Public Test Realm Patch 4.0.6 Notes - Updated Jan. 28

Patch

January 29th by Zarhym

The first World of Warcraft: Cataclysm patch of the year is in development and now available for testing on the Public Test Realms. This minor patch includes several updates that we were unable to apply via hotfixes, including the recently discussed class balance changes, assorted bug fixes, and more. If you'd like to help us test out this patch and provide feedback, you can start by copying your character over to a test realm. Once you've had a chance to try things out, be sure to visit our Public Test Realm forum to discuss the patch.

Below you'll find the preliminary PTR patch notes. If you feel that we forgot certain overdue class buffs, can't find any Tol Barad updates, or are sad because Ghostcrawler promised you a pony... don't panic! This isn't the final version of the 4.0.6 patch notes and our development team is hard at work on bringing these updates and more to a realm near you.

Patch notes updated January 28, 7:20 PM PST. For a basic breakdown of what has changed in the notes below since the previous version, visit our Public Test Realm forum.

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 4.0.6

The latest PTR patch notes can be found here.

General

Many tooltips have been updated to reflect any changes made via recent hotfixes.
Many rare creatures that went into hiding upon Deathwing's emergence into Azeroth have made a return! In addition to finding new homes in a post-Cataclysm world, they drop new, improved loot, provide a healthy experience bonus, and respawn much more quickly when killed. Happy hunting!
Human Illusion: This affect is no longer applied to worgen who travel into the Caverns of Time.

Guilds

The guild reward Armadillo Pup now requires revered faction instead of exalted.
All guild banners now reward bonus reputation in addition to honor and experience.
Guild bank vouchers that players unlock as guild rewards now correctly state that they can only be used by Guild Leaders.
Once a guild hits level 23, the daily cap on experience gained is removed.
Additional animations have been added to the Armadillo Pet guild reward.
The guild faction requirement on the Guild Herald has been lowered to Revered reputation.
We have redefined the definition of a Guild Group for 5-player dungeons.
- If 3 out of 5 players in a group are members of the same guild, they will now be able to complete guild achievements and earn guild experience at 50% of the normal rate.
- If 4 out of 5 players in a group are members of the same guild, they will now be able to complete guild achievements and earn guild experience at 100% of the normal rate.
- If 5 out of 5 players in a group are members of the same guild, they will now be able to complete guild achievements and earn guild experience at 125% of the normal rate.
- Also note that Heroic dungeons offer a 1.5x multiplier on all guild experience earned.

Dungeons & Raids

Level-85 players can now choose any normal dungeon via the Dungeon Finder. Choosing Random Dungeon will still not add Blackrock Caverns or Throne of the Tides into the rotation.
Level-85 dungeon bosses in Lost City of the Tol'vir, Grim Batol, and Halls of Origination now drop 30 Justice Points each when killed.
The daily Random Dungeon reward on normal difficulty has been increased to 140 Justice Points, up from 70.
Players no longer need to discover Cataclysm dungeon entrances in order to access them via the Dungeon Finder.
Blackrock Caverns
- Beauty now spawns with only two pups in Heroic difficulty. Not to worry though, the missing pup has been adopted by a wonderful, if not insane family.
Blackwing Descent
- The Dwarven Golem Council will now go berserk after 10 minutes in Heroic difficulty.
- Atramedes will now go berserk after 10 minutes in Heroic difficulty.
Deadmines
- Foe Reaper 5000
  - Foe Reaper 5000's health has been reduced slightly. In addition, he now enrages at 40%, up from 30%.
  - When enraged, Molten Slag spawn 33% faster.
- Ripsnarl
  - The ship teleporter now activates when Ripsnarl is first engaged, rather than when he is defeated.
- Vanessa VanCleef
  - While in Helix's Nightmare during the Vanessa VanCleef encounter, Helix is now larger and a little easier to see.
  - The final rope swing while fighting Vanessa VanCleef has been removed. Players no longer need to swing off of the boat at the end of phase 3.
  - Some boat fires will now go out when Vanessa VanCleef is defeated, making it easier to get back onto the ship from the cavern entrance.
  - Vengeance of VanCleef has been redesigned. It is now a stacking buff that increases damage dealt, size, and attack speed, and stacks up to 40 times. Vanessa will begin casting this as soon as she jumps back onto the boat after detonating charges.
Grim Batol
- Faceless Corruptors now move 10% more slowly.
- Players may still use spell and abilities while afflicted by Forgemaster Throngus's Impaling Slam.
- Valiona's Devouring Flame damage has been reduced by 20%.
Halls of Origination
- The duration of the Flame Wardens' Raging Inferno has been reduced by 80%.
- Anraphet's Nemesis Strike now does 75% of weapon damage, up from 50%. In addition, the damage-over-time effect applied by this ability does 15,000 damage every 2 seconds, up from 9,000.
- Earthrager Ptah's Flame Bolt now deals more damage per second on Heroic difficulty.
- Setesh seeks a portal every 25 seconds, up from 20.
Lost City of the Tol'vir
- Lockmaw no longer tolerates fighting in his treasure room.
Shadowfang Keep
- Baron Ashbury
  - Sadly, in his hubris he has forgotten how to Mend Rotten Flesh.
- Lord Godfrey
  - He should now face a random target when casting Pistol Barrage.
- Lord Walden
  - Conjure Poisonous Mixture now deals more initial damage.
  - Frost Mixture is now area-of-effect damage.
  - Toxic Catalyst now deals less damage over time.
The Stonecore
- Stonecore Earthshapers' Dust Storm does slightly less damage.
- Corborus
  - The warning time for Thrashing Charge has been increased by 1 second. In addition, Thrashing Charge now happens 4 times, down from 5.
  - The visual for Rock Borers spawning during the submersion phase is now different from the Thrashing Charge visual.
- High Priestess Azil
  - She grew! She's now 175% the size of a human, up from 125%.
  - Gravity Wells should kill Devout Followers more quickly.
  - The cast time of Force Grip is now 1.5 seconds, up from 1.
  - The size of the warning visual for Seismic Shard has been increased to more accurately reflect the area it affects.
- Slabhide
  - The ground phase lasts longer and has fewer stalactites.
- Ozruk
  - He now does more melee damage.
  - There is now a precast visual on the ground to make it clear how far away a player must get to be clear of Shatter.
  - The cast time of Shatter has been increased to 3 seconds, up from 2.5.
  - Shatter damage is now reduced by armor, but has been increased by 33.3% (repeating, of course) as a result.
- Bug Fixes
  - Fixed a bug that made Ozruk's Shatter knockback component 10-yard range while the damage had a 15-yard range. Both are 15 yards now.
Throne of the Tides
- Commander Ulthok now does more melee damage.
- The damage done by Lady Naz'jatar's Shock Blast and Naz'jar Tempest Witch Chain Lightning has been reduced.
- Gilgoblin Poisoned Spear impact damage has been reduced slightly.
- Tainted Sentries Swell damage has been reduced.
- The damage of Blight of Ozumat has been reduced by 25% per stack.
The Vortex Pinnacle
- Creatures
  - Desperate Speed cast by Temple Adepts has had its duration reduced significantly.
- Altairus
  - The visual effects in this encounter have been adjusted to make the wind direction easier to read.
  - Cyclones now knock players straight up, and players hit by a cyclone cannot be hit again for a few seconds.
- Asaad
  - Skyfall Stars are now summoned to help him defeat players.
  - Static Cling has had its cast time increased to 1.25 seconds, up from 1.
- Grand Vizier Ertan
  - His health has been reduced slightly.
  - He now knocks away players standing too close to him when he retracts his Cyclone Shield, which now inflicts Nature damage if it touches players.

PvP

Arenas
- Bloodlust, Heroism, Time Warp and Ancient Hysteria can no longer be cast while in Arenas.
Battlegrounds
- The Battle for Gilneas
  - The time it takes to capture a flag has been reduced to 5 seconds, down from 8.
- Strand of the Ancients
  - The damage done by Antipersonnel Cannons has been doubled.
  - The missile speed of Rocket Blast (Antipersonnel Cannons) has been increased by roughly 50%.
  - Some Antipersonnel Cannons could shoot the platform they were spawned on. These spawn locations have been fixed.
  - The Battleground Demolisher no longer has two additional seats and now only has room for the driver.
  - A PvP duration flag has been added to Battleground Demolishers. This should make it so crowd control effects cast on unmanned demolishers does not last an extended amount of time.
  - There should no longer be a discrepancy in time when the Battleground Demolishers spawn at the start of each round.
  - The Battleground Demolishers spawned on the docks no longer despawn when the north graveyard is taken by the offense.
  - Massive Seaforium Charges should now be useable in rated Battleground matches.
  - The duration of the Teleport debuff has been lowered to 10 seconds, down from 20.
  - The radius of the Seaforium Blast has been lowered to 10 yards, down from 20.
  - The Teleporters on defense will now teleport players based on which line of gates have been destroyed, rather than directly behind that gate. For example, if a player clicks the Teleporter at the Blue gate when one of the beach gates has been destroyed, it will put the player behind the Red gate.
Tol Barad
- Attacking forces will receive a 200% capture speed bonus when they control 2 keeps.
- Defending forces will receive a 200% capture speed bonus when they control all 3 keeps.
- Daily quest creatures, herbs, minerals, etc. will only spawn when Tol Barad is in the quest phase between battles. There will be 5-minute and 1-minute warnings before the quest phase ends. The quest phase ends 15 minutes before the battle for Tol Barad begins and queuing is made available. At that time any players in the daily micro dungeons will be ported just outside. This does not apply to Tol Barad Peninsula or the daily quests there.
- The weekly PvP quest "Victory in Tol Barad" now awards 200 Honor Points and 3 Tol Barad Commendations.
- Players can now see the status of Tol Barad on the World Map no matter where they are. The time to the next battle is displayed by zooming into the Tol Barad section of the map. The current controlling faction can be seen on the Eastern Kingdoms map.

Races

The draenei racial trait Gift of the Naaru now heals 20% of the target's health over 15 seconds, rather than a scaling value.
The dwarven racial trait Stoneform now reduces all damage taken by 10%, rather than increasing armor by 10%. It also increases the dwarf's size when used.
The gnomish racial trait Escape Artist now has a 1.5-minute cooldown, down from 1.75. In addition, it is now possible to use and waste this ability when not snared or rooted. This is consistent with other dispels.
The human racial trait Every Man for Himself has been reverted back to a 2-minute cooldown, down from 3 minutes. The ability functions the same as PvP trinkets, removing disarm and silence effects as well.
The night elf racial trait Shadowmeld can now be used while shapeshifted.
The tauren racial trait War Stomp can now be used while shapeshifted.
The worgen racial trait Darkflight now has a 2-minute cooldown, down from 3, and is no longer on the global cooldown. In addition, the movement speed bonus now stacks with existing bonuses, but cannot be activated while Sprint or Dash is active (and they cannot be activated while Darkflight is active).

Death Knights

Death Coil damage has been reduced by roughly 10%.
Icebound Fortitude now breaks stuns when used, in addition to providing immunity to them.
Necrotic Strike's absorption effect is now reduced by the target's resilience. In addition, its debuff duration has been reduced to 10 seconds, down from 15.
The spell hit bonus previously given by Virulence (Unholy) has been rolled into the Runic Focus passive effect that all death knights possess.
Talent Specializations
- Blood
  - Bone Shield now has 4 charges, up from 3.
  - Crimson Scourge has been redesigned slightly. Instead of a 50/100% chance to make the next Blood Boil free when Plague Strike is used on a target with Blood Plague, the talent now gives a 5/10% chance to provide a free Blood Boil when the death knight lands any melee attack on a Blood Plagued target.
  - Heart Strike now deals 175% weapon damage plus 15% per disease, up from 120% plus 10% per disease.
  - Improved Death Strike now increases the damage of Death Strike by 30/60/90%, up from 15/30/45%.
  - If Death Strike is used while a Blood Shield is already active, the new absorb will stack with the old one instead of replacing it.
  - Scarlet Fever now applies via Blood Plague, rather than Blood Boil.
  - Will of the Necropolis no longer refunds a Blood Rune when it resets Rune Tap's cooldown. Instead it makes the next Rune Tap free while Will of the Necropolis is active.
- Frost
  - Chilblains now also causes Chains of Ice to root the target for 1.5/3 seconds.
  - Howling Blast now deals 40% less damage to all targets other than the primary target of the spell.
  - Hungering Cold now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
  - Might of the Frozen Wastes now also increases all melee damage by 4/8/12% while wielding a two-handed weapon.
- Unholy
  - Blightcaller (Mastery) has been redesigned and renamed Dreadblade. It increases all Shadow damage by 2.5% per point of mastery.
  - Dark Transformation now increases pet damage by 80%, down from 100%.
  - Death's Advance (new talent): While both Unholy Runes are depleted, movement-impairing effects cannot reduce the death knight below 75/100% of normal movement speed.
  - Desecration is now also triggered by Necrotic Strike.
  - The ratio of runic power return from Magic Suppression has been reduced by roughly one third.
  - Rage of Rivendare now increases strike damage by 12/24/36%, down from 15/30/45%.
  - Runic Corruption procs while the aura is already active now add 3 seconds to the existing aura duration, instead of simply refreshing/overwriting the existing aura.
  - Shadow Infusion now increases pet damage by 8% per stack, down from 10%.
  - Sudden Doom is now triggered only from main-hand auto attacks, and is normalized according to weapon speed rather than having a fixed percentage chance.
  - Unholy Might (passive) has been reduced to a 5% Strength increase, down from 10%.
  - Virulence has been redesigned. It now grants 10/20/30% additional disease damage.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Dark Succor (new glyph) raises the minimum healing done by Death Strike from 7% to 15% of maximum health, but only while in Unholy or Frost Presence.
- Glyph of Death's Embrace no longer refunds Runic Power when self-healing via Lichborne.
Runeforging
- Swordbreaking and Swordshattering now reduce disarm duration by 60%, up from 50%.

Druids

Barkskin is no longer dispellable.
Entangling Roots now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Healing Touch is now trained at level 78, up from level 3.
Hibernate now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Lacerate damage has been reduced by approximately 20%.
Mangle (Bear Form) weapon damage (at level 80+) has been reduced to 235%, down from 300%.
Mangle (Cat Form) weapon damage percent (at level 80+) has been increased to 460%, up from 360%.
Maul damage has been reduced by approximately 20%.
Moonfire mana cost has been reduced from 18% to 9%.
Mount Up: This guild perk now applies to Flight Form and Swift Flight Form as well.
Nature's Grasp now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Nourish is now trained at level 8, down from level 78.
Omen of Clarity can no longer trigger from helpful spells (aka heals), unless the Restoration talent Malfurion's Gift is chosen.
Prowl is no longer broken by enemies using Demoralizing Shout or Demoralizing Roar.
Rake damage has been reduced by 10%.
Rejuvenation is now trained at level 3, down from level 8. In addition, its mana cost is now 20% of base mana.
Rip damage has been reduced by 10%.
Shapeshifts: Entering or leaving a shapeshift no longer cancels root effects. It continues to cancel movement slowing effects.
Shred weapon damage percent (at level 80+) has been increased to 450%, up from 350%.
Skull Bash's lockout time has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 5.
Soothe is now instant cast, down from 1.5 seconds.
Worgen and troll druids now have new art for Swift Flight Form.
Talent Specializations
- Balance
  - Fungal growth duration has been increased to 20 seconds, up from 10. In addition, it should now be much more responsive when detonating Wild Mushrooms.
  - Moonkin Form now grants 15% damage reduction instead of increased armor. In addition, shapeshifting in or out of this form now breaks roots. Note this is not stated in the tooltip.
  - The Shooting Stars buff duration has been increased to 12 seconds, up from 8 seconds.
  - Starfall will no longer strike targets that are not in combat and will now drop stars at a slightly faster rate.
  - Sunfire mana cost has been reduced from 18% to 9%.
  - Total Eclipse (Mastery) benefit from mastery increased by approximately 33%.
  - Typhoon mana cost has been reduced by 50%.
  - Wild Mushroom is now instant cast, down from 0.5 seconds. In addition, the radius of detonation has been increased to 6 yards, up from 3, and damage done increased by 30%.
- Feral
  - Berserk (instant Mangle proc) now has a new Spell Alert identifier. In addition, Berserk no longer breaks Fear or makes the druid immune to Fear.
  - Blood in the Water: Timing on this effect has been improved so that Ferocious Bite will immediately refresh Rip, rather than be slightly delayed (which gave a chance for the Rip to expire despite being refreshed).
  - Infected Wounds now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
  - Pulverize weapon damage percent has been reduced to 80%, down from 100%.
- Restoration
  - Disentanglement (new specialization): Causes shapeshifting to remove roots in addition to snares.
  - Empowered Touch now also affects Regrowth. In addition, after Tree of Life is no longer active, this talent will only refresh the most recently cast or refreshed Lifebloom, and will not refresh other copies of Lifebloom.
  - Natural Shapeshifter has been reduced to a 3/6-second increase to Tree of Life's duration, down from 5/10.
  - Nature's Bounty no longer affects Swiftmend, but now has a new effect. When the druid has Rejuvenation on 3 or more targets, the cast time of Nourish is reduced by 10/20/30%.
  - Symbiosis (Mastery) benefit from mastery increased by approximately 16%.
  - Tree of Life duration has been reduced to 25 seconds, down from 30.
  - Wild Growth healing has been increased by 30%, and the cooldown has been reduced to 8 seconds, down from 10.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Entangling Roots redesigned. It now reduces the cast time of Entangling Roots by 0.2 seconds, rather than making it instant cast.
- Glyph of Regrowth now causes the heal-over-time effect to refresh itself on targets at or below 50% health, up from 25%.
- Glyph of Wrath now increases damage done by Wrath by 10% and no longer requires Insect Swarm on the target.

Hunters

Aimed Shot weapon damage has been increased to 200%, up from 150%. In addition, the base cast time has been reduced to 2.4 seconds, down from 3.
Arcane Shot damage has been increased by 15%.
Aspect of the Wild, Aspect of the Hawk, and Aspect of the Fox can now be cast while mounted.
Hunters can now use Auto Shot while moving.
Casting Trap Launcher, Distracting Shot, and Scare Beast now cancel Auto Shot when cast. This is to make it easier to crowd control creatures with Auto Shot while moving enabled.
Concussive Shot duration has been increased to 6 seconds, up from 4.
Deterrence now provides 100% chance for melee attacks to miss instead of 100% parry chance. This means that attacks that cannot be parried, notably some rogue abilities, can now be prevented by Deterrence, and the hunter will gain the benefit of Deterrence even if disarmed.
Dust Cloud's cooldown and duration have been modified to make it closer aligned with Tailspin (same effect, different pet).
Freezing Trap now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Kill Command's damage has been increased by 20%.
Kill Shot's attack power scaling has been increased by 50%.
Master's Call now has a 35-second cooldown, down from 1 minute, and its range has been increased to 40 yards, up from 25. In addition, the visual effect is more obvious.
Wing Clip now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Talent Specializations
- Beast Mastery
  - Animal Handler now provides a passive 25% bonus to attack power, up from 15%.
- Marksmanship
  - Chimera Shot's overall damage has been increased by roughly 50%.
  - Wild Quiver (Mastery): Chance for this to trigger per mastery has been increased by approximately 17%.
- Survival
  - Black Arrow damage has been reduced by 15%.
  - Explosive Shot damage has been reduced by 15%.
  - Hunter vs. Wild has been increased to 5/10/15% Stamina, up from 4/8/12%.
  - Into the Wilderness (passive) has been reduced to a 10% Agility increase, down from 15%.
Pets
- Pets now have 70% of the master's armor, rather than a different value based on which type of pet they are.
- Shale Spiders now correctly have a special ability (Web Wrap).
- Bad Manner (monkey) now properly breaks from damage.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Concussive Shot redesigned. It now limits the maximum run speed of the target while Concussive Shot is active.
Bug Fixes
- Cobra Shot now properly increases the duration of the Serpent Spread Serpent Sting.

Mages

Arcane Barrage mana cost has been reduced by 8%.
Arcane Blast mana cost has been reduced by 12%.
The mana costs of Arcane Brilliance and Dalaran Brilliance have been reduced by approximately 16%, making them roughly equal to the cost of Mark of the Wild.
Counterspell lockout duration reduced to 7 seconds, down from 8.
Fireball mana cost has been reduced to 9% of base mana.
Flame Orb now ignores critters.
Frostfire Bolt mana cost has been reduced to 9% of base mana.
Mage Armor now reduces the duration of magic effects by 35%, down from 50%.
Molten Armor, Frost Armor, and Mage Armor no longer cost mana.
Polymorph now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Ring of Frost: Radius shrunk to 8 yards, and inner "safe" radius is now 4.7 yards (exactly matching graphic). Dispelling the effect of Ring of Frost will now make the target immune to being refrozen for 3 seconds. If a second Ring of Frost is cast by the same mage while the first is still active (via Cold Snap), the first will now disappear and cease functioning. In addition, Ring of Frost now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
When a mage uses the Invisibility spell, it will now also cause their pet Water Elemental to become invisible.
Talent Specializations
- Arcane
  - Slow now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
- Fire
  - Firestarter now allows the mage to cast Scorch while moving (regardless of which armor spell is used), and no longer eliminates Molten Armor's critical strike chance reduction.
  - Flashburn (Mastery) benefit per mastery has been increased by 12%.
  - Living Bomb mana cost has been reduced by 22%.
- Frost
  - Deep Freeze damage done has been reduced by 20%.
  - Fingers of Frost can no longer be dispelled and now also increases Ice Lance damage by 15%.
  - Frost Specialization now only grants 2 base points of mastery (instead of 8), reducing all Frost damage to frozen targets by 15% from previous values. However, Frost Specialization now increases base Frostbolt damage by 15%.
Bug Fixes
- Ring of Frost can now be cast, and works properly, on transports (this includes elevators, trapdoors, etc.).

Paladins

The mana costs of Blessing of Might and Blessing of Kings have been increased by approximately 217%, making them roughly equal to the cost of Mark of the Wild.
Crusader Strike weapon damage percent has been increased to 135%, up from 115%.
Divine Light mana cost has been increased by approximately 10%.
Divine Plea now lasts for 9 seconds, down from 15. It grants 4% mana per tick, instead of 2%, for a total of 12% mana, up from 10%.
Flash of Light mana cost has been increased by approximately 10%.
Forbearance
- The duration has been lowered to 1 minute, down from 2.
- Lay on Hands now causes Forbearance on the target. It used to only cause it when cast on the paladin. This was an old design from when Divine Protection caused Forbearance and the paladin didn't want to prevent a tank from using their defensive cooldown.
- Lay on Hands cannot be a critical effect and will not be affected by most abilities which modify healing (such as Beacon of Light). In addition, Lay on Hands is no longer on the global cooldown.
- Since only Divine Shield, Lay on Hands and Hand of Protection cause Forbearance, the tooltips have been adjusted to better explain the mechanic.
Holy Light mana cost has been increased by approximately 10%.
Holy Wrath no longer counts nearby critters when dividing damage among its targets.
Inquisition is no longer dispellable.
Rebuke can now be trained by all paladins at level 54. Existing characters will need to visit their trainer, even if they had talented Rebuke before.
Seal of Truth: All single target attacks (including Judgement, Hammer of Wrath, Exorcism, and Templar's Verdict) can now trigger this seal.
Talent Specializations
- Holy
  - Aura Mastery: This ability no longer increases the benefit granted by Crusader Aura.
  - Denounce now has a spell overlay.
  - Protector of the Innocent heals for 30% less.
- Protection
  - Eternal Glory: The chance to not consume Holy Power from this talent now also applies to not consuming the clearcasting effect generated by Divine Purpose.
  - Vindication no longer allows Hammer of Justice to interrupt stun-immune targets. With Rebuke baseline, this functionality is no longer necessary.
- Retribution
  - Act of Sacrifice will no longer cause Cleanse to remove movement impairing effects from vehicles the paladin is riding.
  - Divine Purpose: The chance for applicable abilities to generate Holy Power has been reduced to 7/15%, down from 20/40%, but instead of generating 1 Holy Power, the next applicable ability used consumes no Holy Power and acts as if the paladin has 3 Holy Power.
  - Divine Storm weapon damage percent increased from 80% to 100%.
  - Hand of Light (Mastery): A percentage of the damage done by Templar's Verdict, Crusader Strike, and Divine Storm is done as additional Holy damage. This Mastery now grants a 2.1% increase to Holy damage per mastery, down from 2.5%.
  - Repentance is no longer broken from damage done by Censure (Seal of Truth).
  - The Rebuke talent has been replaced with a new passive talent, Sacred Shield. Paladins who had Rebuke before will automatically have Sacred Shield. Sacred When reduced below 30% health, paladins gain the Sacred Shield effect. The Sacred Shield absorbs X damage and increases healing received by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. Undispellable.
  - Seals of Command will no longer trigger twice on each swing with Seal of Truth.
  - Zealotry is no longer dispellable.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Divine Plea now adds 6% mana, for a total of 18% over 9 seconds.
Bug Fixes
- Word of Glory will no longer reset the swing timer.

Priests

The duration of Levitate has been increased to 10 minutes, up from 2.
The mana cost of Power Word: Fortitude has been reduced by approximately 68%, making it roughly equal to the cost of Mark of the Wild.
The mana cost of Power Word: Shield has been increased by approximately 31%, but its effect has been increased by 208%.
The mana cost of Renew has been reduced by 24%.
The mana cost of Shadow Protection has been reduced by approximately 65%, making it roughly equal to the cost of Mark of the Wild.
Mind Blast now does 18% more damage than Mind Spike.
Mind Control now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Mind Sear can now be channeled on friendly targets in addition to enemy targets. In addition, Mind Sear's damage has been increased by roughly 15%.
Prayer of Healing effectiveness has been reduced by 15%.
Talent Specializations
- Discipline
  - Divine Aegis: Critical effects from Prayer of Healing now award a bonus amount in addition to the default, always-proc Divine Aegis effect.
  - Grace is no longer limited to one target at a time.
  - Focused Will now procs when the priest is critically hit, in addition to its current effect.
  - Pain Suppression is no longer dispellable.
  - Penance mana cost has been increased by 7%, but healing has been increased by 20%.
  - Strength of Soul now occurs when the priest casts Inner Focus on oneself, rather than Power Word: Shield. In addition, Strength of Soul now also causes the priest to become immune to silence, interrupt, and dispel effects for 2/4 seconds after using Inner Focus.
- Holy
  - Blessed Resilience will now proc when the priest is critically hit, in addition to its current effect.
  - Chakra
    - Chakra states now last 1 minute, up from 30 seconds.
    - Binding Heal and Holy Word: Serenity now refresh the duration of Renew on the target, in addition to the other direct heals.
    - Binding Heal, Flash Heal, Greater Heal can now trigger Chakra: Serenity.
    - Mind Spike can now trigger Chakra: Chastise.
  - Circle of Healing effectiveness has been increased by 30%.
  - Desperate Prayer now heals the priest for 30% of their total health, up from a very subpar value.
  - Guardian Spirit: The absorb/heal from this ability can now never exceed 200% of the maximum health of the target.
  - Holy Concentration now increases the amount of mana regeneration from Spirit while in combat by an additional 15/30%, down from 20/40%.
  - Holy Word: Chastise now has a 30-second cooldown, up from 25. In addition, it properly breaks from damage.
  - Lightwell's health has been increased by 50% (for PvP purposes).
  - Serendipity now has Spell Alert and Floating Combat Text feedback support.
  - Surge of Light can now also proc from Flash Heal and Greater Heal, and can now also critically hit.
- Shadow
  - Shadow Orbs benefit from mastery has been increased by approximately 16%.
  - Vampiric Embrace now lasts until canceled.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Mind Flay no longer requires Shadow Word: Pain to be on the target.
- Glyph of Pain Suppression has been renamed Glyph of Desperation and now allows Guardian Spirit to be cast while stunned, in addition to Pain Suppression.
- Glyph of Psychic Horror now reduces the cooldown of Psychic Horror by 30 seconds, down from 60.
- Glyph of Spirit of Redemption has been converted into Glyph of Prayer of Mending, which increases the healing done by the first charge of Prayer of Mending by 60%.

Rogues

Blind now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Combat Readiness now lasts for 20 seconds, down from 30 seconds, but the Combat Insight stacking buff lasts 10 seconds, up from 6 seconds.
Crippling Poison now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Garrote now costs 45 Energy, down from 50.
Sap now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Smoke Bomb now lasts for 5 seconds, down from 10 seconds.
Stealth is no longer broken by enemies using Demoralizing Shout or Demoralizing Roar.
Talent Specializations
- Assassination
  - Deadly Momentum critical strike bonus now lasts for 15 seconds, up from 10.
- Combat
  - Blade Flurry is now a toggle that can be turned off by pressing the button again. In addition, this ability no longer has a fixed duration, but will go on cooldown for 10 seconds after being canceled (similar to Stealth). In addition, Blade Flurry now reduces energy generation by 30% while active, up from 20%.
  - Main Gauche (Mastery) now provides a chance to deal an attack for 100% of main-hand damage. This attack can trigger Combat Potency.
  - Restless Blades now also reduces the cooldown of Redirect.
  - Revealing Strike now increases finisher effectiveness by 35% (45% glyphed), up from 20% (30% glyphed).
  - Vitality now increases attack power by 25%, up from 20%.
- Subtlety
  - Elusiveness now reduces the cooldown of Cloak of Shadows by 10/20 seconds, down from 15/30 seconds.
  - Executioner (Mastery) has been increased from 2% to 2.5% per point.
  - Find Weakness now grants 35/70% armor reduction, up from 25/50%.
  - Preparation no longer resets the cooldown of Evasion.
  - Sanguinary Vein now gives a rogue a 50/100% chance for their own Bleed effects to not break their Gouge.
  - Shadowstep's cooldown has been increased to 24 seconds, up from 20 seconds.
  - Sinister Calling now grants 30% Agility, up from 25%, and increases Backstab and Hemorrhage damage by an additional 40%, up from 25%.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Garrote now increases the duration of Garrote by 1.5 seconds, down from 2.

Shaman

Chain Heal's effectiveness has been increased by approximately 10%.
Flametongue Weapon procs now deal roughly 20% less damage.
Healing Rain now has a 40-yard range, up from 30, to be consistent with other shaman heals.
Hex now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Purge now dispels a single effect instead of two.
Spiritwalker's Grace duration has been increased to 15 seconds, up from 10.
Tremor Totem has been redesigned. The totem is now usable under Fear, Charm, or Sleep effects, and pulses much more rapidly, but lasts 6 seconds and has a 1-minute cooldown.
The Windfury Weapon proc can now trigger 3 additional attacks, up from 2.
Talent Specializations
- Elemental Combat
  - Earthquake damage has been increased by approximately 10%.
  - Elemental Overload (Mastery) procs of Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning can now generate Rolling Thunder charges.
  - Lava Burst's damage has been increased by roughly 10%.
- Enhancement
  - Flametongue Weapon damage now scales from attack power instead of spell power (for Enhancement shaman only).
  - Purge no longer has its mana cost reduced by Mental Quickness.
- Restoration
  - Cleansing Waters no longer fires its heal effect twice when a shaman removes a Magic and a Curse debuff with a single cast.
  - Deep Healing (Mastery) has been increased to 3% per point, up from 2.5%.
  - Earth Shield can no longer be dispelled.
  - Greater Healing Wave mana cost has been increased by 10%; healing done has been increased by 20%.
  - Mana Tide Totem has been redesigned. The totem no longer multiplies the Spirit of those affected by it. It instead gives a flat amount of Spirit equal to 400% of the casting shaman's Spirit, exclusive of short-term Spirit buffs affecting the shaman when the totem is dropped. In addition, its effects are now raid-wide.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Hex now reduces the cooldown by 10 seconds, down from 15.

Warlocks

Curse of Exhaustion now reduces movement speed by 30%, down from 50%. Its range has been increased to 40 yards, up from 30.
Demon Armor and Fel Armor no longer cost mana and last until canceled.
Devour (Felhunter) cooldown has been increased to 20 seconds, up from 8. Devour is no longer able to be auto-cast.
Drain Mana has been removed from the game.
Fear now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Fel Armor has been redesigned. It now surrounds the caster with fel energy, increasing spell power and causing the warlock to be healed for 3% of any single-target spell damage he or she deals.
Seduction (Succubus) now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Talent Specializations
- Affliction
  - Soul Swap can no longer be dispelled (the aura given to the warlock between swapping).
  - Unstable Affliction's silence effect has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 5.
- Demonology
  - Demonic Aegis now increases the healing effect of Fel Armor by 50/100%.
  - Demonic Rebirth now highlights summoning spells when active.
  - Demon Soul: Imp redesigned. It now increases the critical strike chance of all non instant cast Destruction spells by 30%, rather than increasing critical strike damage. Duration reduced to 20 seconds.
  - Felstorm (Felguard) damage has been reduced by 20%.
  - Immolation Aura damage has been reduced by roughly 30%.
  - Inferno no longer increases the radius of Hellfire, but instead increases the duration of Immolate by 6 seconds in addition to its existing effect.
  - Master Demonologist (Mastery) benefit from mastery increased by approximately 33%.
- Destruction
  - Burning Embers damage has been reduced by 15%.
  - Fiery Apocalypse (Mastery) benefit from mastery increased by approximately 8%.
  - Improved Soul Fire now increases Fire and Shadow damage done by 4/8%, rather than 7/15% spell haste. In addition, this talent has been moved to tier-3 Destruction, switching places with Aftermath.
  - Shadow and Flame can now proc from Incinerate in addition to Shadow Bolt.

Warriors

Charge now shares diminishing returns with stun effects.
Cleave damage has been reduced by 20%.
Hamstring now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds.
Heroic Strike damage has been reduced by 20%.
Inner Rage has been redesigned. It now reduces the cooldown on Heroic Strike and Cleave by 50% (to 1.5 second) for the next 15 seconds. 1-minute cooldown. It still cannot be used during Deadly Calm. This ability was originally designed to help warriors with rage capping, but the Heroic Strike and rage normalization changes seem to have solved that problem on their own. This new design will still allow warriors to burn off excess rage faster, at their discretion.
Recklessness now increases special critical strike chance by 50%, down from 100%, but lasts the full 12 seconds instead of allowing only 3 charges.
Slam weapon damage percent (at level 80+) has been increased from 125% to 145%.
Talent Specializations
- Arms
  - Drums of War no longer lowers the rage cost of Piercing Howl.
  - Juggernaut no longer increases the cooldown on Charge, but instead increases the duration of the Charge stun by 2 seconds. In addition, Charge is usable in all stances, however, the talent now causes Charge and Intercept to share a cooldown.
  - Lambs to the Slaughter: Instead of granting 10/20/30% damage to the next Mortal Strike, Overpower, or Execute, it now grants a 10% buff to any Mortal Strike, Overpower, Slam, or Execute that stacks 1/2/3 times.
  - Mortal Strike cost has been reduced by 5 rage.
  - War Academy no longer buffs Heroic Strike or Cleave. It now buffs Mortal Strike, Raging Blow, Devastate, Victory Rush and Slam.
- Fury
  - In addition to its current effects, Bloodsurge now also causes the next Slam to deal 20% more damage.
  - Bloodthirst damage has been increased by approximately 30%.
  - Raging Blow weapon damage percent (at level 80+) has been increased from 110% to 120%.
  - Single-Minded Fury bonus has been increased to 20%, up from 15%.
  - Unshackled Fury (Mastery) now grants 5.6% benefit per mastery point, up from 4.7%.
- Protection
  - Charge's stun continues to not trigger diminishing returns for Protection warriors who have the Warbringer talent.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Rapid Charge has been changed from a 7% reduction to Charge's cooldown, to 1 second off of the cooldown. This change is primarily to clarify the exact cooldown reduction this glyph provides.

Professions

Find Herbs, Fish, and Minerals are no longer canceled upon entering an Arena or rated Battleground.
A socket has been added to most crafted epic armor pieces that did not already have one.
Alchemy
- Alchemist's Stones for Agility, Strength, and Intellect have been added.
- The number of herbs required to create flasks has been reduced, while the Volatile Life needed has been increased slightly.
- The drops from Tiny Treasure Chests have been improved slightly.
Archaeology
- Archaeology fragments now have a hard cap of 200 per race. Players will not be able to collect additional fragments until they complete artifacts to take them down below 200 fragments. Players with more than 200 fragments will not lose additional fragments in 4.0.6, but in a future patch we may remove any fragments above 200.
- Archaeology finds now grant a guaranteed skill point up to 50 skill, and then no longer grant skill gains, as opposed to granting up to 100 skill very slowly.
- The sell value of all common artifacts has been doubled, while a small subset of common artifacts have had their sell value increased far beyond that.
Cooking
- Multiple spawn locations now exist for the Confectioner's Sugar (daily quest item) in Stormwind.
Enchanting
- Three new bracer enchants are available. They increase Agility by 50, Strength by 50, or Intellect by 50 respectively. Item level 300 or higher required. These new recipes are rare world drops.
- Enchant Off-Handed - Superior Intellect now increases Intellect by 40, down from 100.
Engineering
- The Electrified Ether recipe now creates 2 to 3 Electrified Ether instead of 1.
- The Heat-Treated Spinning Lure buff duration has been increased to 15 minutes, up from 5. In addition, the recipe now creates 2 at a time.
- Mystic Cogwheel is a new Engineering Cogwheel gem which provides resilience rating and can be purchased from the Engineering vendor for 55 Honor Points.
- Synapse Springs now increase Agility, Strength, or Intellect (whichever is highest for the character). In addition, the effect now lasts 10 seconds, down from 12.
- Volatile Air now has an increased chance of dropping from rich mining nodes and Pyrite with the Electrostatic Condenser.
Fishing
- Rare fishing poles now have a chance to be found in the Bag of Fishing Treasures earned via the Stormwind and Orgrimmar Fishing daily quests.
Jewelcrafting
- Meta gems with the Chaotic and Relentless prefixes now have a requirement of 3 red gems.
- New meta gems have been added: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond (Agility/3% critical damage), Reverberating Shadowspirit Diamond (Strength/3% critical damage), and Burning Shadowspirit Diamond (Intellect/3% critical damage). These new recipes are unbound and can drop from any Cataclysm creature. The new meta gems have a requirement of 3 red gems equipped.
- Vivid Dream Emerald (new gem) provides resilience/spell penetration and can be purchased for 3 Illustrious Tokens.
- Wrath of the Lich King purple, green, and orange gems have been increased in cost to match red, blue, and yellow epic gems (220 Justice Points). Burning Crusade epic gems have been increased in cost to match the most expensive Wrath of the Lich King gems.
Leatherworking
- The 500 to 510 skill-up range for Leatherworking has been improved.
Tailoring
- Darkglow Embroidery (Rank 2) now increases Spirit instead of restoring a flat amount of mana.
- Illusionary Bag now has 26 slots.

Items

Bell of Enraging Resonance can now trigger from any damage spell instead of only critical strikes.
Daybreaker Helm stats have been reallocated, lowering Strength and increasing parry rating.
The Fury of Angerforge internal cooldown has been drastically reduced so this trinket will build up charges much faster.
The Honor Commodities and Justice Commodities Vendors now sell raw tradeskill materials. These are not intended to be a cost-effective source of these materials, but an option for players with lots of Justice or Honor Points who have already purchased all of the gear that interests them.
The cooldown on the Horde Battle Standard has been adjusted to 10 minutes to be consistent with the Alliance version.
Left Eye of Rajh: Chance of triggering increased.
Lich King trinkets with bonus armor values have been adjusted using the new Cataclysm formula, reducing their armor values substantially.
Mandala of Stirring Patterns now grants Intellect instead of Mastery.
Item Sets
- Normal PvE helms (item level 359) no longer have a chance to drop from Nefarian or Cho'gall on Heroic difficulty. Instead, the Heroic PvE helm and shoulder pieces (item level 372) only require their associated Crown/Shoulders of the Forlorn tokens to purchase, and do not require players to obtain the normal helms or shoulders first.
- The PvE hunter 4-piece set bonus has been redesigned. It now reduces the cast time of Steady Shot and Cobra Shot by .2 seconds.
- The PvE warlock 4-piece set bonus (Fel Spark) now increases the damage done by the next 2 Fel Flame spells by 300%, rather than increasing the critical effect chance of one by 100%.
- All PvP 4-piece bonuses have had their flat stat values cut in half. Primary stats are very powerful in Cataclysm, so much so that players were considering using PvP gear in PvE just because of these primary stat bonuses.
- The PvP Balance druid 4-piece set bonus effect has been increased to 20 Solar Energy and 13 Lunar Energy, up from 5 and 13. The effect will also now be more intelligent at choosing whether to give the druid Lunar or Solar Energy (it checks the Balance Power to determine which to give depending on which energy is higher at the time).
- The PvP priest 4-piece set bonus has been redesigned. When Power Word: Shield is cast on the priest, movement speed reduction effects are temporally suppressed for 4 seconds.
- The PvP warlock 4-piece set bonus has been redesigned. It now reduces the cooldown of Death Coil by 30 seconds.
- The PvP warrior 4-piece set bonus has been redesigned. It now reduces disarm duration by 60% (does not stack with any Weapon Chains).
PvP enchants are properly valued and attached to Honor Quartermasters and Tol Barad/Baradin Hold Quartermasters.
PvP trinkets will now clear disarm and silence effects.
Right Eye of Rajh: Chance of triggering increased.
Weapon Chains now reduce disarm duration by 60%, up from 50%.

User Interface

For opening cinematics there is now a streaming option interface in the login screen for play-on-demand.
Players can now individually remove raid world markers.
The Reputation Pane now saves which reputation categories are expanded or collapsed.
Character Info Window
- The Character Info window (C) now saves the order and expand/collapse state of stat categories separately for each talent specialization.
- Character movement speed is now displayed on the Character Info window (C) with all other stats.
- The Haste display on the Character Info window (C) now shows the total haste percentage, rather than only haste from haste rating.
Archaeology
- There are now number displays on the summary page and dropdown menu.
- Ready Flash has been added to the race icons.
Guild Interface
- A View All button has been added to the profession display regardless of whether Show Offline Members is checked.
- Online members can now be sorted to the top of the View Crafters list.
- The guild reputation cap is now displayed in the tooltip.
Real ID & Chat
- Real ID login notifications now include character and game icons.
- Players can now right-click close a chat window tab even if it's not the current tab.
- There is now an option to auto-pop whispers into a new tab.
- Popped out whisper windows now show online/offline status messages.
Unit Frames
- Predicted healing (previously only available for Raid Frames and raid-style Party Frames) has been added to the following unit frames: Player Frame, Party Frame, Target Frame, Focus Frame.
Bug Fixes
- Many bugs... handled them!

Quests & Creatures

Stranglethorn Vale
- Chief Engineer Scooty, formally of Booty Bay, has packed up his Gnomeregan teleporter and lugged it up to Grom'gol in Northern Stranglethorn to better accommodate his Horde customers.
Tol Barad Peninsula
- A new achievement, Just Another Day in Tol Barad, has been added for completing all of the Tol Barad daily quests.
- Crazed Guards now drop Rusty Rifles.
- The spawn rate of Alliance and Horde Infantry for the quest "The Leftovers" has been increased.
- The Magnetized Scrap Collector for the quest "Magnets, How Do They Work?" will now be correctly removed from players' bags upon completing the quest.
- Both the Baradin's Wardens and Hellscream's Reach Commendations are now Bound to Account items.
- Quest turn-in NPCs have been added to Baradin Base Camp and Hellscream's Reach in Tol Barad Peninsula for the Tol Barad bonus quests. This will allow players to turn in these quests if the original quest givers in Tol Barad are not available.
- Kill credit for the Tol Barad bonus quest bosses will now be granted to players who have helped attack them, even if they are not in the same group. These bosses include Problim, Archmage Galus, Warden Silva, and Svarnos.
- The Farson Keep Prisoner summoned for the quest "Walk A Mile In Their Shoes" will now only be visible to the player who summoned him.
- Spawn rates at Rustberg Village have been increased.
- Rusty Rifles will now spawn more frequently at Farson Keep.
- Bug Fixes
  - Players should now always receive 6 daily quests in Tol Barad Peninsula as intended, rather than sometimes only getting 5.

Bug Fixes

Worgen now work properly in the Barbershop.
A thorough list of bug fixes will be provided with the finalized patch notes when 4.0.6 is officially released to live realms.