Patch 5.2 Official Notes

General

• Take Over The Farm (was Buy The Farm)
• Players that have grown attached to working the land at Sunsong Ranch can now take over the farm through quests purchase the land from Farmer Yoon.
• Characters that are exalted with the Tillers and have unlocked all of the farm plots can choose whether they want to take over the farm or not.

Classes

• Mage
  
  • Glyph of Evocation now causes mages with Invocation talent to gain 10% of your health (was 20%) upon completing an Evocation.
  • Arcane
    
    • Arcane Blast damage reduced by 22.2%.
    • Arcane Missile damage reduced by 22.2%.
    • Arcane Barrage damage reduced by 13.6%.
  • Frost
    
    • Frostbolt now deals 52% more damage, but its debuff no longer increases subsequent Frostbolt damage.

• Monk
  • Chi Wave now does 100% more damage, but its healing reduced by 14%, and no longer costs Chi, but now has a 15 second cooldown.
  • Zen Sphere now has a limit of 2 (was 1), detonates when either the recipient reaches 35% health or the Zen Sphere is dispelled, and no longer costs Chi. The spell now has 10 seconds cooldown. Its damage over time increased by 22%, healing over time reduced by 61%, healing when detonated reduced by 62% and detonation area increased by 40%.
  • Chi Burst now does 340% more damage and healing increased by 69%, no longer costs Chi, and has a 30 second cooldown.
  • Mistweaver
    
    • Jab now costs 6% (was 4%) of base mana to use.
    • Glyphed Uplift now costs 8% (was 6.6%) of base mana.
    • Teachings of the Monastery now provides additional benefits.
      
      • Tiger Palm damage increased by 100% and restores 1% of max mana.

• Paladin 
  • Retribution
    
    • Seal of Justice now causes melee attacks to do 20% (was 16%) more holy damage.
    • The 2-piece PvP set bonus now provides 1000 PVP Power (was 800).
    • The 4-piece PvP set bonus redesigned and now reduced Avenging Wrath's cooldown by 65 seconds.

• Priest
  
  • Power Word: Solace has been replaced with a new talent: Solace & Insanity
    
    • For Holy and Discipline, Power Word: Solace replaces Holy Fire. It deals the same damage, and interacts with other spells and abilities in the same manner, but Power Word: Solace doesnt trigger Atonement, is instant, costs no mana, and restores 1% of maximum mana on each cast. When Power Word: Solace deals damage, it will also heal a friendly player within 40 yards of the target equal to 100% of its damage (When priest is healed, the healing is equal to 50% of its damage).
  • Power Infusion now also causes priest to deal 10% more damage, other effects remain unchanged.
  • Discipline
    
    • Mastery: Shield Discipline now also increases healing of all healing spells, but the bonus it provides reduced by 36%.
    • The range of Penance is 40 yards to both friendly targets and enemies (was 40 yards to friendly targets and 30 yards to enemies).
    • Spirit Shell now provides an absorbing shield equal to your average healing and absorb effects, including critical healing and Divine Aegis. Spirit Shell no longer benefits from Mastery, and now properly includes the benefits of Divine Aegis and critical effect chance.
    • Divine Aegis now causes critical healing to apply an absorbing shield to the target, equal to 100% of the healing, rather than double healing. In additional, it also causes Power Word: Shield to have a chance equal to priest's critical change to absorb double damage. Divine Aegis is no longer guaranteed when Prayer of Healing is cast. The effect now activates when the spell crits.

• Warrior
  • Arms
    
    • Overpower now costs 10 rage, and causes Mortal Strike cooldown reduced by 0.5 seconds.
    • Sudden Death now has a 25% chance to activate from Overpowerhas a 10% instead of a 20% chance to activate from auto attacks and Opportunity Strike. In addition, using Execute makes Overpower free for 10 seconds.

• Shaman
  • Lava Burst base damage reduced by 33%, but now always crits. It does 50% more damage to the targets that affected by Flame Shock.
  • Ancestral Guidance now copies 60% (was 40%) of the healing.
  • Conductivity now shares healing equal to 30% (was 20%) of the initial healing.

Raids, Dungeons and Scenarios

• The bags gained via LFR now have a chance to contain bonus rewards, including consumables, Spirit of Harmony, rare pets or mounts, and greens and blues that drop in normal and heroic mode.
• Added a new Elder Charm called Mogu Rune of Fate. Mogu Rune of Fate can be used in the new content to provide bonus loot chance for Throne of Thunder, Nalak the Storm Lord, and Oondasta. Mogu Runes of Fate can be purchased with Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. Elder Charms of Good Fortune will still apply to Mogu'shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, Terrace of Endless Spring, the Sha of Anger, and Salyis' Warband (Galleon).
• The cap of Elder Charms of Good Fortune each character can have increased to 20 (was 10).

Build 16030 : Class Spells and Abilities Changes

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Death Knight

• Blood Presence now increases Stamina by 25%, up from 8%.

Frost

• Threat of Thassarian now increases your Frost Strike damage by 40%, down from 50%.

Druid

• Hurricane base damage increased by 27% and SP scaling increased by 7%.
• Swipe now does 400% weapon damage, up from 375%.
• Thrash damage increased by 7%.

Talents

• Dream of Cenarius now increases the damage done by your next 2 Moonfire or Sunfire casts by 50%, down from 65%.

Hunter

• Aspect of the Beast now has a 1 sec cooldown.
• Aspect of the Cheetah now has a 1 sec cooldown.
• Aspect of the Fox now has a 1 sec cooldown.
• Aspect of the Hawk now has a 1 sec cooldown.
• Aspect of the Pack now has a 1 sec cooldown.

Talents

• Aspect of the Iron Hawk now has a 1 sec cooldown.

Pets

• Burrow Attack now costs 50 Focus, up from 20. Base damage reduced by 50%..
• Froststorm Breath now costs 50 Focus, up from 20.
• Rabid now increases your pet's attack power by 25% for 20 sec, down from 50%.

Mage

• Ice Lance base damage increased by 13%. SP scaling increased by 13%.
• Mana Attunement increases mana regeneration by 400%, up from 150%.

Frost

• Frostbolt causes the target to take an additional 5% damage from your Frostbolt and Ice Lance, and your Water Elemental's Waterbolt, down from 8%.

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Ice Lance: Your Ice Lance now hits 1 additional target for 40% damage, down from 50%.

Monk

• Chi Torpedo damage increased by 10% and healing increased by 25%. AP scaling increased to 51.8%, up from 41.4%.
• Spinning Crane Kick now does damage every .75 sec and lasts 2.2 sec, rather than every 1 sec for 3 sec.

Talents

• Chi Torpedo damage increased by 10% and healing increased by 25%. AP scaling increased to 51.8%, up from 41.4%.
• Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger damage increased by 10%.
• Rushing Jade Wind damage increased by 10%. AP scaling increased to 82.5%, up from 75%.

Brewmaster

• Stance of the Sturdy Ox now increases Energy regeneration by 10%, down from 30%. Stagger now causes 80% (was 70%) of the damage to happen instantly and the remaining 20% (was 30%) to be divided over 10 sec.

Paladin
Retribution

• Divine Storm now does 100% weapon damage, down from 130%.
• Mastery: Hand of Light now grants certain spells 15% additional damage as Holy damage, down from 17%.

Priest

• Mind Sear damage and SP scaling increased by 30%.

Rogue
Combat

• Blade Flurry now reduces energy regeneration by 20% when active, down from 30%.

Subtlety

• Premeditation now allows additional combo points to last 18 sec, down from 20.

Shaman (Forums)

• Chain Lightning damage and SP scaling reduced by 18%.

Warlock (Forums)

• Seed of Corruption base seed damage reduced by 30%. Damage target needs to take before explosion and SP scaling reduced by 30%.

Talents

• Harvest Life damage and SP scaling reduced by 30%.

Affliction

• Seed of Corruption base seed damage reduced by 30%. Damage target needs to take before explosion and SP scaling reduced by 30%.

Demonology

• Felguard: Felstorm now does 100% weapon damage, down from 150%.
• Hellfire damage and SP scaling reduced by 30%.
• Metamorphosis: Void Ray damage and SP scaling reduced by 30%.

Destruction

• Fire and Brimstone: Your next Immolate, Incinerate, Conflagrate or Curse will hit all targets within 15 yards of the target and deal 43.4% of their normal damage, down from 55.8%.
• Havoc now has a 25 sec cooldown, down from 45 sec.

Pets

• Felstorm now does 100% weapon damage, down from 150%.

Warrior

• Item - Warrior PvP Set 4P Bonus - Increases your speed by 70% for 3 sec after using Heroic Leap. This replaces the old Item - Warrior PvP Set 4P Bonus.

Talents

• Dragon Roar now does a .5 sec knockdown, down from 3 sec.

Raid & Dungeon Abilities

• Stomp Splits 750,000 Splits 675,000 damage between all targets within 25 yards.

Patch 5.0.4 Beta Class Balance Analysis

Originally Posted by Blizzard

Tank Time
I mentioned previously (though it very well could have been in another thread) that we have been looking a lot at tank balance. We think tanks surviving short windows of spike damage has been fairly balanced in beta for some time, and indeed we are seeing all tank classes used effectively in beta Challenge Modes and Heroic raid testing.

We have made a few changes to longer-term tank healing required, which will show up both on beta and live very soon. I mentioned that we were initially going to nerf monk and DK, but we now think they and paladins are fine. Instead, the rage tanks required too much healing, so we are causing them to take less damage and have more rage for active mitigation.

Druid

• Auto attack rage generation increased by 75%.
• Thick Hide now provides 12% physical damage reduction.

Warrior

• Rage generation from Revenge increased from 10 to 15.
• Rage generation from Shield Slam increased from 15 to 20. (Sword and Board continues to give 5 extra, so 25 now).
• Reduced internal cooldown on Critical Block from Enrage from 5 sec to 3 sec.
• Increased damage reduction from Defensive Stance from 15% to 25%.
• Increased armor from Unwavering Sentinel from 10% to 25%.

I'm confused. Auto attacks currently generate 6.2 Rage. Does this mean they will now generate 10.85 Rage (~75% increase)?
Yeah, sorry, those are internal tuning numbers for us that won't have any context for you. It is a 75% increase on auto attack rage.

Shaman
Can you clarify how Healing Stream Totem scales with haste, because it's starting to do my head in.
Sure. The short version is that it’s not a HoT, and it functions differently. The totem casts a heal instantly, and once every two seconds (reduced by haste), and despawns after 15 sec (unaffected by haste). So haste on a HoT typically works to add ticks at certain breakpoints, which will half the time increase the total duration beyond the base, but that doesn’t happen with Healing Stream Totem.

Mage
Could we get some news if the devs are doing anything to fix the range issue with Inferno Blast's mechanic?
There are some times where we do some tricky things under the hood to make things feel better, and this is one of them. The intended gameplay is that you should be able to get a Heating Up proc while already casting another spell, and follow that one with an Inferno Blast to force a Hot Streak proc. You should never need to cancel your current cast to get that benefit.

So, tricky under-the-hood things follow. Again, you do not need to know or understand this to use Inferno Blast effectively, or play Fire; it should “just work." But, for those interested in the gory details, here they are:

• Fireball, Pyroblast, and Frostfire Bolt (which was bugged until recently) have a cap on their effective travel time.
• Their effects will take place after a maximum of 0.75 sec.
• The fireball visual will still travel at the same speed, but you’ll see the damage number pop up and get the Heating Up proc after 0.75 sec, even though the fireball visual is still traveling through the air.
• We normally prefer the game to feel more visceral, by tightly syncing visuals to effects, but this change felt worth the gameplay benefit to us. In a future patch, we may be able to hasten the visual to match.
• If you have Heating Up, and get a non-crit, then Heating Up gets removed, as expected.
• However, if the non-crit came from a spell with a travel time, or from Scorch (which is supposed to be able to replace Fireball rotationally while moving), then we delay the removal of Heating Up by 0.25 sec.

Death Knight
Death Knights and Upcoming Nerfs
I posted recently in the large class balance theorycrafting thread that we have buffed the mitigation and rage generation of Guardian druids and Protection warriors. After some more analysis, we don't think DKs and monks needed additional nerfs to be on par with paladins, who were our target.