Patch 10.1.5 PTR Development Notes

Here are this week’s Fractures in Time PTR notes:

CLASSES

• Developers’ note: We are lowering the effectiveness of all Primordial Stones that deal damage by 40% to increase gearing options for players. We are compensating specific specializations that are commonly using the Onyx Annulet ring for this damage loss. Alongside this, we are reducing the effectiveness of damage to healing spells to maintain similar healing outputs. This will result in an overall increase in Healer damage in content where the Onyx Annulet is not utilized, but we feel there is room for healer damage to increase in this space without overly incentivizing offensive play. See each class section for specifics.
• DEATH KNIGHT
  • Ghouls summoned by Raise Dead now inherit 85% of the Death Knight’s health (was 50%).
  • Death Coil healing increased by 75%.
  • Blood
    • All ability damage increased by 8%.
• DEMON HUNTER
  • Vengeance
    • All ability damage increased by 4%.
• DRUID
  • Rebirth now costs 2% of base mana (was 0%). The cost is unchanged for Guardian Druids in Bear Form.
  • Balance
    • Mana regeneration increased by 100% (was 150%).
  • Feral
    • Mana regeneration increased by 100% (was 150%).
    • Ferocious Bite damage increased by 5%.
    • Dire Fixation now causes your attacks to deal 8% increased damage to your fixated target (was 5%).
    • Primal Claws has been removed.
    • Dire Fixation is located in Primal Claws’ previous location. It is a 1-rank talent.
    • Rampant Ferocity has been redesigned – Ferocious Bite also deals damage per combo point spent to all nearby enemies affected by your Rip. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets. Rampant Ferocity is now also affected by Mastery: Razor Claws.
  • Guardian
    • All ability damage increased by 6%.
  • Restoration
    • All ability damage increased by 25%.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Lifebloom to cost more mana than intended when using the Undergrowth talent.
• EVOKER
  • Developers’ note: In this week’s PTR update, the order of specializations has changed in the talent pane. This will be reverted with the next PTR update, and the order will return to: Devastation, Preservation, Augmentation
  • New Talent: Potent Mana – Source of Magic increases the target’s healing and damage done by 3%.
  • Potent Mana is located in Regenerative Magic’s previous position in row 8, beneath Source of Magic.
  • Regenerative Magic has been redesigned – Now increases your Leech by 3%.
  • Regenerative Magic has moved to row 6, beneath Instinctive Arcana.
  • Draconic Legacy has been reduced to 1 rank (was 2). 1 Rank value is equal to the previous 2 Rank value (6% Stamina).
  • Draconic Legacy’s position swapped with Inherent Resistance.
  • Blast Furnace has been reduced to 1 rank (was 2). 1 Rank value is equal to previous 2 Rank value value (4 seconds).
  • Augmentation
    • Spatial Paradox now increases the range of a friendly healer’s spells by 100% (was increase the range by 40 yards).
    • Mana regeneration increased by 100% (was 150%).
  • Preservation
    • All spell and ability damage increased by 10%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Life-Giver’s Flame now heals for 35/70% of damage done (was 40/80%).
• MAGE
  • Mass Barrier now always casts on nearby players instead of pets or summons.
  • Frost
    • Fixed an issue with Thermal Void’s Ice Lance extending Water Elemental longer than intended.
    • Fixed an issue with Thermal Void’s Glacial Spike not extending Water Elemental.
    • Thermal Void extension with Glacial Spike reduced to 1 second (was 1.5 seconds).
    • Coldest Snap no longer resets the cooldown of Blizzard.
    • Cone of Cold’s cooldown while Coldest Snap is talented can no longer be reduced or reset by Time Manipulation, Shifting Power, or Cold Snap.
    • Mastery: Icicles now also increases Ebonbolt damage. The Mastery scaling for Frozen Orb, Blizzard, and Comet Storm is now separate from the single target spells.
    • Frozen Orb damage reduced by 15%.
    • Glacial Spike cast time increased by .25 seconds and damage reduced by 20%.
      • Developers’ note: After the most recent changes to Glacial Spike scaling with Mastery, we are going to pull back on some of the more recent buffs to Glacial Spikes damage.
    • Freezing Winds now grants Fingers of Frost every 3 seconds (was 2 seconds).
    • Fixed an issue with Freezing Winds not properly staying on the player when multiple Frozen Orbs are cast.
    • Ray of Frost damage increased by 15%.
    • Lonely Winter now increases the damage of Frostbolt, Ice Lance, and Flurry by 15% (was 25%).
    • Slick Ice swapped positions in the tree with Thermal Void.
    • Thermal Void swapped positions in the tree with Slick Ice.
    • Cryopathy damage per stack reduced to 5% (was 8%). Now a choice node with Splintering Ray.
    • New Talent – Splintering Ray: Ray of Frost deals 25% of its damage to 5 nearby enemies. Now a choice node with Cryopathy.
    • Glacial Assault now increases damage enemies take from you by 6% (was 2%). No longer stacks.
    • Glacial Assault duration reduced to 6 seconds (was 10 seconds) and reduced to 1 rank (was 2).
    • Icy Veins Water Elemental no longer increases the damage enemies take from you and instead increases the Frost damage you deal.
    • Icy Veins Frigid Exposure renamed to Frigid Empowerment. Frigid Empowerment increases the Frost damage you deal by 3%, up to 15%.
• MONK
  • Brewmaster
    • New Talent: Press the Advantage – Your auto-attacks reduce the cooldown on your brews by 0.5 seconds and block your target’s chi, dealing additional Nature damage and causing them to take 1% increased damage from your abilities for 10 seconds. Upon reaching 10 stacks, your next cast of Rising Sun Kick or Keg Smash consumes all stacks to strike again at 100% effectiveness. This bonus attack can trigger effects on behalf of Tiger Palm. Replaces Tiger Palm.
      • Bonus attacks from Press the Advantage trigger Chi Surge when talented and have a chance to summon Niuzao, the Black Ox when Call to Arms is talented.
    • Ability damage increased by 7%.
    • Rising Sun Kick and Blackout Kick damage increased by 20%.
    • Tiger Palm and Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox damage increased by 50%.
  • Mistweaver
    • All spell and ability damage increased by 10%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Ancient Teachings now heals for 135% of damage done (was 150%).
    • Font of Life now increases Essence Font’s initial heal by 25% (was static amount).
  • Windwalker
    • All ability damage increased by 2%.
• PALADIN
  • Holy
    • Commanding Light now increases the transfer of Beacon of Light by 10% (was 20%).
    • Glimmer of Light damage increased by 850% (was 1000%).
    • Holy Shock healing increased by 10% (was reduced by 15%).
    • Fading Light now forms an absorb shield based off of 10% of damage or healing dealt (was 20%).
    • Veneration now heals for 180% of damage done (was 250%).
    • Avenging Crusader now activates for 8 seconds through Awakening.
    • Shield of the Righteous now reduces the cooldown of Crusader Strike by 1.5 seconds (was 2 seconds).
    • Daybreak has a new animation.
    • Awakening can now only trigger in combat.
    • Awakening’s stacking buff duration increased to 1 minute (was 30 seconds).
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Judgment from functioning with Fading Light.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Holy Shocks from Rising Sunlight to not cast if the target was over 40 yards away after the initial Holy Shock.
    • All spell and ability damage increased by 10%.
    • Avenging Crusader now heals for 360% of damage done (was 400%).
    • Intercession now costs 2% of base mana (was 0%).
    • Overflowing Light absorb duration is now 8 seconds (was 6 seconds).
  • Protection
    • Word of Glory now costs 10% of base mana.
    • Mana regeneration increased by 100% (was 150%).
    • All Ability damage increased by 4%.
  • Retribution
    • Intercession now costs 2% of base mana (was 0%).
    • Word of Glory now costs 10% of base mana.
    • Mana regeneration increased by 100% (was 150%).
    • Hammer of Wrath now generates Holy Power when cast on Immune targets.
    • Fixed tooltip errors in Jurisdiction.
    • Fixed a tooltip issue with Crusade when applied by Instrument of Retribution.
    • All ability damage increased by 2%.
• PRIEST
  • Discipline
    • All spell and ability damage increased by 10%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Atonement now transfers 36% of all damage (was 40%).
  • Holy
    • All spell and ability damage increased by 10%.
• ROGUE
  • Outlaw
    • Developers’ note: We plan on compensating Outlaw Rogues for the Onyx Annulet adjustment, but we’d like to address Ghostly Strike affecting item damage at the same time. We expect this to be in a future 10.1.5 PTR build.
  • Subtlety
    • All ability damage increased by 4%.
• SHAMAN
  • Elemental
    • Mana regeneration increased by 100% (was 150%).
  • Enhancement
    • Developers’ note: We want to encourage players to replace their Dragonflight Season 1 set with the new Season 2 set and are lowering the Haste value from the Season 1 set. The new Season 2 set has introduced some interactions with Chain Lightning where the spell might be used even on single target encounters, so we are reducing the season 2 set bonus interaction to keep Chain Lightning as a spell to only use when fighting multiple enemies. We are increasing the damage to your core melee attacks, which will boost your damage up to compensate for the tier set value adjustments and make your damage profile less reliant on the Dragonflight set bonuses. The combination of all of these changes should increase your single target damage slightly while keeping AoE damage roughly the same.
    • Stormstrike and Windstrike (Ascendance Stormstrike) damage increased by 20%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Lava Lash damage increased by 20%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Ice Strike damage increased by 20%.
    • Vault of the Incarnates 4-Set bonus has been adjusted – Now grants 0.5% Haste per maelstrom weapon stack consumed (was 1%).
    • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible 4-Set bonus has been adjusted – Next 2 Chain Lightning casts now deal 20% increased damage (was 100%).
    • Mana regeneration increased by 100% (was 150%).
  • Restoration
    • All spell and ability damage increased by 10%.
• WARLOCK
  • Nightmare has been redesigned – Now increases the amount of damage required to break your fear effects by 60%.
  • Demon customizations are now available in the Barbershop after learning the Grimoire.
    • Developers’ note: Sayaad and Infernal customizations will be available in a later PTR build.
• WARRIOR
  • Protection
    • All ability damage increased by 6%.

DUNGEONS AND RAIDS

• Players that have defeated Garrosh Hellscream in Siege of Orgrimmar may now skip directly to The Inner Sanctum on all characters on the account by reading the scroll hanging on the wall near Loremaster Cho at the entrance.
  • Developers’ note: Siege of Orgrimmar is a long, linear raid with a rare mount and plate shoulders held covetously by Garrosh Hellscream, its final boss encounter. We hope that the shortcut implemented here will allow players who’ve experienced this part of the story before to skip directly to the final showdown for a chance at earning those unique collectibles.
• Adjusted boss health in Classic dungeons during Chromie Time.
  • Developers’ note: Health values for some Classic dungeon bosses were scaling incorrectly in Chromie Time. This change brings Chromie Time and the present timeline into better alignment.

ITEMS AND REWARDS

• All Onyx Annulet Primordial Stones that deal damage now deal 40% less damage.
  • Developers’ note: We are lowering the effectiveness of all Primordial Stones that deal damage by 40% to increase ring gearing options for players. We are compensating specific specializations for this damage loss. See each Classes section for specifics.
• Updated some legacy raids to drop bind-on-equip items more often when running them solo.
  • Developers’ note: We found that some legacy raids had a very low BoE drop rate, so this change is to make farming those transmog items easier.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• DEATH KNIGHT
  • Abomination Limb damage is now reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
  • Empower Rune Weapon’s Haste bonus is now 33% effective in PvP combat.
  • Frost
    • Developers’ note: We’re making updates to Frost Death Knights in PvP with the goals of a rewarding the spec for uptime by increasing its overall sustained damage and lowering its reliance on cooldowns.
    • The base Strength increase from Pillar of Frost is now 40% effective in PvP combat (was 60%)
    • The stacking Strength increase from Pillar of Frost is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
    • The Mastery increase from Frostwhelp’s Aid is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
    • The Frost damage increase from Bonegrinder is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
    • The Frost Strike damage increase from Shattering Blade is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
    • The Remorseless Winter damage increase from Gathering Storm is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
    • The Remorseless Winter damage increase from Everfrost is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
    • The Strength increase from Enduring Strength is now 80% effective in PvP combat.
    • Frost Strike damage is now increased by 45% in PvP combat (was 30%).
    • Obliterate damage is now increased by 20% in PvP combat (was 8%).
    • Obliterate damage is now increased by an additional 60% when Killing Machine is not active in PvP combat.
    • Remorseless Winter damage is now increased by 80% in PvP combat.
    • Howling Blast damage is now increased by 30% in PvP combat.
    • Frostscythe damage is now increased by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Glacial Advance damage is now increased by 50% in PvP combat.
  • Unholy
    • Developers’ note: We’re making updates to Unholy Death Knights in PvP with the goals of a damage profile that comes from active gameplay and the spec being less reliant on cooldowns. We’re also making some quality-of-life improvements by removing the PvP reduction on Virulent Plague, increasing pet survivability, and addressing Raise Abomination being a mandatory PvP talent.
    • Raise Abomination has been removed.
    • Army of the Dead is now usable in arena and rated battleground matches.
    • Army of the Dead now summons 4 ghouls instead of 8 in PvP combat.
    • Apocalypse now summons up to 2 Army of the Dead ghouls instead of 4 in PvP combat.
    • Army of the Dead ghoul damage is now increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Ruptured Viscera’s Festering Wound application chance and explosion damage is increased by 100% in PvP combat.
    • Dark Transformation’s damage increase to the Death Knight’s primary pet is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
    • Virulent Plague’s duration is no longer reduced by 45% in PvP combat.
    • Festering Wound damage is now increased by 310% in PvP combat.
    • Death Coil damage is now increased by 125% in PvP combat (was 18%).
    • Scourge Strike damage is now increased by 30% in PvP combat.
    • Clawing Shadows damage increased by 30% in PvP combat.
    • Reaping is now 67% effective in PvP combat.
    • Reanimation now deals 10% of the enemy’s maximum health (was 15%).
    • Unholy Assault Haste bonus is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
• DRUID
  • Restoration
    • Disentanglement now reduces the mana cost of Efflorescence by 25%.
• EVOKER
  • Preservation
    • Life-Giver’s Flame healing increased by 15% in PvP combat.
• MONK
  • Mistweaver
    • Ancient Teachings now heals for 245% more in PvP combat (was 220%).
• PALADIN
  • Holy
    • Denounce damage reduced by 15%.
    • Glimmer of Light damage reduced by 60% (was 50%).
• PRIEST
  • Discipline
    • Atonement is now 67% more effective in PvP combat (was 50%).
• WARLOCK
  • Affliction
    • Rot and Decay now also extends the duration of damage over time effects by 1 second when Oblivion deals damage.