We’re back checking out everything that changed in the past week in retail WoW!
We have a massive class tuning pass, Queen Ansurek nerfs, Timewalking scaling changes, new Mythic+ end of run rewards, Hallow’s End improvements, a big Alchemy bug fix pass, Shadowlands campaign fix, and many 20th Anniversary event improvements, including the huge Bronze Token reward buffs. We also some some Season of Discovery and Cataclysm Classic fixes, so let’s dive in.
Classes
- Death Knight
- Blood
- Applied the recent Heart Strike tuning update to Dancing Rune Weapon Heart Strikes.
- Blood Boil damage increased by 15%.
- Heart Strike damage increased by 20%.
- Blood Plague damage increased by 10%.
- Death Strike damage increased by 20%.
- Developers’ notes: We are looking to increase the effectiveness of the Gift of San’layn window due to the reduced uptime after the patch 11.0.5 changes.
- San’layn: Vampiric Strike proc chance increased to 35% (was 25%).
- San’layn: Essence of the Blood Queen duration increased to 25 seconds (was 20 seconds).
- San’layn: Gift of the San’layn increases the effectiveness of Essence of the Blood Queen by 200% (was 150%).
- Blood
- Demon Hunter
- Aldrachi Reaver: Fixed an issue where casting Soul Cleave on an immune target could result in applying an incorrect number of Reaver’s Mark stacks.
- Druid
- Balance
- Developers’ notes: The goals of these changes are to increase single target damage and to even out the power of talents in Balance’s spec tree to provide as much build flexibility to players as possible. We want Power of Goldrinn to be an effective single target pick, and we’d like talents like Touch the Cosmos and Hail of Stars to be more competitive with other options.
- Celestial Alignment and Incarnation: Chosen of Elune once again reset at the end of raid encounters.
- Starfall damage increased by 6%.
- Starsurge damage increased by 8%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
- Starfire damage increased by 5%.
- Wrath damage increased by 10%.
- Shooting Stars and Crashing Stars damage increased by 20%.
- Sunseeker Mushrooms grow 12% less often.
- Touch the Cosmos chance to proc increased to 15% for Wrath and 22% for Starfire.
- Power of Goldrinn’s damage increased by 25%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
- Rattle the Stars increases Starfall and Starsurge damage by 8% (down from 10%).
- New Moon and Half Moon damage reduced by 5%.
- Restoration
- Call of the Elder Druid’s duration increased to 15 seconds (was 10 seconds).
- Dream of Cenarius now causes Wrath and Shred to transfer 100% (was 50%) of their damage done into healing and Starfire and Swipe to transfer 50% of their damage done into healing (was 33%).
- Developers’ notes: We’re looking to increase the playability of Dream of Cenarius, as the window for Heart of the Wild is a bit too short to be meaningful and the upside of this talent has not yet been worth it.
- Balance
- Hunter
- Withering Fire will now consistently fire 3 Black Arrows and its target selection has been improved.
- Withering Fire will now consistently fire the first shot in a Withering Fire barrage at your target if they are a valid enemy target.
- Shadow Surge will no longer damage breakable crowd-controlled targets.
- Hunter’s Prey’s target selection will now more-rigorously filter out-of-combat targets when casting multiple Kill Shots or Black Arrows.
- Fixed an issue where Black Arrow and Withering Fire could hit targets that are breakable crowd controlled.
- Black Arrow’s periodic damage will no longer cancel breakable crowd control.
- Deathblow no longer incorrectly has a reduced chance to proc in PvP instances.
- Pack Leader: An issue preventing Frenzied Tear from activating consistently has been corrected.
- Beast Mastery
- Developers’ notes: There were some niche situations where players might want to gain Trick Shots or Beast Cleave for more damage from Bleak Powder in single target. Bleak Powder is meant to complement AOE situations, not incentivize the usage of AOE in single target situations.
- Dark Ranger: Bleak Powder no longer damages its primary target.
- Pack Leader: Frenzied Tear proc chance reduced to 10% (was 20%).
- Pack Leader: Vicious Hunt damage reduced by 10%.
- Developers’ notes: Beast Mastery is overperforming in single target, and we’d like to reduce its single target while improving its lackluster AOE.
- Barbed Shot damage reduced by 25%.
- Stomp damage increased by 50%.
- Multi-Shot damage increased by 100%.
- Explosive Venom now procs at 3 stacks (was 5) and will appropriately apply Serpent Sting to enemies regardless of their distance to the caster.
- Marksmanship
- Developers’ notes: Dark Ranger is overperforming in single target and we’re looking to reduce it while compensating with some AOE buffs to keep the AOE performance roughly the same.
- Dark Ranger: Black Arrow damage reduced by 10%.
- Dark Ranger: Bleak Powder damage increased by 25%.
- Dark Ranger: Shadow Surge damage increased by 25%.
- Developers’ notes: Symphonic Arsenal lost more bite than intended from the removal of Eagletalon’s True Focus.
- Sentinel: Symphonic Arsenal damage increased by 15%.
- Volley is now correctly visible to enemies in PvP instances.
- Survival
- Flare will now correctly play an animation for Survival Hunters.
- Resolved an issue that was causing Wildfire Bomb to consume multiple stacks of Tip of the Spear per cast.
- Pack Leader: Scattered Prey will now correctly increase Butchery’s damage for Survival Hunters.
- Mage
- Frostfire Bolt will now deal damage regardless of your line of sight with the target.
- Frostfire Bolt now requires that you face your target to fire a projectile.
- Dematerialize will now be consistently applied by the second stack of Nether Precision.
- Frost
- Death’s Chill will now properly function if Icy Veins is cast before a Raid or Mythic+ encounter begins.
- Developers’ notes: Stacks acquired from Death’s Chill before the pull or before the Mythic+ dungeon is activated will still be removed.
- Death’s Chill will now properly function if Icy Veins is cast before a Raid or Mythic+ encounter begins.
- Monk
- Mistweaver
- All healing increased by 6%.
- Awakened Jadefire now causes Spinning Crane Kick to transfer 110% of damage done (was 90%).
- Jadefire Teachings now increases Ancient Teachings by an additional 160% (was 140%).
- Rushing Wind Kick’s damage increased by 150% and Rushing Winds now increases Renewing Mist healing by 100% for its duration (was 50%).
- Yu’lon’s Whisper healing increased by 400%.
- Jade Bond now increases Mastery: Gust of Mist’s healing by 20% (was 60%).
- Developers’ notes: We’re excited that the Chi-Ji Mastery build exists and is powerful in the right conditions, but numerically, its output has been above where we’re comfortable. We’re decreasing the effectiveness of this build without breaking the cooldown reduction gameplay to keep the feel the same and compensating baseline to shrink the difference between this high-end output and regular play.
- Fixed an issue that caused Rushing Wind Kick to not consume Tea of Plenty.
- Fixed an issue that caused Jade Empowerment’s damage increase to not function if an enemy dies while Crackling Jade Lightning is active.
- Windwalker
- Fixed an issue that caused Last Emperor’s Capacitor damage increase to not function if an enemy dies while Crackling Jade Lightning is active.
- Mistweaver
- Paladin
- Lightsmith: Fixed an issue causing Tempered in Battle’s health transfer to break crowd-control effects.
- Fixed an issue that caused Worthy Sacrifice to be able to activate onto player pets.
- Fixed an issue that caused Steed of Liberty to grant allies full duration Blessing of Freedoms when talented into Unbound Freedom.
- Holy
- Developers’ notes: Holy Paladins’ mana has been plentiful enough to use Beacon of Virtue more often than we would like throughout a raid encounter. We would like the use of Beacon of Virtue to influence mana decisions more heavily.
- Beacon of Virtue now costs 5% base mana (was 4%).
- Holy Shock now costs 2.8% base mana (was 2.6%).
- Priest
- Discipline
- Developers’ notes: We’re increasing Discipline’s direct healing throughput to help in situations where no enemy target is present to trigger Atonement. We would also like to nudge Discipline’s performance up in raid, particularly for Oracle.
- Power Word: Radiance healing increased by 20%.
- Flash Heal healing increased by 15%.
- Premonition of Piety increases healing done by 20% (was 15%).
- Preemptive Care increases Atonement duration by 4 seconds (was 3 seconds).
- Shadow
- Psychic Link now causes direct damage to inflict 30% of damage dealt to targets afflicted by Vampiric Touch (was 25%).
- Discipline
- Rogue
- Trickster: Fixed an issue that could allow So Tricky’s duration bonus for Tricks of the Trade to persist after changing talents.
- Assassination
- Master Assassin – Critical Strike Chance granted during effect reduced to 20% (was 25%).
- Shaman
- Elemental
- Fixed an issue causing Ascendance to sometimes fire multiple Lava Burst Overloads at a single target.
- Developers’ notes: With all of the changes to Elemental and Enhancement Shaman in patch 11.0.5, some changes were performing beyond our tuning goals. We’re adjusting several talents and abilities to reduce their overall power.
- Farseer: Ancestor Chain Lightning damage increased by 40%. Not applied to PvP combat.
- Farseer: Ancestor Lava Burst damage increased by 15%. Not applied to PvP combat.
- Farseer: Ancestor Elemental Blast damage increased by 15%. Not applied to PvP combat.
- Stormbringer: Arc Discharge now grants 1 instant cast Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt (was 2).
- Stormbringer: Voltaic Surge now increases Earthquake and Chain Lightning damage by 5% (was 15%).
- Preeminence now increases haste by 20% while Ascendance is active (was 25%).
- Icefury now increases Frost Shock damage by 200% (was 150%).
- Enhancement
- Resolved an issue causing Stormblast to deal more damage than intended.
- Voltaic Blaze damage now scales with Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
- Stormblast damage now scales with Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
- Doom Winds damage now scales with Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
- Voltaic Blaze damage now scales with Elemental Weapons.
- Stormblast damage now scales with Elemental Weapons.
- Doom Winds damage now scales with Elemental Weapons.
- An issue causing Stormblast to ignore damage reduction effects has been resolved.
- An issue causing Arc Discharge to not be consumed by Thorim’s Invocation has been resolved.
- Developers’ notes: With all of the changes to Elemental and Enhancement Shaman in patch 11.0.5, some changes were performing beyond our tuning goals. We’re adjusting several talents and abilities to reduce their overall power.
- Lightning Bolt damage reduced by 10%. Not applied to PvP combat.
- Chain Lightning damage reduced by 10%. Not applied to PvP combat.
- Stormbringer: Tempest damage reduced by 15%. Not applied to PvP combat.
- Restoration
- Farseer: Ancestor Chain Lightning damage increased by 40%. Not applied to PvP combat.
- Farseer: Ancestor Lava Burst damage increased by 15%. Not applied to PvP combat.
- Elemental
- Warlock
- Developers’ notes: We’re increasing the throughput of all Warlock specializations to make each more competitive with other classes in both single-target and multi-target situations. For Demonology, this means reverting the reduction in Demonic Core generation to help with their overall mobility. We will continue to monitor the performance of each specialization and make further adjustments where needed.
- Affliction
- Hellcaller: Wither damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
- Agony damage increased by 15%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Corruption damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
Unstable Affliction damage increased by 20%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
- Demonology
- Dreadstalkers now have a 100% chance to generate a Demonic Core (was 50%).
- Grimoire: Felguard damage is now increased by 125% (was 60%).
- Hand of Gul’dan damage increased by 25%.
- Call Dreadstalkers damage increased by 20%.
- Destruction
- Hellcaller: Wither damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
- Chaos Bolt damage increased by 10%.
- Immolate damage increased by 25%.
- Incinerate damage increased by 20%.
- Conflagrate damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
- Rain of Fire damage increased by 20%.
- Warrior
- Arms
- The Recklessness granted by Warlord’s Torment now correctly has its additional Rage generation reduced to 25%.
- Execute damage increased by 10%.
- Colossus: Demolish single-target damage increased by 15%.
- Slayer: Reap the Storm damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
- Slayer: Slayer’s Strike damage increased by 15%.
- Mortal Strike damage increased by 15%.
- Overpower damage increased by 15%.
- Dreadnaught damage increased by 15%.
- Cleave damage increased by 20%.
- Fury
- Execute damage increased by 7%.
- Slayer: Reap the Storm damage increased by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
- Slayer: Slayer’s Strike damage increased by 15%.
- Mountain Thane: Lightning Strike damage increased by 30%.
- Bloodthirst damage increased by 20%.
- Bloodbath damage increased by 20%.
- Rampage damage increased by 10%.
- Protection
- Execute damage increased by 10%.
- Colossus: Demolish single-target damage increased by 15%.
- Arms
Dungeons and Raids
- Adjusted all Timewalking dungeon enemy health and damage to better scale with player power.
- Developers’ notes: Our intention with these dungeons is for their difficulty to fall between the difficulty of a Normal and a Heroic dungeon at level 80. Our goal with changes like this is to provide a fairer, engaging challenge for all players while keeping to the principle that better gear makes you more powerful. We’ll continue to monitor dungeon difficulty to ensure Timewalking presents a satisfying level of challenge for all players.
- Mythic+ Dungeons
- There is now a small chance when completing a Mythic+ dungeon to acquire a Forgotten Folio, which can contain any of the dungeon-sourced recipes from The War Within.
- Challenger’s Peril now adds an additional 90 seconds to the timer of Mythic Keystones in addition to the 15 second death penalty.
- Developers’ notes: We wish for Challenger’s Peril to emphasize precise play and place a greater risk on players’ decisions as they progress through higher Keystone levels. With this goal in mind, we want to give players a bit more breathing room for these decisions by adding a bonus to Challenger’s Peril, while maintaining the penalty aspect of the affix.
- The Dawnbreaker
- Resolved a Rasha’nan issue where Rolling Acid’s indicator could fail to be visible.
- The Stonevault
- Resolved an issue allowing Blazing Shrapnel to still be cast if Dorlita dies while channeling Blazing Crescendo.
- Nerub-ar Palace
- Addressed some issues that could lead to player disconnects or lag when using abilities.
- Queen Ansurek
- Reduced the number of players targeted by Web Blades to 3 on Heroic difficulty (was 4).
- Phase 1
- The first cast of Silken Tomb in the final cycle has been removed on Heroic difficulty.
- The timing of the first Web Blades cast has been adjusted to accommodate the removal of the preceding Silken Tomb in the final cycle on Heroic difficulty.
- Grasping Silk periodic damage reduced by 25% on Heroic difficulty.
- Phase 2
- Gloom Blast damage reduced by 15% on Heroic difficulty.
Events
- Hallow’s End Water Buckets should now have a greater impact on Headless Horseman fires.
- Once again, Zidormi is ready to assist players in joining in the Hallow’s End festivities in Tirisfal Glades.
- Awakening the Machine
- Addressed an issue causing Nullbots to become stuck evading.
Player versus Player
- Fixed an issue where players were unable to queue for Eye of the Storm as a specific battleground in Quick Match.
- Druid
- Balance
- Fixed an issue where Frenzied Regeneration was being reduced more than intended. It should now correctly heal for 5% health every second (was 3% health every second).
- Rejuvenation and Wild Growth healing increased by 20%.
- Feral
- Berserk and Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane now increase damage by 10% in PvP combat (was 15%).
- King of the Jungle increases healing received and movement speed by 3% per stack (was 5%). Stacks up to 3 times (was 4 times).
- Balance
- Hunter
- Beast Mastery
- Dark Ranger: Bleak Powder’s damage reduced by 30% in PvP combat.
- Dark Ranger: Withering Fire’s additional Black Arrows are now cast at 25% effectiveness (was 50%).
- Marksmanship
- Dark Ranger: Bleak Powder’s damage reduced by 30% in PvP combat.
- Dark Ranger: Withering Fire’s additional Black Arrows are now cast at 25% effectiveness (was 50%).
- Beast Mastery
- Monk
- Mistweaver
- Rushing Wind Kick’s damage increase does not apply to PvP combat.
- Jade Empowerment now causes Crackling Jade Lightning to chain to 2 additional enemies (was 4) in PvP combat.
- Mistweaver
- Paladin
- Lightsmith: Divine Guidance now deals 60% less damage in PvP combat.
- Holy
- Herald of the Sun: Blessing of An’she now increases the healing of Holy Shock by 150% (was 200%).
- Herald of the Sun: Eternal Flame healing decreased by 10% in PvP combat.
- Lightsmith: Blessed Assurance now increases Crusader Strike’s damage by 40% in PvP combat (was 120%).
- Word of Glory healing decreased by 10% in PvP combat.
- Mana regeneration decreased by 25% in PvP combat (was 20%).
- Blessing of Summer now transfers 12% of healing into damage in PvP combat (was 18%).
- Hammer of Wrath damage increased 30%. Judgment damage increased 30%.
- Crusader Strike damage increased 30%.
- Avenging Crusader now transfers 200% of damage into healing (was 260%) in PvP combat.
- Priest
- Discipline
- We would like to make some adjustments to Discipline’s hero talents to make Voidweaver slightly more rewarding since it requires a lot of cast time spells to dish out healing. Oracle’s single target healing is also being slightly reduced.
- Voidheart increases Atonement healing by 30% (was 20%) in PvP combat.
- Premonition of Solace reduces damage taken by 10% in PvP combat (was 15%).
- Premonition of Solace absorption decreased by 15% in PvP combat.
- Holy
- Renew healing increased by 20% in PvP combat.
- Prayer of Mending healing increased by 10% in PvP combat.
- Shadow
- Developers’ notes: The following changes result in Void Leech healing for a significantly reduced amount in PvP, but for a similar amount as before outside of PvP.
- Void Leech heals every 3 seconds (was 2 seconds). Healing increased to 4% of max health (was 3%).
- Void Leech healing reduced to 2% of max health in PvP combat.
- Collapsing Void damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
- Discipline
- Rogue
- Subtlety
- Flagellation’s mastery bonus decreased by 50% in PvP combat.
- Subtlety
- Shaman
- Elemental
- Ascendance now increases the damage of Elemental Overloads by 25% while active in PvP combat (was 75%).
- Lightning Bolt damage increased by 10% in PvP combat.
- Enhancement
- Totemic: Whirling Earth now increases Flame Shock direct damage by 150% in PvP combat (was 300%).
- Restoration
- Healing Wave healing increased by 15% in PvP combat.
- Healing Surge healing increased by 15% in PvP combat.
- Elemental
- Warrior
- Arms
- Slayer: Culling Cyclone now increases Bladestorm’s damage done by 20% (was 10%) per stack in PvP combat.
- Slam damage increased by 40% in PvP combat.
- Colossus Smash damage increased by 60% in PvP combat.
- Fury
- Slayer: Culling Cyclone now increases Bladestorm’s damage done by 20% (was 10%) per stack in PvP combat.
- Arms
Professions
- Alchemy
- Corrected the tooltip for Transmutation 30 perk to reflect the actual number of additional charges it provides (functionality unchanged).
- Thaumaturgy’s Recipe Difficulty has been reduced to 745 (was 750).
- Fixed a bug that sometimes caused unexpected Thaumaturgy outputs when changing between input categories in a short amount of time.
- Fixed a bug that caused the Thaumaturgy 55 perk to activate a few points early.
- The 5- and 15-point perks for Gleaming Transmutagen is now correctly a chance to trigger.
- The 10- and 20-point perks for Ominous, Volatile, and Mercurial Materials and the 10-point perk for Thaumaturgy is now correctly a chance to trigger.
- The 25-point perk for Ominous, Volatile, and Mercurial Materials is now correctly guaranteed to trigger.
- Developers’ notes: To minimize disruption, we want to give players ample opportunity to experiment and document their Thaumaturgy findings before making any adjustments or bug fixes that would have a high impact. The result of these changes is a more consistent experience, but less transmutagen overall. We will continue to monitor Thaumaturgy’s performance and may make additional changes if necessary.
Spells
- Fixed an issue that could cause teleports to send you to the wrong destination.
Transmogrification
- Fixed an issue where all Concourse of the Forgotten Reservoir and Noetic of the Forgotten Reservoir appearances could not be transmogged in some circumstances.
World
- Resolved an issue where players on a level 60+ character who entered Oribos could be trapped by Fatescribe Roh-Tahl.
- Players are now dismounted when near the Crystal Lake memorial area.
- Players in the vicinity of the Crystal Lake memorial should no longer hear the Headless Horseman.
WoW’s 20th Anniversary
- Fixed an issue that could prevent the Ancient Timewarped Scroll from dropping for players who completed “The Ancient Scroll” the week before. It should drop on your next Classic Timewalking run.
- Fixed an issue that was causing some players to not see the quest “An Original Path Through Time” after the weekly reset.
- Fixed a bug that caused Bronze Celebration Tokens to not be available from some PvP quests. Players should be able to gain the tokens by completing the quest on another of their Warband characters.
- Many event activities now contribute more progress towards the “Celebrate Good Fun” quest.
- Increased the amount of Bronze Celebration Tokens from activities:
- Dornogal Weekly Quests (Worldsoul, Archive, Delve)– 10 Bronze Celebration Tokens
- Bonus Holiday Quests (Timewalking, World Quests, Arena, Battleground, Dungeon, Delve)– 10 Bronze Celebration Tokens
- Zone Activity Weeklies (Awakening the Machine, Spread the Light, Snuffling, Azj’Kahet Pacts, Theater Troupe)– 8 Bronze Celebration Tokens each
- Special Assignment World Quests – 8 Bronze Celebration Tokens each/2 per week
- 0 World Boss – 8 Bronze Celebration Tokens
- Queen Ansurek – 15 Bronze Celebration Tokens
- Conquest/Rated PvP Weekly – 15 Bronze Celebration Tokens
- Honor, War Mode, and Brawl Weeklies – 8 Bronze Celebration Tokens each
- Developers’ notes: Our goal has been that players should and can get all the tokens they need during the event by playing content they enjoy. We hope that this increase will help some players get more tokens naturally by engaging with their regular content and the activities that interest them the most. This should open repeat tokens faster and allow players to continue with their preferred content type be it PvP (Korrak’s Revenge), raiding (Blackrock Depths), dungeons (Classic Timewalking), or outdoor style content (World Bosses or Codex of Chromie).
- Adjusted the damage, cooldowns, and range of Doomwalker’s abilities to make the encounter significantly less deadly to players.
- Fixed an issue where “The Ancient Scroll” could be removed on logout.
- Blackrock Depths
- All enemy health reduced by 11% and damage reduced by 9% on Normal difficulty.
- All enemy health and damage reduced by 11% on Heroic difficulty.
- The Servant Emperor missive now appears on LFR difficulty after defeating General Angerforge.
Season of Discovery
- Druid
- Fixed a problem where the Druid PvP sets allowed multiple movement speed increases to stack. They no longer stack.
- Hunter
- When Chimera Shot is used with Serpent Sting, the extra effect now benefits properly from ranged weapon skills and gets the correct 10% critical strike chance increase from Sniper Training (was incorrectly 20%).
Cataclysm Classic
- Resolved an issue that temporarily caused Guild Bank tabs 7 and 8 to not populate when viewed.
- Developers’ notes: It may be possible that players placed new items in the apparently empty Guild Bank slots between the launch of patch 4.4.1 and today’s fix. To address this, we will apply another hotfix with weekly scheduled maintenance that will identify and move such items to any empty slots elsewhere in the Guild Bank. This may result in items being placed in tabs with different permission settings, and you may need to move them to get them to the intended slot. If you suspect this applies to you, you may wish to make space in your Guild Bank as soon as possible.
- Fixed an issue preventing bonus valor from the Daily Heroic and Daily Zandalari dungeon queues from being rewarded properly. Players will see the correct bonus valor for 1st-of-day queues tomorrow.
- Updated the price of Pip’s Solution Agitator on the Fissure Stone Vendor to now cost 15 Fissure Stone Fragments (was 30).
- Fixed an issue where Elemental Rune Dungeons were showing up as Heroic dungeons when using the LFG tool.
- Updated the Darkmoon Hammer and the Cloak of the Darkmoon Faire to now be transmoggable.
- Hunter
- Explosive Shot should no longer miss a tick of damage when being reapplied in quick succession.
- Warrior
- Reverted recent changes to the timing of Rend refreshes with the Warrior talents Lambs to the Slaughter and Blood and Thunder.