Guardians of the Dream PTR Development Notes

[Blue Tracker]

This Public Test Realm (PTR) is a testing environment for the content coming with the Dragonflight: Guardians of the Dream update.

Dragonflight: Guardians of the Dream 10.2 Update Development Notes

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NEW ZONE: THE EMERALD DREAM

• Defend the Dream and the World Tree, Amirdrassil from Fyrakk, primalists, djaradin, and his new ally: the Druids of the Flame.
• New Campaign Chapters are available for testing. Chapters 5 and 6 will not be available on the PTR.
• Emerald Dream world quests, local stories, treasures, and rares are available for testing.
• New Faction: Dream Wardens

NEW WORLD BOSS: AUROSTOR THE HIBERNATING

Aurostor follows a strict regiment of sleep. Fyrakk’s assault on the Emerald Dream has disturbed this cycle, rousing the Furbolg Wild God from his slumber too soon. In a sleep deprived state, this raging Wild God attacks any passersby in an attempt to wear himself out.

NEW RAID: AMIRDRASSIL, THE DREAM’S HOPE

Having been carefully nurtured within the Emerald Dream, Amirdrassil is preparing to bloom and cross into Azeroth. But the fate of the new world tree cannot be secured until Azeroth’s champions come together to face Fyrakk and his molten allies, before he devours the heart of Amirdrassil and bathes the world in flame.

• Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope features nine boss encounters: Gnarlroot, Igira the Cruel, Volcoross, Council of Dreams, Larodar, Keeper of the Flame, Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle, Smolderon, Tindral Sageswift, Seer of the Flame, and Fyrakk the Blazing.
• Raid testing begins at a later date. Stay tuned for the PTR raid testing schedule.

DREAM’S HOPE CLASS ARMOR SETS

• Class armor sets are available for testing, please visit Setzertauren in Orgrimmar and Stormwind. Details can be found in the feedback thread. Please share bugs you find via the in-game bug reporting tool and your feedback about the bonuses in the feedback thread.

CHARACTERS

• New customization options for Druid Moonkin Form. Available for testing in a later PTR build.
• 4 new hair colors for Blood Elf.

CLASSES

• Healing Throughput and Mana Generation in Guardians of the Dream.
• DEATH KNIGHT
  • Unholy
    • Developers’ note: In Guardians of the Dream we are looking to redistribute Unholy’s damage profile. Unholy has some of the highest burst in the game which means most of their damage profile needs to be tuned around that window. The goal with these changes is to reduce their 3 minute burst while increasing their rotational damage and giving more impact to their 45 second windows which should allow for an overall more healthy damage profile across a fight. We fully expect Unholy will still excel in their Gargoyle windows but they should now also have a little more impact outside of it as well.
    • Unholy Assault now increases all damage dealt by 20% (was granting 20% Haste for 20 seconds).
      • Developers’ note: At the moment Unholy has access to multiple sources of Haste that can make their opener a little unwieldly which often leads to an abundance of wasted resources. While this change doesn’t completely rectify the situation it should help reduce some of it.
    • Raise Dead (Main Ghoul) damage increased by 10%.
    • Summon Gargoyle damage reduced by 30%.
    • Soul Reaper damage increased by 20%.
    • Army of the Dead damage of ghouls reduced by 25%.
    • Ghouls summoned by Apocalypse now have their own scaling from the Death Knight’s stats separate from Army of the Dead.
      • Developers’ note: This gives us the opportunity to tune Apocalypse independently of Army of the Dead and vice versa.
    • Apocalypse Ghoul damage increased by 12%.
    • Death Coil damage increased by 12%.
    • Scourge Strike damage increased by 12%.
    • Festering Strike damage increased by 20%.
    • Festering Wound damage increased by 10%.
• DEMON HUNTER
  • Developer’s note: Updates for Demon Hunter talents are in progress but were not ready for testing just yet. Goals for the updates include: improving pathing and connections in the Class tree; addressing underused talents; increasing access to key Havoc utility that currently clashes with DPS; updating existing talents to improve resultant gameplay; improving Vengeance’s Sigil-related talents as a possible build identity or to be incorporated into other builds more successfully; and adding a couple new talents that help achieve those goals.
    We expect Demon Hunter talent changes to roll in over the course of the next few PTR updates. Check back soon!
• DRUID
  • Innervate duration is now 8 seconds (was 10 seconds).
  • Balance
    • Developers’ note: In Guardians of the Dream we’d like to diversify Balance’s talent builds in different content and provide more viable options. Wild Mushrooms was too expensive to compete with other talent options, so we combined it and Fungal Growth into a single point. Wild Mushrooms is now a choice node with a revised Orbital Strike that is no longer tied to Celestial Alignment – you can choose the steady damage of Wild Mushrooms or a less frequent, big burst of damage with Orbital Strike. We also removed the conflict between maintaining Rattle the Stars and maximizing Starlord – we like the “save resources and spend during Eclipse” gameplay of Balance and feel Starlord epitomizes it better.
    • Damage of all abilities increased by 2%.
    • Nature’s Grace now grants 10% Haste (was 15%).
    • Power of Goldrinn damage increased by 20%. Moved to where Starlord was located in Fractures in Time.
    • Starlord has moved to where Power of Goldrinn was located in Fractures in Time.
    • Rattle the Stars has been redesigned – It is no longer a buff that stacks when you cast Starsurge or Starfall and is now a passive bonus that always reduces the cost of Starsurge and Starfall by 10% and increases their damage by 12%.
    • Orbital Strike has been redesigned – Call down a bombardment of celestial energy over the target area, blasting all enemies for Astral damage and applying Stellar Flare to them for 16 seconds. Generates 30 Astral Power. Orbital Strike still hits enemies in a 40 yard line and has a 90 second cooldown. Now a choice node with Wild Mushroom.
    • Fungal Growth has been removed. Wild Mushrooms now includes the effects of Fungal Growth.
    • Wild Mushrooms’ damage has been reduced by 20% and the Fungal Growth damage over time has been reduced to 60% of Wild Mushroom damage (was 70%). Fungal Growth’s damage over time now deals damage over 10 seconds (was 8 seconds).
  • Feral
    • Developers’ note: Some minor shakeups to Feral in Guardians of the Dream. Apex Predator’s value varies a lot in single target and AOE, so we’re evening that out a little. We’re trying a new version of Ashamane’s Guidance, as we don’t love the randomness of the current version with the updated Berserk design – it’s hard to optimize its damage and resource generation without using external tracking mods. The new version will have more consistent value and rewards you for maintaining your most important bleeds.
    • Apex Predator’s chance to trigger is increased against a low number of targets and decreased against a high number of targets. Its chance to trigger is about the same as before against 4 targets.
    • Cat’s Curiosity has been replaced with a new talent: Saber Jaws – When you spend extra Energy on Ferocious Bite, the extra damage is increased by 40%/80%.
    • Ashamane’s Guidance’s effect for Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane has been redesigned – During Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane and for 30 seconds after it ends, your Rip and Rake each cause affected enemies to take 3% increased damage from your abilities.
  • Restoration
    • Cenarius’ Guidance’s Incarnation: Tree of Life functionality has been redesigned – During Incarnation: Tree of Life, you summon a Grove Guardian every 10 seconds. The cooldown of Incarnation: Tree of Life is reduced by 5 seconds when Grove Guardians fade.
    • Incarnation: Tree of Life now additionally empowers Wrath, causing it to deal 20% more damage and be instant cast.
    • Reforestation now grants Incarnation: Tree of Life for 10 seconds (was 9 seconds).
    • New Talent: Liveliness – Your damage over time effects deal their damage 25% faster, and your healing over time effects heal 5% faster.
    • Circle of Life and Death has been removed.
    • Grove Tending healing increased by 30%.
    • Grove Guardian’s Nourish healing decreased by 16%.
    • Grove Guardian’s Swiftmend healing reduced by 20%.
    • Grove Guardian’s Wild Growth healing from Wild Synthesis reduced by 20%.
    • Luxuriant Soil now causes Rejuvenation to have a 1%/2% chance to jump to a nearby ally (was 1.5%/3%).
    • Regrowth initial healing increased by 20%.
    • Regrowth heal over time effect increased by 42%.
    • Rejuvenation healing increased by 25%.
    • Wild Growth healing increased by 15%.
    • Wrath and Starfire damage increased by 90%.
    • Abundance caps at 12 stacks, for a maximum of 60% crit/cost reduction.
    • Cenarion Ward healing increased by 25%.
    • Swiftmend healing increased by 30%.
    • Inner Peace now reduces the cooldown of Tranquility by 30 seconds (was 60 seconds).
    • Spring Blossoms healing reduced by 25%.
    • Sunfire now costs 1.8% base mana (was 2.4%).
    • Embrace of the Dream healing reduced by 30%.
    • Flourish now extends the duration of all your heal over time effects on friendly targets within 60 yards by 6 seconds (was 8 seconds), and increases the rate of your heal over time effects by 25% (was 100%) for 6 seconds (was 8 seconds).
    • Flourish procs from Convoke the Spirits now extends heal over time effects by 3 seconds (was 4 seconds) and lasts 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
      • Developers’ note: We are reducing the effectiveness of Flourish and increasing the power of rotational heal over time spells with the goal of moving more power into the baseline kit.
    • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible (2) Set Bonus – Now increases the healing of Regrowth’s periodic heal by 35% (was 50%).
    • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible (4) Set Bonus – Now increases the rate of your heal over time effects by 26% (was 30%).
• EVOKER
  • Devastation
    • Developers’ note: We are reducing the effectiveness of Mastery: Giantkiller and adding a health floor for the damage bonus. The goal is to bring some damage out of Dragonrage due to the talent Tyranny and make Devastation less reliant on hitting high health targets, while still retaining the flavor and gameplay of the Mastery. This makes them less bursty in PvP and allows them to be more flexible in raid and dungeon content. To compensate for the reduced damage during Dragonrage, we’re increasing Devastation’s overall damage as well.
    • All damage increased by 5%.
    • Mastery: Giantkiller reduced by 25%. For example at level 70, 180 Mastery rating now grants 1.5% Mastery (was 2%). In addition, damage no longer falls off once the target reaches 30% health.
  • Preservation
    • Spiritbloom healing increased by 25%.
    • Living Flame healing increased by 20%.
    • Verdant Embrace healing increased by 35%.
    • Resonating Sphere applies Echo to the first 3 allies it hits (was 5).
    • Cycle of Life now accumulates 10% (was 15%) of your healing over 8 seconds (was 10 seconds).
• HUNTER
  • Fixed an issue where Entrapment didn’t share diminishing returns with other root abilities.
  • Beast Mastery
    • Developers’ note: Aspect of the Wild and Call of the Wild have struggled to be compelling choices during Dragonflight. Both of these cooldowns were competing for similar design space to make you and your pets feel stronger in a way that feels different than Bestial Wrath. After evaluating these abilities, we have decided to replace Aspect of the Wild entirely and convert it into passive options on the talent tree. The removal of Aspect of the Wild allows us to double down on Call of the Wild being a strong pet summoning cooldown for the Beast Mastery spec. We’re also lowering the number of talent points in the Thrill of the Hunt and Dire Command talent nodes from 3 to 2, which should give you some extra flexibility in your talent choices.
    • Aspect of the Wild has been removed.
    • New Talent: Savagery (Passive) – Kill Command damage is increased by 10%. Barbed Shot lasts 2 seconds longer. Replaces Aspect of the Wild.
    • Master Handler has been redesigned – Each time Barbed Shot deals damage, the cooldown of Kill Command is reduced by 0.5 seconds.
    • Call of the Wild has been slightly redesigned – Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes (was 3 minutes) and the base ability now also has the added functionality: Whenever Call of the Wild summons a pet, the cooldown of Kill Command and Barbed Shot are reduced by 50%.
    • Choice nodes for Call of the Wild updated:
      • While Call of the Wild is active, all of your pets are affected by Beast Cleave. Each time Call of the Wild summons a pet, all of your pets Stomp.
      • While Call of the Wild is active, each time you Kill Command, your Kill Command target takes 3% more damage from all of your summons. This effect stacks.
    • Thrill of the Hunt is now a 2-rank talent (was 3). Each point grants 2% critical strike chance, stacking up to 2/4 times (was 3%, stacking 1/2/3 times).
    • Dire Command is now a 2-rank talent (was 3). Each point grants 15/30% chance to trigger (was 10/20/30%).
    • Snake Bite has been removed.
  • Marksmanship
    • Developers’ note: Windrunner’s Guidance being unreliable has added too much variance to a hunter’s performance on each dungeon or raid attempt. This should keep the Wind Arrow theme strong and useful, while being predictable and reliable for how it interacts with your other abilities and the Trueshot cooldown.
    • Windrunner’s Guidance has been redesigned – Each Wind Arrow fired reduces the cooldown of Rapid Fire by 0.5 seconds, and every 8 wind arrows increases the duration of your next Trueshot by 1 second, up to a maximum of 10 seconds.
  • Survival
    • Wildfire Bombs now correctly states that damage is reduced when damaging more than 8 targets.
      • Developers’ note: This is not a functionality change for Wildfire Bomb, but rather a tooltip clarity update. This has been in effect since Shadowlands.
    • Wildfire Bombs now deal 40% increased damage to your primary target.
      • Developers’ note: The Aberrus Survival set bonus increases the value of Wildfire Bomb while in single target encounters in a way that has worked out well. We want to keep this interaction going forward for Survival, so we are removing it from the set bonus and just making all variants of Wildfire Bomb, including any periodic damage effects, deal 40% increased damage to your primary target when using Wildfire Bomb.
    • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible (4) Set Bonus – No longer causes Kill Command to increase damage taken from Wildfire Bombs.
• PALADIN
  • Holy
    • All healing reduced by 3%.
    • Holy Light healing increased by 40%.
    • Flash of Light healing increased by 30%.
    • Daybreak now restores 2000 mana per Glimmer consumed at level 70 (was 3000).
    • Reclamation now restores up to 12% of Crusader Strike and Holy Shock’s mana cost (was 15%).
    • Glimmer of Light healing and damage is now increased by 4% per target (was 6%).
    • Glimmer of Light damage increased by 10%.
• PRIEST
  • Power Infusion Haste reduced to 20% (was 25%) and duration reduced to 15 seconds (was 20 seconds).
    • Developers’ note: Power Infusion has proved to be too impactful due to how it stacks with cooldowns on specializations that excel at dealing damage in a short window. We’re reducing it’s duration and amplitude to balance our burst classes and keep them more in line with steady-state damage dealers.
  • Shadow Word: Death now deals 8% of the Priest’s maximum health in damage when it fails to kill a target instead of the backlash damage being based on damage dealt.
  • Tithe Evasion now reduces Shadow Word: Death damage dealt to the Priest by 50% (was 75%).
  • Shadow Word: Death backlash damage is now reduced by damage reduction effects.
  • Mass Dispel cooldown is now 2 minutes (was 45 seconds).
    • Developers’ note: We’re reducing the frequency that Priests have access to Mass Dispel as the value of the spell is exceeding the value of other utility at its current power level and cooldown. We’re looking to allow for more situations where magic debuffs are applied to multiple players without having a Priest trivializing the intended difficulty of the mechanics.
  • Improved Mass Dispel is now a PvP Talent and reduces the cooldown of Mass Dispel by 60 seconds (was 20 seconds).
  • Improved Mass Dispel no longer reduces the cast time of Mass Dispel.
  • Improved Mass Dispel has been replaced with Mental Agility in the Priest talent tree.
  • New Talent: Mental Agility – Reduces the mana cost of Purify, Purify Disease, and Mass Dispel by 50% and Dispel Magic by 10%.
  • Rhapsody now only highlights Holy Nova at max stacks while in combat.
  • Discipline
    • Developers’ note: The goal of these changes is to simplify Discipline’s damage rotation as well as the number of stacking modifiers used when ramping up for burst healing. This should make it smoother to play by reducing the number of abilities pressed in sequence, allowing players to focus on managing Atonement and triaging their allies instead.
    • Schism has been redesigned to be a passive talent – Now causes Mind Blast to fracture the enemy’s mind, increasing your spell damage to the target by 10% for 9 seconds.
    • Shadow Covenant has been redesigned to be a passive talent – Shadowfiend or Mindbender enters you into a shadowy pact, transforming Halo, Divine Star, and Penance into Shadow spells and increasing the damage and healing of your Shadow spells by 25% for 15 seconds (7 seconds with Mindbender).
      • Developers’ note: Shadow Covenant is another ability that must be sequenced correctly and is usually stacked with other damage modifiers. By merging this effect with Shadowfiend, we can streamline the damage rotation and make Shadowfiend a more exciting cooldown at the same time.
    • Mind Blast now has a 24 second cooldown (was 9 seconds).
    • Mind Blast damage has been increased by 30%.
    • Dark Indulgence no longer grants an additional charge of Mind Blast. Instead, Mind Blast has a 100% chance to grant Power of the Dark Side.
    • Inescapable Torment damage increased by 60%.
    • Inescapable Torment now triggers from Penance in addition to Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death.
    • Inescapable Torment is now a 1-point talent (was 2).
    • Power Word: Solace has been removed.
      • Developers’ note: Power Word: Solace has a long history, but it was another example of a short cooldown damage button that cramped the rotation, so we’re removing it.
    • Harsh Discipline no longer triggers after 4 spell casts of Smite, Mind Blast, or Power Word: Solace. Instead, Power Word: Radiance has a 30/60% chance to cause your next Penance to be free and fire 3 extra bolts.
      • Developers’ note: While Harsh Discipline was fun to play with, it added another thing you had to do before paying off on your Atonements. By triggering from Power Word: Radiance, this will now automatically happen after applying your Atonements. This will also reduce the frequency of Harsh Discipline procs, and allow regular Penance to deal more damage and healing.
    • New Talent: Sanctuary – Smite prevents the next 80% damage dealt by the enemy.
    • New Talent: Ultimate Penitence – Ascend into the air and unleash a massive barrage of Penance bolts, causing Holy damage to enemies or healing to allies over 6 seconds. While ascended, gain a shield for 50% of your health. In addition, you are unaffected by knockbacks or crowd control effects.
    • New Talent: Heaven’s Wrath – Each Penance bolt you fire reduces the cooldown of Ultimate Penitence by 2 seconds.
    • New Talent: Overloaded with Light – Ultimate Penitence emits an explosion of light, healing up to 10 allies around you and applying Atonement at 50% of normal duration.
    • Penance damage increased by 15%.
    • Penance healing increased by 30%.
    • Power Word: Barrier now reduces 20% of all damage taken (was 25%).
    • Atonement now heals for 32% of damage done (was 40%).
    • Atonement healing is now increased by 50% when not in a raid.
    • Flash Heal healing increased by 40%.
    • Power Word: Shield absorption increased by 10%.
    • Divine Aegis is now a 1-point talent (was 2).
    • Light’s Wrath, Resplendent Light, Wrath Unleashed, and Make Amends have been removed.
  • Holy
    • Holy Word: Serenity healing increased by 30%.
    • Flash Heal healing increased by 40%.
    • Holy Word: Salvation’s cooldown is now reduced by 15 seconds (was 30 seconds) by Holy Word: Serenity and Holy Word: Sanctify.
    • Symbol of Hope now restores 10% of missing mana (was 15%).
    • Symbol of Hope recovers 40 seconds of cooldown for a major defensive ability (was 60 seconds).
    • Holy Word: Sanctify now heals up to 5 allies (was 6).
    • Divine Star healing decreased by 25%.
    • Halo healing decreased by 15%.
  • Shadow
    • Shadow Crash damage is now reduced beyond 5 targets.
    • Surge of Insanity now triggers from every 3 casts of Devouring Plague instead of every cast of Devouring Plague.
      • Developers’ note: The rotation has a lot going on and much of that is due to the frequency that Mind Flay: Insanity and Mind Spike: Insanity are available, so we’re adjusting the frequency of the effect.
    • Mind Flay damage increased by 10%.
    • Mind Flay: Insanity damage increased by 30%.
    • Mind Spike: Insanity damage increased by 20%.
• MONK
  • Mistweaver
    • Life Cocoon healing increased by 33%.
    • Soothing Mist healing increased by 40%.
    • Enveloping Mist healing increased by 25%.
    • Misty Peaks chance to trigger reduced to 2.5/5% (was 5/10%).
    • Enveloping Breath now heals up to 5 nearby targets (was 6).
    • Invigorating Mist’s healing is increased by 25%.
    • Invigorating Mist’s healing is now reduced beyond 5 targets.
    • Burst of Life healing increased by 100%.
    • Vivify direct healing is increased by 30%.
    • Clouded Focus now increases the healing and decreases the mana cost of Vivify and Enveloping Mist by 15% per stack (was 20%).
    • Ancient Teachings’ range increased to 40 yards (was 30 yards).
    • Ancient Concordance now costs 1 point.
    • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible (2) Set Bonus has been redesigned – Now increases the healing of Renewing Mist, Soothing Mist, and Enveloping Mist by 12%.
• ROGUE
  • Developer’s note: In Guardians of the Dream we are updating all 4 Rogue talent trees to bring them up to current standards. A sweeping pass was needed to make significant adjustments to address notable concerns, like: moving the first gate from row 3 to row 4 to match all other classes; improving pathing and increasing interconnectedness on every tree; removing 3-point nodes; and reducing the percentage of minor DPS talents taken in the Class tree to make room for more flavorful and robust utility options. We also wanted to use the opportunity where so many things are changing to rework or redesign some talents that needed the update, and also just to make some new talents to experience and (hopefully) enjoy. Let us know what you think!
  • Many changes have been made to Class talent positions and connections.
  • Sap is now a baseline ability.
  • Shiv damage increased by 20%.
  • Shiv now costs 30 Energy (was 20) and has a 30 second cooldown (was 25 seconds).
  • New Talent: Featherfoot (Passive) – Sprint increases movement speed by an additional 30%, and duration increased by 4 seconds.
  • New Talent: Superior Mixture (Passive) – Crippling Poison reduced movement speed by an additional 10%.
  • New Talent: Graceful Guile (Passive) – Feint has 1 additional charge.
  • New Talent: Stillshroud (Passive) – Shroud of Concealment has 50% reduced cooldown.
  • Vigor’s location has changed and is now a 2-point talent, increasing max Energy by 50/100 and increasing Energy regeneration by 8/15%.
  • Deadly Precision is now a 1-point talent. Per point value has not changed.
  • Nightstalker’s location has changed and now increases damage while Stealth is active by 8/15% (was 4/8%).
  • Reverberation now increases Echoing Reprimand damage by 100% (was 75%).
  • Deadened Nerves now reduces physical damage taken by 5% (was 3%).
  • Echoing Reprimand now charges a combo point from 3/4/5 (was 2/3/4).
  • Marked for Death has been adjusted:
    • Cooldown adjusted to 40 seconds for all specializations (was 30 seconds for Assassination and Subtlety, 60 seconds for Outlaw).
    • Grants full combo points (was 5).
    • Now increases the damage your finishing moves deal to the target by 15%.
    • Lasts 15 seconds (was 60 seconds) and resets cooldown if the target dies during the effect.
  • Assassination
    • Developers’ note: Assassination is known for having strong single target damage, but has two areas of concern we hope to address in Guardians of the Dream. First and foremost, their AoE has been notably weak and left them far behind the pack for M+ and certain raid encounter types. Secondly, Assassination’s damage performance does not improve at a similar rate compared to most specs when players improve their play and coordination to take on bigger challenges, like when moving from Heroic to Mythic level raiding. We hope the changes here will raise the floor of Assassination’s AoE, especially before reaching and needing capstone talents to do so, and that it will feel like a distinct Assassination-like way to deliver AoE damage and not just copy/paste of another spec’s gameplay. As for the second concern, it’s very important to us that we not completely rewrite the book and threaten to undermine what makes Assassination appealing for so many players from both fantasy and gameplay perspectives. That said, the changes aimed at addressing this issue are more subtle. We intend to create more room for players tackling high-end content to use their resources and encounter knowledge to get improved performance outcomes, while not increasing the number of hoops players at all levels need to jump through to get results similar to the past.
    • Many changes have been made to Assassination talent positions and connections.
    • Shadowstep is now a baseline ability.
    • New Talent: Sudden Demise (Passive) – Your Bleed damage increased by 10%. Targets below 35% health instantly bleed out and take fatal damage when the remaining Bleed damage you would deal to them exceeds 200% of their remaining health.
    • New Talent: Caustic Spatter (Passive) – Using Mutilate on a target afflicted by your Rupture and Lethal Poison applies Caustic Spatter for 10 seconds. Caustic Spatter causes 30% of Poison damage dealt to splash onto other nearby enemies, reduced beyond 5 targets. Limit 1.
    • New Talent: Path of Blood (Passive) – Increases max Energy by 100.
    • Envenom duration reduced by 1 second.
    • Improved Shiv now increases Nature damage by 30% (was 20%).
    • Venomous Wounds’ effect now restores 8 Energy (was 7).
    • Elaborate Planning is now a 1-point talent, and its effect now increases damage by 5% (was 4/8%).
    • Improved Poisons is now a 1-point talent. Per point value has not changed.
    • Bloody Mess is now a 1-point talent. Per point value has not changed.
    • Thrown Precision has been adjusted:
      • No longer increases Fan of Knives damage by 15%.
      • Now increases Fan of Knives critical strike chance by 10% (was 5%).
      • Now causes Fan of Knives critical strikes to always apply your weapon poisons.
    • Seal Fate has changed:
      • Moved from Class talent tree to Assassination.
      • Now a 1-point talent.
      • Effect now always triggers from critical strikes (was 50/100% chance).
    • Internal Bleeding’s effect is now also applied by Rupture.
    • Crimson Tempest has been adjusted:
      • No longer has an instant damage component.
      • Now has an initial damage over time tick on application.
      • Damage per tick reduced by 25%.
      • Duration increased by 2 seconds.
      • Now deals bonus damage when multiple enemies are afflicted, increased by 20% per target, up to 100%.
      • Now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets (was 8).
    • Lightweight Shiv now increases Shiv damage by 100% in addition to its previous effect.
    • Exsanguinate has been redesigned:
      • Active version: 1 minute cooldown. Garrote, Rupture, and Crimson Tempest consume 10 Energy to duplicate 100% of any damage dealt. Lasts 10 seconds.
      • Passive version: While above 100 Energy your Garrote, Rupture, and Crimson Tempest consume 8 Energy to duplicate 40% of any damage dealt.
        • Developers’ note: There are two updated versions of Exsanguinate available to test on PTR, located on the talent tree as a choice node with one being active and one being passive. Based on testing, feedback, and possible iteration, we will likely keep one to continue on for patch release and discard the other.
    • Flying Daggers now increases Fan of Knives damage by 15%, in addition to its previous effects.
    • Venom Rush’s effect now refunds 6 Energy (was 7).
    • Vicious Venoms has been adjusted:
      • Bonus damage effect increased to 35/70% (was 10/20%).
      • Now increases Ambush and Mutilate energy costs by 5/10.
    • Poison Bomb now affects an area within 8 yards (was 6 yards).
    • Zoldyck Recipe is now a 2-point talent. Per point values have not changed.
    • Dashing Scoundrel effect now generates 1/2 Energy (was 1 Energy at both ranks).
    • Scent of Blood is now a 2-point talent, and its effect now increases Agility by 1.5/3% (was 1/2/3%).
    • Arterial Precision’s effect now increases Bleed damage by 30% (was 20%).
    • Dragon-Tempered Blades now causes your weapon poisons to apply 30% less frequently, in addition to its previous effect.
    • Indiscriminate Carnage has been redesigned – Garrote and Rupture apply to 2 additional nearby enemies when used from Stealth and for 3 seconds after breaking Stealth. Passive Talent.
  • Outlaw
    • Developers’ note: Outlaw’s talent tree has produced some fun gameplay so far in Dragonflight, but it has significant issues with rigidity, lack of pathing options, high tension between early tree DPS and utility nodes, and far above average number of unskippable core skills. Some of those skills have returned to Outlaw baseline, creating room for improved pathing and interconnectedness. We have also reworked or redesigned some existing talents and introduced some new options, with the hope that it will expand the gameplay space and options available to popular Outlaw builds.
    • Many changes have been made to Outlaw talent positions and connections.
    • Grappling Hook, Blade Flurry, Roll the Bones, and Restless Blades are now baseline abilities.
    • Prey on the Weak has moved from the Class talent tree to Outlaw, and has been renamed Sting Like a Bee.
    • New Talent: Airborne Irritant (Passive) – Blind applies to 4 additional nearby enemies while Blade Flurry is active, but has 20% reduced duration.
    • New Talent: Crackshot (Passive) – Between the Eyes has no cooldown and also Dispatches the target for 100% of normal damage when used from Stealth.
    • New Talent: Underhanded Upper Hand (Passive) – Slice and Dice does not lose duration during Blade Flurry. Blade Flurry does not lose duration during Adrenaline Rush. Adrenaline Rush does not lose duration during Stealth. Stealth abilities can be used for an additional 3 seconds after Stealth breaks.
    • Between the Eyes’ critical bonus effect is now a buff on the Rogue (was a debuff on the target).
    • Thief’s Versatility has been adjusted:
      • Moved from Class talent tree to Outlaw.
      • Now a 1-point talent.
      • Now increases Versatility by 4% (was 2/4%).
    • Fatal Flourish effect now has a 50% chance to trigger (was 60%).
    • Deft Maneuvers has been redesigned – Blade Flurry’s initial damage is increased by 100% and generates 1 combo point per target struck.
    • Swift Slasher has been adjusted – Now causes Slice and Dice to grant additional attack speed equal to 100% of your Haste (was based on combo points spent).
    • Ace Up Your Sleeve now grants 5 combo points (was 4) and has 5% chance per combo point to trigger (was 4%).
    • Triple Threat is now a 1-point talent, granting 10% chance to trigger its effect (was 5/10%).
    • Improved Main Gauche is now a 1-point talent. Per point value has not changed.
    • Weaponmaster has been removed.
    • Improved Adrenaline Rush has been adjusted:
      • No longer grants full combo points when Adrenaline Rush ends.
      • Now grants full Energy when Adrenaline Rush ends.
    • Ghostly Strike has been adjusted:
      • No longer affected by global cooldown.
      • Cooldown increased to 1.5 minutes (was 35 seconds).
      • Energy cost increased to 35 (was 30).
      • Damage increased by 33%.
      • Now increases damage to the target by 15% (was 10%).
      • Duration increased to 12 seconds (was 10 seconds).
    • Dreadblades has been adjusted:
      • Effect now grants full combo points (was 5).
      • Energy cost reduced to 30 (was 40).
      • Backlash damage increased to 8% of current health (was 5%).
    • Killing Spree has been adjusted:
      • Moved to capstone location.
      • Now a finishing move, increasing number of total strikes per combo point (1 strike + 1 per combo point spent).
      • Damage per strike increased by 33%.
      • No longer reduces damage taken during effect.
      • Now causes 100% of damage taken during effect to be delayed, instead taken over 8 seconds.
      • Haste now affects duration, reducing the time between strikes.
  • Subtlety
    • Developers’ note: Subtlety and its talent tree have been in a similar position as Outlaw. The gameplay outcome has been mostly good during Dragonflight so far, but many talents are underused, and rigid pathing with insufficient connections have restricted talent options. We have changed, redesigned, and added new talents alongside improvements to pathing and interconnectedness that will hopefully add up to feeling like there is more gameplay diversity and flexibility in the tree. And while we noted that gameplay outcomes thus far in Dragonflight have been ‘good’, there have been some negative trends we hope to address. To start, Subtlety’s Energy and combo point resource economies have been overflowing, which creates a cascade of issues. Uptime for key cooldowns (predominantly Shadow Dance) has also been higher than expected, forcing overall damage tuning to result in a relatively flat damage profile, especially for a spec that is often known for having moments of increased intensity and burst within those frequent cooldown windows. So, in addition to the more general improvements and additions for talents, there are some changes that affect Subtlety’s Energy and combo point flow that will reduce the floor of their steady downtime rate, and increase the relative value of effects that temporarily offer more resources. It will require tuning and iteration to get to the amounts of total resource generation and damage output in a good state, so any gameplay feedback you would like to share on these topics is welcome. Let us know!
    • Many changes have been made to Subtlety talent positions and connections.
    • Shadowstep and Black Powder are now baseline abilities.
    • Backstab Energy cost increased to 40 (was 35).
    • Shadowstrike Energy cost increased to 45 (was 40) and damage increased by 16%.
    • Shadow Techniques has been adjusted:
      • No longer grants a combo point immediately when its effect is triggered.
      • Now stores combo points with a stacking buff, up to double your max combo points.
      • Abilities that generate combo points can expend any stored combo points to generate extra, up to your max combo points.
      • Energy generation reduced to 3 (was 4).
    • Find Weakness has been adjusted:
      • Moved from Class talent tree to Subtlety.
      • Now a 1-point talent.
      • Now causes attacks to bypass 30% of armor (was 15/30%).
    • Shadow Blades has been adjusted:
      • Now causes all attacks (was combo point generating abilities) to deal 20% additional damage as Shadow (was 50%).
      • Now causes abilities that generate combo points to generate full combo points (was 1 additional).
    • New Talent: Ephemeral Bond (Passive) – Increases healing received by 12%.
    • New Talent: Shadowcraft (Passive) – While Symbols of Death is active, your Shadow Techniques triggers after 1 fewer attack, stores 1 additional combo point, and finishing moves can also expend stored combo points.
    • New Talent: Goremaw’s Bite – Lashes out at the target, inflicting Shadow damage and causing your next 3 finishing moves to cost no Energy. Awards 3 combo points. Costs 25 Energy. 1 minute cooldown.
    • New Talent: Stunning Secret (Passive) – Kidney Shot has 100% increased cooldown and Energy cost, and now creates shadow clones to stun all other nearby enemies.
    • New Talent: Warning Signs (Passive) – Symbols of Death increases your Haste by 6%.
    • Shrouded in Darkness now causes Shroud of Concealment to persist after leaving its area, in addition to its previous effect.
    • Eviscerate damage increased by 10%.
    • Gloomblade Energy cost increased to 40 (was 35).
    • Planned Execution is now a 1-point talent and increases critical strike chance by 6% (was 5/10%).
    • Improved Shadow Dance is now a 1-point talent and increases Shadow Dance duration by 2 seconds (was 1/2 seconds).
    • Shadowed Finishers is now a 1-point talent and its effect causes 25% additional damage as Shadow (was 20/40%).
    • Shadow Focus now reduces Energy costs by 10% (was 15%).
    • Deepening Shadows now reduces Shadow Dance cooldown by 0.5 seconds per combo point spent (was 0.7).
    • Perforated Veins has been redesigned as a 1-point talent – After striking 5 times with Gloomblade, your next attack that generates combo points deals 50% increased damage.
    • Lingering Shadows is now a 1-point talent. Per point value has not changed.
    • Deeper Daggers is now a 1-point talent. Per point value has not changed.
    • Finality buffs no longer have a duration.
    • The Rotten has been adjusted:
      • Bonus to damage and critical strike now applies to any attack that generates combo points (was Backstab, Gloomblade, and Shadowstrike).
      • Effect no longer generates combo points.
• SHAMAN
  • Mana Spring now restores 150 mana for Enhancement Shamans (was 250), 150 mana for Restoration Shamans (was 350), and 100 mana for Elemental Shamans (was 150) at level 70.
  • Enhancement
    • Primordial Wave spell damage increased by 500%.
  • Restoration
    • Healing Stream healing increased by 20%.
    • Healing Surge healing increased by 30%.
    • Healing Wave healing increased by 30%.
    • Primordial Wave replicates Healing Wave at 40% effectiveness (was 60%).
    • Cloudburst Totem now accumulates 20% of your healing done (was 30%).
    • Ascendance now duplicates 80% of all healing done (was 100%).
    • Mana Tide Totem now increases mana regeneration by 80% (was 100%).
    • Resurgence now restores 20% less mana.
• WARLOCK
  • Affliction
    • Grand Warlock’s Design has been redesigned – Summon Darkglare cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds.
  • Demonology
    • Developers’ note: Demonology’s damage profile is currently too reliant on Nether Portal and Tyrant windows. In Guardians of the Dream, we’re redistributing this power to other parts of Demonology’s rotation and decoupling the synergy between these two cooldowns so that they can stand on their own rather than being dependent on one another. We still want Nether Portal and Demonic Tyrant to be impactful, powerful cooldowns – just not the only source of meaningful output for a Demonology Warlock.
    • Gul’dan’s Ambition has been redesigned – When Nether Portal ends, you summon a Pit Lord that serves you for 10 seconds.
    • Grand Warlock’s Design has been redesigned – Summon Demonic Tyrant cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds.
    • Ner’zhul’s Volition has been redesigned – Demons summoned from your Nether Portal deal 15/30% increased damage.
    • Demonic Knowledge now has a 10% chance of causing Hand of Gul’dan to generate a Demonic Core (was 15%).
    • New Talent: Volatile Fiends – Implosion deals 10% increased damage. Bilescourge Bombers deal 20% increased damage and your spells now have a chance to summon a Bilescourge Bomber.
    • Summon Demonic Tyrant has been redesigned – Summon a Demonic Tyrant to increase the duration of your Dreadstalkers, Vilefiend, Felguard, and up to 10 of your Wild Imps for 15 seconds. Your Demonic Tyrant increases the damage of affected demons by 15% while damaging your target.
    • Reign of Tyranny has been redesigned – Active Wild Imps grant 1 stack of Demonic Servitude and active greater demons grant 3 stacks of Demonic Servitude, up to 15 stacks. Demonic Tyrant deals 10% additional damage for each stack of Demonic Servitude active at the time of his summon.
    • Inner Demons no longer has a chance to summon an additional demon during combat.
    • Demonic Core is no longer baseline.
    • Demonbolt now grants the passive Demonic Core when learned.
    • Shadow Bolt damage increased by 30%.
    • Demonbolt damage increased by 15%.
    • Vilefiend damage increased by 15%.
    • Bloodbound Imps has been removed.
  • Destruction
    • Developers’ note: We’re removing Madness of the Azj’Aqir and introducing a new talent, Chaosbringer, that increases the output of Chaos Bolt, Shadowburn, and Rain of Fire. Additionally we are adding damage to Chaos Bolt baseline. We are doing this specifically to decrease how penalizing movement can feel as a Destruction Warlock while also making these spells feel more impactful.
    • New Talent: Chaosbringer – Chaos Bolt damage increased by 8/15%. Rain of Fire damage increased by 5/10%. Shadowburn damage increased by 5/10%.
    • Chaos Bolt damage increased by 15%.
    • Grand Warlock’s Design has been redesigned – Summon Infernal cooldown is reduced by 60 seconds.
    • Madness of the Azj’Aqir has been removed.

DRAGONRIDING

• New glyphs to collect to learn 3 new traits:
  • Swift Skimming (Passive): Ground Skimming can occur now while affected by Thrill of the Skies.
  • Wind’s Respite (Passive): After activating Aerial Halt, experience a brief moment of weightlessness as the effects of gravity are reduced for 4 seconds.
  • Second Wind (Active, 3 charges, 3 minute recharge): Instantly generate 1 vigor.
• New dragonriding races and world quests in the Emerald Dream.
• New dragonriding mount: Flourishing Whimsydrake
• New Grotto Netherwing Drake appearances to collect.

ITEMS

• Rashok’s Molten Heart mana restore effect reduced by 70%.
• AMIRDRASSIL, THE DREAMS HOPE RAID REWARDS
  • Developers’ note: Players can test smmeveral new raid trinkets, the Incandescent Essence helm enchantment, and several weapons with additional effects by acquiring them from Trinketaur in Valdrakken. Class sets are available on Setzertauren. We look forward to your feedback! Additional trinkets and weapons will be added in future PTR builds.
  • INCANDESCENT ESSENCE
    • Players will begin a questline to acquire this reusable helm enchantment shortly after entering the raid and can expect to acquire it in their second month of raiding. This powerful item grants players a different effect based on their current role and is not consumed on use. These effects will be disabled in PvP.
    • Quest progress is capped on a weekly basis and will be accelerated five weeks after the season begins to allow players to easily catch up if they miss the start of the season.
• PROFESSIONS
  • New recipes have been added.
• UPGRADE SYSTEM
  • Hero upgrade track increased to 6 (was 5).
  • Myth upgrade track increased to 4 (was 3).
  • Crests are now a currency and will no longer take up inventory space.
  • Fragments have been removed.
  • Crests can now be traded up for higher-level Crests once reaching the lower level Crest’s item level or higher.
    • For example: Using Season 2 item level numbers, players would become eligible to trade their Whelpling Crests up to Drake Crests when every gear slot had reached item level 411 or higher. Trading up to Wyrm Crests would become available at 424 (again, in every gear slot, using the same rules as crest redundancy), and trading up to Aspect Crests would open at 437.
  • PvP gear can now be upgraded with Flightstones and Crests (was Honor).
    • All PvP activities will reward Flightstones, and Crests can be earned from rated activities.
  • The Crest cap is now 90 per week to purchase 6 upgrades (was 10 upgrades).

PET BATTLES

• New wild pets to collect in the Emerald Dream.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• Battleground Blitz Brawl
  • The Battleground Blitz brawl is a new Brawl coming in Guardians of the Dream that is a 8v8 solo queue Battleground experience. It’s our first foray into what could potentially become solo queue Rated battlegrounds in the future. For more information and specifics about this feature, please check out our forum post.
• The cooldown of Gladiator’s Medallion is now 90 seconds for all healer specializations (was 120 seconds).
• Fixed an issue causing Precognition to trigger if the player is immune to an interrupt while casting.
• EVOKER
  • Preservation
    • Living Flame healing is no longer increased by 12% in PvP combat.
    • Verdant Embrace healing is no longer increased by 20% in PvP combat.
• HUNTER
  • Survival Tactics has been redesigned – Feign Death reduces damage taken by 90% for 3 seconds.
• MONK
  • Mistweaver
    • Enveloping Mist no longer increased by 15% in PvP combat.
    • Vivify direct healing is now reduced by 20% in PvP combat (was 10%).
• PALADIN
  • Holy
    • Holy Light no longer increased by 47% in PvP combat.
    • Flash of Light no longer increased by 30% in PvP combat.
• PRIEST
  • Discipline
    • Atonement is now 36% more effective in PvP Combat (was 89%).
    • Flash Heal is no longer increased by 30% in PvP Combat.
  • Shadow
    • Focused Will now reduces physical damage taken by 15% and magic damage taken by 5% (was all damage by 10%) for Shadow Priests.
• SHAMAN
  • Restoration
    • Healing Surge no longer increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Healing Wave healing increased by 20% in PvP combat (was 56%).
• WARLOCK
  • Demon Skin now additionally grants a 45/90% armor increase.
  • Affliction
    • Developers’ note: We’re making some adjustments to Affliction with the goal of allowing Warlocks to opt into spending Soul Shards to reduce the amount of global cooldowns spent applying damage over time and curse effects to enemies, so more time can be spent on higher-impact spells.
    • Rapid Contagion has been removed.
    • New PvP Talent: Jinx – Casting a curse now applies Corruption and Agony to your target, but curses now costs 1 Soul Shard.
    • Corruption damage is now increased by 25% in PvP combat (was 10%).
    • Agony damage is now increased by 40% in PvP combat (was 25%).
    • Unstable Affliction damage is now increased by 40% in PvP combat (was 25%).
    • Oblivion now costs 2 Soul Shards (was 3).
    • Rampant Afflictions now reduces the damage of Unstable Affliction by 50% (was 25%).
• WARRIOR
  • New PvP Talent – Safeguard: Intervene now has 2 charges and reduces the ally’s damage taken by 20% for 5 seconds. Intervene’s cooldown is increased by 10 seconds.
  • New PvP Talent – Battlefield Commander: Your Shout abilities have additional effects.
    • Battle Shout: Increases Stamina by 3%.
    • Piercing Howl: Roots targets hit for 2 seconds.
    • Berserker Shout: Range increased by 8 yards.
    • Intimidating Shout: Cooldown reduced by 15 seconds.
    • Rallying Cry: Removes movement impairing effects and grants 30% movement speed to allies.
    • Thunderous Roar: Targets receive 5% more damage from all sources while bleeding.
  • Storm of Destruction has been redesigned – Reduces the cooldown of Ravager and Bladestorm by 30%, and Ravager and Bladestorm now also snare all targets you hit by 70% for 8 seconds.
    • Storm of Destruction is now available as a PvP talent for Fury and Protection Warrior.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• TALENTS UI
  • We’ve reworked the user experience to make reallocating talent points easier. You can now remove a point and spend it elsewhere without a large part of your build disappearing. Disconnected talents are simply marked in red, and can be reconnected to make the build valid again.
  • To perform the old behavior of mass unlearning all dependent talents, press Shift + Right Click.
• PING SYSTEM
  • Added a option to add shortcut to Chat Settings so you can more easily control which chat windows display pings.
• TRADING POST
  • You can now click the frozen item slot to select it instead of having to locate it in the list.
• Added a tooltip to the magnifying glass on the World Map.

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Source: Guardians of the Dream PTR Development Notes, Author: Linxy, Posted: Thursday, September 7th 2023, 9:51 pm