World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Cobalt Shalewing’s drop rate has been hotfixed and has been brought in line with other similar drops.

Thanks to everyone for pointing this out!

Hello! Here’s this week’s changes to the Fractures in Time PTR:

Classes

• Druid
  
  • New Talent: Rising Light, Falling Night – Increases your damage and healing by 3% during the day. Increases your Versatility by 2% during the night.
  • Improved Sunfire has been moved to row 3, connected to Sunfire.
  • Rising Light, Falling Night occupies Improved Sunfire’s previous location.
  • Restoration and Balance Druid starter builds have been updated.
  • Feral
    
    • Developers’ note: Dire Fixation is a new talent Feral Druids can take to focus on single target damage. The changes to Rampant Ferocity allow its value to be tuned independent of Ferocious Bite’s damage.
    • New Talent: Dire Fixation – Attacking an enemy with Shred fixates your attention on it for 10 seconds. You can fixate on a single target at once. Your attacks deal 5% increased damage to your fixated target.
    • Primal Claws has been removed.
    • Dire Fixation is located in Primal Claws’ previous location. It is a 1 rank talent.
    • Rampant Ferocity has been redesigned – When you attack an enemy with Ferocious Bite, you also deal damage per combo point spent to all nearby enemies affected by your Rip. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets.
  • Restoration
    
    • Developers’ note: We are shifting power out of Nature’s Vigil and into Restoration Druid’s active spells.
    • Damage of all abilities increased by 15%.
• Evoker
  
  • Augmentation
    
    • Ignition Rush reduces the cast time of Eruption by 40% (was 30%).
    • Enemies can now only be affected by Upheaval’s knockback effect twice within 3 seconds.
    • Shifting Sands from Mastery: Timewalker reduced by 26%. For example, at level 70, 180 Mastery rating now grants 0.4% Versatility via Shifting Sands (was 0.54%).
    • Nourishing Sands now causes your next Emerald Blossom to cost no Essence if talented into Dream of Spring.
    • Momentum Shift now lasts 6 seconds (was 8 seconds) and duration is now increased by Mastery: Timewalker.
    • Essence Burst and Leaping Flames now have their duration increased by Mastery: Timewalker.
• Mage
  
  • Fire
    
    • Phoenix Flames now only generates 1 stack of Feel the Burn.
    • Feel the Burn increases Mastery per stack by 2% (was 4%).
    • Searing Touch increases Scorch damage by 175% when the target is below 30% health (was 150%).
    • Firemind increases Intellect per stack by 1% (was 2%).
    • Fevered Incantation critical strike damage increases up to 8% (was 10%).
    • Wildfire now increases critical strike damage by 3/6% (was 4/8%) and increases critical strike damage by an additional 2/4% when you activate Combustion (was 3/6%).
    • Sun King’s Blessing increases your next Pyroblast or Flamestrike damage by 275% (was 300%).
    • Hyperthermia will no longer trigger while Combustion is active. The tooltip has been updated to reflect this change.
  • Frost
    
    • Icy Veins cooldown reduced to 2 minutes (was 3 minutes) and Haste reduced to 20% (was 30%).
    • Icy Veins Water Elemental abilities can be controlled again.
      
      • Water Jet cooldown increased to 20 seconds (was 15 seconds).
      • Freeze now applies maximum stacks for Frigid Exposure.
      • Frigid Exposure now increases damage taken by 4% per stack (was 2%) and maximum stacks reduced to 5 (was 10).
    • Winter’s Blessing Haste increased to 8% (was 3%).
    • Thermal Void increases Icy Veins duration by 5 seconds (was 10 seconds).
    • Thermal Void causes Ice Lance to increase Icy Veins’ duration by 0.5 seconds (was 1 second) and causes Glacial Spike to increase Icy Veins’ duration by 1.5 seconds (was 3 seconds).
    • Frozen Orb radius increased by 15% and damage increased by 25%.
    • Frostbolt’s chance to gain Brain Freeze reduced to 25% (was 30%).
    • Coldest Snap has been slightly redesigned – Cone of Cold’s cooldown is increased to 45 seconds and resets the cooldown of Frozen Orb, Comet Storm, and Blizzard. In addition, Cone of Cold applies Winter’s Chill to all enemies hit.
    • Snowstorm increases Cone of Cold’s damage by 18/36% per stack (was 12/24%). Maximum stacks reduced to 15 (was 30).
    • Frozen Touch now grants Fingers of Frost 25% more often (was 20%) and now grants Brain Freeze 15% more often (was 20%).
    • Glacial Spike cast time reduced by 0.5 seconds and damage increased by 10%.
    • Mastery: Icicles reduces the damage of icicles by 25%. Mastery now also increases the damage of Blizzard, Comet Storm, Ice Lance, Glacial Spike, and Ray of Frost
    • Frozen Orb’s damage from Mastery: Icicles has been reduced to account for the newly added abilities that gain Mastery scaling.
• Paladin
  
  • Holy
    
    • Echoing Blessing’s location has moved to below Holy Aegis.
    • The starter build has been updated.
    • Crusader’s Might is now a 1 point talent and grants 1.5 seconds of cooldown reduction to Holy Shock.
    • Relentless Inquisition is now a 1 point talent and can stack up to 5 times.
    • New Talent: Awestruck – Holy Shock, Holy Light, and Flash of Light critical healing increased by 15%.
    • Holy Infusion now shares a choice node with Awestruck.
    • Glorious Dawn now increases the healing and damage of Glimmer of Light by 10%.
    • Awakening now triggers Avenging Wrath for 12 seconds (was 10 seconds).
    • Fixed an issue that caused Relentless Inquisitor to not stack its effect from Avenging Crusader.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Light of the Martyr to cost less mana than intended.
• Warlock
  
  • Affliction
    
    • Xavius’ Gambit no longer increases the damage of Unstable Affliction’s backlash damage.

Items and Rewards

• Professions
  
  • Leatherworking
    
    • The patterns for Deviate Scale Cloak, Deviate Scale Gloves, and Deviate Scale Belt can now sometimes be found within Stuffed Deviate Scale Pouches which drop from Druids of the Fang inside Wailing Caverns.
    • The patterns for Girdle of Insight, Mongoose Boots, Swift Flight Bracers, Chromatic Cloak, Hide of the Wild, and Shifting Cloak can now sometimes be found within Knot Thimblejack’s Cache for players who acquire the Gordok Shackle Key within Dire Maul.
  • Tailoring
    
    • The pattern for Belt of the Archmage can now sometimes be found within Knot Thimblejack’s Cache for players who acquire the Gordok Shackle Key within Dire Maul.

Player Versus Player

• Evoker
  
  • Dreamwalker’s Embrace heals you and your ally for 100% of damage dealt to enemies struck by the tether.
  • Time Stop cooldown reduced to 1 minute (was 1.5 minutes) and duration increased to 5 seconds (was 4 seconds).
• Paladin
  
  • Holy
    
    • Searing Glare’s cooldown reduced to 45 seconds and radius increased to 25 yards.
    • Glimmer of Light now deals 50% damage in PvP combat (was 75%).
• Warlock
  
  • Affliction
    
    • Deathbolt (PvP Talent) has been removed.
    • New Talent: Oblivion – Unleash wicked magic upon your target’s soul, dealing Shadow damage over 3 seconds. Deals 10% increased damage, up to 30%, per damage over time effect you have active on the target.

User Interface and Accessibility

• Updated the “open hand” interaction cursor with high resolution art.
• Updated unit frame art for totems.
• Added a “Sell All Junk” button to vendors.
• Updated “Repair” and “Repair All” button art on vendors.
• Edit Mode
  
  • Added Archaeology bar.
  • Added width and height sliders to the Chat Frame.

Diablo^® IV, the highly anticipated new installment of the iconic Diablo series, is now live. Already, it is Blizzard Entertainment’s fastest-selling game of all time, with Blizzard’s highest pre-launch unit sales ever on both console and PC*. In the four days since early access started on June 1, Diablo IV has been played for 93 million hours, or over 10,000 years --- the equivalent playing 24 hours a day since the beginning of human civilization.

Diablo IV features cross-platform play and cross-progression on Windows^® PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation^®5, PlayStation^®4, plus up to four player co-op, including two player couch co-op on consoles.

“This is a moment years in the making for the Diablo IV team,” said Rod Fergusson, general manager of Diablo. “We’re extremely proud to offer players the richest story ever told in a Diablo game. Players have a range of choices, including personal character customization, equipping personalized skills for battling horrific demons, or collecting Legendary loot to support your playstyle while discovering new ones. Since the game was first announced in 2019, the support from millions of players around the world drove us toward this release of our dark vision of Sanctuary. Hail Lilith, Blessed Mother.”

“Our vision at Blizzard is to create legendary experiences for all to share, and Diablo IV is an incredible realization of that vision,” said Mike Ybarra, President of Blizzard Entertainment. “With highly customizable gameplay, gripping storytelling, and plenty of options around how to engage with the world, this masterfully crafted expression of the Diablo universe is an outstanding example of what our talented development teams are capable of. Whether you’re a veteran of the series or diving into Sanctuary for the first time, we welcome players to the global launch of Diablo IV.”

Set 50 years after the events of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls^®, Diablo IV opens with the summoning of Lilith, the Daughter of Hatred, back to the mortal realm of Sanctuary. The lands have become infested with horrific creatures, and only the bravest of souls will be able to stand against the threat of chaos. Players can customize their gameplay experience in directions that appeal to them, experimenting with skill trees to showcase complimenting spells and abilities as they fight to return Sanctuary to its citizens.

Diablo IV heralds an expansive overworld, which players can explore as their choice of five classes—the shapeshifting Druids, agile Rogues, elemental Sorcerer, brutal Barbarians, and ritualistic Necromancers. There is no golden path; players choose how they want to progress, whether it be pursuing Lilith with laser-focus or exploring the dark corners of each region, while building their skills. The land of Sanctuary is diverse with different biomes and demonic beasts, and players will test their mettle across five regions in over 120 dungeons and dozens of side-quests, all while confronting World Bosses and exorcising plagued Strongholds in a shared and cooperative open world.

But it doesn’t end there. After completing the main storyline, players can explore robust end-game activities to further their adventures and grow even more formidable in power. From the grueling and regularly occurring Helltide, to demonically challenging Nightmare Dungeons, there’s plenty of ways for players to utilize an updated Paragon Board system and continue customizing their adventures. Also featured is the Whispers of the Dead, which grant Legendary rewards for selected world bounties, and the Fields of Hatred, which offer designated grounds for battling other players and building PvP renown. Plus, players can remain embroiled in the happenings of Sanctuary with the regular release of Seasons and expansions, providing new gameplay features, questlines, characters, challenges, and Legendary loot.