Patch 4.1 PTR notes updated for Feb. 28
by Michael Sacco 
Feb 28th 2011 at 10:05PM
The patch notes for PTR patch 4.1 have been updated, and we've assembled all the latest changes for you below. Check the last portion for some great UI news!
The original round of 4.1 patch notes is here.
General
The original round of 4.1 patch notes is here.
General
- Flying mounts can now be used in Ghostlands.
- Cyclone duration has been reduced to 5 seconds, down from 6.
- Lifebloom's bloom effect has been reduced by 20%. In addition, it now costs 11% of base mana, up from 7%.
- Stampeding Roar's duration has been increased to 8 seconds, up from 6. The movement speed effect has been increased to 60%, up from 40%.
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Talent Specializations
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Balance
- Starsurge damage has been reduced by 20%.
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Balance
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Talent Specializations
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Holy
- Aura Mastery: This ability no longer increases the benefit granted by Crusader Aura.
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Holy
Priests
- Inner Will and Inner Fire now last until canceled.
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Talent Specializations
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Discipline
- It is now possible to remove Weakened Soul effects that were a result of another priest's Power Word: Shield through Strength of Soul.
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Discipline
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Talent Specializations
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Affliction
- Haunt damage has been increased by 30%.
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Demonology
- Doomguard's damage has been increased by 50%. The Doomguard is intended to be the best guardian for single-target damage, and the Infernal the best when there are multiple targets.
- Mana Feed now restores more mana (four times as much) when the warlock is using a Felguard or Felhunter.
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Affliction
- Heroic Throw is now available from trainers at level 20.
- Pummel is now usable in all stances.
- Shield Bash has been removed from the game.
- Spell Reflection cooldown has been increased to 25 seconds, up from 10.
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Talent Specializations
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Arms
- Juggernaut no longer adds 2 seconds to the Charge stun, but instead lowers the cooldown of Charge by 2 seconds (to 13 seconds total without the glyph).
- Lambs to the Slaughter now causes Mortal Strike to refresh Rend in addition to its current effects.
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Fury
- Flurry haste bonus has been doubled to 16/32/50%.
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Protection
- Shield Mastery no longer affects the cooldown of Spell Reflection, however, it now allows Shield Block to reduce magic damage as well.
- Gag Order now only affects Heroic Throw.
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Arms
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Glyphs
- Glyph of Spell Reflection reduces the cooldown of Spell Reflection by 5 seconds, up from 1 second.
- The gold amounts on the following encounters have been substantially reduced: Flame Leviathan, Magtheridon, Gruul the Dragonkiller, Doom Lord Kazzak, and all encounters in Karazhan.
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Battlegrounds
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The Focused Assault and Brutal Assault buffs have changed.
- After 3 minutes of both teams having the flag, both flag carriers will get Focused Assault, which increases damage taken by 10%.
- Every minute afterward, an additional stack will be applied to increase damage taken by an additional 10%.
- After 7 minutes, Brutal Assault will be applied in place of Focused Assault. In additional to the damage debuff, this debuff also caps the player's movement speed at 100%. The damage taken debuff works the same and will add 10% to the debuff up to a maximum of 100% damage taken.
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The Focused Assault and Brutal Assault buffs have changed.
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The Battle for Gilneas
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Graveyard Changes
- Players who die at a control point that they own will now be teleported to the next closest graveyard, instead of the one at which they died.
- If a player's team owns the Mine and Waterworks, and dies at Waterworks, they will be teleported to the Mine.
- If an Alliance player's team only owns Lighthouse, and dies at Lighthouse, they will respawn at their base.
- If a Horde player's team owns Waterworks and Mine, and dies at Lighthouse, they will respawn at Waterworks.
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Graveyard Changes
- A handful of quests have been added to Northern Barrens to provide more level 18-20 content. Look for new quests at Nozzlepot's Outpost and Darsok's Outpost.
- Like the Focus Frame, the character Unit and Target Frames can now be unlocked and moved to one's content.
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Tulkinghorn Feb 28th 2011 10:09PM
Oh, Starsurge, I knew the honeymoon would be over one day. I just didn't think it'd be so soon.
Pyromelter Mar 1st 2011 12:23AM
Still hits like a truck. Instead of like a freight train. A nerf to be sure, but still will do a lot of damage.
neogramps Mar 1st 2011 6:59AM
"The gold amounts on the following encounters have been substantially reduced: Flame Leviathan, Magtheridon, Gruul the Dragonkiller, Doom Lord Kazzak, and all encounters in Karazhan."
Nooooooooooooooo!!
Drakkenfyre Mar 1st 2011 8:28AM
They always do that crap.
As soon as a new expansion comes out, and people are solo'ing old bosses for money, they nerf the shit out of how much money is dropped.
I mean, come on, what was 350g once a week back during Wrath of the Lich King? If you could solo Onyxia, go for it. It's not like the dailies didn't give you that much and more over a week anyway.
Sterb Mar 1st 2011 8:49AM
Clearly the Starsurge change was a PvP nerf, but honestly, I just Moonfire/Sunfire strafe spam and mostly avoid Starsurge because it'll knock me out of Eclipse. However, if you are doing normalish rotation, then back to back Starsurges could be nasty in PvP.
What sucks is that they're not compensating in other ways for PvE. We're talking about a significant nerf when although boomkins are showing strong DPS at the top end of the gear spectrum, they're still below spriests who have no nerfs.
TL;DR: They're getting PvP in my PvE again.
trefpoid Mar 1st 2011 12:23PM
dammit, kazzak really gave sweet cash :(
Samuel Feb 28th 2011 10:09PM
"Flying mounts can now be used in Ghostlands."
Only Ghostlands? What happens when you enter Eversong? What about the Draenei zones?
cloudhopper013 Feb 28th 2011 10:12PM
I imagine it dismounts you. Simple as that. There's no way it'd lag enough for you to fly all the way to Silvermoon. By the way, Silvermoon is and has been the only thing in the BC areas supposedly that would NOT work with flying. Everything else seems to have been designed with all portions and textures in tact. Silvermoon used the cardboard-box technique. And there's some dispute about the inside of The Exodar.
Drakkenfyre Feb 28th 2011 10:14PM
Probably slap a debuff on you which dismounts you. It's easier to enable flying away from Silvermoon City, than rebuild it at this time.
The Draenei starting zone? No flying at all. I guess they figured since it didn't contain a raid they were redoing, no sense in enabling flying anywhere.
Eros Feb 28th 2011 10:14PM
If you enter Eversong you will be dismounted. As of right now in the beta you dont get a warning or a parachute. The point, i think, is because ZA is becoming an 85 heroic and flying makes it easier to get to the instance.
Oomu Mar 2nd 2011 11:13AM
You explode.
ktnb Feb 28th 2011 10:19PM
I assume it's only the Ghostlands because that's where Zul'Aman is, and people will be going there again.
Nopunin10did Mar 1st 2011 7:10AM
I doubt they're going to leave it that way, though. Enabling it only in Ghostlands may just be a way to encourage testing of ZA heroic when they open that up. I imagine they're probably working on making Silvermoon flying-compatible and just don't have it done yet.
Zabre Feb 28th 2011 11:08PM
Funny thing is that flying in the Draenei zones works just fine. Back when druids could fly in the old world on PTR 4.0 I flew all over Exodar and the starting areas of both Draenei and Blood elf. With the exception of a few invisible walls in Exodar flying worked perfectly in all the BC starting zones including SMC. All they would need to do is add some roofing to Silvermoon and replace the endless abyss that outlines the BE zones with water and they would be good to go.
Kylenne Feb 28th 2011 11:28PM
I actually kind of like that you can't fly in Silvermoon. Yeah, it's annoying from a convenience standpoint, especially considering how spread out the city is, but as one of the three people that actually hang out there at level 85, it's nice to not have to hear the constant FLAPFLAPFLAP of people's freaking drakes everywhere. Much less keeping their fat asses on mailboxes and NPCs.
I would say that I wish they'd disallow flying in all cities, but for the fact that trying to get around Orgrimmar under level 60 is an exercise in pain and tears. I'd kind of like to find the dev who thought it was a great idea to make lowbies have to wait 8 years for an elevator in order to get to a flight point, and shake him a lot.
Drakkenfyre Feb 28th 2011 11:44PM
Zabre, you couldn't fly outside the Exodar. The second you did you were dismounted.
Maybe there is something in the zone which isn't meant to be seen from above?
Drakkenfyre Mar 1st 2011 9:34AM
For the idiots downrating me, I am talking about the glitch on the PTR where you could fly in the old world before the world changed.
You could fly inside the Exodar, but the second you left it, you got dismounted.
loop_not_defined Mar 1st 2011 9:58AM
Drakkenfyre, maybe the "idiots" are downranking you because you're wrong. You did get dismounted when leaving The Exodar, but could mount right back up and fly again.
Drakkenfyre Mar 1st 2011 10:59AM
I have screenshots. Once you left the Exodar, you got dismounted. You could not fly again. You got "Cannot do that here."
You had to go to the ocean, and go to the edge of the zone (when the water was gone in a glitch) and leave the zone to remount up.
He and I are talking about the 4.0.1 PTR, not this one.
http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/3047/wowscrnshot091310155245.jpg
The moment you reentered any zone other than there, you were dismounted. Even the "Veiled Sea" was a bit wrong, because you had left the zone, you had left the chat channel, and you came up as "Unknown" to anyone else. The minimap still displayed the name.
When the Druid flight bug was discovered, you could not fly outside of the Exodar unless you were in this area.
(cutaia) Mar 1st 2011 11:56AM
"I assume it's only the Ghostlands because that's where Zul'Aman is, and people will be going there again."
Just like how we're always going to Westfall so we can run Heroic Deadmines. :P