WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

In 2004, I bought a brown box with some discs inside it. On the cover was a close-up of a woman with crazy purple eyebrows and an angry bearded guy -- possibly Matt Rossi -- holding a gun. I didn't know anything about the Warcraft universe at the time. I'd watched someone play Warcraft III once (or was it II?). I remember chuckling at the peons' comments as they got to work. That was the extent of my experience.

I'd been playing Final Fantasy XI and I loved the concept of an online world. I was hoping for a game that was more accessible than FFXI but with all the cool monsters, grouping, exploration, and loot. I never imagined the journey that I was about to take, the people I would meet, the opportunities that would become open to me as a result of that purchase. Many of us who played back then had no idea what was about to happen to the gaming world because of that brown box.

With all the hoopla surrounding Warlords of Draenor, Archivist has been busy covering yesterday's precursors to current content, such as the zombie plague pre-expansion event, patch 3.0, and the original Upper Blackrock Spire. WoW's 10th anniversary events officially ended this week (after an unscheduled extension), and it is past time that I looked back on my own ten years in Azeroth.

Here are ten of my favorite WoW moments, in order.

1. Showdown at Uldaman. One of my first PvP experiences in WoW was a complete accident. In late 2004, a friend and I were questing in the cave outside of Uldaman in the Badlands. We were in our mid to high 30s at the time on our first characters. One of the mushrooms we had to gather sat behind an Alliance NPC. I went to right-click to gather it but instead I clicked the NPC and started attacking him. We were flagged for PvP on a PvE realm. We knew it was now open season on us. And on Khadgar-US, Horde players were heavily outnumbered by the Alliance.

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WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Any game that survives for 10 years and counting will have its growing pains. There will be moments when the urge to deliver the best possible content gets the better of the developers, when they reach too far but only figure that out after it's too late.

Wrath of the Lich King was so ambitious in scope, as originally conceived, that Blizzard simply couldn't deliver what they announced. Blizzard cut major features before the expansion even went into beta testing. Wrath's systems went live with patch 3.0.2 in October 2008, and the expansion hit live realms two months later. As with most expansions, there were early problems.

In patch 3.0.8, Blizzard tried to fix those problems. Instead, they made them worse. Far worse. WoW Insider called the patch a "disaster." Read on to find out why!

Wintercrash

Rebalancing the popular Wintergrasp outdoor battle was one of the patch's biggest features. Blizzard buffed vehicles and turrets to make them less fragile. The keep walls also became sturdier, while the final door received a nerf. Other adjustments and fixes went into effect.

So did a bug so catastrophic that players couldn't believe it ever found its way to a live realm.

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Filed under: Wrath of the Lich King, WoW Archivist

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Professions in Warlords of Draenor feel completely different than at any other era in WoW. Creating powerful items is no longer a matter of farming, luck, or gold. Instead, we have to produce their key ingredients via garrison work orders. Leveling crafting professions is no longer about creating a bunch of useless items that we instantly vendor or disenchant, and reaching max level is now a slow burn instead of a quick grind. This is the first expansion where I haven't hit max level on all my professions within the first week or two.

The profession that has changed the most is the most recent: Wrath of the Lich King's inscription, added in 2008. Even the interface changed: the glyph window was originally part of the spellbook UI, not the talent pane. Because of those changes, for a few very special weeks, inscription transformed the financial futures of countless WoW players. I was one of them. We called it Glyphmas, and it was magical.

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WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

You may have taken Upper Blackrock Spire, Warlord Zaela, but the classic version lives in our hearts, where your orc friends can't get to it. In 2005, UBRS was the dungeon everyone desperately aspired to run. They begged to run it. They paid to run it. They sat in capital cities for hours just hoping, dreaming, that someone, somehow, would put together a UBRS group.

The dungeon was the pinnacle of content for classic WoW's "nonraiders" and the gateway to raiding for raiders. Quests here attuned you for Onyxia's Lair and Blackwing Lair. (And who doesn't love a good lair?) Another quest allowed your Molten Core raid to summon Majordomo Executus. No endgame PvE'er could avoid UBRS, even if they wanted to. We didn't avoid it, though, because the original "Ubers" (OO bers), as players affectionately called it, was awesome.

What made it so special? Why was it so revered, and why are some players sad that it has been removed from WoW forever? Let's turn back the Empowered Hourglass to 2005 to find out.

Ascension

UBRS, like many of WoW's classic endgame dungeons, required a key to enter. It was not nearly as simple as grinding out some reputation -- click the link for the full rundown of just how painful getting this key was. Even the quest giver knew trying to get a key would be awful. He told you, "Understand this, mortal: the chance that one of the three generals of the lower citadel would carry a gemstone at any given time is rare. You must be vigilant in your quest. Remain determined!"

In early 2005, when many players were finally hitting the endgame, very few had a Seal of Ascension to grant UBRS access. To put this in perspective, by the end of classic, my guild of more than 200 people only had about five or six keys. If you had a key, you had two choices. You could hide in your guild and only do guild runs. Or you could advertise that you had one to your realm, find yourself on everyone's friend list, and get requests day and night, every time you logged in, to run UBRS. Even if you tried to keep it a secret, someone in your guild may have outed you. Once that cat was out of the bag, your WoW experience changed dramatically. You were now a realm celebrity.

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Leveling through Draenor has been a blast, but as a player from classic WoW, a few things have struck me as incredibly strange. Triple-digit numbers in the guild panel. Sending NPCs to do quests on my behalf. And most of all, getting epic armor and weapons from solo leveling quests.

Many players in classic WoW (and not just raiders) opposed making epics more available to players. They called Blizzard's evolving attitude a slippery slope. "What's next," they argued, "epics for doing solo quests?" They never actually imagined that would happen. In 2005 it would have been unthinkable. Eight years later, here we are. But it's all been by design -- an evolving design with many steps along the way. Let's look at how we got here, one random drop at a time.

The few, the proud, the epic

In early classic WoW, only one path allowed you to deck out your character in purple items: 40-player raiding. Other raiding didn't cut it. Bosses in the 15-player (later 10-player) Upper Blackrock Spire dropped rares. Even bosses in the 20-player raids, Zul'Gurub and Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, dropped mostly rares when they first opened their instance portals. Only their end bosses consistently dropped epic loot.

Outside of 40-man raids, a handful of bosses had a very small chance to drop an epic item. Emperor Thaurissan in Blackrock Depths had a tiny chance to drop Ironfoe. The "tribute run" chest from Dire Maul very rarely offered up Treant's Bane -- and I'll never forget the joy in my warrior friend's voice when it dropped for him, all those years ago. DM was also the source of the highly coveted tanking weapon Quel'Serrar, but the quest item to obtain it had an incredibly low drop rate.

Back then, even the recipes to craft epics (such as the awesome Force Reactive Disk) could only be obtained from 40-player raids.

Even if you were raiding with 39 of your closest online friends, earning purples was no picnic. With two drops per boss at first, odds of getting an item on any given run were slim. You could complete a full clear without a single drop for your class and spec. Each epic you equipped generally represented several weeks of endgame effort. When a player sauntered through Orgrimmar or Ironforge in head-to-toe purples, players knew this was a person who had spent many, many hours on that character.

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UPDATE: Bashiok posted that Blizzard will be "restarting some Garrison services" to address access and progression issues. He also says that Blizzard has implemented "dozens of hotfixes" over the last few hours.

UPDATE 2: For those experiencing long queue times, this is working as intended. Bashiok has said that Blizzard is reducing realm population caps in order to address latency. Rygarius has posted a list of hotfixes for November 13.

UPDATE 3: Lore tweeted about the issues: "So obviously launch not going as smoothly as we wanted. Will be many discussions in the near future about what could have been done better. Right now, however, we're focusing 100% on just fixing issues so everyone can play. Can worry about what went wrong later."

UPDATE 4: Lore says fixes have been implemented for garrisons, but he recommends walking to your garrison instead of flying there or using a hearthstone.

Despite a mostly smooth launch so far, some realms are now experiencing major problems as more and more players crowd the servers. Garrisons on Argent Dawn, Cenarion Circle, Khadgar, and other realms are currently bugged and not always phasing properly. Twitter user @ikolism posted the image above of players in an unphased Horde garrison. Normally you're only supposed to see the players you've invited to your version of the fortress...

Players can become stuck inside their garrisons, or stuck outside and unable to "zone in." If the entire garrison server crashes when players are inside it, they are reportedly sent back to where their hearthstones are set. For many that means an unexpected trip back to Orgrimmar, Stormwind, or Pandaria.

High population realms, particularly in the EU, have experienced world server lag and crashes.

CM Lore tweeted an update on the problems, but did not provide an ETA:

Still working on server and garrison issues. Making some headway, exploring as many options as we can find.

- Lore (@CM_Lore) November 13, 2014

Earlier, rolling restarts were required to fix Establish Your Garrison for Horde players. A number of hotfixes have already gone out today to fix problems with These Colors Don't Run in Frostfire Ridge and Drudgeboat Salvage quest objects in Shadowmoon Valley. Lore also says a hotfix is "in testing" for Gormaul Tower. Another for Gorgrond NPCs that are reluctant to spawn is "being developed."

Filed under: Bugs, Hotfixes, Warlords of Draenor

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

We have one more week of the Iron Horde invasion event before we can take the fight through the portal to Draenor. Most players seem to think this event is serviceable, if unexciting. Like all such events, it lives in the shadow of the most memorable pre-expansion event in WoW's long history: the zombie plague. It debuted almost exactly six years ago, and Blizzard has never topped it.

If you need evidence, just look at the comments on the previous WoW Archivist about patch 3.0. I only mentioned the event in passing as a topic for a future column. Even so, readers posted more about the plague event than about any of the other 3.0 features like achievements, glyphs, or pally nerfs.

Shaking the foundations

Although the players knew some kind of Scourge-based event awaited us, no one knew the details or the scope. At midnight on October 22, 2008, it began. Argent Dawn members appeared in capital cities to warn us. "The Lich King is attempting to make his presence known," they said. "We must not let this occur."

At the event's inception, WoW Insider posted an article speculating on what we might soon face, and our hopes turned out to be prophetic:

Will it be a simple replay of the Scourge Invasion that brought Naxxramas to our shores for the first time? Or will it be something even more sinister, a world event that shakes the very foundations of the World of Warcraft as we know it?

Call us destructive, but we're kind of hoping for the second.

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World of Warcraft Patch 3.0.2

General

• All players will have their talent points reimbursed and will have access to new talents throughout their trees; this includes the 51-point talents. Several new spells and abilities have been added for all classes. Players will need to visit their class trainer to learn new spells.
• The Kirin Tor have made their move and so has Dalaran.Please watch your step around the crater that has been left behind!
• The Barber Shop has been implemented and you can now visit one of the Barber Shops in the major cities to change your appearance. Be sure to get your Shave and a Haircut!
• The all new Achievement System has been implemented and the Achievement panel can be accessed via the interface. While many achievements are not retroactive, we have done our best to credit as many as possible. Gamemasters will not be able to grant achievements for past accomplishements.
• Stormwind Harbor is now open for business.
• New towers have been added outside Of Orgrimmar and in Tirisfal Glades. Crews are currently at work to establish a new Zeppelin route to Northrend for your travel pleasure. Please no /spit off of the towers.
• A new entrance is now viewable in the Caverns of Time.
• Hit Rating, Critical Strike Rating, and Haste Rating now modify both melee attacks and spells.
• Spell casting and spell channeling pushback has been changed to the following:
  • When casting a spell:
    • The first and second hit will add .5 secs each to the cast time.
    • All hits after the second will have no effect.
  • When channeling a spell:
    • The first and second hit reduces current duration by 25% of total duration each.
    • All hits after the second will have no effect.[/u][/b]
• Spellpower:
  • All items and effects which grant bonuses to spell damage and spell healing are being consolidated into a single stat, Spellpower. This stat will appear with the same values found on items which grant "increased spell damage and healing" such as on typical Mage and Warlock itemization.
  • For classes which do not heal, they should see no change in the character sheet other than new tooltip wording.
  • Healing characters will see their bonus healing numbers on the character sheet decrease, however, all healing spells have been modified to receive more benefit from spellpower than they received from bonus healing, with a net effect of no change to the amount healed by their spells. Some talents have had to be rebalanced to accommodate this change, but the amount healed will remain roughly the same. In addition, some talents will provide only healing spell power.

Druids

• Brambles (Balance): Now increases the damage done by your Treants, and also damage caused from your Treants and Barkskin has a 5/10/15% chance to Daze the target for 3 sec.
• Celestial Focus (Balance): The stun proc now works with Starfall. This talent no longer has Wrath pushback protection, but instead increases your total spell haste by 1/2/3%.
• Challenging Roar now has a 3 minute cooldown, reduced from 10 minutes.
• Control of Nature (Balance) has been removed.
• Entangling Roots: Can now be used indoors.
• Faerie Fire (Feral): Now an 11-point talent, down from being a 21-point talent.
• Feral Charge (Feral) is now a 21-point talent, up from being a 11-point talent.
• Feral Charge (Feral): Can now be used in Cat form.
• Feral Instinct (Feral) no longer increases threat generated in Bear form, but now increases damage done by your Swipe ability by 5/10/15%.
• Feral Swiftness: The movement speed buff can now be used indoors.
• Focused Starlight (Balance)is now Nature's Majesty (Balance): Increases the critical strike chance of your Wrath, Starfire, Starfall, Nourish, and Healing Touch spells by 2/4/6%.
• Force of Nature (Balance): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3.
• Furor (Restoration): Now increases your total Intellect while in Moonkin form by 2/4/6/8/10%.
• Hurricane: No longer has a cooldown (was 1 minute).
• Improved Faerie Fire (Feral): Now also works with spell hit, in addition to ranged and melee hit %.
• Improved Mark of the Wild (Restoration): Now a 2-point talent, down from a 5-point talent.
• Improved Tranquility (Restoration): Now also reduces the cooldown of your Tranquility spell by 25/50%.
• Mangle (Feral): Now increases the damage done by Maul in addition to Shred.
• Moonglow (Balance): Now also works with Starfall. Moved to tier 2, up from tier 5.
• Moonkin Form (Balance) no longer increases your attack power or causes you to regenerate mana off melee attacks, but now has a chance to cause you to instantly regenerate 2% of your total mana every time you critically hit with a spell.
• Nature's Focus (Restoration): Now a 3 point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 1, up from Tier 2. Now also includes Nourish, Entangling Roots, Wrath, and Cyclone.
• Nature's Grace (Balance): Now also reduces the global cooldown of your Wrath spell by 50% while in effect.
• Nature's Grasp (Balance): Can now be used and can proc indoors. This is now a base ability at level 11 and has a 100% chance to proc.
• New Talent- Protector of the Pack (Feral): Increases the bonus attack power for Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by an additional 20/40/60% for each friendly player in your party, damage taken is reduced while in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 1/2/3%.
• Nature's Reach (Balance): Now also reduces threat generated by Balance spells by 15/30%.
• Nature's Splendor now increases the duration of Lifebloow by 2 secs, (down from 3.)
• New Spell: Revive - Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. (Ranks 1-7 added)
• New Talent - Genesis (Balance): Increases the damage and healing done by your periodic spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• New Talent - Improved Insect Swarm (Balance): Increases your damage done by your Wrath spell to targets afflicted by your Insect Swarm by 1/2/3%, and increases the critical strike chance of your Starfire spell by 1/2/3% on targets afflicted by your Moonfire spell.
• New Talent - Mother Bear (Feral): Increases the bonus attack power for Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by an additional 20/40/60%, and for each friendly player in your party, damage you take is reduced while in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 1/2/3%.
• New Talent - Natural Reaction (Feral): Increases your dodge chance while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form by 2/4/6%, and you regenerate 1/2/3 rage everytime you dodge while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form.
• New Talent - Nature's Splendor (Balance): Increases the duration of your Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom and Flourish spells by 10/20/30%.
• Omen of Clarity (Restoration): Now a passive spell. Now also works for spells (healing and damage). Proc rate is roughly 6% with a 10 second internal cooldown.
• Primal Tenacity (Feral) now reduces damage while stunned by 5/10/15%, and reduces the duration of fear effects by 5/10/15%.
• Rake: The damage for this ability has been increased.
• Remove Curse can now be used in Tree of Life form.
• Soothe Animal can now be used on Dragonkin as well as Beasts.
• Soothe Animal is now instant cast.
• Subtlety (Restoration): Now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 2, up from Tier 3. Also now only reduced threat for Restoration spells, and reduces the chance that your healing over time spells (Lifebloom, Regrowth and Rejuvenation) will be dispelled, rather than all Druid spells. Threat management for Balance can now be found in the Balance tree, within Nature's Reach.
• Survival of the Fittest (Feral): Increased to 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%.
• Swipe now affects targets within a range.
• The mana regeneration penalty when in Bear Form, Dire Bear Form and Cat Form has been removed.
• Tranquil Spirit (Restoration) now also includes Nourish.
• Tree of Life (Restoration): 30% snare penalty has been removed.
• Tree of Life (Restoration): Can now cast Dispel Curse.
• Tree of Life (Restoration): You can now cast all Restoration spells (Healing Touch) in the form, but Tree of Life now only reduces the mana cost of your healing over time spells (Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, Regrowth and Flourish) by 20%.
• Vengeance (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.

Hunters

• All aspects now have a 1 second global cooldown, down from a 1.5 global cooldown.
• All pet families now have one unique ability. New abilities have been added for families such as bears and sporebats.
• Stablemasters can now accommodate two additional pets.
• Pets now have their own trees. These can be accessed via the talent panel.
• Aimed shot mana cost has been reduced from 11% of base mana to 8%, casting time reduced from 2.5 sec to instant. Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 10 seconds and damage reduced.
• Animal Handler (Beast Mastery): No longer increases speed while mounted, but now reduces the cooldown of your Master's Call ability by 5/10 sec.
• Arcane Shot: No longer dispels magic effects.
• Aspects now no longer cost mana.
• Aspect of the Beast: Now increases melee attack power by 10% for the hunter and the hunter's pet.The hunter can't be tracked while using this Aspect. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
• Aspect of the Viper - The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing total damage done by 50%. Mana is gained based on ranged weapons speed. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
• Aspect of the Wild (Rank 4) now increases Nature resistence by 130, (up from 70.)
• Avoidance, Dash / Dive and Cobra Reflexes are now pet talents instead of pet skills.
• Bestial Swiftness is now a pet talent tree talent, and has been removed from the Beast Mastery Hunter tree.
• Bite now has no cooldown, does the same damage and costs the same Focus as Claw, so works as a Focus dump.
• Clever Traps (Survival) has been renamed "Trap Mastery."
• Combat Experience (Marksmanship): Now grants 3/6% Agility, up from 1/2%.
• Concussive Barrage (Marksmanship): Can now proc from Volley and Multi-shot attacks.
• Counterattack: Damage increased by 20%, and now also scales with your Ranged Attack Power.
• Deterrence (Survival): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, and now also increases your chance to resist spells by 60%. Now has a new spell effect.
• Disengage: This ability has been re-designed. Now leaps the Hunter backwards up to 13 yards. 30 second cooldown. Disengage now also only has one rank (rank 1).
• Distracting Shot: This shot now "taunts" the target onto the Hunter. The taunt effect will last 6 seconds. Distracting Shot now only has one rank (rank 1).
• Every hunter pet can learn Growl, Cower and either Bite or Claw (never both).
• Focused Aim no longer affects Aimed Shot and now increases chance to hit by 1/2/3 %.
• Focused Fire (Beast Mastery): Now increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Command by 10/20/30% while Kill Command is active. This effect can stack up to 3 times, but diminishes for each charge of Kill Command.
• Freezing Arrow now breaks on damage.
• Freezing Trap now breaks on damage.
• Hunter pets can now learn talents in one of three trees depending on family. Pets gain talent points starting at level 20 and earn an extra talent point every 4 levels.
• If a hunter tames a pet that is more than five levels beneath their own level, the pet will then have their level increased to five levels beneath the hunter's own level.
• Improved Arcane Shot (Marksmanship): Now increases the damage done by your Arcane Shot by 5/10/15%.
• Improved Feign Death (Survival): This talent has been replaced with Survival Tactics.
• Improved Hunter's Mark (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, and now increases the amount of attack power granted by your Hunter's Mark ability by 10/20/30% and reduces the mana cost of your Hunter's Mark ability by 33/66/100%.
• Improved Stings (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, down from 5-points.
• Kill Command: This ability now increases the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 60%. Each attack will reduce the damage bonus by 20%. 1 minute cooldown.
• Kill Shot damage slightly reduced.
• Kindred Spirits will no longer stack with other movement enhancing buffs.
• Lock and Load now has a chance to proc periodic damage by 2/4/6% (down from 5/10/15%.)
• Loyalty, Training Points and the hunter Beast Training button no longer exist. Hunter pets can now learn all skills at their level. They will get new ranks automatically as they gain levels.
• Marked for Death now increases damage done by ranged and by pets special abilities by 4% on marked targets (down from 8%.)
• Master Tactician (Survival): Chance to proc increased to 10%, up from 6%.
• Mongoose Bite: No longer requires you to dodge in order to use this ability.
• Monster Slaying (Survival) and Humanoid Slaying (Survival) has been combined into "Improved Tracking".
• Multi-shot mana cost has been increased slightly to 9% base mana (up from 8%.)
• New Talent - Aspect Mastery (Beast Mastery)
• New Talent - Hunter vs. Wild (Survival): Increases you and your pet's attack power and ranged attack power equal to 10/20/30% of your total Stamina.
• New Talent - Improved Tracking (Survival): Increases all damage done to targets that are being tracked 1/2/3/4/5%.
• New Talent - Lock and Load (Survival): You have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target and a 10/20/30% chance when you sting a target to cause your next 3 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo.
• New Talent - Survival Tactics (Survival): Reduces the chance your Feign Death ability and all trap spells will be resisted by 2/4%, and reduces the cooldown of your Disengage ability by 2/4 sec.
• New Talent - T.N.T. (Survival): Your Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Explosive Shot have a 5/10/15% to stun targets for 2 sec when they deal damage, and increases the critical strike chance of your Explosive Shot and Explosive Trap by 5/10/15%.
• Pathfinding (Beast Mastery): Now also increases the movement speed while mounted by 5/10%.
• Point of No Escape reduced to a 2 point talent and now affects Freezing Arrow. The critical strike chance has increased to 3/6% (up from 2/4/6%.)
• Rapid Killing (Marksmanship): This will now proc off Chimera Shot, but no longer works with auto-shot.
• Readiness (Marksmanship): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes, and has been moved to Tier 5 of the Marksmanship Tree from the Survival Tree.
• Savage Strikes (Survival): Now includes Counterattack.
• Scattershot has been moved from the Marksmanship Tree to Tier 3 of the Survival Tree.
• Silencing Shot (Marksmanship): This spell will now interrupt the current spell being cast on the target and lock out that school for 3 sec if the target is immune to silence effects.
• Spirit Bond (Beast Mastery): Also increases healing done to you and your pet by 5/10%.
• Steady Shot now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use.
• Steady Shot: Now has a 2.0 cast time, up from 1.5.
• Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 16/25/50% (instead of resist % chance). Moved from tier 4 to tier 2 and no longer increases hit chance.
• Survival Instincts (Survival): This has been moved to tier-2, up from tier 6.
• Survivalist (Survival): Now increases your total Stamina, instead of your total Health.
• The arming time has been reduced to 1 second, from 2 seconds for all traps.
• T.N.T. has been moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4.
• Tranquilizing Shot: Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds (down from 20), and now dispels Enrage and Magic effects.
• Trap Mastery (Survival) is now an 11-point talenttalent and has been moved from tier 3 to tier 9 and increases the duration by 30% fo both Freezing Trap and Frost Trap.
• Trueshot Aura - This aura is now raid-wide and now increases all ranged and melee attack power by 10%. In addition, this spell now only has one rank. All other ranks have been removed.
• Wingclip: No longer does damage.

Mages

• Arcane Blast effect duration reduced to 3 seconds, and now increases damage by 25/50/75% instead of reducing cast time.
• Arcane Focus (Arcane) is now 3 ranks and increases chance to hit and reduces mana cost of Arcane spells by 1/2/3%.
• Arcane Fortitude moved to tier 2, increased to 3 ranks, now increases armor equal to 50/100/150% of Intellect.
• Arcane Impact renamed Spell Impact and now affects Blast Wave, Fire Blast, Cone of Cold, and Ice Lance.
• Arcane Potency now applies when Presence of Mind is active, talent prerequisite changed to Presence of Mind.
• Arcane Subtlety now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 15/35%, and no longer reduces the resistance of targets.
• Arctic Reach now also affects Deep Freeze.
• Blast Wave now knocks all affected targets back.
• Conjured mana gems no longer disappear from your backpack after being logged out for more than 15 minutes. Higher ranks of Conjure Mana Gem will recharge an existing mana gem to maximum charges.
• Counterspell now costs 9% of base mana.
• Deep Freeze will no longer do damage, and will now stun the target for 5 seconds.
• Elemental Precision moved to tier 2.
• Empowered Arcane Missiles renamed Arcane Empowerment and no longer increases mana cost. It now also increases damage caused by Arcane Blast.
• Empowered Fireball renamed to Empower Fire, reduced to 3 ranks, now increases damage by 5/10/15% of spell powerand now affects Frostfire Bolt.
• Empowered Frostbolt reduced to 2 ranks, increases damage by 5/10% of spell power and increases critical hit chance by 2/4%.
• Evocation has had its cooldown reduced from 8 minutes to 5 minutes.
• Flame Throwing moved to tier 3.
• Frost Armor, Ice Armor, Mage Armor and Molten Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled.
• Frostbite relocated from Tier 2 to Tier 1.
• Frost Channeling now reduces mana cost of all spells by 4/7/10%.
• Frost Warding now increases armor and resistances of Frost/Ice Armor by 25/50%, now gives Frost Ward and Fire Ward a 15/30/5 chance to negate damage caused and restore mana equal to damage caused by the warded spell.
• Hot Streak will now also affect Fire Blast.
• Ice Floes renamed Cold as Ice, now reduces cooldown of Cold Snap, Ice Barrier, Summon Water Elemental, and Deep Freeze by 10/20%.
• Impact moved to tier 3, reduced to 3 ranks for 4/7/10% chance to trigger, now triggers from any damaging spell (Fire, Frost or Arcane).
• Improved Blink now also reduces mana cost by 25/50%.
• Improved Counterspell now always silences the target for 2/4 seconds.
• Improved Fire Blast moved to tier 1, reduced to 2 ranks, reduces the cooldown by 1/2 seconds.
• Improved Flamestrike moved to tier 2, renamed World in Flames, now increases the critical hit chance of Flamestrike, Blast Wave, Dragon's Breath, Living Bomb, Blizzard, and Arcane Explosion by 2/4/6%.
• Improved Frost Nova renamed Ice Floes, moved to tier 1, increased to 3 ranks, now reduces cooldown of Frost Nova, Cone of Cold, Ice Block, and Icy Veins by 7/14/20%.
• Improved Mana Shield has been renamed to Arcane Shielding, reduces mana lost per damage absorbed by 17/33%,and now also increases resistances granted by Mage Armor by 25/50%.
• Improved Scorch now increases Fire, Frost, and Arcane damage done to the target by 2/4/6/8/10%.
• Incineration moved to tier 1, increases the critical hit chance of Fire Blast, Scorch, Arcane Blast, and Cone of Cold by 2/4/6%.
• Invisibility now makes the caster invisible after 3 seconds, reduced from 5 seconds.
• Living Bomb will no longer knock all targets into the air.
• Magic Absorption reduced to 2 ranks, increases resistances by .5/1 point per level, and restores 1/3% of total mana on a resist.
• Magic Attunement (Arcane) now also increases the range of your Arcane spells by 3/6 yards.
• Mana Shield now drains 1.5 mana per damage absorbed.
• Master of Elements now affects all spell criticals.
• Mind Mastery reduced to 3/6/9/12/15%.
• Missile Barrage will now affect Arcane Barrage and the (R5) proc chance has been adjusted from 12% to 20%.
• Molten Shields now gives Fire Ward and Frost Ward spells a 15/30% chance to reflect the warded spell.
• Polymorph now costs 12% of base mana.
• Portal spells now cost 18% of base mana.
• Prismatic Cloak (Arcane) increased to 3 ranks for 1/2/3% and now also reduces the fade time of Invisibility by 1/2/3 seconds.
• Pyroblast cast time has been reduced to 5 seconds.
• Remove Lesser Curse has been renamed to Remove Curse.
• Shatter no longer has a prerequisite.
• Slow Fall now costs 6% of base mana.
• Slow mana cost reduced.
• Summoned Water Elemental's Waterbolt range increased, mana cost reduced, Freeze range increased, mana cost increased.
• Teleport spells now cost 9% of base mana.
• Winter's Chill reduced to 3 ranks, Frost damage spells have a 33/66/100% chance to trigger the effect and the effect increases chance to crit with Arcane, Fire and Frost spells.

Paladins

• Attack Power and Spell Power scaling on all Seals and Judgements other than Command and Blood has been reduced.
• All Auras now affect all party and raid members within the area of effect.
• Anticipation (Protection) moved to tier 1, now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Avenger's Shield (Protection) cast time reduced to .5 seconds, duration increased to 10 seconds.
• Avenging Wrath no longer causes Forbearance, damage increase reduced to 20%, now increases healing done by 20%.
• Blessing of Freedom renamed Hand of Freedom. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
• Blessing of Light and Greater Blessing of Light removed. Their effects have been folded into all relevant abilities.
• Blessing of Protection renamed Hand of Protection. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. All ranks now cost 6% of base mana.
• Blessing of Sacrifice renamed Hand of Sacrifice, is now only 1 rank and transfers 20% of the damage taken to the caster, duration reduced to 12 seconds, cooldown increased to 2 minutes. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
• Blessing of Salvation renamed Hand of Salvation, now reduces total threat on the target by 2% per second for 10 seconds while also reducing all damage and healing done by 10%. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
• Blessing of Sanctuary reduced to 1 rank, now reduces all damage taken by 3% and generates rage, mana or runic power when a parry/dodge/block occurs.
• Consecration now scales with attack power and spell power.
• Conviction (Retribution) now increases critical chance with all spells and melee attacks.
• Divine Intellect (Holy) moved to tier 2, increases total Intellect by 3/6/9/12/15%.
• Divine Intervention cooldown reduced to 20 minutes.
• Divine Plea will now fall within the school of Magic and reduces healing output by 20% (from 100%.)
• Divine Protection and Divine Shield now cost 3% of base mana.
• Divine Protection now reduces all damage taken by 50% and increases time between attacks by 100%.
• Divine Purpose (Retribution) now reduces chance to be hit by spells and ranged attacks by 1/2/3%.
• Divine Strength (Holy) moved to tier 1 in the Protection tree.
• Exorcism mana cost reduced and now scales with attack power and spell power.
• Eye for an Eye now reflects 10/20% damage from all critical hits.
• Fanaticism now increases chance to critically hit by 5/10/15/20/25%.
• Forbearance duration increased to 3 minutes.
• Greater Blessing of Salvation removed.
• Hammer of Justice now costs 3% of base mana.
• Hammer of Wrath is now considered a Retribution spell, moved from Holy, mana cost reduced, now instant cast, global cooldown increased to 1.5, missile speed increased, now usable on targets below 35% health and now scales with attack power and spell power.
• Healing Light (Holy) moved to tier 2.
• Holy Shield (Protection) cooldown reduced to 8 seconds, charges increased to 8.
• Holy Shock (Holy) range changed to 20/40 yards when used on enemies/friends respectively, cooldown reduced to 6 seconds.
• Holy Wrath is now instant cast, causes a 3 second stun, cooldown reduced to 30 seconds, radius reduced to 10 yards.
• Illumination (Holy) moved to tier 3.
• Improved Blessing of Might increased to 10/20/30/40/50%.
• Improved Concentration Aura (Protection) moved to the Holy tree.
• Improved Concentration Aura moved from the Protection tree to tier 4 in the Holy tree.
• Improved Devotion Aura (Protection) moved to tier 4, reduced to 3 ranks, now increases armor of Devotion Aura by 17/34/50% and increases all healing done to units affected by Devotion Aura by 1/2/3%.
• Improved Hammer of Justice (Protection) now reduces cooldown by 10/20/30 secs.
• Improved Holy Shield removed.
• Improved Righteous Fury (Protection) threat bonus folded into base spell, talent still reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
• Improved Sanctity Aura (Retribution) renamed Sanctified Retribution, now causes all units affected by Retribution Aura to cause 2% more damage.
• Improved Seal of Righteousness (Holy) moved to tier 1, renamed Seals of the Pure, now affects Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Vengeance and Seal of Corruption.
• Improved Seal of the Crusader (Retribution) renamed Heart of the Crusader and the effects now apply to all Judgement spells.
• Infusion of Light now reduces the cast time of Holy Light by .5 second/1 second (instead of 1.2.5 second /2.5 seconds.)
• Judgement has been replaced with 3 new spells; Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom, and Judgement of Justice. All Judgement spells are considered ranged attacks for purposes of how they hit and how they critically hit. All cause damage based on attack power and spell power.
• Judgement of Light now heals based on the Paladin's attack power and spell power, the effect can not trigger more than once ever 4 seconds.
• Judgement of Justice will no longer prevent Fear effects, but will only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health).
• Judgement of Wisdom now restores mana based on the Paladin's attack power and spell power, the effect can not trigger more than once every 4 seconds.
• Judgements of the Pure will now last for 1 minute (up from 30 seconds.)
• Judgements of the Wise will now grant 33% of base mana instead of 20% of maximum mana.
• Lay on Hands no longer drains all mana, cooldown reduced to 20 minutes.
• One-Handed Weapon Specialization now increases damage by 2/4/6/8/10%.
• Precision has been removed.
• Pure of Heart (Holy) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces duration of Curse and Disease effects by 25/50%.
• Pursuit of Justice reduced to 2 ranks for 8/15% movement increase and 1/2% less chance to be hit by spells.
• Redoubt (Protection) moved to tier 2, reduced to 3 ranks, increases block chance by 10/20/30%, now also increases block value by 10/20/30% at all times.
• Repentance (Retribution) mana cost changed to 9% of base, duration increased to 1 minute (10 second PvP duration), now usable against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead.
• Retribution Aura damage increased and now gains damage based on Holy spell power.
• Righteous Defense no longer costs mana and the global cooldown has been removed, cooldown reduced to 10 seconds.
• Righteous Fury now increases threat caused by Holy damage by 90%.
• Sacred Duty now also reduces the cooldown of Divine Protection.
• Sanctified Light (Holy) now also increases the critical chance of Holy Shock.
• Sanctity Aura (Retribution) removed.
• All Seals have been reduced to 1 rank and now cost 14% of base mana. The duration has been increased to 2 minutes and are no longer consumed when a Judgement spell is cast. The effects can be triggered from all weapon based special abilities.
• Seal of Blood now increases Judgement damage by 45% of weapon damage.
• Seal of Command now increases Judgement damage by 30% of weapon damage, 60% on stunned targets.
• Seal of the Crusader has been removed. The effects of Judgement of the Crusader have been folded into all relevant abilities.
• Seal of Righteousness deals damage based on weapon speed plus an amount based on attack power and spell power, increases Judgement damage by 25%.
• Seal of Vengeance now applies its effect on every swing, causes damage based on attack power and spell power, increases Judgement damage by 10% per stack of the damage over time effect.
• Shield Specialization removed, effects merged with Redoubt.
• Spiritual Focus (Holy) moved to tier 1.
• Stoicism (Protection) moved to tier 2, now reduces duration of Stun effects by 10/20/30% and reduces chance your spells will be resisted by 10/20/30%.
• Summon Warhorse and Summon Charger mana cost removed and no longer causes a global cooldown.
• Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3 , now also reduces the duration of movement slowing effects by 10/20/30/40/50%.
• Turn Undead (ranks 1 and 2) removed. Turn Evil now granted at level 24, mana cost changed to 9% of base.
• Unyielding Faith (Holy) moved to tier 2.
• Vengeance (Retribution) now stacks up to 2 times, reduced from 3.
• Vindication reduced to 2 ranks for 10/20% attribute reduction.

Priests

• Absolution: This talent has swapped positions in the talent tree with Improved Inner Fire.
• Circle of Healing (Holy): Now works on any targets in the caster's raid, and is now a "smart" heal and chooses the lowest health targets to heal first within its range. Also now has a 6 second cooldown. Also no longer will heal summoned Snakes from Hunter's Snake Trap.
• Enlightenment: Increases your total Stamina, Spirit and Spell haste by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Focused Will (Discipline): Now increases healing effects on you by 3/4/5%, down from 4/7/10%.
• Force of Will (Discipline): This talent now increases your spell damage by a flat amount, rather than increasing your spells by a %. (Now increases school %, rather than selected spells damage %). In other words, your spell damage gained from this talent is now reflected on your character sheet, rather than the skill tool-tips.
• Focused Power: Increases your total spell damage and healing done by 2/4%, but no longer increases your chance to hit with Mind Blast, and Mass Dispel.
• Guardian Spirit will now heal the target 50% of their maximum health.
• Holy Fire: Cast time reduced to to 2 seconds, down from 3.5. Damage increased roughly 60%. Duration for the damage over time effect reduced to 7 seconds, down from 10. Holy Fire now has a 10 second cooldown.
• Holy Nova mana cost reduced.
• Improved Inner Fire (Discipline) - Now also increases the effect of Inner Fire spell by 20/40/60% (Includes the +spell power on higher ranks, as well as total number of charges).Moved from tier 3 to tier 2.
• Improved Power Word: Fortitude moved from tier 3 to tier 2.
• Improved Shadow Word: Pain (Shadow) - Now increases damage done by your Shadow Word: Pain by 5/10%, but no longer increases the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain.
• Levitate now costs 3% of base mana.
• Lightwell (Holy): Cast time reduced to .5 sec, down from 1.5 sec. Charges increased to 10, up from 5. Now breaks from any attack that hits you for 30% or more of your total health. Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5.
• Mind Control now has only one rank and costs 12% of base mana.
• Mind Flay can now periodically critcally hit. The spell coefficient has been increased approximately 30%.
• Mind Soothe now has only one rank, costs 6% of base mana and has no max target level.
• Mind Vision now costs 3% of base mana.
• New Talent: Improved Spirit Tap (Shadow) - Gives you a 50/100% chance to gain a 50% bonus to your Spirit after gaining a critical effect chance from your Mind Blast or Shadow Word: Death spells. For the duration, your mana will regenerate at a 25% rate while casting. Lasts 8 sec.
• New Talent: Twin Faiths (Discipline) - Increases your damage and healing by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Pain Suppression (Discipline): Cooldown increased to 3 minutes, up from 2.
• Power Infusion (Discipline): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3.
• Prayer of Mending - This spell can now critically hit.
• Psychic Scream now costs 15% of base mana.
• Searing Light (Holy): Now also increases the damage of your Holy Nova and Penance spells.
• Shackle Undead now costs 9% of base mana.
• Shadow Focus (Shadow): Now a 3 point talent, down from 5. Now also reduces the mana cost of your Shadow spells by 2/4/6%.
• Shadow Resilience (Shadow): Now reduces physical damage taken by 2/4%, but no longer reduces the chance to be critically hit by spells.
• Shadowform (Shadow): Now has an innate 30% threat reduction. Now has a shapeshift UI.
• Silence (Shadow) global cooldown removed.
• Silent Resolve (Discipline): Now a 3 point talent, down from 5 points.
• Spirit Tap (Shadow) - Talent reduced to 3 points, down from 5. Now also leads into "Improved Spirit Tap"
• Twisted Faith will now work when the target is afflicted by Shadow Word: Pain (instead of Mind Flay.)
• Wand Specialization (Discipline) has been removed.

Rogues

• Aggression has been moved up 1 tier and now adds 3/6/9/12/15% damage to Sinister Strike, Backstab, and Eviscerate.
• Anesthetic Poison now also dispels one Enrage effect on the target.
• Blade Twisting (Combat) now cause all damaging melee attacks to have a 10% chance to daze for 4/8 seconds movement speed reduced by 70%, also adds 5/15% dmg to Sinister Strike and Backstab.
• Camouflage (Subtlety) reduced to 3 ranks for 5/10/15% speed and 2/4/6 secs off the cooldown of Stealth.
• Cloak of Shadows cooldown increased to 1.5 min.
• Crippling Poison reduced to 1 rank, slowing movement by 70%.
• Dagger Specialization (Combat) renamed Close Quarters Combat, moved to tier 3, now increases critical strike chance with Daggers and Fist Weapons by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Damaging poisons now scale with attack power.
• Deadened Nerves (Assassination) reduced to 3 ranks, now reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
• Deflection (Combat) reduced to 3 ranks, increasing parry by 2/4/6%.
• Disarm Trap range increased to 20 yards, cast time reduced, now requires stealth.
• Dual Wield Specialization (Combat) moved to tier 1.
• Elusiveness (Subtlety) moved to Tier 3, now reduces cooldown of Vanish and Blind by 30/60 sec and Cloak of Shadows by 15/30 sec.
• Energy regeneration should now be smoother.
• Endurance (Combat) now reduces cooldown of Evasion and Sprint by 30/60 secs.
• Envenom now also increases your chance to apply poisons by 25% for 2-6 seconds (based on combo points).
• Evasion, Sprint and Vanish cooldowns reduced to 3 min.
• Find Weakness (Assassination) is now a passive talent, reduced to 3 ranks, increases damage of offensive abilities by 3/6/9%.
• Fist Weapon Specialization (Combat) removed.
• Fleet Footed (Assassination) now reduces duration of movement impairing effects by 25/50% rather than increasing resist chance.
• Focused Attacks now gives 2 energy regardless of rank.
• Gouge is now only 1 rank and causes damage based on attack power.
• Improved Ambush (Subtlety) moved to Tier 4, reduced to 2 ranks for 25/50%.
• Improved Eviscerate (Assassination) now increases damage by 7/14/20%.
• Improved Expose Armor (Assassination) now reduces the energy cost by 5/10, no longer increases duration.
• Improved Poisons (Assassination) now increases chance to apply poisons by 5/10/15/20/25%.
• Improved Slice and Dice (Combat) reduced to 2 ranks, increases duration by 25/50%.
• Improved Sprint (Combat) moved to Tier 4.
• Initiative (Subtlety) moved to Tier 4, increased to 33/66/100% chance.
• Kick is now only 1 rank and no longer causes damage.
• Lethality (Assassination) now also affects Riposte.
• Lightning Reflexes (Combat) moved to tier 4.
• Mace Specialization (Combat) no longer stuns enemiesnow ignores 3/6/9/12/15% of target's armor.
• Master of Deception (Subtlety) reduced to 3 ranks.
• Mind-Numbing Poison reduced to 1 rank, slowing casting speed by 60%.
• Murder (Assassination) moved to tier 6, increases damage by 2/4%.
• Mutilate (Assassination) no longer requires you be behind the target.
• Nerves of Steel (Combat) now reduces damage taken while Stunned or Feared by 15/30%.
• Opportunity (Subtlety) reduced to 2 ranks for 10/20%.
• Pick Lock and Disarm Trap no longer require Thieve's Tools.
• Poisons skill removed. All finished poisons are available on vendors rather than created by the rogue.
• Precision (Combat) now also increases chance to hit with poison attacks by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Premeditation (Subtlety) duration increased to 20 seconds, cooldown reduced to 20 seconds.
• Preparation (Subtlety) no longer refreshes the cooldown of Premeditation.
• Relentless Strikes (Assassination) moved to Tier 1 Subtlety, made 5 ranks for 4/8/12/16/20% chance.
• Riposte (Combat) now slows the target's melee attacks by 20% instead of disarming them, awards one combo point.
• Serrated Blades (Subtlety) moved to Tier 3.
• Setup (Subtlety) chance to gain a combo point increased to 33/66/100%.
• Shadowstep (Subtlety) is no longer usable while rooted.
• Surprise Attacks (Combat) now also increases Hemorrhage damage.
• Vanish no longer requires the reagent Flash Powder.
• Vigor (Assassination) moved to Tier 3.
• Vile Poisons (Assassination) reduced to 3 ranks, now increases damage of poisons and Envenom by 7/14/20% and increases dispel resistance by 10/20/30%.
• Vitality now regenerates 8/16/25% energy.
• Wounding Poison no longer stacks, reduces healing by 50%.

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Click through for part 2 of the notes!

WoW Patch 3.0.2 Part 2

Shaman

• All totems are now considered on the "Physical" school, and no longer magical spells.
• Anticipation (Enhancement): Now is a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent and now reduces the duration of disarm effects on you by 16/25/50%.
• Ancestral Awakening and Improved Water Shield will now affect Riptide.
• Ancestral Knowledge (Enhancement): Now increases your Intellect by 2/4/6%, instead of increasing your total Mana by 2/4/6/8/10%.
• Call of Flame (Elemental): Now also increases the damage of your Lava Burst spell by 2/4/6%.
• Call of Thunder (Elemental) now also increases the critical strike chance of your Thunder spell.
• Concussion (Elemental) now increases the damage of your Thunder and Lava Burst spells.
• Convection (Elemental) is now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Now lowers the mana cost of Thunder and Lava Burst.
• Dual Wield Specialization will now increase the chance to hit while dual wielding by an additional 1/2/3%.
• Earth's Grasp (Elemental) is now a tier-1 talent, up from tier-2.
• Elemental Devastation (Elemental) is now a tier-2 talent, up from tier-4.
• Elemental Focus (Elemental): Now also can proc off Lesser Healing Wave and Healing Wave, and can be used on all healing spells.
• Elemental Fury (Elemental) now requires Elemental Focus as a pre-requisite
• Elemental Precision (Elemental): Chance to hit reduced to 1/2/3% from 2/4/6%, but threat reduction increased to 10/20/30% up from 4/7/10%.
• Enhancing (Enhancement) Totems is now a Tier 1 talent, up from Tier-2.
• Fire Resistance Totem will now increase fire resistance by 130 and lasts for 5 minutes.
• Flametongue Totem is now a flat spell damage totem. All ranks have been modified.
• Flametongue Weapon: Now has a passive spell damage.
• Flurry now increases attack speed by 5/10/15/20/25% for your next 3 swings after dealing a critical strike.
• Frostbrand's snare effect has been increased to 50%, up from 25%.
• Ghost Wolf's mana cost is now 13% base.
• Grace of Air Totem has been removed. (Agility has been rolled over into Strength of Earth Totem)
• Healing Grace (Restoration): Healing Way and Ancestral Fortitude are now affected by the dispel resistance portion of this talent.
• Maelstrom Weapon proc chance reduced to 3/6/9/12/15% on critical hit when you deal damage with a melee weapon. Now affects chain heal.
• Improved Fire Totems (Elemental) is now (again) Improved Fire Nova Totem. It now has a 50/100% chance to stun all targets for 2 sec.
• Improved Lightning Shield (Enhancement) is now Improved Shields, and is in Tier-2.
• Nature's Blessing no longer increases spell damage from Intellect, and the effect has been reduced to 5/10/15% from 10/20/30%. This is in result of the new spell power system. Players should notice little to no change in the power of the spell relevant to healing spells.
• New ranks have been added of Water Shield, starting at level 20. (Level 20, 27, 34, 41, 48, 55, 62, 69)
• New Spell: Earthliving Weapon - Imbue the Shaman's weapon with earthen life. Increases healing done by x and each heal has a 20% chance to proc Earthliving on the target, healing an additionaly over 12 sec. Lasts 30 minutes.
• New Talent: Cleanse Spirit (Restoration) - Cleanse the spirit of a friendly target, removing 1 poison effect, 1 disease effect, and 1 curse effect.
• New Talent: Elemental Shields (Enhancement): Increases the damage done by your Lightning Shield orbs by 5/10/15%, increases the amount of mana gained from your Mana Shield orbs by 5/10/15% and increases the amount of healing done by your Earth Shield orbs by 5/10/15%.
• New Talent: Mental Dexterity (Enhancement) - Increases your Attack Power by 33/66/100% of your Intellect.
• New Talent: Tidal Force(Restoration): Increases the critical effect chance of your Healing Wave, Lesser Healing Wave and Chain Heal by 60%. Each critical heal reduces the chance by 20% and lasts 20 seconds.
• Rockbiter ranks 5 through 9 have been removed. Windfury Weapon is intended to replace Rockbiter at level 30.
• Shapeshifting will no longer cancel Water Walking.
• Stoneclaw Totem: Health of the Stoneclaw totem is increased by 5% of the Shaman's total health.
• Stoneskin Totem now increases armor instead of reducing physical damage.
• Storm Reach (Elemental): Now also increases the radius of your Thunder spell by 10/20%.
• Stormstrike will no longer affect Fire or Frost damage.
• Strength of Earth Totem now also increases agility.
• The range of all "friendly totems" has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.
• Tidal Focus (Restoration): Now works with Earth Shield.
• Totemic Mastery talent removed and replaced with "Tidal Force".
• Totem of Wrath will now last 5 minutes.
• Tranquil Air Totem has been removed. (Threat is being addressed by modifications to the base threat of players and/or "baked" into tanking abilities.)
• Unleashed Rage is now raid wide and increases melee and ranged attack power within 45 yards.
• Windfury Totem is now a flat 20% melee haste totem. All ranks have been modified.
• Windwall Totem has been removed.
• Wrath of Air is now a flat 10% spell haste totem.

Warlock

• Aftermath (Destruction) - Now a 2-point talent, down from 5.
• All demon abilities and spells will automatically be learned as pets gain levels. Demon Master trainers will be removed.
• Avoidance (Felguard): Now reduces damage taken from area of effect attacks by an additional 80% and is automatically learned for the Succubus, Imp, Voidwalker, and Felhunter at level 10.
• Bane now reduces the cast time of your Haunt spell.
• Blood Pact now works raid-wide (not just in party).
• Cataclysm (Destruction) - Now also increases your chance to hit with Destruction spells by 1% per point.
• Chaos Bolt now does Fire damage instead of Chaos damage.
• Conflagrate can now only be cast on targets afflicted by Shadowflame.
• Consume Shadows (Voidwalker): Duration reduced to 6 seconds, and effect increased 66%. Now also greatly increases all nearby allies' stealth detection while channeled.
• Curse of Doom will now only summon a Doomguard if the target yields experience or honor.
• Curse of Recklessness will no longer prevent Fear effects, only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health).
• Dark Pact: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects and now restores 200% mana leeched from your summoned Demon, up from 100%.
• Demon Armor - Now increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%, but no longer has in-combat health regeneration.
• Demonic Circle now lasts for 6 mins.
• Demonic Pact will no longer work on enslaved demons.
• Demon Skin, Demon Armor and Fel Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled.
• Demonic Sacrifice: Succubus effect reduced to 10% increased shadow damage, down from 15%. Imp effect reduced to 10% increased fire damage, down from 15%. Felguard effect now increases Fire and Shadow damage, instead of just Shadow.
• Doomguard: Health increased 20%, mana increased 24%.
• Drain Soul will now cause four times the damage if the target is at or below 25% health.
• Everlasting Affliction will no longer affect Shadow Bolt and affects Haunt instead.
• Emberstorm now reduces the cast time of your incinerate by 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 seconds.
• Fel Armor - Now increases your spell damage equal to 30% of your total Spirit, but no longer increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%.
• Felguard: Health increased by 10%.
• Felhunter: Paranoia and Tainted Blood have been replaced with Fel Intelligence and Shadow Bite.
• Fel Intelligence (Felhunter): Increases total Intellect and Spirit of party and raid members by 3%. Lasts until cancelled.
• Fel Stamina (Demonology) has been merged with Fel Intellect into Fel Vitality.
• Haunt will now heal for 100%.
• Howl of Terror now costs 15% of base mana.
• Infernal: Cooldown reduced to 15 minutes, down from 1 hour. Duration reduced to 1 minute, down from 5 minutes+. Health increased by 30%, damage increased by 60%, and armor increased by 30%.
• Inferno now summons an Infernal which lasts for 1 minute.
• Imp: Health increased by 20% , Armor increased 16%, mana regeneration increased 200%.
• Improved Curse of Weakness (Affliction) is now "Frailty" - Increases the amount of attack power reduced by your Curse of Weakness spell by 10/20%, and increases the amount of armor reduced by your Curse of Recklessness by 10/20%.
• Improved Enslave Demon (Demonology) is now a Tier 5 talent, up from Tier 4.
• Improved Lash of Pain (Destruction) and Improved Firebolt (Destruction) have been merged into one talent, Demonic Power.
• Improved Shadow Bolt (Destruction) - Now increases damage by your next Shadow damage spells by 3/6/9/12/15%, down from 4/8/12/16/20%.
• Mana Feed: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects.
• Master Demonologist (Demonology) - Most effects have been altered.
• Master Demonologist – Felguard (Demonology) - Now increases all damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and reduces all damage done to you by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Master Demonologist – Imp (Demonology) - Now increases Fire damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Fire spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Master Demonologist – Succubus (Demonology) - Now increases Shadow damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Shadow spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Nether Protection has been reworked. It now has a 10/20/30% chance when you're hit with a spell to reduce all damage by that spell school by 60% for 10 seconds.
• New Talent: Demonic Empowerment (Demonology) - Grants your Summoned Demon power for a short time.
• New Talent: Eradication (Affliction) - Your Corruption, Siphon Life and Curse of Agony ticks have a 5/10/15% chance to increase your spell haste by 20% for 8 sec. This effect has a 10 second cooldown.
• New Talent: Improved Felhunter (Affliction): Your Felhunter gains mana equal to 50/100% of the damage done by its Shadow Bite ability, and increases the effect of your Felhunter's Fel Intelligence by 1/2%.
• New Talent: Molten Core (Destruction) - Your Shadow spells and damage over time effects have a 5/10/15% chance to increase the damage of your Fire spells by 10% for 6 sec.
• Pyroclasm (Destruction) - Now also includes Conflagrate.
• Rain of Fire (Doomguard): A bug has been fixed which caused each tick of Rain of Fire to consume its mana cost.
• Ritual of Souls: Charges increased to 25, up from 10.
• Shadow Bite (Felhunter): Deals Shadow damage plus an additional 5% Shadow damage over time effect on the target. 6 second cooldown.
• Shadowfury (Destruction) - Can now be cast while moving. Stun duration increased to 3 seconds, up from 2.
• Soul Link (Demonology) is now an 11-point talent (used to be a 31-point talent), but the 5% bonus damage from this talent has been removed. In addition, the damage absorbed by Soul Link is now 15%, down from 20%.
• Soul Siphon (Affliction): Now also increases the damage of your Drain Soul.
• Soulstone now generates a log entry indicating who casted and received a soulstone.
• Spell Lock (Felhunter) global cooldown removed.
• Succubus: Health increased by 20%, armor increased 22%.
• Summon Dreadsteed/Felsteed: Mana cost removed, global cooldown removed.
• Suppression (Affliction) is now a 3-point talent, down from 5. Now increases your chance to hit with Affliction spells by 1/2/3%, down from 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Unstable Affliction (Affliction): Silence effect reduced to 3 seconds, down from 5.
• Voidwalker: Health increased by 20%, Damage increased by 16%. The amount of attack power the Voidwalker gains from its master's spell damage has been increased by 45%.

Warrior

• Armored to the Teeth now increases attack power by 3 for every 180 Armor value.
• Anticipation (Protection) now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%, moved to tier 2.
• Battle Shout attack power has been slightly decreased.
• Berserker Rage is now usable in all stances.
• Blood Craze (Fury) now regenerates 2/4/6% of total health over 6 seconds.
• Blood Frenzy (Arms) moved to Tier 9, now increases physical damage caused by 1/2%.
• Bloodthirst (Fury) now restores health based on a % of total health.
• Challenging Shout cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.
• Concussion Blow (Protection) now causes damage based on attack power.
• Death Wish (Fury) no longer makes you immune to Fear effects.
• Death Wish and Sweeping Strikes have swapped locations in their respective talent trees.
• Deep Wounds (Arms) now requires Impale, causes 16/32/48% of weapon damage over 6 seconds.
• Defensive Stance now increases threat by 45%.
• Defiance (Protection) removed, replaced by Incite and moved to a new location on tier 2.
• Disarm rage cost reduced to 15.
• Enrage (Fury) now increases damage done by 3/6/9/12/15%, limitation on number of attacks removed.
• Hamstring now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.
• Impale (Arms) moved to Tier 3, no longer requires Deep Wounds.
• Improved Berserker Rage (Fury) now generates 10/20 rage.
• Improved Bloodrage (Protection) now increases rage generation of both the instant and over-time effects by 25/50%.
• Improved Charge (Arms) now generates 5/10 rage.
• Improved Defensive Stance (Protection) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces spell damage taken by 3/6% and any block/parry/dodge has a 50/100% chance to enrage the warrior causing 5/10% more damage for 12 sec.
• Improved Disarm (Protection) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces the cooldown of Disarm by 10/20 sec and increases damage taken by disarmed targets by 5/10%.
• Improved Disciplines (Arms) removed.
• Improved Mortal Strike (Arms) now increases damage by 2/4/6/8/10%, no longer reduces cooldown.
• Improved Rend (Arms) reduced to 2 ranks for 25/50%.
• Improved Revenge (Protection) now increases damage Revenge causes by 10/20% and gives a 25/50% chance to stun.
• Improved Shield Bash (Protection) now also increases the damage of your Shield Slam ability by 5/10%.
• Improved Shield Block (Protection) now has 2 ranks and reduces cooldown of Shield Block by 5/10 secs. It no longer increases the number of blocks.
• Improved Shield Wall will now increases the damage reduction by an additional 5/10% and reduces cooldown by 30/60 seconds.
• Improved Slam (Fury) moved to Arms.
• Improved Sunder Armor (Protection) renamed Puncture ,reduced to 2 ranks for 1/2 rage cost reduction.
• Improved Taunt (Protection) removed, effect made baseline.
• Improved Whirlwind (Fury) now increases damage of Whirlwind by 10/20%, no longer reduces cooldown.
• Iron Will (Arms) now has only 3 ranks, reducing the duration of Stun and Charm effects by 10/20/30%.
• Last Stand (Protection) cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
• Mace Specialization (Arms) now ignores 3/6/9/12/15% of target's armor.
• Mocking Blow now only has one rank and causes weapon damage, cooldown reduced to 1 min and can now be used in Defensive Stance.
• Overpower now only has one rank and no longer causes any bonus damage (i.e. weapon damage only).
• Poleaxe Specialization (Arms) now also increases critical damage done by Axes and Polearms by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Precision (Fury) moved to Tier 5.
• Pummel now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.
• Rampage now causes all party and raid members within 20 yards of the Warrior to go on a rampage, increasing melee critical hit chance by 5% for 10 seconds when the warrior scores a melee critical.
• Recklessness now increases the critical hit chance of the next 3 special ability attacks by 100%, lasts 12 seconds, cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
• Retaliation duration reduced to 12 seconds, charges reduced to 12, cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
• Revenge damage increased.
• Shield Bash now only has one rank and will cause damage based on a % of AP.
• Shield Block now increases chance to block and amount blocked by 100% for 10 seconds. Cooldown increased to 60 seconds, rage cost reduced.
• Shield Slam is now available to all warriors, starting at level 40 and damage slightly increased.
• Shield Specialization (Protection) moved to Tier 1, now increases rage by 2 on a successful block.
• Shield Wall now reduces all damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds, cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
• Slam now suspends the weapon swing timer rather than resetting it.
• Sword and Board now has a chance to proc from Revenge.
• Sword Specialization (Arms) can no longer trigger more than once per 6 seconds.
• Taunt cooldown reduced to 8 sec.
• Thunder Clap damage increased, cooldown increased, will now affect all targets within a range..
• Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3 now also reduces the duration of movement slowing effects by 10/20/30/40/50%.
• Vigilance now transfers 10% of target threat to the warrior.

PvP

• Many new items are available for purchase from the honor vendors.
• Arenas
  • Two new Arenas have been added; the Ogrimmar Arena and the Dalaran Arena can now be accessed.
  • Buffs that have 30 seconds or less remaining will be removed once the game starts. However, the mage spell "Invisibility" is not affected by this change.

Professions

• New Profession: Inscription is available to train up to 375.
• Enchantment
  • The Surefooted enchantment now provides additional critical strike rating instead of root and snare resistance.

Dungeons and Raids

• The Sunwell Plateau, Black Temple, and Serpentshrine Cavern Raid dungeons have all had their mobs and bosses adjusted and now have less health points.
• Ahn'Qiraj
• Mounting is now permitted in Ahn'Qiraj
• The Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal is now a normal mount.

User Interface

• New Calendar feature: Players will be able to access the new Calendar feature by clicking on the new icon located in the top right corner of their mini map. The calendar will track in game events, allow raid scheduling, and more.
• New Vanity Pet and Mount changes: Players will now be able to access their non-combat pets and mounts by clicking on the pets tab in the Character Info panel. These pets and mounts will be now learnable much like spells or abilities. Once a vanity pet or mount is learned, the icon will disappear from within a player's inventory and reappear in the appropriate tab under the pet tab under Character Info. Say goodbye to your vanity pets and mounts taking up bag and bank slots!
• Lost pets and mounts (one time quest rewards) can be recovered by visiting a stablemaster.
• A new Agro Warning is now available and currently functioning in dungeons.
• Focus Frame is now available. Players will be able to right click on any unit frame and select "Set Focus". The focus frame will only display when the focus is set. Players may also set a "Focus Cast Key" in the options/combat panel that can be bound to shift, alt, or ctrl. When holding the focus cast key and triggering an action, the action will be performed on your focus and not on your target.
• Lost tabards (one time quest rewards) may now be restored by visiting a tabard vendor.
• Lost keys (one time quest rewards) may now be restored by visiting a blacksmith.
• Error messages should play less frequently.
• Tradeskills can now be linked by shift-clicking the tradeskill icon.
• Quests can be shared with party members at any distance.
• Quests can be shared with party members by linking the quest into party chat.
• Quests can be shared in raids but not battlegrounds.
• Randomized Daily quests may now be shared, but only on the same day as the quest is given.
• A 5 minute timer will appear over the player's unit frame showing the countdown until your PvP flag is cleared.
• The /cower emote now has an animation.
• Macros and key bindings are now saved server-side so there is no longer a need to reconfigure them when logging in using another computer.
• Shift-clicking to loot mail: You can now hold Shift and click on mail in your inbox to automatically loot any items and gold without opening the mail. This default behavior can be changed via Auto Loot Mail in the Interface Options (Controls).
• Combat Log Changes:
  • The combat log now differentiates between a spell failure due to resistance and spell failure due to missing the target. Where once both events reported as a resist; a spell missing the target is now reported as a miss.
  • Overhealing is now reported in the combat log.
  • When a source of damage is entirely prevented (by a shield block, a full resist, or a damage shield like Power Word:Shield, the prevented amount will now be displayed.
• V-key color is now available. Classes will now be identified with the appropriate color while the V-key option is engaged.
• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

Items

• Druids and Shaman can now use items while shapeshifted.
• The Abyss Shard has been changed to grant a passive 15 stamina bonus, but no longer removes the soul shard requirement from casting a voidwalker.
• Devilsaur Eye now increases your pet's attack power for a short duration instead of increasing its critical strike chance. It also provides a small amount of passive Agility.

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WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Patch 6.0 is finally upon us. Like all pre-expansion patches, it has been both invigorating and chaotic. Almost exactly six years ago, a similar patch went live to begin a new era in WoW. Blizzard called Wrath of the Lich King's pre-expansion patch "Echoes of Doom." On October 14, 2008, this third version of the game gave us the brand-new achievement system, inscription and glyphs, 51-point talent trees, the zombie plague event, and TO THE GROUND, BABY. Read on to see what WoW was like for those turbulent few weeks before Wrath of the Lich King's launch.

Dalaran, where art thou?

Through all of classic and The Burning Crusade, Dalaran sat in northern Hillsbrad, but players couldn't see it. An opaque purple dome walled off the Kirin Tor from the world at large. At the time, the enormous structure was one of the most striking landmarks in Azeroth. Although a few quests hinted at what lay beneath it, players new to the WoW universe had no idea what was there.

And then it was gone.

All that remained was a city-sized crater. I remember making a pilgrimage to this site during the 3.0 prepatch just to see it for myself. We couldn't go to Northrend yet to see the city first-hand. We had to wait for the launch of Wrath to do that. But looking at that crater certainly fired the imagination. I couldn't wait to find out what had been lurking under that dome for the first four years of the game.

I have to say, the city lived up to my high expectations.

Read more →

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