World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

We want to provide additional details on today's leveling changes and balance fixes to group content.

• Changes aim to make the difficulty curve more gradual - enemy strength will actually increase by less per level in the mid-to-high 70s than it used to
• Players coming in with DF endgame gear should still feel overpowered at Level 70
• Players coming in with basic leveling gear from DF (ilvl 300s) should find leveling manageable and get powerful gear quickly
• Combat at 78 and up will be completely unchanged from how it has been

We'll be keeping an eye on the changes to ensure that the overall impact on leveling time is minimal.

It’s showtime! The WoW Variety Show is back for The War Within™ with an exciting Episode 4, broadcast live on August 31 live on YouTube and Twitch.

WoW Variety Show: Fight Back

In the latest episode of the WoW Variety Show, Warcraft Celebrity Contestants and Community Contestants will compete in five activities: a leveling competition, a scavenger hunt, a battleground blitz, a draw-and-guess segment, and a game show! Read on for full details about each activity, and find out which Warcraft celebrity contestants will be competing in this episode.


Details

• Venue: Live Servers, Europe and The Americas
• Date: August 31
• Broadcast Start Time: 10:00am PDT / 7:00pm CEST
• Format: Four primary activities, One side activity
• Stream Location: YouTube.com/Warcraft and Twitch.tv/Warcraft
• Talent & Celebrity Contestants: Ziqo and Rookuri will be your hosts for the show, guiding you from activity to activity! Check out the Warcraft Celebrity Contestants competing in each activity.

Activities

• Leveling Race: First, four duos of Warcraft Celebrity Contestants will venture throughout The Ringing Deeps in a race to level up! Their journey will occasionally be disrupted by unique challenges from the Wheel of Warcraft. Each new affliction will come directly from the Void itself, and will present an additional obstacle along the way!
• Scavenger Hunt: Up next, Warcraft Celebrity and Community Contestants will travel through each zone in Khaz Algar to track down manifestations of Light and Void! Their journey will span across the Isle of Dorn, The Ringing Deeps, Hallowfall, and Azj-Kahet as they follow clues and solve riddles.
• Battleground Blitz: Once these forces have been discovered, Warcraft Celebrity and Community Contestants will unite forces and face off in a series of battlegrounds! Not only will the maps change each round, but contestants will also be shuffled between teams as they alternate between fighting for Light and Void. Points will be awarded to contestants per each victory, and the contestants that emerge at the top of the leaderboard will be crowned the champions!
• Faction Fight: The final activity of the show will feature the ultimate showdown between Light and Void, as two teams of Warcraft Celebrity Contestants face off in the Warcraft-themed game show – Faction Fight! Contestants will compete to answer survey questions based around the Warcraft universe and its community to earn the most points.
• Fast-Draw Duel: This creative side-activity is making a return in this episode, with a whole new selection of Warcraft Words themed after The War Within! Warcraft Community Contestants will alternate between drawing and guessing a selection of words to stave off the Void and fight back against its forces.

Stay Connected

Tune in this weekend at YouTube.com/Warcraft or Twitch.tv/Warcraft, and follow along for more updates on the WoW Esports Twitter.

Achievements

• Worm Theory is no longer missing its quest criteria.

Classes

• Death Knight
  
  • Deathbringer
    
    • An issue causing Painful Death to reduce the cost of Obliterate/Marrowrend by 2 Runes instead of 1 has been resolved.
  • Frost
    
    • Resolved an issue causing Frostwelp’s Aid talent to display 0%.
• Evoker
  
  • Chronowarden
    
    • Fixed an issue where Temporality and Motes of Acceleration talents would not function when Hover was cast mid-air.
• Hunter
  
  • Survival
    
    • Grenade Juggler Explosive Shot procs no longer proc from Explosive Shot.
    • Grenade Juggler now procs from Wildfire Bomb casts rather than on damage dealt (after a brief delay).
    • Relentless Primal Ferocity will now increase the effectiveness of existing Tip of the Spear stacks when the player casts Coordinated Assault and will appropriately remove the bonus when Coordinated Assault ends.
• Mage
  
  • Spellslinger
    
    • Arcane Orb can no longer damage enemies through walls.
    • Controlled Instincts can no longer damage enemies through walls.
• Rogue
  
  • Deathstalker
    
    • Resolved a timing issue where Deathstalker’s Mark applied from Stealth or Shadow Dance was being overwritten by Deathstalker’s Mark applied by an active Darkest Night.
• Shaman
  
  • Stormbringer
    
    • An issue causing Thorim’s Invocation to switch to Lightning Bolt when Tempest is cast on multiple targets has been resolved.
• Warlock
  
  • Hellcaller
    
    • Fixed an issue where Soul Fire and Cataclysm would consume much more mana than intended when Wither is known.

Delves

• Brann should no longer be able to target crowd-controlled enemies.
• Fixed an issue where the Fungal Footpads ability would not work for Demon Hunters or Evokers while within Tak-Rethan Abyss or the Sinkhole.
• Resolved an issue where the Reformed Fury could despawn immediately upon defeating Speaker Davenruth in Nightfall Sanctum.

Dungeons

• City of Threads
  
  • After defeating Izo, the Grand Splicer, players can now drink Unstable Mixture to return to the dungeon entrance.

Events

• Fixed an issue where enemies were not granting audience approval during the “The Cruelty of Dornic” Theater Troupe play.
• Fixed an issue where rewards for the Theater Troupe event were delayed until the next task was completed.

Items

• Emerald and Draconic Marks of Mastery can now be destroyed or vendored.
• The pre-season Heroic dungeon reward item-level has been increased to Explorer 4/8 (was Adventurer 1/8).
• Fixed several plate items that were incorrectly using Agility/Intellect stats, such as Long-Forgotten Girdle and Scrit’s Handmade Girdle.

Pets

• Trogolofrog no longer can spawn with an empty breed.

Player versus Player

• Demon Hunter
  
  • Sigil of Spite (Talent) damage no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 20%).
  • Soul Rending (Talent) effect now reduced by 17% in PvP combat (was 40%).
  • Havoc
    
    • Chaos Strike/Annihilation damage no longer increased in PvP combat (was 10%).
    • Throw Glaive damage no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 10%).
    • Soulscar (Talent) effect no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 8%).
    • Essence Break (Talent) damage no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 10%).
    • Fel Barrage (Talent) damage no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 20%).

Quests

• The map icon for the quests “A Concerned Friend” and “The Last Mage” should no longer remain on the map after you have completed the questlines.
• Fixed a bug causing objectives for “Something’s Fishy” to unintentionally be faction-locked.
• Fixed an issue causing players to be able to be attacked while completing the quest “Rise of the Reckoning.”
• Destroying “Radiant Fuel Crystals” while on the quest “Shadows Below” should no longer prevent quest completion.
• During “Alluring Offer”, the Beguiling Lure may now be used while stealthed.
• Players should now see the Stormriders and can continue to progress through “After the Storm”.
• Interacting with objects during “The Day the Stoneheads Came” should now make them uninteractive, as normal.
• Fixed an issue where players who had already acquired a Restored Coffer Key before starting the quest “Bountiful Delves” were still being asked to acquire a key for the first step. Brann has eased up on things and will now count that for the quest step.
• Now, the entirety of “Bountiful Delves” will auto-complete if a player has already opened a bountiful chest in a Delve before starting the quest.
• Increased the gold and experience awards earned from Bonus Objectives.

User Interface

• Level 80 Rare enemies will no longer display an icon on the minimap for players below level 77.
• Itching Waters insect visuals now only show for the player who’s been targeted.