World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Greetings delvers,

We want to take some time to go over changes coming to delves in the Undermine(d) patch and Season 2, along with our goals.

Changes in Undermine(d)

Tank Brann

Starting with the patch launch, players will be able to choose a new spec for Brann – tank. Tank Brann will wield a pistol and a shield while doing his best to taunt enemies. This spec is focused on improving the experience of running delves as a healer. There will still be damage and attacks for you to dodge as a healer, but you should see your delve run times be more comparable to those who play as damage or healing.

Modified Map Mechanics

We’ve modified several of our existing map mechanics. Our goal here is to add some variety to existing delve variants. Be sure to check out the modified sporebits in Fungal Folly.

Bountiful Delve Rotation Changes

We’re changing the logic under the hood for which bountiful delves are active. Previously it was one delve per zone chosen as bountiful. This led to some behaviors where it felt like the same delve was bountiful back to back, especially in areas like Ringing Deeps where there were only two delves available. The new logic will rotate through delves from the original launch until all of them have had some time in the sun as bountiful before turning on new ones.

New Delves and New Variants

We’re adding two new delves: Sidestreet Sluice in Undermine and Excavation Site 9 in the Ringing Deeps. Additionally, almost all existing delves have new variants.

Season 2 Changes

Improving Tier 9+ Rewards

In Season 1, we purposefully did not add extra rewards in Tier 9+ as we wanted to reserve those delves to run just for the challenge and for achievements. We did not want the majority of players to feel like they needed to reach tier 11 levels.

However, players seeking to tackle the higher challenges of delves, such as defeating Zekvir, had a very long road to upgrade their gear due to the availability of Runed and Gilded Crests. We still want the repeatable source of Gilded Crests to come from Mythic+ and Raids, but we also wanted delves to start to reward reliable Gilded Crests at a high level for players who want to push.

In Season 2, tiers 9, 10, and 11 delves will reward more Runed Crests. Tier 11 bountiful delves will reward Gilded Crests up to three times a week. This will be from a separate chest in the bountiful delve, so players will not be required to get a key to acquire the Gilded Crests. We will not change the Great Vault’s requirements in Season 2. Tier 8 will be the highest delve to run to get rewards from the Great Vault.

The Delve Map System

In Season 1, you have a chance to find Delve Maps at the end of a run. These maps give you a large boost in rewards when used on another delve, including acquiring Gilded Crests. However, some people never found a map during their runs due to bad luck. Other players received multiple maps a week, followed by nothing for months.

In Season 2 we’ll increase your chance to get a map with each run if you do not find one. We’ll also limit it so you can only earn one map a week.

Brann’s Missing Hat and New Curios

Season 2 begins with the introduction of our new nemesis, a mad goblin who purchased a deed to all delves from the one and only Gallywax. Gallywax? Don’t ask Underpin to check the contract for validity. Underpin ambushes Brann and destroys the curios he collected in Season 1. What’s even worse: he steals Brann’s hat!

Players in Season 2 will earn new curios for Brann. You’ll be guaranteed to loot rank 1 curios when you start running any delve in Season 2. We want to explore new strategies and metas for Brann in season 2, along with exploring more of what we can do with the curio system.

Most importantly, Brann will wear random hats and helmets he has acquired until you help him recover his hat from the Underpin’s lair. Don’t worry though, if you really enjoyed Brann’s random hats you can ask him to continue rotating through his collection afterwards.

New Affixes

With a new nemesis comes new affixes. In Season 1, we experimented with two types of affixes: one where Zekvir’s image would empower players, and another where the spawn group would be replaced by Zekvir’s minions. While Zekvir’s image was noticeable, it wasn’t always clear what impact he was having on enemies. Meanwhile it was abundantly clear what Zekvir’s minions were doing in tier 9+, but they often felt too punishing to encounter. In Season 2, the affixes will be focused on Underpin’s minions occasionally replacing normal enemies in delves. This will happen across all tiers, with a focus on these replacements not being as difficult as Zekvir’s. They should offer an increase in difficulty, but not to the level where your delve run is over when you encounter them.

Tier Reset and Item Level Changes

When Season 2 launches, we will reset tier progress, and players will be able to start at tier 4. The difficulty and rewards of tier 4+ delves will increase to match the new item level caps in Season 2.

New Vignettes and Treasure Powers

Players will find new vignettes and treasure powers to earn in Season 2. The goal with these original powers was that players would modify their runs to go after these when they were spotted. We also wanted to make sure they weren’t so powerful that a failed delve run would be blamed on not getting the exact power you wanted. A successful delve run should still be based on player gear, skill, and your curio loadout. However, season 1’s vignette and treasure powers weren’t rewarding enough to risk lives at higher tiers. We’re going to push the powers in season 2 a bit more.

Powers found in treasures will be shards of curios that were destroyed by Underpin. Players will find shards of the Amorphous Relic, Arrowhead Idol, and the (now) not-so-Unbreakable Iron Idol.

Powers acquired from defeating powerful vignettes will now focus on modifying Brann for your run:

• Shield Alert: When you fall beneath 50% health, Brann will shield you, reducing your damage by a massive amount for a short period of time.
• Silencing Potion: Brann will throw out a healing potion that will also trigger an AoE silence to nearby enemies. This means non-healer Brann specs can now have some access to heals, and healer Brann will throw out even more healing.
• Heroism Cannister: Brann can activate a smaller version of Bloodlust at the start of combat with a cooldown.

Only the team leader will be able to modify Brann with these powers. Other players will receive a buff for themselves.

We’re also adding improved rewards to the Treasure Wraith encounter. We understand there’s an aversion to trying this encounter with the high risk of death. There will be a special wraith-only power that will drop to increase player’s maximum health in addition to another existing power.

Our goal with these changes is to push the amount of power received from vignettes and treasure powers to help create more of a decision moment of whether or not you’ll take the risk to get these abilities.

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Thanks for reading, and for testing delves with us on the PTR. Please note: most numbers mentioned here are subject to change.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on what we’re working on!

D.R.I.V.E.

• We’re looking into improving D.R.I.V.E. We’ll post updated notes when we do.

Cage of Carnage PVP Arena

• To better facilitate testing for the duration of the Undermine(d) PTR, the Cage of Carnage arena will be set as the only arena map in the map pool when players queue for Arena Skirmish or Rated Arenas.

Classes

• Death Knight
  
  • Frost
    
    • Undermine(d) 2-Set Bonus has been updated – Your spells and abilities have a chance to activate Winning Streak! increasing the damage of your Frost Strike and Glacial Advance by 4% stacking up to 8 times. Frost Strike and Glacial Advance have a 12% chance to remove Winning Streak!
    • Undermine(d) 4-Set Bonus has been updated – While on a Winning Streak!, your Frost Strike and Glacial Advance have a 8% chance to cast Frostscythe per stack at 50% effectiveness, and losing Winning Streak! chills you to the bone, granting Pillar of Frost for 6 seconds. Additionally, Frostscythe now also benefits from Winning Streak!.
• Druid
  
  • Moonkin Form has been added to the Class talent tree in Sunfire’s previous position.
    
    • Developers’ notes: Restoring Moonkin Form to the class talent tree empowers Restoration Druids to use Convoke the Spirits for magic damage, like they can currently use Cat Form for physical damage.
  • Sunfire moved to Improved Sunfire’s position. Improved Sunfire’s effect is now included in Sunfire.
  • Fluid Form causes Wrath and Starfire to transform you into Moonkin Form at the end of their casts, instead of at their starts.
    
    • Developers’ notes: It should always take a global cooldown to transform to a shapeshift form, either from a direct transformation or a Fluid Form ability. Starting a Wrath or Starfire cast and cancelling it allowed Druids to transform into Moonkin without a global cooldown.
  • Lycara’s Meditation now only retains bonuses from your shapeshift forms. The Haste bonus from humanoid form is not retained.
    
    • Developers’ notes: Druids can revert to humanoid form instantly and, with Fluid Form, transform back to role forms without losing a GCD. This is only the case for humanoid form – shifting to and from shapeshift forms incurs some cost. We are making this change because it is not intended gameplay for Druids to shift to humanoid form frequently to maintain its Haste bonus from Lycara’s Teachings.
  • Balance
    
    • Balance Druids now learn Moonkin Form in the Class talent tree upon reaching level 10.
    • Light of the Sun has been moved to the Class Talent Tree for Balance Druids.
  • Feral
    
    • Feral Druids now learn Thrash in the Class talent tree upon reaching level 10.
    • Undermine(d) 4-Set Bonus – Big Winner deals direct damage equal to 800% of Attack Power (was 250%). Apex Predator increases the damage of your periodic effects by 16% (was 8%).
  • Guardian
    
    • Guardian Druids now learn Verdant Heart in the Class talent tree upon reaching level 10.
    • Raze has been updated – Strike with the might of Ursoc, dealing Physical damage to your target and to all other enemies in front of you. Damage reduced beyond multiple targets.
      
      • Developers’ notes: This change causes Raze to always deal increased damage to the primary target, even if other targets exist.
  • Restoration
    
    • Restoration Druids now learn Improved Nature’s Cure in the Class talent tree upon reaching level 10.
• Evoker
  
  • Hero Talents
    
    • Flameshaper
      
      • Enkindle deals 25% of Essence ability damage (was 20%).
      • Enkindle reverted back to 20% of Essence ability damage.
      • Engulf cooldown reduced to 27 seconds (was 30 seconds).
      • Consume Flame now consumes 2 seconds of Fire Breath and Dream Breath (was 4 seconds). Consume Flame damage is now 750% of the amount consumed (was 375%) and healing is now 300% of the amount consumed (was 150%).
      • Expanded Lungs increases the damage or healing over time of Fire Breath and Dream Breath by 30% (was 25%).
  • Augmentation
    
    • Developers’ notes: The following change is intended to reduce the defensive power of Augmentation in dungeons. Augmentation has consistently been overperforming in pushing high keys, so we’re making Ebon Might only apply to damage dealers. At the same time, we’re increasing Ebon Might’s effectiveness so that Augmentation’s damage throughput is increased to make up for the lost utility of buffing tanks and healers.
    • Ebon Might no longer applies to tanks and healers.
    • Close as Clutchmates has been re-added. Ebon Might and Breath of Eons are now 25% more effective outside of raid.
• Hunter
  
  • Panthara cats no longer require Fresh Talbuk Meat to tame.
  • Hero Talents
    
    • Dark Ranger
      
      • Shadow Hounds has been updated – Dark Hounds now deal damage to nearby enemies when they attack for Marksmanship and Beast Mastery Hunters (was Beast Mastery only).
      • Withering Fire stacks will no longer reset after dungeon boss combat.
      • Fixed an issue causing Black Arrow to deal more damage than intended for Marksmanship Hunters in PvE only.
      • Fixed an issue causing Dark Hounds to trigger less often than intended.
    • Pack Leader
      
      • Hogstrider can now be consumed by procs such as Snakeskin Quiver.
      • Rend Flesh now benefits from Unnatural Causes.
      • Rend Flesh can now crit.
      • Ursine Fury now appropriately grants its cooldown reduction to Flanking Strike and Butchery.
      • Fixed an issue that caused the Wyvern’s damage buff aura to be incorrectly tied to the duration of its visual effects and thus appear to fall off at random durations.
      • The summoning order of Pack Leader’s beasts is no longer random, and Beast summons will no longer repeat.
        
        • Developers’ notes: The summoning order is Wyvern, Boar, Bear.
  • Beast Mastery
    
    • Solitary Companion’s aura will now be removed and applied more consistently.
    • Pack Leader
      
      • Lead From the Front has been updated – Now also increases the damage of your pets by 15%.
  • Marksmanship
    
    • Feathered Frenzy has been updated – Now increases your chance to apply Spotter’s Mark by 100% (was 50%).
    • Eagle’s Accuracy has been updated – Now increases Rapid Fire and Aimed Shot’s damage by 2.5/5%.
    • Unerring Vision has been updated – Now increases Trueshot’s critical strike damage by 20% (was 10%) and additionally increases the cooldown reduction effect of Calling the Shots by 1 second. Unerring Vision is now on a choice node with Double Tap.
    • Double Tap has been updated – Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire effectiveness reduced to 80% (was 100%). Double Tap is now granted by Volley in addition to Trueshot.
    • Developers’ notes: Unerring Vision being a choice node with Double Tap means we’re more comfortable increasing access to Double Tap by letting it proc from Volley. Our goal is to have Unerring Vision be the sustained damage choice while Double Tap is more appealing for burst and AOE scenarios.
    • Fixed an issue preventing Tensile Bowstring’s Streamline effectiveness increase from functioning under certain conditions.
    • Spotter’s Mark triggers from Eyes in the Sky and Spotter’s Mark triggers from Ohn’ahran Winds are now mutually exclusive and cannot stack.
    • Fixed an issue causing Ohn’ahran Winds to trigger more often than it should.
  • Survival
    
    • Spearhead has been updated – Now also benefits your pet’s abilities and attacks.
    • Deadly Duo has been updated – Now also benefits your pet’s abilities and attacks.
    • Born to Kill now correctly increases the duration of Cull the Herd.
    • Flanking Strike now correctly applies its unique Merciless Blows effect.
    • Fixed an issue preventing Cull the Herd from functioning.
    • Fixed an issue where casting Flanking Strike from range could occasionally leave you with an incorrect number of Tip of the Spear stacks.
    • Pack Leader
      
      • Lead From the Front has been updated – Now also increases the damage of your pets by 30%.
• Mage
  
  • Time Anomaly procs now ignore mana costs.
  • Arcane
    
    • New Talent: Aether Fragment – Aethervision’s damage bonus is increased to 15%. Choice node with Leysight.
    • Arcane Barrage damage increased by 10%.
    • Nether Precision no longer benefits Arcane Barrage.
      
      • Developers’ notes: Arcane Barrage benefitting from Nether Precision has proven to convolute your rotational decision-making around Arcane Barrage.
    • Spellslinger
      
      • Splintering Sorcery now generates a splinter when you consume Nether Precision or a fully stacked Aethervision.
    • Sunfury
      
      • Glorious Incandescence has been updated – Spells that consume Burden of Power summon a storm of 4 Meteorites at their target. Meteorites summoned this way grant 1 Arcane Charge upon landing.
      • Glorious Incandescence change reverted.
      • Burden of Power once again benefits Arcane Barrage.
      • Burden of Power change reverted.
  • Fire
    
    • Frostfire
      
      • Excess Frost cooldown reduction reduced to 5 seconds (was 10 seconds).
    • Sunfury
      
      • Fixed an issue causing Ignite the Future to not increase Mana Cascade stacks.
  • Frost
    
    • Wintertide has been updated – Damage from Frostbolt and Flurry increases the damage of your Icicles and Glacial Spike by 4%, stacking up to 4 times.
      
      • Developers’ notes: Now that Fingers of Frost doesn’t consume Winter’s Chill, Wintertide had the potential to create some unintuitive rotational priorities.
    • Winter’s Chill duration increased to 8 seconds (was 6 seconds).
    • Fingers of Frost’s Frozen Orb chance to trigger reduced to 5% (was 10%).
    • Blizzard damage reduced by 40%.
      
      • Developers’ notes: We’re aware of an issue where the damage component of Blizzard did not have its range appropriately increased to 12 yards, but the fix did not make it into this build.
    • Comet Storm, Glacial Assault, Wintertide, and Lonely Winter have had their positions changed on the talent tree.
    • Frostfire
      
      • Excess Frost cooldown reduction reduced to 5 seconds (was 10 seconds).
• Monk
  
  • Mistweaver
    
    • Jade Bond has been redesigned – Chi Cocoons now apply Enveloping Mist for 4 seconds when they expire or are consumed, and Chi-Ji’s Gusts of Mists healing is increased by 40% (was 20%) and Yu’lon’s Soothing Breath healing is increased by 500%.
      
      • Developers’ notes: These changes to Jade Bond are intended to refocus Chi-Ji into a powerful cooldown that encourages more intentional uses. We’re reducing the baseline cooldown of both Celestials to account for the loss of dynamic cooldown reduction and increasing the effectiveness of Chi Cocoons cast by longer cooldown Celestials to make intentional uses of this longer cooldown feel more immediately impactful.
    • The cooldowns of Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane and Invoke Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent have been reduced to base 2 minutes (was 3 minutes).
    • Chi Cocoon’s absorb amount now scales with the cooldown of your celestial (now 100% more effective when not using Gift of the Celestials).
    • Jade Empowerment now increases Crackling Jade Lightning’s damage by 3000% (was 2000%) and cleaves at 10% effectiveness (was 25%).
    • Lotus Infusion increases healing taken by 10% (was 8%).
      
      • Developers’ notes: We’re making a small adjustment to Lotus Infusion given that we’re expecting the upcoming class set to influence talent decisions around this talent node and we’d like Lotus Infusion to remain a viable, more passive option for those who prefer it.
    • Yu’lon’s Whisper healing increased by 30%.
    • Conduit of the Celestials
      
      • Celestial Conduit damage increased by 225%.
      • Heart of the Jade Serpent now triggers on every cast of Sheilun’s Gift and scales its duration with the number of clouds consumed.
        
        • Developers’ notes: The goal for this change is to reduce the amount of tracking required to optimally use Heart of the Jade Serpent.
  • Windwalker
    
    • Undermine(d) 4-Set Bonus has been updated – Fists of Fury’s damage buff increased to 8% per stack (was 5%).
    • Slicing Winds damage increased by 33% and the distance that level 1 empower moves you has been decreased by 50%.
      
      • Developers’ notes: We’re keeping our eye on Slicing Winds as our testing progresses to ensure that the movement feels fluid and as non-disruptive as possible. We would love to hear continued feedback in this area and thank you testers for your notes so far!
    • Xuen’s Bond now reduces the cooldown of Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger by a static 30 seconds.
    • Last Emperor’s Capacitor now increases the damage of Crackling Jade Lightning by 400% per stack (was 200%).
    • Power of the Thunder King now cleaves Crackling Jade Lightning at 80% effectiveness (was 100%).
    • Conduit of the Celestials
      
      • Heart of the Jade Serpent no longer reduces the cooldown of Rising Sun Kick.
      • Heart of the Jade Serpent now triggers each time you cast Strike of the Windlord, but its duration has been decreased to 6 seconds for Windwalker Monks.
        
        • Developers’ notes: We’d like to reduce the tracking required around Heart of the Jade Serpent as well as make it a more fundamental part of playing as a Conduit of the Celestial Monk.
      • Rising Sun Kick has been added back to Heart of the Jade Serpent for Windwalker Monks.
        
        • Developers’ notes: We weren’t satisfied with the rotational outcome of this change and are reverting it.
• Paladin
  
  • Hero Talents
    
    • Lightsmith
      
      • Tempered in Battle: Sacred Weapon’s health redistribution may only occur once per cast.
  • Holy
    
    • Commanding Light now increases the healing transfer of Beacon of Light by 5% (was 10%).
    • Truth Prevails healing decreased by 20%.
    • Greater Judgment’s absorb reduced by 25%.
    • Holy Prism healing increased by 20%.
    • Holy Shock damage increased by 100%.
    • Holy Shock healing increased by 40%.
    • Light of Dawn healing increased by 15%.
    • Holy Light healing increased by 20% and now costs 7% base mana (was 6.4%).
    • Divine Favor now increases healing done by Holy Light or Flash of Light by up to 20% (was 40%).
      
      • Developers’ notes: These changes are targeted at redistributing some of Holy Paladin’s healing breakdown into a few active healing spells that are not having enough direct impact.
  • Retribution
    
    • Templar
      
      • Hammer of Light now benefits from Undisputed Ruling Judgment.
      • Hammer of Light now benefits from the stacks it adds to Crusade.
        
        • Developers’ notes: The reimplementation of Hammer of Light inadvertently altered its interactions with Crusade and Judgment. We have now adjusted these interactions to match the current live versions.
• Priest
  
  • Discipline
    
    • Aegis of Wrath has been renamed to Eternal Barrier and has been updated – No longer decays over time, and instead increases the duration of Power Word: Shield by 5 seconds and its absorption by 20% (was 30%). No longer reduced in PvP combat.
• Rogue
  
  • Hero Talents
    
    • Trickster
      
      • Coup de Grace now requires its target to be in melee range, and so no longer has a dash component when activated outside of regular melee range.
• Shaman
  
  • The initial shield from Stone Bulwark Totem is no longer dispellable. The repeating shields will continue to be dispellable.
  • Elemental
    
    • Ascendance now requires a target to cast. Flame Shock and Lava Burst from casting it will always hit your primary target.
    • Lightning Rod’s visual has been updated.
  • Enhancement
    
    • Lava Lash damage reduced by 20%.
    • Doom Winds damage now scales with Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
    • Voltaic Blaze damage now scales with Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
    • Lightning Rod’s visual has been updated.
    • An issue causing Maelstrom Weapon spenders to remove a stack of Winning Streak! has been resolved.
    • Stormbringer
      
      • Conductive Energy now causes Primordial Wave to apply Lightning Rod to its targets.
      • When Conductive Energy is talented, Chain Lightning will apply Lightning Rod to one of the secondary targets if the main target is already affected by Lightning Rod. If all secondary targets are already affected, the duration of Lightning Rod on the main target will be refreshed.
    • Totemic
      
      • Tremor damage reduced by 25%.
      • Searing Volley damage reduced by 20%.
      • While active, Surging Totem is replaced with a relocation spell that summons your Surging Totem nearby. This spell has a 6-second cooldown and does not trigger the global cooldown.
  • Restoration
    
    • All healing increased by 5%.
    • Acid Rain damage increased by 25%.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Therazane’s Resilience to not function correctly with external Earth Shields.
      
      • Developers’ notes: This baseline healing adjustment is aimed at keeping Restoration Shaman’s overall throughput similar to their level before Ancestral Guidance was removed.
• Warrior
  
  • Protection
    
    • Developers’ notes: As we continue to iterate on improving Protection Warriors’ rotation and Rage economy, we’re making adjustments to several talents to account for those rotational changes and feedback from testing.
    • All ability damage increased by 5%.
    • Shield Slam damage increased by 20%.
    • Brace for Impact stacks up to 3 times (was 5), and grants 10% Shield Slam damage and shield block value by 5% (was 5% Shield Slam damage and 3% shield block value).
    • Punish reduces damage the punished target deals to you by 4% (was 2%).
    • Bloodsurge has had its chance to trigger increased significantly and generates 5 Rage (was 3).
    • Instigate causes Devastator to generate 2 Rage (was 1).
    • Colossus
      
      • Practiced Strikes increases Rage generated by Shield Slam by 3.
    • Mountain Thane
      
      • Avatar of the Storm has a chance to grant 6 seconds of Avatar (was 4 seconds).

Delves

• Season 2 Delver’s Journey and rewards are now available for testing.
• The following delves are now available for testing:
  
  • Excavation Site 9
  • Kriegval’s Rest
  • Waterworks
• An issue causing Bronzebeard’s Brown Bear to sometimes not engage in combat has been resolved.
• Known issue: The auto scaling of item levels in some delves for testing is not working. We will be working on getting a hotfix for this during the week.

Dungeons and Raids

• Cinderbrew Meadery
  
  • Tasting Room Attendant’s Thirsty Duration changed to 20 seconds (was unlimited).
  • Careless Hopgoblin’s Reckless Delivery cooldown increased.
  • Royal Jelly Purveyor’s Honey Volley cooldown increased.
• Darkflame Cleft
  
  • Minecart Event
    
    • The minecart’s candle light now burns more slowly.
    • Default light radius increased.
    • The light radius of candles now have a visual indicator.
    • Shuffling Horror no longer uses Shadow Smash.
    • Reduced the area effect size of Suffocating Darkness.
• Priory of the Sacred Flame
  
  • Ardent Paladin
    
    • Consecrate now has a precast visual and a 2.75 second cast time.
    • No longer uses Seal of Light’s Fury.
  • Zealous Templar
    
    • No longer uses Templar Strike.
    • No longer uses Divine Storm.
  • Arathi Footman
    
    • No longer uses Mortal Strike.
• The Rookery
  
  • Kyrioss now has an increased hitbox range during Lightning Torrent.
  • Cursed Rookguard no longer uses Crackling Crush.
  • Void-Cursed Crusher no longer uses Implosion.

Items

• The Intellect and Stamina values given by Daybreak, Sunset, and Weavercloth Spellthread in The War Within have been adjusted to match the Agility/Strength and Stamina values given by their Armor Kit counterparts for better parity. These changes apply to existing enchantments, and do not require re-applying a spellthread for updated values.
  
  • Developers’ notes: In most instances this is a significant increase, with 1-star/2-star quality of the Weavercloth Spellthread being reduced in potency. For example, a 3-star quality Sunset Spellthread goes from +747 Intellect / +230 Stamina to +930 Intellect / +895 Stamina. Meanwhile, a 2-star quality Weavercloth Spellthread goes from +536 Intellect to +525 Intellect.
• Remaining Bronze Celebration Tokens from the 20th Anniversary Event has been converted to Timewarped Badges. The exchange is 20 Timewarped Badges for each Bronze Celebration Token matching the boxes that were on the event vendor.
• Sureki Zealot’s Insignia’s mana restoration effect reduced by 50% and requires direct healing to trigger.
  
  • Developers’ notes: As groups acquired more of these rare necklaces as Season 1 progressed, its effect had a greater impact on the mana management than intended. This was particularly true for Restoration Druids who could trigger it significantly more often than other healers.
• Scrapfield 9001’s health threshold to trigger the absorb effect lowered to 60% (was 75%) and the absorb increased by 10%.
• Singing Citrine’s heal effects reduced by 33% for damage dealer and tank specializations.

Player Versus Player

• Druid
  
  • Restoration
    
    • Tranquility healing increased by 100% in PvP combat.
• Hunter
  
  • Diamond Ice (PvP Talent) duration reduced to 4 seconds (was 5 seconds).
  • Marksmanship
    
    • Improved Streamline’s effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
• Mage
  
  • Arcane
    
    • Arcane Familiar damage increased by 250% in PvP combat.
• Priest
  
  • Discipline
    
    • Trinity (PvP Talent) has been redesigned – Atonement duration increased by 10 seconds. Smite, Penance, and Void Blast have 30% reduced cast time when you have Atonement on 3 or more allies.
    • Aegis of Wrath has been renamed to Eternal Barrier and is no longer reduced in PvP combat.
• Shaman
  
  • Restoration
    
    • Whispering Waves now duplicates 25% of Healing Wave’s healing in PvP combat (was 10%).

Quests

• The Undermine(d) campaign now only requires the following:
  
  • Completing the Level-Up Campaign
  • Character level 80

Are you afraid of the dark? In Season of Discovery Phase 7, you’ll need to face your fears and go boldly into an all-new dungeon— Karazhan Crypts. Journey to famed ziggurat, Naxxramas, visit the Rune Brokers to purchase runes and rune-related discovery items, and face the Scourge as they invade Azeroth once more.

Key Dates:

• January 28:
  
  • Karazhan Crypts Dungeon Opens
  • Scourge Invasions Begins
• February 6 at 1:00 pm PST worldwide:
  
  • Naxxramas Opens

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Fear the Darkness within Karazhan Crypts


Beginning with maintenance the week of January 28, an all-new dungeon— Karazhan Crypts— will make its debut. Work with your party to navigate through the shadows and face the dangers that lurk within, investigate puzzles, and uncover the secrets deep in the halls and cavernous tunnels .

• Where: Begin your journey toward attunement for Karazhan Crypts by visiting the Lights Hope Chapel in Eastern Plaguelands to pick up the starting quest.
• What: Level 60, 5-Player Dungeon
• Lockout: 24 Hours

Designed to be a challenge for well-geared players, this dungeon will introduce a unique new “darkness” mechanic that will require players to group up and stay within the light if they want to avoid hidden hazards within . The rest is up to you to explore and discover.

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Face the Scourge

The Scourge marches once more and the horrors which serve the Lich King have begun to seed the lands of Azeroth with the plague of undeath. Join with the Argent Dawn in this world event to put a stop to them. Unlike in previous iterations of the Scourge Invasion, there is no end in sight.

• Where: Eastern Plaguelands, Azshara, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Tanaris, Winterspring, major cities, and select dungeons.

Level 60 players can speak with the Argent Recruiter within your capital city to receive the quest, Light’s Hope Chapel. These players can also undertake a variety of additional quests during this event that can be picked up in the major cities or from defeated Scourge invaders.

You’ll be tasked with investigating the Scourge activity within the major cities and thwarting invasions throughout Azeroth. Keep your eye on your map (M) to locate these hotspots of activity and put a stop to them.

In each invasion point, you’ll engage with rare undead who each have a chance to drop various helpful items. Additional foes can be found in the Dire Maul, Razorfen Downs, Scarlet Monastery, Scholomance, Shadowfang Keep, and Stratholme dungeons.

Along the way, you’ll collect Necrotic Runes, which can be used to purchase items during this event from Commander Thomas Helleran at Light’s Hope Chapel, including Blessed Wizard Oil, Consecrated Sharpening Stone, Major Healing and Major Mana Potions, and more.

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Visit the Rune Brokers

Don’t forget to visit the Rune Brokers which can be found in each race’s starting zone and in every major city. You’ll be able to purchase all runes and rune-related discovery items for the low low price of one copper each! Please note that some runes for Druids, Paladins, and Shaman will continue to require players to equip a relic and perform certain actions before it can be created. The required relic is also available for purchase from the vendor.

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Face the Terrors within Naxxramas February 6


Floating above the Plaguelands, the necropolis known as Naxxramas serves as the seat of one of the Lich King’s most powerful officers, the dreaded lich Kel’Thuzad. Horrors of the past and new terrors yet to be unleashed are gathering inside the necropolis as the Lich King’s servants prepare their assault.

Tuned for 20 players, you can venture into these hallowed halls with up to 40 players to take on the terrors within and reap the rewards with new mechanics and added “Empower” difficulty. You’ll discover Sanctified gear which can be improved with the new Seal of the Dawn trinket to take on the dangers in Naxxramas at the highest difficulty. Players will also receive more loot drops when a quarter is empowered, including new cosmetic items for your collection.

Within the Frostwyrm Lair, raid bosses Sapphiron and Kel’Thuzad have more secrets to uncover when all bosses are defeated at their highest difficulty.

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We can’t wait to see you (or not) in the dark depths of the Karazhan Crypts, the halls of Naxxramas, and anywhere danger takes you in Azeroth!