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Category: Dragonflight

Hotfixes: February 15, 2023

Quote from: Blizzard

February 15, 2023

Classes

  • Priest
    • Fixed an issue preventing the root from Void Tendrils from being removed when the Void Tendril dies.

Dungeons and Raids

  • Mythic+
    • Halls of Valor
      • Hyrja
        • Fixed an issue that allowed players to remove the damage reduction of Eye of the Storm with immunity effects.
        • Eye of the Storm no longer damages player pets.

February 14 2023 10.0.7 PTR Development Notes, Paladin Feedback Notes

The 10.0.7 PTR was updated last night with a large amount of patch notes. In addition to the Forbidden Reach zone officially becoming ready for testing, there’s a large amount of class tuning taking place in this week’s build!

Quote from: Blizzard

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Here are this week’s 10.0.7 development notes:

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN REACH

  • The Forbidden Reach is now available for testing.
  • Treasure Vaults are now on their intended weekly timer (was daily for testing purposes).

WINTERPELT FURBOLG FACTION

  • The Winterpelt furbolg speak a language no one seems to understand. Learn to understand, and eventually speak, the language of the Winterpelt furbolg as you help Sonova Snowden crack their peculiar dialect and earn their trust.
  • Start the “Academic Assistance” quest by accepting it in the Adventure Guide. “Academic Assistance” will become available after completing the Winterpelt Hollow and Rustpine Den quest chains in the Azure Span.
  • Players can access their language progress in the Spellbook.

CLASSES

  • DEATH KNIGHT
    • Unholy
      • Harbinger of Doom now also increases the damage of your next Death Coil by 20% or Epidemic by 10%.
      • Pestilent Pustules has been removed from the Unholy specialization tree.
      • Defile is no longer a choice node with Unholy Pact and has replaced Pestilent Pustules within the specialization tree.
      • Defile now works with the Pestilence talent.
      • Defile now has additional functionality – If an enemy is inside Defile, it grants 1% Mastery every second, stacking up to 8% Mastery.
      • Ruptured Viscera now has a 25% chance to apply a Festering Wound to enemies struck by the explosion.
      • Ruptured Viscera damage increased by 10%.
      • Feasting Strike now also has a 15% chance to grant Runic Corruption.
      • Commander of the Dead no longer only affects nearby Army of the Dead ghouls or Summon Gargoyle and should apply to any summoned ghoul or gargoyle regardless of their distance from you.
  • DEMON HUNTER
    • Reduced the range that Fodder to the Flame demons can spawn by 20%.
    • The Demon Soul generated upon killing a Fodder to the Flame demon will now land in front it (towards the Demon Hunter), whenever possible.
    • Havoc
      • Blind Fury now increases Eye Beam damage and duration by 10%/20% (was duration only by 25%/50%).
      • Improved Fel Rush and the choice node of Desperate Instincts/Netherwalk have swapped locations in the specialization tree.
      • Furious Throws and Fel Eruption have swapped locations in the specialization tree.
    • Vengeance
      • Reduced the health of Fodder to the Flame demons by 20%.
  • DRUID
    • Balance
      • Stellar Flare now has an additional effect – If dispelled, causes a Star Burst to crash into the dispeller, dealing area of effect damage and knocking enemies.
        • Developers’ note: We would like there to be some cost associated with dispelling Balance Druid damage over time effects in PvP now that their damage relies more heavily on having Moonfire, Sunfire, and Stellar Flare active on their target.
    • Restoration
      • Natural Wisdom is now a baseline effect on Innervate for Restoration Druids. No longer increases mana regeneration by 5% and the additional Innervate’s effectiveness has been reduced to 50% (was 100%).
        • This change has been reverted.
  • EVOKER
    • Preservation
      • Ouroboros has been redesigned – Casting Echo increases the healing of your next Emerald Blossom by 15%, stacking up to 10 times (was Emerald Blossom and Dream Breath increase healing of Echo).
      • Fluttering Seedlings healing increased by 20%.
  • HUNTER
    • Rejuvenating Winds now also increases maximum health by 4% per rank.
    • Marksmanship
      • Steady Focus and Tactical Reload have swapped spots back to their pre-10.0.5 spots.
      • A few talent connections have been adjusted.
  • MONK
    • Mistweaver
      • Shaohao’s Lessons now displays a tracking buff indicating which Lesson will be learned on the next Sheilun’s Gift cast.
      • Zen Pulse no longer requires an enemy to be present to be cast.
      • Fixed an issue that caused Zen Pulse to not function with in-game mouseover settings.
      • Enveloping Breath has been renamed to Empowered Celestial.
      • Empowered Celestial – While active, Yu’lon and Chi’Ji heal up to 6 nearby targets with Enveloping Breath when you cast Enveloping Mist, healing over 7 seconds, and increasing the healing they receive from you by 10%. When activated, Yu’lon and Chi’Ji apply Chi Cocoons to 5 targets within 40 yards, absorbing damage for 10 seconds.
        • Developers’ note: The visual FX attached to the Chi Cocoon is temporary and will be updated in a future PTR build.
    • Windwalker
      • Inner Peace’s maximum Energy Bonus increased to 30 (was 10).
      • Inner Peace now also increases Tiger Palm damage by 10%.
      • Rising Star now increases Rising Sun Kick damage by 3/6% (was 5/10%).
      • Rising Star now increases Rising Sun Kick’s critical strike damage by 6/12%.
      • Faeline Harmony’s damage and healing bonus increased to 10% (was 8%).
        • Developers’ note: Several Windwalker Monk talents have been adjusted to allow players to focus on specializing in single target damage.
  • PALADIN
    • Class tree pathing has been adjusted:
      • Moved Cleanse up to row 2.
      • Moved Obduracy up to row 2.
      • Rebuke and Greater Judgment moved up a row.
      • Fist of Justice moved to row 4.
      • Turn Evil moved up to row 2.
      • Seal of Might moved up to row 8.
      • Seal of Alacrity moved up to row 8.
      • Obduracy moved moved before initial 8-point gate.
      • Judgment of Light moved below 20-point gate
    • Aspirations of Divinity, Seal of Reprisal, and Seal of Clarity removed from Paladin class tree.
    • Added Faith’s Armor and Strength of Conviction to the Paladin class tree.
    • New Talent: Justification – Judgment damage increased by 10%.
    • New Talent: Punishment – Successfully interrupting an enemy with Rebuke casts an extra Crusader Strike.
    • New Talent: Lightforged Blessing – Divine Storm heals you and up to 4 nearby allies for 5% of maximum health.
    • New Talent: Crusader’s Reprieve – Your Crusader Strike and auto-attack range is increased by 3 yards and using Crusader Strike heals you for 2% of your maximum health.
    • New Talent: Faith’s Armor – Word of Glory grants 20% bonus armor for 4.5 seconds.
    • New Talent: Sanctified Plates – Armor increased by 20%, Stamina increased by 10%, and damage taken from area of effects attacks reduced by 10%.
    • New Talent: Strength of Conviction – While in your Consecration, your Shield of the Righteous and Word of Glory have 10% per rank increased damage and healing. 2 Ranks.
    • Seal of Might has been adjusted – Mastery increased by 2% per rank and Strength/Intellect increased by 2% per rank.
    • Seal of Alacrity has been adjusted – Haste increased by 2% per rank and Judgment cooldown reduced by 0.5 seconds per rank. 2 Ranks.
    • Seal of the Crusader has been redesigned – Your auto attacks now deal additional Holy damage (was: Your attacks have a chance to cause your target to take 3% increased Holy damage for 5 seconds.)
    • Quickened Invocations has been adjusted – Divine Toll’s cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds.
    • Judgment of Light has been adjusted – Judgment causes the next 5 successful attacks against the target to heal the attacker.
    • Seal of Mercy reduced from 2 ranks to 1 rank.
    • Seal of the Crusader has been redesigned – Your auto attacks deal additional damage as Holy damage.
    • Of Dusk and Dawn has been redesigned – When you cast 3 Holy power generating ability, you gain Blessing of Dawn. When you consume Blessing of Dawn, you gain Blessing of Dust.
      • Blessing of Dawn has been redesigned – Your next Holy Power spending ability deals 20% additional increased damage healing. This effect stacks.
      • Blessing of Dusk has been redesigned – Damage taken reduced by 5% for 10 seconds.
    • New Talent: Fading Light – Blessing of Dawn increases the damage and healing of your next Holy Power spending ability by an additional 10%. Blessing of Dusk causes your Holy Power generating abilities to also grant and absorb shield for 20% of damage or healing dealt.
    • Seal of Order has been redesigned – Blessing of Dawn increases the damage and healing of your next Holy Power spending ability by an additional 10%. Blessing of Dusk increases your armor by 10% and your Holy Power generating abilities cool down 10% faster.
    • Holy Avenger, Sanctified Wrath, Seraphim, Seal of Reprisal, Aspiration of Divinity, Hallowed Ground, and Seal of Clarity have been removed from the talent tree.
    • Seal of the Templar has been removed from the talent tree and its effect built into Crusader Aura.
    • Recompense can no longer critically strike.
    • Crusader Aura now additionally increases the ranges of Rebuke, Hammer of Justice, Templar’s Verdict, and Crusader Strike/Hammer of the Righteous by 3 yards.
    • Seasoned Warhorse duration increased to 2 seconds (was 1 second).
    • Righteous Protector is now a 1 rank talent, granting 3 seconds of cooldown reduction.
    • Divine Shield now also prevents movement forces (such as pushbacks) from affecting you.
    • Divine Steed has been adjusted – No longer on the global cooldown and now lasts an additional second.
    • Holy
      • Aura Mastery’s Retribution Aura interaction has been redesigned – Now increases healing by 15% while Retribution Aura’s effect is active.
      • Divine Toll and Divine Resonance have been removed from the specialization tree.
      • Sanctified Wrath now occupies Divine Toll’s previous location.
      • Added a connection between Sanctified Wrath and Glimmer.
    • Protection
      • Faith’s Armor and Strength of Conviction have moved to the Paladin class tree (was in the Protection talent tree).
      • Seal of Reprisal has moved to the Protection talent tree (was in the Paladin class tree).
      • Seal of Reprisal’s damage bonus increased to 20%.
      • New Talent: Seal of Charity – When you cast Word of Glory on anyone not yourself, you also heal yourself for 50% of the healing done.
      • Resolute Defender is now a 2-rank talent (1/2 seconds of cooldown reduction on Ardent Defender and Divine Shield).
      • Faith’s Armor back to 1 rank and moved above the 20-point gate.
      • Strength in Conviction has moved back above the 20-point gate and is in a different location.
      • New Talent: Inmost Light – Eye of Tyr deals 300% increased damage and has 15% reduced cooldown.
      • Uther’s Counsel moved below 20-point gate and is now a 2-rank talent.
      • Replaced Improved Lay on Hands with Tirion’s Devotion.
    • Retribution
      • Divine Protection is now granted when choosing Retribution specialization.
      • Retribution specialization gains Blessing of Freedom as a starting talent.
      • New Talent: Swift Justice – Reduces the cooldown of Judgement by 2 seconds and Crusader Strike by 2 seconds.
      • New Talent: Light of Justice – Reduces the cooldown of Blade of Justice by 2 seconds.
      • New Talent: Improved Blade of Justice – Blade of Justice now has 2 charges.
      • New Talent: Light’s Celerity – Flash of Light casts instantly, its healing done is increased by 50%, but it now has a 6 second cooldown.
      • New Talent: Guided Prayer – When your health is brought below 25%, you instantly cast a free Word of Glory at 100% effectiveness on yourself. Cannot occur more than once every 60 seconds.
      • New Talent: Unbound Freedom – Blessing of Freedom increases movement speed by 30%, and you gain Blessing of Freedom when cast on a friendly target.
      • New Talent: Righteous Cause – Templar’s Verdict, Final Verdict, and Justicar’s Vengeance have a 25% chance to reset the cooldown of Blade of Justice.
      • New Talent: Jurisdiction – Final Verdict and Blade of Justice deal 10% increased damage. The range of Final Verdict and Blade of Justice is increased to 20 yards.
      • New Talent: Judgment of Justice – Judgment deals 10% increased damage, increases your movement speed by 10% for 5 seconds, and slows enemies by 30% for 15 seconds.
      • New Talent: Zealot’s Fervor – Auto-attack speed increased by 20%.
      • New Talent: Improved Judgment – Judgment now has 2 charges.
      • New Talent Version: Boundless Judgment – Judgment generates 1 additional Holy Power.
      • New Talent: Teaching of the Light – Not fully implemented more details to come.
      • New Talent: Inquisitor’s Ire – Every 3 seconds, gain 5% increased damage to your next Divine Storm, stacking up to 10 times.
      • New Talent: Blade of Vengeance – Blade of Justice now hits nearby enemies for damage. Deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets.
      • New Talent: Crusading Strike – Crusader Strike replaces your auto-attacks.
      • New Talent: Blessed Hammers – Throws a Blessed Hammer that Spirals outward, dealing Holy damage to enemies. Generates 1 Holy Power. Replaces Crusader Strike.
      • New Talent: Heart of the Crusader – Crusader Strike and auto-attacks deal 10% increased damage and have a 10% increased critical strike chance.
      • New Talent: Blessed Champion – Crusader Strike hits an additional 2 targets for 85% damage. 2 ranks.
      • New Talent: Divine Hammer – Divine Hammers spin around you damaging enemies within 8 yards for Holy damage over 9 seconds. Generates 1 Holy Power. Replaces Consecration.
      • New Talent: Adjudication – Critical strike chance increased by 2%. Hammer of Wrath has a 5% increased critical strike chance and deals 10% increased critical strike damage.
      • New Talent: Aegis of Protection – Divine Protection reduces damage you take by an additional 10% and Shield of Vengeance protects you from 30% more damage.
      • New Talent: Swift Retribution – Haste increased by 2%. Blade of Justice and Hammer of Wrath cooldown reduced by 1 second.
      • New Talent: Blades of Light – Crusader Strike, Judgment, and Hammer of Wrath now deal Holystrike damage.
      • New Talent: Highlord’s Judgment – Judgment causes targets to take increased damage from your next 2 Holy Power abilities. 2 ranks.
      • New Talent: Holy Crusader – Blade of Justice and Expurgation now deal Holystrike damage.
      • New Talent: Burning Crusade – Blade of Justice and Expurgation now deal Radiant damage.
      • New Talent: Penitence – Increases the damage of your periodic effects by 15%. 2 ranks.
      • New Talent: Commanding Judgment – Judgment hits an additional 2 targets for 85% damage. 2 ranks.
      • New Talent: Divine Auxiliary – Final Reckoning and Execution Sentence grant 3 Holy Power.
      • New Talent: Seething Flames – Wake of Ashes now causes you to lash out 2 extra times for Radiant damage. Deals significantly reduced damage to secondary targets.
      • New Talent: Physical Presence – Not fully implemented, more details to come in future PTRs.
      • New Talent: Searing Light – Not fully implemented, more details to come in future PTRs.
      • Expurgation has been updated – Your Blade of Justice causes the target to burn for 70% of the damage dealt over 6 seconds.
      • Art of War has been updated – Your auto-attacks and Crusader Strike have a 15% chance to reset the cooldown of Blade of Justice.
      • Final Verdict now has a 15% chance to reset the cooldown of Hammer of Wrath and make it useable regardless of the target’s health (was 10%).
      • Avenging Wrath: Might cooldown reduced to 60 seconds (was 120 seconds).
      • Crusade duration increased to 35 seconds (was 25 seconds).
      • Sanctify damage bonus reduced to 25% (was 100%).
      • Consecrated Blade has been updated – Blade of Justice has a 40% chance to cast Consecration at the target’s location. Replaces Consecration.
      • Vanguard’s Momentum has been updated – Hammer of Wrath has 2 extra charges, deals 10% increased damage, and on enemies below 20% health generates 1 additional Holy Power. 2 ranks.
      • Wake of Ashes cooldown reduced to 30 seconds (was 45 seconds).
      • Executioner’s Will now also applies to Final Reckoning.
      • Truth’s Wake now also causes Wake of Ashes to burn targets for additional Radiant damage over 10 seconds.
  • PRIEST
    • Fixed an issue causing the root effect from Void Tendrils to persist after the Void Tendril is killed.
    • Fixed an issue causing Protective Light to trigger when casting Flash Heal on allies without Binding Heals talented.
    • Discipline
      • Fixed an issue causing Divine Star and Halo healing to not be increased from Shadow Covenant.
    • Holy
      • Divine Image now triggers off all Holy Word casts instead of having a chance to trigger.
      • Divine Image duration reduced to 9 seconds (was 15 seconds).
      • The Divine Image buff on the Priest now has a stack count representing the number of active Divine Images.
      • The Divine Image buff on the Priest has been added to the Personal Resource Display.
      • Lightwell healing increased by 40%.
      • The cooldown of Lightwell is now 2 minutes (was 3 minutes).
      • Lightwell is now instant cast (was 0.5 seconds).
      • Fixed an issue with Divine Image causing some healing or damaging Priest spells to not have a similar spell cast from the Naaru.
      • Fixed an issue causing Spirit of Redemption with Afterlife talented to not increase the range of some spells.
      • Fixed an issue causing Afterlife to not increase the range of any spells during Spirit of Redemption with Spirit of the Redeemer talented.
      • Afterlife and Divine Ascension now increase the radius of Divine Hymn, Cosmic Ripple, and Symbol of Hope.
    • Shadow
      • Fixed an issue causing Void Eruption to fire 4 missiles instead of 2.
      • Fixed an issue causing the Echoing Void debuff to be exclusive to one Priest.
      • Fixed an issue causing Insanity generation from Shadowy Apparitions to trigger on spawn instead of when the apparition deals damage.
  • SHAMAN
    • Fixed an issue causing Totemic Projection to sometimes fail to move totems.
    • Earth Shield is no longer removed any time the Shaman or the Shaman’s target changes talents.
    • Elemental
      • Ghost Wolf no longer removes the Shaman’s Maelstrom bar while active.
      • Fixed an issue causing Fire and Ice to not increase the overload damage of multiple spells.
      • Fixed an issue causing Primordial Surge to incorrectly increase the damage of multiple overload spells.
    • Restoration
      • Stormkeeper has been moved to Call of Thunder’s position in the talent tree.
      • Fixed an issue causing Ancestral Awakening to double dip into healing reduction effects.
  • WARLOCK
    • Summon Soulkeeper damage increased 100%.
    • Summon Soulkeeper can no longer be used if you have a Soulkeeper already active.
    • Inquisitor’s Gaze damage increased by 270%.
    • Gorefiend’s Resolve has been removed from the class tree.
    • Desperate Pact has been removed from the class tree.
    • Greater Banish has been removed from the class tree.
    • New Talent: Sargerei Technique – Shadow Bolt/Drain Soul/Incinerate damage increased by [8/15%][5/10%].
    • Sargerei Technique has been added to the class tree in Lifeblood’s old location.
    • New Talent: Socrethar’s Guile – Agony/Wild Imp/Immolate damage increased by [8/15%][10/20%][10/20%].
    • Socrethar’s Guile has been added to the class tree in Accrued Vitality’s old location.
    • Lifeblood has moved to Nightmare’s previous location.
    • Accrued Vitality has moved to Desperate Pact’s previous location.
    • Nightmare has been moved to Gorefiend’s Resolve previous location and is now a 1 rank talent.
    • New Talent: Horrify – Your Fear causes the target to tremble in place instead of fleeing in fear.
    • Horrify has been been added to the class tree as a choice against Nightmare.
    • Developer notes: We are readjusting the tuning of Inquisitor’s Gaze and Summon Soulkeeper once more so that they are more attractive and exciting capstone options for players to path towards as they descend their class tree. In addition, we are removing some defensive talents that felt a bit niche and replacing them with basic throughput talents to avoid adding complexity to each specialization’s rotational gameplay.
    • Affliction
      • Darkglare has been redesigned – Summons a Darkglare from the Twisting Nether that extends the duration of your damage over time effects on all enemies by 8 seconds. The Darkglare will serve you for 20 seconds, blasting its target for Shadow damage, increased by 25% for every damage over time effect you have active on their current target.
      • Xavian Teachings has been removed from the Affliction talent tree and is now baseline.
      • Harvester of Souls has been removed from the Affliction talent tree.
      • Writhe in Agony has been moved to row 3 of the Affliction talent tree and is now a 1 rank talent.
      • New Talent: Dark Virtuosity – Increases Shadow Bolt/Drain Soul damage by 15/30%.
      • Dark Virtuosity has been added to the fourth row.
      • New Talent: Kindled Malice – Increases Malefic Rapture and Seed of Corruption damage by 8/15%.
      • Kindled Malice has been added to the fourth row.
      • Developer notes:
        • Looking at talents early in the Affliction tree, Xavian Teachings feels overly mandatory to smooth out Affliction’s gameplay. Additionally, Harvester of Souls is difficult to tune to be competitive with other options on Affliction’s tree due to how it affects survivability. Due to this, we are making Xavian Teachings baseline and removing Harvester of Souls and in their place adding basic throughput increase talents, to avoid additional complexity.
        • Darkglare has been increasingly difficult to tune due to how they scale in multi-target situations. To remedy this, we are changing how Darkglare scales so that they contribute more in single-target encounters. This should also increase the effectiveness of Grim Reach, emphasizing Darkglare as a powerful AOE option when talented.
    • Demonology
      • Reign of Tyranny now increases the damage of Demonic Tyrant by 50% in addition to its original effect.
      • New Talent: Immutable Hatred – When your primary Felguard’s Legion Strike damages only 1 target, its damage is increased by 120%. Your primary Felguard deals Physical damage after auto-attacking the same enemy 3 consecutive times.
      • Immutable Hatred has been added to the Demonology specialization tree as a choice against Guillotine.
      • New Talent: Umbral Blaze – Hand of Gul’dan has a 8/15% chance to burn its target for additional Shadowflame damage every 2 seconds for 6 seconds.
      • Umbral Blaze has been added to the Demonology specialization tree in Hounds of War’s previous location.
      • Hounds of War has been removed from the Demonology talent tree.
      • Pact of the Imp Mother now has an 8/15% chance (was 5/10%) to cast Hand of Gul’dan a second time.
      • Guillotine damage increased by 200%.
      • Guillotine now lasts 6 seconds (was 8 seconds).
      • Stolen Power now triggers after 75 applications (was 100).
      • Developer notes:
        • Hounds of War has little room for further tuning due to it hooking onto rotational, frequently used spells in the Demonology toolkit. To replace it, we are bringing back Umbral Blaze as a choice to further improve Hand of Gul’dan.
        • Reign of Tyranny has continued to underperform. However, rather than put additional emphasis on the ramp up required, we are wanting to bring up its ‘floor’ value while retaining the skill expression aspect of the talent. Ideally, this makes Reign of Tyranny the more passive, friendly option compared to the frequent skill checks that Grand Warlock’s Design demands.
        • Lastly, Guillotine has been underperforming. To rectify this, we are increasing its overall throughput and decreasing its duration to make it a more competitive choice. In addition, we are adding a new capstone to the right side of the tree that focuses on improving Demonology’s contribution to single target encounters without adding complexity to their rotational gameplay.
    • Destruction
      • Burn to Ashes now stacks up to 6 times.
      • Mayhem is now tracked under the personal resource bar.

ENEMIES AND NPCS

  • Added Ancient Bats and Ancient Tigers to Zul’Gurub as a new source of Primal Bat and Tiger leather.

ITEMS AND REWARDS

  • Vile Fumigator’s Mask can now be transmogged.

PET BATTLES

  • Collect new pets, pet achievements, and challenge new pet battle masters in the Forbidden Reach.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

  • DEMON HUNTER
    • Reverse Magic (PvP Talent) now triggers the backlash effects from dispelled debuffs.
  • EVOKER
    • Preservation
      • Rewind healing is now increased by 100% while in arena combat with 5 or less allied players.
  • MONK
    • Mistweaver
      • Healing Sphere (PvP Talent) spell visual has been updated to be more noticeable.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

  • NEW FEATURE: REAL TIME CHAT MODERATION
    • Whispers that may contain harassing chat sent from a player you are not friends with will now be hidden. The recipient will receive a message warning them that they’ve received a whisper that may have disruptive content and will be prompted if they’d like to see it anyway. If the whisper is revealed, there will be a Report Player option directly in the message so the offending player can be reported easily.
  • Added a tag in the Chat typing bar to tell players what language they are typing in if they are not typing in Common or Orcish.

Paladin Feedback Notes

Quote from: Blizzard

With today’s PTR update, we’re moving toward providing Retribution Paladins with options to invest in certain abilities, damage profile and damage types, while also increasing their survivability and trying to put them on a fairer playing field regarding movement.

Buttons
We’ve reduced the number of total buttons that you’ll be able to acquire as a specialization at one time. We’ve accomplished this through a variety of means: some abilities have been removed, some that felt redundant are choice nodes opposite one another, a number of abilities can now be talented to override existing abilities, and in a few cases we replaced abilities are granted for free as a secondary function of another.

Stacking Modifiers
We’ve made significant changes to reduce the amount of stacking modifiers available. To accomplish this, we’ve removed abilities that felt like they were doubling up in purpose, such as Seraphim and have also removed several small maintenance buffs and debuffs that we feel were not providing rewarding gameplay. The lost damage from this will be rerouted to core abilities, cooldowns and new talents as part of our future tuning.

Survivability
The Paladin class tree has seen a substantial update alongside our Retribution rework, through this and updates to the Retribution tree itself there should now be a number of options to help Paladins survive more while participating in various types of content.

Maneuverability
We aren’t done with maneuverability yet; we have a few ideas we’re currently exploring internally and will have more to share here in the future. Additionally, we’ve removed Divine Steed from the GCD, since Retribution Paladins rely on this as their major movement ability. Retribution Paladins now receive Blessing of Freedom for free as a part of their Specialization and can talent into a new talent “Unbound Freedom” which provides increased movement speed.

Utility
As previously detailed, Retribution Aura has been redesigned to benefit your group or raid. In addition to this and as a result of the updates to the Paladin class tree, it should now be easier to acquire talents that will provide a benefit to your group or raid.

In the 10.0.7 PTR, we currently have some

Known Issues

  • Tuning is in progress and several talents / abilities are likely undertuned and overtuned.
  • Divine Hammer does not benefit from some Consecration talents.
  • Improved Crusader Strike is not granting an extra charge to Blessed Hammer.
  • Blessed Champion and Commanding Judgement do not receive the correct damage reductions.
  • Executioner’s Will is not correctly functioning with Final Reckoning
  • Physical Presence and Searing Light will have more functionality / purpose.
  • Penitence and spells that benefit from it are not currently functioning.
  • Punishment is not correctly functioning.
  • Lightforged Blessing is not currently affecting allies.
  • Consecrated Blade and Divine Hammer are not correctly replacing consecration.
  • Jurisdiction and Unbound Freedom PVP talents will be removed as their effects are now built into the talent tree.
  • Consecrated Blade and Divine Hammers incorrectly require 20 talent points to be spent.

We look forward to hearing your feedback on the individual talents, layout, pathing and how fun you feel the builds you can create are.

Hotfixes: February 14 2023, Rated PvP Rating Discussion

In addition to the day’s hotfixes, Blizzard also posted their thoughts about the rating inflation in rated PvP.

Quote from: Blizzard

February 14, 2023

Items and Rewards

  • Fixed an issue where a number of PvP items had an incorrect item level and were missing socket eligibility. This fix is retroactive and requires relogging.

Player versus Player

  • Monk
    • Fixed an issue that caused Guided Meditation (PvP Talent) to persist on allies after canceling Zen Meditation.

Dragonflight Season 1 Rated PvP Rating Discussion

Quote from: Blizzard

Clarification on Ratings and Titles for PvP Dragonflight Season 1

We’ve seen a lot of discussion about ratings in the 2v2, 3v3, Rated Battleground, and Solo Shuffle brackets over the past few weeks and we wanted to clarify a few points, especially about “rating inflation.” We have alluded to a “rating inflation” system in rated PvP before, but we’ve never explained what it is, how it works and why we like it.

Rating inflation allows us to increase the “mean rating” over time. What is the mean rating? Well, it’s probably easiest to say that a player with exactly average skill will have a “mean rating”, due to how the math of rating calculations works. Players above the mean rating have above-average skill, while players below the mean rating deserve our love and support. Under the hood, rating inflation increases that mean rating over time, meaning that while at the start of the season an average player will quickly gravitate toward a rating of 1500, towards the end of the season their rating may rise to 1800. Originally, this system was developed to counterbalance the effect of players who earned a high rating early in the season then opting out of playing the rest of the season.

We feel like every PvP season has three stages:

  • Early season – When most players are earning Conquest on a weekly basis to acquire gear.
  • Mid-season – When most players are finishing their gear sets, gearing up alts, and trying out different classes.
  • End of season – When a lot of players are pushing for seasonal milestones or titles.

Rating inflation was meant to ensure that the real action for titles happened at the end of the season. However, it also benefited other players, who could feel progress over the course of a season as they pushed their rating. One downside of this system is that when the season rolls over, rating inflation resets, and players feel unable to achieve a rating that they had only the week before. Another variable here is the rate at which we inflate the rating. We’ve tried a lot of different numbers over the years. What we’ve learned is that increasing the mean rating at a rate of less than 15 points per week doesn’t allow people to overcome those early season ladder squatters. But increasing inflation at more than 20 points per week results in feeling like no rating is safe. It also can lead to super-inflated ratings at the end of the season.

Something we decided to do for Dragonflight Season 1 was to delay the start of inflation until week 10. We didn’t feel like inflation was necessary during the early season when players are playing to earn Conquest to complete their gear set. Chasing titles and end of season rewards isn’t entirely relevant yet. But now at week 10, players will be completing their Conquest sets, so inflation will kick in at 20 rating per week to help dislodge people from the top of the ladder and reach whatever their seasonal goal might be. Since we’re starting it later in the season at this aggressive rate, we won’t reach ratings that are highly overinflated. In retrospect, we think this delay was too long and we’re considering starting it earlier in the future, perhaps at a reduced rate.

While we have you here, we also want to address faction-specific titles. Originally, these were added to encourage players to play both factions and this was largely successful. Prior to cross-faction groups in Arena, social dynamics were the primary driver behind which faction got the most player in organized PvP. Players decided which faction had the racials they preferred and flocked to that side. If you wanted to play with those players, you needed to join that faction. Now, players can play whichever faction they prefer and cross-faction titles are no longer necessary. We’ve decided that end-of-season titles will once again be faction agnostic in Dragonflight Season 1.

Thank you and we hope this provides answers to some of the feedback you have delivered regarding this PvP season.

Quote from: Blizzard

We understood the risk here with Solo Shuffle and its impact on 2v2 and 3v3, but felt it would lead to more people participating in Arena overall. For many players, earning Conquest to complete a full set of gear is their primary form of progression and they have no aspirations of earning Duelist much less Gladiator. They queue up, cap conquest each week, then stop playing. Their presence in 2v2 and 3v3 lifted up the ratings of all of those people really striving for end of season titles. Now, those players are able to get their Conquest in Solo Shuffle instead. We’ll look for ways to make 2v2 and 3v3 worth queuing for that player type.

Fun tidbit: One of the surprising beneficiaries of Solo Shuffle has been Skirmish, where it appears players often spend their time while waiting for their Solo Shuffle queue to pop.

Hotfixes: February 13, 2023

Quote from: Blizzard

February 13, 2023

Classes

  • Evoker
    • Fixed a number of issues that could sometimes cause action bars to become temporarily gray as a result of casting Empowered spells.
    • Fixed an issue where Pyre and Disintegrate would sometimes not cast despite appearing to have enough Essence.

Dragonriding

  • Tamed the volume of exertions for Dragonriding mounts. They’ve settled down since taking flight.

Dungeons and Raids

  • Brackenhide Hollow
    • Fixed an issue causing Rageclaw’s Bloodthirsty Charge to hit players that are behind and to the side of Rageclaw.
  • Vault of the Incarnates
    • [With weekly restarts] The Hall of Fame (Horde) for Vault of the Incarnates has now been filled with the first 100 guilds to defeat Mythic Raszageth. Congratulations to all players who earned a spot in the annals of raiding history this season!
    • [With weekly restarts] Players from different servers may now group together in Vault of the Incarnates on Mythic difficulty.
    • Raszageth
      • Heroic
        • [With weekly restarts] Health reduced by 5% on Heroic difficulty.
        • [With weekly restarts] Reduced the rate that Vault Integrity drains during Intermission: The Primalist Strike on Heroic difficulty.
        • [With weekly restarts] Tempest Wing periodic damage reduced by 20% on Heroic difficulty.
        • [With weekly restarts] Volatile Current damage reduced by 15%.
      • Mythic
        • [With weekly restarts] Reduced the push effect of Hurricane Wing on Mythic difficulty.
        • [With weekly restarts] Flamesworn Herald’s Flame Shield now absorbs 45% (was 55%) of its maximum health on Mythic difficulty.
        • [With weekly restarts] Frostforged Zealot’s Shattering Shroud now absorbs 20% less healing on Mythic difficulty.
        • [With weekly restarts] Stormseeker Acolyte’s Ascension now increases by 150% (was 300%) on Mythic difficulty.
        • [With weekly restarts] Tempest Wing periodic damage reduced by 20%.
  • Mythic+
    • Halls of Valor
      • Hyrja
        • Fixed an issue that could cause Adaptive Swarm to jump to Hyjra before she engages players.

Enemies and NPCs

  • Fixed an issue causing the world boss Liskanoth to engage nearby enemies and reset.

Hotfixes: February 10 2023

Quote from: Blizzard

February 10, 2023

Classes

  • Evoker
    • Preservation
      • Fixed an issue where Essence Burst would not be granted from Living Flames cast by Echo.
      • Fixed an issue where Living Flames cast by Leaping Flames would consume Echo.
      • Fixed an issue where Living Flames cast by Leaping Flames would be stored by Stasis.

Dungeons and Raids

  • Other players in your raid group should no longer be notified when you receive an Ancient Vault Artifact.
  • Brackenhide Hollow
    • Treemouth
      • Fixed an issue that could prevent Treemouth from casting Grasping Vines.
    • Vault of the Incarnates
      • Broodkeeper Diurna
        • Fixed an issue where immunity effects, such as Anti-Magic Shell, could prevent the application of the visual warning indicator for Broodkeeper Diurna’s Wildfire.

Items and Rewards

  • Trophy of Strife can no longer be placed in the reagent bag or reagent bank.

Player versus Player

  • Fixed an issue causing Precognition to not immune cast pushback.

Patch 10.0.7 PTR: Onyx Annulet Ring and Primordial Stones

Quote from: Blizzard

Greetings!

We’d like to shed some light on the specifics of the feature surrounding Primordial Stones and how they work.

By questing in 10.0.7, you’ll unlock the Zskera Vaults, which is a solo instanced dungeon with some fun puzzles to solve. As you venture through, you’ll acquire the Onyx Annulet ring and a bunch of Primordial Stones that can be socketed into it. These stones have trinket-like effects, and some also work together to create some spicy combinations.

When it comes to acquiring these:

  • The Zskera Vaults are where you get Primordial Stones, and can be accessed with keys that you’ll receive from rares and chests across the Forbidden Reach.
  • The keys will be Bind On Account, so you can get your alts into the Zskera Vaults easily.
  • You can crush your Primordial Stones into fragments which can be repurposed into an item to upgrade your favorite stones (through your local Jewelcrafter).
  • You can use these fragments to purchase newer stones from Researcher Imareth. While you can’t buy specific stones, they come in families, so you’ll be able to target the Stones you want.
  • Primordial Stones can be unsocketed from the Annulet.

Our intent here is to minimize random outcomes so that you can customize and experiment with your Onyx Annulet, similar to the Mechagon Trinket (the Pocket-Sized Computation Device). Being able to upgrade your favorite Stones will also increase the item level of the ring up to 424, allowing its power to scale up in a deterministic way.

Of course, given its maximal item level, we expect that you’ll replace it with something better in Dragonflight Season 2.

Thank you for reading. We’re excited to see what you do with them, and how you feel when you get your hands on these!

Hotfixes: February 8 2023, Trading Post Developer Live Chat

In addition to a couple of hotfixes Blizzard also posted a Developer Live Chat with the Community Council to answer questions about the Trading Post as well as give an idea as to what to expect to see in future months. One main takeaway is that the devs are looking for feedback on what the players want from the Trading Post.

Quote from: Blizzard

February 8, 2023

Dungeons and Raids

  • Brackenhide Hollow
    • Hackclaw’s War-Band
      • Fixed an issue where Rogues would be knocked out of stealth before combat.

Items and Rewards

  • Vendors have amassed enough Serevite Skeleton Keys to lockpick for years to come and are now offering a lower price for them.

Mounts

  • Jade, Bright Foreseer has removed its unnecessary horseshoes and now just leaves water splashes behind it.
Quote from: Blizzard

Today, several members of the WoW Community Council met with the World of Warcraft Trading Post developers Jeremy Feasel, Jen Hauer, Crystal Tam, Tyler Neuhaus, and Kenny McBride.

The discussion covered details on the development of the Trading Post as a new WoW feature as well as thoughts and suggestions about what items and cosmetics could be included in future updates.

Feel free to use this thread for any follow-up questions, thoughts on the Trading Post so far, or any other related discussion.

Thanks!