I Guess We Now Know Why Every End-Game Pillar Was Timegated

[Sôsari-dalaran]

Edit: Looks like these are being lumped into the 20th anniversary changes which will hit mid-season 1. Might not explain the content being time-gated, but still reinforces that the game wasn’t ready and the beta was super rushed.

These PTR changes are absolutely insane and are expansion level changes. This pretty much confirms it to me that all of the timegating was because Blizzard knew behind the scenes that they weren’t ready for the expansion on the release date.

Continuing the discussion from 20th Anniversary Update PTR Development Notes:

@Linxy

CLASSES

• DEATH KNIGHT
  • Deathbringer
    • New Talent: Reaper’s Onslaught – Reduces the cooldown of Reaper’s Mark by 15 seconds, but the number of Marrowrends/Obliterates empowered by Exterminate is reduced by 1. Choice node with Dark Talons.
    • New Talent: Swift and Painful – If no enemies are struck by Soul Rupture, you gain 10% Strength for 8 seconds. Wave of Souls is 100% more effective on the main target of your Reaper’s Mark. Replaces Swift End/Painful Death choice node.
    • New Talent: Reaper of Souls – When you apply Reaper’s Mark, the cooldown of your Soul Reaper is reset, your next Soul Reaper costs no runes and it explodes regardless of the target’s remaining health. Soul Reaper damage increased by 20%. Choice node with Grim Reaper
    • Painful Death’s effects are now baseline to Exterminate. Exterminate empowers 2 Obliterates/Marrowrends to summon the scythes baseline.
    • Grim Reaper has been updated – Reaper’s Mark initial strike grants Killing Machine/3 charges of Bone Shield. Reaper’s Mark explosion deals up to 30% increased damage based on your target’s missing health.
    • Wither Away has been updated – Blood Plague/Frost Fever deals its damage 100% faster, and the second scythe of Exterminate applies Blood Plague/Frost Fever.
    • Dark Talons has been updated – Marrowrend and Heart Strike/ Consuming Killing Machine or Rime has a 25% chance to grant 3 stacks of Icy Talons and increase its maximum stacks by the same amount for 6 seconds. Runic Power spending abilities count as Shadowfrost while Icy Talons is active.
    • Bind in Darkness has been updated – Rime empowered Howling Blast deals 30% increased damage to its main target. Blood Boil deals 10% increased damage, and is now Shadowfrost. Shadowfrost damage applies 2 stacks to Reaper’s Mark and 4 stacks when it is a critical strike.
    • Rune Carved Plates now reduces the magic and the physical damage you take by 1.5% per stack (was 2%).
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Swift End
      • Painful Death
      • Blood Fever
  • Frost
    • Arctic Assault now fires a Glacial Advance at 80% effectiveness (was 100%).
• DEMON HUNTER
  • Sigil of Spite’s icon has been updated.
  • The Hunt’s icon has been updated.
  • Fel-Scarred
    • Focused Hatred now provides bonus damage beyond 1-target only, with the bonus reducing by 10% for each target beyond 1.
  • Vengeance
    • Metamorphosis now heals you for 40% of your maximum health instead of modifying your health directly.
    • Casting Metamorphosis while in Demon Form no longer heals you. Triggering Last Resort always heals you for 40% of your base maximum health.
      • Developer’s note: This cleans up some edge cases in Metamorphosis, where activating it while Demon Form is active would sometimes not heal you, and sometimes heal you a reduced amount. This is an increase to the healing received when triggering Last Resort while in Demon Form. Metamorphosis’ health restoration will now also appear as healing in combat logs.
• DRUID
  • Mark of the Wild now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
  • Adaptive Swarm’s icon has been updated.
  • Convoke the Spirits’ icon has been updated.
  • Druid of the Claw
    • Ravage can now be used within 20 seconds of it triggering (was 15 seconds).
  • Balance
    • New Talent: Sunseeker Mushrooms – Sunfire damage has a chance to grow a magical mushroom at the target’s location. After 1 second, the mushroom detonates, dealing Nature damage and then an additional Nature damage over 10 seconds. Affected targets are slowed by 50%. Generates up to 20 Astral Power based on targets hit. Choice node with Wild Mushroom.
    • New Talent: Whirling Stars – Celestial Alignment’s cooldown is reduced to 75 seconds and it has two charges, but its duration is reduced by 40%.
    • New Talent: Astronomical Impact – The critical strike damage of your Astral spells is increased by 20%.
      • Known issue: This does not currently affect Umbral Embrace cast critical strikes.
    • New Talent: Crashing Star – Shooting Stars has a 15% chance to instead call down a Crashing Star, dealing Astral damage to the target and generating 4 Astral Power.
    • New Talent: Hail of Stars – Casting a free Starsurge or Starfall grants Solstice for 3 seconds. Free spells cast by Convoke the Spirits grant a 1 second version of this effect.
    • New Talent: Circle of Life and Death – Moonfire, Sunfire, Stellar Flare, and Starfall deal their damage in 20% less time, and your healing over time effects in 15% less time.
    • Starfall is learned by all Balance Druids at level 15 (was a talent).
    • Starfall damage increased by 10%.
    • Wild Mushroom now generates 10 Astral Power upon hitting a single target (up from 5).
    • Warrior of Elune increases Astral Power generation of affected Starfires by 30% (was 40%).
    • Nature’s Grace no longer increases the damage of affected Wraths and Starfires.
    • Umbral Intensity is now a 1-point talent that increases the damage of Solar Eclipse Wrath by 20% (was 15%), Lunar Eclipse Starfire by 15%, and the damage Starfire does to nearby enemies by 30%.
    • Astral Smolder’s chance to trigger is reduced to 35% (was 40%), and it deals 60% of damage dealt (was 50%).
    • Touch the Cosmos has been updated – Casting Wrath in an Eclipse has a 12% chance to make your next Starsurge or Starfall free. Casting Starfire in an Eclipse has a 18% chance to make your next Starsurge or Starfall free.
    • Balance of All Things now grants 8/16% critical strike chance (was 10/20%).
    • Orbit Breaker calls down a Full Moon every 30th Shooting Stars (was 25).
    • Power of Goldrinn is now a 1-point talent (was 2) and its damage has been reduced by 35%.
    • Astral Communion no longer grants Astral Power on entering an Eclipse. Instead, entering an Eclipse causes your next Starsurge or Starfall to cost 15 less Astral Power.
    • Twin Moons moved to Starfall’s position in row 3.
    • Nature’s Grace moved to Twin Moons’ position in row 4.
    • Touch the Cosmos moved to Nature’s Grace’s position in row 5.
    • Connector added between Force of Nature/Warrior of Elune and Celestial Alignment.
    • Waning Twilight and Wild Mushroom swapped positions.
    • Added a connection between Umbral Intensity and Starlord.
    • Cosmic Rapidity tooltip description updated for clarity and now says your periodic effects deal damage more frequently.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Starfall (now learned at level 15)
      • Greater Alignment
      • Lunar Shrapnel
    • Keeper of the Grove
      • Potent Enchantments causes Whirling Stars to reduce the cooldown of Celestial Alignment by an additional 10 seconds.
      • Control of the Dream now reads “are available to be used or at maximum charges.” If the player has Whirling Stars, it reduces the cooldown of Celestial Alignment based on time spent at maximum charges.
  • Restoration
    • New Talent: Reactive Resin – When your Restoration heal over time effects are removed by enemies, they are replaced with Reactive Resin, healing an ally over 6 seconds. Multiple stacks may overlap. Passive ability.
    • Wildstalker
      • Flourish now affects Symbiotic Blooms.
• EVOKER
  • Blessing of the Bronze now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
  • Clobbering Sweep reduces Tail Swipe’s cooldown by 2 minutes (was 45 seconds).
  • Heavy Wingbeats reduces Wing Buffet’s cooldown by 2 minutes (was 45 seconds).
  • Permeating Chill is now baseline for Evoker.
  • Permeating Chill no longer spams immune messages when attacking enemies who are immune to slows.
  • Renewing Blaze is no longer affected by healing received modifiers (both positive and negative). Dampening in arena is a special case and will continue to decrease the healing of Renewing Blaze.
  • Heavy Wingbeats and Clobbering Sweep are no longer a choice node, and their position has changed in the class tree.
  • Scalecommander
    • Bombardments now summon a variety of different Dracthyr models.
• HUNTER
  • New Talent: Deathblow – Kill Command/Aimed Shot has a 10% chance to grant Deathblow. Deathblow: The cooldown of Kill Shot is reset. Your next Kill Shot can be used on any target, regardless of their current health.
    • Developer’s note: Each Hunter specialization has a way to generate Deathblow, but only Marksmanship referred to it as Deathblow. These changes are meant to unify the Deathblow design while still allowing each specialization to interface with it in a unique way.
  • Steady Shot now generates 10 Focus baseline for all specs.
  • Updated animation for Volley and Rapid Fire.
  • Improved Kill Shot has been removed.
  • Dark Ranger
    • Black Arrow has been redesigned – Kill Shot is now replaced with Black Arrow. Black Arrow: You attempt to finish off a wounded target, dealing high Shadow damage and low Shadow damage over time for 10 seconds. Only usable on enemies with less than 20% health.
    • Withering Fire has been redesigned – Every 4 casts of Bestial Wrath/While Trueshot is active, you surrender to darkness for 12 seconds. When you gain Deathblow, Black Arrow automatically fires at your target and two additional Black Arrows at 50% effectiveness.
    • Shadow Surge has been redesigned – Periodic damage from Black Arrow has a small chance to erupt in a burst of darkness, dealing moderate Shadow damage to all enemies near the target. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.
    • Shadow Hounds updated for Beast Mastery only – When summoning a Dire Beast, you have a 25% chance to also summon a Shadow Hound.
    • New Talent: Bleak Arrows – Your auto shot now deals Shadow damage. Your auto shot has a 15%/8% chance to grant Deathblow.
    • New Talent: Phantom Pain – When Kill Command/Aimed Shot damages a target affected by Black Arrow, 5% of the damage dealt is replicated to each other unit affected by Black Arrow.
    • New Talent: Banshee’s Mark – Murder of Crows now deals Shadow damage and casting Black Arrow has a 25% chance to summon a Murder of Crows on your target.
    • New Talent: The Bell Tolls – Black Arrow is now usable on enemies with greater than 80% or less than 20% health.
    • New Talent: Shadow Dagger – While in combat, casting Disengage releases a fan of daggers at nearby enemies, dealing very low Shadow damage and slowing affected targets by 30%.
    • New Talent: Bleak Powder – Casting Black Arrow while Beast Cleave/Trick Shots is active causes Black Arrow to explode upon hitting a target, dealing moderate damage to nearby enemies.
    • New Talent: Soul Drinker – When an enemy affected by Black Arrow dies, you have a 10% chance to gain Deathblow. Choice node with Shadow Hounds.
    • Visual effects updated for Shadow Surge, Bleak Powder, Withering Fire, and Black Arrow.
    • Dark Chain updated to only function while in combat and can no longer affect critters.
    • Withering Fire now warns you when you’re not talented into Trueshot or Bestial Wrath.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Overshadow
      • Death Shade
      • Dark Empowerment
      • Grave Reaper
      • Darkness Calls
      • Shadow Erasure
      • Shadow Lash
  • Sentinel
    • Lunar Storm’s visual effects have been updated.
  • Beast Mastery
    • New Talent: Snakeskin Quiver – Your auto shot has a 15% chance to also fire a Cobra Shot.
    • New Talent: Serpentine Rhythm – Casting Cobra Shot increases its damage by 15%, stacking up to 6 times. Upon reaching 6 stacks, the bonus is removed, and you gain 8% increased pet damage for 10 seconds.
    • New Talent: Barbed Scales – Casting Cobra Shot reduces the cooldown of Barbed Shot by 2 seconds.
    • Cobra Senses has been redesigned – Now reduces the Focus cost of Cobra Shot by 5 and increases its damage by 35%.
    • Hunter’s Prey has been redesigned – Kill Shot will strike 1 additional target and deal 10% increased damage for each of your active pets. Stacks up to 5 times.
    • Barbed Shot damage increased by 100%.
    • Barbed Shot cooldown increased to 18 seconds (was 12 seconds) and duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
    • Barbed Shot’s pet frenzy duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
    • Thrill of the Hunt duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
    • Pack Tactics energy regeneration increased to 125% (was 100%). Pack Tactics now replaces Steady Shot.
    • Animal Companion no longer reduces the damage of all your pets by 35%.
    • The following pet ability damage has been reduced by 35%:
      • Stomp
      • Kill Command
      • Bloodshed
      • Claw
      • Bite
      • Smack
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Kindred Spirits
      • Improved Kill Command
  • Marksmanship
    • New Talent: Pin Cushion – Casting Steady Shot reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot by 2 seconds. Choice node with Improved Steady Shot.
    • New Talent: Improved Deathblow – Aimed Shot now has a 15% chance and Rapid Fire now has a 25% chance to grant Deathblow. Kill Shot’s critical strike damage is increased by 25%.
    • Improved Steady Shot has been updated – Now makes Steady Shot grant an additional 10 Focus.
    • Precise Shots has been updated: Renamed to Precise Shot – Now empowers your next cast of Arcane Shot, Chimera Shot, or Multi-Shot to deal 100% increased damage (was 2 casts at 70% bonus).
    • Steady Focus has been updated updated – Casting Steady Shot increases your Haste by 8% for 15 seconds (was casting Steady Shot twice in a row).
    • Steady Focus no longer plays its visual effects when it is refreshed.
    • Trueshot now reduces the focus cost of Aimed Shot baseline.
    • Rapid Fire Barrage Rapid Fire effectiveness increased to 40% (was 30%).
    • The position of Unerring Vision and Calling the Shots has swapped.
    • Eagletalon’s True Focus has been removed.
  • Survival
    • Ruthless Marauder has been redesigned – Damage from Fury of the Eagle has a 20% chance to generate a stack of Tip of the Spear. When Fury of the Eagle ends, your Haste is increased by 8% for 10 seconds. Now a 1-point talent.
    • Merciless Blows has been redesigned – Butchery causes affected targets to bleed for heavy damage over 12 seconds.
    • Sic ‘Em has been updated – Kill Command’s chance to grant Deathblow is increased to 15% and Deathblow now makes Kill Shot strike up to 2 additional targets. Your chance to gain Deathblow is doubled during Coordinated Assault.
    • Exposed Flank has been updated – Now empowers your next Kill Command to deal 50% increased damage, strike 3 targets, and generate a Tip of the Spear stack for each target it hit.
    • Fury of the Eagle damage increased by 25%.
    • Fury of the Eagle channel time reduced to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
    • Kill Command resets no longer reduce the cooldown of Fury of the Eagle.
    • Butchery damage increased by 50%.
    • Butchery no longer has charges and its cooldown has been increased to 15 seconds.
    • Tip of the Spear’s consumption grace period has been reduced to 0.3 seconds (was 0.7 seconds).
    • Relentless Primal Ferocity now grants 2 additional stacks of Tip of the Spear (was 1).
    • The position of Ranger and Terms of Engagement has been swapped.
    • Pack Leader
      • Howl of the Pack now also increases Wildfire Bomb damage by 20%.
      • Wild Attacks now also increases the damage of Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite by 20%.
• MAGE
  • Arcane Intellect now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
  • Shifting Power’s icon has been updated.
  • Spellslinger
    • New Talent: Signature Spell – Choice node with Shifting Shards.
      • Arcane: When Magi’s Spark explodes, you conjure 6 Arcane Splinters.
      • Frost: Consuming Winter’s Chill with Glacial Spike conjures 2 additional Frost Splinters.
    • Arcane
      • Splinterstorm now has a 5% chance to generate Clearcasting.
    • Frost
      • Splinterstorm no longer applies Winter’s Chill.
      • Splinterstorm now has a 5% chance to grant Brain Freeze.
  • Arcane
    • New Talent: Aethervision – Consuming Nether Precision with Arcane Blast increases the damage of your next Arcane Barrage by 10% and causes it to generate 2 Arcane Charges. Stacks up to 2 times.
    • Time Loop has been updated – Now also increases the duration of Arcane Debilitation by 2 seconds and its chance to trigger increased to 25% (was 15%).
    • Leydrinker has been updated – No longer affects Arcane Barrage and casting Touch of the Magi now grants Leydrinker. Leydrinker’s chance to trigger increased to 25% (was 20%).
    • Charged Orb has been updated – Now also increases the damage of Arcane Orb by 15%.
    • Consortium’s Bauble has been updated – Now increases Arcane Blast’s damage by 8% and reduces its mana cost by 5%. Consortium Bauble’s position in the tree has changed.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Arcane Debilitation to contribute twice its damage increase.
    • Fixed an issue that allowed players to double dip the last stack of Nether Precision with a spell-queued Arcane Barrage.
    • Talents in Gate 2 have swapped positions.
    • Resonant Orbs has been removed.
  • Fire
    • Majesty of the Phoenix has been updated – Casting Phoenix Flames causes your next Flamestrike to have its critical strike chance increased by 20% and critical strike damage increased by 20%. Stacks up to 3 times.
    • Heat Shimmer can once again trigger while casting Scorch.
    • Heat Shimmer is no longer consumed when it triggers during a Scorch cast.
    • Fuel the Fire is now shown in the spellbook.
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Pyromaniac from being able to trigger Hyperthermia.
    • An issue causing Controlled Destruction to increase Ignite damage by an additional 0.5% per stack has been resolved.
• MONK
  • Weapons of Order icon has been updated.
  • Jadefire Stomp’s icon has been updated.
  • Mistweaver
    • New Passive Ability: Dome of Mist – Enveloping Mist transforms 80% of its remaining periodic healing into a Dome of Mist when dispelled, absorbing damage and increasing healing received by the Monk by 30% for 8 seconds. Learned at level 45.
    • Ancient Teachings is now a baseline effect and transfers damage from Crackling Jade Lightning, but now transfers 30% of damage into healing.
    • New Talent: Jadefire Teachings – After casting Jadefire Stomp or Thunder Focus Tea, Ancient Teachings transfers an additional 140% damage to healing for 15 seconds. While Jadefire Teachings is active, your Stamina is increased by 5%.
    • New Talent: Refreshment – Life Cocoon now grants 5 stacks of Mana Tea and applies 2 stacks of Healing Elixir to its target.
    • New Talent: Rushing Wind Kick – Kick up a powerful gust of wind, dealing Nature damage in a 25 yard cone to enemies in front of you, split evenly among them. Damage is increased by 5% for each target hit, up to 30%. Grants Rushing Winds for 4 seconds, increasing Renewing Mist’s healing by 50%. Replaces Rising Sun Kick, choice node with Jadefire Teachings.
    • New Talent: Jade Empowerment – Casting Thunder Focus Tea increases your next Crackling Jade Lightning’s damage by 1000% and causes it to chain to 4 additional enemies. Choice node with Dance of Chi-Ji.
    • Calming Coalescence has been redesigned – Increases the absorb amount of Life Cocoon by 80%.
    • Crackling Jade Lightning damage increased by 100%.
    • Crackling Jade Lightning now channels 25% faster.
    • Blackout Kick damage increased by 25%.
    • Awakened Jadefire now additionally causes Blackout Kick to strike 2 additional targets at 70% effectiveness.
    • Dance of Chi-Ji’s chance to trigger has been increased by 100% and has moved talent locations.
    • Enveloping Mist can now be dispelled.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Nourishing Chi
      • Ancient Concordance
• PALADIN
  • Many talents have changed locations.
  • New Talent: Holy Ritual – Allies are healed when you cast a Blessing spell on them and healed again when the blessing ends.
  • New Talent: Worthy Sacrifice – You automatically cast Blessing of Sacrifice onto allies within 40 yards when they receive damage while below 35% health and you are not in a loss of control effect. This effect activates 100% of Blessing of Sacrifice’s cooldown.
  • New Talent: Steed of Liberty – Divine Steed also grants Blessing of Freedom for 3 seconds.
  • New Talent: Eye for an Eye – Melee and ranged attackers receive Holy damage each time they strike you during Ardent Defender or Divine Protection and Divine Shield.
  • New Talent: Stoicism – The duration of stun effects on you is reduced by 20%. 10% in PvP combat.
  • New Talent: Wrench Evil – Turn Evil’s cast time is reduced by 100%.
  • New Talent: Stand Against Evil – Turn Evil now affects 5 additional nearby enemies.
  • New Talent: Righteous Protection – Blessing of Sacrifice now removes and prevents all Poison and Disease effects.
  • New Talent: Light’s Countenance – The cooldowns of Repentance and Blinding Light are reduced by 15 seconds.
  • New Talent: Sacred Strength – Holy Power spending abilities are 2% more effective. Choice node with Divine Purpose.
  • New Talent: Divine Spurs – Divine Steed’s cooldown is reduced by 20%, but its duration is reduced by 40%.
  • New Talent: A Just Reward – After Cleanse successfully removes an effect from an ally, they are healed.
  • New Talent: Empyreal Ward – Lay on Hands grants the target 100% increased armor for 30 seconds and now ignores healing reduction effects.
  • New Talent: Lightbearer – 10% of all healing done to you from other sources heals up to 4 nearby allies, divided evenly among them.
  • New Talent: Selfless Healer – Flash of Light and Holy Light are 30% more effective on your allies and 40% of the healing done also heals you.
  • New Talent: Inspired Guard – Ardent Defender and Divine Protection increase healing taken by 15% for their duration.
  • New Talent: Holy Reprieve – Your Forbearance’s duration is reduced by 10 seconds.
  • New Talent: Light’s Revocation – Removing harmful effects with Divine Shield heals you for 10% for each effect removed. This heal cannot exceed 30% of your maximum health. Divine Shield may now be cast while Forbearance is active.
  • New Talent: Blessed Calling – Allies affected by your Blessings have 15% increased movement speed.
  • New Talent: Lead the Charge – Divine Steed reduces the cooldown of 4 nearby ally’s major movement ability by 3 seconds. Your movement speed is increased by 3%.
  • New Talent: Divine Reach – The radius of your auras is increased by 20 yards.
  • Fist of Justice has been redesigned – The cooldown of Hammer of Justice is reduced by 15 seconds.
  • Sanctified Wrath has been redesigned – Now increases the duration of Avenging Wrath and causes its respective specialization effect (was able to be its own spell).
  • Consecrated Ground is now a class tree talent.
  • Auras of the Resolute now additionally teaches the paladin Crusader Aura.
  • Seasoned Warhorse is now a passive learned at level 40.
  • Judgment damage increased by 10%.
  • Judgment cooldown has been reduced by 1 second.
  • Hammer of Justice base cooldown is reduced to 45 seconds (was 60 seconds).
  • Avenging Wrath now increases Critical Strike chance by default.
  • Unbound Freedom now additionally targets a nearby ally by default if you cast Blessing of Freedom on yourself.
  • Lightforged Blessing now heals for 3% of maximum health for all specializations (was 1% for Holy/Protection and 2% for Retribution).
  • Of Dusk and Dawn: Blessing of Dawn’s effect has been increased by 10% for Protection and Retribution and by 5% for Holy Paladins.
  • Divine Toll’s icon has been updated.
  • The following talents are now 1 point:
    • Fist of Justice
    • Holy Aegis
  • The following talents are now 2 points:
    • Vengeful Wrath
    • Zealot’s Paragon
  • The following talents have been removed:
    • Seal of the Crusader (Retribution and Protection)
    • Vanguard’s Momentum (Holy)
    • Golden Path
    • Strength of Conviction
    • Fading Light
    • Seal of Order
    • Seal of Mercy
    • Touch of Light
    • Incandescence
    • Avenging Wrath: Might
  • Lightsmith
    • New Talent: Authoritative Rebuke – Successfully interrupting an enemy’s spellcast reduces your Rebuke’s cooldown by 1 second. Effect increased by 100% while wielding a Holy Armament.
    • New Talent: Tempered in Battle – When you or an ally wielding a Holy Bulwark are healed above maximum health, transfer 100% of the overhealing to your ally. When you or an ally wielding a Sacred Weapon drop below 40% health, redistribute your health immediately and every 1 second for 4 seconds.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Fear No Evil
      • Excoriation
  • Holy
    • Word of Glory healing increased by 5%.
    • Shield of the Righteous damage increased by 10%.
      • Developer’s note: We’re moving some power back into Word of Glory and Shield of the Righteous baseline with the removal of the Strength of Conviction talent.
  • Protection
    • New Talent: Refining Fire – Enemies struck by Avenger’s Shield burn with Holy Fire, suffering damage over time.
    • Word of Glory healing increased by 20%.
    • Shield of the Righteous damage increased by 20%.
      • Developer’s note: We’re moving some power back into Word of Glory and Shield of the Righteous baseline with the removal of the Strength of Conviction talent.
    • Consecrated Ground has been removed.
  • Retribution
    • Shield of the Righteous damage increased by 20%.
    • Word of Glory healing increased by 10%.
    • Developer’s note: We’re moving some power back into Word of Glory and Shield of the Righteous baseline with the removal of the Strength of Conviction talent.
• PRIEST
  • Power Word: Fortitude now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
  • Archon
    • Sustained Potency has been updated – It now also pauses the duration of Apotheosis, Dark Ascension, or Voidform for up to 20 seconds while out of combat or affected by a loss of control effect.
    • Fixed an issue causing Cyclone and similar effects to prevent Halos from Power Surge from firing.
    • Fixed an issue causing Halo to not be castable during Divine Ascension.
  • Voidweaver
    • Entropic Rift now has a hostile variant for PvP combat, so you can differentiate it from a friendly Entropic Rift.
    • Entropic Rift now displays a low-noise version for your allies, instead of being completely invisible.
  • Holy
    • From Darkness Comes Light has been updated to also trigger from Holy Fire damage.
• ROGUE
  • New Talent: Thrill Seeking – Shadowstep(Assassination/Subtlety)/Grappling Hook(Outlaw) has 1 additional charge.
  • Thistle Tea now automatically triggers when energy is reduced below 50.
  • Cut to the Chase now grants Slice and Dice duration, instead of requiring an existing Slice and Dice to extend.
  • Shadowstep has been removed. Shadowstep is still automatically granted for Assassination and Subtlety.
  • Soothing Darkness now heals for 30% of max health over 6 seconds (was 15%). Effect no longer triggers from Shadow Dance.
  • Echoing Reprimand’s icon has been updated.
  • Flagellation’s icon has been updated.
  • Fatebound
    • Inevitability renamed to Inevitable End.
    • Inevitable End/Double Jeopardy effects now indicate they can match any flip outcome (including ‘edge’), not just one face or the other.
    • Delivered Doom now provides bonus damage when more than 1 target is nearby, with the bonus reducing by 6% for each nearby target beyond 1.
  • Assassination
    • Twist The Knife now enables Envenom’s beneficial effect to overlap up to 2 times.
    • Envenom Tooltip updated to contextually reflect the overlapping behavior when Twist the Knife is known.
  • Outlaw
    • Crackshot now also refreshes the cooldown of Between the Eyes upon gaining Stealth.
    • Precise Cuts now increases Blade Flurry’s damage by 4% per missing target below its max (was 2%).
    • Keep It Rolling cooldown reduced to 6 minutes (was 7 minutes).
    • Blade Flurry’s area-of-effect range increased to match the same distance it was when the previous version of Acrobatic Strikes was talented.
  • Subtlety
    • New Talent: Death Perception – Symbols of Death has [1/2] additional charge(s). 2-pont talent.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Sepsis
      • Invigorating Shadowdust
• SHAMAN
  • Skyfury now costs 1% base mana (was 4%).
  • All Shaman Ascendance models have been updated. Fire for Elemental, Lightning for Enhancement, and Water for Restoration.
  • Shamans can now float on water while in their Ascendant form.
  • Mana Spring no longer has an aura displaying who is benefiting from it.
  • Updated spell visuals for Lava Burst.
  • Primordial Wave’s icon has been updated.
  • Farseer
    • Elemental Blasts from Ancestors now prioritize your most recently attacked target when possible.
    • Ancestors now prefer to Chain Lightning your target when you cast Chain Lightning or the targeted version of Earthquake.
    • Ancestors are now summoned equipped with a historic shaman set.
  • Stormbringer
    • New Talent: Lightning Conduit – You have a chance to get struck by lightning, increasing your movement speed by 50% for 5 seconds. The effectiveness is increased to 100% in outdoor areas. You call down a Thunderstorm when you Reincarnate.
    • New Talent: Electroshock – Tempest increases your movement speed by 20% for 5 seconds.
    • Storm Swell has been redesigned – Tempest grants 10% Mastery for 6 seconds. Now a choice node against Supercharge.
    • Nature’s Protection has been redesigned – Lightning Shield reduces the damage you take by 3%.
    • Surging Currents has been redesigned – When you cast Tempest you gain Surging Currents, increasing the effectiveness of your next Chain Heal or Healing Surge by 20%, up to 100%.
    • Conductive Energy spell icon updated to be the same as Lightning Rod.
    • Unlimited Power tooltip updated to have it be consistent with other talents with similar functionality.
    • Shocking Grasp has been removed.
    • Enhancement
      • Awakening Storms damage reduced by 35%.
      • Fixed an issue causing Awakening Storms damage to not be affected by Mastery: Enhanced Elements.
  • Elemental
    • Several talents have moved positions.
    • New Talent: Herald of the Storms – Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning casts to reduce the cooldown of Stormkeeper by 2 seconds. Choice node against Fury of the Storms.
    • New Talent: Erupting Lava – Increases the duration of Flame Shock by 6 seconds. Lava Burst consumes up to 3 seconds of Flame Shock, instantly dealing that damage. Lava Burst overloads benefit at 50% effectiveness.
    • New Talent: Charged Conduit – Increases the duration of Lightning Rod by 4 seconds and increases its damage bonus by 25%.
    • New Talent: Earthshatter – Increases the damage of Earth Shock and Earthquake by 8% and increases the stat bonuses granted by Elemental Blast by 25%.
    • Ascendance has been redesigned – Transform into a Flame Ascendant for 15 seconds, instantly casting a Flame Shock and a 100% effectiveness Lava Burst at up to 6 nearby enemies. While ascended, Elemental Overload damage is increased by 150% and spells affected by your Mastery: Elemental Overload cause 1 additional Elemental Overload.
    • Ascendance no longer increases the critical strike damage of Lava Burst, replaces Chain Lightning with Lava Beam, or removes the cooldown of Lava Burst.
    • Mastery: Elemental Overload now also increases pet damage.
    • The cooldowns of Meteor, Immolate, Call Lightning, and Stormfury are now reset when Fire Elemental or Storm Elemental are refreshed due to casting the ability while an elemental is already active.
    • Wind Gust from Storm Elemental now grants 4% Haste instead of 3% cast time reduction and stacks up to 4 times (was 10).
    • Wind Gust is now on the Personal Resource Display.
    • Stacks of Wind Gust no longer reset when a Lesser Storm Elemental from Echo of the Elementals spawns.
    • Deeply Rooted Elements now triggers from Earth Shock, Elemental Blast, or Earthquake instead of Lava Burst.
    • Frost Shock damage increased by 30%.
    • Icefury can now trigger from casting Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning in addition to Lava Burst.
    • Icefury now causes your next Frost Shock to be empowered (was 2) and now causes Frost Shock to hit 4 additional targets.
    • Icefury now increases Frost Shock damage by 150% (was 225%).
    • Frost Shock, Flame Shock, and Primordial Wave now generates 3 Maelstrom.
    • Liquid Magma Totem now generates 8 Maelstrom.
    • Icefury now causes Frost Shock to generate an additional 7 Maelstrom.
    • Flash of Lightning no longer reduces the cooldown of Nature spells when Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning are cast.
    • Fire Elemental and Storm Elemental now last 20 seconds (was 30 seconds).
    • Lesser Elementals from Echo of the Elementals now last 10 seconds (was 15 seconds).
    • Storm Frenzy now reduces the cast time of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 30% (was 40%).
    • Storm Frenzy now also reduces the global cooldown of its associated spells if the spell has a low enough cast time to be under the normal global cooldown.
    • Fury of the Storms now summons a powerful Lightning Elemental for 10 seconds (was 8 seconds).
    • Primordial Wave now also grants Lava Surge.
    • Lightning Conduit renamed to Lightning Capacitor.
    • Fixed an issue causing the tooltip of Improved Flametongue Weapon to be incorrect when talented into Enhanced Imbues.
    • The following talents have been removed:
      • Unrelenting Calamity
      • Skybreaker’s Fiery Demise
    • Farseer
      • Routine Communication now also triggers from Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Icefury, and Frost Shock.
      • Routine Communication now has a 5% chance to call an Ancestor (was 8%).
  • Enhancement
    • New Talent: Flowing Spirits – Your damaging abilities have a chance to summon a Feral Spirit for 8 seconds. Replaces Feral Spirit. Functions with Elemental Spirits and Alpha Wolf. Choice node with Witch Doctor’s Ancestry.
    • New Talent: Lightning Spark – Chain Lightning marks enemies with Lightning Spark and has a chance to make your next Flame Shock become Tremor Shock. Tremor Shock: Instantly shocks up to 6 Lightning Spark targets with concussive Force, causing Nature damage and applying Flame Shock.
    • New Talent: Molten Thunder – The cooldown of Sundering is reduced by 10 seconds but it can no longer incapacitate. Stormsurge has a small chance to also reset the cooldown of Sundering.
    • Ice Strike has been redesigned – Whenever you spend Maelstrom Weapon, your Frost Shock has a chance to become Ice Strike.
    • Doom Winds has been updated – Unleash a devastating storm around yourself, dealing Stormstrike damage every 1 second to nearby enemies for 8 seconds. Increases your chance to activate Windfury Weapon by 200%, and the damage of Windfury Weapon by 10%.
    • Arc Discharge has been updated – Tempest makes your next Chain Lightning or Lightning Bolt instant cast, deal 40% increased damage, and cast an additional time. Does not consume Maelstrom Weapon stacks.
    • Thorim’s Invocation has been has been updated – Now causes Deeply Rooted Elements to last 2 seconds longer/Reduces the cooldown of Ascendance by 60 seconds instead of increasing the damage of Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt. Remaining effect unchanged.
    • The second part of Enhancement Shaman Mastery that resets Stormstrike cooldown has been renamed from Stormbringer to Stormsurge.
    • Supercharge’s Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning now have a 35% chance to refund 2 Maelstrom Weapon stacks (was 3 Maelstrom Weapon stacks).
    • Chain Lightning now reduces the cooldown of Crash Lightning by 0.5 seconds for each target hit (was 1 second).
    • Crash Lightning’s range changed to 8 yards (was 12 yards).
    • Molten Assault’s range changed to 10 yards (was 12 yards).
    • Primal Maelstrom now causes Primordial Wave to generate 3/5 stacks if Maelstrom Weapon (was 5/10).
    • Witch Doctor’s Ancestry now reduces the cooldown of Feral Spirit by 1 second whenever a stack Maelstrom Weapon is generated (was 2 seconds).
    • Flametongue Weapon damage increased by 20%.
    • Fire Nova is now unavailable when there are no Flame Shock targets within 40 yards.
    • Mastery reset on Stormstrike no longer has a UI overlay and now displays in combat text.
    • Overflowing Maelstrom now has a UI overlay when Maelstrom Weapon stacks reach 10 stacks.
    • Hot Hand no longer has a UI overlay display.
    • Hot Hands now has a visual on the character when the effect is active.
    • Hot Hands now has a visual on character on activation.
    • Ashen Catalyst no longer highlights Lava Lash when it reaches 8 stacks.
    • Ashen Catalyst stacks are now displayed on Lava Lash ability.
    • Windfury Weapon attacks now have an animation, sound and an impact visual effect.
    • Doom Winds now has animation, sound and an impact visual effect.
    • Stormbringer only highlights Stormstrike and displays the UI overlay for 1.25 seconds.
    • Stormstrike replacement Windstrike animation and visual effects have been updated.
    • Elemental Weapons is now a 1-point talent.
    • Totemic
      • Reactivity has been redesigned – While Hot Hand is active Lava Lash shatters the earth, causing a Sundering at 30% effectiveness. Sunderings from this effect do not incapacitate.
      • Reactivity’s previous effect, Searing Volley to up to 5 nearby enemies, has been merged into Lively Totems.
      • Whirling Elements: Whirling Fire has been redesigned – Your next Lava Lash or Fire Nova grants you Hot Hands for 8 seconds. This will add its time to an active Hot Hands if it’s active.
      • Whirling Elements: Whirling Earth has been redesigned – Direct damage of your next Flame Shock is increased by 300% and it is applied to 5 nearby enemies.
      • Whirling Elements: Whirling Air has been redesigned – Your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Elemental Blast unleashes 3 Surging Bolts at your totem.
      • Imbuement Mastery has been updated – Increases the chance for Windfury Weapon to trigger by 10% and increases its damage by 15%. When Flametongue Weapon triggers from Windfury Weapon attacks, it has a chance to gather a whirl of flame around the target, dealing its damage to all nearby enemies 3 additional times.
      • Totemic Rebound triggering spells updated from Stormstrike to Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Elemental Blast.
  • Restoration
    • New Talent – Coalescing Water: Chain Heal increases the initial healing of your next Riptide by 75%, stacking up to 2 times and Chain Heal’s mana cost is reduced by 15%.Reactive Warding now also allows Earth Shield and Water Shield to consume charges of the shields 1 second faster.
    • High Tide’s progress is now tracked through an aura called Swelling Tide. When Swelling Tide’s stack count reaches 100, High Tide triggers.
    • High Tide’s progress now resets at the start of raid encounters and Mythic+.
    • Totemic
      • Chain Heals from Lively Totems are now cast by the Shaman. This is intended to clarify that Chains Heals cast this way will interact with Shaman talents and effects that enhance Chain Heal.
      • Updated the wording on Surging Totem and Oversurge to clarify its functionality.
      • Fixed an issue causing Nature’s Swiftness to be consumed when Surging Totem is used.
      • Fixed an issue causing the Chain Heal from Totemic Rebound to sometimes target pets instead of players.
      • Fixed an issue causing Reactive Warding to not heal the Shaman sometimes when refreshing Earth Shield with Elemental Orbit and Earthen Communion talented.
• WARLOCK
  • Soul Rot’s icon has been updated.
  • Destruction
    • Diabolic Ritual has been updated – Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, and Shadowburn grant Diabolic Ritual for 20 seconds. If Diabolic Ritual is already active, its duration is reduced by 1 second instead. When Diabolic Ritual expires you gain Demonic Art, causing your next Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, or Shadowburn to summon an Overlord, Mother of Chaos, or Pit Lord that unleashes a devastating attack against your enemies.
    • Touch of Rancora has been updated – Demonic Art increases the damage of your next Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, or Shadowburn by 100% and reduces its cast time by 50%. Chaos Bolt reduces the duration of Diabolic Ritual by 1 additional second.
      • Developer’s note: We’re adjusting Diabolic Ritual to avoid a situation where constantly casting Rain of Fire, due to its instant cast time, provides the best output for Diabolist. To avoid adding to Diabolic Ritual’s already lengthy tooltip, we’re adding functionality to Touch of Rancora to add further value to casting Chaos Bolt so that its cast time doesn’t hinder its usefulness to Diabolist warlocks.
• WARRIOR
  • Champion’s Spear icon has been updated.
  • Arms
    • Warbreaker’s radius increased to 10 yards (was 8 yards).
  • Fury
    • Crushing Force now increases Bloodthirst critical strike damage by 5/10% (was critical strike chance by 2/4%).

[Primalmatter-stormrage (Primalmatter)]

There are always massive balancing changes early on.

[Sôsari-dalaran]

Not to this degree with completely revamping multiple classes with all new talents all in one go. This isn’t balancing changes, these are full revamps.

[Sarama-firetree]

Man that’s a list for sure.

[Sôsari-dalaran]

@Sarama-firetree

Man that’s a list for sure

Could you imagine if Season 1 started 2 weeks ago and these changes went live mid-season?

[Shhneeky-emerald-dream]

It’s not even a long wait.
Doesn’t seem that crazy.

[Malgorok-zuljin]

Are those not the changes coming for .5 patch?

So they’ll be happening mid season?

[Sôsari-dalaran]

@Shhneeky-emerald-dream

It’s not even a long wait.

4 weeks to get into the raid or M+ is unheard of.

@Malgorok-zuljin

Are those not the changes coming for .5 patch?

Honestly not sure, it could be for the .5 patch, but I doubt they would be posting stuff on the PTR realm that far away this early. S1 didn’t even start yet.

[Furvival-stormrage]

Yep. Survival was in an above average state and these new changes will nerf us into the ground. Despite there being multiple bullet points above, basically it boils down to us having far less Wildfire bombs, which is our main aoe ability, and then some other abilities in our rotation getting measly buffs.

If these changes go through, I just won’t play retail any more. I had already taken a nearly 3 year break and came back a couple of months ago.

[Shhneeky-emerald-dream]

Sounds like they did the right thing and waited.

[Qaccy-baelgun (Qaccy)]

Well if this is the update for the 20th anniversary…the anniversary is in November, isn’t it? So we’ve got a ways to go before we see this stuff in live.

[Sôsari-dalaran]

@Shhneeky-emerald-dream

Sounds like they did the right thing and waited

Sounds like they should have either done their job and had these changes ready to go on release or delayed the launch.

@Qaccy-baelgun

Well if this is the update for the 20th anniversary…the anniversary is in November, isn’t it?

It could be, but Seasons generally last 6-8 months so this hitting mid season will be crazy.

[Scald-kul-tiras (Scald)]

11.0.5 Anniversary patch will go live in a month or month in a half be at the end of October.

[Furvival-stormrage]

There were a lot of posts pre-launch by those of us in beta saying that it needed delayed. They did most of the class tuning in the last 3 weeks of beta, which is nowhere near enough time.

Entire guilds have chosen what characters to main and spent all their time since launch focusing on those choices.

Firelands comes out soon in Cata classic and I know my guild will be fine focusing on that if need be.

[Snowpine-ghostlands]

That’s… a lot of shaman changes.

[Nofaction-dalaran]

can i have your gold?

[Sôsari-dalaran]

@Furvival-stormrage

There were a lot of posts pre-launch by those of us in beta saying that it needed delayed. They did most of the class tuning in the last 3 weeks of beta, which is nowhere near enough time.

Entire guilds have chosen what characters to main and spent all their time since launch focusing on those choices.

Yeah 100% this is a big f u to people who invested time based on how the game was released. Yes, balancing always happens but this is way more than just balancing. Beta was absolutely rushed, as usual.

[Nofaction-dalaran]

maybe dont minmax then? seems like a you problem if you based your entire plan on BETA

[Elranthil-stormrage]

I am still mad that they are doing nothing to adress the Fire mage’s abysmal DPS in Single Target. I am still coping that they are working on another rework since they couldn’t make all the Living Bomb stuff work, but the copium supply is running low.

[Sôsari-dalaran]

@Nofaction-dalaran

if you based your entire plan on BETA

@Sôsari-dalaran

how the game was released.

Reading is hard?