Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Warcraft Patch Notes 3.0.2

I don't expect anyone to read this post, but the following is some things I care about and thoughts. Full notes are found elsewhere.

General
* All players will have their talent points reimbursed and will have access to new talents throughout their trees; this includes the 51-point talents. Several new spells and abilities have been added for all classes. Players will need to visit their class trainer to learn new spells. //Did they reset the cost to respect too? Or when I change my mind in two days will it be 50G.
* The Kirin Tor have made their move and so has Dalaran. Please watch your step around the crater that has been left behind!
* The Barber Shop has been implemented and you can now visit one of the Barber Shops in the major cities to change your appearance. Be sure to get your Shave and a Haircut!
* The all new Achievement System has been implemented and the Achievement panel can be accessed via the interface. While many achievements are not retroactive, we have done our best to credit as many as possible. Gamemasters will not be able to grant achievements for past accomplishements.
* Stormwind Harbor is now open for business.
* New towers have been added outside Of Orgrimmar and in Tirisfal Glades. Crews are currently at work to establish a new Zeppelin route to Northrend for your travel pleasure. Please no /spit off of the towers. //Horde get a Zeppelin route. That is so OP.
* A new entrance is now viewable in the Caverns of Time.
* Hit Rating, Critical Strike Rating, and Haste Rating now modify both melee attacks and spells. //Everything you knew is now different.
* Spell casting and spell channeling pushback has been changed to the following:
o When casting a spell:
+ The first and second hit will add .5 secs each to the cast time.
+ All hits after the second will have no effect.
o When channeling a spell:
+ The first and second hit reduces current duration by 25% of total duration each.
+ All hits after the second will have no effect.
o Spellpower: //Everything you knew is now different.
+ All items and effects which grant bonuses to spell damage and spell healing are being consolidated into a single stat, Spellpower. This stat will appear with the same values found on items which grant “increased spell damage and healing” such as on typical Mage and Warlock itemization.
# For classes which do not heal, they should see no change in the character sheet other than new tooltip wording.
+ Healing characters will see their bonus healing numbers on the character sheet decrease, however, all healing spells have been modified to receive more benefit from spellpower than they received from bonus healing, with a net effect of no change to the amount healed by their spells. Some talents have had to be rebalanced to accommodate this change, but the amount healed will remain roughly the same. In addition, some talents will provide only healing spell power.

Known Issues

* The current patch notes are incomplete, but will be progressively more comprehensive in each patch. //In other words we don’t remember everything we changed just assume everything you knew is now different.
* All classes are currently undergoing a balancing pass of all talent trees.
* Inscription is not fully implemented and still has non-functioning glyphs.

Druids

//Everything you knew is now different.

Hunters

//Everything you knew is now different.
* Stablemasters can now accommodate two additional pets. //YES!!! Lions, tigers and bears oh my!
* Pets now have their own trees. These can be accessed via the talent panel.
* Arcane Shot: No longer dispels magic effects.
* Aspects now no longer cost mana.
* Every hunter pet can learn Growl, Cower and either Bite or Claw (never both).
* Steady Shot now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use.
* Steady Shot: Now has a 2.0 cast time, up from 1.5.
* Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 16/25/50% (instead of resist % chance).
* Wingclip: No longer does damage.
* …so many changes.

Mages

//Everything you knew is now different.

Paladins

//Everything you knew is now different.

Priests

//Everything you knew is now different.

Rogues

//Everything you knew is now different.

Shaman

//Everything you knew is now different.

Warlock

* Aftermath (Destruction) - Now a 2-point talent, down from 5.
* All demon abilities and spells will automatically be learned as pets gain levels. Demon Master trainers will be removed. //No more Tombs!
* Avoidance (Felguard): Now reduces damage taken from area of effect attacks by an additional 80% and is automatically learned for the Succubus, Imp, Voidwalker, and Felhunter at level 10.
* Bane now reduces the cast time of your Haunt spell.
* Blood Pact now works raid-wide (not just in party). //Reinforces raid makeup to only have one Affliction lock. =/
* Cataclysm (Destruction) - Now also increases your chance to hit with Destruction spells by 1% per point.
* Consume Shadows (Voidwalker): Duration reduced to 6 seconds, and effect increased 66%. Now also greatly increases all nearby allies’ stealth detection while channeled.
* Curse of Recklessness will no longer prevent Fear effects, only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health). //*lifts hand* Raise your hand if in PvP you were so excided that you just killed a nub lock that gave you CoR. *misty eyed* Good times.
* Dark Pact: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects and now restores 200% mana leeched from your summoned Demon, up from 100%.
* Demon Armor - Now increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%, but no longer has in-combat health regeneration.
* Demon Skin, Demon Armor and Fel Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled. //I thought that was already changed. *shrug*
* Demonic Sacrifice: Succubus effect reduced to 10% increased shadow damage, down from 15%. Imp effect reduced to 10% increased fire damage, down from 15%. Felguard effect now increases Fire and Shadow damage, instead of just Shadow.
* Doomguard: Health increased 20%, mana increased 24%.
* Emberstorm now reduces the cast time of your incinerate by 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 seconds.
* Fel Armor - Now increases your spell damage equal to 30% of your total Spirit, but no longer increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%.
* Felguard: Health increased by 10%.
* Felhunter: Paranoia and Tainted Blood have been replaced with Fel Intelligence and Shadow Bite. //What. No more running paranoia?? But I know there is a rogue over there. What… maybe over here. OMG I am never leaving the CITY!! *rocks herself in a corner*
* Fel Intelligence (Felhunter): Increases total Intellect and Spirit of party and raid members by 3%. Lasts until cancelled.
* Fel Stamina (Demonology) has been merged with Fel Intellect into Fel Vitality.
* Howl of Terror now costs 15% of base mana.
* Infernal: Cooldown reduced to 15 minutes, down from 1 hour. Duration reduced to 1 minute, down from 5 minutes+. Health increased by 30%, damage increased by 60%, and armor increased by 30%. //*presses fingers to forehead* I foresee many good times in Goldshire.
* Imp: Health increased by 20% , Armor increased 16%, mana regeneration increased 200%.
* Improved Curse of Weakness (Affliction) is now "Frailty" - Increases the amount of attack power reduced by your Curse of Weakness spell by 10/20%, and increases the amount of armor reduced by your Curse of Recklessness by 10/20%. //All these spell name changes are going to mess with my macros. Grrrrrr.
* Improved Enslave Demon (Demonology) is now a Tier 5 talent, up from Tier 4.
* Improved Lash of Pain (Destruction) and Improved Firebolt (Destruction) have been merged into one talent, Demonic Power.
* Improved Shadow Bolt (Destruction) - Now increases damage by your next Shadow damage spells by 3/6/9/12/15%, down from 4/8/12/16/20%.
* Mana Feed: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects.
* Master Demonologist (Demonology) - Most effects have been altered.
o Master Demonologist – Felguard (Demonology) - Now increases all damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and reduces all damage done to you by 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Master Demonologist – Imp (Demonology) - Now increases Fire damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Fire spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Master Demonologist – Succubus (Demonology) - Now increases Shadow damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Shadow spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
* Nether Protection has been reworked. It now has a 10/20/30% chance when you’re hit with a spell to reduce all damage by that spell school by 60% for 10 seconds.
* New Talent: Demonic Empowerment (Demonology) - Grants your Summoned Demon power for a short time.
* New Talent: Eradication (Affliction) - Your Corruption, Siphon Life and Curse of Agony ticks have a 5/10/15% chance to increase your spell haste by 20% for 8 sec. This effect has a 10 second cooldown.
* New Talent: Improved Felhunter (Affliction): Your Felhunter gains mana equal to 50/100% of the damage done by its Shadow Bite ability, and increases the effect of your Felhunter’s Fel Intelligence by 1/2%.
* New Talent: Molten Core (Destruction) - Your Shadow spells and damage over time effects have a 5/10/15% chance to increase the damage of your Fire spells by 10% for 6 sec.
* Pyroclasm (Destruction) - Now also includes Conflagrate.
* Rain of Fire (Doomguard): A bug has been fixed which caused each tick of Rain of Fire to consume its mana cost.
* Ritual of Souls: Charges increased to 25, up from 10. //FINNALLY. Why this was not the case in the first place. No more “Let the tanks get cookies first.” As we know it never happens.
* Shadow Bite (Felhunter): Deals Shadow damage plus an additional 5% Shadow damage over time effect on the target. 6 second cooldown.
* Shadowfury (Destruction) - Can now be cast while moving. Stun duration increased to 3 seconds, up from 2.
* Soul Link (Demonology) is now an 11-point talent (used to be a 31-point talent), but the 5% bonus damage from this talent has been removed. In addition, the damage absorbed by Soul Link is now 15%, down from 20%.
* Soul Siphon (Affliction): Now also increases the damage of your Drain Soul.
* Soulstone now generates a log entry indicating who casted and received a soulstone. //oppies. Now people will know when I SS myself prior to a potential wipe.
* Spell Lock (Felhunter) global cooldown removed.
* Succubus: Health increased by 20%, armor increased 22%. //Will this make her less dainty. I don’t think it changes anything. You still have to Searing Pain first prior to casting Seduce. But you know that already.
* Summon Dreadsteed/Felsteed: Mana cost removed, global cooldown removed.
* Suppression (Affliction) is now a 3-point talent, down from 5. Now increases your chance to hit with Affliction spells by 1/2/3%, down from 1/2/3/4/5%.
* Unstable Affliction (Affliction): Silence effect reduced to 3 seconds, down from 5.
* Voidwalker: Health increased by 20%, Damage increased by 16%. The amount of attack power the Voidwalker gains from its master’s spell damage has been increased by 45%.

Warrior

//Everything you knew is now different.

PvP

* Arenas
o Buffs that have 30 seconds or less remaining will be removed once the game starts. However, the mage spell “Invisibility” is not affected by this change.

Professions

* New Profession: Inscription is available to train up to 375. //$$$$ *sings money song* $$$$

User Interface

* New Calendar feature: Players will be able to access the new Calendar feature by clicking on the new icon located in the top right corner of their mini map. The calendar will track in game events, allow raid scheduling, and more.
* New Vanity Pet and Mount changes: Players will now be able to access their non-combat pets and mounts by clicking on the pets tab in the Character Info panel. These pets and mounts will be now learnable much like spells or abilities. Once a vanity pet or mount is learned, the icon will disappear from within a player’s inventory andreappear in the appropriate tab under the pet tab under Character Info. Say goodbye to your vanity pets and mounts taking up bag and bank slots! //I still need a hat rack.
o Lost pets and mounts (one time quest rewards) can be recovered by visiting a stablemaster. //They are coming back from the wild.
* A new Agro Warning is now available and currently functioning in dungeons.
* Focus Frame is now available. Players will be able to right click on any unit frame and select “Set Focus”. The focus frame will only display when the focus is set. Players may also set a “Focus Cast Key” in the options/combat panel that can be bound to shift, alt, or ctrl. When holding the focus cast key and triggering an action, the action will be performed on your focus and not on your target.
* Lost tabards (one time quest rewards) may now be restored by visiting a tabard vendor. //I threw them away for a purpose. That is right. Bank space.
* Lost keys (one time quest rewards) may now be restored by visiting a blacksmith.
* Error messages should play less frequently.
* Tradeskills can now be linked by shift-clicking the tradeskill icon.
* Quests can be shared with party members at any distance.
* Quests can be shared with party members by linking the quest into party chat.
* Quests can be shared in raids but not battlegrounds.
* Randomized Daily quests may now be shared, but only on the same day as the quest is given.
* A 5 minute timer will appear over the player’s unit frame showing the countdown until your PvP flag is cleared. //Nice. I will now not have to /pvp until I get the message I want.
* The /cower emote now has an animation.
* Macros and key bindings are now saved server-side so there is no longer a need to reconfigure them when logging in using another computer. //As a user between two computers I sent much <3>
* Shift-clicking to loot mail: You can now hold Shift and click on mail in your inbox to automatically loot any items and gold without opening the mail. This default behavior can be changed via Auto Loot Mail in the Interface Options (Controls).
* Combat Log Changes:
o The combat log now differentiates between a spell failure due to resistance and spell failure due to missing the target. Where once both events reported as a resist; a spell missing the target is now reported as a miss.
o Overhealing is now reported in the combat log.
o When a source of damage is entirely prevented (by a shield block, a full resist, or a damage shield like Power Word:Shield, the prevented amount will now be displayed.

Items

* Druids and Shaman can now use items while shapeshifted. //My druid thanks you. Now my bear, boomkin, and trees can utilize that new 25 cookie distribution.
* The Abyss Shard has been changed to grant a passive 15 stamina bonus, but no longer removes the soul shard requirement from casting a voidwalker. //I have MINE still. *cry* I used this while running low level areas. This exponentially increases my level 80 soul shard collection worry.
* Devilsaur Eye now increases your pet’s attack power for a short duration instead of increasing its critical strike chance. It also provides a small amount of passive Agility.

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