World of Warcraft Patch Notes

Blizzard’s official World of Warcraft website has been updated with the notes for the latest patch. Here’s a full list of what has been added or changed:

Hunters

The Hunter Class is now available to test! Hunters track, tame, and slay all manner of animals and beasts found in the wild. Whether they rely on bows or firearms, Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends. Races allowed to become Hunters are the Night Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Tauren, and Troll.

Hunters are great for pulling monsters as they are able to set traps that hinder monsters that the Hunters pull to attack. Hunters are also able to use various beast-related special abilities, take on bestial traits that agive them supernatural powers, control and tame beasts, and use a wide variety of ranged attacks complimented by a few melee abilities.

Hunters are closely related to their pets and must remember to always keep their pet’s happiness in mind. When using a pet, Hunters will notice an icon in the top left corner of their screen that depicts their pet’s happiness. The more Hunters use their pets, the lower their pet’s level of happiness will become. Hunters should always remember to feed their pets to raise their pet’s level of happiness or worry about their pet abandoning them or even attacking the Hunter! Hunters are also the only class able to name their pets.

The Hunter can use the following weapons: Axes, Daggers, Guns or Bows, Crossbows (with training), Fist Weapons (with training), Spears (with training), Staves (with training), Swords (with training), Thrown (with training), Two-Handed Axes (with training), Two-Handed Swords (with training).
The Hunter can use the following armor: Cloth, Leather, Shields, and Mail (at level 40, with training).

Boats and Zeppelins

Our first pass at Boats and Zeppelins has been added to the world in two locations. A boat has been added between Booty Bay and Ratchet, and a Zeppelin has been added between Orgrimmar and Tirisfal. A second zeppelin has also been added between Grom’gol and Orgrimmar. The round trip on all three of these new transports is around five minutes,
with a pause at each destination of one minute each. If you miss a transport, you will have a very short wait before it returns. If you log out or crash during your journey, you will log back in on the same transport you were on when you logged out, although you will likely be at a different location along its path. Because this was the original
intention for our world travel, the instant teleport NPCs have been removed. Please do not jump off of Boats and/or Zeppelins when riding them. Keep in mind that the Goblin Transit Authority is not responsible for accidents of this nature and you may land in a place where you cannot reach your corpse.

Talent System

Talents are now available for the Priest and Rogue classes! Priest and Rogue players can now utilize the talent interface by using the “Talents” button which resides next to the “Spellbook and Abilities” button, or by pressing the “N” default hotkey.

Talents for other classes will continue to be added as the beta progresses. Please note that all Mages and Warriors have had their talent points refunded. You will now start earning talent points at level 10.

Finally, for the duration of the beta, you will be able to find an NPC in each city that will allow you to reset your talent points and experiment with different talent paths. (Note: this option is ONLY available in the beta).

Level Cap Raised

The level cap has been increased to 55. New zones, quests, items and content have been added to accommodate the level increase.

Item Stats Changed

Items have had a major overhaul. Armor values, damage, stats and resists have been modified to reflect current play balance. Some items have also had their level requirements changed. Items that were subjected to this change and that were equipped on a character prior to the patch have been placed in the character’s bag. If a character did not have space in its bags, please make room in that character’s bags and re-login. Below are additional changes to items in general.

• Several axes, swords and maces were changed from main hand only to either hand for dual-wielding purposes.
• Horned Viking Helmet has been updated with a new effect.
• Cursed Eye of Paleth has had its Shadow requirement removed.
• Eye of Paleth has had its Holy requirement removed.
• Witch Doctor Zum’rah should always drop something good now.
• First Mate’s Hat can now drop off any pirate in Stranglethorn instead of just from Pretty Boy Duncan.
• Quivers and ammo pouches have been modified. They now have more slots and will increase attack speed when using a gun or bow.
• Stoneslayer is no longer Warrior only.
• Deathblow is no longer Warrior only.
• Six Demon Bag has been revamped.
• Look for new attributes on items with random properties.
• Wolfshead Helm changed to give AE silence instead of taunt.

Sharing Quests

You can now share your quests with your entire party. In order to utilize this option, you need to open your quest log, select a quest and press the “Share Quest” button. All members of your party will now be presented with the quest like you were the quest giver NPC.

Some restrictions:

• You can only share with party members
• Party members must be nearby when you share
• Party members must meet the pre-requisites of the quest itself. For example, if you are on step 2 of a quest and your friend is still on step 1, you could not give him a “short-cut” to step 2.
• Quests generated from items cannot be shared.

New Micro-Dungeon Designs

The Level Designers have gone in to the game and redesigned some of the Goldmine and Mushroom Cave Micro-Dungeons. Players can now find these redesigned Micro-Dungeons in both Alliance and Horde lands.

Goldmines in Hillsbrad, Mulgore, and Blasted Lands have been redesigned.

Mushroom Caves in Searing Gorge, Wetlands, Western Plaguelands, Felwood, Hinterlands, Swamp of Sorrows, Arathi Highlands, Ungoro Crater, Deadwind Pass, Stranglethorn and Redridge have been redesigned.

Be sure to visit all of these areas to see exactly which Micro-Dungeons have been redesigned!

Other Changes

General:

• Hunters and Rogues gain attack power based on AGI and STR. All other classes gain attack power based on STR.
• With the addition of the Hunter class, Tracking has been removed from general trainers in the world. It is now available to Hunters only; they may train in it at Hunter class trainers.
• Tracking of all types now works until canceled, but you can only have one type of tracking working at a time (Herb Finding, Mineral Finding, Sense Undead, etc)
• Wand use is no longer prevented when silenced. It is now prevented in all the same situations melee is prevented.
• All instant-cast, non-channeled spells can now be cast while moving.
• Pet commands should now feel more responsive in many situations. For example, if you command your imp pet to go into passive mode it will stop casting Firebolt and enter passive mode.
• Wand damage should now be reduced by resistance in the appropriate school.
• Spell casting now has diminishing interrupt time. Each successful hit after the first will set the spell being cast back less each time to a minimum of .2 seconds. First hit 1 second, second hit .8 seconds, third hit .6 seconds, fourth hit .4 seconds, fifth and all successive hits .2 seconds.
• Interrupt spells/abilities (e.g. Kick, Shield Bash, Counterspell) will now interrupt channeled spells.
• All pets should now use player combat formulas rather than monster combat formulas.
• A new “Ammo Slot” has been added to the character screen. Ammo must be placed in this slot in order to use a ranged weapon (bow, gun, and crossbow). Only ammo placed in this slot, and any like it in your bags, will be used. Other types of ammo will not be used.
• Ammo will be fired from a quiver, ammo pouch or any other bag. Quivers and ammo pouches are no longer required.
• When you right-click ammo in your bag/quiver, it will place the ammo in the “Ammo Slot.”
• You can no longer eat or drink while in combat.
• You are now considered “in-combat” if any nearby monster is engaged with you.
• Found and fixed a bug where some channeled spells were fully interrupted by the first hit (e.g. Arcane Missiles, Drain Soul, and Health Funnel).
• You are automatically flagged for PvP when you enter enemy cities.
• All totems should now be immune to area effect spells once again.
• Slow spells affect creatures immediately instead of stopping them.
• Summons and pets no longer attack their last target after they die.
• Holy Resistance has been replaced with Arcane Resistance.
• Smoothed out Health and Mana levels for all classes.
• Level 40 Armor Proficiencies are now available on class trainers for a monetary training cost. They no longer cost skill points.
• Lock picking secondary skill removed.
• Spell Interruption spells/abilities will now interrupt the entire school of magic for the duration. For example, using Kick against a mage casting Fireball will prevent Fireball, Fireblast, Scorch and all other fire spells from being cast for the Kick’s duration.

Druid:

• Tiger’s Fury damage should now scale properly when used with Shred and Ravage.
• Faerie Fire will now stack with other armor-reducing debuffs.
• Entangling Roots should no longer end early based on damage caused by itself.
• When in Bear Form, Dire Bear Form, Cat Form, Travel Form or Aquatic Form, the druid is now considered a Beast.
• Travel Form is no longer useable underwater.
• Shapeshifting will no longer cancel all buffs on the Druid.
• Shapeshifting cooldown reduced from 10 to 1.5 seconds.
• Play Dead has been removed.
• Druids now regenerate mana while in shape shift form.
• When shapeshifting into and out of Bear/Dire Bear forms, you should now end with the same % of health as you had in the previous form.
• Bear Form’s armor increased.
• Dire Bear Form’s melee damage increased.
• Bear Form and Dire Bear Form mana cost slightly reduced.
• Cat Form mana cost slightly reduced, energy now starts generating immediately.
• Growl taunt effectiveness reduced.
• Aquatic Form mana cost now scales with level, speed no longer changes with level.
• Travel Form mana cost now scales with level.
• Healing Touch mana cost reduced.
• Starfire mana cost reduced.
• Thorns mana cost reduced for early ranks, raised for later ranks.

Mage:

• New spell: Slow Fall (Level 12)
• Ice Armor and Frost Armor should no longer stack.
• Frost Armor and Ice Armor chill effects reduced in effectiveness.
• The Chilled effects from Ice Armor and Frost Armor should no longer stack.
• Polymorphed targets will now wander a short radius around where they were polymorphed. They will no longer return to where they were first attacked and wander from there. Note that they may still wander off if the duration lasts long enough, so keep an eye on your sheep.
• Cone of Cold area of effect has been widened at its base, so it should be much easier to use on targets that are close to the Mage.
• Arcane Missiles can no longer be cast if silenced.
• Arcane Explosion should now be causing the damage listed in the tool-tip.
• Lesser Invisibility, Invisibility and Greater Invisibility removed.
• Blink no longer will allow you to teleport past doors.
• Khadgar’s Unlocking removed.
• Portal mana costs increased.
• Fire and Frost Ward duration reduced, cooldown increased.
• Frost Nova duration reduced, cooldown increased.
• Frostbolt cast time reduced, damage and mana cost reduced accordingly, slowing effect reduced.
• Pyroblast levels adjusted, damage reduced, mana cost increased, cooldown increased, range reduced.
• Blink (Rank 2) and Blink (Rank 3) removed.

Mage Talents:

• Training costs have been added to replacements for the following spells

  • – Pyroblast
  • – Blast Wave
  • – Ice Barrier

• Frostbite freeze effects can be dispelled.
• The strike bonus given by Critical Mass has been reduced.
• The damage that Fire Power does has been reduced.
• 75% of the damage that pyroblast does is now up-front, 25% of it is DOT.
• Permafrost duration reduced.
• Added an additional 3 ranks to Ice Shards.
• Removed one rank of Improved Frost Bolt.
• Chance that Frostbite affects a target has been reduced.
• Frostbite duration slightly increased.
• Removed 2 ranks of Winter’s Chill.
• Ice Block duration slightly increased.
• Ice Block is now a buff instead of a debuff (you can cancel it).
• Mana penalty from using Arcane Power has been slightly reduced.
• Reduced cooldown on Presence of Mind.
• Presence of Mind now only works on Mage spells with a cast time of less than 10 seconds.
• Reduced cooldown on Evocation.
• Reduced effect chance on Arcane Concentration.
• Increased effect of Improved Blink.
• Reduced effect of Improved Dampen Magic.
• Added Arcane Instability talent.
• Mana reduction from Frost Channeling has been reduced.

Paladin:

• New Spell: Summon Warhorse (Level 40). Attainable via quest.
• Turn Undead now has a short cast time.
• Judgment now has a short cast time.
• New Proficiency: Two-Handed Axes.

Priest

• Lesser Heal, Heal, Greater Heal mana cost reduced.
• Holy Word: Shield duration reduced.
• Mind Blast now has a short cast time.
• Holy Smite cast time slightly increased, damage reduced, mana cost reduced.
• Holy Protection removed.
• Holy Word: Shield can now only be used once per 30 seconds per target.
• Psychic Scream now has a chance to break when the feared target is damaged.

Rogue

• Expose Armor no longer stacks with Sundering Strike (Sunder Armor), but will now stack with Faerie Fire.
• Spell casting against a Rogue that successfully uses Vanish will now be interrupted.
• Blind now cancels combat when used.
• Dual Wield no longer requires skill points to purchase. It is available on Rogue trainers at level 10 for a monetary training cost.
• Distract moved to level 22.
• New Ability: Detect Traps (Level 24).
• New Ability: Disarm Trap (Level 30).
• Now only rogues may train in Lock Picking, which they will do from their Rogue class trainers.

Shaman

• Mana Font Totem renamed Mana Spring Totem.
• New Spell: Chain Heal (Levels 40, 46, 54).
• When in Ghost Wolf form, the Shaman is now considered a Beast.
• Frost Shock slowing effect will now obey the standard stacking rules.
• Lightning Shock spell removed.
• Stoneskin Totem now reduces melee damage only, not ranged attacks.
• Chain Lightning cast time slightly reduced, damage increased, now deals less damage to each target after the first.
• Earthbind Totem initial effect should no longer be heavily resisted.
• Fire Nova Totem now generates less threat.
• Flametongue Weapon replacements adjusted.
• Flametongue Totem replacements adjusted.
• Frostbrand Weapon slow effect reduced, damage increased, replacements adjusted.
• Lightning Bolt cast time reduced, damage and mana cost reduced accordingly, replacements adjusted.
• Molten Blast removed.
• Purge moved to level 14.
• Rockbiter Weapon replacements adjusted.
• Water Breathing moved to level 22.
• Windfury Weapon moved to level 30, replacements adjusted, effect simplified.
• Windfury Totem replacements adjusted, effect simplified.
• New Spell: Windwall Totem (Level 36, 46, 56)
• Stoneskin Totem’s damage reduction slightly reduced at higher levels.

Warlock:

• Demon Breath renamed Unending Breath.
• Sacrificial Shield (Voidwalker) renamed Sacrifice.
• Summon Nightmare cast time decreased to be in line with other mount summoning spells.
• Nightmare renamed Felsteed.
• Felsteed no longer purchased at the trainer, but rewarded via quest.
• Found and fixed a bug that caused the cost per second of Health Funnel to be higher than it should be.
• A failed Ritual of Summoning should no longer cost a soul shard.
• Shadow Ward duration reduced, cooldown increased.
• Curse of Weakness effect reduced at higher levels.

Warrior:

• Strike renamed Heroic Strike.
• Punishing Blow renamed Mocking Blow.
• Sundering Strike renamed Sunder Armor.
• Sunder Armor no longer stacks with Expose Armor, but will now stack with Faerie Fire.
• Recklessness now has a percent-based armor reduction, but using it makes you immune to all fear effects for the duration.
• Dual Wield no longer requires skill points to purchase. It is available on Warrior trainers at level 20 for a monetary training cost.
• Intimidating Shout now has a chance to break when the feared target is damaged.
• Charge range changed to 8-25 yards.
• Charge minimum range reduced to 8 yards.
• Charge can now be done during combat, but the target must still be within the 8-25 yard range.
• Taunt effectiveness reduced.

Warrior Talents:

• Enrage now has a max duration
• Enrage triggers when being hit with a critical hit now, damage increases with the rank of the talent.
• Removed attack speed bonus from Enrage.
• Reduced enrage damage bonus slightly.
• Flurry speed slightly reduced.
• Moved Enrage/Flurry/Cruelty, changed pre-requisites for each.
• Reduced rage bonus for Improved Heroic Strike.
• Mortal Strike now has a cooldown, damage has also been reduced.
• Rage bonus for Improved Charge reduced.
• Tactical mastery points distributed evenly. Players will no longer experience “diminishing returns” from putting more points into the talent.
• Slightly reduced the damage bonus given by 2-handed weapon specialization.
• Improved the Anticipation talent.
• Increased the amount of ranks you can have in Improved Disarm by 3.
• Reduced strength of Combat Endurance.
• Increased duration of Improved Battle Shout.
• Reduced Deep Wounds damage.
• Improved Hamstring slightly improved. (Note: base Hamstring ability has been slightly reduced)
• Improved Pummel is no longer a pre-req for Improved Overpower.
• Reduced chance to gain rage from Unbridled Wrath
• Changed Taunt to improve the effectiveness of Taunt rather than reduce the rage cost.

Quests:

• Ormer’s Revenge has been changed slightly to accommodate spawn changes to the area.
• Hungry! quest requirements were dropped from 20 to 12.
• Nothing but The Truth: Adjusted the Mire Lord’s level down to 42. Reduced the number of panther hearts required to 5.
• More quests improved and added to the Barrens.
• More quests added to the newbie zones (Northshire, Valley of Trials, etc).
• New exterior zones quested: Ungoro Crater, Felwood, and Burning Steppes.
• Several other changes were made to the Fallen Hero of the Horde quest-line.
• New dungeon quested: Blackrock Depths.
• NPCs following the party on a quest will follow another player if the one they are following dies.
• Bugs in The Missing Diplomat quest line have been fixed. Private Hendel should no longer remain in his stuck position.
• The Unsent Letter quest line from VanCleef has had a portion of it made more “group friendly.” Specifically, the portion of the quest that takes place in the castle is now an escort so it can be done a group at a time instead of on an individual basis.
• Shattered Necklace Power Source should now drop for all players on both sides of the Uldaman necklace quest series.
• The extraneous necklace requirement for the Alliance version of the Shattered Necklace quest in Uldaman has been removed.
• Mysterious Relic should now drop for all players on the Against the Hate Crest series.
• Felix Whindlebolt’s box in Dun Morogh should be much easier to find.
• Belnizstrasz’s quest in Razorfen Downs had the item collection step removed.
• The Stone Watcher of Norgannon in Tanaris has been changed to stay around longer and re-spawn much faster.
• Fixed several bugs with Blasted Lands Quests:
• Kum’isha the Collector will no longer stop functioning after someone hands in a Flawless Draenethyst Sphere.
• The Stones that Bind Us has been changed to give group credit. NPC Servants have had their spawn points altered. Kirith was moved.
• Be careful hunting in Blasted Lands as Teremus the Devourer will be much more aggressive.

Dungeons:

Wailing Caverns changes:

• Deviate Crocolisks are now non-elite and no longer respawn.
• Deviate Thundersnouts were replaced with groups of new, non-elite mobs called Deviate Lashers.
• New creatures were added to the snake wing. They are called Deviate Pythons and are non-elite.
• Most of the dungeon is on a two-hour respawn now (with the exception of the roamers which respawn every 30 minutes)
• Skum is now a constant spawn instead of a rare. His hit points were increased.

Blackfathom Deeps:

• Ghamoo-ra is now a constant spawn instead of a rare.
• Miscellaneous polish to associated quests.

New faction specific graveyard rules for the following zones:

Hillsbrad
Horde — Tarren Mill
Alliance — Southshore

Alterac
Horde — Tarren Mill
Alliance — Southshore

Shadowfang
Alliance — Southshore
Horde — Sepulcher

Silverpine Forest
Alliance — Southshore
Horde — Sepulcher

Tirisfal Glades
Alliance — Faol’s Rest
Horde — Brill

Undercity
Alliance — Faol’s Rest
Horde — Brill

Scarlet Monastery
Alliance — Faol’s Rest
Horde – Faol’s Rest

Deathknell
Alliance — Faol’s Rest
Horde — Deathknell

Faction/Reputation

• Ratchet, Gadgetzan, and Booty Bay now utilize our most current system of factions and reputation adjustments. Assaulting bankers, vendors, transportation specialists, etc., may result in a loss of permanent reputation with these cities.
• The “Steamwheedle Cartel” faction represents the neutral goblin state that is comprised of Booty Bay in the Eastern Kingdoms, and Gadgetzan and Ratchet in Kalimdor. Affecting your reputation in one of these cities will effect in the others.
• Players start out Neutral with the above-mentioned factions. Losing reputation will result eventually in becoming Unfriendly with the local populace; names and target reticules will appear in orange to indicate this status. While reputation remains at Unfriendly, players cannot interact with vendors, trainers, etc. that are of the faction in question.
• Below Unfriendly is Hostile reputation and finally Hated reputation. Both of these are indicated by red names and target reticules. Hostile and Hated faction NPCs will attack a player on sight if they are aggressive. Just like for Unfriendly reputation, interaction with Hostile or Hated factions is not permitted.

PvP:

• Level differences don’t have as great an impact now in PvP.
• Tarren Mill & Freewind Post now have a new guard system in place.
• Taxi NPCs are now lvl 55+ and will summon guardians.
• Major cities are now considered Alliance/Horde territory on the Beta Server.

Auction House Changes:

• Several improvements to the interface have been made.
• Auction Houses/Auctioneers will now exist only in Ironforge, Ogrimmar, and Booty Bay.

Trade Skills:

• Enchanting is completely revised and has had recipes added up to 200 enchanting skill. Enchanting now requires the disenchanting of magical items to get the required components. There are around 100 enchanting recipes.
• You can now enchant soulbound items through the player-to-player trade interface.
• Goblin and Gnomish engineering recipes and trainers are now in the game for engineers above skill 200, but be warned as their devices do not always work as intended. You can only choose one or the other and may need to search to find the trainer.
• First aid skill increase rate has been slowed down
• You can now use Find Herbs/Minerals while mounted
• Engineering devices have been categorized much more nicely. Your recipes will be easier to sort through now.
• Recipes that were marked as blue/rare that make green/uncommon items were changed to green/uncommon.
• Trade skill recipes now display the item made as well as the reagents required to make it in the tool tip.
• Some tailoring items had their required reagents reduced and/or their stats increased
• Campfires can now be made in dungeons (and as a side effect of this in buildings as well)
• Campfire bonuses no longer stack
• Dreamweave items will now provide their proper bonuses (before they were inadvertently giving only a nature bonus).
• Bandages should now work correctly (Apply the recently bandaged debuff to the target)
• Bombs made by engineering now have a short cast time and a smaller area of effect.
• Truesilver breastplate is now somewhat harder to make.
• Right-clicking on a skinnable corpse will now tell you how much skill you need to skin it if you do not have the required skill.
• Anti-venom made by physicians no longer requires first aid to apply
• Tailoring robe of power increased a few levels to make it more desirable
• Beasts no longer drop leather without skinning skill
• Transmute gold and truesilver had level requirements removed
• Solid iron maul, now available to both horde and alliance
• Pick pocketing gem drops reduced slightly
• Green lens changed so it gives Stamina and then a random stat as well
• Requirements needed to make feathered breastplate upped slightly.
• Explosive shell pulled from engineering.
• Blacksmithing Reagents required to make ornate mithril pants, boots and breastplate increased.
• Blacksmithing recipes requiring 250+ skill have been added to Blackrock depths.
• Added a higher-end quiver and ammo pouch to the leatherworking trade skill.
• Bolt of linen only requires 2 linen instead of 3 now.
• Coal lrice reduced to 5 silver
• Price that gems sell back to stores increased slightly to be somewhat closer to their real value.
• Effect of stoneskin potion improved.
• Wildvine drop rate significantly improved (3 times old rate).
• All secondary tracking skills have been removed. Your skill points have been refunded.
• Medium hide requirements for level 20-25 leatherworking items have been significantly reduced.

Chat:

Chat UI Revamped. Changes will continue to be made from player feedback and designer upgrades.

Misc.:

• Giving your pet commands will cancel spells they are currently casting.
• Summons and pets keep up with their owners more often.
• Creatures should no longer aggro through doors
• Closed doors block line of sight.
• Added an inn to Sentinel Hill in Westfall.
• Added a mailbox to Westfall.
• Added an inn to Hammerfall in Arathi Highlands.
• Added a graveyard to Northern Stranglethorn Vale.
• Ghosts can now path through locked doors.
• Monsters should no longer spawn directly on players as often as they used to.
• Elementals have been added to the world that drop needed elemental items (such as globe of water)
• Level 45 arrows/shots added to vendors
• Vendor-purchased bows added to vendors around the world
• A couple of additional pet types have been added to the world, some of them hard to find.
• “V” key functionality has been improved so it looks better and provides more information. You can now tell which monster you have targeted and you can tell which monsters have been damaged recently.
• Green-quality bows added to vendors around the world.
• Confused creatures now wander around the immediate area.
• If you have an honored or revered reputation with a vendor you will get a 10% discount.
• Creatures are a bit smarter about using their abilities.
• You can’t interact with charmed or possessed NPCs.
• Charmed players will use their spells and abilities.
• Creatures regenerate mana quickly outside of combat.
• Trade channels are the only general chat channels that allow item links.
• Creatures that summon totems no longer chase you forever.
• Many new paths have been added to the Flight Web for world travel. Be sure to check your Flight Path NPC’s to see what new paths have opened up. Not all of the paths have been added yet; more are on the way in the near future.
• Tiny-iron and bronze keys removed from vendors and smithing since they no longer have a purpose
• Silk drops increased at level 25-30.
• Mount sell price changed to zero to prevent accidental selling. A real solution is on the way, no really!
• The Loch Modan Dam has been redesigned