Version 2.0.3 PTR Notes Week 2

PTR Discussion and Bug Report
1

PTR Notes version 2.0.3 week 2
June 30, 2025

NEW CHANGES

Game Servers

The following changes have already been applied to both live and PTR servers.

  • Custom Game lobby advertisements now properly timeout 15 minutes after the most recent player has joined or left
  • This timer resets every time a player joins or leaves
  • Fixed an issue where some players with classic keys were having licensing problems
  • Fixed an issue where custom game invites were not working properly

Visuals

  • Replaced the main menu and campaign .webm backgrounds with .mdl renders
  • Fixed certain VFX appearing as white squares in Classic HD mode
  • Tree idle animation now enabled in Reforged environment
  • Fixed a few model files which were not correctly being included with the game

Audio

  • Fixed an issue where music would overlap with music from a saved game

World Editor

  • Added a new ability [Amgi]. This ability prevents bouncing missile attacks from bouncing to and from structures.
    • The implementation of this ability is not fully complete, and will be improved before release

Hotkeys

  • Mouse buttons are now bindable while changing hotkeys when in a game

  • Removed hotkeys for passive abilities

    • Hotkeys for learning passive abilities still exists

    • The team is aware of an issue with Resistant Skin and Hardened Skin hotkeys still appearing

  • Unlinked Peasant and Militia hotkey conflict detection

  • Fixed an issue with players unable to drag scroll

    • As a result of this fix, scroll click is now not bindable

  • Fixed implementation of the Toggle Healthbar hotkeys

  • Updated Help menu to show Ctrl group hotkeys

  • Changed the ordering of mercenaries so that it is possible to assign QWER to every camp without conflict

  • Removed Pocket Factory from the list of Neutral Buildings

  • Removed Select Unit ability from the Tavern

  • Fixed an issue where Hero Select and Inventory keys were not detecting conflicts

  • Added Nether Dragon Roost to Neutral Buildings

Multiplayer

  • MMR gains and losses are now doubled

    • There are extra notes in the Master change list explaining MMR changes

General

  • Piercing damage against Heavy armor decreased from 100% to 90%

  • Fixed a crash that occurred when selecting a structure that had its construction or production paused

Night Elf

  • Huntress glaives will no longer bounce to and from structures

Undead

  • Animate Dead units will now inherit upgrades they had when they were killed

  • The team is aware of an issue where passive abilities are not being transferred upon reanimation, and will be fixed before release

Neutral

  • Brewmaster Breath of Fire damage over time from 7/14/21 to 10/15/25

  • Brewmaster movement speed from 290 to 320

  • Fixed an issue where the neutral variant of Brilliance Aura was not displaying decimal values in the tooltip

ALL CHANGES

Game Servers

  • Custom Game lobby advertisements now properly timeout 15 minutes after the most recent player has joined or left

    • This timer resets every time a player joins or leaves

  • Fixed an issue where some players with classic keys were having licensing problems

  • Fixed an issue where custom game invites were not working properly

General

  • Added a countdown timer to the UI for construction and training

  • Fixed an issue where some triggers would sometimes not be saved correctly

  • Existing saved games may still have this issue, but any new ones should now be saved correctly

  • Fixed an issue where going into a single player custom game would sometimes put you into a multiplayer lobby

Performance

  • Optimized AI functions for finding build locations

  • This should optimize how AI players look for places to build structures, resulting in better performance in games with a high number of AI players

  • Please watch for and report unexpected behavior changes

  • Optimized heavy particle counts of some Reforged VFX

Visuals

  • Updated Reforged shaders. Players should see improved intensity of shadows and lighting

  • Replaced the main menu and campaign .webm backgrounds with .mdl renders

  • Fixed certain VFX appearing as white squares in Classic HD mode

  • Tree idle animation now enabled in Reforged environment

  • Added options for ambient occlusion and bloom in the options menu

  • Note that these settings will lower performance when enabled in 4K resolution

  • Fixed an issue where units with transparency were less transparent than intended when on water

  • Fixed an issue where custom unit portraits were incorrectly inheriting a portrait from their base units

  • Fixed an issue where icons for custom skins would sometimes show their base icons

  • Fixed an issue where units would sometimes be invisible after loading a saved game

  • Existing saved games may still have this issue, but any new ones should now be saved correctly

  • Fixed a few model files which were not correctly being included with the game

Audio

  • Fixed an issue where map music would sometimes continue playing at the end of a map, or during a cinematic

  • Fixed an issue where music would overlap with music from a saved game

World Editor

  • Custom campaigns may now use MDL files for mission select backgrounds

  • Fixed an issue with weather effect [RAhr] triggering permanent rain

  • Fixed an issue with the model viewer window being incorrectly scaled

  • Fixed an issue with the Summoned Units window being incorrectly scaled

  • Fixed an issue where [AIsb] was not respecting the cooldown of its attached ability when used on an item

  • Fixed an issue where [AIf2] had hidden bonus damage and attack index data fields

  • Fixed the following natives:

  • The following changes affect many natives and fields, and are an attempt to fix some broader systems instead of individual bugs. Please report any bugs (or new fixes!) related to these changes:

  • Fixed dozens of broken BlzSetAbility____Field natives

  • BlzSetAbility____LevelField natives now attempt to forcibly refresh the ability’s data so changes are reflected. For example, orb of fire (AIf2) now has its damage bonus properly updated due to this change

  • BlzSetUnitIntegerField now supports UNIT_IF_PRIMARY_ATTRIBUTE

  • BlzSetUnitWeaponIntegerField now supports UNIT_WEAPON_IF_ATTACK_WEAPON_TYPE

  • BlzSetUnitWeaponIntegerField no longer causes a crash when trying to set a field related to an attack type the unit didn’t originally have

  • BlzSetUnitWeaponIntegerField now works properly with the following fields:

  • UNIT_WEAPON_IF_ATTACK_MAXIMUM_NUMBER_OF_TARGETS

  • UNIT_WEAPON_IF_ATTACK_DAMAGE_NUMBER_OF_DICE

  • UNIT_WEAPON_IF_ATTACK_DAMAGE_SIDES_PER_DIE

  • UNIT_WEAPON_IF_ATTACK_DAMAGE_BASE

  • BlzSetUnitIntegerField(unit, UNIT_IF_MOVE_TYPE, 2) now properly allows a ground unit to fly

  • Added a new field UNIT_RF_FLY_MAX_HEIGHT (ufmh)

  • BlzSetUnitBooleanField now properly sets UNIT_BF_HIDE_MINIMAP_DISPLAY

  • BlzSetUnitStringField now immediately updates the unit’s shadow when using UNIT_SF_SHADOW_IMAGE

  • BlzSetUnitRealField now correctly sets UNIT_RF_CAST_POINT and UNIT_RF_CAST_BACK_SWING regardless of when you spend your first skill point

  • The following features can now be found under Map Options

  • Added the ability to force players to use a specific zoom level

  • Added the ability to remove the ‘!’ from denying appearing

  • Added a new ability [Amgi]. This ability prevents bouncing missile attacks from bouncing to and from structures

Hotkeys

  • Significantly increased the amount of bindable keys

  • Added new bindable commands for Menu, Game, Replay, and Observer commands

  • Added a Conflicts section in the hotkey menu to display any key conflicts

  • Clicking on a conflict will bring you the relevant hotkey

  • Added support for non QWERTY, non English keyboard layouts while using grid keys

  • Removed hotkeys for passive abilities

  • Hotkeys for learning passive abilities still exists

  • Unlinked Peasant and Militia hotkey conflict detection

  • Changed the ordering of mercenaries so that it is possible to assign QWER to every camp without conflict

  • Removed Pocket Factory from the list of Neutral Buildings

  • Removed Select Unit ability from the Tavern

  • Fixed an issue where Hero Select and Inventory keys were not detecting conflicts

  • Added Nether Dragon Roost to Neutral Buildings

Multiplayer

  • Fixed an issue with Arranged Team badges not displaying correct info

  • Fixed an issue with MMR and level not being displayed on loading screens

  • Added MMR data to Solo and Arranged Team Badges

  • Adjustments were made to how MMR gains and losses are calculated

  • Players have a hidden stat that is called variance. The higher the variance, the bigger the MMR swings (When a player starts their placement matches they have high variance, after many games, the variance bottoms out). In team games, the current system adds every players MMR and variance together. For example, in a 2v2 game, where one side is a 4500 arranged team, and the other side is a 4000 and 4200 rated random team, the system views it as a 9000 MMR side against a 8200 MMR side. We are changing this so that instead of taking the sum, the system now takes the average MMR and variance, so now the system will view the match as 4500 vs 4100

  • In addition to the above change, we are also doubling all MMR gains and losses

  • We are hoping these changes reduce the occurrence of extreme MMR gains and losses in some situations, while also spreading out the distribution of MMR. The team will continue to monitor this and make adjustments as necessary

Balance

General

  • All weapons with a ground area of effect attack have the Ward unit type added to their list of area of effect targets

  • Piercing damage against Heavy armor decreased from 100% to 90%

Orc

  • Pulverize can now target Wards

  • Burning Oil can now target Wards

Night Elf

  • Pick up Archer, Mount Hippogryph, and Dismount cooldowns decreased from 30 to 5

  • Huntress glaives will no longer bounce to and from structures

Undead

  • Units resurrected by Animate Dead now have access to their abilities they had when they were alive

  • Lich Frost Nova range increased from 700/700/700 to 750/750/750

Neutral

  • Pitlord Cleave can now target Wards

  • Dark Ranger Drain Life mana cost decreased from 50/50/50 to 25/25/25

  • Dark Ranger Drain Life self damage type changed from Magic to Universal. This will allow Life Drain to continue to transfer while the caster is magic immune

  • Tinker Pocket Factory spawn interval decreased from 5/4.5/3.5/3 to 4.5/4/3.5/3 per Engineering level

  • Tinker Cluster Rockets max damage per interval increased from 105/195/300 to 200/250/300

  • Cluster Rockets contains 4 damage intervals, so if a unit stays in the area for the whole duration of the spell, it will take 4 instances of damage. This change increases the max damage that can be spread across multiple units per interval.

  • Brewmaster Breath of Fire damage increased from 65/125/170 to 80/130/180

  • Brewmaster Breath of Fire max damage increased from 480/800/1200 to 600/900/1200

  • Brewmaster Breath of Fire area of effect from 125/125/125 to 25/25/25

  • Brewmaster Breath of Fire final area of effect from 300/300/300 to 125/125/125

  • Previously, Breath of Fire could hit units that were significantly farther away than the visuals of the spell suggested. These changes make it so that the area of effect are brought in line with the visuals. The area of effect parameter controls the initial width of the Breath, while the final area of effect controls the radius at the tail end of the spell. To compensate for the nerf to range, overall damage of the spell has been increased.

  • Brewmaster Breath of Fire damage over time from 7/14/21 to 10/15/25

  • Brewmaster movement speed from 290 to 320

  • Removed Vampiric Aura and Death Coil from Level 3 Skeletal Orc

  • Fixed an issue where the neutral variant of Brilliance Aura was not displaying decimal values in the tooltip

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with Tinker stacking the effects of regeneration from items when killed in Robo-form

  • Fixed an issue where Demon Hunter Immolation would continue to drain mana when turned off if Immolation is leveled during Hex

  • Units that are hexed will no longer have a short window where their items bonuses do not apply to them

  • Orb effects will now properly proc when units auto acquire targets.

  • Orb of Slow and Orb of Lightning will now function properly if bought while silenced

15 Likes
2

Still really annoyed with this. This makes getting any matches going and started way harder.

1 Like
3

Piercing damage against Heavy armor decreased from 100% to 90%. This is a significant change and I think there should be more discussions about it. I respect Neo’s suggestion to make it happen and it could be an interesting change. However, I’d like to hear more opinions from pro-players and people involved with W3 scene on the matter.

This change buffs melee units, but melee units of all races are fine in the early-mid game. Now, in the early-game they can become oppressive and dominant (footman, ghouls, etc. vs archers, HHs, etc).

To increase the presence of melee units in the late game (and weaken piercing meta), I would consider buffing melee units by reducing caster damage on heavy armor and increasing caster damage vs medium armor.

A possible way to address that would be to reduce the magic damage to heavy armor units from 200% to 175% and add +1 dmg to all ground casters and +2 to destroyers (keeping other flying units magic damage in place). These changes will effect only the mid and the late game. They will help army compositions of melee + casters do better versus piercing ranged + casters.

7 Likes
4

Works only with melee auto acquire. Doesn’t work on ranged auto acquire.

5

While we’re looking at custom game invites, can we add the lobby and/or map name to the little invite dialog that pops up when you’re invited to a lobby? Right now we’re just accepting or denying without knowing what’s being offered.

1 Like
6

Please revert the lumber rate change in the previous patch

9 Likes
7

Great change, thank you. Also, could you add the skin and voice of Death Knight Arthas to the hero’s custom skin? Also add the avatar and voice of the Lich Kel’Thuzad? The undead hero has too few skins besides the dread lord. It would be great if they could be added. Thank you :sunglasses:

3 Likes
8

Good job.
Heavy armor change is huge and good in general.
I’m still not fully aware of what it will be due how many things changed (towers, borrows, footman’s, aow etc) but the fact that you are ready for such changes gives you credits.
I still don’t think that panda aoe nerf should be so huge, it seems too much.
Glaves changes are good direction as well and it opens up some possible buffs for hunts as well due no longer building abuse possibilities.

1 Like
9

Is it possible to fix the in game menu navigation hotkey. Hotkey C to Create Custom game, Hotkey S to Start game… etc.

2 Likes
10

This ptr2 recalled my memory about the last game of 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship. In the endgame stage of the 14th game, the defending champion Ding play Rf2?? and lost his Title to challenger Gukesh.

Oops, Mr. Blizzard, you are now playing Rf2?? in ptr2 and this is a Gravely Blunder.
It’s painfully obvious that I have no competency to stop such a change,
While if the blunder change will be passing into live, I have to call you Dinglizzard instead.

First of all, the Piercing damage do overperformed in the game, as I had pointed out in the post of 1.36.2 ptr, totally agreed to adding some limitation here. However, the change go in astray by buffing the heavy armor which already much better than light and unarmor type would only make the game more imbalanced.

When balancing a factor, as a guiding principle, we have to buffing the weaker side or nerfing the stronger side. On an extreme case, making two kinds of changes at same time. If the Heavy buffed, then how about Light? Unarmor? Where is your Fairness??

Solution: Piercing damage against Light armor decreased from 200% to 175%
Piercing damage against Unarmor decreased from 150% to 125%
Magical damage against Heavy armor decreased from 200% to 175%

Mistake. Mass huntress do overperformed in low-end game below specific MMR, however the noob saver nerf clearly lack of wisdom and overdue.
Solution: Glaives will only bounce to same type target. Unit to unit, structures to structures. This is Fairness.

Unnecessary. The whole changes to Pandaren in 2.0.3 just messing up an already reasonable balanced hero. Reverting back is the most simple solution here.

Again, the weaker spell Entangling Roots nerfed from 800 to 600 in lv.1 and lv.2 ignored.
It’s quite important to keeping lv.3 nova at 800 range because UD is the race specialize in Nuke hero spell. While lv.1 nova out performed almost every lv.1 single target damage spell, so it would be much better to scaling range by level.

Solution: Lich Frost Nova range increased from 700/700/700 to 700/750/800
Entangling Roots range increased from 600/600/800 to 700/750/800
It’s time to show your Fairness Mr…B…lizzard.

Fortunately, the Rf2?? here just a PTR patch, so we can still standing well and not losing titles after this blunder. While if Blizzard allows the biased wind blowing up the game, then the game and players in every level will lost here like defending champion Dingliren in chess or Pandaren in Warcraft3, that would be very bad development for this game.

We love Blizzard and there is no need to create Dinglizzard in the future, right?

1 Like
11

Remark - ill only cover armor changes not all piercing units due it is too much for one post
HU:
Footmans are way stronger. - prob defend could be adjusted again. how to kill them with archers? HU early game vs NE goes even more scarier. TeD fiends are also nerfed vs fast expo. FS HH build also nerfed. This is extremely scary
Militia stronger. - fine
Towers stronger. - fine
Water elems stronger. - very very scary. AM haras will be way better especially vs orc and ne.
Flying machine - whatever
Mortar Team - not sure that making backline units stronger to range is good.

Knight isn’t so important due their niche.

Orc:
Borrows are stronger. *before reinforce def - good!
Wolves are stronger. - good!
Towers are stronger. *before reinforce def - doesn’t matter much
Grunts are stronger - good but how to kill them with archers, fiends etc in the early game?
Taurens are stronger - good.
Demolisher - whatever
Wards - whatever except serpent but is also minor

UD:
Ghoul - in general - good. Archers MU become even easier what is kinda scary for ne early game tho.
Obsidian Statue - not sure that making backline units stronger to range is good.
Meat Wagon - whatever
Skeletons/Beetles - whatever.
Aboms - good

NE:
Glaive Thrower - whatever
Huntresses - good
AoW/AoP etc when uprooted - good but whatever
Bears - good
Treant - whatever

Tavern:
Beast master Quilbeast is weaker in term of dmg
Beast master bear buffed - good
Firelord dmg nerf as well - is it good?
lava spawn is stronger - good

In general it seems like T1 and T3 units get buffed mostly. HU start kit is buffed like +10% to all (except rifles) due what they are facing - what is very scary. Almost the same for orc without head hunters build.
Very scary change for NE due the only archer available as an early units and you almost cannot skip them. MU vs HU/Orc/UD all become harder in the place where they shouldnt.
End game for heavy armored units like taurens, knights, bears become better vs t1 spam like fiends, rifles. What is good.

Some things nerfed / buffed in place where opposite was required
It seems like archers, footmans (?water elem?) should be adjusted.

Don’t get me wrong Blizzard Wc3 Team. This is GREAT. You have the spine and will to change things.
But it seems like some things should be adjusted simultaneously without waiting to 2.0.4

Good change.
Now probably some buffs for hunts are open up due no longer base abuse is possible. I can only recommend to look for it due they are only strong in the open field now.

1 Like
12

Heavy armor change from 100% to 90% of piercing damage taken is going to throw the game of a lot. I dont think this should go through. Footmen with defend and Druids of the Claw are already oppressive, this change will only make it worse.

Night elf lumber gather rate is way too high and should be looked at (should be reverted).

Attacks bouncing to wards and aoe hitting wards will make them even more useless than before and should not go through

Giving yet another strength hero a high movespeed is also not the right solution. Panda should get maybe a +1 to strength or intelligence instead of giving him a 30MS movespeed buff

2 Likes
13

Why is Brewmaster randomly being changed

1 Like
14

Add adjustments to 3v3 AT and 4v4 AT so that AT plays against higher MMR RT but the matchmaking prioritize finding AT first and after some time the matchmaking is finding a higher MMR RT. Let us see how will that work and if players dont like it revert it.

Also there is still the bug where when you click on single player it takes you to creating a multiplayer lobby (not all the times but sometimes yes) and there is a bug if you change the textures quality in settings and try to go into a game the game chrases.

1 Like
15

Due to this, the situation at the beginning of AC will be completely abandoned and turned to HT
HT also heavily relies on 2 BR (ancint of war);
The final changes will significantly alter the operational habits and tactical thinking of NE players
This requires careful consideration
If this becomes a reality, I hope developers won’t change it back for the sake of aesthetics But to stick to one’s own ideas
That way, the efforts of NE players will not be in vain

16

I am curious on where these patch notes are taken from or the thought process behind them.
Example would be the Huntresses nerf.

In tier 1 and tier 2 events, when the best players compete, Huntresses see little to no play. I doubt someone is looking at these events and thinking that Huntresses are one of the most imbalanced aspect of them. There are way more noticeable imbalanced aspects in these big events that see constant play and they ultimately produce better results compared to anything NE related.

It may be that I am missing something. Are huntresses really seeing that much play in low level scenes? I would like to know.

17

NE is still a race that lacks lumb at present
Does NE deserve to lack Lumb?
UD has been consistently outperforming in terms of performance over the years
But you’re biased and don’t mention it
nerf it!nerf the lumb rate of ud!

3 Likes
18

I’m happy for this change, but there’s something wrong with the new visuals. The textures look strange, like they’ve been run through a “sharpen” filter a dozen times over (is the game using SD+ upscaled textures even when SD mode is selected? Or is it a rendering error?); and more specifically, the RoC NE campaign screen has a 1 second long black screen between loops of the animation. (Is it reloading the model each time? Main menu graphics always take several seconds to appear on my system, but usually remain visible after loading once.)

19

Hi @Kaivax,

thanks for the Update. Just again a friendly reminder regarding the Mac issue with the Mini Map :slight_smile: In your previous post multiple mac user were raising the issue of the dark/blue mini map for mac user.

Thanks and cheers

2 Likes
20

Again, good job buffing the useless level 6 abilities. All lvl 6 abilities should be so strong that they should be auto picked lvl 6 unless its extraordinary circumstances. However, this is not good enough for death knight to ever pick animate dead over lvl 3 aura. The summons only last 40 seconds which is not enough to do anything. It needs to be 70-80 seconds for this ultimate to be something you pick and perhaps from 125 mana to 100 mana.

This is way too strong. I fear the brewmaster will become mega oppressive in the early game. He cannot have 320 movement speed. This doesnt make sense. There are clear rules for who gets to have 320 movement speed: if the character has a mount it has 320 (arch mage, death knight, farseer etc.), or if it is an agility hero (blade master, demon hunter, etc.) I repeat: brewmaster cannot have 320 movement speed it would break the meta completely. You already mega buffed his damage. Dont make him into sonic aswell.

2 Likes