Dreadwake Armor 4-piece set bonus can now proc from its own bonus Death Coil. Proc chance reduced to 16% (was 20%).
Developers' notes: This fix addresses a bug that prevented the bonus from activating as often as intended, and should average a small increase in throughput for the Unholy 4-piece.
Mage
Arcane
Fixed a bug preventing some Mages from progressing through the steps to obtain their hidden Artifact weapon appearance.
[WITH SERVER RESTARTS IN EACH REGION] Varimathras' health lowered by 10% in Mythic difficulty.
[WITH SERVER RESTARTS IN EACH REGION] Necrotic Embrace will no longer miss players who are under the effects of Aspect of the Turtle or Cloak of Shadows.
December 6[]
Classes
Demon Hunter
Havoc
Fixed an issue where Nemesis was applying at half duration against some creatures.
Druid
Restoration
The Bearmantle Battlegear 2-piece set bonus healing effect Dreamer now correctly interacts with Flourish and the Essence of G'Hanir.
Warrior
Arms
The Juggernaut Battlegear 2-piece set bonus now properly activates if the Artifact ability Warbringer applies Colossus Smash to any targets.
[Convergence of Fates] primary stat increased by 13%. Effect reduced to 3 seconds of cooldown reduction (was 4 seconds).
Developers’ notes: This change is aimed at changing how Convergence of Fates scales with item level – or rather, how it doesn’t. For some specializations, the cooldown reduction effect is so powerful that the item level of the trinket is all but irrelevant. We’re shifting more of the item’s power to primary stat and less in the base proc to cause the trinket’s scaling with item level to be more similar to other trinkets in Legion.
Prototype Personnel Decimator damage increased by 10%. Minimum damage when targets are 20 yards from the impact point increased to 50% of max damage (was 20%).
Felreaper Vestments 4-piece haste bonus changed to 25% (was 15%).
Druid
Balance
Stormheart Raiment 4-piece – Starsurge and Starfall now increase your Haste by 2% (was 3%), stacking up to 4 times (was 5).
Hunter
Beast Mastery
Serpentstalker Guise 4-piece – Kill Command now reduces the cooldown of Aspect of the Wild by 2.5 seconds (was 1.5 seconds).
Marksmanship
Serpentstalker Guise 4-piece – Marked Shot now has a 50% chance (was 30%) to fire an extra Marked shot at up to 3 additional targets.
Monk
Brewmaster
Chi-Ji’s Battle Gear 4-piece – Dodging an attack now reduces the remaining cooldown of Breath of Fire by 2.0 seconds (was 1.0 seconds).
Rogue
Assassination
Regalia of the Dashing Scoundrel 4-piece – Your Deadly or Wound Poison critical strike now generate 3 Energy (was 2 Energy).
Subtlety
Regalia of the Dashing Scoundrel 4-piece – Backstab and Shadowstrike now have a 4% chance (was 3%) to grant Shadow Gestures.
Warlock
Affliction
Diabolic Raiment 4-piece – Spending a Soul Shard now has a chance to grant you 10% Haste (was 15%).
Grim Inquisitor’s Regalia 4-piece – Unstable Affliction and Seed of Corruption now increase the damage targets take from your Agony and Corruption by 15% (was 10%).
Demonology
Grim Inquisitor’s Regalia 4-piece – Demonic Empowerment now causes your Dreadstalkers to immediately cast another Dreadbite with 75% increased damage (was 50%).
Warrior
Arms
Titanic Onslaught Armor 4-piece – The amount of bonus Mortal Strike damage events has been reduced to 2 during Bladestorm (was 3), and 1 during Ravager (was 2).
Player versus Player
Priest
Shadow
PvP Template Intellect increased by 2%.
[Mind Blast] damage increased by 5% in PvP situations.
[Mind Flay] damage increased by 15% in PvP situations.
Warlock
Affliction
PvP Template Versatility increased by 25%.
December 1[]
Classes
Mage
Frost
Fixed an issue where the Runebound Regalia 4-piece bonus, Arctic Blast, would sometimes only benefit part of an Ice Lance cast when using the talent Splitting Ice.
Monk
Windwalker
Reapplying Mark of the Crane to a target will now properly increase [Spinning Crane Kick]'s damage.
[Void Eruption] no longer deals a separate damage event for each of your Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch on each target. Instead, it now deals a single damage event to all targets that have either your Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch.
Void Eruption damage increased by 700%.
[Shadow Crash] cooldown reduced to 20 seconds (was 30 seconds), Insanity generation increased to 20 (was 15), and Missile speed increased by 60%.
Relinquished Armor Sets no longer stack, and can now be refunded for Nethershards within the refund period.
Reputation
Fixed a bug where players below level 110 could earn paragon reputation rewards. This was not intended.
Fixed a bug where players who were not eligible for paragon reputations could still use reputation token items, not receive the reputation, and lose the item. These items will now prevent the player from using them until the player is eligible.
November 6[]
Class Halls
The mission "Another Rat Problem" should again be available, and awards pet supplies with a bonus pet supplies reward.
Xuen's Battlegear 4-piece bonus now increases critical strike chance of Rising Sun Kick by 30% when [Fists of Fury] ends (was 65%).
Developers' notes: These changes, along with adjustments to the same set bonuses that were made in patch 7.3.2, should put the combination of 2- and 4-piece sets in line with our plans for the power of those tiers, and allow us to make the forthcoming Antorus tier competitive and valuable for Monk damage dealers. The spec-wide damage increase is intended to keep all of these adjustments from reducing overall damage output, and we’ve counteracted the changes in PvP with intent to be neutral.
The number of summoned Umbral Tentacles reduced to 3 with each summoning (was 4).
Void Lashing cast time increased to 2.5 seconds (was 2 seconds) and duration reduced to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds) in all difficulties.
Void Lashing healing reduction reduced to 2.5% (was 5%) per stack, max stacks increased to 40 (was 20), and duration reduced to 8 seconds (was 15 seconds) in Mythic difficulty.
Naaru's Lament damage reduced by 20% in Mythic difficulty.
Umbral Cadence damage reduced by 15% in all difficulties.
Player vs Player
The [Fierce Combatant] achievement is once again visible in the Player vs Player achievement category.
Recurrent Arena and Rated Battleground titles such as Duelist and Gladiator are now correctly available to players who earned their respective achievements in Season 4.
[Tigereye Brew] now reduces your damage dealt by 25% (was 20%).
October 4[]
Class Halls
Players no longer need to complete “ [45] The Seat of the Triumvirate” in the Argus storyline to unlock “ [45] The Ruins of Oronaar”, which allows further follower and mission progression.
Follower equipment that improves item level is more likely to appear from Argus missions, once “ [45] The Ruins of Oronaar” has been completed.
The final tier of Argus missions are now less difficult, reward more [Veiled Argunite], and reward more bonus Gold.
October 3[]
Argus
Resolved an issue where some players could have the Army of the Light emissary complete but were unable to see Vindicator Jaelaana and turn it in.
[With restarts in each region] The Argussian Reach emissary again requires 4 World Quests completed.
Classes
Developers' notes: All of the damage increases below are a combination of buffing specs that don't benefit from the Netherlight Crucible's item level increase as much as other specs, as well as tuning the specs relative to each other.
Death Knight
Frost
All damage increased by 4%.
Demon Hunter
Havoc
All damage increased by 3%.
Druid
Feral
All damage increased by 2%.
Hunter
Beast Mastery
All damage increased by 6%.
Survival
All damage increased by 5%.
Monk
Windwalker
All damage increased by 9%.
Rogue
Assassination
All damage increased by 5%.
Outlaw
All damage increased by 6%.
Subtlety
All damage increased by 1.5%.
Shaman
Enhancement
All damage increased by 3%.
Creatures
The yetis of Feralas should once again have facial hair.
[Hotfix in testing] Reduced the health of Kil'jaeden, Erupting Reflection, and Shadowsoul by 5% on all difficulties.
[Hotfix in testing] The maximum distance from the center of the platform that Armageddon can spawn has been reduced on all difficulties.
[Hotfix in testing] The radius of the explosion from Bursting Dreadflame has been reduced on all difficulties.
[Hotfix in testing] Chaotic Eruption damage and knockup has been reduced on Mythic difficulty.
Player versus Player
All specs that received general damage increases above have been reduced by an equivalent amount in PvP, as the Netherlight Crucible's item-level increases to the player's Artifact weapon have very little impact on PvP.
The Deliverance Point building accumulation rate has been increased for all regions. The intended result is for buildings to complete at approximately the same rate as they did before 7.3.
Classes
Shaman
Restoration and Elemental Shaman's [Chain Lightning] spells should now use a consistent casting animation.
The number of World Quests required to complete the Argussian Reach Emissary is reduced to 3 (was 4) until next week, when more Argussian Reach World Quests will become available.
Classes
Druid
[Hotfix in testing] Fixed a bug preventing [Starsurge] from having visual or sound effects.
Moontalon's health was unintentionally increased on Mythic difficulty in 7.3. It has been reverted to its original value.
Corrected an issue that could cause tanks to incorrectly be targeted with Lunar Beacon and Incorporeal Shot.
Player Characters
Fixed an issue that prevented one Night Elf Male hairstyle from appearing.
Artifact weapons with a challenge artifact appearance selected should no longer revert to their base appearance if the player is logged out while in a different specialization.
Nightfallen requirements removed from several Suramar quests, making it possible to complete the Suramar campaign without reputation gates.
Protection Paladins who obtained [Truthguard] without receiving credit for taking the hippogryph to Stormheim should now receive credit for doing so when they re-enter the "Shrine of the Truthguard" scenario.
(Hotfix in testing) Fixed a bug with [Heroic Leap], Havoc's [Metamorphosis], and [Infernal Strike] where they would sometimes fail to cast but still trigger their cooldown if the player became Rooted at the same time as the spell was cast.
Warlock
Destruction
[Immolate]'s Soul Shard generation should now function as intended and match the tooltip.
[With realm restarts in each region] Players who have obtained different raid lockouts are now able to group together and queue for Black Temple Timewalking.
[Earth Shield]'s internal cooldown increased to 1 second (was 0.5 seconds).
Earth Shield's cooldown increased to 6 seconds (was 5 seconds).
July 7[]
Classes
Monk
Brewmaster
[Exploding Keg] now reduces enemy autoattack damage by 99% for 3 seconds, instead of causing all melee attacks to miss.
Developers' Note: Exploding Keg had some unintended interactions with raid bosses which allowed it to trivialize some mechanics. Rather than making bosses immune to it, we're redesigning the debuff slightly, in order to retain the spirit of the effect. A followup hotfix will restore the original functionality in PvP, and the tooltip will be updated in Patch 7.3.
Priest
Holy
[Binding Heal] will now always correctly heal the target, caster, and one additional target.
Slightly increased the level of Mythic Keystones received from the Grand Challenger's Bounty in relation to the previous week's highest level Keystone completed.
[Glacial Spike]'s stored Icicle damage component no longer benefits from %-damage buffs on the caster.
Glacial Spike damage increased by 50%.
Developers' notes: This prevents the Icicles from doubling %-damage buffs (since the stored Icicle damage already benefits from such buffs). The base damage of Glacial Spike is being increased so that the total damage is similar to what it was in typical situations.
Incorporeal Shot will now fire immediately instead of canceling harmlessly if the primary target uses a full immunity effect like [Ice Block] or [Divine Shield].
[Sea Star of the Depthmother]'s Ocean's Embrace now has an 8 second internal cooldown. The proc chance has been reduced slightly for Holy Paladins and Holy Priests.
Demon Hunter Campaign: If you abandon " [45] Defense of the Fel Hammer" during the scenario, you will now be able to pick the quest up again from Kor'vas on Mardum.
The Black Tome should now always be visible if you have not completed " [45] The Black Tome".
Sisters of the Moon can now be hit by melee attacks from farther away.
Holiday
Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving credit for the quests " [1-70] Torch Tossing" and " [1-70 Daily] More Torch Tossing".
Player versus Player
Fixed a bug that prevented the "3v3 Weekly Quest" from properly awarding an elite gladiator item when the player had a previous week's PVP rating of 1900+.
Developers' notes: The power of these trinkets at item level 900 is identical to their previous scaling value, and will be stronger than before at lower item levels.
[Bloodthirst]'s heal is reduced by 25% in PvP situations.
Professions
The item level of most Legion crafted gear is now 850, and can now be increased up to 900 with [Obliterum].
Existing gear below item level 850 will not have its item level changed, and will display "Obliterum: 0/10", but it will be brought up to item level 855 with one application of Obliterum.
Attempting to apply Obliterum to Skullblasters will no longer consume the Obliterum and [Blood of Sargeras].
Crates of Bobbers should no longer drop if you already know the toy that they teach.
Kalec will remain visible in the Mage Class Hall while the player is on or eligible for any of the class mount quests, even if he has been sent on a mission.
Fixed a bug with spawning of the Silvermoon and Exodar marks for " [45] Hiding In Plain Sight".
Now grants 4,000 Strength, Agility, Intellect, or Versatility at rank 1 (was 2,000).
Additional ranks now increase this value by 300 per rank (was 200).
Effects are now reduced by 50% in PvP situations.
Developers' Note: While additional ranks of Concordance of Legionfall are intended to have a low impact, the trait was overall weaker than it needed to be. With these changes, it provides a stronger up-front benefit, and very slightly more value for Artifact Power spent past the first rank. These changes also result in an overall nerf in PvP, where we are continuing to monitor its performance.
Artifact Knowledge can now be researched to a maximum level of 40 (was 50).
Developers' Notes: We raised the Knowledge cap from 40 to 50 very late in the 7.2 PTR cycle, out of an abundance of caution: We wanted to ensure that players of all playstyles, as well as alt characters, would view the Concordance trait as accessible. However, between the additional Artifact Power gains added in 7.2 and others that were hotfixed in after the patch released, we’re now well ahead of that mark. Knowledge 40 now seems more than sufficient for players to reach Concordance, and the prospect of months' worth of additional Knowledge still left to research makes some players feel like their efforts in the interim aren't meaningful. Therefore, we're rolling the cap back to 40.
Player versus Player
Deepwind Dunk is now 15 minutes long, and each player killed during Deepwind Dunk awards 5 points.
Paladin
Attacking a Judged target will now cause [Judge Unworthy] to only spread that target's Judgment, instead of all your nearby Judgments.
Judge Unworthy can now spread Judgment to targets that are under the effects of crowd-control abilities.
When leaving Skyhold, Warriors are now protected by Val'kyr who insist that the player land safely and not disconnect.
Dungeons and Raids
Corrected an issue where gems were sometimes not correctly contributing to character stats in Mythic Keystone Dungeons.
Events
Corrected an issue with holidays and daylight saving time in the Americas region. Holidays will now start one hour earlier in the Americas region. For example, events that previously began at 9:00 a.m. Pacific will now get underway at 8:00 a.m. Pacific / 11:00 a.m. Eastern.
Items
[Cauterizing Void Shard] can now be used in combat, and using it out of combat will no longer cause issues with your health potion timer.
Player versus Player
Mage
Arcane Charges are now removed when Arenas and Battlegrounds start.
Mage food now is properly delayed to match non-Mage water in Arenas.
Fixed a bug that caused some loot chests, on the Guild Master loot setting, to only distribute gold to the player who looted the chest.
Quaking should no longer apply to players while they are on the boat at the beginning of the Court of Stars, nor after Mythic Keystone dungeons have been completed.
[With realm restarts in each region] A number of storm drakes should now have a hitbox that more accurately reflects their size.
Items
[Unstable Horrorslime] has been made slightly more stable, and should once again deal damage.
Player versus Player
[With realm restarts in each region] PvP stat templates now grant appropriate stamina and do not affect the [Concordance of the Legionfall] Artifact trait.
Only one Windfury Totem can be active per Shaman at a time.
April 24[]
Class Halls
Players who have unlocked multiple Challenge appearances for their Artifacts will no longer see more than one of them on top of each other in their Class Halls.
When you first activate a portal of any given type with a beacon, it will now last 10 seconds longer.
The chance to loot Portal-Stones that can be used to call down powerful Lieutenants has been doubled.
The Warden Initiate has received additional training, and can now fly alongside you. She has also learned to use her abilities more frequently and in a smaller area of effect.
Players can now vendor excess Sentinax beacons that they don't wish to hold on to.
Rewards from the enemies summoned by Nether Portal Disruptors have been changed: These enemies should now drop significantly more [Legionfall War Supplies] and Dauntless tokens, but no longer drop Netherchunks or Tier 1 Sentinax beacons.
Developers' notes: We want to make sure that Nether Portal Disruptors and the enemies they attract are lucrative and exciting without overshadowing other options so that players feel inclined to focus only on the Nether Disruptor for Broken Shore play. This should now be a solid extra to add to your activities when it's available, rather than something to wait around for.
Witchmatron Magora now respawns more frequently, uses more abilities, and is significantly sturdier.
Classes
Mage
Fire
[With maintenance in each region] Damage of all abilities increased by 6%.
The requirement "Complete 100 dungeons while using your Hidden Artifact appearance" to unlock Hidden Artifact appearance color variant 2 has been reduced from 100 to 30 dungeon completions.
Developers' notes: The time and effort required for this Hidden Artifact unlock wasn't consistent with the other two color unlocks. Additionally, now that Challenge Artifact appearances are in the game, requiring you to continue using your Hidden Artifact appearance (which can't be transmogged into the more prestigious Challenge appearance) for 100 dungeons was too much.
Weapon appearances from the Armaments of the Ebon Blade and Armaments of the Silver Hand should be restricted to Death Knight and Paladin, respectively.
[Dreadstone of Endless Shadows] may now proc from healing spells, as well as damaging spells. The tooltip will be updated to reflect this in a future patch.
[Splinters of Agronox] will no longer drop for characters whose Loot Specialization is set to a Tank specialization.
Player versus Player
Mage
Fixed a bug where a Fire Mage's Ignite could interact incorrectly with [Duel] (Arms Warrior PvP Talent), resulting in significantly reduced or increased damage to secondary targets.
Developers' notes: The rotating Legion Assault schedule is designed to have them active at varying times of day over the course of a given week, to accommodate different work schedules and available free time. We're hesitant to have an Assault last for too long, because they stomp on the entire World Quest content of a given zone for the duration, potentially leaving players with nothing to do there once the Assault is complete. But this design doesn't mesh well with an important achievement that requires completion of all four zones - if anything, it causes stress over scheduling and potentially missing specific zones during the cycle. The Defender achievement was never intended to be a major obstacle on the path to flight in the Broken Isles; its inclusion was more for thematic purposes and completeness. As such, we're removing it from the meta-achievement required to unlock flying.
Artifact Challenges
Arcane Mages can no longer use an immunity, such as [Ice Block], to remove Arcane Biology.
Fixed a bug that was preventing some players from being ported back to the mage tower when leaving the scenario.
Assaults
While the Assault in Azsuna is active, Prince Farondis should now be visible to eligible players in Farondale.
Resolved an issue in which Arcanoslash could place an Arcane Tether on a non-struck tank target.
Items
[Royal Dagger Haft] now absorbs the intended amount of damage. For Brewmaster Monks, this absorb amount is always counted after Stagger has reduced the damage.
Our Valarjar allies have deployed grapple points in key locations on Broken Shore.
Broken Shore Rare Elite icons will now appear on the Broken Shore map even when the player is not currently in the Broken Shore.
Creatures other than Rare Elites and Sentinax Lieutenants no longer drop Nethershards for players who are in a raid group.
Rare Elites now drop fewer Sentinax Beacons.
Portal enemies should now drop their beacon type much more often.
Sentinax Lieutenants should drop multiple beacons for every player, allowing a quick restart after the break.
Sentinax Lieutenants now drop many more Nethershards when slain.
Sentinax cool-down time lowered to 3 minutes (was 5 minutes).
Developers' notes: These changes are aimed at aligning the pacing of the Sentinax area without significantly changing the rewards. Upgraded portals should feel more special, portal beacons more scarce, and the final boss for each round of Sentinax activity should be a more welcome sight. Since tapping rules and behaviors of large raids of players don't present a good experience for nearby parties of five or fewer, and especially solo players who might come along, the change to drops for raid groups is intended to allow everyone more opportunities to tap enemies.
Classes
Hunter
(Hotfix in testing) [Feet of Wind] should now properly suppress movement speed reduction effects, as intended.
Damage done by Bonds of Fel and Empowered Bonds of Fel have been reduced for smaller raid sizes.
Eye of Gul'dan and Empowered Eye of Gul'dan now take up to 50% longer to reach max energy (and begin to cast Duplicate), to better accommodate smaller raid sizes.
Resolved an issue in which Gul'dan could inadvertently teleport to the wrong tank after Storm of the Destroyer.
Player Versus Player
PvP Template Primary stat reduced by 5% for all non-healers.
PvP Template Stamina increased by 5%.
Death Knight
Frost
PvP Template Strength increased by 5%
Druid
In PvP, [Bear Form] now grants 125% Armor (was 200% Armor). Guardian Druid Bear Form unchanged.
In PvP, Bear Form now grants 40% Stamina (was 55% Stamina). Guardian Druid Bear Form unchanged.
The dungeon quest " [45] Return to Karazhan: The Tower of Power" is now completable in Mythic Keystone difficulty, in addition to all other difficulties.
Rend Souls damage is no longer doubled by [Reap Souls], but its proc rate still is.
Warrior
[Soul of the Slaughter] Artifact Trait proc chance increased to 1.0%/Rage (was 0.5%) and healing increased by 50%.
Class Hall
Active Artifact Knowledge work orders will instantly complete when a player zones into the order hall if that player has 25 or less total Artifact Knowledge.
Solarist Tel'arn and Naturalist Tel'arn now properly mirror High Botanist Telarn's current health when they spawn after Nightosis and all throughout the fight.
Voidling health scaling has been adjusted to be slightly lowered for 10 players, and slightly increased for 30 players on Raid Finder, Normal, and Heroic difficulties.
The time at which Star Augur Etraeus casts Big Bang has been increased by 30 seconds on Raid Finder, Normal, and Heroic difficulties.
[Hot Trub]'s damage is now capped at 20% of the Monk's maximum health, will no longer critically strike, and is no longer being increased by the caster's damage multipliers.
March 3[]
Chat
Players are now able to send messages to General and Trade chat while inside the Paladin and Rogue class halls.
(Marksmanship) [Piercing Shot] will no longer deal less potential damage when the Focus-cost-reduction effect of the Eagletalon Battlegear (4-piece) is active.
(Hotfix in testing) [Skardyn's Grace]: The duration of the on-use effect of item has been increased from 20 seconds to 35 seconds, and the amount of Mastery it rewards has been reduced proportionately.
Player versus Player
Death Knight
[Dark Simulacrum]'s cooldown has been reduced to 25 seconds (was 30 seconds).
Blood
Blood Death Knights no longer deal reduced damage in PvP situations (was a reduction of 10%).
(Hotfix in testing) Crafting an additional [Infernal Alchemist Stone] at rank 3 will no longer consume double reagents.
Quests
Players who have begun the Nightborne Insurrection storyline without having previously completed [45] Building an Army will now have the quest available to them from Thalyssra.
(Hotfix in testing) Players should no longer get into a bugged state if they logout or accept a queue during the final event of the Archaeology quest [45] Laying to Rest.
The following abilities' damage have been lowered by 33%, and scale up to 1.5x their new values for Raid Finder, Normal, and Heroic difficulties:
Coronal Ejection
Shatter
Fel Impact
Comet Impact
Iceburst
Felburst
Developers' notes: These changes are aimed at reducing the difficulty of the Star Augur Etraeus encounter for smaller raid groups, which may have fewer tools to deal with the damage output of these mechanics, without significantly changing anything for large groups.
(Mythic difficulty) Increased the initial damage inflicted by Icy and Fel Ejection by roughly 40%, and their periodic damage by 100%.
(Mythic difficulty) Reduced the health of Star Augur Etraeus by 5%, and the health of Things That Should Not Be by 45%.
Developers' Note: These changes are aimed at shifting some of the role-specific requirements of the encounter away from damage output in favor of healing, while slightly reducing the overall difficulty of the encounter on Mythic difficulty.
Holiday
Players should be able to place Love Fools in battlegrounds, as intended.
Items
Legion Legendary items can no longer be destroyed.
Developers' notes: There was a rumor that deleting a Legendary item would increase your chances of receiving a different one. It's completely false.
With the [Dire Frenzy] talent, the Eagletalon Battlegear Beast Mastery 2-piece bonus should now grant your pet 10% increased damage for 15 seconds. This will not be reflected in the tooltip until Patch 7.2.
Items
Artifact Power won from bonus rolls will no longer display for other members of your group.
Player versus Player
Shaman
[Earthbind Totem] will no longer take unintended additional damage from player attacks.
[Spirit Link]'s mana has been increased to 35% base mana (was 15%).
Spirit Link's damage can no longer be mitigated by Absorption effects.
Spirit Link's duration has been reduced to 20 seconds.
February 3[]
Classes
Demon Hunter
(Vengeance) Fixed an issue where [Sever] did not consume the buff from the [Blade Turning] talent.
[Infected Wounds] now reduces the movement of targets by 50% (was 30%). The reduction remains at 30% in PvP situations.
Mage
Frost
[Brain Freeze] procs gained while you already have a Brain Freeze active and unused will now be delayed slightly.
Developers' notes: The delay on the second Brain Freeze will give the Mage time to use the first Brain Freeze proc. For example, the Mage might cast [Frostbolt] (proc Brain Freeze), then Frostbolt (proc Brain Freeze again), then instant [Flurry], then [Ice Lance], then Instant Flurry again, then Ice Lance.
Developers' notes: This allows the guaranteed Brain Freeze proc/instant Flurry cast immediately following it to land first, providing the Winter's Chill buff to that Ebonbolt. For example, the Mage might cast Frostbolt (proc Brain Freeze), then Ebonbolt, and fully use both Brain Freeze procs.
The first missile from a Flurry cast should now hit sooner.
Developers' notes: This allows a Frostbolt or Ebonbolt cast immediately before a Brain Freeze Flurry to more consistently benefit from that Flurry's Winter's Chill effect, even if the mage isn't standing at long range. This allows the Frost Mage who has an active Brain Freeze to cast Frostbolt/Ebonbolt, then an Instant Flurry, then Ice Lance while standing 15+ yards from the target. Previously, the Mage had to be about twice as far away.
Priest
[Atonement] will now heal players who are out of line of sight of the Priest.
Resolved an issue that could cause Empowered Bonds of Fel to instantly detonate.
Events
The mages of the Kirin Tor made some arcane miscalculations when planning their Tavern Crawl. The Tavern Crawl is cancelled. Khadgar sends his apologies!
[Eye of Leotheras] will no longer scale with increased damage, and instead will always deal a maximum of 6% of the targets health in damage each time it procs.
Paladin
[Ultimate Sacrifice] will now properly no longer cancel when the Paladin is under 20% health.
Ultimate Sacrifice will now be removed from the target if the Paladin dies while active.
Priest
[Vim and Vigor] now increases the value of absorption effects.
[Essence Font]'s periodic effect can now correctly critical heal.
Rogue
[Shadow Dance] should no longer sometimes consume a charge but fail to trigger.
Dungeons and Raids
Mythic Keystone Dungeons
Players who complete a Mythic Keystone dungeon at level 13, 14, or 15 will receive items of the following item levels from the chest at the end of the dungeon:
Mythic 13 – 875
Mythic 14 – 880
Mythic 15 – 885
Items from the weekly Grand Challenger's Bounty will be of the following item levels:
Mythic 13 – 890
Mythic 14 – 895
Mythic 15 – 900
Items
[Aluriel's Mirror]: Healing-over-time effectiveness increased by 140%. Area of effect healing detonation effectiveness reduced by 35%.
Developers' Notes: Aluriel's Mirror's detonation effect is strong when it activates, but hard to rely on. We're increasing the heal-over-time effect significantly to improve the up-front value of this trinket, and reducing the detonation effect slightly to compensate.
(Retribution Paladin) Proc rate increased by 250% with [Avenging Wrath], and increased by 25% with [Crusade].
[Draught of Souls]: The Use effect of this trinket now respects the global cooldown. The damage of this trinket is now reduced by 30% for Unholy Death Knights (was reduced by 40%).
Developers' Notes: Since Draught of Souls deals Shadow Damage, it's increased by Unholy's Mastery, which means we needed to reduce its base damage to keep its overall value similar to other classes. It's currently a little too low, however, so we're increasing the damage it deals for Unholy.
[Entwined Elemental Foci]: The amount of Critical Strike, Mastery, and Haste granted by this item has been increased by 5%.
[Etraeus' Celestial Map]: The amount of Critical Strike, Mastery, and Haste granted by this item has been increased by 5%.
[Might of Krosus]: Damage reduced by 25%, but is now always a critical strike. Also, fixed a bug where the cooldown was incorrectly being reduced if Might of Krosus damaged at least 3 targets. The tooltip for Might of Krosus will display the amount of damage that will result from the critical hit, not the base damage.
Developers' Notes: Feral's playstyle feels good, but isn't putting up the numbers that it should be, so we're giving them an across-the-board damage buff.
Hunter
[Combat Experience] (Pet Passive) now increases the damage of primary pets by 60% (was 50%).
Developers' Notes: This is primarily a damage buff to Beast Mastery, but will have a tiny benefit to Survival and occasionally Marksmanship as well.
Developers' Notes: Marksmanship has given a lot of feedback that the rotation often winds up casting too many consecutive Focus generators. We are making two changes: first, helping avoid that problem by increasing the Focus generation of Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot. Second, making it more attractive to use Sidewinders in more situations, for players who prefer the pacing of the rotation with that talent.
Developers' Notes: Arcane has been doing well in Patch 7.1.5, but its numbers are lacking a bit. We're giving them an across-the-board damage buff, but tempering that with small reductions to a couple of new talents that are proving to be too strong.
Developers' Notes: Under certain circumstances, it was possible for Fire to run out of mana. It's only intended that mana is a constraint on Fire's utility, not its damage.
Developers' Notes: Comet Storm is failing to live up to expectations, so we're buffing its damage. The Flurry change will help Flurry feel more responsive, while simultaneously solving a potential issue where Winter's Chill could apply to two Ice Lances (instead of just one, as intended) at extremely high Haste levels.
Monk
Brewmaster
[Keg Smash] damage increased by 10%, and it no longer deals reduced damage to 6+ targets.
Developers' Notes: Retribution's total damage is looking quite strong in 7.1.5, which is fine on its own. However, how that damage is delivered matters quite a bit as well. We've been seeing more and more than Paladins find that the optimal way to maximize their performance is to focus everything they can on boosting their damage during Crusade. This creates a number of problems, including: Crusade feels mandatory, your damage feels very unrewarding outside of Crusade, trinkets and artifact traits are viewed as either amazing or terrible based on whether they synergize with Crusade, and others.
As such, we're going to tone down Crusade, and compensate with a buff to Blade of Justice. For those that had maximized Crusade to an extreme degree, this may result in a small overall nerf – this is intended. This change also helps prevent [Divine Hammer] from being too dominant in single-target situations.
Developers' Notes: Destruction's damage isn't as high as it should be. In particular, some of its spells that should feel the most rewarding aren't hitting hard enough, especially in AoE situations. We're buffing the damage of those spells.
Dungeons and Raids
Fixed a bug where some Warlords dungeon bosses were not always dropping loot.
[Eye of Leotheras] will no longer scale with increased damage, and instead will always deal a maximum of 6% of the target's health in damage each time it activates.
Mage
[Ray of Frost] cannot be channeled if the Mage is interrupted and locked out of the Frost School, as intended.
Warlock
[Cremation] now correctly only applies the damage-over-time effect of [Immolate]. Cremation no longer allows [Havoc] to spread Immolate to a target who is out of line of sight of the Warlock when Incinerate or Immolate are cast.
Professions
Archaeology
The Nor'danil Wellspring digsite is no longer displayed in the middle of the ocean.
Quests
Players on the quest " [45] Fate of the Nightborne" will no longer be sent into a separate phase of the Nighthold until they have spoken to Oculeth to begin the quest.
Players that queue with a challenge card should reliably fight the creature on their challenge card after losing a rumble.
Carl's lava waves should no longer damage players outside of the Brawler's Guild arena.
During the G.G. Engineering challenge, the Shielded damage reduction buff is now immediately removed from Max Megablast or Bo Bobble when the active Shield Generator they are standing near is destroyed.
Many of the PvP changes below are still in-testing and will be applied to the live game as soon as they are ready.
Death Knight
Frost
Frost Death Knight PvP template Strength reduced to 75% (was 80%).
Frost Death Knight PvP template Mastery reduced to 25% (was 100%), Haste has been increased to 150% (was 100%), and Critical Strike increased to 125% (was 100%)
Balance Druids' PvP template Mastery has been reduced to 25% (was 100%), Haste increased to 125% (was 100%), Versatility increased to 125% (was 100%), and Critical Strike increased to 125% (was 100%).
Feral Druids' PvP template Agility has been reduced to 90% (was 100%).
Arcane Mages' PvP template Master has been reduced to 25% (was 100%), Versatility increased to 100% (was 50%), and Critical Strike increased to 125% (was 100%).
[Arcane Blast] now deals normal damage in PvP situations (was an additional 5%).
Fixed a bug where [Flurry]'s missiles were all launching at the same time, making it difficult to take advantage of Winter's Chill with a follow-up [Ice Lance].
Developers' Note: We generally do not allow abilities with cooldowns over 5 minutes to be used in rated PvP. As Shroud of Concealment has a 6 minute cooldown, it should not have been usable in Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds.
Fixed an issue where some Paladin Fearless Gladiator's armor was assigned the wrong faction. If your armor faction is incorrect, log out and then back into of World of Warcraft.
All Artifact traits after 34 are now disabled in PvP instances.