Classic Era – SoM Beta Updated: Boosting Nerfed, Raids Buffed

The Season of Mastery Beta is back online for testing with the following updates:

• Test characters can now be leveled to 60.
• The “Adventure Awaits” buff now grants an additional experience bonus to Dungeon quests and quests flagged as Elite.
• High Elf Watchers have made an appearance in the Ironforge Library and Undercity Apothecarium, seeking to chronicle those who bear a “Soul of Iron”.
• World Buffs such as Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer, Warchief’s Blessing, and many others will now be removed inside of raid instances.
• The Debuff limit on enemy units is no longer capped at 16.
• Significantly less experience is now awarded to players who kill a creature while in a group with one or more players who are at a much higher level than the creature that was slain.
• The Looking For Group tool from Burning Crusade Classic is now present in the Season of Mastery.
• Adjustments have been made to some dungeon enemies:
  • Stratholme – All Undead creatures in Stratholme will now gain an immunity to snares 30 seconds after entering combat and gain immunity to roots after an additional 30 seconds of combat.
  • Maraudon – Many creatures in Maraudon will gain an immunity to snares 30 seconds after entering combat and gain immunity to roots after an additional 30 seconds of combat.
  • Mauradon – 30 seconds after gaining immunity to root effects, enemies gain 50% increased movement speed.
  • Maraudon and Stratholme – Any type of crowd control (except snares or roots) will reset the snare immunity, root immunity, and speed buffs.
  • Zul’Farrak – Zombie Trolls in Zul’Farrak now drop fewer lucrative treasures. Most of the loot previously dropped by Zombie Trolls has been redistributed to other enemies in the dungeon.
• Adjustments have been made to enemies in Onyxia’s Lair and Molten Core:
  • All creatures have had their health increased.
  • Several mechanics that were removed in early versions of original World of Warcraft have been restored to certain bosses in both raids.
• Developers’ notes: The adjustments to XP while in an overpowered group, along with gameplay tweaks in Stratholme and Maraudon are the first round of changes meant to curtail “boosting” or “powerleveling” of low-level characters in Season of Mastery. These changes should be largely invisible to groups who complete this content at an appropriate level with an appropriate group composition, while making many methods of kiting, gathering, and killing large groups of enemies much more precarious and inefficient. Please note that in Stratholme and Maraudon, the auras that grant immunity to slows and roots can also be reset if a creature is afflicted by a “hard” CC such as a Polymorph or Shackle Undead.

In addition to the changes above, we are planning to open Molten Core and Onyxia’s Lair on Thursday, October 21 at 2:00 p.m. PDT for raid testing. To facilitate that, we will make level 60 character templates in Rare quality dungeon gear available on Thursday morning, before the raids become available.