wow Patch 10.2.5: Seeds of Renewal Development Notes: November 16th

[Staff 1,410]

Here come the very first Seed of Renewal notes! We have some class changes for Evoker, Monk and Shaman, as well as the Outland Cup, some new character customization options, UI changes and more, in addition to the patch content we've already heard about, some of which will not he available on the PTR.

Seeds of Renewal PTR (Source)

FOLLOWER DUNGEONS

• Follower Dungeons are available for all 8 of the original Dragonflight dungeons on Normal difficulty. Queue solo or partner up with up to four players in your party and queue into any follower dungeon. Once entering the dungeon, a follower NPC will join your party and fill any role that wasn’t filled by one of your pre-existing party members.
• Rewards given will be the same to that of running Normal dungeons with a full party of players.

AZEROTHIAN ARCHIVES

• Discover the history of the Dragon Isles and meet a unique cast of characters, hear stories of old, and witness the iconography of a time before. Participate in Solo and Group activities within Traitor’s Rest with a Weekly Public Event, plenty of opportunity to explore, and earn rewards like battle pets, mounts, and a transmog set. Start your journey as an Archivist today by examining their advertisement in the Sapphire Enclave library located in Valdrakken.
  • Developers’ note: Group activities won’t be available on the PTR.

RECLAIMING GILNEAS

King Greymane is ready to retake his kingdom, but Gilneas isn’t as empty as expected. Help reclaim what was lost and return the kingdom to Gilnean hands.

• Developers’ note: Reclaiming Gilneas won’t be available for testing on the PTR.

DRAGONRIDING AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

• Dragonriding is now available throughout Azeroth wherever flying is available. Outside of the Dragon Isles, Dragonriding mounts move at 80% of their maximum speeds.
  • Developers’ note: We are restricting the speed of dragonriding outside of the Dragon Isles in order to not make travel times on old world contents trivially short. We believe 80% dragonriding speed will strike a balance between giving players exciting and engaging traversal, while still preserving a sense of immersion. The Dragon Isles continent is pretty massive compared to some of our older continents, so we need to adjust speed accordingly.

OUTLAND CUP

• The Outland Cup is available for testing from November 16 through November 29. Mount up and rediscover the skies of Outland with a new Dragonriding racing event arriving on the shattered world.
• Thirteen new races are spread across Outland and are available in Normal, Advanced, and Reverse courses. Hellfire Hustle, Coilfang Caper, Blade’s Edge Brawl, Telaar Tear, Razorthorn Rise Rush, Auchindoun Coaster, Tempest Keep Sweep, Shattrath City Sashay, Shadowmoon Slam, Eco-Dome Excursion, Warmaul Wingding, Skettis Scramble, and Fel Pit Fracas.
• New rewards available for purchase with Riders of Azeroth Badges: Drake Racer’s Scarf, Outlandish Drake Racer’s transmog set, new dragon customizations, Valdrakken Accord Insignia, and Manuscript of Endless Possibility that randomizes mount customizations each time you mount up on a customizable mount.
• Complete all Outland Cup races on Gold to earn the achievement Outland Racing Completionist: Gold, Outland Racer title, and Ruby Riders of Azeroth tabard.
• Mount customizations will now be used when racing in the Outland Cup.
• Players will be granted a maxed out Dragonriding Talent Tree when racing in the Outland Cup.
• The introductory quest for the Outland Cup has been changed to require the player to complete all the races.
• Players will now be rewarded with 40 Riders of Azeroth Badges for completing the quest.
• Players that haven’t unlocked dragonriding yet will also be able to fly the race courses using loaned dragonriding mounts.
• The Grotto Netherwing Drake and Flourishing Whimsydrake have been added the the list of available loaned dragonriding mounts.
• Since worldwide dragonriding is now available, you will no longer be dismounted after completing the race if dragonriding is unlocked on that character. If dragonriding hasn’t been unlocked, you will be dismounted after completing a race.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• New Appearance achievements have been added.

CHARACTERS

• 5 new hair colors for Trolls.
• 1 new skin color for Draenei.
• Customizations for Warlock Tyrant and Darkglare demons.
• DRACTHYR
  • New Passive Ability: Empowered Soaring – Soar is now equivalent to dragonriding, granting access to vigor and all dragonriding abilities.
  • New Passive Ability: Expedited Takeoff – Soar’s cooldown is reduced to 10 seconds.
    • Developers’ note: Soar dragonriding will become available after learning dragonriding on the account and the Evoker has completed the Forbidden Reach starting experience.
  • Familiar Skies (Racial) has been removed.

CLASSES

• Multiple Class talents that were previously Shadowlands Covenant Abilities (such as Convoke the Spirits, Divine Toll, and Sepsis) have had their spell visuals updated to match their Class visual kit. This is an ongoing effort and more will be added over the course of the Seeds of Renewal 10.2.5 PTR cycle.
• EVOKER
  • Preservation
    • Developers’ note: We would like maintaining Reversions to feel more rewarding for Preservation Evoker, even when playing an Emerald Blossom focused build. As a result, we are tying in casts of Reversion with Essence Burst. This should make the rotational flow of Preservation smoother and more enjoyable. Since this introduces more mana-free spell casts, we are also increasing mana costs to compensate. As always, feedback on this change is welcome and we will be monitoring discussion around this.
    • Essence Burst may now trigger from casts of Reversion.
    • Mana cost of most spells increased by 10%.
• MONK
  • Mistweaver
    • Dance of the Wind has been redesigned – Your dodge chance is increased by 10% and an additional 10% every 4 seconds until you dodge an attack.
    • Ancient Teachings now additionally increases Stamina by 5% while active.
  • Windwalker
    • Dance of the Wind has been redesigned – Your dodge chance is increased by 10% and an additional 10% every 4 seconds until you dodge an attack.
• SHAMAN
  • Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, and Storm Elemental (as well as the Primal versions of these elementals) now have a reduced size in instances for the Shaman’s allies and enemies. For the Shaman, the Elementals still appear large.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• A preview window has been added to the “Quest Text Contrast” setting in Accessibility Options.
• Art has been updated for predictions and absorbs on unit frames.
• Limited-time (holiday) Traveler’s Log activities will now be marked as such, with the time left shown.
• In the Transmog Sets pane, you can now favorite individual set pieces using right-click. Each set piece also now says its slot type in the tooltip (e.g. “Shoulder”).