Indeed, some mods and settings are useful and even downright necessary when they provide fixes for game-breaking exploits. The AI boss infected bug, in which unscrupulous players could swap between spectator mode and the infected team in order to spawn entire armies of hunters (fixed 1/14/09), was prevented by the modding community weeks before the problem was officially remedied with a game update. Other server mods exist to automatically boot players who grief via friendly fire, or to prevent them from suiciding as a survivor (using the /kill command, thus gimping their entire team) while a votekick is taking place.

Douchebag safeguards. Griefer punishers. Exploit prevention. These are the kinds of mods we need (and for which we are grateful).

What we do not need are profanity filters.

If you’re scratching your head as to why profanity filters exist in a game rated MA and featuring extreme violence, consider yourself in good company. It boggles my mind that server admins wish to censor language in a game intended only for and sold only to adults, and that someone has actually taken the time to cater to these insane wishes by creating mods that both filter out adult language and even kick/ban users who say naughty words. It’s perfectly fine if your characters in game are programmed to yell canned obscenities at regular intervals, but if you say “shit” over your microphone or even type it, well, you’ve clearly crossed the line. I can attest to the fact that these servers are out there after being kicked from one after telling my trigger-happy teammate to watch his goddamn fire.

Let’s be clear about one thing. I take no issue with admins running their servers however they see fit–after all, it is their money and therefore their right to do so. It is likewise my right to criticize and cast judgment on their shenanigans. This is an award-winning case of stupid in the extraordinary.

Perhaps I just don’t understand the purpose of profanity filters. I always thought they existed to prevent children, unspoiled virgins, and bible-thumping grandmothers from being exposed to filthy language, which I can only assume causes them to spontaneously combust or join an Islamic terrorist sect. What truly frightens me is that there are individuals with their priorities so far out of whack that they believe we should shield these sensitive populations from swear words but have no objections to exposing them to a cavalcade of exploding skulls and dismemberment.

Sadly, this mis-calibration of priorities extends far beyond the online gaming community. The Dark Knight and its MPAA rating are perfect evidence of this. Those producers must have sucked a record number of executive cigars to get this film (awesome as it may be) released with a PG-13 rating, easily the most violent movie ever in this category. Why wasn’t it rated R? Because it contains no profanity or nudity. Assessment of violence is completely subjective, but the ratings rules for profanity, nudity, and sexual language are absolute:

“A motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive, initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context.”

So America would rather its children see someone senselessly murdered by being impaled through the eyeball with a pencil than let them hear the word “fuck” more than once every 90 minutes? That seems just a tad bit insane to this author.

When I had heard Peter Molyneux flaunt his original visions for Fable, I couldn’t help but get excited. An entire game where the moral decisions you make will completely impact how your journey unfolds? Sign me the **** up! Yet, false promises and hyped game mechanics have slowly been becoming almost somewhat of a norm, whether the game “lacks” certain content and then makes you pay for it (ahem…Resident Evil) or it just simply doesn’t live up to its name. Yet, these heartbreaks are flagrant among games that focus around one’s decisions and moral capacities. And its about damn time we get a game that can keep ALL its promises, not just some (or one).

As cliche as it seems to have become to nitpick Fable’s shortcomings, it still stands as the prime example of both morality driven gaming and failure to meet expectations. As much as I’d like to bash both Molyneux and his company’s inability to follow through with ideas, I’m more concerned with playing a game where my choices aren’t simply seen as good or as evil. In the first Fable, your decisions were very simple, kill the thieves and protect the innocent, you gain points for your “good side.” Murder the helpless and steal from the poor, tally some points on that “evil side.” Furthermore, your appearances affected your moral compass as well, for if you adorn certain clothing you’ll be perceived as noble or scary, keeping that good and evil, black and white comparison continuous. Fable II generally did much of the same, tweaking certain aspects and adding the concepts of Purity and Corruption. Admittedly, Lionhead Studios did make slight progress in veering away from such stark contrasts, as one could be evil yet still be pure, and vice versa.

Yet, whats not considered into your alignment as you progress through either game is the concept of a “situational deed.” Lets set a stage: you’re well underway on your journey, and you’ve decided to take a wife. Now, in Fable II, when you decide to get down with the horizontal shuffle, you’re given the option to have protected or unprotected sex. You’ve decided to be unsafe, and wouldn’t you know it? Your wifes’ pregnant. Now here is where my problem surfaces concerning the art of the moral compass. Who says that you want this child? What if you chose to not wear a condom not because you wanted to create life, but just wanted the sex to be better? Now you’re left with a pregnant wife. And this may sound awful and may create many vocal complaints, but why can’t you have the option to abort (*gasp*) the fetus? Or to lessen controversy, orphan the child? Or why not the option for more discreet sexual favors where a child can’t be created? To put it “simply:” if you steal to feed the hungry, is it wrong? I do realize matrimony and subsequent actions are only one part of the game. It serves as an exemplifier of the moral gray area that remains absent in nearly every aspect of the Fable series. I guess the Anti-Christ Molyneux doesn’t believe in Machiavellian philosophy of “the ends justify the means.” Yet with codename: ProjectEgo (aka Fable) failing to address this sense of morality, BioWare seems to be heading in the right direction, as witnessed in Mass Effect and the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins.

In Mass Effect, you’re morality is scaled not by “good” and “evil;” rather, you are given either Paragon or Renegade points. Points for either are gained through dialogue options and are on separate scales, meaning your Paragon points will not cancel out your Renegade points. This allows for further exploration of that moral gray area throughout the game, but really takes a more pronounced form in the final decision of the game. Do you continue with a proven, alien organization watching over known space? Or do you allow the human race to patrol the universe, enabling mankind to take reigns in an unknown future, where history (in the eyes of humans) inevitably repeats itself? BioWare’s foray into a deeper morality system continues as this final decision will be the backbone of Mass Effect 2’s plot and their new original IP, Dragon Age: Origins, which will pursue this gray area like none before.

The object of DA:O, as in most fantasy, sci-fi, or RPG-esque games, is to save the world. This root of this goal remains generally unchanged, whether you are either “good” or “evil.” And because of the “low fantasy” setting (a much darker fantasy, where “good” characters may not first appear so), you’ll be met with many choices that don’t appear “good” or “evil.” Yet, your decisions will impact not just your companions and NPC reactions, but the entire world. For example, choosing a King to rule over the land will have adverse affect for the nations and races he will be ruling over. You may crown a benevolent King for certain races, but others will be maltreated and forgotten. Other world rendering choices will make themselves apparent that will not appear as black and white and will provide an almost ever changing environment that revolves around the decisions you make, rather than tracking your alignment as with the Fable series and in previous BioWare games.

Not all the details have been completely revealed concerning Dragon Age: Origins and its morality system, but from what I’ve found, it definitely sounds the most realistic. However, to truly incorporate a moral compass into a game, circumstance needs to be utilized to the utmost extent. I don’t want to receive points towards an evil alignment just because I killed a villager. What if this villager planned to murder his wife? Or plan a rebellion against the King you serve? Or was going to become a serial rapist? I truly don’t know, and neither should the game itself.

Interestingly, GoW I+II were listed as being included on a separate blue ray disc, theoretically bypassing the current PS3’s backwards compatibility faults (as phenomenal as these titles are, its still only two). Other collectibles available to choose from included a key-chain, artwork, cinematics from previous games, or a comic book/graphic novel, all worthy of collectibility. However, having the first two GoWs available on the PS3 would be wonderful, and bolster the shaky library that Sony has been having trouble creating. Not to mention, to be able to play the original two installments in a possible 1080i or 1080p video output setting? Drool.

However, if you’re into Bejeweled and any of its clones, or are a fan of puzzle games in general, then PQ:G may offer a refreshing twist for series veterans, as well as those new to the puzzling phenomenon.

As you begin your journey into Galactrix, you’ll be greeted by a less-than-lackluster story. Four mega-corporations (an allegory for the America’s economy, perhaps?) have gradually overtaken the entire universe as superpowers through their invention of and command over the LeapGates, a warp system utilized by the galaxy’s inhabitants. As a pilot atop his or her class, the protagonist you control will bring you through an atypical science-fiction fare, just as predictable as it is forgettable. Yet, even with the plot’s shortcomings and mediocre RPG elements, PQ:G produces a puzzle scheme similar to its predecessors, but with some tweaked game modes.

The initial board has been changed into a hexagon, with each individual gem shaped in the same six-sided way. With more sides comes more moves as the hexagonal shape allows for six different options to swap gems. This opens the game up to much more in-depth thinking about what you’re going to do in 2, 3, or 4 turns, rather than the turn you’re currently on. However, besides this change, it generally plays like the previous installments, as your goal is to match 3 or more-of-a-kind in order to reach your goal. Four-in-a-row will no longer grant you an extra turn, as you need five now to achieve this feat. The most notable feature of the new board is the zero gravity function. No matter where you line your tiles up, they will fall in the direction they’re pointing, rather than falling straight down. This allows the you to create large number of matched tiles, producing multipliers for added affects.

Within the story, you’ll be required to battle with space pirates, hack LeapGates, mining ore from asteroids, crafting spaceship parts, haggling with shop owners, and gathering rumors. Each aspect of the story holds different rules for the gem board, requiring you to match colors in a certain order or defeat an enemy using mine tiles, which have replaced the skull gems from Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. The story will quickly introduce you to the six different modes of play, each accompanied by a certain crew member who becomes your avatar while navigating the puzzle.

The most common form of puzzle you’ll encounter, not surprisingly, are the battles with space pirates across the galaxy. Each ship, yours and the enemy’s, has a certain amount of equipment that utilizes gunnery, engineering, and science energies that correspond with the red, yellow, and green tiles respectively. In order to defeat your enemy, you must bring their hull energy down to zero, which can only be done after you’ve destroyed the enemy’s shields. To defend yourself and keep your shields at full strength, you can string together blue tiles that will fortify your shields or use equipment that the has created or found. In order to attack your opponent, you can use lasers equipped on your ship, or you will have to line up mine gems that are numbered 1-10, depending on the mine’s strength. The higher the numbers lined up, the more damage you will do to your enemy.

Another of the more common puzzles involves hacking the LeapGates in order to travel further through the universe, which is enormous, composed of over fifty galaxies that all have their own planets, asteroids, pirates, and other space…things. And by hacking I mean just another version of the general puzzle game. However, while “hacking” the gate, time slowly drains as you are required to line tiles together that match the corresponding color.

As you mine for ore and other valuables to sell for credits, you’ll encounter yet another game mode. In order to secure the cargo, you’ll need to match enough tiles to meet your cargo desires, before you run out of moves to make and a black-hole devours the asteroid. Similar to mining, crafting requires you gather a certain amount of material to achieve your goal. However, the normal board layout remains, as you string colors together to form the necessary tokens needed to craft your equipment. As you create tokens, you’ll need to line them up to acquire the equipment you need, regardless of what color helped make them.

The last two puzzle modes, haggling and gathering rumors, become available later in the game and aren’t exactly necessary to the game. Haggling requires you clear as many tiles as you can while the vanishing tiles are replaced by inactive black tokens. The percentage earned through the puzzle will grant discounts on shops that sell item and equipment, as well as new ships. While haggling may provide some value to a play-through, rumor gathering is just annoying and an artificial game lengthening mechanic. In order to “gather rumors,” or useless backstory you’ll forget as soon as its vomited out, you’ll need to survive a certain number of turns without combining special nuke tokens.

As a whole, Puzzle Quest: Galatrix is a very mediocre mix of the puzzle and RPG genres, a mix that heavily favors it’s puzzle roots. The campaign seemed to drag on, and I was only able to finish it through sheer willpower; the plot had no sense of allurement, and became quickly dispensable. As a puzzle game, however, PQ:G is addicting and thought powered fun. If the developers spent the same amount of time was on plot and it’s role-playing elements as they did on gameplay, PQ:G would be a masterful example of genre-blending. Online supports 2-4 players in a number of different puzzle modes, allowing for simple, yet addicting competitive online action. If packaged simply as a puzzle game with online multiplayer, Puzzle Quest: Galatrix would have been leagues better. But in order to be “innovative,” some risks need to be taken, but not all of them are destined to succeed.

While Stardock may have rightfully earned a large stock of credibility with PC gamers for its public stance on piracy and DRM, pushing Gas Powered Games’ Demigod out the door before it was ready on April 14th cannot and should not be excused. For those of you who haven’t picked up the game yet (or don’t plan to), an extremely large number of users are experiencing difficulty with the game’s networking which is unable to negotiate connections between different users’ routers properly, resulting in the inability to connect to games for which Stardock is squarely to blame (Stardock wrote the netcode for Demigod rather than Gas Powered Games).

Obviously the variety of networking configurations used by players is vast, however most other companies using similar lobby formats and Games for Windows Live have developed successful solutions (Relic’s Dawn of War 2, for example). Considering that Demigod effectively has no single player component, the fact that they didn’t perform adequate testing of the game’s multiplayer connectivity is an oversight of staggering proportions. Furthermore, there is a software bug in which players who actually can connect to their opponents still aren’t able to join the game, so either way players are beset with technical issues beyond their control.

It also appears as though the servers were not prepared to handle the increased load, which is simply the result of poor planning and bad estimates.

That being said, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has performed admirably while under fire, putting in tons of extra hours and communicating constantly with the community to assure them not only that problems are being worked on, but even going so far as to specify how and what their priorities are. In an open letter to Demigod’s player base at the end of release day, Wardell listed the major concerns that had been voiced and even took responsibility for some of the technical issues plaguing the new release.

It’s extremely refreshing to be told precisely what’s going on by someone with authority rather than wading through the bullshit typically spewed by low-ranking community forum moderators who aren’t given any information whatsoever (looking at you, Blizzard). Good customer service is something that has been lacking in this industry ever since Blizzard, SOE, and EA (the tri-fecta of companies that treat us like cattle) became behemoths.

It should also be noted that these difficulties have been compounded by Gamestop’s violation of Demigod’s release date. The storefront retailer began selling copies of the game a week early, catching Stardock off guard and forcing them to scramble in order to bring the multiplayer servers online over Easter weekend.

Many have accused Gamestop’s blunder as being an intentional attempt to grab a higher portion of early release sales due to the fact that Stardock has advertised that they are selling digital copies of the game for $10 below MSRP. Intentional or not, Gamestop really put Stardock in a difficult position. However, to be fair, if Stardock wasn’t able to identify and fix these networking problems during the game’s lengthy development then I doubt another week would have made much difference.

Verbinski was expected to direct a fourth installment of Pirates, but recently broke the news to producer Jerry Bruckheimer that he would prefer to bring the sunken city of Rapture to life on the silver screen. Also signed on to the project is screenwriter John Logan, whose credits include Sweeney Todd, The Last Samurai, and Gladiator.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s gunning for an R rating?

We’re prepared to make it an R-rated movie. I don’t intuitively see it as PG-13. The content and the graphic nature of the story itself is smarter than that. It’s not for young kids.

The utopian references and the way the characters and world are drawn in that delightfully inspired Jules Verne and Ayn Rand style places the film in a more elevated realm. It’s the realm of a graphic novel. It has to have that edge.

Source

If you’re anything like me, you just squealed, flapped your hands around, and maybe peed a little (it happens).

While the last two Pirates movies have been almost universally criticized as being inferior to the original, they’ve still been entertaining popcorn fare fit for public consumption. And despite their flaws, the dynamic visual creativity that Verbinski showcases throughout the films has always been praiseworthy. Verbinski’s comments equating the source material with a graphic novel may suggest a highly stylized vision like many contemporary adaptations of the genre, though there exist valid concerns about the movie ending up as hyperstylized vapidity similar to The Spirit, 300, and Ang Lee’s Hulk. Hopefully the addition of John Logan will serve to anchor the project in Bioshock’s thought-provoking and dramatic narrative.

Bioshock is currently in pre-production and has a tentative release date scheduled sometime in 2010.

To sum up for the too-long-didn’t-read-crowd:

• Pirates of the Caribbean director will direct Bioshock instead of Pirates 4
• Uwe Boll will not be directing Bioshock
• The movie might actually not suck

Last week, Japanese gaming rag Famitsu revealed a new JRPG called End of Eternity two days in advance of the game’s teaser website, which featured a countdown to the grand unveiling. The full-featured EoE website went live on schedule and now boasts a debut trailer with some impressive CG-rendered video, though no gameplay footage is featured.

Developed by tri-Ace and published by Sega, End of Eternity takes place in the future and, unlike most virtually all of its contemporaries, features gun-based combat, which has already earned it innumerable comparisons to the defunct yet beloved Parasite Eve games. EoE marks the first project that tri-Ace, best known for its Star Ocean franchise, has worked on without Square Enix. It’s also the first time that they’ve developed a game for release on the Playstation 3.

1up.com provides a brief summary of the Famitsu article:

The game will take place entirely in a colossal machine-city called Burzel, whose millions of citizens subscribe to an (as yet unnamed) monotheistic religion. Director Takayuki Suguro points out that the player will never venture outside of Burzel in End of Eternity; what, if anything, exists beyond its borders is a mystery.

The Famitsu article reveals three characters: Vashyron, a 26 year old former soldier working for a private military company, 17 year old Zephyr, a boy scouted by Vashyron to work for his PMC, and a 19 year old girl known only as Experiment 20 — an ominous moniker, as she’s fated to die on her 20th birthday. Little more biographical info is found in the article, though the startling snippet of dialogue provided for hero Zephyr is worth noting: “The fact that I live is proof there is no God”

Source

End of Eternity is currently slated for a Winter 2009 multi-platform (Xbox 360 and PS3) release in Japan.

In keeping with their ridiculously slow update schedule, Blizzard’s patch 3.1: Secrets of Ulduar introduces new “free” content for the first time since the release of the Wrath of the Lich King patch (3.0) on 10/14/08, exactly 6 months ago. Is that new dungeon really worth $90 in subscription fees? Not to me. But, hey now, we can’t all come to our senses.

See below for a comprehensive listing of the 3.1.0 patch notes.

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.1.0

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

Secrets of Ulduar

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 capitols, 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.

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.
• 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:
  • New ways of gaining reputation with capitol cities.
  • All new daily quests, achievements and titles.
  • New rare and epic items, tabards, pets, banners, faction shirts and mounts.
  • Mounted combat, and much more to come!
• All Ground Mounts may now swim without dismounting the rider. Flying Mounts still may NOT, and will dismount the rider upon entering water.
• Players level 40 and higher will now be able to visit their trainer to pay a one-time fee and access the dual talent specialization feature.
• The achievement Brew of the Year has been removed from the Brewmaster meta-achievement. The achievement Brew of the Month has been added in its place.
• Noblegarden has been redesigned into a week-long holiday with new items, quests, and more. Various achievements have been added, including the meta-achievement Noble Gardener, which is now required for the meta-achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been.
• 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).

PvP

• Arenas
  • Enemy Unit Frames: This feature is only available while in Arenas, with several options in the Interface Options.
• Battlegrounds
  • Battleground quests “Concerted Efforts” (Alliance) and “For Great Honor” (Horde) now require an Alterac Valley Mark of Honor in addition to the current requirements. These quests now award more honor upon completion.
  • Players will now be able to queue for battlegrounds from any location. Leaving a battleground will return you to the location from which you entered.
  • 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 can now be seen from anywhere in the zone.
  • Alterac Valley
    • Drek’Thar, Vanndar Stormpike, the tower Heralds and Warmasters have received a hit point and damage upgrade in the level 80 version of Alterac Valley.
  • Strand of the Ancients
    • Capturing the Southern Graveyard will now automatically capture both the East and West Graveyards.
• Lake Wintergrasp
  • All players who attack a siege vehicle should now get credit if it is destroyed.
  • Daily quests “Slay Them All!” (Horde) and “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).
  • Siege Engines now have the Steam Rush ability from Ulduar.
  • 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: General

• Command (Orc Racial): Applies to shaman 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.
• The damage threshold for Fear, Psychic Scream, Hex, Intimidating Shout, and Turn Evil to break early has been significantly reduced.
• Haste Rating: shamans, paladins, druids, and death knights now receive 30% more melee haste from Haste Rating.
• Hysteria, Tricks of the Trade, Enrage, Wrecking Crew, Death Wish, Arcane Power, Owlkin Frenzy, Beast Within, and Avenging Wrath damage bonuses no longer stack together.
• 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.
• The shaman’s Fire Elemental and Spirit Wolves, mage’s Water Elemental and Mirror Images, and druid’s Treants have all gained avoidance from area-of-effect damage similar to what warlock and hunter pets already have.
• 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.
• Blood Boil’s damage increased to make up for Pestilence no longer doing damage.
• Blood Boil now does some damage to undiseased targets and extra damage to diseased targets. Its radius has been decreased.
• Blood Plague: Now lasts 15 seconds untalented.
• Blood Strike: Bonus damage for diseases is now a multiplier rather than a flat bonus.
• Death Pact: This heal cannot be critical.
• Death Strike: The amount of healing per damage done has been reduced by 20%.
• Frost Fever: Now lasts 15 seconds untalented.
• Frost Presence: Now grants 5% damage reduction instead of 15% magic damage reduction.
• Obliterate: Bonus damage for diseases now increases damage done by a percentage rather than a flat amount.
• Pestilence does no damage and has only 1 rank.
• 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.
• Rune of Cinderglacier now procs per minute instead of a 5% chance.
• Rune of the Fallen Crusader: This weapon enchant now provides only 15% strength, but its chance to proc is doubled.
• Rune of Razorice now affects Frost damage done by the death knight only, but stacks up to 10%.
• Strangulate no longer does damage and has been reduced to 1 rank.
• Talents
  • Blood
    • Abomination’s Might: This effect can now also be caused by Death Strike.
    • 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%.
    • Bloodworms now heal more.
    • 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.
    • New talent: Improved Death Strike: Increases Death Strike damage by 10/20%, and critical strike chance by 3/6%.
    • Heart Strike: Bonus damage for diseases is now a multiplier rather than a flat bonus. No longer affected by Glyph of Blood Strike.
    • Hysteria: This ability now causes the target to lose health rather than take damage.
    • Might of Mograine: No longer affects Obliterate.
    • Scent of Blood: Will now proc on a dodge, parry or when taking damage, and now grants 10 runic power per charge. Internal cooldown removed.
    • 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.
  • Frost
    • The following talents have moved in the Frost tree: Runic Power Mastery, Glacier Rot, Killing Machine, Chilblains, and Endless Winter.
    • Black Ice: This talent now provides a 2/4/6/8/10% bonus to Frost and Shadow damage instead of 4/8/12/16/20% to Frost.
    • Blood of the North: Now also increases damage dealt by Frost Strike by 3/6/9/12/15%.
    • Chillblains: Now a 15/30/50% movement speed debuff up from 30%. Can no longer be dispelled.
    • Frost Aura: Replaced with Improved Frost Presence. Allows the deathknight to keep the health bonus of Frost Presence in any presence, and decreases magic damage taken while in Frost Presence.
    • 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.
    • Icy Talons and Improved Icy Talons: These talents now have new icons.
    • 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.
    • Runic Power Mastery: Moved up to tier-1 and reduced to 2 ranks (15/30%).
    • 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: 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.
    • Shadow of Death: This talent has been removed.
    • Unholy Aura: Replaced with Improved Unholy Presence. Allows the death knight to keep the movement speed bonus of Unholy Presence in any presence, and increases rune regeneration rate while in Unholy Presence.
    • Unholy Blight and Gargoyle have swapped places in the Unholy tree. Gargoyle is the new 51-point Unholy talent.
    • Vicious Strikes: This talent no longer affects Death Strike.

Druids

• Abolish Poison: Now ticks every 3 seconds, up from every 2. Now lasts 12 seconds, up from 8.
• Faerie Fire and Faerie Fire (Feral): Now decreases armor of your target by 5%. Has a 5-minute duration, and a 40-second PvP duration.
• Feral Faerie Fire: The damage generated by this ability in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form has been increased substantially.
• Innervate: This spell no longer costs mana.
• 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, it gains a physical damage shield equal to 25% of its attack power. The next hit completely consumes the shield, regardless of how much damage was done. Only active in Bear Form.
• Starfall: Cooldown reduced to 90 seconds.
• 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 spellpower on this damage-over-time ability has been increased significantly to match similar spells on other classes.
    • Mark of the Wild and Gift of the Wild can now be cast while in Moonkin form.
    • Moonkin Form: Mana cost reduced.
    • 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.
    • Typhoon: Now causes a 3-second daze.
  • Feral
    • Heart of the Wild: Stamina bonus changed to 2/4/6/8/10%.
    • Predatory Strikes: This talent no longer works when in Moonkin form.
    • New Talent: Primal Gore: Grants the periodic damage from your Lacerate and Rip abilities the chance to critically hit.
    • Primal Tenacity: The damage reduction while stunned effect now only works in Cat Form.
    • Rend and Tear: The critical strike bonus for Ferocious Bite reduced to 5/10/15/20/25%, down from 10/20/30/40/50%.
    • Savage Roar is now considered an Enrage effect and now increases physical damage done by 30% instead of increasing attack power.
    • Survival of the Fittest: Bonus armor reduced to 11/22/33% instead of 22/44/66%.
  • Restoration
    • Living Seed: This talent now accounts for total healing including overhealing.
    • Improved Mark of the Wild: Now also increases all of your total attributes by 1/2%.
    • 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.
    • Improved Regrowth: This talent is renamed Nature’s Bounty. Increases the critical effect chance of your Regrowth and Nourish spells by 5/10/15/20/25%.
    • Replenish: This talent is now re-named Revitalize and also works with Wild Growth.
    • Tree of Life: 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.
• Disengage: Cooldown increased by 5 seconds.
• 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.
    • Improved Aspect of the Hawk now has a new spell effect.
  • Marksmanship
    • Chimera Shot: Mana cost reduced from 16% to 12%.
    • Concussive Barrage redesigned: 2-point talent. Now causes your Multi-Shot and Chimera Shot to have a 50/100% chance to daze the target for 4 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.
    • Ranged Weapon Specialization: Points reduced from 5 to 3, 1/3/5%.
    • 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.
    • Silencing Shot: No longer on the global cooldown.
    • Wild Quiver: Chance increased to 4/8/12%, up from 4/7/10%. Damage increased from 50% of an Auto Shot to 80%.
  • Survival
    • Entrapment redesigned: When your Frost Trap, Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Snake Trap are triggered, you entrap all afflicted targets, preventing them from moving for 2/3/4 seconds.
    • Explosive Shot: Base damage lowered by 10%. Attack power scaling reduced by 12.5%. The periodic damage from this ability no longer triggers Judgement of Wisdom and Judgement of Light.
    • 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.
    • Improved Wing Clip: This talent has been removed.
    • Wyvern Sting: Duration increased from 12 seconds to 30 seconds. PvP duration reduced from 10 seconds to 6 seconds.
  • Pets
    • Bullheaded now adds 20% damage reduction for 12 seconds along with its current CC-removal effect.
    • Cornered: The critical strike reduction when this ability is active has been increased.
    • Feeding Frenzy increased to 8/16% damage up from 6/12%.
    • 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.
    • Grace of the Mantis and Roar of Sacrifice are now also available to Cunning pets.
    • Great Resistance increased to 5/10/15% magic damage reduction, up from 3/6/9%.
    • Roar of Recovery cooldown decreased to 3 minutes, down from 6 minutes.
    • 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.
    • Roar of Sacrifice can be used on the hunter only.
    • 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.
• Mirror Image: The images no longer cast Polymorph.
• Molten Armor: Chance to critically strike is now increased by a percentage of the mage’s total spirit.
• 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.
• Divine Plea can once again be dispelled.
• Exorcism: Now can be used on any target and has a 100% chance to be a critical strike when used on Undead and Demons.
• Hand of Sacrifice: The damage transferred by this ability is now capped by the paladin’s health.
• Forbearance reduced to a 2-minute duration.
• 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.
• Shield of Righteousness: Base damage and scaling factor increased by 30%.
• 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.
    • Enlightened Judgements: No longer increases the range of Judgement of Justice. Moved to tier-10.
    • Improved Concentration Aura: The resistance to Silence and Interrupt mechanics granted by this talent now becomes active when any Aura is used, not just Concentration Aura.
    • Infusion of Light: Now increases the critical chance of your next Holy Light by 10/20% instead of reducing cast time. Moved to tier-10.
    • Judgements of the Pure moved to tier-9.
    • Pure of Heart: Now reduces duration of all curse, disease, and poison effects by 15/30%.
    • Purifying Power: Now reduces the cooldowns of Exorcism and Holy Wrath by 17/33% instead of increasing critical strike chance.
    • Sacred Cleansing moved to tier-8.
  • Protection
    • Ardent Defender: Reduced to 3 ranks for 10/20/30%.
    • Avenger’s Shield: Base damage and scaling factor increased by 30%.
    • 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).
    • Improved Devotion Aura: The additional healing granted by this talent now becomes active when any Aura is used, not just Devotion Aura.
    • Divine Guardian: Now increases the effectiveness of Divine Sacrifice by an additional 5/10%, and increases the duration of Sacred Shield by 50/100% and the amount absorbed by 10/20%.
    • Divine Protection: Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.
    • 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).
    • Guarded by the Light: Now makes Divine Plea 50/100% less likely to be dispelled.
    • Improved Hammer of Justice: Reduced to 2 ranks for 10/20-second cooldown reduction.
    • 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.
    • One-Handed Weapon Specialization: Reduced to 3 ranks for 4/7/10%.
    • Sacred Duty rank 1 now increases stamina by 4%.
    • Shield of the Templar: No longer increases the damage done by Holy Shield, Avenger’s Shield, and Shield of Righteousness. Now grants 33/66/100% chance to silence your Avenger’s Shield targets for 3 seconds.
  • Retribution
    • Benediction now affects Hand of Reckoning.
    • Divine Purpose: Moved to Improved Retribution Aura’s position.
    • Divine Storm: Damage increased.
    • Fanaticism reduced to 3 ranks for 6/12/18% bonus and 10/20/30% threat reduction.
    • Judgement of the Wise: The immediate return of base mana from this spell has been increased to 25%, up from 15%.
    • Repentance no longer resets the paladin’s melee swing timer.
    • Improved Retribution Aura: This talent has been removed.
    • 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.
    • Sanctified Seals: Renamed Sanctity of Battle. Now also increases damage done by Exorcism and Crusader Strike by 5/10/15%.
    • Swift Retribution: Now grants its haste bonus while any aura is active.

Priests

• Abolish Disease: Now cleanses a disease every 3 seconds, down from 5. Duration reduced from 20 seconds down to 12 seconds.
• Devouring Plague: This spell now has a new icon.
• 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.
• Divine Spirit is now trainable at level 31.
• Holy Nova: Mana cost reduced approximately 20%.
• Improved Holy Concentration removed.
• 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.
• Mental Agility, Inner Focus, Shadow Reach, Shadow Focus and Shadow Affinity now all affect Psychic Horror.
• 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.
    • Improved Divine Spirit: This talent has been removed.
    • 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.
    • Improved Power Word: Fortitude: Now also increases your total stamina by 2/4%.
    • Meditation and Improved Power: Word shield have changed locations with each other.
    • Meditation: Now grants 17/33/50% of mana regeneration while casting.
    • Mental Agility: Reduced to 3 points (4/7/10%), down from 5.
    • 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.
    • Power Infusion: This effect now has a new spell effect.
    • 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.
    • Unbreakable Will:Increased from 3/6/9/12/15% to 6/12/18/24/30%.
  • Holy
    • 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.
    • Circle of Healing: Healing increased by approximately 40%.
    • Holy Concentration redesigned: Mana regeneration is increased by 16/32/50% for 8 seconds after you critically heal with Flash Heal, Greater Heal, Binding Heal or Renew.
    • 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.
    • Serendipity redesigned: When you heal with Binding Heal or Flash Heal, the cast time of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing spell is reduced by 4/8/12%. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 20 seconds.
    • 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%.
  • Shadow
    • Blackout: This talent has been removed.
    • 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.
    • Mind Melt: Now also increases the periodic critical strike chance of your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch spells by 3/6%.
    • 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. 2 minute cooldown. Instant cast. The horror effect can be dispelled, but the disarm cannot.
    • Improved Spirit Tap: Now grants 17/33% of mana regeneration while casting.
    • Shadow Affinity: Now also causes you to receive 5/10/15% of your base mana when your Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch spells are dispelled.
    • 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.
    • Silence: Range increased to 30 yards.
    • Spirit Tap: Now grants 83% of mana regeneration while casting.
    • Vampiric Embrace duration increased to 5 minutes, up from 1 minute. PvP duration is now 60 seconds. Cooldown removed.
    • Vampiric Touch: When dispelled, Vampiric Touch will deal damage to the afflicted target.

Rogues

• Deadly Poison: The amount of damage this poison generates from the rogue’s attack power has been increased from 8% per application to 12%.
• Deadly Throw: Missile speed increased.
• Instant Poison: Redesigned to have its chance to be applied based on the speed of the weapon (frequency-based).
• Shiv: This ability can no longer generate a critical strike, and the poisons it applies cannot be critical strikes either.
• Tricks of the Trade: Will now begin following the first damaging attack.
• 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.
    • Master Poisoner: Now also increases the bonus to apply Deadly Poison when Envenom is used by an additional 15/30/45%.
  • Combat
    • Adrenaline Rush cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.
    • Killing Spree: Now also increases all damage done by the rogue while active by 20%.
    • Savage Combat improved to 2/4% increased damage against poisoned targets.
    • Lightning Reflexes reduced to 3 ranks for 2/4/6% dodge and 4/7/10% melee haste.
  • Subtlety
    • Shadow Dance now opens a new action bar when used.

Shaman

• 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.
• 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.
• Frostbrand Weapon: Damage increased by approximately 20%.
• 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.
• Poison Cleansing Totem and Disease Cleansing Totem have been merged into Cleansing Totem. Cleansing Totem pulses every 3 seconds, down from 5.
• Talents
  • Enhancement
    • 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.
    • Lava Lash now has a new icon.
    • 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.
    • Lightning Overload: Reduced to 3 points (7/14/20%), down from 5.
    • 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.
    • Thunderstorm can now be cast while stunned.
  • Restoration
    • Ancestral Awakening: This talent now accounts for your ineffective healing, rather than effective.
    • Ancestral Healing and Healing Grace have swapped places in the Restoration talent tree.
    • Cleanse Spirit now has a new icon.
    • Mana Tide Totem: This spell no longer costs mana.
    • 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%.
    • Riptide: This spell has a new icon.
    • Tidal Force: Now has a new spell effect.

Warlocks

• Banish: Now has a 6-second PvP duration.
• Curse of the Elements (Rank 5): Increased to 13% spell damage, up from 10%.
• Curse of Recklessness has been removed.
• Curse of Weakness: Now also reduces the armor of the target by 5%.
• 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.
• Enslave Demon: Spell haste penalty reduced by 10%. Melee haste penalty reduced by 10%.
• Doomguard: Cooldown reduced to 30 minutes, down from 60 minutes. Damage reduced approximately 30%, and health reduced approximately 30%.
• 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).
  • Demonology
    • Demonic Empathy has been removed.
    • Demonic Empowerment: This talent now has a unique spell effect.
    • Demonic Sacrifice: This talent has been removed.
    • Fel Synergy has been moved to tier-1. No longer increases intellect, stamina and damage of your summoned demon.
    • Improved Enslave Demon talent removed.
    • 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%.
    • Master Conjuror: Increased from 15/30% up to 150/300%.
    • 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.
    • New Talent: Nemesis: Reduces the cooldown of your Demonic Empowerment, Metamorphosis, Soulstone and Fel Domination spells by 10/20/30%.
  • Destruction
    • 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.
    • Chaos Bolt: Damage increased approximately 15%.
    • 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.
    • Improved Soul Leech: Now has a 50/100% chance to proc Replenishment.
    • 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.

Warriors

• Battle Stance: Now increases armor penetration by 10%.
• Berserker Stance: Now increases damage taken by 5%.
• Charge: Duration of stun effect now lasts 1.5 seconds. This effect no longer has diminishing returns.
• Defensive Stance: Now reduces damage caused by the warrior by 5% (previously 10%).
• Disarm: This ability now disarms ranged weapons as well.
• Heroic Throw missile speed increased.
• Intimidating Shout: Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes.
• 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 useable in Battle Stance. 5-minute cooldown.
• Talents
  • Arms
    • Blood Frenzy improved to 2/4% increased damage.
    • 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.
    • Improved Intercept and Weapon Mastery have once again swapped places in the talent tree.
    • 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.
  • Fury
    • Improved Berserker Stance: Now increases strength by 4/8/12/16/20% while in Berserker Stance.
    • Titan’s Grip: While you have a two-handed weapon equipped in one hand, your physical damage done is reduced by 10%.
  • Protection
    • Last Stand: Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.
    • Warbringer: Now also allows Intervene and Intercept to be used in any stance.

Professions

• Alchemy
  • All flasks now last 1 hour. To compensate, all flask recipes will provide 2 flasks for the same material cost.
  • Blackmouth Oil and Fire Oil no longer require a vial.
  • Elixir of Greater Firepower now grants spell power to all schools of magic.
  • Flasks now stack to 20, and their vendor sell prices have been reduced to lower the Auction House deposits.
  • Increased the health granted by the Flask of Stoneblood.
  • 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.
  • The Crazy Alchemist Potion is now correctly increased by Alchemist Stones.
  • The Mercurial Stone is no longer required as a tool for alchemists. It is instead an uncommon quality bind-on-equip trinket.
  • You can now sometimes find Alchemist’s Caches from bosses in Ulduar. Only players with an Alchemy skill of 425 or higher can loot these secret caches.
• Blacksmithing
  • Added a new recipe for the Titansteel Spellblade, an epic one-handed caster dagger, available from trainers.
  • Added new recipes for epic gear, found rarely on Ulduar bosses. These recipes are unbound and can be traded.
  • Most of the recipes in the 1-300 skill range of blacksmithing have received major stat updates to make them more useful.
  • Added a new recipe for the Titansteel Spellblade.
  • The Titanium Plating shield enchantment now reduces the duration of disarm effects by 50% as well as increasing your block value.
• Cooking
  • 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.
  • Flint and Tinder is no longer necessary for creating a campfire. You’re just that resourceful!
  • Grub now sells the Dig Rat Stew recipe to players who completed the quest.
  • Ingredients such as Spices, Apples, and the like have been removed from most cooking recipes.
  • Players no longer need to complete the Clamlette Surprise quest to gain Artisan cooking. The quest now offers the unique recipe, Clamlette Magnifique. If you already completed the quest, you can visit Dirge Quickcleave in Gadgetzan to learn this recipe (for free).
  • Prospector Khazgorm, found in Bael Modan in southern Barrens, now sells the recipe for Dig Rat Stew to the Alliance.
  • Several Northrend recipes were given greater skill up ranges to make it easier to reach 450 cooking skill.
  • You no longer need to learn cooking from books. The trainers have finally done their reading and are able to teach you the same thing.
• Enchanting
  • Added two new recipes for enchanting staves with spell power, available from Vanessa Sellers in Dalaran City.
  • 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, players 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.
• Engineering
  • Added a new Reticulated Armor Webbing engineering enchant that increases the armor on plate gloves.
  • 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 X-Ray Specs have a new model.
  • 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.
• Fishing
  • A new (and very rare) special mount can now be caught from Northrend fishing pools.
  • New fishing dailies are now offered from Marcia Chase in Dalaran City!
  • Players are no longer required to do the 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.
• Herbalism
  • Find Herbs no longer tracks Glowcaps.
  • Northrend herbs now yield more herbs on average.
  • 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.
  • Added a recipe for creating a different level 70 superior-quality off-hand item. 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).
• Jewelcrafting
  • Added a new recipe to cut black diamonds.
  • Added a recipe for Shifting Twilight Opal to the daily jewelcrafting vendor.
  • Added recipes for superior-quality PVP rings and necklaces to Northrend jewelcrafting trainers.
• Leatherworking
  • Added a recipe for combining Borean Leather Scraps into Borean Leather. You can still use Borean Scraps from your inventory to combine them.
  • Added new recipes for epic gear, found rarely on Ulduar bosses. These recipes are unbound and can be traded.
  • Several lower-level items crafted by leatherworkers have received major changes to make them more appealing.
  • Shadowskin Gloves and Dusky Boots no longer require Shadowcat Hide to create, but instead require an equal quantity of Shadow Silk. Shadowcat Hides can no longer be obtained from skinning.
• Mining
  • Northrend deposits now despawn 1 minute after mining them. This change was made to speed up respawning when nodes were partially looted.
• Tailoring
  • Added new recipes for epic gear, found rarely on Ulduar bosses. These recipes are unbound and can be traded.
  • Added recipes for superior-quality PVP cloaks to Northrend tailoring trainers.
  • 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 “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.
• Horde characters may now obtain the quest “CLUCK!” from Chickens. While Farmer Saldean won’t be selling Special Chicken Feed to the Horde, perhaps “Westfall” William Saldean in Brill might…

Dungeons and Raids

• New dungeon maps have been added for all Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
• Eye of Eternity
  • Malygos will now properly delay before breathing after a Vortex on Heroic difficulty.
• Naxxramas
  • 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.
• Vault of Archavon
  • 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.
• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.

Items

• Arena Grand Master Trinket: Dodge rating has been replaced with stamina.
• 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!
• Enhancement Shaman PvP Set Bonus: The cooldown reduction of Stormstrike has been increased to 2 seconds, up from 1 second.
• Existing crafted resilience armor sets now offer additional stamina and resilience ratings through set bonuses.
• Gift of Arthas: Now considered a curse instead of a disease.
• Glyphs
  • Death Knight
    • Glyph of Blood Boil: This has been replaced with Glyph of Heart Strike, which adds a snare effect to Heart Strike.
    • Glyph of Dancing Rune Weapon: Increases the duration of Dancing Rune Weapon by 10 seconds.
    • Glyph of Dark Death: Increases the damage done by Death Coil by 15%.
    • Glyph of Death Strike: This glyph now increases Death Strike damage by 1% per 2 runic power, but has a limit of 25% increase.
    • Glyph of Disease: Your Pestilence ability now refreshes disease durations on your primary target back to their maximum duration.
    • Glyph of Howling Blast: Your Howling Blast ability now infects your targets with Frost Fever.
    • Glyph of Hungering Cold: Reduces the cost of Hungering Cold by 10 runic power.
    • Glyph of Icebound Fortitude: Icebound Fortitude now grants at least 30% damage reduction, regardless of defense skill.
    • Glyph of Plague Strike: Bonus lowered to 20%.
    • Glyph of Strangulate: This glyph has been changed to reduce the cooldown by 20 seconds.
    • Glyph of Unbreakable Armor: Increases the amount of damage absorbed by Unbreakable Armor by 20%.
    • Glyph of Unholy Blight: Increases the duration of Unholy Blight by 10 seconds.
  • Druid
    • Glyph of Barkskin: Reduces the chance you’ll be critically hit by melee attacks by 25% while Barkskin is active.
    • Glyph of Berserk: Increases the duration of Berserk by 5 seconds.
    • Glyph of Monsoon: Reduces the cooldown of your Typhoon spell by 3 seconds.
    • Glyph of Nourish: Your Nourish heals an additional 6% for each of your heal-over-time effects present on the target.
    • Glyph of Rebirth: Target now returns to life with full health.
    • Glyph of Savage Roar: Your Savage Roar ability grants an additional 3% bonus damage done.
    • Glyph of Shred: Now increases remaining duration on Rip by 2 seconds each time it is used, up to a maximum of 6 seconds.
    • Glyph of Starfall: Changed to reduce the cooldown by 30 seconds.
    • Glyph of Survival Instincts: Increases the percentage of your maximum health received from Survival Instincts to 40%.
    • Glyph of Wild Growth: Wild Growth now affects up to 6 targets.
  • Hunter
    • Glyph of Aimed Shot: Now reduces cooldown by 2 seconds.
    • Glyph of Chimera Shot: Reduces the cooldown of Chimera Shot by 1 second.
    • Glyph of Explosive Shot: Increases the critical strike chance of Explosive Shot by 4%.
    • Glyph of Explosive Trap: The periodic damage from your Explosive Trap can now be critical strikes.
    • Glyph of Kill Shot: Reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot by 6 seconds.
    • Glyph of the Monkey: This glyph has been converted to Glyph of Mending, which increases the healing done by Mend Pet by 40%.
    • Glyph of Raptor Strike: For 3 seconds after using Raptor Strike, you take 20% less damage.
    • Glyph of Scatter Shot: Increases the range of Scatter Shot by 3 yards.
    • Glyph of Snake Trap: Now reduces damage taken by snakes from area damage by 90%.
    • Glyph of Wyvern Sting: Now reduces the cooldown by 6 seconds, down from 15 seconds. No longer reduces the damage done by Wyvern Sting’s effect.
  • Mage
    • Glyph of Arcane Barrage: Reduces the mana cost of Arcane Barrage by 20%.
    • Glyph of Deep Freeze: Increases the range of Deep Freeze by 10 yards.
    • Glyph of Ice Armor: Now increases resistance and armor by 50%.
    • Glyph of Ice Barrier: Increases the amount of damage absorbed by your Ice Barrier by 30%.
    • Glyph of Living Bomb: The periodic damage from your Living Bomb can now be critical strikes.
    • Glyph of Mirror Image: This glyph has been redesigned and now increases the number of copies of the mage to 4.
  • Paladin
    • Glyph of Beacon of Light: Increases the duration of Beacon of Light by 30 seconds.
    • Glyph of Divine Plea: While Divine Plea is active, you take 3% reduced damage from all sources.
    • Glyph of Divine Storm: Your Divine Storm now heals for an additional 15% of the damage it causes.
    • Glyph of Divinity: Now Lay on Hands grants 100% bonus mana, and that amount of mana is granted to the paladin and their target.
    • Glyph of Exorcism: Changed to 20% bonus damage.
    • Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous: Your Hammer of the Righteous hits 1 additional target.
    • Glyph of Holy Light: Can no longer critically strike and has had its range updated.
    • Glyph of Holy Shock: Reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock by 1 second.
    • Glyph of Lay on Hands: Now reduces the cooldown of Lay on Hands by 5 minutes.
    • Glyph of Salvation: When you cast Hand of Salvation on yourself, it also reduces damage taken by 20%.
    • Glyph of Seal of Blood: When your Seal of Blood, Seal of the Martyr, Judgement of Blood, or Judgement of the Martyr deals damage to you, you gain 11% of the damage done as mana.
    • Glyph of Seal of Righteousness: Increases damage done by this seal by 10%.
    • Glyph of Shield of Righteousness: Reduces the mana cost of Shield of Righteousness by 80%.
  • Priest
    • Glyph of Dispersion: Reduces the cooldown on Dispersion by 45 seconds.
    • Glyph of Fade: Now reduces cooldown by 9 seconds.
    • Glyph of Fear Ward: Now reduces duration and cooldown by 1 minute.
    • Glyph of Guardian Spirit: If your Guardian Spirit lasts its entire duration without being triggered, your Guardian Spirit cooldown is reset to 60 seconds.
    • Glyph of Hymn of Hope: Now increases the duration of Hymn of Hope.
    • Glyph of Inner Fire: Increases bonus armor by 50%.
    • Glyph of Mind Control: Increases duration by 30 seconds.
    • Glyph of Mind Sear: Increases the radius of effect on Mind Sear by 5 yards.
    • Glyph of Pain Suppression: Allows Pain Suppression to be cast while stunned.
    • Glyph of Penance: Reduces the cooldown of Penance by 2 seconds.
    • Glyph of Psychic Scream: Increases duration by 2 seconds, but increases cooldown by 8 seconds.
  • Rogue
    • Glyph of Adrenaline Rush: Now increases duration by 5 seconds.
    • Glyph of Backstab: Now increases remaining duration on Rupture by 2 seconds each time it is used, up to a maximum of 6 seconds.
    • Glyph of Cloak of Shadows: While Cloak of Shadows is active, you take 40% less physical damage.
    • Glyph of Crippling Poison: Poison chance bonus increased to 20%.
    • Glyph of Deadly Throw: Increases the movement reduction by 10%.
    • Glyph of Fan of Knives: Increases the damage done by Fan of Knives by 20%.
    • Glyph of Hunger for Blood: Increases the bonus damage from Hunger for Blood by 3%.
    • Glyph of Killing Spree: Reduces the cooldown on Killing Spree by 45 seconds.
    • Glyph of Mutilate: Reduces the cost of Mutilate by 5 energy.
    • Glyph of Pick Lock: Now reduces cast time by 100%.
    • Glyph of Sap: Increases duration by 20 seconds.
    • Glyph of Shadow Dance: Increases the duration of Shadow Dance by 4 seconds.
    • Glyph of Sprint: No longer reduces the duration.
    • Glyph of Tricks of the Trade: Your Tricks of the Trade grants an additional 10% bonus damage to your target.
  • Shaman
    • Glyph of Earth Shield: Increases the amount healed by your Earth Shield by 20%.
    • Glyph of Feral Spirit: Your spirit wolves gain an additional 30% of your attack power.
    • Glyph of Hex: Increases the damage your Hex target can take before the Hex effect is removed by 20%.
    • Glyph of Riptide: Increases the duration of Riptide by 6 seconds.
    • Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem: Your Stoneclaw Totem also places a damage absorb shield on you, equal to 4 times the strength of the shield it places on your totems.
    • Glyph of Thunder: Reduces the cooldown on Thunderstorm by 7 seconds.
    • Glyph of Totem of Wrath: When you cast Totem of Wrath, you gain 30% of the totem’s bonus spell power for 5 minutes.
  • Warlock
    • Glyph of Banish: This glyph has been replaced with Glyph of Incinerate, which increases the damage of Incinerate by 5%.
    • Glyph of Chaos Bolt: Reduces the cooldown on Chaos Bolt by 2 seconds.
    • Glyph of Demonic Circle: Reduces the cooldown on Demonic Circle by 4 seconds.
    • 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.
    • Glyph of Imp: Increases your Imp’s Firebolt damage by 20%.
    • Glyph of Life Tap: When you use Life Tap, you gain 20% of your spirit as spell power for 20 seconds.
    • Glyph of Metamorphosis: Increases the duration of your Metamorphosis by 6 seconds.
    • Glyph of Shadowflame: Your Shadowflame also applies a 70% movement speed slow on its victims.
    • Glyph of Siphon Life: Redesigned to increase the healing received from the Siphon Life talent.
    • Glyph of Soul Link: Increases the percentage of damage shared via your Soul Link by an additional 5%.
    • Glyph of Succubus: Redesigned to remove all damage-over-time effects from the target of Seduction.
  • Warrior
    • Glyph of Barbaric Insults: Increases threat on Mocking Blow by 100%.
    • Glyph of Bladestorm: Reduces the cooldown on Bladestorm by 15 seconds.
    • Glyph of Enraged Regeneration: Your Enraged Regeneration ability heals for an additional 10% of your health over its duration.
    • Glyph of Last Stand: Now reduces the cooldown of Last Stand by 60 seconds. The penalty on maximum health gained has been removed.
    • Glyph of Overpower: Now provides 100% chance on all parries.
    • Glyph of Shield Wall: Reduces the cooldown on Shield Wall by 3 min, but Shield Wall now only reduces damage taken by 40%.
    • Glyph of Shockwave: Reduces the cooldown on Shockwave by 3 seconds.
    • Glyph of Spell Reflection: Reduces the cooldown on Spell Reflection by 1 second.
    • Glyph of Sweeping Strikes: Now makes Sweeping Strikes cost 0 rage.
    • Glyph of Vigilance: Your Vigilance ability transfers an additional 5% of your target’s threat to you.
• Hearthstone: Cooldown has been reduced to 30 minutes down from 60 minutes.
• Darkmoon Cards of the North will now take three seconds per card to create.
• Divine Hymn will now trigger Illustration of the Dragon Soul.
• Frozen Scepter of Necromancy now sounds like other maces.
• Heavy Junkboxes will no longer have deprecated poison materials.
• Libram of the Sacred Shield: Increases block value.
• Magic Dust now has a 10-second PvP duration.
• Old Naxxramas Shoulder Enchants will now soulbind items.
• Outrider’s Lammellar Legguards and Sentinel’s Mail Leggings have had their costs reduced to the correct value.
• Pack of Endless Pockets can now be mailed.
• Paladin Healer PvP Set Bonus: The bonus for Holy Shock healing has been reduced to 10%.
• Patroller’s Pack now sounds like a bag.
• PvP Trinkets will now break Shackle Undead.
• Several beverages missing from the “Beverages Consumed” statistic have been added.
• Several foods missing from the Food Eaten statistic have been added.
• Sigil of Awareness: Now provides bonus damage to Death Strike as well.
• Sigil of the Frozen Conscience: The bonus to Icy Touch from this relic has been reduced to a value appropriate to the item’s level.
• Sprite Darter Eggs: May now (very rarely) drop from Sprite Darters in Feralas. Note that only Horde characters can attack and kill Sprite Darters.
• 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).
• Thunder Capacitor again requires four charges.
• Tiny Emerald Whelplings: May now (very rarely) drop from Adolescent Whelps in the Swamp of Sorrows.
• White Tickbird Hatchling is now classified as a Pet.

Mac

• Support for Logitech G-15 and G-19 keyboards with LCD displays has been added.
• A number of performance and smoothness enhancements have been implemented.
• The new high-res player textures are supported on dual processor systems running OS X 10.5.
• A crashing bug involving chat channel commands has been fixed.
• A problem involving window focus and foreground/background status has been fixed.
• Movie recording feature has had some user interface improvements.

Bug Fixes

• Leaving a group while in an instance will now port you to the nearest graveyard rather than your Hearthstone location.
• Yaaarrrr! now has a detailed tooltip.
• Classes
  • Death Knight
    • 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.
    • Heart of the Phoenix: Can no longer be set to autocast (which did not work).
    • Hunter traps will no longer be able to be set off by totems.
    • Rake: This pet ability will now always refresh when used by the pet.
    • Savage Rend (raptor special ability): Fixed a tooltip error to correctly note this ability boosts damage rather than attack power.
    • Spirit Strike: This pet ability now has its damage increased by Prowl as intended.
    • 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.
    • Master of Elements: Now refunds the correct amount of mana when used with Arcane Missiles.
    • 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.
    • Slow Fall: Can no longer be cast on NPCs.
    • Torment the Weak: Now properly increases damage when used against victims of the snare from Hunter Frost Traps.
  • Paladin
    • 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.
    • Blessing of Sanctuary: This spell can now overwrite a Greater Blessing of Sanctuary that has less than 10 minutes duration remaining.
    • Blessing of Wisdom: It is no longer possible to have the icon for this spell and Greater Blessing of Wisdom active at the same time (which didn’t give any benefit, but was confusing).
    • Combat Expertise: This talent will now properly increase spell critical strike chance.
    • Hammer of Justice: This ability will now still interrupt casting even if the victim is immune to the stun due to diminishing returns.
    • Hammer of the Righteous: Now does correct damage with heirloom weapons.
    • Holy Shield: Damage from this ability now increases properly from attack power.
    • 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.
  • Shaman
    • Cleanse Spirit is now properly in the Nature spell school.
    • Tremor Totem: Now correctly pulses every 3 seconds, up from 1 seconds.
  • 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.
  • Warrior
    • Concussion Blow: Now properly triggers a 1.5 second global cooldown.
    • Damage Shield: Fixed a bug which caused this ability to benefit from Recklessness.
    • 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).
    • Improved Revenge: This talent will now increase the damage done by Revenge by the proper amount.
    • 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.
• Items
  • Dartol’s Rod of Transformation has had its tooltip corrected.
  • Glyph of Mocking Blow: Correctly increases damage of the ability by 25%.
  • Glyph of Rejuvenation: Effects which modify healing done will no longer be applied a second time to the healing granted by this glyph.
  • Glyph of Shocking: Tooltip has been corrected.
  • Heirloom Items: The bonus spell power granted by these items has been redesigned to provide substantially more benefit for players lower than level 58.
  • Hook of the Master Angler: Using this item to shape-change into a fish now cancels Shadowform.
  • Justicar (T4) Retribution Set: The bonus to seals now works properly on Seal of Blood and Seal of the Martyr.
  • Mace of Unending Life is correctly a two-handed weapon.
  • Many Northrend maces now make correct noises when sheathed and unsheathed.
  • Many items with 110 attack power now correctly grant 110 ranged attack power.
  • Oracle Talisman of Ablution’s spell data has been clarified.
  • Personal rating requirements for off-hand Deadly Gladiator items should now display correctly.
  • Several Hateful and Deadly plate helms have had their stats correctly reduced.
  • Several Naxxramas items with block values were not providing the correct stat amounts and have been fixed.
  • Sigil of Arthritic Binding: The tooltip was incorrect for this item and overstated the bonus to Scourge Strike. This has been fixed.
  • Thunder Capacitor’s cooldown functions.
  • Wall of Terror, Fleshless Girdle, and Inexorable Sabatons have had their stamina values adjusted to the proper levels.
• Racials
  • Blood Fury: The tooltip on the attack power version of this ability will now tell how much attack power it grants to the orc.
  • Shadowmeld: Using this ability will no longer cause friendly players to deselect the night elf.

This time around, Altair is replaced by Ezio Auditore de Firenze, an Italian protagonist (from Florence) and assassin operating in Venice during the Renaissance. The article describes a number of new features, such as being able to utilize a da Vinci style hangliding device and swimming in the canals to both approach and escape from enemies. It appears that the AI has also been improved, with more intelligent enemies capable of investigating hiding places, especially if they have been used by Ezio before. Perhaps most interesting of all is the fact that players can now use any of the weapons wielded by enemies, as depicted in screenshots where Ezio dispatches foes with a polearm formerly carried by a city guard.

The article over at Mondoxbox can be found here:
http://www.mondoxbox.com/news/16117/assassin-s-creed-2-scan-in-alta-qualita-da-gi.html.

Relic has announced that the next patch (1.2.1) for their best-selling real-time strategy title, Dawn of War 2, will be going live at noon on April 13th. In addition to tweaking game balance and squashing bugs, the update also brings an impressive new 6-player map for online play.

The upcoming patch was reportedly completed by Relic sometime in mid-to-late March, however has been stuck in the Games for Windows Live certification quagmire since at least March 25th as evidenced by a statement in which Relic developer Jager first mentioned that it was being reviewed by Microsoft on the game’s public forums. If the patch drops according to schedule on Monday this will mean that GFWL has added 20 days to the patch development cycle at bare minimum. Ouch.

Despite getting in bed with the devil, Relic continues to prove that they’ve been paying attention to the community. Patch 1.2.1 skillfully addresses the four most pressing issues facing the community at this time: (1) lack of multiplayer maps, (2) faction imbalances, (3) drop-hacking, and (4) matchmaking.

===============================
Patch 1.2.1
===============================

PVP
• New Team Battle map added! “(6p) Tiber Outpost” is now available for play.

PvP Gameplay
• Implemented final fixes for the Population Cap issue as noted in Patch 1.1.3. This included reverting the temporary changes made in Patch 1.1.3.
• Tyranid Warrior Adrenal Gland upgrade damage reduced from 52 to 40
• Energy Shields no longer regenerate while active – This includes the Zoanthrope, Falcon, Hive Tyrant, Warlock, Force Commander, Mekboy and Techmarine
• Energy Shield conversion modifier reduced from .2 to .25
• Energy Shields now have an 8 second toggle on / toggle off time.
• Falcon Energy regeneration reduced from 3 to .5
• Melee damage reduction versus Rippers reduced from .25 to .3
• Zoanthrope Focus Blast now immobilizes vehicles for 12 seconds from 15
• Guardian Battle Equipment cost increased to 50/15 from 40/10
• Carnifex cost increased to 600/135 from 550/125
• Tactical Sergeant’s melee special attack reduced to 28 from 50
• “And They Shall Know No Fear” now debuffs Tactical Marine melee damage by .6
• Spore Mines can no longer enter Ravener Tunnels and Webway Gates
• Warp Spider deathspinner damage increased from 20 to 30
• Warp Spider Exarch dual deathspinner damage increased from 30 to 35

Achievements
• Fixed an issue where campaign completion achievements were sometimes not awarded

Ranking and Online Stats
• Fixed an issue where players were awarded a win in Ranked multiplayer matches after modifying local files.

Matchmaking
• Fixed an issue with automatching code to help provide better quality matches based on TrueSkill™ Rankings.
• Fixed an issue allowing players with mismatched data to be grouped together.

Miscellaneous
• Updated BugSplat error reporting to new version.

LACK OF MULTIPLAYER MAPS

One of the biggest concerns of players who had access to the beta during its four-week run was the shortage of maps available for online play. At the time only five maps had been created, however two more were added with the zero-day patch, bringing the existing total to seven. The new patch coming on Monday adds another 3v3 map to the mix, and the screenshots demonstrate that the designers have come a long way in terms of their skills and artistic ability. Not only is the map gorgeous, it also does an excellent job of capturing the look and feel of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

On a personal note, I don’t see any problem with the current number of maps. Most online gaming communities tend to gravitate towards certain maps in these types of games, which then become overwhelming favorites to the exclusion of the others. Good map design always trumps variety, the best example of which comes from the popularity of Counter-Strike’s de_dust and de_dust2.

FACTION IMBALANCES

For as long opposing sides have been a fixture of gaming players have complained about their equanimity. The complaints can sometimes be dismissed as whining and safely ignored, but in other cases there are issues that require attention. Relic has decided that there is some merit to the stink raised by forum-goers and have consequently made changes to the mechanics of energy shields, Tyranids, and Warp Spiders (nerf, nerf, and buff, respectively).

DROP-HACKING

At present, players can make client-side changes to their local game files causing ranked (ladder) matches to not only end prematurely, but also ensure they will receive a win. This practice of disconnecting from a game, typically during loading or immediately thereafter, in order to cheat your opponent out of a possible victory is commonly referred to as drop-hacking. Though achieved through different means, this problem was also rampant in Relic’s Company of Heroes and was one of many serious technical issues that prevented the multiplayer mode from attaining popularity.

This issue is supposedly being fixed in patch 1.2.1, but similar promises were made about fixing the problem in Company of Heroes so it would be wise to hold off on accolades until testing in a live environment is performed.

MATCHMAKING

It has been remarked by Jager and Thunder, developer and community representatives who post on the official DoW2 forums, that the matchmaking service for ranked games is currently malfunctioning. Since the game’s release the chief complaint of Dawn of War 2’s online community has been the apparent randomness that Games for Windows Live utilizes when attempting to match opponents of similar skill (measured by the TrueSkill rating). It is not uncommon for new players to be matched up against experts, resulting in a brief one-sided match which is unsatisfying for both parties. What’s worse is that matchmaking often takes an exorbitant amount of time (sometimes 10+ minutes), particularly when searching for a team (3v3) game.

The following vague improvements are supposedly being made to the system, though neither offers any specifics as to what degree of improvement is to be expected:

• Fixed an issue with automatching code to help provide better quality matches based on TrueSkill™ Rankings.
• Fixed an issue allowing players with mismatched data to be grouped together.

You can view the full patch notes here.