Dragonflight Season 4 PTR Development Notes
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This Public Test Realm (PTR) is a testing environment for the content coming with the Dragonflight: Season 4 update.
Dragonflight: Season 4 Update Development Notes
SEASON 4 MYTHIC+ DUNGEONS
- Season 4 brings back all eight Dragonflight dungeons to the Mythic+ rotation: Ruby Life Pools, Brackenhide Hollow, The Nokhud Offensive, Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr, Neltharus, The Azure Vault, Halls of Infusion, and Algeth’ar Academy.
- DIFFICULTY CHANGES
- One of the most notable changes players can look forward to is the removal of the timer for Mythic Keystone dungeons for what are currently 0 and 10. Players can run through these dungeons at their own pace without the need to watch the clock while still honing their skills.
- Heroic difficulty and rewards will move up to roughly the current level of Mythic 0. These dungeons will remain available to queue into via Group Finder (default hotkey: “I”), though the item level requirement to queue will also go up accordingly.
- Mythic 0 difficulty and rewards will move up to roughly the current level of Mythic 8-10 (this is a bit hand-wavy - numerically it’s close to M10 but not having a timer at all or affixes really offsets that quite a bit).
- The existing Mythic+ system will pick up where that leaves off, such that a Mythic 5 in Season 4 is roughly equivalent in difficulty, rewards, and M+ Rating awarded, to a Mythic 15 today.
- Normal
- This difficulty is unchanged.
- Heroic
- The tuning and rewards of this difficulty are increasing to be equivalent to a baseline Mythic (Mythic 0) dungeon in the current system.
- Mythic difficulty changes and mechanics will not be present in this difficulty.
- This remains a queueable experience.
- Mythic
- The tuning and rewards of this difficulty are increasing to the equivalent of a +10 dungeon with affixes in the current system.
- There are no timers, affixes, or limitations on changing specializations or talents while in the dungeon.
- The goal is to create a mega-dungeon like difficulty for this experience. This difficulty should present a meaningful challenge and provide commensurate rewards without the pressures of the current Mythic+ system.
- Mythic 0 is still on a weekly lockout under this model.
- Mythic+
- The Mythic+ system will have rewards up to level 10, with +2 starting from what would regularly be a +11 in the current Mythic+ system.
- A +5 should be as hard as a +15 and +10 should be as hard as a +20 in the current Mythic+ system etc.
- Affixes would slot in at +2, +5, and +10
- +2 - Fortified/Tyrannical
- +5 - Entangling / Incorporeal etc.
- +10 - Bursting / Bolstering etc.
- Dungeon ratings should be equivalent to what they represent in the current system.
- There should be a smaller range of keystone levels to find groups for, and more meaningful progression between each level.
- The Mythic+ system will have rewards up to level 10, with +2 starting from what would regularly be a +11 in the current Mythic+ system.
- Normal
- It’s important to note that the basic structure of dungeon rewards is not changing significantly, so what you would have earned for completing a Mythic 0 will be earnable in the Heroic difficulty dungeon instead. Here is a basic rundown of what you can expect:
- Crest and Flightstone rewards are changing to match the same difficulty with only some minor adjustments.
- Flightstone earnings for any given Mythic+ will match the equally challenging Mythic+ from previous seasons. This means that a Mythic +2 in Season 4 will give the same number of Flightstones as a Mythic +12 in Season 3 currently does. The rewards will continue to match difficulty, even if what we’re calling those difficulty changes.
- Bonus Flightstone awards for increasing any party member’s Mythic+ score remain unchanged.
- Whelpling Crests are no longer available from Mythic+ dungeons, as those difficulties no longer exist. Players can continue to collect Whelpling Crests from many outdoor sources.
- Players will earn 10 Drake Crests on successful completion of a Mythic 0 dungeon, as there is no timer to beat.
- Wyrm Crests will be available in Mythic +2 to Mythic +5 dungeons in the same quantities as existing Mythic+ dungeons.
- Aspect Crests will be available in any Mythic difficulty from +6 and up, also in the same quantities as existing Mythic+ dungeons.
Dungeon Updates
The following are the most notable changes in each dungeon:
HALLS OF INFUSION
General
- Dungeon checkpoint added after defeating Gulping Goliath.
- Normalized the spawn rate of Crashing Tsunami during the gauntlet.
- Containment Apparatus Containment Beam’s damage has been reduced by 42%
- Primalist Galesinger
- Wind Buffet has been removed.
- Thunderstorm has been removed.
- Now uses Thunderstrike – Inflicts Nature damage to all players within 7 yards of impact.
- Primalist Earthshaker Rumbling Earth’s rim visual will no longer clip into the terrain.
Encounters
- Watcher Irideus
- Titanic Fist now has a visual during cast.
- Power Overload now has a rim visual around afflicted player.
- Power Field now gradually grows to its full size.
- Khajin the Unyielding
- Added rim visuals on Ice Boulders that will trigger Avalanche.
- Primal Tsunami
- Cast Away now occurs at 50% health (was 100% energy).
AZURE VAULT
General
- Increased the timer of Azure Vault by 1 minute.
- Crystal Fury
- Piercing Shard now has a precast visual.
- Piercing Shard ’s impact area has been reduced.
- Conjured Lasher Mystic Vapors will now be cast less frequently.
- Arcane Tender Erratic Growth’s cast time has been increased to 3.5 seconds (was 2.5 seconds).
- Unstable Curator Heavy Tome will now be cast less frequently.
- Drakonid Breaker
- Shoulder Slam’s knock back has been removed.
- Shoulder Slam now inflicts Physical damage and increases Physical damage taken by 10%.
- Shoulder Slam will now be cast less frequently.
Encounters
- Leymore
- Erupting Fissures now follows current target player.
- Azure Blade
- Reduced the frequency of periodic damage from Overwhelming Energy to every 2.5 seconds (was every 2 seconds).
- Umbrelskul
- Oppressive Miasma removed in Mythic difficulty.
- Crystalize now pulses Arcane damage while the crystal is shielded.
- Crackling Vortex now has a larger movement radius.
BRACKENHIDE HOLLOW
General
- Rotbow Stalker
- Renamed to Rotbow Ranger
- Shoot now has a recast of 6 seconds.
- Diseased Meat renamed to Rotten Meat, and is now a Poison dispel.
- Brackenhide Shaper
- Summon Lashers has been removed.
- Touch of Decay has been removed.
- Stinkbreath
- Violent Whirlwind ’s radius has been reduced to 6 yards (was 7 yards).
- Stink Breath now locks facing after targeting a player.
- Stink Breath now has a visual while casting.
- Gutstabber Withering Poison has been removed.
- Bracken Warscourge Bloody Bite has been removed.
- Claw Fighter Bloody Bite has been removed.
- Decay Speaker Rotchanting Totem has been removed.
Encounters
- Hackclaw’s War-Band
- Predatory Instincts’ Haste bonus has been reduced to 5% (was 10%).
- Mark for Butchery’s damage frequency has been increased to 1 seconds (was 0.5 seconds).
- Gash Frenzy’s damage reduced by 21%.
- Gash Frenzy’s duration reduced to 15 seconds (was 45 seconds).
ALGETH’AR ACADEMY
General
- Spellbound Scepter Arcane Rain has been removed.
- Spectral Invoker Arcane Missiles’s damage has been reduced by 50%.
Encounters
- Crawth
- Firestorm ’s frequency has been reduced.
- Savage Peck ’s initial and periodic damage has been reduced.
- Echo of Doragosa
- Unleash Energy added as the new Mythic mechanic.
NELTHARUS
General
- Each Burning Chain can only be used once.
- Burning Chain now stuns all enemies in it and increases their damage taken by 50% for 5 seconds.
Encounters
- Chargath
- Fiery Focus’s pulsing damage near the Chargath has been removed.
- Fiery Focus’s now channels damage on current target.
- Grounding Chain now persists on defeated player.
- Grounding Chain now does a small knockback to the player when applied.
- Warlord Sargha
- Curse of the Dragon Hoard now stacks.
- Curse of the Dragon Hoard duration reduced from to 30 seconds (was 5 minutes).
- Azure Stone of Might has been removed.
THE NOKHUD OFFENSIVE
General
- Nokhud Longbow
- Multi-Shot has been removed.
- Rain of Arrows will now be cast less frequently.
- Nokhud Beastmaster Hunt Prey ’s damage bonus has been reduced by 25%.
- Nokhud Thunderfist Storm Shock has been removed.
- Primalist Stormspeaker Storm Bolt has been removed.
Encounters
- Balakar Khan
- Frequency of Stormwinds during intermission has been reduced to every 10 seconds (was every 6 seconds).
RUBY LIFE POOLS
General
- Primal Terrasentry Stone Missiles has been removed.
Encounters
- Kyrakka
- Infernocore’s duration has been increased to 4 seconds (was 3 seconds).
- Infernocore’s periodic damage has been reduced by 25%.
ULDAMAN: LEGACY OF TYR
Encounters
- The Lost Dwarves
- Fiery Surges’ s damage has been reduced by 50%.
DAWN OF THE INFINITE: HARD MODE
Dawn of the Infinite: Hard Mode is available for testing with updated tuning and rewards.
Hard mode does not have a timer and rewards a Hero track item. Hard mode is intended to be more challenging than a standard Mythic difficulty dungeon.
Source: Dragonflight Season 4 PTR Development Notes, Author: Kaivax, Posted: Tuesday, March 26th 2024, 9:41 pm