The War Within Beta Updates: Significant Class & Hero Talent Changes for PVE & PVP

Hello everyone.

This week’s update to the War Within Beta is now available to test. Please note that there is a possibility of some server instabilities over the next few days. If you encounter any issues with instabilities, please report them in the bug reporter.

CLASSES

• DEATH KNIGHT
  • Death Strike can now only heal the Death Knight for a percentage of damage taken from a given damage event once. Death Strikes that heal the minimum health amount do not count as using damage events in this way.
  • Enfeeble reduces damage dealt to you by 12% (was 15%).
  • Null Magic reduces Magic damage taken by 8% (was 10%).
  • Hero Talents
    • Deathbringer (Blood/Frost)
      • Reaper’s Mark is now a 45 second cooldown (was 60 seconds).
      • Swift End now reduces the cooldown of Reaper’s Mark by 15 seconds (was 30 seconds).
      • Frost
        • Reaper’s Mark now scales with Mastery: Frozen Heart.
        • Wave of Souls now scales with Mastery: Frozen Heart.
        • Exterminate now scales with Mastery: Frozen Heart.
    • Rider of the Apocalypse (Frost/Unholy)
      • Damage of all Riders reduced by 15%
      • Hungering Thirst disease damage, Death Coil, and Frost Strike damage reduced to 10% (was 15%).
      • A Feast of Souls now Increases damage of Runic Power spenders by 20% (was 30%).
      • Trollbane’s Icy Fury damage reduced by 10%.
      • Undeath damage reduced by 10%.
  • Blood
    • Consumption’s Blood Plague damage occurs 30% more quickly (was 50%) and duration reduced to 6 seconds (was 8 seconds).
    • Rapid Decomposition’s Blood Plague and Death and Decay now deal damage 15% faster (was 18%).
    • Coagulopathy now increases Blood Plague damage by 25% per stack (was 30%).
    • Developer’s note: In The War Within, all character Stamina has been increased by 60% as part of an overall adjustment to the pace of healing gameplay. This increases the relative value of abilities that heal a percentage of a character’s maximum health. Many of these ability changes are to counteract that relative change. For instance, the percentage health that Frenzied Regeneration restores has been reduced by about a third, but the amount of health it restores has remained the same.
      Death Strike is a powerful ability that allows Blood Death Knights to mitigate a percentage of any form of damage taken in the last 5 seconds. In a way, Death Strike works like a retroactive shield block. Instead of reducing damage up front, it “mitigates” the damage you took from a hit by healing you. If used in succession, Death Strike can affect a single hit multiple times, which would be comparable to blocking a hit, then going back in time and blocking it again, in some cases restoring yourself to higher health than where you started. In The War Within, we are changing Death Strike to only heal the death knight for a percentage of damage taken from a given damage event once, to make it scale more like other tank mitigation mechanics.
      We are also reducing Runic Power generation somewhat and reducing some of the mitigation death knights get from high-uptime cooldowns like Enfeeble and Dancing Rune Weapon, but increasing armor from Bone Shield. Overall, death knights should take damage more smoothly, and they will remain one of the strongest tanks for encounters with high magic or periodic damage
    • A new aura, Coagulating Blood, shows the amount of recently taken damage that will be used to calculate the value of your next Death Strike. The aura description lists the value as a flat amount and the number of stacks shows it as a percentage of your current health.
    • Blood Shield’s cap is now 50% of the Death Knight’s maximum health (was 100%) and the cap is no longer temporarily increased by Vampiric Blood.
      • Developer’s note: This should not affect how much Blood Shield Death Knights are able to generate while actively tanking, but will reduce how large a barrier they are able to accumulate while off-tanking.
    • Bone Shield increases Armor by 100% of Strength (was 80%).
    • Leeching Strike now heals for 0.25% maximum health for each target hit (was 0.5%).
    • Dancing Rune Weapon increases Parry chance by 35% (was 40%).
    • Each active Dancing Rune Weapon generates 3 Runic Power when mirroring Heart Strike (was 5).
    • Everlasting Bond increases Dancing Rune Weapon’s duration by 6 seconds (was 8 seconds).
    • Blood Drinker reduces the damage the enemy deals to you by 15% (was 20%).
    • Bonestorm heals you for 2% of your maximum health (was 3%), up to a maximum of 10% (was 15%).
    • Bonestorm damage increased by 20%.
  • Frost
    • Glacial Advance damage reduced by 15%.
    • Icy Death Torrent damage reduced by 15%.
    • Enduring Strength now grants 15% Strength (was 20%).
    • Shattering Blade now causes the next Frost Strike when consuming 5 Razorice stacks to be increased by 115% (was 125%).
  • Unholy
    • Ebon Fever now increases damage diseases deal by 12% (was 15%).
    • Bursting Sores now increases Festering wound damage by 16% (was 20%).
    • Bursting Sores damage reduced by 8%.
    • Superstrain now applies Blood Plague and Frost Fever at 75% (was 80%).
• DEMON HUNTER
  • Live By the Glaive now restores 2% of maximum health (was 4%).
  • Hero Talents
    • Aldrachi Reaver
      • Incisive Blade effectiveness reduced to 15%.
    • Fel-Scarred
      • Havoc
        • Demonsurge no longer increases Armor or max health while your demon form is active.
        • Demonsurge now causes Demon’s Bite to generate 15 additional Fury (and 5 for Demon Blades) while your demon form is active.
  • Vengeance
    • Developer’s note: In The War Within, all character Stamina has been increased by 60% as part of an overall adjustment to the pace of healing gameplay. This increases the relative value of abilities that heal a percentage of a character’s maximum health. Many of these ability changes are to counteract that relative change. For instance, the percentage health that Frenzied Regeneration restores has been reduced by about a third, but the amount of health it restores has remained the same.
      Like Death Strike for Death Knights, Soul Fragments give Demon Hunters strong recovery against any type of damage, as well as strong self-healing. Because Demon Hunters consume Soul Fragments steadily, we are not changing the rules for how often they can affect a damage event. We are increasing Vengeance’s overall damage taken by weakening the damage reduction of talents like Void Reaver and Illuminated Sigils, while keeping the power of core abilities like Soul Fragments and Demon Spikes. They will continue to be one of the stronger tank classes at self-healing and surviving magic damage.
    • Thick Skin increases Stamina by 60% (was 65%).
    • Demonic Wards reduces physical and magic damage taken by 8% (was 10%).
    • Soul Cleave healing reduced by 20%.
    • Frailty heals for 8% of damage done (was 10%).
    • Void Reaver reduces damage you take from targets afflicted by Frailty by 3% (was 4%).
    • Illuminated Sigils grants 12% Parry chance (was 15%).
    • Down in Flames reduces Fiery Brand cooldown by 12 seconds (was 15 seconds).
    • Metamorphosis increases maximum health by 40% (was 50%).
    • Darkglare Boon now refreshes 15-30% of Fel Devastation’s cooldown (was 20-40%) and refunds 15-30 Fury (was 20-40).
• DRUID
  • Regrowth initial heal increased by 30%.
  • Frenzied Regeneration heals you for 20% of your maximum health (was 32%).
  • Ironfur increases Armor by 112% of Agility (was 120%).
  • Renewal heals for 20% of maximum health (was 30%).
  • Hero Talents
    • Keeper of the Grove (Balance/Restoration)
      • Dream Bloom healing increased by 20%.
      • Power of Nature increases the healing of Rejuvenation, Efflorescence, and Lifebloom by 10% (was 5%)
      • Minor Cenarion Ward cast from Durability of Nature healing increased by 100%.
      • Bounteous Bloom: Grove Guadian healing increased by 30% (was 20%).
      • Grove’s Inspiration increases Regrowth, Wild Growth, and Swiftmend healing by 9% (was 6%).
      • Potent Enchantments causes Tree of Life granted by Reforestation to last 3 seconds longer (was 2 seconds).
      • Harmony of the Grove increases your healing by 6% for each active Grove Guardian (was 3%).
    • Wildstalker (Feral/Restoration)
      • Symbiotic Blooms prefer to target injured players over pets or minions.
      • Symbiotic Blooms grow 30% more often.
      • Bond with Nature now increases healing taken by 3% (was 10%).
      • Harmonious Constitution now increases Regrowth’s healing to yourself by 35% for Restoration and 25% for Feral (was 50%).
      • Bursting Growth healing increased by 100%.
      • Implant causes Symbiotic Blooms to grow for 6 seconds (was 4 seconds).
      • Vigorous Creepers increases the healing your spells do to affected targets by 20% (was 6%).
  • Guardian
    • Developer’s Notes: In The War Within, all character Stamina has been increased by 60% as part of an overall adjustment to the pace of healing gameplay. This increases the relative value of abilities that heal a percentage of a character’s maximum health. Many of these ability changes are to counteract that relative change. For instance, the percentage health that Frenzied Regeneration restores has been reduced by about a third, but the amount of health it restores has remained the same.
      With high armor and Ironfur uptime, druids should be one of the best tanks at surviving physical damage. We’re slightly increasing the damage they take from all types of damage and balancing the power of their self-healing. We’re also reducing the durations of some of their cooldowns to make timing their use more important.
    • Reinvigoration reduces Frenzied Regeneration’s cooldown by 10/20% (was 20/40%).
    • Earthwarden reduces damage taken by 25% (was 30%).
    • Survival of the Fittest reduces cooldowns by 12/24% (was 15/30%).
    • Tooth and Claw reduces damage taken by 12% (was 15%).
    • After the Wildfire triggers after spending 300 Rage (was 200).
    • Ursoc’s Fury grants a shield equal to 25% of Thrash and Maul damage (was 45%).
    • Elune’s Favored heals you for 25% of Arcane damage dealt (was 40%).
    • Rage of the Sleeper duration reduced to 8 seconds (was 10 seconds).
    • Rage of the Sleeper damage taken reduction reduced to 20% (was 25%).
    • Rage of the Sleeper Leech decreases to 20% (was 25%).
    • Pulverize duration reduced to 8 seconds (was 10 seconds).
    • Ursoc’s Guidance reduces the cooldown of Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc by 1 second for each 25 Rage spent (was 20).
  • Restoration
    • Swiftmend healing increased by 20%.
    • Lifebloom heal over time increased by 20%.
    • Lifebloom bloom healing increased by 30%.
    • Cenarion Ward healing increased by 20%.
• EVOKER
  • Disintegrate damage increased by 10%.
  • Fire Breath damage increased by 10%.
  • Azure Strike damage increased by 10%.
  • Deep Breath damage increased by 10%.
  • Verdant Embrace healing increased by 20%.
  • Living Flame healing increased by 30%.
  • Hero Talents
    • Chronowarden (Augmentation/Preservation)
      • Echoes cast from Resonating Sphere will no longer trigger or consume Golden Opportunity.
    • Flameshaper (Devastation/Preservation)
      • Consume Flame no longer double dips healing and damage mods.
      • Engulf can now be stored in Stasis.
      • Traveling Flame will now prefer injured allies when seeking a new target for Dream Breath.
    • Scalecommander (Devastation/Augmentation)
      • Melt Armor damage increased by 25%.
  • Augmentation
    • Black Attunement increases the maximum health of you and 4 nearby allies by 2% (was 4%).
    • Aspects’ Favor increases Black Attunement by 1% max health per talent point invested (was 2%).
  • Devastation
    • Eternity Surge damage increased by 10%.
    • Pyre damage increased by 10%.
    • Shattering Star damage increased by 10%.
    • Unravel damage increased by 10%.
    • Firestorm damage increased by 10%.
  • Preservation
    • Spiritbloom healing increased by 20%.
    • Reversion will now extend its duration by 30% when it is refreshed.
    • Emerald Blossom and Echo casts will no longer consume Essence Burst when they are released from Stasis.
    • Lifebind will now trigger its healing from heals that are considered procs.
    • Field of Dreams procs will no longer incorrectly benefit from Titan’s Gift.
• HUNTER
  • Hero Talents
    • Sentinel (Survival/Marksmanship)
      • Symphonic Arsenal now has a 5 target cap.
      • Sentinel now has a 2 second period (was 1 second).
      • Sentinel damage increased by 100%.
      • Overwatch now has a 15 second internal cooldown.
• MAGE
  • Mass Barrier now has a cooldown of 3 minutes (was 2 minutes).
  • Hero Talents
    • Spellslinger (Frost/Arcane)
      • Arcane
        • Embedded Arcane Splinter damage reduced by 20%.
        • Arcane Splinter damage reduced by 20%.
        • Splinterstorm damage reduced by 20%.
        • Splintering Orbs’ Arcane Orb generates 2 Splinters per hit (was 4).
  • Arcane
    • Arcane Barrage damage reduced by 60%.
    • Arcane Barrage damage increase per Arcane Charge increased to 90%.
    • Arcane Missiles damage reduced by 10%.
    • Arcane Orb damage reduced by 10%.
• MONK
  • Yu’lon’s Grace grants an absorb equal to 1% of your maximum health (was 2%) every 3 seconds (was 2 seconds).
  • Healing Winds restores 10% of maximum health (was 15%).
  • Hero Talents
    • Conduit of the Celestials (Mistweaver/Windwalker)
      • Celestial Conduit damage reduced by 8%.
    • Master of Harmony (Mistweaver/Brewmaster)
      • Manifestation effectiveness reduced to 50% (was 100%).
      • Balanced Stratagem effect reduced to 3% (was 5%).
      • Way of a Thousand Strikes vitality reduced to 30% (was 50%).
      • Brewmaster
        • Aspect of Harmony’s damage contribution reduced to 15% (was 20%) healing contribution reduced to 7% (was 10%).
  • Brewmaster
    • Detox now costs 10 energy (was 20).
    • Chi Wave damage reduced by 10%.
    • Chi Burst damage reduced by 10%.
    • Developer’s note: In The War Within, all character Stamina has been increased by 60% as part of an overall adjustment to the pace of healing gameplay. This increases the relative value of abilities that heal a percentage of a character’s maximum health. Many of these ability changes are to counteract that relative change. For instance, the percentage health that Frenzied Regeneration restores has been reduced by about a third, but the amount of health it restores has remained the same.
      Healers have more time to heal monks than other tanks because Stagger spreads out the damage that they take over time. Our goal is for monks to take a little more damage overall than other tanks to offset this effect. However, we feel their overall magic damage mitigation is a little low compared to other tanks and are improving it somewhat by buffing Stagger and its value against magic. To increase their physical damage taken overall, we are primarily reducing the dodge granted by Elusive Brawler and some of their other talents.
    • Mastery: Elusive Brawler chance to dodge reduced by 12%.
    • Brewmaster’s Balance increases Armor by 50% (was 25%).
    • Celestial Fortune heals you for 70% of the amount healed (was 80%).
    • Amount of damage staggered increased by 8%.
    • Percentage of magic damage staggered increased to 58% (was 45%).
    • Dance of the Wind chance to dodge reduced to 5% (was 10%).
    • Staggering Strikes healing reduced by 28%.
    • Spirit of the Ox chance to summon a Healing Sphere reduced by 40%.
    • Elixir of Determination healing reduced to 30% of recently purified damage (was 50%), or a minimum of 8% of your maximum health (was 20%).
    • Celestial Brew healing reduced by 10%.
    • Pretense of Instability grants 10% Dodge (was 15%).
    • Dance of the Wind chance to dodge reduced to 5% (was 10%).
  • Mistweaver
    • Ancient Teachings now transfers 170% of damage to healing (was 150%).
    • Tear of Morning now causes 12% of Enveloping Mist healing to transfer to allies with Renewing Mist (was 20%) and increases Vivify healing by 15% (was 20%).
    • Jade Bond now increases the Mastery healing from Chi-Ji by 60% (was 40%).
    • Yu’lon’s Grace now absorbs 1% health (was 1.5%) and may stack up to 10% max health (was 15%).
    • Vivify healing increased by 30%.
    • Gust of Mist healing increased by 10%.
  • Windwalker
    • Blackout Kick damage reduced by 8%.
    • Tiger Palm damage reduced by 8%.
    • Rising Sun Kick damage reduced by 8%.
    • Fists of Fury damage reduced by 8%.
    • Spinning Crane Kick damage reduced by 8%.
    • Rushing Jade Wind damage reduced by 8%.
    • Thunderfist damage reduced by 8%.
    • Strike of the Windlord damage reduced by 8%.
    • Whirling Dragon Punch area of effect damage reduced by 8%.
    • Dual Threat damage reduced by 8%.
    • Yu’lon’s Grace now absorbs 0.6% health (was 1%) and may stack up to 6% max health (was 10%).
    • Detox now costs 10 energy (was 20).
• PALADIN
  • Lightforged Blessing now affects 2 additional allies (was 4).
  • Flash of Light healing increased by 20%.
  • Shield of the Righteous increases your Armor by 150% of your Strength (was 170%).
  • The Dusk buff from Of Dusk and Dawn reduces your damage taken by 4% (was 5%).
  • Word of Glory healing increased by 10%.
  • Sanctified Plates’ armor increase no longer applies to bonus armor from Shield of the Righteous.
  • Protection
    • Developer’s note: In The War Within, all character Stamina has been increased by 60% as part of an overall adjustment to the pace of healing gameplay. This increases the relative value of abilities that heal a percentage of a character’s maximum health. Many of these ability changes are to counteract that relative change. For instance, the percentage health that Frenzied Regeneration restores has been reduced by about a third, but the amount of health it restores has remained the same.
      Paladins have a balance of good defenses against both physical and magical damage. They can be in danger if they lose the defensive power of standing in Consecration or if the armor bonus from Shield of the Righteous drops, so we are not reducing any of their passive physical defenses like armor or block. Like druids, paladins have high uptime on their defensive cooldowns, so we’re pulling back some of their durations to make timing their use more important. We would like paladins to have slightly more self-healing, so we are increasing the power of Word of Glory.
    • The damage reduction effect while standing in Consecrate of Mastery: Divine Bulwark is reduced by 20%.
    • Improved Holy Shield increases your chance to block spells by 8% (was 10%).
    • Sentinel’s duration reduced to 16 seconds (was 20 seconds).
    • Eye of Tyr’s duration reduced to 6 seconds (was 9 seconds).
    • Righteous Protector: Holy Power abilities reduces cooldowns by 1.5 seconds (was 2 seconds).
  • Retribution
    • Word of Glory healing increased by 20%.
• PRIEST
  • Flash Heal healing increased by 20%.
  • Power Word: Shield absorb amount increased by 20%.
  • Power Word: Life healing increased by 20%.
  • Hero Talents
    • Voidweaver (Discipline/Shadow)
      • Discipline
        • Entropic Rift damage reduced by 30%.