1.7 Patch High-lights
NOTE: These have been truncated notes, please go to an appropriate World of Warcraft page or forum for the full notes.
PTR 1.7 Patch Notes
Zul'Gurub
Hidden within the jungles of Stranglethorn, an ancient Troll city full of peril has been uncovered. Do you have what it takes to delve into its mysteries with a band of hardy explorers? There's only one way to find out! Zul'Gurub is a high-level, 20-man raid instance with 120 new rare and epic items to uncover. Adventure awaits!
Arathi Basin
Join the League of Arathor or the Forsaken Defilers as they battle for the precious resources stockpiled within the latest Battleground, Arathi Basin! Pitting 15 members of each faction against each other, the race is on to be the first to 2000 resources, capturing strategic landmarks around the Basin to increase your team's gain and cripple the enemy. With an all-new set of reputation-based rewards, there's never been a better time to join the war!
General
* Switching weapons in combat triggers a 1 second global cooldown for all abilities for rogues and a 1.5 second global cooldown for everyone else.
* Tauren can now ride wolves if they learn the wolfriding ability.
* Possessed units (e.g. Mind Control, Eyes of the Beast etc...) can now cancel combat mode by clearing your current target. In addition, the UI will have a gold border when the possessed unit is actively in combat mode with the target.
* Several stun spells and abilities that were previously unresistable can now be resisted as was always intended.
* Damage absorption no longer protects against falling, drowning, or fatigue damage.
* If an attack deals non-physical damage, the type of damage is now reported in the combat log.
* Auras and shapeshift forms can be cancelled while you are fleeing or confused.
* Fixed bug where you couldn't right click to attack a hunter who is feigning death.
PvP
* Battlegrounds
o Battleground "holidays" have been added to Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley and Arathi Basin. Holidays occur during most weekends, starting on Thursday night at midnight and continuing until Tuesday morning. During a holiday, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.
o Losers of Warsong Gulch are now given a "Ribbon of Sacrifice" which they may turn in to Captain Shatterspear or Sentinel Farsong for a faction reward.
o Offensive use of damage immunities no longer causes the flag to drop in Warsong Gulch.
o In the Battlegrounds, you will now automatically be resurrected by Spirit Healers unless you choose to decline.
Druids
* Improved Starfire - The stun effect can now be resisted.
* Druids should now be able to shapeshift back into caster form while Feared.
* Cat Form - The base weapon damage of the form has been increased.
* Cat Form - Each point of agility now adds 1 attack power.
* Cat Form - Rip's damage per combo point has been increased.
* Cat Form - Ferocious Bite's damage per combo point has been increased. In addition, extra energy now converts to damage at a higher rate.
* Cat Form - Replaced global cooldown on Tiger's Fury with a 1 second self cooldown. In addition, its duration has been increased to 6 seconds.
* Cat Form - Rake's damage has been increased.
Hunters
* Due to significant talent changes, Hunters will have all talent points refunded and can be respent. Training costs for all talent spell/ability replacements have been significantly reduced.
* Survival and Beast Master talent trees have undergone major revisions in an effort to give Hunters additional, viable choices when selecting talents.
* Deterrence - Will now increase parry chance when using Fist Weapons.
* Deflection - Will now increase parry chance when using Fist Weapons.
* Improved Concussive Shot - The stun effect can now be resisted.
* Trueshot Aura - Attack Power and Ranged Attack Power bonus increased, mana cost decreased, area of effect increased.
* Frost Trap - Updated tooltip to reflect duration of the Frost Trap Effect.
* Aimed Shot - Fixed tooltip to correctly display shot time.
* Auto Shot - Fixed a bug where switching targets would cancel Auto Shot. Switching targets should now continue firing on the newly acquired target.
* Scatter Shot - Should now cancel combat mode when used.
* Eyes of the Beast - Cast time reduced.
* Flare - Fixed the tooltip to accurately reflect the actual radius of the effect.
* Ranged Weapon Specialization - Now affects all ranged weapon attacks (e.g. Arcane Shot).
* Improved Concussive Shot - Will now have a chance to stun targets that are afflicted with other slowing effects (e.g. Wing Clip).
* Pet Abilities
o Hunters now have the first round of pet customization available. New passive abilities include increased armor, stamina, Fire resistance, Frost resistance, Nature resistance, Shadow resistance, and Arcane resistance.
o Hunter pets can now be untrained of all their skills from any beast trainer in the major cities. Similar to talents, untraining a specific pet scales up as you do it more times: 10 silver, 50 silver, 1 gold, 2 gold, 3 gold, etc., eventually stopping at 10 gold.
o Training point costs for all abilities have been rebalanced. You'll now be able to use all your pet's training points with meaningful choices. To help make "hunting" pets more viable in more situations, the Growl ability is now free to all pets.
o Bats, owls, and carrion birds can now learn the Screech ability, a fast single-target attack that also lowers the attack power of all enemies within melee range of the pet.
o Cats can now learn Stealth. In addition to being unseen, they receive a damage bonus for their first attack coming out of stealth.
o Scorpids can now learn Scorpid Poison. The poison deals Nature damage over time and stacks up to five times on a single enemy.
o Wolves can now learn Furious Howl. The howl adds a flat amount of damage to all nearby party member's next attack (within 15 yards).
* Hunter pets now gain experience based on the level difference between them and their target rather than the difference between the Hunters and their target. This will make it much easier to level up a low level pet. Keep in mind that the Hunter must still kill creatures from which he/she will gain experience.
* The tooltips for quick Hunter shots have been updated to show them as instant abilities.
* Feign death is no longer resisted by players.
* Hunters are now able to rename their pets while mounted.
* Hunter's pets will be smarter about when to use Dash/Dive.
Priests
* Focused Casting - Mana cost removed. Now no longer triggers the global cooldown on all other spells
Warlocks
* Demonic Sacrifice - All effects gained from sacrificing the pet should no longer be dispellable.
* Conflagrate - The Conflagrate spell is now instant cast. The damage and mana cost has been raised on all ranks of the spell.
* Fear will now cause creatures to flee immediately, even if they are already moving.
* Succubus pets will be smarter about when to use Seduction.
* Succubus pets can now autocast Lesser Invisibility.
Warriors
* Deflection - Will now increase parry chance when using Fist Weapons.
* Retaliation - Will now cause a maximum of 30 retaliatory strikes in 15 seconds. In addition, retaliatory strikes will not be possible while stunned.
* Improved Revenge - The stun effect can now be resisted.
* Mace Specialization - The stun effect can now be resisted.
* Retaliation, Recklessness and Shield Wall will no longer be cancelled if you switch stances while the effect is active.
* Shield Slam - Threat caused increased.
* Shoot Bow/Gun/Crossbow - Should no longer cause a global cooldown on all other abilities.
Items
* We have determined that the defense statistic was being applied to items too liberally, causing those items to be stronger than they should have been relative to other items of the same level with different effects. As a result, we have reduced the amount of defense points on all items with bonuses to defense by approximately 33% in order to bring those items in line with other similar items.
* Proficiency Bonuses have been added to the game. Some sets of equippable items have been added that will give bonus effects to the player only if they have a specific skill, such as Leatherworking.
* With the new ability to train Hunter pets with considerable magical resistance, the amount of pet resistance granted by the set bonuses for the Giantstalker's and Dragonstalker's has been reduced while the pet health granted has been increased.
* The Earthfury set bonus that increases the range of totems now works with the Mana Tide Totem.
* The Lawbringer Paladin Set's Healing Circle effect now only affects your party, but the range of the heal has been increased to 30 yds.
* The pants and gloves for the Dreadmist, Magister's and Devout sets have had their Agility removed, and other statistics slightly increased.
* Changing stances no longer removes the Orb of Deception effect.
* When you have more than one transformation aura (Orb of Deception, Noggenfogger, etc.), the last one applied is the one that is shown.
* Several of the Molten Core Epic Weapons have been updated with new weapon glows.
* Totems affected by the Earthfury set bonus no longer have their effect flicker when players are outside their normal radius.
* Fixed bug preventing several items, such as the Goblin Jumper Cables, from being gift wrapped.
* Fixed bug where equipping and unequipping set items and other items with the same bonus as the set bonus could reduce the affected stats twice until logout.
* There are now items in the game that have a duration on them that is measured in real time. For instance, there are fish that have a four-hour duration; they only last four hours regardless of whether or not the character is logged in.
* Alterac Valley Spring Water now has a minimum level of 55.
* The spirit buff from Bottled Alterac Spring Water should now work for shapeshifted druids.
* Hair should no longer stick through the Helm of Endless Rage.
Professions
* New crafted sets have been added that require reagents found only in Zul'Gurub or through the reputation gained from adventuring therein.
* The Mooncloth Robe pattern changed so it displays as white quality instead of blue since it is vendor purchased.
* The Effects of Flasks will now persist through death.
* Free Action potions can now be dispelled.
* Wildvine potions have been improved.
* Timbermaw Reputation Recipes are no longer sold in limited quanities with a restock time. If you have the reputation, you will always be able to buy the recipe.
* Significantly more Stranglekelp has started washing ashore to the beaches of the world.
* Enchanting an item with an enchantment that will cause the item to become soulbound will now prompt the enchanter with a warning message before the enchantment is cast.
Quest
* A great number of quests and events added to Zul'Gurub.
* A level 50 class quest has been added for the Rogue (Lord Ravenholdt in Ravenholdt Manor), Priest (Greta Mosshoof in Felwood), Mage (Archmage Xylem in Azshara), and Hunter (Ogtinc in Azshara).
* Reputation gains given to a player on the Alliance, Horde, or Steamwheedle Cartel factions directly will now cascade down to member factions through the middle of the Exalted reputation level.
* The amount of XP and Stormwind reputation has been increased for completing "Hilary's Necklace" quest.
User Interface
* New "Dressing Room" Interface now available! If you control-left click on any item, item reference (vendors, quests) or item link (chat), a UI panel will appear showing your character wearing that item. You can then use the same command (control-left click) on additional items to add to the preview appearance. In addition, the Auction House now has a checkbox in the upper right-hand corner; if checked, any item you click on within the Auction House will automatically be previewed on your character.
* Need Before Greed and Group Loot options have been improved. The rolling window that appears when an item of the threshold and above is looted now has three buttons: a Need button (the dice), a Greed button (the coin), and a close button. Any players who select Need will get a chance to roll first for the item, with the high roller winning. If no one selects Need, all characters who selected Greed will then roll, with the highest roll winning the item. If everyone closes the window, the item becomes lootable by anyone in the group.
* You can now disable the slow scrolling of text when you are receiving a new quest.
* Opening the overhead map will now "ping" your location your map (to make it easier to notice your location when there are many friendlies nearby on the overhead map).
* The overhead map now displays a directional icon for your character.
* Spell effects that stack multiple times on a character will now display a number in the bottom corner indicating how many times the effect has stacked. For example, if a player has had the Sunder Armor ability used on them three times, the Sunder Armor effect icon will display a 3 in the corner.
* A confirmation dialog is now shown when you choose to make an Inn your home.
* Using /random will now send the text to your party or raid wherever they are instead of the local area around the player that used /random.
* When in a raid group, the group you are in will now appear above your name next to your portrait.
* Mail recipient name completion now works with offline guild members even if you are not showing them in the guild UI.
* Guild ranks and player notes are now filtered by the profanity filter.
* Quest rewards are now linked in chat like other items gained.
* You can now use the Escape key to exit out of pop up dialogues.
* Consumable items on the action bar will now always show the number remaining, even if there are none in your inventory.
* Pet spells in macros are now supported, both using /cast and using CastSpellByName().
* If you omit the rank of a spell in /cast or CastSpellByName(), it will use the highest rank of the spell which you know.
* Chat and Combat Logging
o The script functions ChatFrameLog() and ToggleCombatLogFileWrite() are obsolete.
o Added script function: isLogging=LoggingChat([newState]) (Returns new state (or current state if no argument))
o Added script function: isLogging=LoggingCombat([newState]) (Returns new state (or current state if no argument))
o New slash command /chatlog toggles chat logging (/combatlog toggles combat logging)
o The file for the chat log is Logs\WoWChatLog.txt and the file for the combat log is Logs\WoWCombatLog.txt
* Argent Dawn, Timbermaw, Zandalar and Arathi Basin vendors now show you their entire inventory regardless of current reputation, allowing players to peruse their full range of wares. The items in question now require the appropriate reputation level to make use of them.
PTR 1.7 Patch Notes
Zul'Gurub
Hidden within the jungles of Stranglethorn, an ancient Troll city full of peril has been uncovered. Do you have what it takes to delve into its mysteries with a band of hardy explorers? There's only one way to find out! Zul'Gurub is a high-level, 20-man raid instance with 120 new rare and epic items to uncover. Adventure awaits!
Arathi Basin
Join the League of Arathor or the Forsaken Defilers as they battle for the precious resources stockpiled within the latest Battleground, Arathi Basin! Pitting 15 members of each faction against each other, the race is on to be the first to 2000 resources, capturing strategic landmarks around the Basin to increase your team's gain and cripple the enemy. With an all-new set of reputation-based rewards, there's never been a better time to join the war!
General
* Switching weapons in combat triggers a 1 second global cooldown for all abilities for rogues and a 1.5 second global cooldown for everyone else.
* Tauren can now ride wolves if they learn the wolfriding ability.
* Possessed units (e.g. Mind Control, Eyes of the Beast etc...) can now cancel combat mode by clearing your current target. In addition, the UI will have a gold border when the possessed unit is actively in combat mode with the target.
* Several stun spells and abilities that were previously unresistable can now be resisted as was always intended.
* Damage absorption no longer protects against falling, drowning, or fatigue damage.
* If an attack deals non-physical damage, the type of damage is now reported in the combat log.
* Auras and shapeshift forms can be cancelled while you are fleeing or confused.
* Fixed bug where you couldn't right click to attack a hunter who is feigning death.
PvP
* Battlegrounds
o Battleground "holidays" have been added to Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley and Arathi Basin. Holidays occur during most weekends, starting on Thursday night at midnight and continuing until Tuesday morning. During a holiday, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.
o Losers of Warsong Gulch are now given a "Ribbon of Sacrifice" which they may turn in to Captain Shatterspear or Sentinel Farsong for a faction reward.
o Offensive use of damage immunities no longer causes the flag to drop in Warsong Gulch.
o In the Battlegrounds, you will now automatically be resurrected by Spirit Healers unless you choose to decline.
Druids
* Improved Starfire - The stun effect can now be resisted.
* Druids should now be able to shapeshift back into caster form while Feared.
* Cat Form - The base weapon damage of the form has been increased.
* Cat Form - Each point of agility now adds 1 attack power.
* Cat Form - Rip's damage per combo point has been increased.
* Cat Form - Ferocious Bite's damage per combo point has been increased. In addition, extra energy now converts to damage at a higher rate.
* Cat Form - Replaced global cooldown on Tiger's Fury with a 1 second self cooldown. In addition, its duration has been increased to 6 seconds.
* Cat Form - Rake's damage has been increased.
Hunters
* Due to significant talent changes, Hunters will have all talent points refunded and can be respent. Training costs for all talent spell/ability replacements have been significantly reduced.
* Survival and Beast Master talent trees have undergone major revisions in an effort to give Hunters additional, viable choices when selecting talents.
* Deterrence - Will now increase parry chance when using Fist Weapons.
* Deflection - Will now increase parry chance when using Fist Weapons.
* Improved Concussive Shot - The stun effect can now be resisted.
* Trueshot Aura - Attack Power and Ranged Attack Power bonus increased, mana cost decreased, area of effect increased.
* Frost Trap - Updated tooltip to reflect duration of the Frost Trap Effect.
* Aimed Shot - Fixed tooltip to correctly display shot time.
* Auto Shot - Fixed a bug where switching targets would cancel Auto Shot. Switching targets should now continue firing on the newly acquired target.
* Scatter Shot - Should now cancel combat mode when used.
* Eyes of the Beast - Cast time reduced.
* Flare - Fixed the tooltip to accurately reflect the actual radius of the effect.
* Ranged Weapon Specialization - Now affects all ranged weapon attacks (e.g. Arcane Shot).
* Improved Concussive Shot - Will now have a chance to stun targets that are afflicted with other slowing effects (e.g. Wing Clip).
* Pet Abilities
o Hunters now have the first round of pet customization available. New passive abilities include increased armor, stamina, Fire resistance, Frost resistance, Nature resistance, Shadow resistance, and Arcane resistance.
o Hunter pets can now be untrained of all their skills from any beast trainer in the major cities. Similar to talents, untraining a specific pet scales up as you do it more times: 10 silver, 50 silver, 1 gold, 2 gold, 3 gold, etc., eventually stopping at 10 gold.
o Training point costs for all abilities have been rebalanced. You'll now be able to use all your pet's training points with meaningful choices. To help make "hunting" pets more viable in more situations, the Growl ability is now free to all pets.
o Bats, owls, and carrion birds can now learn the Screech ability, a fast single-target attack that also lowers the attack power of all enemies within melee range of the pet.
o Cats can now learn Stealth. In addition to being unseen, they receive a damage bonus for their first attack coming out of stealth.
o Scorpids can now learn Scorpid Poison. The poison deals Nature damage over time and stacks up to five times on a single enemy.
o Wolves can now learn Furious Howl. The howl adds a flat amount of damage to all nearby party member's next attack (within 15 yards).
* Hunter pets now gain experience based on the level difference between them and their target rather than the difference between the Hunters and their target. This will make it much easier to level up a low level pet. Keep in mind that the Hunter must still kill creatures from which he/she will gain experience.
* The tooltips for quick Hunter shots have been updated to show them as instant abilities.
* Feign death is no longer resisted by players.
* Hunters are now able to rename their pets while mounted.
* Hunter's pets will be smarter about when to use Dash/Dive.
Priests
* Focused Casting - Mana cost removed. Now no longer triggers the global cooldown on all other spells
Warlocks
* Demonic Sacrifice - All effects gained from sacrificing the pet should no longer be dispellable.
* Conflagrate - The Conflagrate spell is now instant cast. The damage and mana cost has been raised on all ranks of the spell.
* Fear will now cause creatures to flee immediately, even if they are already moving.
* Succubus pets will be smarter about when to use Seduction.
* Succubus pets can now autocast Lesser Invisibility.
Warriors
* Deflection - Will now increase parry chance when using Fist Weapons.
* Retaliation - Will now cause a maximum of 30 retaliatory strikes in 15 seconds. In addition, retaliatory strikes will not be possible while stunned.
* Improved Revenge - The stun effect can now be resisted.
* Mace Specialization - The stun effect can now be resisted.
* Retaliation, Recklessness and Shield Wall will no longer be cancelled if you switch stances while the effect is active.
* Shield Slam - Threat caused increased.
* Shoot Bow/Gun/Crossbow - Should no longer cause a global cooldown on all other abilities.
Items
* We have determined that the defense statistic was being applied to items too liberally, causing those items to be stronger than they should have been relative to other items of the same level with different effects. As a result, we have reduced the amount of defense points on all items with bonuses to defense by approximately 33% in order to bring those items in line with other similar items.
* Proficiency Bonuses have been added to the game. Some sets of equippable items have been added that will give bonus effects to the player only if they have a specific skill, such as Leatherworking.
* With the new ability to train Hunter pets with considerable magical resistance, the amount of pet resistance granted by the set bonuses for the Giantstalker's and Dragonstalker's has been reduced while the pet health granted has been increased.
* The Earthfury set bonus that increases the range of totems now works with the Mana Tide Totem.
* The Lawbringer Paladin Set's Healing Circle effect now only affects your party, but the range of the heal has been increased to 30 yds.
* The pants and gloves for the Dreadmist, Magister's and Devout sets have had their Agility removed, and other statistics slightly increased.
* Changing stances no longer removes the Orb of Deception effect.
* When you have more than one transformation aura (Orb of Deception, Noggenfogger, etc.), the last one applied is the one that is shown.
* Several of the Molten Core Epic Weapons have been updated with new weapon glows.
* Totems affected by the Earthfury set bonus no longer have their effect flicker when players are outside their normal radius.
* Fixed bug preventing several items, such as the Goblin Jumper Cables, from being gift wrapped.
* Fixed bug where equipping and unequipping set items and other items with the same bonus as the set bonus could reduce the affected stats twice until logout.
* There are now items in the game that have a duration on them that is measured in real time. For instance, there are fish that have a four-hour duration; they only last four hours regardless of whether or not the character is logged in.
* Alterac Valley Spring Water now has a minimum level of 55.
* The spirit buff from Bottled Alterac Spring Water should now work for shapeshifted druids.
* Hair should no longer stick through the Helm of Endless Rage.
Professions
* New crafted sets have been added that require reagents found only in Zul'Gurub or through the reputation gained from adventuring therein.
* The Mooncloth Robe pattern changed so it displays as white quality instead of blue since it is vendor purchased.
* The Effects of Flasks will now persist through death.
* Free Action potions can now be dispelled.
* Wildvine potions have been improved.
* Timbermaw Reputation Recipes are no longer sold in limited quanities with a restock time. If you have the reputation, you will always be able to buy the recipe.
* Significantly more Stranglekelp has started washing ashore to the beaches of the world.
* Enchanting an item with an enchantment that will cause the item to become soulbound will now prompt the enchanter with a warning message before the enchantment is cast.
Quest
* A great number of quests and events added to Zul'Gurub.
* A level 50 class quest has been added for the Rogue (Lord Ravenholdt in Ravenholdt Manor), Priest (Greta Mosshoof in Felwood), Mage (Archmage Xylem in Azshara), and Hunter (Ogtinc in Azshara).
* Reputation gains given to a player on the Alliance, Horde, or Steamwheedle Cartel factions directly will now cascade down to member factions through the middle of the Exalted reputation level.
* The amount of XP and Stormwind reputation has been increased for completing "Hilary's Necklace" quest.
User Interface
* New "Dressing Room" Interface now available! If you control-left click on any item, item reference (vendors, quests) or item link (chat), a UI panel will appear showing your character wearing that item. You can then use the same command (control-left click) on additional items to add to the preview appearance. In addition, the Auction House now has a checkbox in the upper right-hand corner; if checked, any item you click on within the Auction House will automatically be previewed on your character.
* Need Before Greed and Group Loot options have been improved. The rolling window that appears when an item of the threshold and above is looted now has three buttons: a Need button (the dice), a Greed button (the coin), and a close button. Any players who select Need will get a chance to roll first for the item, with the high roller winning. If no one selects Need, all characters who selected Greed will then roll, with the highest roll winning the item. If everyone closes the window, the item becomes lootable by anyone in the group.
* You can now disable the slow scrolling of text when you are receiving a new quest.
* Opening the overhead map will now "ping" your location your map (to make it easier to notice your location when there are many friendlies nearby on the overhead map).
* The overhead map now displays a directional icon for your character.
* Spell effects that stack multiple times on a character will now display a number in the bottom corner indicating how many times the effect has stacked. For example, if a player has had the Sunder Armor ability used on them three times, the Sunder Armor effect icon will display a 3 in the corner.
* A confirmation dialog is now shown when you choose to make an Inn your home.
* Using /random will now send the text to your party or raid wherever they are instead of the local area around the player that used /random.
* When in a raid group, the group you are in will now appear above your name next to your portrait.
* Mail recipient name completion now works with offline guild members even if you are not showing them in the guild UI.
* Guild ranks and player notes are now filtered by the profanity filter.
* Quest rewards are now linked in chat like other items gained.
* You can now use the Escape key to exit out of pop up dialogues.
* Consumable items on the action bar will now always show the number remaining, even if there are none in your inventory.
* Pet spells in macros are now supported, both using /cast and using CastSpellByName().
* If you omit the rank of a spell in /cast or CastSpellByName(), it will use the highest rank of the spell which you know.
* Chat and Combat Logging
o The script functions ChatFrameLog() and ToggleCombatLogFileWrite() are obsolete.
o Added script function: isLogging=LoggingChat([newState]) (Returns new state (or current state if no argument))
o Added script function: isLogging=LoggingCombat([newState]) (Returns new state (or current state if no argument))
o New slash command /chatlog toggles chat logging (/combatlog toggles combat logging)
o The file for the chat log is Logs\WoWChatLog.txt and the file for the combat log is Logs\WoWCombatLog.txt
* Argent Dawn, Timbermaw, Zandalar and Arathi Basin vendors now show you their entire inventory regardless of current reputation, allowing players to peruse their full range of wares. The items in question now require the appropriate reputation level to make use of them.
posted by Razorhoney at 14:55
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