Updates to the patch notes below can be found in red. Last updated April 12, 5:45 PM PDT.
That's right, folks. Development on the first post-Cataclysm content update for World of Warcraft is well underway! We've opened up the Public Test Realms to bring players a healthy dose of the dungeons, class changes, and other features we've been working on for patch 4.1. "What will we find on the test realms?" you ask? (You did ask that, right?) Well, let me tell you!
The Gurubashi Tribe Persists
Originally a 20-player dungeon released in patch 1.7, Zul'Gurub will once again open its gates, featuring updated lore, all-new encounters, achievements, and improved loot! Zul'Gurub is now a level-85 five-player Heroic difficulty dungeon. To provide a new tier above the current Cataclysm dungeons, players can expect to find epic-quality item level 353 loot. The minimum average item level to enter this Heroic dungeon is 346.
The Return of Zul'Aman
Ever a player favorite, the level-70 ten-player dungeon of Zul'Aman is being reintroduced as a level-85 Heroic five-player dungeon. Zul'Aman will join Zul'Gurub in a new Dungeon Finder tier of Heroic dungeons, providing epic-quality item level 353 loot. The minimum average item level to enter this Heroic dungeon is also 346. While Zul'Aman will be more of a throwback to the original dungeon featuring many of the same encounters, players can expect to find some updated gameplay mechanics, as well as new environment textures and lighting.
With the Zuls returning, you may be wondering about the unique mounts that were once contained therein. New versions of the rare raptor, tiger, and bear mounts will be available, while the old versions of these mounts will remain unique to those who already have them. We'll reveal more about how these updated mounts can be obtained in the future.
Class Design
While we do intend to make fewer balance changes in patch 4.1, you can still expect to find a fair number of updates. Below are just a few we'd like to share with you right now. Keep in mind these changes don't encompass the entirety of the 4.1 changes, nor do the initial Public Test Realm patch notes.
To start, we want to do a better job of balancing the AoE power of the different damage-dealing specs. You can expect to see some changes to this end made throughout the testing process.
The warrior ability Inner Rage is now available at level 56. It was intended to solve an excess rage problem that largely isn’t affecting warriors anymore. We’ve added a replacement ability for warriors at level 83: Rallying Cry.
Word of Glory: We want Retribution and Protection paladins to have reasonable healing on themselves or others, but we know paladins sometimes feel like they can’t use their Holy Power on anything but their heals in some situations. We’d rather these two specs spend most of their Holy Power on damage-dealing abilities, with occasional healing.
More To Come
We're still hard at work on additional features, balance updates, and bug fixes for patch 4.1 and beyond. We look forward to sharing more information with you in the days and weeks ahead as development continues. Until then, have a look at the PTR patch 4.1 notes we've prepared. As always, these notes are not final and will continue to be updated regularly as we go through the iterative testing process, so be sure to check back often.
Important: These patch notes are not final. Additional updates will be made, and all existing changes are subject to revision during the course of the testing process. More information regarding patch 4.1 can be found here. Visit our Public Test Realm forum for more information about the testing process.
Conquest Points are now purchasable from the Valor Quartermasters at 250 Conquest Points per 250 Valor Points.
Honor Points are now purchasable from the Justice Trade Goods vendors at 250 Honor Points per 375 Justice Points.
Justice Points are now purchasable from the Honor Trade Goods vendors at 250 Justice Points per 375 Honor Points.
Resilience scaling has been modified for linear returns, as opposed to increasing returns. Under the new formula, going from 30 resilience to 40 resilience gives players the same increase to survivability as going from 0 to 10. Resilience now scales in the same way armor and magic resistances do. A player with 32.5% damage reduction from resilience in 4.0.6 should see their damage reduction unchanged in 4.1. Those with less than 32.5% will gain slightly. Those with more will lose some damage reduction, increasingly so as their resilience climbs.
A dead player can now be resurrected by targeting them using the Party or Raid Frame even if they have released. No more hunting for corpses.
A new feat of strength with an associated title, "the Camel-Hoarder", has been added for players that have bested Dormus and obtained the Reins of the Grey Riding Camel -- because there must always be a Camel-Hoarder.
PvP
The following Battleground achievements have been permanently removed from the game, as they do not function correctly with the achievement tracking system: Guild Gankin' in Gilneas, Guild Gulch, The Peak of Perfection, The Perfect Guild Storm, Storming the Beach.
Rated Battlegrounds
The achievements to win 100 rated Battlegrounds have been renamed to "Veteran of the Alliance" and "Veteran of the Horde", and now award those titles.
Achievements to win 300 rated Battlegrounds have been added, awarding the "Warbound" and "Warbringer" titles to the Alliance and Horde respectively.
Arathi Basin
The achievement "We Had It All Along *cough*" now requires the player to win Arathi Basin by 50 points or less, up from 10 points or less.
The Battle for Gilneas
The achievement "Jugger Not" now requires the player to win The Battle for Gilneas by 100 points or less, up from 10 points or less.
The achievement "Out of the Fog" requires the player to defend 2 bases in a single battle, down from 3.
The achievement "One Two Three You Don't Know About Me" requires the player to assault 2 bases in a single battle, down from 3.
The achievement "Not Your Average PUG'er" now requires 10 total flag defenses, down from 50.
The achievement "Battle for Gilneas All-Star" now requires a single flag assault and flag defense in a battle, down from 2.
Achievements Bug Fixes
The guild achievements for earning exalted reputation with factions (Ambassador, Diplomacy, and United Nations) have been fixed to now correctly count cumulative guild members with exalted factions. Previously, these achievements would only count exalted factions on one guild member.
The guild rated Battleground title achievements should now properly be awarded.
All non-damaging interrupts off the global cooldown will now always hit the target. This includes Pummel, Kick, Mind Freeze, Rebuke, Skull Bash, Counterspell, Wind Shear, Solar Beam, Silencing Shot, and related player pet abilities.
Several persistent ground effects now display different visuals for hostile and friendly players. The following spells have the same visual effects for friendly players, but new alternate visuals for hostile players: Ring of Frost, Consecration, Desecration, Wild Mushroom, Flare, Ice Trap, Power Word: Barrier, Smoke Bomb, and Hand of Gul'dan. As a general rule, the alternate effects have a red tint or hue indicating they are created by an enemy player. There are currently some issues with this new change which are affecting several of these abilities and is not working as intended at this time.
Dark Simulacrum now works on numerous additional spells in dungeon encounters.
Raise Ally has been redesigned to be a battle resurrection, analogous to Rebirth. It is instant cast, but costs 50 Runic Power to use, and has a 10-minute cooldown. It shares the same global battle resurrection cap with Rebirth and Soulstone.
Talent Specializations
Blood
Blood Shield now only works while in Blood Presence.
Death Strike self-healing no longer generates threat.
Frost
Blood of the North (passive) now permanently converts both Blood Runes into Death Runes. There is no longer any proc interaction with Blood Strike required to activate Death Runes.
Frost Strike now deals 130% of weapon damage, up from 110%.
Howling Blast damage has been increased by 20%. To compensate, the area-of-effect splash now does 50% of the single-target damage, down from 60%. The net result of this change leaves the area-of-effect damage roughly the same as 4.0.6 numbers. In addition, Howling Blast now has a facing requirement.
Unholy
Desecration no longer triggers when an applicable strike hits a snare-immune target. This is primarily to avoid unnecessary spell effect clutter during boss encounters.
Rage of Rivendare again applies 15/30/45% additional damage to Plague, Scourge, and Festering Strike, up from 12/24/36%.
Glyphs
Glyph of Raise Ally is now Glyph of Death Gate, and makes Death Gate cast 60% faster.
Lacerate bonus threat has been removed and replaced with increased initial damage done.
Efflorescence has a new spell effect.
Enrage no longer increases physical damage taken.
Lifebloom's bloom effect has been reduced by 20%.
Prowl has a new icon.
Savage Defense has been redesigned slightly. Instead of a single charge absorption, it now places an absorption effect on the druid absorbing up to 35% of the druid's attack power (modified by mastery, if applicable) in damage and lasting 10 seconds. There are no longer any charges on the effect.
Stampeding Roar's duration has been increased to 8 seconds, up from 6. The movement speed effect has been increased to 60%, up from 40% and is no longer cancelled by cancelling shapeshift form.
Swipe (Bear) cooldown has been reduced to 3 seconds, down from 6, and is now on trainable at level 18 (training cost has been reduced). In addition, the bonus threat from this ability has been removed and replaced with increased damage done.
Swipe (Cat) damage has been doubled.
Thrash bonus threat has been removed and replaced with increased damage done.
Druids now innately have 100% pushback protection from damage while channeling Tranquility.
Talent Specializations
Balance
Starsurge damage has been reduced by 20%.
Solar Beam is now more responsive when enemies move into or out of it.
Feral
Berserk is no longer on the global cooldown.
Feral Swiftness now also causes Dash and Stampeding Roar to have a 50/100% chance to instantly remove all movement impairing effects from the affected targets when used.
Restoration
Gift of Nature (passive) also reduces Tranquility's cooldown by 2.5/5 minutes.
Efflorescence has been redesigned. It creates a healing zone at the feet of a Swiftmend target, but this healing zone now restores health equal to 4/8/12% of the amount healed by Swiftmend to the three most injured targets within 8 yards, every 1 second for 7 seconds. This periodic effect now also benefits from spell haste, but the individual ticks cannot be critical effects. In addition, Living Seed is no longer a prerequisite talent for Efflorescence.
Malfurion's Gift now reduces the cooldown of Tranquility by 2.5/5 minutes.
Nature's Swiftness now also increases the healing done by the affected nature spell by 50%.
Glyphs
Glyph of Rake is now Glyph of Pounce, which increases the range of Pounce by 3 yards.
Druid Bug Fixes
The troll druid models for Flight Form and Swift Flight Form has slimmed down to be more in scale with other druid flight forms.
Deterrence no longer requires a melee weapon to be equipped.
Explosive Trap now has a new spell effect.
Master's Call now has a new spell effect.
Multi-Shot damage has been increased by 250%.
Tame Beast now tames pets to match the hunter's level, rather than 3 levels below.
Pets
The Feed Pet ability now instantly heals 50% of the pet's health. Cannot be used in combat. Requires diet-appropriate food.
The Happiness/Pet Loyalty System has been removed. Hunters will no longer have to manage Happiness for their pets, and the previous damage bonus for pets being happy will now be baseline for all tamed pets.
Bloodthirsty no longer generates Happiness.
Carrion Feeder no longer restores Happiness.
Guard Dog no longer causes Growl to generate additional Happiness.
Summoned pets now start with 100 focus, up from 0.
Glyphs
Glyph of Mend Pet is now Glyph of Greater Proportion, which increases the size of the pet slightly.
Hunter Bug Fixes
Hunters will automatically acquire a new target if the current target dies in the middle of a cast.
Aimed Shot and Steady Shot should no longer start casting Auto Shot on a new target when the "Stop Auto Attack" option enabled.
Auto Shot now automatically turns off until reactivated once Freezing Trap is cast on an enemy player.
Deterrence: The area damage of the paladin ability Hammer of the Righteous will no longer hit hunters with Deterrence active.
Distracting Shot and Multi-Shot are now properly 40-yard range.
Multi-Shot now properly has a 1-second global cooldown.
Scatter Shot's disorient effect should no longer sometimes be broken by the hunter's Auto Shot.
Arcane Blast cast time has been reduced to 2.0 seconds, down from 2.35 seconds. In addition, the stacking effect of Arcane Blast now increases the damage done by Arcane Explosion, and Arcane Explosion does not consume that effect.
Arcane Explosion damage has been increased by 30%.
Arcane Missiles damage has been increased by 13%.
Blizzard damage has been increased by 70%.
Frost Armor has been reworked:
It now reduces physical damage taken by 15%, instead of providing 20% additional armor.
The Chilled proc from Frost Armor can no longer proc Fingers of Frost.
The attack speed slow from the Chilled proc is now 20%, down from 25%, but it also affects ranged attack speed.
Frost Armor also no longer increases Frost resistance.
Frostbolt damage has been increased by 10%.
Talent Specializations
Arcane
Arcane Barrage damage has been increased by 13%.
Improved Arcane Explosion now also reduces the mana cost of Arcane Explosion by 25/50%.
Fire
Combustion no longer has a global cooldown.
Ignite is no longer triggered from periodic critical effects.
Frost
Fingers of Frost bonus damage applied to Ice Lance has been increased to 25%, up from 15%.
Ice Barrier base damage value has been increased by approximately 120%. In addition, the benefit from spell power has been increased by approximately 8%.
The root effect from Shattered Barrier now shares diminishing returns with the root from Improved Cone of Cold.
Glyphs
Glyph of Frost Armor (new glyph): Frost Armor also causes the mage to regenerate 2% of maximum mana every 5 seconds.
Aura Mastery: This ability no longer increases the benefit granted by Crusader Aura.
Illuminated Healing shield duration is now 15 seconds, up from 8 seconds. In addition, Illuminated Healing has been increased to provide 1.5% effect per mastery, up from 1.25%.
Walk in the Light (passive) removes the cooldown of Word of Glory.
Protection
Divine Guardian cooldown is now 3 minutes, up from 2.
Grand Crusader will now generate a charge of Holy Power if the Avenger Shield it procs is used within 6 seconds.
Sacred Duty can now be activated by Avenger's Shield in addition to Judgements. The effect now lasts 10 seconds, down from 15.
Retribution
Divine Storm now generates 1 point of Holy Power if it hits (i.e. successfully lands on) 4 or more targets.
Sacred Shield's internal cooldown has been increased to 60 seconds, up from 30.
Selfless Healer: The damage bonus from this talent now has a 30-second duration, up from 10.
Paladin Bug Fixes
Avenger's Shield can no longer be blocked.
Judgements of the Just debuff can no longer trigger talents and other effects.
Seal of Truth: Fixed a tooltip error that stated swings at targets with Censure fully stacked dealt 9% weapon damage. They actually dealt 15% damage and the tooltip has been updated accordingly.
Recuperate base effect now heals 3% per tick, up from 2%.
Stealth base cooldown has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 10, and the movement penalty from being in Stealth has been removed.
Tricks of the Trade now has a 100-yard range, up from 20.
Talent Specializations
Combat
Improved Recuperate now adds 0.5%/1% to the health restoration effect of Recuperate, down from 1%/2%.
Subtlety
Cheat Death now reduces damage taken by 80% while in effect, down from 90%. Its internal cooldown has been raised to 90 seconds, up from 60.
Nightstalker now reduces the cooldown of Stealth by 2/4 seconds, and instead of negating the movement penalty from Stealth, it adds a 5/10% movement speed bonus (stacking with other effects) while Stealthed.
Fire Nova has been redesigned and decoupled from shaman Fire totems. Instead, it now pulses the Fire Nova effect from each target that is afflicted by the shaman's own Flame Shock debuff. It now damages all enemies except the target hit by Flame Shock. The ability's cooldown has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 10.
Grounding Totem cooldown has been increased to 25 seconds, up from 15.
Magma Totem now lasts for 60 seconds, up from 21.
Stoneclaw Totem's area-of-effect threat pulse no longer affects critters.
Talent Specializations
Elemental Combat
Earthquake is no longer a channeled spell. It now has a 2-second cast time, lasts for 10 seconds, and has a 10-second cooldown. Its damage has been reduced by 40% from its channeled version.
Enhancement
Improved Fire Nova has been redesigned and replaced by a talent called Seasoned Winds. When an enemy spell cast is successfully prevented with Wind Shear, the shaman gains magical resistance (in an amount equal to what a protection totem/aura would grant, stacking with such buffs) to the spell school(s) of the interrupted spell (except for Holy spells), lasting 10 seconds.
Restoration
Cleansing Waters now has a 6-second internal cooldown.
Deep Healing now benefits all heals, not just direct heals.
Earth Shield healing done by Restoration shaman has been reduced by 20%.
Nature's Blessing has been improved to 6/12/18% bonus direct healing on Earth Shielded targets, up from 5/10/15%.
Spirit Link Totem (new talent) reduces damage taken by all party and raid members within 10 yards by 10%. This lasts 6 seconds, and every second it is active the health of all affected players is redistributed among them, such that each player ends up with the same percentage of their maximum health. This counts as an Air totem and has a 3-minute cooldown.
Glyphs
Glyph of Grounding Totem now increases the cooldown of the ability by 35 seconds, down from 45 seconds.
Dark Intent: The friendly target of this ability now receives 1% (stacking 3 times to 3%) periodic spell damage and healing bonus instead of 3% (stacking 3 times to 9%). The casting Warlock still receives 3% (stacking 3 times to 9%).
Rain of Fire damage has been increased by 25%.
Seed of Corruption damage has been increased by 20%.
Talent Specializations
Affliction
Haunt damage has been increased by 30%.
Shadow Mastery (passive) has been increased to 30%, up from 25%.
Unstable Affliction damage done when it is dispelled has been doubled, but this damage can no longer be critical.
Demonology
Mana Feed now restores more mana (four times as much) when the warlock is using a Felguard or Felhunter.
Pets
Doomguard's damage has been increased by 50%. The Doomguard is intended to be the best guardian for single-target damage, and the Infernal the best when there are multiple targets.
Lash of Pain (Succubus) damage now scales with level, reducing the damage done at lower levels such that it will deal 50% damage at level 20, and 100% damage at level 80 and above.
Shadow Bite (Felhunter) damage and effect has doubled.
Glyphs
Glyph of Soul Swap now increases the cooldown of Soul Swap by 15 seconds, up from 10 seconds.
Charge and Intercept no longer have diminishing returns on their stun effects.
Colossus Smash now ignores 50% of a hostile player's armor (PvP), but continues to ignore 100% of a non-player character's armor (PvE).
Heroic Throw is now available from trainers at level 20.
Heroic Leap is no longer on the global cooldown, similar to other warrior movement abilities.
Inner Rage is now available at level 56.
Intercept now has a 1.5-second stun, down from 3 seconds.
Pummel is now usable in all stances.
Rallying Cry (new ability) is available from trainers at level 83. It temporarily grants the warrior and all party or raid members within 30 yards 20% of maximum health for 10 seconds. After the effect expires, the health is lost. It has no cost, no stance requirements, and is not on the global cooldown. It has a 3-minute cooldown, but also shares a cooldown with Last Stand.
Shield Bash has been removed from the game.
Spell Reflection cooldown has been increased to 25 seconds, up from 10.
Whirlwind now has its cooldown reduced by 6 seconds when it deals damage to 4 or more targets. The Whirlwind effect caused by Bladestorm remains unchanged.
Talent Specializations
Arms
Improved Hamstring now reduces the global cooldown on Hamstring by 0.5/1 0.25/0.5 seconds in addition to its current effects.
Juggernaut no longer adds 2 seconds to the Charge stun, but instead lowers the cooldown of Charge by 2 seconds (to 13 seconds total without the glyph).
Lambs to the Slaughter now causes Mortal Strike to refresh Rend in addition to its current effects.
Strikes of Opportunity value per point of mastery has been increased by 10%.
Fury
Precision (passive) now increase auto-attack damage by 40%, in addition to the 3% hit it offers currently.
Unshackled Fury now only grants 2 base points of mastery, down from 8.
Protection
Shield Mastery no longer affects the cooldown of Spell Reflection, however, it now allows Shield Block to proc a second aura that reduces magic damage by 7/14/20% for 6 seconds.
Gag Order now applies to Pummel and Heroic Throw, giving these abilities a 100% chance to silence the target for 3 seconds. In addition, Gag Order lowers the cooldown of Heroic Throw by 30 seconds.
Glyphs
Glyph of Spell Reflection reduces the cooldown of Spell Reflection by 5 seconds, up from 1 second.
The Dungeon Finder now attempts to avoid putting damage-dealing classes with the same armor type in a group.
Players will now get bonus rewards 7 times per week (while earning less than 980 Valor Points) instead of once a day when using Dungeon Finder.
When there is only 1 player left in a Dungeon Finder group, they will now be able to queue for replacements as long as they queue within 2 minutes or stay in the dungeon.
The Dungeon Finder: Call to Arms will now identify which class role is currently the least represented in the queue, and offer them additional rewards for entering the Dungeon Finder queue and completing a random level-85 Heroic dungeon.
The least represented class icon will show within the Dungeon Finder to indicate the role that is eligible to earn the bonus reward.
Players must queue solo with the currently indicated least represented class (by the system) and complete the dungeon up to and including the final boss in order to be eligible for the bonus reward.
The bonus reward will be displayed to eligible (system identified as least represented) classes within the UI.
Once the dungeon is completed the eligible player will receive a Satchel of Exotic Mysteries (account bound) with various potential rewards including: gold, rare gems, non-combat pets, and (very rare) mounts.
New level-85 Heroic dungeons are available for testing.
Zul'Aman has returned as a level-85 5-player Heroic dungeon featuring a revamp of the original dungeon and improved loot!
Zul'Gurub has returned as a level-85 5-player Heroic dungeon featuring all-new encounters, achievements, and improved loot!
Both dungeons will be in a new Dungeon Finder difficulty tier above the current level-85 Heroic dungeons and offer epic-quality item level 353 loot.
More information on these updated dungeons can be found here.
Blackrock Caverns
Aura of Arcane Haste now has a clearer visual on the bearer of the aura.
Bound Flames in the Karsh Steelbender encounter no longer create Lava Pools when they are killed.
The Short Throw ability used by Twilight Sadists has had its range reduced to 10 yards.
Blackwing Descent
Atramedes
Searing Flames now causes a 6-second cooldown on Modulation.
Searing Flames no longer increases Sound on players.
Players should no longer be able to avoid the first period damage tick of Searing Flame, and Searing Flame now ticks every 2 seconds. The damage of Searing Flame has been increased to compensate for it ticking less frequently.
Flash Bomb (Golem Sentry ability) now has a more clear warning visual.
Magmaw now triggers a raid emote when summoning Lava Parasites.
Further improvements have been made in the Maloriak encounter to avoid Flash Freeze targeting the tanks.
Nefarian's End
The damage of Shadowflame Barrage has been reduced by 15% (10-player normal and Heroic difficulty only).
The damage of Tail Lash has been reduced by 20% (10-player normal and Heroic difficulty only).
The Bastion of Twilight
Dragon Siblings
Blackout can now be dispelled on Heroic difficulty.
Cho'gall
The health of Blood of the Old God on 10-player Heroic difficulty has been lowered by roughly 20%.
The health of Darkened Creations on 10-player Heroic difficulty has been lowered by roughly 20%.
Corruption: Accelerated on 10-player Heroic difficulty has been lowered slightly.
Knockbacks and Deathgrip can now be used to interrupt players that are converted by Cho'gall.
Sinestra
Twilight Slicer is now less likely to target two helers at once.
Wrack will avoid jumping to tanks.
Deadmines
Ragezone cast by Defias Blood Wizards now only increases damage dealt, no longer increasing damage taken.
Dire Maul North
The Gordok Courtyard Key in Fengus's Chest is now replenished after several seconds.
Grim Batol
Bleeding Wound damage from General Umbriss has been lowered by 20%.
Malignant Trogg now moves more slowly.
The Encumbered damage bonus from Forgemaster Throngus has been reduced by 50%.
Invoked Flaming Spirits should prefer non-tank targets to fixate on.
The Twilight Flame Patch from the Twilight Drake has been removed.
The cooldown portion of the Twisted Arcane buff cast by Azureborne Seers has been removed.
Halls of Origination
Temple Gardian Anhuur should now properly go into his shield phase at 33% even if he was channeling his 66% shield phase.
Lost City of Tol'vir
Soul Fragments that spawn during the High Prophet Barim encounter should now perform an emote when they merge with the Harbinger of Darkness.
The Mechanar
The Cache of the Legion now unlocks when Gatewatcher Gyro-kill is gyro-killed.
The Stonecore
Ground Slam now has a pre-cast visual on the ground in front of Ozruk. In addition, Ground Slam's damage and radius have been reduced.
High Priestess Azil's Seismic Shard now has a more obvious warning visual.
Stratholme
Postboxes no longer require keys to open, because really, who locks their postboxes anymore when they're all undead? It's just people sending coupons for brains anyway.
The Postmaster now spawns when 3 of any postbox are opened.
Throne of the Tides
Gilgoblin Hunters' Poisoned Spear direct and periodic damage has been reduced.
Gilgoblin Aquamages' Tsunami damage has been reduced.
Visual effects during the Lady Naz'jar have been improved for clarity.
Blight Beasts summoned during the Ozumat encounter now deal less damage with Aura of Dread.
Uldaman
The Staff of Prehistoria is no longer required to open the door in the Map Room.
Baelog's chest has been given new loot. If it's grey it's good, right?
Vortex Pinnacle
The Air Nova ability triggered when a Gust Soldier is killed has had its knockback effect reduced.
Altairus now spawns closer to the center of his platform, away from the edge.
Temple Adepts and Ministers of Air now wait 2 seconds before starting a spell cast when they are first engaged.
Wailing Caverns
The maze section has been removed to make the overall dungeon more accessible and quicker to complete. Nearby creatures and bosses have been adjusted to compensate.
Zul'Farrak
Troll Cages no longer require the Executioner's Key to open.
The gold amounts awarded for the following encounters have been substantially reduced: Flame Leviathan, Magtheridon, Gruul the Dragonkiller, Doom Lord Kazzak, and all encounters in Karazhan.
These challenges can be found in the Info pane of the guild UI.
Guild Challenges fall into three categories: Guild Dungeon Run, Guild Raid, and Guild Rated Battleground.
Each challenge can be completed a set number of times per week. Guild groups participating in level-appropriate Heroic or normal difficulty dungeons and raids, or Rated Battlegrounds, will automatically qualify for challenge credit.
Each time a Guild Challenge is completed, the guild will be awarded experience and gold deposited directly into the Guild Vault, as well as the opportunity to earn all-new achievements. A popup or "toast" will be displayed to confirm a Guild Challenge has been completed (similar to achievement alerts).
Guild experience earned via Guild Challenges will be awarded above the daily cap. The experience cap will move forward relative to the amount of experience obtained through completing Guild Challenges (similar to rested experience for characters).
Guilds already at the level cap will be awarded substantially more gold in place of guild experience.
Gold rewards are deposited into the guild bank once the guild reaches level 5. The text for the Cash Flow guild perk has been updated appropriately.
The Guild Perk, Cash Flow, no longer prints out text to the Chat Log. Instead, the daily amount deposited is shown in the Guild Vault Money Log. In addition, players can view the weekly contribution in a new window at the bottom of the Money Log.
Two new custom guild tabards have been added as Guild Rewards. The tabards are account bound and offer a bonus to gaining guild reputation.
The amount of guild experience rewarded for rated Battleground guild group wins has been dramatically increased.
Players are now rewarded guild experience for Honorable Kills in the field.
Players are now rewarded guild experience for Battleground wins in Battleground brackets up to level 80.
Arena teams are now awarded guild experience for wins. The entire team must be members of the same guild to earn this experience.
Many "Account Bound" heirlooms are now labeled as "Battle.net Account Bound", meaning that they can also be traded or mailed to characters that are on different World of Warcraft accounts under the same Battle.net account.
Mail sent to characters on the same Battle.net account now arrives instantaneously, as it does for the same World of Warcraft account.
Mailing account-bound items to characters of the opposite faction on the same Battle.net account will now correctly translate faction-specific items to their appropriate equivalent.
All trade goods available for purchase with Honor or Justice Points from the associated commodities vendors have had their prices reduced by 50%.
Maelstrom Crystals are now available for purchase with Honor or Justice Points from the associated commodities vendors.
The PvP Horde and Alliance trinkets have a new spell effect.
Item Sets
The current damage-dealing death knight 4-piece raid set bonus now also grants increased attack power when Killing Machine triggers, as well as when the death knight gains Death Runes).
The current Holy paladin 4-piece raid set bonus now grants 540 Spirit for 6 seconds after casting Holy Shock.
The current healing priest 4-piece raid set bonus no longer requires a target to be under the effects of Weakened Soul for the priest to receive the Spirit bonus. Instead the benefit will be granted each time the priest's Penance spell heals a target.
The caster shaman 4-piece PvP set bonus now reduces the cooldown of Grounding Totem by 3 seconds, up from 1.5.
The rate at which Honor Points are earned has been doubled.
Arenas
Arena matchmaking can now extend beyond a team's Battlegroup.
Ring of Valor
The Ring of Valor has returned! It should now be playable again in the Arena map rotation.
New starting areas have been added for Ring of Valor. Players will no longer enter the Arena on the elevator. It's been removed. Instead players will start in a room at opposite ends of the Arena.
Battlegrounds
Battleground raid leaders can now move players from other realms among raid subgroups.
The Focused Assault and Brutal Assault buffs have changed.
After 3 minutes of both teams having the flag, both flag carriers will get Focused Assault, which increases damage taken by 10%.
Every minute afterward, an additional stack will be applied to increase damage taken by an additional 10%.
After 7 minutes, Brutal Assault will be applied in place of Focused Assault. In additional to the damage debuff, this debuff also caps the player's movement speed at 100%. The damage taken debuff works the same and will add 10% to the debuff up to a maximum of 100% damage taken.
Arathi Basin
Arathi Basin is now available as a 10v10-player rated Battleground.
Flags should now cap in 7 seconds, down from 8.
The Battle for Gilneas
Flags should now cap in 7 seconds, down from 8.
Graveyard Changes
Players who die at a control point that they own will now be teleported to the next closest graveyard, instead of the one at which they died.
If a player's team owns the Mine and Waterworks, and dies at Waterworks, they will be teleported to the Mine.
If an Alliance player's team only owns Lighthouse, and dies at Lighthouse, they will respawn at their base.
If a Horde player's team owns Waterworks and Mine, and dies at Lighthouse, they will respawn at Waterworks.
Twin Peaks
Graveyard Changes
Players will now only spawn at their base graveyard when they die in the enemy base.
Defending players will respawn at the middle graveyard.
Midfield players will respawn at the middle graveyard.
Attacking players will respawn at their base graveyard.
A handful of quests have been added to Northern Barrens to provide more level 18-20 content. Look for new quests at Nozzlepot's Outpost and Darsok's Outpost.
Loot from the creatures Garr, Julak-Doom, Mobus, Akma'Hat, Xariona, and Poseidus has been adjusted to be commensurate to their rarity and invested effort.
The Guild Finder has been implemented! While we are continuing to add final polish to this feature, we welcome all focused testers to give it a go. Feedback can be provided here.
Like the Focus Frame, the character Unit and Target Frames can now be unlocked and moved to one's content.
Spells bound to a key now start to be cast when the button is pressed down by default, instead of waiting for the key to go up. This is an option that can be turned off in the Interface menu under Combat. Mouse clicking has not changed and operates on mouse click up.
Targets and focus targets now display on the mini-map.
Moved Video and Sound to a new "Options" screen.
Added a network category to the new Options screen and included the two network checkboxes.
The Network category contains the options "Optimize network for speed" and "Enable IPv6 when available". "Optimize network for speed" will be enabled by default, and will send packets more frequently at the cost of higher bandwidth. The higher bandwidth may lead to disconnects for some players who have limited bandwidth. Players getting disconnected frequently should try unchecking this box.
Visual Settings Updates
Removed the red bar preventing the overall graphics slider from going to ultra based on computer specs.
When a player moves the overall slider to a setting that would have previously been prevented, any option that can't go as high as that setting will get the warning icon with a tooltip explaining why it can't go higher. For example: a player sets the overall slider to Ultra and the water setting can only go to Fair. The water setting would automatically switch to Fair.
Support for DirectX 11 can now be found in the Advanced tab of the Options screen.
At the login screen:
Moved the "Reset User Options" button from the popup window that appears when clicking Options to the actual Options window.
Clicking Options now goes directly to the Video tab of the Options screen.
Removed the now-unneeded popup.
The New Features (!) Option screen has been updated:
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