Hello! Here are this week’s updates to the Embers of Neltharion PTR:
DRAGONFLIGHT SEASON 2
MYTHIC+
Incorporeal affix is now immune to damage and has more consistent spawn behavior.
Developers’ note: The Incorporeal affix plays a similar role to Afflicted, but with emphasis on crowd control utility. A few things we’re hoping to smooth out include both the rate at which these spawn (sometimes too many at once), and the ease with which crowd control can be accidentally broken once applied. We are discussing a change to Incorporeal Beings that would cause them to fade away when combat with non-Incorporeal Beings has ended.
Afflicted affix now has less health and has more consistent spawn behavior.
Developers’ note: The Afflicted affix is meant to incentivize a greater focus on dispel utility, while also offering players with healing spells an alternative solution in cases where dispel availability is more limited or where other enemies have threatening dispellable abilities. This is mostly working out, but their health (especially at higher key levels) is a bit too high for healing to feel like a practical option.
New Affix: Entangling – While in combat, entangling vines snare players.
Developers’ note: We’re keeping an eye on the potency of the snare and required response from players to successful snap the vine with movement. We are also looking to improve visual clarity and audio cues for the Entangling affix.
Explosive affix now has less health and has more consistent spawn behavior.
Developers’ note: We’ve heard feedback both that explosives in their new form have too much health, and that in general it makes sense to try and ignore them, thus making them a “healer problem” in a different way than before. We are discussing a redesign for the Explosive affix to shift responsibility away from healers. The proposed change would cause Explosives to instead shield creatures for a percentage of the Explosive’s remaining health when its cast completes.
Developers’ note: In addition to the above, we are also discussing a change to the progression of affixes on keystones. With item rewards now increasing up to level 20, we’re evaluating which levels affixes are added to keystones. Our proposed change would delay when affixes are added to keystones. This is to give players more time to acclimate to baseline dungeons before additional mechanics come online, and to better match the complexity of a Mythic+ dungeon to the rewards it offers.
Keystone Level 7 Affixes (was level 4):
Spiteful
Sanguine
Bursting
Bolstering
Raging
Keystone Level 14 Affixes (was level 7):
Incorporeal
Afflicted
Entangling
Explosive
Storming
CHARACTERS
Added 4 new skin tones and 4 new hair colors for Dark Iron Dwarves.
Blind eye options have been moved from Eye Color to the new Eyesight customization option. Now all eye colors for all races can be customized to be blind.
CLASSES
DEATH KNIGHT
Frost
Vault of the Incarnates: 2-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Obliterate and Frostscythe critical strike damage is increased by 10% (was 15%).
DEMON HUNTER
Havoc
Vault of the Incarnates: 4-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Chaos Strike and Blade Dance have a 20% chance to increase damage you deal by 5% for 6 seconds (was 8%).
DRUID
Guardian
Several new combat animations added to the Might/Blight of the Grizzlemaw Druid Bear Form customizations.
Restoration
Fixed an issue that caused Wild Growth’s healing to falloff incorrectly and heal for less than intended.
Wild Growth’s healing has been decreased by 4%.
Developers’ note: Wild Growth’s healing is being decreased to offset the increased healing that the fix to the falloff issue provides.
EVOKER
Devastation
Developers’ note: Thanks to the invaluable feedback from all of you, we’ve made further changes to Devastation’s talents. The bottom section of the tree has been significantly rearranged, and has fewer 2-point nodes. Causality has been iterated on, maintaining the goal of rewarding fully-channeled Disintegrates, but addressing the concerns with how the new design would have interacted with Haste. Finally, some under-used talents have gotten partial or full reworks to introduce new build and playstyle options.
Causality has been redesigned – Disintegrate reduces the remaining cooldown of your empower spells by 0.5 seconds each time it deals damage. Pyre reduces their cooldowns by 0.4 seconds per enemy struck, up to 2 seconds. Causality is no longer a choice talent.
Font of Magic now also causes your empower spells to reach maximum level in 20% less time.
Everburning Flame is no longer a choice node with Feed the Flames.
Feed the Flames has been redesigned – After casting 12 Pyres, your next Pyre will explode into a Firestorm. Does not trigger from Volatility bounces.
Imminent Destruction has been redesigned – Deep Breath reduces the Essence costs of Disintegrate and Pyre by 1 for 10 seconds after you land. Now a 1-rank talent.
Lay Waste is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and damage bonus increased to 20% (was 15%).
Burnout is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and its chance to trigger is now 16%, the former 2-rank value.
Scintillation is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and damage effectiveness is 60%, the former 2-rank value.
Power Swell is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and the duration is 4 seconds, the former 2-rank value.
New Talent: Event Horizon – Eternity Surge’s cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds. Choice talent with Eye of Infinity.
Eye of Infinity has been redesigned – Eternity Surge deals 15% increased damage to your primary target.
Arcane Vigor has been redesigned – Shattering Star grants Essence Burst.
Snapfire’s chance to trigger Firestorm increased to 15% (was 12%).
Raging Inferno’s Firestorm radius bonus reduced to 25% (was 50%) and Pyre damage bonus reduced to 20% (was 25%).
HUNTER
Revive Pet now has a 2.5 second cast time (was 3 seconds).
Revive Pet’s spell school is now Physical, and can no longer be stopped by Silence and Interrupt effects (was Nature).
Survival
Developers’ note: The Dragonflight Season 1 Survival Hunter tier set bonus is very powerful in single target scenarios, but will potentially cause issues in Season 2 where you are not encouraged to upgrade your gear to the new tier set. We’re lowering the values on the Season 1 2-piece and 4-piece set bonuses, and increasing the damage dealt by your class to compensate for these changes.
Vault of the Incarnates: 2-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery damage increased by 12% (was 15%).
Vault of the Incarnates: 4 Set Bonus has been redesigned – Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery have a 20% chance to make your next Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery cost 10 less Focus and deal 40% increased damage (was 100% Focus cost reduction and 50% increased damage).
All damage dealt by you and your pet’s abilities increased by 8%.
MONK
Fixed an issue that prevented Ferocity of Xuen from not increasing your summoned pet+ damage.
Brewmaster
Fluidity of Motion’s tooltip has been updated to clarify that the damage of Blackout Kick is reduced.
PALADIN
Fixed a tooltip error with Consecrated Ground displaying Divine Hammer for non-Retribution Paladins.
Protection
Added support for Sentinel to Glyph of Winged Vengeance.
Removed spell replacement text for Sentinel.
Fixed errors causing Heartfire to trigger from incorrect spells.
Heartfire should now trigger from Divine Toll and Divine Resonance.
PRIEST
Discipline
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 2-Set Bonus has been redesigned – Shadow Word: Pain/Purge the Wicked damage increased by 25%. Power Word: Radiance healing increased by 15%.
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been redesigned – Atonements applied by Power Word: Radiance last 3 sec longer. Your spells have a chance to cause your next Power Word: Radiance to be instant and cost 100% less mana. Can accumulate up to 2 charges.
Holy
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 2-Set Bonus has been redesigned – When you cast Prayer of Mending, there is a 35% chance its effect is duplicated to another ally.
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been redesigned – When Prayer of Mending jumps or expires, it increases the damage and healing of your next Holy Word by 4%, stacking up to 15 times.
Developers’ note: These set bonuses are now available in this week’s PTR update.
Shadow
Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 10% for Shadow.
Mind Flay and Mind Sear damage from Idol of C’Thun reduced by 30%.
Distorted Reality increases the damage of Devouring Plague by 20% (was 8%) and increases its Insanity cost by 5 (was 10).
Auspicious Spirits causes Shadowy Apparitions to have a chance to generate 1 Insanity (was 2).
SHAMAN
Deeply Rooted Elements should now activate more consistently for all specializations.
Developers’ note: The Deeply Rooted Elements talent could sometimes feel like you received many Ascendance activations, or none. We have made adjustments to how this talent works to lower the very high and very low proc rates.
WARLOCK
Destruction
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been redesigned – Demonfire bolts increase your Fire damage by 1% for 13 seconds, stacking up to 8 times. Gaining a stack does not refresh the duration. Casting Channel Demonfire resets this effect.
WARRIOR
Arms
Fatal Mark now lasts 3 minutes (was 2 minutes).
In addition to its current effect, Bloodletting now causes Mortal Strike to inflict Rend on targets below 35% health if you have Rend talented.
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been redesigned – Deep Wounds critical strikes have a chance to increase the damage of your next Mortal Strike by 10% and cause it to deal (38% of Attack Power) Physical damage to enemies in front of you, stacking 3 times. Damage reduced above 5 targets.
Fury
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Rampage causes your next Bloodthirst to have a 10% increased critical strike chance, deal 25% increased damage and generate 2 additional Rage. Stacking up to 10 times.
ITEMS AND REWARDS
Legacy Legendary items should now have the correct item levels.
Elemental Potions of Ultimate Power are no longer bind-on-pickup.
Potion of Chilled Clarity can no longer be canceled and affects the global cooldown.
Profession recipe raid boss drops have moved to Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible on all difficulties (was Vault of the Incarnates on Heroic and Mythic difficulty).
PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER
Net-o-Matic 5000 can now be used in all areas outside of the Dragon Isles, but not inside the Dragon Isles zones.
CLASSES
DRUID
Balance
New PvP Talent: Master Shapeshifter – Your abilities are amplified based on your current shapeshift form, granting an additional effect:
Bear Form – Ironfur grants 30% additional armor and generates 12 Astral Power.
Caster Form – Rejuvenation and Swiftmend heal for 30% more and generate 8 Astral Power.
Cat Form – Rip, Ferocious Bite, and Maim deal 60% additional damage and generate 60 Astral Power when cast with 5 combo points.
Guardian
Master Shapeshifter has been redesigned – Your abilities are amplified based on your current shapeshift form, granting an additional effect:
Caster Form – Rejuvenation and Swiftmend heal for 30% more and cause you to instantly generate 25 Rage after entering Bear Form.
Cat Form – Rip, Ferocious Bite, and Maim deal 60% additional damage and cause you to instantly generate 50 Rage after entering Bear Form when cast with 5 combo points.
Moonkin Form – Wrath, Starfire, and Starsurge deal 30% additional damage and cause you to instantly generate 25 Rage after entering Bear Form.
Toughness (PvP Talent) has been removed.
Den Mother now additionally reduces the duration of all stun effects on you by 15%.
Sharpened Claws (PvP Talent) has been removed.
Restoration
Master Shapeshifter has been redesigned – Your abilities are amplified based on your current shapeshift form, granting an additional effect:
Bear Form – Ironfur grants 30% additional armor and generates 1250 Mana.
Cat Form – Rip, Ferocious Bite, and Maim deal 60% additional damage and generate 5000 Mana when cast with 5 combo points.
Moonkin Form – Wrath, Starfire, and Starsurge deal 30% additional damage and generate 2000 Mana.
PALADIN
Holy
Aura Mastery now reduces the damage allies in your aura take by 30% in PvP combat (was 15%).
SHAMAN
Burrow damage increased by 200%.
Burrow now moves the Shaman’s nameplate closer to the ground while the effect is active.
Elemental
Lava Burst no longer consumes Volcanic Surge and the cast time of Lava Burst is no longer reduced by Volcanic Surge.
Volcanic Surge increases the damage of Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt by 25% (was 20%).
Volcanic Surge increases the damage of Lava Burst by 45% (was 20%).
WARLOCK
New PvP Talent: Soul Rip – Fracture the soul of up to 3 target players within 20 yards into the shadows, reducing their damage done by 25% and healing received by 25% for 8 seconds. Souls are fractured up to 16 yards from the player’s location. Players can retrieve their souls to remove this effect. 1 minute cooldown, costs 2 Soul Shards.
Fixed an issue where Bonds of Fel was not correctly receiving some damage modifications.
Affliction
Bane of Shadows (PvP Talent) has been removed.
WARRIOR
Protection
Shield Bash (PvP talent) has been redesigned – When Shield Slam is used on targets that are casting, it reduces their damage done by 15% for 8 seconds and the cooldown is instantly reset.
PROFESSIONS
New Optional Reagents are available for upgrading items to a higher item level.
Concentrated Primal Infusions now go up to 421 item level to match upgrade systems.
Players can now minimize the crafting window to a reduced size for ease of use.
Players can now click on a tracked recipe in their quest log to pop open a small recipe window.
Currency on the public order page are now right aligned.
All gathering professions now work in the Zaralek Cavern.
Profession recipes have been added for the following professions but not all are fully enabled. Sources and recipe costs are still being worked on. You can find these on the temporary crafting vendors.
ENGINEERING
Momentum Redistributor Boots (Shadowlands) can no longer be used in dungeons and raids.
JEWELCRAFTING
Obsidian Combatant’s Jeweled Amulet
Obsidian Combatant’s Jeweled Signet
B.B.F. Fist
Statuette of Foreseen Power
Figurine of the Gathering Storm
QUESTS
Heritage armor quests for non-Allied Races no longer requires Exalted reputation with their home factions.
USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY
Group Loot roll results frame (/loot) has been redesigned with a new look.
Group Loot now has a Transmogrification option that replaces Greed if the player has not collected the appearance. Transmog rolls take priority over Greed rolls.
Known issues:
Players can Transmog roll on items that are not their primary armor type (i.e. Warriors can Transmog roll on cloth items).
Transmog rolls and Greed rolls are treated equally (a Greed roll can beat a Transmog roll).
Fixed an issue causing Ancient Flame to incorrectly be consumed by instant-cast Living Flames, such as from the Burnout talent or Lifespark set bonus.
Paladin
Fixed an issue with the timing of Eye of Tyr’s floating combat text.
Player versus Player
Classes
Paladin
Fixed an issue causing Retribution Aura to trigger from incorrect amounts of incoming damage.
[With weekly restarts] Judgments of the Pure (PvP Talent) now causes Judgment casts on an enemy to cleanse 1 Poison, Disease, and Magic effect they have caused on you (was allies within your aura).
Developers’ note: With Judgment’s cast frequency increasing in patch 10.0.7, Judgments of the Pure has been overperforming as a PvP talent. In a hotfix being applied this upcoming Tuesday, the talent will only apply to the Paladin and no longer have its effect applicable to allies.
Quests
Heritage
During “The New Clessington Estate,” Cecilia Clessington will no longer accuse the player of smelling like rotten blubber when provoked.
Ohn’ahran Plains
Fixed an issue causing some players to be unable to interact with the Waygate at the Shady Sanctuary.
The “Waygate Travel” debuff received from using the waygates will now continue to expire while the player is offline.
Dragonflight Season 1 will be closing the week of May 2. Here’s what you can expect:
Dragonflight Season 1: PvP
The current season of Dragonflight PvP content will end at 10:00 p.m. the night before maintenance begins in each region. This is 10:00 p.m. PDT for North American realms and 22:00 CEST for European realms.
With the season’s end, it will no longer be possible to earn PvP seasonal rewards, titles, or Dragonflight Season 1 rankings.
DragonflightSeason 1: Mythic+
The current season of Mythic+ content will end at 10:00 p.m. the night before maintenance begins in each region. This is 10:00 p.m. PDT for North American realms and 22:00 CEST for European realms. With the season’s end, ratings that qualify for the 0.1% Thundering Hero: Dragonflight Season 1 achievement will be recorded.
The “Thundering Hero” title and achievement will be rewarded during the following weeks after the season ends, so be sure to wait to change factions until after you have received the title.
All other Mythic+ achievements and rewards can still be earned until Dragonflight Season 2 begins.
Best of luck battling to a glorious finish of the season!
Each week we’ll look ahead to what’s in store for World of Warcraft, share the latest news, and keep you in the know byte by byte.
Mark Your Calendars: Embers of Neltharion Goes Live May 2!
Join your allies for the continuing adventure through the Dragon Isles with our next content update. You’ll explore an all-new zone, meet new allies, discover hidden treasures, and more.
New Zone: Zaralek Caverns – Gather your courage as you venture into this mysterious underground cavern.
Cross-Faction Guilds: Players who have been enjoying Cross-Faction Instances now can join the same guild as their opposite-faction friends and benefit from conveniences like shared chat and guild repairs.
Fyrrak Assaults: Fyrakk’s forces are gathering resources at Suffusion Camps located in the Azure Span and Ohn’ahran Plains. It’s up to the heroes of Azeroth to disrupt their efforts to lure Fyrakk and his disciples out.
Meet New Allies: As the heroes of Azeroth pursue enemies into the dangers of Zaralek Cavern, they are aided by the local inhabitants found under the Dragon Isles — the molefolk known as “Niffen” and the Drogbar.
And more…
Dragonflight Season 2
Dragonflight Season 2 begins the week of May 9. Players will be able to gather their allies and breach Neltharion’s secret laboratory in Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulty.
The new season also brings a new PvP Ladder and gear, seasonal affixes, and new dungeons to the Mythic+ rotation: Brackhide Hollow, Halls of Infusion, Uldaman, Legacy of Tyr, Neltharus, Freehold (Battle for Azeroth), The Underrot (Battle for Azeroth), Vortex Pinnacle (Cataclysm), and Neltharion’s Lair (Legion).
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible Raid
Breach Neltharion’s secret laboratory hidden within Zaralek Cavern. It is here that he created the dracthyr and ultimately succumbed to the whispers of the Old Gods and their corruption.
Raid Release Schedule Week of May 9:
Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties become available
More details to follow on the Raid Finder schedule.
Join the PTR to explore the latest content in testing and read the current Dragonflight Embers of Neltharion PTR Development Notes on the test forums. We’ll have more coverage of the new content update as we lead up to launch.
News and Events This Week
April 2-8
The Darkmoon Faire Returns
April 4
Turbulent Timeways: Mists of Pandaria Timewalking
Weekly Bonus Event: Arena Skirmish
PvP Brawl: Shado-Pan Showdown
WoW Spring Deals
April 5
March of the Tadpoles Micro-Holiday
April 7
Blues News
Stay tuned here to the official World of Warcraft news site as we journey through the week together.
The Trading Post vendors have updated their inventory for the month of April. You’ll want to hop to it and add these eggcellent new items to your collection.
Visit T&W (Tawney and Wilder) just outside the Mage District in Stormwind or the Zen’shiri Trading Post next to Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar to check out all the latest items they have available.
Here’s What’s in Stock for April
This Month’s Bonus Reward
Transmog- Arsenal: Blades of Elune
Complete activities to fill the bar at the top of the Traveler’s Log found in the Adventure Guide (Shift-J)***, and you’ll receive this month’s bonus reward— Arsenal: Blades of Elune— a set of one-handed sword transmogs.
Emote /bounce at critters in the Dragon Isles (and consider showing them some /love too).
50
Obtain a Spring-Themed Toy
Obtain one of the following toys: Spring Flores’s Pouch, Noble Gardener’s Hearthstone, Eagger Basket, Ancient’s Bloom, Mylune’s Call, The Perfect Blossom, Podling Camouflage, or Botani Camouflage.
50
How it Works
Get Tender Every Month
At the first of each month, players with an active account in good standing will receive 500 Trader’s Tender automatically every month from a chest called the Collector’s Cache. If you don’t have active game time on your account or aren’t a subscriber at the start of a new month, don’t worry. Your Tender will be awarded on the first day of the month when you do have game time or an active subscription. This will be the same amount for everyone, regardless of how you pay for your game time.
The Traveler’s Log
Complete monthly activities listed in the new Traveler’s Log. Each month features a rotating, themed set of activities. These activities provide the opportunity to earn up to 500 additional Trader’s Tender. There’s only a set amount of Tender you can earn each month through completing activities, so you won’t need to complete all the ones in the log each month. You’ll be able to pick and choose from a variety of fun in-game activities to easily earn Tender. Players can choose to earn by continuing to play the game as they already do, such as completing quests, competing in battlegrounds, participating in holiday activities, and even running Mythic+ dungeons. But you can also choose to take part in activities uniquely designed for the month.
Freeze an Item
Before the month comes to an end, if you haven’t purchased that one “must-have” item yet, don’t worry. You can “freeze” an item so you can purchase it later. When you freeze an item, it will stay available month over month until it is purchased or replaced.
If this month’s offerings didn’t have the items you wanted, you can hang on to your Trader’s Tender to spend later. It won’t go anywhere, and unspent Tender will continue to accumulate each month.
What a Tender Moment
As a way of saying “Thank you” to the community for continuing to play World of Warcraft with us, we are awarding a bonus 500 Trader’s Tender to players who purchase Dragonflight and add it to their account†. This bonus Trader’s Tender will also be rewarded retroactively to players who have already purchased Dragonflight. Players can collect this bonus Trader’s Tender once the Trading Post feature goes live from their Collector’s Cache.
Learn more about the Trading Post in our previously published news post on the official site.
*The Trading Post feature is not available in WoW Classic titles. **Requires World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time
***Requires Level 10 to access the Adventure Guide.
†Bonus Trader’s Tender is granted only once per Battle.net account.
With Judgment’s cast frequency increasing in patch 10.0.7, Judgments of the Pure has been overperforming as a PvP talent. In a hotfix being applied this upcoming Tuesday, the talent will only apply to the Paladin and no longer have its effect applicable to allies.
PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER
PALADIN
Judgments of the Pure (PvP Talent) now causes Judgment casts on an enemy to cleanse 1 Poison, Disease, and Magic effect they have caused on you (was allies within your aura).
