Patch 1.16.1

Patch 1.16.1 was released on July 24, 2022.

General

 * The debuff limit increased from 16 to 24 which will be displayed by our custom addon. Changes have been made to accomodate addons that change the interface.
 * The game can now use up to 4GB of RAM by default, this should fix most if not all memory exception crashes.
 * Increased nameplate (Shift-V) distance from 20 to 40 yards.
 * Increased amount of sound channels by default. This should reduce issues with stuttering and overlapping soundtracks in busy zones.
 * Sound can now play while the user is alt-tabbed from the game.
 * Added grass ground clutter to Tirisfal Uplands, Gilijim, and Lapidis Isles, it should look much prettier now.
 * Transmog Coins can now drop from the endgame dungeon's last bosses, with more dropping from UBRS and custom dungeons.
 * The "UNSPECIFIED TAXI ERROR" issues have been fixed and the locked flight paths are available to use once again.
 * Maps have been updated to reflect the additions to the world, you can see the additions in the New Content section below.
 * Sounds for custom mounts have been corrected.
 * New ranks of Smite, Wrath, and Shred have been added as books to various vanilla endgame dungeons.
 * Fixed issues with weird empty tabs and being in combat with an invisible faction for the Alliance in the reputation tab.
 * Fixed double fanfare on quest completion.
 * Fixed looping spell effects and sound effects like crying and water splashes.
 * Added a new intro soundtrack for Crescent Grove.
 * Fixed Crescent Grove and Stormwind Vault not showing up correctly on the /who menu.
 * Rank 2+ of Holy Strike can now be learned from the trainer. The librarian has been fired by the result of this.

Playable Race Improvements

 * Goblins and High Elves now have custom voice-acted error lines and emotes.
 * Goblin females should no longer make male gnome sounds.
 * High Elf females can now properly sit in chairs and on stools.
 * High Elf females mounting point being slightly shifted to the right has been fixed.
 * High Elf females no longer do a flip on all jumps and only have a chance to do so.
 * High Elves can now properly talk in Thassalian.
 * High Elf Warriors can now properly learn Two-Handed Maces from the Ironforge weapon trainer.
 * High Elves can now add facial hair and earrings for further customization to males and females respectively.

New Original Soundtracks

 * Hateforge Quarry Zone Music and Ambience
 * Scarlet Citadel Main Theme
 * Scarlet Citadel Zone Music and Ambience
 * Crescent Grove Zone Music and Ambience

Survival

 * The page works properly now and now has a custom icon made by the team.
 * Placeable objects are now given as a unique item that places the object when used and triggers a cooldown that's visible on the profession page similar to Mooncloth and Arcanite Bar.
 * New lantern recipes and Murloc's Flippers are being added to make the grind feel better than just making torches and campfires.
 * Added 1 Silver sell price to Black Diamond.

New Achievement Titles

 * The Cartographer title has been added for those that are bold and adventurous enough to discover all locations in both continents of Azeroth.

New Dungeons, Zones & Quests
The content side of this patch includes over 140 new quests, most in the new locations listed below, and a few are hidden around the world for you to discover.


 * New Dungeon — Hateforge Quarry | Size: 5 Man | Level: 48 - 60 | Difficulty: Early BRD | Expected Clear Time: 2 - 2.5 Hours. Hidden away at the southeastern walls of the Burning Steppes, the Hateforge Quarry is the Dark Iron dwarves' newest effort to find of a new weapon to use against their adversaries. The innocent looking the quarry hides an insidious cavern, where the Shadowforge dwarves plot new schemes against all those that oppose them. Their plans cannot be allowed to come to fruition.


 * New town — Karfang Hold | Made aware of their position as puppets to the dragons of the upper spires, Karfang and other wiser Blackrock orcs have ventured northeast of the Burning Steppes to establish what is now known as Karfang Hold. Seeking the aid of the New Horde, they have opened their doors to adventurers and allies. Quests in this hub will require you to scrounge up vital resources for survival, clean up traces of the Orcs' departure and the resulting betrayal of the Old Horde to prevent an all-out attack from the Blackrock Mountain, and aid them as they strive to solidify themselves as part of the New Horde.


 * New town — Sandmoon Village | Only accessible via a hidden path from Tanaris, Sandmoon Village serves as a hidden home to a small sect of Sandfury trolls. Less bloodthirsty than the rest of their kind and aware of the corruption growing behind the walls of Zul'Farrak, they've established this village to separate themselves from them, and in requirement of aid from the Horde for survival in the cliffs of the scorching desert.


 * New location — Redcloud Roost | Found atop a spire at the Red Cloud Mesa, it's here where fledgling wyverns are given the training needed to transport passengers around Kalimdor. Perhaps you can train a fledgling of your own?


 * New location — Suntail Pass | Located in the northeastern corner of Mulgore, this pass serves as a place of pilgrimage to a few spirit walkers dedicated to honoring their ancestors and as a passage between Mulgore and the Barrens, allowing a safer trip to the Crossroads for young Tauren adventurers looking to make their place in the world. This location also serves as a small quest hub to clear the Bristleback Quilboar presence found east of the pass.

Zone Revamps

 * New quest hub in Arathi Highlands | Placed outside the western walls of Stromgarde Keep, Livingstone Croft serves as the home of the Livingstone family. You can do some simple tasks such as clearing raptors and spiders near the farm to stop them from pestering the crops and getting a new power core for their harvester golem 'Chaser'.


 * New quest hub in Arathi Highlands | Start of an effort to rebuild and retake Stromgarde Keep, Gallant Square is the first chapter of this effort as the first repaired section of the city, though this might not last long as threats loom in the very place they reside. With your aid in cleaning out the troubles in Arathi Highlands, they might be able to expand their endeavors and keep rebuilding the city to its former glory.


 * New quest chain in Westfall | With the discovery of an Animation Core from the broken remains of a harvest watcher, you might be able to find out who made all these golems and further deteriorated the already bad situation these lands are in now.


 * New Quest Chain in Westfall | Upon your travels on the roads of Westfall you've encountered a rundown church, with the sign "THE WESTFALL CHURCH IS NOW CLOSED". Perhaps you can find out what happened to this place?


 * New Quest Chain in Westfall | Hidden book on an island, uncover the past of the ghost of the lighthouse.


 * New Quest Chain in Blasted Lands | Nethergarde Keep is expanding its efforts on tackling the troubles of Blasted Lands, whether it be orcs, cultists, demons, or the trogg infestation that started in the keep's mines. There also have been reports of fluctuations in the energy emanating from the Dark Portal which must be investigated further.


 * New Quest Chain in Blasted Lands | A group of scouts has been sent on an expedition to the Blasted Lands from Stonard in hopes of collecting more information and scouting ahead for possible threats that may put Stonard at risk, but it's been weeks since anything has been heard from them. It is up to you to find out what happened to them.


 * New Quest Chain in Dustwallow Marsh | As a port town Theramore is not one stranger to troubles of the sea and the marsh. Even though their forces are mighty they cannot afford to split their forces so that's where you come in, everyone could use a hand in this mucky marsh, even the lighthouse keeper and 'Swamp Eye' Jarl.


 * New Quest Chain in Dustwallow Marsh | Tharg in Brackenwall Village, Tharg wants you for help to beat puny raptor to get revenge on Thang's stick, and beat dragons to save the old village. Tharg wants to go home.

Itemization Changes: New Sets, Recipes and more!
We're of course getting new items with quest rewards, new crafting recipes, drops, new set bonuses, and much more. We're also revamped quite a bit of underwhelming raid items for them to be more viable to use.

New Reputation rewards

 * Added a level 25 Sentinel armor set and level 40 Sentinel Glaive to the Darnassus Reputation Quartermaster as a parallel to the Thunder Bluff Reputation rewards.
 * Added powerful blues and even epics for the Dalaran reputation, show your mastery to the magi of the shielded city. No reputation farming method has been added yet.

New Recipes | Blacksmithing

 * Plans: Hateforge Cuirass
 * Plans: Hateforge Helmet
 * Plans: Hateforge Leggings
 * Plans: Hateforge Belt
 * Plans: Hateforge Grips
 * Plans: Hateforge Boots
 * Plans: Bloodletter Razor
 * Plans: Pauldron of Deflection
 * Plans: Dream's Herald
 * Plans: Frostbound Slasher

New Recipes | Leatherworking

 * Pattern: Red Dragonscale Boots
 * Pattern: Red Dragonscale Shoulders
 * Pattern: Red Dragonscale Leggings
 * Pattern: Shadowskin Boots
 * Pattern: Dragonscale Leggings
 * Pattern: Stormscale Leggings
 * Pattern: Verdant Dreamer's Breastplate

New Recipes | Tailoring

 * Pattern: Robe of Sacrifice

Raid Item Adjustments | Molten Core

 * Increased the proc chance of Shadowstrike and Thunderstrike from 1 proc per minute to 1.5 procs per minute.
 * Increased Health Regen of Sash of Whispered Secrets from 6 to 10 every 5 seconds.
 * Removed 11 Spirit from Seal of the Archmagus and added 13 Spellpower instead.
 * Removed 10 Spirit from Band of Sulfuras and added 12 Spellpower instead.
 * Added 69 Holy Spellpower to Benediction.

Raid Item Adjustments | Onyxia's Lair

 * Removed Spirit from Dragonslayer's Signet, reduced Intellect and Stamina from 12 to 8, and added 18 Spellpower.
 * Reduced all resistances of Ring of Binding from 10 to 5, Increased Defense from 4 to 6, Increased Armor from 60 to 100, and added 16 Stamina.

Raid Item Adjustments | Blackwing Lair

 * Increased the fire delay of Dragonbreath Hand Cannon from 2.6 seconds to 3.1 seconds, the damage values have been increased accordingly to keep the DPS the same.
 * Added 5% Mana regeneration in combat to Gloves of Rapid Evolution.
 * Removed 17 Spirit from Black Ash Robe and added 20 Spellpower instead.
 * Replaced 17 Spirit of Herald of Woe with Agility.
 * Replaced 15 Spirit of Primalist's Linked Waistguard with 15 Agility, also added 1% Haste.
 * Removed spirit from Girdle of the Fallen Crusader, increased Agility from 10 to 16 and Stamina from 15 to 17. Also added 1% haste.
 * Removed spirit from Primalist's Linked Legguards and added 13 Spellpower instead, also increased Stamina and Intellect from 22 to 23.
 * Removed spirit from Angelista's Grasp and added 11 Spellpower instead.
 * Removed spirit from Therazane's Link and increased Intellect from 12 to 14, increased Stamina from 22 to 24 and added 1% Haste.

Raid Item Adjustments | Temple of Ahn'Qiraj

 * Added two new items to Ouro's loot table: Wormhide Boots | Wormscale Stompers
 * All drop chances will stay equal.
 * Reduced stamina of Gloves of the Redeemed Prophecy from 20 to 16 and Intellect from 20 to 10, added 12 Agility and replaced 37 Healing Power with 20 Spellpower
 * Reduced intellect of Gloves of the Fallen Prophet from 20 to 15, replaced 44 Healing Power with 23 Spellpower. Gloves of the Fallen Prophet will be added to the same trash loot tables as the Gloves of the Redeemed Prophecy as the shaman counterpart of their Prophecy set.
 * Increased spell power of Scaled Leggings of Qiraji Fury from 36 to 39.
 * Replaced 10 Spirit of Gauntlets of the Righteous Champion with Agility.
 * Replaced 10 Spirit of Gauntlets of Kalimdor with Agility.
 * Replaced 1% Parry on Thick Qirajihide Belt with 1% Dodge, Increased Strength from 10 to 13 and Agility from 15 to 18.
 * Increased the fire delay of Blessed Qiraji Musket from 2.6 seconds to 3.1 seconds, the damage values have been increased accordingly to keep the DPS the same.
 * Swapped around the stats of Mantle of the Desert Crusade and renamed to Mantle of the Redeemed Prophecy: Intellect: 20 to 6 | Stamina: 17 to 20 | Strength: 10 to 17 | Agility: 6 to 10 | Swapped 44 Healing Power for 23 | Spellpower and 21 Healing Power
 * Reduced intellect of Mantle of the Desert's Fury from 20 to 15, Increased Strength from 6 to 9, and added 9 Agility. Renamed to Mantle of the Fallen Prophet and got a new model.

Raid Item Adjustments | Naxxramas

 * Digested Hand of Power: Reduced Intellect from 14 to 8, Reduced Stamina from 10 to 6, Increased MP5 from 10 to 12.
 * Pendant of Forgotten Names: Reduced Intellect and Spirit from 16 to 13, Increased MP5 from 7 to 10.
 * In addition to these changes all but the Tier 3 paladin tier sets are getting a major glow up.

Raid Item Adjustments | Zul'Gurub Set (Zandalar Freethinker)

 * Replaced spirit with agility on all tier pieces.
 * Replaced Holy Light cast time reduction at 3 set with "Inflicts 60 to 67 additional Holy damage on the target of a Paladin's Judgement."
 * Zandalar Freethinker's Bindings: Replaced 11 Healing Power with 6 Spellpower and 6 Healing Power.
 * Zandalar Freethinker's Belt: Replaced 26 Healing Power with 12 Spellpower and 14 Healing Power.
 * Added Zandalar Signet of Tenacity that applies 14 Stamina to your shoulders, bought for 15 tokens at exalted with Zandalar Tribe.

Raid Item Adjustments | Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj Set (Battlegear of Eternal Justice)

 * Blade of Eternal Justice: Increased attack speed from 2.30 seconds to 1.9 seconds, damage has been lowered due to this change. Removed 9 Strength, increased Intellect from 7 to 8, Increased Stamina from 11 to 16, Changed 3 MP5 to 40 Spellpower and 1% Dodge. DPS has been lowered to 41.6 to accommodate for the spell power gained.
 * Cape of Eternal Justice: Replaced 5 Mana Regen with 14 Spellpower.

Raid Item Adjustments | Tier 1 (Lawbringer)

 * Replaced spirit with agility on all tier pieces.
 * Lawbringer Belt, Boots, Gauntlets, and Spaulders: Replaced 18 Healing Power with 11 Spellpower and 7 Healing Power.
 * Lawbringer Chestguard, Helm, and Legplates: Replaced 22 Healing Power with 13 Spellpower and 8 Healing Power.

Raid Item Adjustments | Tier 2 (Judgement)

 * Replaced spirit with agility on all tier pieces.
 * Replaced extra holy damage on judgment 8 set bonus with "20% chance to deal 300 additional Holy damage whenever you cause a critical hit in melee."
 * Judgement Breastplate: Removed 10 Fire Resistance and increased Agility from 5 to 11.
 * Judgement Crown: Removed 10 Frost Resistance and increased Agility from 6 to 12.
 * Judgement Legplates: Removed 10 Arcane Resistance and increased Agility from 5 to 11.

Raid Item Adjustments | Temple of Ahn'Qiraj Set (Tier 2.5) (Avenger)

 * Removed spirit and redistributed the stats on agility and stamina.
 * Avenger's Pauldrons: Increased Agility from 14 to 15 and Stamina from 15 to 16
 * Avenger's Greaves: Increased Agility from 13 to 14 and Stamina from 18 to 19
 * Avenger's Crown: Increased Agility from 12 to 16 and Stamina from 22 to 23
 * Avenger's Legguards: Increased Agility from 12 to 17 and Stamina from 22 to 23
 * Avenger's Breastplate: Increased Agility from 12 to 17, Stamina from 24 to 25 and replaced 1% Spell Crit with 1% Physical Hit.

New Item Set | Red Dragon Mail (4)

 * (2) Set: +12 Fire Resistance
 * (3) Set: +26 Healing Power
 * (4) Set: Your direct healing spells have a chance to place a heal over time on your target, healing 240 over 12 sec.

New Item Set | Incendosaur Skin Armor (3)

 * (2) Set: Adds 2 fire damage to your melee atacks
 * (3) Set: 5% chance of dealing 15 to 26 Fire damage on a successful melee attack

New Item Set | Hateforge Armor (6)

 * (2) Set: +20 Attack Power
 * (4) Set: +100 Armor Penetration
 * (6) Set: +2% Haste

New Item Set | Living Armor (3)

 * (2) Set: +24 Healing Power
 * (3) Set: Allows 10% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting

New Item Set | Bloody Gladiator's Regalia (8)
Full cloth armor set accessible with Blood Ring reputation.
 * (2) Set: +20 Stamina
 * (4) Set: +20 Spell Penetration
 * (6) Set: +23 Spellpower
 * (8) Set: +2% Spell Critical Chance

New Item Set | Bloody Gladiator's Vestments (8)
Full leather armor set accessible with Blood Ring reputation.
 * (2) Set: +20 Stamina
 * (4) Set: +100 Armor Penetration
 * (6) Set: +40 Attack Power
 * (8) Set: +2% Physical Critical Chance

New Item Set | Bloody Gladiator's Pursuit (8)
Full mail armor set accessible with Blood Ring reputation.
 * (2) Set: +20 Stamina.
 * (4) Set: %2 Haste and +10 Spell Penetration
 * (6) Set: +20 Attack Power and +13 Spellpower
 * (8) Set: +1% Physical and Spell Critical Chance

New Item Set | Bloody Gladiator's Battlegear (8)
Full plate armor set accessible with Blood Ring reputation.
 * (2) Set: +20 Stamina.
 * (4) Set: +100 Armor Penetration
 * (6) Set: +40 Attack Power
 * (8) Set: +2% Physical Critical Chance

New Item Set | Warbear Armor (2)

 * (2) Set: +1% Physical Critical and Dodge Chance

New Item Set | Dragon Mail (3)

 * (2) Set: +10 Stamina
 * (3) Set: +100 Armor Penetration

New Item Set | Redemption of the Prophecy and Fall of the Prophet (2)

 * (2) Set: +14 Spellpower
 * (3) Set: +2% Haste and +12 Defense

Misc. old set fixes
We've touched upon some below level 60 armor sets to make them more worthwhile to wear on your adventures while keeping their original flavor.

Embrace of the Viper (WC Set)
 * 2 Set: 7 Nature Spellpower -> 14 Nature SP
 * 3 Set: +2 Staves -> 1% Attack Speed
 * 4 Set: Healing Power 11 -> 22
 * 5 Set: 10 Intellect -> 15 Intellect

Defias Leather (DM Set)
 * 2 Set: 10 Armor -> 30 Armor
 * 3 Set: 5 Arcane Resistance -> 10 AR
 * 4 Set: Daggers +1 -> Daggers +3
 * 5 Set: 10 Attack Power -> 20 AP

Chain of the Scarlet Crusade (SM Set)
 * 2 Set: 10 Armor -> 50 Armor
 * 3 Set: 1 Defense -> 4 Defense
 * 4 Set: 5 Shadow Resistance -> 10 SR
 * 5 Set: 15 Attack Power vs Undead -> 30 AP vs Undead

Shard of the Gods (Onyxia + Ragnaros Set) This has been added due to the fact nobody ever wears the 16 health regeneration trinket from Ragnaros (for good reason), this should incentivize wearing them together as they give half their bonuses as extra when used in tandem in addition to the original +10 all resistances bonus.
 * +2 Set: 8 MP5
 * +2 Set: 8 HP5

Ironweave Battlesuit (Various high-level dungeons + T0.5 questline summoned bosses)
 * +4 Set: +15 Stamina
 * +6 Set: 1% Dodge and 1% Spell Hit
 * 8 Set: +200 Armor -> +300 Armor
 * Old 4 Set: 10% Silence and Interrupt resist -> New 2 Set

The Gladiator (Blackrock Depths arena boss drops)
 * 2 Set: 20 Armor -> 100 Armor
 * 3 Set: 2 Defense -> 6 Defense
 * 4 Set: 10 Attack Power -> 30 AP
 * 5 Set: 1% Crit -> 2% Crit

The Postmaster (Stratholme all mailbox opening summoned boss)
 * 4 Set: 12 Spellpower -> 18 Spellpower
 * 5 Set: 10 Intellect -> 20 Intellect

Abyssal Council | High Council Bosses Changes
High Council bosses will now always drop a random enchantment blue item and an epic item whenever killed instead of only one item that was randomly a blue or epic, practically doubling the number of items dropped. Old items have seen some slight buffs to make them more worthwhile:
 * Elemental Focus Band: Increased spell power from 22 to 24
 * Earthern Guard: Armor buffed from 2468 to 2575, Block buffed from 44 to 47, added 1% Block chance.
 * Windshear Cape: Increased Strength from 8 to 10, added 1% Haste.

Four new epics have been added to the High Council loot tables, one for each boss. Drop chance is equal to the old epic drops, being a 50% chance for both in the same loot table.
 * Skaldrenox's Rage: A flaming polearm that has a chance to blast your opponent for 205 to 245 Fire damage. 64.6 DPS
 * Tempest's Rage: A stormy one-handed sword that has a chance to increase your attack speed by 15% for 20 seconds. 49.7 DPS
 * Pearl of the Tides: A misty trinket that increases spell power by 32 and mana regen by 6 every 5 seconds.
 * Blackstone Crown: A stone-hewn mail helmet with 473 Armor, 10 Strength, 15 Agility, 34 Stamina and 1% Dodge chance.

PvP Changes

 * Sunnyglade Valley now gives 400 Honor on the win and 120 Honor on defeat to make it more worthwhile for those that are working on rankings.
 * Blood Ring will now give 25% of the winners' reputation and honor upon a loss.
 * Blood Ring items now 2, 4, 6, and 8 set bonuses to incentivize wearing the whole set together and acquiring the reputation, more details on the Item Additions and Revamps section below.

Misc Changes

 * A lot of restrictions on Transmogrification have been lifted. A more in depth explanation on what is and what isn't possible now will come.
 * The Auction House profit fee has been removed. The Auction House deposit fee is going from 1x to 0.5x.

Druid
The vanilla design of the Druid is infamous for being pretty unfinished. Its mechanics weren’t fully realized until well into the first expansion. Because of this, there’s a lot of freedom on how to improve on the class while sticking with the “vanilla feeling.” That said, simply attempting to recreate the druid of later expansions is a cop-out, but we feel incorporating some iconic and fan-favorite abilities would be a good idea.

Balance
Natural Weapons | Now 3 Ranks (down from 5) Increases the damage you deal with physically in all forms by 3/6/10% and increases your chance to hit with melee attacks and spells by 1/2/3%.

Nature's Grace All spell criticals grace you with a blessing of nature, reducing the casting time and global cooldown of your next spell by 0.5 sec.

Moonkin Form Transforms the Druid into Moonkin Form. While in this form the armor contribution from items is increased by 360%, the Mana cost of your Balance spells reduced by 20%, and all party members within 30 yards have their spell critical chance increased by 3%. The Moonkin can only cast Balance spells, Innervate, and Remove Curse while shapeshifted.

Omen of Clarity Imbues the Druid with natural energy. Each of the Druid's melee attacks and direct damage spell casts has a chance of causing the caster to enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the Mana, Rage, or Energy cost of your next damage or healing spell or offensive ability by 100%. Lasts 30 min.

Feral
Primal Fury and Blood Frenzy have had their existing effects combined into Primal Fury: Gives you a 50/100% chance to gain an additional 5 Rage anytime you get a critical strike while in Bear and Dire Bear Form and your critical strikes from Cat Form abilities that add combo points have a 50/100% chance to add an additional combo point.

Reduced the ranks of Thick Hide from 5 ranks to 3 ranks. Increases your Armor contribution from items by 3/6/10%.

Feral Instinct reduced from 5 ranks to 3 ranks. Increasing threat caused in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 5/10/15% and reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while PRowling.

New Talent: Blood Frenzy (Row 4) | 2 Ranks Increases the duration of Tiger's Fury by 3/6 seconds and your Enrage now also instantly restores 5/10 rage. In addition, Tiger’s Fury and Enrage increases your attack speed by 6/12% for 6/12 seconds.

New Talent: Berserk (Row 5) | 6 Minute Cooldown Removes all Fear effects and increases your energy regeneration rate by 100% while in Cat form, and increases your total health by 20% while in Bear Form. After the effect ends, the health is lost. The effect lasts 20 seconds.

Restoration
Swiftmend has moved from a Row 7 to a Row 3 talent, replacing Insect Swarm.

Tranquil Spirit is no longer a prerequisite for the Row 7 major talent.

Improved Rejuvenation is now a prerequisite talent for Improved Regrowth.

Improved Enrage has been removed from the Restoration tree and has been integrated into the new talent Blood Frenzy.

Subtlety now also reduces threat generated from Balance spells. Reduces the threat generated by your Healing and Balance spells by 4/8/12/16/20%.

New Talent: Tree of Life Form (Row 7) Shapeshift into the Tree of Life. While in this form you increase healing received by 20% of your total Spirit for all party members within 30 yards, your movement speed is reduced by 20%, and you cannot cast damaging spells or Healing Touch, but the mana cost of these spells is reduced by 20%.

The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.

Hunter
Hunter’s main problem in vanilla comes down to two issues: DPS does not scale well with their gear so they tend to not be competitive in endgame stages, and their pets are particularly fragile in a raid setting, often leading to them not being used. Burning Crusade fixed these problems at the same time with pet scaling, Kill Command, and Steady Shot abilities - leading them to become massively overpowered. Avoiding this while also addressing their vanilla issues can be done by not giving them all three at once.

New Abilities
Trueshot A precise shot with a ranged weapon that strikes the target for X additional damage. (Cooldown of this ability is equal to the attack speed of your ranged weapon.) Rank 1: 10 Additional Damage, 5% Mana, Learned at Level 36 Rank 2: 20 Additional Damage, 5% Mana, Learned at Level 42 Rank 3: 30 Additional Damage, 5% Mana, Learned at Level 48 Rank 4: 40 Additional Damage, 5% Mana, Learned at Level 54 Rank 5: 50 Additional Damage, 5% Mana, Learned at Level 60

Aspect of the Wolf Learned at Level 30 | Toggled | 185 Mana Cost | The hunter takes on the aspects of a wolf, increasing melee attack power by 155 and disabling the use of ranged attacks. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.

Avoidance Learned at Level 50 | Pet Passive | Reduces the damage your pet takes from the area of effect attacks by an additional 50%.

Beast Mastery
Improved Eyes of the Beast Increases the duration of Eyes of the Beast by 30/60 seconds. While channeling this ability your tamed pet deals 15/30% additional damage and increases its focus generation by 15/30%.

Improved Aspect of the Hawk has been renamed to Improved Predator Aspects and now gives your melee attacks a 1/2/3/4/5% chance to increase melee attack speed by 30% for 12 seconds while Aspect of the Wolf is active.

Survival
New Talent: Superior Strikes Reduces the cooldown of your Raptor Strike and Mongoose Bite by 0.2/0.4/0.6/0.8/1 sec.

Monster Slaying and Humanoid Slaying have been combined into one talent called Improved Slaying which gives the damage and critical damage bonuses of both talents.

Mage
There isn’t much to improve on for the Fire and Frost mage specs in vanilla - they are tightly designed and synergize well with other mages very well. That said, Arcane falls far behind despite having an opportunity to fill its own niche and the possibility of encouraging the Elemental Mage playstyle.

Changes to Baseline Spells
Arcane Missiles: Spell Power scaling coefficient has been increased: (0.24 -> 0.286)

Arcane
Improved Arcane Explosion > Arcane Impact Increases the critical strike chance of your Arcane Explosion and Arcane Missiles spells by an additional 2/4/6%.

New Talent: Arcane Potency (Row 4) Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Arcane spells by 18/36/50%. Requires Arcane Mind as a prerequisite talent.

New Talent: Brilliance Aura (Row 5) Gives Mana regeneration to party members equal to 15% of the Mage's mana regeneration within 30 yards. Lasts 30 minutes. Requires Arcane Potency as a prerequisite talent. (Can be cast while riding a mount, just like how the Archmage did in Warcraft 3.)

Paladin
Let’s be frank - the only good thing a paladin can do in vanilla is healing. Sure, with the right setup you can do decent tanking or decent DPS, but it still doesn’t all quite come together. A lot of the potential and uniqueness to the class has always attracted people to it, but that was progressively lost over time in retail post-vanilla. We believe there is a lot of opportunities to help the Paladin perform more than just healing adequately without making them too powerful or “warrior-lite.”

Changes to Baseline Spells
Consecration is no longer a talent and is now available to all Paladins starting at level 20, its scaling coefficient has been increased (0.042 -> 0.119) and mana cost for all ranks has been reduced. Example: Rank 5 Mana Cost 565 -> 505

Judgement of Righteousness scaling coefficient has been increased: (0.5 -> 0.728)

Retribution Aura scaling coefficient has been added: (0.033)

Holy Strike cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds.

New Abilities
Crusader Strike A strike that causes X damage and increases the holy damage taken by the target by up to Y per Crusader Strike. Can be applied up to 5 times. Lasts 30 seconds. Rank 1: 25 Mana, 12 Damage, 6 Bonus Holy damage per stack Rank 2: 40 Mana, 27 Damage, 10 Bonus Holy damage per stack Rank 3: 55 Mana, 46 Damage, 15 Bonus Holy damage per stack Rank 4: 70 Mana, 69 Damage, 22 Bonus Holy damage per stack Rank 5: 90 Mana, 103 Damage, 30 Bonus Holy damage per stack Crusader Strike is not able to proc seals, damage-based procs, or refresh judgments.

Holy
Healing Light (Row 3) Increases the amount healed by your Holy Light, Flash of Light, and the effectiveness of Holy Shock spells by 4/8/12%.

Holy Shock | Rework: (Values are for Rank 3): Cooldown reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. Mana cost increased from 325 to 485. Healing Increased from 365 to 628. Damage increased from 365 to 496.

Lasting Judgements (Row 5) removed.

Protection
Redoubt and now has a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to activate off of any direct attack instead of being the victim of a critical strike.

Precision. Increases your chance to hit with melee weapons and spells by 1/2/3%.

Blessing of Kings has been moved from Row 3 of the Protection talent tree to Row 3 of the Retribution talent tree.

Shield Specialization. Increases the amount of damage absorbed by your shield by 10/20/30% and has a 33/66/100% chance to restore 2% mana when a block occurs. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.

Improved Concentration Aura has been moved from Row 4 of the Protection talent tree to Row 5 of the Holy talent tree.

New Talent: Improved Seal of Justice (Row 4). Increases the chance your Seal of Justice will stun the opponent by 22/33/67% and your Judgement of Justice has a 33/66/100% chance to taunt your target to attack you but has no effect if the target is already attacking you.

Blessing of Sanctuary has been moved from Row 5 to Row 3 in the Protection tree.

Holy Shield moved from Row 7 to Row 5.

New Talent: Ardent Defender (Row 7). When you have less than 35% health, all damage taken is reduced by 25%.

Retribution
Seal of Command moved from Row 3 to Row 5.

Sanctity Aura has been moved from Row 5 of the Retribution talent tree to Row 3 of the Holy talent tree.

Greater Blessing of Kings' Mana Cost has been adjusted: (150 Mana -> 15% Base Mana)

Improved Seal of the Crusader has been renamed to Heart of the Crusader and now also increases the holy damage bonus of Crusader Strike.

New Talent: Sanctified Command (Row 5). Gives your Seal of Command a 45/90% chance to resist dispel effects and your Judgement of Command will restore mana equal to 10/20% of the base mana cost of the Seal of Command to you and nearby party members. Requires Seal of Command as a prerequisite talent.

Priest
Shadow priests are notorious for being good, but also not. Their mana economy is horrendous and comes with several downsides other dps+caster hybrids don’t have to work around. The challenge for Shadow is to boost its utility and mana economy without increasing its power, as their damage per second is actually very good already.

Changes to Baseline Spells
Inner Fire now also gives Attack Power like in the beta versions, and Improved Inner Fire also scales this value.

Fear Ward is now a Discipline spell and can be cast in Shadowform.

Feedback mana cost has been reduced.

Holy Fire initial damage component scaling has been adjusted: (0.75 -> 0.857)

'''Divine Spirit (Row 5) is now the baseline for all Priests starting at level 30.

Lightwell (Row 7) has been made baseline and is available for all Priests starting at level 40.

New Abilities
New Passive: Improved Shadowform. | Learned at Level 60 | Passive Reduces the Mana cost of your Shadow spells by 15% and allows 15% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting while in Shadowform.

New Ability: Pain Spike | Learned at Level 60 | 15 Second Cooldown | 265 Mana Cost Causes 333 to 377 Shadow damage instantly, but the damage caused will begin healing itself over 5 seconds after landing. Requires Shadowform.

New Ability: Shadowmend | Attained via book at Level 58 | 635 Mana Cost | 30 Second Cooldown Heal the friendly target 518 to 615. This spell generates a reduced threat. Requires Shadowform.

Shadow
Improved Vampiric Touch has been renamed as Vampiric Embrace: Increases the percentage healed by Vampiric Embrace by an additional 5/10% and your Vampiric Embrace now causes all party members to also gain mana equal to 2/4% of any Shadow spell damage you deal.

Holy
Holy Nova damage component scaling has been adjusted: (0.107 -> 0.161)

New Talent: Holy Champion (Row 7) Allows you to choose another player as your holy champion, granting you several unique abilities:

Proclaim Champion | 250 Mana Cost | 10 Second Cast | 2 Hour Cooldown Proclaim the friendly target as your champion for 2 hrs. Increases armor by 230, all resistances by 10, and allows the use of various Champion spells on that target. Note: Persists through death and continues its duration and cooldown countdowns while offline. Note: Armor buff does not stack with Scroll of Protection IV

Champion’s Grace | Learned at Level 40 | 250 Mana Cost Bestow the target Champion with grace, increasing all healing done by the priest by 10%. Lasts 2 hrs.

Champion’s Bond | Learned at Level 44 | 250 Mana Cost Creates a bond between priest and Champion. When the priest takes damage up to 20 will be taken by the Champion instead. Lasts 10 min.

Empower Champion | Learned at Level 50 | 1100 Mana Cost Empower the target Champion, increasing all healing and spell damage done by up to 20 and attack power by 30. Lasts 2 hrs. Note: Does not stack effects with Greater Arcane Elixir or Juju Power/Elixir of Giants

Champion's Resolve | Learned at Level 58 | 250 Mana Cost | 5 Minute Cooldown Wards the champion against Fear. The next Fear effect used against the target will fail, using up the ward. Lasts 10 sec.

Revive Champion | 81% Base Mana Cost | 2 Second Cast Return the priest's Champion to life with 2500 health and 2600 mana. Note: Cannot be cast in combat.

Discipline
New Talent: Reflective Shields (Row 5) Causes 20% of the damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield to reflect back at the attacker. This damage causes no threat. Requires Improved Power Word: Shield as a prerequisite talent.

Rogue
Not a lot to say for Rogues. If anything, Combat being the only viable talent spec in PvE all the way to late AQ40/Naxx is unfortunate. Debuff cap limits and some new abilities to add to their toolkit without majorly changing the way the class functions is something we believe Rogue players are looking for.

New Abilities
Deadly Throw | 30 Energy | Cooldown Equal to Ranged Weapon Speed | 8 - 30 Yard Range Finishing move causes thrown weapon damage plus additional damage per combo point: 1 point: 132 - 228 damage 2 points: 216 - 312 damage 3 points: 300 -396 damage 4 points: 384 - 480 damage 5 points: 468 - 564 damage

Agitating Poison | Learned at Level 60 Coats a weapon with poison that lasts for 30 minutes. Each strike has a 20% chance of poisoning the enemy which instantly inflicts 67 to 85 Nature damage, and causes additional threat. 115 charges.

Flourish | 25 Energy | Learned at Level 42 A finishing move that increases your chance to parry by an additional 20%. Lasts longer per combo point: 1 Point : 3 Seconds 2 Points: 4 Seconds 3 Points: 5 Seconds 4 Points: 6 Seconds 5 Points: 7 Seconds

Combat
Dagger Specialization (Row 4) and Fist Weapon Specialization (Row 5) have been combined into Close Quarters Combat (Row 4): Increases your chance to get a critical strike with Daggers and Fist Weapons by 1/2/3/4/5%.

New Talent: Throwing Weapon Specialization (Row 5) Increases the range of your throwing weapons by 3/6 yards.

Subtlety
Improved Sap (Row 4) Gives you a 50/100% chance to return to stealth mode after using your Sap ability.

Shaman
Elemental and Enhancement both have struggles in PvE that can be addressed somewhat easily. Restoration is pretty solid in vanilla, but its talent tree leaves a lot to be desired - something to keep in mind for the future.

New Abilities
Calm Elements | Learned at Level 30 | 90 Mana Cost Calms the target, reducing the range at which it will attack you by 10 yards. Only affects Elemental targets level 70 or lower. Lasts 15 sec.

Water Shield | Learned at Level 60 | 15 Mana Cost The caster is surrounded by 3 globes of water. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, 83 mana is restored to the caster. This expends one water globe. Only one globe will activate every few seconds. Lasts 10 min. Only one elemental shield can be active on the Shaman at any one time.

Earth Shield | Learned at Level 60 | 300 Mana Cost The caster is surrounded by an earthen shield, giving a 30% chance of ignoring spell interruption when damaged and causing attacks to heal the shielded target by 150. This effect can only occur once every few seconds. 3 charges. Lasts 10 min. Only one elemental shield can be active on the Shaman at any one time.

Totemic Recall | Learned at Level 40 | No Mana Cost Returns your totems to the earth, giving you 25% of the mana required to cast each totem destroyed by Totemic Call.

New Shaman Racial Spells
Acquired via Class Quest at Level 40

Orc: Feral Spirit | 21% Base Mana Cost | 5 Minute Cooldown Summons two Spirit Wolves under the command of the Shaman for 20 seconds.

Tauren: Spirit Link | 21% Base Mana Cost |10 Minute Cooldown Link the spirits of an ally and their 3 closest allies within 15 yards together. When linked targets take damage, 15% is distributed among the other linked allies. Lasts 20 seconds.

Troll: Hex | 21% Base Mana Cost | 5 Minute Cooldown Transforms the enemy into a frog that cannot cast, and does 66% less damage for up to 4 seconds. Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters.

Changes to Baseline Spells
New Rank 2 of Stormstrike added, learnable at level 60. Differences from Rank 1: Cooldown is 12 seconds as opposed to the 20 seconds of Rank 1. Costs 12% of your base Mana as opposed to 21% of your base Mana with Rank 1.

Enhancement
Two-Handed Axes and Maces will be learned on character creation instead of being acquired from Row 3 of Enchancement. Existing characters will already have this skill trained.

Parry will now be learnable at Level 6 from your class trainer instead of being acquired from Row 5 of Enchancement.

New Talent: Thunderhead (Row 3). Allows your Lightning Shield to be cast on allies and reduces its mana cost by 20%. Requires Improved Lightning Shield as a prerequisite talent.

Stormstrike has been moved from Row 7 to Row 5.

New Talent: Bloodlust (Row 7) Increases melee, ranged, and spell casting speed by X0% for a party member within 30 yards. Lasts 15 sec. Rank 1 (Talent): 15% Rank 2 (Level 60): 20%

New Talent: Spirit Armor (Row 4) Increases the armor gained from Shields by 10/20/30%.

Toughness and Anticipation have been combined into one talent: Ancestral Guidance (Row 3) Increases your armor value from items by 2/4/6/8/10% and chance to dodge by an additional 1/2/3/4/5%.

Elemental
Elemental Focus (Row 3) changed: after landing a critical strike with a Fire, Frost, or Nature damage spell or melee attack, you enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next 2 damage spells by 40%.

Flame Shock initial damage increased and mana cost decreased: Example: Rank 6 Mana Cost: 450 -> 410 Initial Damage: 292 -> 309

Warlock
PvE is the only area where Warlock has an issue - they’re boring! A class with as much cool stuff in its toolkit should not have to be limited to just spamming Shadowbolt exclusively. Debuff cap discussion aside, there are definitely ways to expand on the class fantasy of the Warlock in addition to addressing its singular issue. Something to also take into consideration for the future is that the Warlock talent trees went virtually untouched through the course of development through Burning Crusade. Also, similar to the Hunter, the Warlock’s demons are too vulnerable in raid settings with large amounts of AoE damage.

Changes to Baseline Spells
Voidwalker's Torment now deals a very small amount of Shadow damage. Damage is increased by the Improved Voidwalker talent. Rank 1: 7 to 6 Rank 2: 13 to 15 Rank 3: 18 to 21 Rank 4: 26 to 30 Rank 5: 36 to 40 Rank 6: 43 to 48

New Abilities
New Ability: Mana Funnel Rank 1 (Level 40): | Transfers 18 mana from the caster to her pet every second. Rank 2 (Level 50): | Transfers 36 mana from the caster to her pet every second.

New Ability: Demon Portal | Learned via hidden Grimoire at Level 60 | 30 Minute Cooldown Opens a portal into the Twisting Nether that summons a Felguard under the command of the caster for 5 min. Once control is lost, the Felguard must be Enslaved to maintain control. Requires the caster and 2 additional party members to complete the ritual. In order to participate, all players must right-click the portal and not move until the ritual is complete.

Avoidance | Learned from Demon Trainers at Level 40 Learned at Level 50 | Pet Passive Reduces the damage your pet takes from the area of effect attacks by an additional 50%.

Affliction
Improved Drain Life and Improved Drain Mana have been combined into one talent: Soul Siphon Increases the Health drained by your Drain Life spell by 5/10% and causes 15/30% of the mana drained by your Drain Mana spell to damage the opponent.

Demonology
Improved Enslave Demon reduced to 2 ranks (down from 5). Reduces the Attack Speed and Casting Speed penalty of your Enslave Demon spell by 10/20%, reduces the resist chance by 10/20%.

Soul Link and Health Funnel will now work with enslaved demons.

Improved Healthstone, Improved Firestone, and Improved Spellstone have all been combined into one talent: Master Conjurer (Row 2). Increases the amount of Health restored by your Healthstone by 10/20% and increases the bonuses and effects of your Firestones and Spellstones by 15/30%.

Inferno cooldown reduced from 1 hour to 20 minutes and can now be cast indoors.

Fel Intellect has been reduced from 5 ranks down to 3 ranks. Increases the maximum Mana of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhound by 5/10/15%.

Fel Stamina has been reduced from 5 ranks down to 3 ranks. Increases the maximum Health of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, and Felhound by 5/10/15%.

Destruction
Intensity (Row 4). Gives you Fire spells a 70% chance to resist interruption caused by damage while casting or channeling any Destruction fire spell.

Pyroclasm (Row 5). Gives your Rain of Fire, Hellfire, Conflagrate, and Soul Fire spells a 25% chance to stun the target for 3 sec.

Warrior
Warrior in Vanilla is overpowered. Just straight up too powerful for the game. That being said, this just means that any change made to the class must down one of two things only: either optimize what doesn’t work but should for the class, or improve on suboptimal playstyles to allow for more options for the player. The changes proposed for the coming patch attempt to stick within those guidelines.

Changes to Baseline Spells
Thunderclap can now be used in Defensive Stance.

New Abilities
New Ability: Intervene | 10 Rage | 30 Second Cooldown | Requires Defensive Stance | Acquired via Book at Level 50 Run at high speed towards a party member, intercepting the next melee or ranged attack made against them. Note: Shares a cooldown with Intercept.

New Ability: Decisive Strike | 15 Rage | 2 Second Cast Focus an attack equal to Slam (Rank 4) on an opponent. Can be cast while moving and will not suffer cast time pushback when taking damage. Note: Credit to Wall (Video) of Wallcraft for his brilliant rework of Slam. Note: The cast time of Decisive Strike is reduced by Improved Slam.

New Passive: Die by the Sword | Acquired via Book at Level 58 Increases your chance to parry attacks by 20% while under the effect of Retaliation.

Arms
Improved Thunder Clap (Row 2). Reduces the cost of your Thunder Clap ability by 1/2/4 rage points and increases the damage by 20/40/60%.

Polearm Specialization (Row 6) has been combined into Axe Specialization (Row 5) and renamed Poleaxe Specialization (Row 5).

New Talent: Improved Disciplines (Row 6). Reduces the cooldown of your Retaliation, Recklessness, and Shield Wall abilities by 2/4/6 min.

Protection
Improved Shield Block has been reduced from 3 ranks down to 1 rank. Allows your Shield Block ability to block an additional attack and increases the duration by 1 second.