearby ally.

Rogue

Assassination

(2) Set Bonus: Each 10 energy you spend grants Natureblight, granting 1% attack speed and 1% Nature damage for 6 seconds. Multiple instances of Natureblight may overlap, up to 15.

(4) Set Bonus: Envenom with Envenom active explodes, dealing Nature damage to all enemies within 8 yards. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.

Outlaw

(2) Set Bonus: Sinister Strike has an additional 15% chance of striking an additional time.

(4) Set Bonus: Roll the Bones additionally refreshes a random Roll the Bones combat enhancement buff you currently posses for 40 seconds.

Subtlety

(2) Set Bonus: Using Eviscerate, Rupture, or Black Powder has a chance to summon a shadow clone to echo your finishing move for 50% additional Shadow damage.

(2) Set Bonus: Your shadow clones deal 10% increased damage with all attacks and grant you 2 combo points per clone when summoned.

Warlock

Affliction

(2) Set Bonus: Soul Rot deals 15% increased damage and lasts an additional 4 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Soul Rot causes your next 3 casts of Malefic Rapture within 12 seconds to deal 50% increased damage and extend the duration of your Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Haunt, Vile Taint and Phantom Singularity by 2 seconds.

Demonology

(2) Set Bonus: Demonbolt now applies a Doom Brand that explodes after 20 seconds, dealing (79% Spell Power) Shadow damage to nearby enemies. Demonbolt and Hand of Gul’dan reduce the duration of the primary target’s Doom Brand by 1 second.

(4) Set Bonus: Hand of Gul’dan damage increased by 15%. When Doom Brand explodes, you have a chance to summon a Doomfiend that blasts your target for (81% Spell Power) Shadow damage every 3 seconds for 15 seconds.

Destruction

(2) Set Bonus: Immolate damage increased by 20%. Immolate periodic damage has a chance to grant a charge of Dimensional Rift.

(4) Set Bonus: Dimensional Rift can now summon a powerful Flame Rift which fires 20 Searing Bolts that deal (25% of Spell Power) Fire damage to its target and an additional (10% of Spell Power) Fire damage over 10 seconds to nearby enemies.

Warrior

Arms

(2) Set Bonus: Rend damage increased by 30% and has a chance to trigger Sudden Death.

(4) Set Bonus: Sudden Death also causes your next Execute to cut deeply, causing the target to bleed for 50% of the damage of the Execute and triggers a Thunder Clap that deals 100% additional damage.

Fury

(2) Set Bonus: Odyn’s Fury deals 50% increased damage and causes your next 3 Bloodthirsts to deal 150% additional damage and have 100% increased critical strike chance against its primary target.

(4) Set Bonus: Bloodthirst critical strikes reduce the cooldown of Odyn’s Fury by 2.5 seconds.

Protection

(2) Set Bonus: Spending Rage has a chance to cause your next Shield Slam to consume your bleeds on a target, instantly dealing 100% of remaining damage and reducing the target’s damage dealt to you by 10% for 5 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: When your bleeds are consumed on a target, their damage dealt to you is reduced by an additional 2% per bleed consumed, the cooldown of Thunder Clap is reset, and the cooldown of Thunderous Roar is reduced by 1 second.

Healers have a lot of decisions and resources to manage that change depending on the type of content you are doing. At its core, we want healers to have interesting abilities and choices to make while healing, and we want you to have to manage your mana pool. We’re hoping our changes reduce the amount of overhealing and make mana matter slightly more, which should make healing across the game a more enjoyable experience.

Single target healing spells currently don’t feel like they move the health bar enough. We want these heals to be impactful and have a purpose, and hope this makes healing a Mythic+ dungeon less stressful for healers.

Group healing spells have seen a lot of modifications and increases to their total throughput over the course of Dragonflight. These spells often feel like they are rapidly increasing a raid from a damaged state to a full health state. We plan on adjusting the effectiveness of many of these spells.

Raid survivability cooldowns feel like they have all entered the territory of making your raid feel nearly invulnerable when being used. While it’s a great moment for everyone to stack in a Power Word: Barrier and reduce damage taken and stack a few healing cooldowns, we think the combined power of these has escalated to a point where they make the raid slightly too sturdy.

Mana generation is a problem that’s related to all of the above. We want mana to feel like a finite resource and for the few ways you can still generate mana to be relevant, but want your spell choices during a raid fight to matter. We’re reducing the effectiveness of many mana restoration class abilities and specific items.

Please test healing in the Guardians of the Dream PTR and use this thread for any general feedback you have about it.

Thank you!

Our first venture into a solo rated PvP in World of Warcraft was Solo Shuffle. Following its success, we’re now looking to experiment with a format we’re calling “Battleground Blitz”, for solo queue Rated Battlegrounds.

Battleground Blitz is an 8v8 solo queue Battleground experience, and our first foray into what could potentially become solo queue rated battlegrounds in the future. We learned a lot from Solo Shuffle that informed the gameplay considerations of battlegrounds in a solo queue environment for this brawl, which will be discussed here.

Design Considerations

We’ve been happy with how Solo Shuffle lowered the barrier to entry in rated Arenas and served as an accessible PvP game mode. The biggest obstacle we faced was the low ratio of healers to damage dealers, which was typically 4 damage dealers for every healer waiting in queue during the most active times. This leads to long queue times for damage dealers. It was an early concern when we first launched Solo Shuffle as a brawl, especially after shifting away from using tanks to be the anchors in Solo Shuffle matches.

We previously experimented with other formats for Battlegrounds, like the “Deep Six” Brawl in Legion. We felt the team sizes were too small for some of the available maps, especially the larger ones like Arathi Basin.

Additionally, we want to try some updates to map formats that we think will make a better solo queue experience in rated battlegrounds. For example, in domination maps (such as Deepwind Gorge), the role of being a base sitter can result in tension in a solo queue environment. We also think that shorter match lengths would be more fun for solo queue players, bringing in more frequent moment-to-moment gameplay and decision making.

Battleground Blitz Format

Our plan is an 8v8 format that can be queued solo, or as a duo if there is a healer in the pair. Map mechanics and pacing are adjusted to be quicker, with the goal of 10-to-12-minute average match lengths.

Team Composition

• The 8 players on each team will be made up of 2 healers, 5 to 6 damage dealers, and 0 to 1 tanks.
• Opposing teams will always have the same number of tanks (0 or 1).
• Matches that do not include tanks will not take place on Capture the Flag maps (Warsong Gulch and Twin Peaks).
• Matches made with a tank on each team can take place on any map.

Our goal with the increased ratio of healer to damage dealers as well as healers having a duo queue option aims to alleviate potential longer queue times.

Map Pool and Mechanics

Initially, the map pool will be that of the Rated Battleground pool: Warsong Gulch, Twin Peaks, Temple of Kotmogu, Eye of the Storm, Silvershard Mines, Arathi Basin, and Deepwind Gorge.

In Battleground Blitz, there are some general mechanical changes made across all the maps.

• On maps where you cast to take an objective, the cast time has been reduced from 6 seconds 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 buff that provides a large increase in mount speed.
• On several maps, there are new power up runes.
  • Shield of Protection provides a large absorb shield.
  • Into the Shadows provides a player with stealth and increased movement speed.
  • Rune of Frequency increases cooldown rate.
  • Shadow Sight provides Stealth and Invis detection.

 

 

The goal with the changes above is to provide more moment-to-moment decision making while adapting maps to make sense for 8 player team sizes, while ensuring the macro strategy that players find to be fun in battlegrounds is still intact.

We looked at several factors for each map, including average game lengths, the size of the map, and individual mechanics to make some modifications to have them make sense in Battleground Blitz. Eye of the Storm, Arathi Basin, and Deepwind Gorge will have the most significant changes of the pool.

• Eye of the Storm
  • 4 nodes available, only 2 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 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.

 

 

• Warsong Gulch and Twin Peaks
  • The flag carrier debuff, Brutal Assault, stacks 100% faster (each stack every 15 seconds, up from 30 seconds).
  • Maximum game length set to 12 minutes.
• Battle for Gilneas
  • Increased resource acquisition rate.
• Silvershard Mines and Temple of Kotmogu
  • No changes planned initially, these maps are fast-paced already.

As mentioned above, we are cognizant of the tension that can come from having dedicated defender roles within a battleground. The gameplay changes for Arathi Basin, Deepwind Gorge, and Eye of the Storm aim to alleviate that tension.

Looking Ahead

We’re approaching this idea in a tempered manner, as adding a new format to PvP is a big commitment. Our intent is to implement this feature as a PvP Brawl first, so we can experiment with the format, discover any problems, and consider player feedback. If the format is well-received during the brawl, we can dig into additional details on the plan for a rated mode, including rating changes, how the ladder will work, rewards, leavers, and additional team matching, such as limiting the number of a single spec per team.

We will host a PvP Brawl with the Blues event focused on Battleground Blitz on the Guardians of the Dream PTR on Saturday, 16 September from 00:01 – 02:00 CEST. Keep an eye out for an upcoming post with additional details for the PvP with the Blues event.

Please share your thoughts and feedback with us here. We’re eager to hear it!