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Patch 4.2 PTR notes updated for May 26

Mathew McCurley
Updated ·6 min read

Patch 4.2 up on the PTR has gotten more updates and changes. Some highlights include:

  • Rogues will be happy (sad) to know that Cloak is getting a bit of a cooldown nerf: Cloak of Shadows cooldown is now 2 minutes, up from 90 seconds. In addition, Cloak of Shadows is no longer on the global cooldown.

  • Shadow priests will be getting into the new pet stance fun: Shadowfiend uses the new Assist pet stance functionality.

  • Feral druid tanks are getting some significant damage scaling tweaks done to their output, as Blizzard thinks their abilities were scaling too fast with new tiers of gear.

Hit the jump for the full change list.



Stats Death Knight Druids Mages Paladins Priests Rogues Shaman Items
PvP


  • Death knights, paladins, and warriors no longer receive any bonus to their chance to dodge from Agility. Their base chance to dodge is now a fixed 5%.

  • Death knights, paladins, and warriors now receive 27% of their Strength bonuses as parry rating, up from 25%. This conversion still only applies to Strength above and beyond their base Strength.

  • Frost

    • Hungering Cold now has a 1.5-second cast time.

  • Glyphs

    • Glyph of Dark Succor has been redesigned. Rather than placing a 15% maximum health floor on Death Strike healing while in Frost or Unholy Presence, it causes the next Death Strike within 15 seconds after killing a foe that yields experience or Honor Points to heal for at least 20% of the death knight's maximum health.

  • Talent Specializations

    • Feral

      • Bear damage abilities were scaling too fast with higher gear levels compared to other tanks, so the following balance changes have been made. All the numbers cited are for level 85 characters; numbers will be lower for lower-level characters.

      • Faerie Fire (Feral) base damage has been raised to 2950, up from 679. Attack power scaling has been decreased to 10.8%, down from 15%.

      • Maul base damage has been raised to 35, up from 8. Attack power scaling has been decreased to 19%, down from 26.4%.

      • Pulverize weapon damage percent has been decreased to 60%, down from 80%. Damage per Lacerate application has been increased to 1623, up from 361.

      • Mangle (Bear) weapon damage percent has been decreased to 190%, down from 260%. Bonus damage has been increased to 3306, down from 754.

      • Swipe base damage has been increased to 929, up from 215. Attack power scaling has been decreased to 12.3%, down from 17.1%.

      • Thrash initial base damage has been increased to 1464, up from 339. Initial damage attack power scaling has been decreased to 13.8%, down from 19.2%. Periodic base damage has been increased to 816, up from 189. Periodic damage attack power scaling has been decreased to 2.35%, down from 3.26%.

      • Lacerate initial base damage has been increased to 3608, up from 2089. Initial damage attack power scaling has been decreased to 5.52%, down from 7.66%. Periodic base damage has been increased to 69, up from 16. Periodic damage attack power scaling has been decreased to 0.369%, down from 0.512%.

  • Natural Reaction damage reduction has been increased to 9/18%, up from 6/12%.

  • Pyroblast cast when Hot Streak is not active was doing slightly less damage than the Hot Streak version. Its damage has been increased so that both versions of Pyroblast now do the same amount of damage.

  • Spellsteal mana cost has been increased by 100%.

  • Talent Specializations

    • Fire

      • When Impact spreads Living Bomb, it will only be spread to two additional targets. The net effect is that if the mage's most recent Living Bomb target is the same as their Impact target, that target will no longer lose the Living Bomb effect. If Living Bomb is active on multiple targets when the Impact effect is cast, Living Bomb will remain active on the most recent Living Bomb target, and will be added to two other nearby targets.

    • Frost

      • Deep Freeze and Ring of Frost will cause diminishing returns on each other, in addition to the spells they normally share diminishing returns with.

  • Seal of Righteousness now can be activated by any melee ability, not just single target melee abilities. This adds Hammer of the Righteous (the physical component) and Divine Storm to the list of abilities that can activate this seal. In addition, Seal of Righteousness procs can now be critical effects.

  • Talent Specializations

    • Holy

      • Walk in the Light now improves Word of Glory healing by 30%, in addition to its current effects.

    • Protection

      • Guarded By The Light no longer interacts with Holy Shield in any way.

      • Guardian of Ancient Kings uses the new Assist pet stance functionality.

      • Holy Shield has been redesigned. This talent is now an activated ability off the global cooldown. It grants 20% increased block amount to a paladin's shield blocks for 10 seconds, with a 30-second cooldown.

    • Retribution

      • The Seals of Command talent now makes Seal of Righteousness hit an unlimited number of melee targets, instead of only 2 additional targets.

  • Glyphs

    • Glyph of Seal of Truth expertise bonus now also works when Seal of Righteousness is active.

  • Shadowfiend uses the new Assist pet stance functionality.

  • Talent Specializations

    • Shadow

      • Sin and Punishment's Vampiric Touch backlash fear effect no longer has diminishing returns.

  • Cloak of Shadows cooldown is now 2 minutes, up from 90 seconds. In addition, Cloak of Shadows is no longer on the global cooldown.

  • Combat Readiness and Cloak of Shadows now share a cooldown.

  • Talent Specializations

    • Assassination

      • Assassin's Resolve damage bonus has been increased to 20%, up from 15%.

      • Vile Poisons now increases poison damage by 12/24/36%, up from 7/14/20%.

    • Combat

      • Savage Combat now increases attack power by 3/6%, up from 2/4%.

      • Vitality now increases attack power by 30%, up from 25%.

    • Subtlety

      • Elusiveness now reduces the cooldown of Cloak of Shadows by 15/30 seconds, up from 10/20, and now also reduces the cooldown of Combat Readiness by 15/30 seconds.

      • Sanguinary Vein damage to bleeding targets has been increased to 8/16%, from 5/10%.

  • Fire Nova damage has been increased by 15%.

  • Talent Specializations

    • Elemental

      • Call of Flame now also causes Fire Nova to add 3/6 seconds to the duration of Flame Shock auras on targets that Fire Nova damages.

  • Set Bonuses

    • The 2-piece Restoration druid tier 11 PvE set bonus has been redesigned to work with the new Restoration druid mastery. Druids with this bonus now receive the bonus to Spirit while the Harmony mastery bonus to periodic healing is active.

  • Arenas

    • The Ring of Valor has been added to the Arena rotation once again. Players no longer start the match on elevators at the center of the map. They now begin the match in starting rooms on opposite sides of the Arena.

The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!