As we have mentioned, we are discussing some exciting changes to how soul shards might work. This is not an announcement of an overhaul to that system, but it will make shard use slightly less painful.

When a warlock casts Ritual of Summoning, instead of creating a portal, they will summon a new creation similar to a dungeon meeting stone. It will cost one shard to create this item. Then, anyone in the warlock’s party or raid can use the “meeting stone” to summon other members of the group. For example, once the warlock summons the stone, then party members B and C could summon D without the warlock’s direct involvement, and most importantly without requiring additional shards. You will be able to bring the rest of a 25-person raid quickly (since you can summon folks simultaneously), for the cost of a single shard, and with less clicking on the part of the lock.

The “meeting stone” will last 5 minutes with a 5 minute cooldown. It will not be usable in areas where summoning is currently restricted, such as battlegrounds or in combat. Creating the stone still requires 2 people in addition to the warlock. Summoning actual party members only requires 2 people.

This change will be in for the next patch, which will occur before the 3.1 Ulduar content patch.

IRVINE, Calif. - November 20, 2008 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®'s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King™, has sold more than 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability*, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. This eclipses the previous record of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in 24 hours, set in January 2007 by Blizzard's first World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade®. Wrath of the Lich King was simultaneously released in North America, Europe, Chile, Argentina, and Russia on November 13; Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand on November 14; and South Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on November 18.

In celebration of the launch, more than 15,000 stores throughout the world had their doors open at midnight to welcome thousands of expectant players. Several of these locations were attended by Blizzard Entertainment representatives, who met players and signed copies of the game.

"We're grateful for the incredible support that players around the world have continued to show for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Wrath of the Lich King contains some of the best content we’ve created for the game so far, and we look forward to seeing even more players log in to experience it in the days ahead."

"After a single day of availability, Wrath of the Lich King is already the bestselling PC game of 2008 at GameStop and ranks as one of our top-selling products so far this year," said Bob McKenzie, GameStop’s senior vice president of merchandising. "In keeping with the tradition established by their previous releases, Blizzard Entertainment has again created a product that not only reflects their high standards of quality but is clearly an instant hit with gamers around the country."

Prior to the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft’s subscriber population had grown to more than 11 million players, further strengthening its position as the world's most popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game. More information about the new expansion can be found at the official Wrath of the Lich King website: www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath.

We have created this new thread to reflect some updates we have made to the way in which arena points and seasons will be handled as we transition into Wrath of the Lich King.

We wanted to remind everyone that Arena season 4 is coming to a close. During next Tuesday's maintenance on November 11th, all arena teams, as well as ratings, will be wiped and arena charter NPCs disabled. However, arena points will persist until the beginning of the next arena season, or until a player reaches level 71. Thus, Arena points will be rewarded for rated games played this week and players will be able to purchase Arena items that do not require a team or personal rating. Upon the close of Arena season 4, players at level 70 will continue to be able to play skirmish Arena matches against other level 70 opponents even after Wrath of the Lich King launches.

Arena season 5 is currently scheduled to begin on December 16th, and once that happens players who have reached level 80 will be able to compete in rated arena matches where they can gain arena points which can be used to purchase level 80 arena gear, as well as compete for end-of-season rewards. Players who remain at level 70 after Season 5 begins will only have access to play skirmish arena matches against other level 70 players. However, two new skirmish brackets will be made available (71-75, 76-80) for players who wish to hone their arena skills while leveling in Northrend.

If you have finished packing and that you are ready to be part of the official launch of Wrath of the Lich King that will take place in Paris, Rotterdam, Madrid, London, Berlin and Stockholm on the night between November, 12th and 13th, make sure you do not forget to bring your camera!
The Baby Murloc Adoption Committee has decided to reward the players who capture the best pictures during this fabulous evening. The winners of this contest will get the opportunity to look after the famous Gurky. Do not miss the chance to make friends with this rare game mascot…

An online webform will be available soon where you can send your masterpiece to our merciless jury!

Shamaanit raideissa
It was bad that shamans were being stacked to the exclusion of other healers. There were a number of reasons that happened, and many of the changes we've made in LK were to address those problems. You can't realistically stack Bloodlust anymore, and you don't need to work a shaman into every group for their totems.

It's hard for me to explain why it wasn't addressed before, because honestly I wasn't the one making the call. I am reluctant to bring that up because it sounds like I'm passing the buck, and I'm sure they had good reasons for doing what they did. Maybe it was just that nerfing Bloodlust as raids were learning to fight Kil'jaeden would have felt like a slap in the face at that moment, even if ultimately it would have gotten more classes into those raids. Some of the problems were so systemic to the old buff system that it might not have been an easy fix.

We'll try to do better. That's all I can really offer.

[..]

You don't need Resto shamans to raid.

If Chain Heal ends up being the only spell that gets used to heal, or the spell that pushes Holy priests and Resto druids out of a raid, then we'll nerf it. We don't think those cases are likely, but we always try to leave the possibility open.

I've already said we'll adjust the content with the assumption that CoH and WG aren't going to be as huge a percent of total healing.

[..]

That's not a very reasonable thing to say. You can say "We don't like this change," or "We're worried that we won't be brought to raids anymore." That is something I can understand, that I can discuss with the other designers, that we can think about.

But we do take things like this very seriously.

Honestly, if anything I am more concerned at this point that Holy priests thought the only reason they were getting taken to raids before is because of CoH spam. That doesn't make me want to buff it though.

Netherwing draken saamismahdollisuus poistetaan Wotlkissa?
Not true. You can still get the drake.

Netherspite, Karazhanin vaiken pomo?
OP: Seems to me with the recent nerf of kara, that Netherspite might actually be the hardest boss now. I have noticed that Nightbane and Prince go down very easy now to uber chars with great dps. Netherspite however si the one boss that still requires a comlicated plan to beat him. You can have all the uber dps you want but if you don't follow a plan with netherspite, he is the one guy that can mess even Sunwell geared chars up good.
Blue: I dunno, I think Prince Tenris Mirkblood is the top guy. Not only is he difficult for players to get to, he will ripper you up. (Terrible pun intended)

Starfall
We are still evaluating whether we like the change to the way Starfall works or not. I will say that Starfall was not designed as the Flare for druids.

[..]

Well played. I now see the wisdom of your arguments.

Starfall is a new kind of spell. There really isn't anything else like it in the game, so comparisons to other kinds of spells may fall short. It's big. It works more like a buff than a channel. It moves with the caster. It targets enemies in the area, but then also does splash damage. It can't be dispelled, but the caster can be CC'd. It's just a new kind of spell.

And even if it was a lot more like Blizzard, that doesn't mean it has to have all the same properties. There is no rule that says AE spells break stealth or that stuns can cancel an unchanelled spell.

You'd have to talk to the retailers about that. I seem to recall last year some retailers having extras set aside for release night, but I couldn't tell you if that will happen this year again or not.

With the latest patch release, we’ve added two new arenas: the Dalaran Sewers and the Ring of Valor in Orgrimmar. These arenas offer new obstacles and challenges for strategy savvy players. The arenas have been added to the random rotation and are accessible via the queue system as Skirmishes. For more information on these two new arenas, please visit http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/insider/11/arena.xml . Both Dalaran Sewers and the Ring of Valor will also be available for tournament play during Arena Season 5.

It's a fair question and we'll look into providing some information ahead of time, if we're able.

I suspect that in terms of times it should be much like it was for TBC, though perhaps a bit earlier as midnight in Russia is two hours before CET.

Wrath will eventually be available for download online, but this might take some time to establish. A working DVD drive will be the only way to ensure you are ready to play on launch day. Otherwise, when we initiated the online download for Burning Crusade it took 2-3 weeks to get up and running. I'm not saying Wrath will take this long (I have no idea, it may) but don't expect it Day 1.

We would like to thank everyone who has participated in the Wrath of the Lich King beta test. We greatly appreciate all of the feedback and you have given us during this critical phase of World of Warcraft's development. In preparation for the launch of the game next Thursday, November 13, we will be bringing down our beta realms at 12:00 AM PST. Thanks again, and see you soon in Northrend!

Due to changes in the Druid talent tree, all Druids will receive a free talent reset when patch 3.0.3 goes live.

Death Knight

• Glyph of Corpse Explosion - Any target killed by your Corpse Explosion ability will also explode. Only affects targets within range of your Corpse Explosion ability, and cannot happen more than once every 6 seconds. (Didn't have the range restriction)

Druid

• Glyph of Wrath - Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting your Wrath spell by 50%. (Old - Increases the chance you'll resist spell interruption when casting your Wrath spell by 50%.)
• Glyph of Innervate - Your Innervate spell now grants you full mana regeneration while casting for 20 sec, in addition to the effect on the primary target. Innervate's effect is instead increased by 20% if you are the primary target. (Old - Your innervate ability now has an additional 20% strength mana regeneration effect on you, in addition to the effect on your primary target.)
• Glyph of Starfire - Your Starfire ability increases the duration of your Moonfire effect on the target by 3 sec, up to a maximum of 9 additional seconds. (Old - Didn't have the 9 seconds limit)

Hunter

• Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey - While Aspect of the Monkey or Aspect of the Dragonhawk are active, each time you dodge you gain 30% increased movement speed for 6 sec. This speed does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects. (Old - Didn't include Aspect of the Dragonhawk)
• Glyph of Trueshot Aura - While your Trueshot Aura is active, you have 10% increased critical strike chance on your Aimed Shot. (Old - Increases the attack power bonus of Trueshot Aura by an additional 2%.)

Paladin

• Glyph of Crusader Strike - Reduces the mana cost of your Crusader Strike ability by 20%. (Old - Your Crusader strike deals 20% more damage when your target is incapacitated or stunned.)
• Glyph of Holy Light - Your Holy Light grants 10% of its heal amount to up to 5 friendly targets within 5 yards of the initial target. (Old - 100 Yards, typo)

Priest

• Glyph of Spirit of Redemption - All heals cast while Spirit of Redemption is active have a 20% chance to increase the remaining duration of Spirit of Redemption by 4 sec. (Old - 5 Sec)
• Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain - Increases the damage done by your Mind Flay spell by 10% when your target is afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain. (Old - Reduces the mana cost of your Shadow Word: Pain spell by 20%.)
• Glyph of Mind Soothe has been removed.
• *Added* Glyph of Shadow - While in Shadowform, your spell critical strikes increase your spell power by 10% of your Spirit for 10 sec.

Rogue

• Glyph of Rupture - Increases the duration of Rupture by 4 sec. (Old - 5 sec)
• Glyph of Shiv has been removed.
• *Added* Glyph of Vigor - Vigor grants an additional 10 maximum energy.
• Glyph of Sprint - Increases the movement speed of your Sprint ability by an additional 30%, but reduces the duration by 5 sec. (Old - Decreases the cooldown of Sprint by 60 sec.)
• Glyph of Sinister Strike - Your Sinister Strike critical strikes have a 50% chance to add an additional combo point. (Old - 40%)

Shaman

• Glyph of Strength of Earth has been removed.
• Glyph of Earth Elemental Totem has been removed.
• Glyph of Totem of Wrath has been removed.
• *Added* Glyph of Lava Lash - Damage on your Lava Lash is increased by an additional 10% if your weapon is enchanted with Flametongue.
• *Added* Glyph of Lava - Your Lava Burst spell gains an additional 10% of your spellpower
• *Added* Glyph of Elemental Mastery - Reduces the cooldown of your Elemental Mastery ability by 30 sec.
• Glyph of Flame Shock - Increases the duration of your Flame Shock ability by 6 sec and it is not consumed by casting Lava Burst. (Old - 3 seconds, didn't prevent Lava Burst from consuming it)

Warlock

• Glyph of Souls - Reduces the mana cost of your Ritual of Souls spell by 70%. (Old - Your Ritual of Souls spell no longer requires a Soul Shard.)

Death Knight
Skills
Frost

• Targets affected by Chains of Ice now regain 10% of their movement each second for 10 sec. (Up from 5% each second fro 20 second)
• Rune Strike now costs 20 Runic Power (Up from 10) and has been changed from "Instant" to "Next Melee Attack"

Unholy

• Corpse Explosion range has been increased from 20 to 30 yards.
• Unholy Blight damage increased (37 DPS to 48 DPS for Rank 4, 31 to 40 for Rank 3, 23 to 30 for Rank 2). Targets aren't considered diseased anymore.

Talents
Blood

• Bloody Strikes now increases the damage by 10/20/30% (up from 6/12/18%) and the bonus damage from diseases by 20/40/60% of your Blood Strike and Heart strike.
• Hysteria doesn't cost a Blood Rune anymore. Cooldown changed from 2 minutes to 3 minutes.

Frost

• Tundra Stalker doesn't affect Icy Touch anymore. Now increases expertise by 1/2/3/4/5. (Down from 2/4/6/8/10)
• Acclimation now has a 20% chance to boost magic resistance. (Down from 30%)
• Improved Icy Talons now increases the melee and ranged attack speed of your group or raid by 20% for the next 20 sec. (Old - Didn't affect ranged attacks)
• Frigid Dreadplate now Reduces the chance melee attacks will hit you by 1/2/3%.
• Deathchill now only works if the ability is used within 30 seconds.
• Black Ice doesn't affect Shadow damage anymore.
• Improved Icy Talons now increase the melee haste of your group or raid and increases your haste by 5% at all time. (Doesn't affect ranged attack speed anymore, doesn't affect only the DK's melee haste anymore)
• Improved icy Touch now makes your Frost Fever reduces melee and ranged attack speed by an additional 2/4/6%.

Unholy

• Ebon Plaguebringer magic damage taken by 4/9/13% (Old - Vulnerability to magic, wording change).
• Crypt Fever now increases disease damage taken by the target by 10/20/30%. (Down from 20/40/60%)
• Summon Gargoyle now costs 50 Runic Power (up from 30) and lasts 10 sec plus 1 per 8 Runic Power. (Up from 1 sec per 8 runic power only)

Druid
Skills
Feral

• Growl cooldown has been changed to 8 seconds. (Down from 10 seconds)
• Tiger's Fury (Rank 6) now increases damage done by 80 (down from 131). Rank 5 now increases damage done by 60. (Down from 77)

Talents
Balance

• Earth and Moon changed from 5 to 3 ranks and now increases spell damage taken by 4/9/13% for 12 seconds and increases your spell damage by 1/2/3%. (Old - Increased Arcane/Fire/Frost/Nature/Shadow damage by 3/5/8%)
• Eclipse now increases damage done by Wrath by 20% (up from 10%) and has a chance of increasing your critical strike chance with Starfire by 30%. (Up from 15%)
• Moonfury changed from 5 to 3 ranks. Now increases damage done by Starfire, Moonfire, and Wrath by 3/6/10%. (Old - 2/4/6/8/10%)
• Moonkin Form mana regeneration doesn't affect AOE spells anymore.

Feral

• Predatory Instincts doesn't work with Bear and Dire Bear form anymore.

Restoration

• Improved Tree of Life now increases your armor contribution from items by 33/66/100%. (Old - Increased your total armor)

Hunter
Skills
Beast Mastery

• All aspects are now off the GCD, but share a 1 sec cooldown between each other.
• Aspect of the Monkey now increases your dodge by 18%. (Up from 8%)
• New Skill - Aspect of the Dragonhawk - The hunter takes on the aspects of a dragonhawk, increasing ranged attack power by 230/300 (Level 74/80) and chance to dodge by 18%. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
• Aspect of the Hawk (Rank 10) and (Rank 9) have been added to the game. They are respectively level 80 / 74 and grant you 300 / 230 ranged attack power.
• Aspect of the Viper changed to - The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged and melee attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%. In addition, you gain 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.

Survival

• Disengage mana cost has been lowered from 14% of base mana to 5% of base mana. It doesn't require you to have a target anymore, you still have to be in combat.

Talent
Beast Mastery

• Ferocious Inspiration now affects your raid.
• Animal Handler now increase your pet's expertise by 5/10. (Old - Increased the chance to hit by 2/4%)
• Aspect Mastery has been modified to add Aspect of the Dragonhawk - Combines the bonuses from Aspect of the Monkey and Hawk.
• Improved Aspect of the Monkey has been modified to affect Aspect of the Dragonhawk.
• Improved Aspect of the Hawk has been modified to affect Aspect of the Dragonhawk.

Marksmanship

• Improved Barrage now affects Aimed Shot.
• Barrage now affects Aimed Shot.

Pet Skills

• Swipe (Bear) focus cost reduced from 25 to to 20. Damage increased (60-84 to 90-126 for Rank 6)
• Snatch (Bird of Prey) focus cost reduced from 40 to 20.
• Gore (Boar) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (122-164 for Rank 6)
• Rake (Cat) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage lowered. (From 59-83 + 21-27 over 9 sec to 24-34 + 22-28 over 9 sec)
• Fire Breath (Dragonhawk) now has a 20 yards range.
• Froststorm Breath (Chimaera) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (64-86 to 128-172 for Rank 6)
• Lava Breath (Core Hound) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (64-86 to 128-172 for Rank 6)
• Monstrous Bite (Devilsaur) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Stamped (Rhino) damage increased (from 91-123 to 182-246 for Rank 6). Knockback reduced from 15 yards to 10 yards.
• Spirit Strike (Spirit Beast) damage increased. (from 43-47 + 43-47 over 10 sec to 85-115 + 85-115 over 10 sec)
• Acid Spit (Worm) damage increased. (62-88 to 124-176 for Rank 6)
• Thunderstomp (Gorilla) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Tendon Rip (Hyena) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Savage Rend (Raptor) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Ravage (Ravager) damage increased. (89-125 to 106-150 for Rank 6)
• Scorpid Poison (Scorpid) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage lowered. (From 85 to 45 for Rank 6)
• Poison Spit (Serpent) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Spore Cloud (Sporebat) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Lightning Breath (Wind Serpent) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Sting (Wasp) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.

Mage
Skills
Arcane

• Arcane Blast mana cost has been lowered from 9% of base mana to 8% of base mana.
• Arcane Explosion mana cost has been lowered from 30% of base mana to 27% of base mana for higher ranks. From 25% of base mana to 22% of base mana for lower ranks.
• Arcane Missiles mana cost has been lowered from 34% of base mana to 31% of base mana for higher ranks. From 41% of base mana to 37% of base mana for lower ranks.
• Focus Magic cannot be cast on self anymore.

Fire

• Fireball mana cost has been lowered from 21% of base mana to 19% of base mana for higher ranks. From 25% of base mana to 23% of base mana for lower ranks.
• Frostfire Bolt mana cost has been lowered from 16% of base mana to 14% of base mana.
• Living Bomb mana cost has been lowered from 31% of base mana to 22% of base mana.

Frost

• Frostbolt mana cost has been lowered from 15% of base mana to 13% of base mana for higher ranks. From 18% of base mana to 16% of base mana for lower ranks.

Talents
Fire

• Flame Throwing doesn't affect Frostfire Bolt anymore.
• Molten Shields (Rank 2) now give your Molten Armor a 100% chance to affect ranged and spell attacks.

Frost

• Brain Freeze now only affects your frost damage spells with chilling effects.
• Cold as Ice doesn't affect Deep Freeze anymore.

Paladin
Skills
Holy

• Judgement of Light now grants attacks and spells made against the judged enemy a chance of healing the attacker. (Old - Didn't include spells)
• Judgement of Wisdom now unleashes the energy of a Seal spell to judge an enemy, giving each attack a chance to restore 2% of the attacker's maximum mana.
• Seal of Wisdom now deal < 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 1 > holy damage when unleashed. (Down from < 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 1 > Holy damage)
• Seal of Light now has a chance to heal for < 15% of AP + 15% of Spell Power >. (Down from < 28% of AP + 28% of Spell Power >)
• Seal of Light now deals < 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 1 > (down from < 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 1 >) holy damage when unleashed.
• Seal of Righteousness now grants each melee attack < 2.2% of Melee Weapon Speed * AP + 4.4% of Melee Weapon Speed * Spell Power > additional Holy damage. (Down from < 2.8% of Melee Weapon Speed * AP + 5.5% of Melee Weapon Speed * Spell Power >)

Protection

• Righteous Defense cooldown has been changed to 8 seconds. (Down from 10 seconds)
• Seal of Justice now deals < 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 1 > holy damage when unleashed. (Down from < 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 1 >)

Retribution

• Judgement of Command Holy damage reduced from 56% to 45%.
• Blessing of Might (Rank 8 ) and Greater Blessing of Might (Rank 3) now increase AP by 306. (Up from 305)
• Seal of Corruption now deals < 15% of AP + 8.8% of Spell Power > additional holy damage over 15 seconds. (Down from < 19.2% of AP + 9.6% of Spell Power >)
• Seal of Corruption now deals < 14% of AP + 22% of Spell Power + 1 > Holy damage. (Down from < 17.5% of AP + 28% of Spell Power + 1 >)
• Seal of the Martyr now make all your melee attacks deal < 22% of mw > to < 22% of MW >. (Down from < 28% of mw > to < 28% of MW >)
• Seal of the Martyr now deals < 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 36% of mw > to < 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 36% of MW > Holy Damage when unleashed. (Old - < 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of mw > to < 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of MW > Holy damage)
• Seal of Blood now make all your melee attacks deal < 22% of mw > to < 22% of MW >. (Down from < 28% of mw > to < 28% of MW >)
• Seal of Blood now deals < 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 36% of mw > to < 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 36% of MW > Holy Damage when unleashed. (Old - < 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of mw > to < 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of MW > Holy damage)
• Seal of Vengeance now deals < 15% of AP + 8.8% of Spell Power > additional Holy damage over 15 sec. (Down from < 19.2% of AP + 9.6% of Spell Power >)
• Seal of Vengeance now deals < 14% of AP + 22% of Spell Power + 1 > Holy damage. (Down from < 17.5% of AP + 28% of Spell Power + 1 >)
• Judgement of Wisdom now restores 1% of the attacker's maximum mana. (Down from 2%)
• Judgement of Light now has a chance to heal the attacker for < 10% of AP + 10% of Spell Power >. (Down from < 18% of AP + 18% of Spell Power >)

Talent
Holy

• Infusion of Light now reduce the cast time of your next Flash of Light by 0.75/1.5 sec or Holy Light by 0.5/1 sec. (Old - Didn't affect Flash of Light)
• Judgements of the Pure now increases your casting and melee haste by 3/6/9/12/15% for 1 minute. (Up from 2/4/6/8/10%)
• Enlightened Judgements now increases the range of your Judgement spells by 15/30 yards. (Up from 10/20 yards)

Protection

• Hammer of the Righteous now causes 4 times your main hand damage per second. (Up from 3 times)
• Shield of the Templar now also reduces all damage taken by 1/2/3%.

Retribution

• Sanctified Retribution now increase damage caused by targets affected by Retribution Aura by 3%
• Divine Storm doesn't deal Holy damage anymore. Now heals up to 3 party or raid members for 25% of the damage caused. (Up from 20%)
• Righteous Vengeance changed to - When your Judgement and Divine Storm spells deal a critical strike, your target will take 8/16/24/32/40% additional damage over 8 sec.
• The Art of War now increases the damage of Judgement, Crusader Strike and Divine Storm by 5/10%. (Old - Increased critical strike damage only, by 10/20%)
• Judgement of the Wise now grants the paladin 15% of his base mana. (Down from 33%)
• Seal of Command now deals < 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 24% of mw > to < 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 24% of MW > Holy damage. (Down from < 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 30% of mw > to < 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 30% of MW >)

Priest
Skills
Shadow

• Devouring Plague base damage has been slightly lowered. (1216 to 1088 for Rank 7, 1416 to 1144 for Rank 8, 1720 to 1376 for Rank 9)

Talents
Holy

• Divine Providence now also reduces the cooldown of your Prayer of Mending by 6/12/18/24/30%.

Shadow

• A new effect has been added to Shadowform - Your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch abilities deal increased percentage damage equal to your spell critical strike chance.
• Vampiric Embrace now heals the priest by 15% and other party members by 3%. (Old - Priest and Party members all healed by 15%)
• Improved Vampiric Embrace now increases the healing received from Vampiric Embrace by 33/66%. (Up from 5/10%)

Rogue
Talents
Combat

• Combat Potency now proc from your off-hand melee autoattacks. (Old - off-hand melee attacks)
• Fan of Knives cooldown has been lowered from 30 seconds to 10 seconds.

Subtlety

• The additional 2 seconds cooldown added on abilities while Shadow Dance is active has been removed.

Shaman
Skills
Elemental

• Lava Burst base damage has been increased. (1082-1378 to 1192-1518 for Rank 2, 920-1172 to 1012-1290 for Rank 1)
• Thunderstorm now restores 8% mana. (Up from 5%)

Enhancement

• Higher ranks of Windfury now have proper AP increase values. (Rank 2) = 119; (Rank 3) = 249; (Rank 4) = 333; (Rank 5) = 445; (Rank 6) = 835; (Rank 7) = 1090; (Rank 8 ) = 1250
• Windfury Totem doesn't affect ranged haste anymore.

Restoration

• Riptide healing value has been increased. (From 665 to 885 over time for Rank 2, 888-960 Base healing to 1378-1492 and from 695 to 1435 additional for Rank 3, 1015-1099 to 1604-1736 base healing and from 795 to 1670 additional for Rank 4)

Talents
Elemental

• Storm Reach has been renamed to Elemental Reach and now affects Lava Burst.
• Improved Fire Nova Totem now Increases the damage done by your Fire Nova Totem by 10/20%, and your Fire Nova totem has a 50/100% chance to stun all targets damaged by your Fire Nova Totem for 2 sec.
• Maelstrom Weapon isn't tagged as a 100% proc rate anymore, Rank 2, 3, and 4 now just have a higher chance to proc than the previous rank. Doesn't affect Lava Burst anymore.

Enhancement

• Static Shock now proc from melee attacks and abilities. (Old - Proc from any damage)
• Maelstrom Weapon isn't tagged as a 100% proc rate anymore, Rank 2, 3, and 4 now just have a higher chance to proc than the previous rank. Doesn't affect Lava Burst anymore.

Restoration

• Tidal Waves now affects your next 2 (Up from 1) Lesser Healing Wave of Healing Wave spells. Also, it now affects Riptide.

Warlock
Skills
Affliction

• Haunt cooldown has been changed to 8 seconds. (Down from 10 seconds)

Destruction

• Shadowflame damage has been increased. (From 310-338 + 180 Fire Damage over time to 520-568 + 544 Fire damage over time for Rank 1, from 363-397 + 212 Fire Damage over time to 615-671 + 644 Fire damage over time for Rank 2)

Talents
Affliction

• Everlasting Affliction now gives your Corruption, Siphon Life and Unstable Affliction spells gain an additional 5% of your bonus spell damage. (Old - each time they inflict damage, wording change ?)
• Shadow Mastery now increases the damage dealt and life drained by Shadow spells by 3/6/9/12/15%. (Up from 2/4/6/8/10%)

Demonology

• Demonic Tactics now Increases melee and spell critical strike chance for you and your summoned demon by 2/4/6/8/10%. (Up from 1/2/3/4/5%)
• Soul Link now redirects 20% of all damage taken to your pet. (Up from 15%)

Destruction

• Emberstorm now increases the damage done by your Fire spells by 3/6/9/12/15%. (Up from 2/4/6/8/10%)

Warrior
Skills
Arms

• Rend bas damage has been slightly lowered, additional damage changed - originally took 15% of base weapon damage, now takes 50%, originally took 2.14% from weapon attack power damage, now takes 7.14%.

Protection

• Shield Bash now dazes your target.

Talents
Arms

• Sudden Death now has a 3/6/9% chance to proc on melee hits. (Old - 10/20/30% chance to proc on critical hits) (Source)
• Improved Rend now increases the bleed damage done by Rend by 10/20%. (Down from 25/50%)

Fury

• Titan's Grip now reduces your chance to hit with damage-dealing abilities that require a weapon by 5%. (Down from 15%)
• Bloodthirst cooldown has been changed to 5 seconds (Down from 6 seconds) and now instantly attacks the target causting < 50% of AP > damage. (Up from 45%)

I'm attempting to post this early since the Ret community felt totally surprised last time.

We are looking at some way of making Avenging Wrath and Divine Shield mutually exclusive. This may be through Forbearance, if we can reduce the Forbearance duration through a hotfix. The bubble is intended as a defensive measure. Yet bubble+wings currently is used a lot in BGs and Arenas and helps contribute to the feeling of being destroyed by a Retribution paladin while you are unable to respond.

My apologies to the Ret paladins who already feel picked on. We are really trying hard to not overdo anything but even the last round of pretty severe nerfs didn't seem to do enough to Ret's dominance of PvP.

We are also sympathetic to the notion that if Ret can't do insane burst damage, that the spec might need other tools to be viable in PvP. We're exploring this now, possibly though the missing 11-point Prot talent, possibly through other avenues. We'll let you know when we've made a decision here.

I don't know exactly when this change will go live, but I didn't want you to return from trick-or-treating and be shocked that we didn't announce it, since that seemed to cause a lot of damage with the last nerf.

I'll leave this post unlocked for now, assuming the responses stay intelligent and we don't get too much flaming or trolling.

NOTE: The hotfix will be on Live and the beta.

We lowered Seal and Judgement damage, changed Divine Storm (earlier) and changed Hammer of Wrath. Those all should have lowered PvP burst damage, and they did.

The JotW nerf was done because a paladin could use all their buttons quickly then go on to another opponent with no down time. On bosses in PvE, they could hit every button that was up and still have mana left to be very high on healing meters. So we do think the mana regen was too generous in both PvP and PvE cases.

In preparation for the upcoming launch of Wrath of the Lich King, we will be increasing the gold limit for paid character transfers from 10,000 to 20,000 gold. Players who wish to transfer a level-70 (or higher) character carrying up to 20,000 gold will be able to do so starting Tuesday, November 4, after weekly scheduled maintenance is completed.

Please keep in mind that all other transfer-eligibility requirements, restrictions, and policies remain the same. The new gold limit also applies to free character moves (when offered). For more information, please visit our Paid Character Transfer FAQ (http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20558&categoryId=2317&parentCategoryId=&pageNumber=1).

51 pisteen talentit
I think there is some truth there. In most cases they were trying to fill a niche, and depending on the spec, that niche might be very small. Some of the mechanics are unusual just because we wanted something players hadn't already seen a thousand times in the game.

If there is anything we could do differently, I think that some of the talents are too weighted towards PvP or in some cases PvE. It's hard to make an ability that can do both well without being OP, but if it can only do one, then players only focused on one aspect of the game end up not liking it.

Hunter: Disengage
There is a limitation to Disengage in which a hunter who is already snared leaps as if snared. That issue will require new tech to fix it, but when we get it, we can solve that problem. We are also getting new tech to make Disengage work better on uneven ground.

The last time I used Disengage, I didn't have to aim at all. You just leap backwards, much like the way a mage Blinks. If you want to control where you land, you can rotate in place. But we thought actually requiring you to click where you wanted to go would make the ability too hard to use when you're supposed to use it -- to retreat.

Mage: Arcane Stability
I think some of these talents probably need to be tweaked with the new pushback system in place (assuming that we like the way it plays out).

Mage: Arcane rikki WotLKissa?
We think we know how to adjust Arcane to make their rotations work better in PvE (which will also help the PvP burst at the same time). It involves changing a couple of spells though so it will take some time and isn't the kind of thing easily hotfixed (as it will make tooltips incorrect).

We don't think Arcane is so broken that it's useless to take raiding. We just want to make the rotations a little smoother and perhaps bring up PvE damage a little bit.

Paladin: Holy Talentit
We are concerned that Holy and Protection may have lost too much dps as "collateral damage" from the Ret nerfs. It is something we're working on now, though I do believe Holy dps is still a lot better than it was in BC. Healers will always level more slowly than dps specs since using your abilities may keep you alive but doesn't always kill stuff faster.