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WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Hunter changes
The notes for Patch 3.1 and news on some undocumented changes to classes and glyphs have recently become available, and there are plenty of changes in store for us hunters. You can expect some changes to all three trees (some of which are rather minor) as well as changes to how our pets and glyphs. Lets take a look at some of the information coming down the pipe and see just what effect it will have on our game play.Beast MasteryThe Beast Mastery tree is slated for just one minor change at the moment. There were hints from Ghostcrawler previously that the tree would receive buffs for Ulduar, but so far nothing major appears to have surfaced. For now, Improved Aspect of the Hawk is receiving a minor facelift in the form of a new spell effect being added to the talent.
Dual spec available at level 40, reagent requirement removed
Dual spec is one of patch 3.1's headline features: for the price of 1,000 gold, you can unlock the ability to keep a second spec for your character, which you can switch to for free. It was stated a while back by Ghostcrawler that dual spec would only be available to level 80 characters, which was upsetting to many (including myself). It's a feature that has the potential to be amazingly useful for those who like to do dungeons while leveling - why remove that possibility? I am happy to report, therefore, that Zarhym has just reported that dual spec will be available to characters of level 40 or higher. This is an excellent compromise between not wanting to confuse newbies, and giving players the flexibility to heal dungeons (for instance) as they level while not being gimped in solo play. The real game might begin at 80, but it's important not to neglect 1 through 79. Furthermore, the announced reagent requirement has been removed - no longer will players need to be in a city or find an inscriber to create a portable lexicon of power for them. Now that's a dual spec feature I can love, even at a 1,000 g cost. Update: Zarhym has clarified the processs a little bit. "You literally just click a button," it's a five-second cast, it swaps your glyphs and action bar along with your spec, and there's no cooldown. You can't use it in combat or in BGs/arenas. Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
No more ghetto-hearthing in patch 3.1
Looks like ghetto-hearthing is going the way of wall-jumping once patch 3.1 hits. No longer will we be able to hearth out of an instance, hop through the Dalaran portal to Stormwind or Orgrimmar, then be back in Northrend again in time for the next instance. From now on, we're gonna have to take the boat just like Blizz always wanted us to.For those who are unfamiliar, ghetto-hearthing (or ninja-hearthing) is when a player joins a group, enters an instance, and then leaves the group again. Up until now, doing so would cause the player to be teleported to their hearthstone location after 60 seconds -- even if their hearthstone was on cooldown! However, as the above screenshot from the 3.1 PTR shows, it looks like that will no longer be possible.So goodbye ghetto-hearth. It was fun while it lasted. And hey, if I'm ever in the mage district of Stormwind, and I need to get to Elwynn Forest in a jiffy, I'll look you up. Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Rogue changes
After a bit of testing, and reading over the unofficial patch notes, I've seen quite a few changes for Rogues coming up. Ghostcrawler had given us a few ideas on what to look forward to, and for the most part they delivered exactly what we had been expecting. Combat has had several changes designed around the idea of making it a PvE viable tree in more situations. Hunger for Blood had its mechanic altered.However, there are more than a few unexpected changes, including significant rebalancing of our poison system and some new glyphs. After the cut, I'll cover the basics of what's changed for Rogues in 3.1: for the good, and for the worse.
Dig Rat Stew easier to acquire in patch 3.1
One of the simpler changes in patch 3.1 is the fact that both factions will be able to purchase the Dig Rat Stew recipe. The Horde from Grub once they've completed the quest (in case you tossed it out on accident), and Alliance players from Prospector Khazgorm in Bael Modan. That's in the Southern Barrens, if you don't frequent that part of the world on your Alliance characters.It's a very small change, but has generated tremendous excitement already. All of the completionists and achievement seekers around the world jumped for joy in unison. Yet another recipe that may have been out of reach is now very easily acquired. I don't often bend over backwards for achievements so this change didn't really blow my mind like it did for Danny, but I admit it'll be pretty funny to take my Priestess down to Bael Modan and learn the fine art of cooking with rats.You know, this gives me a good idea for Well Fed Buff...
Legendary mace coming in patch 3.1
A brand new legendary weapon is coming to the game in patch 3.1. Val'anyr, the Gavel of Ancient Kings will be a new Atiesh-like weapon, formed from 40 "Fragments of Val'anyr," likely found within Ulduar. MMO-Champion also has the tooltip of what happens after the fragments are assembled -- you get a "Shattered Fragments of Val'anyr" that starts a quest, which will eventually reward a Paladin, Priest, Shaman or Druid with the hammer itself.We don't, however, have an actual tooltip of the mace itself, so while these tooltips suggest a healing mace, this could work the same way as Atiesh, where you could finish the quest to reassemble it by choosing one of four options, each with different stats for classes and specs. So while these tooltips show healers, there could also be a DPS and/or tank version of the mace as well. In fact, I'll say it right now: this is probably a Hunter weapon.But either way, there'll be another Legendary item in the game soon. to 5. Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
New profession recipes on the patch 3.1 PTR
Here is still more patch 3.1 information unearthed by the sleuths at MMO-Champion. These are some new profession recipes, including epic belts and boots for all. The epic recipes call for Runed Orbs, which presumably will drop in Ulduar, much like Nether Vortices of BC. I wouldn't be surprised if they were purchaseable with badges of some sort -- maybe Emblems of Valor. Edit: This is obviously not the full extent of new recipes, so please don't say "that's it?" (I'm looking at you, engineers.) Alchemy - Elixir of Minor Accuracy Blacksmithing - Battlelord's Plate Boots, Belt of the Titans, Indestructible Plate Girdle, Plate Girdle of Righteousness, Spiked Deathdealers, Titansteel Spellblade, Treads of Destiny Enchanting - Enchant Boots - Lesser Accuracy, Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower, Enchant Staff - Spellpower Engineering - High-Powered Flashlight Jewelcrafting - Amulet of True Sight, Prismatic Black Diamond Leatherworking - Belt of Arctic Life, Belt of Dragons, Blue Belt of Chaos, Boots of Living Scale, Boots of Wintry Endurance, Death-warmed Belt, Footpads of Silence, Lightning Grounded Boots Tailoring - Cord of White Dawn, Sash of Ancient Power, Savior's Slippers, Spellslinger's Slippers, Spidersilk Drape Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
New pets and mounts found in the patch 3.1 files
MMO-Champion strikes again! So far they've already brought us undocumented changes and glyph information from the patch 3.1 PTR; now we have a whole long list of new non-combat pets and mounts. I'm pretty excited about the Enchanted Broom, myself, as far as the pets go, and...what's that? "Rideable mechanical gnome head?" Holy cats, I gotta get me one of those. Disclaimer: this is data files stuff. Some of it may change, and some may never surface at all. New Pets Spring Rabbit - Right Click to summon and dismiss your Spring Rabbit. Plump Turkey - Right Click to summon and dismiss your Plump Turkey. Teldrassil Sproutling - Right Click to summon and dismiss your Teldrassil Sproutling. Tirisfal Batling - Right Click to summon and dismiss your Tirisfal batling. Dun Morogh Cub - Right Click to summon and dismiss your Dun Morogh Cub. Durotar Scorpion - Right Click to summon and dismiss your Durotar scorpion. Alarming Clockbot - Right Click to summon and dismiss your Alarming Clockbot. Elwynn Lamb - Right Click to summon and dismiss your Elwynn lamb. Mulgore Hatchling - Right Click to summon and dismiss your Mulgore hatchling.
Undocumented glyph changes in 3.1
With patch 3.1 up on the PTR, expect information about it to keep flooding in. As specifically stated by the blues, the 3.1 patch notes are rather incomplete. Fortunately, the good people at MMO-Champion have compiled a list of all the glyph changes they found in the data files. And here they are, for your perusing pleasure. Remember, of course, this is all subject to change as 3.1 progresses on the PTR. And if you missed it, here are the official 3.1 PTR patch notes so far, and some undocumented changes. Death Knight Glyph of Strangulate - Reduces the cooldown of your Strangulate by 60 sec. (Old: Inceases the range of your Strangulate by 20 yards.) Glyph of Icebound Fortitude - Your Icebound Fortitude now always grants at least 30% damage reduction, regardless of your defense skill. (Old: Your Icebound Fortitude costs no runic power) Glyph of Unbreakable Armor - Increases the amount of damage absorbed by Unbreakable Armor by 1%. (Old: Unbreakable Armor grants an additional 15% armor) Glyph of Plague Strike - Your Plague Strike does 60% additional damage. (Old: 20% additional damage if a disease was on the target) Glyph of Death Strike - Increases your Death Strike's damage by 2% for every 5 runic power you currently have. The runic power is not consumed by this effect. (Old: 2% regardless of runic power) Glyph of Hungering Cold (new) - Reduces the cost of Hungering Cold by 10 runic power. Glyph of Unholy Blight (new) - Increases the duration of Unholy Blight by 10 sec. Glyph of Death Coil (new) - Reduces the cost of Death Coil by 8 runic power. Glyph of Pestilence (new) - Your Pestilence ability now refreshes disease durations on your primary target back to their maximum duration. Glyph of Howling Blast (new) - Your Howling Blast ability now infects your targets with Frost Fever.
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Paladin changes
After a wait that I was beginning to suspect wouldn't end, the 3.1 PTR is finally online and we have some new 3.1 patch notes. Though there are some noticable changes announced earlier this month missing from the latest patch notes, all of them seem to be in the current PTR build, only undocumented (most undocumented notes here are via MMO-Champion). As with all undocumented changes -- they may change at any time. For a complete rundown of the changes listed in the patch notes (and the changes not listed in the patch notes!), read on.
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Death Knight changes
Good Morning Death Knights! As expected, we got a pretty long list of changes for Death Knights. The frost tree has received some extensive and actually somewhat shocking reshuffling, and there's a few other unexpected but interesting changes. It's good to be mindful that these changes are still in flux. We'll probably see more changes and perhaps some reversion of these changes depending on what happens. It's worth noting that MMO Champion currently has undocumented changes and a completely different 3.1 DK Talent tree up that doesn't even match the one suggested in the patch notes, so we can't say for sure if the patch notes are already outdated. But for now, we're going to focus on the patch changes for the most part. So, let's dive right in.
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Holy and Disc Priest changes
A lot of changes are being introduced for both types of healing Priests in the upcoming 3.1 patch. Some of them are expected and others are unexpected! As always, check out the full PTR notes (which are most likely incomplete). The promised changes to increase Holy's PvP ability don't seem to be here yet. I rubbed my eyes when I saw it because this wasn't the Holy tree I remembered. As an overall grade, I'd say there are some serious buffs being doled out for healing Priests. Our Area of Effect heals have been ramped up! Some notable highlights? Rapture has some new additions to it (It grants energy, rage, mana, or runic power to the target when it is removed). Prayer of Healing is no longer restricted to the Priests current party. Renew get's some extra nice bonuses in the form of an instant-application aspect and an overall spellpower bonus. Keep reading! Disc and Holy changes are after the break!
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Shadow Priest changes
The PTR patch notes have hit, and while we don't have the entire spread of changes yet (they'll be coming in waves), we do have a lot of pretty good material to look at. Personally, I think the Shadow Priest changes are pretty great this time around. PvP Shadow Priests might feel a little disappointed, but PvE Priests should be fairly happy with how things are going so far.Even PvP received a few good buffs, but while it's a step in the right direction, it simply isn't enough. It feels as if they're trying to approach some of the big issues carefully, when they really do need to go in there and start making pretty sweeping changes to the PvP-centric talents of the Shadow Priest. A lot needs to change to make the Shadow Priest relevant in PvP again without strapping a Warlock to their hip at all times.Enough of that, though. Let's look into the changes, shall we? Shadowfiend: Health scaling increased. Now receives 30% of the master's spell power. Mana return increased to 5%, up from 4%. The Shadowfiend now receives mana when its melee attacks land, rather than when it deals damage. Movement speed normalized to player movement speed. Tooltip revised.
