Healer Burst Nerfs, Big Class Tuning, UI Improvements: Midnight Beta Dev Notes, December 3rd

It’s time for another huge batch of Beta development notes after last week’s small break! Blizzard are focusing on class tuning this time around, with healers in particular getting significant changes. It seems burst and proc healing was too high in all forms of content. It is getting tuned down, with more regular means of healing getting buffed. We also get many improvements and additions to the UI rework, from nameplates to the damage meter and combat audio alerts!

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Hello Beta testers! The Beta realms have been updated with the following changes:

NEW FEATURES

Midnight Season 1 – Available on the end-game realm, Xalatath’s Endgame
- Mythic+ Season 1: Midnight Dungeons
  - Visit Feedback: Midnight Season 1 Dungeon Testing December 3 – December 9 for more details.

CLASSES

Developers’ notes: In this Midnight update, we’re making several tuning changes across all healer specializations. We have been looking at data from all forms of content and have noticed that healing burst and incidental healing has crept back up to a place that is higher than we would like it to be.
We have made changes to every healer specialization to adjust the output of many of their spells. Many sources of burst healing or incidental/uncontrolled healing have been reduced, but we have also increased the value by several spammable healing spells. We’re closely monitoring the situation and will continue to adjust healer throughput as Midnight’s beta test continues.
DEATH KNIGHT
- Hero Talents
  - Deathbringer
    - Frost
      - Exterminate no longer reduces the Rune cost of Obliterate.
  - Rider of the Apocalypse
    - Trollbane’s Chains of Ice no longer deals damage.
    - Mograine’s Death and Decay damage increased by 50%.
  - San’layn
    - Desecrate has been moved to a choice node with Blood-Soaked Ground.
    - Blood
      - New Talent: Inevitable – Your Blood Plague deals up to 30% increased damage based on the target’s missing health.
      - Visceral Strength no longer grants Boneshield stacks.
      - Gift of the San’layn now only activates from casting Dancing Rune Weapon.
    - Unholy
      - New Talent: Inevitable – Your plagues deal up to 30% increased damage based on the target’s missing health. Vampiric Strike grants maximum stacks of Clawing Shadows.
      - Transfusion has been updated – Vampiric Strike increases the damage of the Lesser Ghoul it summons by 20%.
      - Infliction of Sorrow has an additional effect – Vampiric Strike erupts your plagues with 30% increased effectiveness.
      - Infliction of Sorrow now extends the duration of the plagues by 2 seconds (was 1.5 seconds).
      - Frenzied Bloodthirst now also increases the damage of Epidemic per stack of Essence of the Blood Queen.
      - Vampiric Strike damage increased by 10%.
- Blood
  - New Talent: Bloody Reflection – While Blood Shield is active, taking direct damage reflects it back dealing Shadow damage to the attacker. Blood Shield’s absorb is increased by up to 65% of your maximum health.
  - Melee auto-attack damage has been increased by 150%.
  - Mastery: Blood Shield now appropriately displays the absorb amount is up to 50% of your maximum health.
  - Blood Boil damage reduced by 12%.
  - Deadly Reach now deals 75% of Death Strike damage to additional targets hit.
  - Bloodshot no longer only increases physical damage. Now increases all damage dealt by 8% while Blood Shield is active.
  - Dance of Midnight chance to summon an additional Dancing Rune Weapon reduced to 10% (was 15%).
  - Midnight Season 1 2-set bonus – Blood Boil damage reduced to 8% (was 15%).
  - Midnight Season 1 4-set bonus – Death Strike’s chance to grant a Blood Boil charge reduced to 10% (was 20%).
- Frost
  - Chosen of the Frostbrood (Apex Talent) 2^nd node has been updated – Frostwyrm’s Fury extends the duration of an active Pillar of Frost by 2 seconds/4 seconds.
- Unholy
  - Pestilence has been redesigned – Consume 100% of your plagues around you and deal 150% of their remaining damage instantly, and gain a charge of Putrefy. 15 second cooldown, 1 Rune cost.
  - Outbreak is replaced with Pestilence.
  - Necromancer’s Cunning has been updated – Putrefy now summons a Lesser Ghoul to attack instead and when your Lesser Ghouls expire, they explode in viscera, dealing ap Shadow damage to enemies nearby.
  - Reanimation has an additional effect – Magus of the Dead Frostbolts and Shadow Bolts deal 25% increased damage.
  - Harbinger of Doom secondary effect has been updated – When Scourge Strike summons a Lesser Ghoul, the cooldown of your Putrefy is reduced by 2.5 seconds.
  - Scourging has been updated – Scourge Strike now erupts your plagues at 50%/70% effectiveness. Clawing Shadows can now stack up to 2 additional times.
  - All disease eruption effects such as Blightburst and Pestilence are now consolidated into one damage spell.
  - All Will Serve now functions correctly with Necrotic Coil and Graveyard.
  - Dark Transformation no longer deals damage.
  - Raise Abomination Disease Cloud no longer deals damage.
  - Soul Reaper damage increased by 100%.
  - Pet Ghoul and Lesser Ghoul Sweeping Claws damage increased by 50%.
  - Pet Ghoul and Lesser Ghoul Claw damage increased by 50%.
  - Rapid Variant damage increased by 100%.
  - Death Coil damage increased by 25%.
  - Epidemic damage increased by 25%.
  - Graveyard damage increased by 25%.
  - Festering Scythe and Superstrain have swapped positions on the talent tree.
DEMON HUNTER
- Hero Talents
  - New Hero Talent: Annihilator
    - Voidfall’s icon has been updated.
  - Aldrachi Reaver
    - Havoc
      - Thrill of the Fight has been redesigned – After consuming both enhancements gain Thrill of the Fight, increasing the damage of your next Reaver’s Glaive by 30% and increasing Haste by 6% for 30 seconds.
      - Fury of the Aldrachi damage reduced by 18% and now deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.
      - Broken Spirit now also triggers from Blade Dance.
  - Fel-Scarred/Void-Scarred
    - Havoc
      - Demonsurge now deals Chaos damage (was Fire).
      - Demonsurge damage reduced by 15%.
      - Demonsurge damage increase per stack reduced to 5% (was 10%).
      - Demonsurge now always empowers Blade Dance and Chaos Strike when entering demon form (e.g. via Demonic effect) even if Metamorphosis is already active.
      - Burning Blades effect now also includes the First Blood portion Blade Dance’s damage.
      - Burning Blades effect reduced to 30% of listed skill damage (was 50%).
- Devourer
  - Icons for many talents, spells, and abilities have been updated.
- Havoc
  - Blind Fury now causes Eye Beam to generate 30 Fury per second (was 40).
  - Furious Gaze effect now grants 8% Haste for 8 seconds (was 10% for 10 seconds).
  - A Fire Inside effect now reduces the cooldown of Immolation Aura by 6 seconds instead of a 30% chance to refund a charge when cast.
  - Netherwalk has been removed.
DRUID
- Hero Talents
  - Druid of the Claw
    - Feral
      - Ursine Potential’s increase to Mangle and Swipe damage in Bear Form is now 50% (was 300%).
      - Twin Claw damage increased by 20%.
  - Elune’s Chosen
    - The Light of Elune triggers Fury of Elune 20% less frequently.
    - Lunar Amplification has been removed.
    - Stellar Command moved to Lunar Amplification’s previous position.
      - Developers’ notes: Removing Lunar Amplification and moving Stellar Command also means that Lunar Calling will be included in all Elune’s Chosen builds. It has been a popular choice, and we’re making the change it makes to Starfire’s role in Balance’s rotation definitional for Elune’s Chosen.
    - Balance
      - Lunation causes your Arcane abilities to reduce the cooldown of Fury of Elune by 1.5 seconds (was 2 seconds).
  - Keeper of the Grove
    - Balance
      - Potent Enchantments has been updated – Orbital Strike damage increased by 30%, and damage of Stellar Flares it applies increased by 30%. Whirling Stars increases the Haste you gain during Celestial Alignment by an additional 10%.
      - Bounteous Bloom has been updated – Force of Nature summons 4 treants.
      - Moonfire cast by your Treants no longer generates Astral Power.
      - Harmony of the Grove causes your Force of Nature Treants to increase your spell damage by 4% (was 8%).
      - Cenarius’ Might increases Haste by 8% (was 12%).
      - Sylvan Beckoning’s dryad Starsurge damage reduced by 75%.
      - Sylvan Beckoning’s dryad Starfall damage reduced to 200% effectiveness (was 300%).
        
        Developers’ notes: Sylvan Beckoning tuning changes were made in a previous patch but not included in patch notes.
- Balance
  - Developers’ notes: In addition to adjusting tuning of several abilities, these changes aim to reduce some of the more subtle complexities of Balance Druid. Whirling Stars and Potent Enchantments have been updated to make aligning Balance’s various cooldowns more straightforward and consistent for both Hero Talent options. Astral Power generation has been reduced slightly to reduce the number of GCDs needed to cast spenders, and damage of spenders has been increased to compensate.
  - Global cooldown after activating Solar or Lunar Eclipse shortened to 0.5 seconds instead of normal 1.5.
  - All spell damage reduced by 17%.
  - Whirling Stars has been updated – Celestial Alignment’s cooldown is reduced by 60 seconds and it has 2 charges.
  - Updated Meteorites, Lunar Bolt, and Solar Bolt to correctly benefit from Mastery: Astral Invocation and Eclipses.
  - Starsurge damage increased by 8%.
  - Starfall damage increased by 8%.
  - Sunseeker Mushrooms spawn 10% less frequently.
  - Wild Mushroom damage increased by 20% (Sunseeker Mushrooms are unaffected).
  - Meteorites damage increased by 150%.
  - Denizen of the Dream damage increased by 20%.
  - Sunfire damage increased by 35%.
  - Moonfire damage increased by 35%.
  - Shooting Stars damage increased by 25%.
  - Celestial Fire increases Sunfire, Moonfire, and Shooting Stars damage by 8% (was 15%).
  - Ascendant Eclipses: Solar Bolts prefer to target your currently selected target.
  - Ascendant Eclipses: Astral Smolder deals 12% of damage dealt (was 20%).
  - Solar Bolt damage reduced by 25%.
  - Nature’s Balance now generates 1 Astral Power every 2 seconds while in combat (down from 2 every 3 sec).
  - Soul of the Forest’s Astral Power generation bonus reduced to 40% (was 50%).
  - Touch the Cosmos chance to trigger reduced to 15% for Wrath (was 18%) and 20% for Starfire (was 25%).
  - Nature’s Grace reduces the cast time of affected spells by 30% (was 40%).
  - Elune’s Challenge reduces the cast time of affected spells by 20% (was 25%).
  - Starlord can no longer be force cancelled.
    - Developers’ notes: Starlord has been updated so players don’t need to actively cancel it to align it with the start of Eclipse. This change is being made to eliminate the benefit of ending it early during an Eclipse to increase its uptime outside Eclipse.
  - The Nature’s Grace/Elune’s Challenge choice node has been moved to row 6.
  - Sundered Firamament/Orbit Breaker has been moved to Nature’s Grace/Elune’s Challenge previous location.
- Feral
  - Developers’ notes: These changes are primarily ability and talent tuning. The new Panther’s Guile also adds a single target option in gate 2 that adds some rotational variety.
  - Panther’s Guile has been redesigned – When Shred or Moonfire generate combo points, they have a 25% chance to generate full combo points.
  - Shred damage reduced by 8%.
  - Swipe damage reduced by 8%.
  - Moonfire with Lunar Inspiration damage increased by 10%.
  - Sudden Ambush also increases the damage dealt by affected attacks by 50%.
  - Focused Frenzy now also increases Feral Frenzy damage by 40%.
- Guardian
  - Melee damage increased by 30%.
- Restoration
  - All healing reduced by 5%.
  - Everbloom splashes 10% of Lifebloom healing (was 15%).
  - Lifetreading increases Efflorescence healing by 25% (was 30%).
  - Wild Synthesis increases Grove Guardians and Efflorescence healing by 30% (was 35%).
EVOKER
- Augmentation
  - Personal and pet damage of all spells reduced by 15%.
  - Duplicate no longer increases Ebon Might’s self damage increase by 100% while it is active.
  - Duplicate’s 100% increase to Ebon Might no longer snapshots.
  - Midnight Season 1 2-set bonus extends Ebon Might by 0.25 seconds (was 0.5 seconds).
- Devastation
  - Animosity’s effect now diminishes by 25% per empower spell cast during Dragonrage.
- Preservation
  - Developers’ notes: As part of a broader pass at reducing some cooldown-based healing, we are reducing Preservation’s healing capabilities with Merithra’s Blessing and Temporal Anomaly. Lifeforce Mender was also significantly overperforming as a talent, and it is being redesigned as something that is easier to evaluate as a player.
  - Lifeforce Mender has been redesigned – Red spells deal 20% more damage and healing (was: Living Flame and Fire Breath increased by 1/2% of your maximum health).
  - Merithra’s Blessing reverses 1% of damage taken per talent point (was 2%).
  - Merithra’s Blessing heals primary target and 4 other targets (was 5 other targets).
  - Merithra’s Blessing is now considered a Green spell, and does not trigger Temporal Compression.
  - Fixed an issue where Consume Flame healing was double dipping on healing modifiers.
  - Temporal Anomaly absorption now falls off more sharply when healing more than 6 targets.
  - Living Flame healing increased by 28%.
  - Verdant Embrace healing increased by 15%.
  - Dream Simulacrum increases Verdant Embrace healing by 30% (was 40%).
HUNTER
- Hero Talents
  - Dark Ranger
    - Beast Mastery
      - The Bell Tolls pet damage increased to 6% (was 3%).
      - Through the Eyes Black Arrow damage increased to 20% (was 10%).
  - Pack Leader
    - Wyvern’s Gaze no longer increases the damage bonus of Wyvern’s Cry.
    - Fury of the Wyvern no longer increases the damage of Wyvern’s Cry.
    - Wyvern’s Cry no longer gets bonus initial stacks when applied (was granting a starting point of 15 stacks).
    - Wyvern’s Cry now stacks to a maximum of 10 (was 25).
    - Pack Mentality now increases the damage of Kill Command by 50% (was 100%).
- Beast Mastery
  - Developers’ notes: Beast Mastery Hunter has been performing stronger than intended. Between several bug fixes and the adjustments below, we are hoping to bring their damage into a better spot relative to other DPS specializations. Most of these changes are around the Wyvern’s Cry buff from the Pack Leader Hero Talents, which is both a large percentage damage increase and has relatively high uptime, so we’re reducing the effectiveness of this buff across several different Pack Leader talent nodes.
  - Kill Command damage reduced by 15%.
MAGE
- Hero Talents
  - Frostfire
    - Frostfire Bolt damage reduced by 30%.
      - Developers’ notes: This tuning change was applied via a Hotfix in the previous Beta build.
    - Dual-Casting Adept has been updated – Now increases Shatter damage (was Ice Lance damage).
    - Rimecaster has been updated – Now increases Frostbolt and Glacial Spike damage by 10%/20%(was 15%/30%).
    - Heat Sink has been updated – Now increases Flurry damage by 20% (was 30%).
    - Frostfire Bolt cast time reduced to 1.75 seconds (was 2 seconds).
  - Spellslinger
    - Developers’ notes: Splinterstorm used many effects, damage instances, and auras to deliver what was ultimately a simple and very passive effect. We’re moving Augury Bounds’ effects to Splinterstorm, since the significant boost in Splinter generation and the throughput impact feels more capstone-worthy. Augury Abounds has been redesigned to provide a new source of Splinter generation that retains the burst-y feel of Splinterstorm, and the Clearcasting/Brain Freeze proc chance increase is being added as a passive effect on Archmage’s Wrath. Our goal with these changes is to eliminate very fringe optimization potential around tracking Splinterstorm, while also reducing the number of auras and damage events that Spellslinger introduces.
    - Splintering Sorcery has been updated – Splinters no longer apply a damage over time effect.
    - Augury Abounds has been redesigned – Conjuring a Splinter has a 15% chance to conjure an additional Splinter.
    - Archmage’s Wrath has been updated – Now additionally increases your chance to gain Clearcasting/Brain Freeze by 3%/5%.
    - Splinterstorm has been redesigned –
      - Arcane: Arcane Surge conjures 8 Splinters. While Arcane Surge is active, your chance to conjure an additional Splinter is increased to 100%.
      - Frost: Each time Ray of Frost damages one or more enemies, it conjures 1 Splinter. For 10 seconds after casting Ray of Frost, your chance to conjure an additional Splinter is increased to 100%.
    - Splinters will now prefer targeting enemies that you have recently targeted with your spells.
    - Frost
      - Polished Focus reverted to previous functionality.
- Class
  - Overflowing Energy has been updated – Now grants 20% increased Fireball critical strike chance per stack (was 10%).
- Arcane
  - Mana Adept has been updated – Now grants 2% of your maximum mana (was 1.5%).
  - Overpowered Missiles has been updated – Now additionally causes Arcane Missiles to grant maximum stacks of Arcane Salvo.
  - Charged Missiles has been updated – Damage bonus reduced to 40% (was 80%).
  - Arcane Blast damage increased by 20%.
  - Arcane Pulse damage increased by 20%.
  - Arcane Surge damage increased by 20%.
  - Arcane Orb damage increased by 20%.
  - Arcane Missiles damage increased by 20%.
  - Arcane Barrage damage increased by 40%.
  - Illuminated Thoughts and Focusing Crystal have swapped locations.
- Fire
  - Developers’ notes: Meteor is still underperforming, so we’re giving it a bump up in damage and further increasing its single / priority target effectiveness. The update to Overflowing Energy and Fireball’s cast time reduction are intended to help Fireball more consistently and frequently generate Hot Streaks in-between your Combustion windows. We’re also reintroducing Scorch and Heat Shimmer, with a focus on adding some more procs and gameplay in between your Combustion windows.
  - Heat Shimmer has returned – While Combustion is not active, damage from Ignite has a small chance to make your next Scorch instant, deal 100% increased damage, and deal damage as though your target is below 30% health.
  - Deep Impact has been updated – Now causes Meteor to deal 75% increased damage to its closest target (was 50%).
  - Scald has been updated – Fireball always critically strikes enemies below 30% health. When Fireball or Scorch damage an enemy below 30% health, Fireball deals 50% increased damage and Scorch deals 250% increased damage.
  - Burnout has been updated – Now deals 75% of Ignite’s remaining damage (was 50%).
  - Meteor damage increased by 30%.
  - Meteor ground effect duration reduced to 4 seconds (was 8 seconds), damage increased proportionally.
  - Fireball cast time reduced to 1.75 seconds (was 2.25 seconds).
  - Kindling is now a 1-point talent (was 2). Rank 1 now grants 60 seconds of cooldown (was 30 seconds).
  - Scorch has returned and is now available below Ignition.
  - Inflame’s position has changed in the talent tree.
  - From the Ashes and Feel the Burn have switched places on the talent tree.
  - Scorch (Passive) has been removed.
  - Firestarter no longer a choice node with Scorch (Passive) and available in gate 1 below Pyroblast.
  - The following talents have been removed:
    - Mark of the Firelord
    - Pyromastery
- Frost
  - Developers’ notes: We’re continuing to iterate on Frost’s AOE and cleave gameplay, alongside a significant update to Frost’s capstones talents. We’ve received a lot of feedback that target swapping and debuff tracking can feel overwhelming in AOE, so we’re taking a bigger swing at focusing Frost’s Freezing and Shattering gameplay to your primary target. This involves removing a myriad of effects that applied Freezing in AOE, while also adding an AOE damage hook for Shatter. With these updates, the rate at which you apply Freezing to your primary target should significantly outweigh your ability to apply Freezing to other targets. A new iteration on Fractured Frost will intelligently Shatter nearby Freezing enemies, bringing target-swapping and debuff tracking requirements down significantly. We’re retaining a few ways to add Freezing in AOE, but will monitor the impact it has on gameplay and make adjustments as necessary.
  - New Passive: Winter’s End – When an enemy affected by Freezing dies, it explodes, dealing Frost damage to nearby enemies for each stack of Freezing it had. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets. Learned at level 40.
  - New Talent: Lonely Winter – Spell damage increased by 3%. Choice node with Water Elemental.
  - New Talent: Glacial Chill – Glacial Spike damage increased by 5% and it now applies 2 additional stacks of Freezing. Choice node with Glacial Shatter.
  - New Talent: Glacial Shatter – Glacial Spike no longer applies Freezing and it now Shatters 5 stacks of Freezing. Choice node with Glacial Chill.
  - New Talent: White Out – Ice Lance reduces the cooldown of Frozen Orb by 0.5 seconds, increased by 0.1 second for each stack of Freezing Shattered.
  - Fingers of Frost has been updated – Now has 2 charges baseline.
  - Frostbite has been updated – No longer causes Blizzard to apply Freezing. Now causes Shatter to deal damage to nearby enemies, damage reduced beyond 5 enemies.
  - Hand of Frost has been updated – Now applies 1 stack of Freezing (was 2).
  - Fractured Frost has been redesigned – Your Ice Lance strikes 1 additional target at 100% effectiveness, preferring enemies with more Freezing stacks.
  - Thermal Void has been updated – No longer causes a second Ice Lance cast. Instead causes your next Ice Lance to Shatter additional stacks of Freezing.
  - Glaciate has been redesigned – When Ice Lance Shatters a stack of Freezing, the cooldown of Ray of Frost is reduced by 0.1 second.
  - Piercing Cold has been updated – Now increases Flurry and Frostbolt critical strike damage.
  - Everlasting Frost has been updated – Now additionally causes Frozen Orb damage to have a 3% chance to grant Fingers of Frost.
  - Splintering Ray has been updated – No longer applies Freezing to enemies damaged by the area effect.
  - Wintertide has been redesigned – Now causes Frozen Orb to grant Brain Freeze. Choice node with White Out.
  - Rimecaster has been updated – Now increases Frostbolt and Glacial Spike damage by 10%/20% (was 15%/30%).
  - Glacial Assault damage increased by 200%.
  - Shatter damage increased by 25%.
  - Blizzard damage reduced by 25%.
  - Frostbolt cast time reduced to 1.75 seconds (was 2 seconds).
  - Midnight Season 1 2-set bonus has been redesigned – Flurry damage increased by 10% and Flurry has a 10% chance to grant Fingers of Frost.
  - Midnight Season 1 4-set bonus has been updated – Fingers of Frost increases Shatter’s damage by 15% (was 10%).
  - Many talents have changed positions in the talent tree.
MONK
- Hero Talents
  - Master of Harmony
    - Coalescence has been redesigned – When Aspect of Harmony deals damage/healing, it has a chance to spread to a nearby enemy/ally. When you directly attack/heal an affected target, it has a chance to intensify, withdrawing additional vitality to increase its effect by up to 20%. Keg Smash/Vivify/Sheilun’s Gift no longer contributes vitality, instead drawing on available vitality to deal up to 100% additional damage/healing. Vitality stored by other abilities is increased by 50%.
    - Mistweaver
      - Clarity of Purpose has been updated – Casting Enveloping Mist stores additional vitality (was Vivify or Sheilun’s Gift).
- Brewmaster
  - Bring Me Another has been updated –
    - Rank 1: Drinking a Brew has a 20% chance to leave you with an Empty Barrel, which is tossed along with your next Keg Smash to deal Physical damage to your target. Ricochets up to 4 times at 80% effectiveness.
    - Ranks 2/3: Gaining an Empty Barrel resets the cooldown of Keg Smash and makes its next cast cost 50%/100% less energy. Physical damage dealt increased by 10%/20%.
    - Rank 4: When you cast Fortifying Brew or Celestial Brew you tap a fresh keg, granting yourself and 2 nearby allies a refreshing drink, and leaving you with an Empty Barrel. Empty Barrel damage increased by 100%.
    - Empty Barrels may now ricochet back to enemies they’ve already hit.
    - Empty Barrel damage increased by 50%.
  - Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox has been updated – Now Stomps when you cast Blackout Kick (was Purifying Brew).
  - Exploding Keg has been updated – Now additionally resets the cooldown of Keg Smash.
  - Empty the Cellar’s damage increased by 100% and it now reduces Brew cooldowns by 3 seconds per additional keg.
  - Staggering Strikes’ Stagger clear reduced by 40%.
  - Melee damage increased by 50%.
  - Fixed an issue causing Refreshing Drinks to only heal the Brewmaster, not their allies.
  - Fuel on the Fire and Empty the Cellar no longer share a selection node.
  - Keg Volley removed has been removed.
- Mistweaver
  - Invigorating Mist healing increased by 100%.
  - Invoke Yu’lon the Jade Serpent now decreases the cast time of Enveloping Mist by 30% (was 60%).
  - Emperor’s Favor now increases Sheilun’s Gift healing by 20% (was 150%).
  - Silent Sanctuary no longer triggers while at full health.
  - Strength of the Black Ox no longer scales based on the monk’s health.
  - Fixed an issue that caused Misty Coalescence to not remove dead party members from its healing increase.
  - Unison has been removed.
- Windwalker
  - Slicing Winds damage reduced by 50%.
  - Hurricane’s Vault now increases Slicing Winds damage by 40% (was 100%).
  - Celestial Conduit healing reduced by 80%.
PALADIN
- Holy
  - Veneration now triggers from Judgment and grants an absorb shield for 15% of its damage (was 30%).
  - Judgment’s cooldown reduced by 22%.
  - Holy Shock’s cooldown is now 6 seconds (was 7.5 seconds).
  - Beacon of Light now transfers 10% of healing done (was 20%).
  - Fixed an issue that caused Ringing of the Heavens to activate Aurora and Dawnlight from its free Divine Toll.
- Protection
  - Melee damage increased by 100%.
- Retribution
  - Light Within (Apex Talent) Rank 1 has been updated – No longer grants Righteous Cause or Art of War when Avenging Wrath is cast.
  - Judge, Jury and Executioner now causes 1 Holy Power consuming ability to refund its cost (was 2).
  - Divine Resonance now grants the additional Holy Power instantly rather than waiting on the cast of the additional Judgment.
PRIEST
- Hero Talents
  - Archon
    - Shadow
      - Mind Flay: Insanity now generates 8 Insanity over its duration (was 12).
      - Halo now generates 5 Insanity (was 10).
  - Voidweaver
    - Void Infusion grants 50% additional Atonement healing (was 100%).
    - Void Infusion now functions with both Penance and Void Blast, and requires Entropic Rift to be active.
    - Shadow
      - Void Infusion now causes Void Blast to generate 2 additional Insanity (was 6).
- Discipline
  - The structure of the final gate has been significantly altered to facilitate more synergistic branching paths.
  - Mindbender has been redesigned – Evangelism summons a Mindbender to attack a nearby target for 12 seconds. Choice node with Archangel.
  - New Talent: Searing Light – Your Penance bolts sear the enemy, dealing 30% of its damage over 8 seconds.
  - New Talent: Death’s Torment – Shadow Word: Death deals damage 2 additional times at 15% effectiveness.
  - Expiation consumes 1 second of Shadow Word: Pain per talent point (was 3 seconds). Effectiveness increased to 300% (was 200%).
  - Greater Smite increases the damage of Smite by 15% per talent point (was 20%).
  - Plea is now learned at level 80 (was a talent).
  - Greater Smite increases Smite damage by 20% per stack (was 25%).
  - Evangelism no longer causes Power Word: Radiance to have no cooldown. Instead, your next 2 casts of it are instant.
  - Inner Light and Shadow is no longer a capstone in the talent tree, and has been added back to PvP talents.
  - Archangel is no longer a PvP talent and is now a capstone in the talent tree.
  - Archangel has been redesigned – Evangelism increases your healing and absorption by 15% for 18 seconds.
  - Ultimate Radiance no longer causes Power Word: Radiance to be instant cast. Instead, it reduces the cooldown of Evangelism by 45 seconds.
  - Ultimate Radiance increases the healing of Power Word: Radiance by 15% (was 10%).
  - Atonement heals for 50% of damage done (was 60%).
  - Mind Blast damage reduced by 30%.
  - Depth of Shadows has been renamed back to Shadowfiend. Shadowfiend’s passive effect now appears in the Spell Book for use with its associated glyphs.
  - Divine Procession increases Atonement duration by 2 seconds (was 3 seconds).
  - Void Shield chance to trigger has been slightly reduced.
  - Void Shield now prefers targets without your Atonement.
  - Void Shield reflects 25% of damage (was 15%).
  - Void Shield reflect damage no longer scales with damage modifiers.
  - Flash Heal healing increased by 30%.
  - Smite damage increased by 40%.
  - Evangelism casts Power Word: Radiance at 150% effectiveness (was 200%).
  - Occultist increases Shadow damage and healing by 15% (was 20%).
  - Purge the Wicked increases Holy damage by 10% (was 15%).
  - Power Word: Radiance healing reduced by 15%.
  - Master the Darkness increases Shadow damage and Atonement healing by 3% per talent point (was 5%).
  - When healing full health targets with Atonement, the healing value is now reduced.
  - Mindbender damage increased by 100%.
  - Shadowfiend now has a 40% chance to trigger instead of being based on the target’s current health.
- Holy
  - Cosmic Wave now increases the healing of Cosmic Ripple by 15% (was 60%).
  - Flash Heal healing increased by 30%.
  - Prayer of Healing healing increased by 15%.
  - Prayer of Mending healing reduced by 25%.
  - All healing reduced by 5%.
- Shadow
  - Developers’ notes: We’re making some updates to Shadow’s Insanity economy which has gotten too high. We’re reducing Insanity from primarily passive sources. We’re also reducing the damage of a few spells to diversify the spec’s damage sources better.
  - Idol of Y’Shaarj has been redesigned – While Shadowfiend, Mindbender, or Voidwraith are active, your Haste is increased by 10%.
  - Shadow Word: Madness now heals you for 30% of damage done, like Devouring Plague did previously.
  - Shadowfiend, Mindbender, and Voidwraith now generate 1 Insanity per attack (was 2).
  - Void Volley and Void Torrent can no longer trigger Idol of C’Thun.
  - Shadowfiend now has a 40% chance to trigger instead of being based on the target’s current health.
  - Void Tendrils and Void Lashers from Idol of C’Thun now last 10 seconds (was 15 seconds). Total damage unchanged.
  - Void Tendril and Void Lashers now generate 5 Insanity over their duration (was 15).
  - Fixed an issue causing Tormented Spirits to not function.
  - Tormented Spirits chance to trigger reduced by 40%.
  - Fixed an issue causing Idol of N’Zoth to sometimes generate the incorrect amount of Insanity.
  - Idol of Yogg-Saron now requires 20 stacks to summon (was 25).
  - Shadow Word: Madness damage reduced by 30%.
  - Shadowy Apparition damage reduced by 30%.
  - Haunting Shadows now increases the duration of Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch by 1 second (was 1.5 seconds).
  - Depth of Shadows renamed back to Shadowfiend. Shadowfiend’s passive effect now appears in the Spell Book for use with its associated glyphs.
  - Mindbender is no longer affected by glyphs that change Shadowfiend to a different creature.
  - Mindbender damage increased by 100%.
  - The final rank of Void Apparitions now has a more detailed tooltip.
  - Void Volley is no longer visible to allies in dungeons and raids.
ROGUE
- Hero Talents
  - Deathstalker
    - Darkest Night increases the damage of your next Envenom/Eviscerate by 30% (was 40%).
    - Hunt Them Down damage reduced by 20%.
    - Subtlety
      - Corrupt the Blood has been redesigned – Deathstalker’s Mark damage increased by 25%.
      - Symbolic Victory now triggers from Shadow Dance (was Symbols of Death) and increases the damage of your next Eviscerate or Black Powder by 15% (was 18%).
  - Fatebound
    - Tails Fatebound coin flips damage reduced by 20%.
      - Developers’ notes: The previous note that it had been reduced by 50% was incorrect – it was always a 20% reduction. Its damage has not been further reduced from that value.
  - Trickster
    - Subtlety
      - Nimble Flurry effect now applies to auto-attacks, Unseen Blade, and Coup de Grace. Effect no longer applies to Backstab, Gloomblade, Shadowstrike, Eviscerate, or Goremaw’s Bite.
- Assassination
  - All ability damage reduced by 16%.
  - Melee auto-attack damage reduced by 20%.
  - Fatal Concoction increases the damage of your weapon poisons by 20%/40% (was 15%/30%).
- Outlaw
  - Instant Poison damage increased by 50%.
  - Blade Rush damage to your primary target increased by 15%.
  - Scoundrel Strike damage increased by 15%.
  - Main Gauche damage increased by 150%.
  - All damage reduced by 16%.
- Subtlety
  - New Talent: Umbral Edge – Shadow Clones deal 15% increased damage. Cheap Shot creates a Shadow Clone to Shadowstrike the target for 50% of normal damage as Shadow. Kidney Shot creates a Shadow Clone to Eviscerate the target for 50% of normal damage as Shadow.
  - Black Powder damage reduced by 9.5%.
  - Secret Technique damage increased by 8.5%.
  - Improved Secret Technique damage bonus increased to 15% (was 10%).
  - Replicating Shadows damage bonus for Shadow Clones reduced to 15% (was 20%).
SHAMAN
- Hero Talents
  - Farseer
    - All Ancestor healing reduced by 40%.
    - Restoration
      - Mystic Knowledge now increases the recharge rate of Riptide by 10% (was 30%).
  - Totemic
    - Restoration
      - Surging Totem increases Healing Rain’s effectiveness by 20% (was 30%).
      - Splitstream now causes Healing Stream Totem to heal an additional ally at 30% effectiveness (was 100%).
      - Whirling Water causes Healing Wave to heal an ally inside of your Healing Rain at 50% effectiveness (was 100%).
- Class
  - Primordial Bond has been redesigned – Your Earth Elemental no longer taunts nearby enemies or generates threat and instead increases your maximum health by 15% while active.
  - Earth Elemental now clarifies its threat and taunt behavior in its tooltip.
  - Earth Elemental no longer increases the maximum health of the Shaman. This effect has been moved to Primordial Bond.
- Elemental
  - Molten Wrath now increases Lava Burst damage by 15% (was 25%).
  - Echo Chamber now increases Elemental Overload damage by 25% (was 40%).
  - Primal Storm Elemental’s Stormfury now deals its full damage over 4 seconds (was 8 seconds).
  - Fire Elemental’s Fire Blast damage increased by 500%.
  - Primal Fire Elemental’s Immolate damage increased by 500%.
  - Primal Fire Elemental Meteor damage increased by 300%.
  - Storm Elemental Wind Gust damage increased by 100%.
  - Storm Elemental Call Lightning damage increased by 100%.
  - Primal Storm Elemental’s Stormfury damage increased by 100%.
  - Fixed an issue causing Fury of the Storms to not summon a Primal Storm Elemental with Primal Elementalist talented.
  - Primal Elementalist now only grants direct control over your Primal Fire Elemental (was all 3 elementals).
    - Developers’ notes: We are changing this to prevent summoning a primal elemental from dismissing your currently active primal elemental.
  - Power of the Maelstrom now has a 15% chance to occur (was 40%).
  - The randomness of Power of the Maelstrom has been updated to more consistent.
  - Fixed an issue causing Offering from Beyond to not reduce the cooldown of Stormkeeper properly.
  - Echo of the Elementals has been removed.
- Restoration
  - Coalescing Water has been redesigned – Healing Wave and Chain Heal increase the initial healing of your next Riptide by 30%, stacking up to 2 times.
  - Chain Heal healing increased by 15%.
  - Chain Heal mana cost reduced by 10%.
  - Healing Wave healing increased by 15%.
  - Whispering Waves now duplicates 10% of healing from Healing Wave (was 15%).
  - All healing reduced by 5%.
WARLOCK
- Hero Talents
  - Diabolist
    - Touch of Rancora now increases the damage of Hand of Gul’dan, Chaos Bolt, Rain of Fire, or Shadowburn by 20% (was 100%).
    - Eye Explosion damage reduced by 30%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
  - Hellcaller
    - Affliction
      - Wither damage reduced by 35%.
  - Soul Harvester
    - Demonic Soul has been updated – A demonic entity now inhabits your soul, allowing you to detect if a Soul Shard has a Succulent Soul when granted. Consuming a Succulent Soul unleashes your demonic soul, dealing Shadow damage to all enemies within 10 yards of the target. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.
- Affliction
  - New Talent: Nether Plating – Adorns your Darkglare with armor forged from within Antorus, increasing their armor by 10%. Eye Beam now jumps to up to 4 additional targets and deals 10% increased damage.
  - Fatal Echoes has been updated – When Unstable Affliction expires, it has a 10% chance to reapply itself (was 4%).
  - Cull the Weak has been updated – Casting Unstable Affliction and Seed of Corruption reduces the cooldown of Dark Harvest by 3 seconds.
  - Summon Darkglare has been updated – Summons a Darkglare from the Twisting Nether that increases the damage of Agony, Corruption/Wither, and Unstable Affliction by 20% while active. The Darkglare will serve you for 20 seconds, blasting its target Shadow damage, increased by 10% (was 45%) for every damage over time effect you have active on their current target.
  - Darkglare’s Eyebeam damage increased by 80%.
    - Developers’ notes: We are adjusting Summon Darkglare in this next Midnight update. While pooling Soul Shards will still be valuable with this newer design, it deviates from the “snapshot” gameplay and should make pressing Unstable Affliction after its summoning more worthwhile. Additionally, we are moving some of the conditional power of Darkglare’s Eye Beam into its baseline power so it stands as a powerful cooldown while keeping some skill expression in DoT maintenance.
  - Unstable Affliction damage reduced by 25%.
  - Agony damage reduced by 40%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
  - Malevolent Visionary has been removed.
- Demonology
  - New Talent: Hellbent Commander – Your demons deal 2% increased damage for each demon you control.
  - New Talent: To Hell and Back – Power Siphon and Implosion summon 1 Imp Gang Boss for every 2 Wild Imps sacrificed. Wild Imps summoned this way gain Unstable Soul.
    - Unstable Soul: Increases damage done by 100% and Fel Firebolt now jumps to 3 additional targets.
  - Doom damage increased by 50%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
  - Doomguard damage increased by 85%.
  - Hand of Gul’dan damage increased by 20%.
  - Wild Imp Fel Firebolt damage increased by 50%.
  - Felguard damage increased by 60%.
  - Grimoire: Fel Ravager damage increased by 120%.
  - Grimoire: Imp Lord damage increased by 120%.
  - The following talents have been removed:
    - Evil Eye
    - Eye of Gul’dan
- Destruction
  - The position of several talents and pathing has been updated.
  - New Talent: Inferno – Reduces the cooldown of Summon Infernal by 30 seconds and increases your Mastery by 3%.
  - New Talent: Raging Demonfire – Channel Demonfire fires an additional 2 bolts. Each bolt increases the remaining duration of Wither on all targets hit by 0.5 seconds.
  - New Talent: Devastation – Increases the critical strike chance of your Destruction spells by 3%/6%.
  - Dimensional Rift is now passive and has been redesigned – Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn have a 10% chance to rip open a hole in space and time, opening a random portal that damages your target.
  - Ruin has been redesigned – Increases the critical strike damage of your Destruction spells by 15%/30%.
  - Avatar of Destruction has been redesigned – Casting Soul Fire summons an Overfiend. Opening a Dimensional Rift has a chance to summon an Overfiend instead.
    - Summon Overfiend: Generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment every 1 second and casts Chaos Bolt at 60% effectiveness at its summoner’s target. Lasts 8 seconds.
  - Chaos Bolt has been added to the Destruction talent tree (was learned at level 10).
  - Chaos Bolt damage reduced by 35%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
  - Conflagrate damage reduced by 35%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
  - Incinerate damage reduced by 25%. This change does not affect PvP combat.
  - Lake of Fire damage reduced by 50%.
  - Soul Fire now has a cast time of 3 seconds (was 3.5 seconds).
  - The following talents have been removed:
    - Blistering Atrophy
    - Demonfire Mastery
    - Man’ari Erudition
    - Mark of Ruvaraad
WARRIOR
- Hero Talents
  - Colossus
    - Thunder Blast damage increased by 100%.
- Class
  - Several talents on the Warrior class tree have changed locations.
  - New Talent: Stance Mastery – Your stances have additional effects.
    - Battle Stance: Increases the critical strike damage of your abilities by 3%.
    - Berserker Stance: Increases your auto-attack speed by 3%.
    - Defensive Stance: When an attack deals 20% or more of your maximum health in damage, that damage is reduced by 15%.
  - Javelineer has been redesigned – Range of your thrown abilities is increased by 5 yards. Damage dealt by Champion’s Spear, Shattering Throw, and Wrecking Throw increased by 20%. Shattering Throw and Wrecking Throw silence non-players for 3 seconds.
  - Thunder Clap damage increased by 100%.
  - Rend ability initial damage increased by 60%.
  - Second Wind healing while you are below 35% health increased by 100%.
  - Last Stand has been removed.
- Arms
  - Master of Warfare (Apex Talent) has been updated – Your single target abilities can now trigger Master of Warfare (was Overpower).
  - All ability damage increased by 20%.
  - Thunder Clap damage decreased by 20%.
  - The following talents have been removed:
    - Initiative
    - Storm of Swords
- Fury
  - New Passive: Titan’s Grip: Single-Minded Fury – You can transmogrify your two-handed weapons to use one-handed weapon appearances.
    - Developers’ notes: Fury is the iconic dual-wielding Warrior spec, and Titan’s Grip provides a unique take on that fantasy. We also know that many Fury players want to have a different look, and we’ve had several iterations of Single-Minded Fury in the past to enable that fantasy. With the advent of Transmog 2.0, we have the opportunity to allow players to use whichever weapon appearances they prefer for their fantasy without having to spend talent points or fight with loot spec rules.
  - Apex Talents: Rampaging Berserker has been redesigned –
    - Rampage grants a stack of Berserk, increasing Strength by 1% for 8 seconds. Multiple applications of Berserk may overlap (similar to Ironfur stacking).
    - Recklessness reduces Rampage’s Rage cost by 15/30 and increases Rampage damage by 5%/10%.
    - Recklessness grants 3 stacks of Berserk and duration increased by 50%.
  - Thunder Clap damage decreased by 60%.
- Protection
  - Several talents in the Protection talent tree have changed locations.
  - New Talent: Last Stand – Activating Shield Wall increases your maximum health by 30% for 8 seconds and instantly heals you for that amount.
  - Auto-attack damage increased by 100%.
  - Shield Slam damage increased by 100%.
  - Revenge damage increased by 100%.
  - Devastator damage increased by 100%.
  - Devastate damage increased by 100%.
  - Phalanx damage increased by 100%.
  - Shield Charge damage increased by 100%.
  - Tough as Nails damage increased by 100%.
  - Devastating Focus increases damage dealt by Revenge by 30% (was 20%).
  - I Can Do This All Day has been removed.

ITEMS

The Barrel of Fireworks Toy has been added to the Mimzy Miscellanea vendor in Orgrimmar/Stormwind on the Beta realm: Xal’atath’s Endgame.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

EVOKER
- Scouring Flame now dispels 2 effects no matter which empower rank is used.
MAGE
- Fire
  - Ignition Burst (PvP Talent) – No longer causes Heat Shimmer to cast instantly.
PRIEST
- Discipline
  - Dark Archangel now triggers from Evangelism (was Shadowfiend or Mindbender).

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

Major defensive buffs will now appear as a large icon on the center of raid frames.
Added the ability to set a custom color for raid frame health bars instead of the default green or class colors.
Added a new Bleed dispel indicator (similar to poison, magic, etc) to raid frames.
Added ambience sounds for the Haranir scene on the character select screen.
The dungeons filter in the Premade Group Finder is now a flyout menu to accommodate long lists of dungeons.
Art has been added for Journeys in the Adventure Guide.
NEW ACCESSIBILITY FEATURE: COMBAT AUDIO ALERTS
- Added support for announcing player and target spellcasts. Settings include whether to announce them at cast start or cast end, format, minimum cast time, and throttle.
- Added support for announcing when the player’s target starts casting an interruptible spell and when the player’s target is interrupted.
- Added support for reading your primary resource (mana, energy, rage, etc.). Settings include percentage thresholds, format, and throttle.
NEW INTERFACE: DAMAGE METER
- The Avoidable Damage Taken category now displays a message notifying the player if they are in a non-supported instance.
- Changing the displayed segment of one window will change it for all of them.
- Increased the stacking priority of the source window so that it appears above most other UI elements.
- Changed the minimum allowed height of the damage meter in Edit Mode so it can be sized smaller.
- Fixed an issue where Damage Meter sessions were being cleared when changing zones.
UPDATED NAMEPLATES
- Fixed an issue where the cast bar spark appeared incorrectly for certain nameplate sizes.
ADDON INTERFACE
- Removed restrictions on the player’s secondary resources (combo points, chi, etc) so addons can create custom displays for them.
- Added a new smooth-animate option to status bars (health bars, mana bars, cast bars, etc) to allow addons to avoid performance issues.
- Added several new APIs requested by addon developers to allow them to display auras and cooldown swipes more easily during combat.
- Loosened restrictions on an API that is used by addons to compare units to each other (to check if the player has a particular enemy targeted/focused or has their mouse over them).
- Fixed various issues addons were experiencing when showing tooltips while in combat.