Reminder - We also had the Cho'gall Heroic World First Kill by For The Horde today! Check the dedicated news post for more information!



Patch 4.0.6 PTR Notes - January 14 Update
It's a bird? It's a plane? No! It's another PTR Notes Update! If you're looking for me, I'll be leveling my warlock.

For those of you asking, Honor Trade Goods vendors are on PTRs but they don't have any item for sale, we'll have to wait for the next PTR build to get a list of prices I guess. (or a blue post, maybe)
Originally Posted by Zarhym (Blue Tracker)
Guilds
  • Once a guild hits level 23, the daily cap on experience gained is removed.

Racials
  • The gnomish racial trait Escape Artist now has a 1.5-minute cooldown, down from 1.75. In addition, it is now possible to use and waste this ability when not snared or rooted. This is consistent with other dispels.

Classes
Druid (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Balance
  • Fungal growth duration has been increased to 20 seconds, up from 10. In addition, it should now be much more responsive when detonating Wild Mushrooms.
  • Moonkin Form now grants 15% damage reduction instead of increased armor.
  • Starfall will no longer strike targets that are not in combat and will now drop stars at a slightly faster rate.
  • Wild Mushroom is now instant cast, down from 0.5 seconds. In addition, the radius of detonation has been increased to 6 yards, up from 3, and damage done increased by 30%.

Restoration
  • Disentanglement (new specialization): Causes shapeshifting to remove roots in addition to snares.

Hunter (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Retribution
  • Divine Storm weapon damage percent increased from 80% to 100%.
  • Hand of Light (Mastery): A percentage of the damage done by Templar's Verdict, Crusader Strike, and Divine Storm is done as additional Holy damage. This Mastery now grants a 2.1% increase to Holy damage per mastery, down from 2.5%.

Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
  • Mind Blast damage has been significantly increased. It should be roughly 50% greater than Mind Spike.

Discipline
  • Grace is no longer limited to one target at a time.
  • Penance mana cost has been increased by 7%, but healing has been increased by 20%.

Shadow

Rogue (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Combat
  • Blade Flurry is now a toggle that can be turned off by pressing the button again. In addition, this ability no longer has a fixed duration, but will go on cooldown for 10 seconds after being canceled (similar to Stealth).

Shaman (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

Warlock (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
  • Fel Armor has been redesigned. It now surrounds the caster with fel energy, increasing spell power and causing the warlock to be healed for 3% of any single-target spell damage he or she deals.

Demonology
  • Demonic Aegis now increases the healing effect of Fel Armor by 50/100%.

Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
  • Slam weapon damage percent (at level 80+) has been increased from 125% to 145%.

Fury
  • In addition to its current effects, Bloodsurge now also causes the next Slam to deal 20% more damage.
  • Raging Blow weapon damage percent (at level 80+) has been increased from 110% to 120%.

Professions
Archaeology
  • The sell value of all common artifacts has been doubled, while a small subset of common artifacts have had their sell value increased far beyond that.

Engineering
  • Mystic Cogwheel is a new Engineering Cogwheel gem which provides resilience rating and can be purchased from the Engineering vendor for 55 Honor Points.

Items
  • The Honor Commodities and Justice Commodities Vendors now sell raw tradeskill materials. These are not intended to be a cost-effective source of these materials, but an option for players with lots of Justice or Honor Points who have already purchased all of the gear that interests them.
  • Lich King trinkets with bonus armor values have been adjusted using the new Cataclysm formula, reducing their armor values substantially.

Set Bonuses
  • The PvE hunter 4-piece set bonus has been redesigned. It now reduces the cast time of Steady Shot and Cobra Shot by .2 seconds.
  • All PvP 4-piece bonuses have had their flat stat values cut in half. Primary stats are very powerful in Cataclysm, so much so that players were considering using PvP gear in PvE just because of these primary stat bonuses.
  • PvP hunter bonus change reverted
  • PvP enchants are properly valued and attached to Honor Quartermasters and Tol Barad/Baradin Hold Quartermasters.

Quests & Creatures
  • Chief Engineer Scooty moved from Booty Bay to Grom'gol

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
/cancelauras and addons
The patch note specifically refers to addons. A while back, we blocked addons from automatically (meaning without players pushing a button) removing auras. Our logic was that canceling auras should be a player decision and require player action. To be honest, we don’t want canceling auras to be a huge part of the game period, but it has some niche uses mostly among high-end players and we are okay with that.

In any case, what the patch note refers to is that addons can now cancel auras automatically outside of combat. Outside of combat, players are just using it for convenience and not for any kind of combat benefit. In this sense it is a buff not a nerf, but either way players can still use /cancelaura for their own personal macros – they just have to hit the button.

I'm probably just going to remove the Addon section from the patch notes. Those notes really only make sense to addon authors, and we have a direct line of communication with most of them where we can share any changes from 4.0.6 which may affect how they create/update mods. (Source)

Druid (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Entanglement
The below post is correct. We will share additional information with you regarding our plans for Balance as soon as we can, though it'll probably have to wait until after the holiday weekend.

It's included in Restorations Specialization, meaning when you chose Restoration as your spec. (Source)

Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Making Chakra a Stance
We do see this a lot and understand why players find the idea so appealing -- it'd be incredibly effective to shift effortlessly between AoE or single-target healing at the push of a button. But if we were to go that route, why have Chakra at all? Holy priests might as well have both bonuses as passive effects because there's no real commitment.

The intent of Chakra is that you commit to single-target or AoE healing. It provides a meaningful choice where you need to use your knowledge of an encounter and coordinate with other players, as well as draw upon your experience and gut instinct as a priest. At the same time, it's not a permanent commitment the way choosing between Disc and Holy is locked in during combat. If you picked the wrong Chakra, or the situation changes, you don’t have to wait that long to switch. It’s also possible to use AoE spells during the single-target mode – you’re just not using your full bonus. (Source)

Leaders of the Horde and the Alliance, an Epic Short Fiction Series Continues….
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
King Varian Wrynn, Queen Sylvanas Windrunner, King Genn Greymane, and Trade Prince Gallywix—these are just a few of the leaders who continue to shape Azeroth's destiny. They are the embodiments of their races' strongest traits... and at times their greatest failings. In the coming months, Blizzard Entertainment will be releasing short stories that will peer into the hearts of these legendary heroes and offer insight into what new trials might lie ahead as they lead their people in a world forever changed by the Cataclysm.

The second story of this exciting series, "Lord of His Pack" gazes into the mind of Genn Greymane, the strong-willed king of Gilneas. When his nation falls to the Forsaken, Genn and his fellow citizens set out across the perilous seas to find sanctuary with their night elf allies. It soon becomes apparent that the recent Cataclysm has not only ravaged the lands of Azeroth, but its oceans as well.

In the midst of a great tempest threatening to tear the struggling fleet apart, the events that led to the loss of Genn's kingdom haunt him mercilessly. To weather both storms, Genn must come to terms with his past choices and face their results in his present.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 4.0.6 PTR Notes - January 14 Update started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 90 Comments
  1. Violent's Avatar
    YaY! A Mindblast buff!
  1. Lazertrooper's Avatar
    "Brother druid, help!"

    I thought druids got aquatic form?
  1. Metallikiddd's Avatar
    Don't nerf moonkin armor!!!!
  1. merex760's Avatar
    Ehh. Still no Arcane Mage changes...
  1. Rigrot's Avatar
    Omg that change to Felarmor is epic! I'll be full of sadness if it gets reverted.
  1. Merc4food's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Metallikiddd View Post
    # Moonkin Form now grants 15% damage reduction instead of increased armor.

    This i don't like. Having extra armor helps when you get extra mobs on you and gives you time to CC or barkskin or just run away. Making boomkins squishies is no fun. IDC about this in PvP but in PvE i better have all the survivability in the world. Make it 50% damage reduction and it will be good.

    # Starfall will no longer strike targets that are not in combat and will now drop stars at a slightly faster rate.

    This is a good thing. Popping this can put too many extra mobs on you. This should have been implemented day 1.
    the change from armor to damage reduction will be a increase in the amount of physical damage we take. But with the flat damage reduction that can't be negated by ARP or armor debuffs, also we'll now be taking 15% less magic damage as well.
  1. Veldryn's Avatar
    Oh cool look Kil'jaeden ....just with another model and still the same animation .... zzZZz boring.
  1. Renley's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Boubouille View Post
    As far as I know that was part of an older update, that change was already here on January 12.
    Hm...the blue post has it listed as a Jan 14th update. :|
  1. mmoc70db07e931's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dezplezzed View Post
    Wow, they're really going all out on the Wild Mushroom buffs. Not that I'm complaining.
    Fail spell is still fail.
  1. Pantelija's Avatar
    I was this close --> <--- to putting my warlock on shelf because of original Fel Armor change (+10% max mana idiotic idea) but now after reading :

    Fel Armor has been redesigned. It now surrounds the caster with fel energy, increasing spell power and causing the warlock to be healed for 3% of any single-target spell damage he or she deals. (+100% from talents) i am pleased
  1. Azrile's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azurae View Post
    Fail spell is still fail.
    Mushrooms are a lot like lightwell. It sounds good on paper, but it is just too awkward in most situations to use effectively. Even when I go out of my way to use mushrooms, it just doesn´t feel effective. The problem is that they will end up being ignored for 99% of the game, but because of all the buffs, they will be incredibly useful and OP in very limited circumstances. At some point, you just have too many buttons to push, and mushrooms are two of them.
  1. Arctagon's Avatar
    Paragon has now defeated Cho'gall on heroic mode too. They did it approximately two and a half hour ago. Congratulations to them.
  1. mmoc91b435d3a3's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azrile View Post
    Mushrooms are a lot like lightwell. It sounds good on paper, but it is just too awkward in most situations to use effectively. Even when I go out of my way to use mushrooms, it just doesn´t feel effective. The problem is that they will end up being ignored for 99% of the game, but because of all the buffs, they will be incredibly useful and OP in very limited circumstances. At some point, you just have too many buttons to push, and mushrooms are two of them.
    IMO
    If Blizz make all 3 mushrooms to be single cast (with a CD).Its pointless casting them on 3 diffrent places when you must blow all at the same time.If Mushrooms have auto triger mehanics like hunters traps and alow us to target them so we actually can have some real benefit from Fungal Growth.Then this gona work
  1. mmoc9f45ef5820's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jukaï View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Zoros View Post
    I don't understand Blizzard's purpose with disentaglement for restoration druids.
    A pathetic attempt on their part that tries to make up for/fix something that they never should have even considered in the first place.
    Maybe Blizzards shaved monkeys in charge of PvP were not aware that there's also a Moonkin spec that they are screwing over?
    It's like killing arms warrior PvP because they probably didn't realize that their fail changes to charge put it on DR with itself.
    The nerf frost mages deep freeze damage? This only nerfs PvE damage where frost is already below par.

    Blizzard is so clueless about its own game, it's not funny any more. They should axe Ghostcrawler before this game goes totaly down the drain.
    If I have to read another blog entry by him defending the Tol Barad design I will have to puke
  1. Halfheart's Avatar
    Are they planning on hitting the live servers with this on Tuesday?
  1. Sammonoske's Avatar
    So many Slam buffs, so few Bloodthirst buffs. Not like it is Fury's trademark ability..
  1. Alucard666's Avatar
    don't worry about quitting wow druids...RIFT is coming out soon and it looks very promising!

    ---------- Post added 2011-01-16 at 01:00 PM ----------

    moar mage nerfs plix!
  1. mmoc1b6f342e6e's Avatar
    nice hunter getting buffed!! btw does anyone know when 4.0.6 goes live?
  1. ipoststuff's Avatar
    Love the changes especially divine storm one. I think our aoe will be fine now.
    People who keep saying its still useless should get over wotlk and realize cata isnt aoe fest.
  1. Halfheart's Avatar
    Been trying to find out myself Midge, no response yet

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