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Category: Dragonflight

Patch 10.0.5 PTR Notes 13 January 2023

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello everyone! Take a look at the notes for this week’s 10.0.5 PTR update:

NEW EVENT: THE STORM’S FURY

  • The Storm’s Fury event is now available to test. We look forward to hearing your feedback!

ACHIEVEMENTS

  • Fixed an issue that caused the Archivists’ Codex faction achievements to grant double achievement points. Players may see a drop in 20 points if they were maxed out with the Archivists’ Codex.

CLASSES

  • DRUID
    • Feral
      • Taste for Blood changed to a single point node that increases Ferocious Bite damage by 5% per bleed on the target (was a 2-point node).
      • Sudden Ambush changed to a single point node that grants 6% chance per combo point spent to cause your next Shred or Rake to deal damage as though stealthed (was a 2-point node).
      • Tear Open Wounds now deals 70% of the Rip damage it consumes (was 60%).
      • Relentless Predator reduces the energy cost of Ferocious Bite by 40% (was 20%).
      • Rip and Tear: Tear damage increased to 15% of Rip damage (was 12%).
      • Lunar Inspiration damage increased by 66%.
      • Tear Open Wounds directly below Primal Wrath on row 3, with a connector to Pouncing Strikes.
      • Lunar Inspiration moved below and to the left of Sudden Ambush on row 6.
    • Restoration
      • Wild Synthesis now stacks up to 3 times (was 4) and decreases cast time and increases Mastery: Harmony benefit by 33% per stack (was 25%).
      • Forest’s Flow now extends heal over time effects by 4 seconds (was 2 seconds).
  • EVOKER
    • Preservation
      • Casting Echo directly after Living Flame or Spiritbloom will no longer consume the Echo.
      • Emerald Communion will no longer cancel if the Evoker is disoriented or feared during the channel.
      • Emerald Communion will now properly calculate its overhealing value (it would sometimes heal less than expected). In addition, its healing to allies can no longer critically heal.
      • Emerald Communion now always prioritizes players over pets.
  • MONK
    • Brewmaster
      • Resonant Fists damage reduced by 45%.
      • Keg Smash damage increased by 10%.
      • Tiger Palm damage increased by 20%.
      • Blackout Kick damage increased by 20%.
      • Spinning Crane Kick increased by 20%.
      • Breath of Fire damage increased by 25%.
    • Windwalker
      • Faeline Stomp now correctly counts for Mastery: Combo Strikes.
      • Last Emperor’s Capacitor stacks are correctly removed on talent removal.
      • Glory of the Dawn is now correctly reduced by Storm, Earth & Fire.
  • PALADIN
    • Class
      • Fixed an issue causing rank 1 Seal of Might to grant an incorrect amount of Mastery during Sentinel.
    • Holy
      • Empyrean Legacy and Avenging Crusader now display on the Personal Resource Bar.
  • WARRIOR
    • Arms
      • Battlelord now increases the damage of Overpower by 35% (was 25%).
      • Ignore Pain has been added to the Arms tree.
    • Fury
      • Duration of Avatar and Recklessness caused by Berserker’s Torment is now 8 seconds (was 4 seconds).

CREATURES AND NPCS

  • New rare enemies and NPCs can now be found in the elite areas of Nokhudon Hold, Imbu, Cobalt Assembly, Tyrhold, and the Primalist Future.
  • Some rare enemies that showed up on the zone maps outside the elite areas, have had their cadence changed to 1 spawned every 30 minutes (was 2 spawned every 2 hours). The health of these rares has been increased as well so players have more time to get to them before they are defeated.
  • The new elite area rares and the more scheduled rares have rewards on par with the the elite rares found in Obsidian Citadel or Brackenhide Hollow.
  • The newly trained Draenei, Lightforged Draenei, Orc, Tauren, and Highmountain Tauren that now specialize in rogue, mage, and priest classes are now located in major capital cities (Stormwind and Orgrimmar) and in their racial cities (Thunder Bluff and the Exodar). Additionally, a Tauren rogue can be found in the Rogue class hall.
    • Orc, Tauren, and Highmountain Tauren priest NPCs have been removed from 10.0.5, but will make their appearances in a future update.

ITEMS AND REWARDS

  • Former new character starter equipment has been added back to vendors in Stormwind and Orgrimmar. Pay a visit to a local shop relevant to your armor type and see what they have in stock!
  • Polearms from Shadowlands and Dragonflight have been adjusted to sit lower on the player’s back when sheathed. We’ll be looking into adjusting additional polearms from previous expansions in a future update.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause some players to not be able to purchase the Explorer’s League Banner toy at Rank 19 with the Dragonscale Expedition.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause no options for Demon Hunters, Hunters, and Rogues on the quest Mysteries in Paper and Glass from Giera at Rank 25 with the Valdrakken Accord.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

  • SOLO SHUFFLE
    • Several changes have been made to improve how our system handles players who leave matches:
      • Rating will be calculated per-round in games with leavers.
      • Matchmaking Value for each player in a match will be displayed on the scoreboard.
      • A warning prompt will display the penalties for leaving if a player attempts to leave a match.
      • Players who leave excessively will be subject to account review and suspensions, as abandoning matches repeatedly is a violation of the terms of service via exploiting functionality to the detriment of the game environment and the intended player experience.
  • CLASSES
    • EVOKER
      • Preservation
        • Dream Projection (PvP Talent) healing reduced by 35%. Cooldown reduced to 60 seconds (was 90 seconds).
        • Chrono Loop (PvP Talent) will now display as a large icon on unit frames and now has a more noticeable effect on the player.

PROFESSIONS

  • Profession requirements for many transmog-eligible pieces have been adjusted or removed entirely.
    • Most items that previously required a profession other than Engineering no longer have a requirement.
    • Engineering items have had their skill requirement reduced to 1 of their appropriate expansion.
    • Gnomish and Goblin engineering are no longer required to transmog any Engineering appearances.
    • Acquisition method for all of these items remains unchanged.
  • Legacy leatherworking patterns for Heavy Scorpid gear that were lost to the Cataclysm can once again drop from Blackrock Orcs in the Burning Steppes.
  • Pattern: Raptor Hide Harness and Pattern: Raptor Hide Belt can now both be learned by players of either faction.
  • The legacy recipe for delicious Goldthorn Tea can once again be acquired by observant adventurers in Razorfen Downs.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

  • EDIT MODE
    • Added Equipment Durability
    • You can now use arrow keys to fine-tune the placement of elements in Edit Mode.
  • TALENT WINDOW
    • The Reset Talents button now lets you reset one tree at a time.
    • You can now copy someone’s build when inspecting their talents.
    • History nodes have a more visually distinct outline.
    • Hidden action bars are now shown when the talents pane or spellbook is open.
    • The “Missing from action bar” search now specifies talents that are on a hidden or disabled action bar, or on a different stance.
    • When UI Colorblind Mode is enabled under Accessibility options, a plus icon appears on all learnable nodes.
    • The loadout slash commands (/loadoutname, /loadoutindex, /specname, /specindex) are now localized.
    • Fixed an issue where talent tooltips were appearing above the PvP talents flyout.
    • Fixed an issue where unlearning a talent would clear active searches.
  • DRAGONRIDING
    • Added tools to assist with Motion Sickness while Dragonriding to the Options > Accessibility > General panel (under Dragonriding Motion Sickness).
      • Focal Circle: Adds a focal circle crosshair to the center of the players screen that helps players focus on a more restricted area to address motion sickness.
      • Landscape Darkening: Applies a darkening effect around the outside of the screen as the player accelerates.
      • When enabled, the Focal Circle and Landscape Darkening also display for those using Ride Along.
    • Added tools to assist those with sensitivity to Dragonriding’s visual effects to the Options > Accessibility > General panel.
      • Dragonriding Speed Effects: Disables the visual effects that occur around the player’s drake while moving at high speeds.
      • Alternate Full Screen Effects: This option, which hides the speed visual effects on the edges of the screen, has been renamed “Photosensitivity Mode”.
  • The icons for “find fish”, “find minerals”, and, “find herbs” have been updated on the minimap filter list.
  • Major Factions map icons are slightly reduced in size to improve map visibility.
  • The Dragonflight Great Vault now uses new art specific to Dragonflight.
  • Fixed an issue where the heal absorb bar did not display on Unit Frames.
  • Fixed an issue where the Flag Carrier Unit Frames did not appear in Capture the Flag battlegrounds.

Patch 10.0.5 Arrives January 24, Get Bonus Trader’s Tender

Patch 10.0.5 has officially got a release date! And not just that, Blizzard has also announced that everyone who owns the Dragonflight expansion will get 500 bonus Trader’s Tender currency to buy more items from the Trading Post when the feature activates on 1 February!

Quote from: Blizzard

The Dragonflight 10.0.5 content update will arrive on January 24 and will usher in a variety of changes to help you on your adventures in Azeroth and beyond. Continue reading to learn more about changes like the new Trading Post feature, a new Primal Storm event, and more ways to keep stylish with transmogs.

Make Your Way to the Trading Post on February 1

A new feature is making its way to World of Warcraft®*— the Trading Post**! Complete monthly activities to earn currency toward decking out your characters in cosmetic transmogs, pets, and mounts***— with new items and activities introduced every month beginning on February 1 when the Trading Posts in Orgrimmar and Stormwind open for the first time. Read more about this new feature in our news post.

The Trading Post opens for business on the morning of February 1 (local time).

Storms of Epic Proportions

A new Primal Storm event—The Storm’s Fury—is brewing and will take place in The Primalist Future!

The Primalists are rallying some of their strongest forces to preserve their plans to dominate Azeroth. Head out with your fellow adventurers to seal their portals and defeat their mighty monstrosities.

The Storm’s Fury event will spin up every five hours. When it’s active, head to the Temporal Conflux portal in Thaldraszus.

Brave defenders will receive Essence of the Storm, which can be exchanged for rewards like the Skyskin Hornstrider mount or the Time-Lost Vorquin Foal pet. You can also get items to help weather the storm as the Primalists try to freeze their enemies to the bone.

Ready-to-Wear

Expand your wardrobe with Common (white) and Poor (grey) quality gear. Each item will now be bind-on-equip and can be added to your Appearances collection so you can mix-and-match like the stylist you are to create the ultimate transmog sets for any occasion. Think of all the fashion possibilities you can twirl up when the Trial of Style returns!

See you on the Dragon Isles!

*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 access the Adventure Guide.

Quote from: Blizzard

It won’t be long before the new Trading Post* feature goes live, and with its arrival, players with Dragonflight will receive Bonus Trader’s Tender.

What a Tender Moment!

As a way of saying “Thank you” to the community for continuing to play World of Warcraft with us, we will be 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.

 

*Requires World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time. The Trading Post feature is not available in WoW Classic titles.
**Bonus Trader’s Tender is granted only once per Battle.net account.

Hotfixes: 11 January 2023, Group Loot & Transmog Lightning Visual Effect Fixes in 10.0.5

In addition to yesterday’s regular hotfixes the devs also posted two updates on Group Loot and the bug for visual effects on class gear. Group loot will get a hotfix later this week in addition to more changes coming in patch 10.0.5. The missing visual effects on gear will be restored in patch 10.0.5 as well!

Quote from: Blizzard

January 11, 2023

Dragonriding

  • Rebalanced Dragonrider’s Cultivation, increasing the amount to 400% (from 10%) and reducing the duration to 3 sec (from 10 sec). This should provide more of a bonus for those that like to gather on the go.

Dungeons and Raids

  • Halls of Valor
    • Adjusted the visual of Sanctify cast by Hyrja in Halls of Valor.
  • Mythic+
    • Azure Vaults
      • Fixed an issue where being hit with Thundering while on the translocation path would cause you to repeat the path.
    • Shadowmoon Burial Grounds
      • Ner’zhul
        • Fixed an issue causing Ritual of Bones to regenerate health during combat.
    • Temple of the Jade Serpent
      • Wise Mari
        • Wise Mari will now die immediately and grant players credit for the encounter upon defeat.
      • Lorewalker Stonestep
        • Intensity damage decreased 40%.
        • Agony damage decreased by 40%.
        • Fixed an issue causing the healing bonus from Feeling of Superiority to increase per stack Fixed an issue causing Feeling of Superiority to be able to spread to multiple targets.
          • Developers’ note: We are lowering the damage output of Peril and Strife to account for fixing a bug that was causing the healing increase of Feeling of Superiority to increase per stack.

Items and Rewards

  • Fixed an issue with the Hood of Surging Time where the Haste given would be lower than intended if the player’s pet attacked the new target first.

Group Loot & Transmog Lightning Visual Effect Fixes

Quote from: Blizzard

We have a hotfix coming to the game later this week. With this hotfix, we will have:

  • Fixed some situations where players could win Need rolls on duplicate items in a single roll session when it should not have been possible.

This has already been working as intended for most items, but should now include items such as Tier Tokens and weapons.

Additionally, we’ve got some updates to loot distribution coming in 10.0.5–

  • Fixed an issue where, in some rare cases, players would get less loot than they should have on certain Raid sizes.
  • Fixed an issue where players could unconditionally roll Need on Set Tokens. The system will now check if the player owns the Token or the Set Piece itself at equal or greater power.
  • Players can no longer roll Need on any Profession recipe that they have already learned.
  • Players can no longer unconditionally roll Need on 1H weapons (or 2H for a Warrior in Fury loot spec).

For that last one, in 10.0.5, the system will now thoroughly identify if you can dual-wield the weapon in question, based on your loot spec. If you can, and you already have two versions of it at least as powerful as the item being rolled for, you can’t Need the item.

Quote from: Blizzard

Class set items from Mythic Vault of the Incarnates and Elite PVP are intended to display lightning visual effects. These effects are typically attached to the shoulder and helm items. Unfortunately we have a bug that has prevented many of them from functioning as intended.

The bug will be fixed with the launch of 10.0.5.

The Gleaming Incarnate Thunderstone, which you get as a reward for earning the Dragonflight Keystone Hero: Season 1 achievement, is intended to grant the lightning visual effect to non-Mythic difficulty class sets (and to grant the non-lightning version to the Mythic or Elite sets). So if you have the Normal difficulty shoulder appearance for your tier set, using this item will grant an additional appearance with the same color and added lightning effects. This applies to any item appearances you have already unlocked or unlock in the future, so unlocking your Heroic shoulders in the future will also immediately the lightning-infused equivalent.

Due to the aforementioned bug, this was likely unclear. You may also need to log out and log back in for these appearances to appear in your collection.

Hotfixes: January 9 2023, Developer Comments On Crafting Order System

Quote from: Blizzard

January 9, 2023

Classes

  • Demon Hunter
    • [With weekly restarts] The Hunt’s damage over time effect no longer deals an additional tick on application. Damage dealt over the total duration remains unchanged.
    • Vengeance
      • [With weekly restarts] Thick Skin armor bonus increased to 130% (was 100%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Calcified Skin initial damage reduction value increased to 12% (was 10%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Painbringer duration increased to 6 seconds (was 5 seconds).
  • Druid
    • Feral
      • [With weekly restarts] All ability damage dealt increased by 3%.
  • Evoker
    • Devastation
      • [With weekly restarts] Fire Breath damage increased by 10% for Devastation specialization only. Does not apply to PvP combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Lay Waste increases Deep Breath damage by 15%/30%, (was 10%/20%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Eternity Surge damage increased by 10%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Firestorm damage increased by 20%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Eye of Infinity generates 2 Essence on critical strike (was 1 Essence).
      • [With weekly restarts] Spellweaver’s Dominance increases critical strike damage to 230% (was 220%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Iridescence damage bonus increased to 20% (was 15%).
  • Hunter
    • Survival
      • [With weekly restarts] All ability damage and pet damage increased by 2%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Butchery and Carve damage increased by 10%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Fury of the Eagle damage increased by 10%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Wildfire Bomb damage increased by 15%.
  • Mage
    • Fire
      • [With weekly restarts] Flamestrike damage increased by 15%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Living Bomb damage increased by 25%.
    • Frost
      • [With weekly restarts] Frostbolt damage increased by 20%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Ray of Frost damage increased by 40%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Glacial Spike damage increased by 10%.
  • Monk
    • Brewmaster
      • [With weekly restarts] Efficacy of Stagger against Magical damage increased to 45% (was 35%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Cooldown of Celestial Brew reduced to 45 sec (was 60).
    • Mistweaver
      • [With weekly restarts] All healing increased by 5%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Vivify healing increased by an additional 5%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Blackout Kick damage increased by 6%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Rising Sun Kick damage increased by 8%
      • [With weekly restarts] Tiger Palm damage increased by 15%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Spinning Crane Kick damage increased by 5%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Awakened Faeline now transfers 70% of Spinning Crane Kick’s damage into healing (was 60%).
  • Paladin
    • Retribution
      • [With weekly restarts] Crusader Strike Damage increased by 40%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Blade of Justice damage increased by 25%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Final Reckoning damage increased by 15%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Shield of Vengeance cooldown reduced to 90 sec (was 120).
      • Developers’ notes: Some of Retribution’s main rotational buttons do not feel as good to press as we’d like so we’re making some changes to help improve these abilities. Additionally, their survivability isn’t where we would like so we’re making some improvements to their defensive kit as well. We are looking at Retribution as a whole and will have more to share in the future.
  • Priest
    • Holy
      • [With weekly restarts] All healing done increased by 3%.
    • Shadow
      • [With weekly restarts] Focused Will provides 10% damage reduction for Shadow (down from 15%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Mind Blast damage increased by 15% (Shadow only).
      • [With weekly restarts] Mind Flay damage increased by 15% (this includes Mind Flay: Insanity, but not the proc from Idol of C’Thun).
      • [With weekly restarts] Mind Spike damage increased by 15%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Void Torrent damage increased by 15%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Devouring Plague damage increased by 15%.
      • Developers’ notes: These changes are aimed at improving Shadow’s single target DPS. The change to Focused Will is a targeted change for PvP to reduce Shadow’s survivability.
  • Rogue
    • Outlaw
      • [With weekly restarts] Reduced Precise Cuts (Talent) bonus to Blade Flurry damage per missing target below its maximum to 2% (was 3%).
        • Developers’ notes: As we monitor the developing M+ meta and related data, we have recognized that Outlaw is overperforming. We expect this change will reduce Outlaw’s damage output in encounters with target count above 1 and below 8, as their damage is currently more consistent than we intend for dungeons and encounters that frequently present those circumstances.
  • Warlock
    • Fixed an issue where Demon Armor from the Conflict and Strife essence persisted outside of Battle for Azeroth zones.
    • Affliction
      • [With weekly restarts] Agony damage increased by 5%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Corruption damage increased by 5%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Drain Soul damage increased by 10%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Pandemic Invocation damage increased by 20%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Seed of Corruption damage increased by 5%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Shadow Bolt damage increased by 10%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Siphon Life damage increased by 10%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Unstable Affliction backlash damage is no longer increased from increased damage dealt modifiers or effects that increase Unstable Affliction’s damage.
    • Destruction
      • [With weekly restarts] Channel Demonfire damage increased by 10%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Rain of Fire damage increased by 15%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Soul Fire damage increased by 20%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Infernal and Blasphemy Immolation damage increased by 10%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Conflagrate damage increased by 10%. Does not apply to PvP.
      • [With weekly restarts] Immolate damage increased by 10%. Does not apply to PvP.
      • [With weekly restarts] Incinerate damage increased by 15%. Does not apply to PvP.

Dungeons and Raids

  • The Nokhud Offensive
    • Granyth
      • Fixed an issue where multiple players could interact with the ballista at the same time and each fire an arrow.
    • Teera and Maruuk
      • Fixed an issue where Blessing of Protection allowed players to be immune to the effects of Teera’s Gale Arrow.
  • Ruby Life Pools
    • Melidrussa Chillworn
      • [With weekly restarts] Reduced the damage of triggering a Hailbomb by 40%.
      • [With weekly restarts] Reduced party-wide AoE damage on the initial cast of Hailbombs by 66%
        • Developers’ note: The initial on-cast hit from Hailbombs was never intended to be a large source of damage, and when scaled up on Mythic+ it is contributing more damage to the fight than we’d like, so we’re reining it in to give healers more breathing room to recover from Melidrussa’s other abilities.
    • Kokia Blazehoof
      • [With weekly restarts] Reduced period damage of Searing Wounds by 25%
      • [With weekly restarts] Reduced damage of Scorched Earth by 25%
  • Mythic+
    • Algeth’ar Academy
      • Fixed an issue where some enemies near Vexamus did not provide Enemy Forces credit, and adjusted Enemy Forces requirements accordingly
      • Developers’ note: This will make enemies in the dungeon “appear” to grant slightly less Enemy Forces credit, but defeating the enemies affected by this change was required to engage Vexamus, so there shouldn’t be any real gameplay impact.
    • Vault of the Incarnates
      • Raszageth
        • Reduced the push effect of Hurricane Wing on Mythic difficulty.

Player versus Player

  • Classes
    • Demon Hunter
      • [With weekly restarts] Soul Rending leech bonus reduced by 40% in PvP Combat.
      • Havoc
        • [With weekly restarts] Glimpse (PvP Talent) damage reduction reduced to 35% (was 75%).
        • [With weekly restarts] Essence Break damage bonus for Chaos Strike and Blade Dance reduced by 37.5% in PvP Combat.
        • [With weekly restarts] Soulrend damage reduced by 16.7% in PvP Combat.
        • Developers’ notes: We have noticed Havoc Demon Hunter overperforming in several facets of PvP including personal survivability, burst damage, and overall DPS. We’re taking action to reduce their effectiveness in these areas while still aiming to keep them competitive.
    • Evoker
      • Preservation
        • [With weekly restarts] Energy Loop’s mana regeneration reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
          • Developers’ notes: Energy Loop’s mana restoration has been overperforming compared to its contribution in PvE due to game-wide reduced mana regeneration within PvP instances. We’re adjusting this to bring it in line with expected benefits, but still want this effect to remain a powerful option as we feel it can lead to compelling decision making with Essence resources.
    • Mage
      • Arcane
        • [With weekly restarts] Siphon Storm’s effectiveness has been reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
          • Developers’ notes: Siphon Storm has been a culprit for one-shot scenarios, so we are adjusting its effectiveness down heavily.
      • Frost
        • [With weekly restarts] Reduced Glacial Spike’s damage increased from Mastery: Icicles by 25%. This will be reflected in the tooltip in a later patch.
          • Developers’ notes: Siphon Storm has been a culprit for one-shot scenarios, so we are adjusting its effectiveness down heavily.
    • Monk
      • [With weekly restarts] Blackout Kick damage increased by 30% in PvP Combat (was 15%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Tiger’s Palm damage increased by 30% in PvP Combat (was 15%).
      • Mistweaver
        • [With weekly restarts] Rising Sun Kick now deals 12.5% additional damage in PvP (was 25%).
        • Developer’s note: We are looking to offset the incoming PvE buffs to Rising Sun Kick as we think it currently hits hard enough to be effective for Mistweaver in PvP.
    • Windwalker
      • [With weekly restarts] Thunderfist damage reduced by 40% in PvP Combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Skyreach increases critical strike chance by 30% in PvP Combat (was 50%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Fists of Fury damage increased by 15% in PvP Combat.
      • Developers’ notes: Windwalker burst has continued to be above a level we’re comfortable with. We’re targeting Thunderfist and Skyreach, as they have been large contributors to this. We’re also increasing their sustained damage, as we feel there is room for that to improve as their burst is reduced.
    • Priest
      • [With weekly restarts] Flash Heal healing is increased by 30% in PvP Combat (was 20%).
      • Holy
        • [With weekly restarts] Heal healing is increased by 35% in PvP Combat (was 25%).
        • [With weekly restarts] Holy Word: Serenity healing is increased by 15% in PvP Combat.
        • Developers’ notes: Holy received PvP reductions in casted healing effectiveness in previous patches that we now feel are unnecessary and are reverting. We also feel Holy Word: Serenity has not been as effective as we would like at handling burst damage, so we are increasing that as well.
      • Shadow
        • [With weekly restarts] Shadow Word: Death damage reduced by 30% in PvP Combat for Shadow only (was 20%).
        • [With weekly restarts] Mind Blast damage reduced by 25% in PvP Combat for Shadow only.
        • [With weekly restarts] Mind Spike damage reduced by 25% in PvP Combat.
        • [With weekly restarts] Devouring Plague damage reduced by 25% in PvP Combat.
        • [With weekly restarts] Vampiric Touch damage reduced by 5% in PvP Combat (was increased by 10%).
        • [With weekly restarts] The trigger rate of Shadowy Insight has been reduced by 25% while in PvP Combat.
        • [With weekly restarts] The trigger rate of Surge of Darkness has been reduced by 25% while in PvP Combat.
        • Developers’ notes: Shadow Priest has been widely overperforming, so we are looking to offset recent PvE buffs to them and reduce their power defensively through changes to Focused Will. We’re also reducing their instant proc damage availability as we feel Shadow Priests do not have to hard cast spells as often as we would like them to.
    • Rogue
      • Assassination
        • [With weekly restarts] Improved Garrote’s Garrote damage bonus reduced by 40% in PvP Combat.
        • [With weekly restarts] Iron Wire damage reduction debuff now has a PvP duration of 4 seconds (was 8 seconds).
        • Developers’ notes: Assassination’s spread and single target Garrote pressure has been very high. We’re targeting this by decreasing the effectiveness of Improved Garrote. Iron Wire’s damage reduction effect has also felt too potent to us at preventing enemy pressure.
    • Warlock
      • Demonology
        • [With weekly restarts] Demonic Strength unleashes a Felstorm that deals 150% increased damage in PvP Combat (down from 400%).
        • [With weekly restarts] Demonfire damage increased by 75% in PvP Combat.
        • [With weekly restarts] Dreadbite damage reduced by 10% in PvP Combat.
        • Developers’ notes: We feel Demonic Strength can be a difficult spell to notice and has little counter play compared to Demonic Tyrant and its associated Demonfire casts. We’re looking to adjust Demonology’s burst sources while aiming to keep them at the same relative power. We also want to slightly reduce Demonology’s overall pressure by targeting Dreadbite.
    • Warrior
      • [With weekly restarts] Defensive Stance now reduces damage done by 15% (was 20%) in PvP combat.
        • Developers’ notes: Defensive Stance was adjusted in previous patches to address damage issues we no longer feel are present for Warriors. We’re increasing damage done in Defensive Stance to help increase their offensive pressure without affecting them defensively.

Wrath of the Lich King Classic

  • Fixing an issue where Wintergrasp faction win conditions could be unintentionally reset, resulting in players not receiving the Essence of Wintergrasp buff.
Quote from: Blizzard

To speak a bit to the original question of this thread:

“Are the devs sure that the crafting order system is a success?”

The crafting order system is by no means perfect. There are many ways we would like to improve it over time. We have been having many of these discussions internally, as well as listening to feedback from all of you. Since this is such a new system though, we don’t want to make any snap-judgements and make big changes before giving things a chance to settle and seeing how it develops over time.

We do believe that the system has been successful in one of its core goal though – to enable crafters to make soulbound, useful gear for players at all levels of play. This elevates the overall value of professions within the game and helps to deliver on the fantasy of being a crafter creating valuables for yourself and others.

It has also been successful in providing a new way to for crafters and customers to interact, one which is inherently more social, and when you get to use it, hopefully more satisfying than previous ways to do so! But again, very much not perfect!

As far as the public order system goes, it seems to be working well as an easy way to get something crafted for yourself if you aren’t worried about getting the best quality and want it quickly. This was always its intent. We definitely wish that as crafters, it was easier to find public orders to fill. Unfortunately even though there are quite a few public orders going through the system, given the minimal effort it takes to fulfill a public order and the relative number of crafters around to fill those orders, there will almost never be many orders up an any given time with the way it currently works…they get filled too quickly and easily.

We are looking into ways to have more orders to fulfill though, because for most, we think it tends to be a pretty satisfying activity and a great way to earn skill and a bit of gold when you can find an order to fulfill.

We also think the guild / personal order side of things are working moderately well. These methods allow players to connect and get their items crafted with more control. There are several issues we would very much like to improve though, including:

  1. Helping better connect customers and crafters. There is nothing wrong with a bit of effort to get the best gear, or to attract customers. This is currently mostly accomplished through trade chat though, which while it does have a nice social component to it (something we love to see more of), it is by no means an ideal way to find a crafter for a specific item, or a customer to craft for.
  2. Helping better support interactions between players who are depending on inspiration to reach a higher quality level.

We suspect that as players finish getting their high end crafting gear and complete purchases of other one time uses for Artisan’s Mettle, players will be more willing to use Artisan’s Mettle to guarantee higher quality crafts. That will help, but even then, inspiration will always be a useful way to get max quality gear crafted. The crafting orders system is not supporting this as well as we would like it to, since as a customer, you cannot place an order and know exactly what you will get – you need to rely on a handshake deal that your crafter has the inspiration they promised when attempting to craft items for you.

In addition, there will be lots of other quality of life features we will be looking into to help making it smoother to use, easier to learn, and more.

As always, thank you for the feedback. We will continue working to improve professions in general and the crafting order system in specific! Meanwhile, happy gathering and crafting!

-Drough

Patch 10.0.5 PTR Updated: Development Notes & Druid Changes

With the holidays over Blizzard has deployed a new PTR build! In addition to class tuning changes, the mage tower has been enabled for testing and the trading post has been disabled!

Quote from: Blizzard

Newest changes to the PTR:

CLASSES

  • DRUID
    • Balance
      • Astral Communion, in addition to its active effect, also passively increases your maximum Astral Power by 20.
    • Guardian
      • Added a tracker buff for After the Wildfire to indicate remaining rage expenditure until a trigger occurs.
    • Restoration
      • New Talent – Forest’s Flow: Nourish extends the duration of your Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, and Wild Growth effects on the target by 2 sec. Choice node with Wild Synthesis.
      • New Talent – Wild Synthesis: Regrowth decreases the cast time of your next Nourish by 25% and causes it to receive an additional 25% bonus from Mastery: Harmony. Choice node with Forest’s Flow.
      • Forest’s Flow/Wild Synthesis choice node connection added below Nourish.
      • Nourish’s tooltip has been updated to reflect its bonus healing from Mastery Harmony numerically.
  • MONK
    • Class
      • Fixed an issue that caused the Awakened Faeline and Faeline Harmony talents to grant less chance to reset Faeline Stomp than intended.
      • Faeline Stomp now always spawns with a minimum of 1 branch.
      • Faeline Stomp now has a 100% increased chance to spawn circles within its arc.
    • Mistweaver
      • Awakened Faeline and Ancient Concordance now linger for 8 seconds after leaving Faeline Stomp.
      • Sheilun’s Gift has received some additional changes:
        • Healing increased by 15%.
        • Now stacks to a maximum of 10 clouds of mist (was 12).
        • Now triggers Mastery: Gust of Mists on all targets hit.
        • Now costs 3.5% of base mana (was 4.5%).
        • Now prioritizes its primary target for healing.
      • Rising Mist now extends Renewing Mists applied by Rapid Diffusion.
      • Vivify now costs 3.4% of base mana (was 3.8%).
      • Invoke Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent now reduces the cost of Enveloping Mist by 50% (was 33%).
      • Echoing Reverberation now only requires Enveloping Mist to trigger an additional Zen Pulse (was Enveloping Mist and Renewing Mist).
      • Zen Pulse now triggers Mastery: Gust of Mist.
    • Brewmaster
      • New ability – Spirit of the Ox: Your Rising Sun Kick and Blackout Kick have a chance to summon a Healing Sphere.
      • Stagger is now a baseline ability for the Brewmaster specialization.
      • Quick Sip now purifies 5% of damage delayed by Stagger (was 2%).
      • Gift of the Ox is now a 1 rank talent (was 2).
      • Graceful Exit is now a 1 rank talent (was 2).
      • Quick Sip is now a 1 rank talent (was 2).
      • Staggering Strikes is now a 1 rank talent (was 2).
  • PALADIN
    • Class
      • Added a tracker buff for Afterimage to indicate remaining Holy Power expenditure until a trigger occurs.
    • Holy
      • Tyr’s Deliverance healing increased by 25%.
      • Afterimage no longer triggers Awakening or Divine Purpose.
      • Avenging Crusader can now trigger and consume Divine Purpose.
  • PRIEST
    • Class
      • New talent: Sanguine Teachings – Increases Leech by 3%.
        • On a choice node against Vampiric Embrace.
      • Vampiric Embrace is no longer on the global cooldown.
      • San’layn now also causes Sanguine Teachings to grant an additional 2% Leech.
      • Manipulation can now be triggered by Discipline’s Power Word: Solace & Mind Blast and Shadow’s Mind Flay and Mind Flay: Insanity.
    • Shadow
      • Psychic Link now also functions with Mind Games, Void Bolt & Void Torrent (Not Yet Implemented).
  • ROGUE
    • Class
      • Feint is now baseline for all Rogue specs, learned at level 12.
      • Elusiveness/Cheat Death – This choice node has moved up to row 2, taking the position where Feint used to be.
      • New Talent: Unbreakable Stride (Passive) – Reduces the duration of movement slowing effects by 30%.
      • Sepsis now grants 1 use of a Stealth ability immediately, in addition to its previous effects.
      • Fixed an issue that prevented Improved Garrote’s cooldown removal from taking effect when casting Garrote using Sepsis’ Stealth ability effect.
    • Assassination
      • Kingsbane has moved and now shares a location with Dragon-Tempered Blades as a choice node.
      • Dashing Scoundrel now costs a maximum of 2 points, down from 3.
      • New Talent: Arterial Precision (Passive) – Shiv strikes 4 additional nearby enemies and increases your Bleed damage done to affected targets by 20% for 8 sec.
        • This talent is positioned in Kingsbane’s previous location.
    • Outlaw
      • Killing Spree now reduces damage taken by 65% while active.
      • Fan the Hammer’s additional Pistol Shots now generate 1 fewer combo point.
    • Subtlety
      • Invigorating Shadowdust now reduces affected cooldowns by 15/30 sec (was 10/20 sec).
      • Effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP Combat.
  • SHAMAN
    • Class
      • Mana Spring Totem has been renamed to Mana Spring and is a passive effect. (Not Yet Implemented).
  • WARLOCK
    • Demonology
      • Felstorm, Guillotine, and Demonic Strength now place one another on cooldown:
        • Felstorm places Guillotine and Demonic Strength on cooldown for 5 seconds.
        • Demonic Strength places Felstorm and Guillotine on cooldown for 5 seconds.
        • Guillotine places Felstorm and Demonic Strength on cooldown for 8 seconds.
          • Developers’ note: This should have no impact on Demonology’s overall throughput. This change exists to help alleviate confusion on when the Felguard is able to cast Felstorm, Guillotine, or Demonic Strength by providing a visual tell through the UI.
    • Destruction
      • Ashen Remains now causes Chaos Bolt, Incinerate, and Shadowburn to deal 5/10% increased damage to targets afflicted by Immolate.
      • Eradication now causes Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn to increase the damage you deal to the target by 5/10%.
      • Burn to Ashes now causes Chaos Bolt and Rain of Fire to increase the damage of your next 2 Incinerates by 15/30% and Shadowburn to increase the damage of your next Incinerate by 15/30%.
  • WARRIOR
    • Arms
      • Improved Sweeping Strikes now lasts 6 sec (was 5).
      • Improved Mortal Strike has been removed from the tree.
      • New Talent: Strength in Arms – Overpower has a 10% increased critical strike chance and on enemies below 35% health Overpower generates 8 Rage.
      • Fatal Mark duration increased to 120 sec (was 60 sec).
      • Storm of Swords causes Whirlwind to cost 20 more Rage (was 30).
    • Fury
      • Onslaught damage increased by 40% and now generates 30 Rage (was 25).
      • Tenderize now causes Enrage to last 2 sec longer (was 1 sec).
      • Storm of Steel now reduces Ravager damage by 30% (was 40%) and Rage granted increased to 20 (was 15).
      • Frenzied Flurry increases auto-attack damage with one-handed weapons by 30% (was 5%).
      • Unbridled Ferocity – Onslaught now triggers Recklessness in addition to Rampage.
      • Storm of Swords now increases Whirlwind damage by 80% (was 70%).
      • Anger Management now also decreases the cooldown of Ravager.
        • Developers’ note: With this update we are looking to increase the effectiveness of talents that are seeing less use.

MAGE TOWER

  • The Mage Tower is now available for testing.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

  • PALADIN
    • Reckoning (PvP Talent) now highlights Judgment when active.

PROFESSIONS

  • All professions have had the requirements to unlock specializations reduced. Professions with 3 specialization trees have had their final unlock reduced from profession level 100 to 75. All professions with 4 specialization trees have had their final two unlocks reduced from profession level 75/100 to levels 60/75.

TRADING POST

  • The Trading Post is currently disabled on the PTR. Thank you again for your testing and feedback!

Druid Updates in 10.0.5

Quote from: Blizzard

Here is a list of additional Feral changes coming in a future 10.0.5 PTR build:

  • Moved Tear Open Wounds directly below Primal Wrath, with a connector to Pouncing Strikes.
  • Moved Lunar Inspiration below and to the left of Sudden Ambush.
  • Tear Open Wounds now deals 70% of the Rip damage it consumes (up from 60%).
  • Taste for Blood changed to a single point node that increases Ferocious Bite damage by 5% per bleed on the target. (was a 2 point node).
  • Sudden Ambush changed to a single point node that grants 6% chance per combo point spent to cause your next Shred or Rake to deal damage as though stealthed. (was a 2 point node)
  • Lunar Inspiration Moonfire damage increased to 125% of 10.0.2 value.
  • Relentless Predator reduces the energy cost of Ferocious Bite by 40% (up from 20%).
  • Rip and Tear: Tear damage increased to 15% of Rip damage (up from 12%).
  • Infected Wound bonus reverted to 10.0.2 values (increases Rake damage by 30%).
  • Veinripper bonus reverted to 10.0.2 values (extends periodic bleed effect durations by 25%).

We are happy that players are enjoying the “full bleed” AOE build that almost entirely spends combo points on Primal Wrath. We want to keep that build strong for players that enjoy it, while providing other viable alternatives. As we continue to iterate on balance, we believe the last round of changes reduced its power too much, so we are undoing some changes and adding some boosts to damage dealt by Tear Open Wounds and Rip and Tear.

Lunar Inspiration is no longer a choice node with Feral Frenzy and has been moved to the middle section of the tree. We adjusted its damage to be appropriate for its new location. Taste for Blood and Sudden Ambush are now single point nodes, with the intention of making them more appealing alternatives for moving down the tree.

Hotfixes: January 6 2023, Class Tuning Incoming January 10

Lots of tuning is coming our way! In addition to tuning and bugfixes with last night’s hotfixes, Blizzard also announced a large batch of class tuning coming to both PvE and PvP with the weekly reset next week.

Quote from: Blizzard

January 6, 2023

Classes

  • Evoker
    • Preservation
      • Fixed an unintended interaction between the Time of Need talent and Lifespark, the 4-piece tier set bonus.
  • Warlock
    • Demonology
      • Fixed an issue where Wrathful Minion and Demonic Inspiration would occasionally cause Warlocks to not generate the correct amount of Soul Shards outside of combat.

Dungeons and Raids

  • Adjusted various Arcane visuals in Court of Stars, Algathar Academy, and The Arcane Vaults to be more visible.
  • Court of Stars
    • Advisor Melandrus
      • Improved visual clarity for Piercing Gale.
  • Vault of the Incarnates
    • Dathea, Ascended
      • Reduced Thunderbolt’s damage by 33% on Heroic difficulty.
      • Reduced Thunder Caller’s health on lower group sizes on Heroic difficulty.
      • Reduced Cyclone’s damage on lower group sizes on Heroic and below difficulties.
      • Volatile Infusers no longer cast Unstable Gusts at low health on Heroic and below difficulties.
      • Zephyr Slam’s initial knockback distance reduced by 40% On Heroic and below difficulties.
    • Kurog Grimtotem
      • The damage from the elemental enemies’ Presence abilities during Kurog’s intermission now respect Avoidance. This is to keep them consistent with Kurog’s Dominance damage abilities respecting Avoidance.
  • Mythic+
    • The Nokhud Offensive
      • Granyth
        • Tectonic Stomp’s area of effect now correctly matches the visual on all difficulties.
      • Raging Tempest
        • Fixed an issue causing Surge of Power to damage players through immunities on all difficulties.
        • Surge of Power damage reduced by 80%.
        • Fixed an issue causing Surge of Power to not scale with keystone level.
          • Developers’ note: We are nerfing the damage of Surge of Power to compensate for fixing an issue that was causing Surge of Power damage to not scale with keystone level.
    • Ruby Life Pools
        • Thunderhead’s Storm Breath, Flamegullet’s Flame Breath, and Erkhart Stormvein’s Cloudburst no longer damage player pets or guardians.
    • Shadowmoon Burial Grounds
      • Sadana Bloodfury
        • Fixed an issue that caused Defiled Souls to regenerate health during the encounter.
        • Fixed an issue causing Dark Eclipse to kill pets.
        • Fixed an issue causing Defiled Souls to contribute to Enemy Forces.
      • Ner’Zul
        • Fixed an issue causing Ritual of Bones to not scale with keystone level.

Items and Rewards

  • We have slightly increased the amount of Primal Chaos gained from the Victorious Contender’s Strongbox at all ranks, but particularly at the lower ones, to help make it easier to earn enough for the Embellished PvP Crafted Gear.
  • Fixed an issue where Broodkeeper’s Promise would snapshot the caster’s Versatility for the buff’s full duration when calculating the heal.

Player versus Player

  • Classes
    • Evoker
      • Time Stop may no longer be cast on Mind Controlled targets.

Quests

  • Valdrakken
    • Deployed additional fixes for “Aiding the Accord: The Hunt is On” not always granting quest credit when completing a Grand Hunt.

Wrath of the Lich King Classic

  • Player-characters who transfer to another realm (paid or free) are ineligible to receive realm first raid achievements for 240 hours (ten days) after the transfer is completed.

Class Tuning Incoming January 10

Quote from: Blizzard

With scheduled weekly maintenance next week, a number of specializations will receive throughput increases to several spells targeted at improving their performance in Raid and M+ content. It’s our intent that these changes help make these Specializations viable options for raid and dungeon content.

Demon Hunter

  • The Hunt’s damage over time effect no longer deals an additional tick on application. Damage dealt over the total duration remains unchanged.
  • Vengeance
    • Thick Skin armor bonus increased to 130% (was 100%)
    • Calcified Skin initial damage reduction value increased to 12% (was 10%)
    • Painbringer duration increased to 6 seconds (was 5 seconds)

Druid

  • Feral
    • All ability damage increased by 3%.

Evoker

  • Devastation
    • Fire Breath damage increased by 10% for Devastation specialization only. Does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Lay Waste increases Deep Breath damage by 15%/30% (was 10%/20%).
    • Eternity Surge damage increased by 10%.
    • Firestorm damage increased by 20%.
    • Eye of Infinity generates 2 Essence on critical strike (was 1 Essence).
    • Spellweaver’s Dominance increases critical strike damage to 230% (was 220%).
    • Iridescence damage bonus increased to 20% (was 15%).

Hunter

  • Survival
    • All ability damage and pet damage increased by 2%.
    • Butchery and Carve damage increased by 10%.
    • Fury of the Eagle damage increased by 10%.
    • Wildfire Bomb damage increased by 15%.

Mage

  • Fire
    • Flamestrike damage increased by 15%.
    • Living Bomb damage increased by 25%.
  • Frost
    • Frostbolt damage increased by 20%.
    • Ray of Frost damage increased by 40%.
    • Glacial Spike damage increased by 10%.

Monk

  • Brewmaster
    • Efficacy of Stagger against Magical damage increased to 45% (was 35%).
    • Cooldown of Celestial Brew reduced to 45 seconds (was 60).
  • Mistweaver
    • All healing increased by 5%.
    • Vivify healing increased by an additional 5%.
    • Blackout Kick damage increased by 6%.
    • Rising Sun Kick damage increased by 8%.
    • Tiger Palm damage increased by 15%.
    • Spinning Crane Kick damage increased by 5%.
    • Awakened Faeline now transfers 70% of Spinning Crane Kick’s damage into healing (was 60%).

Paladin

  • Retribution
    • Crusader Strike damage increased by 40%.
    • Blade of Justice damage increased by 25%.
    • Final Reckoning damage increased by 15%.
    • Shield of Vengeance’s cooldown reduced to 90 seconds (was 120 seconds).
  • Developers’ notes: Some of Retribution’s main rotational buttons do not feel as good to press as we’d like so we’re making some changes to help improve these abilities. Additionally, their survivability isn’t where we would like so we’re making some improvements to their defensive kit as well. We are looking at Retribution as a whole and will have more to share in the future.

Priest

  • Holy
    • All healing done increased by 3%.
  • Shadow
    • Focused Will provides 10% damage reduction for Shadow (down from 15%).
    • Mind Blast damage increased by 15% (Shadow only).
    • Mind Flay damage increased by 15% (this includes Mind Flay: Insanity, but not the proc from Idol of C’Thun).
    • Mind Spike damage increased by 15%.
    • Void Torrent damage increased by 15%.
    • Devouring Plague damage increased by 15%.
  • Developers’ notes: These changes are aimed at improving Shadow’s single target DPS. The change to Focused Will is a targeted change for PvP to reduce Shadow’s survivability.

Rogue

  • Outlaw
    • Precise Cuts (Talent) – Reduced bonus to Blade Flurry damage per missing target below its maximum to 2% (was 3%).
  • Developers’ notes: As we monitor the developing M+ meta and related data, we have recognized that Outlaw is overperforming. We expect this change will reduce Outlaw’s damage output in encounters with target count above 1 and below 8, as their damage is currently more consistent than we intend for dungeons and encounters that frequently present those circumstances.

Warlock

  • Affliction
    • Agony damage increased by 5%.
    • Corruption damage increased by 5%.
    • Drain Soul damage increased by 10%.
    • Pandemic Invocation damage increased by 20%.
    • Seed of Corruption damage increased by 5%.
    • Shadow Bolt damage increased by 10%.
    • Siphon Life damage increased by 10%.
    • Unstable Affliction backlash damage is no longer increased from increased damage dealt modifiers or effects that increase Unstable Affliction’s damage.
  • Destruction
    • Channel Demonfire damage increased by 10%.
    • Rain of Fire damage increased by 15%.
    • Soul Fire damage increased by 20%.
    • Infernal and Blasphemy Immolation damage increased by 10%.
    • Conflagrate damage increased by 10%. This change does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Immolate damage increased by 10%. This change does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Incinerate damage increased by 15%. This change does not apply to PvP combat.

Player vs. Player

Demon Hunter

  • Soul Rending leech bonus reduced by 40% in PvP combat.
  • Havoc
    • Glimpse (PvP Talent) – Damage reduction reduced to 35% (was 75%).
    • Essence Break’s damage bonus for Chaos Strike and Blade Dance reduced by 37.5% in PvP combat.
    • Soulrend damage reduced by 16.7% in PvP combat.
  • Developers’ notes: We have noticed Havoc Demon Hunter overperforming in several facets of PvP including personal survivability, burst damage, and overall DPS. We’re taking action to reduce their effectiveness in these areas while still aiming to keep them competitive.

Evoker

  • Preservation
    • Energy Loop’s mana regeneration reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
  • Developers’ notes: Energy Loop’s mana restoration has been overperforming compared to its contribution in PvE due to game-wide reduced mana regeneration within PvP instances. We’re adjusting this to bring it in line with expected benefits, but still want this effect to remain a powerful option as we feel it can lead to compelling decision making with Essence resources.

Mage

  • Arcane
    • Siphon Storm’s effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
  • Developers’ notes: Siphon Storm has been a culprit for one-shot scenarios, so we are adjusting its effectiveness down heavily.
  • Frost
    • Glacial Spike – Reduced Glacial Spike’s damage increase from Mastery: Icicles by 25% in PvP combat. This will be reflected in the tooltip in a later patch.
  • Developers’ notes: Our goal is that this change to Glacial Spike’s Mastery scaling will preserve it as an option for Frost Mages but temper the effectiveness Mastery stacking had with this spell.

Monk

  • Blackout Kick damage increased by 30% in PvP combat (was 15%).
  • Tiger Palm damage increased by 30% in PvP combat (was 15%).
  • Mistweaver
    • Rising Sun Kick now deals 12.5% additional damage in PvP (was 25%).
  • Developer’s note: We are looking to offset the incoming PvE buffs to Rising Sun Kick as we think it currently hits hard enough to be effective for Mistweaver in PvP.
  • Windwalker
    • Thunderfist damage reduced by 40% in PvP combat.
    • Skyreach increases critical strike chance by 30% in PvP combat (down from 50%).
    • Fists of Fury damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
  • Developers’ notes: Windwalker burst has continued to be above a level we’re comfortable with. We’re targeting Thunderfist and Skyreach, as they have been large contributors to this. We’re also increasing their sustained damage, as we feel there is room for that to improve as their burst is reduced.

Priest

  • Flash Heal healing is increased by 30% in PvP combat (was 20%).
  • Holy
    • Heal healing is increased by 35% in PvP combat (was 25%).
    • Holy Word: Serenity healing is increased by 15% in PvP combat.
  • Developers’ notes: Holy received PvP reductions in casted healing effectiveness in previous patches that we now feel are unnecessary and are reverting. We also feel Holy Word: Serenity has not been as effective as we would like at handling burst damage, so we are increasing that as well.
  • Shadow
    • Shadow Word: Death damage reduced by 30% in PvP combat for Shadow only (was 20%).
    • Mind Blast damage reduced by 25% in PvP combat for Shadow only.
    • Mind Spike damage reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
    • Devouring Plague damage reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
    • Vampiric Touch damage reduced by 5% in PvP combat (was increased by 10%).
    • The proc rate of Shadowy Insight has been reduced by 25% while in PvP combat.
    • The proc rate of Surge of Darkness has been reduced by 25% while in PvP combat.
  • Developers’ notes: Shadow Priest has been widely overperforming, so we are looking to offset recent PvE buffs to them and reduce their power defensively through changes to Focused Will. We’re also reducing their instant proc damage availability as we feel Shadow Priests do not have to hard cast spells as often as we would like them to.

Rogue

  • Assassination
    • Improved Garrote’s Garrote damage bonus reduced by 40% in PvP combat.
    • Iron Wire’s damage reduction debuff now has a PvP duration of 4 seconds (was the base 8 seconds).
  • Developers’ notes: Assassination’s spread and single target Garrote pressure has been very high. We’re targeting this by decreasing the effectiveness of Improved Garrote. Iron Wire’s damage reduction effect has also felt too potent to us at preventing enemy pressure.

Warlock

  • Demonology
    • Demonic Strength unleashes a Felstorm that deals 150% increased damage in PvP combat (was 400%).
    • Demonfire damage increased by 75% in PvP combat.
    • Dreadbite damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
  • Developers’ notes: We feel Demonic Strength can be a difficult spell to notice and has little counter play compared to Demonic Tyrant and its associated Demonfire casts. We’re looking to adjust Demonology’s burst sources while aiming to keep them at the same relative power. We also want to slightly reduce Demonology’s overall pressure by targeting Dreadbite.

Warrior

  • Defensive Stance now reduces damage done by 15% (was 20%) in PvP combat.
  • Developers’ notes: Defensive Stance was adjusted in previous patches to address damage issues we no longer feel are present for Warriors. We’re increasing damage done in Defensive Stance to help increase their offensive pressure without affecting them defensively.

Solo Shuffle Update – January 6

Quote from: Blizzard

Happy New Year champions!

Before the holidays, we posted an update about future improvements that we’re working on for Rated Solo Shuffle, and we want to provide additional information on those updates. For additional information about Rated Solo Shuffle, please refer to the FAQ about Rated Solo Shuffle 1 that was previously posted.

Coming with Weekly Restarts

Next week, we will make an update so that leaving a match will impact both Matchmaking Rating and Current Rating. We’ve received a great deal of player feedback indicating that losing only current rating has not been enough of a deterrent to leaving, and leaving is highly disruptive to the Solo Shuffle experience.

10.0.5 Improvements

We have several changes coming in 10.0.5 to improve how our system handles players who leave matches:

  • Rating will be calculated per-round in games with leavers.
    • This has been a recurring point of feedback that we agree with. The format of Solo Shuffle is intended to have all 6 rounds completed, as there can be composition or skill imbalances between individual rounds. Now, when rating is calculated for incomplete matches (matches with leavers), gains and losses will be scaled linearly based on the number of rounds completed.
  • Matchmaking Value for each player in a match will be displayed on the scoreboard.
    • We want to provide additional visibility to matchmaking. Matches are made based on the matchmaking rating of players, not their current rating. When a player enters a match, we determine the expected performance of players in the match based on player matchmaking rating (MMR). We take all the rounds into account, considering who was on each side and who won, so it matters which specific rounds the player wins, and not just the total number of rounds won, in calculating impact on MMR. We hope this helps players to better understand the matches they’re placed in, as well as rating changes of individual players based on the results of the match.

  • A warning prompt will display the penalties for leaving if a player attempts to leave a match.
    • If a player attempts to leave a match in progress, they will be prompted with a warning that indicates the repercussions of leaving including penalties and forfeiture of rewards. The warning will have a 5 second countdown and the player will be required to hit ‘Accept’ to leave. Our intent with this change is to make the leaver punishments more visible, as well as requiring additional acknowledgement from the leaving player.

Players who leave excessively will be subject to account review and suspensions, as abandoning matches repeatedly is a violation of the terms of service via exploiting functionality to the detriment of the game environment and the intended player experience.

Beyond 10.0.5

Looking to the future, we’re actively discussing options we might take to incentivize more healers to queue for Solo Shuffle to reduce the queue time for the damage role. This includes ways to make Solo Shuffle gameplay a more fun, rewarding experience for healers. We do not have anything to share about that right now, but in addition to leavers, it’s a foremost concern for the team.

We’re also looking into improving the UI further for both those in-queue and those who are about to queue.

As a team, we’re excited about Rated Solo Shuffle and we’re looking to iterate and improve on it in future patches. Your feedback has been valuable and greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much!