World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

We’re hard at work preparing for the launch of WoW Classic, and we’ve reached the conclusion that we’re not quite yet ready to do our Global Stress Test (previously scheduled for next week). While we’re still on track to launch WoW Classic on August 27, we need a bit more time before this final pre-launch worldwide test.

We’ll have a more definite date Soon™ and we’ll post it here as soon as we do. Thanks for your patience!

The opening post has been updated with the following:

• Cone of Cold is behaving consistently with the reference client.
• Arcane Missiles does not put the caster in combat .
• A Hunter’s Frost Trap ground effect will break Rogues out of stealth.
• The Berserking Troll racial ability is behaving as expected and matches the reference client.
• The pet that a Warlock has when initially logging into the game world does not restore a Soul Shard when dismissed by taking a flight path or moving out of range.
• The trigger range on Hunter’s traps are reduced by Stealth when the stealthed player is a similar or higher level than the Hunter.
• Soul Link cannot be dispelled by dispelling the Warlock’s pet.
• A Warlock’s Succubus pet cannot cast spells if they are out of line of sight of the target.
• Manually cancelling Stealth after using Vanish will remove the Vanish buff as well as the Stealth buff.
• Escape Artist has a very small chance to fail when used to escape an effect that has a decreased chance to be dispelled (e.g. a Rogue’s Vile Poisons talent).
• Rogues are not broken out of stealth by Blizzard until they take damage.
• Taunting Hunter pets that are set to Aggressive or Defensive mode will cause them to attack the taunting player.

Hunter concerns:

• Hunter “dead zone” is working as expected and is consistent with the Reference Client
• A wolf pet’s Howl buff is consumed by anything that causes damage, even if it does not benefit from the buff
• A Hunter pet’s Bite and Claw ability damage will not change in the tooltip based on the happiness of the pet. The tooltip will always display the damage as if the pet were Content (yellow). This is consistent with the Reference client
• Traps can sometimes not be triggered if a player moves over them very quickly (i.e. a Warrior’s Charge ability). This behavior is consistent with the Reference client.
• Auto Shot does not make a sound when cast during the animation of Hunter’s Mark and certain other abilities
• Scatter Shot, Wyvern Sting, and Freezing Trap share diminishing returns
• A Hunter’s Frost Trap ground effect will break players out of stealth

Additionally, the wording of the following was modified to be a bit clearer:

• "Melee leeway" is working as intended in both PvE and PvP.

Why ashran for the brawl?
assume the “win condition” for the quest is 4 event wins and an enemy general kill?
We’re working on a hotfix that will make the “Something Different” quest complete in the Classic Ashran brawl when you either win any event, or kill Grand Marshal Tremblade / High Warlord Volrath.

The tool tip for Conflict and Strife says that you need to get conquest cap to get rank one and for rank two you need 1k rating. I hit 1k rating before getting conquest cap so shouldn’t that allow me to skip straight to rank two?

I pose this question because I only got rank one in my pvp chest and from my perspective it’s an error.
Correct. We had a bug, and we’ve now hotfixed it. We’re working to address the issue for players who already opened it. Thank you! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The hotfix for this is now live. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Achievements

• Players can again earn Fun Run after completing the requirements.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from earning If It Please the Court.

Characters

• Undead
  
  • Touch of the Grave (racial ability) no longer causes the user to enter combat when it procs from periodic effects.
    

Classes

• Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  
  • Death Gate no longer occasionally strands players in Acherus after being used, and it should always return them to the entry point where it was originally placed.
    
• Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  
  • Arcane
    
    • Damage for all spells and abilities increased by 6%.
      

Dungeons and Raids

• Azshara’s Eternal Palace
  
  • Orgozoa
    
    • Orgozoa now transitions to phase two at 40% health (was 3.5 minutes).
      
      • Developers’ note: This change is meant to be neutral with regard to difficulty of the encounter, and aims to ensure that as player damage output continues to increase in the coming weeks, the overall pacing of the encounter doesn’t become skewed.
        
  • Radiance of Azshara
    
    • Fixed a bug causing Radiance of Azshara's Stormwraith Gale Buffet to increase its damage by 10% per stack, rather than the intended 25% on Normal and Heroic difficulties.
      
  • Za’Qul, Harbinger of Ny’alotha
    
    • Shattered Psyche now has a unique icon.
      
  • Queen Azshara
    
    • Players with the Beckoned debuff can no longer be afflicted with Charged Spear.
      
    • Players broken out of Devotion should not be prevented from using their abilities.
      
• Atal'Dazar
  
  • Fixed a bug that caused Yazma to repeat her voice lines three times each time a boss was defeated during Mythic Keystone Dungeons.
    

Items

• Fixed an issue that resulted in fewer than intended Aqueous Reliquary drops from Radiance of Azshara, The Queen’s Court, and Queen Azshara.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused end-of-run chests earned for completing a Mythic Keystone at +7 difficulty to incorrectly reward item-level 415 gear; now rewards ilvl 420 ilvl gear.
  
• Benthic gear’s damaging spells and heals (e.g. Poen's Deepsea Gloves) no longer remove the caster from stealth.
  
• The time required to charge an Energy Cell at the Charging Station has been reduced to 1.5 seconds (was 3 seconds).
  
  Heart of Azeroth
  
  • Vision of Perfection (Essence) no longer activates for Arms Warriors if they are under the effects of crowd control that prevents them from controlling their character (e.g. Polymorph or stuns).
    
  • Vision of Perfection (Essence) no longer grants Unholy Death Knights with the Minor Power’s Rank 2 healing effect at Rank 1.
    
  • Vision of Perfection no longer forcibly shapeshifts Druids out of Flight Form if they are flying when it activates.
    
  • Vision of Perfection (Essence) Rank 2 now grants Guardian Druids the correct amount of healing when Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc activates.
    
  • Vision of Perfection (Essence) no longer grants Guardian Druids twice the intended amount of cooldown reduction for Survival Instincts when placed in the Minor Slot.
    
  • Vision of Perfection (Essence) Rank 2 now grants Brewmaster Monks the correct amount of healing when Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox activates.
    
  • Vision of Perfection (Essence) no longer grants Protection Warriors twice the intended amount of cooldown reduction for Avatar when placed in the Minor Slot.
    
  • Fixed a bug where the critical strike chance for Blood of the Enemy (Essence) would not apply to a player’s pets or guardians.
    
  • Essence of the Focusing Iris (Essence) Major Power damage has been lowered by 15%.
    
    • Developers’ note: Essence of the Focusing Iris is a very strong tool for area burst damage, but is overshadowing the other available area damage Essences that are available. This change should still keep it very strong when dealing with packs of high priority targets.
      

Player versus Player

• Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  
  • Restoration
    
    • Healing reduced by 10% in PvP situations.
      
      • Developers’ notes: Throughout Season 2, Restoration Druid’s raw healing throughput paired very well with their crowd control, defensive abilities, and ability to sneak away and regain mana through drinking. This is intended to bring their healing throughput more in line with other healer specializations in PvP.
        
• Items
  
  • Trident of Deep Ocean absorption effect is now reduced by 80% in PvP (was 75%).
    
  • Mindthief's Eldritch Clasp healing and self-damage effect is now reduced by 60% in PvP (was 50%).
    
  • Void Stone effect is reduced in PvP by 45% for healers (was 30%) and 70% for non-healers (was 60%).
    
    • Developers’ notes: Due to the scaling increase that some trinkets received with the release Rise of Azshara, the PvP-specific reductions put in place for Season 3 did not have the impact we were going for. These are items that we previously noted were intended to be scaled out this season.
      
  • Resolved an issue that caused the PvP reduction to Ward of Envelopment and Mirror of Entwined Fate to affect non-PvP situations.
    
  • Oceanic Restoration’s (weapon enchant) mana granted is reduced by 50% in PvP situations.
    
    • Developers’ notes: At the start of Battle for Azeroth Season 2, we made changes to mana regeneration in PvP to increase the impact mana management has on long engagements. Similarly, Rise of Azshara introduced new methods of mana regeneration in the forms of a weapon enchant and Essences (below) that need to be reduced in the same fashion.
      
  • Heart of Azeroth
    
    • Lucid Dreams (Essence) now refunds 50% less mana in PvP situations, now heals for 50% less in PvP situations when it refunds resources, and now provides 50% less Leech when activated in PvP situations. The Mana generation rate provided by activating its Major Power is unchanged.
      
    • Vision of Perfection (Essence) heals for 50% less in PvP situations.
      
    • Purification Protocol (Essence) heals for 50% less in PvP situations.
      
    • The Ever Rising Tide (Essence) grants 50% less mana in PvP situations.
      
      • Developers’ notes: These Essences provide additional passive self-healing that we feel should be reduced to the same degree as tier 3 Azerite traits.
        

Quests

• The mining nodes in the introductory version of the “Brinestone Shards” are no longer viewable by other players.
  
• Lor’themar Theoron and First Arcanist Thalyssra now saddle up with flying mounts during "Up Against It".
  
• Construction Projects for Flame Turrets and Rustbolt Armories now respawn more quickly after either running out of power being destroyed.

Achievements

• Fixed a bug that prevented Guild groups who complete Operation: Mechagon from properly earning Operation: Mechagon Guild Run.

Creatures and NPCs

• Nazjatar followers now respawn if the player drowns after activating stealth.
  
• Reduced the damage of Unleashed Arcanofiend's Proximal Chaos by 20%.
  
• Increased the missile delay of Proximal Chaos to 3 seconds (was 2 seconds).

Dungeons and Raids

• Azshara’s Eternal Palace
  
  • The Queen’s Court
    
    • Fixed a bug that caused some abilities to trigger the Repeat Performance debuff (e.g. Hunters’ auto attack, Priests’ Divine Hymn, Druids’ Tranquility, Druids’ Moonfire with the Twin Moons talent, or Druids’ Regrowth with the Rampant Growth Azerite Trait).
      
  • Queen Azshara
    
    • Fixed a bug that made it possible for players to gain an excessive amount of Sanction stacks instantly.
      
  • Operation: Mechagon
    
    • Trixie and Naeno
      
      • Fixed a bug that caused loot dropped from this encounter to be non-tradeable.
        

Items

• Heart of Azeroth
  
  • Battlefield Brawler, Battlefield Tactician, and Battlefield Master (Essences) now properly track Honor gained during Brawls that utilize arena maps.
    
• Updated the visual and sound effects for the Red Punchcard, Cyclotronic Blast.
  
• Fixed an issue where extra Zem'lan's Lost Treasure Map Fragments could not be destroyed.

Quests

• Players can again receive credit toward the Outside Influences achievement by completing "Deck 'Em" and "Pirates? I Hate Those Guys!".
  
• Players can again travel to the future to complete “The Other Place” while affected by a Rain Stone or similar items.

We’re working on several pieces of targeted class tuning that we intend to make to the game with maintenance in each region:

Classes

• Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  
  • Arcane
    
    • Damage for all spells and abilities increased by 6%.

Items

• Heart of Azeroth
  
  • Essence of the Focusing Iris major effect damage reduced by 15%.

Player versus Player

• Oceanic Restoration’s (weapon enchant) mana granted is reduced by 50% in PvP situations.
  
  • Developers’ notes: At the start of BFA Season 2, we made changes to mana regeneration in PvP to increase the impact mana management has on long engagements. Similarly, Rise of Azshara introduced new methods of mana regeneration in the forms of a weapon enchant and Essences (below) that need to be reduced in the same fashion.
• Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  
  • Restoration
    
    • Healing reduced by 10% in PvP situations.
      
      • Developers’ notes: Throughout Season 2, Restoration Druid’s raw healing throughput paired very well with their crowd control, defensive abilities, and ability to sneak away and regain mana through drinking. This is intended to bring their healing throughput more in line with other healer specializations in PvP.
• Items
  
  • Trident of Deep Ocean absorb effect is now reduced by 80% in PvP (was 75%).
  • Mindthief’s Eldritch Clasp healing and self-damage effect is now reduced by 60% in PvP (was 50%).
  • Void Stone effect is reduced in PvP by 45% for healers (was 30%) and 70% for non-healers (was 60%)
    
    • Developers’ notes: Due to the scaling increase that some trinkets received with the release Rise of Azshara, the PvP-specific reductions put in place for Season 3 did not have the impact we were going for. These are items that we previously noted were intended to be scaled out this season.
  • Heart of Azeroth
    
    • Lucid Dreams (Essence) now refunds 50% less mana in PvP situations, now heals for 50% less in PvP situations when it refunds resources, and now provides 50% less Leech when activated in PvP situations. The Mana generation rate provided by activating its Major Power is unchanged.
    • Vision of Perfection (Essence) heals for 50% less in PvP situations.
    • Purification Protocol (Essence) heals for 50% less in PvP situations.
    • The Ever Rising Tide (Essence) grants 50% less mana in PvP situations.
      
      • Developers’ notes: These Essences provide additional passive self-healing that we feel should be reduced to the same degree as tier 3 Azerite traits.

As always, these are not necessarily final numbers until we’ve completed our testing of the changes, and if we add any more tweaks or adjust the numbers further, I’ll update this thread. Ultimately, you’ll see these adjustments in our regularly-updated hotfixes blog post tomorrow.

I’ve just added this to the OP above:

Items

• Heart of Azeroth
  
  • Essence of the Focusing Iris major effect damage reduced by 15%.

A 2100 rating in Arena or Rated Battlegrounds is required for iLvl 445 Azerite gear from the PvP cache this coming week. We've now updated our support article with the correct values: https://t.co/pPAxahf1HI (WarcraftDevs)

The item level of the reward in the weekly chest is based on the highest tier for the format in which you won at least one game last week.

For example, if you won a 3v3 Arena at the Duelist tier, you will receive an item at Duelist tier in your cache; however, if you were rated as a Duelist in 3v3 with no games that week and rated as a Combatant in 2v2 with at least one game played, you would receive the Combatant level item.

If you didn't play any ranked games last week, your reward will be for the unranked item level.