There are a few constants in World of Warcraft. Mages will pull aggro. People in the forums will complain about every class, build, area, and profession. And as patches draw closer, people will make fake patch notes. So normally I wouldn't even bother posting something like this (unless it was unusually entertaining). However, as our pal Boubouille points out, this particular set of fakes came out three days ago, and contains the names to the new Darkmoon cards. Those names were just posted today by Ommra (check out line 39 in the original of these patch notes, and compare to today's Blue Notes). Coincidence? Shenanigans? Probably something like that. But just in case, here's some patch notes that may or may not be real.

Again, there's no particular reason to think these are real aside from the fact that they seem to have had the names of the new Darkmoon cards early. Grain of salt, and all that. And if they are real, I will be very disappointed, because they contain a substantial Paladin healing nerf: Illumination cut to 50%. Illumination is a Paladin Holy talent that, for five points, gives a 100% chance to get a mana refund on heal crits. It's a big part of the reason why pallies are such efficient healers. While I agree that there are some discrepancies between Priest and Paladin healing at the moment, I do not think the solution is to nerf Paladins; buffing Priests would be far better in my book (and most Paladins would agree with me, I think).

To be sure, the patch notes do have some Priest changes, but they're along the typical lines of how Blizz has been dealing with Priests: give us tricks we really, really don't want and won't use (lolwell), and then keep buffing them to try to make us use them. Of course, they never buff them enough to make them actually good (with the exception of the 5% spirit boost on Improved Death Spirit of Redemption), so the net result is buffs to talents and skills we never use. This time around it's a mana cost reduction (33%) to Binding Heal and unspecified improvements to Circle of Terrible Healing. Sorry Blizz, still not going to use them. GG though. Well, notes after the cut at any rate. Even if these are fake, they're still somewhat interesting.

Should be released shortly but a few of the changes but several changes involving all classes that aren't including in this list (as well more for those in the list). Also most changes are paraphrased

Druid

• Bear Mangle damage increased by +15% but bonus threat has been reduced so threat should be the same
• Omen of Clarity no longer castable in Moonkin or Tree
• Swiftmend will now properly penalize +healing benefits for casting low rank Rejuvs or Regrowths
• Barkskin now reduces all damage taken, duration reduced to 12 second with cooldown reduced to 1 minute, Tooltip changed to say it can be used while frozen, incapacitated, cowering in fear (functionality always present but wasn't in the tooltip)
• Cyclone will no longer work on hunters with "The Beast Within" active or hunter pets wtih "Bestial Wrath" active
• Epic Flight Form quest opened up similar in nature to Paladin/Warlock epic mount quests. Also adds a new boss to Sethikk Halls

Hunters

• New avoidance ability for pets reducing damage from AOE spells & abilities
• New cobra reflexes ability for pets that increases atk spd but reduces damage
• Entrapment duration reduced to 4 seconds and now subject to diminishing returns in PvP
• Expose weakness changed so triggers with 33/66/100% chance at 1/2/3 talent points
• Hunter's Mark now becomes stronger each time the target is struck by a ranged attack
• Survival Instincts now also increase atk pwr by 2%/4%
• Pet mending changed somehow

Paladins

• Illumination only gives 50% of the mana cost of crit heals also returns correct mana amount when used with rank 4 or 5 of Holy Shock
• Seal of Righteousness no longer gives additional chances for weapon procs to trigger
• Seal of Blood no longer gives additional chances for weapon procs to trigger
• Stoicism should now properly affect all magic effects cast by a paladin and will no longer apply double its benefit to Blessing of Might and Blessing of Wisdom
• Avenging Wrath and Divine Shield can't be used together anymore (they are fixing how forbearance works for these apparently)

Priests

• Binding Heal mana cost has been reduced by 32%
• Circle of Healing effect increased
• Shadow Word: Death cooldown increased to 12 seconds
• Pain Suppression now reduces damage taken by 65% and increase dispel resistance by 65% for the duration

Shaman

• Windfury Weapon, mixing 2 ranks while dual wielding will no longer increase the number of windfury procs
• Frostbrand Weapon, now properly receives increased effect from spell damage

Warlock

• Spell Lock duration reduced to 5 seconds (Rank 1) and 6 seconds (Rank 2), cooldown reduced to 24 seconds

Warrior

• Flurry has had atk spd increases reduced to 5/10/15/20/25% from 10/15/20/25/30
• Death Wish and Enrage no longer stack
• Commanding Shout now increases your max health but your health stays a constant percentage

Item Changes

• All items of Tier 5 and above quality have been upgraded to reflect their intended power
• Armor: All items that spent part of their budget on increased armor have been reevaluated. Some have added armor while others have gained additional bonuses.
• Heroic instances will now always drop epic loot off the end boss and all heroic bosses have a chance for epic gems
• Additional darkmoon cards can now be found on high level outland creatures. They can be turned in to the darkmoon faire to make powerful new darkmoon card trinkets. Look for Lunacy, Storms, Furies and Blessings cards.
  
• Alcohol Stam buffs no longer stack with stam buffs from other foods

SSC Changes

• Trash before Hydross and around Lurker (Blizzard calls them the six pumping stations) have had respawn timer increased from 45 minutes to 2 hours
• Trash no longer respawns if the boss nearby has been killed
• Lady Vashj will no longer use Persuasion
• Tidewalker Lurkers no longer call for help from nearby creatures
• Greyheart Technicians are now easier to kill and deal less damage
• Coilfang Priesttesses may now be polymorphed.
• Morogrim Tidewalker's Earthquake can no longer be LOS'ed

[via MMO-Champion]

Tags: 2.1, 210, fake, notes, patch, patch notes, warcraft, world of warcraft, wow

Filed under: Patches