wow The War Within Pre-Patch PTR Development Notes: June 26th

[Staff 1,488]

A new build went live on the War Within pre-patch PTR and here are this week's changes!

This update reduces the Avoidance and Leech ratings from gear, now providing only half as much as before. Additionally, the Avoidance and Leech from talents have been decreased as well.

(Source)

Hello! Here are this week’s changes to the War Within Pre-Expansion PTR:

CLASSES

• Developer’s note: In this week’s build, Avoidance and Leech rating on gear gives half as much percent value as before, and we’ve reduced the amount of these stats given by most talents. Both stats, Avoidance in particular, are extremely effective against the damage non-tank players face. By the end of an expansion, the amount of Avoidance appearing on gear reduces so much damage that acquiring pieces with it can feel required to do the hardest content, particularly extremely high Mythic+ keys. By reducing the amount of value given per rating, our goal is for pieces with those stats to remain valuable, but for the gap between players with and without them to be closer.
• Reduced the percentage granted by Avoidance and Leech rating by 50%.
• The following Leech and Avoidance effects have also been reduced:
  • Death Knight
    • Lichborne now grants 6% Leech (was 10%).
    • Blood Scent now grants 3% Leech (was 5%).
  • Demon Hunter
    • Soul Rending now grants 6% Leech (was 10%).
  • Evoker
    • Regenerative Magic now grants 2% Leech (was 3%).
  • Hunter
    • Sentinel’s Protection now grants 3% Leech (was 5%).
    • Predator’s Thirst now grants 6% Leech (was 10%).
    • Hunter’s Avoidance now grants 5% Avoidance (was 6%).
  • Paladin
    • Sanctified Plates now grants 3% Avoidance (was 5%).
  • Priest
    • Sanguine Teachings now grants 2% Leech (was 3%).
  • Rogue
    • Leeching Poison now grants 3% Leech (was 5%).
    • Shadowheart now grants 2% Leech (was 3%).
  • Warlock
    • Lifeblood now grants 4% Leech (was 7%).
  • Warrior
    • Leeching Strikes now grants 3% Leech (was 5%).
    • Seasoned Soldier now grants 5% Avoidance (was 10%).
• DEATH KNIGHT
  • Frost
    • Icecap has been updated – Crits with Obliterate and Frost Strike no longer reduce Icecap cooldown. Now grants 15 second cooldown for Pillar of Frost.
    • Spending runes no longer increases the Strength bonus of Pillar of Frost.
    • Enduring Strength’s Strength bonus decreased to 15% (was 25%).
    • The functionality that increased Obliteration’s Frost Strike runic power cost and damage has been removed.
    • Murderous Efficiency’s chance to grant a Rune reduced to 25% (was 50%).
    • Frost Strike damage increased by 23%.
    • Obliterate damage increased by 23%.
    • Howling Blast damage increased by 23%.
    • Frost Fever damage increased by 23%.
    • Remorseless Winter damage increased by 23%.
    • Glacial Advance damage increased by 23%.
    • Frostsycthe damage increased by 5%.
    • Chill Streak damage increased by 23%.
    • Frostwyrm’s Fury damage increased by 10%.
    • Breath of Sindragosa damage increased by 23% and cost per second reduced to 17 (was 18).
    • Icy Death Torrent damage increased by 100%.
    • Inexorable Assault damage increased by 23%.
• DRUID
  • Connectors repositioned to avoid a scenario where Improved Stampeding Roar could be taken without Stampeding Roar.
  • Positions of Fluid Form and Forestwalk swapped.
  • Balance
    • All ability damage increased by 5%.
    • Starsurge damage increased by 15%.
    • Starfall damage increased by 15%.
    • Fury of Elune damage increased by 15%.
    • Full Moon damage increased by 15%.
    • Shooting Stars damage increased by 20%.
    • Stellar Flare damage increased by 10%.
    • Power of Goldrinn damage increased by 10%.
    • Denizen of the Dream damage increased by 10%.
    • Orbital Strike damage increased by 25%.
    • Greater Alignment causes Celestial Alignment to increase the damage your eclipses grant by 8% (was 5%).
• HUNTER
  • New Talent: Blackrock Munitions – The damage of Explosive Shot is increased by 8%.
  • New Talent: Implosive Trap – Hurls a fire trap to the target location that explodes when an enemy approaches, causing Fire damage and knocking all enemies up. Limit 1. Choice node with High Explosive Trap.
  • Territorial Instincts has been redesigned – Casting Intimidation without an active pet summons one from your stable.
  • Talent nodes in Gate 2 have been repositioned.
  • Concussive Shot and Wilderness Medicine now connect to Scare Beast and Scout’s Instinct respectively.
  • The following talents have been removed:
    • Steel Trap
    • Death Chakram
      • Developer’s note: One of the biggest complaints we’re seeing in the Hunter community is button bloat. Death Chakram was a relatively high-frequency button that you had to click before all of your damage abilities, creating something of a launch sequence for every Hunter specialization. Its removal will let us bake the lost power into each spec’s kit while also reducing the button-presses required before you can begin damage.
  • Beast Mastery
    • Alpha Predator and Improved Kill Command have swapped locations.
    • Improved Kill Command has a new icon.
    • Hunter’s Prey and Venom’s Bite have swapped locations.
    • Pathing in Gate 2 has been adjusted.
    • Huntmaster’s Call sound effect volume has been lowered.
  • Marksmanship
    • Arcane Shot damage increased by 3%.
    • Small Game Hunter’s Multi-Shot damage bonus reduced to 75% (was 100%).
    • Multi-Shot Focus cost increased to 30 (was 20).
    • Fixed a baseline passive bug that was causing Multi-Shot to deal 20% increased damage for Marksmanship only.
    • Wailing Arrow and Rapid Fire will now properly generate Wind Arrows when talented into Legacy of the Windrunners.
  • Survival
    • Sic’ Em has been redesigned – Kill Command has a 15% chance to reset the cooldown of Kill Shot, make it usable on targets regardless of Health, and strike up to 2 additional targets. This chance is doubled during Coordinated Assault.
    • Coordinated Assault initial damage increased by 60%.
    • Coordinated Assault has been redesigned – You and your pet charge your enemy, striking them for combined Physical damage. You and your pet’s bond is then strengthened for 20 seconds, causing you and your pet to deal 20% increased damage. While Coordinated Assault is active, Kill Command’s chance to reset its cooldown is increased by 15%.
      • Developer’s note: Coordinated Assault’s previous iterations have been disproportionately complex relative to its output. Our goal with these changes is to simplify Coordinated Assault’s effects, increase the power gain from Coordinated Assault, and disjoint it from Kill Shot so that you can opt-in to Kill Shot bonuses as you see fit. We also believe that the increased Kill Command reset chance will be more broadly appealing with the new talents introduced in the Survival update.
    • Symbiotic Adrenaline has been updated – Additionally causes Coordinated Assault to grant 3 stacks of Tip of the Spear.
    • Quick Shot has been updated – Now has a 30% chance to fire an Arcane Shot when you cast Kill Command (was when Kill Command reset).
    • Butchery damage increased by 100%.
    • Flanking Strike now replaces Kill Command after casting Kill Command 3 times.
    • Flanking Strike range increased to 25 yards (Medium-Short range).
    • Flanking Strike no longer benefits from Tip of the Spear and now generates 15 Focus.
    • Flanker’s Advantage no longer grants additional reset chance based on your critical strike.
      • This effect also had a bug that was causing you to roll for Kill Command resets twice per cast of Kill Command, which was creating substantially increased Kill Command resets.
    • Mongoose Fury now refreshes its duration when a new stack is applied.
    • Mongoose Fury max stacks reduced to 3 (was 5).
    • Mongoose Fury duration reduced to 10 seconds .
      • Developer’s note: The previous design of Mongoose Fury was rewarding you for pressing nothing but Mongoose Bite in your damage window while the new Tip of the Spear is asking you to weave in Kill Commands. These two designs were pulling your rotation in two separate directions, and these adjustments should help to harmonize these two mechanics.
    • Wildfire Infusion’s Kill Command reset chance reduced to 10% (was 15%).
    • Wildfire Infusion’s Wildfire Bomb cooldown reduction reduced to 0.5 seconds (was 1 second).
      • Developer’s note - We’re still making adjustments to Survival’s action economy and reducing how crowded the rotation feels. Part of this is reducing the increased access of Wildfire Bomb from the various spec tree changes we’ve made, particularly through Wildfire Infusion.
    • Many effects that were consuming multiple stacks of Tip of the Spear have been fixed.
    • Spearhead now only makes your pet charge.
    • Spearhead description updated.
    • Spearhead visuals and sound effects updated.
• MAGE
  • Arcane
    • Many talents have been moved across all gates.
    • New Talent: Consortium’s Bauble – Reduces Arcane Blast’s mana cost by 3% and increases its damage by 3%.
    • New Talent: Resonant Orbs – Arcane Orb damage increased by 10%.
    • New Talent: Dematerialize – Spells empowered by Nether Precision cause their target to suffer an additional 8% of the damage dealt over 6 seconds.
    • New Talent: Energy Reconstitution – Damage from Dematerialize has a small chance to conjure an Arcane Explosion at 50% effectiveness at its target’s location. Arcane Explosions conjured this way do not generate Arcane Charges.
    • New Talent: Big Brained – Gaining Clearcasting increases your Intellect by 1% for 8 seconds. Multiple instances may overlap.
    • New Talent: Static Cloud – Each time you cast Arcane Explosion, its damage is increases by 25%. Bonus resets upon reaching 100% damage.
    • New Talent: High Voltage – Damage from Arcane Missiles has a 20% chance to grant you 1 Arcane Charge. Chance is increased by 5% every time your Arcane Missiles fails to grant an Arcane Charge.
    • Arcane Orb is now baseline.
    • Arcane Blast damage increased by 10%.
    • Baseline Clearcasting proc chance reduced to 8% (was 10%).
      • Developer’s note: It is currently too easy to acquire more Clearcasting stacks than you know what to do with. We’re going to continue to watch Clearcasting proc rates and adjust accordingly.
    • Clearcasting now utilizes bad luck protection instead of true randomness.
    • Improved Arcane Missiles damage bonus reduced to 5% (was 10%).
    • Crackling Energy damage bonus reduced to 5% (was 10%).
  • Fire
    • Pyromaniac proc chance reduced to 6% (was 8%).
    • Improved Scorch damage bonus increased to 6% (was 5%).
    • Pyromaniac Pyroblast and Flamestrike now echo at 50% effectiveness (was 100%).
    • Molten Fury damage bonus decreased to 7% (was 8%).
    • Phoenix Reborn damage bonus decreased to 100% (was 200%).
    • Ashen Feather damage bonus reduced to 50% (was 100%).
    • Ashen Feather Ignite bonus reduced to 50% (was 25%).
    • Developer’s note: We’re cleaning up the Living Bomb talents. Our goal with these changes is to increase the appeal of Gate 3 Living Bomb talents. We still expect Living Bomb to be fairly appealing in single target and low-cleave situations, since the damage decrease from the following changes in low-target contexts is marginal, and we will be watching it closely.
    • Living Bomb implementation has been refactored and many bugs have been fixed.
    • Living Bomb now applies Ignite.
    • Living Bomb now spreads to 3 targets (was 5).
    • The wording of many Lit Fuse proc chance increase talents has been changed.
    • Lit Fuse proc chance increased to 15% (was 10%).
    • Lit Fuse now applies 1 Living Bomb (was 3).
    • Explosivo has been updated – Now increases Living Bomb’s damage by 50% while under the effects of Combustion. Chance of gaining Lit Fuse is increased by 30% while under the effects of Combustion.
    • Blast Zone has been updated – Lit Fuse now turns up to 3 targets into Living Bombs. Living Bombs can now spread to 5 enemies.
    • Explosive Ingenuity now increases Living Bomb’s damage by 25% (was 50%).
    • Sparking Cinders now separately increases Pyroblast and Flamestrike’s damage, now 10% and 20% respectively.
    • Sparking Cinders now triggers 2 times per minute, scaling with Haste (was 3).
  • Frost
    • Death’s Chill has been updated – While Icy Veins is active, damaging an enemy with Frostbolt increases spell damage by 2%. Stacks up to 10 times.
      • Developer’s note: We’re increasing the ramp of Death’s Chill and giving it a stack limit so that you can comfortably switch off of Frostbolt after reaching max stacks.
    • Fractured Frost has been updated – While Icy Veins is active, your Frostbolts hit up to 2 additional targets and deal 15% increased damage.
    • Ice Lance damage increased by 12%.
• MONK
  • Brewmaster
    • Fundamental Observation has been removed.
  • Mistweaver
    • Fixed an issue that caused Gust of Mist’s healing to not be increased as intended.
• PALADIN
  • Holy
    • New Talent: Extrication – Word of Glory and Light of Dawn gain up to 30% additional chance to critically strike, based on their target’s current health. Lower health targets are more likely to be critically struck.
    • New Talent: Liberation – Word of Glory and Light of Dawn have a chance equal to your Haste to reduce the cost of your next Holy Light, Crusader Strike, or Judgment.
    • New Talent: Truth Prevails – Judgment heals you and its mana cost is reduced by 30%. 50% of overhealing from this effect is transferred onto 2 allies within 40 yards.
    • Glistening Radiance has been redesigned – Spending Holy Power has a 25% chance to trigger Saved by the Light’s absorb effect at 30% effectiveness without activating its cooldown.
    • Light’s Protection has been redesigned – Allies with Beacon of Light receive 5% less damage.
    • Overflowing Light has been redesigned – 15% of Holy Shock’s overhealing is converted into an absorb shield. The shield amount cannot exceed 10% of your max health.
    • Rising Sunlight has been redesigned – After casting Avenging Wrath, your next 2 Holy Shocks cast 2 additional times. After casting Divine Toll, your next 2 Holy Shocks cast 2 additional times.
    • Glorious Dawn has been redesigned – Holy Shock has a 12% chance to refund a charge when cast and its healing is increased by 10%.
    • Several talent locations have been moved.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Glimmer of Light
      • Daybreak
  • Retribution
    • Divine Wrath now extends the duration of Radiant Glory separately. New Tooltip – Increases the duration of Avenging Wrath and Crusade by 3 seconds, and Radiant Glory by 1.5 seconds.
    • Divine Wrath no longer extends the duration of Radiant Glory.
    • Vanguard of Justice has been updated – Enemies hit by other Holy Power spending abilities take 30% increased damage from your next Divine Storm stacking up to 3/5 times. 2-point talent.
    • Judge, Jury and Executioner has been updated – Holy Power generating abilities have a 15% chance to cause your next Templar’s Verdict to hit an additional 3 enemies at 100% effectiveness (was triggering from Divine Storm and was 40% chance).
    • Judge, Jury and Executioner no longer highlights Templar’s Verdict but instead has a UI overlay.
    • Templar Slash damage over time debuff is no longer displayed in the personal nameplates.
• ROGUE
  • Assassination
    • All ability damage increased by 15%.
  • Outlaw
    • All ability damage increased by 20%.
  • Subtlety
    • All ability damage increased by 20%.
• SHAMAN
  • Elemental
    • All damage increased by 30%.
• WARLOCK
  • Affliction
    • The chance for Ravenous Afflictions to activate has been increased.
  • Destruction
    • Summon Infernal now paths to Eradication and to Reverse Entropy/Internal Combustion.
• WARRIOR
  • Blood and Thunder talent removed.
  • Thunder Clap will now apply Rend by default if it is known.
  • Crackling Thunder no longer increases Thunder Clap damage.
  • Champion’s Might now causes you to deal 25% increased critical strike damage to targets chained to your Spear.
    • This critical damage bonus is now additive instead of multiplicative, matching other similar effects.
  • Piercing Challenge now increases all damage dealt by Champion’s Spear (was only initial damage).
  • Uproar now reduces the cooldown of Thunderous Roar by 45 seconds (was 30 seconds).
  • Fixed an issue that caused Rallying Cry to increase maximum health by 15% instead of the intended 10%.
  • Arms
    • All ability damage increased by 30%.
    • Overpower damage increased by an additional 20%.
  • Fury
    • Anger Management now reduces cooldowns by 1 second per 30 Rage spent (was 20 Rage).
    • Anger Management now reduces cooldowns by 1 second per 20 Rage spent (was 30 Rage, this reverts a recent change).
    • All ability damage increased by 30%.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• CLASSES
  • MAGE
    • Fire
      • Blazing Barrier’s effectiveness is no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 75% effective).
      • Unleashed Inferno is now 30% effective in PvP combat (was 20%).
  • MONK
    • Brewmaster
      • Charred Passions is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 0%).
      • Elusive Footwork is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 50%).
      • Niuzao’s Training is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 50%).
    • Mistweaver
      • Enveloping Breath is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 111%).
      • Invigorating Mists is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 112%).
      • Soothing Mist is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 115%).
    • Windwalker
      • Rising Star’s critical strike damage is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 50%).

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• CHARACTER SELECT SCREEN
  • Screen now displays up to four characters from your Warband at once. Characters can be reordered or moved in and out of the scene via the character list panel.
  • Characters are clickable and rotatable within the scene.
  • Hovering over characters will provide more information about that character, including class specialization, professions, and more.
  • A search field has been added to the character list panel to easily find your characters.
  • Artwork updates and clarity improvements have been made to game service menus.
• The number of character macro slots has increased to 30 (was 18).
• A map legend has been added to the main map next to the pin and filter options.

[Q 200]

21 minutes ago, Staff said:

The following talents have been removed:

• Glimmer of Light

 

RIP Glimmer Pally, the only healer I knew anything about

[Dejo93 1,023]

24 minutes ago, Q said:

RIP Glimmer Pally, the only healer I knew anything about

All I ever heard was how much of a meme that thing became

[Q 200]

50 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

All I ever heard was how much of a meme that thing became

It was the first (read: only) healer I managed to be somewhat decent with back when I played it in BfA, I was happy to see it made into a talent in SL but I didn't play much during SL because I got sick of grinding AP for the third expansion in a row. Didn't play much pally in DF either, as much as I wanted to so I didn't get much opportunity to play it then either. I thought it was a fun play style but I guess I'm in the minority on that front, oh well.

Edited June 26 by Q

[SpilledStars 71]

The way I read this, unless they've also nerfed their floor splats to go with this, they're actually telling everyone that playing well isn't good enough, they also need to bring more healers which means less dps which means 

grats, you reach the enrage timer

not only of the boss, but of the less than RWF-skills player. 
/sigh