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Category: Shadowlands

WoW Hotfixes – 8 August 2022

In the first hotfix batch of this week Blizzard have announced tuning coming to Survival Hunters, Destruction Warlocks and multiple M+ dungeons with this week’s weekly reset.

Quote from: Blizzard

AUGUST 8, 2022

Classes

  • Hunter
    • Survival
      • [With realm restarts] (4) Set Bonus: Mad Bombardier damage bonus has been reduced to 50% (was 70%).
      • [With realm restarts] Mongoose Bite damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
      • [With realm restarts] Raptor Strike damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
      • [With realm restarts] Serpent Sting damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
      • [With realm restarts] Kill Command damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
      • [With realm restarts] Fixed an issue where Raptor Strike was dealing less damage than intended while Aspect of the Eagle was active.
        • Developers’ note: The Survival Hunter Mad Bombardier 4-piece set bonus is still causing Survival Hunters to over perform in multi-target situations. We’re lowering the effectiveness of the 4-piece bonus while also increasing the damage of your single target abilities to offset this loss of damage against a single target.
  • Warlock
    • Destruction
      • [With realm restarts] Rain of Fire damage reduced by 20%.
      • [With realm restarts] Infernal’s Immolation Aura reduced by 20%.
        • Developers’ note: We’re still seeing Destruction excel in multi-target situations. We’re applying additional changes here to stabilize their throughput when scaling with high target counts.

Dungeons and Raids

  • Mythic+
    • Fixed an issue that caused listed Grimrail Depot and Iron Docks keystones to not appear in the Group Finder UI when searching by keystone level.
    • Affixes
      • Shrouded
        • [With realm restarts] Zul’gamux now casts Blood Barrier less often.
        • [With realm restarts] Zul’gamux has found a new location to hide in Return to Karazhan: Upper.
    • Grimrail Depot
      • [With realm restarts] Grom’kar Far Seer’s Storm Shield can now be purged.
      • [With realm restarts] Grom’kar Cinderseer will no longer cast Lava Wreath.
      • Railmaster Rocketspark
        • [With realm restarts] Borka the Brute’s Mad Dash damage reduced by 30%.
      • Skylord Tovra
        • [With realm restarts] Thunderous Breath initial damage reduced by 25%.
    • Iron Docks
      • Fleshrender Nok’gar
        • [With realm restarts] Dreadfang’s Shredding Swipes should no longer hit players multiple times.
      • Oshir
        • [With realm restarts] Feeding Frenzy now requires Oshir to suffer 5% damage to be interrupted (was 8%).
      • Skulloc
        • [With realm restarts] Skulloc’s melee damage reduced by 15%.
        • [With realm restarts] Koramar will no longer cast Shattering Blade.
    • Return to Karazhan: Lower
      • [With realm restarts] Ghostly Philanthropist will no longer cast Throw Coin.
      • [With realm restarts] Gang Ruffian’s Poisonous Shank damage reduced by 30%.
      • The Opera Hall: Wikket
        • [With realm restarts] Winged Assistant health reduced by 30%.
      • Moroes
        • [With realm restarts] Moroes’ Garrote duration reduced to 1 minute (was permanent).
        • [With realm restarts] Moroes’ Dinner Party effect now increases the damage and attack speed of nearby dinner guests by 50% (was 100%).
    • Return to Karazhan: Upper
      • Shade of Medivh
        • [With realm restarts] Flame Wreath damage reduced by 30%.

Items and Rewards

  • Fixed an issue causing the Great Vault to display the wrong item level for upcoming rewards.

Hotfixes – 5 August, Alpha Feedback: Hunters

We get a relatively large set of hotfixes today with bug fixes and tuning changes! The blues returned to the Alpha forums to give a new round of Hunter Talent Tree changes that are for the most part making their way to the next Alpha build.

Hotfixes – 5 August

Quote from: Blizzard

AUGUST 5, 2022

Dungeons and Raids

  • Fated Raids
    • Fixed an issue that could cause client and server latency after bosses are defeated.
    • Fated Castle Nathria
      • Sire Denathrius
        • Improved the client and server performance caused by Echo of Sin’s Painful Memories.
  • Mythic+
    • Grimrail Depot
      • Grom’kar Captain’s Reckless Slash will now be cast less frequently.
      • Skylord Tovra
        • Improved the visual effect on Spinning Spear.
    • Iron Docks
      • Fixed an issue where Siegemaster Olugar’s Gatecrasher could become stuck on players.
      • Fleshrender Nok’gar
        • Burning Arrows now have a visual effect indicating where they will impact.
    • Return to Karazhan: Lower
      • Improved the visual effect on Ghostly Philanthropist’s Pennies From Heaven.
      • Lord Crispin Ference’s Will Breaker is now more visible.
      • Attumen the Huntsman
        • Spectral Charge no longer damages pets.
    • Return to Karazhan: Upper
      • The Curator
        • Fixed an issue causing Volatile Energy to fixate on pets.
      • Mana Devourer
        • Mana Devourer will once again cast Decimating Essence upon reaching full mana.
        • Energy Void damage reduced by 65%.
        • Resolved an issue that caused Coalesce Power to drain more mana than intended.

Alpha Feedback: Hunters

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello Hunters,

There are some notable changes coming to your next alpha build we wanted to share. This won’t be an exhaustive list of changes, but will hit some of the big points.

As far as bugs, we know there are bugs and things that aren’t working right. Things are being worked on.

Baseline Class Changes:

  • Tenacity Pets no longer have Survival of the Fittest.
  • Tenacity Pets have a new ability, Fortitude of the Bear. This grants you and your pet +20% maximum HP for a duration.
    • Command Pet interactions will probably be a bit broken in the next build, as well as Lone Wolf giving access to Survival of the Fittest as opposed to Fortitude of the Bear. These will be resolved in a future build.

Class Tree:

  • Thick Hides removed.
  • Survival of the Fittest is now in the class tree.
  • There is a choice node to modify Survival of the Fittest to have a shorter cooldown, or have higher damage reduction value.
  • Fogged Crystal removed.
  • Improved Tranquilizing Shot lowered to a 1 point node.
  • Born to be Wild now also modifies Survival of the Fittest, and lowered to a 2-point node.
  • There is a new, potentially placeholder, not implemented, not final, not a promise talent added in the core tree. Sentinel Owl.
    • Sentinel Owl grants you unhindered vision of a targeted area, allowing your attacks to ignore line of sight to the area.
  • There is a new, potentially placeholder, not implemented, not final, not a promise choice node attached to the Sentinel Owl node.
    • Choice A: The unhindered vision of your owl now also applies to your party members, allowing them to also ignore line of sight to the target area.
    • Choice B: While the Sentinel Owl is active, your party gains some Leech and Avoidance.

Some thoughts on Sentinel Owl:
Resonating Arrow from the Kyrian covenant is a neat, unique effect Hunters have to break the line of sight rules. It is very powerful in PvP situations, and situationally useful in PvE. We want to keep the ignore line of sight effect, but do not want to keep the personal or group damage amplification from Resonating Arrow. Keeping utility as utility, and not utility as damage, allows it to be a useful tool when the situation calls for it, rather than something you feel compelled to stack with other effects, or use on cooldown.

Marksmanship:

  • A bunch of nodes in the bottom left area have been shuffled around the tree.

Survival:

  • Kill Command (the Survival variant) now has an innate +10% chance to reset its cooldown. Predator’s value has been lowered from 25% to 15%.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

WoW Hotfixes – 4 August, Dragonflight Zone Preview: Thaldraszus, Dragonflight City Preview: Valdrakken

This morning we get a small batch of hotfixes that focus on a couple of bugs. In addition to that last night Blizzard released 2 new Dragonflight previews! One for the zone Thaldraszus and one for the new capital city Valdrakken.

WoW Hotfixes – 4 August

Quote from: Blizzard

AUGUST 4, 2022

Dungeons and Raids

  • Mythic+
    • Affixes
      • Quaking
        • Players will no longer be damaged by Quaking during Skulloc’s Gronn Smash in Iron Docks and during Grimrail Depot cutscenes.
    • Grimrail Depot
      • Skylord Tovra
        • Fixed an issue that could prevent Skylord Tovra from appearing once conditions were met.

Items and Rewards

  • Fixed an issue where the spell effect on Ring of Collapsing Futures was scaling incorrectly.

Dragonflight Zone Preview: Thaldraszus

Quote from: Blizzard

Thaldraszus, a wonderous mountain region in the Dragon Isles, is the cradle of dragon civilization. From formidable structures to complex waterways, titan and dragon influence can be found throughout its diverse biomes. The sense of history in this region is palpable, and it feels alive with the spark of possibility.

The bronze dragons used the Temporal Conflux as a seat of power. Its vast libraries of knowledge contain the secrets of the timeways, as well as the Bronze Oathstone that symbolizes their calling to protect all time.

While titan-forged spaces bear distinctive architecture, the places established by the dragons reflect the most cultured aspects of dragon society. The dragons built vast structures, the most glorious of which was Valdrakken. From the top of this grand city, the Aspects passed laws and directed their protection of Azeroth.

Also nestled in the heart of Thaldraszus is Tyrhold, home to the Halls of Infusion. A mysterious place that has been locked away for millennia and holds the secrets that Tyr left behind.

The land is filled with a variety of life that you will see as you traverse through Thaldraszus:

Valdrakken Scaleworn
Valdrakken Scaleworn
Vorquin
Vorquin
Giant Mantis
Giant Mantis
Primal Beetle
Primal Beetle

Thaldraszus is filled with history beckoning to be uncovered. Dive into the mysteries of the past in ancient lands.

We look forward to sharing more details as development continues on Dragonflight. Visit the Dragonflight site to pre-order. Check WorldofWarcraft.com/news for updates and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

See you in the Dragon Isles!

Dragonflight City Preview: Valdrakken

Quote from: Blizzard

A shining treasure within Thaldraszus, Valdrakken is a testament to the power of cooperation between the dragonflights and dragonkin. It serves as a hub of activity for all who visit the Dragon Isles and provides a variety of services.

This bejeweled city is a feast for the eyes and ears, with waterfalls cascading down the mountain surrounding the city and breathtaking views overlooking nearby Tyrhold. There is a tranquility here even as the Dragonflights work with their allies to reclaim their homeland and reestablish a presence in their city.

Key Features:

  • Bank
  • Black Market Auction House
  • PvP Vendors
  • Auction House
  • Crafting Stations
  • Profession Trainers
  • Void Storage
  • Transmogrifier
  • Barbershop
  • Portals to Orgrimmar and Stormwind
  • Questing

Seat of the Aspects: Portals to Orgrimmar and Stormwind

Located in the largest building toward the center of the city is the Seat of the Aspects along with portals to Orgrimmar and Stormwind.

Inn: The Roasted Ram

Take a load off and stretch your limbs (or wings if you have them) in the Roasted Ram inn near the center of the city.

Crafter’s Consortium

A bustling hub of commerce within the city, the Crafter’s Consortium is where crafters and patrons come together. Patrons can place Crafting Orders, or crafters can meet up at the various crafting stations to hone their skills, pick up a Crafting Order, or even recraft goods.

A Home for Every Dragonflight

Each of the dragonflights has their own areas to explore within Valdrakken.

The Blue Dragonflight houses a public library, and you can also visit a couple of the flight members taking time for a bit of tea on one of the balconies looking out over the majestic views of Thaldraszus.

The Green and Red Dragonflights house private gardens filled with shades of verdant green and striking red flora.

You’ll find the Black Dragonflight housing a variety of additional services, including Gear Upgrade Vendors, PvP Vendors, Forge, Anvil, Blacksmithing, and Mining.

The Bronze Dragonflight hosts the Timewalkers faction, a group of dragons and mortals dedicated to studying and preserving the timeways.

There’s plenty to discover in this majestic metropolis. Whether you’re visiting for profit or as a place to rest between your adventures, you’ll find what you need here.

WoW Hotfixes – 3 August, Alpha Feedback: Warriors & Inscription

With Season 4 having started for the EU as well, the hotfixes have continued rolling on on live servers. From bug fixes to tuning changes, check them out below! Furthermore the communication from Blizzard has continued on Alpha feedback, this time for Warriors and Inscription.

WoW Hotfixes – 3 August

Quote from: Blizzard

AUGUST 3, 2022

Classes

  • Rogue
    • Outlaw
      • Fixed an issue that could cause Blade Flurry damage to break Vanish under certain conditions.
      • Fixed an issue that could cause bonus Sinister Strike hits to break Vanish under certain conditions.

Dungeons and Raids

  • Fated Raids
    • Fated Castle Nathria
      • Fixed an issue causing some boss abilities to inflict too much damage and causing some player abilities to inflict too little damage.
  • Mythic+
    • Affixes
      • Shrouded
        • Zul’gamux Blood Barrier absorb reduced by 33%.
    • Return to Karazhan: Lower
      • Fixed an issue where players could exchange Keystones with Ta’hsup even if they failed to complete the dungeon within the time limit.
      • Opera Hall: Westfall Story
        • Fixed an issue that would cause the encounter to prematurely end if either Toe Knee or Mrrgria were defeated before the other.
        • Fixed an issue where Shoreline Tidespeakers could continue casting after being defeated.
      • Maiden of Virtue
        • Holy Bulwark absorb reduced by 20%.
      • Attumen the Huntsman
        • Improved the visual clarity on Intangible Presence.
    • Return to Karazhan: Upper
      • Shade of Medivh
        • Fixed an issue causing Flame Wreath’s visual effect to linger after the encounter ends.
  • Heroic Dungeons
    • Fixed an issue where rewards were dropping at the incorrect item level.

Items and Rewards

  • Fixed an issue where the Eternal Aspirant’s Gavel and Eternal Aspirant’s Crescent could not be upgraded.
  • Fixed an issue where Adera offered some Nathrian weapons from Raid Finder difficulty instead of Normal.
  • Eternal Gladiator’s Prestigious Cloak and Eternal Gladiator’s Tabard now have new appearances.

Quests

  • [NA Realms] “Crossing Fate” quest credit should now accurately reflect the progress that was made. To receive the missing credit, affected players will need to log into the game and enter Oribos before next week’s weekly raid reset.
  • The quest item for “Castle Nathria: Getting a Head” now drop from Fated Castle Nathria.

Burning Crusade Classic

  • The Nagrand quests “In Defense of Halaa” and “Enemies, Old and New” no longer grant any quest credit for killing players more than 5 levels lower than you.

Feedback: Warriors

Quote from: Blizzard

Now that this new talent system is being tested, we have some brief thoughts for you all.

Beyond the mid-point of the class tree, we feel that the left side of the tree is more finalized than the right. We’re working on making these feel equally appealing.

We’re also working on expanding pathing where we can. Due to the way dependencies work, it isn’t always possible to open up choices. Generally speaking, we don’t want to put players in a situation where they choose talents that affect abilities they don’t have.

We’ve seen some strong feelings – both positive and negative – regarding Signet of Ancient Kings. We’re aware of this and iterating on adjustments to it.

Our known issues include:

  • The Protection specialization doesn’t suffer a penalty while using Defensive Stance. This will be updated in a future test build.
  • Battle-Scared Veteran displays the wrong information. It should be: A damage reduction value of 75% and a duration of 8 seconds.
  • Berserker Shout’s tooltip isn’t displaying correctly. This ability replaces Berserker Rage and mimics its functionality. It also breaks Fear for party members within 15 yards.
  • Weapon Specialization Talents are damage buffs; they do not enable new functionality. For example, Dual Wield specialization should not allow Arms or Protection Warriors to dual wield. We’ll likely change some names to avoid future confusion.
  • Fatality is not intended to Crit. Its damage will be balanced around this.

Thank you for the feedback!

Feedback: Inscription

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello.

We’ve definitely noted feedback on the initial leveling experience taking a lot of effort/time until you reach crafts that are useful.

It’s important to know that Darkmoon Cards will drop from all forms of content. The Darkmoon Booster recipe is not the only way to source them.

That is not intended. Darkmoon Deck Boxes will have primary stats in next week’s build.

Hotfixes – 2 August, Dragonflight Alpha Development Notes, Feedback: Shaman

Last night was a busy night as Season 4 started in the US on the live servers and the Alpha servers got the next update for Phase 4! In addition to Thaldraszus being opened, the warrior talent revamp, skinning and inscription have been added for testing.

Hotfixes – 2 August

Quote from: Blizzard

AUGUST 2, 2022

Covenants

  • Kyrian
    • Fixed an issue that allowed Effusive Anima Accelerator’s (Forgelite Prime Mikanikos Soulbind) explosion to strike enemies that were not within line of sight of its point of impact, causing players to unintentionally engage enemies through floors and walls.

Dungeons and Raids

  • Fated Raids
    • Fated Castle Nathria
      • Fixed an issue where Raid Finder difficulty was erroneously granting enemies less stats than intended.
    • Fated Powers
      • Reconfiguration Emitter now shows an additional visual effect while immune to damage before the first interrupt to improve its clarity.
  • Mythic+
    • Operation: Mechagon – Workshop
      • King Mechagon
        • Magneto-Arm now scales with the Tyrannical affix instead of the Fortified affix.

Items and Rewards

  • Fixed an issue where Mountebank’s Colorful Cloak dropped at the incorrect item level.

Player versus Player

  • The Hyperthread Wristwraps effect has been disabled in Rated Battlegrounds or Arenas.

Quests

  • [NA Realms] Fixed an issue preventing players from receiving credit towards the quest “Crossing Fate.”
    • Developers’ note: We’re working on a fix that will accurately reflect the progress that was made for those affected by the bug. We’ll update the Hotfixes once that fix has been deployed.

Dragonflight Alpha Development Notes

Quote from: Blizzard
Take a look at this week’s updates to Dragonflight Alpha:

DISCOVER THE DRAGON ISLES

  • Thaldraszus
  • Removed: The Waking Shores

CHARACTER LEVEL

Developers’ note: With each phase, we encourage players to make a new template character and avoid using their previous characters as they could potentially be in a broken state . After making a new template character, make sure to talk to Questzertauren and he will prepare you for any available content.

  • Level 68 Character Template
  • Maximum Level: 70
  • Dwarves have been re-enabled.

CLASSES

  • NEW TALENT SYSTEM
    • Warrior
      • Developer’s note: We feel that all three Warrior specializations have excellent foundations for both their class fantasies and with regard to how fun their rotations are to play. So, our goal for the class in Dragonflight has been to evolve and enhance each specialization rather than to revolutionize or rebuild them.
        We’re trying to strike a balance between existing things you know and love, exciting new talents and greatest hits from that past such as Blood and Thunder, Odyn’s Fury and Cold Steel, Hot Blood.
        With this in mind, players should expect core rotations to feel comfortable and familiar but with a much wider variety of choice in terms of which elements they can enhance. In addition to this we’re also attempting to build in support to enable players to experiment with more varied playstyles if they desire, such as the Arms being able to heavily investing in damage over time abilities and Fury being able to double down on auto attacks.
        We are excited for Warriors to be joining the Dragonflight Alpha look forward to hearing your feedback!
      • Known Issues
        • Some talent overrides are not working correctly, and you are able to use both spells (E.G. Annihilator doesn’t replace Raging Blow).
        • Some talent dependencies and combinations are not working correctly. (E.G. Combining Titanic Throw and Improved Heroic Throw doesn’t apply Deep Wounds to all affected targets)
        • Stances are currently a work in progress and undergoing internal iteration. A large part of their goal is to guide the fantasy of each spec but mechanically, the goal for these is not to encourage frantic stance shifting. But rather switching at certain major points in an encounter, such as For DPS Warriors during a painful AOE damage phase, or for Protection Warrior that are off tanking they may temporarily switch to deal more damage.
        • A handful of talents will be getting a choice-node option in a later Alpha build (E.G. Rumbling Earth and Thunderous Aftershocks).
        • Fury has some issues with Execute related to the new player experience that causes you to have both the Arms and Fury versions of Execute (players should use the variant that attacks with both Weapons).
        • Multi Rank nodes are not always awarding full values.
        • We’re still working on the background art for the Fury talent tree, it will be added in a later build.

PROFESSIONS

  • Inscription
    • Developer’s note: In this Alpha build, Inscription has been enabled and can be trained by the Associate Professor Instructaur in Orgrimmar and Stormwind. In addition to the traditional Inscription recipes, we’re introducing a new system to Inscription: the Darkmoon Deck Box. Scribes that have fully unlocked the Darkmoon Mysteries specialization tree will be able to make Darkmoon Booster Packs that contain the cards necessary to create traditional Darkmoon Decks much like before. However, Scribes can now use these Darkmoon Decks to craft Darkmoon Deck Boxes, which are higher item level and are able to be inscribed with Scale Sigils that allow them to customize their Darkmoon Deck Box with different attributes, such as removing all Even cards from the deck, shuffling faster or only shuffling when the player jumps. We’re very interested in feedback on this new system, so please let us know how it feels once you’re able to playtest with it!
      Please note that for Alpha purposes, the Darkmoon Ace cards can be bought from Reagent Lord Herbataur. The other remaining cards will need to be crafted by Scribes.
  • Skinning
    • Developer’s note: In this Alpha build, Skinning has been enabled and can be trained by the Associate Professor Instructaur in Orgrimmar and Stormwind. While the core gameplay of Skinning remains largely unchanged for Dragonflight, we are adding a new consumable that aims to give Skinners a new form of gameplay: Creature Baits. Skinners will be able to create and place Creature Baits to lure elusive creatures out of hiding.
      Please note that for Alpha purposes, the cooldown on Creature Baits has been removed so that players can use the item and give feedback. These items will have a medium length cooldown in their final version, which can be reduced by Bait Crafter Specialization traits.
  • Specializations
    • Unlocking Specializations requires 25 skill in that Profession. Once unlocked, players can spend Specialization points to unlock various bonuses for their Profession.
    • Developers’ note: For the purposes of Alpha we’ve added a consumable, Professor Instructataur’s Top Secret Guide, on the Associate Professor Instructaur vendor that gives players 50 Specialization points. Below are a few Specialization paths:
    • Inscription
      • Archiving — Improve at the art of archiving various texts, gaining + 1 Skill per point in this specialization.
        • Darkmoon Mysteries — Improve at understanding the complex mysteries behind Darkmoon Cards, gaining +1 Skill per point in this specialization.
      • Rune Mastery — Improve at the art of Inscription and utilizing various reagents, gaining +1 Skill per point in this specialization.
        • Understanding Flora — Improve at milling various herbs in the Dragon Islands, gaining +1 Resourcefulness per point in this specialization.
    • Skinning
      • Bait Crafter — Improve your skinning efficiency, gaining +1 Finesse while skinning in the Dragon Isles per point in the Specialization.
        • Elemental Infusion — Hone your eye for detail, gaining +1 Perception while skinning in the Dragon Isles per point in the Specialization.
      • Tanning — Improve your capabilities at gathering general materials from creatures, gaining +1 Skill while skinning in the Dragon Isles per point in the Specialization.
        • Leather Mastery — Bolster your knowledge of leather skinning, gaining +1 Skill while skinning leather creatures in the Dragon Isles per point in the Specialization.
    • Known Issues
      • Leatherworking: Feral Hide Drums cannot be crafted. This will be fixed in a later build.
      • Skinning: A few of the Specialization trees are missing description text. This will be fixed in a later build.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

  • New HUD UI
    • Edit Mode
      • Added Pet Bar
      • Added Possess Bar
  • Equipment sets, guild bank, and macro icon selection can now be chosen with a drag and drop from certain sources (items, spells, mounts, battle pets, macros).
    • Known issue: Macros do not display their spell icon when the question mark icon is used.

Feedback: Shaman

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello again, Shamans!

In today’s new build of the Dragonflight Alpha, we have several adjustments to talents in the Shaman Class Tree intended to reduce the overall defensive and mobility kit of Shaman, which has crept up due to the new system allowing for previously impossible combinations. We’re happy with new talent combinations, but the mobility and defensive power in the tree exceeded our target for Shaman, and individual talent power was above budget compared to other classes.

Elemental
We’ve continued to make minor tweaks to the Elemental tree, based on feedback. This week we focused on improvements to Primordial Wave. It’s generally avoided outside of AoE in the current design, so our aim is to improve its overall value in various game modes to increase build diversity.

We attempted to address node pathing pain points for Storm Elemental with Primal Elementalist. There is now a path available towards Primal Elementalist that doesn’t require sinking more than a couple points into talents unrelated to a Lightning-focused build.

Electrified Shocks is an experiment we’re excited about for Icefury in AoE, and we’re continuing to make adjustments to it. We’ve increased the duration of the Icefury buff which should be an overall improvement to its gameplay given the window was previously hard to fit your Frost Shocks in. We’ve also reduced the number of targets hit and increased the duration of the debuff on enemies, as the intent is for there to be weaving gameplay between Chain Lightning and Frost Shock.

Flames of the Firelord is a niche talent, mainly used for PvP or some AoE builds and we felt it best to combine its functionality with Flames of the Cauldron.

Magma Chamber has moved as its generally more versatile than Searing Flames. Its damage bonus has also been increased.

Talent changes for Elemental:

  • Flames of the Firelord has been removed, and its effect is now attached to Flames of the Cauldron.
  • Flames of the Cauldron now reduces the cooldown of Flame Shock by 1.5 seconds and Flame Shock deals damage 15% faster.
  • Icefury buff duration increased to 25 seconds (was 15 seconds).
  • Electrified Shocks makes Frost Shock hit 3 additional targets (was 4), and the debuff duration increased to 6 seconds (was 4 seconds).
  • Magma Chamber Damage bonus increased to 0.7%/1.5% per stack (was 0.5%/1.0% per stack).
  • Tumbling Waves has been removed from Elemental and replaced with Rolling Magma.
  • Rolling Magma causes Lava Burst and Lava Burst Overload damage to reduce the cooldown of Primordial Wave by 0.5/1.0 seconds.
  • Splintered Elements increases Haste by 10% per stack (was 6%).
  • Fire Elemental once again increases the duration of Flame Shock by 100% while active.
  • Coming soon:
    • Heat Wave – Casting Primordial Wave triggers Lava Surge immediately and every 3 seconds for 12 seconds.

Restoration
We also made some adjustments to the Restoration tree to improve accessibility to damage/utility focused talents without needing to talent into throughput.

We’ve swapped Resurgence and Lava Surge to allow for damage-focused builds to not require talenting into increased mana regeneration.

Shadowlands Season 4 Great Vault Details, Havoc Demon Hunter Concerns, Hotfixes: August 1, 2022, Introducing the WoW Variety Show!

While Blizzard doubles down on the last minute change to making the Slime Cat mount earnable on Normal mode and higher, Blizzard has released more details about the Great Vault, replied to Demon Hunter concerns and has released some last minute tuning in Castle Nathria.

Shadowlands Season 4 Great Vault Details

Quote from: Blizzard

With Shadowlands Season 4 starting this week, we want to provide extra clarification on this week’s Great Vault. Here’s what to expect:

  • Time a Mythic+ 18 to earn a +15 keystone this week.
  • Season 4 Great Vault rewards will begin with 10 August weekly resets.
  • Attendant’s Tokens of Merit selected this week can only be sold for 1000 gold each.

Havoc Demon Hunter Concerns

Quote from: Blizzard
Thank you for the post. We understand your frustration and want to take this opportunity to explain why there won’t be any changes to address the issue in Shadowlands. First, we largely view this as a preferred playstyle issue and not a balance one. Upon reviewing balance across all content formats, we didn’t see any reason to make changes to Havoc specifically. Second, the primary issue that we’re hearing is that some players do not enjoy the playstyle of maintaining Sinful Brand uptime through Eye Beam. We don’t think this point of the expansion is the appropriate time to disrupt players that have made significant investment into playing Havoc this way. However, we acknowledge the feedback you’re giving and we’ll be sure not to bring this particular gameplay forward into Dragonflight.

Hotfixes: August 1, 2022

Quote from: Blizzard

August 1, 2022

Dungeons and Raids

  • Castle Nathria
    • Stone Legion Generals
      • General Kaal’s Wicked Blade no longer triggers Wicked Blast on Heroic difficulty.
      • General Grashaal’s Reverberating Eruption cast time increased to 5 seconds on Normal and Heroic difficulties.
      • Stone Legion Goliath’s Ravenous Hunger damage increase is now 40% in Raid Finder, 50% in Normal, and 50% in Heroic difficulty (was 45%/60%/75%).
      • Stone Legion Goliath’s Soultaint Effigy is now triggered at 15% health on Heroic difficulty (was 20%).
      • Delivered large Anima Orbs now give Prince Renathal 40% mana on Heroic difficulty.
      • Delivered small Anima Orbs now give Prince Renathal 15% mana on Raid Finder, Normal, and Heroic difficulties.
      • Shattering Blast knockback has been decreased on all difficulties.

Player versus Player

  • Fixed an interaction with Demonology Warlock’s Call Observer (PvP Talent) and Balance Druid’s Fury of Elune (Talent) that was causing more damage than intended.

Burning Crusade Classic

  • Heroic dungeons now require level 70 to enter.

Introducing the WoW Variety Show!

Quote from: Blizzard

The WoW© Variety Show is a new three-event live broadcast coming to Twitch on August 24!

For glory and honor, a mix of renowned Warcraft Celebrity Contestants and chosen community members will go head-to-head as they compete in a triathlon of unique WoW activities. Players will have to show off their in-game knowledge, mastery of leveling, and speed in our specially-tailored segments for bragging rights over their fellow heroes and a slew of giveaway prizes. Read on for details of each event, and be sure to both register here and join the Variety Show Discord before the event goes live on Twitch!

Leveling

We’ve seen what some of our favorite friendly faces can do at max level, but now we’re taking them back to where it all began. Hosted on live servers, four Warcraft Celebrity Contestants will have exactly one hour to level a fresh character as high as possible, with a series of additional tasks and challenges to face along the way!

Scavenger Hunt

From lore to unsolved mysteries, the Warcraft universe is filled with all sorts of hidden items. Faced with riddles, puzzles, and plenty of things to find, teams of five will need to work together, making the most of their time as they scour the zones and complete as many scavenger tasks as possible! Register today to start your search, because spots are limited.

Footrace Through Azeroth

The final activity comes down to a test of speed and strategy, as players will fight without flight on a footrace through Azeroth! Grab your ground-mounts and go sign-up today. May the fastest hero win!

 

FAQ

Who can register?

  • The first Variety Show is limited to players from North America. Full eligibility and rules can be found here.

When does registration close?

  • Signups will be open until 11:00 am (PT) on August 15.

Who are the four WoW Celebrity Contestants?

  • The four will be revealed in the coming weeks! Make sure to follow us on Twitter to catch who will be joining the broadcast.

What prizes are being given away?

  • We will be giving away a variety of in-game goodies–Game Time, Mounts, Pets, and some special surprises–to players throughout the broadcast.

How many spots are available?

  • Spots are limited! The four Celebrity Captains will be joined by a further four registered players to join each of their teams, be sure to sign up for a chance to be selected. The Footrace Across Azeroth is open to additional players. Limiting spots allows us to ensure the best experience for everyone as we experiment with our first Variety Show.

How often will you be hosting the Variety Show?

  • Only time will tell! Let’s see how the first one goes before we plan on the second.