WoW Dragonflight Beta Patch Notes REVEALED: Buffs, Nerfs, & Latest News

WoW Dragonflight Beta Patch Notes REVEALED: Buffs, Nerfs, & Latest News - Wow Dragonflight
By André González RodríguezUS Staff Writer

WoW Dragonflight Beta Patch Notes REVEALED: Buffs, Nerfs, & Latest News - Wow Dragonflight

World of Warcraft's next expansion, Dragonflight, is moving closer to a release date as Blizzard Entertainment has officially moved on from the game's Alpha state and shifted over to Beta.

With this change, players will be able to test out the plethora of new content and changes coming to the popular MMORPG. From the new race, the Dracthyr, and its race-specific class, the Evoker, to the new Dragonriding, Talent, and Profession Systems, with plenty of balance changes in the newest set of WoW Dragonflight patch notes.

Knowing that, here are the patch notes for the WoW Dragonflight Beta.

Dragonflight Beta Patch Notes

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DISCOVER THE DRAGON ISLES

  • The Forbidden Reach (Dracthyr Starting Zone)
  • The Waking Shores
  • Ohn’ahran Plains
  • The Azure Span
  • Thaldraszus

NEW FEATURES

  • NEW RACE AND CLASS: DRACTHYR EVOKER
  • DRAGONRIDING
    • Updated the double jump Launch and Skyward Ascent to both be more reliable in their directionality and movement.
    • Re-tuned the turn rate for dragon isle drakes to be more lenient, including a feature wherein the player’s turn rate scales with speed - lower speeds feature quicker turns, while top speeds still come with a need for slightly more planning.
    • Updated the Dragonriding trait window, bringing the zone unlocks and basic skills into the same pane as the unlockable traits for Dragonriding.
    • The Dragonriding Talent Tree is now available.
    • Dragonriding now features advanced turning tech that helps the drakes feel more weighty and turning more of a decision.
    • While boosted to very fast speeds, new tech will adjust the camera’s field-of-view. This can be disabled with the “Reduce Camera Motion” option inside the “Motion Sickness” section of the “Accessibility” menu.
    • When running into objects and walls, velocity is now lost based on angle and collision duration.
    • Dragon Glyphs are hidden throughout the skies over the Waking Shores! Fly through them to unlock achievements.
    • The Dragonriding Skill Track is now accessible at the dragonriding trainer Lithragosa located in Skytop Observatory.
      • Not all skills are displayed or implemented, but the player may earn points by collecting Dragon Glyphs and spend them for progression.
    • The Renewed Proto-Drake is now customizable in the Rostrum of Transformation.
  • FOUR MAJOR FACTIONS
    • Major Factions are a new way of experiencing outdoor progression – an iteration on previous reputation-based gameplay. Participating in content throughout the Dragon Isles grants reputation toward these Major Factions. Earning reputation unlocks renown ranks. Each Major Faction’s progression is different, with content fitting a variety of playstyles. Importantly, major factions are not exclusive – you can be a member of all four factions at once.
    • VALDRAKKEN ACCORD – The faction of the unified dragon flights working together in harmony for the protection of the Dragon Isles.
      • Professions: A variety of activities, Work Orders, and exploration catered towards professions and progression within the system.
      • Dragon Racing: Complete races on your dragon for glory and renown
      • Outdoor Elite locations: Cobalt Assembly, Obsidian Citadel, Tyrhold
      • Lay siege to the Djaradin of Dragonbane Keep within the Waking Shores
    • DRAGONSCALE EXPEDITION – The Explorers’ League and Reliquary have come together and formed this expedition to explore the Dragon Isles.
      • Discover treasure maps scattered throughout the Dragon Isles
      • Lots of Treasures, unique minigame-style World Quests (Climbing, Cataloging)
      • Progression
        • Expedition Supply Kit: Unlock bonuses for climbing and cataloging. Unlock tools to help find treasure and mark your discovery of areas in the world.
    • ISKAARA TUSKARR – Become a member of the Iskaara Tuskarr, a tribe renowned for their skills in fishing and feasting.
      • Fishing: New ways to fish. Unlock fishing holes. Fish in 3 difficult and unique biomes. Fish up lunkers with friends using harpoons. Collect fish offline with a net.
      • Contribute to a Tuskarr Feast at the village in Iskaara. Complete the event to reward hungry adventurers!
      • Outdoor Elite locations: Imbu, Brackenhide Hollow
      • Progression
        • Fishing Work Bench: Gather reagents for tuskarr craftsmen to improve the capability of harpoons, nets, and biome fishing.
    • MARUUK CENTAUR – The faction for the unified centaur clans across the Ohn’ahran Plains.
      • Join a hunt among the Maruuk centaur and your closest allies as you traverse the zones within the Dragon Isles
      • Explore the nomadic lifestyle of Clan Aylaag as their caravan makes its way across the Ohn’ahran Plains. With each stop comes a new adventure, quests, rewards, and more!
      • Progression
        • Train with the Shikaar clan to prepare yourself for the hunt!
    • Known Issues
      • You will most likely encounter placeholder rewards, especially for treasures and rare creatures.
      • Not every permutation of every type of content is available yet.
      • Some areas of the world may have temporary enemy population.

READ MORE: WoW Dragonflight: Will There Be Mythic Cross-Realm Raiding?

NEW DUNGEONS

  • Neltharus
  • Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr
  • Ruby Life Pools
  • The Azure Vault
  • Brackenhide Hollow
  • The Nokhud Offensive
  • Halls of Infusion
  • Algeth’ar Academy

CHARACTER LEVEL

  • Maximum Level: 70
  • Level 58 Dracthyr Template (The Forbidden Reach starting experience)
  • Level 60 Character Template
  • Character Copy

CLASSES

  • Mage, Priest, and Rogue available for all races
  • NEW TALENT SYSTEM
    • Switching Talents and Talent Loadouts no longer requires being in a rested area.
    • SAVED ACTION BARS
      • By default, each Talent loadout will now have its own saved set of action bars. However, if you would like certain loadouts to share the same action bars, there is a loadout option called “Use shared action bars.” All loadouts that have this option enabled will share the same action bars.
    • TALENT SEARCH
      • There is now a search bar in the new Talent UI. Players can search for specific spells, talents, or words, and any matches will be highlighted on the UI. It will also highlight talents that don’t directly match the search term, but are related to the searched talent (E.g. searching for “tidal waves” will also highlight Riptide, Healing Wave, and Healing Surge since they are mentioned in Tidal Waves’ description).
    • INSPECTING
      • Inspecting another player now offers a button to open their talent trees.
    • LOADOUT SHARING
      • Players can now share loadout talent builds with each other. To share your current loadout with another player of your same specialization, players can click the Share button in the Loadout dropdown. This will copy a series of letters and numbers that can be shared with other players. To import a talent loadout, players can click the Import Loadout button in the same dropdown to paste the talent loadout text.
      • We hope that this feature makes it easier for players to share talent loadouts with their friends and members of their communities.
    • CLASS TUNING
      • This week’s build has a number of adjustments to various talents and abilities across many specializations. These changes are the result of ongoing efforts to tune the damage and healing of characters. More changes should be expected in the coming weeks. Your feedback is appreciated.

DEATH KNIGHT

Class Tree

  • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
  • Rune Mastery increased to 2 ranks. Duration increased to 8 seconds (was 6 seconds) and now grants 3% Strength per rank.
  • Icy Talons reduced to 2 ranks (was 3). Melee attack speed per rank increased to 3% (was 2%).
  • Unholy Bond reduced to 2 ranks (was 3).
  • Will of the Necropolis increased to 2 ranks (was 1). Damage reduction below 30% health is now 20/35% (was previously 30%).
  • Blood Draw increased to 2 ranks (was 1). Cooldown now reduced by 60 seconds at rank 2.
  • New Talent: Unholy Endurance – Increases Lichborne duration by 2 seconds and while active damage taken is reduced by 15%. Located directly below Lichborne.
  • New Talent: Clenching Grasp – Death Grip slows enemy movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. Located directly below Brittle.
  • Improved Death Strike max ranks reduced to 1 (was 3).

Blood

  • The talent tree for Blood has undergone significant updates to its pathing and connections.
  • Blood Boil – Now has 2 charges baseline (was 1).
  • Improved Blood Boil removed.
  • Rune Tap – Now has 2 charges baseline (was 1).
  • Improved Heart Strike – Reduced to 2 max ranks (was 3). Damage per rank increased to 15% (was 10%).
  • Blood Fortification – Removed from the talent tree. Now learned at level 11.
  • Everlasting Bond – Death Strike and Heart Strike no longer increase the duration of Dancing Rune Weapon. Now increases the duration of Dancing Rune Weapon by 1 second.
  • Improved Boneshield – Reduced to 1 max rank (was 2). Now increases Haste by 10% while Bone Shield is active.
  • Vampiric Blood – Now available above the first gate. Directly below Marrowrend.
  • Improved Vampiric Blood – Now available above the first gate. Directly below Vampiric Blood
  • Death’s Caress – Now available above the first gate.
  • Dancing Rune Weapon – This has moved higher into the tree and is available immediately after unlocking the 1st gate.
  • Hemostasis – Max ranks reduced to 1(was 2).
  • Hasty Bargain – Renamed to Perseverance of the Ebon Blade. Now grants 3/6% Versatility when Crimson Scourge is consumed (was Haste).
  • Voracious and Bloodworms are no longer a choice node.
  • Gorefiend’s Grasp – Now centrally located within the tree with multiple pathing options to reach it.
  • Tightening Grasp – Can now only be obtained directly after Gorefiend’s Grasp. Max ranks reduced to 1 (was 2).
  • Heartrend – Max ranks reduced to 1 (was 2).
  • Shattering Bone – Damage now correctly scales with rank upgrades.
  • New Talent: Blood Feast – Anti-Magic Shell heals you for 100% of the damage it absorbs.
  • New Talent: Iron Heart – Blood Shield’s duration is increased by 2 seconds and it absorbs 20% more damage.
  • New Talent: Bloodshot – While Blood Shield is active, you deal 25% increased Physical damage.
  • New Talent: Sanguine Ground – You deal 5% more damage and receive 5% more healing while standing in your Death and Decay.
  • New Talent: Coagulopathy – Enemies affected by Blood Plague take 5% increased damage from you and Death Strike increases the damage of your Blood Plague by 25% for 8 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
  • New Talent: Umbilicus Eternus – After Vampiric Blood expires, you absorb damage equal to 5 times the damage your Blood Plague dealt during Vampiric Blood.
  • Unquenchable Thirst has been removed.

Unholy

  • Plaguebringer – Disease damage now ticks 100% more quickly (was 150%).
  • Feasting Strikes – Removed Scourge Strike’s chance to refund 1 rune, and now chance to trigger increased to 20%.
    • Developers’ note: Having both Festering Strike and Scourge Strike trigger a Rune refund left us very little room to tune around and also made this something that just always happened. In an effort to give us more ways to tune this and also add a little more gameplay thought we are changing this to only work on Festering Strike.
  • Replenishing Wound – Reduce Runic Power gained from popping a Festering Wound to 2 (was 3).
  • Improved Death Coil – Damage increase reduced to 15/30% (was 20/40%).
  • Plaguebearer – Cooldown increased to 90 seconds (was 45 seconds). Status changed to implemented.
  • Unholy Assault – Buff duration increased to 20 seconds (was 12 seconds).
  • Ghoulish Frenzy – Attack speed and damage increased to 6/12% (was 4/8%).
  • Morbidity – Damage per disease reduced to 2% at rank 2 (was 3%).
  • Death Rot – Reduced to 1% per stack up to 10% (was 2% per stack, up to 20%). Increased the duration to 10 seconds (was 8 seconds).
  • Fixed an issue preventing Death Rot from being applied by multiple Death Knights.
  • Commander of the Dead – Damage to Gargoyle and Army Ghouls reduced to 30% (was 40%).
  • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
  • New
    • Feasting Strikes – Festering Strike and Scourge Strike/Clawing Shadows have 15% chance to generate 1 Rune.
    • Runic Mastery – Increases Maximum Runic Power by 10/20.
    • Plaguebringer – Scourge Strike causes your disease damage to occur 150% more quickly for 5 seconds.
    • Magus of the Dead – Apocalypse and Army of the Dead also summon a Magus of the Dead who hurls Frostbolts and Shadow Bolts at your foes.
      • Magus of the Dead’s Shadow Bolt damage increased by 20%.
      • Magus of the Dead’s Frostbolt damage increased by 10%.
      • Magus of the Dead’s Frostbolt slow duration increased to 6 seconds and 60% slow (was 4 seconds and 50%).
    • Ruptured Viscera – When your ghouls expire, they explode in viscera dealing Shadow damage to nearby enemies.
    • Commander of the Dead – Dark Transformation also empowers your Gargoyle and Army of the Dead for 30 seconds, increasing their damage by 40%.
    • Eternal Agony – Death Coil increases the duration of Dark Transformation by 1 second.
    • Coil of Devastation – Death Coil causes the target to take an additional 35% of the direct damage dealt over 4 seconds.
    • Rotten Touch – Sudden Doom causes your next Death Coil to also increase your Scourge Strike damage against the target by 30% for 6 seconds.
    • Superstrain – Your Virulent Plague also applies Frost Fever and Blood Plague.
    • Plaguebearer – Inflict disease upon your enemies spreading Festering Wounds equal to the amount currently active on your target to 8 nearby enemies (45 second cooldown, 30 Runic Power). Not yet implemented, but coming in a future build!
  • Removed
    • Deadly Coil
    • Improved Scourge Strike
  • Changes
    • Death Coil – Runic Power cost reduced to 30 (was 40).
    • Unholy Command – Now reduces the cooldown of Dark Transformation by 8/15 seconds (was reduces the cooldown of Dark Transformation when dealing damage with Death Coil. ).
    • Epidemic – Damage increased by 20%.
    • Army of the Damned – Now reduces the cooldown of Apocalypse by 45 seconds (no longer reduced by Dark Transformation). No longer summons a Magus of the Dead when Apocalypse or Army of the Dead are cast.
    • Summon Gargoyle – Duration reduced to 25 seconds (was 35 seconds). Now gains 1% damage per 1 runic power spent (was per 2 runic power).
    • Scourge Strike/Clawing Shadows – Damage increased 20%.
    • Morbidity – Damage per rank reduced to 1/3% (was 3/6%). Festering Wound no longer increases the damage of Morbidity and now also increases damage from Blood Plague and Frost Fever if Superstrain is talented.

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EVOKER

Class Tree

  • Damage of all abilities reduced by 8% except Azure Strike, Shattering Star, and Unravel.
  • Disintegrate damage reduced by an additional 5%.
  • Living Flame damage reduced by an additional 12.5%.
  • Enkindled reduced to 3% per rank (was 5%).
  • Scarlet Adaptation damage cap reduced by 19.5% (matches total Living Flame damage reduction).

Devastation

  • Pyre damage reduced by an additional 14%.
  • Azure Strike damage increased by 5%.
  • Shattering Star damage increased by 7%.
  • Arcane Intensity reduced to 8% per rank (was 10%).
  • Might of the Aspects reduced to 7.5% per rank (was 10%).
  • Volatility reduced to 10% per rank (was 15%).
  • Charged Blast reduced to 5% per stack (was 7%).

Preservation

  • Temporal Anomaly absorbs damage, rather than healing. Absorb shield stacks up to 3 times and lasts 15 seconds. Now only shields 2 allies at a time (was 3).
  • Temporal Anomaly will immediately slow down upon reaching an ally, even if they are full health. Speed adjusted to 10 yards per second base, 2.5 yards per sec when reaching an ally.
  • Temporal Anomaly mana cost reduced to 7.5% base mana (was 11.5%).
  • Temporal Disruption removed.
  • Flow State renamed to Rush of Vitality.
  • New: Flow State – Empower spells cause time to move 5/10% faster for you for 5 seconds. In Resonating Sphere’s old position.
  • Nozdormu’s Teachings causes Temporal Anomaly to shield 1 additional target, for a total of 3 targets each pulse.
  • Resonating Sphere now an A/B choice against Nozdormu’s Teachings. Causes Echo to be applied by Temporal Anomaly at 30% value.

HUNTER

Class Tree

  • Survival Hunters: Corrected a missing connection between Kill Command and Improved Mend Pet on the class tree.
  • Alpha Predator’s value has been lowered to 15% (was 30%).
  • Improved Traps now also lowers the cooldown of Hi-Explosive Trap.
  • Stampede now snares targets hit by 30%, and you and your pets gain 10% increased critical strike chance against targets hit by your Stampede.
  • Hunter’s Agility is once again Avoidance.
  • Camouflage no longer links directly to Improved Traps. The choice node below Survival of the Fittest now links to Born to be Wild.
  • New Talent: Serrated Shots – Serpent Sting and your bleed damage is increased by 10/20% damage. This value increases to 20/40% against targets below 30% HP.
  • New Talent: Arctic Bola – Aimed Shot/Cobra Shot/Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite have a chance to fling a bola out at your target that bounces 2/4 times and deals increased damage per point. Targets struck by the bola are snared by 20% for 3 seconds.

Beast Mastery

  • The top of the Beast Mastery tree has been shuffled around a bit, and now starts with Cobra Shot rather than Barbed Shot.
  • Barbed Shot damage has been increased by 75%.
  • Loaded Quiver has been removed. Barbed Shot is now always 2 charges.
  • Barbed Wrath is now 1 point (was 2) and it no longer affects Aspect of the Wild.
  • Wild Call has been reduced to 1 rank.
  • Call of the Wild cooldown has been increased to 3 minutes.
  • The Bloody Frenzy that adjusted Barbed Shot Frenzy stack generation has been removed.
  • New Talent: Brutal Companion – When Barbed Shot causes a 3rd stack of Frenzy, your pet automatically uses their special attack (Bite/Claw/Smack) with increased damage.
  • Aspect of the Wild has been redesigned – Aspect of the Wild now fires a Cobra Shot at your target and another nearby target. While Aspect of the Wild is active, Cobra Shot’s Focus cost is reduced by 10, and each Cobra Shot fires a Second Cobra Shot at a nearby target.
  • New choice node below Aspect of the Wild:
    • Each temporary beast summoned reduces the cooldown of Aspect of the Wild by 5 seconds.
    • Cobra Shot damage increased by 30% while Aspect of the Wild is active.
  • Several talents shifted around past the first gate due to the above changes, but the tree’s structure is very similar.

Marksmanship

  • Dead Eye now also reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot.
  • Windrunner’s Guidance has been lowered to 25% critical strike damage bonus.
  • New choice node below Wailing Arrow:
    • Wailing Arrow resets the cooldown of Rapid Fire and grants a charge of Aimed Shot.
    • Wailing Arrow now fires 5 wind arrows at your primary target, and up to 10 split between any secondary targets.
  • Crack Shot lowered to a 1-point talent.
  • Calling the Shots and Eagletalon’s True Focus have swapped spots.

Survival

  • Coordinated Assault, Spearhead, and related talents should be working.
  • Explosive Expert tooltip updated, it has no interaction with Kill Shot and is just some cooldown reduction to Wildfire Bombs.
  • Birds of Prey has been redesigned – Kill Shot now strikes up to 3 extra targets while Coordinated Assault is active.
  • New choice node against Birds of Prey: Bombardier – The cooldown of Wildfire Bombs is reset when Coordinated Assault is activated, and when it fades.
  • Guerilla Tactics increases the initial damage of Wildfire Bombs by 50% (was 100%).
  • Fury of the Eagle once again grants 50% critical strike chance against targets below 20% HP.
  • Ruthless Marauder increases the HP threshold for increases critical strikes by 5% per rank rather than increasing critical strike chance.

MAGE

  • Class Tree
    • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
    • New
      • Volatile Detonation – Greatly increases the effect of Blast Wave’s knockback. Blast Wave’s cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.
      • Reflection – Teleports you back to where you last Blinked. Only usable within 8 seconds of Blinking. 45 second cooldown.
      • Energized Barriers – When your barrier receives melee attacks, you have a 10% chance to be granted 1 Fire Blast/1 Fingers of Frost/ 1 Clearcasting charge. Casting your barrier removes all snare effects.
      • Freezing Cold – Enemies hit by Cone of Cold are frozen in place for 4 seconds. Your spells will not break this effect.
      • Time Manipulation – Casting Fire Blast/Ice Lance on Frozen targets/Arcane Missiles reduces the cooldown of your loss of control abilities by 1 second.
      • Temporal Warp – While you have Temporal Displacement or other similar effects, you may use Time Warp to grant yourself 30% Haste for 40 seconds.
    • Class Talents
      • Cone of Cold – Now learned baseline for all Mages.
      • Meteor – Now deals 20% additional initial damage for Frost/Arcane Mages.
      • Shifting Power – Now reduces spell cooldowns by 12 seconds (was 10 seconds).
      • Arcane Warding – Now reduces magic damage taken by 2/4% (was 3/6%).

Arcane

  • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
  • Arcane Bombardment – Now increases Arcane Barrage damage to enemies below 35% health by 100% damage (previously was 50/100% but has been reduced to a 1 rank node).
  • Arcane Echo – Damage increased by 60% and max ranks reduced to 1 (was 2).
  • Arcane Surge – Now grants a burst of mana on cast so that the player can immediately start casting an Arcane Blast.
  • Rule of Threes – Now a choice node with Arcane Familiar, both have moved to row 5 (swapped with Arcane Tempo).
  • Evocation – Cooldown reduced to 90 seconds (was 120 seconds).
  • Improved Evocation has been removed.
  • Siphon Storm – Converted to a single node (was previously choice node with Improved Evocation).
  • Orb Barrage – Converted to a single node (was previously a choice node with Orb Barrage).
  • Orb Barrage – Now also reduces the cooldown of Arcane Orb by 2 seconds when Clearcasting is consumed.
  • Prodigious Savant – Increased value to 20/40% (was 10/20%).
  • Nether Tempest – Damage increased by 15%.
  • Nether Tempest – Position on the tree has moved toward the center of the talent tree as a choice node with Reverberate, connecting from Mana Adept and Improved Arcane Barrage.
  • Reverberate – Position on the tree has moved toward the center of the talent tree as a choice node with Nether Tempest, connecting from Mana Adept and Improved Arcane Barrage.
  • Conjure Mana Gem – Now restores 25% mana (was 10%), and grants 5% increased spell power for 10 seconds baseline.
  • Cascading Power – Now grants up to 2 stacks of Clearcasting when consuming a Mana Gem (previously granted Spell Power).
  • Presence of Mind – Cooldown reduced to 45 seconds (was 60 seconds).

Fire

  • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
  • Hot Streak has been moved to be baseline.
  • New Talent: Fervent Flickering – Ignite damage has a 5% chance to reduce the cooldown of Fire Blast by 1 second.
  • Fire Blast – Now always crits.
  • Incendiary Eruptions – No longer a choice node.
  • Pyromaniac – Swapped positions with Pyroclasm, now a choice node with Molten Skyfall.
  • Fiery Rush and Kindling no longer a choice node.
  • Improved Blazing Barrier has been removed.
  • Fire Blast Rank 2 talent has been removed.

Frost

  • Ice Lance – Damage reduced by 10%.
  • Wintertide – Now a 2 point node. Ice Lance damage increased by 20% (was 30%).
  • Chain Reaction – Now a 1 point node. The Ice Lance damage increase effect is now 1% (was 1.5%).
  • Arctic Piercing – Empowered Ice Lances deal 5% damage (was 10%).
  • Fractured Frost – Frostbolt has a 25/50% chance to hit up to 2 additional targets (was 20/40%).
  • Icy Propulsion now reduces the cooldown of Icy Veins without requiring Icy Veins to be active. Now a 1 point node.
  • Icy Propulsion single target ability cooldown reduction is now 2 seconds (was 1 second).
  • Snowstorm – Now a 2 point node.
  • Winter’s Chill functionality is now granted by default when Flurry is learned.
  • Winter’s Chill talent has been removed.

MONK

  • Class Talents
    • New Talent: Summon White Tiger Statue – Summons a White Tiger Statue at the target location for 30 seconds, pulsing damage to all enemies every 2 seconds for 30 seconds.
      • Developer note: This medium-duration area of effect cooldown is designed to bring the pain to enemies who dare doubt the wrath of the White Tiger.
    • Roll Rank 2 now correctly communicates that it grants an extra charge.
    • Windwalking tooltip now correctly displays speed increase instead of size change.
    • Generous Pour, Close to Heart, and Save Them All talents are now implemented.

Mistweaver

  • Unison – Soothing Mist heals a second injured ally within 15 yards for 100% of the amount healed (was 50%).
  • Awakened Faeline, Misty Peaks, Rapid Diffusion, Invoke Yu’lon’s Enveloping Mist mana reduction, and Ancient Concordance are now implemented.
  • Zen Reverberation triggers a second Zen Pulse at 50% effectiveness (was 30%).
  • Accumulating Mist increases Zen Pulse’s damage and healing by 15% per stack (was 10%).
  • Invoker’s Delight now scales its duration down to 8 seconds when talented into Gift of the Celestials.
  • Jade Bond’s Gust of Mist buff increased to 25% (was 12%).

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SHAMAN

Elemental

  • Earthquake – Damage reduced by 25%.
  • Chain Lightning – Damage increased by 25%. (Elemental only)
  • Lava Beam – Damage increased by 25%.
  • Lightning Bolt – Damage reduced by 20%. (Elemental only)
  • Lava Burst – Damage reduced by 20%. (Elemental only)
  • Earth Shock – Damage reduced by 20%.
  • Elemental Blast – Damage reduced by 20%. (Elemental only)
  • Lightning Rod – Deals 20% of Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt damage (was 25%).

Enhancement

  • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
  • Stormstrike now replaces Primal Strike.
  • Doom Winds now does some minor damage when you activate it.
  • Ice Strike’s Frost Shock buff now highlights Frost Shock
  • Alpha Wolf now works with Chain Lightning, rather than Crash Lightning.
  • Improved Stormbringer renamed Stormblast.
  • Unruly Winds chance raised to 100%.
  • Ascendance is now a choice node with Deeply Rooted Elements.
  • Thorim’s Invocation now remembers whether you last used Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning, and will use that spell instead of always Lightning Bolt.
  • Chain Lightning Rank 2 has been added into the Chain Lightning/Crash Lightning interactions and is no longer a talent.
  • New Talent: Crashing Storms – Chain Lightning jumps to 2 additional targets, and also increases Crash Lightning damage by 40%.
  • Forceful winds is now 45% damage per stack (was 35%).
  • Gathering Storms is now a 1-point talent (was 2). Value increased to 15%, and there’s a maximum of 10 stacks of Gathering Storms.
  • Hot Hand is now a 2-point talent (was 1).
  • Elemental Assault adjusted to be 10/20% Stormstrike damage (was 7/15%). Maelstrom weapon chance is now 50/100% per rank.
  • Lava Burst is affected by Enhancement mastery.
  • Primal Primer is no longer an option on the tree.
  • Hailstorm now gains bonus damage from up to 10 Maelstrom Weapon charges spent to work better with Overflowing Maelstrom. The bonus targets is still capped at 5.
  • Nature’s Fury now works correctly with the immediate damage from Ascendance.
  • Feral Spirits is now a 90 second cooldown.
  • Elemental Spirits no longer reduces Feral Spirit cooldown.

Restoration

  • Water Totem Mastery – Consuming Tidal Waves reduces the cooldown of Cloudburst, Healing Stream, Healing Tide, Mana Spring, Mana Tide, and Poison Cleansing Totem by 0.5 seconds (was 0.25 seconds).

WARLOCK

  • Class Talents
    • New
      • Abyss Walker – Using Demonic Circle: Teleport or your Demonic Gateway reduces all damage you take by 4% for 10 seconds.
      • Gorefiend’s Resolve – Targets resurrected with Soulstone resurrect with 40% additional health and 30% additional mana.
      • Fel Synergy – Soul Leech also heals you for 25% and your pet for 50% of the absorption it grants.
      • Resolute Barrier – Attacks received that deal at least 5% of your health decrease Unending Resolve’s cooldown by 10 seconds. Cannot occur more than once every 20 seconds.
      • Soul Armor – When your health drops below 35%, the percentage of damage shared via your Soul Link is increased by an additional 5%.
      • Demonic Resilience – Reduces the chance you will be critically struck by 4%. All damage your primary demon takes is reduced by 15%.
      • Summon Soulkeeper (was Summon Jailer) – Summons a Soulkeeper that periodically blasts nearby enemies.
      • Inquisitor’s Gaze– Summons an Inquisitor’s Eye that attacks your enemies.
    • Removed
      • Pact of the Annihilan
      • Pact of the Eredar
      • Pact of the Imp Mother
      • Decimating Bolt
      • Dimensional Rift
    • Changes
      • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
      • Claw of Endereth is now a 1-point talent.

Affliction

  • New
    • Malefic Affliction – Malefic Rapture causes your active Unstable Affliction to deal 10% additional damage, up to 30%, for the rest of its duration.
    • Doom Blossom – If Corruption damages a target affected by your Unstable Affliction, it has a 10% chance per stack of Malefic Affliction to deal Shadow damage to nearby enemies.
    • Dread Touch – If Malefic Affliction exceeds 3 stacks, the target instead takes 20% additional damage from your damage over time effects for 6 seconds.
    • Grim Reach – When Darkglare deals damage, it deals 50% of that damage to all enemies affected by your damage over time effects.
    • Soul-Eater’s Gluttony – Whenever Unstable Affliction deals damage, the cooldown of Soul Rot is reduced by 0.5 seconds.
  • Removed
    • Malefic Wrath
    • Deathbolt
    • Death Dealer
    • Pact of the Nathrezim
    • Deliberate Malice
  • Changes
    • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
    • Sacrolash’s Dark Strike now extends Curses by 0.5/1 second (was 1/2 seconds).
    • Creeping Death no longer decreases the duration of Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, or Siphon Life.
    • Soul Flame’s icon has been changed.
    • Vile Taint’s cooldown is now 30 seconds (was 20 seconds).
    • Calamitous Crescendo is now a 2-point talent.

Destruction

  • Infernal Brand – Your Infernal’s melee attacks cause its target to take 3%/6% increased damage from its Immolation, stacking up to 15 times (was 15%/30%).
  • Rolling Havoc – Now stacks up to 5 times (was 10) and lasts 5 seconds (was 8 seconds).
  • Backdraft – Now affects Soul Fire.
  • Chaos Bolt – Damage reduced by 30%.
  • Incinerate – Damage reduced by 30%.
  • Dimensional Rift – Damage reduced by 30%.
  • Immolate – Damage reduced by 17%.
  • Rain of Fire – Damage reduced by 17%.
  • Shadowburn - Damage reduced by 50%.
  • Conflagrate – Damage reduced by 15%.
  • Soul Fire – Damage reduced by 25%.
  • Fire and Brimstone – Incinerate now hits all enemies near your target for 13%/25% damage (was 7%/15%).
  • Mastery: Chaotic Energies – No longer reduces the Warlock’s damage taken.

Demonology

  • New
    • Reign of Tyranny – Active Wild Imps grant 1 stack of Demonic Servitude. Active greater demons grant 2 stacks of Demonic Servitude. Demonic Tyrant deals 3% additional damage for each stack of Demonic Servitude active at the time of his summon.
    • Guillotine – Your Felguard hurls his axe towards the target location, erupting when it lands and dealing Shadowflame damage every 1 second for 8 seconds to nearby enemies. While unarmed, your Felguard’s basic attacks deal damage to all nearby enemies and attacks 50% faster.
  • Removed
    • Demonic Consumption
  • Changes
    • Ner’zhul’s Volition has been updated – When Nether Portal summons a demon, it has a 2/4% chance per Soul Shard spent to summon an additional demon.
    • Nether Portal’s cast time reduced to 1.5 seconds (was 2.5 seconds).
    • The Expendables and Stolen Power have swapped places and moved to row 9.

WARRIOR

  • Class Tree
    • Changed some pathing and node positions to allow for more flexible choices.
    • Cruel Strikes now grants 1.5% Critical Strike chance per rank. This will be changed in a future build.
    • Quick Thinking now grants 1.5% Haste per rank. This will be changed in a future build
    • Reinforced Plates now increases your armor by 15% per rank (was 30% of your Strength).
    • Removed Dauntless Duelist from the talent tree.
    • Frothing Berserker now applies to only Rampage, Mortal Strike, Cleave and Revenge.
    • Overwhelming rage is now 2 ranks that grant 15 max rage each.
    • Crushing Force is now 2 ranks and grants 30% damage and 7.5% crit chance to Slam per rank.
    • Removed Signet of Tormented Kings.
    • New Fury Talent: Memory of a Tormented Berserker – Activating Avatar or Recklessness casts the other at reduced effectiveness. Effects lasts 4 seconds.
    • New Fury Talent: Memory of a Tormented Titan – Activating Avatar or Reckless casts Odyn’s Fury at reduced effectiveness. Effects last 4 seconds.
    • New Fury Talent: Memory of a Tormented Warlord – Activating Avatar or Thunderous Roar casts Recklessness at reduced effectiveness.
    • New Arms Talent: Memory of a Tormented Blademaster – Activating Avatar or Bladestorm the other at reduced effectiveness. Effects last 4 seconds.
    • War Machine is now split into different versions per spec to allow for different values for each.
    • Massacre now adds 5% to execute range rather than 15% for Arms and Protection to allow for more execute modifiers.
    • Massacred now reduces the cooldown of Execute for Fury by 1.5 seconds.
    • Avatar now generates 20 rage.
    • Elysian Might should now correctly work outside of the Shadowlands.
    • Shattering Throw is now a choice node so players can choose between the existing immunity break ability and a lower cooldown variant that is instant but no longer breaks immunities.
    • Honed Reflexes changed to reduce cooldowns by 0.5 seconds rather than 1 second.
    • Two-Handed Weapon Specialization now grants 5% increased damage (was 10%).
    • Dual Wield Specialization now grants 5% increased damage (was 10%).
    • One-Handed Weapon Specialization now grants 5% increased damage (was 10%).
    • Armored to the Teeth now grants Strength equal to 3.5% of your Armor.
    • Furious Blows has been redesigned to now give 5% auto attack speed.

Arms

  • Mortal Strike damage reduced to 174% of attack power to allow for talents modifying it (was 194%).
  • Sharpened Blades now deals 10% increased critical damage and increases Execute’s chance to crit by 5%.
  • Sharpened Blades now only effects the critical damage of Mortal Strike and Execute.
  • Impale now grants 7.5% increased critical damage per rank instead of 10%.
  • Exploit the Weakness modifies Tactician by 1% (was 1.6%).
  • Battlelord – Rage reduction changed to 10 (was 15) and now a 30% chance to reset Mortal Strike.
  • Lowered the chance for Bloodsurge to trigger to 10% (was 25%).
  • Bloodborne now grants 7.5% increased bleed damage per rank.
  • Bloodletting now increases the duration of your bleeds by 3 seconds and increases critical strike chance of bleeds by 5%.
  • Sudden Death procs are no longer free and now cost rage.
  • Chance to trigger Sudden Death reduced slightly.
  • Overpower reduced to 97% of attack power to allow for talents modifying it (was 117%).
  • Dreadnaught damage reduced to 31% of attack power (was 46%).
  • Execute’s damage has been reduced to 132% attack power to allow for talents that improve it (was 170%).
  • Rend reduced to 115% of attack power to allow for talents that improve it (was 133%).
  • Deft Experience – Now increases Mastery by 1.5% and also increases the damage of Rend’s initial strike by 50% per rank.
  • Valor in Victory – Increases Versatility by 1.5% and now reduces the cooldown of Die by the Sword by 15 seconds per rank.
  • Critical Thinking – Now increases critical strike chance by 1.5% and now also increases the critical strike damage of Whirlwind and Cleave by 10% per rank.

Fury

  • Added some pathing and moved some nodes to make for more flexible options.
  • Slaughtering Strikes now grants 10% damage per stack for Raging blow and 3% per stack from Annihilator.
  • Deft Experience now gives 1.5% Mastery per rank, and also reduces the cooldown of Bloodthirst by 0.5 seconds per rank.
  • Swift Strikes now grants 1.5% Haste per rank (was 2% per rank).
  • Critical Thinking now grants 1.5% Critical Strike Chance per rank (was 2% per rank).
  • Depths of Insanity now makes Recklessness lasts 4 seconds longer (was 5 seconds).
  • Dual Wield Specialization now grants 5% increased damage (was 10%).
  • Deafening Crash now increases the duration of Siegebreaker by 2 seconds (was 3 seconds) and increases the critical strike chance of Raging Blow by 5% (was 10%).
  • Cruelty is now 2 ranks and grants 10% increased damage and a 15% chance to reset its own cooldown during enrage, per rank.
  • Frenzy now stacks up to 3 times (was 4).
  • Unbridled Ferocity now works correctly with Reckless Abandon.
  • Odyn’s Fury is now correctly improved by various damage modifiers.
  • Ravager cooldown is now correctly 90 seconds.
  • Gushing wound damage increased to 20% of attack power (was 10%).

Protection

  • Battle-Scared Veterans are no longer scared. They are now Battle-Scarred, as it should be!
  • Ravager cooldown is now correctly 90 seconds.
  • Increased damage of Shield Charge to 275% of attack power (was 200%) and increased the area of effect damage to 110% of attack power (was 50%).
  • Fixed another issue causing Seismic Reverberation to trigger many Revenge casts.

PET BATTLES

  • Added a questline that helps new players learn about the pet battle system.

READ MORE: WoW Classic WotLK: 7 Things to Look Forward to in the Next Expansion

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

  • WAR MODE
    • Pull out your swords and bows, champions, and turn War Mode on. In this week’s build you’ll be able to see world quests that you’ll only be able to find in war mode. On Alpha, the availability of them will rotate daily for testing purposes. Players can enable and disable War Mode by visiting Stormwind or Orgrimmar depending on their faction, and there are portals in the Seat of the Aspects in Valdrakken you can take to your respective faction’s capitol.
    • Additionally, within Valdrakken you may have spotted Malicia, a Drakonid part of the Black Dragonflight who enjoys chaos and conflict amongst those not in the Dragonflight. She offers valuable goods in exchange for Bloody Tokens, which you’ll only be able to find in War Mode. Keep an eye out in future builds on how to acquire Bloody Tokens.

PROFESSIONS

  • MINING
    • In this Alpha build, Mining has been enabled and can be trained by the Associate Professor Instructaur in Orgrimmar and Stormwind. Intrepid miners can now mine ore that can be found in the new Dragonflight zones, and also focus on how they want to grow as a Miner through specializations. A large addition to the Mining is the ability to Overload special ore nodes (such as Molten and Earthen nodes), which will cause a unique effect based on your rank in Specializations and the node itself. Overload only works on these special ore nodes, it does not do anything to normal ore. To access the Overload ability, you need unlock it via the Master the Elements specialization path.
    • Please pick up your pickaxe and mine some ore, and let us know how the Profession feels! We’re particularly interested in hearing about how ore node density feels in the zones, if there are areas that are too sparse or too generously spawned and overall thoughts on the new Overload mechanic.
  • SPECIALIZATIONS
    • Unlocking Specializations requires 25 skill in that Profession. Once unlocked, players can spend Specialization points to unlock various bonuses for their Profession.
    • Developers’ note: For the purposes of Alpha we’ve added a consumable, Professor Instructaur’s Top Secret Guide, on the Associate Professor Instructaur vendor that gives players 50 Specialization points. Below are a few Specialization paths for Mining:
    • Mining
      • Mining Process – Study the understanding of proper mining techniques to increase your efficiency in mining and allow for new mining opportunities. Gain +1 Skill per point in this specialization.
        • Surveying – Improve your ability to find deposits and rare materials found within them. Gain +1 Skill per point in this specialization.
      • Mastering the Elements – As elemental chaos runs rampant across the Dragon Isles, experiences miners have discovered new techniques to tap into remnants of these magics found with these precious metals. Gain +1 Skill on all elemental nodes per point in this specialization.
        • Molten – Specializing in Molten Nodes will allow you to acquire additional Rousing Fire and improve your efficiency in mining these nodes. Gain +1 Skill on Molten Nodes per point in this specialization.
  • RECRAFTING
    • Recrafting has been enabled in this week’s build. Recrafting allows players to change out existing item’s Optional Reagents and potentially improve the quality of the crafted equipment. Crafters can learn the Recrafting Recipe from the Associate Professor Instructaur. Please play around with this system and let us know your thoughts!
  • KNOWN ISSUES
    • Factors that influence item Quality and optional reagents that add additional effects to a crafted item will not be properly represented in the final preview of the item. This affects the preview for the Crafting & Recrafting result, the item in the Crafting Complete log and when the item is linked in a chat channel. This is only a display issue on the item preview, the resulting item should still craft properly (let us know if it doesn’t!). This will be fixed in a future build.
    • Items that have a limited amounts crafts per day, such as Azureweave Bolt, cannot be crafted if the remaining Uses Available is below the max capacity.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

  • NEW HUD UI
    • Edit Mode
      • Added Buffs & Debuffs
      • Added Party Frames
    • Class and Professions tracking added back to the Minimap tracking toggle.
  • Added new Campaign Quest cursor when hovering over an NPC offering a Campaign Quest.
  • NEW OPTION: PRESS AND HOLD CASTING
    • If enabled, allows the player to press and hold a keyboard hotkey to continually cast a spell on an Action Bar without having to repeatedly press the button.
    • This only supports keyboard hotkeys, clicking a spell with the mouse will still cast the spell a single time.
    • Will not work with macros and items.
    • Enable this option under Options > Gameplay > Interface > Combat
  • NEW FEATURE: INTERACT KEY
    • Press the Interact Key to interact with NPCs and objects with a keypress instead of your mouse.
    • Interactive NPCs and objects will highlight as you enter interact range. An icon will appear above NPCs.
    • The default Interact Key is F. If F is not working or is bound to something else, go to the Keybindings menu and make sure “Interact With Target” is bound to a key.
    • Enable this feature by typing “/console SoftTargetInteract 3” in chat. An interface option will be added later.
  • NEW TARGETING SYSTEM: ACTION COMBAT
    • Automatically targets enemies as you approach them, allowing you to start casting abilities immediately.
    • Dynamically switches targets based on where you’re looking.
    • Works alongside the standard targeting system. If you need to lock on to a target, simply press Tab to enter Tab Target Combat.
    • Enable this feature by typing “/console SoftTargetEnemy 3” in chat. An interface option will be added later.
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