In our next major content update, Visions of N’Zoth, we’re working on some tuning updates to a few specs that are under- and over-performing in various ways.

Developers’ notes: Specs which excel at DoTs on multiple targets have, over the course of many tiers of content, generally had very high performance on the average. Their DPS advantage in raid encounters that play into their multi-target strength (which are relatively common) is not balanced by a comparable disadvantage in other areas. A small reduction in damage on these specs will leave them noticeably strong in the situations in which they’re strong (albeit slightly less than before), and give other specs more opportunity to stand out at other times. At the same time, a few of the Essences added in Rise of Azshara are not performing as well as we would have liked, so we’re increasing the effectiveness of some parts of them to help keep them competitive with the other Essences available.

With the first build of the update on our Public Test Realm (PTR), you will see the following changes:

Classes

•  Druid
  • Balance
    • Moonfire damage and periodic damage reduced by 10%.
    • Sunfire damage and periodic damage reduced by 10%.
    • High Noon (Azerite Trait) damage increased by 11%.
    • Power of the Moon (Azerite Trait) damage increased by 11%.
•  Mage
  • Frost
    • Ice Lance damage increased by 20%.
      • Developers’ note: Ice Lance damage hasn’t kept up with Icicles scaling, making builds that ignore Ice Lance possible. The intent of this change is to give Frost Mages a better incentive to use Ice Lance within their rotation, as a DPS net gain.
•  Monk
  • Brewmaster
    • Stamina bonus reduced to 30% (was 35%).
    • Stagger percentage reduced to 90% of Agility (was 105%).
    • High Tolerance now increases the effectiveness of Stagger by 5% (was 8%).
      • Developers’ notes: Brewmaster’s extremely high effective health against Physical damage meant that they are rarely in danger against spike damage that threatens other tanks. This should still be a strength of Brewmaster, but not by such a wide margin.
    • Fixed a bug causing Gift of the Ox orbs to spawn too often for players with high amounts of Stamina.
  • Mistweaver
    • Rising Mist healing increased 30%, and now extends Heal-over-time effects by 3 seconds (was 2 seconds). [Coming in a future PTR build]
      • Developers’ note: This talent is currently overshadowed on its row, and we want to make sure it’s competitive enough to make its unique playstyle a viable option.
    • Life Cocoon now absorbs for 55% of the caster’s maximum health (was 1100% of the caster’s spellpower). [Coming in a future PTR build]
      • Developers’ note: This ability had gotten weaker compared to player health pools since the start of the expansion, and this will help it better maintain its value.
  • Windwalker
    • Rising Sun Kick damage increased by 25%.
    • Blackout Kick damage increased by 10%.
      • Developers’ note: These changes are intended to help Windwalkers perform better in single-target fights.
•  Paladin
  • Holy
    • Glimmer of Light (Azerite Trait) may now be applied to a maximum of 8 targets.
      • Developers’ notes: Over the past year, builds centered around this trait have steadily pulled ahead of all other Holy Paladin playstyles, and to some extent all other healers in high-end content. This change is meant to preserve the gameplay of the trait, but limit the ability to increase its value drastically by stacking every possible bonus that reduces Holy Shock cooldown.
•  Priest
  • Discipline
    • Atonement healing reduced to 50% (was 55%).
    • Mastery: Grace effectiveness increased by 12%.
      • Developers’ notes: Discipline’s ability to contribute both damage and healing is slightly too high for what one character can bring to a group composition. At the same time, we’re making their Mastery stat slightly more attractive.
  • Shadow
    • Auspicious Spirits damage bonus reduced to 25% (was 50%).
    • Fixed a bug causing Spiteful Apparitions (Azerite Trait) to be increased by 75% if you do not have Auspicious Spirits talented.
      • Developers’ notes: The multiplicative interaction between Auspicious Spirits, Spiteful Apparitions, and Chorus of Insanity has specifically been a big part of Shadow’s damage scaling somewhat out of control at high target counts.
    • Chorus of Insanity critical strike bonus reduced by 25%.
    • Shadow Word: Pain damage reduced by 8%.
    • Vampiric Touch damage reduced by 8%.
•  Warlock

· Affliction

• Deathbolt now deals 20% of the total remaining damage of the Warlock’s damage over time effects on the target (was 30%).
  • Developers’ note: Under certain conditions, Deathbolt provides a degree of single target burst damage that feels out of line for a spec designed around damage-over-time spells. Additionally, it has been the dominant choice for Affliction’s level 15 talent row for much of the expansion. We’re reducing its effectiveness to bring it more in line with the other two options in that row.

Essences

• Worldvein Resonance
  • Major rank 1, when used, now additionally causes you to gain +50% bonus to stats from Lifeblood Shards for 10 seconds.
• Vision of Perfection
  • Proc rate increased by 12%.
• Unbound Force
  • Major rank 1 damage increased by 40%.
  • Minor rank 1 duration increased to 4 seconds (was 3 seconds).
  • Minor rank 3 increase of duration increased to 2 seconds (was 1 second).
• Purification Protocol
  • Major rank 1 damage increased by 15%.
  • Major rank 2 now has the potential work on targets that are part of raid and dungeon encounters.
• Vitality Conduit
  • We’ve rebuilt the way this Essences works, and it should be visually more impactful, as you will now see healing on your targets.

As always, changes like these are a work in progress. We are likely to make further adjustments for testing throughout the PTR.
Thank you very much for your testing and feedback!

A new content update for World of Warcraft is now being deployed to our Public Test Realms – Visions of N’Zoth.

Spoilers ahead!!

The Old God N’Zoth has risen from the depths to threaten Azeroth. Working alongside Magni, Wrathion, and other luminaries, players will attempt to empower Azeroth with defenses originally built by the titans. In return, the Old God attempts to corrupt the very minds of the player-characters with Visions of N’Zoth, a new, repeatable type of content where players explore a twisted reflection of a defeated future Azeroth.

This major update includes a number of new features, changes to existing systems, and other improvements that you can join us in testing.

Now Available for Testing

• New world and questing content
• New instanced content: Visions of N’Zoth
  • Horrific Visions in Stormwind and Orgrimmar
  • Lesser Visions in Uldum and Vale of Eternal Blossoms
  • Titan Research Tree (early iteration, with more to come in a later PTR update)
  • Legendary Cloak
• Heritage Armor quests – Goblins and Worgen
• Heroic difficulty Darkshore Warfront
• Heart of Azeroth
  • New Essences
  • Additional Minor slot
  • Two additional Stamina nodes
  • Maximum level increased to 85 (was 70)
  • Additional infinite progression slot to aid you against N’Zoth’s corruption at max level (coming in a later PTR update)
• PvP – “Servant of N’Zoth” event for Slayers who become bounty hunted
• Auction House major revamp
• Classes and Essences updates

In order to test much of the above, please look for “Heartzertauren” vendors in Orgrimmar, Stormwind, and the Chamber of Heart. Testers will need to purchase the Legendary Cloak and Coalescing Visions from them in order to access Horrific Visions. These vendors will also provide the first examples of Corrupted Items and Essences.

Coming Soon in this Update

• New Allied Races – Mechagnomes and Vulpera
• New Raid – Ny’alotha
• New Story Quests: Rise of N’Zoth
• Season 4 PvP and Mythic Keystone Dungeon updates
  • Operation: Mechagon has been divided into two wings, each with Heroic and Mythic Keystone difficulties
• New Battle Pets and Pet Battle Dungeon – Blackrock Depths
• Darkmoon Arcade – Play your favorite mini-games at the Darkmoon Faire
• PvP – Deepwind Gorge re-imagined/updated to be a capture point map
• Professions updates
  • New PvP catch-up gear for all crafting Professions
  • New upgrade level for Alchemy Stone, Jewelcrafting rings, and Engineering googles.
  • New Ny’alotha Vantus Runes.

For a first look at some of the above features, check out this new development update video from Game Director Ion Hazzikostas:

Get into the PTR!
The PTR is now available. To log in to the PTR, simply create a PTR account and copy the character you wish to test from your account. Step-by-step directions can be found here.

Note: World of Warcraft PTR realms are only available to players who have a full World of Warcraft account.