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Category: Warcraft

Beta Class Tuning 13 October 2022, Tier Sets Disabled With Prepatch, Prepatch Event Testing This Weekend

Last night Blizzard posted a whole list of tuning buffs and nerfs they hotfixed to the Beta for 7 different classes. They also announced that the current Sepulcher tier sets will be disabled with the release of the prepatch and this weekend you will be able to test the Dragonflight Prepatch Event on the PTR! This includes the invasions as well as the new Uldaman dungeon. Check it all out below:

Quote from: Blizzard

We’re continuing to make class tuning adjustments based on our observations, the data we’re getting from Beta, recent Beta raid testing, and player feedback.

In addition to new and returning abilities, the new talent trees allow players to choose abilities that were previously exclusive to one another in the talent row system. In many cases, we need to adjust the impact of these abilities to hit our throughput targets for Dragonflight.

The following adjustments are being applied, or have been applied already, to the Dragonflight Beta and PTR via hotfixes, for this week’s Raid Testing.

Demon Hunter

  • Immolation Aura damage increased by 8%.
  • Eye Beam damage reduced by 8%.
  • The Hunt damage reduced by 10%.
  • Elysian Decree damage reduced by 10%.
  • Illidari Knowledge damage reduction increased to 3/6% (was 2/4%).
  • Will of the Illidari – Max Health bonus increased to 3/6% (was 2/4%).
  • Havoc
    • Chaos Strike/Annihilation damage reduced by 10%.
    • Blade Dance/Death Sweep damage increased by 18%.
    • Immolation Aura (Rank upgrade) duration bonus reduced to 4 seconds (was 6 seconds).
    • First Blood damage bonus value reduced to 85% of base (was 135%).
    • Unbound Chaos damage bonus reduced to 200/400% (was 250/500%).
    • Isolated Prey – Eye Beam damage bonus reduced to 25% (was 30%).
    • Inner Demon damage reduced by 15%.
  • Vengeance
    • Elysian Decree no longer deals 10% reduced damage when specced into Vengeance.
    • Focused Cleave damage bonus reduced to 30% (was 40%).
    • Fel Flame Fortification damage reduction increased to 10% (was 6%).
    • Revel in Pain – Maximum absorb value increased by 50%.
    • Cycle of Binding – Cooldown Reduction per applied Sigil increased to 3 seconds (was 2 seconds).

Hunter

  • Arctic Bola’s damage and chance to activate have both been doubled.
  • Beast Mastery
    • Beast Cleave will no longer be improperly activated by Kill Command or Stomp damage.
    • Dire Frenzy talent damage bonus increased to 30/60% for ranks 1 and 2.
    • Dire Beast damage increased by 50%.
    • Call of the Wild has received several bug fixes:
      • Wild Instincts should no longer incorrectly grant charges of Barbed Shot while Call of the Wild is no longer active.
      • Bloody Frenzy and Wild Instincts should no longer give their effects without knowing the appropriate talent.
      • When multiple pets are summoned from Call of the Wild, it should no longer be possible to get multiple stacks of Predator’s Thirst, Endurance Training, or Pathfinding.
      • Wild Instincts now properly checks for Focus to be spent before causing a Barbed Shot reset.
      • Call of the Wild should properly be reset upon encounter end.
    • Brutal Companion has received several bug fixes:
      • Brutal Companion longer causes your pets to consume Focus when doing their extra pet special attack when your pet is above 50 Focus.
      • Brutal Companion damage bonus lowered from 100% to 50%.
      • Brutal Companion now properly works with pets that use Claw.
      • Brutal Companion’s damage bonus no longer incorrectly applies to all special attacks from your active pet.
      • Brutal Companion no longer causes the special attack to deal bonus damage if your pet is above 50 Focus.
      • Developers’ notes: Pet focus management is not intended to be part of the Brutal Companion talent; it should provide some extra special attacks from your pet. If this interacts with the above-50-Focus threshold damage bonus, you might feel compelled to manually handle the casting of your pet’s ability to always get maximum damage benefit while at 3 stacks of Barbed Shot.

Mage

  • Fire
    • Pyroblast damage reduced by 10%.
    • Feel the Burn Mastery per stack reduced to 2/4% (was 3/6%).
    • Tempered Flames Pyroblast cast time reduced by 30% (was 40%).
      • Pyroblast critical strike chance reduced to 10% (was 15%).
      • The duration of Combustion reduced by 50% (was 40%).
    • Pyroclasm now increases damage of your next instant Pyroblast by 230% (was 240%).
    • Master of Flame – Ignite deals 18% more damage while combustion is not active (was 25%).
    • Controlled Destruction now increases Pyroblast damage by 4% per rank (was 5%).
    • Wildfire – Ignite damage reduced to 3/6% (was 5/10%).
      Monk
  • Windwalker
    • Storm, Earth, and Fire spirits now correctly cast Strike of the Windlord.
    • Resolved an issue that could prevent Storm, Earth, and Fire spirits from copying your abilities.
    • Storm, Earth, and Fire now has 2 charges.
    • Thunderfist damage reduced by 30%.
  • Mistweaver
    • Fixed an issue causing Overflowing Mist to be applied by Tear of the Morning’s AoE Enveloping Mist healing.
    • Zen Pulse damage increased by 20%.
    • Echoing Reverberation – Increased effectiveness to 80% of Zen Pulse’s values (was 70%).
    • Accumulating Mist – Increased effect to 25% per stack (was 20% per stack).
    • Spinning Crane Kick damage reduced by 10% for Mistweaver.

Paladin

  • Holy
    • Resplendent Light now has a 12 yd range (was 8 yards).
    • Moment of Compassion now increases Flash of Light healing by 15%.
    • Tyr’s Deliverance’s periodic healing increased by 20%. Heal effect icon now matches cast icon.
    • Boundless Salvation – Holy Light now extends Tyr’s Deliverance by 4 seconds (was 3 seconds). Flash of Light now extends Tyr’s Deliverance by 2 seconds (was 1.5 seconds).
    • Boundless Salvation’s extension is now capped at 40 seconds.

Rogue

  • Rupture damage increased by 35%.
  • Ambush damage increased by 20%.
  • Instant Poison damage increased by 13%.
  • Wound Poison damage increased by 13%.
  • Shiv damage increased by 20%.
  • Sepsis damage increased by 20%.
  • Echoing Reprimand damage increased by 20%.
  • Assassination
    • Garrote damage increased by 35%.
    • Envenom damage increased by 25%.
    • Mutilate damage increased by 20%.
    • Fan of Knives damage increased by 15%.
    • Deadly Poison damage increased by 13%.
    • Deathmark damage increased by 20%.
    • Internal Bleeding damage increased by 20%.
    • Serrated Bone Spike damage increased by 20%.
    • Crimson Tempest damage increased by 15%.
    • Amplifying Poison damage increased by 13%.
    • Kingsbane damage growth per poison increased to 20% (was 15%).
    • Indiscriminate Carnage – Cooldown reduced to 60 seconds (was 90 seconds).
  • Outlaw
    • Dispatch damage reduced by 14%.
    • Pistol Shot damage reduced by 5%.
    • Roll the Bones – Broadside damage bonus reduced to 15% (was 20%).
    • Roll the Bones – True Bearing CDR reduced to 0.5 seconds (was 1 second).
    • Roll the Bones – Ruthless Precision crit bonus reduced to 15% (was 20%).
    • Roll the Bones – Skull and Crossbones bonus Sinister Strike chance reduced to 25% (was 30%).
    • Roll the Bones – Buried Treasure Energy regen increased to 5 per seconds (was 4 per second).
    • Opportunity – Bonus Sinister Strike chance increased to 35% (was 30%).
    • Combat Potency – Energy regen increased to 25% (was 20%).
    • Fatal Flourish chance to generate Energy increased to 65% (was 60%).
    • Summarily Dispatched – Max stacks reduced to 5 (was 7).
  • Subtlety
    • Eviscerate damage reduced by 4%.
    • Relentless Strikes – Energy restore reduced to 5 (was 6).
    • Improved Shadow Techniques – Energy generated reduced to 3 (was 4).
    • Replicating Shadows damage bonus reduced to 20% (was 30%).
    • Veiltouched damage bonus reduced to 5% (was 8%).
    • Deeper Daggers damage bonus reduced to 8/16% (was 10%/20%).

Shaman

  • Elemental
    • Lightning Bolt (Elemental) damage increased by 17%.
    • Elemental Blast (Elemental) damage increased by 20%. Increases Haste or Crit by 6% (was 3%), or Mastery by 11% (was 6%).
    • Windspeaker’s Lava Resurgence – Lava Burst damage increased by 10% (was 20%). Now also triggers from Earthquake.
    • Earth Shock damage increased by 5%.
    • Heat Wave – When Lava Surge triggers from Heat Wave, the damage of your next Lava Burst is increased by 20%.
    • Liquid Magma Totem damage increased by 125%.
  • Enhancement
    • Maelstrom Weapon proc chance lowered to 16% (was 20%).
    • Damage of all Maelstrom Weapon consuming abilities reduced by 10%.
    • Focused Lightning (Conduit) values halved for all ranks.
    • Stormstrike damage increased by 20%.
    • Windstrike damage increased by 20%.
    • Lava lash damage increased by 92%.
    • Hot Hand rank 1 Lava Lash damage bonus lowered to 20% (was 50%). Rank 2 lowered to 40% (was 100%).
    • Ice Strike damage increased by 20%.
    • Sundering damage increased by 75%.
    • Storm’s Wrath values increase changed to +150% (was +100%).
    • Gathering Storms value increased to 25% (was 15%). Maximum stacks lowered to 6 (was 10).
    • Fire Nova damage increased by 25%.
    • Feral Spirit and Elemental Spirits buff effects changed to +20% (was +15%).
    • Doom Winds active Windfury Weapon bonus damage lowered to 10% (was 25%).
    • Doom Winds cooldown increased to 90 seconds (was 60 seconds).
    • Forceful Winds bonus lowered to 40% per stack (was 45%).

Warrior

  • Arms
    • Auto attack damage reduced by 25% (was 10%.)
    • In for the Kill now increases haste by 20% (was 25%) when enemy is under 35% health.
    • Skullsplitter now generates 20 Rage (was 30).
    • Skullsplitter damage reduced by 22%.
    • Mortal Strike damage reduced by 3%.
    • Execute damage reduced by 5%.
    • Juggernaut – Maximum stacks reduced to 12 (was 15).
    • Deep Wounds periodic damage reduced by 6%.
    • Rend periodic damage reduced by 7%.
  • Fury
    • Bloodthirst damage increased by 7%.
    • Bloodcraze – Increases critical strike chance of Bloodthirst by 15% per stack (was 10%).
    • Bloodborne damage bonus granted increased to 20% (was 15%).
    • Cruelty – Annihilator’s damage increased during enrage by 10% (was 5%).
    • Raging Blow Damage increased by 3% for each strike.
    • Crushing Blow damage increased by 3% for each strike.
    • Annihilator damage increased by 1.5%.
    • Wrath and Fury – Raging Blow Damage bonus granted increased to 15% (was 10%).
    • Slaughtering Strikes – Raging Blow now increases the damage of each strike of Rampage by 20% per stack (was 10%).

Eternity’s End Class Sets to Become Legacy Gear in Dragonflight Pre-patch

Quote from: Blizzard

With the initial release of the Dragonflight pre-expansion patch (version 10.0.0), class set bonuses from Eternity’s End (9.2) will be marked Legacy, effectively disabling them in combat.

While it’s routine for us to mark older set bonuses as Legacy, we do not normally take this step so soon after they were acquired. Unfortunately, the extent of class changes coming in the pre-patch is an exceptional circumstance that has led to this decision.

In the future, it is not our intention to repeat this timing when marking class sets as Legacy.

To account for the removal of set bonuses and addition of the new talent trees, game content will be re-tuned in 10.0.0 so that difficulty remains relatively the same.

Dragonflight PTR Pre-patch Events Testing

Quote from: Blizzard

Starting tomorrow, October 14 at 10:00 a.m. PDT, we will be update the Dragonflight PTR to begin a playtest of pre-patch events:

  • The Introductory Quest Line
  • Elemental Storms in Badlands and Un’Goro.
    • These Storms will change the surrounding area’s weather and enhance enemies with additional powers.
  • The Return of Uldaman as a level 60 dungeon.

This playtest will end on the Dragonflight PTR on Sunday, October 16 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

See you there!

Dragonflight Beta: Dragonriding Side Quests Added

Last night another update for dragonriding was posted on the forums. The largest change is that the dragonriding races will offer side quests to help the leveling process!

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello Dragonriders,

With today’s update, we’d like to share a couple notes:

  • When Dragonriding Racing, the next ring now emanates a sound to help players triangulate its position
  • We’ve fixed a bug wherein the forward boost of the double jump launch would occur earlier in the launch
  • New tour side quests have been added, inviting players to complete all of a zone’s time trials for additional experience
    • Once a player completes all tours, they unlock advanced races and a new set of tour sidequests to complete those

New Known Issue:

  • While recharging, the Vigor UI shows a repeating texture. Apologies for the inconvenience here.

PTR Release Candidate, DF Beta Development Notes 11 October 2022, Vault of the Incarnates Raid Testing

A new build was deployed to both the PTR and Beta! Although the Beta is still down while they sort out some stability issues, the PTR has become the first release candidate for the prepatch! The development notes this week include a lot of class tuning for PvE, tier sets and PvP, 3 new spell bars for the UI and more.

Quote from: Blizzard

Take a look a this week’s Dragonflight Beta update:

CLASSES

  • NEW TALENT SYSTEM
    • DEATH KNIGHT
      • Blood
        • Shattering Bone – Damage reduced by 40%. Now properly deals increased damage when Tombstone consumes multiple Bone Shield charges.
      • Frost
        • Everfrost – Damage per stack increased to 6% (was 4%).
        • Biting Cold – Increases Remorseless Winter damage by 35% (was 30%).
        • Chill Streak – No longer costs runic power. Now costs 1 Rune.
    • DRUID
      • Class Tree
        • Natural Recovery – Effectiveness reduced to 2/4% (was 3/6%).
      • Balance
        • Umbral Embrace – Now increases the damage of Wrath and Starfire by 25/50% (was 50/100%).
        • Astral Smolder – Now causes targets to languish for an additional 20%/40% (was 4%/8%).
        • A new connection exists between Lunar Shrapnel and Force of Nature.
        • A new connection exists between Orbit Breaker and Astral Communion.
        • A new connection exists between Rattle the Stars/Starweaver and Wild Mushroom.
        • Warrior of Elune has been moved to row 10.
        • Sundered Firmament has been moved to the right side of the tree.
        • Nature’s Balance has been moved to row 2.
        • Stellar Innervation has been moved to row 5.
        • Stellar Inspiration has been removed.
        • Twin Moons has been moved to row 5 and is no longer a choice against Stellar Flare.
      • Restoration
        • Reforestation – Now on the Personal Resource Display.
        • All healing spells reduced by 10%.
    • EVOKER
      • Devastation
        • Verdant Embrace – Healing increased by 20% for Devastation only.
      • Preservation
        • Ouroboros – Now reduces the cast time of Echo by 5% per stack. You can now gain stacks even if you are healing a full health target.
        • Cycle of Life – Gathers 15% of healing over 10 seconds (was 10% over 15 seconds).
        • Cycle of Life – The counter now counts down each time you cast Emerald Blossom instead of when the Emerald Blossom expires
        • Fixed an issue that caused Cycle of Life’s Dream Sprouts to replace any active Dream Sprouts when they spawned.
    • HUNTER
      • Beast Mastery
        • Dire Beast – Damage increased by 400%.
        • Barbed Shot – Damage reduced by 23%.
    • MAGE
      • Arcane
        • Arcane Surge – The spell damage bonus from the Rune of Power cast from Arcane Surge is now applied to its damage. Mana regeneration reduced to 425% (was 450%), and damage reduced by 30%.
        • Arcane Missiles – Damage reduced by 25%.
        • Arcane Power – Spell damage reduced to 20% (was 25%).
        • Arcane Echo – Now scales with Mastery. Damage reduced by 25%.
        • Enlightened – Increases Arcane damage by 6% while above 70% Mana (was 8%).
        • Mana Gem – Cooldown now reduced by Shifting Power.
        • Touch of the Magi – Now accumulates 20% of damage (was 25%).
    • MONK
      • Brewmaster
        • Attenuation – Cooldown reduction can now trigger up to 10 times (was 5).
      • Mistweaver
        • Ancient Teachings – Now has a 30 yard range (was 20 yards). Now on the Personal Resource Display.
        • Secret Infusion – Increased stats granted to 8/15% (was 5/10%).
        • Vivify – Reduced healing by 25% for Mistweaver.
        • Rapid Diffusion – Now does not override existing Renewing Mists that are longer than 6 seconds.
        • Attenuation – Cooldown reduction can now trigger up to 10 times (was 5).
      • Windwalker
        • Attenuation – Cooldown reduction can now trigger up to 10 times (was 5).
        • Fury of Xuen – Now grants flat 10% Haste rather than a stat value.
    • PALADIN
      • Holy
        • Power of the Silver Hand – Now triggers twice a minute on average. Now on the Personal Resource Display.
        • Tyr’s Deliverance – Now on the Personal Resource Display.
        • Awakening – Now grants Avenging Wrath for 8 seconds (was 10 seconds).
        • Saved by the Light – Absorb shield has been increased by 100%.
      • Retribution
        • Divine Storm – Damage reduced by 35%.
    • PRIEST
      • Class Tree
        • Binding Heals – Casting Flash Heal on allies with Binding Heals talented now applies Atonement to the Priest. Only applies to Discipline specialization.
    • SHAMAN
      • Class Tree
        • Brimming with Life – Now grants Stamina in arena matches even when Reincarnation is on cooldown.
      • Enhancement
        • Corrected an issue that caused Gathering Storms to scale damage incorrectly.
        • Corrected an issue that prevented Crashing Storms from increasing Crash Lightning’s maximum buff stack cap.
        • Corrected an issue with Maelstrom Weapon not counting the correct amount of stacks consumed.
        • Stormflurry – Procs no longer benefit or consume Stormblast’s bonus nature damage effect for Stormstrike.
        • Windstrike – Cooldown lowered to 7.5 seconds to match Stormstrike’s cooldown.
        • Thorim’s Invocation – Will now default to Lightning Bolt if you have not used either Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning before pressing Ascendance.
        • Thorim’s Invocation – Will no longer consume or benefit from more than 5 Maelstrom Weapon stacks per Windstrike.
        • Corrected an issue where the 5% bonus from Raging Maelstrom wasn’t functioning when Overflowing Maelstrom was selected.
        • Lightning Lasso – Now properly affected by Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
        • Lightning Lasso – Now affected by the Lightning Feral Spirit’s nature damage increase buff.
        • Doom Winds – Global cooldown now scales with Haste.
        • Ice Strike – No longer improperly not usable while silenced.
      • Restoration
        • Earthliving Weapon – Healing increased by 250%.
    • WARRIOR
      • Class Tree
        • Refactored all bleed effects to ensure they receive damage modifiers correctly and can critical strike correctly.
        • Barbaric Training (Protection) – Revenge now deals 25% increased damage (was 20%).
      • Fury
        • Slaughtering Strikes – Now correctly consumed by Rampage when using Annihilator.
        • Berserker Stance – Now increases auto attack damage by 15% (was 10%).
      • Protection
        • Champion’s Bulwark – Now correctly doesn’t consume charges of Shield Block or trigger cooldowns of Shield Block.
        • Violet Outburst – Now grants 100% increased Rage generation for Shield Slam and Thunderclap and includes benefits any existing rage generation modifiers on those abilities. Its tooltip is now updated to correctly represent its functionality.

CLASS SETS

  • DRUID
    • Feral
      • (2) Set Bonus: Ferocious Bite and Rip damage bonus increased to 8% (was 5%).
      • (4) Set Bonus: For each combo point spent, finishing moves increase your Bleed damage by 4% and increase the chance for your attacks that generate combo points to Critically Strike by 2% for 4 seconds.
    • Guardian
      • (2) Set Bonus: Using Mangle with Gore also deals 30% of damage dealt to nearby enemies, damage reduced beyond 5 targets. It also increases your damage done and reduces damage you take by 5% for 6 seconds.
      • (4) Set Bonus: Gore has a 5% increased chance to trigger. Using Mangle with Gore heals you over 6 seconds.
    • Restoration
      • (4) Set Bonus: Wild Growth power proc can now only proc once from each tick of Efflorescence. Increase to Wild Growth healing changed to 5% per stack (was 10%).
  • HUNTER
    • Beast Mastery
      • (4) Set Bonus: Barbed Shot damage increased by 5% and Barbed Shot increases damage of your next Kill Command by 20%.
    • Marksmanship
      • Updated 2-set and 4-set descriptions to be correct if Chimaera Shot taken.
      • (2) Set Bonus: Arcane Shot and Multi Shot critical hits cause your next Aimed Shot to cause targets hit to bleed for 40% of damage dealt over 6 seconds.
      • (4) Set Bonus: Increase chance for ranged auto-attacks to trigger effect to 15% (was 10%).
    • Survival
      • (2) Set Bonus: Damage bonus increased to 15% (was 10%).
      • (4) Set Bonus: Raptor Strike / Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery have a 20% chance to make your next Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite, Carve, or Butchery cost no Focus and deal 50% increased damage.
  • MONK
    • Mistweaver
      • Fixed an issue preventing Mistweaver’s 4-set bonus from working with the Essence Font heal applied by Faeline Stomp.
    • Windwalker
      • (4) Set Bonus: Fists of Fury now enhances your next 3 Rising Sun Kicks or Spinning Crane Kicks and enhanced kicks increase the damage of your next Fists of Fury by 5%, stacking up to 3 times.
  • PALADIN
    • Holy
      • (2) Set Bonus: Holy Shock increases the critical strike chance of your spells by 4% for 10 seconds.
      • (4) Set Bonus: Holy Light, Flash of Light, Light of Dawn, Word of Glory and Bestow Faith healing is increased by 6% and their critical effects increase the damage or healing of your next Holy Shock by 20%.
    • Retribution
      • (2) Set Bonus: Judgment, Blade of Justice, and Wake of Ashes/Radiant Decree damage increased by 15%.
      • (4) Set Bonus: Templar’s Verdict / Final Verdict and Divine Storm damage increased by 10%.
  • SHAMAN
    • Elemental
      • 2-set and 4-set bonuses now work with Elemental Blast if taken.
      • (2) Set Bonus: Now increases the damage of your next Earth Shock / Elemental Blast or Earthquake by 5%, stacking 5 times (was 2.5% stacking 10 times).
    • Enhancement
      • (2) Set Bonus: Stormstrike increases the damage of your next fire, frost, or nature ability by 10% and causes it to generate 1 stack of Maelstrom Weapon.
      • (4) Set Bonus: Consuming Maelstrom Weapon stacks increases your Haste by 1% for each stack for 4 seconds.
    • Restoration
      • (4) Set Bonus: Your critical heals have 215% effectiveness instead of the usual 200%.
  • WARLOCK
    • Destruction
      • (4) Set Bonus: Your critical strikes deal 208% damage instead of the usual 200%.
  • WARRIOR
    • Protection
      • Ignore Pain granted changed to 5% of damage dealt (was 10%).

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

  • RATED SOLO SHUFFLE
    • Cross-faction has been enabled for Rated Solo Shuffle. Horde and Alliance can now match and play against each other.
  • CLASSES
    • DRUID
      • Regrowth’s initial heal is no longer reduced by 15% in PvP.
    • HUNTER
      • Kill Command no longer deals 15% reduced damage in PvP.
      • Marksmanship
        • Aimed Shot no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP.
        • Rapid Fire no longer deals 10% increased damage in PvP.
    • MAGE
      • Arcane
        • Arcane Missiles no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP.
      • Fire
        • Fireball no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP.
        • Pyroblast no longer deals 15% reduced damage in PvP.
      • Frost
        • Ice Lance no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP.
        • Comet Storm no longer deals 10% reduced damage in PvP.
    • MONK
      • Mistweaver
        • Enveloping Mist no longer heals for an additional 10% in PvP
        • Vivify no longer heals for an additional 10% in PvP.
    • PALADIN
      • Retribution
        • Divine Storm no longer deals 10% reduced damage in PvP.
    • PRIEST
      • Power Word: Shield absorb value no longer increased by 10% in PvP.
      • Renew heal is no longer increased by 15% in PvP.
      • Shadow
        • Vampiric Touch no longer deals 10% increased damage in PvP.
    • ROGUE
      • Outlaw
        • Between the Eyes no longer deals 9% reduced damage in PvP.
      • Subtlety
        • Eviscerate no longer deals 10% reduced damage in PvP.
    • SHAMAN
      • Restoration
        • Riptide’s heal is no longer reduced by 15% in PvP.
    • WARLOCK
      • Affliction
        • Agony no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP.
        • Corruption no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP.
        • Siphon Life no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP.
        • Shadow Bolt no longer deals 10% increased damage in PvP.
        • Unstable Affliction no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP.
    • WARRIOR
      • Class Tree
        • Bounding Stride – Cooldown reduction now has 50% effectiveness in PvP. Speed increase now has 70% effectiveness in PvP.
        • Double Time – Cooldown reduction now has 50% effectiveness in PvP.
      • Arms
        • Overpower no longer deals 9% reduced damage in PvP.
        • Execute no longer deals 13% reduced damage in PvP.

PROFESSIONS

  • Grand Apothecary Alchetaur, located in Stormwind and Orgrimmar, now also sells Cosmetic Class Glyphs for testing on the Valdrakken server.
  • KNOWN ISSUES
    • Knowledge spent on Specializations for Leatherworking in the process of fixing a larger issue. We apologize for the inconvenience.
    • Engineering Bracer discovery recipes are currently not functioning. This will be fixed in a later build.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

  • NEW HUD UI
    • ACTION BARS
      • 3 extra bars are added, enable them by going to Options > Gameplay > Action bars
    • The Guild banner art in the minimap have been updated.
  • Added an option to play a sound when the player is in range to use the Interact Key

Vault of the Incarnates Raid Testing

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello raiders!

The raid schedule has been updated with this week’s testing encounters and the current testing plans for the next two weeks.

Thursday, October 13

  • Mythic
    • The Primalist Council – 13:00 PDT (16:00 EDT, 22:00 CEST)
    • Eranog – 14:00 PDT (17:00 EDT, 23:00 CEST)
    • Sennarth, the Cold Breath – 15:00 PDT (18:00 EDT, 00:00 CEST)

Friday, October 14

  • Mythic
    • Dathea, Ascended – 13:00 PDT (16:00 EDT, 22:00 CEST)
    • Broodkeeper Diurna – 14:00 PDT (17:00 EDT, 23:00 CEST)
  • Normal
    • Start – 15:00 PDT (18:00 EDT, 00:00 CEST)
    • End – Monday, October 17 at 09:00 PDT (12:00 EDT, 18:00 CEST)

Friday, October 21

  • Mythic
    • Kurog Grimtotem – 13:00 PDT (16:00 EDT, 22:00 CEST)
    • Terros – 14:00 PDT (17:00 EDT, 23:00 CEST)
  • Raid Finder
    • The Primal Bulwark – Eranog, The Primal Council, Dathea, Ascended
      • Start – 15:00 PDT (18:00 EDT, 00:00 CEST)
      • End – Monday, October 24 at 09:00 PDT (12:00 EDT, 18:00 CEST)

Friday, October 28

  • Raid Finder
    • Caverns of Infusion – Terros, Sennarth, Kurog Grimtotem
      • Start – 13:00 PDT (16:00 EDT, 22:00 CEST)
      • End – Monday, October 31 at 09:00 PDT (12:00 EDT, 18:00 CEST)

See you in the Vault of the Incarnates.

Shadowlands Season 4 Ending Soon

It looks like the Dragonflight Prepatch is in 2 weeks! While there has not been an official confirmation yet, the end of season date has just been announced for the 25th/26th of October. With previous expansions the end date for the final season has usually meant the release of the prepatch for the next expansion. So although we can’t be 100% sure, it is quite likely we’ll see the 10.0 patch make its way to the live servers in just 2 short weeks.

Quote from: Blizzard

Greetings Champions.

Shadowlands Season 4 will be closing the week of October 25. Here’s what you can expect:

Shadowlands Season 4: PvP

  • The current season of Shadowlands PvP content will end at 10:00 p.m. the night before maintenance begins in each region. This is 10:00 p.m. PDT for North American realms and 22:00 CEST for European realms.
  • With the season’s end, it will no longer be possible to earn PvP seasonal rewards, titles, or Shadowlands Season 4 rankings.

Shadowlands Season 4: Mythic+

  • The current season of Mythic+ content will end with the start of regional maintenance (October 25 in NA / October 26 in EU / October 27 in Asia). With the season’s end, ratings that qualify for the 0.1% “Shrouded Hero” achievement will be recorded.
  • The title “the Shrouded” will be rewarded during the following weeks after the season ends, so be sure to wait if changing factions until after you have received the title.

Best of luck battling to a glorious finish of the season!

DF Beta: Class & Tier Set Tuning, Mythic+ Season 1 Gear Reward Plans & Testing

Last night Blizzard posted a ton of new information. Classes were tuned before raid testing started, Tier Set Bonuses are being changed with the next build and there was a big info dump on the plans for how gearing will go in M+ Season 1! Furthermore, two M+ dungeons will be testable with a first version of the new seasonal affix “Thundering”.

Quote from: Blizzard

Based on various data points, including recent Beta raid testing, we’re making tuning adjustments to a number of classes. In addition to new and returning abilities, the new talent trees allow players to choose abilities that were previously exclusive to one another in the talent row system. In many cases, we need to adjust the impact of these abilities to hit our throughput targets for Dragonflight.

The following are being applied to the Dragonflight Beta and PTR via hotfix, before raid testing in the Beta gets underway this evening.

Demon Hunter

  • Soul Rending – Metamorphosis leech bonus reduced to 5/10% (was 10/20%).
  • Havoc
    • Metamorphosis duration reduced to 24 seconds (was 25 seconds).
    • Improved Chaos Strike bonus Chaos Strike damage reduced to 10% (was 15%).
    • Improved Fel Rush bonus Fel Rush damage reduced to 20% (was 25%).
    • Initiative bonus critical strike chance reduced to 12% (was 15%).
    • Momentum bonus damage reduced to 8% (was 10%).
    • Essence Break bonus to Chaos Strike/Blade Dance damage reduced to 80% (was 100%).
    • Furious Gaze duration reduced to 10 seconds (was 12 seconds).
    • Shattered Destiny fury spent per CDR increased to 8 (was 7).
    • Dancing with Fate bonus to Blade Dance final slash damage reduced to 20/40% (was 25/50%).
    • Growing Inferno bonus per tick Immolation Aura damage reduced to 5/10% (was 8/15%).
    • Burning Wound damage over time effect reduced by 20%.
    • Burning Wound bonus Immolation Aura damage increased to 50% (was 45%).
    • Burning Wound – fixed a bug that was causing Immolation Aura damage bonus to be applied twice.
    • Ragefire – portion of damage saved per crit reduced to 40% (was 50%).

Druid

  • Balance
    • Orbit Breaker triggers every 30th Shooting Star (was every 20th).
    • Astral Communion generates 60 Astral Power (was 75).
    • Primordial Arcanic Pulsar triggers after spending 600 Astral Power (was 300).
    • Sundered Firmament creates a Fury of Elune at 20% effectiveness (was 25%).
    • Elune’s Guidance reduces the Astral Power cost of Starsurge by 5 (was 10) and the Astral Power cost of Starfall by 8 (was 15).
    • Rattle the Stars reduces the cost of Starfall and Starsurge by 5% per stack (was 10%).
    • Starsurge costs 40 Astral Power (was 30). Damage reduced by 35%.
    • Starfall damage reduced by 35%.
    • Shooting Stars generates 2 Astral Power (was 3). Damage reduced by 50%.

Paladin

  • Greater Judgement – Judgement now causes the target to take 20% increased damage from your next Holy Power ability (was 25%).
  • Seal of Crusader increases Holy Damage taken by 3/6% (was 5/10%).
  • Divine Purpose increases the damage of your next holy damage spender by 15% (was 20%).
  • Zealot’s Paragon extension reduced to 0.5 seconds (was 1 second).
  • Retribution
    • Templar’s Verdict damage reduced by 35%.
    • Final Verdict damage reduced by 35%
    • Zeal – Judgment now causes your next 2 auto attacks to occur 30% faster (was your next 3).
    • Ashes to Dust now 20% chance to reset Wake of Ashes instead of Blade of Justice (was 35%).
    • Execution Sentence deals 10% of damage done (was 20%).
    • Templar’s Vindication changed to a 15% chance of a 10/20% Templar’s Verdict (was 15/30% chance of a 15/30% Templar’s Verdict).
    • Divine Storm damage reduced by 35%.
  • Protection
    • Light of the Titans healing reduced by 25%.

Rogue

  • Alacrity now grants 1% haste per stack, up to 5 stacks (was 2%, to 4 stacks).
  • Thistle Tea – total bonus Mastery granted reduced by 20%.
  • Find Weakness armor ignore value reduced to 15/30% (was 20/40%).
  • Assassination
    • All ability damage reduced by 34%.
    • Rupture damage increased by 22%.
    • Venomous Wounds Energy restore reduced to 5 (was 7).
    • Improved Poisons bonus poison chance reduced to 5/10% (was 10/20%).
    • Venom Rush Energy restore reduced to 5 (was 8).
    • Vicious Venoms additional Nature damage values restored to 10/20% (was unintentionally 15/20%).
    • Systemic Failure bonus damage reduced to 20% (was 30%).
    • Twist the Knife bonus duration reduced to 2 seconds (was 3 seconds).
    • Doomblade additional Bleed damage reduced to 20% (was 30%).
    • Deathmark damage increased by 227%.
    • Tiny Toxic Blade bonus damage increased to 500% (was 300%).
    • Poison Bomb damage increased by 200%.
    • Sepsis damage increased by 60%.
    • Kingsbane damage increased by 50%.
  • Outlaw
    • All ability damage reduced by ~14.5%.
    • Opportunity strike chance reduced to 30% (was 35%).
    • Weaponmaster bonus strike chance reduced to 5% (was 10%).
    • Combat Potency Energy regeneration reduced to 20% (was 30%).
    • Swift Slasher bonus attack speed per combo point reduced to 2% (was 3%).
    • Fatal Flourish chance to restore energy reduced to 60% (was 75%).
    • Quick Draw bonus Pistol Shot damage reduced to 20% (was 50%).
    • Summarily Dispatched duration reduced to 8/15 seconds (was 10/20 seconds).
    • Greenskin’s Wickers bonus Pistol Shot damage reduced to 200% (was 300%).
  • Subtlety
    • All ability damage reduced by 17%.

Tier Set Tuning

Quote from: Blizzard

We’ll be making a number of tuning and functional changes to Class Set bonuses in the next beta build. These changes are influenced both by your responses and feedback, and by our goals for their tuning and complexity level. These changes make some of the narrower bonuses valuable in a wider variety of content and smooth out the benefits of others that could vary a lot in value based on talent choices.

Druid

  • Balance
    • (2) Set Bonus: Damage bonus to Wrath or Starfire changed to 20% per stack (was 50%).
    • (4) Set Bonus: Damage bonus to Starsurge or Starfall changed to 35% (was 50%).
  • Feral
    • (2) Set Bonus Ferocious Bite and Rip damage bonus increased to 6% (was 5%).
    • NEW (4) Set Bonus: For each combo point spent, finishing moves increase your Rip, Rake, and Thrash damage by 2% and increase the chance for Shred, Rake, Swipe / Brutal Slash, and Thrash to Critically Strike by 2% for 4 seconds.
      • Developers’ note: Changing the (4) Set Bonus to a more targeted effect. A lot of the value of the previous version was getting successive Ferocious Bites during Convoke & Berserk. This version puts passive power into your bleeds and adds more crit to your builders to generate more combo points at all times.
  • Guardian
    • NEW (2) Set Bonus: Using Mangle with Gore also deals 30% of damage dealt to nearby enemies, damage reduced beyond 5 targets. It also increases your damage done and reduces damage you take by 5% for 6 seconds.
    • NEW (4) Set Bonus: Gore has a 5% increased chance to trigger. Using Mangle with Gore heals you for {0.5*AP} health over 6 seconds.
      • Developers’ note: The previous version was low in power compared to other tank bonuses. This design make Mangle with Gore procs give consistent durability and damage, and gives Mangle an AOE component so it’s worth hitting over Swipe in AOE to maintain the buff.
  • Restoration
    • (4) Set Bonus Lifebloom power proc can now only proc once from each tick of Efflorescence, instead of once for each critically healed target. Increase to Lifebloom healing changed to 5% per stack (was 10%).

Hunter

  • Beast Mastery
    • NEW (4) Set Bonus: Barbed Shot damage increased by 5% and Barbed Shot increases damage of your next Kill Command by 20%.
      • Developers’ note: We heard you that focus was not a valuable reward in all scenarios so we changed this bonus to grant more damage to the abilities enhanced by the (2) Set Bonus.
  • Marksmanship
    • UPDATE (2) Set Bonus: Arcane Shot & Multi Shot critical hits cause your next Aimed Shot to cause targets hit to bleed for 40% of damage dealt over 6 seconds.
      • (2) Set Bonus no longer reduces the casting time of Aimed Shot and bleed effect increased to 40% of Aimed Shot damage (was 20%).
      • (4) Set Bonus increase chance for ranged auto-attacks to trigger effect to 15% (was 10%).
      • Developers’ note: We removed the Aimed Shot cast time reduction from the (2) Set Bonus because Aimed Shots were becoming uncomfortably short during Trueshot.
  • Survival
    • (2) Set Bonus damage bonus increased to 15% (was 10%).
    • UPDATE (4) Set Bonus: Raptor Strike / Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery have a 20% chance to make your next Raptor Strike / Mongoose Bite, Carve, or Butchery cost no Focus and deal 50% increased damage.
      • (4) Set Bonus chance to make Raptor Strike / Mongoose Bite, Carve, or Butchery cost no Focus increased to 20% (was 10%) and free abilities now also deal 50% increased damage.

Monk

  • Mistweaver
    • Fixed an issue preventing Mistweaver’s 4-piece bonus from working with the Essence Font heal applied by Faeline Stomp.
  • Windwalker
    • UPDATE (4) Set Bonus: Fists of Fury now instead enhances your next 3 Rising Sun Kicks or Spinning Crane Kicks and enhanced kicks increase damage your next Fists of Fury deals by 5%, stacking up to 3 times.
      • (4) Set Bonus now only increases the damage of Fists of Fury by 5% for each stack, instead of granting Versatility during Fists of Fury for each stack.
      • Developers’ note: We decided that flat damage was more appropriate for a DPS class bonus than Versatility.

Paladin

  • Holy
    • NEW (2) Set Bonus: Holy Shock increases the critical strike chance of your spells by 4% for 10 seconds.
    • NEW (4) Set Bonus: Holy Light, Flash of Light, Light of Dawn, and Bestow Faith healing is increased by 6% and their critical effects increase the damage or healing of your next Holy Shock by 20%.
      • Developers’ note: The Holy Class Set was more rotationally impactful than we like. We replaced the (2) Set Bonus with an easily maintained buff to your healing. For the (4) Set Bonus, we added some passive healing bonuses to give consistent value and removed the ability for Holy Shock to trigger enhancements to itself.
  • Protection
    • (2) Set Bonus: Versatility buff increased to 5% for 10 sec (up from 4% for 4 sec).
  • Retribution
    • NEW (2) Set Bonus: Judgment, Blade of Justice, and Wake of Ashes damage increased by 15%.
    • NEW (4) Set Bonus: Templar’s Verdict / Final Verdict and Divine Storm damage increased by 10%.
      • Developers’ note: We heard you that the previous class set was going to impact your rotational decisions negatively and that it had limited value in AOE. The new (2) Set Bonus empowers your strongest Holy Power generators and the (4) Set Bonus boosts your big damage spenders.

Priest

  • Discipline
    • (4) Set Bonus: Amount that Penance empowers Power Word: Shield reduced to 60% of its damage or 18% of its healing (was 100% / 30%).
  • Holy
    • (4) Set Bonus: Bonus changed to 10% critical strike for 6 seconds (was 15% for 8 seconds).
  • Shadow
    • (2) Set Bonus: Damage buff reduced to 12% per stack (was 20%).
    • (4) Set Bonus: Bonus reduced to 4% Haste (was 5%).

Shaman

  • Elemental
    • 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses now work with Elemental Blast if taken.
    • (2) Set Bonus: Now increases the damage of your next Earth Shock / Elemental Blast or Earthquake by 5%, stacking 5 times (was 2.5% stacking 10 times).
    • (4) Set Bonus: Increases your Mastery by 8% for 5 seconds (was 10% for 10 seconds).
    • Fixed a bug cause the 2-piece bonus to activate from every hit of Chain Lightning. Now activates once per cast.
  • Enhancement
    • UPDATE (2) Set Bonus: Stormstrike increases the damage of your next Fire, Frost, or Nature ability by 10% and causes it to generate 1 stack of Maelstrom Weapon.
      • Now affects all Fire, Frost, and Nature direct damage abilities, Flame Shock excluded.
    • NEW (4) Set Bonus: Consuming Maelstrom Weapon stacks increases your Haste by 1% for each stack consumed for 4 seconds.
      • Developers’ note: We heard your feedback that the (2) Set Bonus only affecting Lava Lash impacted your talent decisions, so we broadened it to affect whatever you want to use. Flame Shock is not affected because its direct damage component is very low and we don’t want players to have to track variations in its damage over time. The (4) Set Bonus bonus granted cooldown reduction, which often isn’t valuable, so we replaced it with a consistent bonus that still rewards generating Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
  • Restoration
    • NEW (4) Set Bonus: Your critical heals have 215% effectiveness instead of the usual 200%.
      • Developers’ note: The previous (4) Set Bonus was providing an enhancement during a time you were doing less healing and had variable uptime depending on talent choices. We replaced it with a consistent throughput bonus that is enhanced by the (2) Set Bonus.

Warlock

  • Destruction
    • NEW (4) Set Bonus: Your critical strikes deal 208% damage instead of the usual 200%.
      • Developers’ note: We agree the previous (4) Set Bonus had too much randomness and limited value for AOE abilities. We replaced it with a consistent critical damage bonus that’ll enhance your Chaos Bolts and combo with the critical strike chance from the (2) Set Bonus.

Warrior

  • Protection
    • Ignore Pain granted changed to 5% of damage dealt (was 10%).

Mythic+ Season 1 Plans

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts here! Feedback like this is valuable, and helps inform discussion within the team as we continue to iterate on systems like Mythic+.

While I don’t have information to share about this specific suggestion today, I do want to take this opportunity to offer some insight into changes coming to Mythic+ in Dragonflight and our thought process behind them, as well as open up a discussion around elements that are still being worked on or could change in the future.

First up, we’d like to provide some more context for a change you may have already heard about.

Seasonal Dungeon Rotation

If you’ve done Mythic+ over multiple seasons, you may have had the experience of running a particular dungeon over and over chasing a prized item, only to be faced with chasing that same item in that same dungeon the following season as well. That’s not great, and we want to do something about it.

Perhaps the biggest change coming in Dragonflight is that we’ll be rotating the entire set of Mythic+ dungeons every season. We believe this will result in a better overall experience by:

  • Providing primary Mythic+ players with more of the sense of exploration and progression each season that Raiders get to enjoy with new raids.

Much of the fun of Mythic+ comes from seeing yourself get better and better at playing a dungeon through experience, but opportunities to learn and improve become more scarce the longer a dungeon stays active in the pool.

  • Keeping the level of effort required to get the best rewards consistent season over season.

Learning a new raid can be fun and challenging, but the relative ease of completing Mythic+ dungeons that everyone mastered last season can create heavy social pressure to spend time in Mythic+ gearing up even if it’s not your preferred activity.

  • Creating space for returning players to jump into Mythic+ even if they missed the previous season.

Imagine taking a break during Season 1 and coming back in Season 2, only to join a Mythic+ group and feel like you’re holding them back because everyone else just “knows” a strategy you never had the chance to learn. With dungeons rotating every season, everyone gets to start on a relatively even playing field and figure out new strategies together.

Seasonal Affixes

These have been a staple of Mythic+ for years now, but what purpose do they serve and why do we keep making them?

Seasonal affixes:

  • Play a key role in shaking up gameplay. We’re asking you to play the same dungeons for well over a year, and adding new twists helps keep them feeling fresh.
  • Give us an opportunity to add thematic flavor and give each season a sense of identity. It’s cool to have N’Zoth or Denathrius influencing Mythic+ dungeons at the same time they’re featured in the raid.
  • Are a great place to experiment and try new ideas. We can keep things that work well for future seasons, while safely leaving behind things that didn’t work as well.

But as great as Seasonal affixes have been, they also have limitations. With their relatively high complexity and strong seasonal ties, they’re mostly lost to history once a season is over. While they do have experimental value, they don’t contribute as much long-term benefit to Mythic+ as we’d like.

A side-effect of the Dungeon Rotation change above is that it takes pressure off the Seasonal affix to be the “big thing” that transforms your gameplay in a new season, and this has given us space to really think about what a Seasonal affix might look like going forward. Should we try to make Seasonals that can become regular affixes in future seasons? Should we stop doing them in favor of something else entirely? There are lots of interesting questions to consider as we move forward.

On Beta realms you’ll soon be seeing an experimental version of a Season affix named “Thundering”. We’re still iterating heavily and it’s likely the functionality will change, but it should give a sense of the level of complexity we’d like Seasonal affixes to occupy in Dragonflight. Since you’ll already be learning a whole new set of dungeons, the Seasonal affix can be less complicated and focus more on being about thematic flavor (as well as giving us space to try new things).

Another shift that you’ll likely notice is a reduction in the amount of “borrowed power” provided by Seasonal affixes. While feedback on beneficial affix effects has been positive and it’s a space we definitely want to continue exploring, we hit a level of power in Shadowlands that felt extreme and contributed heavily to the short-circuiting effect described above.

We’ll be keeping a close eye both on how this feels in playtests and on player feedback, and may try other directions if it doesn’t work out as well as we’d like. For example, there’s a world where we have beneficial effects closer to Shadowlands, but also make enemies more powerful to offset that extra power. The key takeaway here is that we want to continue experimenting with Mythic+, and we hope you’ll appreciate seeing a bigger difference in your experience with each season in Dragonflight.

Rewarding Dedicated Mythic+ Players

Throughout Shadowlands, we’ve observed a trend where players who’ve mastered a set of Mythic+ dungeons are seeing their sense of progression short-circuited in subsequent seasons.

This is a complex problem that intersects with several of the topics outlined above, but the bottom line is that something valuable is lost when the best gear you can get from Mythic+ isn’t necessarily something you earn by investing time and effort into getting really good at Mythic+.

To be extremely clear, this does not mean we want to make Mythic+ less rewarding. It’s a major pillar of the endgame for World of Warcraft and players who want to focus on it should have access to competitive rewards.

What it does mean is that we want Mythic+ to have more of a sense of progression as you push higher and higher keys, and we want the gear you get to feel like a reflection of that. To achieve this goal, we’re making two big changes:

  • First, starting with Keystone level 11, we’re increasing the rate at which enemies gain health and damage with each subsequent key level from 8% to 10%.

The impact from this change isn’t dramatic at any given key level, but it should contribute to giving each step up more of a sense of progression and make it easier for us to step up rewards accordingly.

  • Second, we’re adjusting the item level of gear rewards both from end of run chests and from the great vault, and scaling their item level growth up to Keystone level 20.

We’re also introducing an additional Valor upgrade tier, which will increase the maximum item level of Valor upgrades that players can unlock with higher Mythic+ ratings. You can review the chart below for details.

Mythic+ Item Rewards:

Keystone End of Run Great Vault
+2 376 382
+3 376 385
+4 379 385
+5 379 389
+6 382 389
+7 385 392
+8 385 395
+9 389 395
+10 392 398
+11 392 402
+12 392 405
+13 392 408
+14 395 408
+15 398 411
+16 398 415
+17 402 415
+18 402 418
+19 405 418
+20 405 421

Valor Upgrade Tiers:

Upgrade Level Item Level Rating Requirement
1 376 None
2 379 None
3 382 None
4 385 None
5 389 None
6 392 None
7 395 600
8 398 1000
9 402 1000
10 405 1400
11 408 1700
12 411 2000
13 415 2400

Shorter Affix Rotation

The last experimental change we’d like to talk about today is placing a couple of our regular affixes on hiatus and reducing the number of weeks in the affix rotation.

In Dragonflight Season 1, the Inspiring and Necrotic affixes will be taking a break, and the affix rotation will be reduced from 12 weeks to 10 weeks. Our thought process here is that:

  • Inspiring is a good affix for changing up your gameplay when you have thorough knowledge of a dungeon, but it can feel especially punishing while you’re still learning. This didn’t feel like a good fit with the increased emphasis on learning dungeons each season going forward.
  • Necrotic was originally intended to be an affix that challenges tanks, but it’s become increasingly apparent that routing responsibilities already place tremendous pressure on tank players in Mythic+, so we’d like to try giving this affix a vacation.
  • With a shorter affix rotation overall, we’re hopeful that we can reduce the perceived disparity in difficulty between weeks and allow players to more regularly feel like they can make meaningful progress toward increasing their Mythic+ rating.

We’re excited to see how this plays out, and looking forward to trying out further changes in Season 2 and beyond. While it’s too early to make promises, this may include things like swapping out more affixes, changing the level at which different affix types become active, or perhaps even trying out a new affix category entirely.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your feedback, and I hope the information shared here is able to provide good context for further discussion! =)

Mythic+ Season 1 Testing

Quote from: Blizzard

Greetings!

While development for Dragonflight Mythic+ is still ongoing, we wanted to give players a look at our progress and are currently planning a limited Mythic+ test this weekend.

The test period will begin Friday Oct 7th at 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST), and end Monday October 10th at 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST). During this time, you’ll be able to test two dungeons on Mythic+ (Ruby Life Pools and The Azure Vault), along with a prototype Seasonal affix tentatively named “Thundering”. Note that this affix is still undergoing iteration and may change considerably from week to week.

During the test period you’ll be able to acquire and customize Mythic Keystones by talking to the Keystone Vendor in Stormwind or Orgrimmar. We look forward to hearing your feedback!

And if you’d like more information about the changes coming with Dragonflight Mythic+, you can check out this post on the Community Council forums which contains details about difficulty and reward changes, thoughts on Seasonal affixes, and more!

Quote from: Blizzard

Quick answers to these questions:

  • Mythic+ testing will be available on all Beta servers for this round
  • There is a Dungeon Teleporter who will appear near the Keystone Vendor
  • We ran into an issue deploying a hotfix needed to make the Keystone Vendor available, and are working to address the issue ASAP. We’ll post a server message as soon as testing opens up. Apologies for the delay!

Dragonflight: Major Factions Overview

Quote from: Blizzard

Dragonflight ushers in a unique way of experiencing outdoor progression with a system called Major Factions, boasting an additional way to experience the Dragon Isles and earn Renown ranks through Reputation.

How it Works

The four Major Factions in the Dragon Isles are the Dragonscale Expedition, Iskaara Tuskarr, Maruuk Centaur, and Valdrakken Accord, and each Major Faction’s progression is unique. As you build a reputation with your newfound friends, you’ll participate in content fitting a variety of playstyles to earn prestigious titles and special rewards. If you’re the outgoing type, you can also work toward gaining the respect and adoration of all the Major Factions if you wish. For those who like the added challenge, reach the highest Renown rank with each Major Faction to complete achievements.

To earn Reputation and progress through the ranks of Renown with Major Factions, along your journey, you’ll complete solo and group events, Supply and Crafting quests, and Work Orders. You can hunt with the Shikaar Clan or escort Clan Aylaag and protect them as they cross the Ohn’ahran Plains. Go ice fishing and help cook a feast for your new Iskaaran Tuskarr friends. Or lay siege on Dragonbane Keep in a public event to assist the Obsidian Outcasts in reclaiming their home.

Dragonscale Expedition

Once rivals, the Alliance’s Explorers’ League and the Horde’s Reliquary have joined forces to form an expedition to explore the Dragon Isles. These craftsmen, explorers, archaeologists, and other knowledge-seekers arrived at the Dragon Isles together and set aside their rivalries to pursue knowledge and artifacts. Shared adventures in nature and discoveries have brought them together, and they have learned to appreciate the unique skill sets each other offers. They have become true allies and, dare we say… friends!

Earning Renown with the Dragonscale Expedition is a gift unto itself. The Dragonscale Expedition is making significant discoveries, including an ancient travel network, and you can be part of it. As you progress through the ranks of Dragonscale Expedition Renown, you’ll be able to power up Waygates scattered throughout the Dragon Isles that even your alts can take advantage of.

Go on a journey of discovery and find treasure maps scattered throughout the Dragon Isles The more Renown you have, the more access to items that will help you dig for treasure or unlock magic-bound chests. And, you’ll earn Dragon Isles Supplies to upgrade your Exploration, Climbing, and Cataloguing abilities.

Dragonscale Expedition vendors are found throughout the Dragon Isles. You can get tools like the Expedition Metal Detector and Sturdy Expedition Shovel to aid in your search for treasure. Or an Expedition Supply Kit to turn your Dragon Isles Supplies into upgrades for Exploration, Rock Climbing, and Cataloging abilities.

These are only a few benefits when joining the Dragonscale Expedition. As you earn Renown, you’ll unlock rewards and items to help you on your trek through the Dragon Isles.

Iskaara Tuskarr

The tuskarr of Iskaara have called the Dragon Isles home for countless generations. After many harsh winters on the ice, they have learned to value the warmest things in life: friends, family, a hot bowl of soup, and a long story told over a crackling fire. So, if you can fish, cook, or tell a hearty tale, the tuskarr will welcome you with open arms. However, when threatened, the tuskarr are some of the fiercest fighters in Azeroth. As new and old enemies rise against them, every spear of the community must be raised to fight for survival. Raise your spear alongside them and take a bowl of soup for the journey!

Building Renown with the Iskaara Tuskarr will teach you new ways to fish, unlock exclusive fishing holes, and tools to access along the way. Fish in three challenging and unique biomes with harpoons and collect fish with a net instead of a line. Take your catch back to Iskaara to prepare a proper Tuskarr meal, where completing the Community Feast event will reward hungry adventurers.

Iskarra Tuskarr Renown vendors offer unique tools to help you on your path to success. Use the Iskaaran Fishing Net in fishing holes to catch fish or the Iskaaran Harpoon to catch exceptionally big lunkers. Improve these tools by taking gathered reagents to a Fishing Work Bench and having a tuskarr craftsman improve their capabilities.

Dragonflight Beta 5 October 2022 Development Notes, Dragonriding Updates

This week’s beta build brings the tier sets on the Valdrakken realm, the first large set of class tuning changes and M0 dungeon difficulty for the Dragonflight dungeons on the leveling realms!

Quote from: Blizzard

Here are the changes you can find in this week’s Dragonflight Beta update:

CHARACTERS

  • Resolved an issue that caused Da Voodoo Shuffle (Troll Racial) to reduce the duration of roots by less than intended. Duration reduced by 20%, matching current Snare reduction amount.

CLASSES

  • NEW TALENT SYSTEM
    • DEATH KNIGHT
      • Blood
        • Heart Strike now generates 15 runic power (was 10).
      • Frost
        • Obliterate – Damage increased by 15%.
        • Howling Blast – Damage increased by 12%.
        • Breath of Sindragosa – Damage increased by 15%.
        • Remorseless Winter – Damage increased by 10%.
        • Frost Strike – Damage increased by 20%.
        • Unleashed Frenzy – Strength per stack increased to 2% (was 1%).
        • Pillar of Frost – Strength increased to 25% (was 20%) and Strength per rune spent increased to 2% (was 1%).
        • Frostscythe – Damage increased by 15%.
        • Frigid Executioner – Obliterate damage increased to 15% (was 10%) and chance to refund 2 runes increased to 15% (was 12%).
        • Piercing Chill – Damage taken per bounce of Chill Streak increased to 10% (was 5%).
        • Shattering Blade – Bonus Frost Strike damage increased to 100% (was 60%).
        • Enduring Strength – Strength increased to 10/20% per rank (was 5/10%).
      • Unholy
        • Superstrain – Now applies Frost Fever and Blood Plague at 80% effectiveness. This includes runic power generated from Frost Fever which is now 4 (was 5).
        • Summon Gargoyle – Damage of Gargoyle Strike increased by 25%. Now properly scales with Mastery.
        • Commander of the Dead – Damage buff for your Army of the Dead Ghouls and Gargoyle increased to 35% (was 30%). Commander of the Dead will now apply to ghouls who were still being summoned in by Army of the Dead when Dark Transformation was pressed.
        • Death Coil – Damage reduced by 15%.
        • Raise Dead – All Pet ghoul damage reduced by 10%.
        • Death Rot – Now applies to all enemies damaged by Epidemic or Death Coil (was only your primary target).
        • Scourge Strike – Damage reduced by 8%.
        • Clawing Shadows – Damage reduced by 8%.
        • Festering Wound – Damage reduced by 10%.
        • Magus of the Dead – Frostbolt and Shadowbolt damage increased by 100%.
        • Unholy Pact – No longer grants 5% Strength.
        • Rotten Touch – Increases Scourge Strike damage by 50% for 6 seconds (was 30%).
        • Ghoulish Frenzy – Attack Speed and Damage gained decreased to 5/10% (was 6/12%).
        • Coil of Devastation – Now deals 30% of Death Coil damage over 4 seconds (was 35%).
    • DEMON HUNTER
      • Class Tree
        • Sigil of Silence – Moved to the Vengeance tree as a choice node with Roaring Fire.
        • New Talent: Soul Sigils – Afflicting an enemy with one of your Sigils generates 1 Lesser Soul Fragment.
        • A few Demon Hunter Class talents have moved positions due to the above change.
    • DRUID
      • Class Tree
        • Furor has been removed.
        • New Talent: Protector of the Pack
          • Restoration: Store 10% of your effective healing, up to 120% spell power. Your next Moonfire consumes all stored healing to increase its damage dealt.
          • Feral/Guardian/Balance: Store 10% of your damage, up to 120% spell power. Your next Regrowth consumes all stored damage to increase its healing.
      • Balance
        • Lunar Shrapnel has been redesigned – Starfall’s stars have a chance to deal an additional 25% damage to nearby enemies when they damage an enemy afflicted by Moonfire. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.
        • Umbral Intensity – Now additive and the tooltip has been changed to the following: Solar Eclipse increases the damage of Wrath by an additional 10/20%. Lunar Eclipse increases the critical strike chance of Starfire by an additional 10/20%.
        • Sundered Firmament – Astral Power generation is now correctly granting 25% of Fury of Elune’s Astral Power generation.
        • Stellar Flare – No longer generates Astral Power when granted by Stellar Inspiration.
        • The chance for Shooting Stars to occur has been reduced.
        • Wild Mushrooms no longer have nameplates.
      • Feral
        • Rip – Damage increased by 10%.
        • Ferocious Bite – Damage decreased by 10%.
        • Thrash – Damage increased by 25%.
        • Rake – Damage increased by 25%.
        • In addition to the above rebalancing, Shred, Swipe, Brutal Slash, Rake, Thrash, Ferocious Bite, Rip, Primal Wrath damage reduced by 10%.
        • Ferocious Bites during Convoke the Spirits hit as if 4 combo points were spent (was 5).
          • Developers’ note: Convoke the Spirits damage needs to be tuned down, and the vast majority of Convoke’s damage comes from the Ferocious Bites it casts. Reducing the likelihood for Convoke to cast Ferocious Bite would increase the variability in the damage a single Convoke does in a way that could increase the dissatisfaction of getting a “bad Convoke.” This change reduces Convoke’s damage by about 12% but leave its variance about the same.
        • Tireless Energy – Energy recovery bonus reduced to 8%/15% (was 10%/20%).
        • Sabertooth – Ferocious Bite damage bonus reduced to 15% (was 20%). Bleed damage buff per combo point increased to 5% (was 4%).
        • Dreadful Bleeding – Damage bonus increased to 20% (was 15%).
        • Frenzied Assault – Effect reduced to 125% (was 150%).
        • Tear Open Wounds – Effect reduced to 60% (was 75%).
        • Rip and Tear – Bleed duration changed to 8 seconds (was 6 seconds) and bleed damage no longer incorporates the effect of Sabertooth’s Rip damage bonus.
        • Rampant Ferocity – Effect reduced to 20% (was 25%).
        • Bloodtalons – Effect reduced to 25% (was 30%).
        • Fixed an issue causing damage dealt by Rampant Ferocity to be reduced by armor.
        • Fixed issues causing Double-Clawed Rake to not choose targets for second Rake intelligently.
      • Restoration
        • Nature’s Splendor – Now increases the effectiveness of Nature’s Swiftness’s healing bonus by 35% (was 50%).
        • Dreamstate – Increased cooldown reduction to 15 seconds (was 12 seconds).
        • Soul of the Forest – Healing bonus to Wild Growth decreased to 60% (was 75%).
        • Unstoppable Growth – Now decreases Wild Growth’s falloff by 15%/30% (was 20%/40%).
        • Verdancy – Healing increased by 125%.
        • Convoke the Spirits – Flourishes cast by Convoke the Spirits now last 4 seconds and extend healing over time effects by 4 seconds.
        • Embrace the Dream – Healing increased by 20%.
        • Nurturing Dormancy – Now extends Rejuvenation by 1 second (was 2 seconds), up to 3 seconds (was 6 seconds).
        • Invigorate – Lifeblooms and Rejuvenations affected by Invigorate now complete 200% faster (was 100%).
        • Power of the Archdruid – Now causes your next Rejuvenation or Regrowth to apply to 2 additional allies (was 3).
    • EVOKER
      • Devastation
        • The starter build has been updated to use more appropriate talents.
        • Fire Breath has been redesigned – Empowering Fire Breath now shifts the proportion of damage between the instant effect and the periodic effect. Damage coefficients have been reduced by 15%, but total damage dealt has been increased by ~15%.
        • Blast Furnace has been redesigned – Fire Breath damage over time lasts 2 seconds / 4 seconds longer.
        • Heat Wave – Now affects all damage, not just periodic damage.
        • Eternity Surge – Damage radius has been increased to 12 yards (was 8 yards).
      • Preservation
        • The starter build has been updated to use more appropriate talents.
        • Lifebind has swapped places with Call of Ysera in the tree.
        • Lifeforce Mender – Now a 2 point node (was 3).
    • MAGE
      • General
        • Teleport: Valdrakken and Portal: Valdrakken have been added. These can be learned from the Portal Trainer in Valdrakken at level 62 and level 68 respectively.
        • Frostbolt deals 50% additional damage in PvP combat (was 100%).
      • Arcane
        • Nether Precision moved to Impetus position
        • Impetus moved to Slipstream position
        • Slipstream now available directly after Crackling Energy and Nether Precision
        • Arcing Cleave and Resonance swapped positions in the tree.
        • Nether Precision – Fixed an issue with this consuming a charge of the buff if a clearcasted Arcane Missiles was queued up after casting Arcane Blast.
      • Fire
        • Master of Flame swapped positions with Pyromaniac/Firefall choice node.
    • MONK
      • Mistweaver
        • Overflowing Mists – Now heals for 1%/2% of max health (was 1.5%/3%).
        • Invoker’s Delight – Now has an 8 second duration with Gift of the Celestials (was 7 seconds).
        • Enveloping Mist – Increased healing by 12.5%.
        • Rising Sun Kick – Increased damage by 25% for Mistweavers. Mana cost increased to 2.5% of base mana (was 1.5%).
        • Tiger Palm – Increased damage by 40% for Mistweavers.
        • Blackout Kick – Reduced damage by 20% for Mistweavers.
      • Windwalker
        • Strike of the Windlord damage has been adjusted.
        • Fixed an issue preventing Forbidden Touch from functioning.
        • Mark of the Crane – Now correctly grants its passive when talented.
        • Empowered Tiger Lightning – Now correctly grants its passive when talented.
    • PALADIN
      • Holy
        • Glimmer of Light – Healing and damage increased by 20%.
        • Divine Purpose and Awakening can no longer trigger from Second Sunrise.
    • PRIEST
      • Class Tree
        • Fade (Rank 2) – Removed. Functionality is now a part of base Fade.
        • Focused Will (Rank 2) – Removed. Discipline and Holy passively have the rank 2 effect.
      • Discipline
        • Mind Blast – Damage increased by 38%.
      • Shadow
        • Talent tree has been rearranged.
        • Dark Void – Cooldown no longer affected by Haste.
        • Shadow Crash – Cooldown no longer affected by Haste.
        • Mind Blast – Generates 6 Insanity (was 8). Damage reduced by 20%.
        • Mind Spike – Generates 4 Insanity (was 6). Damaged reduced by 50%.
        • Auspicious Spirits – Generates 1 Insanity (was 2).
        • Vampiric Touch – Generates 4 Insanity (was 5).
        • Shadow Word: Pain – Generates 3 Insanity (was 4).
        • Mind Flay: Insanity – Generates 4 Insanity per tick (was 6).
        • Idol of C’Thun – Mind Flay from Void Tendril generates 2 Insanity per tick (was 3). Mind Sear from Void Lasher now generates 2 Insanity per tick (was 1), and no longer generates additional Insanity based on number of targets hit.
        • Mind Flay – Generates 2 Insanity per tick (was 3).
        • Mindbender – Generates 3 Insanity per melee attack (was 5).
        • Hallucinations – Generates 4 Insanity (was 6).
        • Dark Void – Generates 15 Insanity (was 20). Applies Shadow Word: Pain to 15 additional targets (was 8).
        • Echoing Void – Damage reduced by 50%.
        • Idol of Yogg-Saron – Requires 100 Shadowy Apparitions (was 200). Damage of Void Spike increased by 1100%.
        • Surge of Darkness – Increases the damage of Mind Spike by 200% (was 50%).
        • Mind Sear – Damage increased by 115%.
        • Devouring Plague – Damage increased by 30%.
        • Void Bolt – Damage increased by 80%.
        • Coalescing Shadows – Increases the damage of Mind Spike and Mind Blast by 10% (was 20%).
        • Mind Melt – Increases the critical strike chance of Mind Blast by 25% (was 50%).
    • ROGUE
      • General
        • Instant Poison – Damage reduced by 21%.
      • Outlaw
        • Restless Crew – Removed.
        • New Talent: Improved Adrenaline Rush – Generate full combo points when you gain Adrenaline Rush, and again when it ends.
        • Between the Eyes – Now baseline (was talented).
        • New Talent: Improved Between the Eyes – Critical hits with Between the Eyes deal four times normal damage.
        • Some Outlaw talents have changed positions to account for the above change.
        • Keep it Rolling – Cooldown increased to 7 minutes (was 5 minutes).
        • Dreadblades – Cooldown increased to 2 minutes (was 1.5 minutes).
      • Subtlety
        • Improved Shadow Dance – Increases duration of Shadow Dance by 1/2 seconds (was 2/4 seconds).
    • SHAMAN
      • Enhancement
        • Windfury Totem functionality has been adjusted:
          • Main-hand auto attack interaction is unchanged.
          • Off-hand attacks can trigger an off-hand Windfury attack. This is an actual real “auto attack”, which means things like Flametongue Weapon, or whatever other effects may activate from off-hand attacks, can now potentially happen from this bonus attack.
          • Windfury Totem extra attacks can no longer miss. Targets can still dodge or parry these attacks, they are just no longer able to miss.
          • Enhancement Shaman who are under the effects of Ascendance can now benefit from Windfury Totem if they are auto-attacking from outside of melee range range with Windlash.
    • WARLOCK
      • Affliction
        • Nightfall – Now causes Drain Soul to channel 50% faster.
    • WARRIOR
      • Class Developer Notes
        • Our focus continues to be on bug fixing and tuning, things are progressing well here, and many small fixes have not been mentioned in the update notes.
        • We’ve also been working on the Rage economy across the Warrior class and have been taking small steps to reduce Rage generation throughout the Beta.
        • We’re purposely taking a measured approach here as we feel all three specializations are in fun places to play and part of that is due to the availability of Rage.
        • In turn, all three specializations should feel their Rage economy reduced a small amount in this update.
        • We’ve removed Wrenching Impact. We’d like to provide a different choice node for Heroic Leap but will not be looking to do this for the launch of Dragonflight as our priorities are currently on stability and tuning.
      • Class Tree
        • Avatar now appears on the personal resource bar when on cooldown
        • Seismic Reverberation (Arms / Fury) – The extra hit from Whirlwind now deals 30% of Whirlwind’s damage (was 50%).
        • Barbaric Training (Arms) – Slam and Whirlwind’s damage bonus reduced to 30% (was 40%) and now increases the Rage cost by 10 (was 5).
        • Thunderous Words – Damage bonus for Bleed effects reduced to 15% (was 20%).
        • Avatar – Generates 10 Rage (was 15).
        • Heroic Throw (Protection) – Now has a cooldown of 1 second.
        • Titanic Throw – Now has a cooldown of 3 seconds for Protection and 8 seconds for Arms and Fury.
        • Wrenching Impact has been removed.
        • Sidearm – Tooltip now matches the chance to trigger correctly.
        • Shockwave (Protection) – Base damage increased by 50%.
      • Arms
        • Storm of Swords – Damage bonus granted to Whirlwind reduced to 175% (was 200%).
        • Seasoned Soldier – Grants 20% bonus Rage from crits (was 30%).
        • Improved Overpower – Overpower deals 10% increased damage (was 5%).
        • Critical Thinking – Now refunds 5% of the Rage spent on Execute per rank (was 10%).
        • Skullsplitter – Cooldown is no longer modified by Haste.
        • Bloodsurge – Chance to grant Rage reduced to 15% (was 20%).
        • Deft Experience – Grants 0.45% increase to Tactician (was 0.5%).
      • Fury
        • Slaughtering Strikes – Auras now apply correctly and will no longer duplicate.
        • Improved Whirlwind – Multi target proc charges now appear in the personal resource bar.
        • Meat Cleaver – Whirlwind damage bonus reduced to 20% (was 25%).
        • Storm of Swords – Damage bonus of Whirlwind reduced to 70% (was 100%) and Whirlwind’s cooldown increased to 7 seconds (was 6 seconds).
        • Odyn’s Fury – Generates 15 Rage (was 20).
        • Raging Blow damage has been increased by 8%.
        • Crushing Blow damage has been increased by 3%.
      • Protection
        • Unbreakable Will – Now correctly applies to party members.
        • Revenge – Damage reduced to 45% (was 53%).
        • Thunderlord – Each enemy hit by Thunderclap reduces the remaining cooldown of Demoralizing Shout by 1 second up to 3 seconds (was up to 4 seconds).
        • Booming Voice – Generates 30 Rage (was 40).
        • Champion’s Bulwark – Grants 20 bonus Rage (was 30).
        • Violent Outburst – Now causes Shield Slam and Thunderclap to generate 50% additional Rage, rather than 30 and 10 additional Rage.
        • Impenetrable Wall – Now grants Shield Slam 3 extra Rage (was 5).
        • Heavy Repercussions – Now grants Shield Slam 2 extra Rage (was 3).
        • Champion’s Bulwark – No longer consumes a Charge of Shield Block or resets Shield Blocks cooldown.
        • Dance of Death – Now applies to your current Ravager and any future Ravager casts within the next 2 minutes.
        • Bloodsurge – Chance to grant Rage reduced to 15% (was 20%).
        • Bloodborne – Damage bonus granted to Bleeds now 10% (was 15%).

PROFESSIONS

  • Crafting Recipes now have a more representative Quality difficulty. Feedback on the difficulty of achieving a certain quality for any given piece of crafted gear is very welcome.
  • MINING
    • In this week’s build, we’ve updated a large majority of Mining nodes that were previously inaccessible. If you’re an avid Miner, please let us know how the current state of node density and placement feels!
  • Known Issue: Minimap tracking of Ore, Fish & Herbs can sometimes not display properly. If this is happening, please disable and enable tracking to resolve this.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

  • NEW HUD UI
    • Unit frame art updated
      • Target of Target
      • Minor Mobs
      • Boss Frames
    • EDIT MODE
      • Added a slider to adjust the sizes of Unit Frames of player, target, and party.
  • Added Dragonflight credits

Feedback: Dragonriding

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello Dragonriders!

With the next build, we wanted to note a few things:

  • Players who unlock new customizations can now see them marked with a “NEW” tag when visiting the Rostrum of Transformation
  • We’ve made improvements to the Vigor bar to better indicate when the player is charging
  • Additional Winds of the Isles have been added to Thaldraszus for smoother navigation to Tyrhold
  • Winds of the Isles now provides a slight boost forward to better enable travel post-boost
  • Drake and Rider Training has swapped places with Redirection on the Dragonriding Skill Track
    • This provides players with an additional point of maximum Vigor as part of the tutorial