2.0.3

[Kenrick]

World of Warcraft Client Patch 2.0.3

      Several years have passed since the Burning Legion's defeat at the Battle of Mount Hyjal - and the races of Azeroth have continued to rebuild their once shattered kingdoms. With renewed strength, the heroes of the Horde and Alliance have begun to explore the broken lands beyond the Dark Portal. What dangers or rewards await mortal champions in Draenor? And what will the Alliance and Horde do when they discover that the demons they thought vanquished have returned to renew their terrible Burning Crusade?

General

    * A stirring of events has begun throughout Azeroth and rumor points to the Dark Portal as its source.
    * Mazk Snipeshot in Booty Bay now sells bullets.
    * The Auction House now sorts by buyout price first, then by current price. This should filter all of the items with outlandish buyout prices to the bottom of the list.
    * Players will now need to be level 58 to pass through the Dark Portal. (The Burning Crusade Expansion must be installed.)
    * Collector Edition pets are now blue items and a confirmation dialogue will appear to prevent accidental deletion.
    * Pets will no longer attack targets that are under the influence of crowd control (sheep, banish, etc.).
    * The title "Scarab Lord" can now be chosen in game for select players.

PvP

    * Players can use the /teamquit or /teamdisband command in order to leave an Arena team.
    * A new bracket has been added to Alterac Valley for level 61-70.
    * Added a sorting function so that the battleground and scoreboard can be sorted by any of the categories.
    * Healthstones and summoned warlock pets will no longer cost a soulshard to summon in the Arena preparation area. All summoned items and pets will be dismissed on leaving the arena.
    * The last pet a player had summoned will be resummoned outside the Arena upon leaving.

Druids

    * Due to various talent changes, all Druids will have all their talent points refunded.
    * "Feline Swiftness" has been renamed "Feral Swiftness". The dodge % increase now also applies to Bear and Dire Bear Forms.
    * "Improved Moonfire" has been reduced to 2 ranks, for a 5/10% bonus.
    * "Insect Swarm" has had its damage on all ranks increased. The mana cost of ranks 1 and 3 has been increased. The mana cost of ranks 4,5 and 6 has been decreased.
    * "Nurturing Instinct" now grants its benefit at all times, but the bonus has been reduced to 25/50% of Strength.
    * "Improved Starfire" has been renamed to "Celestial Focus" and now also increases the chance to resist casting pushback when casting Wrath by 25/50/70%.
    * "Blood Frenzy" benefits have merged with "Primal Fury".
    * "Improved Leader of the Pack" has been reduced to 2 ranks for 2/4% total health healed.
    * "Pounce" no longer requires the druid to be behind the target.
    * "Barkskin" is now usable while stunned.
    * Druids now need substantially less agility per dodge.
    * "Dire Bear Form" armor bonus increased to 450% and health bonus changed to a 25% percent health increase instead of a flat increase.
    * The Health bonus of "Bear Form" has changed to a 25% percent health increase instead of a flat increase.
    * "Swipe" has had its threat bonus multiplier removed.
    * "Maul" has had its threat bonus multiplier changed to a flat value similar in threat per time to "Heroic Strike".
    * "Regrowth" has had its mana cost reduced by approximately 18%.
    * "Tree of Life" healing bonus now increases the healing received by your party members instead of the healing dealt by your party members.
    * The "Tranquility" base amount healed per second has increased by approximately 273%. The radius of effect has increased from 20 yards 30 yards. Mana cost has increased by 40%. The Cooldown has increased from 5 minutes to 10 minutes. The Duration has decreased from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
    * "Mangle" will not stack multiple copies from multiple forms or druids anymore. This was never intended behavior. The percentage modification on bleeds has increased from 25% to 30% and "Mangle" now increases the damage from "Shred" as well. In addition, "Mangle" will now benefit from the damage boost from "Tiger's Fury".
    * "Enrage" will now show up in the combat log and in floating combat text.
    * "Lifebloom" will now correctly consume clearcasting.
    * "Predatory Instincts" has had its tooltip adjusted to indicate it only works in feral forms, and that it increases damage by a percent, not damage bonus by a percent.
    * If a spell is resisted, it will no longer break stealth.
    * "Tree of Life's" bonus healing aura will now reactivate correctly when "Banish" wears off.
    * Shapeshifted druids will now be able to speak to npcs while shapeshifted.

Hunters

    * "Multi-Shot" has had its mana cost adjusted back to a value closer to its pre-2.0.1 version.
    * If your pet has been recently revived by using "Call Pet", it will no longer reset back to full health.
    * If a Hunter "Wyvern Stings" an enemy already asleep from "Wyvern Sting", the "Wyvern Sting" sleep will now be reapplied correctly.

Mages

    * "Frost Nova" (Water Elemental Spell) has been renamed to "Freeze".
    * "Ice Lance" is now correctly affected by "Elemental Precision".
    * "Ice Armor"is now correctly affected by "Elemental Precision".
    * "Frost Armor" is now correctly affected by "Elemental Precision".
    * Mages will no longer see line of sight errors if the target moves behind an obstacle after the spell "Arcane Missiles" has begun casting.
    * "Blazing Speed" no longer PROCs while the caster is mounted.

Paladins

    * "Blessing of Might" now also increases ranged attack power.
    * "Improved Righteous Fury" now also reduces all damage taken while active by 2/4/6%.
    * "Improved Divine Shield" (Protection Talent) has been renamed "Sacred Duty" and now also increases total Stamina by 3/6%.
    * "Improved Resistance Auras" has been renamed "Spell Warding", reduces all spell damage taken by the Paladin and is no longer tied to Resistance Auras.
    * We have fixed a bug where the damage bonus from "Holy Guidance" was being added to physical attacks.
    * "Divine Illumination's" duration has been increased to 15 sec, from 10 sec.
    * There will no longer be a slight delay on receiving the buff from "Light's Grace" when it occurs.

Priests

    * "Mass Dispel" will no longer cause stealthed Rogues and prowling Druids to lose stealth.
    * "Surge of Light" (Holy Talent) can no longer be triggered by using items.

Rogues

    * Due to various talent changes, Rogues will have all talent points refunded.
    * "Evasion" (Rank 2) now reduces the chance that ranged attacks will hit the Rogue by 25%, reduced from 50%. It is now available at level 50.
    * The "Cloak of Shadows" cooldown has been reduced to 1 min, from 2 min. Now a trainable ability at level 66.
    * "Shadowstep" (New Subtlety Talent) attempts to step through the shadows and reappear behind your enemy. Your next "Ambush", "Backstab" or "Garrote" ability is increased by 20% and lasts 10 sec. This is only usable while stealthed.
    * "Premeditation" (Subtlety Talent) has had its range increased to 30 yards.
    * "Preparation" now only resets the cooldown of the "Evasion", "Sprint", "Vanish", "Cold Blood", "Adrenaline Rush" and "Premeditation" abilities.
    * "Wound Poison" now causes damage and reduces all healing by 10%, stacks up to 5 times.
    * The Cooldown for "Blind" has been reduced to 3 min, from 5 min.
    * There is no longer a random chance the effect of "Sap" will end (i.e. removed the heartbeat resist check). The effect will still end early when the target is damaged.
    * Each rank of "Weapon Expertise"now provides 5 weapon skill.
    * "Surprise Attacks" now increases the damage from "Sinister Strike", "Backstab", "Shiv" and "Gouge" by 10% instead of 8%.
    * Resisted spells will no longer break "Stealth"/"Vanish".
    * Combo points added to a target should not be reset until you add a combo point to a different target.

Shaman

    * "Earth Shock" no longer causes increased threat.
    * "Frost Shock" now causes increased threat.
    * The training cost for "Strength of Earth Totem (Rank 5)" is now correct.
    * "Nature's Guardian" will now work properly even when you don't have an enemy targeted.

Warlocks

    * Melee damage of "Felguard" has been reduced.
    * The damage increase component of "Soul Link" has been improved. The damage mitigation component has been reduced.
    * The cooldown of "Shadowfury" has been reduced to 20 sec, from 1 min.
    * The mana cost of "Soul Fire" has been reduced by approximately 45%.
    * The feedback from dispelling "Unstable Affliction" is now affected by "Shadow Mastery".
    * Pets will again have their mana reset to full in addition to their health when first summoned.
    * "Demonic Resilience" will now properly reduce pet damage taken.
    * Fire objects in the game world (bonfires, braziers) will no longer trigger "Nether Protection".
    * When a Warlock is under the effects of "Backlash" and "Nightfall", only one of the effects will be consumed by a "Shadow Bolt" cast.

Warriors

    * "Weapon Mastery" Rank 2 of this talent now grants full immunity to "Disarm" mechanics, and will properly display "Immune" when a "Disarm" is attempted.
    * "Slam's" swing time is no longer slowed by damage taken.
    * "Rampage's" rage cost has been reduced to 20.
    * The daze portion of "Piercing Howl" will now still land even if the target is already snared.
    * The bonus threat of "Devastate" on all ranks has been increased. Bonus threat will no longer decrease as ranks increase.

Items

    * The energy gained from "Thistle Tea" now decreases with levels past 40.
    * "Idol of Ferocity" now increases "Claw" and "Rake" damage instead of reducing energy cost.
    * "Idol of Brutality" now increases "Maul" and "Swipe" damage instead of reducing rage cost.
    * "Idol of Health" now provides bonus healing on "Healing Touch" instead of reducing its cast time.
    * The rage gained from "Gri'lek's Charm of Might" now decreases with levels past 60.
    * The energy gained from "Renataki's Charm of Trickery" now decreases with levels past 60.
    * "Renataki's Charm of Beasts" no longer resets the cooldown on Arcane Shot.
    * "Wushoolay's Charm of Nature" now provides haste rating instead of reducing "Healing Touch" cast time.
    * "Wushoolay's Charm of Spirits" now increases "Lightning Shield" damage by a flat amount instead of a percentage.
    * "Hazza'rah's Charm of Destruction" now increases spell crit rating instead of spell crit percent.
    * "Hazza'rah's Charm of Magic" now increases Arcane spell damage instead of providing a spell crit bonus.
    * "Tidal Charm" Now has a chance of failure against targets over level 60.
    * "The Black Book" now provides a flat amount of spell power, attack power, and armor to your pet, instead of by a percentage.
    * "Rune of Metamorphosis" now reduces mana cost of shapeshiting by a flat amount, instead of by a percentage.
    * "Lifegiving Gem" now provides 1500 healing and bonus max health instead of a percentage of your max health.
    * "Venomous Totem" now increases damage dealt by "Instant Poison" and "Deadly Poison" instead of increasing poison land chance.
    * "Natural Alignment Crystal" now increases Nature spell damage by a flat amount instead of by a percentage.
    * "Pristine South Seas Kelp" now provides spell crit rating instead of spell crit chance.
    * "Devilsaur Tooth" now grants your pet crit rating instead of a guaranteed crit.
    * "Wail of the Banshee" now has a chance of failure against targets over level 60.
    * The threat reduction from "Fetish of the Sand Reaver" now decreases with levels past 60.
    * The threat reduction from "Eye of Diminution" now decreases with levels past 60.
    * "Stygian Buckler" now has a chance of failure against targets over level 60.
    * "Horned Viking Helmet" now has a chance of failure against targets over level 60.
    * "Gnomish Mind Control Cap" now has a greater chance of failure against targets over level 60.
    * "Goblin Rocket Helmet" now has a chance of failure against targets over level 60.
    * "Clutch of Foresight" now has a chance of failure against targets over level 60.
    * "Flash Bomb" now has a chance of failure against targets over level 60.
    * The "Green Dragon Mail" Set +15% mana regenerationhas been replaced with 20 mana per 5 sec.
    * The "Vestments of Transcendence" Set +15% mana regeneration has been replaced with 20 mana per 5 sec.
    * The "Stormrage Raiment Set" +15% mana regeneration has been replaced with 20 mana per 5 sec.
    * The Thunderclap set bonus for "Conqueror's Battlegear" is no longer cumulative with the "Thunderclap" talent.
    * The reduction in cooldown on Rapid Fire from the "Striker's Garb" Set bonus is no longer cumulative with the "Rapid Killing" talent.
    * The Paladin abilities Flash of Light and Holy Light will again correctly use charges from the "Zandalarian Hero Charim".
    * The Paladin abilities Flash of Light and Holy Light will again correctly activate charges from the "Talisman of Ascendence".
    * Collector's Edition pets are now be blue items.

Professions

    * Enchantments
          o The Crusader Enchantment now decreases in potency for wielders above level 60.
          o The Icy Chill Enchantment now decreases in potency for wielders above level 60.
          o The Lifestealing Enchantment now decreases in potency for wielders above level 60.
    * Blacksmithing/Leatherworking specialization has changed with specialization providing recipes to make powerful items that only you can wear. You can now unlearn a blacksmithing or leatherworking specialization and learn a different one by finding the appropriate NPC, paying the fee to unlearn your old specialization, and then find the new specialist to learn a new one. Also, all of the old blacksmithing/leatherworking recipes that required specialization no longer require it and can be learned by any blacksmith/leatherworker.
    * Silver/Golden/Mystic/Runic Spellthread have been increased in power.

User Interface

    * The Auction House will now sort items first by buyout price then by current price.
    * Added a new option to the Looking for Group and Looking for More panel to choose Heroic Mode Dungeons.
    * Players will now be able to pull out a pet window to see all the pets in the raid.
    * Added Ranged and Spell stats as a display option for the G15 keyboard.
    * Updated the Sound Options menu to include a checkbox for Hardware Acceleration and a slider for Sound Channels.
          o PC default is "Hardware Acceleration = ON" and "Sound Channels = LOW".
          o Players that experience poor system performance can set "Hardware Acceleration=OFF" which may improve performance but will disable any EAX (reverberation) effects supported by their sound card.
          o Players with more powerful systems can raise the "Sound Channels" slider to increase the number of simultaneous sounds in the game, providing a more immersive soundscape.
          o Mac users will not have a checkbox or slider available due to the Mac's default setting of "Hardware Acceleration = OFF" and the "Sound Channels = HIGH".
    * API Changes
          o NEW: Dismount()
          o NEW: equippable = IsEquippableItem(item)
          o NEW: link = GetInboxItemLink(index)
          o NEW: button = GetMouseButtonClicked() -- Returns the name of the button that triggered a mouse down/up/click/doubleclick event.
          o NEW: hasMacro = CursorHasMacro()
          o NEW: "item", itemID, link = GetCursorInfo() OR "spell", slot, "spell" or "pet" = GetCursorInfo() OR "macro", index = GetCursorInfo() OR "money", amount = GetCursorInfo()
    * Macro Features
          o NEW: /dismount
          o /castsequence will equip items if they need to be equipped, and use them otherwise.
          o The following commands now support the [target=unit] macro option syntax: /startattack, /petattack, /target, /assist, /focus
          o If you add a #showtooltip line to your macro, it will show the tooltip of the item or spell in addition to the normal visual feedback.
          o A unit's name can be used anywhere a unit token can be used. e.g. if you had the player Desmondia in your party, /cast [target=Desmondia] Flash Heal, would cast Flash Heal on her. This will only work for the player, pet, party members and pets, and raid members and pets. You can use "-target" or "-pet" to indicate the target or pet of the named unit, e.g. /cast [target=Desmondia-target,harm] Shadow Word: Pain
    * Key Bindings
          o Holding down ctrl, alt, shift, x will check keybindings in the following order: ALT-CTRL-SHIFT-X, CTRL-SHIFT-X, ALT-SHIFT-X, ALT-CTRL-X, SHIFT-X, CTRL-X, ALT-X, X
          o Key bindings that directly cast spells or use items now respect the self-cast modifier.
    * Frame Methods
          o UPDATED: protected, explicit = Frame:IsProtected() -- New 'explicit' return value
    * Tooltip Methods
          o NEW: isUnit = Tooltip:IsUnit("unit")
          o NEW: name = Tooltip:GetUnit()
          o NEW: name, link = Tooltip:GetItem()
          o NEW: name, rank = Tooltip:GetSpell()
          o Added several script handlers which are called when the tooltip is set to a unit, item, or spell: OnTooltipSetUnit, OnTooltipSetItem, OnTooltipSetSpell
    * Cooldown Indicators
          o There's a new cooldown indicator frame that replaces the previous model file. The old syntax: <Model inherits="CooldownFrameTemplate"/> should be replaced by <Cooldown inherits="CooldownFrameTemplate"/>
    * Secure Templates
          o Added an action type "attribute" to secure action buttons which sets an arbitrary attribute on an arbitrary frame.
          o Added support for state header resizing and re-parenting on state changes.
    * Saved Variables
          o Arrays that are stored as saved variables are now saved using lua's array initializer syntax for optimal memory usage and performance on load.
    * Bug Fixes
          o Unit frames will respond to modified clicks by default.
          o Action buttons no longer use shift-click to pick up actions, but instead use shift-drag. This frees up the shift modifier for use in macros or as a self-cast modifier.
          o MovePad will work again.
          o Fixed taint issues with the unit menus (dueling, dismissing pets, etc.)
          o Fixed taint issues with CloseLoot()
          o Fixed taint issues with PickupContainerItem()
          o Fixed taint issue with raid UI not showing in combat (buttons in main raid UI are no longer secure unit buttons)
          o Fixed /reply in macros
          o Fixed a bug where /petattack would target the nearest unit, not the nearest live enemy unit.
          o The macro "button:N" conditional will work with either the real button clicked or the state-header-remapped button that launched the macro.
          o /click now works with secure action buttons
          o Fixed issue whereby creating Textures/FontStrings from a template used the template name instead of the specified region name.

Mac

    * The "Enable sound in background" option is now implemented, default on Mac is "on" as before.
    * Fixed an issue with SetBindingItem, SetBindingSpell, SetBindingMacro LUA functions.
    * Addressed a graphics issue where changing the WorldFrame's coordinates would show a field of the fog color in the area outside of the world view instead of black, on NVIDIA GPU's, when indoors, with Full Screen Glow enabled.
    * Addressed a graphics issue affecting NVIDIA GeForce3 and GeForce 4Ti GPU's when certain particle effects were visible on screen such as Naxxramas loot.
    * Music looping is now fixed.

Bug Fixes

    * Characters on your friends list that are deleted will now properly be removed from the friends list.
    * Players will now be put back into the cross-realm battleground raid group after relogging from a force quit.
    * You will now be able to remove players from other realms from your ignore list after leaving the battleground.
    * Players who return from a disconnect in an Arena battle will now be correctly credited as being alive by the scoreboard.
    * When you craft an item with a random property, it will now display it has random properties in the crafting UI.
    * Characters will no longer be rooted in place until logout when being force-quit during the opening cinematic.
    * Pet statistics will now appear in green when being buffed by an outside source.
    * You should now get the mail indicator when your inventory is too full after leaving a battleground.
    * Spell penetration should now properly update on the character sheet.
    * Certain throwing weapons will no longer be consumed when used as a throwing weapon.
    * Certain throwing weapons have had a damage range added to their tooltip.
    * Reduced the cost of some battleground rewards.
    * The druid Restoration Talent "Tree of Life" healing buff is no longer being removed from the Druid if afflicted by a "Banish" spell.
    * "Moonkin Form" and "Tree of Life" form now have a casting animation for "Warstomp".
    * The druid talent skill "Tree of Life" now has a swimming animation.
    * Adjusted the tooltip for Barkskin to reflect the proper functionality.
    * "Insect Swarm" Rank 6 will now benefit from the clearcasting effect from "Omen of Clarity".
    * The hunter spell "Volley" has had its tooltip updated to reflect that it is channeled.
    * The hunter spell "Flare" will now properly reveal Mages that used "Invisibility".
    * The tooltip for the crit bonus granted to feral druid from the talent "Predatory Instincts" will now reflect the proper amount.
    * The hunter Marksmanship ability "Silencing Shot" is now triggering the "Auto-Shot" ability after using the ability.
    * "Misdirection" will now redirect the threat from "Distracting Shot".
    * "Serpent Sting's" initial, non-threatening application no longer consumes a charge of Misdirection.
    * "Disengage" now reduces threat on the misdirected target and also consumes one charge of "Misdirection".
    * Hunter Survival talent "Wyvern Sting" at Rank 4 will now cause the correct amount of damage as indicated in the tooltip.
    * The hunter Survival Talent "Readiness" will now finish the cooldown of the ability "Wyvern Sting".
    * Mages using "Molten Armor" on themselves and being hit while casting "Arcane Missiles" or "Blizzard" will no longer cancel the spells.
    * The mage spell "Ice Armor" will now be affected by the talent "Frost Warding".
    * "Spellsteal" and "Detect Magic" now benefit from the mage talent Arcane Focus.
    * The mage spell "Arcane Blast" will now receive the mana reduction benefits from "Clearcasting".
    * The mage spell "Fire Ward" rank 6 will now properly overwrite previous ranks of "Fire Ward".
    * "Ice block" will now make a mage immune to "Avenger's shield".
    * "Blazing Speed" will now remove movement impairing effects when it procs.
    * Casting "Ice Lance" will no longer consume the mage's talent "Presence of Mind" buff.
    * "Arcane Missiles" will no longer continue to channel after the target is dead.
    * "Ice Lance", "Frost Armor", and "Ice Armor" will now receive the benefits from the mage talent Elemental Precision.
    * The mage Fire talent "Critical Mass" will now properly update on the character sheet UI.
    * The paladin holy talent "Holy Guidance" will now effect damage from "Seal of Righteousness".
    * "Benediction" will now decrease the mana cost of "Seal of Blood".
    * "Shadow Word Death" will no longer do damage to the casting priest when resisted.
    * "Holy Fire" (rank 9) cast time has been adjusted for consistency with all other ranks of "Holy Fire" to 3.5 seconds.
    * The priest Discipline talent "Reflective Shield" will no longer cause the recipient of the shield to perform a cast animation every time the shield reflects damage.
    * "Prayer of Mending" no longer procs the heal when all damage is absorbed.
    * Priests backlash effect of "Shadow Word: Death" will now properly be applied and can no longer be resisted.
    * The visual effect of "Shadowform" will no longer persist if disabled while mounted.
    * Updated the tooltip on "Cloak of Shadows" with the additional line, "Does not remove effects that prevent you from using Cloak of Shadows."
    * The rogue Assassination Talent "Quick Recovery" will no longer refunding energy back to the Rogue if a finishing move is partially blocked.
    * A "Vanished" rogue will no longer be taken out of their "vanished state" when they resist a spell.
    * The rogue Assasination talent "Find Weakness" will now work properly with the finishing move "Deadly Throw".
    * Using the rogue ability "Mutilate" when not behind your target will no longer initiate combat.
    * The rogue ability "Slice and Dice" will no longer be reported twice in floating combat text when used.
    * "Mind-Numbing Poison" will no longer stack with both "Curse of Tongues" and "Slow".
    * The shaman talent "Totemic Mastery" will now increase "Wrath of Air Totem's" radius.
    * The shaman talents "Elemental Mastery","Shamanistic Rage" and the troll racial "Berserking" can no longer be used in "Ghost Wolf" form.
    * The shaman "Greater Fire Elemental" and "Greater Earth Elemental" will now spawn in with full health.
    * The shaman abilities "Water Shield" and "Earth Shield" can no longer be over written by lower ranks.
    * The shaman talent "Mental Quickness" will now properly reduce the casting cost of "Bloodlust" and "Heroism".
    * The damage dealt from "Greater Fire Elemental" and "Greater Earth Elemental" is now displayed in the combat log.
    * The shaman Restoration talent "Totemic Focus" will now be applied to "Earth Elemental Totem" and "Fire Elemental Totem".
    * The warlock talent "Demonic Resilience" does will now properly reduce the amount of damage pets are taking.
    * "Unstable Affliction" is now improved by the talent "Shadow Mastery".
    * Pyroclasm will now properly function with all ranks of "Soul Fire" and "Hellfire" rank 4.
    * The warlock Demonology talent "Fel Intellect" (all ranks) will now properly affect Felhunter intellect.
    * Crit chance of the spell "Incinerate" is now being affected by the 2nd rank of the Warlock Destruction talent "Devastation".
    * Warlock pet "Felguard" will now use the appropriate sounds.
    * Using a grimoire to teach your demon pet a spell while it is under the effects of "Banish" will no longer consume the grimoire, but the pet is immune and will not learn the spell.
    * Warriors with full "Weapon Mastery" talent will now be shown to have immunity towards disarm.
    * The "Shield Bash" rank 4 daze effect will now properly slow the target and has had its tooltip updated.
    * Warriors will no longer being re-entered into a combat state if the character switches stances after killing a mob.
    * "Second Wind" will no longer improperly proc off of a mob's daze.

[Ironwood]

Amorsmithing and Thistle-tea.

What's going on ?

[Merusk]

Amorsmithing and Thistle-tea.

What's going on ?

Armorsmithing? Huh?

Thistle-tea;  I think there's a replacement item in the 60s, but don't hold me on that it's just a vague memory of something from a few weeks ago.

[Arrrgh]

Link?

[Kenrick]

Link?

(not sure who/what you're referring to, but I'll work under the assumption you meant me)

It's not posted yet.  But it is on your hard drive, if you've downloaded and installed the patch.

C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Patch.html

[Modern Angel]

Druid threat generation got burned down HARD. Confirming once again that Blizz has only the barest inkling on how their numbers really work. Expect that to be buffed again in two months.

[Dren]

Druid threat generation got burned down HARD. Confirming once again that Blizz has only the barest inkling on how their numbers really work. Expect that to be buffed again in two months.

I imagine that came from Paladins.  As a paladin in a group recently that had a feral druid in it, I was mainly useless.  I couldn't dps, tank, or cc.  The druid got it all handled.  I was there for moderate healing and ress'ing as needed.  Too bad I am specced to tank though.

I never complained, but I'm sure plenty did.  I have a druid and a pally and the pally is by far the choice for a hybrid right now. 

[Arrrgh]

I just delete the blizzard downloader every time and get my patches from file planet.

[Modern Angel]

Druid threat generation got burned down HARD. Confirming once again that Blizz has only the barest inkling on how their numbers really work. Expect that to be buffed again in two months.

I imagine that came from Paladins.  As a paladin in a group recently that had a feral druid in it, I was mainly useless.  I couldn't dps, tank, or cc.  The druid got it all handled.  I was there for moderate healing and ress'ing as needed.  Too bad I am specced to tank though.

I never complained, but I'm sure plenty did.  I have a druid and a pally and the pally is by far the choice for a hybrid right now. 

Nope, everyone's pretty confused it seems. The idea is that warrior threat scaling is broken since the rage normalization went through. So people were actually preferring druid tanks over anything else. Fine, dandy, whatever. Except Blizzard decides to nerf druid threat scaling as well instead of fixing the broken warrior mechanics. And then because druids lack spammable instant threat getters they become completely useless.

I swear, as good as beta was and the new content is I also have this third of my brain convinced Blizz is about to break their game in fundamental ways.

[caladein]

Well, not just that, but now Druids are in (nearly) the same boat as Warriors when it comes to tanking more then one target thanks to Swipe getting nerfed to uselessness...

With Lacerate (Bleed Sunder kek), and completely changing the Druid threat generation model to be exactly like Warriors, I don't even know what to say. A Druid trades more health/armor (more consistent mitigation versus a Warrior's more spiky model) and immunity to Polymorph for well... not being able to use consumables during a fight. Apart from that, they're basically the same now. WTF?

[Modern Angel]

Given some of the fights in BC no way do I want a bear tank as a mage. There aren't enough quick instant spam abilities to get up on the threat list quick enough.

[Paelos]

Warriors will always be the preferred tanking unit, but the adding of more utility for the druids makes them available to do that in cases where a warrior isn't around. At the high raiding levels, druids won't be tanking anyway, or pallies for that matter.

EDIT: Not the bump to devestate's bonus threat that confirms this fact for protection warriors. It's probably one of the most ridiculous threat generators in the game for the cost of rage.

[Ironwood]

No, it was bumped because Sunder was still better.

[Modern Angel]

What Ironwood said. Devastate was actually doing substantially less than Sunder spam prior to this patch due to the retarded damage to threat scaling Blizz instituted. Which, again, Blizz plus numbers not understanding, etc, etc.

[Kenrick]

This is pretty much a no-brainer, but just so everyone knows, Blizzard has confirmed that this patch is required if you are going to be getting Burning Crusade.  So if you've got the blizzard downloader disabled or whatnot, ye best be finding a way to get the patch before next week.

link:
Blue Post

[caladein]

Warriors will always be the preferred tanking unit, but the adding of more utility for the druids makes them available to do that in cases where a warrior isn't around. At the high raiding levels, druids won't be tanking anyway, or pallies for that matter.

That's kind of the point. By moving Druids towards Warrior-style tanking (Paladins are now the sole solid multi-target tank and the only one that uses a Threat multiplier), it takes away the possibilities for a Druid to be the preferred tank. (You may call such an encounter gimmicky, but still, it's a niche situation where you'd want a certain type of tank.) If you discount the CC immunities, then a Druid winds up as nothing more then a substitute Warrior and not its own unique tank.

I rolled Druid not for the "jack of all trades, master of none" bullshit that people keep throwing around but because all of its aspects were different from the "mimicked" classes. Now, that difference is a lot smaller with respect to Bear tanking.

(The one difference is that Warrior/Druid mitigation models are still rather different. That mitigation model feeds into your healer strategy by making the HPS needed a lot more consistent with a Druid tnak, but I don't know how many guilds are actually going to take advantage of that.)

[Modern Angel]

Well, they did a good job of allowing hybrids to specialize a bit into what their preferred area might be. I don't think anyone except the worst bnet idiots (which is, granted, a good number of people) wanted druids nerfed down to warrior levels but instead wanted warriors buffed up to druid/paladin levels. The nerf is just massive and dumb. Tanking is not optional in this game and warriors/druids are not going to be able to keep up with dps as gear starts rolling in.

[Xanthippe]

Time to sell those righteous orbs I've been buying in anticipation of everyone wanting crusader.

[Morat20]

Not to bitch too heavily, but unless I missed it they still didn't fix "Pets rez dead" in BG's, which is my number one complaint about Hunter's right now. On the other hand, changing multishot back is nice (although I'm a bit surprised they did it -- I wonder if the post-steady shot levels of MS are going to jump in mana?).

And refunding Rogue talents is bonus, because I screwed up my respec and was still trying to decide whether to pay for it or just suck it up and wait a few levels.

[Chenghiz]

I was kind of counting on a free respec - I would never have gone SF daggers to level to 70. CoS still being the 41pt subtlety talent was a good tipoff to that, I think.

[Tale]

The druid "nerf" is fine with me (level 60 druid). Druids as hybrids should always be worse tanks than warriors (specialists). We got a lot of love in the same patch - significant boost to armour and health in bear form, and the end of not being able to talk to NPCs in shapeshift form.

If Blizzard needs to tweak it in another way long-term I'm also fine with that. IMHO they do a spectacular job of balancing their game.

[Dren]

I have a druid and a pally and the pally is by far the choice for a hybrid right now. 

Just a correction.  I meant to say Druid is my hybrid choice right now.  They are better at healing, tanking, and damage all in one spec. design while Pally isn't even as good in any one chosen tree.  There really is no comparison.

I don't know if Druid was ever as good as a warrior in tanking.  They may have been too close though.  My druid isn't to 60 yet, so hard for me to tell.

[Modern Angel]

I have a druid and a pally and the pally is by far the choice for a hybrid right now. 

Just a correction.  I meant to say Druid is my hybrid choice right now.  They are better at healing, tanking, and damage all in one spec. design while Pally isn't even as good in any one chosen tree.  There really is no comparison.

I don't know if Druid was ever as good as a warrior in tanking.  They may have been too close though.  My druid isn't to 60 yet, so hard for me to tell.

Wrong. They had higher scaling threat by a huge factor. Now according to numbers an affliction specced lock doing nothing but dots will outstrip a bear.

[Lantyssa]

For those that care, the talent point calculators on Blizzard's site seem to be updated to match the patch.  Or at least the Druid's, which is nice considering the changes.

[Lt.Dan]

Why'd they change the AH to sort by buyout price.  I'm always bidding on cheap greens to DE now I'm going to have to go through every item on every page to see the cheap bids instead of just sorting :(

Why not add some useful functionality like being able to sort by price per unit or being able to choose whether to sort by current price or buyout.  It's not like that would be hard to code.

[angry.bob]

Paladins are now the sole solid multi-target tank and the only one that uses a Threat multiplier

Huh? Granted I've always soloed, but let me see if I understand that right - Paladins are now the best tank for tanking more than one MOB? How did that happen? The few times I did group, I couldn't keep aggro with a single MOB even though I was RET speced and dumping as much damage as I could. If I'm the preferred tank now it makes all the people asking if I want a group now make sense. Last time I played seriously I may as well have been a leper.

Crap, that means I might have to learn more than CS and judging SoC on stuff when I stun it...  :-(

[caladein]

Well, first off, Righteous Fury creates a Threat multiplier, the more damage done, the more threat. Maul and Swipe used to work like that, Maul is now like Heroic Strike and Swipe has no threat bonus at all.

So, with Avenger's Shield and Consecration (initial build-up) and Holy Shield, Retribution Aura, and Blessing of Sanctuary (porcupine tanking) a Paladin can generate quite a bit of threat on multiple targets.

EDIT: Grammar fix to make it clear you can't really use AS while tanking. Although I imagine it would be decent to use if you happen to lose aggro to someone at range...

[Scadente]

The real problem was that Blizz made a hybrid; the druid, FAR superior to a Warrior (the specialist), in tanking. Tanking post-past was terrible, even in protection specc. I had big problems holding aggro. I agree that Druids really got the nerfbat handed to them this time, but after all the love last patch... well, they had it coming. Blizz should have nerfed Druids slightly and buffed warrior threat some. Great Devestate is working as intended, but it's still only _OK_. Although you'll never be using it for anything else other then refreshing sunders, Shieldslam and Revenge are still far superior, it's an ok gimmick and nothing more. Giving us some new stuff to play around with would have been really nice, warriors still play _Exactly_ the same (haven't tried Fury yet, so that might be something new), overall we're buffed, I can kill mages now! But prot specc. is exactly the same (My personal choice), getting a 41pt. talent that does nothing at all was a nice thing, and still having no PVP viability at all.

On the "plus" side, you really need a dedicated tank to really tank now.

And Warlocks will always be shitkids

[Dren]

Just a correction.  I meant to say Druid is my hybrid choice right now.  They are better at healing, tanking, and damage all in one spec. design while Pally isn't even as good in any one chosen tree.  There really is no comparison.

I don't know if Druid was ever as good as a warrior in tanking.  They may have been too close though.  My druid isn't to 60 yet, so hard for me to tell.

Wrong. They had higher scaling threat by a huge factor. Now according to numbers an affliction specced lock doing nothing but dots will outstrip a bear.

I can't be wrong.  I said I didn't know.  Thanks for the clarification though.

[Modern Angel]

My bad. Anyway, looking very broken right now but we'll see in practice. At the least they've homogenized tanking when the three ways to tank thing was looking very promising.

[Ratama]

Time to sell those righteous orbs I've been buying in anticipation of everyone wanting crusader.

*chuckle* I actually canceled my subscription day, partly due to the enchant nerfs (and partly due to the Paladin nerfs; I was hoping against all common sense that they'd seen the light and wouldn't nerf the *weakest* Paladin tree).

40 Orbs, purchased at about 25g each, and worth almost twice that on my server, with the potential to go even higher with BC... before today.

Neither Crusader nor Lifestealing has a scaling component; absolutely no reason to nerf either, except some petulant desire to force people to use the new shiny BC enchants (which mostly suck, imo).  Less choice for players w/o any compensating factor = lose.

Just not worth feeling like I'd dodged a bullet with each patch that didn't manage to somehow screw my character (or like this one, which I feel like I caught in the gut).

No thanks; back to single player games for a while (maybe SB, if the servers are still up and it's still free...).

[Zephyr]

It also seems like there is a new bug allowing people to cap the AV flags from quite some distance.  In two different games I watched SP gy get capped without someone even aggroing the guards.  At the moment it seems to be a Horde-only exploit dealing with Far Sight, but it could just be that the Alliance water heads haven't figured it out yet. 

[Kitsune]

Saying, 'Oh, well, sure they screwed druid threat, but they really helped us out with more armor!' is missing the point by a bit.  All the armor in the world doesn't matter if you can't keep the monsters on you.

[Ironwood]

Shadowstep is quite cool.

[Merusk]

It also seems like there is a new bug allowing people to cap the AV flags from quite some distance.  In two different games I watched SP gy get capped without someone even aggroing the guards.  At the moment it seems to be a Horde-only exploit dealing with Far Sight, but it could just be that the Alliance water heads haven't figured it out yet. 

If it works with Far Sight, I'd imagine it works with Eagle Eye as well.  Easy enough to check.