Patch 4.1 PTR patch notes update for March 15

New patch notes have just hit the PTR with some interesting new changes. Atramedes, Nefarian, and Cho'gall all got a couple nerfs, and a bunch of abilities will have their appearances change if you are hostile to the player. For instance, Ring of Frost will now have a new tint if it is a hostile cast (as opposed to a friendly cast).

One of the biggest changes, however, is that Colossus Smash now ignores 50% of armor in PvP but still ignores the 100% armor in PvE, right after Blizzard's developer answers said that they did not want to make two rule sets for the game. Very interesting. Hit the jump for the full notes.

• Several persistent ground effects now display different visuals for hostile and friendly players. The following spells have the same visual effects for friendly players, but new alternate visuals for hostile players: Ring of Frost, Consecration, Desecration, Wild Mushroom, Flare, Ice Trap, Power Word: Barrier, Smoke Bomb, and Hand of Gul'dan. As a general rule, the alternate effects have a red tint or hue indicating they are created by an enemy player.

• Living Seed is no longer a prerequisite talent for Efflorescence.

• Talent Specializations

  • Arcane

    • Improved Arcane Explosion now also reduces the mana cost of Arcane Explosion by 25/50%.

  • Frost

    • Ice Barrier base damage value has been increased by approximately 120%. In addition, the benefit from spell power has been increased by approximately 8%.

• Glyphs

  • Glyph of Frost Armor (new glyph): Frost Armor also causes the mage to regenerate 2% of maximum mana ever 5 seconds.

• Colossus Smash now ignores 50% of a hostile player's armor (PvP), but continues to ignore 100% of a non-player character's armor (PvE).

• Blackwing Descent

  • Atramedes

    • Searing Flames now causes a 6-second cooldown on Modulation.

    • Searing Flames no longer increases Sound on players.

    • Players should no longer be able to avoid the first period damage tick of Searing Flame, and Searing Flame now ticks every 2 seconds. The damage of Searing Flame has been increased to compensate for it ticking less frequently.

  • Nefarian's End

    • The damage of Shadowflame Barrage has been reduced by 15% (10-player normal and Heroic difficulty only).

    • The damage of Tail Lash has been reduced by 20% (10-player normal and Heroic difficulty only).

• Bastion of Twilight

  • Dragon Siblings

    • Blackout can now be dispelled on Heroic difficulty.

  • Cho'gall

    • The health of Blood of the Old God on 10-player Heroic difficulty has been lowered by roughly 20%.

    • The health of Darkened Creations on 10-player Heroic difficulty has been lowered by roughly 20%.

    • Corruption: Accelerated on 10-player Heroic difficulty has been lowered slightly.

    • Knockbacks and Deathgrip can now be used to interrupt players that are converted by Cho'gall.

• Arathi Basin is now available as a 10v10-player rated Battleground.

WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you. From previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new Valor point mechanics to the new Archaeology items.