Category: Warcraft

NEW EVOKER SPECIALIZATION: AUGMENTATION

Emberthal and Ebyssian are working together to release the Black dragonflight essence that had been siphoned from the Dracthyr during their long stasis, unlocking memories and powers forgotten to them. All Evokers now can choose to explore Azeroth as a new specialization: Augmentation.

Augmentation is a Damage Dealer role that uses the essence of the Black and Bronze dragonflights to amplify the abilities of nearby allies. Their playstyle centers on empowering allies to increase their damage output, and using the Evoker’s direct damage spells to improve these empowerments’ effects. Augmentation’s core capabilities will feel familiar to Evoker players, such as spending Essence, casting empower spells, and using their mobility to navigate the battlefield. However, the specialization also introduces many new tools for the Evoker to manipulate the environment in their favor, and assist their allies.

The quest “The 5th Essence” is available for Evokers to try out their new specialization and what it means to the dracthyr at large. The quest is still under development and will be updated on the PTR through the weeks to come.

Augmentation has a fully playable talent tree, and many new spells for players to enjoy. A few spells are highlighted below, but see our web article for more information, and check out Augmentation on the PTR starting today!

• Ebon Might – Increase your 4 nearest allies’ primary stat by a percentage of your own, and cause your Eruption to deal more damage for 10 seconds. Your other spells extend the duration of these effects. 1.5 second cast, 30 seconds cooldown.
• Upheaval – Gather earthen power beneath your enemy’s feet and send them hurtling upwards, dealing Volcanic damage to them and nearby enemies. Empowering expands the area of effect. 2.5 second empower, 40 second cooldown.
• Breath of Eons – Fly to the targeted location, exposing Temporal Wounds on enemies in your path for 10 seconds. Temporal Wounds accumulate a portion of damage dealt by your allies, and then critically strike the enemy for that amount. 1.5 minute cooldown. Replaces Deep Breath.
• Draconic Attunements (Passive) – Learn to attune yourself to the essence of the Black or Bronze dragonflights:
  • Black Attunement grants you and your 4 nearest allies increased maximum health.
  • Bronze Attunement grants you and your 4 nearest allies increased movement speed.

THE WARLOCK CLASS EXPANDS TO NEW RACES

The Warlock class will become available to Night Elves, Draenei, Lightforged Draenei, Pandaren, Kul Tiran, Tauren, Highmountain Tauren, Mag’har Orcs, and Zandalari Trolls.

Warlocks will also be able to undertake a new quest line starting with the quest “Beginning Impositions” which will unlock a new imp pet customization. Players will also be able to visit the Barbershop to customize their pets.

• Developers’ note: Warlock glyphs are now on-use Grimoires to unlock pet customizations. Grimoires can be learned on the PTR this week, but selecting the appearance of your pets in the Barbershop will be available in a future PTR update.

CHARACTERS

• Added 5 new fur colors for Worgen.
• All restrictions for unlocking Allied Races have been removed, with the exception of a level requirement.
• All Allied Races can now be unlocked once you have a level 40 character on your account (was level 50).
• Newly created Allied Race characters will now be directed to Chromie, not the warboard.
• Characters now learn the appropriate mount riding skill upon reaching the appropriate level without needing to visit a mount trainer:
  • Level 10 – Apprentice Riding
  • Level 20 – Journeyman Riding
  • Level 30 – Expert Riding
  • Level 40 – Master Riding
    • Developers’ note: Riding trainers will still exist in the world, but you will be unable to purchase riding skills from them.
• Characters that reach level 30 will receive the quest “Time to Fly” and be awarded with a flying mount, Harbor Gryphon for Alliance characters and Scarlet Pterrordax for Horde characters.

CLASSES

• DRUID
  • Guardian
    • Innate Resolve has been redesigned – Frenzied Regeneration’s healing is increased by a value based on your missing health. Frenzied Regeneration has 1 additional charge.
    • Raze no longer replaces Maul.
    • Front of the Pack has been removed.
    • Dream of Cenarius moved into row 2 from row 9.
    • Galactic Guardian moved into row 6 from row 9.
    • Flashing Claws moved to row 9 from row 8.
    • Scintillating Moonlight moved to row 9 from row 8.
    • Soul of the Forest position adjusted on row 6.
• MAGE
  • Take a look at the developer’s notes in the Mage feedback thread.
  • All ability damage increased by 15%.
  • Invisibility is now learned by all specializations at level 16.
  • Incanter’s Flow now replaces Invisibility in the Class tree.
  • Shifting Power has been moved to Incanter’s Flow previous location.
  • Rune of Power and Meteor have been removed.
  • New Talent: Ice Cold – Ice Block now reduces all damage taken by 70% for 6 seconds but no longer grants Immunity, prevents movement, attacks, or casting spells. Does not incur the Global Cooldown.
    • Ice Cold is located on Shifting Power’s previous location on the talent tree.
  • New Talent: Mass Barrier – Cast Prismatic/Blazing/Ice Barrier (based on your specialization) on yourself and 3 nearby allies. 2 minute cooldown.
    • Mass Barrier is located as a choice node with Mass Invisibility.
  • New Talent: Mass Invisibility – You and your allies within 40 yards instantly become invisible for 10 seconds. Taking any action will cancel the effect. Does not affect allies in combat.
    • Mass Invisibility located as a choice node with Mass Barrier.
    • Developers’ note: The PvP Talent for Arcane will be updated in a future PTR build.
  • Accumulate Shielding is now a 1 rank talent (was 2). Barrier cooldowns now recharge 30% faster while the shield persists at rank 1.
  • Accumulate Shielding now connects to the Time Anomaly/Temporal Warp choice node.
  • Time Manipulation is now a 1 rank talent (was 2). Now reduces the cooldown of your loss of control abilities by 2 seconds at rank 1.
  • Time Manipulation now connects to the Time Anomaly/Temporal Warp choice node.
  • Displacement now heals the caster for 20% of their maximum health when returning to the Blink location.
  • Winter’s Protection now reduces the cooldown of Ice Block by 30 seconds per rank.
  • Displacement is now located after Flow of Time.
  • Greater Invisibility now replaces Invisibility when talented and is located below Temporal Velocity.
  • Arcane
    • Arcane Power has been removed.
    • Arcane Surge duration has been increased by 3 seconds and now increases spell damage by 35% (was 10%).
    • New Talent: Concentrated Power – Clearcasting makes your next Arcane Missiles channel 20% faster or causes your next Arcane Explosion to echo for 40% damage.
    • Orb Barrage has been redesigned – Arcane Barrage has a 10% chance per Arcane Charge consumed to launch an Arcane Orb in front of you.
    • Clearcasting no longer makes Arcane Missiles channel time faster.
    • Arcane Barrage is now learned baseline at level 11.
    • Clearcasting is now learned baseline at level 12.
    • Reverberate is no longer a choice node with Nether Tempest and is located directly after Arcane Missiles.
    • Siphon Storm no longer grants Arcane Charges and now halves Evocation’s channel time.
    • Nether Tempest now connects to Chrono Shift and Supernova in the Arcane tree.
    • Improved Prismatic Barrier reduces magic damage taken by 10% (was 5%) and reduces harmful Magic effect durations by 15% (was 10%).
    • Improved Prismatic Barrier no longer connects to Touch of the Magi.
    • Arcing Cleave no longer connects to Touch of the Magi.
• MONK
  • New Talent: Yu’lon’s Grace – Find resilience in the flow of chi in battle, gaining a magic absorb shield for 2% of your max health every 2 seconds in combat, stacking up to 20%.
    • Yu’lon’s Grace is located as a choice node with Diffuse Magic.
  • New Talent: Dance of the Wind – Your Dodge chance is increased by 10%.
    • Dance of the Wind is located as a choice node with Dampen Harm.
• PALADIN
  • Take a look at the developer’s notes in the Paladin feedback thread.
  • Holy
    • Blessing of Freedom is now granted by default for Holy Paladins.
    • Echoing Blessings is now located on the class tree for Holy Paladins.
    • The specialization tree has seen layout adjustments:
      • New talent nodes.
      • Glimmer of Light has moved to row 2 (was row 10).
      • Power of the Silver Hand has moved to row 6 (was row 8).
      • Tower of Radiance has moved to row 7 (was row 6).
      • Commanding Light is now a 1 point node.
      • Divine Glimpse is now a 1 point node.
      • Sanctified Wrath, Divine Protection, Holy Light, Divine Insight, and Bestow Faith removed.
    • Holy Light is now learned baseline at level 11.
    • Divine Protection is now learned baseline at level 26.
    • Glimmer of Light healing increased by 500% and damage increased by 1000%.
    • Glimmer of Light’s healing and damage is now reduced per active Glimmer of Light. Now capped at 3 targets.
    • Glimmer of Light’s aura no longer appears on the personal resource display.
    • Holy Shock healing reduced by 15% and cooldown increased to 8.5 seconds (was 7.5 seconds).
    • Holy Shock no longer has an increased chance to critically strike.
    • Judgment now generates 1 Holy Power and costs 12% base mana (was 3%).
    • Barrier of Faith costs 12% base mana (was 16%) and initial absorb increased by 66%.
    • Hammer of Wrath cooldown increased by 100% and damage increased by 80%.
    • Tyr’s Deliverance healing increased by 40% and now has a 40 yard range (was 20 yards).
    • New Talent: Beacon of the Lightbringer – Mastery: Lightbringer now increases your healing based on the target’s proximity to either you or your Beacon of Light, whichever is closer.
    • New Talent: Light’s Conviction – Holy Shock now has 2 charges.
    • New Talent: Holy Infusion – Crusader Strike generates 1 additional Holy Power and deals 25% more damage.
    • New Talent: Glistening Radiance – Spending Holy Power has a 15% chance to trigger Glimmer of Light’s healing and damage.
    • New Talent: Overflowing Light – 50% of Glimmer of Light’s overhealing is converted into an absorb shield. The shield amount cannot exceed 15% of your max health.
    • New Talent: Light’s Protection – Your Holy Power spenders have a 20% chance to reduce the damage your allies with Glimmer of Light take by 8% for 4 seconds.
    • New Talent: Righteous Judgment – Judgment has a 50% chance to cast Consecration at the target’s location. The limit on Consecration does not apply to this effect.
    • New Talent: Hand of Divinity – Call upon the Light, causing your next 2 Holy Lights to heal 80% more and be instant cast.
    • New Talent: Shining Righteousness – Shield of the Righteous deals damage to its first target struck. Every 5 Shields of the Righteous make your next Word of Glory or Light of Dawn free.
    • New Talent: Daybreak – Absorb the power from within your active Glimmer of Lights, activating their healing and damage at 100% value and then granting mana per Glimmer of Light consumed.
    • New Talent: Rising Sunlight – After casting Daybreak, your next 3 Holy Shocks cast 2 additional times.
    • New Talent: Glorious Dawn – Holy Shock has a 10% chance to refund a charge on cast, increasing based on how many Glimmer of Lights you have active.
    • Illumination has been redesigned – Glimmer of Light can affect 5 additional targets.
    • Awakening has been redesigned – When you spend Holy Power, gain Awakening. At 8/16 stacks of Awakening, your next Judgment deals 30% increased damage, will critically strike, and activates Avenging Wrath for 10 seconds.
    • Divine Glimpse has been redesigned – Holy Shock, Judgment, and Crusader Strike have a 5% increased critical strike chance.
    • Veneration has been redesigned – Hammer of Wrath heals up to 5 injured allies for 500% of the damage done, split evenly among them. Flash of Light, Holy Light, and Judgment critical strikes reset the cooldown of Hammer of Wrath and make it usable on any target, regardless of their health.
    • Greater Judgment has been redesigned – Judgment deems the targets unworthy, preventing damage dealt by the target.
    • Rule of Law and Sanctified Wrath have been removed.
    • Light of Dawn healing decreased by 10%.
    • Crusader Strike’s cooldown increased by 50%.
    • Divine Favor’s cooldown reduced to 30 seconds.
    • Unending Light has moved to row 4.
    • Tirion’s Devotion now reduces the cooldown of Lay on Hands by 1.5 seconds per Holy Power spent (was 1 second).
    • Divine Revelations now refunds 2% base mana (was 1%) and increases the healing of Flash of Light by 20%.
    • Power of the Silver Hand may now additionally trigger from Judgment.
    • Relentless Inquisitor rank 2 now causes the Haste effect to stack up to 6 times (was 5).
    • Boundless Salvation causes Flash of Light to extend the duration of Tyr’s Deliverance by 5 seconds (was 2.5 seconds). Holy Light now extends Tyr’s Deliverance by 10 seconds (was 5 seconds).
    • Tirion’s Devotion’s icon has changed.
    • Infusion of Light no longer highlights the spells it effects on the action bar.
• PRIEST
  • Holy
    • Searing Light has been removed.
    • Burning Vehemence has moved to Searing Light’s position in the talent tree and is now a 1-point talent.
    • New Talent: Epiphany – Your Holy Words have a 13%/25% chance to reset the cooldown of Prayer of Mending.
    • Epiphany has moved to Burning Vehemence’s previous position in the talent tree.
    • Holy Word: Sanctify and Prayer of Healing have swapped positions in the talent tree.

ITEMS AND REWARDS

• Inert Phoenix Ash is now found on both varieties of fire elementals in the area it drops in (was only one type), and at a significantly increased drop rate.
• Garrison Hearthstone and Dalaran Hearthstone are now toys.
• Improved Exile’s Reach item rewards.
• PROFESSIONS
  • Frozen Runes can now be found along the walls of Naxxramas for players interested in crafting legacy Frost Resist patterns.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• PALADIN
  • Aura of Reckoning (PvP Talent) has been removed.
• PRIEST
  • Shadow
    • Mind Trauma now grants 4% Haste per stack (was 3%) and can now stack up to 6 times (was 8).
    • Mind Trauma now also works with Mind Spike and Void Torrent. It grants 1 stack of its effect when casting Mind Spike and 3 stacks of its effect when fully channeling a Void Torrent.

QUESTS

• WHELP DAYCARE
  • The dragons have more eggs than they can handle, so they’ve called in the crew at the Little Scales Daycare to help. The crew quickly finds itself overwhelmed, and so asks the player (as a great friend of the dragons) for help.
  • Guide five dragon whelps as they grow and learn. Teach the whelps (and players) about the dragon flights.
• CHROMIE TIME
  • Chromie will now teach you what Chromie Time is, suggest timelines to choose, and share the opening cinematics.
  • The maximum level in Chromie Time is now 61 (was level 60).
  • Chromie Time expansion restrictions have been removed.
• “The Dragon Isles Await!” now provides an item that lets you teleport to your capital city to begin your journey to the Dragon Isles immediately.
• Dragonflight, Shadowlands, and Battle for Azeroth dungeon quests are now also available inside their respective dungeons.
• Both Exile’s Reach and Battle for Azeroth now have campaigns to make it easier to track progress and pick up where you left off.
• The quest line into Mechagon now starts at level 30 (was level 50).
• Alliance players can now enter Nazjatar after completing “A Nation Divided” (was “Unlocking the World”).
• Available starter zone quest lines and Battle for Azeroth side quests now display on the zone map.
• Introduction to the capital cities after leaving Exile’s Reach has been improved.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• TRACKING APPEARANCES
  • You can now track uncollected transmog appearances by Shift clicking it in the Collections pane.
  • This adds it to your Objective Tracker. Click the icon to supertrack it, just like you would for a quest.
  • Currently, you can only track appearances sourced from vendors, dungeons, and raids. Hold down Shift to see which appearances can be tracked.
  • For appearances that have multiple items, press Tab to cycle through them and Shift click to track the currently selected one.
  • Click on a tracked item in the Objective Tracker to open its location on the map.
  • For appearances that come from dungeons and raids, click on a boss name in the Objective Tracker to open the Dungeon or Raid Journal.
• Action bar icons have updated animations for:
  • Spell procs
  • Interrupted casts
• Group Loot roll toast plays a new animation when you roll Need for your main specialization.
• Arena unit frames have been updated:
  • Arena frames now use the compact unit frames style.
  • Edit Mode includes settings for width, height, and border and allows you to preview different arena sizes (2v2, 3v3, 5v5).
  • Arena frame settings have been added under Options > Interface > Arena Enemy Frames.
  • PvP trinket status has been added to the right of the enemy’s frame.
  • An icon indicating the enemy’s specialization is now shown during the pre-match phase. Pre-match frames can’t be used for targeting and don’t show power bars.
  • Character tooltips now show the player’s specialization.
• An animated glow has been added to better highlight needed roles for Rated Solo Shuffle.
• Text-to-Speech now has options for Item Loot, Currency, and Money Loot chat messages.

Emberthal and Ebyssian are working together to release the Black dragonflight essence that had been siphoned from the Dracthyr during their long stasis, unlocking memories and powers forgotten to them.

The result of their efforts will be felt by all Dracthyr Evokers as they’ll gain access to a brand-new Specialization: Augmentation, available immediately with the release of the Fractures in Time Update!

What is the Augmentation Spec?

Augmentation is a new Damage Dealer role with a twist: they use the essence of the Black and Bronze dragonflights to amplify the abilities of nearby allies. The playstyle for this new specialization involves empowering your allies with a variety of beneficial effects. Some can be cast directly on your allies, while others are tied to using your damage-dealing abilities effectively.

Augmentation Evokers deliver their damage in a wholly unique way. They act as force multipliers, increasing their group’s capabilities (and damage output) significantly.

Augmenting Allies

Certain Augmentation abilities (see some examples below) buff either your whole party or specific members. Many of these have smart or proximity-based automatic targeting, enabling you to maintain focus on the battlefield and enemy selection. You will still be able to target specific party members if you desire; however, there is plenty of freedom to bolster your allies as you see fit.

Like the other Evoker specs, Augmentation makes use of familiar capabilities like spending Essence, using your mobility to navigate the battlefield effectively, and making use of empowered spells.

The Power of Black and Bronze

These sample abilities for Augmentation should give you an idea of what each aspect of magic brings to the table. Black dragonflight magic focuses on raw power increases and forceful outbursts of earthen might. Bronze dragonflight magic is all about bending time, changing fate, and shifting timelines to tremendous effect.

Ebon Might

• 1.5 second cast, 30 second cooldown.
• Increase your 4 nearest allies’ primary stat by a percentage of your own, and cause your Eruption to deal more damage for 10 sec. Some of your other spells extend the duration of these effects.

Eruption

• 2 second cast. Costs 3 Essence. Replaces Disintegrate.
• Cause a violent eruption beneath an enemy’s feet, dealing Volcanic damage split between them and nearby enemies. Increases the duration of your active Ebon Might effects.

Upheaval

• 2.5 second empower, 40 second cooldown.
• Gather earthen power beneath your enemy’s feet and send them hurtling upwards, dealing Volcanic damage to them and nearby enemies. Empowering expands the area of effect. Increases the duration of your active Ebon Might effects.

Breath of Eons

• 1.5 minute cooldown. Replaces Deep Breath.
• Fly to the targeted location, exposing Temporal Wounds on enemies in your path for 10 sec. Temporal Wounds accumulate a portion of damage dealt by your allies, and then critically strike the enemy for that amount at the end of the duration. Increases the duration of your active Ebon Might effects.

A Great Display of Talent

With access to a brand-new spec tree, Augmentation Evokers can choose to further specialize in Bronze or Black magic, as well as discover new ways to power up their allies.

Draconic Attunements (Passive)

• Learn to attune yourself to the essence of the Black or Bronze dragonflights:
  • Black Attunement grants you and your 4 nearest allies increased maximum health.
  • Bronze Attunement grants you and your 4 nearest allies increased movement speed.

Blistering Scales

• Protect an ally with explosive dragonscales, increasing their Armor by a percentage of your own. Melee attacks against them cause a scale to explode, dealing Volcanic damage to enemies near them.

Bestow Weyrnstone

• Conjure a pair of Weyrnstones, one for your target ally and one for yourself. A weyrnstone can be activated by the bearer to transport them to the other Weyrnstone’s location if they are within 100 yds.

Expand Your Horizons

Augmentation Evokers offers a unique opportunity to delve into a playstyle never seen before in World of Warcraft. While we’re still working on some aspects of this new paradigm (like introducing some new combat log hooks so that addons and community websites can effectively measure your performance, for example), we hope you’ve enjoyed this early look at it. We’ll see you in the Dragon Isles!