Witch Doctor 1.0.4 Guide, Puzzle Ring Proc Video, and Blizzard News
Patch 5.0.4 on Live Servers This Week
The Mists of Pandaria systems patch will be going live this week and it brings a lot of changes! Make sure your Background Downloader has downloaded the files so you aren't stuck waiting.
- New Talent System - Now has 3 talents per tier, with 6 tiers.
- Class Changes - List of class changes and short overview guides.
- New Ability Animations - So shiny!
- Experience Required to Level Changed - Reduced amount of XP to level to 85.
- 11th Character Slot - Unclear if it is coming in 5.0.4, but it will be for sure in Mists of Pandaria.
- AoE Looting - Loot all of the corpses in an area around you with one click!
- Scarlet Monastery and Scholomance Revamp - New lower level versions of the dungeons.
- Dungeon and Raid Valor Reward Changes and Currency Conversion
- Account Wide Achievements, Mounts, and Pets
- Simplified Buff and Debuff System
- Item and Stats Changes - Changes to expertise, Spell resistance, Resilience, and the stats on items.
- New Druid Forms - Armored forms for Incarnation and a new Travel Form.
- New Warlock Pets and Emotes
- Cross-Realm Zones - Play with friends on other realms, no more empty world!
- Interface Changes - New and easier to use interfaces, loot history, and more.
- Graphical Changes - Upgraded graphics slowing you down? Stop by the Computer Forum and talk about upgrades!
- Updated Addons - Find Patch 5.0.4 addons on Curse.
New Talent System
One of the biggest changes in this patch is the new talent system. This system removed the illusion of choice that was part of the old talent system by taking all of the mandatory talents and giving them to your class or specialization. Get your build ready with our new Talent Calculator on WoWDB!
Class Changes
Take a look at the updated skills on WoWDB, as well as the talents on our new Talent Calculator. Several of the forum members and mods have put together brief guides to help ease the transition to the new patch, so a big thanks to them!
Originally Posted by MMO-ChampionDeath Knight
Druid
Hunter
Mage
Wowpedia has compiled a nice long list of the changes made to each class in this patch. Be sure to check it out if you want to know every single change made to your class!
New Ability Animations
Many classes also got new ability animations! Note that these videos include all of the spells that had changed at the time, including Mists of Pandaria spells.
Experience Required to Level Changed
The experience required to level has been reduced for some levels, making it a good time to level up alts before Mists of Pandaria is released.
Level Old XP Requirement New XP Requirement 1-9 Old Same 10-39? Old (-20%) 40-82 Old Same 82-83 4,004,000 2,669,000 (-33%) 83-84 5,203,400 3,469,000 (-33%) 84-85 9,165,100 4,583,000 (-50%)
Additional Character Slot
Patch 5.0.4 or the Mists of Pandaria release will add an 11th character slot!
AoE Looting
You will now be able to loot all of the corpses in an area around you with one click!
Scarlet Monastery Revamp
While we are waiting for the new level 90 Heroic versions of Scarlet Monastery, you can go and run the revamped lower level version! There are small new mechanics, changes, and new art that make the dungeon a much nicer experience than before.
Scholomance Revamp
While we are waiting for the new level 90 Heroic version of Scholomance, you can go and run the revamped lower level version! There are small new mechanics, changes, and new art that make the dungeon a much nicer experience than before.
Dungeon and Raid Valor Reward Changes
Currency Conversion
Account Wide Achievements
If you are curious if a specific achievement has account wide progress, check out the tooltip of the achievement on WoWDB.
Account Wide Mounts
Many mounts are now account wide! This means you can use the mount on any character on your Battle.net account. If the last time you read about this was this blue post, fear not, all of those mounts were made account wide.
The major exceptions to the rule now are mounts that are restricted to your class or earned through rated PvP. Faction specific mounts are account wide, but you can only use them on characters with the correct faction.
If you are curious about a specific mount, take a look at that mount's tooltip over on WoWDB!
Account Wide Pets
Simplified Buff and Debuff System
Originally Posted by MMO-ChampionBuffs
Attack Power:
- Death Knight - Horn of Winter
- Hunter - Trueshot Aura
- Warrior - Battle Shout
Crit Chance:
- Druid(Feral, Guardian) - Leader of the Pack
- Mage - Arcane Brilliance
- Monk(Windwalker) - Legacy of the White Tiger
Mastery:
- Paladin - Blessing of Might
- Shaman - Grace of Air
Melee/Ranged Attack Speed:
- Death Knight(Frost, Unholy) - Unholy Aura
- Rogue - Swiftblade's Cunning
- Shaman(Enhancement) - Unleashed Rage
Raid-Haste-Cooldown:
Spell Haste:
- Druid(Balance) - Moonkin Form
- Priest(Shadow) - Shadowform
- Shaman(Elemental) - Elemental Oath
Spellpower:
- Mage - Arcane Brilliance
- Shaman - Burning Wrath
- Warlock - Dark Intent
Stamina:
- Priest - Power Word: Fortitude
- Warlock-PET - Blood Pact
- Warrior - Commanding Shout
Stats:
- Druid - Mark of the Wild
- Monk - Legacy of the Emperor
- Paladin - Blessing of Kings
Debuffs
Magic Vulnerability:
- Rogue - Master Poisoner
- Warlock - Curse of the Elements
Mortal Wounds:
- Hunter - Widow Venom
- Rogue - Wound Poison
- Warrior(Arms) - Mortal Strike
- Warrior(Fury) - Wild Strike
- Warlock(Pet) - Mortal Cleave / Legion Strike
Physical Vulnerability:
- Death Knight(Frost) - Brittle Bones
- Death Knight(Unholy) - Ebon Plaguebringer
- Paladin(Retribution) - Judgments of the Bold
- Warrior(Arms,Fury) - Colossus Smash
Slowed Casting Speed:
- Death Knight - Necrotic Strike
- Mage(Arcane) - Slow
- Rogue - Mind-Numbing Poison
- Warlock - Curse of Enfeeblement
Weakened Armor:
- Druid - Faerie Fire
- Rogue - Expose Armor
- Warrior - Sunder Armor
Weakened Blows:
- Death Knight(Blood) - Scarlet Fever
- Druid(Feral,Guardian) - Thrash
- Monk(Brewmaster) - Keg Smash
- Paladin(Prot,Ret) - Hammer of the Righteous
- Warrior - Thunder Clap
Raid Benefits
Combat Res:
- Death Knight - Raise Ally
- Druid - Rebirth
- Warlock - Soulstone
Buff Removal:
- Hunter - Tranquilizing Shot
- Mage - Spellsteal
- Priest - Dispel Magic
- Shaman - Purge
- Warlock-PET - Devour Magic
- Warrior(Protection) - Glyph of Shield Slam
- Death Knight(Glyph) - Glyph of Icy Touch
Curse Removal:
- Druid(Restoration) - Nature's Cure
- Mage - Remove Curse
- Shaman - Cleanse Spirit
Enrage Removal:
- Druid - Soothe
- Hunter - Tranquilizing Shot
- Rogue - Shiv
Disease Removal:
Magic Removal:
- Druid(Restoration) - Nature's Cure
- Monk(Mistweaver) - Detox
- Paladin(Holy) - Cleanse
- Priest(Discipline,Holy) - Purify
- Shaman(Restoration) - Purify Spirit
Poison Removal:
- Druid(Restoration) - Nature's Cure
- Monk - Detox
- Paladin - Cleanse
Item and Stats Changes
This patch makes some major changes to stats, such as ranged attacks being dodgeable, expertise becoming a rating, Spell resistance being removed, Resilience changes, and more. It also caused some changes to old items, especially PvP gear. You can see the new item stats on WoWDB.
New Druid Travel Form
The new Druid Travel form has some animations for dancing, grazing, cowering, sitting, sleeping, a mountspecial, and a walking animation. It replaces the old Cheetah travel form.
Armored Druid Forms Preview
Druids will have access to the Incarnation talent, which allows them to change into an armored version of the form for their spec.
New Warlock Pets
Warlocks finally got new pets, which are learned by the Grimoire of Supremacy talent. These pets are stronger, do 20% more damage, and replace your normal pets. The Fel Imp is a minor variation of the regular imp pet.
New Character Creation Preview Gear
Mists of Pandaria added some new higher res gear used when creating a new character. This is not the gear that your character will get when starting the game, but the gear that is used to show you what a higher level character will look like.
Cross-Realm Zones
Blizzard will be rolling this feature out beginning with a few realms at the launch of 5.0.4, and increasing until all realms are included for the release of Mists of Pandaria.
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
PvP Season 11 Ends
Heroic Spine Changes After Mists of Pandaria Pre-Patch
Character Creation Screens
These screens are only used during the Character Creation process, not Character Selection.
Character Selection Screens
New Mounts and Pets Interface
Misc Interface Changes
Dungeon Journal Expansion
The Dungeon Journal has been expanded to cover all of the old dungeons.
New Maps
If you still get lost in Caverns of Time, things are about to get much better. This patch also brings many, many maps for areas that don't show up on zone maps very well, such as caves, underground areas, and starter zones.
Graphical Changes
Patch 5.0.4 will bring us an improved lighting system, SSAO support, and slightly improved reflections. Many of these changes are hard to see without actually playing the game!
If you don't have a higher end computer, you may have to turn down some settings, especially once Mists of Pandaria and the new zones are released. If this sounds like an excuse to upgrade some hardware, head over to our Computer Forum.
The lighting system is more dynamic now, with flickering lights actually changing the light levels on the scene around them. SSAO adds shadows between objects that are very close together, making lighting look slightly more realistic. Mounts and players now appear in the reflections.
Updated Addons
Many addon authors have been hard at work updating their addons for Patch 5.0.4 and Mists of Pandaria. You can find the complete list on Curse! Now might be a good time to take advantage of the Curse Client to update your addons, and the one click update for Premium users! If you are already using Curse Client, be sure to check this box in the options to help populate WoWDB with data!