World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Grizzly Hills Packmaster

Bearing a pack filled with gadgets and gizmos, the Grizzly Hills Packmaster lets you repair and transmogrify on the go to keep your armor shiny as new for your adventures in Azeroth.

The Grizzly Hills Packmaster will be applied to present and future World of Warcraft® characters on a single regional Battle.net account. The Grizzly Hills Packmaster is a single seat ground mount that automatically scales to the fastest riding skill known by each character.

There’s a bounty of adventure waiting for players in Cataclysm Classic and in Season of Discovery Phase 5. Players will be able to begin preparing to face Ragnaros in the Firelands when the Molten Front goes live early in Cataclysm Classic on September 17. Those taking part in Season of Discovery can venture into danger within Blackwing Lair and Zul’Gurub on September 26 at 1:00 pm PDT.

---

Cataclysm Classic: The Molten Front Arrives Early on September 17


Join the defenders of Hyjal as they work to create a foothold in the Firelands to quell the onslaught of Ragnaros’ elementals.

Before patch 4.4.1 releases, stalwart adventurers will now have the opportunity to test their mettle at two daily quest areas located in the fertile hillsides of Mount Hyjal and the burning depths of the Firelands. Known as the Regrowth and Molten Front, these areas will offer daily solo content for level 85 players to enjoy — including over 60 new quests, four "unlockable" iLevel 365 gear vendors, and a world that evolves right before your eyes.

Unlock Your Destiny

Like many of the daily quest areas already in the game, the Regrowth and Molten Front will feature several stages of content. Players will begin their journeys at the renewed Sanctuary of Malorne in Mount Hyjal, joining forces once again with Matoclaw and Archdruid Hamuul Runetotem to repel invading armies of elementals. From there, they must open a portal directly to the Firelands and establish a forward outpost that the Guardians of Hyjal, led by Malfurion Stormrage, can use to thwart further incursions by Ragnaros's forces.

Rather than these stages only becoming available after a certain period of time or at the end of a long quest series, players will instead get to use a new alternate currency called Marks of the World Tree to unlock them at their own pace.

Kick Your Graphics Up a Notch

The update will also include a way for players to turn on High-Definition Textures as an option, which will provide enhanced visual fidelity to many textures in the game. This update allows for a revitalized game world while preserving the Classic aesthetics of the game.


To activate the High-Definition Textures option, open your game Options (Escape->Options) and make this change in the Graphic settings.

---

Season of Discovery Phase 5 Arrives September 26

Season of Discovery Phase 5 is almost here, and with it, players can venture into the Blackwing Lair and Zul’Gurub raid dungeons, collect Tier 2 armor sets, and more.

Blackwing Lair


In the dark recesses of the mountain's peak, Nefarian, the eldest son of Deathwing, conducts some of his most awful experimentation, controlling mighty beings like puppets and combining the eggs of different dragonflights with horrific results. Should he prove successful, even darker pursuits rest on the horizon.

Step into Blackwing Lair in a 20-40 player raid dungeon. Tuned as a 20-player encounter, players can bring additional friends to the adventure, with up to 40 players being allowed inside. Players will be able to earn Tier 2 sets from within this raid.

Zul’Gurub


Deep within the jungles of Stranglethorn, an ancient troll city full of untold peril awaits. Do you have what it takes to delve into its mysteries? Assemble a band of hardy explorers and make your way to Zul’Gurub, a max-level, up to 20-player raid instance with many epic items to procure from its verdant tree-lined avenues and lost temples.

Zul’Gurub invites 10-20 players into this raid dungeon. Rewards and difficulty are tuned for 10, with room for 20 to join in the hunt for treasures untold.

Even more awaits you in Season of Discovery Phase 5, and we look forward to sharing additional information in the lead up to the September 26th launch.

---

We can’t wait for you to join us within the Molten Front in Cataclysm Classic and in Season of Discovery Phase 5!

Classes

• Evoker
  
  • Evokers who used a level 60 Boost now correctly know all core Evoker and Dracthyr abilities.
• Monk
  
  • Mistweaver
    
    • Gusts of Mists cast on yourself should now be correctly increased by Mantra of Purity.
• Paladin
  
  • Fixed a bug that caused Hammer of Light to not go away as expected.
• Shaman
  
  • Stormbringer
    
    • You can now accumulate up to 2 stacks of the buff that replaces Lightning Bolt with Tempest.
  • Elemental
    
    • Stormkeeper now has a maximum stack size of 3. Stormkeeper still only generates 2, and the Rolling Thunder hero talent will only generate 1.
• Warlock
  
  • Fixed an issue where Blackened Soul unintentionally had internal cooldown of 5 seconds.
  • Hellcaller
    
    • Fixed an issue where spending Soul Shards while talented into Blackened Soul would break all instances of stealth.
  • Affliction
    
    • Fixed an issue where Vile Taint would not grant a stack of Wither if Blackened Soul is talented.
  • Demonology
    
    • Fixed an issue where Succulent Soul would be consumed by Spiteful Reconstitution.
  • Destruction
    
    • Fixed an issue where the duration of Wither would not increase after refresh.

Delves

• Addressed an issue causing players to sometimes receive duplicate Curios.
• Mycomancer Cavern
  
  • Removed the step to speak to your companion after being hit with the strange mushroom.

Events

• During the "The Cruelty of Dornic" step in the Theatre Troupe event, no more than 10 players will summon orbs.

Items and Rewards

• Players can now get their Earth-Encrusted Gem from Auditor Balwurz for having reached renown 8 with the Council of Dornogal.
• Fixed a bug that was causing some cosmetic items from previous expansions to incorrectly drop for the wrong class or spec, and in some cases for multiple items to drop when only one was intended.

Player versus Player

• Fixed an issue causing Vicious Flasks to be removed when entering Arena Skirmishes.
• Several class pet nameplates for guardians and other temporary summons are now hidden in PvP.

Quests

• Respawn rates for creatures needed for the world quest "Claimed Salvage" have been improved.
• The Lost Diary found in Hallowfall now begins the correct quest.

Cataclysm Classic

• Fixed a bug preventing Sensiria in Feralas from showing up as expected.

just watched a video Kalamazi put out today talking about how hellcaller’s wither now has an internal cooldown which not only bricks hellcaller but slaughters destro even more just pushing it further and further down the dps list. really terrible for aff as well

https://youtu.be/QdsmZXG-4Ck?si=GYVt5YzXbHRZegQZ

Hello!

This was an unintended change and a fix for it has been deployed.

The original change was intended to prevent Vile Taint from activating Blackened Soul for every enemy it affects by providing a small enough internal cooldown that would have no effect on gameplay.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

So… how are we meant to get Storm Dust once we run out of leveling/questing greens? As a Tailor (the usual complement to Enchanting) I think the only disenchantable greens I can craft are the low-level profession accessories, and they also require Storm Dust, so I can’t use them to fund my other dust needs; and I don’t think I’ve seen a recipe to shatter Gleaming Shards into Storm Dust either. What gives?

We’re working on a hotfix to address this.

The hotfix will add a new Shatter recipe to Enchanting, and the new recipe will let you shatter blue crystals and receive dust.

We expect this to become available in-game in the next couple of days.