A new podcast has been put on Youtube! This week we talk about the Garrison and profession changes coming in 6.1 and a few other bits and bobs!
Fishing Changes
Since the podcast recording a few blue posts have come out regarding some more changes coming to fishing, including partial reverting of the fish auto filetting!
Thank you all for your feedback regarding the auto-fillet change that was set for Patch 6.1. Based on your sentiment, we’ve gone ahead and made a change we hope will be beneficial for all anglers.In 6.1, rather than have fish auto-fillet as you catch them, we’re adding a new consumable item called the Bladebone Hook which when used, will enable auto-filleting for one hour. This new item can be purchased from fishing vendors in Draenor.
Just a couple notes: Despite the tooltip, you won’t need a fishing pole to use this item, and it won’t overwrite your lure, bait, fishing line, or anything else.
I have a few more updates for you guys regarding bait which I’m sure you’ll appreciate. These are also slated to be in Patch 6.1 so please be sure to test them out on the PTR and give us your feedback.
We’re reverting the change where bait would spoil.
Reverting the change where bait could not be caught in your garrison; Nat Pagle will still grant you the bait of your choice (because Nat Pagle).
Bait duration is now 10 minutes (up from 5) to mirror the duration of lures.
Patch 6.1 is now available for testing on the Public Test Realms (PTR)! Participating on the Public Test Realms lets you test patches before it has been released on live realms. If you’d like to help test and provide feedback, you can start by copying your character and downloading the PTR client. Once you’ve had a chance to try things out, visit our PTR Discussion forum to discuss the patch. To report any issues or errors, use the in-game Submit Bug feature (found under Game Menu -> Help -> Submit a Bug) or by visiting the PTR Bug Report forum.
PTR Disclaimer
Please keep in mind that the notes below are not final, and details may be subject to change before the release of Patch 6.1.
New information for features that are still in-development will be added as it becomes available.
Content listed in the PTR Patch Notes may not be available for testing or have a limited test window.
World of Warcraft Patch 6.1 PTR
Last updated: 01-23-2015
New Character Models: Blood Elf
Character models for Blood Elves have been overhauled with an increase to fidelity and texture resolution; while retaining the core look and feel of the originals.
Some character models received additional tweaks and adjustments.
Twitter Integration
Characters can now send Tweets for items, achievements, and screenshots from within the game client using the /share command.
This feature can be enabled by accessing a new social settings pane to add or remove a Twitter account.
New Heirloom Collections Tab
The Collections system now supports Heirloom items.
Heirlooms have a tier system to denote the maximum level that the item scales up to.
New neck slot Heirlooms are now available and allows the character to cast a heal once a minute. This heal shares a cooldown with potions and Healthstones.
Vendors in Stormwind (Alliance) and Undercity (Horde) now sells Heirlooms for gold.
Alternate methods for obtaining Heirlooms are also available.
Darkmoon Faire sells Heirlooms for Darkmoon Prize Tickets.
Argent Tournament sells tier-1 and tier-2 Heirlooms for Champion’s Seals.
Some world events now sell either tier-2 and tier-3 Heirlooms for currency obtained through the event.
Collecting all heirloom items awards a special mount usable by level 1 characters.
Garrisons, Followers, and Outposts
New Garrison Visitors
One of five new visitors may visit each day offering a quest to anyone that visits the Garrison.
Defeat a dungeon boss: Awards a bag with a chance to contain a level 630, 645, or 655 item token.
Defeat a raid boss (weekly quest): Awards a bag with a chance to contain a level 645, or 655 item token.
Bounty (intended for 3 or more players): Defeat a named elite NPC for a bag containing Apexis Crystals, and a chance to contain a level 645, or 655 item token.
Relic: Complete a series of quests to recover a relic for a bag containing Apexis Crystals, and a chance to contain a level 645, or 655 item token. Completing a relic mission unlocks it as a potential mission for your followers. Completing all 6 relic missions will unlock Harrison Jones as a follower!
Profession: Turn-in tradeskill reagents for Primal Spirits and work order tradeskill reagents.
For the Pet Battlers out there, there’s a separate chance for an additional visitor offering unique Pet Battles with a chance to award a bag containing Pet Battle items and new Battle Pets.
Summon a Raid or World Boss
Players may find an item while completing a Bounty, Relic, Dungeon, or Raid daily quest from the Garrison visitor that that allows them to summon one of six new raid or world boss in the Garrison.
Summoned raid or world bosses have scaling health and is intended for 10-40 players.
New Garrison Music Box
Players can assemble a music box allowing them to play music in their Garrisons.
Pieces for the music box can be found as a reward from new Bounty or Relic Missions.
New songs can be collected from throughout the world to expand your music library.
New Garrison Vendor
A new vendor has been added allowing players to use Garrison Resource to purchase items to upgrade Followers, or items that can be used to spawn a rare mission.
New Follower Trait: Treasure Hunter
Treasure Hunter trait increases the amount of gold rewarded from a mission.
Follower Missions
New Profession Missions are now available on upgrading a profession building to level 3. Successfully completing these missions award an item that allows instant completion of work orders.
Players can unlock Relic and Bounty missions for their followers by completing the corresponding Relic or Bounty quest offered by one of the random daily new visitors to the Garrison.
New exploration missions are available to players with a skill of at least 1 in Archeology. Successfully completing these missions can award Archeology fragments, keystones, or treasure maps for a Draenor zone. Treasure maps obtained in this manner does not require quest achievement completion for the Draenor zone.
Archeology Vendors in Stormshield and Warspear now sell an item that’ll spawn a follower exploration mission for 5 Restored Artifacts.
New Level-100 Scouting missions to a Battlefield now awards an item that grants access to missions that award Apexis Crystals.
New Raid missions to Blackrock Foundry are now available for a cache that awards level 665, 680, or 695 items.
New follower missions have been added that can award gold, Apexis Crystals, Savage Blood, or Augmentation runes.
Missions that go over 100% completion chance now awards a bonus to the base XP.
Level-100 Garrison resource missions now award more Garrison Resources.
Scavenger trait for Followers now increases Garrison Resources gained from a mission by 100% (down from 200%).
Follower Mission UI Improvements
List of missions available now displays the amount of bonus XP, gold, and resources awarded without having to mouse-over the mission tooltip.
Improved tooltips displaying which followers that can counter threats on a mission.
Followers that can counter a threat and available show up with a green checkmark.
Followers that can counter a threat but are out on a mission displays the time remaining until the follower is available.
Followers that can counter a threat but assigned to a building will display a working icon.
A new icon will notify the player when assigning a follower that’ll receive less XP reward because they’re below level or item level requirements.
Garrisons with 10 or more followers now have access to a sortable list with a quick overview of how many followers can counter a particular threat or how long a follower will be out on a mission.
Garrison Buildings
Garrison Work Order Changes
Work orders now check if a follower is assigned to the building every 4 hours when factoring in production bonuses.
Followers assigned to work at a building now receive XP for each work order that they provide a production bonus on.
Players now have an option to queue up all remaining work order slots through the building’s work order UI.
NPCs that accept Work Orders are now titled as such along with a new interaction cursor to make them easier to locate.
Alchemy Lab
Level 2: Followers working at the Alchemy Lab now offers a choice on the free potions you want to receive, but those potions are now soulbound.
Armory (Dwarven Bunker / War Mill)
Level 3: A daily quest has been added to allow players to exchange Iron Horde Scraps for an armor or weapon enhancement token.
Barn
Barn traps are no longer targetable, causes the cursor to be highlighted, or usable in Rated Battlegrounds, Arenas, or outside of Draenor.
Savage Blood now drops more frequently when a follower is assigned to the building (it didn’t affect the chance previously).
Caged creatures now stack to 1000 (up from 20).
Barracks
A vendor at the Barracks now sells an item that allows a character to shrink their Bodyguards for 60 minutes.
Fishing Shack
You no longer catch bait in your Garrison. However, Nat Pagle (Level 3 Fishing Shack) will give you any of the standard baits if you ask nicely.
Lunkers can now be caught from fishing pools and have an improved catch rate with higher fishing skill.
Summoned Cavedwellers now drops random fish flesh and drops less Worm Supreme.
Fish Eggs used as turn-in for the Fishing Shack Daily quest are now bind on pickup and no longer have a sell value.
Lumber Mill
Lumber Mill no longer requires Garrison Resources to build or upgrade.
Work orders now award 30 Garrison Resource (up from 20).
Mage Tower / Spirit Lodge
The building now accepts Ogre Waystones as work orders awarding Apexis Crystals and a chance to receive an item that allows instant completion of a mission that’s in-progress.
Mine
Miner’s Coffee no longer has a stack limit, is now bind on pickup, and has a sell price. It now has an exclusive category so it cannot be applied multiple times by splitting it into different stacks. However, the aura can now correctly stack up to 5 times.
Preserved Mining Pick no longer has a stack limit, is now bind on pickup, has a sell price, and offers a bonus even if you have the Peon’s Mining Pick.
Menagerie
Reduced the difficulty of quests to unlock the Menagerie, elite pet challenges, and pet battle daily quests.
Salvage Yard
Tier-3 salvage recovered from Follower missions no longer has an independent chance to drop an uncommon (green), rare (blue), or epic (purple) item and will instead always drop one of them. This change is intended to reduce overall item spam without affecting their value. Existing chance for Tier-3 salvage to potentially also contain an uncommon Tier-2 salvage item remains unchanged.
Follower Weaponry and Armor Set tokens (War Ravaged, Blackrock, Goredrenched) no longer drops from salvage.
Trading Post
Trading Post no longer requires Garrison Resources to build or upgrade.
Some merchants have started accepting Crescent Saberfish Flesh as payment.
Garrison Invasions
Players that have performed above-and-beyond expectations for a Gold rating while defending their Garrisons from an invasion can now attain a Platinum rating. Platinum rating awards a level 660 item and a chance at obtaining an item that can be used to summon a raid or world boss.
Itemization
Tertiary Stats for Avoidance, Speed, and Leech now provide about four times as much benefit per stat point.
Racials
Dwarf
Stoneform when used, now triggers a 30-second shared cooldown with other PvP trinkets that breaks crowd-control effects.
Class Changes
Talent Balance
Developer Commentary: A primary focus for class changes in Patch 6.1 is improving overall talent balance. Not every talent needs to be useful in every situation; and in fact it’s often better if they have strengths and weaknesses. But we do try to have each talent be useful in some situations, and make them close enough in value that if you really enjoy the gameplay of a talent you don’t feel like you’re dragging your group down by using it.
For these changes we focused primarily on tuning (tweaking numbers), and nearly all changes are buffs to underperforming talents. The goal is to reach more variety of viable builds, without bringing down the existing popular choices.
Death Knight
Talents
Breath of Sindragosa no longer has an initial Runic Power cost.
Death Siphon now heals the Death Knight for 400% of damage dealt (up from 335%).
Necrotic Plague damage has been increased by 37%.
Druid
Talents
Bristling Fur (Guardian) now has a 30-second cooldown (down from 1 minute).
Force of Nature’s Treants have been buffed with a 35% increase to their health and spellpower, and an 80% increase to their armor and attack power.
Guardian of Elune (Guardian) now also reduces the rage cost of Savage Defense by the Druid’s base dodge chance percentage.
Moment of Clarity (Restoration) now lasts 7 seconds (up from 5 seconds).
Rampant Growth (Restoration) now also increases the healing of Swiftmend by 20%.
Renewal now instantly heals for 30% of max health (up from 22%).
Stellar Flare (Balance) damage has been increased by 16%, and now has a duration of 24 seconds (up from 20 seconds).
Hunter
Talents
Barrage damage has been increased by 21%.
Exhilaration now instantly heals for 30% of max health (up from 22%).
Glaive Toss damage has been increased by 25%.
Powershot damage has been increased by 62%.
Stampede now lasts 40 seconds (up from 20 seconds).
Mage
Talents
Alter Time now has a 1-minute cooldown (down from 1.5 minutes).
Mirror Image copies of Frost Mages now deals 15% less damage with Frostbolt.
Monk
Talents
Ascension now increases Spirit by 10% instead of increasing maximum mana by 20%.
Breath of the Serpent (Mistweaver) healing increased by 50%.
Chi Burst damage has been increased by 51%. Also fixed a bug that caused its damage and healing to vary based on specialization.
Chi Explosion (Mistweaver) healing while in Serpent Stance is increased by 40%, and is now usable while channeling Soothing Mist.
Chi Torpedo damage has increased by 150% and healing has increased by 42%.
Hurricane Strike (Windwalker) damage increased by 25%.
Ring of Peace now incapacitates all enemies for 5 seconds (up from 3 seconds).
Zen Sphere has been improved. Its detonation damage has increased by 97%, detonation healing has increased by 70%, but periodic healing has been reduced by 39%. Also fixed a bug that caused its damage and healing to vary based on specialization.
Paladin
Talents
Empowered Seals (Protection, Retribution) has been improved. Liadrin’s Righteousness now increases haste by 20% (up from 15%). Uther’s Insight now heals the Paladin for 2% of maximum health (up from 1%).
Execution Sentence’s healing dealt by Stay of Execution has increased by 100%.
Final Verdict (Retribution) now increases the radius of the next Divine Storm by 50% (down from 100%).
Hand of Purity now reduces damage taken by 15% (up from 10%).
Sacred Shield’s (Holy) mana cost has been reduced by 34%.
Glyphs
Glyph of Alabaster Shield has been removed.
Glyph of Harsh Words is now only available to Holy Paladins.
Priest
Talents
Auspicious Spirits (Shadow) no longer cause Shadowy Apparitions to not deal damage. Instead, it now increases Shadowy Apparition damage by 100% in addition to still granting 1 Shadow Orb.
Clarity of Purpose’s (Holy) healing has increased by 20%.
Divine Star (Shadow) damage increased by 20%.
Mindbender lasts for 20 seconds (up from 15 seconds).
Saving Grace’s (Discipline, Holy) healing has increased by 50%, but now reduces future healing dealt by 15% (up from 10%). Additionally, the talent is now Instant, but its effectiveness is reduced while in PvP combat.
Surge of Darkness now has a 12% chance to trigger (up from 10%).
Void Entropy (Shadow) damage increased by 80%.
Void Tendrils’ health has increased by 30%.
Rogue
Talents
Burst of Speed now has a 3-second cooldown.
Death from Above’s damage has increased by 25%. For Assassination Rogues, the talent now also increases the duration of Envenom.
Leeching Poison has been redesigned. It now grants 10% Leech while active, and no longer applies a poison effect to the target. Its Shiv effect remains unchanged.
Shaman
Talents
Ancestral Guidance now triggers from all damage or healing dealt, including Multistrikes, instead of only direct damage or healing.
Storm Elemental Totem damage and healing has increased by 30%.
Warlock
Talents
Cataclysm now also applies Unstable Affliction for Affliction Warlocks.
Charred Remains (Destruction) now reduces Incinerate damage by only 50% (down from reducing Incinerate damage by 60%).
Grimoire of Sacrifice (Affliction, Destruction) now increases damage of affected spells by 25% (up from 20%).
Grimoire of Service now summons a second demon for 25 seconds (up from 20 seconds).
Kil’jaeden’s Cunning now has a 35-second cooldown (down from 1 minute).
Warrior
Talents
Avatar now lasts 20 seconds with a 1.5-minute cooldown (up from lasting 24 seconds with a 3-minute cooldown).
Second Wind now increases Leech by 25% (up from 10%).
Siegebreaker (Arms, Fury) damage and knockback distance has increased by 50%.
Slam (Arms) damage has increased by 43%.
Healer Damage
Developer Commentary: Another change being made for Patch 6.1 is to bring the damage potential of healers up to a level that is sufficient and balanced. Healers’ damage potential will still pale compared to that of a dedicated damage dealer or tank, but it should no longer feel like you’re totally ineffective when attempting to do some outdoor content.
Druid
Restoration
Naturalist now also increases the damage of Druid spells and abilities by 15%.
Talents
Heart of the Wild (Restoration) now increases spell damage by 150% (down from 200%), and Agility in Cat Form by 75% (down from 110%).
Paladin
Holy
Denounce damage has increased by 50%.
Holy Shock damage has increased by 50%.
Shaman
Glyphs
Telluric Currents (Restoration) causes Flame Shock, Lava Burst, and Lightning Bolt to cost no mana and deal 100% more damage.
Classes
Death Knight
Glyphs
Glyph of Runic Power now generates 2 Runic Power every second for 5 seconds when struck by a movement-impairing effect (down from 3 Runic Power).
Druid
General
Healing Touch no longer heals for 50% more when cast-on-self for Balance Druids.
Balance
Balance Druids now learn a new passive ability at level 38, Nature’s Bounty.
Nature’s Bounty causes Healing Touch to be Critical Strikes for 8 seconds after killing an enemy that yields experience or honor.
Starfall and Sunfall now only hits targets affected with Moonfire or Sunfire by default.
Glyph of Guided Stars has been renamed to Glyph of Untamed Stars and is now a Minor glyph. Glyph of Untamed Stars expands Starfall and Sunfall to hit all targets within range.
Restoration
Genesis now affects all targets within 60 yards of the Druid and no longer requires a target.
Nature’s Cure is now classified as a Nature School ability.
Talents
Displacer Beast is now classified as an Arcane School ability and can no longer be used while silenced.
Armor Sets
PvP 2-piece set bonus for Balance Druids now has a visual effect to indicate when the Druid is unable to generate a Starsurge charge from Entangling Roots.
PvP 4-piece set bonus for Balance Druids has been redesigned. When Starsurge hits a player, the cast time of Starfire is reduced by 30%, and the damage of Wrath is increased by 30% for 6 seconds.
Hunter
Survival
Trap Mastery no longer reduces the cooldown of all traps and Black Arrow by 6 seconds.
Black Arrow now has a cooldown of 24 seconds (down from 30 seconds).
Enhanced Traps now reduces the cooldown on all traps by 33% (down from 50%).
Hunter Pets
Basilisks now have a pet family ability. Stone Scales reduces damage taken by the pet. Previously, Basilisks did not have a pet family ability.
Hydra pets should no longer be excessively large.
Spirit Beast’s Spirit Beast Blessing now also provides a 5% increase to critical strike chance. Does not stack with other critical strike chance buffs. Previously, other exotic pet families provided buffs to 2 stats while Spirit Beasts provided only 1.
Mage
Arcane
Presence of Mind can now be applied to Polymorph spells.
Fire
Fireball now replaces Frostfire Bolt for Fire Mages.
Frost
Deep Freeze’s stun effect now always breaks on damage from Ice Lance, but no longer has a chance to break from other damage sources.
Talents
Blast Wave (Fire) now has a 3-second cooldown.
Ice Nova (Frost) now has a 3-second cooldown.
Supernova (Arcane) now has a 3-second cooldown.
Glyphs
Glyph of Frostfire Bolt has been replaced with Glyph of Ignite. Glyph of Ignite causes Ignite to also reduce the target’s movement speed by 40%.
Armor Sets
PvP 2-piece set bonus for Frost Mages has been redesigned. Cone of Cold now leaves behind a patch of ice on the target area slowing any enemies caught within it by 50% for 6 seconds.
PvP 4-piece set bonus for Frost Mages has been redesigned to increase Frostbolt damage by 30% against unsnared targets, and increases Frostbolt damage by 50% against snared targets.
Monk
Brewmaster
Elusive Brew is now highlighted when the Monk has 15 stacks of it.
Mistweaver
Mana Tea now restores mana equal to 3 times the Monk’s unbuffed Spirit (instead of 4% of maximum mana).
Glyphs
Glyph of Blackout Kick has returned.
Armor Sets
PvP 2-piece set bonus for Windwalker Monks has been replaced by the PvP 4-piece set bonus. Touch of Karma’s redirected damage can now exceed 50% of the Monk’s maximum health.
PvP 4-piece set bonus for Windwalker Monks is now the PvP 2-piece set bonus. The Monk now receives a 2% reduction to damage taken for each stack of Tigereye Brew consumed for 20 seconds.
Paladin
Protection
Seal of Truth is no longer available to Protection Paladins. Seal of Command is now replaced by Seal of Righteousness instead of Seal of Truth.
Talents
Beacon of Insight (Holy) now increases healing received by the target by 40% (up from 30%) and moves to the next most injured ally when the target reaches 90% health (instead of full health).
Glyphs
Glyph of Alabaster Shield has been removed.
Glyph of Harsh Words is now only available to Holy Paladins.
Glyph of Judgment is now automatically learned at level 25.
Armor Sets
PvP 2-piece set bonus for Holy Paladins now lasts 12 seconds (up from 8 seconds).
PvP 4-piece set bonus for Holy Paladins has been redesigned. Eternal Flame or Word of Glory now also reduces damage taken by the target by 5% for each Holy Power consumed (maximum of 15%) for 6 seconds. This effect only works in PvP combat.
Priest
Talents
Cascade may now hit the same target twice, resulting in an increase to total healing. To compensate, Cascade’s healing has been reduced by 35%. However, total healing in a 20-player raid will still be slightly higher than before.
Insanity (Shadow) now also affects Mind Sear.
Shaman
Elemental
Enhanced Chain Lightning now increases the damage done by the next Earthquake by 300% when Chain Lightning or Lava Beam strikes 3 or more targets (instead of increasing Earthquake damage by 60% for each target struck).
Enhancement
Maelstrom Weapon no longer reduces the mana cost of spells.
Talents
Echo of the Elements has been redesigned. Echo of the Elements now causes Earthquake, Fire Nova, Lava Burst, Lava Lash, Riptide, Spirit Link Totem, Stormstrike, and Unleash Life to have 2 charges. Other abilities that reset the cooldown of these abilities will instead grant 1 charge.
Armor Sets
PvP 2-piece set bonus for Restoration Shaman now grants 975 Versatility after dispelling a harmful Magic or Curse effect from an ally (up from 780 Versatility).
PvP 4-piece set bonus for Restoration Shaman now triggers when the target of Earth Shield drops below 50% health (up from 35%) and Earth Shield will immediately consume up to 4 charges (up from 3 charges).
Warrior
General
Thunder Clap’s (Arms, Protection) snare effect now lasts for 10 seconds or 8 seconds while in PvP combat (up from 6 seconds).
Quests
Legendary Ring Quest Line
A new epic follower awaits those that complete the latest chapter in the Legendary Ring Quest Line!
World Environment and Events
Flight Path Improvements
Improved the logic used for connecting flight paths. Players are now able to fly through flight points that they have not discovered yet if it’ll result in a more direct flight path to a destination point.
A button has been added for characters in the middle of a flight to get off at the next known flight point.
Nagrand
Added two mailboxes in around the Black Market near Ring Of Blood in Nagrand.
Darkmoon Faire
The Darkmoon Faire have added an exciting new racing event with opportunities to obtain new unique prizes!
New achievements and rewards have been added to the Darkmoon Tonk Challenge and Darkmoon Ring Toss.
Creatures and NPCs
Spires of Arak
Sethekk Wind Serpent is undead and should no longer be skinnable.
Pet Battle
New battle pets have been added to Black Temple, Caverns of Time: Hyjal Summit, and Sunwell Plateau along with a new achievement, Raiding with Leashes III to collect them all. Completing the achievement to collect all the new Battle Pets will award a Naaru pet.
Level 100 characters with a Tier-3 Garrison will now receive an item in the mail that increases a single Battle Pet’s level to 25.
Dungeons, Raids, and Scenarios
Personal loot mode received quality-of-life adjustments. Bosses that can be looted now have a custom graphical effect. Popup notifications from looting a boss have also been revamped.
Dungeons
Completing the first random Heroic Draenor Dungeon of the day no longer awards a reputation bonus with Pandarian factions.
Challenge Mode
Increased the item level of gear awarded from completing daily Challenge Mode quests to 660 (up from 640).
PvP
Grand Marshal Tremblade or High Warlord Volrath now offers scrolls of Enchant Illusion – Glorious Tyranny and Enchant Illusion – Primal Victory to players with a rating of 2400 or higher in Rated Battlegrounds, and 3v3 or 5v5 Arenas.
Rewards are now correctly distributed based on the PvP level bracket.
Ashran
Ashran’s queuing system received substantial changes to reduce wait times.
Event objectives now award 100 Conquest Points (down from 125).
Rare creatures and NPCs now drop 40-50 Artifact Fragments (down from 60-80).
Guards in Ring of Conquest now drop 6-8 Artifact Fragments (down from 8-11).
Ashmaul Pearls and Ghost Truffles have been removed. Players can now buy potions from Crafticus Mindbender (Alliance) and Dazzerian (Horde) for 10 Artifact Fragments each.
Kowalski’s Music Box now has a 15-minute cooldown (down from 1 hour).
Scroll of Mass Invisibility, Scroll of Replenishment, and Scroll of Town Portal has been removed.
Wand of Death, Wand of Mana Stealing, and Wand of Neutralization has been removed.
Battlegrounds and Arenas
Bonus Honor received from winning a Battleground should now correctly convert into XP for characters that are below level 100.
Professions
Harvesting from Draenor Mining and Herbalism nodes should now provide more experience points. Previously, only True Iron nodes were providing the correct amount of XP.
New recipes have been added to create items that boost the item levels of crafted armor pieces to 680 and weapons to 670.
Alchemy
Alchemists can now transmute for Savage Blood and various Sorcerous elements.
Alchemists can now craft an upgradable alchemy trinket.
Archeology
Increased the maximum amount of Arakkoa, Draenor Clans, and Ogre archeology fragments that can be held at a time to 250 (up from 200).
All rare Draenor archeology projects no longer cost more than 200 fragments to solve.
Brittle Cartography Journal can now be dug up by characters with an Archeology skill of 1 (down from 575).
Blacksmithing
Crafted shields no longer counts towards the limit on Unique-Equipped: Warlords Crafted items.
Cooking
New self-only cooking recipes have been added for food that gives 125 bonus to a stat.
Fishing
Fish caught in Draenor are now automatically filleted.
Different sizes of Savage Piranha have been consolidated into Savage Piranha and can be consumed directly for the transformation effect.
Players can now always catch enormous fish from pools, regardless of skill.
Fish that have already been caught can be converted to the appropriate amount of flesh.
Draenor fishing bait now lasts for 10 minutes (up from 5 minutes) and needs to be used within 15 minutes of being caught or it’ll spoil.
Inscription
The following glyphs now have recipes and are no longer sold by vendors.
Glyph of Cleanse
Glyph of Flying Fists
Glyph of Purification
Glyph of Purify Spirit
Glyph of the Solstice
Items
Apexis Crystals
Characters can now accrue up to a maximum of 60,000 Apexis Crystals (up from 20,000).
Dawn-Seeker Rilak (Alliance) and Dawn-Seeker Kirrik (Horde) have set up shop in Stormshield and Warspear offering powerful new items (item level 670) in exchange for Apexis Crystals.
Apexis Crystal vendors have been reorganized with their titles now denoting what it is that they’re selling.
Characters now receive a treasure maps in the mail for completing storyline achievements for a Draenor region.
Griftah now sells a variety of transmogrification items for Dingy Iron Coins. In addition, he now sells a Rogue-specific toy, Barrel of Bandanas. Barrel of Bandanas spawns a barrel that gives players that use it a random visual bandana buff for 30 minutes.
Season 1 PvP boots and belts sold by Kezzik at Area 52 in Netherstorm are now more comparably priced to their other Season 1 counterparts (1750 Honor).
Replica belts for Blood Guard and Knight-Lieutenant have been added to complete visual sets that were previously incomplete for transmogrification. These new items are sold by the vendors who sell the rest of the set, Tini Smalls and Krixel Pinchwhistle at Area 52 in Netherstorm.
All Brawler’s Guild shirts are now unique. Replacement Brawler’s Guild shirts can be purchased from Quackenbrush or Paul North if the character has defeated a boss that awarded it.
Several trinkets obtained from Draenor rares are now able to be disenchanted (previously, the items could not be disenchanted).
Apexis Crystals are now displaying as uncommon quality (green). There’s been no change to the item’s drop rate or availability.
Grimoire of the Four Winds should now correctly able to be used by characters that are at least level 85.
Honorary Brewmaster Keg is now unique. A replacement Honorary Brewmaster Keg can now be purchased from The Metal Paw in Binan Village in Binan Village for those who have completed the Pub Crawl achievement.
Mini Mana Bomb has been added to the Toy Box for Horde characters that have completed the achievement, Theramore’s Fall.
Nat Pagle’s Fishing Chair is now unique. A replacement chair can be purchased from Nat Pagle if the character has completed the achievement Learning from the Best.
Primal Combatant and Primal Gladiator trinkets have had their power increased.
Restored Artifact is now considered a trade good and can be placed in the Reagent Bank.
Scavenger’s Eyepiece’s effect now persists through death.
Theramore Tabard can now be re-obtained by Alliance characters that have completed the achievement, Theramore’s Fall at a tabard vendor.
UI
New Death Recap Screen
When a character is killed, a new screen now shows more information on what killed you.
Here you’ll find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the recently released World of Warcraft patch 6.0.3. Hotfixes are updates we make on our end without requiring you to download a new patch. Some of the hotfixes below take effect the moment they were implemented, while others may require your realm to be restarted to go into effect. Please keep in mind that some issues cannot be addressed without a client- side patch update. We will continue to update this list as additional hotfixes are applied.
Hotfixes have been listed by the date they’ve been implemented. The hotfixes have also been compiled by category for those wanting a quick summary of all hotfixes that have been applied since Patch 6.0.3.
A Stolen Heart: Azuka Bladefury should no longer be getting stuck in evade mode for Horde characters.
Primal Fury: Completing the quest should now correctly award Thisalee Crow (Alliance) or Choluna (Horde) as a Follower. A fix to award the followers for players that have already completed the quest will be made at a later date.
Socrethar’s Demise: Resolved an issue that could cause the banner used to challenge Socrethar to not work correctly.
Classes
Hunter
Talents
Hunter Talents should no longer incorrectly treat Lifelike Mechanical Frostboar as an active Hunter Pet.
Monk
General
Instant casting Surging Mist on self via Soothing Mist (Mistweaver) should no longer cause Surging Mist to not provide any healing.
Paladin
Glyphs
Glyph of Illumination is obsolete and should no longer be incorrectly retained by some Paladins.
Shaman
Restoration
Healing received through Spirit Link Totem redistributing player health to match each other should no longer be incorrectly affected by Dampening.
Warlock
Talents
Demonbolt (Demonology) now deals 25% less damage against other players in PvP combat.
Warrior
Arms
Mastery: Weapons Master’s effects were overtuned and have been reduced in effectiveness by 18%. The mastery remains significantly stronger than before and is still 29% more powerful than prior to the hotfix from January 12.
Armor Sets
Tier-16 2-piece bonus for Protection Warriors now heals for 3% less for each character level above level 90.
Quests
Frostfire Ridge
In the Shadow of Giants: Players should now correctly receive completion credit while interacting with Flamrog or Kindler.
Legacy
Trapping the Leader (Kun-Lai Summit): Killing Shan Kien quickly should no longer prevent him from respawning.
Creatures and NPCs
Shadowmoon Valley
Gorum should now correctly leash back to their spawn point.
Gorgrond
Laughing Skull guards at Beastwatch in Gorgrond should no longer attack Horde players.
Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Highmaul
Tectus: Resolved an issue where several mobs during the encounter did not reset the cooldown on Marked for Death (Rogue Talent) when killed.
Imperator Mar’gok: Volatile Anomaly’s Destabilize ability should now correctly trigger player abilities that activate on taking damage.
Shadowmoon Burial Grounds
Bonemaw: Rogues should now be able to use the Death from Above talent against Carrion Worms and Bonemaw.
PvP
Ashran
Players should now correctly teleport into Ashran when accepting the queue from Stormshield or Warspear.
Players leaving Ashran via mini-map are now teleported to a location just outside of Ashran instead of back to the bound Hearthstone location.
Scroll of Touch of Death’s effect should no longer be incorrectly retained outside of Ashran.
Battlegrounds and Arenas
Resolved an issue where some items with Bonus Armor were scaling incorrectly in non-max level bracket Battlegrounds.
Items
Potions and flasks from earlier expansions should no longer be more powerful than ones from later expansions.
Cache of Highmaul Treasures should no longer incorrectly spawn items that can be upgraded.
Bug Fixes
Resolved an issue where characters that log out while in another player’s Garrison may be unable to log back in.
Dev Tweets On 6.1
A couple of interesting things have been tweeted out in the past day!
It’s seems class changes are coming in the next PTR build!
The BRF raid missions will appear alongside the Highmaul ones
Class design is often 85% talking about what to do, 15% actually doing. Today was the 15%. Next PTR build should spur lots of discussion.
Ahead of Blackrock Foundry releasing in 2 weeks, blizzard has released a preview of each boss you can expect to see in BRF! What the Iron Horde has done to Gruul is particularly cruel…
Blackrock Foundry was the ancestral home of the Blackrock orcs, wherein master smiths smelted and worked the impossibly hard ore that is the clan’s namesake. Now, massive giants captured and broken by the Thunderlord heat the great forges, flamebenders of the Burning Blade imbue the ore with an inner fire, and engineers shape the slag according to otherworldly schematics. Warlord Blackhand’s foundry is the center of the Iron Horde’s military might, churning out the weaponry that will be used to raze Azeroth.
Just when you thought you’d become comfortable (as comfortable as one can get in a gladiator pit) with Highmaul, we thought it was time to shake things up and show you what’s waiting in our next Raid—Blackrock Foundry—and introduce you to Rukhmar, the latest world Raid boss.
We asked senior 3D artist Andy Matthews to provide some insight into the dungeon’s visual development:
The Foundry’s spark of inspiration was the creation of the Slagworks’ “furnace room;” it created iconic silhouettes that we carried throughout the rest of the Raid, which has a very strong industrial look and feel.
The Dread Grotto was my favorite shot to establish in the Raid. In its early development, we wanted to show the Iron Horde’s shipping area from multiple angles, foreshadowing later content. The Workshop shows the daily grind of factory life for the Ironworkers. Most workers dread the “flame-jet Fridays.”
Some say the Iron Horde motto is, “When in doubt, add a spike!”
You’ll need a minimum item level of 635 to tackle Blackrock Foundry via Raid Finder. The Foundry’s rewards range from item level 650 (Raid Finder) to 695 (Mythic).
Let’s take a look at the bosses that await you within Blackrock Foundry. . . .
Slagworks
Gruul- Garrosh knew that the surest path to breaking the gronn lay in subjugating their great father, Gruul. Known in another time as the Dragonkiller, here Gruul has been reduced to the role of menial laborer. In a cruel mockery of the Shattered Hand’s warrior tradition, his hand has been replaced with a hook to enable him to more easily haul pallets of fuel to the furnace.
Oregorger– The storehouses of the Blackrock Foundry, laden with heaps and pallets of unprocessed Blackrock ore, represent a grand banquet feast for the ravenous rock-eating goren who have burrowed into the chamber. Oregorger is by far the largest of the invaders, gluttony swelling his frame far beyond the size of any goren previously seen in Draenor.
The Blast Furnace- The Blackrock clan’s unique ability to smelt the black ore, a substance so dense that ordinary flame does not even soften it, has always been their most closely-guarded secret. Deep within the Foundry, their furnace contains a primal force as old as Draenor itself, raging within the confines of its prison as it emanates a preternatural heat.
The Black Forge
Hans’gar and Franzok– Hans’gar and Franzok are twin brothers raised and trained as masterful brawlers of their clan. Both carved paths of glory as warriors, but destiny had other plans. The brothers, each unwilling to slay the other in the rite of mak’gora, were banished from their clan and left for dead. They survived as outcasts in the savage wilds of Draenor and when the Iron Horde called, these powerful warriors found a new home in the massive war machine.
Flamebender Ka’graz- Under the banner of the Iron Horde, Blackhand has enlisted Flamebender Ka’graz of the Burning Blade to imbue the Blackrock-forged armaments with the essence of flame. Along with her assistant Aknor Steelbringer, Ka’graz toils before an ever burning forge in support of the Iron Horde’s conquest of Draenor.
Kromog– The magnaron are mysterious in their ways, ancient and inscrutable. Miners excavating an expansion to the Foundry, in support of the Iron Horde’s massive production needs, were horrified to unearth a chamber containing a living magnaron. To their astonishment, Kromog began to assist in their endeavors, and now uses his massive stone fists to hammer out the gigantic plates needed for the Iron Horde’s dreadnaughts and siege machinery.
Iron Assembly
Beastlord Darmac– As a young orc, Darmac quickly rose through the ranks of the Thunderlord as a gifted trainer of beasts. Where others only saw animal instincts, he recognized intellect and drew forth untapped potential from brain and muscle and bone. When the Iron Horde demanded his service, Darmac saw no greater honor than to outfit and train the most savage beasts Draenor has to offer.
Operator Thogar– Known more for his cruelty and cleverness than for brute strength, Thogar oversees the operation of the Grimrail. From the Foundry’s depot, he coordinates the ongoing ground battle against the draenei in Talador, with entire battalions of troops and artillery at his beck and call.
The Iron Maidens– With little opportunity to exercise her tactical brilliance under the ancient social structure of the orc clans, Gar’an was thrilled to be one of the first warriors to volunteer for naval duty under the Iron Horde. Instantly successful in battle, she was named Admiral of the iron Horde fleet and selected Marak and Sorka as her lieutenants. Together, they are called the Iron Maidens, and have crushed any who have dared face them.
The Crucible
Blackhand- A ruthless tyrant and fierce warrior, Blackhand is Warlord of the Blackrock clan, second only to Grommash in stature within the Iron Horde. Bathed in sweltering heat that few other mortals could withstand, Blackhand oversees the operations of his Foundry from atop its Crucible, wielding his smoldering slag hammer to forge weapons of peerless quality.
For more information on each of these bosses, their abilities, the items they drop, and more, check out the in-game Dungeon Journal.
World Boss: Rukhmar
Rukhmar occasionally appears as a blazing firehawk soaring through the skies high above the Spires of Arak. The origins of the great bird are unknown though Rukhmar is venerated as a deity by the arrakoa, seen as an embodiment of the sun itself.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events you can now buy access into the heroes of the storm beta! On the product page in the blizzard shop it says that Quantity may be limited, indicating that there might only be a certain amount of beta spots that can be bought. If you don’t want to buy beta acces, have no fear! Because blizzard is still giving out regular beta invites “at an even faster rate than before“.
The battle between your favorite Blizzard characters is getting intense . . . and you can join the fray right now with the Heroes of the Storm™ Founder’s Pack! This brand-new digital bundle gives you an array of exciting Heroes, Skins, and other in-game content to get you started on your path to victory in the Nexus, along with instant access to the Heroes of the Storm closed beta test.
A STASH OF GOLD: 2,500 in-game gold to help unlock additional Heroes and other content
ACCESS TO THE NEXUS: Immediate access to Heroes of the Storm, beginning with the closed beta test
You can get all of this content and jump into battle now for $39.99—all you need to do to get in on the action is fire up the Battle.net desktop app and click on the Heroes of the Storm icon, or visit the Battle.net Shop.
The Founder’s Pack gets you all of these Heroes and Skins at a discounted price, as well as the fierce and imposing Golden Cyber Wolf Mount, which can only be obtained through purchasing the Founder’s Pack or the in-game Battle Bundle (also priced at $39.99).
You can also purchase the Founder’s Pack in regions other than your own, but please be aware that all purchases, gold, player progression, and hero progression are tied to the specific region you play in and are nontransferable. Also, please note that Global Play has not been enabled for Heroes of the Storm yet, so you will only be able to play in the region in which you purchase your Founder’s Pack.
The ability to purchase the Founder’s Pack may be temporarily suspended at any time in order to ensure a stable testing environment for the game. If you need help or have a question, please visit our support site for more information.
There Are Many Ways to Join the Nexus
We’re regularly inviting more and more players to the Heroes of the Storm closed beta—in fact, we’re accelerating the pace! So if you don’t have access yet and would like a chance to receive an invitation, make sure you’ve opted in to the beta test through your Battle.net Account Management Beta Profile, and keep an eye on the Battle.net desktop app or your email for an invitation.
You can learn about other ways to get in on the action in our “Prepare for Closed Beta with Fighting Words” blog. We also have more exciting stuff in store, including another epic giveaway, so make sure to stay tuned to our official site for updates.
The podcast is back and this week we talk about the data mined information from the 6.1 PTR and the idea of gear art going back to class themes rather than environment and raid themes.
6.0.3 Hotfixes: January 15
There are also new hotfixes, check them out below!
Here you’ll find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the recently released World of Warcraft patch 6.0.3. Hotfixes are updates we make on our end without requiring you to download a new patch. Some of the hotfixes below take effect the moment they were implemented, while others may require your realm to be restarted to go into effect. Please keep in mind that some issues cannot be addressed without a client- side patch update. We will continue to update this list as additional hotfixes are applied.
Hotfixes have been listed by the date they’ve been implemented. The hotfixes have also been compiled by category for those wanting a quick summary of all hotfixes that have been applied since Patch 6.0.3.
Reduced the damage of Seal of Truth for Protection Paladins by 80%. Protection Paladins should primarily use Seal of Insight for defensive value.
[Currently in Testing]Seraphim now grants 750 of each stat for Protection Paladins (down from 1000).
Garrisons, Followers, and Outposts
Garrison Campaign
Garrison Campaign quests can now be found in the quest log under the “Garrison Campaign” category.
Bug Fixes
Classes
Warlock
Fixed an issue in in which glyphs could cause crowd controlled (cc’d) targets to have Damage Over Time spells (DoTs) removed which would cause stored Soul Swap DoT’s to be removed from Warlocks.
Garrisons
Invasions
Corrected a bug in which Horde players weren’t receiving credit toward the “It’s an Invasion!” and “Invasion Specialist” Achievements for completing the introductory invasion quest.
Buildings
Mine
Miners now continue working after midnight instead of taking an unscheduled coffee break.
It won’t be long before you’ll be able to take the assault against the Iron Horde to the next level. To help you plan for it, we’ve broken down Blackrock Foundry’s unlock schedule. Will you be ready?
Those who plan to jump into the action within the Raid Finder will need a minimum item level of 635. The latest World Raid boss – Rukhmar – will also become available.
February 4, 2015:
Blackrock Foundry opens with Normal and Heroic difficulties accessible.
World Boss Rukhmar will become available in Spires of Arak
February 11, 2015:
Mythic difficulty becomes available.
February 18, 2015:
Raid Finder Wing 1, Slagworks (Gruul, Oregorger, and The Blast Furnace) unlocks.
February 25, 2015:
Raid Finder Wing 2 The Black Forge (Hans’gar and Franzok, Flamebender Ka’graz, and Kromog ) unlocks.
March 11, 2015:
Raid Finder Wing 3 Iron Assembly (Beast Lord Darmac, Operator Thogar, and The Iron Maidens) unlocks.
March 25, 2015:
Raid Finder Wing 4 Blackhand’s Crucible (Blackhand) unlocks.
6.0.3 Hotfixes: January 13
There are some more class balance hotfixes following the previous hotfixes.
Here you’ll find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the recently released World of Warcraft patch 6.0.3. Hotfixes are updates we make on our end without requiring you to download a new patch. Some of the hotfixes below take effect the moment they were implemented, while others may require your realm to be restarted to go into effect. Please keep in mind that some issues cannot be addressed without a client- side patch update. We will continue to update this list as additional hotfixes are applied.
Hotfixes have been listed by the date they’ve been implemented. The hotfixes have also been compiled by category for those wanting a quick summary of all hotfixes that have been applied since Patch 6.0.3.
Festering Strike’s damage has been increased by 28%.
Scourge Strike’s damage has been increased by 28%.
Druid
Balance
Starfall’s effect is now only suppressed when shapeshifting into a non-Moonkin form. Shifting back into the appropriate form will allow the effect to resume.
Monk
Armor Sets
Tier-17 4-piece set bonus for Brewmaster Monks now only triggers when you Purify Moderate or Heavy Stagger.
PvP 2-piece set bonus for Brewmaster and Windwalker Monks now only triggers while in PvP combat.
PvP 4-piece set bonus for Brewmaster Monks now confers 75% of the Guard effect to the 2 nearest allies.
Rogue
Combat
Blade Flurry is now able to trigger from Multistrikes.
Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Highmaul
Kargath Bladefist: Resolved an issue where players can incorrectly get locked to the instance after wiping to Kargath on Mythic difficulty.
Imperator Mar’gok: Gorian Warmage’s Fixate ability should now only cause the targeted player to drop out of stealth instead of incorrectly causing all steathed players in the raid to drop out of stealth.
Legacy
Blackrock Caverns
Rom’ogg Bonecrusher’s Skullcracker ability should now correctly deal damage to Angered Earth elementals, allowing the achievement Crushing Bones and Cracking Skulls to be completed.
PvP
Alliance and Horde Conquest vendors should now offer non-set cloth gloves and non-set plate chest pieces for sale.
Ashran
Amphitheater of Annihilation: Mandragoraster’s Fertile Spit ability now caps out at 6 nearby targets.
Battlegrounds and Arenas
Arathi Basin: Players should now always have a fixed 25-second resurrection timer while in a Rated Battleground match.
Deepwind Gorge: Using Ice Floes or Aspect of the Fox should no longer incorrectly allow players to capture a point while moving.
Just dropping a note here for anyone that had Tarren Mill vs Southshore vetoed (unchecked) when the realms came down for maintenance this week, you may have noticed that you now only have 1 battleground deselected, because the now invisible TM vs SS battleground is still technically unchecked.
It’s a bug we’re aware of, in the meantime you can fix this yourself by entering the following in chat:
