WoW Warriors: How to level in Cataclysm

One of the things I get asked to do is explain not how talents and abilities work, but rather how best to level a warrior. I'm always taken aback by these kinds of questions, because I feel that leveling (whether it be a warrior or another class) in WoW has never been easier than it is in Cataclysm. But, since the question comes up a lot between emails and Twitter, I feel like I should spend some time discussing it. I expect to be doing a lot of discussion of wow patch 4.2 in the weeks ahead, so now is probably as good timing as it gets to cover the leveling game.

Let's discuss leveling. For purposes of the discussion I went and rolled a tauren warrior on Sisters of Elune. Yes, I have a problem. Still, I managed to level out of the tauren starting area without any heirlooms in one night, so it should serve as a useful tool for discussion.

Starting Out

For starters, having recently leveled a druid, a rogue, a shaman and a hunter past level 20 (the druid is level 77, the shaman max level, the rogue level 32 and the hunter level 19) I can tell you that leveling a warrior is no longer harder than leveling any other class. Between level 1 and 10, you lack the power of picking a talent specialization, but you still have all the tools you need as the 1 to 10 content is designed around your character and his slowly growing toolkit. Really, what's most important to keep in mind for a leveling warrior is how to focus on one target when questing. With Victory Rush as powerful as it is for soloing and questing, you simply need to maximize your one-at-a-time killing rate so as to pop up another Victory Rush in order to heal you while fighting more than one mob.

Your best bet as a warrior of those levels is to quest. Do not grind unless there's a quest that rewards grinding. Pick up as many quests as you can, especially ones that can be completed in close proximity to each other. Once you get access to Victory Rush at level five, you now have an ability that counteracts the greatest of warrior leveling weaknesses from the first four years of the game -- namely that warriors couldn't survive more than one mob adding on them. VR means that you, as a low level warrior, now have even odds of surviving when more than one quest mob adds. It makes it possible to grind quest mobs with little to no downtime. I can't praise VR enough as a leveling tool. The only ability that has more of an effect is Charge at level 3 because it gives you an opening move that guarantees you'll have some rage to hit Strike with. Strike is actually a fairly lackluster ability and you'll happily replace it with whatever your talent specialization attack is at level 10.


Once you reach level 13 or so, instances open up. Running an instance or two a day while questing in zones between them is probably the fastest way to level up, especially if you have heirlooms. Even if you don't (this article is written assuming you don't need them, because frankly, you do not) you can easily clear a zone in a few hours. As it stands right now, you can successfully level in any talent specialization, can level via tanking, can level through PVP, or mix in all these types of activity. I personally prefer to run one instance and do a few battlegrounds during a play session, then focus on clearing out a zone's quests. This usually nets me between five and seven levels for a few hours of play, depending on what level I am and how abundant the zones are in quests. PVP is probably slower than either questing or instancing, but it's still quite possible to gain four or five levels in three or four hours of PVP.

Try everything

As a warrior, you can tank in instances. Dual Talent Specialization is available at level 30 for a mere 10 gold, and if you have any interest in leveling more quickly and growing to understand the tank role, I recommend getting a second spec and speccing protection. At least until level 50, however, it's not necessary to spec prot to tank in the leveling instances. Any warrior can equip a shield and use Sunder Armor (gained at level 18) and their main attacks to hold threat in most situations. I myself have tanked up to Sunken Temple (an early 50's instance) as arms with a shield and one-hander. There's no reason not to try out protection as early as possible to gain access to talents and abilities that help with both threat and survival, but keep it in mind. Tanking is probably the fastest way to level a warrior right now, as you can queue pretty much instantly from the moment instances become available all the way to level 85.


After tanking, clearing a zone's quests is probably the fastest way to level, and is quite possible in any spec for a warrior. Gone are the days where tank specs couldn't kill anything, or fury simply didn't have the oomph under max level. Arms remains one of my favorite leveling specs simply because leveling as arms helps you grow into an understanding of one of the games more complicated melee DPS priority systems. Arms also works well as a tanking spec at lower levels and is, of course, a solid PVP spec pretty much from level 20 on. Fury really comes into its own at level 69 when you gain Titan's Grip or Single-Minded Fury, but arms and protection are always good from 10 to 85, and can easily be used to level through any zone, run instances, and PVP in battlegrounds. I found that PVP is very strong for buying gear at level 60 and 70 that will surpass what you could get in same level instances. The 60 PVP set and epic weapon will last you almost through to the next expansion's content, so if you're not using heirlooms please keep PVP purchases in mind. Frankly, even though I admit I'm hardly the best PVP warrior around (not even close) I found the rewards definitely worth running a few battlegrounds a day, and I even had fun doing it.

To sum it all up, I spent a little over week working on this toon, running instances, questing, and doing PVP between them. I got in maybe two to three hours a day, more on weekends, and without heirlooms I'm well into level 64. I'm wearing a full set of level 60 PVP epics simply because I could (I gathered the honor fairly easily). It's on par with Outland gear, although I expect I'll be replacing all of it soon with Northrend instance gear. It doesn't take long at all to level with the improved questing in the 1-60 zones, tanking is easy in any spec up to level 50, and I keep a prot offspec handy for when I feel like tanking now that I'm into more complicated content. Leveling a warrior has absolutely never been easier, and if you're one of the people asking me about it, I recommend giving it a try.

Wow Warriors Guide: To 40 and beyond

So we resume our discussion of leveling from two weeks ago. Since that time I've worked another warrior to 80 as well as chugged along on my orc and leveled a new tauren warrior to 41. One of the great things about playing a warrior is, we don't have to write a lot about how awesome we are or how we do things better than other classes because we're cool with who we are. And when we're not cool with who we are, we slam shields or axes into things until we are.

For starters, the big three warrior cooldowns (Recklessness, Retaliation and Shield Wall) are no longer linked and now only take 3 minutes to becomes usable, making them much more active and promoting their use over making the cautious warrior hold onto them for emergencies. While you won't have Recklessness in the 21 - 40 range, you will gain both Shield Wall and Retaliation in these levels, and you won't be forced to pick between them.

Also, you'll get a mount at level 20. Cherish it. When I first leveled a warrior I had to run everywhere until level 40, and at 40 you got the 60% speed mount. Now at level 40 you get an epic! You kids today are spoiled.

Looking over the non talented abilities available between 21 - 40, not much at all has changes between those BC days and now. For talents, since Shield Slam is just a trainable skill, the level 40 warrior will have Bloodthirst, Mortal Strike and Vigilance within reach. However, two years of class design and innovations like LFD mean that my conclusion from 2007 that prot spec was the worst leveling spec is entirely altered. Prot is an excellent leveling spec now, much stronger than it was. You can use prot to quest and grind (especially when you can pull many mobs at once) and, thanks to LFD, prot is also excellent for running dungeons over and over again for extra rewards and lots of XP. (My orc now has a prot offspec which she uses when I want to get a lot of XP fast.)

I deliberately chose to level the tauren as arms on a server where I have no other characters to funnel honor or heirlooms just to see how hard it is. Answer: it's not hard. The LFD tool and early epic mount is an absolute godsend. Even in leveling/quest greens you can get into at least one or two instances a day fairly easily. Even without the XP boost from heirlooms, leveling is much easier when you're more mobile and able to get around to quest hubs faster than ever and get some instances to supplement your questing.

Between 21 and 40 the dungeons you'll be running scale from Razorfen Kraul and Blackfathom Deeps/SFK upwards to cover the wings of Scarlet Monastery, and by 41 you'll have wings of Maraudon as well as Zul'Ferrak available to you as well as Uldaman. Frankly, I let the LFD tool do the work of choosing an instance for me, but if I had to pick one of these to run the most it would be Scarlet Monastery. You still only get plate at level 40, and there's a lot of solid mail pieces, some weapons for the aspiring arms or even fury warrior, and a heck of a shield for any leveling prot warrior. Between 30 and 40 SM is an absolutely happening dungeon complex all told.

The Berserker Stance questline is at level 30. It can be easy to miss, so make sure to check with your trainers and get it done to ensure you have access to all your abilities. It will also open up the Cyclonian questline. I can't recommend doing the Cyclonian questline enough, even if you do end up having to rip a lot of troll teeth out in STV. Hey, you have a mount now! There's no excuse not to do it.

You also get more options if you choose to level through PvP as well. Arathi Basin opens up to you at these levels, meaning you can still grind honor through BG's and the rewards from either the Defilers (for Horde) or League of Arathor (Alliance) become available. If you have the honor, you could easily get boots, a belt and more as soon as you hit level 28 and can upgrade every 10 levels. Since these rewards are itemized without resilience on them, they're suitable for both PvE and PvP content.

Basically, what the three years between trips through these levels have done is to improve everything in large and small ways. If you're leveling a warrior alt and can afford items like Heirlooms and Wintergrasp Commendations, you can very easily keep a toon geared up, but even without access to those conveniences it is not hard at all to move a warrior through these 20 levels of content in any spec you choose. Improvements in mobility, in talent selection, the addition of the LFD feature and the ability to queue up for PvP from anywhere in the world give you a wide variety of options for how you're going to level your warrior. Where talents and abilities have changed (and the only really big change is that all warriors get shield slam regardless of spec at level 40) they've only streamlined the experience.

In a week or two, we'll go from Azeroth to Outland and look at how that's improved.

Encrypted Text: Leveling a rogue, level 71-80

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about leveling a rogue from level 71 to level 80.

Your goal is firmly in sight: your rogue is ready to being his or her assault upon the Lich King's lands. With only a fleeting few levels between you and the level cap, these last few minutes are among the most important in your rogue's development. With nearly every trick available and our DPS rotations fleshed out, your rogue will be feeling more and more like the level 80 you are about to become.

All three talent trees are fairly viable for leveling, and so this is by far the most flexible period of the leveling process. As I mentioned in the last installment, experimenting with different specs, rotations, and playstyles will only become harder and harder to do once you reach level 80. During these important formative levels, max out your respect costs and give every build a fair shake. You'll be a better rogue for it in the end.

New abilities:
While there's only really two new moves between level 71 and level 80, one of our earliest spells gets a complete makeover. Feint, which we learn at level 16, finally becomes the spell we always knew it could be. If used, it reduces all AoE damage that a rogue will take for 6 seconds. This spell alone will save you a hundred times while raiding, as there is plenty of AoE damage being thrown around. You won't pick up Rank 8 (the version with the bonus) until level 78, but be sure to use it in any dungeons you explore while leveling up.

Prior to that, you'll be receiving one of, in my opinion, our "signature moves". Tricks of the Trade is our threat redirection / damage boost combo, which sees extensive use in both PvE and PvP. In a raid or dungeon environment, it becomes the tank's best friend, and can really make your dungeon experiences much smoother. In certain fights where DPS gain significant buffs (like Hodir), Tricks of the Trade is crucial to a tank being able to maintain aggro on a mob. It can even be a DPS buff to share with another rogue during "burst phases" of certain fights. Tossing this to your partner in PvP can often be enough to score a kill, as the damage bonus is significant.

One of the reasons I see TotT as so integral to the WotLK rogue is its integration into the new T10 set. The 2 piece set bonus makes TotT yield energy instead of costing it, resulting in a significant DPS boost for everyone involved. We want to cast it more often, it allows more threat to be redirected due to increased energy, and it results in a higher uptime on friendly DPS classes. Imagine it as a poor level 80's Renataki's Charm of Trickery: pop it when you're low on energy to give you just enough juice to extend that stunlock a few more seconds.

If you're leveling with a partner (either a tank or DPS), be sure to toss them TotT every time it's up. It takes the pressure off of you for incoming damage (and rogues are pretty frail in that regard) and boosts their damage, making the entire leveling process much quicker. You can check out my guide to macros to find a great TotT macro that will let you set it to an easy keybind and forget about targeting someone to cast it on.

The final move a rogue receives on their journey is also their just reward for reaching level 80. Fan of Knives has become a true game-changer for the way that rogues play. We're no longer relegated to throwing grenades or making campfires in the back of the raid during AoE phases. Fan of Knives has been one of the top AoE abilities in the game today due to its unique scaling and properties. If you want to learn more about this ability, I wrote a full article dedicated to all of its intricacies. Let it suffice to say that if it weren't for FoK, rogues would be nowhere near our current spot at the top 10% of the damage meters. Yogg+0 and Anub'Arak hard mode are two fights where FoK simply outshines every competitor, and resulted in both world first kills of the last two "end bosses" seeing rogues at the top of the meters.

Posterity:
While I strongly recommend you go crazy experimenting with specs while leveling, I would also caution you that due to the repetition of leveling and grinding, bad habits will eventually work their way into your subconscious. If you start letting Slice and Dice drop while you're farming the Scourge, it will work against you later, when it's actually pretty important. Start reading up on raiding rotations and playstyles, and try mimicking those as much as possible.

If you're playing as Mutilate, it's a great time to work on keeping Hunger for Blood up full time, while trying to maintain a good Slice and Dice uptime via Cut to the Chase + Envenom or Eviscerate. As Combat, keeping Slice and Dice up full time should be your goal, while also using your cooldowns wisely to take out 2+ mobs when Blade Flurry is available and destroying elites with Evasion and Killing Spree. Subtlety rogues should be looking out to also keep Slice and Dice up (I told you it was our most important ability!) and keeping the Hemorrhage debuff active while also using good energy management to maximize your finishers.

By doing the little things like keeping the right poison on both weapons, using the right gems (even if they're just green quality), and starting to work on your end game rotations, you'll be building the foundation for a long and prosperous life as a rogue. Take pride in your achievement of nearing level 80, and focus on refining your playstyle to the point that it becomes second nature. I talked about a few combat opener / sequences last time, and finding out how to go from an opener to a dead opponent in the most efficient way should be your objective.

Reputations:
While this will certainly change once Cataclysm is released, the message is still relevant today: focus on reputation quest hubs. There's several reputations you'll want access to once you hit level 80, and working on their quests while they still give experience is simply making them twice as awesome. The Sons of Hodir are key for their shoulder enchants (and decent starting weapons), while the Knights of the Ebon Blade will sell you a great helm enchant if you perform enough of their dirty deeds. Read up on which reputations yield what gear, and then go to their areas and quest your heart out. Anything that you can do while leveling to give you an easier time at level 80 is like pure gold.

Level 70 gear:
One last tip for the leveling rogue, you can often find level 70 gear that players had stashed in their banks available on the AH for mere fractions of their original price. Level 70 BoE gear, epic gems, and consumables will greatly increase your leveling speed, so check the AH for any relics from level 70 that are left over that you can score for yourself. I find that the old DPS flasks and BoE level 70 blues are typically only a few gold total, which should be affordable with all of the questing and grinding you've been doing.

Conclusion:
I know that many of you are already level 80, and you're interested in reading about the things that are affecting us now. However, there are still a ton of rogues that are leveling up, and we honestly need the fresh blood as the "great rogue to death knight reroll exodus" of WotLK left us pretty decimated. Look at the bright side, you won't have to read another leveling column until Cataclysm! To those rogues who are just entering the fold at level 80, we welcome you with open arms, and we look forward to stabbing those cursed cloth-wearers and praying for Armor Penetration trinkets at your side.

WoW Leveling a new rogue, character creation

I've heard a lot of statistics from various sources stating that the rogue population has been dwindling since Wrath of the Lich King was released. Whether our decline is due to former assassins deciding to try out the new death knights, or rogues simply moving on to greener pastures, we may never know. I do, however, know that there's also a lot of newly minted rogues, working their way up through the levels and lowbie zones. And if there's not, there should be!

There's a lot of fights that are absolutely amazing for rogues, with Yogg-Saron hard mode (no keeper) and Anub'Arak hard mode being two of the most prevalent and important encounters currently in the game. I have seen guilds beg their inactivate rogues to resubscribe with promises of gold, crafted epics, and endless heroic runs to gear them out. I know of a rogue on my server who went from newly 80 to better geared than myself in about a month with a ton of help from his guild and friends. Many of the world's top guilds are looking for solid rogues to fill the shoes of those who have given up the mantle of shadows in the past year.

We've also got a lot of new rerolls who are working on getting a new class to 80 for Cataclysm's upcoming release. I have been working on a guide for those rogues who are new to the class (and possibly the game) who are looking for tips and tricks for getting the most out of their roguish experience. I would also ask that any veterans or novice rogues alike add their own tips in the comments, if you've got a personal anecdote or bit of info that made your time leveling easier.

What does it mean to play a rogue?
You are DPS. That may sound fairly uncomplicated, but it actually goes far deeper. We are so focused at DPS that we are completely helpless in every role besides pure damage. A rogue cannot off tank an add in a pinch, we can't add support healing, and our raid buffs / debuffs are all purely damage boosts. All other DPS classes have traditionally been balanced (intentionally or unintentionally) around the rogue's DPS capabilities. The more utility or buffs another class brings over the rogue, the further they fall behind on the damage parses.

With Fan of Knives giving us a true AoE and one of the most robust toolkits for dealing damage in every environment, if a raid wants to maximize their DPS, they will always have several rogues on their roster. The downside to being so focused on damage is that you will never be capable of accomplishing anything else. You can't tank for a heroic or heal your raid when your priest is sick. You have no other options than DPS, and for many players this is a deal-breaker. You have to love doing DPS to the point that you can live without being able to even taste any of the other roles. Our 'purity' of DPS is both a blessing and a curse: what you make of it will decide if the rogue is the right class for you.

What's more important than damage?
Rogues in both PvE and PvP environments will always focus on damage output above all other statistics and values. We're not interested in stacking Stamina for more survivability or Dodge gems to give us the edge against random AoE attacks. Our goal is to output as much damage as possible and to annihilate our opponents before they get a chance to return the favor. We're not the type to string our enemies along, to kite them around, or to attempt to outlast them. We're short, dirty, and quick killers with one goal: the destruction of our opponents.

As you level up, this should be one of the key points to remember. If you've got the choice between bracers with Stamina and bracers with Agility, you should take the Agility bracers every time. Your goal is to do as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible, and to win the fight so quickly that the extra Stamina you sacrificed wouldn't have even come into play. While being survivable enough to stay alive can be an issue if you're soloing higher level mobs or group quests, rogues are typically able to simply increase their damage (instead of their life) to compensate for the added difficulty.

Starting a new rogue:
With these thoughts in mind, if the rogue sounds like the class for you, then I suggest you go start one immediately. Patch 3.3 is bringing a very welcome change, in that all rogues will be able to dual wield weapons from level 1. This will make the 1-10 experience much quicker and more painless, though it's already pretty easy and can be handled in one sitting. You'll save more time by starting your rogue now (without all the commotion surrounding Icecrown happening) rather than waiting. But before we even can get to level 1, we have to create our rogue.

On the topic of races, all races are having their starting stats balanced soon. This means that no particular race holds an advantage over another in terms of starting statistics (such as life, agility, etc). The only differentiator becomes the racial abilities and aesthetics. I would suggest focusing on which race you believe you would enjoy playing the most. With the upcoming "Race Change" feature, if you find out down the road that you're not happy with your choice, you'll be able to easily swap to another race at will. This really prevents the issue of choosing the "wrong" race. Whether your focus is PvE or PvP, there will always be the "best" racial based on the situation that you're in. Think about what you plan to use your rogue for, and pick the race that aligns best with your goals.

If you've got a main on the same server, you can send yourself some starting gold and a few bags to make inventory management a breeze. You probably won't reach a mailbox on the rogue until around level 6-10, so if you want it earlier, see if you can find a way to get the gear to your alt such as a portable engineering mailbox or walking to town extra early. If you have some Stone Keeper's Shards or Emblems of Heroism/Valor/Conquest to spend, feel free to send yourself a few heirloom items to make your leveling process even easier than normal. Here's a list of heirloom items for your upcoming rogue:

Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders or Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders (10% EXP, stacks with Chest)
Stained Shadowcraft Tunic (10% EXP, stacks with Shoulders) Swift Hand of Justice Venerable Dal'Rend's Sacred Charge / Venerable Mass of McGowan or Battleworn Thrash Blade for your main hand. I'd recommend taking Swords as this is a common leveling weapon specialzation.
Sharpened Scarlet Kris for your off hand Charmed Ancient Bone Bow for your ranged weapon
Conclusion:
If you've read all of the pros and cons of playing a rogue (you can only do damage, but you do it the best) and you're still interested, go start your rogue today. Plan out any heirloom or starter gear that you can afford, with bags and a few gold for skills being the top priorities. Next week, I'll be going over the type of gear you'll want to acquire, and what to expect for you first few levels of roguish goodness!

WoWBros 1-70 Alliance Leveling Guide In-Game

This is a free wowbros 1-70 leveling in-game guide for any class. It is a warcraft in-game guide powered and integrated with QuestHelper addon features to offer you a best experience possible.

wowBros 1-70 leveling guide highlights:

• Step by Step quests walk-throughs that will help your character to level up fast the moment you log in.
  
• Guides for beginners level 1-12 for all races of the alliance.
  
• Integrated with QuestHelper
  
• 1-70 Alliance Leveling Step by Step Instructions and Tips
  
• Integrates a list of waypoints for quests listed in the quest log into the world map.
  
• Complete quests in the shortest amount of time by minimizing the walking distance between quests.
  
• Available in Portuguese-BR
  
• Available in English
  
• Available in Spanish

There is also a exclusive epic e-book [PDF] version available and You can get a free sample too here: http://wowbros.com

QuestHelper is a wow AddOn that integrates a list of waypoints for quests listed in the quest log into the world map. The AddOn aids in completing quests in the shortest amount of time by minimizing the walking distance between quests when following the waypoints displayed on your world map. QuestHelper currently survives on donations. If you use and like QuestHelper, please help support its development by making a donation: http://www.quest-helper.com/donate

Please see the add-on page for further details.

WOW Fishing Guide

I've set up this wow fishing guide to teach you how to level up as quickly as possible, hence I've left out what you don't need to know that is a waste of time.

Seeing as I'm going to be teaching you how to fish in this wow Fishing Guide, I've decided to also cover cooking as well as they complement each other well and you can use your time to skill up on both at the same time.

It should take you about 15 hours to complete the following guide (perhaps 11 if you are really fast!)

What causes your skill rate to change?

Your skill rate goes up based on the number of successful catches that you make.

Here is the approximate equation:

(current unmodified fishing level - 25) / 25 = # of fish needed to level, assuming a minimum of fish per catch.

You should also be aware that it does not matter where you fish, your skill rate only changes due to the number of successful catches that you make.

Horde Instructions
1. Begin at Bloodhoof Village in Mulgore.
2. Speak to Harn Longcast, purchase Billiant Smallfish and Longjaw Mud Snapper recipes.
3. Go to Stonebull Lake and begin fishing.
4. Equip your rod, next apply the shiny bauble lure to it (makes catching fish a lot easier!)
5. Spend about 40 minutes catching 60 Brilliant Smallfish.
6. By this time you should have also caught about 30 Longjaw Mud Snappers. When you have 60 of them, cook them. You can go back to Harn Longcast and use the fire by him, or build your own.
7. Cook Brilliant Smallfish
8. At level 50, begin cooking Longjaw Mud Snappers
9. Go and catch Longjaw Mud Snappers in the pond in Orgrimmar. It's better for you to go there than stay where you are now as the drop rate is better in Orgrimmar.
10. Somewhere between levels 50 and 70 learn journeyman cooking and fishing.
11. In order to raise your cooking up to 100, catch at least 30 Longjaw Mud Snappers.
12. Go to Tarren Mill in Hillsbrad. See Derak Nightfall and purchase Bristle Whisker Catfish recipe.
13. You will requre about 80 to 100 of these to get your cooking level up to 175.
14. Between levels 125 and 150, go to Shadowprey Village in Desolace and purchae Expert Cookbook.
15. Go to Booty Bay and buy a book for your fishing level. Speak to old man heming and purchase his book Expert Fishing.
16. When you reach 175 cooking, go to Shadowprey Village in Desolace.
17. Speak to Wulan and purchase Mithril Head Trout recipe and begin fishing on the pier there.
18. Get about 60 of these in order to raise your cooking up to level 225.

By the time you have completed the above 18 steps, you should have levelled up your wow fishing and cooking to 225. This is as far as you can go if you have not reached level 35 yet. If you are on levels 35 or above, then you will have 2 quests to compelte before you can continue.

Shifting Perspectives: WoW Leveling 61-70

Only one more leveling guide after this, and then we'll be heading into an array of new articles I've been planning for a while, and a Druid perspective on tanking issues raised by Matt Rossi's article. I will probably be turning some of this material into just plain Druid posts rather than Shifting Perspectives columns, though, as otherwise it'll take longer than I'd like to get them all posted.

LEVEL 61

In Outland and Northrend, you'll be training new ranks each level as opposed to every other level, so don't forget to hit your trainer promptly with each level-up.

Shred, rank 6: standard upgrade. Wrath, rank 9: standard upgrade.

LEVEL 62

Cat form gets a non-stealth stun approximately a billion years after its Rogue counterparts, but that's it for the new stuff.

Maim: An unholy mating of the Rogue abilities Eviscerate and Kidney Shot, Maim is Cat form's only interrupt (unless you count Pouncing a mob or player whose attention is directed elsewhere) and is a Stun effect as of patch 3.1, as opposed to the Incapacitate it was previously. What's the difference? Incapacitate effects can be broken by damage, while stuns can't be. While this sounds like a good deal for Druid PvP, it also means that the Maim stun shares diminishing returns with Pounce and Bash. Don't forget that Maim is a baseline ability and you can use it on a mob/player even if you're not Feral. Building combo points on an enemy player to Maim them at a later point is a classic technique of Resto PvP (though considerably more common in BC arena than it is nowadays). Maim also comes in handy versus PvE mobs; if you're fighting a caster or healer, you've got a double interest in opening from Pounce, because in decent gear it's possible to take a mob from 100% to 0% without allowing it to get a cast off. What are your odds of doing this versus a player? Not all that terribly high. Even if you switch to Bear in order to get Bash off, a Druid's ability to "stunlock" is considerably less than that of a Rogue's even if you've talented into Brutal Impact, but the damage that Maim applies is also useful (particularly combined with Pounce's DoT and Rake) in draining their health. While out grinding, Maim can and should be used defensively to stun an enemy or mob if you're low on health and need to pop out and heal -- or if you need to make a break for it and get a head start.
Demoralizing Roar, rank 6: standard upgrade. Healing Touch, rank 12: standard upgrade.
LEVEL 63

Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep that Lifebloom rollin', you don't have Lifebloom just yet, Raw-HIDE.

Ferocious Bite, rank 6: standard upgrade. Moonfire, rank 11: standard upgrade. Rejuvenation, rank 12: standard upgrade. LEVEL 64

The much-beloved (and much-nerfed) Lifebloom makes its debut!

Lifebloom: Lifebloom is one of those abilities that seems doomed to a life of endless tinkering, as we've previously observed. During BC, the spell was significantly cheaper than it is nowadays (and also wasn't possible to extend beyond a 6-second duration), to the point where Trees who were healing multi-tank fights were little other than glorified Lifebloom-bots. In Wrath -- at least at the present time -- it's a very mana-intensive (and usually ill-advised) proposition to roll Lifebloom on more than one tank at a time. Lifebloom adds another insta-HoT to our healing arsenal, but it requires a little more thought and attention than Rejuvenation or the talented Wild Growth. For PvE raiding, it still finds its best use being stacked and "rolled" (i.e. not allowed to reach its final heal, or "bloom") on a tank unless you deliberately allow it to bloom to deal with sudden burst; in 5-mans, you can still stack it if needed but can a little more liberal with the bloom due its mana return; in PvP, Lifebloom is one of our more annoying abilities versus an enemy due to its forced bloom upon dispel (screw 'em, if they didn't want it to heal than they shouldn't have tried to dispel it in the first place). As an interesting note, the threat generated by Lifebloom will belong to you during the rolling portion, but the threat of the final heal belongs to the person to whom it's applied. If you're a dedicated tank healer, you will want to pick up both Glyph of Lifebloom and the Balance talent Nature's Splendor (although it bears mentioning that any kind of Tree will want Nature's Splendor). It can be difficult for new Druids to keep track of the HoT's they have on targets; Tree Bark Jacket (which has recently moved; this is the old site) had an excellent post back in January on modifying Grid for this purpose that you'll want to read.
Rake, rank 5: standard upgrade. Swipe (Bear), rank 6: standard upgrade. Thorns, rank 7: standard upgrade.

LEVEL 65

Bears can start mumbling to themselves, "One more level to Lacerate...one more level to Lacerate..."

Dash, rank 3: standard upgrade. Regrowth, rank 10: standard upgrade. LEVEL 66

Another way to bleed things to death. Feral seems curiously focused on that sort of thing.

Lacerate: Lacerate needs to be stacked to 5 in any high-threat rotation versus a boss mob. For 5-man and trash-tanking, odds are good the mob's not going to live long enough to justify spending much time stacking it (the individual application of Lacerate does less threat than Swipe, and that's your primary concern while holding aggro against your LOLDPS), but it's still in your best interest to get at least one Lacerate going on as many mobs as you can. Why? Two reasons: a). Rend and Tear (you do have Rend and Tear, don't you?) and b). Primal Gore (you do have Primal Gore, don't you?). Rend and Tear is a significant contribution to Maul's threat, and the only way to get a mob bleeding as a Bear is to apply Lacerate (Mangle applies a debuff increasing bleed damage, but it doesn't actually cause a bleed in itself). If you're tanking, you want Lacerate up on your primary target at all times, and if you have Glyph of Maul (which you generally should in a dedicated Bear build), you also want it up on whatever secondary target the additional Maul is hitting. Also, because Savage Defense DOES proc from the Lacerate bleed crits granted by Primal Gore (and because Lacerate's threat is significantly better with the talent), you want to get Lacerate going early, triggering an SD proc and threat boost with each crit.
Pounce, rank 4: standard upgrade. Ravage, rank 5: standard upgrade. LEVEL 67

Claw, rank 6: standard upgrade. Redundant skill is redundant.
Maul, rank 8: standard upgrade. Rip, rank 7: standard upgrade. Starfire, rank 8: standard upgrade.

LEVEL 68

Get thee to Northrend, yongge wastrel, the lande of ices ynd snoo ynd very broun-colorred gears.

Entangling Roots, rank 7: standard upgrade. Nature's Grasp, rank 7: standard upgrade.

LEVEL 69

Cower, rank 5: standard upgrade. Largely useless skill is largely useless. Healing Touch, rank 13: standard upgrade. Rebirth, rank 6: standard upgrade, but don't forget to pick up some Flintweed Seeds.
Rejuvenation, rank 13: standard upgrade. Revive, rank 6: standard upgrade. Wrath, rank 10: standard upgrade.

LEVEL 70

Ah, 70...I miss you somewhat. Or maybe I just miss the days when people were actually putting Nightmare Seeds up on the auction house. Farming those things is a pain.

Cyclone: Oy. Possibly the second most-hated ability in BC PvP (the first would have been Fear), Cyclone is a short-lived but often ass-saving Banish effect that renders its target unable to do anything but float in midair mentally composing another apoplectic forum thread on the need to nerf Cyclone. The short duration makes it mostly useful as an escape mechanism in PvE and as the Druid's only baseline interrupt in caster form, but it's really in PvP that it, er, shines. I've embedded an early video from arena's Season 1 by a well-known EU Balance player named Tradix to demonstrate how Cyclone can be used both offensively and defensively. One of the things you'll also notice is that Tradix makes additional use of Cyclone by frequently timing Starfire casts (ordinarily difficult to get off in PvP) to land immediately after Cyclone breaks, providing a good source of burst on a target that can't avoid it.

Gift of the Wild, rank 3: standard upgrade, but don't forget to pick up some Wild Quillvine. Hurricane, rank 4: standard upgrade. Mark of the Wild, rank 8: standard upgrade. Moonfire, rank 12: standard upgrade. Shred, rank 7: standard upgrade. Soothe Animal, rank 4: standard upgrade. Tranquility, rank 5: standard upgrade.

No Heirlooms above level 80

Slorkuz reinstated that heirlooms will only give xp bonus from level 1-80, and none at all from lvl 80-85. This measure likely serves as a gouge to prevent players from creating alts to power-level through Cataclysm content. Specially if there are new achievements such as first level 85 on a realm. On the other hand, Blizzard would make sure everyone experiences all the Cataclysm content.

With the flying mounts, Blizzard wanted players to behold some areas from the ground level where the developers put great detail, by placing a gouge: Cold Weather Flying training at level 67.

It is currently our intention that the heirloom items will stop at level 80. Additionally, we are looking into ways to prevent the exp bonus from working when leveling past level 80.

Pacifist Priest dings 80 on Friday

Reinisch is the pacifist Undead Priest who's aiming to make it to level 80 without killing anything at all (he's the same player as Noor, who we interviewed way back when and followed up with a while ago), and apparently this Friday, he's going to do it. He's inviting everybody out to a party on Friday afternoon, September 4th, at 6pm server over on The Venture Company. He's going to turn in a Dalaran fishing quest to do it, and he's got quick and easy directions posted on how to get to Dalaran as a level 1.

Though there might not be as much going on as other big server parties, it's probably worth going just to see him ding level 80 and the level 1 chaos in Dalaran that will ensue, but it's quite an achievement for sure, especially considering that this Priest was actually created before Noor -- he's named after a German priest who stood up to Hitler in the name of peace and was executed for it. It might be nice just to stop by and give the guy a grats as he dings -- pretty impressive to take a goal that most people would say was impossible, and do it in the game not once but twice on two different classes and factions.

WoW Patch 3.2 Release Patch Notes

Tips: WoW Patch 3.2, World of Warcraft patch 3.2 release, WoW 3.2 Release, WoW 3.2 Guides, WoW patch 3.2 Guides, WoW Patch 3.2 Notes

Included with the patch update is a fresh copy of the WOW patch 3.2 patch notes. These notes come directly from the updater that you'll download to update your game.

Please be aware that Blizzard has lately been releasing an updated version of these later in the day. We'll update these notes, in this post, if that happens.

There are some major highlights to WoW patch 3.2 that we've known about for awhile. They include:

• A new battleground in the Isle of Conquest


• A new 5, 10, and 25 person dungeon/raid in the Crusaders' Coliseum


• Significant changes to mounts requirements


• Class changes


• A major update to the Argent Tournament


• Arena Season 7 (which will begin sometime soon)

The full patch 3.2 patch notes are after the break, and don't forget to check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all our patch coverage.

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.2.0

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

Call of the Crusade

• Since the opening of the Argent Tournament in northeastern Icecrown, adventurers have journeyed from across Azeroth and beyond to prove their worth in the heart of the Lich King's domain. Under thundering skies the tournament's participants hone the arts of war and face off in bone-shattering jousting matches to earn the right to be called champions. Yet these heroes have yet to face the greatest challenge of all: the Crusaders' Coliseum. Formidable Horde and Alliance champions, ferocious beasts, and Scourge lieutenants are just some of the opponents awaiting adventurers in this gladiatorial arena. Few will survive the coliseum's perils, but the Argent Crusade is confident that the worthy heroes who do emerge victorious will be ready to join the offensive against Icecrown Citadel and end the Lich King's reign of terror.

Isle of Conquest

• Off the coast of Northrend, Horde and Alliance forces are locked in an epic struggle for a tiny island rich in resources. Known as the Isle of Conquest, this rocky battleground's proximity to Icecrown makes it a highly prized base in the war against the Lich King. Both factions have deployed devastating weapons to drive each other from this strategic location. Day and night the ground trembles under lumbering siege vehicles while monstrous airships pummel enemy positions with fiery cannons. The bloody conflict spreads to every corner of the island as new heroes arrive to aid their factions. It remains to be seen whose banner will wave triumphantly over the Isle of Conquest and at what cost victory will be achieved.

General

• Construction of the Crusaders' Coliseum is complete. New raid normal and Heroic modes for the Crusaders' Coliseum can be toggled using the Dungeon Difficulty setting. This applies to 10 and 25-player versions. 10-player (normal), 25-player (normal), 10-player (Heroic) and 25-player (Heroic) all share separate raid lockout timers.
  


• Trial of the Champion
  
  
  
  • 5-player (normal and Heroic mode) dungeon.
  
  
  • Daily quest added to the Heroic daily dungeon quest giver.


• Trial of the Crusader
  
  
  
  • 10 and 25-player (normal mode) raid dungeon.


• Trial of the Grand Crusader
  


• 10 and 25-player (Heroic mode) raid dungeon.


• Crusaders' Tribute: Active on Heroic difficulty only, the tribute system will limit players on the number of attempts the raid is allotted each week. Additional rewards can be earned depending on the number of attempts left in the tribute run each week when the final boss is defeated.
  


• Head to the new 40 vs. 40-player siege-style Battleground, the Isle of Conquest, to vie for control of a strategic location with a host of resources sought by the Horde and Alliance.
  
  
  
  • Two level brackets are available: 71-79 and 80.
  
  
  • Defend the walls of your keep and protect your general by killing enemy players and destroying their siege vehicles.
  
  
  • Capture the Docks, Gunship Hangar, or Siege Workshop for access to destructive siege vehicles or strategic attacks on your enemy's base.
  
  
  • Capture the Refinery or Quarry for their resources to garner reinforcements, a steady flow of bonus honor and a 15% increase to siege vehicle damage for each of these capture points your team controls.
  
  
  • To claim victory, bust through the enemy's keep walls (or find other ways to get inside) and kill their general, or obliterate your opponents until their reinforcements are depleted.


• The Argent Tournament Expands
  
  
  
  • All new Argent Crusader daily quests and rewards have been added for players with the Crusader title. Rewards include a new Argent Crusader banner and tabard (which can port players to the tournament grounds), a mounted squire (can periodically run bank, mail or vendor errands for the player), a paladin-exclusive Argent Crusader Charger mount and new heirloom items.
  
  
  • All new Silver Covenant and Sunreaver daily quests and rewards have been added for players exalted with these factions. Rewards include tabards, new ground and flying mounts and a new pet.
  
  
  • Just when you thought you had seen the last of the Black Knight, he makes his astonishing return to the tournament. Wait, didn't you kill him?


• New Dungeon Loot Feature
  
  
  
  • Players will now be able to trade soulbound items with other raid or group members that were eligible for the loot. This system will work like the Item Buy Back system and allow 2 hours for players to trade an item after it has been looted. Players who choose to enchant or add gems to the item will get one last confirmation before losing the ability to trade the item.


• New druid art for Cat Form and Bear Form has been added. There are now five unique color schemes for each form and faction. Changing hair color (night elves) or skin tone (tauren) via the barbershop will change the look of one's cat and bear forms.

PvP

• Arenas
  
  
  
  • Beginning with season 7, players will no longer have access to the newest season's weapons or shoulder armor and will not qualify for the Gladiator title/rewards with ratings from the 2v2 bracket alone. Ratings obtained through 3v3 and 5v5 game play will be required for these rewards, while the rest of the newest season's items will remain available to players in all brackets (standard rating restrictions still apply).
  
  
  • Dalaran Sewers
    
    
    
    • The entire Arena has increased in size by 25%.
    
    
    • Mounts can now be used in this Arena.
    
    
    • The position and collision of the crates on the central platform has been modified.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Ring of Valor
    
    
    
    • The flame wall has been removed.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Ruins of Lordaeron
    
    
    
    • Alcoves have been removed from the starting chambers.
    
    
    • The collision around the central tomb has been smoothed out to prevent players from becoming stuck on the terrain as often.
  
  


• Battlegrounds
  
  
  
  • Battleground experience has arrived!
    
    
    
    • Players will now be awarded experience for completing objectives and actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds (honorable kills not included).
    
    
    • Players who do not wish to gain experience through PvP can visit Behsten in Stormwind or Slahtz in Orgrimmar - both located near the Battlemasters in either city - and turn off all experience accumulation for the cost of 10 gold.
    
    
    • Disabling experience gains will prevent a player from gaining experience through any means available in the game.
    
    
    • Players with experience gains turned off who compete in Battlegrounds will face off only against other players with experience gains turned off.
    
    
    • Behsten and Slahtz can reinstate experience gains for players, for a 10 gold fee of course. Any experience that would've been accumulated if experience gains were enabled cannot be recovered.
  
  
  • Battlemasters in major cities affiliated with specific Battlegrounds have been replaced with a Battlemaster for each faction that will allow players to queue for any Battleground. Battlemasters for specific Battlegrounds will still be seen around the cities during corresponding Battleground holiday weekends.
  
  
  • When standing at a capture point that you control, you will gain a buff called Honorable Defender. This buff grants +50% honor gained from kills. This currently affects Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm and Isle of Conquest.
  
  
  • Arathi Basin
    
    
    
    • The time it requires to capture a base has been reduced to 8 seconds, down from 10 seconds.
    
    
    • The game now ends when one team reaches 1600 victory points, down from 2000.
  
  
  • Eye of the Storm
    
    
    
    • The time it requires to capture the center flag has been reduced to 8 seconds, down from 10 seconds
    
    
    • The game now ends when one team reaches 1600 victory points, down from 2000.
  
  
  • Strand of the Ancients
    
    
    
    • The faction starting on attack/defense will now be randomized at the start of each match.
  
  
  • Warsong Gulch
    
    
    
    • There is a now a 20-minute timer on this Battleground. After that time, the team with the most flag captures wins. If this would result in a tie, the team that captured the first flag wins. If neither side has captured a flag, then the game ends in a tie.


• Wintergrasp
  


• Against the Odds: This achievement has been removed and converted to a Feat of Strength.


• Industrial Warfare: This achievement has been removed.


• To provide players with a more transparent notification of when Wintergrasp battles occur, as well as better control zone population and stability, several changes have been made.
  
  
  
  • Players now have the option to queue for Wintergrasp from a Wintergrasp Battlemaster in any capital city or by simply entering the Wintergrasp zone.
  
  
  • Queuing will begin 15 minutes before each battle. If chosen, you will automatically be teleported to the zone. Any players in the zone who have not been chosen from the queue will be teleported out when the battle begins.
  
  
  • The queue system remains active for the entire battle. As soon as a player leaves, a new one will be chosen from the queue.
  
  
  • Trying to enter Wintergrasp during an active battle for which you have not been chosen will teleport you out. Please note that, as you are now able to fly over Wintergrasp, you will only be teleported out if you try to land and join the battle.
  
  
  • Level 80 players get higher priority in the queue than lower level players. In addition, a random selection of queued players will be taken from both the Battlemasters and the zone itself.
  
  
  • The queue will accept up to 120 players from each faction, resulting in a maximum battle of 240 players at a time.


• Wintergrasp factories can no longer be damaged or destroyed.

Dungeons and Raids

• Dungeon and Raid ID Extensions
  
  
  
  • In order to allow for parties and raids to progress through instances at their own pace, players can now extend an instance ID on an individual basis.
  
  
  • Existing or recently expired IDs can be extended via the Social tab under Raid by clicking on Raid Info.
  
  
  • The ID of any instance to which a player is saved can be extended. Doing so will extend the instance lock period by the same amount of time as the original lock (i.e. extending an Ulduar instance ID will add 7 days, a Heroic: Halls of Lightning instance ID will add 24 hours, and a Zul'Gurub instance ID will add 3 days to the instance lock time).
  
  
  • An ID can be extended more than once.
  
  
  • An extension can be reversed on an individual basis provided the player does not do anything in the instance during the extended instance lock period that would save that player to the instance.


• Emblem System Changes
  
  
  
  • Both the 10 and 25-player instances of the Crusaders' Coliseum drop a new Emblem of Triumph.
  
  
  • Any dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Heroism or Valor, such as Naxxramas or Heroic Halls of Stone, will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead. Emblems of Conquest can still be converted to Valor or Heroism.
  
  
  • The Heroic dungeon daily quest will now reward 2 Emblems of Triumph and the normal daily dungeon quest will reward 1 Emblem of Conquest.
  
  
  • New achievements have been added to collect various amounts of any combination of emblems.


• 25-player raids will no longer be referred to as Heroic versions of a raid, as there is a new distinction between normal and Heroic modes for both 10 and 25 player versions of the Crusaders' Coliseum.


• The Nexus: The Oculus & The Eye of Eternity
  
  
  
  • Drakes used by players in these instances will now scale in health and damage according to the rider's average item level.


• Ulduar
  
  
  
  • Players can now use Blink, Shadowstep, and Demonic Teleport while participating in the illusion events in the Yogg-Saron encounter.
  
  
  • Ominous Clouds in the Yogg-Saron encounter are now more vocal about touching players and should no longer sometimes appear to be in the wrong place for certain players.
  
  
  • An Immortal Guardian targeted for Empowering Shadows in the Yogg-Saron encounter will now become a 'Marked Immortal Guardian' while targeted.
  
  
  • Crusher Tentacles in the Yogg-Saron encounter spawn a little slower in 25-player mode allowing a bit more time for players to clear out the Illusion room.
  
  
  • Empowering Shadows in the Yogg-Saron encounter now targets a maximum of three Immortal Guardians in 25-player mode.
  
  
  • Yogg-Saron's health has been reduced by 20% in the final stage of his 25-player mode.
  
  
  • Winter Jormungars will no longer put everyone in the zone in combat when they emerge from a Snow Mound. Additionally, Snow Mounds will now disappear when all their jormungars have emerged.

Races: General

• Axe Specialization (Orc): The weapon bonus from this effect now applies to fist weapons in addition to axes.


• Tauren now have the option of changing skin tone by visiting the barber shop.

Items: General

• Agility: The amount of agility required per percentage of dodge has been increased by 15%. This change required recalibrating the amount of dodge a player has with 0 agility by a slight amount as well, so all players will see their dodge percentage vary a small amount.


• Block Value: The amount of bonus block value on all items has been doubled. This does not affect the base block value on shields or block value derived from strength.


• On-Use Block Value Items: All items and set bonuses that trigger temporary increases to block value have been modified. Instead of increasing their block value amount by 100% like other items, they have all had their effect durations doubled. This applies to Glyph of Deflection, Gnomeregan Autoblocker, Coren's Lucky Coin, Lavanthor's Talisman, Libram of Obstruction, Tome of the Lightbringer, Libram of the Sacred Shield, the tier-8 paladin Shield of Righteousness bonus, the tier-5 paladin Holy Shield bonus, and the tier-5 warrior Shield Block bonus.


• Dodge Rating: The amount of dodge rating required per percentage of dodge has been increased by 15%. This is before diminishing returns. Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply.


• Item Buy Back Feature Revised
  
  
  
  • The Item Buy Back time will now expire if the player enchants or sockets an item. Players will see a confirmation dialog box now when they attempt to enchant or add gems to an item giving them a last chance to reconsider.
  
  
  
  


• Items with Triggered Effects: These items generally have cooldowns on how often they can be triggered. Those cooldowns are now triggered each time the item is equipped (example: A trinket has a 45-second cooldown on an effect triggered by player attacks; when a player equips that item, the effect will be unable to be triggered for the first 45 seconds it is worn).


• Mounts
  
  
  
  • The cast time for summoning any ground mount is now 1.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds.
  
  
  • Apprentice Riding (Skill 75): Can now be learned at level 20 for 4 gold. Mail will be sent to players who reach level 20 directing them to the riding trainer.
  
  
  • Journeyman Riding (Skill 150): Can now be learned at level 40 for 50 gold. Mail will be sent to players who reach level 40 directing them back to the riding trainer.
  
  
  • Expert Riding (Skill 225): Can now be learned at level 60 for 600 gold from trainers in Honor Hold or Thrallmar. Faction discounts now apply (Honor Hold for Alliance; Thrallmar for Horde). Flight speed at this skill level has been increased to 150% of run speed, up from 60%.
  
  
  • Artisan Riding (Skill 300): Faction discounts now apply (Honor Hold or Valiance Expedition for Alliance; Thrallmar or Warsong Offensive for Horde).
  
  
  • In order to further equalize the number of purchasable mounts available to each race, a new 60% speed ground mount has been added for night elves, and a new 100% speed ground mount has been added for the undead.
  
  
  • Flying over Dalaran and Wintergrasp is now possible so long as players keep a healthy distance above the ground.
  
  
  
  


• Mana Regeneration: All items that provide "X mana per five seconds" have had the amount of mana they regenerate increased by approximately 25%.


• Parry Rating: The amount of parry rating required per percentage of parry has been reduced by 8%. This is before diminishing returns. Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply. Parry still diminishes more quickly than dodge.


• Resilience: No longer reduces the amount of damage done by damage-over-time spells, but instead reduces the amount of all damage done by players by the same proportion. In addition, the amount of resilience needed to reduce critical strike chance, critical strike damage and overall damage has been increased by 15%.

Classes: General

• All pets now receive 40% of their master's resilience and 100% of their master's spell penetration. In addition, if a player is at their appropriate spell hit chance or hit chance maximum, their pet will be at the maximum for spell hit chance, hit chance, and expertise. If they are below the maximum, their pet will be proportionately below those maximums.


• Replenishment: This buff now grants 1% of the target's maximum mana over 5 seconds instead of 0.25% per second. This applies to all 5 sources of Replenishment (Vampiric Touch, Judgements of the Wise, Hunting Party, Enduring Winter Frostbolts and Soul Leech).


• Silence, Strangulate, Silencing Shot, and Arcane Torrent: These abilities will also apply a 3-second Interrupt effect against non-player controlled targets, making them more versatile against creatures immune to silencing effects.

Death Knights

• Due to significant talent changes, all death knight talents will be reset for players.


• Blood Plague: Damage done increased by 15%.


• Chains of Ice: Now reduces movement by 95% instead of 100%. The main effect of this change will be that targets of Chains of Ice will not have to re-issue a movement command to continue moving.


• Frost Fever: Damage done increased by 15%.


• Frost Presence: 10% bonus health reduced to 6% bonus stamina.


• Frost Strike: This ability can now be dodged, parried, or blocked. Weapon damage bonus reduced to 55%, down from 60%.


• Icebound Fortitude: Cooldown increased to 2 minutes.


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Blood
    
    
    
    • Bloody Strikes: This talent now provides 5/10/15% increased damage to Blood Strike instead of 15/30/45%.
    
    
    • Dancing Rune Weapon: This ability now has a fixed duration of 12 seconds (which can still be modified by its glyph) and a fixed cost of 60 runic power.
    
    
    • Veteran of the Third War: Stamina bonus reduced to 1/2/3%.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Frost
    
    
    
    • Blood of the North: Reduced to a 3-point talent. Increases Blood Strike and Frost Strike damage by 3/6/10%. There is now a 33/66/100% chance whenever you hit with Blood Strike or Pestilence that the Blood Rune will become a Death Rune when it activates.
    
    
    • Lichborne: Duration reduced to 10 seconds, and cooldown reduced to 2 minutes.
    
    
    • Threat of Thassarian: New 3-point talent. When dual-wielding, your Death Strikes, Obliterates, Plague Strikes, Blood Strikes and Frost Strikes have a 30/60/100% chance to also deal damage with your off-hand weapon. Off-hand strikes are roughly one half the effect of the original strike.
    
    
    • Toughness: This talent now grants 2/4/6/8/10% armor instead of 3/6/9/12/15%, placing it in line with similar abilities of other classes.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Unholy
    
    
    
    • Desecration: This talent has been reduced to 2 points for 25/50% snare and no longer increases damage done by the death knight. It has also been moved one tier earlier in the tree and its spell effect has been made more transparent.
    
    
    • Desolation: New talent. This talent is in the position formerly occupied by Desecration. It causes Blood Strikes to increase all damage the death knight deals by 1/2/3/4/5% for 12 seconds.
    
    
    • Scourge Strike: Weapon damage bonus reduced to 40%, down from 45%. Damage increased by 10% per disease on the target, down from 11%.
    
    
    • Summon Gargoyle: The gargoyle now flies lower to the ground, making it susceptible to melee attacks. This ability now has a fixed duration of 30 seconds and a fixed cost of 60 runic power.
    
    
    • Unholy Blight: This talent has been redesigned. It no longer deals damage to nearby targets. Instead, when you deal damage with Death Coil, the target will take periodic damage for 10 seconds equal to 20% of the damage done by Death Coil. This damage accumulates in the same way as Ignite and Deep Wounds.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Druids

• Enrage: This Bear Form ability now generates 20 rage initially, and 10 rage over the next 10 seconds. The armor penalty is unchanged.


• Flight Form: Can now be learned at level 60. Flight speed increased to 150%.


• Flight Form and Swift Flight Form: Now benefit from a paladin's Crusader Aura.


• Innervate: Duration reduced to 10 seconds, and cooldown reduced to 3 minutes. This means each use of Innervate will give half as much mana as before, but it will be available twice as often.


• Lifebloom: The final heal that occurs when this spell blooms has been reduced by 20% on the base and on the spell power coefficient.


• Mangle: Ranks 4 and 5 base points reduced by about 11%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.


• Rake: Ranks 6 and 7 base points on initial and periodic damage reduced by about 7%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.


• Rip: Ranks 8 and 9 base points and points per combo point reduced by about 6%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.


• Savage Defense: The animation for gaining this buff will no longer make the bear stand upright


• Shred: Ranks 8 and 9 base points reduced by about 10%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.


• Swift Flight Form: Druids who have acquired a mount able to go 310% flight speed will now also go that speed while in this form.


• Swipe (Cat): Percent of weapon damage done reduced from 260% to 250%.


• Travel Form: Can now be learned at level 16.


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Balance
    
    
    
    • Balance of Power: Now reduces all spell damage taken by 3/6%, rather than reducing the chance to be hit by spells by 2/4%.
    
    
    • Eclipse: The Starfire and Wrath buffs from this talent are now on separate 30-second cooldowns. In addition, it is not possible to have both buffs active simultaneously.
    
    
    • Owlkin Frenzy: Now also restores 2% base mana every 2 seconds for the duration (10 seconds) in addition to its current effects.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Feral Combat
    
    
    
    • King of the Jungle: This talent now reduces the mana cost of Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form by 20/40/60%.
    
    
    • Primal Tenacity: This talent no longer reduces the mana cost of Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Restoration
    
    
    
    • Empowered Touch: Now also increases the amount of bonus healing effects for Nourish by 10/20%.
    
    
    • Improved Barkskin: No longer provides dispel resistance to all effects on the druid, but now reduces the chance your Barkskin is dispelled by an additional 35/70%.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Hunters

• Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16.


• Deterrence: This ability now allows the hunter to parry spells and attacks from behind as well as in front. Now has a new visual spell effect.


• The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.


• Frost Trap: Will no longer "fizzle" on targets immune to snare effects, however Lock and Load will not succeed when using Frost Trap if the target is immune to snare effects.


• Snake Trap: The Mind-numbing Poison effect has been reduced to a 30% increase in casting time, down from 50% to match similar effects.


• Traps now have separate 30-second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time.


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Beast Mastery
    
    
    
    • Catlike Reflexes now also reduces the cooldown of your Kill Command ability by 10/20/30 seconds.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Survival
    
    
    
    • Entrapment: This talent no longer works with Immolation Trap or Explosive Trap.
    
    
    • Lock and Load: Now has a 22-second cooldown. The Lock and Load effect cannot be obtained on targets immune to snare effects when Frost Trap is used.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Pets
    
    
    
    • Roar of Sacrifice: Redesigned. This ability can now be used on any friendly target to make that target immune to critical strikes, but the hunter pet takes 20% of all damage taken by that friendly target. Cooldown is now 1 minute, up from 30 seconds.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Mages

• Arcane Blast: Mana cost reduced by 12%.


• Frost Bolt, Cone of Cold, Frost Ward, Ice Armor, Frost Armor, Frost Nova, Ice Lance, and Ice Barrier: The mana cost on these spells has been reduced by approximately 15%.


• Invisibility: Can no longer be interrupted by a hostile action or damage done during the 3-second Fade time, however an invisible mage is still vulnerable to Stun and Silence effects.


• Mirror Image: Images will no longer trigger the death sound when their time expires.


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Fire
    
    
    
    • Empowered Fire: In addition to its existing effects, this talent now also grants a 33/67/100% chance to regain 2% of base mana each time the Ignite talent deals damage.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Frost
    
    
    
    • Empowered Frostbolt: Instead of increasing critical strike chance by 2/4%, this talent now reduces the cast time of Frostbolt by 0.1/0.2 seconds.
    
    
    • Permafrost: In addition to its existing effects, this talent now also causes the mage's Chill effects to reduce healing received by the victim by 7/13/20%.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Paladins

• Blessing of Sanctuary: This blessing now also increases stamina by 10%. This effect is not cumulative with Blessing of Kings.


• Charger: Can now be learned at level 40.


• Crusader Aura: This ability now also grants its flying speed increase to a druid's Flight Form and Swift Flight Form.


• Exorcism: Now has a 1.5 second cast time, but can once again be used on players.


• Hand of Reckoning: Redesigned. Now does damage only when the target does not currently have the caster targeted, but damage done increased to 50% of attack power, occurring after the taunt effect is applied.


• Judgements: Some of these attacks were considered ranged and some melee. They are all now considered melee attacks that can't be dodged, parried or blocked.


• Judgement of Light: Now heals for 2% of the attacker's maximum health instead of a variable amount based on the spell power and attack power of the judging paladin.


• Lay on Hands: The buff from this ability now reduces the physical damage taken by the target by 10/20% instead of increasing the target's armor.


• Righteous Fury: No longer has a duration, remaining until cancelled or death. Also cancelled when a Paladin activates a different talent specialization.


• Sacred Shield: When a paladin casts Flash of Light on a target with this buff, they also now place a heal-over-time effect on the target, healing that target for 100% of the Flash of Light amount over 12 seconds.


• Seal of Blood: This ability has been removed.


• Seal of the Martyr: This ability has been removed.


• Seal of Vengeance and Seal of Corruption: These seals have been redesigned to deal substantially more damage. Now, once a paladin has 5 copies of the debuff from these seals on his or her target, on each swing the paladin will deal 33% weapon damage as Holy, with critical strikes dealing double damage. In addition, the damage-over-time effect is now considered a melee attack instead of a spell attack and the effects from these seals can only be triggered by auto-attacks and Hammer of the Righteous.


• Shield of Righteousness: Now deals 100% of shield block value as damage instead of 130%. In addition, the benefit from additional block value this ability gains is now subject to diminishing returns. Diminishing returns occur once block value exceeds 30 times the player's level and caps the maximum damage benefit from shield block value at 34.5 times the player's level.


• Warhorse: Can now be learned at level 20.


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Holy
    
    
    
    • Beacon of Light: The healing amount on the Beacon of Light target is now based on the total healing done (including over-healing) instead of the effective healing done. Radius increased to 60 yards. Multiple Paladins can now have this active on the same target. Buff indicating a player is within range of the Beacon target is no longer displayed.
    
    
    • Divine Intellect: This talent now gives 2/4/6/8/10% increased intellect instead of 3/6/9/12/15%.
    
    
    • Illumination: This talent now returns 30% of the mana cost of the spell instead of 60%.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Protection
    
    
    
    • Ardent Defender: Redesigned. Any damage that takes the paladin below 35% health is reduced. This reduction applies only to the portion that pushes the paladin below 35% health (example: a paladin at 50% health takes a 40% hit; the first 15% hits as normal while the next 25% is reduced). In addition, once every 2 minutes an attack that would have killed the paladin will fail to kill, and instead heal the paladin for up to 10/20/30% of maximum health depending on the paladin's defense rating (example: a paladin with defense equal to only 5 times his or her level will receive no healing from the talent, while a paladin who is immune to critical strikes from boss creatures through defense will receive the maximum amount).
    
    
    • Guarded by the Light: This talent will no longer cause Divine Plea's duration to be refreshed by using Judgement of Wisdom, Judgement of Justice, or Judgement of Light.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Retribution
    
    
    
    • Art of War: Now only applies to melee critical hits, but will make your next Flash of Light or Exorcism instant. In addition, this talent now provides notification in the floating combat text when it activates.
    
    
    • Crusader Strike: Damage reduced to 75% weapon damage to match the new 4-second cooldown. Mana cost reduced to 5% of base mana.
    
    
    • Seal of Command: Redesigned. This seal now deals 36% weapon damage on every swing, and deals substantially less judgement damage.
    
    
    • Vindication: Redesigned. Now lowers target attack power, is consistent and does not stack with Demoralizing Shout.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Priests

• Prayer of Healing: The percentage of spell power this spell gains in healing (per target) has been reduced from 80.7% to 52.6%.


• Psychic Horror: This spell no longer has an invisible missile, so there is no travel time before the spell takes effect.


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Discipline
    
    
    
    • Penance: Cooldown increased to 12 seconds, up from 10 seconds.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Holy
    
    
    
    • Inspiration: The buff from this ability now reduces the physical damage taken by the target by 3/7/10% instead of increasing the target's armor.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Shadow
    
    
    
    • Dispersion: Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3 minutes.
    
    
    • Improved Mind Blast: Redesigned. Now, in addition to reducing the cooldown of your Mind Blast spell by .5/1/1.5/2/2.5 seconds, while in Shadowform your Mind Blast also has a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to reduce all healing done to the target by 20% for 10 seconds.
    
    
    • Vampiric Touch: The amount of damage done when this spell is dispelled has been doubled.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Rogues

• After much quiet contemplation, rogues now possess the ability to learn how to use one-handed axes.


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Combat
    
    
    
    • Sword Specialization: This talent is now called Hack and Slash and applies to axes as well as swords.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Subtlety
    
    
    
    • Shadow Dance: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute. Now lasts 6 seconds, down from 10 seconds.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Shamans

• A customizable totem bar will now be available for shamans allowing the storing of 4 different totems. These totems can be placed on the ground at once in one global cooldown for the combined mana cost of all 4 totems.


• All Shocks now have a default range of 25 yards, up from 20 yards.


• Base health increased by approximately 7% to correct for shamans having lower health than other classes.


• Chain Heal: Jump distance increased by 25% to 12.5 yards. In addition, the amount of healing now decreases by 40% as it jumps to each new target, instead of 50%.


• Earth Shock: Redesigned. This spell no longer interrupts spell casting, but rather reduces melee attack speed by 10% for 8 seconds (exclusive with similar effects such as Thunder Clap).


• Ghost Wolf: Can now be learned at level 16. While in this form, snaring effects may not bring the shaman below base normal run speed.


• Wind Shock: Has been renamed Wind Shear and no longer shares a cooldown with Flame, Frost or Earth Shock.


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Enhancement
    
    
    
    • Maelstrom Weapon: Now also has a chance to reduce the cast time of Hex.
    
    
    • Shamanistic Rage: Cooldown is now 1 minute, down from 2 minutes. Successful melee attacks now have a chance to generate mana equal to 15% of the shaman's attack power, down from 30%.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Restoration
    
    
    
    • Ancestral Healing: The buff from this ability now reduces the physical damage taken by the target by 3/7/10% instead of increasing the target's armor.
    
    
    • Cure Poison and Cure Disease: Combined into a single spell, Cure Toxins.
    
    
    • Earth Shield: Dispel effects will now remove charges of Earth Shield rather than the entire aura.
    
    
    • Healing Way: Redesigned. Rather than providing a chance of increasing Healing Wave spells on a friendly target, this talent now innately increases the effectiveness of the shaman's Healing Wave by 8/16/25%.
    
    
    • Mana Tide Totem: Totem health now equal to 10% of the shaman's health.
    
    
    • Nature's Guardian: Redesigned. Now has a fixed 100% proc rate, has a 30-second internal cooldown and increases the shaman's maximum health by 3/6/9/12/15% for 10 seconds.
    
    
    • Nature's Swiftness: Cooldown is now 2 minutes, down from 3 minutes.
    
    
    • Tidal Waves: No longer reduces the cast time of Lesser Healing Wave by 30%. It instead now provides +25% critical strike chance to Lesser Healing Wave, along with the previous 30% cast time benefit to Healing Wave.
    
    
    • Improved Water Shield: This talent now has a 10/20/30% chance to be triggered by Chain Heal, and the charges of Water Shield are no longer consumed by this talent.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Warlocks

• Banish: Effect will now be cancelled if Banish is recast on a banished target.


• Dreadsteed: Can now be learned at level 40.


• Felsteed: Can now be learned at level 20.


• Shadowflame: The angle of the cone effect on this ability was inadvertently very small, making it difficult to use. Its cone is now the same size as similar spells, such as Cone of Cold.


• Soulshatter cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Affliction
    
    
    
    • Pandemic: Now also increases the critical damage bonus of Haunt by 100%.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Demonology
    
    
    
    • Fel Domination cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 15 minutes.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Destruction
    
    
    
    • Empowered Imp: The warlock's critical hit chance is increased to 100%, up from 20% for the next spell cast after the Imp critically hits a target.
    
    
    • Fire and Brimstone: Reduced to 2/4/6/8/10% increased damage from Incinerate and Chaos Bolt on targets afflicted with Immolate, down from 3/6/9/12/15%.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Warriors

• Battle Shout: Radius increased to 30 yards.


• Bloodrage: This ability now generates 20 rage initially, and 10 rage over the next 10 seconds. The health cost is unchanged.


• Commanding Shout: Radius increased to 30 yards.


• Execute: This ability now never costs more than a total of 30 rage. The tooltip for Sudden Death has been revised to remove reference to that maximum, since the ability now behaves that way even when untalented.


• Shield Slam: The benefit from additional block value this ability gains is now subject to diminishing returns. Diminishing returns occur once block value exceeds 30 times the player's level and caps the maximum damage benefit from shield block value at 34.5 times the player's level.


• Talents
  
  
  
  • Fury
    
    
    
    • Armored to the Teeth: This talent now provides 1/2/3 attack power per 108 armor, up from per 180 armor.
    
    
    • Bloodsurge: Notification that Slam has become instant now appears in floating combat text.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Protection
    
    
    
    • Devastate: Weapon damage and bonus per Sunder Armor on the target increased by 100%. This ability now requires a shield to be equipped.
    
    
    • Shield Specialization: Now provides 5 rage on a block, dodge or parry instead of 2 rage on a block.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

User Interface

• The quest log is now double-paned for more easily viewing quest information. The list of all quests a player has will show in one pane, while the quest details of any highlighted quest will display in the next.


• Character name auto-completion for the chat frame, pop-ups, and mail interface is now active


• Character names can now be colorized according to class in the chat frame. This feature can be enabled through the chat settings by right-clicking on a chat window.


• Casting bars under the target frame, focus frame and nameplates will now display as shielded if the cast cannot be interrupted.


• Druids will now be able to see their mana bars when shape-shifted.


• Item Comparisons: Holding the shift key while hovering over an item will now display the stat differences with the item currently equipped in the relevant slot.


• Item Level: A new option has been added under Display in the Interface Options to show the item level on item tooltips.


• Macros and scripts will no longer be able to target totems by name.


• New Feature Icons: Options recently added to any of the options menus will now display a yellow exclamation point next to them to indicate that they are new features.


• Vendor prices will now be listed on items whether or not players are at a vendor.


• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.

Graphics

• The frame rate for those with Shadow Effects enabled under the Ultra Video settings has been improved.

World Environment

• Wolvar and Gorloc orphans have arrived in Dalaran and need your help! Players can find out more by visiting the Eventide District (completing the quests being offered for this event will not count toward any Children's Week achievements). Players have a limited amount of time to care for these orphans before they take their leave. They will then return again for the regularly-scheduled Children's Week next year.


• Portal areas in all major cities now offer a portal to the Blasted Lands near the Dark Portal.


• Once crossing through the Dark Portal, players can access a flight path directly from the Stair of Destiny to Shattrath.


• A new zeppelin docking ramp has been added to Thunder Bluff allowing Horde players easier transport to and from Orgrimmar.


• The local Postal Service has grown tired of walking so far each day to collect mail and has decided to install a large number of new mailboxes in Stormwind, Undercity, Darnassus and Orgrimmar.


• Mathiel in Darnassus has finally earned himself enough money from your repair bills that he was able to buy himself an anvil.

Quests

• The ravasaur trainer Mor'vek has returned to Un'Goro and will offer to help Horde players raise and train a Venomhide Ravasaur as a mount... if they can survive the creature's deadly poison.

Achievements

• A Brew-FAST Mount: A new Feat of Strength achievement for acquiring any epic Brewfest mount.


• Have Keg, Will Travel: Now requires either a Brewfest mount or using Brewfest Hops to transform yours into one.

Professions

• Alchemy
  
  
  
  • All stackable potions now stack to 20.
  
  
  • Added a new pattern for Flask of the North, usable by players with a high alchemy skill. The recipe is purchased from Northrend trainers. Flask of the North increases your spell power, attack power or strength for 1 hour and is usable in Arenas. It is not consumed when used.
  
  
  • Endless Healing Potion and Endless Mana Potion no longer usable in arenas. Amount of health and mana has been increased, and the cooldown reduced.
  
  
  • Five new epic gem transmute recipes are available from the Northrend trainer. The recipe for transmuting a Cardinal Ruby can be learned from a quest, given by Linzy Blackbolt in Dalaran.
  
  
  • The Mixology benefits from Northrend elixirs and flasks have been increased.
  
  
  • Rage potions can now be used by druids.
  
  
  
  


• Cooking
  
  
  
  • Blackened Dragonfin Recipe: Now only requires 1 Dragonfin Angelfish.
  
  
  • Chef's Hat is now superior quality and allows the chef to cook faster.
  
  
  • Increased the drop rate for recipes from the Outland Daily Cooking quests.
  
  
  • Increased the chance to get a bonus Dalaran Cooking Token from the Spice Bag.
  
  
  • The recipe for Captain Rumsey's Lager can now be randomly found in the quest reward Crate, Barrel, or Spice Bag from the cooking dailies.
  
  
  
  


• Enchanting
  
  
  
  • Values on Northrend ring enchants increased.
  
  
  
  


• Engineering
  
  
  
  • Added a new Mind Amplification Dish attachment for helmets, allowing engineers to control other humanoid targets. Some restrictions apply: does not work in Arenas, dish sometimes reverses targets, unable to stack with other stat-improving head enchantments and makes your helmet look... stylish? This attachment provides a passive bonus of 45 stamina.
  
  
  • Added a schematic for a Goblin Welding Beam that can heal friendly mechanical or vehicle units.
  
  
  • Alarm-o-Bot functionality changed. Materials required reduced.
  
  
  • Box of Bombs no longer requires an anvil.
  
  
  • The Cobalt Frag Bomb now incapacitates enemies within a 3-yard radius. A short cast time was added, but they are usable while moving. This change applies to any Cobalt Frag Bombs already created. The existing recipe now makes 3 at a time.
  
  
  • Engineers can now learn to create a portable Wormhole Generator for Northrend. The Wormhole allows them to travel to different locations in Northrend, although the locations are sometimes in dangerous places.
  
  
  • Flying Machine: The level requirement needed to learn how to build and use this machine has been reduced to level 60, down from level 70, and the engineering skill level reduced to 300, down from 350. Material costs reduced.
  
  
  • Gnomish Engineers and Goblin Engineers can now switch profession specializations for a fee.
  
  
  • Increased benefits from Hyperspeed Accelerators, Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket and Reticulated Armor Webbing glove modifications.
  
  
  • Increased the passive bonuses provided by Springy Arachnoweave, Flexweave Underlay and Nitro Boosts.
  
  
  • Mote Extractor now has innate tracking for gas clouds while it is in your inventory. Tracking of gas clouds has been removed from goggles.
  
  
  • A new repair bot has been added, and his name is Jeeves. He is the ultimate gentleman robot butler, able to perform all the mundane tasks of repairing, selling and buying junk for your entire raid. Additionally, he can open bank boxes for skilled engineers (350+). Jeeves is not destroyed when used, but due to pressing engagements, can only be summoned once an hour. The schematic for this handsome robot was said to be hidden within the parts of another robot - hoping to be found by an engineer one day.
  
  
  • Nitro Boosts: Now have a 5-second duration.
  
  
  • Potion Injectors now increase the amount gained by 25% when used by engineers. Quantity produced by recipes for Runic Healing and Mana Injectors has been increased.
  
  
  • Reduced the materials needed to create all engineering Dragonlings, and reduced their cooldowns, although they still cannot be used in Arenas.
  
  
  • Significantly reduced the cooldown on MOLL-E.
  
  
  • The Spynocular belt attachment has been changed to a Frag Belt. The Frag Belt periodically produces a Cobalt Frag Bomb that can be used from the belt every 6 minutes (never runs out!).
  
  
  • A Steam-Powered Auctioneer has been added to the Dalaran Like Clockwork engineering shop, allowing access to one's faction Auction House. The Steam-Powered Auctioneer was programmed with a superiority chip, and will only interact with Grand Master engineers.
  
  
  • Transporter devices are no longer classified as trinkets and can be used directly from your inventory.
  
  
  • The Ultrasafe Bullet Machine and Saronite Arrow Maker schematics have been simplified to create a full stack of the appropriate ammunition. No longer requires an anvil. Reduced the materials required to make this ammunition.
  
  
  • World Enlarger: Cooldown reduced to 15 minutes, down from 1 hour.
  
  
  
  


• Fishing
  
  
  
  • Players with 300 or higher cooking have a chance to find a Waterlogged Recipe in the Bag of Fishing Treasures awarded by the Northrend fishing dailies. This item can be traded to other players and rewards several Dalaran Cooking Rewards when turned in.
  
  
  
  


• Herbalism
  
  
  
  • Increased healing from Lifeblood (Rank 6).
  
  
  • Lifeblood now scales slightly with maximum health. No longer affected by global cooldown.
  
  
  
  


• Inscription
  
  
  
  • Added a new Glyph of Claw for young feral druids who haven't yet obtained Mangle. Scribes can learn this glyph from the trainer.
  
  
  • Master's Inscriptions increased.
  
  
  
  


• Jewelcrafting
  
  
  
  • Dragon's Eye gems stat bonuses increased. In addition, these gems are no longer prismatic and must be matched to the appropriate colored socket to activate an item's socket bonus.
  
  
  • New recipes have been added for cutting epic gems and can be purchased using Dalaran Jewelcrafter's tokens.
  
  
  • Icy Prism now has a chance of yielding an epic gem.
  
  
  • Raw epic gems can be obtained via the following means:
    
    
    
    • Prospecting Titanium Ore
    
    
    • Alchemy transmutations
    
    
    • Purchased with honor
    
    
    • Purchased with Emblems of Heroism
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Leatherworking
  
  
  
  • Added recipe for Heavy Knothide Leather to leatherworking trainers (rather than a vendor recipe). Changed several recipes to use Heavy Knothide Leather instead of regular Leather.
  
  
  • Fur Lining values increased.
  
  
  
  


• Mining
  
  
  
  • Toughness (Rank 6) provides more stamina.
  
  
  
  


• Skinning
  
  
  
  • Master of Anatomy (Rank 6) provides more critical strike rating.
  
  
  
  


• Tailoring
  
  
  
  • Embroideries improved.
  
  
  
  

Items

• Feral Druid PvP Gloves (seasons 3 and 4): Maim bonus changed from the Interrupt bonus used in The Burning Crusade Arena seasons to the cost reduction used in Wrath of the Lich King Arena seasons.


• Glyphs
  
  
  
  • Death Knights
    
    
    
    • Glyph of Unholy Blight: Changed to increase damage done by the updated Unholy Blight talent by 40%.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Druids
    
    
    
    • Glyph of Innervate: Duration reduced to 10 seconds.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Paladins
    
    
    
    • Glyph of Righteous Defense: Now also increases the chance for Hand of Reckoning to hit.
    
    
    • Glyph of Seal of Command: Redesigned to cause the Paladin to gain 8% of base mana each time the paladin judges Command.
    
    
    • Glyph of Seal of Blood: Changed to Glyph of Holy Wrath, which reduces its cooldown by 15 seconds.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Rogues
    
    
    
    • Glyph of Shadow Dance: Now increases the duration of Shadow Dance by 2 seconds, down from 4 seconds.
    
    
    • Glyph of Tricks of the Trade: Now increases the duration of the damage bonus effect instead of increasing the damage bonus.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Shamans
    
    
    
    • Glyph of Healing Wave: The amount of healing the shaman receives is now based on the entire healing amount, including over-healing.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Warlocks
    
    
    
    • Glyph of Lifetap: Duration of the buff from this glyph increased to 40 seconds.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Idol of the Corruptor: The agility buff from this idol is now exclusive with the agility buff from Idol of Terror.


• Mage Tier-7 2-Piece Bonus: Now grants 25% additional mana from mana gems, down from 40%.


• Non-Combat Pets: 8 new pets have been added (not including Argent Tournament rewards). Raptor Hatchlings can be found on rare and elite raptors throughout the game world. In addition, an Obsidian Raptor Hatchling can be purchased from Breanni in Dalaran.


• Tome of Cold Weather Flight: New heirloom item. Players who have reached level 80 can now purchase this book for 1,000 gold from Hira Snowdawn, the Cold Weather Flying Trainer in Dalaran. Similar to other heirloom items, this item can be mailed to other characters of the same realm, account and faction. The book is consumed when read training the character in Cold Weather Flying. Requires level 68.


• Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings: This item's stats and level have been increased to match the power level of healer weapons coming from the Coliseum 25-person normal difficulty instance. In addition, each time Val'anyr is equipped, Blessing of Ancient Kings will be placed on a 45-second cooldown before it can occur.

Bug Fixes

• Death Knights
  
  
  
  • Anti-Magic Shell: The tooltip for this ability will now reflect modifications from the Magic Suppression talent.
  
  
  • Blood-Caked Blade: The damage from this talent is no longer normalized to weapon speed.
  
  
  • Chilblains: Icy Clutch can no longer miss when Frost Fever hits, however, when Frost Fever is dispelled Icy Clutch will also be dispelled.
  
  
  • Dancing Rune Weapon: The rune weapon will no longer cast Corpse Explosion.
  
  
  • Desecration: No longer causes unnecessary combat logging.
  
  
  • Horn of Winter: Learning rank 2 of this ability caused players to unlearn rank 1, such that it no longer appears in their spellbook. It is now possible to relearn that rank, and death knights will no longer "forget" rank 1 when they learn rank 2.
  
  
  • Lichborne: The buff from this ability can now be cancelled.
  
  
  • Raise Ally: Using the Gnaw ability while under the effects of this spell will now initiate auto-attack. In addition, the damage done has been changed from a flat value to a percentage of weapon damage.
  
  
  • Raise Dead: This spell will no longer give two errors when the casting player lacks the reagent to cast it.
  
  
  • Rune of Razorice: Each death knight can now have his or her own copy of this debuff on the target.
  
  
  • Rune of Spellbreaking: Tooltip now indicates the effect from this enchantment does not stack with other effects which reduce the duration of Silence effects (including not stacking with a second copy of this enchantment). In addition, now reduces damage from Holy spells.
  
  
  • Rune of Spellshattering: Now reduces damage from Holy spells.
  
  
  • Summon Gargoyle: Corrected the inaccurate tooltip which claimed a Gargoyle could last up to 40 seconds, when in fact 30 seconds has always been the maximum.
  
  
  • Rune of Razorice: Corrected a bug where this applied to frost damage done by others.
  
  
  
  
• Druids
  
  
  
  • Bash: Tooltip now specifies that the Interrupt effect only occurs on non-player targets.
  
  
  • Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form: Mana energizes that occur while in these forms will now appear in the combat log and floating combat text.
  
  
  • Cyclone: Victims of Cyclone can no longer receive healing from health drain effects such as Devouring Plague while they are affected by Cyclone.
  
  
  • Dash: Druids who have not learned Track Humanoids will now retain the benefit of Dash while shifting out of and back into Cat Form.
  
  
  • Druids should no longer be removed from a form after using any engineered bombs.
  
  
  • Maim: Tooltip now specifies that the Interrupt effect only occurs on non-player targets.
  
  
  • Natural Perfection: Now properly triggered by periodic critical strikes.
  
  
  • Nature's Grasp: This talent will no longer be triggered spuriously by some ranged abilities such as Heroic Throw.
  
  
  
  
• Hunters
  
  
  
  • All ranks of Sonic Blast now properly have an 80 Focus cost.
  
  
  • Black Arrow Ranks 5 and 6 training costs have been lowered significantly.
  
  
  • Furious Howl: Ranks 1-5 will no longer give slightly more attack power than is listed in their tooltips.
  
  
  • Lock and Load: The tooltip for this talent has been updated to indicate that it also works with Explosive Trap.
  
  
  • Roar of Sacrifice: Damage transferred to pet is now considered Nature damage.
  
  
  • The tooltip for Improved Tracking has been slightly re-written to indicate that it only works on the hunter, and works on melee damage as well.
  
  
  • T.N.T. (Rank 3): Now indicates that the talent works with Black Arrow.
  
  
  
  
• Mages
  
  
  
  • Arcane Instability: Tooltip reworded to clarify design intent.
  
  
  • Burning Determination: Some Silence and Interrupt effects that did not trigger this talent will now trigger it properly, including Shield of the Templar, Garrote and Gag Order.
  
  
  • Combustion: Fire spell misses will no longer trigger this talent.
  
  
  • Conjure Refreshment: Rank 1 food will no longer overwrite the drink buff from rank 2 food.
  
  
  • Fireball: Periodic damage from this spell can no longer trigger Combustion.
  
  
  • Living Bomb: Periodic critical strikes from this ability can now trigger Ignite and Hot Streak.
  
  
  • Mirror Image: The mirror images will no longer complete casts of Frostbolt on targets which are Polymorphed at the time their Frostbolt channel finishes.
  
  
  • Molten Armor: Critical strikes from the effect on this armor will no longer trigger Ignite.
  
  
  
  
• Paladins
  
  
  
  • Auras: Any paladin aura active at the time of the paladin's death now automatically reactivates when the paladin returns to life.
  
  
  • Beacon of Light: Multiple paladins can now have this buff active on the same target. In addition, the beacon target will no longer lose the buff while under the effects of Cyclone or Banish.
  
  
  • Blessing of Sanctuary: This talent and Vigilance will now both be able to be cast on the same target without sometimes overwriting each other.
  
  
  • Exorcism: Now properly has a 100% chance to be a critical strike when cast on death knights using Lichborne.
  
  
  • Eye for an Eye: Now properly triggered by periodic critical strikes. In addition, the tooltip incorrectly stated that 20% damage is reflected, when it is actually 10%. Tooltip fixed.
  
  
  • Hammer of Justice: Tooltip now specifies that the Interrupt effect only occurs on non-player targets.
  
  
  • Hand of Sacrifice: Casting this spell on a target with Divine Sacrifice active will now generate an error message instead of wasting the cooldown.
  
  
  • Heart of the Crusader: The effect from this talent will no longer be removed if a paladin without this talent overwrites the judgement placed by a paladin who does have the talent.
  
  
  • Holy Shield: It is no longer possible to have two ranks of this ability active at the same time.
  
  
  • Judgements: All paladin judgements are now properly considered as melee attacks that cannot be dodged, blocked or parried. Previously Seal of Light, Seal of Wisdom, Seal of Justice and Seal of Righteousness would cause the judgement to be considered a ranged attack.
  
  
  • Judgement of the Just: The effect from this talent will no longer be removed if a paladin without this talent overwrites the judgement placed by a paladin who does have the talent.
  
  
  • Judgement of Vengeance: Inaccurate combat log tooltip corrected.
  
  
  • Judgement of Corruption: Inaccurate combat log tooltip corrected.
  
  
  • Pursuit of Justice: This talent will no longer sometimes be deactivated when leaving a battleground.
  
  
  • Sacred Shield: This buff will no longer have any effect if the target is another player engaged in a duel. In addition, the heal from this buff will no longer cause the paladin to stand, and it is no longer possible for two paladins to both have the spell active on one target.
  
  
  
  
• Priests
  
  
  
  • Blessed Resilience: Now properly triggered by periodic critical strikes.
  
  
  • Divine Aegis: This talent will now work properly if the priest moves out of range of his or her target as the effect is resolving.
  
  
  • Divine Hymn: This spell now works correctly with the trinket Illustration of the Dragon Soul. Mana Burn: Fixed a bug where Mana Burn did not cause fear effects to break when the fear victim had an absorb shield on.
  
  
  • Mass Dispel: This spell now triggers some types of trinkets it did not trigger before (such as Flow of Knowledge).
  
  
  • Pain Suppression: No longer can be cast while under the effects of Incapacitate or Cyclone.
  
  
  
  
• Rogues
  
  
  
  • Honor Among Thieves: Periodic critical strikes now grant combo points for rogues with this talent.
  
  
  • Killing Spree: Error message when no targets are in range has been changed to "Out of Range."
  
  
  • Master of Subtlety: Being under the effects of Cyclone when the buff from this talent is about to expire will no longer make it last indefinitely.
  
  
  • Overkill: Being under the effects of Cyclone when the buff from this talent is about to expire will no longer make it last indefinitely.
  
  
  • Shiv: Deadly Poison will now apply properly when Shiv is the attack used to break a Gouge.
  
  
  • Tricks of the Trade: Using this ability on a target affected by Cyclone or Banish will no longer place the ability on permanent cooldown and will instead give an error message.
  
  
  • Turn the Tables: Rank 2 of this talent will now work properly with raid members, and not just party members.
  
  
  
  


• Shamans
  
  
  
  • Elemental Devastation: Tooltip revised to indicate it does not work with critical strikes from periodic damage.
  
  
  • Elemental Focus: Tooltip revised to indicate it does not work with critical strikes from periodic damage.
  
  
  • Elemental Oath: Tooltip revised to indicate it does not work with critical strikes from periodic damage.
  
  
  • Flametongue Weapon: Fixed tooltip error.
  
  
  • Frostbrand Weapon: Fixed a bug where rank 9 was not scaling properly with a shaman's spell power.
  
  
  
  
• Warlocks
  
  
  
  • Demonic Circle: The visual for this spell should now despawn when the warlock dies or when the warlock otherwise loses the aura that allows transport to the circle.
  
  
  • Immolate and Unstable Affliction: All ranks of these two spells will now overwrite each other.
  
  
  • Improved Imp: Each time an Imp is summoned it will recast Blood Pact (if autocast is on), forcing it to benefit from this talent, even if the Imp was not summoned at the time the talent was learned.
  
  
  • Improved Shadow Bolt: Redesigned slightly. Instead of a 100% chance to apply a 1/2/3/4/5% critical strike increase on the target, it now has a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to apply a 5% critical strike increase.
  
  
  
  
• Warriors
  
  
  
  • Berserker Rage: Tooltip clarified to indicate this ability breaks existing Fear, Sap, and Incapacitate effects.
  
  
  • Bladestorm: Now properly removes the Snare effect of Desecration in all cases.
  
  
  • Blood Craze: Now properly triggered by periodic critical strikes.
  
  
  • Execute: Focused Rage and the Dreadnaught Battlegear set bonus will now properly reduce the cost of Execute.
  
  
  • Slam: The combat log tooltip will no longer list which rank of Slam was used. Previously it incorrectly listed rank 8 for all ranks of Slam.
  
  
  • Vigilance: This talent and Blessing of Sanctuary will now both be able to be cast on the same target without sometimes overwriting each other.
  
  
  
  
• Items
  
  
  
  • Adamantite Scope: Attaching this scope to an item will now cause it to become soulbound as intended.
  
  
  • Badge of the Swarmguard: Will no longer cause a weapon swing animation when it triggers.
  
  
  • Cenarion Set: No longer reduces the (nonexistent) cooldown on Hurricane. Instead, the set bonus increases the damage done by Hurricane by 15%.
  
  
  • Commendation of Bravery: No longer useable when player is already at the maximum honor allowed.
  
  
  • Deadly Gladiator's Dreadplate: The set bonus will now trigger properly from Crippling Poison.
  
  
  • Death Knight PvP Glove Bonus: The runic power gain no longer appears in the combat log.
  
  
  • Death Knight Tier-7 Set: Fingers of the Damned now has a detailed combat log tooltip.
  
  
  • Frostweave Net: Using this item no longer causes the user to break shapeshifts.
  
  
  • Glyphs
    
    
    
    • Glyph of Beacon of Light: This glyph will no longer grant its duration increase twice when Beacon of Light is cast on self.
    
    
    • Glyph of Corpse Explosion: This glyph will no longer cause the model on target dummies to change.
    
    
    • Glyph of Death Strike: Tooltip typo corrected.
    
    
    • Glyph of Disease: Blood Plague will now last its correct full duration when refreshed by this glyph.
    
    
    • Glyph of Freezing Trap: The effect from this glyph will now log properly.
    
    
    • Glyph of Healing Wave: The heal from this glyph will no longer benefit twice from the Purification talent.
    
    
    • Glyph of Overpower: Fixed a bug where sometimes parries would not trigger the glyph. In addition, this glyph will now only make Overpower available for 6 seconds after a parry, instead of indefinitely.
    
    
    • Glyph of Power Word: Shield: The heal from this glyph can now cause Divine Aegis.
    
    
    • Glyph of Shadow: This glyph can now be triggered by critical strikes from periodic damage.
    
    
    • Glyph of Shocking: Fixed tooltip error on Macintosh game client.
    
    
    • Glyph of Shadowflame: The effect from this glyph will now work properly when multiple Warlocks use Shadowflame on the target.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Gnomish Mind Control Cap: Paladins who break the harmful effect from this item by using Divine Shield will now properly gain the Forbearance debuff.
  
  
  • Goblin Dragon Gun: This item will no longer spam the combat log with cast messages.
  
  
  • Heavy Netherweave Net: Using this item no longer causes the user to break shapeshifts.
  
  
  • Major Arcane Protection Potion: Vendor price lowered to match other similar potions.
  
  
  • Nightsong Battlegear: The 2-piece set bonus will no longer sometimes be triggered by other periodic damage other than those listed in the tooltip.
  
  
  • Pandora's Plea: Corrected a tooltip issue.
  
  
  • Randomly generated uncommon (green) and rare (blue) quality items in Wrath of the Lich King had stat values that were lower than intended. All Wrath of the Lich King uncommon and rare items with random suffixes ("of the Bear") have had their stat values increased significantly.
  
  
  • Reins of the Icemaw Matriarch: This vehicle will now leave bear footprints instead of barefoot footprints.
  
  
  • Reticulated Armor Webbing: Tooltip corrected to no longer claim that this item only works on plate items.
  
  
  • Saronite Bomb: This item will no longer cause threat against nearby targets just outside the targeting circle.
  
  
  • Scrolls: Scrolls which grant agility, intellect, spirit, strength, or stamina will now report an error message and no longer consume and waste the scroll when the target has a more powerful buff to that stat.
  
  
  • Sif's Remembrance: Sound and animation added to trinket effect.
  
  
  • Sigil of Arthritic Binding: The bonus damage from this relic is now added after diseases have increased damage by a percentage, instead of before.
  
  
  • Trinkets: Various trinkets which did not work properly with channeled area-of-effect spells will now work with those spells. This includes (but is not limited to) Illustration of the Dragon Soul, Darkmoon Card: Greatness, and Egg of Mortal Essence.
  
  
  • Warrior PvP Glove Bonus: Tooltip reworded slightly.
  
  
  • Wintergrasp Commendation: No longer useable when player is already at the maximum honor allowed.
    
  
  
• Professions
  
  
  
  • Enchant Weapon - Black Magic: This enchantment can now be triggered by some spells it did not previously work with, including Curse of Agony, Blizzard, and Typhoon.
  
  
  • Guardian Gloves: Now correctly marked as uncommon quality.
  
  
• Events
  
  
  
  • Hallow's End: Putting out fires for this event will no longer trigger effects from items, talents and set bonuses.
  
  
  • Noblegarden: Loot windows will no longer periodically close while the looting player is transformed into a rabbit.
  
  
• Technical


• There is a known UI rendering issue with the Intel 965 Mobile Express chipset drivers on Windows Vista prior to version 7.15.10.1559 (December 2008). Please contact your laptop manufacturer for an updated driver if you are experiencing difficulties. In case of continued problems, add the following lines to the Config.wtf file as a workaround: SET fixedFunction "1".