PTR 9.1.5 Development Notes

New Hair Color Options for Void Elves, Redeemed Souls Catch Up Quest, DLC #786

PTR 9.1.5 Development Notes

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Allied Races

New character customization options for Nightborne, Lightforged Draenei, and Void Elves.
- Developers’ note: The PTR character copy may result in characters looking different while we work to hook up the new customizations.
The dungeon quests for unlocking Kul Tiran humans, Mechagnomes, and Dark Iron Dwarves are no longer required. After accepting the dungeon quest, speak to the NPC again to choose to skip the quest.

Art

Added weather effects in Stormwind and Orgrimmar.

Classes

All cooldowns of 2 minutes or longer now reset at the end of raid encounters or when starting a Mythic+ dungeon (was 3 minutes or longer cooldowns). This does not apply to Shaman’s Reincarnation or Warlock’s Ritual of Doom.
The following area-of-affect abilities are no longer maximum target capped and instead deal reduced damage beyond 5 targets: (These features will be available in a later PTR build)
- Developers’ note: With the launch of Shadowlands, we reduced the maximum number of targets that several abilities could hit specifically to address a few gameplay problems related to pulling a large number of enemies in dungeons. Players often refer to these changes as the “AOE target cap.” Our intention was to reduce the effectiveness of burst AOE buttons against large target counts (i.e. 15-20 enemies) while also increasing their effectiveness against fewer targets (e.g. 3-5 enemies) and communicating that strength clearly in the tooltips. The abilities that remained “uncapped” were generally ones that offered lower damage over a longer period of time (e.g. Blizzard or Consecration). Along with other changes, we set out to move away from “pull as many enemies as possible, use all your cooldowns and delete them” as the predominant strategy across various forms of content.
  We’ve received a lot of feedback that these abilities not hitting enemies in their range in any way creates a feel problem for WoW combat but is also an issue for trivial encounters like farming legacy content. For many of the abilities that underwent the change from uncapped to a strict target cap in 9.0, we’re converting the damage to “reduced damage beyond 5 targets.” This means that the ability will deal full damage against 5 targets, then reduced damage to each additional target beyond 5. This means that while the overall damage done by the ability increases with the number of targets, the individual damage done to each target will decrease. This solution means these abilities and their relative classes will still have a very strong niche against packs of 4-6 enemies. As always, tuning will change as a result of this shift over the next few weeks based on your feedback from the PTR.
- Death Knight
  - Sacrificial Pact
  - Abomination Limb (Necrolord Ability)
  - Reanimated Shambler (Runecarving Power)
  - Blood
    - Consumption (Talent)
    - Bonestorm (Talent)
  - Frost
    - Frostscythe (Talent)
  - Unholy
    - Bursting Sores (Talent)
- Demon Hunter
  - Havoc
    - Blade Dance
    - Fel Barrage (Talent)
  - Vengeance
    - Soul Cleave
    - Spirit Bomb (Talent) now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets (previously was soft-capped at 20 targets).
- Druid
  - Swipe
  - Feral
    - Brutal Slash (Talent)
- Hunter
  - Soulforge Embers (Runecarving Power)
  - Beast Mastery
    - Beast Cleave
    - Multi-Shot
    - Barrage (Talent)
  - Marksmanship
    - Multi-Shot
    - Barrage (Talent)
    - Explosive Shot (Talent)
  - Survival
    - Carve
    - Butchery (Talent)
- Mage
  - Arcane
    - Arcane Echo (Talent)
  - Frost
    - Frozen Orb
    - Glacial Fragments (Runecarving Power)
- Monk
  - Brewmaster
    - Rushing Jade Wind (Talent)
  - Windwalker
    - Fists of Fury
    - Rushing Jade Wind (Talent)
- Paladin
  - Retribution
    - Divine Storm
- Rogue
  - Assassination
    - Fan of Knives
    - Crimson Tempest (Talent)
  - Subtlety
    - Black Powder
    - Shuriken Storm
    - Secret Technique (Talent)
- Shaman
  - Elemental
    - Storm Elemental’s (Talent) Eye of the Storm
- Warlock
  - Demonology
    - Felguard’s Felstorm
- Warrior
  - Whirlwind
  - Arms
    - Bladestorm
    - Cleave (Talent)
    - Ravager (Talent)
    - Dreadnaught (Talent)
  - Fury
    - Bladestorm
  - Protection
    - Ravager (Talent)
Death Knight
- Shackle the Unworthy (Kyrian Ability) damage reduced by 10%, but now has a 100% chance to spread to nearby enemies when triggered (was 50%).
- Withering Ground (Night Fae Conduit) effect increased by 50%.
- Impenetrable Gloom (Venthyr Conduit) damage effect increased by 50%.
- Blood
  - Debilitating Malady (Conduit) effect increased by 600%.
Demon Hunter
- Sinful Brand (Venthyr Ability) cooldown has been reduced to 45 seconds (was 1 minute).
- Blind Faith (Kyrian Runecarving Power) now grants 1% Versatility (was 1% Mastery) and 10 Fury when a Lesser Soul Fragment is consumed while Blind Faith is active.
- Havoc
  - Dancing with Fate (Conduit) damage effect increased by 650%.
Druid
- Four new Travel Form appearances are now available.
- The Well-Honed Instincts conduit is now categorized for all specs (was Guardian only).
- Adaptive Swarm (Necrolord Ability) jump range has been increased to 50 yards (was 25 yards) and will now jump to a friendly target if it expires on a friendly target and there are no valid hostile targets within 50 yards.
Hunter
- Aquilons, Corspeflies, and Gromits are now tameable as pets.
- Flayed Shot (Venthyr Ability) now deals an additional hit of damage when cast. This damage also has 15% chance (increased with Empowered Release Conduit) to reset the cooldown of Kill Shot.
Mage
- Gift of the Lich (Necrolord Conduit) effect increased by 100%.
Monk
- Way of the Fae (Night Fae Conduit) effect increased by 100%.
Paladin
- Righteous Might (Necrolord Conduit) damage effect increased by 400% and healing effect reduced by 50%.
- Blessing of Seasons (Night Fae Ability): Blessing of Spring now increases healing done by 15% (was 10%) and healing received by 30% (was 20%). Blessing of Winter now reduces the hostile target’s attack speed and movement speed by 5% per stack (was 3%) and its damage has been increased by 40%.
Priest
- Festering Transfusion (Necrolord Conduit) damage and healing effect increased by 100%.
- Holy
  - Divine Star (Talent) damage increased by 40%.
- Discipline
  - Divine Star (Talent) damage increased by 40%.
  - Contrition (Talent) healing increased by 15%.
  - Shadow Covenant (Talent) healing increased by 10%, mana cost reduced by 10%, and duration lowered to 7 seconds (was 9 seconds).
- Shadow
  - Surrender to Madness duration increased to 30 seconds (was 25 seconds).
  - Psychic Link (Talent) deals 60% of Mind Blast’s damage (was 50%).
Rogue
- Septic Shock (Night Fae Conduit) effect increased by 50%.
Shaman
- Elysian Dirge (Kyrian Conduit) effect increased by 50%.
Warlock
- Impending Catastrophe (Venthyr Ability) chaotic anima cloud width has been increased 60%, now deals a tick of its periodic damage on impact and will more accurately apply its damage-over-time effect to hostile targets.
- Decimating Bolt (Necrolord Ability) cast time reduced to 2 seconds (was 2.5 seconds).
- Scouring Tithe (Kyrian Ability) instant and periodic damage increased by 20% and cast time reduced to 1.5 seconds (was 2 seconds).
- Languishing Soul Detritus (Kyrian Runecarving Power) critical strike chance bonus increased to 45% (was 40%) and now also grants the Warlock a 33% movement speed buff and a 15% critical strike chance increase when Scouring Tithe (Kyrian Ability) expires.
Warrior
- Harrowing Punishment (Venthyr Conduit) effect increased by 50%.
- Arms
  - Merciless Bonegrinder (Conduit) effect increased by 100%.
- Fury
  - Hack and Slash (Conduit) increased by 50%.
- Protection
  - Sinful Surge (Venthyr Runecarving Power) now extends the duration of Avatar (Talent) by 2.5 seconds when Condemn (Venthyr Ability) is cast (was Last Stand duration extended by 3 seconds).

Covenants

Players who reach a high Renown threshold will be able to freely switch among any of the four Covenants without cooldown or restriction, as well as use cosmetic rewards that they have earned from one covenant even if they are currently a member of a different one. Both the Covenant switching and the use of cosmetic rewards will also apply to alts once the Renown threshold is reached on one character. (This feature will be available in a later PTR build)
Conduit Energy has been removed and Conduits will be freely swappable without any restrictions. (This feature will be available in a later PTR build)
Completing the Shadowlands or Korthia Covenant Campaign on any character allows alternate characters joining that same Covenant to be eligible to receive the Renown associated with that Campaign from all available catch-up sources.
Completing the Shadowlands Campaign on any character allows alternate characters joining that same Covenant to immediately unlock their third Soulbind. (This feature will be available in a later PTR build)
New Covenant toys to discover.
Night Fae
- New Soulshapes to collect.
- New Crittershapes – Due to their tiny appearances, they are only usable in rested areas.
- Option to Soulshape and Crittershape into randomly collected appearances.
Sanctums
- Adventures
  - Maw missions unlocked by maximum adventurer level appear more often and are gated by fewer requirements.
- Anima Conductor
  - Enhancement buffs now persist past daily reset and work as a buff within all non-instance zones in Shadowlands.
- Night Fae: Queens Conservatory
  - All seeds now stack to 200 (was 20).
  - All previous locations that award uncommon quality seeds now award rare quality seeds.
- Redeemed Souls
  - All players will now have the 20 Redeemed Souls version of the weekly quest “Return Lost Souls” regardless of Renown level.
  - Added a repeatable quest to gather 20 additional Redeemed Souls for players looking to progress their Covenant Sanctum faster.

Dungeons and Raids

Timewalking (These features will be available in a later PTR build)
- New: Legion Timewalking
  - This event will run for two weeks the first time it runs within the game and then will resume a regular one week schedule for subsequent bonus events.
  - Timewalking Dungeons: Black Rook Hold, Eye of Azshara, Darkheart Thicket, Vault of the Wardens, Neltharion’s Lair, and Court of Stars.
- The list of available dungeons during Timewalking holidays has been adjusted.
Timeworn Keystones (This feature will be available in a later PTR build)
- While Legion Timewalking is active, players can speak to Ta’hsup in Oribos to acquire a Timeworn Keystone, allowing access to max-level, Mythic+ difficulty for the 6 Legion dungeons.
- Legion Mythic+ dungeons accessed in this way have their own set of affixes, reward loot of the same item level as Shadowlands Mythic+ dungeons, and count toward weekly Great Vault reward options.
  - Items acquired from Legion Mythic+ dungeons can be upgraded with Valor points, but will not appear in the Great Vault.
Legacy loot rules are now in place for Battle for Azeroth raids and dungeons. These encounters will now drop a fixed quantity of class-agnostic loot, regardless of group size.
The prompt to enter into the Timewalking Campaign random dungeon queue for all expansions will now occur after 5 minutes in the queue (was 15 minutes).

Island Expeditions and Warfronts

You are now able to set sail on a Normal, Heroic, or Mythic Island Expedition alone or with a party of up to three players. Speak with Captain Rez’okun in Dazar’alor (Horde) or Flynn Fairwind in Boralus (Alliance) to begin your solo seafaring voyage!
Lowered the amount of players required to queue for Normal Battle for Stromgarde and Battle for Darkshore Warfronts to 5 (was 15).

Items and Rewards

Players now only need to complete the achievement Breaching the Tomb on one character per account to begin the Legion class mount quests on the Broken Shore. Each character must still complete their class hall campaign, complete quests, and recruit their final order hall champion.
Show off your complete transmog outfit to chat or online by easily sharing a link to it from the Dressing Room. Players will be able to mouse-over these items to see how they can be collected, if they’ve already collected the appearance, or if it’s an appearance that is accessible to the character viewing it.
A new rank of heirloom gear has been added and all heirloom gear is now usable in Shadowlands and outside of Threads of Fate. (These features will be available in a later PTR build)
Heirloom Scouting Maps that instantly explore all areas and grant all viable flight paths to your alt are now available for all expansions (was only Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms).

Korthia and the Maw

Unlock access to additional fast travel options from Ve’nari’s Refuge to Perdition Hold and Desmotaeron within the Maw.
Completing quests from Archivist Roh-Suir will provide access to an Anima Diverter within Korthia where Anima can be directly deposited.

Player versus Player

Lower item-level PvP gear will now scale to a higher item-level in PvP situations than before. This should reduce the power level gap so that new characters can feel that they’re able to compete in Battlegrounds and Arenas more readily. This change will not affect high item-level PvP gear.
Additional PvP Titles and Item Level Ranks have been added to provide a more granular upgrade path for players climbing up the ranks.
- New Rating - Title - Item Level
- Rank 1 Unranked - 220
- 1000 - Rank 2 Combatant I - 223
- 1200 - Rank 3 Combatant II - 226
- 1400 - Rank 4 Challenger I - 229
- 1600 - Rank 5 Challenger II - 233
- 1800 - Rank 6 Rival I - 236
- 1950 - Rank 7 Rival II - 239
- 2100 - Rank 8 Duelist - 242
- 2400 - Rank 9 Elite - 246

Quests

Alternate characters on an account can now choose to skip the introductory Shadowlands questline that takes place in the Maw by speaking to Highlord Darion Mograine after accepting the quest “Shadowlands: A Chilling Summons”. Please note that to enable the skip, you will need to have logged into a level 60 character who has completed the Maw introduction first to earn the new achievement Stand as One.

Runecarving

The Runecarver will now offer to destroy an existing legendary item and return all of the Soul Ash or Soul Cinders that were spent to create the item. (This feature will be available in a later PTR build)
Drop rates for Runecarving recipes increased to 100% drop rate on any difficulty.

Threads of Fate

Tal-Inara now offers a Torghast, Tower of the Damned daily quest for experience and Soul Ash.
Tal-Inara now offers a PvP Battlegrounds daily quest for experience and gear.
Threads of Fate Bonus Objectives are now significantly shorter and award Renown.
Threads of Fate Zone Objectives now reward higher item level gear and anima.

User Interface and Accessibility

Updated the requirements to participate in the newcomer guide system, players can now opt-in after completing 3000 quests and reaching max-level.
Improved gamepad compatibility, including support for touchpad and gyro.
Mythic+ and PvP Ratings can now be shared through a chat link with Shift-Click.
Item Upgrade UI has been reworked.
Group Finder Improvements
- Search now allows a numeric range (i.e. search “5-9” finds M+ key levels from 5 to 9).
- Autofill group finder information based on the creator’s keystone. The information can still be manually entered.
- Group creators can now set a minimum Mythic+ or PvP rating requirement for applicants.
- Group creators can now select a playstyle to set expectations for their group.
Reporters will receive a message when their report results in action being taken. Offenders will receive a message of any current and future penalties if their behavior is not corrected.
Text-to-Speech settings saved on server and added an option to also save the settings account-wide.
Option to add voice transcription output to any chat frame and change the font color.