Since discovering Ulduar in the Storm Peaks, adventurers have journeyed to the titan city to learn more about its mysterious past. Further exploration has revealed that the magnificent complex is above all a prison, intended to permanently confine the Old God of death, Yogg-Saron. This ancient horror has corrupted its guards, and now it is breaking through the last of its restraints. Faced with the peril of Yogg-Saron's imminent freedom, a band of mortals has made preparations for a sweeping assault on the city. Overcoming the legions of iron minions and towering defenses at the city's entrance will take tremendous strength, but even that great victory may not be enough to overcome the madness that dwells below.
The Argent Tournament Begins![]
As the might of the Scourge wanes under the pressure of Azeroth's heroes, the Argent Crusade have taken a foothold in Arthas's back yard. Off the northeastern coast of Icecrown, the Argent Crusade have sounded the call for the most bold and brave adventurers of the Horde and Alliance to take part in the Argent Tournament. Representatives of all ten faction capitals, from Undercity to Exodar, have traveled to the tournament grounds to find champions among their heroes who will prepare for the inevitable battle against the enemy of all living beings, the Lich King.
In Memoriam: Dave Arneson[]
Blizzard Entertainment would like to dedicate Secrets of Ulduar in memory of Dave Arneson. We were greatly saddened by the news of Dave's passing. His work, passion, and creativity helped give life to an entirely new genre of gaming, and our fondest memories of playing Dungeons & Dragons continue to inspire us. Farewell, Dave, and thank you. You will be missed.
General[]
Due to significant talent tree revisions, all players will have their talent points reimbursed. Several new spells and abilities have been added for select classes. Players will need to visit their class trainer to learn new spells.
All Ground Mounts may now swim without dismounting the rider. Flying Mounts still may NOT, and will dismount the rider upon entering water.
The Argent Tournament, a permanent in-game event, has come to Icecrown. Players interested in taking part in this event should visit the Argent Pavilion located on the west side of the tournament grounds. Features include:
Players level 40 and higher will now be able to visit their trainer to pay a one-time fee (of 1,000) and access the dual talent specialization feature.
Applying a glyph no longer requires a Lexicon of Power. The same rules for switching between dual talent specializations now apply to switching glyphs and cannot be performed while in combat, Battlegrounds (except when Preparation is up), or Arenas (no exceptions).
New music can be heard at the Argent Tournament grounds and in Ulduar.
PvP[]
Arenas[]
Enemy Unit Frames: This feature is only available while in Arenas, with several options in the Interface Options.
Capturing the Southern Graveyard will now automatically capture both the East and West graveyards.
Seaforium Barrels can now be looted while mounted, seen from anywhere in the zone, and found at the Central Graveyard.
Teleporters can now be used while mounted and be seen from anywhere in the zone.
Lake Wintergrasp[]
Daily quests " [25-30] Slay them all!" (Horde) and " [25-30] No Mercy for the Merciless" (Alliance) have had their PvP kill requirements reduced to 10 from 20. NPCs defending the fortress and south towers now count toward these dailies as well.
The number of NPCs defending fortress has been increased.
Siege Engines now have Steam Pressure as a resource type (replaces energy).
The southern Siege Factories can be captured.
The time between battles will be saved should a realm shut down. If Wintergrasp is active when a realm shuts down, the game will restart from the beginning when the realm is once again live.
Towers in Southern Wintergrasp now have more defensive cannons.
Races[]
[Command] (Orc Racial): Applies to hunter pets, and now correctly applies to death knight pets.
[Gift of the Naaru] (Draenei Racial): The heal has been changed to an instant-cast heal-over-time.
[Stoneform] (Dwarf Racial): No longer makes you immune to poison, disease and bleed effects for 8 seconds. Instead, using Stoneform will clear those effects when cast. Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes from 3 minutes.
Classes[]
General[]
Armor Penetration Rating: All classes now receive 25% more benefit from Armor Penetration Rating.
Mana Regeneration: The amount of mana regeneration derived from intellect and spirit has been reduced by 40%; however, talents that allow for mana regeneration while in combat have been increased. As a result, in-combat regeneration for classes with those talents will stay the same, while out-of-combat regeneration will be lower.
Taunts: All player or pet-generated taunts now have a shared diminish category. In addition, Taunt-type effects from pets and from classes other than death knight, druid, paladin, and warrior have been set such that bosses can be made immune to them while still affected by death knight, druid, paladin, and warrior taunts.
Death knights[]
[Anti-Magic Shell]: The amount of damage this ability can absorb is now limited to 100% of the death knight's health.
[Plague Strike] and Blood Plague no longer remove heal-over-time effects. Plague Strike's damage increased quite a bit to compensate.
[Raise Ally] now has a cooldown greater than 15 minutes and can no longer be used in Arenas.
[Raise Dead]: Duration lowered to 60 seconds and cooldown lowered to 3 minutes. The cooldown on this ability now begins when the pet dies rather than when it is summoned.
[Blade Barrier]: Now grants 1/2/3/4/5% damage reduction instead of 2/4/6/8/10% parry.
[Blood Aura]: Replaced with [Improved Blood Presence]. This allows the death knight to keep the healing-from-damage-done bonus of [Blood Presence] in any presence, and increases healing received while in Blood Presence.
[Blood Gorged] now grants armor penetration instead of expertise.
[Bloody Strikes] The bonus damage this talent grants to Blood Boil has been reduced to 10/20/30%.
[Dancing Rune Weapon]: Damage done by, and duration of this pet is reduced by 50%, but the cooldown is reduced to 90 seconds. Attack speed of pet increased from 2.0 to 3.5.
[Spell Deflection]: This talent has been increased to 15/30/45% damage reduction from a direct damage spell.
[Sudden Doom] now procs a free Death Coil instead of requiring you to push the button. Ranks reduced from 5 to 3.
[Vampiric Blood]: Cooldown increased to 2 minutes from 1 minute.
[Will of the Necropolis]: This ability now has a 15 second cooldown on how often it can occur. No longer triggers from damage amounts less than 5% of the player’s health.
[Glacier Rot]: 3rd rank added, and damage bonus increased to 7/13/20%.
[Howling Blast]: Base damage and scaling doubled.This ability no longer deals bonus damage to targets with Frost Fever. 8-second cooldown. Swapped positions with Hungering Cold in the talent tree.
[Improved Icy Touch]: Now increases Icy Touch damage by 5/10/15% instead of by 10/20/30%.
[Lichborne]: No longer improves your chance to be missed. Now correctly grants immunity, and will break all effects to which Lichborne makes you immune.
[Rime]: When this talent triggers, it also resets the cooldown on Howling Blast.
[Tundra Stalker]: Now increases the damage on abilities by 3/6/9/12/15% instead of 2/4/6/8/10%.
[Unbreakable Armor]: Now grants damage reduction instead of physical damage reduction. Cooldown increased to 2 minutes from 1 minute.
Unholy
[Bone Shield]: Cooldown increased to 2 minutes from 1 minute.
[Desecration]: Desecration: This talent now has a 100% chance to be triggered, works with Scourge Strike, and instantly snares targets within the Desecration area. Additional points in the talent increase the damage bonus and snare magnitude instead of increasing the chance it will be triggered.
New Talent: [Ghoul Frenzy]: Grants 25% melee haste to your pet and heals it for 30% of its maximum health. Costs 1 Unholy Rune. Requires at least 30 points in the Unholy tree.
[Impurity]: This talent is reduced to 4/8/12/16/20% bonus to attack power scaling.
[Magic Suppression]: Now has 3 ranks (down from 5) for 2/4/6% magic damage reduction.
[Master of Ghouls]: Now also reduces the cooldown on Raise Dead by 60 seconds. This talent now requires at least 25 points in the Unholy tree, and has Night of the Dead as a prerequisite.
[Night of the Dead]: Redesigned to grant a flat reduction on cooldown to Raise Dead and [Army of the Dead] instead of a reduction from using abilities. Requires at least 15 points in the Unholy tree; prerequisite for Master of Ghouls.
[Outbreak]: No longer increases Blood Boil damage. Now gives a 7/13/20% damage bonus to Scourge Strike. Plague Strike Bonus lowered to 10/20/30%.
[Reaping]: Now procs on Blood Strike and Pestilence instead of Blood Strike and Blood Boil.
[Scourge Strike]: Damage increased. Bonus damage for diseases now increases damage done by a percentage rather than a flat amount.
[Lifebloom]: Mana cost of all ranks doubled. When Lifebloom blooms or is dispelled, it now refunds half the base mana cost of the spell per application of Lifebloom, and the heal effect is multiplied by the number of applications.
[Maim]: This ability is now considered a stun, and shares a diminish category with all other stuns. It no longer has a chance to break from the target taking damage. Duration lowered to 1 second per combo point.
[Pounce]: No longer affected by diminishing returns with other stuns, however, it now shares a diminishing return with [Cheap Shot] (Rogue).
[Savage Defense]: Trainable at level 40 with [Dire Bear Form] as a prerequisite. When the Druid deals a melee critical strike, they gain a physical damage shield equal to 25% of their attack power. The next hit completely consumes the shield, regardless of how much damage was done. Only active in Bear Form.
Swipe: The Bear Form and Dire Bear Form version of this ability no longer has a targeting requirement and hits targets behind the druid and to the sides.
Talents
Balance
[Celestial Focus] redesigned: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Starfire, Hibernate and Hurricane by 23/46/70% and increases your total spell haste by 1/2/3%.
[Eclipse]: The benefit to [Wrath] triggered by casting [Starfire] has been increased to 30% bonus damage.
[Insect Swarm]: The bonus damage from spell power on this damage-over-time ability has been increased significantly to match similar spells on other classes.
[Nature's Grace] redesigned: All spell critical strikes have a 33/66/100% chance to grace you with a Blessing of Nature, increasing your spell casting speed by 20% for 3 seconds.
[Owlkin Frenzy] is now properly considered an Enrage effect. Now also does not trigger from spell hits, only physical ranged and melee attacks.
[Intensity]: Now grants 17/33/50% of mana regeneration while casting.
New Talent: [Improved Barkskin]: Increases the damage reduction granted by your Barkskin spell by 5/10%, and increases your resistance to Dispel mechanics by an additional 30/60% while under the effect of Barkskin.
Tree of Life (druid ability): Now receives 240% increased armor. You can now use [Nature's Grasp] and [Thorns] while within this form. In addition, the discount on heal-over-time spells from this talent is now active at all times, whether or not the druid is in Tree of Life form. Mana cost reduced to match the cost of [Travel Form].
Hunters[]
Ammunition: All types of gun and bow ammunition now stack to 1000. All quivers and ammo pouches no longer provide haste. 15% ranged haste is now built into the hunter's [Auto Shot].
[Aspect of the Pack] is now raid wide, and radius increased from 30 yards to 40 yards.
[Call Stabled Pet]: This new ability lets the hunter remotely access the stable. 30-minute cooldown.
Cunning, Ferocity and Tenacity pets now all have +5% damage, +5% armor and +5% health bonuses. This should make more pet families feel viable, while additional talents have been added to distinguish a pet’s abilities based on its specializations.
[Frost Trap]: If the target who triggers Frost Trap is immune to its effect, the Frost Trap area effect will no longer be triggered. Now reduces speed by 50% (previously 60%).
Pets now inherit more spell hit from the hunter. Pets with magic attacks should not require a player to stack additional hit compared to pets with physical attacks.
[Viper Sting] redesigned: Stings the target, draining 4% of mana over 8 seconds (up to a maximum of 8% of the caster's maximum mana), and energizing the hunter equal to 300% of the amount drained. Only one Sting per hunter can be active on any one target.
Talents
Beast Mastery
[Animal Handler]: No longer reduces the cooldown of Master's Call, but instead increases the duration of the Master's Call effect by 3/6 seconds.
[Efficiency]: Increased to 3/6/9/12/15% up from 2/4/6/8/10%.
[Piercing Shots] redesigned: Your critical Aimed, Steady and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed for 10/20/30% of the damage dealt over 8 seconds. The damage done by this talent no longer receives modifications from effects that increase or decrease damage done by a percentage.
[Rapid Recuperation] redesigned: You gain 2/4% of your mana every 3 seconds while under the effect of Rapid Fire, and you gain 1/2% of your mana every 2 seconds for 6 seconds when you gain Rapid Killing.
[Hunting Party]: This talent has been reduced to 3 points, and now increases your total agility by an additional 1/2/3%.
[Lock and Load] redesigned: You now have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target with [Freezing Trap], [Freezing Arrow] or Frost Trap and a 2/4/6% chance when you deal periodic damage with your Immolation Trap or [Black Arrow] to cause your next 2 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo. This now has a new spell effect and sound.
New Talent: [Black Arrow]: Fires a Black Arrow at the target, increasing all damage done by you to the target by 6% and doing periodic shadow damage for 15 seconds. 30-second cooldown. Shares a cooldown with all other traps.
[T.N.T.]: Increases damage done by Explosive Shot, Immolation Trap, and Explosive Trap by 2/4/6%.
[Trap Mastery]: This talent has been moved up to tier-2, up from tier-9, and is now a 3-point talent.
Trap Mastery, [Resourcefulness] and T.N.T. now all affect Black Arrow.
[Furious Howl] (wolf special ability) now stacks with [Battle Shout] and [Blessing of Might], however, it only affects the wolf and hunter. Its effect and cooldown have been doubled so that it provides the same benefit but isn't up 100% of the time.
Gorillas now have a new family ability, [Pummel], which works like the warrior ability and has a single rank.
New Talent: [Shark Attack]: This new 2-rank talent is available to Ferocity pets. It increases pet damage.
New Talent: [Silverback]: This new 2-rank talent is available to Tenacity pets. It heals the pet when Growl is used.
[Stampede] (rhino) only affects 1 target, but adds a 25% bleed damage debuff (that does not stack with [Mangle] etc.) in addition to its knockback.
[Thunderstomp] is no longer a gorilla-specific family ability and is now available to all Tenacity pets. It has been reduced to one rank.
Turtles and Crabs now dwell in waters of and off Eversong and the Ghostlands, giving Blood Elf hunters access to local Tenacity pets.
New Talent: Wild Hunt: This new 2-rank talent is available to all 3 pet trees. Increases the contribution your pets get from your stamina by 20/40% and attack power by 10/20%.
Mages[]
[Arcane Blast] stacking effect is no longer considered a Magic effect and will not be dispelled.
[Mage Armor]: Now grants 50% of mana regeneration while casting.
[Molten Armor]: Chance to critically strike is now increased by a percentage of the mage's total spirit. 35% of spirit as crit rating (55% if you have the [Glyph of Molten Armor])
Talents
Arcane
[Arcane Meditation]: Now grants 17/33/50% of mana regeneration while casting.
Fire
Ignite: The damage done by this talent no longer receives modifications from effects that increase or decrease damage done by a percentage.
[Improved Scorch]: Increased critical strike chance is now 1%, down from 2% per application of the Improved Scorch effect. In addition, the critical strike chance of Scorch, Fireball, and Frostfire Bolt is increased by 1/2/3%.
[Pyromaniac]: Now grants 17/33/50% of mana regeneration while casting.
Frost
Improved Water Elemental: Renamed [Enduring Winter]. Instead of the Water Elemental increasing mana regeneration for the mage's party, casting Frostbolt now has a 33/66/100% chance to provide the [Replenishment] buff to up to 10 people in the mage's party or raid.
[Winter's Chill]: Increased critical strike chance is now 1%, down from 2% per application of Winter's Chill. In addition, the critical strike chance of Frostbolt is increased by 1/2/3%.
Paladins[]
Auras will now persist through death and affect a 40 yard radius.
[Blessing of Kings] is now trainable at level 20. Removed from talent trees.
[Sacred Shield]: This effect cannot be cast on more than one friendly target at a time.
[Seal of Blood]/[Seal of the Martyr]: The damage done by these two seals has been increased but the damage done by their judgements decreased. The balance is now roughly 60% from either seal and 40% from a judgement on total damage done. The total damage done should be roughly the same. Please note that the 3.0.9 tooltips had incorrect values for the damage done, but the tooltips should be much more accurate in 3.1.0.
[Spiritual Attunement]: Removed from trainers. It is now available deep in the Protection tree for 2 ranks at 5/10%.
Talents
Holy
[Aura Mastery]: Now grants anyone affected by [Concentration Aura] immunity from Interrupt and Silence mechanics, and increases the effectiveness of all other auras by 100%. Lasts 10 seconds. 2-minute cooldown.
[Blessed Hands]: Now reduces mana cost of [Hand of Freedom], Sacrifice and Salvation by 15/30%, and improves the effectiveness of Hand of Salvation by 50/100% and Hand of Sacrifice by an additional 5/10%. Moved to tier-4.
[Blessing of Sanctuary]: Now only grants mana on dodge/parry/block. In addition, will only grant mana if that is the active power type of the friendly target (Bears and Cats won't gain mana).
New Talent: [Divine Sacrifice]: Causes all party/raid members affected by one of the paladin's auras to transfer 30% of all damage taken to the paladin (maximum of 150% of the paladin's max health). Lasts 10 seconds. 2-minute cooldown.
New Talent [Divinity]: Increases healing done by and to you by 1/2/3/4/5% (tier-1).
[Holy Shield]: Base damage and scaling factor increased by 30%.
[Judgements of the Just]: Now also reduces the cooldown of Hammer of Justice by 10/20 seconds, and increases the duration of the [Seal of Justice] stun effect by .5/1 second.
[Righteous Vengeance] reduced to 3 ranks for 10/20/30%. The damage done by this talent no longer receives modifications from effects that increase or decrease damage done by a percentage. Now triggered by Crusader Strike as well.
[Sanctified Retribution]: The bonus to damage done granted by this talent now becomes active when any Aura is used, not just Retribution Aura.
[Divine Hymn] redesigned: You recite a Holy hymn, summoning the power of the Divine to assist you in your time of need. Heals 3 nearby lowest-health friendly party or raid targets for 4960-5208 every 2 seconds for 8 seconds, and increases healing done to them by 15% for 8 seconds. Maximum of 12 heals. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell. Cooldown increased to 6 minutes, up from 5.
[Hymn of Hope] redesigned: You recite a Holy hymn, restoring hope to those in despair. Restores 3% mana to 3 nearby low mana friendly party or raid targets every 2 seconds for 8 seconds, and temporarily increases their total maximum mana by 20% for 8 seconds. After the effect expires, the mana is lost. Maximum of 12 mana restorations. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell. Cooldown increased to 6 minutes, up from 5.
[Prayer of Healing]: This spell now heals the target's party, rather than being limited to just your direct party.
[Shadowfiend]: Health scaling increased. Now receives 30% of the master's spell power. Mana return increased to 5%, up from 4%. The Shadowfiend now returns mana when its melee attacks land, rather than when it deals damage. No longer has a 75% reduced chance to be hit by melee, ranged and spells. Movement speed normalized to player movement speed. Tooltip revised. New [Shadowfiend] ability, [Shadowcrawl], teleports the Shadowfiend to an enemy target and increases its damage done by 15% for 5 seconds.
Talents
Discipline
[Divine Aegis]: Divine Aegis effects will now stack, however the amount absorbed cannot exceed 125*level (of the target). It will also now take into account total healing including overhealing.
New Talent: [Improved Flash Heal]: Reduces the mana cost of your [Flash Heal] by 5/10/15%, and increases the critical effect chance of your Flash Heal by 4/7/10% on friendly targets at or below 50% health.
[Grace]: This talent no longer decreases damage done to the target, but the duration has increased to 15 seconds and the healing bonus has increased from 2% to 3%. This affect now cannot be applied to more than one target at a time.
New Talent: [Soul Warding]: Reduces the cooldown of your [Power Word: Shield] ability by 4 seconds, and reduces the mana cost of your Power Word: Shield by 30%.
[Penance]: Damage increased approximately 30%. This spell can now be cast on yourself.
[Renewed Hope]: This talent also now allows you to proc the [Renewed Hope] buff on all party/raid members every time you cast Power Word: Shield, reducing damage taken by 3%. Lasts 20 seconds.
New Talent: [Body and Soul]: 2-point talent. When you cast [Power Word: Shield], you increase the target's movement speed by 30/60% for 4 seconds, and you have a 50/100% chance when you cast [Abolish Disease] on yourself to also cleanse 1 poison effect in addition to diseases.
New Talent: [Empowered Renew]: Your [Renew] spell gains an additional 5/10/15% of your bonus healing effects, and your Renew will instantly heal the target for 5/10/15% of the total periodic effect.
[Test of Faith] - No longer increases critical effect chance of your heals, but healing done on targets lower than 50% health is increased from 2/4/6 to 4/8/12%.
[Darkness]: This talent is now in tier-1, moved up from tier-6.
[Dispersion]: Now clears all snare and movement-impairing effects and makes you immune to them while dispersed.
New Talent: [Improved Devouring Plague]: Increases the periodic damage done by your [Devouring Plague] by 5/10/15%, and when you cast Devouring Plague you instantly deal damage equal to 5/10/15% of its total periodic effect.
[Psychic Horror]: Has been redesigned and is now a 1-point talent. You terrify the target, causing them to tremble in horror for 3 seconds and drop all weapons (disarm effect: including bows) for 10 seconds. 1 minute cooldown. Instant cast. The horror effect can be dispelled, but the disarm cannot.
[Shadowform]: Now reduces all damage taken by 15%, not just physical damage. Bonus damage from critical strike chance removed and replaced by the ability of those periodic damage spells to generate critical strikes.
[Wound Poison]: Redesigned to have its chance to be applied based on the speed of the weapon (frequency-based).
Talents
Assassination
[Hunger for Blood]: No longer stacks. Damage bonus changed to 15% for a single application. Requires a bleed effect active on the rogue's target. No longer removes bleeds from the rogue. Now costs 15 energy and lasts for 60 seconds.
[Bloodlust]/[Heroism]: Cooldown reduced to 5 minutes, but Sated and Exhausted now last 10 minutes.
[Earth Elemental Totem]: The summoned Earth Elemental should now have significantly more health and slightly more armor. Now scales up in power based on the shaman's spell power instead of attack power.
[Fire Elemental Totem]: The summoned Fire Elemental should now have moderately more health and mana, and its damage scaling has been increased. In addition, the Fire Elemental's spells now cost less mana.
[Flametongue Weapon]: Bonus damage from spell power now based on weapon speed. Slower weapons will benefit more from spell power.
[Mana Spring Totem]: This totem has been redesigned. It now provides the same mana benefit as [Blessing of Wisdom] to the entire party or raid, but is exclusive with that effect.
[Earthen Power] redesigned: Your [Earthbind Totem] has a 50/100% chance to also remove all snare effects and make you and nearby friendly targets immune to them for 5 seconds when it pulses.
[Flurry]: Now provides 5/10/15/20/25% haste instead of 10/15/20/25/30%.
New Talent: [Frozen Power]: Increases the damage done by your [Lightning Bolt], [Chain Lightning], [Lava Lash] and Shock spells by 5/10% on targets afflicted by your Frostbrand Attack effect, and your [Frost Shock] has a 50/100% chance to root the target in Ice for 5 seconds when used on targets at or further than 15 yards from you.
[Spirit Weapons]: Now reduces all threat generated by 30%, not just physical attacks.
[Stormstrike] charges have been increased by 2, and cooldown reduced by 2 seconds.
[Improved Stormstrike] redesigned: When you Stormstrike, you have a 50/100% chance to immediately grant you 20% of your base mana.
[Toughness]: No longer increases your armor. Instead, this talent now increases your total stamina by 2/4/6/8/10%.
[Unleashed Rage]: Reduced to 3 points, down from 5. No longer increases agility, but instead increases your total expertise by 3/6/9%.
Elemental
New Talent: [Booming Echoes]: Reduces the cooldown of your [Flame Shock] and Frost Shock spells by an additional 1/2 seconds, and increases the direct damage done by your Flame Shock and Frost Shock spells by an additional 10/20%.
[Elemental Mastery] redesigned: When activated, your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning or Lava Burst spell becomes an instant cast spell. In addition, your Fire, Frost and Nature damage spells have a 15% increased critical strike chance for 15 seconds. Elemental Mastery now shares a cooldown with Nature's Swiftness.
[Elemental Reach]: Now also increases the range of your Flame Shock spell by 5/10/15 yards.
[Lava Flows]: No longer increases the range of your Flame Shock spell, but now increases your casting speed by 10/20/30% when your Flame Shock spell is dispelled for 6 seconds.
[Storm, Earth and Fire]: No longer increases the range of your [Earth Shock] or Wind Shock spells, but now also causes your Earthbind Totem to have a 33/66/100% chance to root all nearby enemies for 5 seconds when initially cast.
[Restorative Totems]: Reduced to 3 points, down from 5. Increases the effect of your Mana Spring Totem by 7/12/20%, and increases the amount healed by your Healing Stream Totem by 15/30/45%.
[Drain Soul]: Each time Drain Soul deals damage to a target which can grant experience, it now has a chance to generate a [Soul Shard].
Doomguard: Cooldown reduced to 30 minutes, down from 60 minutes. Damage reduced approximately 30%, and health reduced approximately 30%.
Enslave Demon: Spell haste penalty reduced by 10%. Melee haste penalty reduced by 10%.
Warlocks now innately have an increased 10% spell hit chance on the Enslave Demon spell.
[Fire Shield] (Imp): You can now cast this ability on raid members, rather than party members.
[Ritual of Summoning]: The summoning of the initial portal is now instant cast, down from 5 seconds.
[Soul Shard]: This item now has a maximum count of 32 in inventory.
Voidwalker: The health bonus on this pet has been reduced from 60% to 10%.
Talents
Affliction
[Eradication]: Whenever you deal damage with [Corruption], you have a 6% chance to gain the Eradication effect. The Eradication effect increases your spell casting speed by 6/12/20% for 10 seconds. Internal cooldown removed.
[Haunt]: Now only increases your shadow damage-over-time spells on the target.
[Malediction]: No longer increases the effect of Curse of the Elements, but now also increases the periodic critical strike chance of your Corruption and Unstable Affliction spells by 3/6/9%.
[Pandemic]: This talent has been reduced to a 1-point talent. Now grants your Corruption and Unstable Affliction the capability to critically hit.
[Shadow Embrace]: Now only increases the damage done by your shadow damage periodic spells.
[Siphon Life]: The Siphon Life spell has been removed. Siphon Life now causes your Corruption spell to instantly heal you for 40% of the damage done. In addition, the damage done by your Corruption, Seed of Corruption and Unstable Affliction damage-over-time effects is increased by 5%.
[Soul Siphon] redesigned: Increases the amount drained by your Drain Life and Drain Soul spells by an additional 3/6% for each of your Affliction effects on the target, up to a maximum of 9/18% additional effect.
[Suppression]: Now increases spell hit for all of your spells.
[Unstable Affliction] and [Immolation] are now in the same exclusive category (both damage-over-time effects cannot be present at the same time by the same caster on a target).
[Mana Feed]: This talent is now a 1-point talent, down from 3 points. Now is the 21-point talent in Demonology, granting 100% mana return to your pet, up from 33/66/100%.
New Talent: [Decimation]: When you Shadowbolt or Incinerate a target that is at or below 35% health, your next Soulfire cast time is reduced by 30/60% and costs no shard. Lasts 10 seconds.
[Aftermath] redesigned: Increases the periodic damage done by your Immolate by 3/6%, and your Conflagrate has a 50/100% chance to daze the target for 5 seconds.
[Backlash] has been moved up to tier-5, up from tier-7. Now requires [Intensity] (pre-requisite).
[Cataclysm]: Now reduces the mana cost of Destruction spells by 4/7/10%. No longer increases the chance to hit.
[Conflagrate]: Spell now works similar to [Swiftmend], consuming an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target and dealing damage based on the strength of that effect. Reduced to a single rank.
[Improved Immolate]: Now increases the damage done by your Immolate by 10/20/30%, rather than just the direct damage.
[Improved Shadow Bolt]: Now increases the damage done by your Shadow Bolt spell by 1/2/3/4/5%, and causes your target to be vulnerable to spell damage, increasing spell critical strike chance against that target by 1/2/3/4/5%. Effect lasts 30 seconds.
[Molten Core]: This talent has been moved to Demonology (tier-8).
New Talent: [Molten Skin]: Reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
[Pyroclasm] redesigned: Now increases your Shadow and Fire spell power by 2/4/6% when you critically hit with Searing Pain or Conflagrate. Lasts 10 seconds. Also moved down to tier-7 from tier-5.
[Shattering Throw]: This new warrior ability, trainable at level 71, deals damage the same as Heroic Throw, but also causes the victim's armor to be reduced by 20% for 10 seconds (stacking with Sunder Armor). If the victim is immune, it will remove that immunity instead of dealing damage and reducing armor. Costs 25 rage. Only usable in Battle Stance. 5-minute cooldown.
[Deep Wounds]: The damage done by this talent no longer receives modifications from effects that increase or decrease damage done by a percentage. The base weapon damage used in the calculation will still be modified by those effects.
New Talent: [Juggernaut]: Grants the warrior the ability to Charge while in combat. Critical strike chance of next Slam or Mortal Strike increased by 100% following Charge.
[Taste for Blood]: Will now proc 33/66/100% of the time with a 6-second cooldown.
[Unrelenting Assault]: Now also increases the damage of [Overpower] and [Revenge] by 10/20%, and causes Overpower (when used to attack a casting target) to decrease the effectiveness of all the target's non-physical damage and healing by 25/50% for 6 seconds. Tooltip and visual updated.
Flasks now stack to 20, and their vendor sell prices have been reduced to lower the Auction House deposits.
Northrend flasks will be converted to mixtures. This includes the Flask of Stoneblood, [Flask of Pure Mojo], Flask of Endless Rage, and [Flask of the Frost Wyrm]. Mixtures can create 2 flasks of the corresponding type. This allows players who stockpiled Northrend flasks to convert them to the new system without any loss.
A new recipe has been added to cooking trainers for making [Black Jelly], using several [Borean Man O' War] as ingredients. While it looks disgusting, it restores more health and mana than the highest level food.
Greatly increased the drop rate of recipes found in pre-Lich King dungeons and raids.
Several recipes in the 250-300 skill range have been rebalanced, and the reagent requirements have been reduced.
Some enchants now have level restrictions. Note: the enchant is never removed from the item to which it's applied, however, the player no longer receives its benefit until they reach the required level. Any enchants modified in this way have had their tooltips updated.
The enchanting interface now correctly sorts grey recipes by skill difficulty.
Added a new [Springy Arachnoweave] engineering enchant that grants passive spell power in addition to turning your cloak into a parachute.
Engineers can now obtain the schematics for [Lil' Smoky] and the [Pet Bombling] from certain creatures found in Gnomeregan. Specialized Gnomish or Goblin engineers can obtain both schematics equally. The repeatable quest that used to randomly grant these schematics has been disabled.
[Flexweave Underlay] now grants passive agility in addition to its normal effect.
[Gnomish Lightning Generator]: Now has passive critical strike rating. The damage from the activated effect has been reduced. No longer has a cast time. Now invokes a 10-second DPS burst item category cooldown.
[Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket]: No longer on the global cooldown. Damage increased, cooldown reduced. Now invokes a 10-second DPS burst item category cooldown.
[Nitro Boosts] now grant passive critical strike rating in addition to their speed boost.
Nitro Boosts now make you drop PVP flags when used, as well as preventing you from picking them up while the effect is active.
First Aid[]
You no longer need to complete the "Triage" quest to attain Artisan First Aid. Instead you can learn the Artisan skill from the trainers in the capital cities.
You no longer need to learn First Aid from books. The trainers have finally done their reading and are able to teach you the same thing.
Fishing[]
A new (and very rare) special mount can now be caught from Northrend fishing pools.
Players are no longer required to do the [15-30] Nat Pagle, Angler Extreme quest to gain Artisan fishing. The quest now offers a special superior-quality fishing pole instead. If you already completed the quest, you can visit Nat Pagle in Dustwallow Marsh to receive this new fishing pole.
The time needed to catch fish has been reduced.
You can now fish anywhere, regardless of skill. Every catch has the potential for fishing skill gains, but you are likely to catch worthless junk in areas that are too difficult for your skill.
You can now fish in Wintergrasp, and the fishin' is good!
You no longer need to learn fishing from books. The trainers have finally done their reading and are able to teach you the same thing.
Gathering Skills[]
[Toughness], [Master of Anatomy], and [Lifeblood] now have level requirements equal to the level required for the corresponding skill rank: Apprentice (1), Journeyman (1), Expert (10), Artisan (25), Master (40), Grand Master (55).
You can no longer fail when Mining, Herbing, and Skinning.
The herbalism requirement for gathering [Tiger Lily] has been reduced to 375.
The time it takes to gather herbs has been reduced.
Inscription[]
Added a recipe to trainers for creating a level 70 superior-quality off-hand item ([Twilight Tome]).
Added a recipe for creating a different level 70 superior-quality off-hand item ([Rituals of the New Moon]). Scribes will find the recipe is dropped from residents of Silverbrook.
Added around 50 new glyph recipes. These new recipes can be obtained from [Books of Glyph Mastery] found as world drops on Northrend monsters. Reading a Book of Glyph Mastery randomly discovers one of the newly-added recipes.
Glyph icons have been updated so it is easy to distinguish between classes.
Players will now learn 3 recipes the very first time they perform Northrend Inscription Research. This does not apply to players who have already discovered recipes from Northrend Inscription Research (sorry).
The [Lightweave] tailoring enchant now sometimes grants a temporary spell power bonus instead of dealing direct damage to your target.
Several lower-level items crafted by tailors have received major changes to make them more appealing.
Quests[]
The fight event for the " [20-30G5] Grim(oire) Business" quest at Vim'gol's Circle in the Blade's Edge Mountains now only requires one character to stand within a fire circle in order to summon Vim'gol the Vile. However, it still takes five characters, one in each of the fire circles, in order to interrupt Vim'gol the Vile's Unholy Growth cast.
The Chains of Kel'Thuzad will no longer reset the raid's threat.
The Portal of Shadows created by Shade of Naxxramas will only persist for a maximum of one minute.
Players with pets who attempt to use the Obedience Crystals in Naxxramas will have their pets dismissed automatically so they may possess an Understudy.
Archavon, Emalon, and their allies will now banish themselves 10 minutes prior to the beginning of a Lake Wintergrasp battle. A warning will be given 15 minutes prior to the start of Wintergrasp. They will not banish themselves if in combat.
User Interface[]
New Advanced features for quest tracking are now available. Players will need to activate this option within the Interface panel.
A new Color Blind option is available under the Interface panel.
Spell Effect Level setting has been split into Particle Density and Projected Textures. Previously, Spell Effect Level controlled both of these features.
Added new Video Mode Ultra (should only be used on the highest-end systems).
Shadow Quality has a new higher level of detail. The slider for adjusting Shadow Quality remains the same, though there is an additional step at the high end of the spectrum.
A new feature has been added allowing players to allocate talent points before confirming they’d like to spend them. This feature must be turned on in the Interface Options.
New high-resolution player textures for Northrend armor sets have been added. Players can enable this feature by setting Player Textures to High in the Effects Panel of the Video Options.
Players can now return items purchased with an alternate currency back to the original vendor within 2 hours of the purchase time for the original cost of the item. Stackable items (such as Frozen Orbs and gems) and charged items that can be purchased with an alternate currency are not eligible.
Confirmation boxes have been added to purchases over 150 gold.
The calendar now supports a guild-wide sign-up sheet, allowing the event organizer to invite his or her entire guild.
Class roles (i.e. damage, tanking, healing) have been added to the Looking For Group feature. Class roles will be displayed when sorting through the Looking For More section.
Quest and Achievement tracking are now combined in a new Objectives Tracking window. Advanced features can be activated from the Objectives Options panel.
On-Use items will display in the Objectives Tracking when tracking a quest that uses them. No more searching through your bags for that on-use quest item!
Health and Fuel/Ammo bars have been added to the vehicle interface whenever operating a vehicle.
The mini-map has been optimized for better performance. Displays for vehicles, class colors, and off-map pings have been added as well.
Players first entering any dungeon that will result in a lock-out timer will be warned if they are going to be saved to the instance. This warning will include an option to port to the nearest graveyard before being saved.
New elite mob frames have been added for V-Key frames.
Badges and Emblems looted off of any dungeon bosses by a member of the party or raid will automatically be given to all eligible party or raid members. Party or raid members must still be inside the instance to receive Badges or Emblems.
Clams
A new clam, the [Giant Darkwater Clam], can be obtained by fishing in Wintergrasp. This mighty clam has a greatly increased chance to drop pearls, and yields up to five times the regular amount of clam meat.
Loot from clams now stacks correctly!
Changed the icon for [Succulent Clam Meat] so it doesn't look quite as disgusting. Now 100% more succulent!
Three new mounts are available from Horde mount vendors, equalizing the number of purchasable normal and epic mounts: the Black Wolf, the White Kodo, and the Black Skeletal Horse (in Orgrimmar, Bloodhoof Village, and Brill respectively).
[Glyph of Haunt]: The bonus damage granted by your [Haunt] spell is increased by an additional 3%.
[Glyph of Immolate]: The bonus damage provided by this glyph to [Immolate]'s periodic damage has been reduced to 10%, down from 20%. The 10% reduction to Immolate's initial damage has been removed.
[Acclimation]: This talent will no longer sometimes grant nature resistance while fighting Sapphiron.
[Anti-Magic Zone]: This ability will no longer cause strange absorb messages in the combat log and floating combat text.
[Dancing Rune Weapon]: Fixed a bug making it trigger an unusual number of effects from the weapon equipped by the death knight. In addition, it will now only echo death knight spells whose primary purpose is dealing damage. This pet will no longer break stealth on nearby targets and attack them. Also corrected a bug making the effect last 8 seconds longer than intended.
[Death Coil]: This spell will no longer sometimes cause the death knight to animate a swing twice.
[Death Grip]: This spell will no longer automatically cast on the nearest enemy when no valid target is selected.
Death Runes: Fixed a bug where it was possible when using two abilities with the same rune cost to not get correctly granted a second Death Rune when appropriate.
[Ebon Plaguebringer]: Multiple death knights can now use this debuff against a target without overwriting each other.
[Howling Blast]: Each rank now properly shares a cooldown with the other ranks.
[Necrosis]: The damage from this ability will no longer benefit multiple times from damage increasing effects.
[Pestilence]: This ability will now spread disease centered on a position between the death knight and its target, rather than the target’s center position (for very large creatures, this used to cause no disease spread at all).
[Raise Ally]: The buff from this ability can no longer be right clicked to cancel. In order to end the effect, the player controlling the Risen Ghoul must right click on the unit portrait and dismiss the pet. In addition, using this ability on a player whose level is too low will now give a “Target is too low level” error message instead of “You have no target.”
[Raise Dead]: This pet now despawns instantly when it dies. In addition, this ability can no longer be used while riding any type of vehicle. The Risen Ghoul is also now properly immune to Charm, Fear, Sleep, and Horror.
[Rune of Cinderglacier]: Charges of this will now only be used if the target actually took damage from the attack.
[Scent of Blood]: This talent can no longer be triggered by environmental damage.
[Scourge Strike]: The tooltip incorrectly stated it did 60% weapon damage increased by 9% from diseases, when it was actually 45% increased 11% from diseases. The tooltip has been corrected, but the damage done is unchanged.
[Sigil of Awareness]: The tooltip on this incorrectly indicated it added much more damage than it actually did. The tooltip has been corrected to show the actual bonus.
[Summon Gargoyle]: The Gargoyle will no longer re-attack rogues after they [Vanish], or night elves who use [Shadowmeld]. Monsters will stop trying to chase a Gargoyle after it flies away. The debuff on the target indicating he or she is being pursued by a Gargoyle will no longer display the duration, and will be removed when the buff is removed from the death knight. Max duration in the tooltip changed to 40 seconds.
Druid[]
[Bash]: This ability will now still interrupt casting even if the victim is immune to the stun due to diminishing returns.
Feral Attack Power: Heirloom weapons now correctly grant the amount of attack power in Cat, Bear, and Dire Bear Forms that is stated on the weapon tooltip. In addition, the attack power bonus will now work properly for druids below level 60.
[Lifebloom]: Corrected some bugs with the new blooming functionality and dispels.
[Predatory Strikes]: This talent now properly affects the attack power gained from weapon enchants.
Swipe: Now properly affected by area-of-effect damage caps.
[Thorns]: This spell will now properly use the druid’s spell power to determine its scaling instead of the target’s spell power.
[Wild Growth]: Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Wild Growth ranks from overwriting each other.
Hunter[]
[Cower]: This pet ability will now display its cooldown correctly.
[Disengage]: This ability can no longer be used while riding any type of vehicle.
[Froststorm Breath]: This pet ability will now display its cooldown correctly.
[Spore Cloud]: This pet ability will now autocast properly at all ranks.
[Steady Shot]: Now does correct damage with heirloom weapons.
Mage[]
[Arcane Potency]: Fixed a bug where sometimes the benefit was consumed before altering the critical strike chance of the mage. In addition, will no longer benefit the critical strike chance of [Molten Armor]’s damage.
[Deep Freeze]: Floating combat text will now display when this ability is able to be used.
[Focus Magic]: When spell-stolen, this buff will no longer grant the originally casting mage a buff when critical strikes occur.
[Frostbite]: Fixed a bug preventing this from overwriting the effect from the [Frostbite] talent.
Ignite: The debuff from this talent now benefits properly from [Arcane Subtlety]. In addition, effects which modify damage done will no longer be applied a second time to the damage from this talent.
[Mirror Image]: Mirror Images will now appear with maximum health and mana. In addition, this ability can no longer be used while riding any type of vehicle.
[Beacon of Light]: This spell no longer duplicates the heal on yourself if your target is currently immune to being healed due to being on a vehicle. It will simply not duplicate the heal. In addition, [Divine Plea] will only penalize the original heal instead of applying the penalty a second time on the duplicated heal.
[Righteous Vengeance]: Effects which modify damage done will no longer be applied a second time to the damage from this talent.
[Sacred Shield]: Now scales properly from spell power granted by Sheath of Light.
[Seal of Vengeance]/Corruption: The bonus damage applied a target which already has the maximum stack of debuffs is now properly affected by [Judgements of the Pure]. In addition, fixed some missing tooltips in the combat log.
[Sheath of Light]: Critical heals from Lay on Hands will now trigger this talent.
Priest[]
[Inner Fire]: Charges of this buff will now be consumed properly if the priest is attacked while using emotes.
[Mind Control]: This spell can no longer be cast while it is already active.
Misery: The tooltip on this talent was badly worded and implied a bonus much larger than it actually gave. The tooltip has been rewritten to be more clear.
[Prayer of Mending]: This spell will no longer fail from “A more powerful spell is already active” errors. It will now always cast, including overwriting a weaker Prayer of Mending. In addition, trinkets which are triggered from casting a healing spell will now be triggered properly by Prayer of Mending.
Rogue[]
[Master of Subtlety]: The amount of time remaining on the damage bonus for this talent is now displayed.
[Tremor Totem]: Now correctly pulses every 3 seconds, up from 1 second.
Warlock[]
[Dark Pact]: Can no longer be cast when the warlock has an enslaved demon pet that does not have mana.
[Demonic Circle: Summon]: This spell can no longer be cast while on a transport or other moving object.
[Fel Synergy]: This talent will no longer heal vehicles the warlock is riding.
[Ritual of Summoning]: This spell can no longer be cast while on a transport or other moving object.
[Unstable Affliction]: Feedback damage from dispelling this debuff will no longer be modified by effects on the victim which modify the damage the victim does.
Enrage: This ability can no longer be triggered by environmental damage.
[Enraged Regeneration]: While this is active, the warrior is blocked from using abilities that trigger being enraged (which would do nothing and waste the cooldowns).
[Rend]: Now does correct damage with heirloom weapons. In addition, low ranks of this ability will no longer incorrectly gain a damage bonus against targets above 75% health.
[Slam]: Slam will no longer sometimes show 2 miss messages.
Heirloom Items: The bonus spell power granted by these items has been redesigned to provide substantially more benefit for players lower than level 58.