Patch 4.3 PTR patch notes updated for Oct. 13
by Michael Sacco 
Oct 13th 2011 at 3:00PM
Death knights
- Unholy Might now increases Strength by 25%, up from 20%.
- Bear Form now provides an armor bonus of 120% at all levels, up from 65% for characters below level 40, making it easier for lower level druids to tank dungeons.
- Animal Handler now increases attack power by 30%, up from 25%.
- Explosive Shot damage has been increased by 15%.
Mages
- Pyroblast's initial damage has been increased by approximately 26%, and its damage over time has been increased by approximately 100%.
- Fireball damage has been increased by approximately 17%.
- Living Bomb damage over time has been increased by approximately 10%, and explosion damage has been increased by approximately 120%
- Guardian Spirit's healing bonus has been increased to 60%, up from 40%.
- Holy Word: Serenity now has a cooldown of 10 seconds, down from 15 seconds.
- Soul Fire now scales with 72.6% of spellpower, up from 62.5%.
- Impending Doom is now also activated by Soul Fire.
- Cataclysm now increases Fire damage by 30%, up from 25%.
- Fire and Brimstone now increases the damage of Incinerate and Chaos Bolt on Immolated targets by 5/10/15%, up from 2/4/6%.
- Burning Embers now deals damage equal to 25/50% of Soul Fire and Imp's Firebolt, up from 15/30%.
- Burning Embers damage cap has been raised.
- Shadowburn now deals Shadowflame damage, instead of Shadow damage.
- Improved Soul Fire now lasts 20 seconds, up from 15 seconds.
- Charge (and related abilities) should now correctly path to a target even if the target moves during the Charge. This change should decrease the likelihood of the warrior Charging to a different location than the target.
- Slam now uses a new character attack animation.
- Colossus Smash now uses a new character attack animation.
- Dual Wield Specialization no longer increases physical damage by 5%. It continues to increase off-hand attack damage by 25%.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Fletcher Oct 13th 2011 3:02PM
Yay for Charge fix! Boo for Fury nerf. The rest of it doesn't apply to me. :P
vocenoctum Oct 13th 2011 3:18PM
Just remember the buff to all melee attack power (via whatever that raid buff is), so you can sort of think of this as a nerf to counter the buff since you're fine.
Natsumi Oct 13th 2011 10:56PM
Yay for the elimination of Charge Jumping!
Yay for new animations!
Yay for nerfs that don't apply to me!
Stenenis Oct 13th 2011 3:03PM
My Fire mage is crying little flamey tears of joy.
Prelimar Oct 13th 2011 5:14PM
ahhh, it's a good day to be a fire mage. ^_^
vanye111 Oct 13th 2011 5:43PM
Yay, Fire mages getting buffed. Frost mages...not. *sigh*
Revynn Oct 13th 2011 6:12PM
Warlocks don't cry. Instead, my Destro lock is cackling with psychotic glee.
MusedMoose Oct 13th 2011 7:16PM
My fire mage is cackling with psychotic glee, because that's just how she rolls. ^_^
Pyromelter Oct 14th 2011 1:20AM
Regarding those mage changes. First I was like
O.o
Then I was like
o.O
then finally i was like
OOOOOO.OOOOOO HOLY EFFING WTFBBQZOMG BUFFS!!!!!! /JAWDROP
FIre4Life (says the guy with the Pyroblast avatar)
Dragoniel Oct 14th 2011 2:33AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYfXNvqC024
That is all I have to say.
Medivhal Oct 13th 2011 3:03PM
I wonder if that boost to Destruction will put it on par with the other two warlock specs again in regards to pve dps...
Revynn Oct 13th 2011 6:33PM
These are . . . significant buffs. Soul Fire hits harder. ISF lasts longer. Incinerate and Chaos Bolt hit harder. Burning Embers hits harder. Shadowburn being Shadowflame damage means it will now benefit from Cataclysm as well as our Mastery rating . . . so that will hit harder. On top of all that the buff to Cataclysm will buff just about everything we do (besides Corruption and Banes).
In addition, Destro will not need to change or add anything to their rotation in order to make use of the T13 4P bonus.
On par nothing. If this goes live, Destro will be king again.
Maccabeus Oct 13th 2011 8:29PM
It will be king, with a caveat: if AoE dps is a major factor in any fight, Affliction or Demonology will still be the choice specs. Though these are verrrrry drool-worthy.
bjorn9486 Oct 13th 2011 3:03PM
"Animal Handler now increases attack power by 30%, up from 25%."
"Explosive Shot damage has been increased by 15%."
I hope this puts SV and BM Hunters back on par with MM, I find MM incredibly boring to play anymore.
vegetto375 Oct 13th 2011 3:29PM
The boost will help both SV and BM and while it might bring SV closer I really doubt that it will even put BM close to the median. Right now BM needs more than just a quick glance buff as it's beiggest DPS lost comes in the form of misses KC and since all the melee are getting buffed I expect lots of movement and more wasted GCD's on KC,
Philster043 Oct 13th 2011 3:03PM
Wow, lucky mages and warlocks (for now).
Mugutu Oct 13th 2011 3:19PM
Considering how disgustingly poorly Fire and Destruction were performing, it's more of "about damn time" than "we're so lucky".
Arrohon Oct 13th 2011 3:25PM
Fire and Destruction are already doing fine. They're low compared to Arcane and Affliction respectively. They can still put up impressive numbers.
dzdj Oct 13th 2011 3:50PM
What he said :)
Philster043 Oct 13th 2011 3:32PM
I had no idea Affliction was doing so well (not playing either class much nowadays)