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World of Warcraft Client Patch 4.0.3a
World of Warcraft Client Patch 4.0.3a
The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html
The latest patch notes can always be found at
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/
The Shattering of Azeroth
In the frigid wastes of Northrend, the final battle against the merciless Lich King ended in victory for Azeroth's defenders. Upon returning home, veterans of the unforgiving conflict against the Scourge were showered with praise for their valiant sacrifices, while the honorable dead were mourned. Yet as hope flared anew in the wake of the Lich King's fall, Azeroth's native elemental spirits grew confused and erratic, setting off a series of deadly natural disasters. Horde and Alliance leaders scrambled for clues about the troubling state of the world, but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.
Without warning, the corrupted Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, erupted from the stone heart of Deepholm, the domain of earth within the Elemental Plane. Jagged fissures were torn across the earth, and monstrous waves pummeled coastal regions. From Thousand Needles to the Blasted Lands, the surface of Azeroth was reforged through violent upheavals. Now, the Horde and the Alliance must defend their homes against Deathwing and his minions, burdened by the unsettling fact that the world as they know it has changed... forever.
Azeroth Shattered
Deathwing's return has had an immeasurable impact throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Players will notice drastically altered terrain, thousands of new quests from levels 1-55, and updated level ranges for some zones to improve the questing flow.
New Race/Class Combinations
In the wake of a world on the brink of destruction, members of the Horde and Alliance have taken to new cultures and studies, mastering crafts previously foreign to them. Many existing playable races now have new class combinations. Check the official World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website for a breakdown of the new combinations.
General
The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm cinematic trailer and login screen have been added to the game.
Experience required to gain levels 71 through 80 has been reduced by 20%, which increases leveling rate by 25%.
Classes: General
Due to several talent revisions for select classes, druids, paladins, priests, and shaman have had their talent trees reset.
The damage and healing done by players from levels 1-79 has been retuned, with the base points of almost all spells and abilities reduced. This was done to bring combat times at low levels to a more reasonable length. For most abilities that deal weapon damage, the weapon damage percent now rises per level until level 80, and starts at a lower percent.
Healing Rain
,
,
,
now have a diminished effect when healing more than 6 players at once.
Mortal Strike
,
,
Empty Poison Vial
,
,
,
,
Monstrous Bite
, and
Legion Strike
now reduce healing by 10%, down from 25%.
Effects which are broken from taking too much damage (
Fear
,
Frost Nova
,
Entangling Roots
, etc.) now break automatically from about half as much damage taken as before.
Death Knight
Forums
|
Talent Calculator
Death Pact
now heals for 25% of maximum health, down from 40%.
Death Strike
now heals for 25% of damage taken in the last 5 seconds, down from 30%, and will heal for a minimum of 7% of maximum health, down from 10%. The tooltip may not yet be updated to reflect this change.
Icebound Fortitude
now provides 20% damage reduction, down from 30% (now 50%, down from 60% when talented), and has a 3-minute cooldown, up from 2 minutes.
Blood
now heals for 10% of maximum health, down from 15%. The tooltip may not yet be updated to reflect this change.
Glyphs
Charred Glyph
now heals for 5% of maximum health, down from 10%.
Bug Fixes
critical strikes now apply the correct amount of bonus damage.
Druid
Forums
|
Talent Calculator
Bear Form
now provides 10% bonus health, down from 20%.
Nourish
no longer consumes
Omen of Clarity
.
Rejuvenation
has had its mana cost increased by 30%.
Soothe
now has a 1.5-second cast time.
(Cat Form) can now be used even if the druid does not have a primary target selected.
Thorns
: beginner tooltip revised to no longer imply the spell could be kept up at all times. In addition, Thorns damage has been reduced by 60%.
Balance
PvP set bonus redesigned. While not in an Eclipse state, critical attacks against the druid restore 5 Solar or 7 Lunar energy, whichever is more beneficial. This effect can only occur once every 6 seconds.
Feral
now increases the mana cost of spells on the victim by 5/10% for 10 seconds, down from 15/30%.
now heals for 4%, down from 8%.
Survival Instincts
now provides 50% damage reduction, down from 60%, and its cooldown has been lowered from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.
(Bear Form) damage has been reduced by 20%.
is no longer cleared on exiting
Bear Form
, and instead is cleared upon entering
Cat Form
.
Restoration
now procs from
as well as
Nourish
.
: the
Bear Form
Stamina bonus from this talent is now 2/4/6%, down from 3/7/10%.
no longer has
as a prerequisite talent.
now also increases
Incarnation: Tree of Life
duration by 5/10 seconds.
is now a 2-point talent, down from 3. It provides a 20% chance to return 1/2% of the druid's total mana on periodic heals from
Lifebloom
or
Rejuvenation
. This effect cannot occur more than once every 12 seconds.
is now a 1-point talent, down from 2. The global cooldown reduction this talent provides to
Rejuvenation
remains 0.5 seconds.
Mastery: Harmony
: heal-over-time spells (
Rejuvenation
,
Regrowth
,
Lifebloom
) can no longer benefit from this Mastery merely by refreshing themselves. A different heal-over-time spell must be present.
Glyphs
Charred Glyph
now reduces the cooldown on
by 10 seconds after using
up from 5 seconds.
Glyph of the Treant
(new) allows druids to keep the original treant
Incarnation: Tree of Life
look... if they must. Must they?
Bug Fixes
now refreshes Rip to the correct value.
Travel Form
now properly appears in the trainer window before
Expert Riding
is learned.
Hunter
Forums
|
Talent Calculator
All special attacks based on weapon damage (except
) are now normalized.
Scare Beast
is now available at level 36, up from level 14, and has had its training cost updated.
Deterrence
is now available at level 78, up from level 36, and has had its training cost updated.
Disengage
is now available at level 14, down from level 78, and has had its training cost updated.
Glyphs
The level requirements for glyphs that affect
Scare Beast
],
Deterrence
, and
Disengage
have been altered to correspond with the level changes of these abilities.
Bug Fixes
The
Core Hound
pet ability
Ancient Hysteria
now places its own unique debuff on affected players that has the same effect as
Sated
and
Exhaustion
.
Certain pets should no longer forget how to Dash.
Mage
Forums
|
Talent Calculator
Arcane Blast
now increases damage of the next Arcane Blast by 10% per stack, down from 20%, reduces cast time by 0.1 seconds per stack, and increases the mana cost by 150%, down from 175%. In addition, the base cast time of Arcane Blast has been lowered to 2.35 seconds.
Arcane Explosion
now costs 15% of base mana, down from 18%.
Arcane Missiles
damage has been increased by 5%.
PvP set 4-piece bonus changed to increase damage by 5% instead of providing 5% haste.
Arcane
Arcane Barrage
damage has been increased by 5% and its cooldown is now 4 seconds, down from 5 seconds.
: Now has a much higher chance (13/27/40%) of entering a Clearcasting state. This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds. The tooltip still states that there is a 3/6/10% chance, as it averages out to approximately the same chance with the internal cooldown applied.
again increases arcane damage by 25%.
Fire
no longer dispels movement slowing effects (it still dispels effects that totally stop movement).
again increases periodic fire damage effects by 25%.
now also causes
to dispel movement slowing effects in addition to its current functionality.
Frost
: the cooldown on this ability is no longer reduced by Haste.
now reduces
Frostbolt
cast time by 0.3/0.6 seconds, down from 0.35/0.70 seconds.
proc chance is now 7/14/20%, down from 10/20/30%.
again increases all damage against frozen targets by 25%.
is now triggered by any damage which causes the mage's health to be below 50%, even if the mage was already below 50%.
Shatter
now also increases
Frostbolt
damage by 10/20% against frozen targets.
duration is now 2/4 seconds, down from 3/6 seconds.
Glyphs
Charred Glyph
now heals for 40%, down from 60%.
Charred Glyph
now increases damage done by
by 20% (no longer increases
Frostbolt
damage against Deep Frozen targets).
Bug Fixes
now correctly shares diminishing returns with controlled stuns.
Paladin
Forums | Talent Calculator
damage has been increased by approximately 50%.
now has reduced effectiveness on targets over 8 yards away from the paladin.
: periodic damage from
reduced by 25%.
Holy
Beacon of Light
now lasts 5 minutes, up from 60 seconds.
Item - Paladin Pvp Set Retribution 4P Bonus
: the effects of this talent cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds, up from every 2 seconds.
absorb shield now absorbs 10% of the total amount healed, up from 8%. Each point of Mastery increases the effect by an additional 1.25%, up from 1%.
Light of Dawn
has been redesigned. It no longer has an enforced cooldown, now costs Holy Power instead of mana, and scale in direct proportion to the amount of Holy Power used. In addition it now heals the 5 most injured group targets (including self) in a 30-yard frontal cone.
no longer triggers from self-heals.
Protection
Mastery: Divine Bulwark
now grants 2.25% less block chance per point of Mastery, up from 2%.
Sacred Shield
no longer increases chance to block. Instead, it increases the amount blocked by an additional 10%, for a total of 40% damage blocked.
Shield of the Righteous
: Contribution of attack power halved (now 60% with full Holy Power) and base damage brought up so that a level 85 paladin in Heroic dungeon gear deals the same damage with no
, but Vengeance has less impact.
Shield of the Templar
now reduces the cooldown of
by 40/80/120 seconds, down from 1/2/3 minutes.
now increases
Crusader Strike
and
Judgment
damage by 50/100%, up from 30/60%.
Retribution
now also has a proc on kill to increase the healing done by the paladin's next
by 100/200/300% for 15 seconds, in addition to its current effects.
Divine Storm
: This ability has been redesigned. It no longer consumes Holy Power and instead costs 5% of base mana. It shares a cooldown with
Crusader Strike
and hits all nearby enemies for 60% weapon damage.
Pursuit of Justice
now has an 8-second internal cooldown, shared with
Item - Paladin Pvp Set Retribution 4P Bonus
.
no longer initiates Auto Attack.
now also causes Divine Storm's cooldown to be reduced by Haste effects.
no longer consumes 3 Holy Power, but still requires 3 Holy Power to use.
Glyphs
Charred Glyph
now makes Beacon of Light free, instead of increasing the duration by 30 seconds.
Charred Glyph
has been redesigned. It now grants the paladin 10% of maximum mana upon use.
Charred Glyph
now increases the total number of most injured targets healed by 1.
Priest
Forums
|
Talent Calculator
Binding Heal
now provides roughly double the amount of healing.
Prayer of Healing
has had its mana cost reduced by nearly 30% and its base points and Spell Power coefficient increased by 20%.
Discipline
Divine Aegis
is now always triggered by
Prayer of Healing
in addition to critical heals from all other spells.
has been increased to 4/8% stacking 3 times, up from 2/4% stacking.
now works with
Binding Heal
, but no longer works with
Holy Word: Serenity
.
Power Word: Barrier
has been redesigned. It no longer acts as a shared absorb shield. Instead, all affected friendly targets take 30% reduced damage for the duration of the shield, which is now 10 seconds, down from 25 seconds.
Shadow
: redesigned slightly. The Shadow Orbs continue to increase damage done by
Mind Blast
and
Mind Spike
and stack up to 3 times, but now when the priest casts Mind Blast or Mind Spike (consuming the orbs), the priest gains a 15-second duration buff (Empowered Shadow), which increases the damage done by all Shadow periodic spells. Empowered Shadow does not stack. Mastery increases the damage bonus of Shadow Orbs and Empowered Shadow by the same amount, 10% with the base 8 Mastery, and an additional 1.25% per Mastery.
Vampiric Embrace
healing to the caster has been reduced to 6%, down from 12% (there was a tooltip error which stated that the self-healing amount was 15%). Party members still receive 3% healing.
Bug Fixes
Dark Archangel
now correctly increases the damage done of certain abilities by 4%.
Rogue
Forums
|
Talent Calculatorā
Empty Poison Vial
base damage and attack power coefficient have been increased by 30%.
now restores 2% of maximum health, down from 3%.
Venomous Wounds
base damage and attack power coefficient have been increased by 30%.
Combat
now increases damage of
Sinister Strike
,
Backstab
, and
Dispatch
by 7/14/20%, up from 5/10/15%.
now gives 10/20/30% increased damage as the rogue gains greater insight, up from 5/10/15%.
Subtlety
Mastery: Executioner
no longer affects
.
Bug Fixes
now applies more consistently to all of the abilities it's supposed to modify.
Player guardians and temporary pets now stop attacking when a rogue uses
Vanish
, but city guards will not.
Shaman
Forums
|
Talent Calculator
Chain Heal
mana cost increased from 17% to 20% of base mana.
now only has 25% of its full chance to proc from a single hop of Chain Heal.
Elemental
now also increases
Searing Totem
range by 7/15 yards.
now has a Spell Alert visual associated with it, which appears when the shaman gets to 9
charges.
Warlock
Forums
|
Talent Calculator
Agony
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Doom
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Corruption
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Mortal Coil
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Immolate
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Incinerate
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Rain of Fire
damage has been increased to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Seed of Corruption
damage has been reduced to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
Shadow Bolt
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Soul Fire
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%
.
Demonology
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Destruction
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Conflagrate
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Shadowburn
damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Bug Fixes
: The
version of this was charging 17% of base mana instead of 12% like the normal version. This has been corrected.
Warrior
Forums
| Talent Calculator
Cleave
damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
Execute
damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
Overpower
now does 125% weapon damage, down from 150%.
Rend
base damage has been reduced by approximately 17% and percent of weapon damage per tick lowered to 25%, from 30%.
Shield Block
now only increases block chance by 25%, but excess block that pushes avoidance plus block to over 100% is now converted to critical block chance.
Slam
now costs 15 rage, down from 20, and now does 125% weapon damage, down from 150%.
Victory Rush
damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
Whirlwind
now does 65% weapon damage, down from 75%.
Arms
Mortal Strike
now does 150% weapon damage, down from 185%.
Second Wind
now heals for 2/5% of total health, down from 5/10%.
now does 100% weapon damage, down from 115%.
Fury
now heals for 1/2/3% of total health, down from 2.5/5/7.5%.
Bloodthirst
damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
Raging Blow
now does 110% weapon damage, down from 150%.
Mastery: Unshackled Fury
now gains approximately 50% more benefit per point of Mastery.
Protection
Mastery: Critical Block
now grants an equal amount of block chance and critical block chance (1.5% each per point of Mastery).
Devastate
no longer provides bonus threat.
Shield Slam
: Contribution of attack power reduced to 60%, down from 75%, and base damage brought up so that a level 85 warrior in Heroic dungeon gear deals the same damage with no
, but Vengeance has less impact. In addition, Shield Slam no longer generates 30% bonus threat from its damage.
no longer provides 3% damage reduction, but still refreshes
Taunt
and provides
.
Glyphs
Charred Glyph
increases the healing received from Bloodthirst by 40%, down from 100%.
Charred Glyph
no longer causes targets to flee slowly, but roots them instead.
Charred Glyph
increases damage reduction to 60%, but increases the cooldown from 2 minutes to 4 minutes (talented).
Bug Fixes
should once again proc on every other tick of
Rend
.
Miscellaneous
Achievements
The Gladiator reward mounts now award
Master Riding
.
/
What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been
now awards Master Riding.
Items
Mysterious Egg
now takes only 3 days to turn into a
Cracked Egg
and has a slightly greater chance of awarding the
Reins of the Green Proto-Drake
PvP set bonuses now provide 70 of stats such as Agility, Intellect, and Strength (down from 100) at 2 pieces, and 180 of these stats (down from 300) at 4 pieces.
Professions
Perfect Gem Cutting
and
Mixology
have been removed as trainable skills and are instead passives profession abilities. When players reach the appropriate skill levels, they will start getting bonuses from Mixology (they must know the recipe to gain the benefit) and/or cutting perfect gems (depending on their profession, of course).
Alchemy
Alchemy recipes now require
Crystal Vial
. Deathwing broke all the others because he's mean (or because he didn't want alchemists to carry 5 different vials around with them).
Engineering
The Engineering Tinkering enchants will no longer provide their bonus stats, but the activated effects will stack with other enchants. In 4.0.1 the stats were there (but hidden) and are now removed.
Bug Fixes
Several epic gem transmutes that were missing from the trainer have been added back.
Bug Fixes
Certain area-of-effect abilities are no longer ignoring the area-of-effect damage cap.
Mobs and NPCs should no longer appear to randomly gain or lose health during combat.
Re-summoning pets in Battlegrounds should no longer count towards a player's total healing done.
Known Issues
Some tooltips may not reflect the most recent changes to certain abilities.
Worgen hunters are currently unable to learn Dual Wield.
The achievement
will not be possible to complete upon release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.