World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

[Update 10/3] Players are now able to restore characters that have been deleted. Please note that at this time there is a 60 second delay between each undelete. You will need to refresh the character screen, change realms, or log into a character between each character restored. On October 15, we will be re-instituting the 7-day cooldown period between character restorations.

Warbands are on the way to World of Warcraft®: The War Within™! In order to prepare all characters for the transition to the new system, which will occur during the pre-expansion content update, we will temporarily be disabling character restoration.

For those who would like to restore a previously deleted character, it is advised that you do so before the pre-expansion content update goes live. After the pre-expansion content update goes live, restoration of characters on your World of Warcraft account will be unavailable for a few weeks.

To restore a deleted character, log into World of Warcraft and click the Restore Character button on your character selection screen. Learn more from our support article. Please be aware that any characters newly deleted during the pre-expansion content period will be unable to be restored during this period.

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What are Warbands?

The new Warbands system being introduced in The War Within will encompass all of the characters on a player’s Battle.net account as well as the items, collections, and progression they share.

Many aspects of World of Warcraft have been shared across accounts for some time—essentially a Warband. This includes collection of pets, mounts, transmogs, heirlooms, and more. With the release of Warbands, we are significantly expanding what additional aspects of the game have Warband integration. To name just a few changes:

• New reputations and Renown tracks will be Warband-wide.
• A new Warband bank will allow you to easily store and share items between your characters.
• The ability to collect most item appearances with any character in your Warband, regardless of their ability to equip the gear.

Learn more about Warbands in our previously published overview.

Classes

• Warlock
  
  • Destruction
    
    • Fixed a Diabolist issue where Ruination would consume Crashing Chaos.

Delves

• Earthcrawl Mines
  
  • Increased Web General Ab'enar’s fire area of effect visual on Burning Cart to match its damaging area of effect.

Dungeons and Raids

• Mythic+ Affixes
  
  • Xal’atath’s Bargain: Voidbound no longer increases Void Emissary health.
    
    • Developers’ notes: This was a reversal of a change we recently made. Blessing from Beyond still grants players 50% increased cooldown reduction.

Items

• Fixed an issue where purchasing Shackled Shadow would remove Vermillion Imperial Lynx from Auralia Steelstrike’s offerings.

Player versus Player

• Fixed an issue where quest credit was not being properly granted for “Preserving Solo”.

Professions

• Jewelcrafting
  
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Magnificent Jeweler's Setting and Nerubian Gemweaver from functioning on Timewalking Raid items. This fix is not retroactive.

Season of Discovery

• Fixed an issue where the changing of the Bonus Weekly Affix didn't align correctly with regional weekly reset times.
• Blackwing Lair
  
  • Fixed an issue that would cause players killed in the first phase of the Nefarian fight to be ineligible for the bonus chest loot.
  • Fixed an issue that occasionally prevented Nefarian from respawning after the raid wiped in Phase 2.
• Priest
  
  • Fixed the trinket Cassandra's Tome so that critical strike chance is increased every time Penance heals or deals damage (was the first per cast), Holy Nova will always consume a charge, even if it only heals, and Circle of Healing will now benefit from the increased critical strike chance and consume the effect when it does.
  • Inner Focus now properly increases the critical strike chance of Circle of Healing.
• Shaman
  
  • The Static Shock rune no longer requires multiple players to obtain.
• Warrior
  
  • Fixed an issue with the tooltips on Booming Voice and Thunder Clap not updating to the intended functionality.

Hello testers!

Here are the changes you can find in this week’s 11.0.5 20th Anniversary PTR update:

20th Anniversary Event

• Raid and Anniversary Timewalking items with effects will be available to test on the Trinketaur npc.

Classes

• Druid
  
  • Balance
    
    • Balance of All Things once again grants 10/20% critical strike chance (was 8/16%).
  • New Moon damage increased by 20%.
  • Half Moon damage increased by 10%.
  • Rattle the Stars increases Starsurge and Starfall damage by 10% (was 12%).
  • Umbral Inspiration increases damage by 30% (was 35%).
  • Circle of Life and Death removed.
    
    • Developer’s note: We know this talent creates a rotation that can be frustrating, especially in AOE. After further playtesting and reading feedback, we’re not happy with the possibility that players that don’t enjoy Circle’s playstyle could feel obligated to take it, so we are removing it.
  • Elune’s Chosen
    
    • Lunar Calling increases Starfire damage by 100% (was 80%).
• Hunter
  
  • Tranquilizing Shots empowered by Kodo Tranquilizer will now prioritize players.
  • Hero Talents
    
    • Dark Ranger
      
      • Dark Arrow can now only benefit from Bleak Powder once per cast.
      • Gaining Withering Fire now grants Deathblow.
      • Shadow Daggers damage reduced by 90%.
      • Black Arrow’s damage over time effect is now exclusive per caster.
      • Bleak Powder’s cone size increased by 50%.
      • Bleak Powder’s visual size increased.
  • Beast Mastery
    
    • Dark Ranger
      
      • Withering Fire stacking aura duration increased to 3 minutes (was 1 minute).
      • Withering Fire now requires 3 casts of Bestial Wrath to trigger (was 4).
      • Bleak Powder damage increased by 100%.
      • Shadow Hounds now have Beast Cleave for their duration.
      • Bleak Arrows chance to trigger Deathblow increased to 20% (was 15%).
  • Marksmanship
    
    • Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus will no longer be inconsistently consumed by Trick Shots-empowered Aimed Shots.
    • Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus will now consistently benefit all damage instances of a Trick Shots-empowered Aimed Shot.
    • Nerub-ar Palace 4-set bonus will now behave properly with spell-queued Arcane Shots and Multi-Shots.
  • Survival
    
    • The range of Sic Em enhanced Kill Shots has been reduced.
    • Harpoon will now find an appropriate destination during the Rasha’nan fight in The Dawnbreaker dungeon.
• Mage
  
  • Hero Talents
    
    • Frostfire
      
      • Frostfire Burst damage increased by 25%.
      • Frostfire Infusion damage increased by 50%.
      • Isothermic Core Meteor damage increased by 15%.
      • Isothermic Core Comet Storm damage increased by 25%.
    • Spellslinger
      
      • Gravity Lapse cooldown increased to 40 seconds (was 30 seconds).
      • Meteorites are now summoned instantly.
  • Arcane
    
    • Arcane Missiles no longer consumes Ice Floes if you have Slipstream talented.
    • Spellslinger
      
      • Spellfrost Teachings procs now properly increases your Arcane Orb damage by 10% for 10 seconds.
  • Fire
    
    • All ability damage reduced by 3%.
    • Lit Fuse now has a 6% chance to trigger (was 4%).
    • Lit Fuse no longer highlights Fire Blast.
    • Lit Fuse is now displayed on the Personal Resource Display.
    • Explosive Ingenuity now increases Lit Fuse’s chance to trigger by 4% (was 3%).
    • Explosive Ingenuity now increases Living Bomb’s damage by 50% (was 25%).
    • Explosivo’s Living Bomb damage increase while in Combustion reduced to 30% (was 40%).
    • Sparking Cinders now triggers 3 times per minute (was 2).
    • Sparking Cinders damage bonus increased to 15% for Pyroblast and Flamestrike (was 10% for Pyroblast and 20% for Flamestrike).
    • Sunfury
      
      • Burden of Power now increases Pyroblast damage by 20% (was 15%).
      • Burden of Power now increases Flamestrike damage by 30% (was 60%).
      • Glorious Incandescence now highlights Fire Blast.
• Monk
  
  • Hero Talents
    
    • Shado-Pan
      
      • Added an energy tracker aura. This aura shows the player how much energy they have spent towards their next set of Flurry Strikes.
      • Flurry Charges are no longer cancelable and no longer have a duration.
      • Flurry Strikes unleash energy trigger threshold is now 240 energy (was 300).
      • Flurry Strike damage reduced by 8%.
      • Flurry Strike Accumulator Threshold increased by 47%.
      • Wisdom of the Wall bonus effects duration reduced to 16 seconds (was 20%).
      • Against All Odds duration reduced to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds).
      • Developer’s note: The goal of these changes is to allow Shado-Pan to activate Flurry Strikes more frequently and have a better understanding of when the Flurry Strikes are going to to be unleashed on their foes.
  • Windwalker
    
    • Blackout Kick’s damage increased by 20%.
    • Flurry of Xuen damage increased by 40%.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Courageous Impulse to incorrectly buff the damage of Blackout Kick by more than intended when multiple stacks are active.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Courageous Impulse to incorrectly buff Teachings of the Monastery Blackout Kicks.
    • Developer’s note: Some of these changes will be applied to the PTR environment via hotfixes or a newer build deploy at a later time.
• Rogue
  
  • Subtlety
    
    • Flagellation cooldown reduced to 1 minute (was 1 minute 30 seconds), lash damage reduced by 25%, initial effect duration reduced to 10 seconds (was 12 seconds), and trailing buff duration reduced to 10 seconds (was 12 seconds).
  • Death Perception now also increases Symbols of Death damage by an additional 3/6%.
  • Shadow Blades cooldown reduced to 1 minute 30 seconds (was 2 minutes) and duration reduced to 16 seconds (was 20 seconds).
  • The First Dance duration bonus for next Shadow Dance increased to 4 seconds (was 3 seconds).
• Warrior
  
  • Developer’s note: Some of these changes will be applied to the PTR environment via hotfixes or a newer build deploy at a later time.
  • Hero Talents
    
    • Colossus
      
      • Arterial Bleed causes Colossal Might to increase the damage dealt by Deep Wounds and Rend by 3% per stack (was 2%).
      • No Stranger to Pain increases total damage ignored by Ignore Pain by 20% (was 15%).
    • Slayer
      
      • Overwhelmed now stacks up to 10 times (was 12).
      • Culling Cyclone bonus Bladestorm damage reduced to 15% (was 20%).
      • Opportunist now increases the damage and critical strike damage of your next Overpower or Raging Blow by 25% (was 30%).
  • Fury
    
    • Raging Blow damage increased by 25%.
      
      • Developer’s note: This change does not affect Reckless Abandon’s Crushing Blow.
    • Bloodthirst damage increased by 30%.
      
      • Developer’s note: This change does not affect Reckless Abandon’s Bloodbath.
    • Developer’s note: Currently Reckless Abandon is outperforming Anger Management in all situations, so we’re bringing them closer in power by bringing up Raging Blow and Bloodthirst’s base damage, which will also improve Fury’s baseline single-target damage.

Items

• Mistweaver Ai in the Timeless Isles now offers Mists of Pandaria: Remix achievement rewards for players who didn’t receive the achievement rewards properly during the event.
  
  • Developer’s note: To see these items on the PTR you must have the Mists of Pandaria: Remix achievements completed and your account data copied in the Character Selection Screen under Copy Account Data.

Player Versus Player

• Items
  
  • The following items from the Blackrock Depths Anniversary event have been adjusted for PvP combat:
    
    • Molten Furnace absorb reduced by 67% in PvP combat.
    • Naglering damage reduced by 70% in PvP combat.
    • Spire of the Stoneshaper absorb reduced by 90% in PvP combat.
    • Flame Wreath damage reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Force of Magma damage reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Circle of Flame health and mana reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Force of Will damage reduction reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Long General’s Sword stat bonus reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
  • Developer’s note: Some of these changes will be applied to the PTR environment via hotfixes or a newer build deploy at a later time.
• Mage
  
  • Spellslinger
    
    • Gravity Lapse is now a Root while in PvP combat.
    • Gravity Lapse now prioritizes targeting players over pets.

User Interface and Accessibility

• Arachnophobia Mode
  
  • Fixed an issue where the setting would sometimes be temporarily disabled upon logging in or teleporting to a new area.
  • Fixed an issue that caused some swapped creatures to appear too large or too small.
  • Mounts will now dynamically swap if the mode is enabled while the mount is already visible.
  • Bloodswarmers are now supported by arachnophobia mode (including mount versions).
• A dropdown has been added to the Currency pane that allows you to see all the transferable currency types across your Warband. This enables you to transfer currencies your current character hasn’t encountered before and wouldn’t normally see in their list.