The Official Patch 4.0.6 PTR Notes have been slightly updated.
Dungeons & Raids
Deadmines
Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arms
Deadmines
- Foe Reaper 5000
- Foe Reaper 5000's health has been reduced slightly. In addition, he now enrages at 40%, up from 30%.
- When enraged, Molten Slag spawn 33% faster.
- Vanessa VanCleef
- Some boat fires will now go out when Vanessa VanCleef is defeated, making it easier to get back onto the ship from the cavern entrance.
- Vengeance of VanCleef has been redesigned. It is now a stacking buff that increases damage dealt, size, and attack speed, and stacks up to 40 times. Vanessa will begin casting this as soon as she jumps back onto the boat after detonating charges.
Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arms
- Drums of War no longer lowers the rage cost of Piercing Howl.
- Mortal Strike cost has been reduced by 5 rage.
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Death Knight (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Scourge Strike / Dreadblade
The Shadow portion of Scourge Strike is intended to be affected by Dreadblade (this was part of the intent behind changing Unholy mastery); however, there's a bug on the PTR right now that's preventing this from happening correctly. It should be resolved soon, or may already be resolved in the next PTR build. (Source)
Druid (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Racial Flight Forms
Worgen and trolls should both be getting new Swift Flight Form models this patch, even if that's not the case on the current PTR build. We have no current plans to update the models of the tauren and night elf Swift Flight Form model. The reason trolls and worgen are getting new models is because they're new to the druid class and have not yet received their own. (Source)
Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Hammer of Wrath damage "nerfed" by 50% on PTRs
This is actually a bug. A very non-excessive, non-stealthy bug. There was small coding change in the latest PTR build that caused Hammer of Wrath, a ranged ability, to use ranged attack power instead of melee attack power. The change itself was completely unintended and has since been corrected.
That said, we're still watching paladin damage (both sustained and burst), and if we feel that further adjustments need to be made, Hammer of Wrath may actually be a good candidate.
[...] There's no changes planned right now, but Hammer of Wrath does hit for a lot and would be an ability we'd likely look at changing if we felt that paladin damage was too strong. (Source)
Class Balancing
That's not really how it works. Balance is an ongoing, iterative process, and we continually examine how class abilities interact and scale with one another. Even when we're not actively developing a patch, we don't just sit around with our hands over our eyes and wait for something to happen. We consider alternatives and monitor areas of balance we feel may need further finessing if things don't stay at the status quo.
So, simply because we have an idea for how we might be able to tone down paladin damage in the future -- if it becomes necessary -- that doesn't mean change is imminent. It also doesn't mean that we've made some fancy list with little empty checkboxes on one side and paladin abilities on the other and are now sitting perched with a big red pen in our hand, just waiting to draw an X through the one labeled "Hammer of Wrath." No, all it means is that we feel Hammer of Wrath may be a reasonable candidate for adjustment should we need to reexamine paladin DPS sometime down the line. Your fellow posters have offered counters as to why that may not be best approach, of course, and we absolutely appreciate the feedback. (Source)
Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Circle of Healing Radius (PS: This one's totally my fault)
This information is actually incorrect. In addition to Circle of Healing receiving a 30% healing buff, its radius (around the target) is also being increased from 15 yards to 30 yards in patch 4.0.6. If this change isn't already live on the PTR, it should be soon, so you and fellow priests will be able to test out new positioning and see how it feels. (Source)
Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Build 13529 Warrior Changes (Please read Bad Datamining about that)
Heroic Strike was never 93% damage. That was just bad data-mining. You can't always trust the automated tools of third-party websites to correctly extract and organize all of the client data being sorted through. This type of misleading information has come out several times now over the course of testing patches 4.0.3 and 4.0.6, so it's a really good idea for players to be suspicious of data-mined material.
We brought down Heroic Strike to 60% (20% decrease in overall damage from live realms), and it has stayed at 60% throughout 4.0.6 development.
We did buff Raging Blow (and some other stuff) to compensate for the Heroic Strike nerf, since the intent was to make Heroic Strike a clear rage dump and not to lower warrior damage. We were concerned our initial buff of Raging Blow was too high, leading to possible (but realistically pretty unlikely) burst scenarios, so we took it down a little (but still higher than on live realms), and buffed Slam instead to make the Bloodsurge proc something you actually want to take advantage of. (Source)
Scourge Strike / Dreadblade
The Shadow portion of Scourge Strike is intended to be affected by Dreadblade (this was part of the intent behind changing Unholy mastery); however, there's a bug on the PTR right now that's preventing this from happening correctly. It should be resolved soon, or may already be resolved in the next PTR build. (Source)
Druid (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Racial Flight Forms
Worgen and trolls should both be getting new Swift Flight Form models this patch, even if that's not the case on the current PTR build. We have no current plans to update the models of the tauren and night elf Swift Flight Form model. The reason trolls and worgen are getting new models is because they're new to the druid class and have not yet received their own. (Source)
Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Hammer of Wrath damage "nerfed" by 50% on PTRs
This is actually a bug. A very non-excessive, non-stealthy bug. There was small coding change in the latest PTR build that caused Hammer of Wrath, a ranged ability, to use ranged attack power instead of melee attack power. The change itself was completely unintended and has since been corrected.
That said, we're still watching paladin damage (both sustained and burst), and if we feel that further adjustments need to be made, Hammer of Wrath may actually be a good candidate.
[...] There's no changes planned right now, but Hammer of Wrath does hit for a lot and would be an ability we'd likely look at changing if we felt that paladin damage was too strong. (Source)
Class Balancing
That's not really how it works. Balance is an ongoing, iterative process, and we continually examine how class abilities interact and scale with one another. Even when we're not actively developing a patch, we don't just sit around with our hands over our eyes and wait for something to happen. We consider alternatives and monitor areas of balance we feel may need further finessing if things don't stay at the status quo.
So, simply because we have an idea for how we might be able to tone down paladin damage in the future -- if it becomes necessary -- that doesn't mean change is imminent. It also doesn't mean that we've made some fancy list with little empty checkboxes on one side and paladin abilities on the other and are now sitting perched with a big red pen in our hand, just waiting to draw an X through the one labeled "Hammer of Wrath." No, all it means is that we feel Hammer of Wrath may be a reasonable candidate for adjustment should we need to reexamine paladin DPS sometime down the line. Your fellow posters have offered counters as to why that may not be best approach, of course, and we absolutely appreciate the feedback. (Source)
Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Circle of Healing Radius (PS: This one's totally my fault)
This information is actually incorrect. In addition to Circle of Healing receiving a 30% healing buff, its radius (around the target) is also being increased from 15 yards to 30 yards in patch 4.0.6. If this change isn't already live on the PTR, it should be soon, so you and fellow priests will be able to test out new positioning and see how it feels. (Source)
Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Build 13529 Warrior Changes (Please read Bad Datamining about that)
Heroic Strike was never 93% damage. That was just bad data-mining. You can't always trust the automated tools of third-party websites to correctly extract and organize all of the client data being sorted through. This type of misleading information has come out several times now over the course of testing patches 4.0.3 and 4.0.6, so it's a really good idea for players to be suspicious of data-mined material.
We brought down Heroic Strike to 60% (20% decrease in overall damage from live realms), and it has stayed at 60% throughout 4.0.6 development.
We did buff Raging Blow (and some other stuff) to compensate for the Heroic Strike nerf, since the intent was to make Heroic Strike a clear rage dump and not to lower warrior damage. We were concerned our initial buff of Raging Blow was too high, leading to possible (but realistically pretty unlikely) burst scenarios, so we took it down a little (but still higher than on live realms), and buffed Slam instead to make the Bloodsurge proc something you actually want to take advantage of. (Source)
New Fan Art
The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with four new pieces of fan artwork set within the Warcraft universe.
Holiday Dessert Contest Winners
Another holiday season has come and gone, and while parting may be bittersweet, the entries you baked up and photographed for the 2010 Blizzard Holiday Dessert Contest were all sweet, all the time. This contest was a community favorite last year, so we once again asked you to bake a dessert with a distinctly Blizzard flavor and snap a photo to share the joy (if not the taste). We were amazed by the deliriously delicious delights and tantalizing treats you tempted us with!
After reviewing all of the entries, we came away more than a little hungry (send cupcakes, pls), but we were finally able to get over our grumbling tummies to select these truly mouthwatering winners. Feast your eyes on these five fantastic finalists, and please join us in congratulating them on their leet baking skills!
After reviewing all of the entries, we came away more than a little hungry (send cupcakes, pls), but we were finally able to get over our grumbling tummies to select these truly mouthwatering winners. Feast your eyes on these five fantastic finalists, and please join us in congratulating them on their leet baking skills!
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