Patch 2.4 - Official Patch Notes

The Sunwell Isle

• The Sunwell Isle is now available for play.  This area includes a new quest hub and 5-player and 25-player instances.  Join the Shattered Sun Offensive in shutting down Kael’thas’ nefarious operations.  This new force is comprised by both the Aldor and Scryers and is led by the Naaru.  Players will take part in claiming Sun’s Reach and setting up a larger base of operation to stop Kael’thas and the Legion.

Combat Log Improvements

• The combat log has undergone improvements that allow more robust combat filtering including the ability to define custom colors for enemies and friends as well as combat filtering for self and others.

General

• The combined forces of Shattrath have launched an attack on the Isle of Quel’Danas, to confront Kael’thas and the Legion at the Sunwell and surrounding areas.  Players will now be able to gain reputation with the Shattered Sun Offensive and participate in a new set of daily quests.
• A representative of the Keepers of Time has been spotted at the World’s End Tavern in Shattrath.  Players in good standing with the faction will be granted ease of passage to the Caverns of Time.
• Characters will now retain talented spell ranks so when they retalent they do not have to relearn the spells from trainers.
• Spell Haste: Spell haste now reduces the global cooldown on spells, down to a minimum of 1 second.  This change does not apply to melee and ranged abilities.
• Item Cast Spells:  Many spells cast by items were being cast as if the caster were the same level as the item.  Most of those will now cast at the player’s level, giving them a reasonable chance to miss, be dispelled, or be resisted.
• Spirit-Based Mana Regeneration: This system has been adjusted so that as your intellect rises, you will regenerate more mana per point of spirit.
• Weapon Skill: Points will be gained faster in weapon skills for levels 1 through 59.

Racials

• Find Treasure: This ability no longer deactivates upon death.

Druids

• Empowered Rejuvenation: This talent now properly affects the final heal from Lifebloom.
• Gift of Nature: This talent now properly affects the healing from Tranquility.
• Insect Swarm:  Casting lower ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
• Lacerate: This ability now deals additional damage based on the attack power of the Druid.
• Mangle (Bear) now properly triggers a 1.5 second global cooldown, increased from 1.0.
• Natural Perfection: This ability will no longer be triggered by taking critical strikes while sitting. In addition, it is now affected by the Subtlety talent.
• When a Druid in cat form casts Pounce it will now properly animate.

Hunter

• Equipping a thrown weapon while in the middle of an Auto-Shot will no longer cause animation issues.
• Casting Flare while in any way not visible, will no longer cause your flare to be invisible to other players.
• Hunter’s Mark: Hunters with Improved Hunter’s Mark will now properly overwrite Hunter’s Mark cast by Hunters without the talent.
• The stamina tooltip for hunter pets will now display the proper health increase.

Mages

• Using low ranks of Fire Ward and Frost Ward spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
• Fire Ward:  Using low ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing spells are penalized.
• Frost Ward:  Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
• Frostbite: When a frost spell is reflected back at a Mage, it is now possible for the Mage to suffer from the Frostibte effect.
• Ice Barrier: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
• Permafrost: This talent will now correctly increase the movement slowing effect of frost Armor instead of the attack speed slow.
• Spellsteal will no longer overwrite a longer duration buff.

Paladins

• Avenger’s Shield, Holy Shield and Holy Shock: Casting lower ranks of these spells is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
• Divine Illumination: The mana energize from this talent no longer has a chance to set off other triggered effects.
• Holy Shield and Holy Shock:  Casting lower ranks of these spells is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
• Judgment of the Crusader: It is no longer possible to have icons for two different ranks of Judgment of the Crusader appear at the same time when judged by multiple Paladins.
• Judgment of Wisdom: Some abilities (such as Frostbolt) were not triggering the mana energize effect from this spell. This has now been fixed.

Priests

• Fear Ward is now usable while in Shadow form.
• Inner Focus: Chastise now benefits from Inner Focus.  In addition, Starshards no longer consumes Inner Focus.
• Power Word: Shield: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
• Prayer of Mending: This spell will now fade from players who leave or enter an instance, change continents, or exit the game.
• Reflective Shield: The reactive damage from this talent no longer breaks crowd control affects which break on taking damage.
• Shadowguard: No longer consumes the charge of Inner Focus when triggered.
• Silent Resolve:This talent is now affects Surge of Light, Power Infusion, Inspiration, Spirit Tap, Blackout, Levitate, Shackle Undead, Touch of Weakness, Hex of Weakness, and Symbol of Hope.
• Touch of Weakness: No longer consumes the charge of Inner Focus when triggered.  It will also function properly even when the Priest with Touch of Weakness on is silenced or stunned.
• Vampiric Touch: Casting lower ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.

Rogues

• Cheat Death: A combat log message will now show when this ability activates.
• Vanish: This ability will no longer sometimes cause the UI to display Shadowmeld as active when it has been cancelled.
• Abilities that can be used while stealthed, without breaking stealth, can now be cast without breaking Vanish when used at the same time.
• Sap mechanic changed from “Incapacitate” to “Sap”.  This will allow more humanoids that were previously immune to Sap to be vulnerable to Sap, but still immune to Gouge.  Note that anything that removed Sap previously will still remove Sap after the change.

Shaman

• Call of Thunder: (Rank 5) now gives 5% critical strike chance.
• Earth Shield: Mana cost reduced roughly in half, and charges reduced from 10 to 6.
• Elemental Focus: This buff will no longer be removed when Shamanistic Focus is triggered.
• Healing Grace: This talent now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 10/20/30%.The resistance to being dispelled modifier from this talent now applies correctly to Water Breathing.
• Rockbiter Weapon: Tooltip and error messages have been adjusted slightly.
• Stormstrike has a new icon.
• Totem timer icons will now show up under your player portrait when you cast totem spells.  Right-clicking a totem timer icon will destroy that totem.
• The Shaman spell Fire Nova Totem will no longer sometime detonate without doing any damage.

Warlocks

• Demonic Knowledge: This buff will no longer remain on enslaved demons when Enslave Demon is removed.
• Pyroclasm: This talent now works correctly again with Rain of Fire.
• Ritual of Summoning can be used to summon players into instances if they meet the instance requirements.
• Shadow Ward: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.

Warriors

• Endless Rage will now give the correct amount of rage as intended from damage dealt by a Warrior.
• Stances: It is no longer possible to accidentally change into a stance you are already in via macros (resulting in a global cooldown and loss of rage).
• Whirlwind: Critical strikes with the off-hand weapon from this ability can now trigger Flurry and Rampage.
• Flurry will properly refresh if a crit occurs with 1 charge left.
• Improved Hamstring (Arms) effect is now subject to diminishing returns when used in PvP.

PvP

• Diminishing returns on honor for kills is being eliminated.
• Honor will now be instantly calculated, and available for player use.
• Players that have the resurrection sickness debuff will be worth no honor.
• Added new PvP daily quests that send players to Halaa and the Spirit Towers of the Bone Wastes. These quests are available for Alliance and Horde at their respective local quest hubs.
• Arenas
  • Shadow Sight now increases damage taken by 5% rather than dealing damage over time. Duration has been reduced from 21 seconds to 15 seconds.

• Battlegrounds

  • If a player dies 50 times or more in a battleground, they will no longer be worth honor for the remainder of that battle.
  • When you first enter a battleground, messages about other players joining the battleground will be linked together for the first minute. You will see a message in AV like “28 players joined” rather than a line for each player that joined. After the first minute, it will work as it always has. In addition all of the messages about other players leaving the battleground and getting marks of honor once the battleground is complete have been removed.
  • Alterac Valley
    • Captain Balinda Stonehearth’s spells have been simplified, and she can no longer be slowed or locked out of a school with interrupts (although she can still be interrupted).
    • Vanndar Stormpike and Captain Balinda Stonehearth have had their health totals reduced.
    • Warmasters/marshals in Alterac Valley now increase each other’s maximum health and damage by 25%.  This is a stacking effect.
    • Horde players will now start the battle closer to Drek’Thar and Frostwolf Keep.

  • Warsong Gulch

    • When both flags are held, the flag carriers will receive 50% increased damage done to them after approximately 10 minutes and 100% increased damage after approximately 15 minutes.
    • Flag carriers can now be tracked 45 seconds after picking up the flag.

Professions

• Added several new tradeskill items to the new Sunwell Daily faction vendor:
  • Enchanting recipe to shatter a Void Crystal into two Large Prismatic Shards.
  • Enchanting recipe to increase Defense Rating by 15 for chest armor.
  • Three jewelcrafting recipes to cut gems with spell haste from Dawnstones, Talasite, and noble Topaz.
  • Two new meta gem recipes.

• Alchemy

  • Gift of Arthas now stacks to 20.

• Cooking

  • Broiled Bloodfin now increases resistances to all schools of magic instead of increasing Stamina and Spirit.
  • New recipes, Charred Bear Kabobs and Juicy Bear Burgers, can be purchased from either Bale (Horde) or Malygen (Alliance) in Felwood.  These recipes requires 250 skill to learn, and are created from meat found on level 48-56 bears.  This will aid players in leveling up their cooking skill to 300 without fishing.

• Enchanting

  • Reduced the materials required for Enchant Shield – Resistance

• Engineering

  • Gagsprocket in Ratchet now sells the plans for the Minor Recombobulator.
  • Goblin Jumper Cables and Goblin Jumper Cables XL now display cooldown information in their tooltips.
  • Removed the level requirement for the Craftsman’s Monocle.
  • The stun caused by engineering Bombs and Grenades is now considered an Incapacitate effect and uses the appropriate Incapacitate diminishing returns.  Bomb and Grenades can now inflict damage to targets immune to Stun and Incapacitate effects.
  • A new recipe has been added for Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite, a cloth version of the Rocket Boots Xtreme.  This pattern drops from Mechano-Lord Capacitus.
  • Rocket Boots Xtreme now have all their stat points allocated toward Attack Power, and will no longer have Stamina.
  • Rocket Boots Xtreme and Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite will cause players to drop a PvP flag if used while carrying one. (Warsong Gulch, Eye of the Storm, and Zangarmarsh)

• Fishing

  • New Fishing Daily Quests!  Visit the mysterious old man fishing at Silmyr Lake outside of Shattrath City to discover what treasures he has to offer.
  • Find Fish now correctly tracks Schools of Tastyfish and Muddy Churning Waters.

• Herbalism

  • Ancient Lichen now has a chance to drop a Fel Lotus where it used to drop a piece of random green jewelry.
  • Black Lotus replaced by Fel Lotus in herbalism skinning tables for Outland creatures.
  • Increased the chance that Felweed, Dreaming Glory, Ragveil, and Flame Caps will contain a Fel Lotus.
  • Warp Splinter can now be skinned with Herbalism in heroic difficulty.

• Leatherworking

  • Shadow Oil will now fit into Leatherworking Bags.

• Mining

  • Increased the skill up potential for most smelting recipes.

Quests

• New Daily Dungeon quests for both the heroic and non-heroic five-person Magister’s Terrace dungeon at the Sunwell.
• Dungeon and Group Quest Experience: The amount of experience awarded for dungeon and 5-person group quests in Outland has been increased in almost all cases.
• The number of elite Shadowsworn Drakonid patrollers on the Ata’mal Terrace has been cut in half. Most of the remainder have had their patrol paths lengthened.
• Increased the slots on Old Blanchy’s Feed Pouch to 8.
• The Thunderspike no longer sparkles for Alliance characters, nor does it show up on the mini-map when Find Treasure is in use.
• “Zapper Fuel” is now flagged as a Sunken Temple dungeon quest.

Dungeons and Raids

• All 25-player raid bosses have had their cash drops increased!
• All 25- player raid bosses that drop set tokens will now drop an additional token!
• Players will no longer require an attunement quest to enter Hyjal.
• Players will no longer require an attunement quest to enter the Black Temple.
• Players who have completed the attunement quests for Black Temple and Hyjal will be granted the title of “Hand of A’dal”.
• You may now fight Prince Kael’thas and Lady Vashj without first killing all the other bosses in their respective dungeons.
• The Unstable Cloud and Frost Breath spells are now treated properly as a movement impairing spells.
• Non-corporeal Undead and Mechanical creatures are now susceptible to bleed effects.
• Elemental creatures are no longer explicitly immune to poison and disease effects.  Elementals with nature school immunities will still be immune to nature-based poisons, however.
• Gems obtained through Heroic difficulty instances are no longer Unique-equipped.
• Loot dropped by Doomlord Kazzak and Doomwalker has been changed to Bind on Equip. In addition, the cash dropped by these bosses has been significantly increased.
• Scale of the Sands reputation will now be awarded in Hyjal at a much higher rate.
• Caverns of Time: Heroic Black Morass
  • Rift Keepers and Rift Lords now have reduced hit points.

• Caverns of Time: Mount Hyjal

  • The Vials of Eternity quest is no longer necessary for entry to Hyjal. This quest is still required for faction rings.
  • Azgalor’s Rain of Fire now affects a smaller area.

• Caverns of Time: Old Hillsbrad

  • The Human Illusion effect will now always be removed properly when a player leaves the instance.

• Hellfire Citadel: Magtheridon’s Lair

  • Many gameplay elements of the encounters in Magtheridon’s Lair have been changed to decrease their overall complexity and difficulty.

• Tempest Keep: Kael’thas

  • The Vapor Clouds in the Kael’thas encounter are significantly easier to see.

• Tempest Keep: The Mechanar

  • The Mechanar: It is no longer possible to gain an additional Badge of Justice by bringing Cache of the Legion keys obtained in other copies of the instance.

• Tempest Keep: The Eye

  • Void Reaver is now immune to Vindication again.

Items

• Players will now be able to purchase level 70 Superior quality PvP items from reputation vendors.
• Avatar Regalia: The two-piece bonus from this set will now be consumed by Vampiric Embrace as intended.
• Bloody Brass Knuckles, Eerie Stable Lantern, Baelog’s Shortbow, and Snakeskin Bag have been upgraded to Superior items.
• Blue Suede Shoes can now be disenchanted.
• Crystalforged Raiment: The two-piece set bonus will now work properly. Additionally, the four piece bonus will now only work on the next Holy Light cast, as intended.
• Cyclone Regalia: Trade skills will no longer consume the Energized effect.
• Deadman’s Hand: This item’s effect now works while the victim is sitting. In addition, its effect is now properly considered a root for purposes of being dispelled or removed.
• Discombobulator Ray: This item will again not work on mounted players.
• Frostfire Regalia: The resistance bonus from this set now works with the Burning Crusade ranks of Mage Armor.
• Gladiator’s Leather Gloves: This arena bonus will now properly school lock enemies when the damage from Deadly Throw causes them to stop channeling.
• Gnomish Mind Control Cap: Victims of the Gnomish Mind Control Cap will no longer get Forbearance when the mind control is terminated due to Blessing of Protection.
• Gnomish Poultryizer: This item will again not work on mounted players.
• Goblin Rocket Launcher: Creatures will no longer gain health while affected by the Stun from this item.
• Heavy Netherweave Bandage: It is no longer possible to have two players bandage the same target simultaneously using this item.
• Netherweave Bandage: It is no longer possible to have two players bandage the same target simultaneously using this item.
• Idol of the Crescent Goddess: The mana discount on Regrowth has been increased.
• Idol of Feral Shadows: The bonus damage to Rip has been increased.
• Idol of the Raven Goddess: The bonus healing, critical strike rating, and spell critical strike rating from this item have been increased. In addition, it no longer sometimes fails to apply the healing bonus.
• Idol of the Unseen Moon: The cooldown added in a previous patch has been removed.
• Idol of Ursoc: The bonus damage to Lacerate has been increased and the tooltip clarified to indicate it applies to both initial and periodic damage.
• Idol of the White Stag: Duration increased.
• Items intended for Retribution Paladins have had their stats adjusted. Retribution Paladins should see an increase in dps as a result.
• Jade Pendant of Blasting: This item no longer increases physical damage dealt.
• Libram of Absolute Truth: The Holy Light mana discount has been increased.
• Libram of Divine Purpose: The bonus damage on Seal and Judgment of Righteousness has been increased.
• Libram of Mending: The mana regeneration buff has had its duration increased. The name of the buff granted by this item changed to Grace of the Naaru to avoid having the same name as the Light’s Grace talent.
• Libram of Righteous Power: The bonus damage for Crusader Strike has been increased.
• Libram of Souls Redeemed: The bonus for Flash of Light has been decreased and the bonus for Holy Light has been increased.
• Libram of Wracking: This item now increases the damage on Holy Wrath and Exorcism instead of decreasing their mana cost.
• Masquerade Gown: The spirit bonus from this item will now properly trigger all benefits from the Tree of Life talent.
• Mojo: A pvp-flagged player can no longer kiss Mojo and cause non-flagged players to become flagged.
• Moongraze Stag Tenderloin can now be consumed by hunter pets that eat meat.
• Noggenfogger Elixir: It is no longer possible using this item to keep the Old Hillsbrad human illusion outside of the instance.
• Pendant of the Violet Eye: Paladin Judgment spells will again properly trigger this item.
• Players can now only carry 80 Conjured Manna Biscuits at a time.
• Steam Tonk Controller: This item can no longer trigger the Warrior talent Second Wind when it is driven out of range by the Warrior.
• The On Use effect has been properly changed to passive for the following items: Blue Overalls, Brantwood Sash, Firewalker Boots,  Gloves of Kapelan, Hellion Boots, Hibernal Gloves, Hibernal Pants, Kimbra Boots, Mistscape Gloves, Nightsky Trousers, Sacred Burial Trousers, Turquoise Sash, and Woolen Boots, Spinesever. 
• Tome of the Lightbringer: The block value and buff duration have been increased.
• Totem of the Pulsing Earth: The mana discount for Lightning Bolt has been increased slightly.
• Weightstones and Sharpening Stones: The bonus damage from these temporary enchantments now works while shapeshifted.
• Winterfall Firewater: The tooltip no longer specifies only melee attack power.

User Interface