3.1 Patch Notes Leaked

UPDATE: Official 3.1 patch notes have been added check them out…. 3.1 patch notes.

…possibly that is, the following patch notes are allegedly from the current internal build being tested. These were sent to the guys over at wow-insider from a guy who says his name is “Mike”. No confirmation yet as to their authenticity, so make of them what you will.

3.1 Patch Notes
World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.1.0

The Mysteries of Ulduar
For many years, the ancient titan city of Ulduar has been a home to the Storm Giants of Northrend, where they have remained hidden from the Lich King and his Scourge Army. Recently, Ulduar has been taken over by the Iron Dwarves, who are being lead by a mysterious entity that is becoming a growing threat to Northrend and the rest of Azeroth.

Brann Bronzebeard and the Explorer’s League have setup a new camp in The Storm Peaks in order to serve as a base of operations for the Ulduar investigations. Chester Copperpot and his goons, longtime enemies of the Explorer’s League, also have a vested interest in Ulduar.

The Ruby Sanctum
For thousands of years, the Chamber of Aspects was used as a secret meeting place for the five great Dragon Aspects. Since the formation of the Wyrmrest Accord and the war on Malygos, the portals leading to the dragonflight sanctuaries remained dormant…until now. Trouble has arisen within the Red Dragonflight’s Ruby Sanctum! Queen Alexstrasza and the Red Dragonflight are seeking able bodied adventurers to find out what lies within.

General
• Ulduar is now available in both Heroic and Normal Difficulty, players can find this raid dungeon in The Storm Peaks.
• The Ruby Sanctum is now available in both Heroic and Normal Difficulty, players can find this raid dungeon in the Dragonblight, beneath Wyrmrest Temple in the Chamber of Aspects.
• The Nexus War Continues! The Blue Dragonflight is attempting to harness the energy surrounding Crystalsong Forest. The Silver Covenant and The Sunreavers are preparing for a full offensive, but they need your help! Many new daily quests are available at Windrunner’s Overlook (Alliance) and Sunreaver’s Command (Horde).
• Dual Talent Specialization: Players can now visit their class trainers to learn a second Specialization. Specializations may be switched at any time as long as the player is not in combat, this will also change your character’s Glyphs, Action Bars and Talents. Specialization options can be found in the talent menu.
• Potency Rating: Haste Rating, Armor Penetration Rating and Spell Penetration have been merged into a single stat. Each percent of Potency will decrease the enemy’s spell resistances and armor; it will also increase the player’s cast speed and melee attack speed.
• Replenishment: Now grants 0.5% of base mana every second and can effect up to 25 raid members.
• A new bank slot is now available for purchase!

Achievements
• Removed “Brew of the Year” as criteria for the “Brewmaster” meta achievement.
• The number of cooking recipes needed for the “Chef De Cuisine” achievement has been lowered to 150.
• Several Dungeon & Raid Achievements related to The Ruby Sanctum and Ulduar have been added!
• Several World Event Achievements related to Noble Garden have been added!

PvP
• Battlegrounds
o Players may now accumulate up to 100,000 Honor Points and 7500 Arena Points.
o Players can now queue up for Battlegrounds anywhere in the world! New queuing options are available in the PvP menu.
o Players can now queue up for all 5 battlegrounds at once.
o Reputation gains from winning battles in Alterac Valley, Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin have been significantly increased.
o Alterac Valley Marks of Honor, Warsong Gulch Marks of Honor and Arathi Basin Marks of Honor may now be exchanged for reputation gains with their associated factions.
o Lake Wintergrasp
? The Battle for Lake Wintergrasp will now occur every 2 hours.
? After winning a Wintergrasp Match all players of the opposite faction will be teleported to their respective faction’s camp.
? Many optimizations have been made to the Lake Wintergrasp zone, players should experience significantly less visual latency when fighting in densely populated areas.
o Strand of the Ancients
? Players carrying Seaforium charges cannot exceed 100% run speed.
? Seaforium charges now take more time to disarm.
? Turrets now deal slightly more damage to vehicles.
? The honor gained while fighting in the Strand of the Ancients has been slightly increased.

Death Knights
• Icebound Fortitude now scales much better with defense (50% at 540 defense).
• Shadow of Death: Cooldown reduced to 10 minutes.
• Death Grip: Cooldown reduced by 10 seconds.
• New Spell: Unholy Grip, 20 Runic Power, 3 min cooldown – Harnesses the unholy energy that surrounds and binds all matter, drawling all targets within a 30 yard radius towards the death knight and forcing all enemies to attack the death knight for 6 sec.
• Unholy Command: Reduces the cooldown of your Unholy Grip ability by 15/30 seconds.
• Magic Suppression: Also causes your Anti-Magic Shell to restore runic power equal to 3%/6%/9%/12%/15% of the damage absorbed.
• Obliterate: No longer consumes diseases.
• Merciless Combat: All abilities now deal 10%/20% additional damage to targets below 35% health.
• Annihilation: Increases critical strike chance of all weapons, spells and abilities by 1%/2%/3% and reduces the amount of spell damage taken when in frost presence by an additional 1%/2%/3%.
• Heart Strike: Can now hit up to 4 targets.
• Will of the Necropolis: Now reduces damage that would take you below 35% health by 10%/20%/30%.
• Bloody Vengeance: This effect now stacks up to 5 times.
• Desecration: Damage bonus now applies to other death knights.
• Virulence: Now grants both melee and spell hit.
• Unholy Blight is once again considered a disease.

Druids
• Shapeshifting no longer costs mana, but there is now a 3 second cooldown.
• Wild Growth: Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds.
• Entangling Roots: No longer deals damage.
• Swipe: This ability has been reworked; it will now hit all targets within a 5 yard radius of the druid. Damage dealt by Swipe has also been slightly increased.
• Infected Wounds: Swipe can now trigger this ability.
• Berserk: Also reduces the rage cost of all your Bear Form abilities by 50%.
• Master Shapeshifter: Bear Form – Reduces all damage taken by 2%.
• Improved Regrowth: Critical strike chance reduced to 5%/10%/15%/20%/25%.
• Living Spirit: Also reduces the chance that all of your heal over time abilities will be dispelled by 5%/10%/15%.
• Empowered Touch: Healing bonus increased to 25%/50%.
• Gift of the Earthmother: Also reduces the cooldown of your Nature’s Swiftness by 6/12/18/24/30 seconds.
• Improved Faerie Fire: Now grants melee and spell hit.
• Lunar Guidance: Spell power bonus increased to 5%/10%/15%.
• Force of Nature: Treants summoned by this spell are now immune to area of effect spells. They may now also cast Moonfire and Rejuvenation.
• Owlkin Frenzy: Your attacks now have a chance to trigger frenzy.

Hunters
• Mortal Shots: Critical strike damage bonus increased to 10%/20%/30%/40%/50%.
• Kindred Spirits: Now increases pet’s damage by 4%/8%/12%/16%/20%.
• T.N.T: Stun chance reduced to 3%/6%/9%.
• Arcane Shot: Base damage increased slightly.
• Steady Shot: Base damage increased slightly.
• Ferocious Inspiration: Increases the damage dealt by Arcane shot by 5%/10%/15%.
• Aspect of the Dragonhawk: Dodge chance reduced to 10%, attack power bonus increased to 330.
• Aspect of the Monkey: Dodge chance reduced to 10%
• Beastial Wrath: Duration increased to 20 seconds.
• The Beast Within: Duration increased to 20 seconds.
• Cobra Strikes: Also increases the damage dealt by you and your pet by 2%/4%/6%.
• Readiness: Now works with Beastial Wrath.
• Chimera Shot: Mana cost reduced.
• Silencing Shot: Now interrupts the enemy’s spellcast, preventing any spell from that school of magic from being cast for 8 sec.
• Disengage: Mana cost removed.
• Explosive Shot: Deals a small amount of damage to targets within 5 yards.
• Pets
o Exotic pets have had their health increased slightly.
o Exotic pets can no longer be dodged or parried.
o Most boss abilities will no effect pets.

Mages
• Conjure Mana Gem (Rank 6) now restores 4200 to 4400 mana.
• Torment of the Weak: Damage bonus reduced to 3%/7%/10%.
• Student of the Mind: The amount of Spirit granted has been increased to 5%/10%/15%.
• Netherwind Presence: Spell haste bonus reduced to 1%/2%/3%. Also reduces the mana cost of all Arcane spells by 4%/7%/10%.
• Spellsteal: The maximum duration of stolen buffs increased to 3 minutes.
• Molten Fury: Damage bonus increased to 10%/20%.
• Combustion now increases the critical strike chance of all fire spells by 25%. Lasts 20 sec.
• Burnout: Removed penalty on spell critical strikes.
• Ignite: Now deals its damage over 6 seconds.
• Living Bomb: Will now explode upon the target’s death.
• Fiery Payback: Damage reduction increased to 12%/25%.
• Shatter: Critical strike chance increased to 20%/40%/60%.
• Improved Frostbolt: Also reduces the global cooldown of your Ice Lance spell by 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 seconds.
• Cone of Cold: Damage for all ranks increased significantly.
• Improved Cone of Cold: Increases the radius of your Cone of Cold ability by 5/10 yards.
• Frozen Core: Spell damage reduction now requires Frost Armor to be active. Also increases all frost damage dealt by 1%/2%/3%.
• Brain Freeze: Can now trigger a free Fireball of Pyroblast.
• Empowered Frostbolt: Critical strike chance increased to 3%/6%.
• Deep Freeze: Can now be used on targets with a movement slowing effect.

Paladins
• All paladin auras are now off the global cooldown.
• Divine Plea: Now scales with spell haste, cooldown increased to 2 minutes, healing penalty removed.
• Enlightened Judgements: Chance to hit increased by 3%/6%.
• Holy Shock: Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds.
• Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom, Judgement of Justice: Duration increased to 30 seconds.
• Infusion of Light: Also has a 10%/20% chance to finish the cooldown of your Holy Shock spell.
• Healing Light: Also increases the amount healed by your Judgement of Light.
• Beacon of Light: Will now transfer 100% of all healing done to the beacon, instead of just effective healing.
• Judgements of the Wise: Now grants 30% of base mana if the Judgement crits.
• Crusader Strike: Now Instantly causes 125% weapon damage as holy damage and increases all holy damage done to the target by 2% for 6 seconds, stacks up to 5 times.
• Exorcism can now be cast on any target.
• Righteous Vengeance: Now triggered by Seal of Command, Seal of the Martyr and Seal of Blood critical strikes.
• Sheath of Light: Heal over time effect reduced to 8 seconds.
• Hammer of the Righteous: Gains a small benefit from your attack power.
• Holy Shield: Whenever Holy Shield is active, all spell damage taken is reduced by 2%.
• Divine Guardian has been moved down to Tier 3.
• New Talent: Improved Divine Guardian – Increases the damage absorbed by Divine Guardian by 10%/20%.

Priests
• Surge of Light: Also reduces the cast time of your next Greater Heal by 0.5 seconds.
• Circle of Healing: Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds.
• Divine Providence: No longer reduces the cooldown of your Prayer of Mending Spell, but now increases the amount healed by your critical heals by 10%/20%/30%/40%/50%.
• Mass Dispel: No longer has a target limit.
• Misery: Now grants melee and spell hit.
• Renew: Mana cost reduced slightly.
• Greater Heal: Mana cost reduced slightly, cast time reduced by to 2.5 seconds.
• Divine Fury: No longer reduces the cast time of Greater Heal, but increases the critical strike chance of Greater Heal, Penance and Flash Heal by 1$/2%/3%/4%/5%.
• Test of Faith: Also increases the duration of your Guardian Spirit spell by 1/2/3 seconds.
• Desperate Prayer: Instantly restores 30% of the caster’s health and reduces all damage taken by 30% for the next 5 seconds.
• Divine Aegis: The absorption effect can now stack up to 3 times.
• Penance: Channeling this spell will give the priest 3% additional chance to crit for the next 5 seconds.
• Reflective Shield: Also decreases the chance that your Power Word: Shield can be dispelled by 15%/30%/45%.
• Mental Strength: Also increases armor contribution from items by 5%/10%/15%.
• Mind Melt: Critical strike chance increased by 3%/6%.
• Blackout: Mind Sear can no longer proc this stun effect.
• Twisted Faith: Damage bonus for Mind Flay and Mind Blast now requires the target to be afflicted by Vampiric Touch.
• Improved Shadow Word: Pain: Now increases damage by 5%/10%.

Rogues
• Adrenaline Rush is now available to all Rogues at Level 30.
• New Talent: Focused Combat, 25 Energy, 3 min cooldown – When activated, the rogue goes into a focused state of combat, increasing all damage done by 30%, changing targets will cancel this effect. Lasts 15 sec.
• Envenom: Damage for all ranks increased slightly.
• Expose Armor: Now reduces the enemy’s armor by a percent value instead of a flat value.
• Improved Expose Armor: No longer reduces the energy cost of Expose Armor. Now increases the armor reduced by 2%/4%.
• Tricks of the Trade: Duration reduced to 5 seconds.
• Prey on the Weak: Critical strike damage now increased by 5%/10%/15%/20%/25%.
• Close Quarters Combat: Increases your chance to get a critical strike with all weapons.
• Kick: Damage dealt significantly increased.
• Throwing Specialization: Also increases damage dealt by Fan of Knives by 15%/30%.
• Surprise Attacks: Damage bonus increased to 15%.
• Savage Combat: Now increases attack power by 4%/8%.
• Fan of Knives: Now causes 75% weapon damage with all weapons.
• Killing Spree: All damage dealt while this ability is active is increased by 20%.

Shaman
• The health of all totems has been increased significantly.
• A new quest is available from all Shaman trainers at level 70!
• Mana Spring Totem now affects all raid and party members, but no longer stacks.
• Ancestral Knowledge: Increases total Intellect by 3%/6%/9%/12%/15%.
• Shamanistic Focus: Mana cost reduction increased to 50%.
• Maelstrom Weapon: Cast time reduction now applies to any spell with a cast time.
• Searing Totem: Now receives a small bonus from the shaman’s total attack power.
• Mental Dexterity: Also increases critical strike chance of all shock spells by 2%/4%/6%.
• Weapon Mastery: Damage increase reduced to 2%/4%/6%.
• Healing Wave: Base cast time reduced to 2.5 seconds.
• Unleashed Rage: Also reduces the mana cost of your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning and Lava Burst abilities by 5%/10%/15%/20%/25%.
• Feral Sprit: The health of the Spirit Wolves summoned by this ability has been increased slightly.
• Improved Healing Wave: Now increases Healing Wave’s chance to critically strike by 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%.
• Lava Lash: Now deals 125% off-hand weapon damage, damage is no longer affected by Flametounge.
• Healing Way: Bonus healing effect reduced to 15%, now effects all shaman healing spells.
• Improved Earth Shield: Your Earth Shield can no longer be dispelled.
• Ancestral Awakening: Range increased to 100 yards.
• Riptide: Heal over time component gains a larger benefit from your spell power.
• Earthliving Weapon: Heal over time component gains a larger benefit from your spell power.
• Lesser Healing Wave: Mana cost reduced slightly.

Warlocks
• Everlasting Affliction: Drain Life, Haunt and Shadow Bolt spells now have a 25% chance to refresh the duration of Corruption and Siphon Life spells on the target.
• Chaos Bolt: Cooldown reduced to 8 seconds, base damage increased slightly. Also pierces through immunity effects such as Divine Shield and Ice Block.
• Pandemic: Now takes into account critical strike debuffs on the target.
• Fire and Brimstone: Immolate spell power bonus now increased by 4%/8%/12%/16%/20%.
• Molten Core: Shadow spells and damage over time effects now have a 10%/20%/30% chance to increase damage done by all Shadow and Fire spells by 10% for 10 sec.
• Pyroclasm: Also gives your Rain of Fire a 5%/10% additional chance to crit.
• Shadowflame: Initial effect now deals fire damage, the damage over time component now deals shadow damage.
• Haunt will now do additional damage for each of the warlock’s damage over time effects on the target.
• Improved Demonic Tactics: Increases your summoned demon’s critical strike chance by 2%/4%/6%.
• Fel Vitality: Increases maximum stamina and intellect instead of health and mana.
• Demonic Embrace: Stamina bonus reduced to 1%/2%/3%/4%.
• Demonic Resilience: Reduces all damage taken by you and your pet by 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%.
• Metamorphosis now has a 1 second cast time.
• Demonic Pact: The spell power of all party and raid members is now increased by 4%/8%/12%/16%/20% of your spell damage.
• Pandemic: Now works with Siphon Life.
• Conflagrate: Can now be cast on targets afflicted by Shadowfury.
• Searing Pain: No longer causes a high amount of threat. Damage increased for all ranks.
• Improved Searing Pain: Your damaging Searing Pain spells have a 33%/66%/100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to spell damage, increasing spell critical strike chance against that target by 2% and lasts 30 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.

Warriors
• Bladestorm: Rage cost reduced slightly.
• Whirlwind can now be used in any stance.
• Bloodrage: While active, all damage taken is increased by 10%.
• Sweeping Strikes: Rage cost reduced slightly.
• Death Wish: Duration reduced to 20 seconds, damage bonus increased to 25%.
• Improved Berserker Stance: Increases total Strength by 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%.
• Bloodsurge: Chance to proc decreased to 5%/10%/15%.
• Rampage: Range increased to 100 yards.
• Shield Wall: Damage reduction reduced to 50%.
• Vigilance: Now transfers 20% of target threat to the warrior, but no longer reduces damage taken.
• Sunder Armor: Now reduces the enemy’s armor by a percent value instead of a flat value.
• Intervene: No longer reduces total threat.
• Safeguard: Damage reduction reduced to 10%/20%.
• Improved Defensive Stance: Now reduces all spell damage taken by 5%/10%. Duration of enrage effect reduced to 10 seconds.
• Warbringer: Reduces the rage cost of your Charge, Intercept and Intervene abilities by 100%.
• Critical Block: Chance to block double the amount is now equal to your critical strike chance.
• Devastate: Rank 5 damage increased slightly.

Professions
• Alchemy
o Slightly reduced the materials required to make Flask of the Frost Wyrm, Flask of Stoneblood, Flask of Endless Rage and Flask of Pure Mojo.
o Runic Mana Potions now only require one Lichbloom to make.
o Runic Healing Potions now only require one Icethorn to make.
o The Alchemists of The Sunreavers and The Silver Covenant have created a new, more powerful Alchemist Stone.
o New Alchemy Daily Quests! Visit Alchemist Fendril at Windrunner’s Overlook and Alchemist Duros at Sunreaver’s Command.
• Inscription
o Several new epic Inscription recipes are available from the Explorer’s League Quartermaster and from within Ulduar.
o Glyph of Improved Scorch: Gives your Fireball and Frostfire Bolt spells a 20% chance to refresh the duration of your Improved Scorch effect.
o Glyph of Holy Light: Range increased to 10 yards.
o Glyph of Crusdader Strike: Your Crusader Strike ability now generates 3 applications of the Crusader Strike effect.
o Glyph of Searing Pain: The Improved Searing Pain talent now generates 3 applications of the Improved Searing Pain effect each time Searing Pain is cast.
o New Glyphs may be discovered by performing Minor Inscription Research and Northrend Inscription Research.
o Added Glyph of Holy Shock, Glyph of Greater Heal, Glyph of Chaos Bolt and Glyph of Incinerate have been added to all Grand Master Inscription Trainers.
o Milling now only requires 4 herbs.
• Enchanting
o Powerful new ring enchants can be obtained from within Ulduar.
o Enchanters may now use materials placed in the trade window to enchant other player’s equipment.
o Added a new recipe to create spheres that grant spell resistance and fit in any color gem socket.
o Enchant Weapon – Executioner: Now grants Potency rating.
o Enchant Cloak – Speed: Renamed Enchant Cloak – Potency, now grants potency rating.
o Enchant Cloak – Greater Speed: Renamed Enchant Cloak – Greater Potency, now grants potency rating.
o Disenchanting high level epic items may now have a chance to yield an additional Abyss Crystal.
• Engineering
o Mekgineer’s Chopper and Mechano Hog no longer require an Elementium-plated Exhaust Pipe to create.
o Plans for a new and improved Scrapbot are rumored to be kept hidden by the Iron Dwarves in The Storm Peaks.
o Several new epic belt patterns have been added to all Grand Master Engineering Trainers.
o Hyperspeed Accelerators now stack with other enchants, duration increased to 15 seconds.
• Blacksmithing
o Several new epic blacksmithing plans have been added to the game, these may be found on various reputation vendors throughout Northrend.
• Mining
o Saronite Deposits will now yield more ore.
o Saronite Deposits can now contain blue quality gems.
• Herbalism
o The drop rate on Frost Lotus has been slightly increased.
o Reduced cast time on the Herbalism skill.
• Cooking
o All cooking daily quests will now give the player a choice of 5 Northern Spices or 5 Baby Spices in addition to a Dalaran Cooking Award.
o A new recipe for Pygmy Delight has been added to all Grand Master Cooking Trainers.
o Many cooking recipes requiring northern spices have had their materials reduced slightly.
• Jewelcrafting
o A new set of more powerful gems can be found by raiding Ulduar. Their stats exceed those of previous gems that could be found.
o Icy Prisms now also have a small chance to contain an epic quality Northrend gem.
o Icy Prisms no longer require a frozen orb, but now require more uncommon quality Northrend gems.
o The Explorer’s League has unlocked the secret behind many ancient titan gems. Visit Archaeologist Mezton at the Explorer’s League Base Camp to see what you can learn!
o Prospecting now only requires 4 ore.

Dungeons and Raids
• Many creatures in heroic 5 man dungeons have had their hit points increased slightly.
• Players will no longer be teleported out of a raid instance after logging back in.
• The Eye of Eternity
o The damage on Malygos’ Vortex has been slightly reduced in both heroic and normal difficulty.
o Players will no longer suffer fall damage when falling from Vortex.
o Pets are no longer affected by Malygos’ Arcane Breath.
• The Obsidian Sanctum
o Reduced the effect of Twilight Torment in normal difficulty.
o The duration of Twilight Residue has been increased.

User Interface
• Raid Unit frames have been redesigned and are now completely customizable via interface options.
• Player Unit frames have also been redesigned and are customizable via the interface options.
• Many parts of the default UI can now be moved to any location on your screen.
• The Auction House UI has been changed, players will now see up to 200 auctions per page, more detailed information such as purchase history and average price has been added.
• When zoning into a partially completed raid instance, a confirmation dialogue will appear asking if you want to get saved to the instance.
• The built in threat meter has been expanded upon, it will now show the threat of up to 10 other players in relation to yours.
• There is now an option to display your bank and character inventory as one large bag.
• Players can now track multiple types of resources provided they have the skills required.
• New tips of the day have been added!
• Several new types of currencies have been added to the currency tab.
• Players can now turn in Netherweave Cloth and Frostweave Cloth to increase their standing with all major cities.
• New interface options have been added that will allow you to customize combat log recording.
• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

Items
• All items that granted haste, armor penetration, or spell penetration have been updated to grant potency rating instead.
• New vendors have been added to The Silver Enclave and Sunreaver’s Sanctuary, bring them your Emblems of Honor to trade for items of magnificent quality!
• You may now trade 10 Emblems of Heroism for 1 Emblem of Valor, see your faction’s Emblem of Heroism vendor!
• Several epic quality items obtained from Heroic instances have had their stats updated to reflect their intended power.
• Damnation: Stats updated to reflect its intended power.
• Greatstaff of the Nexus: Stats updated to reflect its intended power.
• Dying Curse: Now shares an internal cooldown with other similar effects.
• Soul of the Dead: Now shares an internal cooldown with other similar effects.
• Forge Ember: Now shares an internal cooldown with other similar effects.
• Sundial of the Exiled: Now shares an internal cooldown with other similar effects.
• Forethought Talisman: Passive spell power reduced, healing over time effect now gains a small benefit from the caster’s spell power.
• Frostweave Bag is now a 22 slot bag.
• Glacial Bag is now a 24 slot bag.
• Dragon Hide Bag is now a 24 slot bag, no longer considered unique.

World Environment
• Named NPC’s will now respawn at a much quicker rate.
• All beasts in Northrend now have an increased chance to drop Chilled Meat.
• The items involved in Troll Patrol: The Alchemist’s Apprentice can now be instantly looted.
• Corrected several herb spawns in Icecrown.
• Herb spawns in Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord will now respawn faster.
• NPC’s in The Storm Peaks now have a higher chance to drop a Relic of Ulduar.
• Players wishing to increase their standing with the Steamwheadle Cartel should visit Gazlowe in Ratchet.
• Southsea Pirates, Wastewander Bandits and Bloodsail Buccaneers will all now give increased reputation gains.
• Creatures in The Barrens now have an increased chance to drop the recipe for Savory Deviate Delights.

Bug Fixes
• Death Knight: The Lichborne ability will no longer return you to your normal form during the Prophet Tharon’ja encounter in Drak’tharon Keep.
• Death Knight: Blade Barrier will no longer count Death Runes.
• Death Knight: Shadow of Death will no longer cause the player to run back as a ghoul after releasing.
• Death Knight: Lichborne and Fear Ward no longer share a cooldown.
• Paladin: Sacred Shield will now properly gain benefit from the spell power granted by Sheath of Light.
• Paladin: Fixed a bug where Judgements sometimes dealt no damage.
• Paladin: Hammer of Wrath will no longer reset the paladin’s swing timer.
• Paladin: Righteous Vengance will no longer break Repentance.
• Mage: Focus Magic will now properly trigger from melee critical strikes.
• Mage: Mage Armor will now properly decrease the duration of magical damage over time effects.
• Warrior: Armored to the Teeth no longer considers Berserking in its armor calculation.
• Warlock: Pandemic will no longer trigger Focus Magic.
• Warlock: Corrected several typos with the Ritual of Summoning Spell.
• Priest: Devouring Plague will no longer be spread by Pestilence.
• Priest: The Surge of Light buff will no longer be consumed upon cast.
• Priest: Fixed a bug where Guardian Spirit will sometimes fail to prevent a killing blow.
• Hunter: Frost Trap now correctly triggers the 30 second cooldown on Lock and Load.
• Hunter: Wyvern Sting’s sleep effect will no longer break from area of effect spells.
• Achievements: Corrected the tooltip for “Gotta Go!”
• Players will now appear properly mounted on the Amani War Bear.
• The Alliance Vanguard reputation will now properly count towards total exalted factions.
• Corrected many graphical bugs along the coast of Sholazar Basin.
• When a guild is disbanded, gold will now also be mailed to the Guild Master.
• The Thaddius encounter will no longer generate an extreme amount of latency.
• Elixir of Water Walking will now properly gain a benefit from Mixology.
• Bandit’s Insignia: Damage dealt will be properly increased by the target’s debuffs.
• Ring of the Fated: Now properly grants potency rating.
• Players will no longer fall through the well in Dalaran without getting teleported to the sewer.
• The forge in K3 will now function properly.
• Players who die during the Prophet Tharon’ja encounter will still receive credit for his death.
• Fixed a typo for the Convention at the Legerdemain daily quest.
• Fixed various bugs in Naxxramas that would cause player to fall through the world.
• Multiple characters can now loot the Heart of Magic from Alexstrasza’s Gift (Malygos Encounter)
• Players will no longer randomly get stuck in combat.

Upcoming Mana Regen Redesign

If you’ve raided in any capacity as a healer in WotLK then you are already fully aware how trivial mana regeneration has become for the vast majority of boss encounters. This of course dramatically reduces the overall complexity involved in the healer process. Managing your mana and healing efficiently has always been a large part of the healing game, but not any more.

It’s a large enough problem that blizzard has formally acknowledged it and they are apparently working on a redesign solution to be implemented in a future patch.

We think mana regen is too trivial at the moment in PvE and just right or too difficult in PvP (depending on the class). Now part of that is because the content is easy. Part of it is because we’ve given players a lot of reasons to avoid having to worry about the FSR. Part of it is just generous talents (like Illumination). Part of it was the change to let Int scale regen to some degree. The whole package is something we’re looking at. Mana regen is supposed to be part of the game – you aren’t supposed to graduate out of it with enough gear.

It’s hard to say if the current system is fundamentally broken or if it’s a problem compounded by over simplistic instances. Either way, I don’t think there’s any denying that spirit based regeneration is far and away superior to MP5. This in effect causes a rift in the way healing and itemization is handled by paladin / shamans vs. druids / priests. I wouldn’t say this is necessarily a negative, but it’s something that needs a serious look by the developers.

The underlying  problem is simple…healing is too easy. Quite frankly there is no “mana management” any longer for healers. As a shaman or a paladin you are essentially spamming start to finish, where mana gain talents and insanely large mana pools suffice in lieu of spirit based regeneration. As a priest or druid  the spamming is marked with brief periods of standing around while insane not casting regeneration allows for incredible amounts of regeneration.

It’s great to see the developer’s are at least acknowledging there’s a problem, but more importantly I’m excited to see what type of solutions Blizzard has planned.

For more information on these recent changes I highly recommend checking out Phaelia’s recent post regarding this topic, it’s a great write up from the druid’s perspective and gives a complete break down of these issues. Highly recommend reading!

Shaman Talent Builds

When choosing your shaman talent build you’ll have to take a close look at the wide variety of talents available. Your personal play style and needs in a talent spec will vary your talent selections considerable. So it’s important you take careful consideration when determining your shaman talent build.

Restoration Shaman Talent Builds

As you may be able to tell, there are quite a few variations for restoration shaman builds. With so many good talents it’s hard to say that any one spec is “the best”. In my opinion you just have to play a few different shaman talent builds and see what you’re comfortable with. Each shaman build offers a slightly different play style, which may or may not fit your individual needs.

PvE resto shaman talent builds on the other hand are a bit different…if you’re serious about pve healing as a shaman you’re going to be chain healing, a lot, so there’s no need to waste points elsewhere. You have very few options in the talents you choose for a pve healing spec.

PvP Restoration Shaman Talent Builds

• 0/13/58 – high healing, high mana longevity, my preferred spec
• 0/15/56 – variation of 0/13/58 build
• 0/14/57 – variation of 0/13/58 build
• 0/11/60 – max healing with shamanistic focus
• 0/20/51 - great survivability, minimal mana longevity, ideal with a backup healer
• 16/0/55 - resto hybrid build, ideal for shamans who are very offensive in arena

PvE Restoration Shaman Builds

• 0/14/57 – raid healing, chain healing optimized, my preference
• 0/13/58 – raid healing, chain heal optimized, situational use for heavy single target healing
• 0/13/58 – raid healing, chain heal optimized, variation of the above 0/13/58 shaman talent build

Elemental Shaman Talent Builds

As far as PvP elemental builds are concerned there is a lot of leeway in the talents you decide to pick up. Below Ive listed a few of my preferred talent specs, but there are numerous others. It all depends on your preferences as a player. Unfortunately there isn’t nearly as much sway as far as pve elemental shaman talent builds are concerned. If you’re spec’n for the purposing of simply producing the most DPS then the shaman talent build below is going to be the best, plain and simple.

PvP Elemental Shaman Talent Builds

• 57/14/0 – standard pvp elemental build
• 57/14/0 – variation on the standard pvp elemental build

PvE Elemental Shaman Talent Builds

• 57/14/0 – standard pve elemental build, optimized for maximum DPS

Enhancement Shaman Talent Builds

Much like resto and elemental shaman talent builds, enhancement is plagued by the same symptoms of variability in the PvP spec and a very un-variable PvE spec. If you’re looking for an enhancement shaman talent build you’re pretty much stuck with what I’ve listed below. For PvP you’ve got a few additional choices, but overall the 17/54/0 build is still a solid choice overall.

PvP Enhancement Shaman Talent Builds

• 17/54/0 – standard pvp enhancement shaman talent build

PvE Enhancement Shaman Talent Builds

• 17/54/0 – standard pve enhancement shaman talent build

Tier 8 Armor Sets Video Preview

Quick video preview of the new tier 8 armor sets.  As usual not all that impressive. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like blizzard has given up any hope of unique looking armor sets since T3. Priests look holy…tanks looks ponderous…and druids look like, well they look just plain ridiculous. Congrats!

Arena Matchmaking System Explained

Finally, an explanation of the new arena match making system has arrived.

We recently introduced a new Arena matchmaking system with the intent of better matching up players against opponents of similar skill level, and to address potential abuses under the old system. We realize that many players have questions regarding the new system, and as such, we would like to provide more insight into the new matchmaking system.

• First and foremost, the primary goal of the new Arena matchmaking system is to match players against opponents of similar skill, regardless of your or your opponents’ team rating. This means that once an estimated skill level is determined, you will more likely be matched against other players of a similar skill level. Please note that the estimated skill level is constantly being evaluated and will adjust based on each team’s continual performance. Ratings that are won or lost also take into account skill level, so that you will not suffer a high penalty if you lose against a team that is much better than their actual team rating.

• Another important aspect of this new Arena matchmaking system is a smaller range of maximum rating that can be won or lost. Because of the differences between how the new system assigns rating points at the end of a match, we are still tweaking rating gain versus loss per match to improve the experience.

• If you were previously ranked with a high skill level and decide to create a new team, it should now be much easier to reach your team’s correct rating. This ensures that players will not feel penalized for moving between teams, and high ranked teams will not feel penalized for trying out new players without much risk to the team rating itself.

• Finally, the core and fundamental reason for the new Arena matchmaking system is for players to participate in Arena games that are fun. We feel that with this new system, higher ranked players will most likely find the challenges that they seek, newer players will no longer feel that Arenas are closed to them, and players will not feel as penalized for trying new things in the Arenas.

We like the way that matchmaking works in the new system and feel that it is working as expected. However, we acknowledge that there are some aspects of the way rating is calculated under the new system that could use some tweaking. As with all things, your enjoyment of the game and its systems are very important us, and this system was implemented in an effort to further promote the enjoyment of the Arenas. As always, we welcome your feedback and would constantly be striving to make this system even better.

Source: blizzard

Update #1:

Additional explanations added.

• Team rating: Team rating is the primary measure of a team’s skill during the course of its existence. Titles and arena points are based on team rating.
• Personal rating: Personal rating only exists to ensure that a player has participated enough on a team to deserve the benefits of being on that team. When personal rating gets close enough to team rating, we judge it is likely the player deserves the benefits of the team.
• Matchmaking rating: This rating exists to ensure quality match-making despite players changing teams. In addition, the theoretical mathematical foundations of the new matchmaking system allows this rating to adapt much faster than team rating and personal rating, making the entire system more correct. In our measurements to date, this rating has been quite precise in predicting the outcomes of future matches.
• The matchmaking rating is separate for each bracket, and the matchmaking ratings do not interact between brackets in any way.
• Each bracket has a seperate matchmaking rating.
• Team rating currently converges towards the average of the matchmaking ratings on the team. Personal rating currently converges towards each individual’s matchmaking rating. As such, the team rating currently ends up in the middle of the personal ratings of each member of the team, usually around the average personal rating of the team. As mentioned above, we will be adjusting this to keep personal ratings in line with team ratings.

More Free Character Moves

Free character moves.

All PvP, RP, and RPPvP transfers are scheduled to close on Tuesday, February 3, at 5:00 pm PST provided our transfer goals are not reached prior to this time.

You can begin your transfer by visiting the Character Move page located here: https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/character-move.html

———————————————————————

Source A Realms (PvP):

Azgalor
Bloodscalp (Horde transfers only)
Cho’gall (Horde transfers only)
Crushridge
Dark Iron
Darkspear
Deathwing
Drak’Tharon
Dunemaul
Firetree
Gorefiend
Nathrezim
Shadowmoon
Smolderthorn
Spinebreaker
Stormscale
Tortheldrin
WildHammer

Destination A Realms (PvP):

Malorne
Scilla

———————————————————————

Source B Realms (RP):

Argent Dawn
Cenarion Circle
Earthen Ring
Feathermoon
Moon Guard
Scarlet Crusade
Shadow Council

Destination B Realm (RP):

Wyrmrest Accord

———————————————————————

Source C Realms (RPPvP):

Maelstrom
Twisting Nether

Destination C Realms:

Scilla (PvP)
Wyrmrest Accord (RPPvE)

We will be offering free character moves from select PvE realms below beginning on Thursday, January 29, at 6:00 p.m. PST. These transfers are scheduled to close on Monday, February 2, at 6:00 p.m. PST provided our transfer goals are not reached prior to this time.

You can begin your transfer Thursday evening by visiting the Character Move page located here: https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/character-move.html

———————————————————————

Source D Realms (PvE):

Arygos
Alexstrasza
Shadowsong
Eonar
Hyjal

Destination D Realm (PvE):

Winterhoof

Source: blizzard

Patch 3.0.8 Released Tomorrow?

While there has been no definite confirmation as of yet, there’s a reasonably good chance patch 3.0.8 will go live tomorrow! Note the following post from Eyonix.

When the next minor content patch is released players may notice two separate issues. The warlock spell Ritual of Summoning can only be used once every two minutes. Additionally, there are some human female animation errors, specifically when using two-handed weapons or shooting with a ranged weapon. Both of these issues are actively being addressed and we hope to have a fix available shortly after the patch releases.

List of Major Patch 3.0.8 Changes

• 3.0.8 Patch Notes
• Enchanting Changes
• New Lake Wintergrasp Items
• Lag Fixed in 3.0.8

New Lake Wintergrasp PvP Items

Compiled list of the new lake wintergrasp pvp items, available in patch 3.0.8.

Type	Slot	Spec	Item	Price
Plate	Head	Melee	Titan-forged Plate Helm of Triumph	40 x
Plate	Feet	Melee	Titan-forged Greaves of Triumph	15 x
Plate	Head	Spell	Titan-forged Plate Headcover of Salvation	40 x
Plate	Feet	Spell	Titan-forged Greaves of Salvation	15 x
Mail	Head	Spell	Titan-forged Mail Helm of Dominance	40 x
Mail	Feet	Spell	Titan-forged Sabatons of Salvation	15 x
Mail	Head	Spell Hit	Titan-forged Chain Helm of Triumph	40 x
Mail	Feet	Spell Hit	Titan-forged Sabatons of Dominance	15 x
Mail	Head	Phys. DPS	Titan-forged Ringmail Helm of Salvation	40 x
Mail	Feet	Phys. DPS	Titan-forged Sabatons of Triumph	15 x
Leather	Head	Phys. DPS	Titan-forged Leather Helm of Triumph	40 x
Leather	Feet	Phys. DPS	Titan-forged Boots of Triumph	15 x
Leather	Head	Spell	Titan-forged Leather Helm of Salvation	40 x
Leather	Feet	Spell	Titan-forged Boots of Salvation	15 x
Leather	Head	Spell Hit	Titan-forged Leather Helm of Dominance	40 x
Leather	Feet	Spell Hit	Titan-forged Boots of Dominance	15 x
Cloth	Feet	Spell Hit	Titan-forged Slippers of Dominance	40 x
Cloth	Head	Spell Hit	Titan-forged Hood of Dominance	15 x
Cloth	Feet	Spell	Titan-forged Slippers of Salvation	40 x
Cloth	Head	Spell	Titan-forged Hood of Salvation	15 x
Misc.	Trinket	Phys. DPS	Anvil of Titans	25 x
Misc.	Trinket	Spell	Flow of Knowledge	25 x

Source: mmo-champion

Priest Focus Macros

Playing a priest in WoW is no easy task, but a few simple priest focus macros and traditional priest macros can dramatically improve your overall game play. Using these priest focus macros we’ll be able to consolidate and optimize multiple spells and abilities, once you have these mastered you should see a vast improvement in the fluidity of your game play.

If you’re looking for standard priest macros make sure to check out my compiled priest macro guide. Additionally, if you aren’t familiar with how to use / setup priest focus macros you should check out my complete focus macro guide.

Focus Silence Macro

/cast [target=focus] Silence

Will cast silence on your focus target. An absolute must for PvP shadow priests.

Focus Silence Macro, Advanced 1

/cast [target=focus] Silence; Silence

Will cast silence on your focus target if you have a focus, if you don’t it will cast silence on your target like normally.

Focus Silence Macro, Advanced 2

/cast [target=focus,modifier: shift] Silence; Silence

Will cast silence on your focus when you hold shift down or cast a regular targeted silence when no modifier is used.

Focus Shackle Macro

/cast [target=focus] Shackle

Will cast shackle on your focus target. Useful for shackling death knight ghouls in addition to PvE application.

Focus Dispel Macro

/cast [target=focus] Dispel Magic

Will cast dispel magic on your focus target.  Useful for dispeling future switch targets while still healing.

Focus Dispel Macro, Advanced

/cast [target=focus,modifier:shift] Dispel Magic; Dispel Magic

Will cast dispel magic on your focus target if you are holding shift down, will cast a regular targeted dispel with no modifier engaged.

Dispel Macro on Party Member by Number

/cast [target=party1] Dispel Magic

Will cast dispel on a specified party member. Simply change the numerical value for each party member. Note, I know this macro isn’t focus specific, but it is still along the same lines.

Dispel Macro on Target by Name

/cast [target=NAME] Dispel Magic

Will cast dispel on specified target. Change “NAME” to the name of the target you’d like to dispel, generally a team mate. Note, I know this macro isn’t focus specific, but it is still along the same lines.

Focus Damage Bomb with Mind Blast

/castsequence [target=focus] Mind Blast, Shadow Word: Death

Ideal for quick switches, particularly in arena, allowing you to continue to heal and switch to drop a bomb on a focus target with a single button click.

Focus Damage Bomb with Smite

/castsequence [target=focus] Smite, Shadow Word: Death

Ideal for quick switches, particularly in arena, allowing you to continue to heal and switch to drop a bomb on a focus target with a single button click.

Focus Mana Burn Macro

/cast [target=focus] Mana Burn

Simple focus mana burn macro.

Focus Mana Burn Macro, Advanced

/cast [target=focus,modifier:shift] Mana Burn; Mana Burn

Will cast mana burn on your focus target when you hold shift down or cast a regular targeted mana burn with no modifier.

Updated 3.0.8 Patch Notes

General

• Racial Resistances: These can now be mitigated against by gaining additional chance to hit.
• All Silence spells now have diminishing returns. This includes: Arcane Torrent, Garrote silence effect, Improved Counterspell effect, Improved Kick effect, Silence, Gag Order, Silencing Shot, Spell Lock, and Strangulate.
• Dispel Resist talents have changed to protect only beneficial spells and damage over time effects.
• Shield Wall, Barkskin, Guardian Spirit, and Divine Protection are now off the Global Cooldown.
• Reputation rewarded for killing mobs will no longer automatically deprecate. This means trivial mobs will continue to give out their full amounts of reputation on kill for the majority of cases in the game (level 70 creatures in Stratholme, for example, will continue to award the full amount of rep to level 80 players seeking to boost their Argent Dawn faction).
• World of Warcraft now supports 3-D imaging. Visit http://www.nvidia.com/object/GeForce_3D_Vision_Main.html for more information.
• The Darkmoon Faire vendors have new items now that trade routes into Northrend have been better established.

PvP

• Vehicles can now be affected by most player spells, except CC, snares and roots.

Death Knight

• Anti-Magic Zone: This ability’s duration has been cut to 10 seconds.
• Killing Machine: Instead of a chance to be triggered on critical strike, this talent now has a chance to be triggered on each swing based on the swing time of the weapon (slow weapons more likely, fast weapons less likely).
• Mark of Blood: The total amount of healing this can grant is now capped based on a percentage of standard creature health at the target’s level.
• Shadow of Death: The duration has been changed from 45 seconds to 25 secondsseconds and now has a 15 minute cooldown.
• Summon Gargoyle: Damage dealt by the Gargoyle reduced by approximately 20% and maximum duration cut to 30 seconds.
• Wandering Plague will now properly reset after being castand now considers the resilience of the target in determining its chance to be triggered.
• Vampiric Blood (DK) changed from 20% health / 50% healing to 15 % health / 35% healing.
• Will of the Necropolis will now reduce the damage of any attack that takes the DK below 35% health by 5 /10/15% instead of boosting armor when wounded. It no longer affects the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell and retains the current damage reduction bonus.

Druid

• Celestial Focus (Balance) no longer includes Starfall.

Hunter

• Hunter Aspects are now off the Global Cooldown again. They still have a shared 1 second cooldown.
• Ferocious Inspiration: This talent now also increase the damage the Hunter does with Arcane Shot by 3/6/9%.
• Lock and Load: Now has a 30 second cooldown.
• Tranquilizing Shot (Hunter): Cooldown increased to 8 sec, up from 6. Mana cost reduced to 8%, down from 12%.
• Pets
  • Rake: This hunter pet ability has had its damage adjusted to prevent unreasonable scaling with attack power.
  • Scorpid Poison: No longer stacks. The damage has been adjusted to prevent unreasonable scaling with attack power.
  • Spirit Strike (hunter pet ability) now has an initial attack (which can crit) and then a single dot. Damage overall is higher.

Mage

• Incanter’s Absorption: The amount of spell damage a Mage can gain from this ability is now capped at 5% of the mage’s health.
• Mirror Image: The Mirror Image Polymorph ability now has a range of 8 yards. In addition, Mirror Images will no longer have excessive threat values assigned to them when they are created.

Rogue

• Cheap Shot: This ability no longer has diminishing returns against anything other than itself.
• Kidney Shot: This ability now has diminishing returns against all other stuns.

Shaman

• All shaman talent points have been refunded. Please visit your trainer to learn spells and abilities.

Warlock

• Curse of Agony will now scale better when used with the [Glyph of Curse of Agony]. Ticks beyond the original duration will do 33% more damage than the ticks that preceded them. i.e. 74 -> 145 -> 217 -> 290.

Warrior

• Sudden Death: The amount of rage spent on an Execute while Sudden Death is active is now capped at 30 rage. Improved Execute and the [Glyph of Execution] will still increase the damage done by increasing the amount of rage able to be converted into damage.

Professions

• Enchanting
  • Increased the amount of healing from the Lifeward enchantment.
  • Increased the amount of damage caused by the Icebreaker enchantment.
  • Added a new recipe to enchant bracers with Stamina. You can buy this recipe from Vanessa Sellers in Dalaran.
  • Added a new recipe to enchant a weapon with Stamina. You can buy this recipe from Vanessa Sellers in Dalaran. (This was removed entirely)
• Engineering
  • The engineering Scrapbot can now repair.
• Inscription (Note: Glyph changes moved to Items)
  • Glyph of Death Decay has been changed to grant 20% additional damage instead of its current effect.
  • Glyph of Invisibility duration has been increased.
  • Glyph of Deterrence: Now -10 seconds instead of -20.
  • Glyph of Holy Light now affects friendly targets in a larger radius.
  • Glyph of Horn of Winter now increases the duration by 60 sec.

Items

• [Emblems of Heroism] can now be purchased at a 1 to 1 rate using [Emblems of Valor].
• The Darkmoon Faire exotic vendors have been updated with new items.
• Druid Feral Tier 7 Set: The 4 piece bonus now also decreases the cooldown on Tiger’s Fury by 3 seconds.
• Glyphs (Note: Glyph bug fixes moved to Bug Fixes -> Items)
  • [Glyph of Conflagrate] now makes it so your Conflagrate spell no longer consumes the Immolate or Shadowflame spell from the target.
  • [Glyph of Death and Decay] has been changed to grant 20% additional damage instead of its current effect.
  • [Glyph of Hammer of Justice]: Now increases range by 5 yards instead of increasing stun duration.
  • [Glyph of Invisibility] duration has been increased.
  • [Glyph of Deterrence]: Now -10 seconds instead of -20.
  • [Glyph of Holy Light] now affects friendly targets in a larger radius.
  • [Glyph of Horn of Winter] now increases the duration by 60 sec.
  • [Glyph of Spirit of Redemption]: Now increases the duration of the effect by a fixed amount of 6 seconds.
  • [Glyph of Turn Evil] now also increases the cooldown of your Turn Evil spell by 8 sec.

Bug Fixes

• Classes
  • Death Knight
    • Shadow of Death: This ability will no longer cause tracking abilities to become inactive when the death knight becomes a ghoul.
  • Warlock
    • Warlock Pets: Some pets were not properly classified to receive correct creature scaling for Wrath of the Lich King. Their health and damage done will now be higher.
  • Warrior
    • Bladestorm: Fixed a bug where sometimes stuns and roots would not be removed properly when this ability is used.
• Items
  • Gronstalker Set: The Aspect of Viper bonus from this set has been changed to work correctly with the redesigned Aspect of the Viper.

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