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Ride the Tides into the July Trading Post

Quote from: Blizzard

Let the tides of summer carry you away this month. Take Trishi the baby naga pet with you everywhere you go. She’ll help keep an eye out for you on all your adventures!

Visit T&W** (Tawney and Wilder) just outside the Mage District in Stormwind or the Zen’shiri Trading Post next to Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar to check out all the latest items*** they have available.

Here’s What’s in Stock for July

Pets, Mounts, and Toys
Name Item Type Trader’s Tender
Crimson Glimmerfur Mount 600
Underlight Corrupted Behemoth (Steady Flight Only) Mount 800
Blub Pet 500
Armor Transmogs
Name Item Type Trader’s Tender
Copper Diver’s Wrist Seal Wrist 10
Copper Diver’s Belt Waist 60
Copper Diver’s Boots Feet 60
Copper Diver’s Gloves Hands 60
Dueler’s Deep Shoulder Cape Shoulder 75
Copper Diver’s Corselet Chest 80
Copper Diver’s Greaves Legs 80
Classic Deep Tabard Tabard 100
Ensemble: Vagabond’s Deep Threads Head and Back 100
Ensemble: Wanderer’s Deep Trappings Head and Back 100
Trader’s Deep Sarong Legs 100
Copper Diver’s Pauldrons Shoulder 130
Copper Diver’s Tank Back 160
Copper Diver’s Bonnet Head 220
Vengeful Crusader’s Helm Head 225
Deepsea Treasure Pack Back 800
Ensemble: Deepest Depths Diver Suit Head, Shoulder, Chest, Waist, Legs, Feet, Hand, Cloak, and Wrist 800
Weapon Transmogs
Name Item Type Trader’s Tender
Riptide Basher One-Hand Mace 80
Riptide Bulwark Shield 80
Blade of the Riptide One-Hand Sword 80
Trident of the Riptide Polearm 100
Wand of the Riptide Wand 125
Riptide Slicer Two-Hand Axe 125
Riptide Dagger Dagger 125
Riptide Gut Puncher Fist Weapon 125
Titan Thunderbow Bow 180
Riptide Staff Staff 200

This Month’s Bonus Reward

Baby blue naga with multiple orange eyes and gold jewelry
Trishi
“She sees you when you’re sleeping.”

Complete activities to fill the bar at the top of the Traveler’s Log found in the Adventure Guide (Shift-J)***, and you’ll receive this month’s bonus reward — Trishi the baby naga pet. She’ll help keep an eye out for you on all your adventures!

NPC Crafting Orders Now Testable

Quote from: Blizzard

With this week’s build, NPC Crafting Orders are now available for testing! To use the feature, travel to your nearest crafting bench and open the Crafting Order tab. Click the “NPC” tab, which may appear blank at first, and you should start seeing orders appear. If at first you don’t see any orders, please wait a moment and try again.

How it works

NPC Crafting Orders are personal orders that populate on a regular, predetermined cadence. Throughout the week, various familiar characters from the world will submit orders directly to you with a variety of possible rewards. You may discover that some customers tend to be more willing to provide reagents to assist in the final craft than others. Certain customers are very picky, and may only submit orders for very specific items. Although all NPC Crafting Orders offer a small commission, some customers may offer unique bonus rewards for helping them out!

Other than bonus rewards, these orders are nearly identical to player-to-player crafting orders. The recipes requested and reagents involved are ones you already find throughout your adventures. You will gain skill-ups, receive First Craft rewards, and can benefit from profession stats. Specializations will play a part in your success in NPC Crafting Orders, particularly when it comes to guaranteeing quality or unlocking Optional and Finishing Reagent slots. Some customers may provide these extra reagents, potentially affecting the final difficulty of the craft.

NPC Crafting Orders is the primary method for crafting professions to earn specialization knowledge and Artisan’s Acuity in The War Within for all crafting professions (except for Enchanting, which earns their weekly points via Disenchanting items). Each profession has an allotment of knowledge points they can earn in a week (which varies from profession to profession based on the size of their specialization tree). These are delivered through a bi-weekly selection of orders, scheduled similarly to how World Quests populated during Dragonflight. Although specialization orders are generally tuned to be easier than other types, it is possible to be unable to satisfy an order with your given capabilities. Don’t fret! Whether you join the expansion late or had a rough time with a few orders, you may begin seeing catch-up orders as early as the following week. The cadence and quantity of specialization catch-up orders increases as you fall further behind to allow for rapid catch-up especially later in the expansion’s lifecycle. These catch-up orders are also typically much easier to fulfill by requesting more common recipes and cheaper reagents overall.

Once you satisfy the requirements and craft an item, all rewards will be sent to you in the mail; be sure to check it!

We are excited for everyone to get their hands on the system and look forward to your feedback!

Known Issues

  • The reward preview is not displaying all rewards for a given order.
  • Customer-specific rewards are inconsistently being displayed and awarded.
    • Pocket Lint is not an intended reward.
  • The number of orders on Beta is slightly higher than intended, mostly due to knowledge catch-up orders always being active currently.
  • Knowledge, Catch-Up Knowledge, and Acuity gains are not yet tuned.
  • Non-quality items sometimes request a minimum quality and cannot be fulfilled.
  • In rare cases, the NPCs are overly patient and submit orders with 2-3 month durations.
  • Weekly knowledge tracking is not setup for all weekly knowledge sources resulting in excessive knowledge gain in certain cases.
    • This is affecting more than just NPC Crafting Orders.

The War Within Beta Development Notes 25 June 2024

Quote from: Blizzard

Here are this week’s changes to The War Within beta:

CLASSES

  • Developer’s note: In today’s build, Avoidance and Leech rating on gear gives half as much percent value as before, and we’ve reduced the amount of these stats given by most talents. Both stats, Avoidance in particular, are extremely effective against the damage non-tank players face. By the end of an expansion, the amount of Avoidance appearing on gear reduces so much damage that acquiring pieces with it can feel required to do the hardest content, particularly extremely high Mythic+ keys. By reducing the amount of value given per rating, our goal is for pieces with those stats to remain valuable, but for the gap between players with and without them to be closer.
  • Reduced the percentage granted by Avoidance and Leech rating by 50%.
  • The following Leech and Avoidance effects have also been reduced:
    • Death Knight
      • Lichborne now grants 6% Leech (was 10%).
      • Vampiric Aura now grants 2% Leech (was 3%).
      • Blood Scent now grants 3% Leech (was 5%).
    • Demon Hunter
      • Soul Rending now grants 6% Leech (was 10%).
    • Evoker
      • Regenerative Magic now grants 2% Leech (was 3%).
    • Hunter
      • Sentinel’s Protection now grants 3% Leech (was 5%).
      • Predator’s Thirst now grants 6% Leech (was 10%).
      • Hunter’s Avoidance now grants 5% Avoidance (was 6%).
    • Mage
      • Merely a Setback now grants 3% Leech (was 5%).
    • Paladin
      • Sanctified Plates now grants 3% Avoidance (was 5%).
    • Priest
      • Sanguine Teachings now grants 2% Leech (was 3%).
    • Rogue
      • Leeching Poison now grants 3% Leech (was 5%).
      • Shadowheart now grants 2% Leech (was 3%).
    • Warlock
      • Lifeblood now grants 4% Leech (was 7%).
    • Warrior
      • Leeching Strikes now grants 3% Leech (was 5%).
      • Seasoned Soldier now grants 5% Avoidance (was 10%).
  • DEATH KNIGHT
    • Frost
      • Icecap has been updated – Crits with Obliterate and Frost Strike no longer reduce Icecap cooldown. Now grants 15 second cooldown for Pillar of Frost.
      • Spending runes no longer increases the Strength bonus of Pillar of Frost.
      • Enduring Strength’s Strength bonus decreased to 15% (was 25%).
      • The functionality that increased Obliteration’s Frost Strike runic power cost and damage has been removed.
      • Murderous Efficiency’s chance to grant a Rune reduced to 25% (was 50%).
      • Frost Strike damage increased by 23%.
      • Obliterate damage increased by 23%.
      • Howling Blast damage increased by 23%.
      • Frost Fever damage increased by 23%.
      • Remorseless Winter damage increased by 23%.
      • Glacial Advance damage increased by 23%.
      • Frostsycthe damage increased by 5%.
      • Chill Streak damage increased by 23%.
      • Frostwyrm’s Fury damage increased by 10%.
      • Breath of Sindragosa damage increased by 23% and cost per second reduced to 17 (was 18).
      • Icy Death Torrent damage increased by 100%.
      • Inexorable Assault damage increased by 23%.
  • DEMON HUNTER
    • Hero Talents
      • Aldrachi Reaver
        • Art of the Glaive’s Soul Fragment threshold to activate Reaver’s Glaive reduced to 30.
  • DRUID
    • Connectors repositioned to avoid a scenario where Improved Stampeding Roar could be taken without Stampeding Roar.
    • Positions of Fluid Form and Forestwalk swapped.
    • Hero Talents
      • Keeper of the Grove (Balance/Restoration)
        • Grove’s Inspiration increases damage dealt by Wrath and Starfire by 10% (was 15%).
        • Cenarius’ Might increases your Haste by 10% (was 8%).
    • Balance
      • All ability damage increased by 5%.
      • Starsurge damage increased by 15%.
      • Starfall damage increased by 15%.
      • Fury of Elune damage increased by 15%.
      • Full Moon damage increased by 15%.
      • Shooting Stars damage increased by 20%.
      • Stellar Flare damage increased by 10%.
      • Power of Goldrinn damage increased by 10%.
      • Denizen of the Dream damage increased by 10%.
      • Orbital Strike damage increased by 25%.
      • Greater Alignment causes Celestial Alignment to increase the damage your eclipses grant by 8% (was 5%).
  • HUNTER
    • New Talent: Blackrock Munitions – The damage of Explosive Shot is increased by 8%.
    • New Talent: Implosive Trap – Hurls a fire trap to the target location that explodes when an enemy approaches, causing Fire damage and knocking all enemies up. Limit 1. Choice node with High Explosive Trap.
    • Territorial Instincts has been redesigned – Casting Intimidation without an active pet summons one from your stable.
    • Talent nodes in Gate 2 have been repositioned.
    • Concussive Shot and Wilderness Medicine now connect to Scare Beast and Scout’s Instinct respectively.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Steel Trap
      • Death Chakram
        • Developer’s note: One of the biggest complaints we’re seeing in the Hunter community is button bloat. Death Chakram was a relatively high-frequency button that you had to click before all of your damage abilities, creating something of a launch sequence for every Hunter specialization. Its removal will let us bake the lost power into each spec’s kit while also reducing the button-presses required before you can begin damage.
    • Beast Mastery
      • Alpha Predator and Improved Kill Command have swapped locations.
      • Improved Kill Command has a new icon.
      • Hunter’s Prey and Venom’s Bite have swapped locations.
      • Pathing in Gate 2 has been adjusted.
      • Huntmaster’s Call sound effect volume has been lowered.
    • Marksmanship
      • Arcane Shot damage increased by 3%.
      • Small Game Hunter’s Multi-Shot damage bonus reduced to 75% (was 100%).
      • Multi-Shot Focus cost increased to 30 (was 20).
      • Fixed a baseline passive bug that was causing Multi-Shot to deal 20% increased damage for Marksmanship only.
      • Wailing Arrow and Rapid Fire will now properly generate Wind Arrows when talented into Legacy of the Windrunners.
    • Survival
      • Sic’ Em has been redesigned – Kill Command has a 15% chance to reset the cooldown of Kill Shot, make it usable on targets regardless of Health, and strike up to 2 additional targets. This chance is doubled during Coordinated Assault.
      • Coordinated Assault initial damage increased by 60%.
      • Coordinated Assault has been redesigned – You and your pet charge your enemy, striking them for combined Physical damage. You and your pet’s bond is then strengthened for 20 seconds, causing you and your pet to deal 20% increased damage. While Coordinated Assault is active, Kill Command’s chance to reset its cooldown is increased by 15%.
        • Developer’s note: Coordinated Assault’s previous iterations have been disproportionately complex relative to its output. Our goal with these changes is to simplify Coordinated Assault’s effects, increase the power gain from Coordinated Assault, and disjoint it from Kill Shot so that you can opt-in to Kill Shot bonuses as you see fit. We also believe that the increased Kill Command reset chance will be more broadly appealing with the new talents introduced in the Survival update.
      • Symbiotic Adrenaline has been updated – Additionally causes Coordinated Assault to grant 3 stacks of Tip of the Spear.
      • Quick Shot has been updated – Now has a 30% chance to fire an Arcane Shot when you cast Kill Command (was when Kill Command reset).
      • Butchery damage increased by 100%.
      • Flanking Strike now replaces Kill Command after casting Kill Command 3 times.
      • Flanking Strike range increased to 25 yards (Medium-Short range).
      • Flanking Strike no longer benefits from Tip of the Spear and now generates 15 Focus.
      • Flanker’s Advantage no longer grants additional reset chance based on your critical strike.
        • This effect also had a bug that was causing you to roll for Kill Command resets twice per cast of Kill Command, which was creating substantially increased Kill Command resets.
      • Mongoose Fury now refreshes its duration when a new stack is applied.
      • Mongoose Fury max stacks reduced to 3 (was 5).
      • Mongoose Fury duration reduced to 10 seconds .
        • Developer’s note: The previous design of Mongoose Fury was rewarding you for pressing nothing but Mongoose Bite in your damage window while the new Tip of the Spear is asking you to weave in Kill Commands. These two designs were pulling your rotation in two separate directions, and these adjustments should help to harmonize these two mechanics.
      • Wildfire Infusion’s Kill Command reset chance reduced to 10% (was 15%).
      • Wildfire Infusion’s Wildfire Bomb cooldown reduction reduced to 0.5 seconds (was 1 second).
        • Developer’s note – We’re still making adjustments to Survival’s action economy and reducing how crowded the rotation feels. Part of this is reducing the increased access of Wildfire Bomb from the various spec tree changes we’ve made, particularly through Wildfire Infusion.
      • Many effects that were consuming multiple stacks of Tip of the Spear have been fixed.
      • Spearhead now only makes your pet charge.
      • Spearhead description updated.
      • Spearhead visuals and sound effects updated.
  • MAGE
    • Hero Talents
      • Spellslinger (Frost/Arcane)
        • Slippery Slinging has been updated – Now also grants 40% move speed during Evocation (only if Slipstream is talented).
        • Fixed an issue where over-capping on Splinters would cause Splinterstorm to lower its cast threshold.
        • Frost
          • Frost Splinters now scale with Frost’s Mastery.
      • Sunfury (Arcane/Fire)
        • Spellfire Sphere and Lingering Embers spell damage bonus for Fire Mages decreased to 1% (was 2%).
        • Lingering Embers no longer has a stack limit.
        • Burden of Power Pyroblast damage bonus reduced to 15% (was 30%).
        • Memory of Al’ar’s Hyperthermia base duration reduced to 2 seconds (was 3 seconds).
    • Arcane
      • Many talents have been moved across all gates.
      • New Talent: Consortium’s Bauble – Reduces Arcane Blast’s mana cost by 3% and increases its damage by 3%.
      • New Talent: Resonant Orbs – Arcane Orb damage increased by 10%.
      • New Talent: Dematerialize – Spells empowered by Nether Precision cause their target to suffer an additional 8% of the damage dealt over 6 seconds.
      • New Talent: Energy Reconstitution – Damage from Dematerialize has a small chance to conjure an Arcane Explosion at 50% effectiveness at its target’s location. Arcane Explosions conjured this way do not generate Arcane Charges.
      • New Talent: Big Brained – Gaining Clearcasting increases your Intellect by 1% for 8 seconds. Multiple instances may overlap.
      • New Talent: Static Cloud – Each time you cast Arcane Explosion, its damage is increases by 25%. Bonus resets upon reaching 100% damage.
      • New Talent: High Voltage – Damage from Arcane Missiles has a 20% chance to grant you 1 Arcane Charge. Chance is increased by 5% every time your Arcane Missiles fails to grant an Arcane Charge.
      • Arcane Orb is now baseline.
      • Arcane Blast damage increased by 10%.
      • Baseline Clearcasting proc chance reduced to 8% (was 10%).
        • Developer’s note: It is currently too easy to acquire more Clearcasting stacks than you know what to do with. We’re going to continue to watch Clearcasting proc rates and adjust accordingly.
      • Clearcasting now utilizes bad luck protection instead of true randomness.
      • Improved Arcane Missiles damage bonus reduced to 5% (was 10%).
      • Crackling Energy damage bonus reduced to 5% (was 10%).
    • Fire
      • Pyromaniac proc chance reduced to 6% (was 8%).
      • Improved Scorch damage bonus increased to 6% (was 5%).
      • Pyromaniac Pyroblast and Flamestrike now echo at 50% effectiveness (was 100%).
      • Molten Fury damage bonus decreased to 7% (was 8%).
      • Phoenix Reborn damage bonus decreased to 100% (was 200%).
      • Ashen Feather damage bonus reduced to 50% (was 100%).
      • Ashen Feather Ignite bonus reduced to 50% (was 25%).
      • Developer’s note: We’re cleaning up the Living Bomb talents. Our goal with these changes is to increase the appeal of Gate 3 Living Bomb talents. We still expect Living Bomb to be fairly appealing in single target and low-cleave situations, since the damage decrease from the following changes in low-target contexts is marginal, and we will be watching it closely.
      • Living Bomb implementation has been refactored and many bugs have been fixed.
      • Living Bomb now applies Ignite.
      • Living Bomb now spreads to 3 targets (was 5).
      • The wording of many Lit Fuse proc chance increase talents has been changed.
      • Lit Fuse proc chance increased to 15% (was 10%).
      • Lit Fuse now applies 1 Living Bomb (was 3).
      • Explosivo has been updated – Now increases Living Bomb’s damage by 50% while under the effects of Combustion. Chance of gaining Lit Fuse is increased by 30% while under the effects of Combustion.
      • Blast Zone has been updated – Lit Fuse now turns up to 3 targets into Living Bombs. Living Bombs can now spread to 5 enemies.
      • Explosive Ingenuity now increases Living Bomb’s damage by 25% (was 50%).
      • Sparking Cinders now separately increases Pyroblast and Flamestrike’s damage, now 10% and 20% respectively.
      • Sparking Cinders now triggers 2 times per minute, scaling with Haste (was 3).
    • Frost
      • Death’s Chill has been updated – While Icy Veins is active, damaging an enemy with Frostbolt increases spell damage by 2%. Stacks up to 10 times.
        • Developer’s note: We’re increasing the ramp of Death’s Chill and giving it a stack limit so that you can comfortably switch off of Frostbolt after reaching max stacks.
      • Fractured Frost has been updated – While Icy Veins is active, your Frostbolts hit up to 2 additional targets and deal 15% increased damage.
      • Ice Lance damage increased by 12%.
  • MONK
    • Hero Talents
      • Shado-Pan (Windwalker/Brewmaster)
        • Damage required to accumulate a Flurry Charge increased.
          • Developer’s note: We’re happy with the change to Attack Power as the primary driver for Flurry Charge generation, but the current tuning was generating charges too quickly and leaving little room for skilled player to differentiate themselves. We will continue to keep a close eye on this and appreciate your feedback.
    • Brewmaster
      • Fundamental Observation has been removed.
    • Mistweaver
      • Fixed an issue that caused Gust of Mist’s healing to not be increased as intended.
  • PALADIN
    • Hero Talents
      • Lightsmith (Holy/Protection)
        • Sacred Weapon damage increased by 60%.
        • Sacred Weapon healing increased by 50%.
        • Divine Guidance damage and healing increased by 100%.
        • Blessing of the Forge echo values brought into alignment with originating spells:
          • Light of Dawn echo reduced.
          • Denounce echo increased.
          • Shield of the Righteous echo increased.
          • Word of Glory echo increase.
        • Hammer and Anvil damage and healing increased by 50%.
      • Templar (Retribution/Protection)
        • Sacrosanct Crusade has been redesigned – Eye of Tyr/Wake of Ashes surrounds you with a Holy barrier for 15/20% of your maximum health. Hammer of Light heals you for 15/20% of your maximum health, increased by 2/2% for each additional target hit. Any overhealing done with this effect gets converted into a Holy barrier instead.
        • An issue with free Hammer of Light casts consuming Divine Purpose proc has been resolved.
    • Holy
      • New Talent: Extrication – Word of Glory and Light of Dawn gain up to 30% additional chance to critically strike, based on their target’s current health. Lower health targets are more likely to be critically struck.
      • New Talent: Liberation – Word of Glory and Light of Dawn have a chance equal to your Haste to reduce the cost of your next Holy Light, Crusader Strike, or Judgment.
      • New Talent: Truth Prevails – Judgment heals you and its mana cost is reduced by 30%. 50% of overhealing from this effect is transferred onto 2 allies within 40 yards.
      • Glistening Radiance has been redesigned – Spending Holy Power has a 25% chance to trigger Saved by the Light’s absorb effect at 30% effectiveness without activating its cooldown.
      • Light’s Protection has been redesigned – Allies with Beacon of Light receive 5% less damage.
      • Overflowing Light has been redesigned – 15% of Holy Shock’s overhealing is converted into an absorb shield. The shield amount cannot exceed 10% of your max health.
      • Rising Sunlight has been redesigned – After casting Avenging Wrath, your next 2 Holy Shocks cast 2 additional times. After casting Divine Toll, your next 2 Holy Shocks cast 2 additional times.
      • Glorious Dawn has been redesigned – Holy Shock has a 12% chance to refund a charge when cast and its healing is increased by 10%.
      • Several talent locations have been moved.
      • The following talents have been removed:
        • Glimmer of Light
        • Daybreak
    • Retribution
      • Divine Wrath now extends the duration of Radiant Glory separately. New Tooltip – Increases the duration of Avenging Wrath and Crusade by 3 seconds, and Radiant Glory by 1.5 seconds.
      • Divine Wrath no longer extends the duration of Radiant Glory.
      • Vanguard of Justice has been updated – Enemies hit by other Holy Power spending abilities take 30% increased damage from your next Divine Storm stacking up to 3/5 times. 2-point talent.
      • Judge, Jury and Executioner has been updated – Holy Power generating abilities have a 15% chance to cause your next Templar’s Verdict to hit an additional 3 enemies at 100% effectiveness (was triggering from Divine Storm and was 40% chance).
      • Judge, Jury and Executioner no longer highlights Templar’s Verdict but instead has a UI overlay.
      • Templar Slash damage over time debuff is no longer displayed in the personal nameplates.
  • PRIEST
    • Hero Talents
      • Oracle (Holy/Discipline)
        • Preventive Measures now also increases damage dealt by Penance, Holy Fire, Smite, and Holy Nova by 15%.
  • ROGUE
    • Hero Talents
      • Deathstalker (Assassination/Subtlety)
        • Flensing Knives has been removed and replaced by Fatal Intent.
        • New Talent: Fatal Intent – Your damaging abilities against enemies above 20% health have a very high chance to apply Fatal Intent. When an enemy falls below 20% health, Fatal Intent inflicts Plague damage per stack.
        • Deathstalker’s Mark has had the following updates:
          • Can no longer be re-applied if the target has a Deathstalker’s Mark.
          • Duration increased to 60 seconds (was 30 seconds).
          • Now again applies 3 stacks (was 2).
          • Plague damage on consuming a Mark has been increased by 16.5%.
          • Next ability damage on consuming a Mark has been increased by 20%.
        • Fixed an issue that caused Eviscerates and Envenoms empowered by Darkest Night to deal less damage than intended.
        • Darkest Night is now granted to the Rogue when a target with Deathstalker’s Mark dies.
      • Fatebound (Assassination/Outlaw)
        • Hand of Fate has had the following updates:
          • Streak buffs now have a duration of 15 seconds (was unlimited).
          • Heads buff now increases damage by 3% (was 5%) plus an additional 1% per stack.
          • Tails base damage increased by 72%.
          • Tails buff now increases its damage by 10% per stack (was 20%).
        • Fateful Ending has had the following updates:
          • Lucky Coin buff now increases Agility by 7% (was all primary/secondary/tertiary stats by 1%).
          • Lucky Coin out-of-combat timer increased to 15 seconds (was 10 seconds).
          • Lucky Coin now deals Cosmic damage (170% of Tails’ base damage) to your target if you already have the Lucky Coin buff upon flipping the same face for the seventh time in a row.
        • Fate Intertwined now duplicates 20% of Dispatch/Envenom critical damage (was 15%).
  • SHAMAN
    • Hero Talents
      • Totemic (Enhancement/Restoration)
        • Surging Totem is now cast at a destination within 40 yards. For Enhancement, it creates Tremors around itself every 6 seconds for the duration, and for Restoration maintains Healing Rain around itself for 24 seconds. Totemic Projection can be used to move the Totem and its effects and it will be prioritized as the central totem.
  • WARLOCK
    • Hero Talents
      • Soul Harvester (Demonology/Affliction)
        • Shadow of Death has been redesigned – Your demonic soul lures lost spirits to you, granting you a Succulent Soul every 30 seconds while in combat. In addition, your demonic soul empowers your Soul Rot/Summon Demonic Tyrant causing it to grant 2 Succulent Souls when cast.
        • Sataiel’s Ambition has been renamed to Wicked Reaping.
        • Mantle of the Harvester has been renamed to Sataiel’s Volition.
    • Affliction
      • The chance for Ravenous Afflictions to activate has been increased.
    • Destruction
      • Summon Infernal now paths to Eradication and to Reverse Entropy/Internal Combustion.
  • WARRIOR
    • Blood and Thunder talent removed.
    • Thunder Clap will now apply Rend by default if it is known.
    • Crackling Thunder no longer increases Thunder Clap damage.
    • Champion’s Might now causes you to deal 25% increased critical strike damage to targets chained to your Spear.
      • This critical damage bonus is now additive instead of multiplicative, matching other similar effects.
    • Piercing Challenge now increases all damage dealt by Champion’s Spear (was only initial damage).
    • Uproar now reduces the cooldown of Thunderous Roar by 45 seconds (was 30 seconds).
    • Fixed an issue that caused Rallying Cry to increase maximum health by 15% instead of the intended 10%.
    • Hero Talents
      • Colossus (Protection/Arms)
        • Protection
          • Revenge now generates a stack of Colossal Might when it hits 3 or more targets.
      • Mountain Thane (Protection/Fury)
        • Keep Your Feet on the Ground no longer increases your Armor and instead reduces Physical damage taken by 2%.
      • Slayer (Fury/Arms)
        • Opportunist now increases the damage and critical strike damage of your next Overpower by 15% (was 10%).
    • Arms
      • All ability damage increased by 30%.
      • Overpower damage increased by an additional 20%.
    • Fury
      • Anger Management now reduces cooldowns by 1 second per 30 Rage spent (was 20 Rage).
      • Anger Management now reduces cooldowns by 1 second per 20 Rage spent (was 30 Rage, this reverts a recent change).
      • All ability damage increased by 30%.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

  • WARBANDS
    • Honor can be transferred between characters at a 80% conversion rate.
  • CLASSES
    • MAGE
      • Fire
        • Blazing Barrier’s effectiveness is no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 75% effective).
        • Unleashed Inferno is now 30% effective in PvP combat (was 20%).
    • MONK
      • Brewmaster
        • Charred Passions is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 0%).
        • Elusive Footwork is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 50%).
        • Niuzao’s Training is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 50%).
      • Mistweaver
        • Enveloping Breath is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 111%).
        • Invigorating Mists is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 112%).
        • Soothing Mist is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 115%).
      • Windwalker
        • Rising Star’s critical strike damage is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 50%).
  • REWARDS
    • Throngus’s Finger dodge effect may now trigger from parrying, blocking or dodging attacks (was parry only). Dodge effect duration increased to 20 seconds and increased significantly.
    • Developer’s note: Greetings folks! We would like to provide some insight as to how crafting and sockets integrate with PvP.
      • To replace the removal of sockets from the Great Vault, a new item called the Vicious Jeweler’s Setting will be purchasable from a vendor at a cost of Honor and Bloodstones. This item will allow you to put a socket on any piece of PvP equipment that is eligible to have a socket, and rings and necklaces can have up to two sockets like the PvE counterpart. Note that the Jewelcrafting version of the socketer is not compatible with PvP equipment. We would like for the journey to full gems on PvP gear to be meaningful but effort-gated rather than time-gated, and intend for the cost to be roughly comparable to the effort required were this still sourced from
        the Great Vault.
      • Additionally, this item can occasionally drop from end-of-match victory boxes with a much higher chance to drop from certain War Mode activities.
      • Crafted PvP gear is receiving a few updates as well. In Dragonflight Season 2, we added Optional Reagents that allowed you to enhance any piece of crafted Spark equipment with Honor or Conquest item level. This allowed for much greater stat customization and enabled most crafted embellishments to exist as options within the PvP ecosystem. Unfortunately, this came with the downside of being gated by the acquisition of your bi-weekly Crafting Sparks which ultimately slowed down the ability to acquire and use this gear and proved to be an obstacle in gearing simultaneously for PvP and PvE content. Finally, the seasonal nature of our starter PvP gear resulted in a flood of largely duplicate recipes.
      • In The War Within, we’re working to smooth out these rough edges through the following changes:
        • Crafted PvP recipes will now be primarily sourced through a vendor at a heavy cost of Honor. These recipes will continue to drop from victory boxes, but at a much lower rate.
        • Regardless of how you acquire them, the recipes are not Bind on Pickup and can be sold or traded to other players.
        • These recipes are evergreen for the expansion, and you will not need to collect a full suite of recipes season over season.
        • What was previously optional reagents are now required reagents that function similarly to the spark. You can purchase these with Honor and Conquest just as before, and each recipe will require a quantity equivalent in cost to what the vendor offers for that slot. Essentially, if you have the currency, you can choose to craft PvP gear.
        • The “Starter” set of crafted PvP gear will remain BoE and the reagent used to craft it will drop in high quantities from victory boxes and is also tradeable. You will be able to purchase this reagent with honor as well, though at a slightly higher cost to Honor gear due to its tradability.
        • When we enter a new season, this set of reagents will no longer be obtainable and a new set with updated item levels will take their place. As usual, you can Recraft these to higher item levels once you acquire the reagents necessary.
    • Raid Rewards
      • Treacherous Transmitter has had the following updates:
        • Effect reworked to be triggered on use with a 1 minute cooldown.
          • Developer’s note: Completing a random task at random times proved more disruptive than intended. Players may now decide the optimal moment to continue working on their shadowy benefactor’s behalf. Nothing bad ever happened from listening to voices in the darkness, so why stop now?
        • Fixed several bugs related to the trigger tasks.
      • Mad Queen’s Mandate has had the following updates:
        • Now castable while moving.
        • Periodic healing effect can now critically heal.
        • Fixed an issue preventing the heal effect from triggering when the target was killed by the trinket.
      • Skyterror’s Corrosive Organ primary target periodic and splash damage effects may now critically strike.
      • Swarmlord’s Authority has had the following updates:
        • Absorb amount and duration increased; damage decreased.
        • Fixed an issue that could cause the absorb shield to reach unintended values and affect client stability
        • Scarabs now properly grant absorb value if they killed the target.
      • Spymaster’s Web’s Spying spiders now grant Intellect if the triggering spell killed the target.
      • Key to the Unseeming now grants Haste and Mastery (was Critical Strike and Versatility).

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

  • CHARACTER SELECT SCREEN
    • Screen now displays up to four characters from your Warband at once. Characters can be reordered or moved in and out of the scene via the character list panel.
    • Characters are clickable and rotatable within the scene.
    • Hovering over characters will provide more information about that character, including class specialization, professions, and more.
    • A search field has been added to the character list panel to easily find your characters.
    • Artwork updates and clarity improvements have been made to game service menus.
  • The number of character macro slots has increased to 30 (was 18).
  • A map legend has been added to the main map next to the pin and filter options.

Affix System Updates in The War Within, Mythic+ Testing – 25 June – 2 July

Quote from: Blizzard

Greetings, dungeoneers!

This week’s Beta update includes major changes to the Mythic Keystone affix system in
The War Within, based on player feedback. Our primary goal with these updates is to refine the Mythic+ experience to better serve a diverse playerbase.

Previously, we approached Mythic Keystones with a one-size-fits-all approach, which proved challenging in striking the right balance and limited our design space.

In this new build, you will see significant shifts in our design philosophy. We recognize the importance of weekly variety for those progressing through the system. However, for players pushing high keys, this variance has sometimes felt restrictive. We’ve also heard your feedback about wanting affixes with both positive and negative effects, as well as a desire for thematic nods similar to past affixes.

This update to the affix system aims to meet those diverse expectations. We’re maintaining the core goals of our last round of changes, but without the limitations of a one-size-fits-all approach. This flexibility allows us to craft a more tailored experience for each of the different playstyles.

Let’s dive into the revamped affix system!

Affix Update Overview

We’re reducing the total number of mechanical affixes on a keystone for players progressing through the system from two to one.

  • The following affixes are being retired for The War Within:
    • Sanguine
    • Bolstering
    • Raging
    • Bursting
  • We’ve heard feedback that applying bonuses unevenly to players feels exclusionary regardless of overall impact. Affixes that were part of the last Mythic Keystone test will no longer apply to keystones:
    • Reckless
    • Focused
    • Attuned
    • Thorned
  • Our one bucket of active affixes for players progressing through the system offers variety along with positive effects for executing these affixes that apply more evenly.
  • We’re reintroducing thematic elements to affixes by invoking Xal’atath in Mythic Keystones with her own set of affixes.
  • We’re utilizing passive affixes to signpost expected increases in player mastery and commensurate rewards as players progress through the Mythic Keystone system.
  • We’re aiming to eliminate “push weeks” by providing a consistent challenge that focuses solely on the dungeon, for players seeking to advance deeper into the Mythic Keystone system for scores and titles.

New Affixes

Starting at keystone level +2, Xal’atath herself will manifest in dungeons, introducing a rotation of affixes under the banner of “Xal’atath’s Bargain.” These affixes not only seek to empower the dungeon’s denizens, but also grant players the opportunity to harness their effects.

For our first test this week, we will have two Xal’atath’s Bargain affixes available. One affix is an event that players must deal with periodically while the other affix is a passive effect on creatures throughout the dungeon.

  • Xal’atath’s Bargain: Ascendant
    • While in combat, Xal’atath rains down orbs of cosmic energy that attempt to empower nearby enemies, increasing their Haste and Movement speed. If players disrupt these orbs, they claim this effect for themselves.
  • Xal’atath’s Bargain: Frenzied
    • Non-boss enemies become frenzied at 30% health remaining, increasing their Haste by 40%, but increasing their damage taken by 20%.
  • Starting at keystone level +7, a new affix, Challenger’s Peril, directly affects the dungeon timer. This affix emphasizes precise play and strategic execution, placing
    greater risk on players’ decisions.

    • Challenger’s Peril – Dying subtracts 15 seconds from time remaining rather than 5 seconds.
  • Starting at keystone level +12, a new affix replaces the “Xal’atath’s Bargain” affixes. At this level, Xal’atath revokes her bargains, empowering dungeon creatures with a 20% increase in health and damage.
    • Xal’atath’s Guile – Xal’atath betrays players, revoking her bargains and increasing the health and damage of enemies by 20%.

Fortified and Tyrannical

Fortified and Tyrannical now serve as milestone affixes that alternate between keystone levels +4 and +10 on a weekly rotation. We feel this provides us with clearer points in the system where increases in difficulty and rewards occur. This also affords more distinction between key levels for players progressing through the system and a consistent week-to-week experience for players progressing deeper into the Mythic Keystone system.

Keystone System Summary

Here are examples of what keystones look like under this new model.

  • Keystone levels +2 through +11 have the following affixes:
    • +2 Xal’atath’s Bargain affixes appear on a weekly rotation.
    • +4 Fortified or Tyrannical is active, alternating on a
      weekly rotation.
    • +7 Challenger’s Peril is active on all keystones.
    • +10 Tyrannical or Fortified is active, alternating on a
      weekly rotation.
  • From keystone level +12 and up, keystones have the following
    affixes:

    • Fortified
    • Challenger’s Peril
    • Tyrannical
    • Xal’atath’s Guile replaces the weekly Xal’atath’s Bargain
      affix.

Dungeon Score

We’re evaluating how dungeon scores are granted under this new model.

We believe these changes along with our Heroic and Mythic dungeon changes provide players with ways to engage with dungeons in a setting they prefer. This is a fresh look at Mythic+ and we look forward to your feedback and continuing discussions on these affixes and overall system changes.

We’ll see you in dungeons!

Mythic+ Testing – 25 June – 2 July

Quote from: Blizzard

Greetings!

The War Within dungeon testing begins on PTR realms this week. The test period will begin Tuesday June 25th at 10:00 PDT (13:00 EDT, 19:00 CEST), and end Tuesday July 2nd at 10:00 PDT (13:00 EDT, 19:00 CEST). Please note that the test period may be adjusted in the event of technical difficulties.

The following dungeons are available for testing on Mythic and Mythic+ difficulty:

  • The Stonevault
  • The Dawnbreaker
  • Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
  • City of Threads
  • Grim Batol
  • The Necrotic Wake
  • Mists of Tirna Scithe
  • Siege of Boralus

Some notable dungeon changes for this test:

The Stonevault

  • E.D.N.A – Adjusted ability timing for the encounter
  • Void Speaker Eirich’s Entropy duration reduced from 2 minutes to 90s

Siege of Boralus

  • Scrimshaw Gutters’ Tooth Breaker haste reduction reduced from 35% to 15%
  • Ashvane Sniper’s Ricochet’s additional target damage reduced by 50%
  • Ashvane Invader’s Stinging Venom Coating now has a 3 seconds cooldown
  • Hadal Darkfathom no longer patrols.
  • Viq’Goth no longer spawns additional Demolishing Terrors.

Affixes will rotate daily on beta realms to expedite their testing, there are new affixes ready for testing this week:

  • Xal’atath’s Bargain: Ascendant
    • While in combat, Xal’atath rains down orbs of cosmic energy that attempt to empower nearby enemies, increasing their Haste and Movement speed. If players disrupt these orbs, they claim this effect for themselves.
  • Xal’atath’s Bargain: Frenzied
    • Non-boss enemies become frenzied at 30% health remaining, increasing their Haste by 40%, but increasing their damage taken by 20%.

At +12, the following affixes replace Xal’atath’s Bargain affixes:

  • Xal’atath’s Guile
    • Xal’atath betrays players, revoking her bargains and increasing the health and damage of enemies by 20%.

During the test period you’ll be able to acquire and customize the level and dungeon of Mythic Keystones by talking to the Keystone Vendor in Stormwind or Orgrimmar, and the nearby Dungeon Teleports NPC will assist you with transportation. During testing, players will have their item levels scaled to an appropriate level for the active Keystone level. We look forward to hearing your feedback!

Ignite Your Summer with the Midsummer Fire Festival!

Quote from: Blizzard

Take part in the hottest holiday of the year from June 21 through July 5. The Midsummer Fire Festival brings with it a variety of activities and rewards to light up Azeroth’s summer.

Dragonflight

New This Year

New Skyriding Customization: Cliffside Wylderdrake Armor

When: June 21–July 5
Where: Major Horde and Alliance Cities
Currency: Burning Blossom

“A time of merriment and celebration, dedicated to the hottest season of the year.”

Holiday Event Boss

Use the Group Finder (I) to participate in an encounter against Ahune, granting a Satchel of Chilled Goods (which contains holiday loot) as a daily reward. This is available to characters level 10 and above.

Updated Loot System

We’re changing the way the loot system for the holiday boss drops work. We have increased drop rates significantly for the first boss kill on a single account. Only the first attempt on a single Battle.net account will be eligible to receive the item drop, however. For each subsequent daily attempt on the boss with a single Battle.net account, the chance for the item to drop will increase and continues to accumulate for each failed attempt. This change will allow players to spend less time working to earn a specific dropped item while providing an increasing opportunity to get that item during the holiday.

Daily Quests

Complete special daily quests to obtain experience, gold, and Burning Blossoms to purchase holiday items. For detailed information about the quests, check out the Midsummer Fire Festival guide on Wowhead.

Extinguishing Bonfires Achievements

  • Extinguishing Kalimdor
    Horde: Desecrate the Alliance’s bonfires in Kalimdor: Ashenvale, Azuremyst Isle, Bloodmyst Isle, Darkshore, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Silithus, Southern Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains, Tanaris, Teldrassil, Un’Goro Crater, Winterspring
    Alliance: Desecrate the Horde’s bonfires in Kalimdor: Ashenvale, Azshara, Desloace, Durotar, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Mulgore, Northern Barrens, Silithus, Southern Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains, Tanaris, Un’Goro Crater, Winterspring.
  • Extinguishing Eastern Kingdoms
    Horde: Desecrate the Alliance’s bonfires in Eastern Kingdoms: Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Dun Morogh, Duskwood, Elwynn Forest, Loch Modan, Northern Stranglethorn, Redridge Mountains, Swamp of Sorrows, The Cape of Stranglethorn, The Hinterlands, Western Plaguelands, Westfall, Wetlands.
    Alliance: Desecrate the Horde’s bonfires in Eastern Kingdoms: Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Eversong Woods, Ghostlands, Hillsbrad Foothills, Northern Stranglethorn, Silverpine Forest, Swamp of Sorrows, The Cape of Stranglethorn, The Hinterlands, Tirisfal Glades, Western Plaguelands.
  • Extinguishing Outland
    Horde: Desecrate the Alliance’s bonfires in Outland: Blade’s Edge Mountains, Hellfire Peninsula, Nagrand, Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley, Terokkar Forest, Zangarmarsh.
    Alliance: Desecrate the Horde’s bonfires in Outland: Blade’s Edge Mountains, Hellfire, Peninsula, Nagrand, Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley, Terokkar Forest, Zangarmarsh.
  • Extinguishing Northrend
    Horde: Desecrate the Alliance’s bonfires in Northrend: Dragonblight, Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Sholazar Basin, Storm Peaks, Zul’Drak, Grizzly Hills, Crystalsong Forest.
    Alliance: Desecrate the Horde’s bonfires Northrend: Borean Tundra, Storm Peaks, Zul’Drak, Grizzly Hills, Howling Fjord, Crystalsong Forest, Sholazar Basin, Dragonblight.
  • Extinguishing the Cataclysm: Desecrate the Horde’s/Alliance’s bonfires in zones opened by the cataclysm:
    Twilight Highlands, Uldum
  • Extinguishing Pandaria: Desecrate the Horde’s/Alliance’s bonfire in Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
  • Extinguishing Draenor: Desecrate the Horde’s bonfire in Frostfire Ridge or the Alliance’s bonfire in Shadowmoon Valley.
  • Extinguishing the Broken Isles: Desecrate the Horde’s/Alliances bonfire in Suramar.
  • Extinguishing Kul Tiras
    Horde: Desecrate the Alliance’s bonfires in Kul Tiras: Tiragarde Sound, Stormsong Valley, Drustvar.
  • Extinguish Zandalar:
    Alliance: Desecrate the Horde’s bonfires in Zandalar: Zuldazar, Nazmir, Vol’dun
  • Extinguish the Dragon Isles: Desecrate the bonfires in The Waking Shores, The Azure Span, The Forbidden Reach, Ohn’ahran Plains, Thaldraszus, Zaralek Cavern

Desecration of the Alliance/Desecration of the Horde: Completing the achievements Extinguishing the Cataclysm, Extinguishing Eastern Kingdoms, Extinguishing Kalimdor, Extinguishing Northrend, and Extinguishing Outland will reward the meta-achievement Desecration of the Alliance or Desecration of the Horde. Required for the Flame Keeper/Flame Warden meta-achievement (see below).

Honoring the Flames Achievements

  • Flame Keeper/Warden of Eastern Kingdoms: Honor the flames of Eastern Kingdoms
    Horde: Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Eversong Woods, Ghostlands, Hillsbrad Foothills, Northern Stranglethron, Silverpine Forest, Swamp of Sorrows, The Cape of Stranglethorn, the Hinterlands, Tirisfal Glades, Western Plaguelands
    Alliance: Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Dun Morogh, Duskwood, Elwynn Forest, Loch Modan, Northern Stranglethorn, Redridge Mountains, Swamp of Sorrows, The Cape of Stranglethorn, The Hinterlands, Western Plaguelands, Westfall, Wetlands
  • Flame Keeper/Warden of Kalimdor: Honor the flames of Kalimdor
    Horde: Ashenvale, Azshara, Desolace, Durotar, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Mulgore, Northern Barrens, Silithus, Southern Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains, Tanaris, Un’Goro Crater, Winterspring
    Alliance: Ashenvale, Azuremyst Isle, Bloodmyst Isle, Darkshore, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Silithus, Southern Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains, Tanaris, Teldrassil, Un’Goro Crater, Winterspring
  • Flame Keeper/Warden of Outland: Honor the flames of Outland.
    Horde: Blade’s Edge Mountains, Hellfire Penninsula, Nagrand, Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley, Terokkar Forest, Zangarmarsh
    Alliance: Blade’s Edge Mountains, Hellfire Penninsula, Nagrand, Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley, Terokkar Forest, Zangarmarsh
  • Flame Keeper/Warden of Northrend: Honor the flames of Northrend.
    Horde: Dragonblight, Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Sholazar Basin, Storm Peaks, Zul’Drak, Grizzly Hills, Crystalsong Forest
    Alliance: Dragonblight, Crystalsong Forest, Howling Fjord, Sholazar Basin, Storm Peaks, Zul’Drak, Grizzly Hills, Borean Tundra
  • Flame Keeper/Warden of Cataclysm: Honor the flames of zones opened by the cataclysm.
    Horde: Vashj’ir, Twilight Highlands, Hyjal, Deepholm, Uldum
    Alliance: Uldum, Deepholm, Twilight Highlands, Vashj’ir, Hyjal
  • Flame Keeper/Warden of Pandaria: Honor the flames of Pandaria.
    Horde: Dread Wastes, Jade Forest, Krasarang Wilds, Kun-Lai Summit, Townlong Steppes, Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Valley fo the Four Winds
    Alliance: Dread Wastes, Jade Forest, Krasarang Wilds, Kun-Lai Summit, Townlong Steppes, Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Valley of the Four Winds
  • Flame Keeper of Draenor: Honor the flames of Draenor.
    Horde: Spires of Arak, Talador, Nagrand, Gorgrond, Frostfire Ridge
    Alliance: Spires of Arak, Talador, Nagrand, Gorgrond, Shadowmoon Valley
  • Flame Keeper of the Broken Isles: Honor the flames of the Broken Isles.
    Horde: Azsuna, Val’sharah, Highmountain, Stormheim, Suramar
    Alliance: Azsuna, Val’sharah, Highmountain, Stormheim, Suramar
  • Flame Keeper Zandalar: Honor the flames of Zandalar
    Horde: Zuldazar, Nazmir, Vol’dun
  • Flame Warden of Kul Tiras: Honor the flames of Kul Tiras.
    Alliance: Tiragarde Sound, Stormsong Valley, Drustvar

The Fires of Azeroth: Completing the achievements Flame Keeper of Cataclysm, Flame Keeper of Eastern Kingdoms, Flame Keeper of Kalimdor, Flame Keeper of Northrend, and Flame Keeper of Outland will reward the meta-achievement The Fires of Azeroth. Required for the Flame Keeper/Flame Warden meta-achievement (see below).

Additional Midsummer Fire Festival Achievements

  • Torch Juggler: Juggle 40 torches in 15 seconds in Dalaran.
  • Ice the Frost Lord: Slay Ahune in the Slave Pens.
  • King of the Fire Festival: Complete the quest, “A Thief’s Reward”, by stealing the flames from your enemy’s capital cities.
  • Burning Hot Pole Dance: Dance at the ribbon pole for 60 seconds while wearing the completed Midsummer set.
  • The Fires of Azeroth*

*The achievements The Fires of Azeroth, Desecration of the Alliance/Horde, Burning Hot Pole Dance, Ice the Frost Lord, King of the Fire Festival, and Torch Juggler are required to earn the meta-achievement The Flame Keeper (Horde) or The Flame Warden (Alliance), which grants the title rewards: Flame Keeper (Horde) or Flame Warden (Alliance).

Pets
  • Igneous Flameling: Who’s ready for a hot stone massage?
  • Frigid Frostling: While not nearly as destructive as its original master, the Ice Lord Ahune, the frostling has been known to lob chilly snowballs at unsuspecting adventurers.
  • Spirit of Summer: This little piece of summer smells of warm evenings and lightning storms. If you look closely, you might be able to make out a face.
  • Blazing Cindercrawler: Tiny, incinerated corpses of various insects line its cage.
Summer Wear and Fun
  • Summer Wear: Mantle of the Fire Festival, Vestments of Summer, Sandals of Summer, Helm of the Fire Festival, Tabard of Summer Skies, Tabard of Summer Flames
  • Heirlooms: Ancient Heirloom Armor Casing, Timeworn Heirloom Armor Casing, Weathered Heirloom Armor Casing
  • Toys: Fire Eater’s Hearthstone, Cozy Bonfire, Brazier of Dancing Flames, Set of Matches, Burning Defender’s Medallion, Summer Cranial Skillet, Flamin’ Ring of Flashiness
  • Other: Juggling Torch x5, Fiery Festival Brew, Handful of Summer Petals, Bag of Smorc Ingredients x5, Elderberry Pie x5, Fire-Toasted Bun x5, Midsummer Sausage x5, Toasted Smorc x5

Cataclysm Classic

MidsummerFireFestival2016_WoW_ThumbL_JM_1200x675.jpgWhen: June 21–July 5
Where: Located Capital Cities

Midsummer Fire Festival

Across Azeroth and beyond, brilliant bonfires have been lit to rekindle peoples’ spirits and ward off ancient evils. Each year, new guardians are chosen to watch over the sacred flames and ensure that they are never extinguished.

Called “Flame Keepers” or “Flame Wardens,” these chosen few request the aid of brave adventurers to traverse the land and journey into the dark recesses of Azeroth’s dungeons. It is rumored that any heroes who are willing to brave the terrors placed before them will be rewarded for their efforts through the power of the flames.

Activities

The festivities have begun as the citizens of Azeroth celebrate the hottest of seasons by playing with fire all across their worlds!  Stop by a capital city to begin the event’s main quests. While in each of the capital cities, be on the lookout for enemy players; stealing the flames from capital city bonfires. Through your participation in festival quests, you’ll collect Burning Blossoms, a special holiday currency you’ll spend to purchase various items and pets available from Midsummer suppliers and merchants.

  • Burning Blossoms–By Fire Be Blessed: Complete quests to earn Burning Blossoms then throw them into the bonfires to receive the buff, “Fire Festival of Fury” which increases melee/spell critical chance by 3% for 1 hour.
  • Holiday Boss: The Frost Lord Ahune: Use the Group Finder (I) to participate in an encounter against Ahune, the Frost Lord.  Once Ahune is defeated, you’ll be able to loot a Satchel of Chilled Goods (which contains Justice Points, Burning Blossoms, and a chance of gaining the Frostscythe of Lord Ahune). This is a daily reward available to characters level 84 and above.
  • Dance Around the Ribbon Pole: At every festival camp, one of these traditional decorations stands tall beside the bonfire. Take up one of the multi-colored ribbons and dance around the pole with your friends and fellow celebrants for a 10% experience buff!
  • Stealing The Flames: Members of the Horde and Alliance can visit the bonfires of the opposing faction and steal them, depriving their enemies of the blessings of the fire spirits! Take care, because each side will defend its own flames.
  • Fire Juggling: Speak with the Master Fire Juggler near your capital’s bonfire in order to juggle flaming torches in this daily quest!
  • Fire in the Sky: The lengthy Midsummer Fire Festival traditionally ends with the sky itself being set alight on the last night of the festival. You won’t want to miss it!

Warning: Play with fire at your own risk. Playing with fire could get you burned. Fire is hot. Love is a burning fire. Please don’t fall into the ring of fire. In case of fire, stop, collaborate, and listen . . . then drop and roll. Please enjoy the Midsummer Fire Festival responsibly.

The War Within Beta Development Notes 18 June 2024

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello everyone! Here are this week’s updates to the War Within Beta.

NEW FEATURES

  • WARBANDS
    • Known Issue: A Warband conversion popup may appear when you log in, however Warband conversion is not yet implemented for Beta characters.
  • CROSS-REALM GUILDS
    • Guild functionality has been extended to allow for recruitment and management of Guild members across all realms in their respective regions.
      • Developer’s note: Guild banks are currently restricted to the realm the Guild is located on for initial testing. Guild bank functionality will be included in a future Beta release.
        To facilitate testing we have spun up an additional level-up realm, “Turnip’s Delight”, so players can create Guilds and invite members across multiple realms in their region.

CLASSES

  • DEATH KNIGHT
    • Hero Talents
      • Deathbringer (Blood/Frost)
        • Death’s Bargain renamed to Pact of the Deathbringer.
        • Exterminate now deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.
      • San’layn (Unholy/Blood)
        • Visceral Regeneration renamed and redesigned: Visceral Strength – When Crimson Scourge/Sudden Doom is consumed, you gain 5% Strength for 8/5 seconds.
        • Infliction of Sorrow now deals 100% of the remaining damage of the consumed disease (was 200%).
        • Fixed an issue that prevented Blood Beasts from spawning.
        • Unholy
          • Infliction of Sorrow now only functions with Virulent Plague for Unholy Death Knight.
    • Blood
      • New Talent: Bloodied Blade – Parrying an attack grants you a charge of Bloodied Blade, increasing your Strength by 0.5%, up to 4% for 15 seconds. At 8 stacks, your next parry consumes all charges to unleash a Heart Strike at 200% effectiveness, and increases your Strength by 10% for 6 seconds.
      • Several talents have moved around on the Blood tree.
    • Frost
      • Obliteration now has an additional effect – While Pillar of Frost is active it will now also increase the cost of your Frost Strike by up to 15 Runic Power to deal up to 52.5% additional damage.
    • Unholy
      • Foul Infections now correctly increases disease crit chance by a flat 5% (was previously multiplicative crit chance).
      • Unholy Blight is now passive and now surrounds the ghoul instead of the Death Knight. New Tooltip – Dark Transformation surrounds your ghoul with a vile swarm of insects for 6 seconds, stinging all nearby enemies and infecting them with Virulent Plague and an unholy disease that deals damage over 14 seconds, stacking up to 4 times.
      • Sudden Doom no longer causes Epidemic to burst Festering Wound on targets.
      • When talented into Harbinger of Doom, Sudden Doom now displays the activation overlay images separately, left and right, for each stack.
  • DEMON HUNTER
    • Illuminated Sigils now grants an additional charge only to Sigil of Flame (was all Sigils) and also reduces Sigil of Flame cooldown by 5 seconds.
    • Hero Talents
      • Aldrachi Reaver
        • New Talent: Fury of the Aldrachi – When enhanced by Reaver’s Glaive, Blade Dance/Soul Cleave deals 3 additional glaive slashes to nearby targets. If cast after Chaos Strike/Fracture/Shear, deal 6 slashes instead.
        • Art of the Glaive has been redesigned – Begins a well-practiced pattern of glaivework and enhances your next cast of Chaos Strike and of Blade Dance. The enhanced ability you cast first deals 10% increased damage, and the second deals 20% increased damage.
        • Intent Pursuit has been redesigned – When enhanced by Reaver’s Glaive, Chaos Strike/Fracture/Shear applies Reaver’s Mark which causes the target to take 15% increased damage for 20 seconds. If cast after Blade Dance/Soul Cleave, Reaver’s Mark is increased to 30%.
        • Casting The Hunt allows you to cast Reaver’s Glaive.
        • Incisive Blade always increases Chaos Strike/Soul Cleave damage (was only when enhanced).
        • Adjusted positions of Incisive Blade, Keen Engagement, and Preemptive Strike.
        • Escalation has been removed.
  • DRUID
    • Hero Talents
      • Elune’s Chosen (Balance/Guardian)
        • Moondust now slows enemies by 20% (was 30%).
        • Stellar Command now increases Full Moon damage by 25% (was 15%).
  • EVOKER
    • Hero Talents
      • Chronowarden (Augmentation/Preservation)
        • Temporal Burst now increases Haste, movement speed, and cooldown recovery rate by 30%, decreasing over 30 seconds (was 1% increasing up to 40% over 40 seconds).
      • Scalecommander (Devastation/Augmentation)
        • Unrelenting Siege now increases the damage of Disintegrate/Eruption, Living Flame, and Azure Strike by 1% every second, up to 15%. Stacks are now also used to communicate the value (was Living Flame and Azure Strike stacking up to 50%).
  • HUNTER
    • Trailblazer and Pathfinding have swapped locations in the Hunter class tree.
    • Fixed an issue that was causing Posthaste to only grant 25% movement speed. It now grants 50% movement speed.
    • Fixed an issue that was causing Born to Be Wild to falsely claim to reduce the cooldown of Survival of the Fittest.
    • Hero Talents
      • Sentinel (Survival/Marksmanship)
        • Symphonic Arsenal damage reduced by 40%.
        • Symphonic Arsenal target cap reduced to 5 (was 6).
    • Beast Mastery
      • Thrill of the Hunt now properly stacks up to 3 times.
      • War Orders now properly grants a 50% chance to reset the cooldown of Kill Command.
      • The position of Hunter’s Prey and Wild Call have been swapped.
      • Killer Cobra in Gate 2 has been renamed to Venom’s Bite.
      • Developer’s note: Huntmaster’s Call is providing a substantial amount of damage despite how easy it is to access.
      • Huntmaster’s Call has had the following adjustments:
        • Fenryr’s Ravenous Leap damage reduced by 30%.
        • Hati now increases all pet damage by 8% (was 15%).
        • Hati and Fenryr attack damage has been normalized and reduced.
      • Hunters have new visuals and sound effects when Huntmaster’s Call summons Hati or Fenryr.
      • Kill Command damage increased by 8%.
      • Dire Beast damage increased by 10%.
      • Dire Beast now grants 20 Focus.
    • Survival
      • Harpoon and Aspect of the Eagle are now baseline to Survival Hunter.
      • Fury of the Eagle will now properly benefit from Tip of the Spear.
      • Fury of the Eagle does not consume a stack of Tip of the Spear until the channel ends.
      • Contagious Reagents no longer plays the Serpent Sting animation or audio multiple times.
      • Terms of Engagement is now located where Harpoon used to be on the Survival Spec tree.
      • Exposed Flank has been redesigned – Flanking Strike exposes a weakness in your enemy’s defenses, causing it to strike 2 additional targets at 100% effectiveness and causing Kill Command to hit 2 additional nearby enemies for 10 seconds.
      • Explosive Shot now benefits from and consumes Tip of the Spear.
      • Developer’s note: The following changes are targeted at smoothing out Survival’s rotation, such that you can reasonably maintain a spell priority, aren’t munching procs, and will have to more actively manage your Focus economy. We will continue to read feedback and adjust Survival’s action and focus economy as necessary.
      • Fixed an isasue that was causing Flanker’s Advantage to substantially increase Kill Command’s chance to reset its cooldown and substantially increase Tip of the Spear’s damage bonus.
      • Flanking Strike damage increased by 40%, now costs 20 Focus, and generates 2 stacks of Tip of the Spear.
      • Wildfire Bomb now costs 10 Focus.
      • Explosives Expert now reduces Wildfire Bomb cooldown by 1/2 seconds (was 2/4 seconds).
      • Wildfire Infusion now makes Kill Command reduce the cooldown of Wildfire Bomb by 1 second (was 2 seconds).
      • Grenade Juggler now makes Explosive Shot reduce the cooldown of Wildfire Bomb by 2 seconds (was 4 seconds).
      • Grenade Juggler now causes Wildfire Bomb to have a 25% chance to also fire an Explosive Shot at your target at 100% effectiveness (was 25% chance to reset the cooldown of Explosive Shot).
      • Bombardier now grants two free charges of Explosive Shot after Coordinated Assault ends (used to make Explosive Shot have 0 cooldown and cost 0 Focus for 4 seconds).
  • MAGE
    • Hero Talents
      • Spellslinger (Frost/Arcane)
        • Splintering Orbs updated for Arcane only – The first enemy damaged by your Arcane Orb conjures 4 Arcane Splinters.
        • Spellfrost Teachings updated for Arcane only – Spellfrost Teachings now automatically launches an Arcane Orb when it procs, rather than resetting the cooldown of Arcane Orb.
          • Developer’s note: The difference in effectiveness between Arcane Orb and Frozen Orb in single target versus AOE is stark. These changes should help Arcane Mages to feel as though they’re still getting full benefit out of their Hero Talents in single target relative to Frost Mages, who can much more easily get full benefit.
      • Sunfury (Arcane/Fire)
        • Lessons in Debilitation no longer casts a crowd-controlled spell when you summon your Phoenix.
          • Developer’s note: Mages having access to a free, off global cooldown crowd-controlled spell every time they use their cooldowns was proving to be too problematic in all forms of content.
        • Gravity Lapse now benefits from Time Manipulation in the Mage Class Tree.
          • Fixed an issue that was causing Spellfire Spheres to be removed from players upon starting an encounter.
        • Meteorites will now properly benefit from damage amplification effects and proc on-damage effects.
        • Codex of the Sunstriders has been redesigned – Over its duration, your Arcane Phoenix will consume each of your Spellfire Spheres to cast an exceptional spell. Upon consuming a Spellfire Sphere, your Arcane Phoenix will grant you Lingering Embers, increasing your spell damage by 2%. Stacks up to 5 times.
        • Spellfire Spheres now properly increase periodic spell damage.
        • Arcane
          • Glorious Incandescence has been redesigned – Consuming Burden of Power causes your next cast of Arcane Barrage to grant 4 Arcane Charges and call down a storm of 4 Meteorites on its target.
          • Mana Cascade has been redesigned – Casting Arcane Blast or Arcane Barrage grants you 1% Haste. Stacks up to 10 times. Multiple instances may overlap.
          • Spellfire Spheres are now generated by casting 6 Arcane Blasts or Arcane Barrages (was consuming Clearcasting).
        • Fire
          • Sun King’s Fury-enhanced Pyroblasts and Flamestrikes will correctly grant Combustion when you gain Hyperthermia during the Sun King’s Fury hard-cast.
    • Arcane
      • The position of many nodes on the Arcane spec tree has changed.
        • Developer’s note: We’re making some updates to the Arcane tree this week but some extra talent nodes didn’t quite make the build. Expect to see them in the coming weeks.
      • Nether Munitions has been redesigned – When your Touch of the Magi detonates, it increases the damage all affected targets take from you by 8% for 12 seconds.
      • Improved Touch of the Magi is no longer a choice node with Magi’s Spark.
      • Magi’s Spark and Nether Munitions are now a choice node.
      • Magi’s Spark explosion damage increased by 300%.
      • Magi’s Spark echo damage increased to 100% (was 50%).
      • Magi’s Spark’s explosion will now properly benefit from spell damage amplification effects and will contribute to Touch of the Magi.
      • Arcane Blast damage increased by 10%.
      • Arcane Barrage damage increased by 12%.
      • Arcane Missiles damage increased by 10%.
      • Leydrinker chance to trigger increased to 15% (was 10%).
      • Leydrinker now echoes for 50% damage (was 15%).
      • Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, Supernova, and Shifting Power can now properly generate Clearcasting.
      • Wizened Wit removed.
      • Nerub-ar Palace Class Set
        • (2) Set and (4) Set Bonus updated – Now benefits Arcane Barrage instead of Arcane Explosion.
        • (4) Set Bonus proc chance reduced to 5% (was 10%).
        • (4) Set Bonus damage buff increased to 20% (was 10%).
    • Fire
      • Pyromaniac procs now count as consuming a Hot Streak, and this is now communicated in the talent tooltip.
      • Pyromaniac Flamestrike and Pyroblast echoes can no longer contribute to Hot Streak.
      • Living Bomb damage reduced by 30%.
      • Sparking Cinders damage bonus reduced to 10% (was 15%).
      • Sparking Cinders will now trigger at most 3 times a minute, increased with Haste.
      • Phoenix Flames damage reduced by 10%.
      • Pyroblast damage reduced by 10%.
      • Intensifying Flames Ignite damage bonus reduced to 20% (was 25%).
    • Frost
      • New Talent: Permafrost Lances – Frozen Orb increases Ice Lance’s damage by 15% for 15 seconds.
      • Ice Caller is now located at Snowstorm’s previous location.
      • Fixed an issue that allowed Frost Spellslingers to generate Splinters with other player’s Winter’s Chill.
      • Snowstorm removed.
      • Nerub-ar Palace Class Set
        • (2) Set Bonus has been redesigned – Ice Lance damage increased by 8%.
        • (4) Set Bonus has been redesigned – Damage from Fingers of Frost enhanced Ice Lances invoke a Frigid Pulse, dealing Frost damage to nearby enemies. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.
        • Developer’s note: The previous Frost Mage set bonuses were benefitting Spellslinger far more than Frostfire, which contradicted our stated goals for the 11.0 Tier Sets. We’re glad everyone liked the designs of the previous iterations of the tier sets and are investigating implementing them into the Frost tree.
  • MONK
    • Brewmaster
      • Heightened Guard reduced to 40%.
    • Windwalker
      • Chi Burst has been redesigned – Your damaging spells and abilities have a chance to activate Chi Burst, allowing you to hurl a torrent of Chi energy up to 40 yards forward, dealing Nature damage to all enemies, and healing to the Monk and all allies in its path. Healing and damage reduced beyond 5 targets.
      • Fixed an issue that caused Chi Burst to deal more damage than intended while Storm, Earth, and Fire was active.
  • PALADIN
    • Hero Talents
      • Herald of the Sun (Holy/Retribution)
        • Holy
          • Sun’s Avatar healing reduced by 40%.
          • Dawnlight healing reduced by 20%.
          • Sun’s Avatar now activates 1 Dawnlight when Awakening activates Avenging Wrath (was 4).
          • Second Sunrise can no longer active Divine Purpose.
          • Sun’s Avatar will now always pick players when applying its friendly Dawnlights.
          • Fixed an issue that caused Awakening to stack from Second Sunrise.
          • Fixed an issue that caused Sun’s Avatar to not activate when Awakening extends an Active Avenging Wrath.
        • Retribution
          • Sun’s Avatar now triggers 1 Dawnlight when Avenging Wrath is triggered by Radiant Glory (was 4).
      • Lightsmith (Holy/Protection)
        • Sacred Weapon now deals area of effect damage/healing.
        • Shining Light stacks to a maximum of 2.
    • Holy
      • Divine Favor has been redesigned – Now a passive that triggers automatically after you cast Holy Prism or Barrier of Faith.
      • Several talent locations have moved to facilitate Divine Favor’s choice node moving below Holy Prism’s choice node.
  • PRIEST
    • Cauterizing Shadows can now trigger from enemies dying with Shadow Word: Pain or Purge the Wicked active regardless of the duration of the effect.
    • Added 5% spell variance to Power Word: Shield and Luminous Barrier.
    • Hero Talents
      • Voidweaver (Discipline/Shadow)
        • Void Blast damage reduced by 25%.
    • Discipline
      • Fixed an issue causing Dark Reprimand to consume 2 charges of Premonition of Insight.
    • Holy
      • Fixed an issue causing Holy Fire with Empyreal Blaze active to consume Premonition of Insight.
      • Fixed an issue causing Holy Word: Chastise to consume 2 charges of Premonition of Insight.
    • Shadow
      • Fixed an issue causing the range of Psychic Link to not be increased by Phantom Reach.
  • ROGUE
    • Hero Talents
      • Deathstalker (Assassination/Subtlety)
        • Deathstalker’s Mark damage increased by 100% and it now applies 2 marks baseline (was 3).
        • Hunt Them Down damage increase by 100%.
        • Lingering Darkness increased to 30 seconds.
        • Flensing Knives damage increased by 100%.
        • Darkest Night now grants 40 Energy (was 60), applies 2 stacks of Deathstalker’s Mark (was 3) and its damage has been increased by 100%.
        • Developer’s note: These changes were applied via hotfix during last week’s Beta testing.
  • WARLOCK
    • Hero Talents
      • Diabolist (Destruction/Demonology)
        • The cast time of Infernal Bolt has been increased to 2 seconds (was 1 second).
        • Ruination damage is now reduced beyond 8 targets.
        • Overlord, Mother of Chaos, and Pit Lord are now visible to other players at a reduced scale and will retain their original scale for the summoner.
        • Overlord now charges its target rather than leaps.
        • Mother of Chaos’ Chaos Salvo visual has been updated.
      • Hellcaller (Destruction/Affliction)
        • Seeds of Their Demise has been redesigned for Destruction – Blackened Soul damage increased by 30%. When Blackened Soul deals damage, you have a chance to gain 2 stacks of Flashpoint.
        • Zevrim’s Resilience healing increased by 90%.
      • Soul Harvester (Demonology/Affliction)
        • New Talent: Gorefiend’s Resolve – Targets resurrected with Soulstone resurrect with 40% additional health and 80% additional mana.
        • Spirited Away has been removed.
    • Affliction
      • Death’s Embrace has been redesigned – Increases Drain Life healing by 30% while your health is at or below 35% health. Damage done by your Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, and Malefic Rapture is increased by 10% (was 5%) when your target is at or below 35% health (was 20%).
      • Malediction has been redesigned – Increases the critical strike chance of Agony, Corruption, and Unstable Affliction by 10%.
      • Malign Omen has been moved to row 9.
      • Dark Harvest has been moved to row 10.
    • Demonology
      • Blood Invocation has been redesigned – Power Siphon increases the damage of Demonbolt by an additional 25%.
      • Doom is now passive and has been redesigned – When Demonbolt consumes a Demonic Core it inflicts impending doom upon the target, dealing Shadow damage to enemies within 10 yards of its target after 20 seconds. Damage is reduced beyond 8 targets. Consuming a Demonic Core reduces the duration of Doom by 2 seconds.
      • Impending Doom has been redesigned – Increases the damage of Doom by 30% and Doom summons 1 Wild Imp when it expires.
      • Doom Eternal has been redesigned – Demonic Cores reduce the duration of Doom by an additional 2 seconds.
      • Infernal Presence damage reduced by 50%.
    • Destruction
      • New Talent: Unstable Rifts – Bolts from Dimensional Rift deal 25% of damage dealt to nearby enemies as Fire damage.
      • Chaos Incarnate has been redesigned – Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, and Shadowburn always gain at least 70% of the maximum benefit from your Mastery: Chaotic Energies.
      • Dimension Ripper has been redesigned – Incinerate has a chance to tear open a Dimensional Rift or recharge Dimensional Rift if learned.
      • Raging Demonfire now extends Immolate by 0.5 seconds (was 0.2 seconds).
      • Summon Infernal has been moved to row 6.
      • Crashing Chaos has been moved to row 7.
      • Rain of Chaos has been moved to row 7.
      • Crashing Chaos and Rain of Chaos now share a node.
      • Ruin has been moved to row 8.
      • Dimensional Rift has been moved to row 9.
      • Diabolic Embers has been moved to row 9.
      • Improved Chaos Bolt has been moved to row 9.
      • Dimension Ripper has been moved row 10.
      • Infernal Brand has been removed.
  • WARRIOR
    • Reverted an unintentional change to Intervene’s tooltip.
    • Hero Talents
      • Arms
        • Reap the Storm now also triggers from Cleave for Arms.
    • Arms
      • Blademaster’s Torment has been redesigned – Activating Avatar casts Sweeping Strikes and while Avatar is active the cooldown of Cleave is reduced by 1.5 seconds.
        • Developer’s note: With recent updates to Bladestorm, this talent went from strong synergy to a near-lock-in, particularly for Slayers. Total Bladestorm uptime was also becoming disruptive, so we’ve redesigned this talent to be useful in AOE situations and provide a different rotational cadence during Avatar.
      • Warlord’s Torment tooltip updated with detailed information. No functional changes.
    • Fury
      • Berserker’s Torment tooltip updated with detailed information. No functional changes.
      • Titan’s Torment tooltip updated with detailed information. No functional changes.
      • Odyn’s Fury damage increased by 133% overall.
      • Reckless Abandon now buffs your next Bloodthirst and Raging Blow.
    • Protection
      • Immovable Object tooltip updated with detailed information. No functional changes.

PET BATTLES

  • Added a gossip to Questzertauren so that players can unlock 3 battle pets from The War Within as well as 3 ultimate battle pet training stones to test the new pet battles.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

  • CLASSES
    • DEATH KNIGHT
      • Strangulate (PvP Talent) now overrides Asphyxiate, but its cooldown is decreased to 45 seconds (was 60 seconds), its duration is increased to 5 seconds (was 4 seconds), and its range is increased to 20 yards (was 15 yards).
    • DEMON HUNTER
      • Cleansed by Flame now cleanses 1 magical effect (was all).
    • DRUID
      • New PvP Talent: Tireless Pursuit – For 5 seconds after leaving Cat Form or Travel Form, you retain up to 40% movement speed.
      • High Winds has been redesigned – Increases the range of Cyclone, Typhoon, and Entangling Roots by 5 yards.
    • HUNTER
      • Tranquilizing Darts (PvP Talent) has been removed.
    • MAGE
      • New PvP Talent: Fireheart – Blazing Barrier’s damage is increased by 500%.
      • Flamecannon (PvP Talent) has been removed.
    • MONK
      • Grapple Weapon (PvP Talent) range reduced to 20 yards (was 30 yards).
      • Mistweaver
        • New PvP Talent: Rodeo – Every 3 seconds while Clash if off cooldown, your next Clash can be reactivated immediately to wildly Clash an additional enemy. This effect can stack up to 3 times.
      • Windwalker
        • New PvP Talent: Rodeo – Every 3 seconds while Clash if off cooldown, your next Clash can be reactivated immediately to wildly Clash an additional enemy. This effect can stack up to 3 times.
        • New PvP Talent: Rising Dragon Sweep – Whirling Dragon Punch knocks enemies up into the air and causes them to fall slowly until they reach the ground.
        • The following PvP talents have been removed:
          • Mighty Ox Kick
          • Alpha Tiger
    • PALADIN
      • New PvP Talent: Wrench Evil – Turn Evil’s cast time is reduced by 100%.
      • Judgments of the Pure (PvP Talent) has been removed.
    • SHAMAN
      • Skyfury Totem has been redesigned – Now triggers when casting Primordial Wave (was actively cast).
    • WARLOCK
      • Call Fel Lord damage increased by 80%.
      • Fel Obelisk (PvP Talent) has been removed.
    • WARRIOR
      • Master and Commander now reduces the cooldown of Rallying Cry by 90 seconds (was 60 seconds).
      • Battlefield Commander (PvP Talent) now increases the radius of Piercing Howl by 50% (was root targets for 2 seconds).
      • Death Sentence (PvP Talent) has been removed.
      • Arms
        • Storm of Destruction has been redesigned – Now reduces healing on affected targets by 25% for 10 seconds (was reduce the cooldown of Bladestorm and Ravager).
        • Duel (PvP Talent) duration increased to 12 seconds and its sound effect has been changed to be more noticeable.
      • Fury
        • Enduring Rage (PvP Talent) can now activate Recklessness without Enrage active and the duration of the Recklessness granted has been increased by 1 second.
        • Slaughterhouse now stacks its effect if another healing reduction effect is active and overrides its effect once its effectiveness would surpass the active healing reduction effect or the active healing reduction effect is removed.
        • The following PvP talents have been removed:
          • Bloodrage
          • Storm of Destruction (Fury only)
  • REWARDS
    • Developer’s note: In conjunction with the conquest earned update, we wanted to provide additional context on how players will earn their weapons. In 11.0 Season 1, players can earn a set of Conquest weapons suitable to their specialization without having to spend Conquest. Players can pick up the quest, “Weapons of Conquest” either by entering a Rated PvP match or by going to Dornogal to speak with the Conquest Quartermaster, Lalandi. This quest will task them with earning 2500 Conquest, which is achievable on Week 3 of the season. Players can then complete this quest by speaking with Lalandi. She will give you weapons, shields, and off-hands appropriate for your specialization. After completing this quest, players will be able to use Conquest to purchase weapons from Lalandi as normal.

Warcraft Short Story: “The Lilac and the Stone”

Quote from: Blizzard

Queen Regent Moira Thaurissan is exhausted. Her son, Dagran II, is rapidly coming of age and stands to inherit leadership of both the Dark Iron and Bronzebeard Clans. But Dagran is bookish and odd: He would easily choose the company of his library over leadership. Can Moira inspire her son to take up his birthright, or will her fears for his future—and the future of the clans—prove true?

Among all the great craggy, unfeeling boulders of our people, Dagran was always my flower.

For all the good it ever did him. Or me.

Few can imagine what it costs a gentle soul to grow up a dwarf. It may even be worse than to come into this world saddled with the soul of a daughter instead of a son. That one singular roll of the bones determined much of my life before my fist first found my mother’s braid. My body robbed me blind with its first breath: it was a girl’s, and therefore not what my father wanted.

I am Moira Thaurissan, daughter of Magni Bronzebeard and his bride Eimear, princess of Ironforge, widow to the Dark Iron Emperor, mother to his heir Dagran II, and I have been angry since I was old enough to walk the path set before me. Sometimes, I think my anger will outlive me. That they will close up the earth over my body, and long after I am forgotten, some brutal, black hardened jewel left from my rot will work its way up out of the moss, hissing and spitting and still scalding hot. Maybe they will use it to warm a village somewhere. An eternity of cozy hearths and ready stews fueled by this bitter fury I carried but could never fully satisfy. I like the idea of that.

For a long time, I wore my anger on my chest, glinting like one of the gems on that shield they can’t stop squabbling over. As if it could shield me, as if it could shield anyone. But in time I learned that anger shown is anger wasted. It only puts others on guard, makes them fearful or defiant, pushes them to dig into defensive positions, fuels rumors of madness and whispers of revolt, and blunts its own edge as even fear fades with overuse. So I learned to make that shield gem inside myself, pushing the rage deep down into the caverns of my heart, compressing it into a crusted geode of pain, all so that my husband’s people might like me a bit better. All my mistakes have come from that horrid boiling crushed place inside me. Sometimes . . . I wonder who I might have been without it.

Read and Download the Rest of This Short Story by Catherynne M. Valente