wow War Within Alpha Development Notes: May 14th

[Staff 1,488]

We've got a surprise Tuesday Alpha build and here are the official development notes covering all the class changes and everything new in the update.

(Source)

Hello everyone! Here are the changes that you can find in this week’s update to The War Within Alpha:

CLASSES

• The following Hero Talents are available for playtesting in Public Alpha 5:
  • SHAMAN
    • Totemic (Enhancement/Restoration)
      • Totemics excel at unlocking the full power of their totems, strengthening their totems and gaining access to new ones. They have honed their imbuement skills to further improve their combat capabilities.
• DEATH KNIGHT
  • Frost
    • New Talent: Shattered Frost – When Frost Strike consumes 5 Razorice stacks, it deals 50% of the damage deal to nearby enemies. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets. Available as a capstone talent after Shattering Blade.
    • New Talent: Arctic Assault – Consuming Killing Machine fires a Glacial Advance through your target. Available as a new capstone directly after Obliteration.
    • New Talent: Smothering Offense – Your auto attack damage is increased by 5%. This amount is increased per stack of Icy Talons you have and can stack up to 2 additional times.
    • New Talent: Icy Death Torrent – Your auto attack critical strikes have a chance to send out a sleet of ice dealing Frost damage to enemies in front of you.
    • New Talent: The Long Winter – While Pillar of Frost is active, your auto-attack critical strikes increase its duration by 1 second, up to a maximum of 5 seconds.
    • Frostscythe has been redesigned – A sweeping attack that strikes all enemies in front of you for Frost damage. This attack always critically strikes and critical strikes with Frostscythe deal normal damage. Deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets. Consuming Killing Machine reduces the cooldown of Frostscythe by 1 second. Now has a 30 second cooldown and Rune cost increased to 2 (was 1).
    • Rime is now a baseline ability learned at level 21.
    • Breath of Sindragosa damage increased by 25%.
    • Chill Streak can now bounce off the Death Knight if a second enemy target isn’t found.
    • Enduring Strength is now a 1-point talent. Strength increased to 20% (was 10%).
    • Frostwhelp’s Aid is now a 1-point talent. Now grants 8% Mastery per target hit (was 4%).
    • Killing Machine now stacks 1 additional time.
    • Everfrost is now learned in gate 1 directly after Howling Blast.
    • Frostwyrm’s Fury position moved to gate 2 and located directly after Icecap, Frostwhelp’s Aid, and Enduring Strength.
    • Absolute Zero shifted up to gate 3 unlock positioned directly behind Frostwyrm’s Fury.
    • Shattering Blade is now available after Avalanche.
    • Rune of Razorice now displays the debuff on the enemy nameplate.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Fatal Fixation
      • Cold Blooded-Rage
      • Invigorating Freeze
    • Horn of Winter is now positioned in Fatal Fixations old location.
    • Empower Rune Weapon is now located in Horn of Winter’s old location.
    • Obliteration has replaced Cold-Blooded Rage.
• DRUID
  • Druid of the Claw
    • Bestial Strength increases Primal Wrath’s direct damage by 50% (was 100%).
    • Dreadful Wound bleed damage increased by 25%.
  • Keeper of the Grove
    • Dream Surge’s Dream Burst damage reduced by 15%.
    • Harmony of the Grove’s Force of Nature treants spell damage increased by 5% (was 3%).
    • Power of Nature now increases Force of Nature treant melee damage by 100% (was 20%).
    • Bounteous Bloom now causes each treant to generate 6 Astral Power every 2 seconds (was 3 Astral Power).
    • Early Spring now reduces the cooldown of Force of Nature by 15 seconds (was 10 seconds).
    • Cenarius’ Might has been updated – Entering Eclipse (Balance)/Casting Swiftmend (Restoration) increases your Haste by 8% for 6 seconds.
    • Power of the Dream no longer affects Cenarius’ Might.
    • Control of the Dream’s maximum effect increased to 15 seconds (was 5 seconds).
    • Grove’s Inspiration’s Wrath and Starfire damage bonus reduced to 10% (was 12%).
    • Persistent Enchantments has been replaced by Potent Enchantments – Balance: Orbital Strike applies Stellar Flare for 8 additional seconds and deals 30% increased damage. Greater Alignment increases the duration of Celestial Alignment by an additional 20% and increases Eclipse damage during Celestial Alignment by an additional 5%. Restoration: Reforestation grants Tree of Life for 2 additional seconds.
  • Wildstalker
    • Symbiotic Blooms now prioritize growing on injured targets.
    • Strategic Infusion’s chance for your periodic heals to crit is decreased to 8% (was 10%), but its duration is increased to 10 seconds (was 6 seconds).
    • Wildstalker’s Power has been updated – Rip and Ferocious Bite damage increased by 5%. Rejuvenation, Efflorescence, and Lifebloom healing increased by 10%.
    • New Talent replacing Wildstalker’s Persistence: Lethal Preservation – When you remove an effect with Soothe or Remove Corruption/Nature’s Cure, gain a combo point and heal for 4% of your maximum health. If you are at full health an injured party or raid member will be healed instead.
    • Root Network now increases the healing of all your abilities, not just Lifebloom and Wild Growth.
    • Implant has been updated – When you gain or lose Tiger’s Fury, your next single-target melee ability causes a Bloodseeker Vine to grow on the target for 4 seconds. Swiftmend causes a Symbiotic Bloom to grow on the target for 4 seconds.
    • Twin Sprouts’ chance to grow new vines increased to 20% (was 10%).
    • Resilient Flourishing can now cause Bloodseeker Thorns to spread to any nearby valid target, preferring ones currently unaffected by Bloodseeker Thorns.
    • Bursting Growth has been updated – When Bloodseeker Thorns expire or you use Ferocious Bite on their target they explode in thorns, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies. Damage reduced above 5 targets. When Symbiotic Blooms expire or you cast Rejuvenation on their target flowers grow around their target, healing them and up to 3 nearby allies.
    • Entangling Vortex now immobilizes affected units for 3 seconds.
  • Feral
    • New Talent: Resourceful Hunter – Leech increased by 2%. Versatility increased by 2%.
    • Rampant Ferocity restored, replacing Resourceful Hunter – Ferocious Bite also deals damage per combo point spent to all nearby enemies affect by your Rip. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets.
    • Rampant Ferocity damage relative to Ferocious Bite increased by 20%.
    • Tear Open Wounds has been removed.
• EVOKER
  • Devastation
    • Animosity can no longer extend Dragonrage beyond 16 seconds.
  • Preservation
    • Time of Need now triggers at 30% health (was 20%). Passive now displays in spellbook, and the cooldown can now be tracked on the passive.
    • Reversion’s tooltip has been updated to include Golden Hour’s effect, if the talent is learned – Reverse an ally’s injuries, instantly healing them for 15% of damage taken in the last 5 seconds and an additional amount of healing over 12 seconds.
• MAGE
  • New Talent: Barrier Diffusion – Whenever one of your Barriers is removed, reduce its cooldown by 4 seconds. Located in Dragon’s Breath previous location.
  • Dragon’s Breath is now located in gate 2.
  • Supernova added to Mage class tree. Choice node with Dragon’s Breath.
  • Supernova now has a 45 second cooldown (was 25 seconds).
  • Ice Nova is now a choice node with Ring of Frost.
  • Mass Slow has been removed.
  • Sunfury
    • Arcane Phoenix visuals have been updated, targeting behaviors have been adjusted to prioritize who you are attacking and has had several spellbook updates: No longer casts Meteor as an exceptional spell, now casts Meteorite and Meteorite Barrage as an exceptional spell.
    • Lessons in Debilitation no longer replaces the first exceptional spell the Phoenix casts with Supernova or Gravity Lapse and now casts Supernova or Gravity Lapse alongside the Phoenix’s first spell cast. Additionally, the Arcane Phoenix now Spellsteals once when it is summoned and once when it expires (used to be once per second). Phoenix Spellsteal will only target units with stealable buffs.
    • Invocation: Arcane Phoenix’s Spellfire Sphere consumption effect moved to Codex of the Sunstriders.
    • Over your Phoenix’s duration, it will consume each of your Spellfire Spheres to cast an exceptional spell.
  • Arcane
    • Arcane Battery’s spell damage buff now stacks up to 4 times (was 5). Spell damage buff duration is now 30 seconds (was 25 seconds).
    • Leydrinker now triggers after consuming Nether Precision 5 times (was 6).
    • Cracking Energy and Improved Arcane Missiles are now a 1-point talent.
    • Reverberate has returned and is now in gate 2.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Supernova
      • Rule of Threes
  • Fire
    • Pyromaniac is now implemented.
    • Fevered Incantation now grants 1% increased critical strike damage per point (was 2%).
    • Lit Fuse chance to trigger increased to 10% (was 5%).
    • Explosive Ingenuity increases Lit Fuse trigger chance to 20% (was 10%).
    • Explosivo now increases Lit Fuse trigger chance to 40% while Combustion is active (was 30%).
    • Convection now has a connection to Explosivo.
    • Majesty of the Phoenix is now in gate 1.
    • Firestarter’s position has changed.
    • Surging Blaze removed.
  • Frost
    • Ice Barrier’s absorb increased to 24% of maximum health (was 22%).
• MONK
  • Vivacious Vivification now additionally increases the healing of your next Vivify.
  • Windwalker
    • Fury of Xuen now increases Haste, Mastery, and Critical Strike chance by 3% (was Critical Strike chance by 5%).
• PALADIN
  • Lightsmith
    • Valiance no longer increases the duration of active Armaments, cooldown reduction unchanged.
    • Solidarity’s tooltip updated to reflecting targeting change.
    • Blessing of the Forge has had targeting improvements and visual effects updates.
  • Retribution
    • Radiant Glory has been updated – Wake of Ashes activates Avenging Wrath/Crusade for 10/12 seconds, Each Holy Power spent has a chance to activate Avenging Wrath/Crusade for 5/6 seconds.
    • Radiant Glory now extends the duration of an active Avenging Wrath/Crusade if it triggers while Avenging Wrath/Crusade is active.
  • Protection
    • Bastion of Light has been redesigned – Your next 5 casts of Judgment generate 2 additional Holy Power.
    • Sanctuary has been redesigned – Consecration’s benefit persists for 4 seconds after you leave it.
    • Light of the Titans is now a 1-point talent. Healing over time is now a % of original value, rather than attack power based.
    • Bulwark of Order is now a 1-point talent.
    • Separated Focused Enmity and Soaring Shield are now a choice node.
    • Light of the Titans and Tirion’s Devotion are now a choice node.
    • Crusader’s Resolve has been redesigned – Targets struck by Avenger’s shield deal 10% reduced melee damage to you for 10 seconds.
    • Strength in Adversity now grants 5% Parry per target (was 2%).
• PRIEST
  • Voidweaver
    • Developer’s note: The goal of these changes is to make Collapsing Void work better with Discipline Priest’s Atonement ramp, as well as to make Collapsing Void more relevant for encounters with lower health enemies. For Discipline Priests who want to better fit Collapsing Void into their Atonement window, they can choose Void Empowerment to help with that. In addition, Devour Matter felt like an odd choice against Void Empowerment, so now it is a node that you are guaranteed to have.
    • Entropic Rift duration reduced to 8 seconds (was 10 seconds).
    • Void Torrent now immediately summons Entropic Rift and pauses its duration until the channel is complete or interrupted.
    • Darkening Horizon extension for Entropic Rift capped at 3 seconds (was 5 seconds).
    • Void Empowerment redesigned for Discipline – Now extends your shortest 5 Atonements by 1 seconds (was 80% increase to your next Power Word: Shield).
    • Void Empowerment is now a choice node with Darkening Horizon instead of Devour Matter.
    • Shadow
      • Entropic Rift is now summoned by Shadow Crash instead of Void Torrent.
      • Inner Quietus has been redesigned – Shadow Crash deals 400% additional damage to its primary target (was Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain damage increased by 20%).
  • Shadow
    • Shadow Crash now centers on your target, rather than using a reticle to target a position on the ground.
• SHAMAN
  • Farseer
    • Restoration
      • In addition to increasing maximum mana, Primordial Capacity now also increases the max stacks of Tidal Waves to 4.
• WARLOCK
  • Diabolist
    • Abyssal Dominion has been redesigned:
      • Demonology – Summon Demonic Tyrant becomes empowered, dealing 70% increased damage and increasing the damage of your demons by 20% while active.
      • Destruction – Summon Infernal becomes empowered, dealing 40% increased damage. When your Summon Infernal ends, it fragments into two smaller Infernals at 50% effectiveness that last 10 seconds.
  • Demonology
    • The cooldown of Summon Vilefiend has been reduced to 30 seconds (was 45 seconds).
    • The cooldown of Summon Demonic Tyrant has been reduced to 1 minute (was 1 minute and 30 seconds).
    • Fel Invocation has been redesigned – Soul Strike deals 20% increased damage and generates a Soul Shard.
    • Pact of the Ered’ruin has been redesigned – When Doom expires, you summon a Doomguard that casts 5 Doom Bolts before departing. Each Doom Bolt deals Shadow damage.
    • Ferocity of F’harg has been renamed to Flametouched and has been redesigned – Increases the attack speed of your Dreadstalkers by 20% and their critical strike chance by 15%.
    • Mark of Shatug has been redesigned – Your Summon Vilefiend becomes Summon Gloomhound and learns the following ability:
      • Gloom Slash – Tooth and claw are drenched in malignant shadow magic, causing the Gloomhound’s melee attacks to deal Shadow damage over 6 seconds. If this effect is reapplied, any remaining damage will be added to the new Gloom Slash.
    • New Talent: Mark of F’harg – Your Summon Vilefiend becomes Summon Charhound and learns the following ability:
      • Infernal Presence – Cloaked in the ever-burning flames of the abyss, dealing Fire damage to enemies within 10 yards every 1 second.
    • New Talent: Shadowtouched – Wicked Maw causes the target to take 20% additional Shadow damage from your demons.
    • New Talent: Foul Mouth – Increases Vilefiend damage by 20% and your Vilefiend’s Bile Spit now applies Wicked Maw.
    • New Talent: The Houndmaster’s Gambit – Your Dreadstalkers deal 50% increased damage while your Vilefiend is active.
    • New Talent: Blood Invocation – The cooldown of Power Siphon is reduced by 5 seconds and Power Siphon increases the damage of Demonbolt by an additional 20%.
    • New Talent: Fiendish Oblation – Damage dealt by Grimoire: Felguard is increased by an additional 10% and you gain a Demonic Core when Grimoire: Felguard ends.
    • New Talent: Doom Eternal – Demonic Cores reduce the duration of Doom by an additional 2 seconds and when Doom is removed its cooldown is reset.
    • New Talent: Impending Doom – Increases the damage of Doom by 20% and Doom generates 1 Soul Shard upon expiration.
    • Implosion, Imp Gang Boss, and Inner Demons have moved to gate 1.
    • Summon Demonic Tyrant, Reign of Tyranny, The Expendables, and Annihilan Training have moved to gate 2.
    • Summon Vilefiend, Dread Calling, Improved Demonic Tactics, and Demonic Brutality have moved to gate 3.
    • The following talents are now 1 point:
      • Imp Gang Boss
      • Umbral Blaze
      • Pact of the Imp Mother
      • Dread Calling
      • Demonic Brutality
      • Flametouched
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Fiendish Prowess
      • Shadow’s Bite
      • Infernal Command
      • Fel and Steel
      • Shadowcaster
      • Malefic Impact
      • Cavitation
      • Grand Warlock’s Design
• WARRIOR
  • Colossus
    • Practiced Strikes now also affects Cleave and Revenge.
    • Rally has been redesigned – When your health is brought below 35%, you gain a Second Wind, healing you for 12% of your max health over 2 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 60 seconds.
    • Dominance of the Colossus damage taken debuff reduced to max of 5% (was 10%).
    • Mountain of Muscle and Scars damage taken reduced by 2.5% (was 5%).
  • Slayer
    • Slayer’s Reflexes renamed to Lethal Reflexes – Now resets the cooldown on Raging Blow for Fury (was Bloodthirst).
    • Constant Pressure replaced with Opportunist – When Tactician resets Overpower’s cooldown or Raging Blow resets its own cooldown, your next Overpower or Raging Blow deals 10% more damage and 10% more critical damage.
    • Slayer’s Focus renamed to Slayer’s Malice – Now affects Raging Blow for Fury (was Bloodthirst).
    • Tunnel Vision replaced with Culling Cyclone – Each strike of Bladestorm deals an additional 20% damage evenly split across all targets.
    • Thrill of the Kill replaced with Brutal Finish – Your next Mortal Strike or Rampage after Bladestorm ends deals 50% additional damage.
    • Frenetic Flurry renamed and slightly redesigned to Reap the Storm – Overpower and Raging Blow have a chance to cause you to unleash a flurry of steel, damaging all nearby enemies and applying Overwhelmed. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.
    • Unrelenting Onslaught now allows you to use Pummel and Storm Bolt while Bladestorming.
    • Death Drive’s healing decreased to 15% of damage dealt by Sudden Death (was 50%).
    • Slay renamed to Show No Mercy.
    • The Culling Cyclone/Brutal Finish and Lethal Reflexes/Opportunist choice nodes have swapped positions.
  • Mountain Thane
    • Lightning Strikes’ chance for a lightning strike increased to 30% (was 25%). Lightning Strikes occur 30% more often during Avatar (was 50%).
    • Strength of the Mountain has been updated – Shield Slam damage increased by 10% (was 20%) and now causes Demoralizing Shout to reduce damage enemies deal to Protection Warriors by an additional 5%.
    • New Talent replacing Valarjar Training: Snap Induction – Activating Protection: Demoralizing Shout/Fury: Recklessness grants a charge of Thunder Blast.
    • Flashing Skies has been updated – Thunder Blast calls down a Lightning Strike on an enemy it hits.
    • Steadfast as the Peaks has been updated – Stamina increased by 5%. Victory Rush increases your maximum health by 10% for 5 seconds. When this health increase expires, you heal for any amount of the original Victory Rush that healed you in excess of your full health.
    • Keep Your Feet on the ground now additionally increases your Armor by 8%.
    • Thunder Blasts now generate 10 Rage for Protection and Fury (was 5).
    • Thunder Blasts deal 20% increased damage for Protection Warriors.
    • Burst of Power’s chance to trigger from Lightning Strikes reduced to 15% (was 20%).
    • Burst of Power now causes affected Bloodthirsts to deal 25% increased damage and generate 2 additional Rage for Fury Warriors.
    • Steadfast as the Peaks/Keep Your Feet on the Ground choice node position swapped with Flashing Skies/Snap Induction.
  • Protection
    • Battle-Scarred Veteran has been updated – When a damage event reduces your health below 30%, the portion of that damage event that would apply to the last 30% of your health is also reduced by 80%.
      • Developer’s note: For example, if you are at 50% health and receive damage for 40% of your health, your damage taken will be 20% + 20% * (1-0.8), or 24%, and you will have 26% health remaining when Battle-Scarred Veteran activates." Additionally, this change will be deployed to the 10.2.7 environment over the next few days.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• MONK
  • New PvP Talent: Absolute Serenity – Celestial Conduit now prevents incapacitate, disorient, snare, and root effects for its duration.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• On the Rated PvP screen, the button tooltips now include information about your current rank in the specialization leaderboard.
• Search functionality has been added to the Spellbook. Search results will be categorized under one of the following to provide further context:
  • Exact Matches: Exact full name matches the search text
  • Related Matches: Spells mentioned in the Exact Match’s description
  • Name Matches: Spells whose name partially matches the search text
  • Description Matches: Spells whose description partially matches the search text
• Checkbox added to hide passives from displaying in the Spellbook.