1.0.8 Official Patch Notes

Patch 5.3 - Pet Battle Spectating, Blue Tweets, Riot on Toxic Player Behavior, Fan Art

Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16924
Build 16924 will be deployed to the PTR realms soon.

New Strings
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion



Spell Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Death Knight (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Unholy
  • Unholy Might now increases your Strength by 10%, down from 15%.

Druid (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Guardian

Hunter (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Beast Mastery
  • Exotic Beasts now reduces the cooldown of your Pet Special Abilities by 1%, down from 30%.

Pets
  • Rabid now has a 1.5 min cooldown, down from 2 min.
  • Burrow Attack now has a 14 sec cooldown, down from 20 sec.
  • Sonic Blast now has a 2 min cooldown, up from 1 min.

Mage (Forums, Talent Calculator)

Frost

Paladin (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Protection



Patch 5.3 PTR Notes Update - May 7
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Classes
  • Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
    • Talents
      • Gorefiend's Grasp can now affect a maximum of 4 player targets. The number of non-player targets that can be affected remains unlimited.
    • Unholy

  • Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
    • Talents
      • Cloak and Dagger now requires the Rogue to be in Stealth. Shadow Dance will not remove the Stealth requirement for Cloak and Dagger. has a range of 20 yards, down from 30 yards.
      • Shuriken Toss now deals 100% more damage in the initial ranged attack, damage is no longer doubled when used on targets farther than 10 yards away, and energy cost has been increased to 40 energy, up from 20.
    • Combat
    • Subtlety
      • Find Weakness now bypasses 100% of armor against non-player targets, and bypasses 50% of armor when used against other players (was 70% armor bypass for all targets).

  • Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
    • Talents
      • Blood Horror no longer activates from attacks made by pets.

Quests
  • The Strength of One's Foes: All bosses in Mogu’shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, and Terrace of the Endless Spring now have a chance to drop either a Sigil of Power or Sigil of Wisdom

Pet Battles
  • Battle Pets
    • Tiny Blue Carp, Tiny Green Carp, Tiny Red Carp, and Tiny White Carp are now tradable, and can be caught more than once.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
  • Dungeons
    • Minimum level requirement to enter and equip items found in the following dungeons via Dungeon Finder have been adjusted.
      • Gate of the Setting Sun is now available in Normal difficulty, and accessible to level 89 characters.
      • Grim Batol is now accessible at level 84, down from level 85.
      • Lost City of the Tol'vir is now accessible at level 84, down from level 85.
      • Magisters' Terrace is now accessible at level 68, down from level 70.
      • The Mechanar is now accessible at level 68, down from level 70.

PvP
  • PvP Power conversion ratio to obtain 1% damage at level 90 has been changed from 265 to 400.
  • PvP Items
    • The amount of PvP Power and Resilience on gems have been reduced by 50%.
    • Big Zokk Torquewrench has returned from their leave of absence.
    • Glorious Conquest Quartermasters (Acon Deathwielder, Ethan Natice) have returned after refitting their wares.

Battlegrounds and Arenas
  • To facilitate a more balanced team composition, players now need to select a role when queuing up for a Battleground or Rated Battleground.

Items
  • Justice Heirloom vendors now have Heirloom shields in stock.
  • Kirin Tor and Sunreaver Beacons are now usable from inside the Throne of Thunder.

UI
  • Dungeon Journal has been reorganized. The model view has moved into a sub-tab and replaced with a listing of bosses for the dungeon or raid.

Pet Battle Spectating
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Yea, who needs arena spectating when you've got this
The pet battle spectating is not really "spectating" as such. You do not get to watch players versus other players, you only get to see them when they are fighting a wild pets. Before this change all you would see when a player was battling wild pets was them just standing there idly, now the battle will be visible to outside parties and not just to the player battling the wild pets. This means that the "pet battle spectating" is not really a new system for watching pet battles that had to be developed, it was simply a change to make wild pet battles visible to outside observers.

The same cannot be said for an arena spectating mode though. In order for us to create a system for arena spectating we would need to build a system from the ground up. While the ability to spectate arena matches is something that we would definitely love to implement into World of Warcraft, at this current point we have no plans for it.

Its coded message to PvP community "We dont give a fck about PvP or you, pokemon is all that matters"
That's as far from the truth as it gets, there is loads of new content and changes on its way for PvP in patch 5.3;
  • Balance adjustments/changes
  • New Arena
  • New Battleground
  • Conquest point catch-up system
  • PvP gear changes
  • PvP stat changes
  • Battle fatigue changes
  • And more...

If we did not care for the state or well-being of PvP in World of Warcraft we would say so, however the reality is that we do care for PvP and we are constantly making changes and additions in order to improve it.

Mists of Pandaria Collector’s Edition - Limited Quantity Available
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
If you missed out on getting your own Mists of Pandaria® Collector’s Edition, here’s your second chance. We have a limited quantity in our warehouse that we will be making available on a first-come, first-served basis on the Blizzard Store for $69.99. We won’t be printing any more of these exclusive sets, so pick one up before they disappear into the mists forever.

In addition to an exclusive art book, behind-the-scenes DVD/Blu-ray set, soundtrack, and mouse pad, the World of Warcraft ®: Mists of Pandaria Collector’s Edition includes all the in-game items also found in the Digital Deluxe version. Take a look at the full contents here.

To upgrade your account with the digital items from the Collector’s Edition once you receive your copy, you can log in to Battle.net account management and enter the game key here.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16924, 5.3 Official PTR Notes Update, Pet Battle Spectating started by chaud View original post
Comments 64 Comments
  1. iphigenia's Avatar
    In order for us to create a system for arena spectating we would need to build a system from the ground up. While the ability to spectate arena matches is something that we would definitely love to implement into World of Warcraft, at this current point we have no plans for it.
    This sounds like it's some sort of massive undertaking comparable to rebuilding Tokio, lol. Bunch of private realms already have a system for arena spectating that works brilliantly. It's just the typical case of CBA.
  1. Granyala's Avatar
    wtf?
    quite sure I did both of those at 84 already 2 weeks ago when leveling my shaman
    They are 84 since their creation. But only when you specifically queue. LFD only lets you in there randomly when you're 85.
  1. mmocbd7275b6ea's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by videotape View Post
    And with one simple change, Blizzard has killed the most fun talent ever added to the game. (C&D)
    How is it the most fun talent ever? It is a faceroll ability and promotes bad gameplay.
  1. quras's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Emeraldon View Post
    If you missed out on getting your own Mists of Pandaria® Collector’s Edition, here’s your second chance. We have a limited quantity in our warehouse that we will be making available on a first-come, first-served basis on the Blizzard Store for $69.99. We won’t be printing any more of these exclusive sets, so pick one up before they disappear into the mists forever.

    Sure. They just HAPPEN TO HAVE a few more!

    Give me 5.3 already!
    I find it funny that their trying to push out unsold collectors editions that didn't sale with a nice sale tactic of first come, first serve.

    As if I couldn't go to any of the 3 local Best Buys or either of the two game stops and in town and just grab one off the shelf. Of course there on the bottom and covered up with something more interesting but they are there, collecting dust. Right along with the MOP guide and regular edition.
  1. eldritchforeshadow's Avatar
    So what will this BM nerf reduction from 30% to 1% do? Sorry for being confused.
  1. inyu's Avatar
    I hope that exotic beast change is just a typo... wouldn't make any sense apply 1% cd reduction.
  1. raffie's Avatar
    I came here for frost nerf QQ
  1. CaptainArlong's Avatar
    Oh that's cute, Blizzard thinks the MoP CE is rare. The local EB still has them in stock, along with Diablo 3 CE and Cataclysm CE.
  1. wxcopy's Avatar
    Did they really need to adjust UH DK's? I get the impression they just tweak numbers for no real reason. It's not like the forums are howling with how OP UH's are, for example.
  1. Alayea's Avatar
    My PvE BM hunter is sad.
  1. lifetapt's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by iphigenia View Post
    This sounds like it's some sort of massive undertaking comparable to rebuilding Tokio, lol. Bunch of private realms already have a system for arena spectating that works brilliantly. It's just the typical case of CBA.
    Except it would be a huge undertaking. Enormous. It'd probably be a project on the same scale as cross-realm zones, likely larger.

    The spectator mode you see on private servers is a really ghetto jerry-rigged setup that simply sticks spectators in the actual arena instance as invisible players. All movement/combat events the server is processing for the match have to be dispatched to each spectator in real-time, which would increase load on the server and possibly make matches lag for the combatants if there are a lot of people watching. Additionally, there is no time delay to prevent cheating, and it's impossible to implement one since the server "forgets" about events as soon as it has processed them. Blizzard will never implement a spectator mode in this way.

    Practically every other MMO/FPS/RTS/MOBA/whatever that has a spectator mode does it in the same way. Events from a match are recorded as a "replay" and then played back to spectators at a later time. This allows spectators to pause, resume, rewind, and fast forward through a match, because the server has a record of what happened during the match. There can also be a time delay to prevent cheating. Additionally, the replay is almost certainly being hosted and processed by a separate server dedicated to nothing but spectator mode, so even if there are 100 people watching and the server is lagging, the original arena match was still only processing events for the six combatants (plus of course whatever other arenas were running at the time on that server).

    This system is much more flexible and less open to abuse/lag, but it is way more work. Every single action has to be recorded to make sure an accurate replay can be played back later, anything that is random (damage values, crits, procs, dodges, fear pathing, etc.) needs to play out the same way. For something like an RTS this isn't so bad because of the peer-to-peer lockstep model they typically use, and it is fairly easy to generate a replay that plays out exactly the same every time simply by recording player input and keeping RNG synchronized (with the downside that you usually . For an MMO this is a much bigger challenge, and simply recording player input may not be enough to create a deterministic replay due to latency or other influences (as described above, there's a lot more randomness to account for in an MMORPG). It's not impossible for an MMO (GW1 and 2 do it), but they generally have to be made with it in mind from the start. Shoehorning this into 8 year server software will be a challenge.

    I would freaking love a spectator mode, but I also realize that it IS a ton of work. And on top of that, it's something many, many players will never even touch. And on top of that, many of those who do won't think of it as much more than a neat toy. I just don't see it happening anytime even remotely soon, if it ever even happens at all.
  1. Rolly's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Alayea View Post
    My PvE BM hunter is sad.
    Mine too, getting really really tired of pve nerfs because of pvp.
  1. Tarx's Avatar
    My BM hunter too, one more reason to leave this game....
  1. Prokne's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Hooky View Post
    wait...if you decrease the cd on pet special abilities, doesn't that mean they'll be giving buffs to parties/raids a lot less frequently? why do that? wouldn't that cause raid leaders in the hardercore-end of raiding to not choose hunters, if they can fill a spot with someone who gives a buff?
    The buff abilities already refresh before they expire. Besides MM and Surv hunters dont have a problem with raid buffs.

    ---------- Post added 2013-05-09 at 12:02 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Rolly View Post
    Mine too, getting really really tired of pve nerfs because of pvp.
    My MM/Surv hunter is tired of not being buffed because BM is op too. I would rather they were buffed to bring them up to BM intead of nerfing BM to make it more in line with the rest of the specs. Although they are reducing the CD on rabid so thats a buff.
  1. Grizzly UK's Avatar
    Will all these "Balance adjustments/changes" for PvP that are coming in 5.3 end up having a negative effect on PvE gameplay? If so then I guess patch 5.4 will be including some PvE "Balance adjustments/changes".
  1. mmoce0c5a3bad5's Avatar
    GG Blizzard, you made Cloak and Dagger completely useless talent. At least you lost 1.3 subscribers, take that sh*t scrubs.
  1. brothernads's Avatar
    Anyone know whether this build is marked as a release candidate?

    I had thought 5.3 was going live next Tuesday 5/14 - but without a release candidate yet, I'm beginning to doubt it.
  1. Tomana's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by brothernads View Post
    I had thought 5.3 was going live next Tuesday 5/14 - but without a release candidate yet, I'm beginning to doubt it.
    They want it to go live this month, but it probably won't be on the 14th. More like 21st or 28th
  1. mmocbb53a414bf's Avatar
    great work
  1. Lumineus's Avatar
    WoW, they really took the piss out of Unholy. Not that it was uncalled for, but yeesh. Even reverted to pre-5.2 it'll probably still be better than Frost, though. Fixing Gary to not be a malfunctioning waste of runic power was a bigger buff than anyone realized.

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