World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies RSS Feed

by Published on 2023-04-04 09:29 PM

Dragonflight Embers of Neltharion PTR Development Notes - April 4, 2023
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Hello! Here are this week’s updates to the Embers of Neltharion PTR:

Dragonflight Season 2

  • Mythic+
    • Incorporeal affix is now immune to damage and has more consistent spawn behavior.
      • Developers’ note: The Incorporeal affix plays a similar role to Afflicted, but with emphasis on crowd control utility. A few things we’re hoping to smooth out include both the rate at which these spawn (sometimes too many at once), and the ease with which crowd control can be accidentally broken once applied. We are discussing a change to Incorporeal Beings that would cause them to fade away when combat with non-Incorporeal Beings has ended.
    • Afflicted affix now has less health and has more consistent spawn behavior.
      • Developers’ note: The Afflicted affix is meant to incentivize a greater focus on dispel utility, while also offering players with healing spells an alternative solution in cases where dispel availability is more limited or where other enemies have threatening dispellable abilities. This is mostly working out, but their health (especially at higher key levels) is a bit too high for healing to feel like a practical option.
    • New Affix: Entangling – While in combat, entangling vines snare players.
      • Developers’ note: We’re keeping an eye on the potency of the snare and required response from players to successful snap the vine with movement. We are also looking to improve visual clarity and audio cues for the Entangling affix.
    • Explosive affix now has less health and has more consistent spawn behavior.
      • Developers’ note: We’ve heard feedback both that explosives in their new form have too much health, and that in general it makes sense to try and ignore them, thus making them a “healer problem” in a different way than before. We are discussing a redesign for the Explosive affix to shift responsibility away from healers. The proposed change would cause Explosives to instead shield creatures for a percentage of the Explosive’s remaining health when its cast completes.
    • Developers’ note: In addition to the above, we are also discussing a change to the progression of affixes on keystones. With item rewards now increasing up to level 20, we’re evaluating which levels affixes are added to keystones. Our proposed change would delay when affixes are added to keystones. This is to give players more time to acclimate to baseline dungeons before additional mechanics come online, and to better match the complexity of a Mythic+ dungeon to the rewards it offers.
      • Keystone Level 7 Affixes (was 4):
        • Spiteful
        • Sanguine
        • Bursting
        • Bolstering
        • Raging
      • Keystone Level 14 Affixes (was 7):
        • Incorporeal
        • Afflicted
        • Entangling
        • Explosive
        • Storming

Characters

  • Added 4 new skin tones and 4 new hair colors for Dark Iron Dwarves.
  • Blind eye options have been moved from Eye Color to the new Eyesight customization option. Now all eye colors for all races can be customized to be blind.

Classes

  • Death Knight
    • Frost
      • Vault of the Incarnates: 2-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Obliterate and Frostscythe critical strike damage is increased by 10% (was 15%).
  • Demon Hunter
    • Havoc
      • Vault of the Incarnates: 4-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Chaos Strike and Blade Dance have a 20% chance to increase damage you deal by 5% for 6 seconds (was 8%).
  • Druid
    • Guardian
    • Several new combat animations added to the Might/Blight of the Grizzlemaw Druid Bear Form customizations.
    • Restoration
      • Fixed an issue that caused Wild Growth’s healing to falloff incorrectly and heal for less than intended.
      • Wild Growth’s healing has been decreased by 4%.
        • Developers’ note: Wild Growth’s healing is being decreased to offset the increased healing that the fix to the falloff issue provides.
  • Evoker
    • Devastation
      • Developers’ note: Thanks to the invaluable feedback from all of you, we’ve made further changes to Devastation’s talents. The bottom section of the tree has been significantly rearranged, and has fewer 2-point nodes. Causality has been iterated on, maintaining the goal of rewarding fully-channeled Disintegrates, but addressing the concerns with how the new design would have interacted with Haste. Finally, some under-used talents have gotten partial or full reworks to introduce new build and playstyle options.
      • Causality has been redesigned – Disintegrate reduces the remaining cooldown of your empower spells by 0.5 seconds each time it deals damage. Pyre reduces their cooldowns by 0.4 seconds per enemy struck, up to 2 seconds. Causality is no longer a choice talent.
      • Font of Magic now also causes your empower spells to reach maximum level in 20% less time.
      • Everburning Flame is no longer a choice node with Feed the Flames.
      • Feed the Flames has been redesigned – After casting 12 Pyres, your next Pyre will explode into a Firestorm. Does not trigger from Volatility bounces.
      • Imminent Destruction has been redesigned – Deep Breath reduces the Essence costs of Disintegrate and Pyre by 1 for 10 seconds after you land. Now a 1-rank talent.
      • Lay Waste is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and damage bonus increased to 20% (was 15%).
      • Burnout is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and its chance to trigger is now 16%, the former 2-rank value.
      • Scintillation is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and damage effectiveness is 60%, the former 2-rank value.
      • Power Swell is now a 1-rank talent (was 2 ranks) and the duration is 4 seconds, the former 2-rank value.
      • New Talent: Event Horizon – Eternity Surge’s cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds. Choice talent with Eye of Infinity.
      • Eye of Infinity has been redesigned – Eternity Surge deals 15% increased damage to your primary target.
      • Arcane Vigor has been redesigned – Shattering Star grants Essence Burst.
      • Snapfire’s chance to trigger Firestorm increased to 15% (was 12%).
      • Raging Inferno’s Firestorm radius bonus reduced to 25% (was 50%) and Pyre damage bonus reduced to 20% (was 25%).
  • Hunter
    • Revive Pet now has a 2.5 second cast time (was 3 seconds).
    • Revive Pet’s spell school is now Physical, and can no longer be stopped by Silence and Interrupt effects (was Nature).
    • Survival
      • Developers’ note: The Dragonflight Season 1 Survival Hunter tier set bonus is very powerful in single target scenarios, but will potentially cause issues in Season 2 where you are not encouraged to upgrade your gear to the new tier set. We’re lowering the values on the Season 1 2-piece and 4-piece set bonuses, and increasing the damage dealt by your class to compensate for these changes.
      • Vault of the Incarnates: 2-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery damage increased by 12% (was 15%).
      • Vault of the Incarnates: 4 Set Bonus has been redesigned – Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery have a 20% chance to make your next Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite, Carve, and Butchery cost 10 less Focus and deal 40% increased damage (was 100% Focus cost reduction and 50% increased damage).
      • All damage dealt by you and your pet’s abilities increased by 8%.
  • Monk
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Ferocity of Xuen from not increasing your summoned pet+ damage.
    • Brewmaster
      • Fluidity of Motion’s tooltip has been updated to clarify that the damage of Blackout Kick is reduced.
  • Paladin
    • Fixed a tooltip error with Consecrated Ground displaying Divine Hammer for non-Retribution Paladins.
    • Protection
      • Added support for Sentinel to Glyph of Winged Vengeance.
      • Removed spell replacement text for Sentinel.
      • Fixed errors causing Heartfire to trigger from incorrect spells.
      • Heartfire should now trigger from Divine Toll and Divine Resonance.
  • Priest
    • Discipline
      • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 2-Set Bonus has been redesigned – Shadow Word: Pain/Purge the Wicked damage increased by 25%. Power Word: Radiance healing increased by 15%.
      • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been redesigned – Atonements applied by Power Word: Radiance last 3 sec longer. Your spells have a chance to cause your next Power Word: Radiance to be instant and cost 100% less mana. Can accumulate up to 2 charges.
    • Holy
      • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 2-Set Bonus has been redesigned – When you cast Prayer of Mending, there is a 35% chance its effect is duplicated to another ally.
      • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been redesigned – When Prayer of Mending jumps or expires, it increases the damage and healing of your next Holy Word by 4%, stacking up to 15 times.
        • Developers’ note: These set bonuses are now available in this week’s PTR update.
    • Shadow
      • Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 10% for Shadow.
      • Mind Flay and Mind Sear damage from Idol of C’Thun reduced by 30%.
      • Distorted Reality increases the damage of Devouring Plague by 20% (was 8%) and increases its Insanity cost by 5 (was 10).
      • Auspicious Spirits causes Shadowy Apparitions to have a chance to generate 1 Insanity (was 2).
  • Shaman
    • Deeply Rooted Elements should now activate more consistently for all specializations.
      • Developers’ note: The Deeply Rooted Elements talent could sometimes feel like you received many Ascendance activations, or none. We have made adjustments to how this talent works to lower the very high and very low proc rates.
  • Warlock
    • Destruction
      • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been redesigned – Demonfire bolts increase your Fire damage by 1% for 13 seconds, stacking up to 8 times. Gaining a stack does not refresh the duration. Casting Channel Demonfire resets this effect.
  • Warrior
    • Arms
      • Fatal Mark now lasts 3 minutes (was 2 minutes).
      • In addition to its current effect, Bloodletting now causes Mortal Strike to inflict Rend on targets below 35% health if you have Rend talented.
      • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been redesigned – Deep Wounds critical strikes have a chance to increase the damage of your next Mortal Strike by 10% and cause it to deal (38% of Attack Power) Physical damage to enemies in front of you, stacking 3 times. Damage reduced above 5 targets.
    • Fury
      • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible: 4-Set Bonus has been adjusted – Rampage causes your next Bloodthirst to have a 10% increased critical strike chance, deal 25% increased damage and generate 2 additional Rage. Stacking up to 10 times.

Items and Rewards

  • Legacy Legendary items should now have the correct item levels.
  • Elemental Potions of Ultimate Power are no longer bind-on-pickup.
  • Potion of Chilled Clarity can no longer be canceled and is now on the global cooldown.
  • Profession recipe raid boss drops have moved to Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible on all difficulties (was Vault of the Incarnates on Heroic and Mythic difficulty).

Player Versus Player

  • Net-o-Matic 5000 can now be used in all areas outside of the Dragon Isles, but not inside the Dragon Isles zones.
  • Classes
    • Druid
      • Balance
        • New PvP Talent: Master Shapeshifter – Your abilities are amplified based on your current shapeshift form, granting an additional effect:
          • Bear Form – Ironfur grants 30% additional armor and generates 12 Astral Power.
          • Caster Form – Rejuvenation and Swiftmend heal for 30% more and generate 8 Astral Power.
          • Cat Form – Rip, Ferocious Bite, and Maim deal 60% additional damage and generate 60 Astral Power when cast with 5 combo points.
      • Guardian
        • Master Shapeshifter has been redesigned – Your abilities are amplified based on your current shapeshift form, granting an additional effect:
          • Caster Form – Rejuvenation and Swiftmend heal for 30% more and cause you to instantly generate 25 Rage after entering Bear Form.
          • Cat Form – Rip, Ferocious Bite, and Maim deal 60% additional damage and cause you to instantly generate 50 Rage after entering Bear Form when cast with 5 combo points.
          • Moonkin Form – Wrath, Starfire, and Starsurge deal 30% additional damage and cause you to instantly generate 25 Rage after entering Bear Form.
        • Toughness (PvP Talent) has been removed.
        • Den Mother now additionally reduces the duration of all stun effects on you by 15%.
        • Sharpened Claws (PvP Talent) has been removed.
      • Restoration
        • Master Shapeshifter has been redesigned – Your abilities are amplified based on your current shapeshift form, granting an additional effect:
          • Bear Form – Ironfur grants 30% additional armor and generates 1250 Mana.
          • Cat Form – Rip, Ferocious Bite, and Maim deal 60% additional damage and generate 5000 Mana when cast with 5 combo points.
          • Moonkin Form – Wrath, Starfire, and Starsurge deal 30% additional damage and generate 2000 Mana.
    • Paladin
      • Holy
        • Aura Mastery now reduces the damage allies in your aura take by 30% in PvP combat (was 15%).
    • Shaman
      • Burrow damage increased by 200%.
      • Burrow now moves the Shaman’s nameplate closer to the ground while the effect is active.
      • Elemental
        • Lava Burst no longer consumes Volcanic Surge and the cast time of Lava Burst is no longer reduced by Volcanic Surge.
        • Volcanic Surge increases the damage of Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt by 25% (was 20%).
        • Volcanic Surge increases the damage of Lava Burst by 45% (was 20%).
    • Warlock
      • New PvP Talent: Soul Rip – Fracture the soul of up to 3 target players within 20 yards into the shadows, reducing their damage done by 25% and healing received by 25% for 8 seconds. Souls are fractured up to 16 yards from the player’s location. Players can retrieve their souls to remove this effect. 1 minute cooldown, costs 2 Soul Shards.
      • Fixed an issue where Bonds of Fel was not correctly receiving some damage modifications.
      • Affliction
        • Bane of Shadows (PvP Talent) has been removed.
    • Warrior
      • Protection
        • Shield Bash (PvP talent) has been redesigned – When Shield Slam is used on targets that are casting, it reduces their damage done by 15% for 8 seconds and the cooldown is instantly reset.

Professions

  • New Optional Reagents are available for upgrading items to a higher item level.
    • Spark gear (Purple)
      • Enchanted Aspect’s Shadowflame Crest
    • Concentrated Primal Infusions now go up to 421 item level to match upgrade systems.
  • Players can now minimize the crafting window to a reduced size for ease of use.
  • Players can now click on a tracked recipe in their quest log to pop open a small recipe window.
  • Currency on the public order page are now right aligned.
  • All gathering professions now work in the Zaralek Cavern.
  • Profession recipes have been added for the following professions but not all are fully enabled. Sources and recipe costs are still being worked on. You can find these on the temporary crafting vendors.
    • Engineering
      • Momentum Redistributor Boots (Shadowlands) can no longer be used in dungeons and raids.
    • Jewelcrafting
      • Obsidian Combatant’s Jeweled Amulet
      • Obsidian Combatant’s Jeweled Signet
      • B.B.F. Fist
      • Statuette of Foreseen Power
      • Figurine of the Gathering Storm

Quests

  • Heritage armor quests for non-Allied Races no longer requires Exalted reputation with their home factions.

User Interface and Accessibility

  • Group Loot roll results frame (/loot) has been redesigned with a new look.
  • Group Loot now has a Transmogrification option that replaces Greed if the player has not collected the appearance. Transmog rolls take priority over Greed rolls.
    • Known issues:
      • Players can Transmog roll on items that are not their primary armor type (i.e. Warriors can Transmog roll on cloth items).
      • Transmog rolls and Greed rolls are treated equally (a Greed roll can beat a Transmog roll).
by Published on 2023-04-04 08:18 PM

Dragonflight PTR - Mythic+ Keystone Affixes Status Update
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Greetings!

We’ve been watching everyone play Mythic+ on the PTR and monitoring feedback, and wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts on where things are at. Overall, we’re seeing a lot of the type of gameplay we’d hoped to see from our updated level 7 affixes, but we also see room to improve and are looking to make a number of changes for our next round of testing based on player feedback:

Afflicted now has less health and has more consistent spawn behavior.
  • The Afflicted affix is meant to incentivize a greater focus on dispel utility, while also offering players with healing spells an alternative solution in cases where dispel availability is more limited or where other enemies have threatening dispellable abilities.
  • This is mostly working out, but their health (especially at higher key levels) is a bit too high for healing to feel like a practical option.

Incorporeal is now immune to damage and has more consistent spawn behavior.
  • The Incorporeal affix plays a similar role to Afflicted, but with emphasis on crowd control utility.
  • A few things we're hoping to smooth out include both the rate at which these spawn (sometimes too many at once), and the ease with which crowd control can be accidentally broken once applied.
  • We are discussing a change to Incorporeal Beings that would cause them to fade away when combat with non-Incorporeal Beings has ended.

Explosive now has less health and has more consistent spawn behavior.
  • We've heard feedback both that explosives in their new form have too much health, and that in general it makes sense to try and ignore them, thus making them a "healer problem" in a different way than before.
    • We are discussing a redesign for the Explosive affix to shift responsibility away from healers. The proposed change would cause Explosives to instead shield creatures for a percentage of the Explosive's remaining health when its cast completes.

Entangling
  • We're keeping an eye on the potency of the snare and required response from players to successful snap the vine with movement.
  • We are looking to improve visual clarity and audio cues for the Entangling affix.

Keystone Affixes
  • In addition to the above, we are also discussing a change to the progression of affixes on keystones. With item rewards now increasing up to level 20, we're evaluating which levels affixes are added to keystones. Our proposed change would delay when affixes are added to keystones. This is to give players more time to acclimate to baseline dungeons before additional mechanics come online, and to better match the complexity of a Mythic+ dungeon to the rewards it offers.
    • Keystones would gain their second affix at level 7, up from level 4.
      • Spiteful
      • Raging
      • Bursting
      • Bolstering
      • Sanguine
    • Keystones would gain their third affix at level 14, up from level 7.
      • Afflicted
      • Incorporeal
      • Explosive
      • Entangling
      • Storming

Thank you again for taking the time to play Mythic+ on the PTR! We appreciate your feedback and will continue to read, watch, play, and let you know as we make additional changes.
by Published on 2023-04-04 05:54 PM

WoW Spring Sale - New Diplomat's Regalia Transmog Outfit
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Welcome the summer with great WoW® deals on special items up to 50% off now through April 18! Read on to discover what’s on sale.

The Time for Diploma-sea Has Come
Sail across the Great Sea with confidence as you sport this elegant attire fit for an envoy of any nation. Get the Waveborn Diplomat’s Regalia* and be the talk of the town at every port.




A Bundle for Heroes of Every Kind
No matter if you’re a loyal champion of the Horde or the Alliance, or if you play both to experience everything Azeroth has to offer, the perfect pack for your heroes has just arrived! Fireworks to celebrate your PvP victories? Check. A ground mount proudly representing Alliance Kul’Tirans or Horde Zandalari? Check. Majestic alabaster mounts ideal for special functions? You bet. The Faction Pack Bundle* has you covered.


The items in The Faction Pack Bundle will leave the battlefield on April 18, 2023 and will no longer be available in the Blizzard® Shop or in-game shop until further notice. Players who want to purchase these items outright now have the chance to get them on sale before they arrive on the Trading Post vendor in the future.


Chill Out with Wrath of the Lich King Classic™

New Introductory Offer: Race Change Packs
Sometimes a simple touch up of your character’s looks isn’t enough; you may want to go all the way and change which race you belong to! And with a race change service, you can do just that.

To mark the launch of this service in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, you can now get a special Race Change offer for a limited time**, including Race Change Packs!




Save 30%* on the Northrend Heroic Upgrade or Northrend Epic Upgrade
Purchase of the Northrend Heroic Upgrade or Northrend Epic Upgrade will allow one character boost for Wrath of the Lich King to level 70 (limit one per World of Warcraft account; not usable on Death Knight characters). The boosted character will receive:

Northrend Heroic Upgrade


  • Expert Riding Skill
  • A race-specific epic ground mount
  • A faction-specific rare flying mount
  • Weapon skills up to level 70
  • Access to Azeroth and Outland flight paths
  • A set of level 70 Uncommon (green) quality gear
  • Up to four Draenic Leather Pack bags (14 slots each)
  • A little bit of gold to start their journey

In addition, the Northrend Heroic Upgrade includes Pebble, a penguin pet, and the Fishspeaker’s Lucky Lure, a toy to summon your very own tuskarr fishing companion.

Northrend Epic Upgrade


This edition includes the level 70 Character Boost†† and all the items from the Northrend Heroic Upgrade, in addition to:

  • The Kalu’ak Whalebone Glider, a flying mount for your Classic characters for use only in Wrath of the Lich King Classic and designed to match the look of the original expansion.
  • The Tuskarr Shoreglider, a flying mount variant for use in modern World of Warcraft and reflecting the game’s current visual style
  • 30 Days of Game Time, providing access to WoW Classic Era Realms, Wrath of the Lich King Classic, and modern World of Warcraft.

*Toys, pets, mounts, and transmog sets not available in World of Warcraft® Classic or Wrath of the Lich King Classic.
**Offer valid through April 18, 2023.
***Race change services not available for World of Warcraft® Classic Era Realm characters.
by Published on 2023-04-04 02:02 AM

WoW Hotfixes - April 3, 2023
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Classes

  • Evoker
    • Fixed an issue causing Ancient Flame to incorrectly be consumed by instant-cast Living Flames, such as from the Burnout talent or Lifespark set bonus.
  • Paladin
    • Fixed an issue with the timing of Eye of Tyr’s floating combat text.

Player versus Player

  • Classes
    • Paladin
      • Fixed an issue causing Retribution Aura to trigger from incorrect amounts of incoming damage.
      • [With weekly restarts] Judgments of the Pure (PvP Talent) now causes Judgment casts on an enemy to cleanse 1 Poison, Disease, and Magic effect they have caused on you (was allies within your aura).
        • Developers’ note: With Judgment’s cast frequency increasing in patch 10.0.7, Judgments of the Pure has been overperforming as a PvP talent. In a hotfix being applied this upcoming Tuesday, the talent will only apply to the Paladin and no longer have its effect applicable to allies.

Quests

  • Heritage
    • During “The New Clessington Estate,” Cecilia Clessington will no longer accuse the player of smelling like rotten blubber when provoked.
  • Ohn’ahran Plains
    • Fixed an issue causing some players to be unable to interact with the Waygate at the Shady Sanctuary.
    • The “Waygate Travel” debuff received from using the waygates will now continue to expire while the player is offline.


Wrath of the Lich King Classic

  • [With weekly restarts] Fixed a bug that caused tanks to benefit from roughly twice the intended amount of Dodge from the Dodge Rating statistic.
    • Developers’ notes: We’re fixing this to avoid seeing raid groups skew toward maximizing for it. This fix will not change your Dodge % displayed on your character sheet, as the bug was invisible to players.
  • [With weekly restarts] Reduced Algalon’s melee damage by 10% in both 10-player and 25-player difficulties.
    • Developers’ notes: We feel that the increase in pressure on tanks and healers from the Dodge bugfix will be manageable in other encounters, but this one needs a compensatory tweak.
  • Classes
    • Druid
      • Omen of Clarity will now always trigger when Faerie Fire (Feral) is used on a non-player-controlled target. It will no longer trigger from casting Gift of the Wild.
        • Developers’ notes: This change is intended to make Feral DPS gameplay more accessible to the average WotLK Classic player and resolve many of the design challenges created by “Bear-weaving” and “Flower-weaving” combat strategies. It is expected to be a slight buff to the best Feral DPS players around 5% to 10% depending on encounter, and a larger buff to players who were not employing these strategies.
by Published on 2023-04-04 01:32 AM

Dragonflight PvP - MMR Inflation Rate Update
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
With a month left in the season, the last person to be above 2400 currently on the ladder is rank 950. Season 1 of BfA there was 3600 people above 2400 when the season ended. Will try to add SL Season 1, but statistics page isn’t loading correctly at the moment.

Shuffle has taken away from the other brackets because how easy it is to just queue up, but nothing has been done to compensate for the loss of activity in regular 2s and 3s. Fighting rank 1s at 2k mmr is frustrating. A lot of people have been vocal outside of the forums about this issue as well, nothing has seem to be done besides the 20 mmr a week.

Is anything being done about this before the season ends?


The team has continued to watch this topic throughout Season 1. An additional bump in the weekly inflation rate was done recently and we continue to monitor the impact of this.

For Season 2, additional changes are being investigated to reduce the disparity in general ratings between Solo Shuffle and the other brackets.

Site Navigation