Season of Discovery Patch 1.15.4 Development Notes and Known Issues

Today, we updated the 1.15.4 PTR with a new build that includes changes to classes and items, as well as several bug fixes.

General

• PvP Damage Reduction: Players now take 30% reduced Physical damage from other players and pets (was 20%) and 40% reduced Magic damage from other players and pets (was 20%).

Classes

Druid

• The Nature’s Reach talent will now correctly increase the range of Starfall by 10%/20%.
  • This increases the range to 36 yards, or 21 yards when the Idol of Celestial Focus is equipped.
• Tier 2 Balance 6-piece bonus: Increased to 50% chance on Wrath crit.
• Tier 2 Balance 4-piece bonus: Chance to trigger increased and duration of treants increased to 15 seconds.
• Elune’s Fires: This rune now increases the duration of Rip when Shred is used by 1 second (was 2 seconds).
• Tier 2 Feral Damage 6-piece bonus: Now also increases the damage of Ferocious Bite on targets afflicted by the Druid’s Bleed effects.
• Tier 2 Balance Druid 4-piece can no longer proc when treants are already active.
  • This would not summon new Treants, but it would put the proc on internal cooldown.
• Dreamstate and Stormstrike’s Nature Damage increasing effects no longer stack.

Hunter

• Tier 2 Melee Hunter 4-piece set bonus changed to increase damage dealt by your main hand weapon with Raptor Strike and Wyvern Strike by 20% (was 5% increased main-hand weapon damage).
• Fire and Frost Specialization ring runes now respectively increase your chance to land your Fire and Frost traps by 6% as well.
• Tier 2 Hunter Melee 2-piece set now increases the DoT from Wyvern Strike.
• Tier 2 Hunter Melee 2-piece set bonus Clever Strikes is no longer consumed by Wing Clip.
• Tier 2 Hunter Melee 2-piece set bonus Clever Strikes now benefits and is consumed by Carve.
• Tier 2 Hunter Ranged 6-piece set now correctly adds ap to Serpent Sting when refreshed by Chimera Shot.
• Tier 1 Hunter Ranged 6-piece set now correctly benefits Explosive Shot.

Mage

• Tier 2 healer 6-piece bonus: Duration on Temporal Beacon from Mass Regeneration changed to 21 seconds (was 30 seconds).
• Tier 2 damage 6-piece bonus: Your Fireball’s periodic effect gains increased damage over its duration equal to 40% of its impact damage (was 20%).

Paladin

• Without the 6-piece Tier 1 set bonus, you can no longer double Judge.
• Judging while two seals are active during the brief window when swapping seals, will now always cause the lower duration seal to be judged, instead of randomly consuming one of the two seals.
• Libram of Wrath changed to only gain stacks when Holy Shock deals damage. No longer stacks from healing.
• Libram of Wrath damage per stack changed to 20% (was 30%).
• Libram of Avengement renamed to Libram of Avenging.
• Ada’s amulet has the Paladin specific flag added to it to indicate it is only obtainable by Paladins.
• The proc chance on Truthbearer, both the MH and 1-handed versions, has been increased.
• Chromaggus, Death Talon Wyrmguards, and Death Talon Overseets will now always take full damage from Holy damage.
• Tier 2 damage Paladin 4-piece set bonus changed to: reduces the cooldown on Judgement by 5 seconds (was: resetting the cooldown on Judgement whenever you judge a different seal than your previous one).
• Tier 2 Holy Paladin 2-piece critical strike chance of Holy Shock reduced to 5% (was 20%).
• Infusion of Light: This rune now reduces the remaining cooldown on Holy Shock by 3 seconds on a critical strike (was: resetting it completely).
• Libram of Awe had an issue where it was not correctly reducing the damage of Holy Shock by 75%. In order to prevent it from incorrectly being an additive bonus, Libram of Awe now reduces all Holy damage dealt by 75% while equipped, making this a pure healing Libram as is intended.

Priest

• The All-Seeing Eye of Zuldazar shielding reduced to 25 (was 50).
• Priest 5 set Zul’gurub bonus reduced from 20% to 10% bonus to shielding.
• Vampiric Embrace: In Season of Discovery, this talent now heals for 5% of Shadow damage done (was 10%). It can still be increased to 15% via other talents.
• Tier 2 Shadow 4-piece bonus: Now has a 1% chance per talent point in Spirit Tap (was 0.5%)
• Tier 2 Shadow 6-piece bonus: Now increases all Shadow damage done by 10% (was 20% to periodic damage only).
• Tier 2 Shadow Priest 6-piece bonus is now removed when the set is broken.
  • Known Issue: This set can be activated by killing a critter that has Shadow Word: Pain active. This will be removed.

Rogue

• Tier 2 damage Rogue 4-piece set bonus changed to: Increases damage dealt by your main hand weapon from combo-generating abilities by 20% (was 10% increased main-hand weapon damage).
• Main Gauche: This ability must now actually hit to grant its bonuses to Parry chance and Attack Power.
• Slaughter from the Shadows: Now increases the damage of Backstab and Ambush by 50% to non-players (was 60%).
• Crimson Tempest can no longer pull enemies from far away.
• Dream Eater no longer procs twice every time it activates.
• Dream Eater no longer grants 10 energy per target hit by Crimson Tempest.

Shaman

• Elemental Focus can now normally proc off Overload hits.
• Totem of Tormented Ancestry realigned budget wise to be 10 attack power, spell power, and healing (was 15 of each).
• Tier 2 Elemental Shaman 6-piece set bonus changed to 10% increased damage while Clearcasting is on (was 10% increased damage against targets when a spell has clearcasting (30% against non-player controlled targets)). This allows for more effects like Overload to benefit from this bonus. No longer has a different value vs. non-player controlled targets, so less power is tied to a set bonus.
• Tier 2 Elemental Shaman 2-piece set bonus will now activate off of crits from Overload.
• Tier 2 Enhancement Shaman 2-piece changed to: Your chance to trigger Static Shock is increased by 12% (6% while dual-wielding)(was: increasing the frequency of Maelstrom Weapon).
• Tier 2 Enhancement Shaman 6-piece changed to: Your Lightning Shield now gains a charge each time you hit a target with Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning, up to a maximum of 9 charges (was: grants a stack of Maelstrom Weapon after casting an instant cast spell with Maelstrom Weapon). Additionally, your Lightning Shield can now deal critical damage.
• Burn: This rune now requires Flametongue on main hand weapon to grant its spell damage. It also now grants 1 spell damage per intellect (was 2 per level).
• Tier 2 Restoration Shaman 2-piece set bonus will no longer trigger from Healing Rain.
• Tier 1 Restoration Shaman 6-piece set bonus no longer synergizes with Overload and procs multiple full value Healing Waves when triggered, that can proc other Healing Waves that also had chances to activate Overload.

Warlock

• Demonic Pact: This rune now also increases all Fire damage done by the Warlock by 10%.
  • Known issue: This will be changed to 10% to all damage (was just Fire damage).
• Tier 1 Warlock Damage 6-piece bonus: Partially Redesigned. Fire Trance has been removed, and now Incinerate has a 4% chance to trigger the Warlock’s Decimation regardless of the health of the target.
• Incinerate now increases Fire damage by 40% (was 25%).
  • In an upcoming PTR build, the Mark of Chaos and Decimation runes are swapping places.
• Shadow Vulnerability applied by Warlocks with Shadowflame engraved, can now correctly be refreshed back to 30 stacks without having to fall off first.
• Tier 1 damage Warlock 4-piece set bonus now correctly resets the cooldown on Shadow Cleave.
• Tier 1 damage Warlock 4-piece set bonus is now correctly consumed by casts of Shadow Bolt.
• When unequipping the Zul’gurub 5-piece Warlock set, the player no longer retains the increased Master Demonologist bonuses.
• The Zul’gurub 5-piece Warlock set now correctly increases the threat of Master Demonologist while in Metamorphosis.
  • Known issue: This only works with Felguard, does not work with Imp at the moment.
• Tier 2 tank Warlock 2 set no longer ignores line of sight.
• Tier 2 tank Warlock 2 set can no longer crit.
• Tier 2 tank Warlock 2 set no longer causes Life Tap to be free if you are more than 30 yards from your target.

Warrior

• Greaves of Wrath changed to 26 strength, 16 agility, 13 stamina, 10 Nature Resistance, 1% hit (was 26 strength, 16 stamina, 10 Nature Resistance, 1% crit).
• Shoulders of Wrath changed to 27 strength, 14 agility, 12 stamina, 10 Frost Resistance, 1% hit (was 27 strength, 16 stamina, 10 Frost Resistance, 1% crit).
• Tier 1 damage Warrior 4-piece bonus: The duration of the effects from this set bonus is now 15 seconds (was seconds).
• Tier 1 damage Warrior 6-piece bonus: The effects from this set bonus are now 5% (was 10%) and lasts 15 seconds (was 10 seconds).
• Tier 2 damage Warrior 4-piece bonus: Now increases the damage of Heroic Strike by 10% (was: increased Whirlwind and made it useable in all stances).

Items

• Mandokir’s Sting has a brief internal cooldown on it to prevent back-to-back procs off the same shot.
• Nat Pagle’s Fish Terminator proc rate decreased.
• Ashkhandi stamina reduced to 23 (was 33), and Strength increased to 20 (was 0).
• Rank 7/8/10 Armor pieces are no longer Unique, allowing players to purchase multiples of the same item.
  • Upcoming Rank 11/12 Armor pieces are also not Unique.

We updated the 1.15.4 PTR with a new build today. We have new vendors active with the following items:

• Tier 2 sets
• Zul’Gurub sets and enchants
• Blackwing Lair items

We’re looking for bugs and feedback around our new items and item sets. To accomplish this, you can take on Testwerk – we beefed him up a bit, so feel free to grab some friends and test away.

CLASSES

This update includes many class changes. We’ll add a full accounting of them here soon.

ITEMS

• Totem of Raging Fire Attack power reduced to 24 for 1-hand (was 50), and to 48 for 2-hand (was 200).
• Zandalar Predator’s Bracers now have Attack Power (was Ranged Attack Power).
• Fixed an issue with Nat Pagle’s Broken Reel having an Equip effect instead of On Use.
• Fixed an issue with the buff tooltip for Enhancement Shaman Tier 2 Draconic set 4-piece bonus to now correctly mention Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, or Shock spells.
• Fixed a typo in the Protection Warrior Tier 2 Draconic set 6-piece.
• Druids who have completed the Sulfuras quest line and have the item in their bags or in their bank can now receive a toy from Rix Xizzix in Booty Bay that will allow them to transform into a Fire Cat, even without Sulfuras equipped.
• Fixed an issue where Magmadar’s left claw was displaying enchant effects in the incorrect place.
• The Rank 13 Retribution Paladin set now has Intellect added to it at the cost of Stamina.
• 12 new Relics are available.
• Rune of Healing Specialization and Rune of Meditation Specialization can now be used by all of the intended classes.
• Vampiric Embrace now correctly heals for 10% of the Priest’s shadow damage, up to 20% when talented.
• Shadow Word: Death now benefits from Despair’s critical strike damage increase.

KNOWN ISSUES

• The two-handed version of the Paladin weapon “Truthbearer” can be wielded with a shield currently. This is not intended.

Welcome to the public test for Season of Discovery.

Version: 1.15.4
Build: 56400
Date: Aug 29, 2024

Testing Focus

Blackwing Lair and Zul’Gurub

In Season of Discovery, Blackwing Lair is a 20-40 player raid dungeon and Zul’gurub is a 10-20 player raid dungeon. Blackwing Lair is tuned for 20 players but will allow up to 40 players inside the dungeon, and Zul’Gurub is tuned for 10 players but will allow up to 20 inside. The difficulty will not scale or change, and the number of loot drops does not increase or decrease based on the number of participants in the raid.

You will be able to speak with an NPC to port directly into Blacking Lair or Zul’Gurub from Stormwind or Orgrimmar. For raid testing, we’ve enabled character copy from live Season of Discovery realms, as well as having added Molten Core loot, consumables, and other helpful items to the NPC vendors in Stormwind and Orgrimmar.

Class Adjustments

Druid

• Wild Strikes: The tooltip on the Wild Strikes rune now states it applies to raid.
• Dreamstate: Now always triggers from Starsurge, regardless of being a critical strike or not. In addition, it now also increases Arcane damage taken by the target by 20%.

Hunter

• Beast Mastery: This rune is now a chest rune. Existing Beast Mastery engravings will appear as a “Damaged Rune”.
• Cobra Slayer: This rune is now a gloves rune. Existing Cobra Slayer engravings will appear as a “Damaged Rune”.
• Lone Wolf: The bonus damage from this rune has been decreased to 30% from 35%.
• Improved Volley: This rune now also increases Volley damage by 100%.
• Hit and Run: This rune now increases movement speed after using Raptor Strike by 30% for 15 seconds, up from 15% for 8 seconds.
• Catlike Reflexes: This rune no longer mentions the removed ability Kill Command.
• Lock and Load: This rune’s effect now has an 8 second cooldown.

Mage

• Conjure Water (Rank 8): Mages can now learn to summon Rank 8 water without crossing through the Dark Portal. It can be learned via a skill book found somewhere in the world.
• Mana Gems: Mana Gems in Season of Discovery now cost no mana to summon.
• Regeneration: Mana cost reduced by approximately 35%.
• Mass Regeneration: Mana cost reduced by approximately 35%.

Paladin

• Horn of Lordaeron: This ability is back and now available as a skill book to Paladins, Testament of Horn of Lordaeron. It can be acquired via a new Paladin quest.

Priest

• Vampiric Embrace: In Season of Discovery, Vampiric Embrace now converts 10% of Shadow spell damage done into healing, down from 20%. It can still be improved by up to 10% via the Improved Vampiric Embrace talent.
• Despair: Now also increases critical strike damage to 200% for all Priest spells. It previously only increased the critical strike damage of periodic spells.

Rogue

• Just a Flesh Wound: Now also decreases Physical damage dealt by 20% while Blade Dance is active. Threat bonus increased to 165%, was 111%.

Shaman

• Power Surge: This rune has been slightly redesigned. Flame Shock periodic damage can no longer make the Shaman’s next Chain Heal instant, and Riptide periodic healing can no longer reset the cooldown on Lava Burst and Chain Lightning and can no longer make those spells instant.

Warlock

• Demonic Grace: The dodge chance and critical strike chance bonuses from this ability have been reduced to 20% from 30%.
• Metamorphosis: Now also decreases all damage done by the Warlock by 20%. Threat now increased by 85%, up from 50%.

Warrior

• Quick Strike: The percentage of Attack Power deal as damage by this ability has been increases to 25% to 35%, up from 10% to 20%.
• Frenzied Assault: Attack speed increase from this rune increased to 30% from 20%. In addition, it now also causes the Warrior to gain 2 Rage each time they hit with a melee attack.
• Devastate: The damage dealt by this rune now generates 50% increased threat while the Warrior is in Defensive Stance (does not apply while in Gladiator Stance).
• Fresh Meat: Now also triggers from Mortal Strike and Shield Slam.
• Rampage: No longer triggers or is limited by the global cooldown.

Ring Engravings

• Ranged Weapon Specialization: This ring rune now also increases the chance for Beast pets to hit by 2%.
• Healing Specialization: This new ring rune increases Healing by up to 26. It can be found via a new discovery.
• Meditation Specialization: This new ring rune increases Mana regenerated every 5 seconds by 5. It can be found via a new discovery.

Known Issues

User Interface

• Characters copied from live realms are missing flight paths.
• The Dropdown menus present on the Auction House frame are incorrectly overlapping other areas within the UI.
• There are missing and stretched textures present in the Options menu.
• There is an issue preventing you from being able to adjust anti-aliasing settings.
• The In-game Audio/Text language option menu is not displaying text.
• Interface errors may occur in some areas of the outdoor world.
• The “friend of friends” background window is missing.
• Enabling and disabling visible action bars has several issues:
  • Action bar settings may not be remembered after reloading UI or relogging.
  • Action bar check boxes may hide or reveal the incorrect action bar.