Due to a rather huge issue called the Windows blue screen of death the News Editions have been absent, but it’s back for another roundup of this week’s news! This week: patch 8.1 was revealed detailing the continuation of the Horde vs Alliance storyline, 2 new raids Siege of Zuldazar and Crucible of Storms, new heritage armor sets and much more!
A new set of hotfixes has made it’s way to the servers including a nerf to the final boss in Tol Dagor! Furthermore balance changes are planned for next week for both PvP and Azerite Traits for healers and tanks.
Hotfixes: September 21, 2018
Quote from: Blizzard
September 21, 2018
Dungeons and Raids
- Tol Dagor
- Overseer Korgus’ Incendiary Rounds’ damage and Blast Rounds’ pushback decreased by 25%.
Island Expeditions
- A new world quest has been added to win one Island Expedition. Click on the map and set sail for adventure!
- Some Island Expedition achievements have been made account-wide.
- Resolved additional issues that could prevent players from gaining progress in Island Expeditions for the weekly quest “Azerite for the Horde / Alliance”.
Items
- Fixed bugs that were preventing Truffles in Stormsong Valley from behaving as expected.
- Heart of Azeroth
- Ablative Shielding is no longer reduced by Stagger.
Player versus Player
- The Weekly Quest “Something Different” can now be completed by participating in Shado-pan Showdown, as intended.
- “Something Different” now grants a 340 item level Dread Gladiator piece of gear from the Brawl Footlocker.
- Players who have already turned in “Something Different” this week can now complete it a second time.
World Quests
- Fixed an issue where the “Pest Problem” did not count towards the Storm’s Wake emissary.
- There are now a greater number of Ancient Texts that are “Past Due”.
PvP Balance Tuning September 24
Quote from: Blizzard
We’re working on a round of PvP balance adjustments, to be applied the morning of Monday, September 24. Here are the changes we have planned:
Items
- Big Red Button’s damage reduced by 25% against enemy players.
Death Knight
- Unholy
- Last Surprise (Azerite Trait) effectiveness reduced by 35% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
Druid
- The healing of Rejuvenation, Swiftmend, and Wild Growth provided by Restoration Affinity is reduced by 30% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
- Regrowth healing reduced by 25% for non-Restoration Druids when engaged in combat with enemy players.
- Feral
- Raking Ferocity (Azerite Trait) effectiveness reduced by 50% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
- Restoration
- Grove Tending (Azerite Trait) effectiveness reduced by 25% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
- Focused Growth (PvP Talent) reduces the mana cost of Lifebloom by 15% (was 40%).
- Focused Growth (PvP Talent) increases the healing of Lifebloom by 15% (was 25%).
- All Restoration Druid healing reduced by 10% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
Hunter
- Beast Mastery
- Damage done by the Hunter’s pet reduced by 18% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
- Survival
- Latent Poison (Azerite Trait) effectiveness reduced by 30% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
Monk
- Mistweaver
- Mana regeneration reduced by 20% when engaged in combat with enemy players (was 30%).
Paladin
- Holy
- Mana regeneration reduced by 20% when engaged in combat with enemy players (was 30%).
Priest
- Discipline
- Mana regeneration reduced by 20% when engaged in combat with enemy players (was 30%).
- Focused Will decreases damage taken by 10% per stack when engaged in combat with enemy players (was 20%).
Shaman
- Restoration
- Surging Tide (Azerite Trait) effectiveness reduced by 25% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
- Spirit Link (PvP Talent) mana cost increased by 50%.
- Spirit Link (PvP Talent) now has a 1.5 second cast time.
- Spirit Link (PvP Talent) redistributes 25% damage, down from 35%.
- Rippling Waters (PvP Talent) healing reduced by 33%.
- Riptide healing reduced by 15% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
- Elemental
- Lava Shock (Azerite Trait) effectiveness reduced by 35% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
Warrior
- Arms
- Lord of War (Azerite Trait) effectiveness reduced by 55% when engaged in combat with enemy players (was 40%).
- Defensive Stance reduces damage dealt by 20% when engaged in combat with enemy players (was 10%).
Note that we’re planning another round of balance updates for the near future after this round, which will include changes for other specs (including Warlock and Death Knight).
Azerite Trait Tuning – September 25
Quote from: Blizzard
With scheduled maintenance next week, we intend to make some targeted adjustments to Azerite Traits for tanks and healers. Here’s what that currently looks like:
- Blessed Sanctuary bonus increased by 10%.
- Burst of Life healing increased by 20%.
- Craggy Bark bonus increased by 15%.
- Dauntless Divinity block increased by 20%.
- Depth of the Shadows healing increased by 20%.
- Ephemeral Recovery mana increased by 15%.
- Gory Regeneration healing increase increased by 15%.
- Judicious Defense absorption increased by 10%.
- Masterful Instincts bonuses increased by 10%.
- Permeating Glow bonus increased by 15%.
- Reinforced Plating Strength increased by 10%.
- Revel in Pain absorption increased by 20%.
- Savior trigger threshold increased to 50% health (was 35%).
- Soothing Waters healing increased by 10%.
You’ll see the final adjustments in our hotfixes update post on Tuesday.
While there were no hotfixes for bugs last night, a new pirate pet and mount were hotfixed into the game.
Quote from: Blizzard
Just in time for International Talk Like a Pirate Day, we’re celebrating all things pirate with a special limited-time offer*. Purchase 180 Days Game Time in the Shop, and you’ll also receive the epic new Dreadwake mount free! The Dreadwake mount will then arrive as a stand-alone mount in the Blizzard Shop and in-game shop sometime in 2019.
True to nautical tradition, the Dreadwake pirate ship mount has a unique figurehead inspired by an unknown kraken-faced god of the deeps.
Once you’ve purchased the 180 Days Game Time product in the Shop, the Dreadwake mount will be automatically added to your in-game collection. It’s the perfect way to cruise through Azeroth in true buccaneering style.
Players on an existing recurring subscription plan who purchase 180 Days Game Time will have their next billing date automatically adjusted to align with the addition of this time. Players who already have game time on their account will have the 180 days added to their current total. By purchasing 180 Days Game Time, you’ll also save up to 20€ per year.
In addition, WoW players who have purchased the 180 Days Game Time service in the Shop within the past 30 days** or who are currently on a 6-month recurring subscription will receive the Dreadwake mount at no additional charge. Look for the gift icon in your Blizzard Battle.net desktop app to claim yours.***
New Pet Available: Adopt Cap’n Crackers!
Fresh off the high seas, Cap’n Crackers is available to adopt now from the Blizzard Shop and in-game shop.
This plucky feathered friend is just the companion you need on your swashbuckling adventures through Kul Tiras, Zandalar, and beyond. Adopt yours today!
*Offer available from September 19 through October 21, 2018
**Must have purchased current 180 Days Game Time service on or before 00:01 CEST on September 19, 2018.
***Mount must be claimed in Blizzard Battle.net desktop app prior to April 30, 2019.
A new set of hotfixes went out last night that included a nerf to the ticks in The Underrot! In addition to that we got our first glimpse of what Elemental Shaman will look like in 8.1.
Hotfixes: September 18, 2018
Quote from: Blizzard
September 18, 2018
Classes
- Druid
- Casting Regrowth with Rampant Growth active and Innervate active no longer grants two stacks of Lively Spirit.
- Priest
- Holy
- Guardian Spirit can no longer heal for more than 200% of the Priest’s maximum HP.
- Holy
Dungeons and Raids
- Scarlet Monastery
- Scarlet Fanatic’s Hands of Purity no longer deals excessive damage.
- The Underrot
- Ticks now do less damage and spawn in smaller numbers.
- Unbound Abomination now spawns pools of Vile Expulsion around him.
- Uldir
- Fetid Devourer
- Corruption Corpuscle health reduced by 10% on Mythic difficulty.
- Fetid Devourer
Island Expeditions
- The bonus XP reward for completing a normal Island Expedition has been increased.
Player versus Player
- The PvP Brawl first win of the day now properly awards 40 Conquest.
- The Seasonal PvP Mount now properly indicates you need Combatant Rated PvP rank or higher to earn it.
- Druid
- Feral
- Earthen Grasp now only affects melee hit chance, and no longer reduces spell hit chance.
- Feral
Elemental in 8.1
Quote from: Blizzard
As the patch 8.1.0 information starts to comes out, we wanted to share the current plans of what is being changed for Elemental Shaman.
Core Ability Changes:
- Shifted some damage from Earth Shock to Lightning Bolt.Elemental Shaman is the only lightning based spell caster. However, over time, Lightning Bolt has gone from being a significant portion of your total damage to one of your least damaging abilities. It should be a powerful and effective spell for you to cast, and not something that feels like a burden to your rotation. Earth Shock will still be your hardest hitting spell, but Lightning Bolt should feel a bit better as part of your rotation.
- Lava Burst has had its functionality changed behind the scenes to allow an in-flight Lava Burst to gain a guaranteed critical strike from a Flame Shock cast after the Lava Burst has been cast.This change should help your initial spells cast against a monster, boss, enemy player, or whatever else feel much better. You can cast Lava Burst before combat, and when it finishes, cast Flame Shock, and the Lava Burst will gain the critical strike benefit from your Flame Shock.
Talent Changes:
- The level 15 talent Elemental Blast will now always pick a different secondary stat buff when causing an Elemental Overload.
- The level 30 talent Master of the Elements can now also benefit a Physical damage spell, allowing it to increase the damage of an Earthquake.
- The level 100 talent Stormkeeper now also increases the damage of your next two Lightning Bolts by 250% in addition to its existing effects. This damage bonus will also apply to the Elemental Overloads of Lightning Bolt from Stormkeeper.The Master of the Elements and Stormkeeper changes are primarily to help keep balance between single target damage and area damage of the talent rows. Master of the Elements will now affect your next Earthquake spell to keep the talent more competitive when dealing area damage, and Stormkeeper will grant you two really powerful Lightning Bolts that also cause Elemental Overloads when fighting just a single target.
- The level 15 talent Exposed Elements has been removed, and the level 90 talent Earthen Rage has taken its place
- The level 60 talent High Voltage has been removed.
- New talent in the level 60 row: Call the Thunder
- New talent in the level 90 row: Surge of PowerWhen looking at the whole sum of changes made to Elemental Shaman this expansion, we feel that some of the passive talent choices weren’t holding up well, and had no interaction with how you played the game at all. We’re adding some experimental new talents that should allow some additional decision making on how you choose to use some of your abilities. Please keep in mind that both of these new talents, as well as all of the other changes, are still under iteration and may change entirely throughout the patch 8.1.0 PTR cycle.
Quote from: Blizzard
Just as a quick update, here’s the current version of the experimental new talents that will be hitting the PTR soon. Reminder that these are experimental, the PTR is for testing, we’ll probably iterate on or completely replace these designs, etc.
Call the Thunder – Your maximum Maelstrom is increased by 30, and the Maelstrom cost of Earth Shock and Earthquake is reduced by 10.
Surge of Power – Earth Shock also enhances your next spell:
- Flame Shock: The next cast does not incur a cooldown.
- Lightning Bolt: Your next 3 casts will cause an additional Elemental Overload.
- Lava Burst: Reduces the cooldown of your Fire (or Storm) Elemental by 6 sec.
- Frost Shock: Roots the target in place for 6 sec.
The announcement stream for patch 8.1 has concluded and there’s a lot of content coming in patch 8.1!
Patch 8.1: Tides of Vengeance
General Story
- The war between the Alliance and Horde continues!
- The Alliance will strike back after the events of the pre-patch and the initial launch.
- It will feature story-driven content
- The war campaign continues
- A new feature – incursions will make it’s way to BfA. They’re a lot like invasions from Legion.
- New World Quests will be added
- Character Storylines – Saurfang, Tyrande and Vol’jin
Heritage Armor
- Heritage Armor will be introduced for Dwarves and Blood Elves! Not just for Allied Races anymore!
- Racial quest lines will be unlocked at max level with exalted of your own city e.g. Ironforge for Dwarves.
- More races will get them in the future!
1 New Warfront
- A new Warfront will be added – The Battle for Darkshore.
- This will be Night Elves vs. Forsaken!
- New structures and upgrades will be used.
- Darkshore will be updated for max-level content
Island Expeditions
- 2 new islands will be added for Island Expeditions – Jorundall and Havenswood
- Island Expeditions will also be updated based on feedback
- This includes new events and enemies – variety matters
- The systems behind Island Expeditions will be updated – such as the way enemies spawn and the reward system
2 New Raids!
- A new raid will be added: Siege of Zuldazar
- This is different from usual raids. Instead of 1 foe such as the Lich King – the enemy is the opposite faction!
- The Alliance and Horde will have completely different experiences in this raid!
- The Alliance will land in the harbor of Zuldazar and make their way through the city, to the top to confront Rahstakhan.
- The Horde will defend, fighting through Alliance attackers. After defending Rahstakhan they will fight their way down the temple and eventually face Jaina on the seas.
- After finishing the raid, you’ll be able to experience the other side’s experience thought the tellings of soldiers that were on the frontline.
- Siege of Zuldazar features 9 new bosses in total!
- A second new raid will be added: Crucible of Storms
- It contains 2 bosses
- It’s under the Shrine of the Storm
- Uncover dark secrets beneath Stormsong. K’thir, Azshara related.
- This will be later after Zuldazar!
- There will be supporting world content for this as well.
Additional Changes/Content
- Class updates
- New Azerite Traits
- New Profession Recipes
- Gnomeregan pet battle dungeon
- …and more!
Alt Friendliness Improvements
- Champions of Azeroth heart upgrades will be account wide!
- Rep restricted Transmog Items will be eased, reputation restrictions will be removed
- Progress to reputation achievements will be made account wide! For example 70 exalted reps on 1 character and 20 on another will result in 90, assuming they’re all different ones!
Allied Races
- You will not need to get a new reputation to earn the Kul Tiran / Zandalari allied races!
PTR
- The PTR will likely be up by the end of the week!
A new set of hotfixes has been released which includes the reopening of Hook Point Arena, Hydrocores now having a chance to drop from heroic dungeons and the first set of Azerite Trait tuning. The Azerite Trait tuning will take effect at the weekly reset, meaning on the 18th in the EU.
Hotfixes: September 17, 2018
Quote from: Blizzard
September 17, 2018
Classes
- Druid
- Skystep Potion and Lightfoot Potion will no longer drop shapeshifting forms, and shapeshifting while having one of these active will no longer cancel them.
- Paladin
- Protection
- Last Defender now has a cap of up to 50% reduction in damage taken.
- Protection
Dungeons and Raids
- Shrine of the Storm
- Vol’zith the Whisperer
- Consume Essence cast time increased by 2 seconds.
- Abyssal Eruption damage decreased by 20%.
- Vol’zith the Whisperer
- Uldir
- G’huun
- Bursting Boils should no longer spawn close to the boss.
- G’huun
Items
- The Frenetic Corpuscle now activates more often.
- Heart of Azeroth
- Arcane Flurry (Marksmanship) buff duration increased to 10 seconds (was 3 seconds), and damage reduced by 45%.
- Archive of the Titans primary stat increased by 20%.
- Blood Mist (Feral) damage increased by 125%.
- Brain Storm (Arcane) Intellect granted reduced by 75%, and duration increased by 100%.
- Demonic Meteor (Demonology) damage increased by 200%.
- Feeding Frenzy (Beast Mastery) damage increased by 400%.
- Firemind (Fire) Intellect increased by 30%.
- Flashpoint (Destruction) Haste increased by 25%, buff duration increased by 25%.
- Frozen Tempest (Frost Death Knight) damage increased by 100%.
- Iron Fists (Windwalker) required targets reduced to 3 (was 4).
- Laser Matrix damage reduced by 30%.
- Natural Harmony (Elemental, Enhancement) secondary stat bonuses increased by 40%.
- Reorigination Array boss kill progress is now counted if the player is dead when the boss is defeated.
- Shrouded Suffocation (Assassination) damage bonus reduced by 40%.
- Simmering Rage (Fury) damage increased by 35%.
- Sudden Onset (Affliction) damage bonus reduced by 30%.
- Swift Roundhouse (Windwalker) damage bonus reduced by 55%.
- Thunderous Blast damage reduced by 35%.
Player versus Player
- Hook Point Arena has reopened for play.
- Epic Battlegrounds now award bonus Conquest for first win of the day (was the first win of the week).
- Fixed a bug that caused Enlistment Bonus gained from participating in battlegrounds as a Mercenary to not increase Honor gain from some sources.
- The absorb granted by Mchimba’s Ritual Bandages is reduced by 55% while engaged in combat with enemy players.
- The absorb granted by Xalzaix’s Veiled Eye is reduced by 70% while engaged in combat with enemy players.
Professions
- Hydrocores now have a chance to drop off the final bosses of BfA dungeons in Heroic difficulty.
- Inscription
- [With weekly maintenance in each region] The strength of Vantus Runes has been reduced to the same potency they had in Legion.
- Developers’ notes: Vantus runes are a unique consumable that provide an extra boost when your raid group is focusing on a single boss. But if they’re too powerful, they can create a sense of regression as you try to re-kill the boss without their aid in subsequent weeks.
- [With weekly maintenance in each region] The strength of Vantus Runes has been reduced to the same potency they had in Legion.
Quests
- Fixed a bug where Pa’ku could fail to appear as expected during “Zandalar Forever!”.
- Collecting Incandescent Duskwings or Crown of Torcali in a group now shares credit on “Alchemy is an Inexact Science”.
Azerite Trait Tuning September 17
Quote from: Blizzard
As mentioned in the Reddit AMA last Friday, we’re working on balance tuning for Azerite Armor traits. We’re planning to make the following changes during this week’s maintenance period. Note that there are more changes already in the works; this is just a first pass, focused on bringing some of the biggest outliers up (or down) to more acceptable levels.
General
- Archive of the Titans: Primary stat bonus increased by 20%
- Laser Matrix: Damage reduced by 30%
- Thunderous Blast: Damage reduced by 35%
Death Knight
- (Frost) Frozen Tempest: Damage increased by 100%
Druid
- (Feral) Blood Mist: Damage increased by 125%
Hunter
- (Beast Mastery) Feeding Frenzy: Damage increased by 400%
- (Marksmanship) Arcane Flurry: Duration increased to 10 seconds, damage reduced by 45%
Mage
- (Arcane) Brain Storm: Duration increased to 30 seconds, Intellect bonus reduced by 75%
- (Fire) Firemind: Intellect bonus increased by 30%
Monk
- (Windwalker) Iron Fists: Required targets reduced to 3
- (Windwalker) Swift Roundhouse: Damage bonus reduced by 55%
Rogue
- (Assassination) Shrouded Suffocation: Damage bonus reduced by 40%
Shaman
- (Elemental/Enhancement) Natural Harmony: Secondary stat bonuses increased by 40%
Warlock
- (Affliction) Sudden Onset: Damage bonus reduced by 30%
- (Demonology) Demonic Meteor: Damage increased by 200%
- (Destruction) Flashpoint: Duration increased to 10 seconds, Haste bonus increased by 25%
Warrior
- (Fury) Simmering Rage: Damage increased by 35%
Last night was a busy night in regard to new information regarding the current state of Battle for Azeroth! Game Director Ion Hazzikostas held an AMA on reddit and answered some burning questions from the community. That’s not all though, as next Tuesday Blizzard will hold a livestream detailing what the content of patch 8.1 will entail! In addition to that a new round of hotfixes has gone out increasing the rewards from island expeditions more and changing the rules of earning PvP gear from the conquest chest.
Reddit AMA with Ion Hazzikostas
The AMA covered a whole range of issues from Azerite armor to warfronts and character progression. Below is a summary of the answers, for the full list of detailed answers check out this post that has all the answers neatly organized in a reference table!
- Blizzad is not entirely happy with how the Azerite System is playing out right now
- When you get to Heart Level 18 you will at the very least have unlocked the most powerful azerite trait ring on all items
- Effectively the reduction of amount of Azerite Power you need each week (catch up mechanic) means you’ll earn AP 30% faster.
- Tuning is currently a big part of the problem in regard to Azerite Powers
- They’ll be tuning, adding and removing Azerite Powers as needed, the current system is a foundation upon which they will continue to improve and build
- They are looking at Shamans and what their defined niches should be
- The droprate for non-azerite rewards such as mounts and pets on Island Expeditions will be greatly increased (hotfix has already gone out)
- Ion admits that they did a poor job of communicating in advance how the Warfront Rotation would work as it was different on the beta to allow for easier testing
- A whole warfront cycle should be about 3,5 weeks.
- This means 4-6 days of donating warfunds, 7 days of the warfront scenario being active with a once per cycle 370 reward and repeatable 340 rewards and finally 11-13 days of zone control to kill the boss, rares and do quests.
- Over 30000 bugs were entered and tracked over the course of BfA’s Alpha/Beta/Release and 95% of them have been fixed. When a bug occurs for the player it isn’t always simple to reproduce due to the combination of actions and events that occur. If something is not fixed in time for the release and it occurs for more players it will give blizzard the information they need to reproduce the bug(s) that weren’t solved.
- There will be a catch up mechanic to the Champions of Azeroth reputation in a future patch.
- The Paragon Reputation system will return to BfA in a future patch.
- They are aware of the disparity between Horde and Alliance mounts, this will be rectified as the expansion unfolds. In addition to that the Bee mount was confirmed!
- They are working on improving their communication towards the community.
- Next tuesday we’ll get a livestream detailing the biggest content of patch 8.1!
Hotfixes: September 14, 2018
Quote from: Blizzard
September 14, 2018
Island Expeditions
- Substantially increased the drop rates for the various bonus rewards, such as transmog items, pets, quest starters, and mounts.
Player versus Player
- Starting next week, earning 500 Conquest in a week, regardless of the status of your weekly Rated PvP quest, will also make you eligible for a weekly PvP reward chest. It is strongly recommended that you complete a Rated PvP quest this week to ensure your eligibility for the next chest.
- Weekly Conquest rewards now display the correct item level inside PvP instances.
- All ranks of Battleborn Sigil and Warlord’s Trophy should now function as intended and are usable on any Dread Gladiator’s item of lower item level.
- Fixed a bug that made it possible to receive a lower item-level item than intended from PvP bonus rolls.
- Shaman
- Fixed a bug which caused the Shamanism versions of Bloodlust and Heroism to be unable to cast while you are the opposite faction in Rated Battlegrounds.
Join Us for a Developer Live Stream Tuesday, September 18
Quote from: Blizzard
With Battle for Azeroth in full swing, we’re sitting down with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas to get a peek at the next upcoming content update.
Join us live Tuesday, September 18 at 20:00 CEST