World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Greetings Dragonriders and Dracthyr!

With the next alpha build, we’re making a change to Soar for Dracthyr that reduces their maximum speed from (roughly) 930% to 640%. The maximum speed for Dragon Isles Drakes is unchanged. This only applies to the Dracthyr Soar racial ability.

In the Dragon Isles, all characters of all races are on similar footing in regards to their ability to traverse the terrain because everyone can summon a Dragon Isles Drake. However, this isn’t the case in other areas of the game where flying mounts are the mainstay of travel. In Eastern Kingdoms, Soar is currently over twice as fast as Epic Flying which travels at 410% speed. The result is that Dracthyr have a drastic efficiency advantage over characters of other races when doing non-Dragon Isles content, whether that’s Chromie Time quests, clearing old raids for transmog, pet battling, etc.

Soar is important to the identity of Dracthyr. From the outset of the design process we knew that Dracthyr had to be able to fly in some form, even if we didn’t know the specifics until later. But, Soar is also a Racial ability, and was never intended to be a massive efficiency or performance improvement over other races. These two goals are somewhat in conflict: Make Soar fun and fulfill the fantasy of being a flying creature, but don’t give one race an outsized advantage across large swathes of the game.

What we’ve found while playtesting these changes internally is that the speed change didn’t diminish the fun of the locomotion mechanics. The engaging control system, gameplay of conserving momentum, and challenge of navigating obstacles, are all still present, while also rewarding skillful use of Soar with being able to travel faster than Epic flying mounts. This hits both of the goals nicely – Dracthyr can engage in the dynamic, immersive locomotion of dragonriding, but aren’t able to blitz across a continent in half the time as other characters.

The Alpha period is time for experimentation, testing, and learning, and that often leads to change. Due to Soar being an evergreen feature of the Dracthyr race, we feel that reducing the top speed is necessary for the long-term health of the game. Thank you for your passion, feedback, and understanding.

See you in Azeroth!

Greetings and well met, Evokers! Some big changes are coming to the Devastation specialization talent tree in the next Alpha build, and I wanted to talk through some of the philosophy behind them and how your feedback is helping to shape the tree. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of every change, and more will be changed than just what is listed here. That said, let’s dive in!

With the current Devastation tree, a few things stood out to us amongst the discourse here and in other parts of the community. Namely:

• The tree strongly signals that there is a “Red dragonflight build” on the left, and a separate “Blue dragonflight build” on the right.
• Effects that scale with empower level, such as Power Swell and Tyranny, remove gameplay by indicating that it is always correct to fully empower your spells.
• Feed the Flames & Everburning Flame are an awkward combination.
• Scarlet Adaptation is having a larger impact than intended on builds.
• Blue-focused single-target builds don’t flow as well as they could.

To dig in a little deeper to each of these, let’s go through them one by one.

The tree strongly signals that there is a “Red dragonflight build” on the left, and a separate “Blue dragonflight build” on the right.
Having thematic groupings on either side is a great introduction to the talent tree. It resonates as something you would expect for the specialization, and makes it easier to know where to look for modifiers to certain abilities. However, Devastation utilizes both Red and Blue magic, and the current tree isn’t celebrating that theme well enough. Builds that use both types of magic should be the norm, with all-Red or all-Blue being much more niche. To make using both colors more effective, we’ve adjusted many talents’ locations or function, as well as added new nodes. A few examples:

• Honed Aggression now affects both Azure Strike and Living Flame, increasing their damage by 5% per rank.
• Catalyze is a new, 1-rank passive on the left side of the tree. “While channeling Disintegrate your Fire Breath on the target deals damage 100% more often.”
• Iridescence is a new, 1-rank passive at the bottom of the right side of the tree. “Casting an empower spell increases the damage of your next 2 spells of the same color by 15% within 10 sec.”

Effects that scale with empower level, such as Power Swell and Tyranny, remove gameplay by indicating that it is always correct to fully empower your spells.
We’re excited about the possibilities of empower spells and have experimented internally with many varied effects, including Power Swell. As a broad concept, attaching more effects to empower spells seems cool – lean into empower levels even more! What we’ve seen on Alpha, though, is that having even small effects get linearly better with empower level, without situational considerations to change up decision making, detracts too much from core empower gameplay. We see (and share) the excitement for choosing talents that make empower spells better, so Power Swell is being adjusted to not disrupt the moment-to-moment gameplay decisions of empower spell level.

• Power Swell is now a 2-rank node that reads, “Empower spells increase your Essence regeneration rate by 50% for 2 sec or 4 sec [based on talent rank].”

Feed the Flames & Everburning Flame are an awkward combination.
Taken together, these two talents quickly push Devastation into a space of having Fire Breath off cooldown for a length of time while an existing Fire Breath damage over time effect gets extended. That said, both talents offer interesting potential gameplay and impact builds in different ways. They will now be in a choice node against each other, and Feed the Flames is being redesigned to fit into more builds:

• Feed the Flames now triggers whenever you consume an Essence Burst effect, instead of whenever Pyre is cast.
• Everburning Flame now triggers from all Red damage spells, instead of only Pyre and Living Flame.
  
  • This means that damage from Firestorm will extend Fire Breath. Damage from Ruby Embers will continue to not trigger Everburning Flame, and Fire Breath will not extend itself.

Scarlet Adaptation is having a larger impact than intended on builds.
The current value of Scarlet Adaptation causes a warping effect on how Devastation builds their talent loadouts, in particular due to the interaction with Leaping Flames – when Living Flame hits additional targets via Leaping Flames, all of the Living Flames benefit from any Scarlet Adaptation damage the Evoker has. The Leaping Flames interaction is intended, and the response to it has been one of excitement. However, it is important for there to be multiple options for how to build your character for area-of-effect damage situations.

The intent of Scarlet Adaptation is to encourage, and reward, hybridization for both specializations. Preservation Evokers who enjoy dealing damage can easily access the node, but aren’t required to pick it up in their path to other high-power healing talents. Devastation Evokers who want to help their group with additional healing can take it to be rewarded for taking action when their group is in a dangerous situation. To better meet those goals, Scarlet Adaptation’s damage cap is being reduced to 2x Spellpower, down from its current value of 6x Spellpower.

Blue dragonflight-focused single-target builds don’t flow as well as they could.
Two key talents to these builds are Charged Blast and Focusing Iris, both of which have been the subject of insightful discussion and concern.

• Charged Blast is intended to be something that can spice up single-target gameplay for those who want an additional layer of complexity within the rotation. Many of you have expressed that the current design, requiring 2 Azure Strikes before casting Charged Blast, isn’t quite hitting the mark because although it does add complexity, it doesn’t add interaction.
• Focusing Iris is intended to be a more passive option that accomplishes similar goals as Charged Blast. However, the combination of timing an ability immediately after finishing a channeled spell, with the relatively high uptime of the debuff, makes Focusing Iris both more burdensome & less potent than it could potentially be.

To address this, we’re combining what we feel are the best parts of both into a new ability! Charged Blast and Focusing Iris as they currently exist are being removed, and replaced with a spell called Shattering Star.

• Shattering Star has a 15 sec cooldown, is instant cast, and does not cost Essence. “Exhale a bolt of concentrated power from your mouth for Spellfrost damage that cracks that target’s defenses, increasing the damage they take from you by 20% for 4 sec.”
• The options in the choice node following this ability are also being redesigned:
  
  • Focusing Iris is a passive that increases the duration of Shattering Star’s damage taken effect by 2 sec.
  • Arcane Vigor is a passive that causes Shattering Star to generate 1 Essence.

As always, thank you for your playtesting and feedback. We’re excited to hear how about your experiences with the Devastation tree in the next Alpha build!

Hello again, Hunters.

We wanted to discuss some adjustments coming to your talents in a future build, and briefly mention a few thoughts.

Class Tree
The current design intentionally has almost all utility above the second gate, which means you have 11 points that will almost certainly be spent only on throughput choices in PvE situations. We like having a bunch of abilities located past the second gate that were previously locked to individual specs. This has also created a situation where there’s a lot of bloat of extra abilities and cooldowns that feel mandatory because they are available and likely worth pressing. The last 3 rows of the tree have been shuffled around a bit and will continue to be adjusted to try to prevent most hunters from feeling obligated to acquire multiple extra active buttons.

• Barrage and Explosive Shot are now a choice node.
• Stampede now replaces Chakram in the choice node vs Death Chakram.
  
  • Chakram has been removed from the talent tree.
• Nesingwary’s Trapping Apparatus has been lowered to 2 points.

Beast Mastery

• Bloodshed and Murder of Crows is now a choice node, and is where Dire Beast previously was.
• Dire Beast has been moved to where Murder of Crows was.
• New Talent - Bloody Frenzy - Barbed Shot has a chance to apply a second stack of Frenzy to your pets. This is located in the second gate area.
• Beast Cleave has been lowered to 2 points, and Beast Cleave’s duration is now 3/6 seconds depending on your rank.

Marksmanship
While Rapid Fire is not a required ability, we’re trying to integrate it to the tree where it would make sense. Marksmanship has very limited passive Focus generation, and Rapid Fire should ideally help with that. We want to avoid situations where you drop Steady Shot entirely while doing prolonged combat.

• Deathblow has been made a 1-point node. Rapid Fire casts (not damage events) can now also activate this. The chance for activation is different for Aimed Shot vs Rapid Fire.
• Razor Fragments now also works with Deathblow procs, rather than being tied solely to Trick Shots.
• Bombardment’s design has changed - Every 6/4 (2-rank node) Arcane or Chimaera Shots causes your next Multi-Shot to grant you Trick Shots, regardless of how many targets it hits.
  
  • This will likely be changed to a 1-point node, or adjusted to also boost Multi-Shot damage per rank. The location of this also needs to be adjusted as you can currently select this without Multi-Shot.
• Lone Wolf’s spot in the tree has been moved to above the first gate.
• More things connect to Lock and Load’s talent node.
• Some redundant node connections have been removed.
• Legacy of the Windrunners and Serpentstalker’s Trickery node locations have been swapped.
• Unerring Vision’s design has slightly changed to also increase critical damage while Trueshot is active.

Survival
Spearhead and Coordinated Assault are competing for some space in the tree. We’re hoping to identify a set of abilities to that each augments in a way that feels good, and also would prefer a design that doesn’t encourage you to stack both of them at the same time. Some adjustments are being made to these abilities to try to focus on different parts of your ability sets in a manner that lets both Coordinated Assault and Spearhead hopefully feel both distinct from each other, while still feeling powerful on their own.

• Mongoose Bite should actually replace Raptor Strike now.
• Predator returned to 25%, rather than 8%. This was a data error when changing from a 3 point node to a 1 point node.
• A connection between Lunge and Frenzy Strikes has been removed to prevent a dependency problem.
• Deadly Duo renamed Quick Shot, and redesigned. When Kill Command’s cooldown is reset, you fire a free Arcane Shot at your target.
• Coordinated Assault is back to 2 minutes.
• Coordinated Assault no longer modifies Carve. Instead, your pet’s special attack increases the initial damage of your next Wildfire Bomb.
  
  • Birds of Prey will likely be adjusted in a future build to more directly work with the design tweaks of Coordinated Assault.
• Bonded Companion renamed Deadly Duo, and redesigned. While Coordinated Assault is active, Wildfire Bomb’s cooldown is reduced by 25/50%, Wildfire Bombs generate 5/10 Focus when thrown, and Kill Shot can be used on any target regardless of the target’s HP.
• Coordinated Kill redesigned, and is now 2 points. While Spearhead is active, Raptor Strike and Mongoose Bite Focus Cost is reduced by 5/10, and Kill Command resets increase the duration of Spearhead by 1/2 sec.

Rapid Fire is one of the main 2 damaging rotational skills for Marksman and has been for years.
You can fill out the talent tree without ever selecting Rapid Fire if you choose to. It may not be the best way to play, but you could do it. That’s all the original post was referring to.

Dungeons and Raids

• Mists of Tirna Scithe
  
  • Mistcaller
    
    • Dodge Ball no longer pierces immunities.
• Tazavesh: Soleah’s Gambit
  
  • Fixed issue where Murkbrine Fishmancer’s Volatile Pufferfish was not dealing damage.

Items and Rewards

• Sandworn Relics are now bound on account.

Burning Crusade Classic

• Fixed an issue where the Shattered Hand Scout could prevent completion of Shattered Halls.

The new dracthyr Evoker was revealed with the announcement of the next exciting chapter of World of Warcraft—Dragonflight. This new race and class combination has been a part of the focus for a passionate team dedicated to delivering a truly epic experience in the Dragon Isles (and beyond).

Formed some years ago, the dracthyr Evoker feature team has been overseeing its development beginning with the early inception stages. Feature Teams are cross-discipline teams composed of developers across a wide spectrum of disciplines such as producers, designers, artists, engineers, and QA who are dedicated to a specific feature over the course of its development. Somewhere along the way, a most (mis) fortunate event occurred in our internal conversations resulting in the creation of dracthyr emojis!

How did these emojis come to pass?
Thursday mornings are important for the feature team because it’s when we host one of our weekly feature syncs. We get together as a group to share our latest updates on the development of the dracthyr Evoker. At one of these meetings over a year ago, more specifically on May 27, 2021, one of our character artists was experiencing technical issues and missed the meeting. As the saying goes though, every cloud has a silver lining, and this event served as the inspiration for the creation of her sad cartoon dracthyr which you can see in the picture below.


The picture was shared in our feature team Slack channel, which is where a lot of our discussions are centralized with so many of the team working from home as we develop Dragonflight. Slack’s messaging system comes with a number of features such as persistent chat rooms and, you guessed it, support for custom emojis, so you can probably see where this is all headed. All it took was another member of the team saying, “I’m gonna need that dragon as a reaction” to set our creative wheels in motion.

As a result, our first emoji was born, fittingly named “saddragon” to lovingly commemorate our character artist’s temporary despair with technology. From that point onward, a plethora of dracthyr emojis have been created by various members of the team. Be it through ideation, inspiration, artistic skill, or just general “memery” practically every member of the feature team (and in some cases beyond) has contributed to the creation of the entire suite of emojis we have today and make frequent use of across Slack in our daily interactions to express ourselves. These weren't originally intended for public release, but we thought it would be fun to share with the community and showcase the variety of art styles present in the emojis— which exhibit a little of each artist’s personality.

Dracthyr Emojis for Everyone!
As with most elements of game development, breathing life into a completely new race and class for players to experience the World of Warcraft through has been an extremely challenging, daunting, complex, exhilarating, rewarding, and thrilling endeavor. These emojis are just one of the many ways that the team has been able to express its passion for developing the new dracthyr Evoker, and we can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on them in the Dragonflight expansion. In the meantime, we hope that this lovingly curated selection of some of our favorite dracthyr emojis helps enrich your communities across Discord, Twitch, and social media.


We hope you enjoy spreading the dracthyr love!

—The Dracthyr Evoker Feature Team

Learn more about World of Warcraft: Dragonflight and the new dracthyr Evoker on our official website, and visit our news site for regular updates.

(c) 2022 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All trademarks referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners.

Shadowlands Season 4 brings a new Mythic+ dungeon rotation including six returning dungeons from earlier expansions with a new seasonal affix, a brand new raiding experience with Fated Raids, empowered world bosses, a new PvP season, and fabulous rewards.


FATED RAIDS

• Each week during Shadowlands Season 4 will feature a different Fated raid: Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, or Sepulcher of the First Ones. Enemies within Fated raids are stronger and drop upgraded loot with a higher item level, while bosses are augmented with a variety of Fated Powers that offer additional risk and powerful bonuses.
  
• Seasonal rewards for Fated Raids include new Feat of Strength achievements, Jigglesworth Sr. mount, the "Hero of Fate" title, and teleports to each Shadowlands raid location.
  
• FATED POWERS
  
  • Developers’ note: Fated Raids are an experiment in giving a fresh take on an existing experience. Adding new mechanics atop pre-existing encounters is a precarious balancing act and we wanted to reward players’ efforts, and as such built powerful beneficial auras, called Fated Infusions, which are earned after executing the new Fated Power mechanics.
    
  • CREATION SPARK
    
    • Targeted players become charged with Cosmic damage over time. When this Magic-dispellable aura is removed, Creation Sparks fly off and impact the ground. This can explode if no player is there to intercept it, but if they do they’re rewarded with a powerful Fated Infusion, increasing the flow of time and the movement speed of any player within the radius.
      
  • RECONFIGURATION EMITTER
    
    • An enemy appears which continually casts, inflicting Cosmic damage to all players if successful. Over time, this enemy gains energy and increased damage done, and when defeated grants a Fated Infusion which increases mastery, critical strike, versatility, and avoidance based on the enemy’s energy value.
      
  • PROTOFORM BARRIER
    
    • Infuses a powerful enemy to inflict Cosmic damage to players. When removed this power manifests as an enemy who shields all enemies in the area for a short period of time, sharing the pool of shielded health. Players may additionally heal a secondary unit to contribute against this pool. If this shield breaks, damage and healing done to shielded enemies is inflicted upon them, and players are granted a Fated Infusion, increasing total health, damage, healing, and absorbs done based on how much that player contributed.
      
  • CHAOTIC ESSENCE
    
    • Summons an orb which defeats all players, but may be interacted with. This activates the foe, which spawns additional enemies for a short period of time. For each one slain, more spawn, and after the window of time players are rewarded with another Fated Infusion, increasing damage, healing, and absorbs done, stacking for each enemy defeated.
      
• FATED RAID REWARDS
  
  • Entering any Shadowlands raid in Season 4 will start the quest "Crossing Fate", kicking off a questline that will reward players for participating in Fated Raids over a number of weeks with a new currency: up to 3 Puzzling Cartel Dinar.
    
  • 3 New Vendors (Ko'ropo, Ta'choso, and So'turu) can be found lurking near the Great Vault in Oribos, and will gladly trade one Puzzling Cartel Dinar for any of their wares: trinkets, weapons, and unique items from across the 3 Shadowlands raids, at Fated Normal quality (item level 278-285).
    
  • Defeating Fated bosses on Heroic or Mythic will reward each player 1 Confounding Cypher of the appropriate difficulty. Combining 20 Heroic or Mythic Cyphers awards a Creation Impetus, which upgrades any Fated items to Heroic or Mythic quality.
    
    • Developers' note: This system is an experiment for Season 4 with the goal of providing a method for players to overcome extreme bad luck scenarios when it comes to a particular piece of loot that just won't drop, especially in a season where each raid is only Fated every 3 weeks. We're limiting it to only 3 Puzzling Cartel Dinar over time so that players can fill the gaps in their regular gearing and protect against runs of significant bad luck, but not undercut the primary gearing experience of doing meaningful content with your group over time. Additionally, we're trialing a method for players to upgrade raid gear as they move into harder difficulties, rewarding effort over an extended period of time. Our hope is that these two systems combine with Fated Powers to create a satisfying and well-paced progression of power through Season 4's perilous new challenges.
      

MYTHIC+

• New Seasonal Affix: Shrouded – Nathrezim infiltrators have disguised themselves among the enemies throughout the dungeon. Cartel Ta will reward you handsomely for assisting in their capture.
  
• New seasonal rewards for Mythic+ include new Feat of Strength achievements, the two new titles: "the Shrouded" and "Shrouded Hero", dungeon teleports, and a new coloration of the Mythic+ Deathwalker mount.
  
• New dungeon rotation consisting of:
  
  • Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder
    
  • Tazavesh: So'leah's Gambit
    
  • Operation Mechagon: Junkyard (Battle for Azeroth dungeon)
    
  • Operation Mechagon: Workshop (Battle for Azeroth dungeon)
    
  • Return to Karazhan: Lower (Legion dungeon)
    
  • Return to Karazhan: Upper (Legion dungeon)
    
  • Iron Docks (Warlords of Draenor dungeon)
    
  • Grimrail Depot (Warlords of Draenor dungeon)
    
• Portals to Gorgrond, Karazhan, and Mechagon are now available in Oribos.
  
• TAZAVESH: SOLEAH'S GAMBIT
  
  • Enemy Forces have been adjusted.
    
  • Coastwalker Goliath's Tidal Stomp damage reduced by 15%.
    
  • Coastwalker Goliath's Undertow increases the damage of Tidal Stomp by 15% per stack (was 25%).
    
  • TIMECAP'N HOOKTAIL
    
    • Anchor Shot no longer scales with Fortified.
      
    • Anchor Shot damage reduced by 10%.
      
• TAZAVESH: STREETS OF WONDER
  
  • Enemy Forces have been adjusted.
    
  • Veteran Sparkcaster's Hyperlight Salvo deals damage less frequently.
    
  • Customs Security Hard Light Baton cooldown increased to 18 seconds (was 12 seconds).
    
  • Customs Security Hard Light Baton damage reduced by 10%.
    
  • P.O.S.T. MASTER
    
    • Fan Mail damage reduced by 15%.
      

EMPOWERED WORLD BOSSES

• While a raid is Fated, the rewards from the world boss linked to that raid will have their item levels increased.
  
  • Mortanis, Oranomonos, Nurgash, and Valinor are linked to Castle Nathria, Mor'geth is linked to Sanctum of Domination, and Antros is linked to Sepulcher of the First Ones.
    

Classes

• DRUID
  
  • BALANCE
    
    • Starfall damage increased by 15%.
      
      • Developer’s note: Balance AoE has gradually fallen off in recent months, we believe due to Starfall not benefitting as as much as other comparable spells from increased Astral Power generation and Haste, as gear levels increase. We are looking into different solves for the future, but for now are giving it a boost to better compete in the current content.
        
• HUNTER
  
  • SURVIVAL
    
    • Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite, and Kill Command damage increased by 15%.
      
    • (4) Set Bonus: Wildfire Bomb bonus damage lowered to 20% (was 30%).
      
    • Wildfire Bomb, and any Wildfire Infusion variants of Wildfire Bomb now deal reduced damage when hitting more than 8 targets. The tooltips will be updated to reflect this in a future patch.
      
      • Developer Note: The Mad Bombardier set bonus boosts Wildfire Bombs in fun and powerful ways, but with the potentially frequent set bonus activation, and Wildfire Bombs not having any target cap where their damage is lowered, Survival Hunters have exceeded expectations in content where there are many targets to hit. The set bonus interactions are fun to play with, so rather than adjusting frequency or power level of the buffed Wildfire Bomb, we’re going to lower its effectiveness when pulling very high numbers of enemy targets. We’re increasing the damage of Kill Command, Raptor Strike, and Mongoose Bite to offset the loss of damage in single target scenarios.
        
• MAGE
  
  • ARCANE
    
    • Clearcasting duration increased to 20 seconds (was 15 seconds).
      
      • Developers' note: We're increasing the duration of Clearcasting to minimize scenarios where the buff would fall off without the opportunity for players to gain value. This is primarily a PvP concern, but we did not feel there was a reason to make it PvP exclusive.
        
• MONK
  
  • WINDWALKER
    
    • Spinning Crane Kick damage reduced by 5%.
      
      • Developers' note: We’re happy with prior single target changes that have resulted in making Windwalker a powerful option in a broad spectrum of situations. However as a result, their total contribution ends up being slightly too strong in areas where their AOE strengths can be brought to bear. This change is not intended to remove those strengths, but ensure they're not too far ahead of the pack.
        
• PALADIN
  
  • PROTECTION
    
    • Armor increased by 5%.
      
    • Holy Shield (Talent) increase to block chance increased to 20% (was 15%).
      
      • Developers' note: We are seeing Protection Paladins dying to melee damage, or mixed melee and spell damage. This change is intended to improve their performance against both those damage types.
        
• PRIEST
  
  • SHADOW
    
    • Mind Sear damage increased by 30%.
      
    • Shadow Crash (Talent) damage increased by 25%.
      
    • Searing Nightmare (Talent) damage increased by 15%.
      
      • Developers' note: We are looking into Shadow’s AoE toolkit for Dragonflight and want to address the concerns brought up by the community. However, in the meantime, we are implementing these adjustments to help Shadow’s performance in multi-target situations for Season 4. We’ll continue to watch Shadow’s performance as the season unfolds and make further adjustments if needed.
        
• WARLOCK
  
  • DESTRUCTION
    
    • Chaos Bolt damage increased by 5% in PvE combat.
      
    • Incinerate damage increased by 20%.
      
    • Immolate damage increased by 20%.
      
    • Conflagrate damage increased by 10% in PvE combat.
      
    • (4) Set Bonus: Blasphemy no longer grants Rain of Chaos.
      
      • Developers’ note: In order to address Destruction’s excess soul shard generation issues, we’re removing the ability for the Blasphemy to grant Rain of Chaos. This will prevent their shard generation from getting out of control and rein in their AOE output. However, this will have some effect on Destruction’s single-target damage and to help counter the impact we’re increasing the damage of several single-target spells in the Destruction toolkit. This is a big shift so we’ll be monitoring feedback closely and will adjust in the future if needed.
        
• WARRIOR
  
  • PROTECTION
    
    • Ignore Pain’s absorption increased by 30%, and the absorption cap is now based on maximum Health (was twice the Ignore Pain absorb value).
      
      • Developers' note: We find that Protection Warriors struggle with magic and unblockable forms of incoming damage. This change is intended to help improve survivability in those situations, while the change to the cap will constrain its strength otherwise.
        

ITEMS AND REWARDS

• GREAT VAULT
  
  • RAID REWARDS
    
    • All 3 Shadowlands raid rewards will be available in the Great Vault. The Great Vault rules will stay the same and only the bosses that have been defeated that week will be available as possible rewards the following week.
      
  • Unspent Attendant's Token of Merit left in bags will be converted to 1000 gold each.
    
• Fated Castle Nathria and Fated Sanctum of Domination encounters now reward Cosmic Flux.
  
• Slightly increased the drop rate of Edge of Night and Rae'shalare, Death's Whisper.
  
  • Developers' note: Due to a shorter season and a raid rotation, we want these items to be a bit more attainable, so we have slightly increased their drop rate. As an epic quality item, the Edge of Night will also be available via the Fated Raid vendor.
    
• Accumulated Valor is reset, but the cap will stay removed.
  
• Accumulated Conquest is reset, with a higher weekly cap than previous seasons. The cap will be removed later in the season.
  
• Domination Sockets have been removed from all Sanctum of Domination items, as well as items sold by Archivist Roh-Suir and Duchess Mynx in Korthia.
  
• Helms and Waists from Sanctum of Domination can now roll sockets naturally, and when Fated, can be socketed using the new socketer: Fated Matter Fractalizer.
  
• Fated Matter Fractalizer socketer item can be purchased for 3 Attendant's Token of Merit.
  
• Ephemera-Infused Mesh no longer functions and can be sold to a vendor for 6,000 gold.
  
• Vessel of Profound Possibilities no longer requires Season 3 achievements to purchase. It can now be purchased for 10,000 Cosmic Flux.
  
• Stygian Embers no longer drop from Bosses, Lieutenants, or the Korthia Weekly Quest "Shaping Fate."
  
• The following trinkets have been adjusted:
  
  • Bells of the Endless Feast now stacks on the player (was target).
    
  • Blood Spattered Scale damage and absorb reduced by 25%.
    
  • Chains of Domination initial spike damage increased by 10%, and area-of-effect explosion damage increased by 20%.
    
  • Decanter of Endless Howling primary stat increased by 10%.
    
  • Heart of the Swarm damage increased by 15%.
    
  • Inscrutable Quantum Device secondary stat gain reduced by 25%.
    
  • Intrusive Thoughtcage is now more effective at reading your target's mind; dodge rating increased by 20%, health drain damage increased by 10%, and final mind shatter damage to nearby enemies increased by 20%.
    
  • Macabre Sheet Music duration of the dancers increased by 25%.
    
    • Developers' note: The duration is increased to give players more time to finish the dance mini-game.
      
  • Manabound Mirror non-stored healing increased by 10%, and healing stored per mana spent increased by 20%.
    
  • Memory of Past Sins damage increased by 10%.
    
  • Old Warrior’s Soul Haste granted per stack reduced by 10%.
    
  • Pulsating Riftshard damage and absorption increased by 10%, and Rift Portal charge reduced to 1.5 seconds (was 3 seconds).
    
  • Relic of the Frozen Wastes damage increased by 15%.
    
  • Resonant Silver Bell healing increased by 15%, and Spectral Feline now appears when healing an ally below 50% health (was 40%).
    
  • Scars of Fraternal Strife secondary stats granted by each rune increased by 25%, and Final Rune's explosion damage increased by 25%.
    
  • Shadowed Orb of Torment Mastery increased by 12%.
    
  • Skulker's Wing damage increased by 10%.
    
  • The Lion's Roar cooldown reduction from critical heals increased to 6 seconds (was 3 seconds), and now absorbs 30% of all damage taken in the zone of protection (was 20%).
    
  • Tome of Monstrous Constructions damage increased by 15%.
    
    • Developers' note: The reasons for these trinket changes are that we hope to remove an advantage some players might have from obtaining a 278 version of a Shadowlands trinket from the Season 3 Great Vault, considering that Shadowlands Dungeon trinkets will be attainable at a max of 262 ilvl for anyone who starts after Season 4 begins.
      Second, with raids rotating, we want to ensure that a higher amount of items looted from a raid on given week have a chance to be satisfying upgrades for players. You could imagine a scenario where Castle Nathria for example might not be worth it if all of the ‘good trinkets’ come from a different raid you won’t be able to access for 1-2 weeks. Additionally, Season 4 is a unique opportunity for us to look at these items will a full season (or more) of hindsight, and thus able to improve ones that we felt were close power-level wise, but not quite enough to compete with popular or easier-to-acquire options.
      Lastly, given the limited Dinar currency we’ve seen a lot of fear from players that they’d be afraid to spend them, only to have that item nerfed or another item made better. We’re frontloading these changes at the start of the season and intending to stay as hands-off as possible so decisions made about which items you buy can be removed from the fear of those numbers changing dramatically.
      
• The following weapons have been adjusted:
  
  • Slightly increased the drop rate of Edge of Night and Rae'shalare, Death's Whisper.
    
    • Developers' note: Due to a shorter season and a raid rotation, we want these items to be a bit more attainable, so we have slightly increased their drop rate. As an epic quality item, the Edge of Night will also be available via the Fated Raid vendor.
      
  • Genesis Lathe's Ephemeral Effusion effects increased by 10%.
    
  • Sepulcher's Savior on-use effects increased by 20%.
    

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• With the new season, you'll see increased item levels for rewards and new seasonal rewards. The new seasonal rewards for PvP include a new Arena title: "Eternal Gladiator", a new weapon illusion: Eternal Flux, new coloration of the Gladiator Soul Eater mount, and new Vicious mounts–Alliance and Horde themed Warstalker.
  
• DEATH KNIGHT
  
  • Spellwarden (PvP Talent) now grants a 25% increased effectiveness to Rune of Spellwarding (was 50%).
    
    • Developers' note: With the baseline increase to Anti-Magic Zone in 9.2.5, we've seen Death Knight defensives be stronger than we would like against casters.
      
  • Brutal Grasp (Necrolord Conduit) effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    
    • Developers' note: Abomination Limb's contribution in a Death Knight's damage profile is substantial, so we are looking to bring it down.
      
• DEMON HUNTER
  
  • HAVOC
    
    • Dancing with Fate (Conduit) is now 75% effective in PvP combat (was 100%).
      
      • Developers' note: Demon Hunter's damage is slightly higher than we would like, so we are reducing the Dancing of Fate conduit to tone it down.
        
• MAGE
  
  • Deathborne (Necrolord Ability) increased spell damage decreased to 10% in PvP combat (was 15%).
    
  • Incanter's Flow (Talent) no longer has a reduced effect when engaged in PvP combat (was 25% reduction).
    
  • ARCANE
    
    • Arcane Missile damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
      
      • Developers' note: Arcane Mages continue to be underrepresented so we are looking to increase damage opportunities for them through various parts of their kit, including Arcane Missiles, Clearcasting, and Incanter's Flow.
        
  • FIRE
    
    • Blazing Soul now ignites a Blazing Barrier at 50% effectiveness in PvP combat.
      
      • Developers' note: Fire Mage survivability has continued to be higher than we would like, so we are targeting Blazing Soul to address that while keeping the overall feel of Mage gameplay intact.
        
  • FROST
    
    • Ice Lance damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
      
    • Frozen Orb damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
      
      • Developers' note: A substantial portion of a Frost Mage's damage profile has come from Frostbolt, particularly around the Necrolord class ability Deathborne. We're looking to reduce Deathborne and increase some of their base abilities to have a better distribution of damage in their kit.
        
• MONK
  
  • MISTWEAVER
    
    • Rising Sun Kick now deals an additional 25% damage in PvP combat.
      
    • Blackout Kick now deals an additional 25% damage in PvP combat.
      
      • Developers' note: We are increasing Mistweaver damage on Rising Sun Kick and Blackout Kick to better reward aggressive gameplay moments.
        
• PALADIN
  
  • RETRIBUTION
    
    • Blade of Justice damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
      
    • Crusader Strike damage increased by 30% in PvP combat.
      
    • Hammer of Wrath damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
      
    • Avenging Wrath increases damage, healing, and critical strike chance by 15% in PvP combat (was 20%).
      
    • Crusade (Talent) effectiveness reduced by 25% while in PvP combat.
      
      • Developer’s note: The damage dealt in Avenging Wrath's window can be volatile, so we would like to bring that down while increasing some of Retribution Paladins' base damage abilities.
        
• PRIEST
  
  • HOLY
    
    • Greater Fade (PvP Talent) now has a 60 second cooldown (was 45 seconds).
      
    • (4) Set Bonus: Divine Conversation increases the healing of your next Holy-word affecting spell by 24% in PvP combat (was 36%).
      
    • Flash Heal heals for an additional 20% in PvP combat (was 30%).
      
    • Heal heals for an additional 25% in PvP combat (was 35%).
      
      • Developers' note: Holy Priests continue to outperform other healers, and we are looking to target various areas of their kit to better fit within other spec representation and performance.
        
• ROGUE
  
  • Invigorating Shadowdust (Runecarving Power) now reduces the cooldown of your other abilities by 10 seconds in PvP combat (was 20 seconds).
    
  • Septic Shock (Night Fae Conduit) effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    
  • SUBTLETY
    
    • Eviscerate damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
      
    • Resolved an issue that caused Deeper Daggers (Conduit) to affect non-Rogue abilities.
      
      • Developers' note: Rogues have been overperforming across all specs so we are looking to tone down damage within burst windows for Subtlety and Assassination while reducing Outlaw's cooldown recovery potential.
        
• SHAMAN
  
  • RESTORATION
    
    • (4) Set Bonus: Chain Heal cast by Theurgic Starspeaker's Regalia is no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 30% reduction).
      
      • Developers' note: Resto Shaman's Tier Set bonus has not had as much impact as we initially suspected so we are nullifying the reduction of power it previously had.
        
• WARLOCK
  
  • Health Funnel effectiveness increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    
  • AFFLICTION
    
    • Unstable Affliction damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
      
    • Unstable Affliction backlash damage when dispelled deals 20% more damage, but can no longer critically strike.
      
    • Corruption damage increased by 30% in PvP combat.
      
    • Dark Soul: Misery (Talent) increases Haste by 20% in PvP combat (was 30%).
      
      • Developer’s note: For Affliction, we want to smooth out some of the spiky damage that results from Dark Soul windows and the occasional Unstable Affliction critical strikes, while at the same time allowing them to maintain consistent pressure outside of these windows.
        
  • DEMONOLOGY
    
    • Call Felhunter (PvP Talent) cooldown increased to 30 seconds (was 24 seconds).
      
      • Developers' note: Overall Demonology has high utility potential, so we are increasing the cooldown to Call Felhunter to bring it more in line with what we are comfortable with. Additionally, Warlock pets can have difficulty with survival, especially when being focused, so we are increasing Health Funnel as a tool to help that.