I logged into my stress test beta account to see if somehow magically I could get access, and the latest 600 MB downloaded and installed. My hopes were high, thinking that if I had the patch they would think I was in the closed beta...no such luck. But I did capture the patch notes:
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- Patch 0.10.0 (2004-9-16)
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High End Locations added
- Two new high-level instance dungeons - Stratholme and Blackrock Spire –
and three exterior zones – Winterspring, Western Plaguelands, and
Eastern Plaguelands – have been introduced to Azeroth.
- Stratholme is geared toward level 55-60 players and is located in the
northern part of Eastern Plaguelands.
- Blackrock Spire is a 53-60 dungeon located within Blackrock Mountain
that lies between Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes. Roughly 80% of the
dungeon is tuned for a single group of level 55-60 players. The top
20% of the dungeon is tuned for a very "uber" group of five, or more
likely 10, level 60 players.
- Winterspring is exterior level 55-60 zone to the East/Northeast of
Felwood through Timbermaw Hold. The goblin city of Everlook is located
in Winterspring.
- Western and Eastern Plaguelands have also been added. The city of
Anderhol, the origin of the plague is located in Western Plaguelands.
- Quests and monsters are near completion for Winterspring and Western
Plaguelands. Eastern Plaguelands is still undergoing further work.
Raid Groups
- Raid group functionality is now available. Raid groups will be able
to fight together in instance dungeons and work together to
accomplish tasks too difficult for five member groups. Once a group
reaches five members, it can be converted into a raid group. Raid
groups can support up to 40 members and can be accessed by opening the
Raid group tab in the Social window. Not all raid group functionality
is complete. However, we encourage our players to try it out and give
us feedback on the new feature through the /suggest function.
- The Deeprun Tram opens!
- The Gnomish Engineering Corps has been hard at work building a subway
to connect the great cities of Ironforge and Stormwind City. Final
work on this new mass transit system was completed recently, allowing
us to announce the Grand Opening of the Deeprun Tram! Two trains make
round trip runs between Stormwind City and Ironforge regularly,
allowing quick and easy access to all your shopping and training needs.
If you happen to miss a train, you only need to wait a few minutes
for a new one to appear. We only ask that you be careful during
your trip as the run out of the tunnel can be long and uneventful
should you happen to fall off the tram during transit.
Trades Skills become Professions
- Most trade skills are being renamed to "professions," and the way in
which players acquire and learn them is changing. You will no longer
learn different professions by paying for them with skill points.
You'll still learn them by speaking to the appropriate profession
trainer. However, players will now be restricted to learning two
professions. We decided to change the skill system to make it simpler,
balanced, and more intuitive. The new system should allow everyone to
participate in one to two professions, and create a much more vibrant
market for goods generated from professions.
- The professions are: alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting, engineering,
herbalism, mining, leatherworking, skinning, and tailoring.
- Several old trade skills are being turned into secondary skills.
These do not count toward your two-profession limit, so players can
learn all three secondary skills, in addition to their two
professions, without restriction. The survival skill is being removed
and campfires have been folded into the cooking profession.
- The secondary skills are: cooking, fishing, and first aid.
No More Skill Points
- With the changes to trade skills, skill points (SP) will be removed
from the game,and currency will be used instead to train skills
formerly based on SP.
- Mount trainers will now require you to have a certain level of
reputation with their respective city in order to acquire a mount.
- Characters that had trained in more than two professions have had
excess
professions randomly removed to meet the two profession restriction.
Level Cap Raised
- The level cap has been increased to 60. Some new zones, quests,
items, and content have been added to accommodate the level increase.
Talent System
- Druid and Shaman talents are now available. Druids and Shamans can
now utilize the talent interface by pressing the “Talents” button next
to the “Spellbook and Abilities” button, or by pressing the “N”
default hotkey. Talents become available (to classes that currently
have talents) to players starting at level 10.
- Certain talents have had their potency increased or decreased.
- Locations of talents in the talent trees have changed.
- Functionality of certain talents has been modified.
- New talents have been added to some of the existing talent trees.
Professions
- The level requirements for the Gnome and Goblin engineering quests
have been adjusted downward.
- Blacksmithing recipes added up to skill 300. There are no recipe
s on the trainer past skill 250. You need to do quests or find drops
to get those recipes.
- Additional blacksmithing specializations added. Weaponsmiths can
become Swordsmiths, Axesmiths, or Hammersmiths.
- Players who already have either blacksmithing specialization,
weaponsmith or armorsmith, will continue to be able to make those
recipes that they already know. However, to learn further recipes
in those specializations, they will need to complete the weaponsmith
or armorsmith quest, respectively.
- Time required to make high-end profession items significantly
reduced.
- Essences, dusts and shards have had their vendor sell price set to
zero.
- Bandaging operates differently than it used to. Bandages now are
channel cast and heal over time. If the player bandaging or the
player being bandaged is struck in combat, the bandaging effect ends.
Either way the target still gets the "recently bandaged" debuff.
- Enchanters can now enchant leather and thorium (needed for some
high-end blacksmithing recipes and soon other high-end recipes in
other professions).
- Alchemists can now transmute thorium and arcane crystals into
arcanite. This is the only way to acquire this rare material.
- Stats on a number of tailored items have been improved.
- A number of new higher level cooking recipes added.
- Merchant purchase/sale price of herbs significantly increased.
- Alchemist’s Stone has become Philosophers’ Stone.
- Tailoring recipes improved or reagents required reduce for
many recipes.
- UI added to professions to allow making of multiple profession
items at once.
- Cindercloth robe fixed so it now requires Heart of Fire instead
of Essence of Fire.
- Stoneshield potion significantly improved.
- If you attempt to learn a recipe you already know, you will now
see a message that says you already know it.
- A number of engineering devices did not have the correct bind
type set and are now bind on equip or bind on acquire.
- Stats on the Smoking Heart of the Mountain changed
- Spears cannot be enchanted with 2H Weapon-only enchantments
- Fist Weapons can now be enchanted (bug fixed).
- Mithril Shield Spike damage slightly reduced, Thorium Shield
Spike (more powerful crafted item) added.
- The Gnomish engineering Net-o-Matic will now fail more often
and in a new way as well.
- A number of engineering items had tools/anvil required to create
them (fixing bugs).
- Scorpid Scale drops for leatherworking increased (Drop rate
doubled).
- Wastewanders in Tanaris now have a much higher chance of dropping
the Scorpid Leather recipes.
- A number of new uncommon weapons/armors have been added to
vendors around the world
- New daggers have been added to blacksmithing.
- Dreamless Sleep potion added to alchemy.
- Reagents required for some alchemy potions changed.
- Reagents for some blacksmithing items changed.
- Old enchanting reagents removed from vendors (they should have
been removed last push).
- Gemology has been removed (with hopes it will make a return
someday).
Factions and Reputation
- The Horde and Alliance are each comprised of four races,
and each is considered its own faction. They are displayed
under the appropriate Horde or Alliance header.
- Factions are now displayed with appropriate headers in the
Reputation UI.
- Factions that do not fall into a larger group are labeled
under the "Other" header.
- The factions of the opposing side are always at the lowest
reputation level of Hated, and are always locked in the “At War”
state.
- Players have a bonus to their starting reputation with their own
race’s faction.
- Forsaken players have lower-than-normal starting reputation with
allied Troll, Tauren, and Orc factions.
- Troll, Tauren, and Orc players have lower-than-normal starting
reputation with the Forsaken.
- You cannot declare war on your own side.
Auction Houses
- The layouts of the Orgrimmar and Ironforge auction houses have
changed slightly.
- The auction house in Booty Bay has been moved to Gadgetzan.
Quests
- Range weapons have been added as quest rewards for newbie zones
that Hunters can start out in.
- Several new blacksmithing quests have been added.
- The quest *Death from Below* in Arathi Highlands was temporarily
disabled.
- Several new epic item quests have been added.
- Dungeon quest rewards have been revamped. Quests that involve
the more difficult encounters of a given dungeon have had their
rewards boosted.
- Added a third Sparklematic 5200 to Gnomeregan, and fixed the
issue that had both previous ones animating at the same time.
- Lowered the cost of improving the Brilliant Gold Ring in the
"Return of the Ring" quest series. The improved ring should
also now be strictly better than the Brilliant Gold Ring.
- Removed the random spawn location of Scrimshank's surveying
gear in "The Scrimshank Redemption."
- Players should no longer receive the option to take part once
more in the "Essence of Eranikus" quest line once they have
started on it.
- Cenarion Circle Caches no longer give a coin award.
- Evergreen Pouches, not Packets of Tharlendris Seeds, are now
the device used to make Morrowgrain. Using a pouch creates an
Evergreen Herb Casing, which when opened reveals what herb is
made.
- Evergreen Pouches now require that you have a Packet of
Tharlendris Seeds and two Un'Goro Soil samples to use.
- Evergreen Pouches have a cooldown time of 10 minutes on
usage.
- The potential herbs drawn from a Sealed Evergreen Pouch have
been modified to include a broader range of herbs. As a result,
players will not be getting high-end herbs as often on pouch
usages.
- Scalding Mornbrew is now removed from the inventory five minutes
after receiving it.
- Two new Warlock class quest series added for players in their
mid 30s ending with two very nice items.
Zones
- The Barrens has had more rework done on their quests to make the
area more player-friendly and to elaborate on the story behind
the area.
- Thousand Needles has had more quests and zone rework done. Horde
players should find this a much healthier alternative to Hillsbrad
Foothills to explore and do more quests.
- Desolace has also had a facelift and should be getting more quests
soon.
- Two new crypts have been added to Ravenhill Cemetary.
- Ironbeard’s Tomb in Wetlands is now a one room, Dwarven-built
mausoleum.
- More quests added to Felwood and Darkshore.
Public Transportation
New Flight Paths
- Alliance Flight Path from Auberdine to Moonglade
- Alliance Flight Path from Moonglade to Winterspring
- Horde Flight Path from Azshara to Winterspring
- The Horde flight path node in Desolace has been moved to
Shadowprey Village in the southwest of the zone.
New World Travel
- Alliance Boat from Menethil to Theramore and back
- Alliance Boat from Menethil to Auberdine and back
- Alliance Boat from Rut'theran Village at the base of Teldrassil
to Auberdine
Because of these changes, players now do not start with any flight
node other than their starting city. On the Alliance side, Night
Elves get Auberdine, Dwarves and Gnomes get Ironforge, and Humans get
Stormwind. On the Horde side, Tauren get Thunder Bluff, Orcs and
Trolls get Orgrimmar,and Undead get Undercity.
Pets
- Pets that are dead when you log out do not come back when you log in.
- Beasts that are tamed will respawn normally.
PVP
- The Arena in Stranglethorn is now flagged for Free For All PvP.
- You can heal PvP flagged NPCs, and you will be flagged for PvP.
- Party members participating in PvP have light green names.
- Pets and totems will no longer attack PvP-flagged players if you're
not in PvP.
- Casting spells against higher-level players will have significantly
reduced chances to be resisted (better chance for the spell to
succeed).
Interface
- You can now use jump in water to swim upwards.
- Vendor shopping tool tips - when you tool tip over an item you will
get the item tool tip AND the tool tip of your currently equipped
item of the same type.
- Buyback from vendors has been implemented. If you accidentally sell
an item you had not intended, you can now buy it back for the same
price it was sold. You can only buyback the last item you vendored.
- Functionality to equip items by right-clicking them from your
inventory has been added.
- Talent UI has been updated in a few ways. Note: The "greyed-out"
versions of talent buttons are using temporary "greyed-out" art.
- Autoloot is in. Just Shift-Right Click on a corpse or chest to
autoloot it. This will NOT autoloot bind-on-acquire items.
- When mini-map arrows are stacked on top of each other, you will
now see the tool tips for everything there. (When four party
members are all at the same location, you will see all four of
their names).
Updates to Classes
Druids
- Cower no longer generates a combo point; energy cost reduced.
- Demoralizing Roar effect reduced at higher ranks.
- Track Humanoids now lasts until canceled, like other tracking
abilities.
Hunters
- Pets have increased stats, damage, and armor.
- Tamed elite mobs no longer deal extra damage.
- Pets now properly scale to appropriate sizes.
- Creatures in the world know a few new pet abilities. You can
learn them by taming certain beasts and letting them use such
abilities. Once you learn them, you can teach them to other
pets.
- Concussive Shot duration has been increased.
- Beast Taming has been renamed to Tame Beast.
- Feed Pet is now an ability, not a spell.
- Viper Sting mana damage has been increased.
Mages
- Arcane Intellect INT boost decreased to offset the increased mana
pool per INT point. (Effectiveness will remain the same.)
- Counterspell interrupt duration has been reduced.
- Dwarves can no longer be mages, however all existing Dwarf
mages in beta can remain.
Paladins
- Auras now appear above the hotkey bar.
Priests
- Holy Word: Fortitude stamina boost has been increased slightly;
no longer scales with level.
- Divine Spirit spirit boost has been increased.
(This is a talent.)
Rogues
- Feint energy cost has been reduced.
- Kick interrupt duration has been reduced.
Shamans
- Flametongue Weapon now always procs, but damage depends on
weapon speed.
- Flametongue Totem moved to level 28, now always procs, but damage
depends on weapon speed.
- Frostbrand Weapon: Levels at which each rank can be learned have
been changed; now procs equally frequently for all weapon speeds.
- Magma Totem moved to level 26.
- Rockbiter Weapon: Levels at which each rank can be learned have
been changed.
- Stoneskin Totem effect slightly reduced.
- Windfury Weapon: Levels at which each rank can be learned have
been changed.
- Windfury Totem: Levels at which each rank can be learned have
been changed.
- Windwall Totem effect slightly reduced.
Warlocks
- Curse of Tongues duration has been increased.
- Curse of Weakness effect has been slightly reduced.
- Eye of Killrogg change: The eye is now stealthed, moves slower,
has 1 hp, and doesn't cause aggro for the warlock if it is
detected.
Warriors
- Charge is no longer usable during combat. Stun duration component
has been reduced, rage generation changes with each rank.
- Demoralizing Shout effect is now reduced at higher ranks.
- Pummel has had its interrupt duration reduced.
- Shield Bash has had its interrupt duration reduced; cooldown
timer has been increased.
Items
- Items that boost spell damage and healing will now affect each
spell to varying degrees.
- Food and drink has been rebalanced for the new mana and
health recovery rates.
- Item sets have been implemented. Wearing more pieces of an
item set will convey more bonuses to your character. Only a
very small number of item sets have been created for this push
but there are more to come.
- Many blue and purple items have had their level requirements
changed.
- Random properties have been added to several uncommon weapons
and their fixed stats have been removed. Unfortunately, this
means that several existing uncommon weapons have had their
stats removed.
- Several armor pieces have been upgraded from common to uncommon.
This will greatly reduce the chance of obtaining a common item
from a lockbox.
- More uncommon store-bought items have been added to various
vendors throughout the world.
- Circle of Flame has been updated with a new effect.
- Some weapons have had their damage reduced.
- New cloak art has been added.
- Some dungeon quest rewards have been significantly improved.
- Glinting Scale items have been renamed to Lambent Scale to
distinguish it from Glimmering Mail.
- The Drakes in Sunken Temple have had their drop rates increased.
new items have been added to their loot tables as well.
- Linken’s Boomerang has been updated with a new effect. It’s really
a boomerang now!
- Flame Wrath has been updated with a new effect.
- Uther’s Strength is now a trinket.
- Band of Thorns now has stats.
- Added a wand reward to The People’s Militia quest in Westfall.
- Added a cloth reward to Red Leather Bandanas quest in Elwynn.
- Added a cloth reward to Proof of Demise quest in Tirisfal Glades.
- Items that increase damage to all magic schools now increase healing
spell effectiveness as well.
- Items that give attack power bonuses now give range attack power
bonuses as well.
- Items that increase defense have had their numbers increased.
- Items that increase weapon skill have had their numbers reduced.
- Items with "Chance On Hit" damage effects have been rebalanced.
In most cases, their damage numbers have gone up.
- Caster weapons (items with +int and +spirit) have had their damage
reduced.
- Trinkets have gone through a rebalance and polish pass.
- Dragon’s Call now summons one level-55 Emerald Dragon Whelp
instead of three level-40 ones.
- Skull of Impending Doom has been modified to be a right-click
effect instead of a passive effect and the speed boost has
been lowered.
- Faintly Glowing Skull no longer casts Resurrection and now has
a different effect.
Miscellaneous
- Hit points gained from STA has been increased, while base hit
points have been decreased. Overall, hit point pools should be
roughly the same.
- If you tell your pet to attack a creature, it won't be distracted
unless taunted.
- Mana and health regeneration gained from spirit has been improved.
- Changes made to what mounts are available at vendors, and faster
level-60 mounts have been added. Level-60 mounts are very expensive
to purchase however.
- Mounts now just cost money (not skill points to learn). To gain
the ability to ride the mount of another race in your faction you
need to improve your reputation with that race. However, the
reputation part of the system is not fully completed.
- Mana now does not regenerate for the five seconds after you cast a
spell.
- Mana pool per INT point has been increased. (this should result
in an increase in mana pool size for most characters)
- Food/drink effectiveness has been increased.
- Lost Ones in Swamp of Sorrows can now be pickpocketed.
- Raid groups of six players or more will not receive a group
experience bonus.
- Experience gain from instance dungeons has been increased.
- Far sight and Eagle Eye can only be used outdoors.
- You will now get bounty credit if you die and do not release
your spirit. For example, if you are on the Leaders of the Fang Quest
and die while fighting a Fang Leader, you will still get credit for
the kill if your party kills the leader before you release your spirit.
- Flip controls have been added so that you can quickly look behind your
character in case you're being chased by monsters (bound to Y).
- You will get a message if your fishing skill is too low to catch
anything.
- You can backstab fleeing creatures again.
- It is easier to flee from groups of creatures.
- Using traps will not reduce XP awarded for kills.
- Creatures with ranged weapons will keep shooting you after special
shots.
- You start resting when you take a flight path into cities.
- You can now log out anytime you have control of your character.
- You can't duel players you can attack normally.
- Guard posts no longer send all their reinforcements at once.
- Escorts and guards will now function more intelligently to protect
players.
- Drunkenness is saved when you log out and fades over 15 minutes.
- You weave when you walk if you are drunk.
- You are able to use out-of-combat abilities much more quickly after
combat.
- Items with procs are currently already using time-based procs. Their
proc frequencies are entered as the number of desired procs per minute,
and their
actual per-swing proc chances are calculated from that using the
weapon's speed.
Bug Fixes
- Resurrection Sickness now correctly accounts for items and buffs.
- Fixed a missing gossip text bug for Maybess Riverbreeze in Felwood.
- A missing XP reward has been associated to the "Bring the Light" quest.
- A number of capitalization errors in various Silithid quests have been
corrected.
- A number of quest items that were not unique have been made such.
- The holograms in the treasure room of Uldaman should be functioning
properly once more.
- Fixed an erroneously copied description in the "Rescue OOX-22/FE!"
quest.
- The Thunder Bluff leatherworker trainer no longer introduces herself
as the trainer for Darnassus. Silly trainer.
- Creatures will stop chasing Hunters and Warlocks again.
- Creatures will not attack the warlock that summons Eye Of Killrog.
- Creatures that are immobilized or killed will stay on the ground.
- Warriors won't get stuck if they are stunned while charging.
- You can't Blink through doors.
- You can't select units behind hills.
- Creatures no longer despawn due to pathing failures.
- Creatures will regenerate health and mana while evading.
- Groups of creatures will no longer ambush you on their way back
from combat.
- Periodic healing spells generate the correct amount of threat.
- Fixed a problem where your character would turn to the north when
your camera was turned from the default view when right-clicking
on game objects.
- Astral Recall and Hearthstones no longer share the same cooldown.
- Eye of Killrogg no longer should transfer aggro to caster.
- Non-projectile items will no longer go into quivers.
- Totem of Infliction, Girdle of Reprisal, and Vile Protector trigger
10% of the time instead of 100%.
- Life drain effects have been fixed so that they hit one target.
- Fixed a bug that was causing bags to drop at a much higher rate
than they were supposed to.
- Items that increase healing have been fixed so that they will
actually increase the amount of healing a caster does.
- Fixed a bug that made some items unusable when under the effect
of Silence.
- Items that increase crit percentage no longer stack.
- Purple Lotus stacks to 20 now.
Mac Update
- The minimum system requirement for the Mac World of Warcraft client
has been moved from OS X v10.3.4 to OS X v10.3.5. The game will
not run on an earlier version of the operating system. Version
10.3.5 is a free online upgrade for the base 10.3 OS product.
You can download the upgrade by selecting the Software Update
menu option under the Apple menu. The change was made due to
required GPU-driver fixes in the Mac OS version required by
World of Warcraft.
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- Patch 0.9.1 (2004-08-23)
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- Applies some changes to the current patcher tool.
- Fixed not being able to use GM petition categories.
- Fixed several Win9x floating point exception crashes.
- Speed improvement to some character texture loading.
- Certain mobs that were not able to defend themselves will now fight back.
- Being attacked will no longer knock you out of plains running
- Arcane missiles only get a chance at the free cast on the first missile instead of every missile.
- There was a bug with rogue ability Riposte. The UI might still be incorrect.
- Damage for Shaman Fire Totem was incorrect. Should be correct now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Patch 0.9.0 (2004-08-15)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hunters
- The Hunter Class is now available to test! Hunters track, tame, and slay all
manner of animals and beasts found in the wild. Whether they rely on bows or
firearms, Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true
friends. Races allowed to become Hunters are the Night Elf, Dwarf, Orc,
Tauren, and Troll races.
- Hunters are great for pulling monsters as they are able to set traps that
hinder monsters that the Hunters pull to attack. Hunters are also able
to use various beast-related special abilities, take on bestial traits
that allow them to do things that they could not do normally, use a wide
variety of ranged attacks complimented by a few melee abilities, and the
ability to control and tame beasts.
- Hunters are closely related to their pets and must remember to always keep
their pet’s happiness in mind. When using a pet, Hunters will notice an
icon in the top left corner of their screen that depicts their pet’s level
of happiness. The more Hunters use their pets, the lower their pet’s level
of happiness will become. Hunters should always remember to feed their pets
to raise their pet’s level of happiness or worry about their pet abandoning
them or even attacking the Hunter! Hunters are also the only class able to
name their pets.
- The Hunter can use the following weapons: Axes, Daggers, Guns or Bows,
Crossbows (with training), Fist Weapons (with training), Spears
(with training), Staves (with training), Swords (with training), Thrown
(with training), Two-Handed Axes (with training), Two-Handed Swords
(with training). The Hunter can use the following: armor: Cloth, Leather,
Shields, and Mail (at level 40, with training).
- Boats and Zeppelins Our first pass at Boats and Zeppelins have been added to
the world in two locations. A boat has been added between Booty Bay and
Ratchet, and a Zeppelin has been added between Orgrimmar and Tirisfal.
A second zeppelin has also been added between Grom'gol and Orgrimmar.
The round trip on all three of these new transports is around five minutes,
with a pause at each destination of one minute each. If you do miss a
transport, you will have a very short wait before it returns. If you log
out or crash during your journey, you will log back in on the same transport
as you logged out on, though you will likely be at a different location along
its path. Because this was the original intention for our world travel, the
instant teleport NPC's have been removed. Please do not jump off of Boats
and/or Zeppelins when riding them. Keep in mind that the Goblin Transit
Authority is not responsible for accidents of this nature and you may land
in a place where you cannot reach your corpse.
Talent System
- Talents are now available for the Priest and Rogue classes! Priest and Rogue
players can now utilize the talent interface by using the "Talents" button
which resides next to the "Spellbook and Abilities" button, or by pressing
the "N" default hotkey.
- Talents for other classes will continue to be added as the beta progresses.
Please note that all Mages and Warriors have had their talent points refunded.
You will now start earning talent points at level 10.
- Finally, for the duration of the beta, you will be able to find an NPC in each
city that will allow you to reset your talent points and experiment with
different talent paths. (Note: this option is ONLY available in the beta).
Level Cap Raised
- The level cap has been increased to 55. New zones, quests, items and content
have been added to accommodate the level increase.
Item Stats Changed
- Items have had a major overhaul. Armor values, damage, stats and resists have
been modified to reflect current play balance. Some items have also had their
level requirements changed. Items that were subjected to this change and
that were equipped on a character prior to the Patch have been placed in the
character's bag. If a character did not have space in the its bags, please make
room for that characters bags and relog in.
* Several axes, swords and maces were changed from main hand only to either
hand for dual-wielding purposes.
* Horned Viking Helmet has been updated with a new effect.
* Cursed Eye of Paleth has had its Shadow requirement removed.
* Eye of Paleth has had its Holy requirement removed.
* Witch Doctor Zum’rah should always drop something good now.
* First Mate’s Hat can now drop off any pirate in Stranglethorn instead of
just from Pretty Boy Duncan.
* Quivers and ammo pouches have been modified. They now have more slots and
will increase attack speed when using a gun or bow.
* Stoneslayer is no longer Warrior only.
* Deathblow is no longer Warrior only.
* Six Demon Bag has been revamped.
* Look for new attributes on items with random properties.
* Wolfshead Helm changed to give AE silence instead of taunt.
Sharing Quests
- You can now share your quests with your entire party. In order to utilize
this option, you need to open your quest log, select a quest and press the
“Share Quest” button. All members of your party will now be presented with
the quest like you were the quest giver NPC.
Some restrictions
* You can only share with party members
* Party members must be nearby when you share
* Party members must meet the pre-requisites of the quest itself. For
example, if you are on step 2 of a quest and your friend is still on
step 1, you could not give him a “short-cut” to step 2.
* Quests generated from items cannot be shared.
New Micro-Dungeon Designs
- The Level Designers have gone in to the game and redesigned some of the
Goldmine and Mushroom Cave Micro-Dungeons. Players can now find these
redesigned Micro-Dungeons in both Alliance and Horde lands.
- Goldmines in Hillsbrad, Mulgore, and Blasted Lands have been redesigned.
- Mushroom Caves in Searing Gorge, Wetlands, Western Plaguelands, Felwood,
Hinterlands, Swamp of Sorrows, Arathi Highlands, Ungoro Crater,
Deadwind Pass, Stranglethorn and Redridge have been redesigned.
Be sure to visit all of these areas to see exactly which Micro-Dungeons
have been redesigned!
Major Changes: (detailed information for each above)
* Hunter Class
* Boats and Zeppelins
* Talent System
* Level Cap Raised
* Item Stats Changed
* Sharing Quests
* New Micro-Dungeon Designs
General
* With the addition of the Hunter class, Tracking has been removed from
general trainers in the world. It is now available to Hunters only;
they may train in it at Hunter class trainers.
* Tracking of all types now works until canceled, but you can only have
one type of tracking working at a time (Herb Finding, Mineral Finding,
Sense Undead, etc)
* Wand use is no longer prevented when silenced. They are now prevented in
all the same situations melee is prevented.
* All instant cast, non-channeled spells can now be cast while moving.
* Pet commands should now feel more responsive in many situations. For
example, if you command your imp pet to go into passive mode it will stop
casting firebolt and enter passive mode.
* Wand damage should now be reduced by resistance in the appropriate school.
* Spellcasting now has diminishing interrupt time. Each successful hit after
the first will set the spell being cast back less each time to a minimum of
.2 seconds. First hit 1 second, second hit .8 seconds, third hit .6 seconds
fourth hit .4 seconds, fifth and all successive hits .2 seconds.
* Interrupt spells/abilities (e.g. Kick, Shield Bash, Counterspell) will now
interrupt channeled spells.
* All pets should now use player combat formulas rather than monster combat
formulas.
* A new "Ammo Slot" has been added to the character screen. Ammo must be
placed in this slot in order to use a ranged weapon (bow, gun, and crossbow).
Only ammo placed in this slot, and any like it in your bags, will be used.
Other types of ammo will not be used.
* Ammo will be fired from a quiver, ammo pouch or any other bag. Quivers
and ammo pouches are no longer required.
* When you right-click ammo in your bag/quiver, it will place the ammo in
the "Ammo Slot".
* You can no longer eat or drink while in combat.
* You are now considered “in-combat” if any nearby monster is engaged with
you.
* Found and fixed a bug where some channeled spells were fully interrupted
by the first hit (e.g. Arcane Missiles, Drain Soul, and Health Funnel).
* You are automatically flagged for PvP when you enter enemy cities.
* All totems should now be immune to area effect spells once again.
* Slow spells affect creatures immediately instead of stopping them.
* Summons and pets no longer attack their last target after they die.
* Holy Resistance has been replaced with Arcane Resistance.
* Smoothed out Health and Mana levels for all classes.
* Level 40 Armor Proficiencies are now available on class trainers for a
monetary training cost. They no longer cost skill points.
* Lock picking secondary skill removed.
* Spell interruption spells/abilities will now interrupt the entire school of
magic for the duration. For Example, using Kick against a mage casting
fireball, will prevent Fireball, Fireblast, Scorch and all other fire spells
from being cast for the kick's duration.
Druid
* Tiger's Fury damage should now scale properly when used with Shred and
Ravage.
* Faerie Fire will now stack with other armor reducing debuffs.
* Entangling Roots should no longer end early based on damage caused by
itself.
* When in Bear Form, Dire Bear Form, Cat Form, Travel Form or Aquatic Form,
the druid is now considered a Beast.
* Travel Form is no longer useable underwater.
* Shape shifting will no longer cancel all buffs on the Druid.
* Shape shifting cooldown reduced from 10 to 1.5 seconds.
* Play Dead has been removed.
* Druids now regenerate mana while in shape shift form.
* When shape shifting into and out of Bear/Dire Bear forms, you should
now end with the same % of health as you had in the previous form.
* Bear Form’s armor increased.
* Dire Bear Form’s melee damage increased.
* Bear Form and Dire Bear Form mana cost slightly reduced.
* Cat Form mana cost slightly reduced, energy now starts generating
immediately.
* Growl taunt effectiveness reduced.
* Aquatic Form mana cost now scales with level, speed no longer changes
with level.
* Travel Form mana cost now scales with level.
* Healing Touch mana cost reduced.
* Starfire mana cost reduced.
* Thorns mana cost reduced for early ranks, raised for later ranks.
Mage
* New spell: Slow Fall (Level 12)
* Ice Armor and Frost Armor should no longer stack.
* Frost Armor and Ice Armor chill effects reduced in effectiveness.
* The Chilled effects from Ice Armor and Frost Armor should no longer stack.
* Polymorphed targets will now wander a short radius around where they
were polymorphed. They will no longer return to where they were first
attacked and wander from there. Note that they may still wander off if
the duration lasts long enough, so keep an eye on your sheep.
* Cone of Cold area of effect has been widened at its base, so it should
be much easier to use on targets that are close to the Mage.
* Arcane Missiles can no longer be cast if silenced.
* Arcane Explosion should now be causing the damage listed in the tool-tip.
* Lesser Invisibility, Invisibility and Greater Invisibility removed.
* Blink no longer will allow you to teleport past doors.
* Khadgar's Unlocking removed.
* Portal mana costs increased.
* Fire and Frost Ward duration reduced, cooldown increased.
* Frost Nova duration reduced, cooldown increased.
* Frostbolt cast time reduced, damage and mana cost reduced accordingly,
slowing effect reduced.
* Pyroblast levels adjusted, damage reduced, mana cost increased, cooldown
increased, range reduced.
* Blink (Rank 2) and Blink (Rank 3) removed.
Mage Talents
* Training costs have been added to replacements for the following spells
- Pyroblast
- Blast Wave
- Ice Barrier
* Frostbite freeze effects can be dispelled.
* The strike bonus given by Critical Mass has been reduced.
* The damage that Fire Power does has been reduced.
* 75% of the damage that pyroblast does is now up-front, 25% of it is DOT.
* Permafrost duration reduced.
* Added an additional 3 ranks to Ice Shards.
* Removed one rank of Improved Frost Bolt.
* Chance that Frostbite affects a target has been reduced.
* Frostbite duration slightly increased.
* Removed 2 ranks of Winter's Chill.
* Ice Block duration slightly increased.
* Ice Block is now a buff instead of a debuff (you can cancel it).
* Mana penalty from using Arcane Power has been slightly reduced.
* Reduced cooldown on Presence of Mind.
* Presence of Mind now only works on mage spells with a cast time of
< 10 seconds.
* Reduced cooldown on Evocation.
* Reduced effect chance on Arcane Concentration.
* Increased effect of Improved Blink.
* Reduced effect of Improved Dampen Magic.
* Added Arcane Instability talent.
* Mana reduction from Frost Channeling has been reduced.
Paladin
* New Spell: Summon Warhorse (Level 40). Attainable via quest.
* Turn Undead now has a short cast time.
* Judgment now has a short cast time.
* New Proficiency: Two-Handed Axes.
Priest
* Lesser Heal, Heal, Greater Heal mana cost reduced.
* Holy Word: Shield duration reduced.
* Mind Blast now has a short cast time.
* Holy Smite cast time slightly increased, damage reduced, mana cost reduced.
* Holy Protection removed.
* Holy Word: Shield can now only be used once per 30 seconds per target.
* Psychic Scream now has a chance to break when the feared target is damaged.
Rogue
* Expose Armor no longer stacks with Sundering Strike (Sunder Armor), but
will now stack with Faerie Fire.
* Spellcasting against a Rogue that successfully uses Vanish will now be
interrupted.
* Blind now cancels combat when used.
* Dual Wield no longer requires skill points to purchase. It is available
on Rogue trainers at level 10 for a monetary training cost.
* Distract moved to level 22.
* New Ability: Detect Traps (Level 24).
* New Ability: Disarm Trap (Level 30).
* Now only rogues may train in Lock Picking, which they will do from their
Rogue class trainers.
Shaman
* Mana Font Totem renamed Mana Spring Totem.
* New Spell: Chain Heal (Levels 40, 46, 54).
* When in Ghost Wolf form, the shaman is now considered a Beast.
* Frost Shock slowing effect will now obey the standard stacking rules.
* Lightning Shock spell removed.
* Stoneskin Totem now reduces melee damage only, not ranged attacks.
* Chain Lightning cast time slightly reduced, damage increased, now deals
less damage to each target after the first.
* Earthbind Totem initial effect should no longer be heavily resisted.
* Fire Nova Totem now generates less threat.
* Flametongue Weapon replacements adjusted.
* Flametongue Totem replacements adjusted.
* Frostbrand Weapon slow effect reduced, damage increased, replacements
adjusted.
* Lightning Bolt cast time reduced, damage and mana cost reduced
accordingly, replacements adjusted.
* Molten Blast removed.
* Purge moved to level 14.
* Rockbiter Weapon replacements adjusted.
* Water Breathing moved to level 22.
* Windfury Weapon moved to level 30, replacements adjusted, effect
simplified.
* Windfury Totem replacements adjusted, effect simplified.
* New Spell: Windwall Totem (Level 36, 46, 56)
* Stoneskin Totem’s damage reduction slightly reduced at higher levels.
Warlock
* Demon Breath renamed Unending Breath.
* Sacrificial Shield (Voidwalker) renamed Sacrifice.
* Summon Nightmare cast time decreased to be in line with other mount
summoning spells.
* Nightmare renamed Felsteed.
* Felsteed no longer purchased at the trainer, but rewarded via quest.
* Found and fixed a bug that caused the cost per second of Health Funnel
to be higher than it should be.
* A failed Ritual of Summoning should no longer cost a soul shard.
* Shadow Ward duration reduced, cooldown increased.
* Curse of Weakness effect reduced at higher levels.
Warrior
* Strike renamed Heroic Strike.
* Punishing Blow renamed Mocking Blow.
* Sundering Strike renamed Sunder Armor.
* Sunder Armor no longer stacks with Expose Armor, but will now stack with
Faerie Fire.
* Recklessness now has a percent based armor reduction, but using it makes
you immune to all fear effects for the duration.
* Dual Wield no longer requires skill points to purchase. It is available
on Warrior trainers at level 20 for a monetary training cost.
* Intimidating Shout now has a chance to break when the feared target is
damaged.
* Charge range changed to 8-25 yards.
* Charge minimum range reduced to 8 yards.
* Charge can now be done during combat, but the target must still be within
the 8-25 yard range.
* Taunt effectiveness reduced.
Warrior Talents:
* Enrage now has a max duration
* Enrage triggers off being hit with a critical hit now, damage increases
with the rank of the talent.
* Removed attack speed bonus from enrage.
* Reduced enrage damage bonus slightly.
* Flurry speed slightly reduced.
* Moved enrage/flurry/cruelty, changed pre-requisites for each.
* Reduced rage bonus for Improved Heroic Strike.
* Mortal Strike now has a cooldown, damage has also been reduced.
* Rage bonus for Improved Charge reduced.
* Tactical mastery points distributed evenly. Players will no longer
experience “diminishing returns” from putting more points into the talent.
* Slightly reduced the damage bonus given by 2-handed weapon specialization.
* Improved the Anticipation talent.
* Increased the amount of ranks you can have in Improved Disarm by 3.
* Reduced strength of combat endurance.
* Increased duration of Improved Battle Shout.
* Reduced Deep Wounds damage.
* Improved Hamstring slightly improved. (Note: base Hamstring ability has
been slightly reduced)
* Improved Pummel is no longer a pre-req for Improved Overpower.
* Reduced chance to gain rage from Unbridled Wrath
* Changed Taunt to improve the effectiveness of Taunt rather than reduce
the rage cost.
Quests
* Ormer's Revenge has been changed slightly to accommodate spawn changes to
the area.
* Hungry! quest requirements were dropped from 20 to 12.
* Nothing but The Truth: Adjusted the Mire Lord's level down to 42. Reduced
the number of panther hearts required to 5.
* More quests improved and added to the Barrens.
* More quests added to the newbie zones (Northshire, Valley of Trials, etc).
* New exterior zones quested: Ungoro Crater, Felwood, and Burning Steppes.
* Several other changes were made to the Fallen Hero of the Horde quest-line.
* New dungeon quested: Blackrock Depths.
* NPCs following the party on a quest will follow another player if the one
they are following dies.
* Bugs in The Missing Diplomat quest line have been fixed. Private Hendel
should no longer remain in his stuck position.
* The Unsent Letter quest-line from VanCleef has had a portion of it made
more “group friendly.” Specifically, the portion of the quest that takes
place in the castle is now an escort so it can be done a group at a time
instead of on an individual basis.
* Shattered Necklace Power Source should now drop for all players on both
sides of the Uldaman necklace quest series.
* The extraneous necklace requirement for the Alliance version of the
Shattered Necklace quest in Uldaman has been removed.
* Mysterious Relic should now drop for all players on the Against the
Hate Crest series.
* Felix Whindlebolt’s box in Dun Morogh should be much easier to find.
* Belnizstrasz’s quest in Razorfen Downs had the item collection step
removed.
* The Stone Watcher of Norgannon in Tanaris has been changed to stay
around longer and re-spawn much faster.
Fixed several bugs with Blasted Lands Quests:
* Kum'isha the Collector will no longer stop functioning after someone hands
in a Flawless Draenethyst Sphere.
* The Stones that Bind Us has been changed to give group credit. NPC
Servants have had their spawn points altered. Kirith was moved.
* Be careful hunting in Blasted Lands as Teremus the Devourer will be much
more aggressive.
Dungeons
Wailing Caverns changes:
* Deviate Crocolisks are now non-elite and no longer respawn.
* Deviate Thundersnouts were replaced with groups of new, non-elite mobs
called Deviate Lashers.
* New creatures were added to the snake wing. They are called Deviate
Pythons and are non-elite.
* Skum is now a constant spawn instead of a rare. His hitpoints were
increased.
Blackfathom Deeps:
* Ghamoo-ra is now a constant spawn instead of a rare.
* Miscellaneous polish to associated quests.
New faction specific graveyard rules for the following zones:
Hillsbrad
Horde -- Tarren Mill
Alliance -- Southshore
Alterac
Horde -- Tarren Mill
Alliance -- Southshore
Shadowfang
Alliance -- Southshore
horde -- Sepulcher
Silverpine Forest
Alliance -- Southshore
Horde -- Sepulcher
Tirisfal Glades
Alliance -- Faol's Rest
Horde -- Brill
Undercity
Alliance -- Faol's Rest
Horde -- Brill
Scarlet Monastery
Alliance -- Faol's Rest
Horde – Faol’s Rest
Deathknell
Alliance -- Faol's Rest
Horde -- Deathknell
Faction/Reputation
* Ratchet, Gadgetzan, and Booty Bay now utilize our most current system of
factions and reputation adjustments. Assaulting bankers, vendors,
transportation specialists, etc., may result in a loss of permanent
reputation with these cities.
* The "Steamwheedle Cartel" faction represents the neutral goblin state that
is comprised of Booty Bay in the Eastern Kingdoms, and
Ratchet in Kalimdor. Affecting your reputation in one of these cities
will effect in the others.
* Players start out Neutral with the above mentioned factions. Losing
reputation will result eventually in becoming Unfriendly with the local
populace; names and target reticules will appear in orange to indicate
this status. While reputation remains at Unfriendly, players cannot
interact with vendors, trainers, etc. that are the faction in question.
* Below Unfriendly is Hostile reputation and finally Hated reputation.
Both of these are indicated by red names and target reticules.
Hostile and Hated factions will attack a player on sight if they are
aggressive. Just like for Unfriendly reputation, interaction with
Hostile or Hated factions is not permitted.
PvP
* Level differences don't have as great an impact now in PvP.
* Tarren Mill & Freewind Post now have a new guard system in place.
* Taxi NPCs are now lvl 55+ and will summon guardians.
* Major cities are now considered Alliance/Horde territory on the Beta
Server.
Auction House Changes
* Several improvements to the interface have been made.
* Auction Houses/Auctioneers will now exist only in Ironforge, Ogrimmar,
and Booty Bay.
Trade Skills
* Enchanting is completely revised and has had recipes added up to 200
enchanting skill. Enchanting now requires the disenchanting of magical
items to get the required components. There are around 100 enchanting
recipes.
* You can now enchant soulbound items through the player to player trade
interface.
* Goblin and Gnomish engineering recipes and trainers are now in the game
for engineers above skill 200, but be warned as their devices do not
always work as intended. You can only choose one or the other and may
need to search to find the trainer.
* First Aid Skill increase rate has been slowed down
* You can now use detect herbs/minerals while mounted
* Engineering devices have been categorized much more nicely. Your
recipes will be easier to sort through now.
* Recipes that were marked as blue/rare that make green/uncommon items were
changed to green/uncommon.
* Trade skill recipes now display the item made as well as the reagents
required to make it in the tooltip.
* Some tailoring items had their reagents required reduced and/or their
stats increased
* Campfires can now be made in dungeons (and as a side effect of this
in buildings as well)
* Campfire Bonuses no longer stack
* Dreamweave items will now provide their proper bonuses (before they
were inadvertently giving only a nature bonus).
* Bandages should now work correctly (Apply the recently bandaged debuff
to the target)
* Bombs made by engineering now have a short cast time and a smaller area
of effect.
* Truesilver breastplate is now somewhat harder to make.
* Right-clicking on a skinnable corpse will now tell you how much skill
you need to skin it if you do not have the required skill.
* Anti-Venom made by physicians no longer requires first aid to apply
* Tailoring robe of power increased a few levels to make it more desirable
* Beasts no longer drop leather without skinning skill
* Transmute gold and truesilver had level requirements removed
* Solid Iron Maul, now available to both horde and alliance
* Pick pocketing gem drops reduced slightly
* Green lens changed so it gives Stamina and then a random stat as well
* Requirements needed to make feathered breastplate upped slightly.
* Explosive Shell pulled from engineering.
* Blacksmithing Reagents required to make ornate mithril pants, boots and
breastplate increased.
* Blacksmithing Recipes have been added to Blackrock depths requiring 250+
skill.
* Added a higher-end quiver and ammo pouch to the leatherworking trade
skill.
* Bolt of Linen only requires 2 linen instead of 3 now.
* Coal Price reduced to 5s
* Price that gems sell back to stores increased slightly to be somewhat
closer to their real value.
* Effect of Stoneskin potion improved .
* Wildvine drop rate significantly improved (3 times old rate).
* All secondary tracking skills have been removed. Your skill points
have been refunded.
* Medium Hide requirements for level 20-25 leatherworking items have been
significantly reduced.
Chat
Chat UI Revamped. Changes will continue to be made from player feedback
and designer upgrades.
Misc.
* Giving your pet commands will cancel spells they are currently casting.
* Summons and pets keep up with their owners more often.
* Creatures should no longer aggro through doors
* Closed doors block line of sight.
* Added an inn to Sentinel Hill in Westfall.
* Added a Mailbox to Westfall.
* Added an Inn to Hammerfall in Arathi Highlands.
* Added a graveyard to Northern Stranglethorn Vale.
* Ghosts can now path through locked doors.
* Monsters should spawn in directly on players less often than they used to.
* Elementals have been added to the world that drop needed elemental items
(Such as globe of water)
* Level 45 arrows/shots added to vendors
* Vendor Purchased Bows added to vendors around the world
* A couple of additional pet types have been added to the world, some of
them hard to find.
* “V” key functionality has been improved so it looks better and provides
more information. You can now tell which monster you have targeted and
you can tell which monsters have been damaged recently.
* Green quality bows added to vendors around the world.
* Confused creatures now wander around the immediate area.
* If you have an honored or revered reputation with a vendor you will get
a 10% discount.
* Creatures are a bit smarter about using their abilities.
* You can't interact with charmed or possessed NPCs.
* Charmed players will use their spells and abilities.
* Creatures regenerate mana quickly outside of combat.
* Trade channels are the only general chat channels that allow item links.
* Creatures that summon totems no longer chase you forever.
* Many new paths have been added to the Flight Web for world travel. Be sure
to check your Flight Path NPC's to see what new paths have opened up.
Not all of the paths have been added yet, more are on the way in the near
future.
* Tiny Iron and Bronze Keys removed from vendors and smithing since
they no longer have a purpose
* Silk Drops increased at level 25-30.
* Mount Sell Price changed to zero to prevent accidental selling.
A real solution is on the way, no really!
* The Loch Modan Dam has been redesigned.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Patch 0.8.0 (2004-07-07)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Auction Houses
Auctioneer NPCs have been placed in each major city (Stormwind, Ironforge, Darnassus, Orgrimmar, Thunder
Bluff and The Undercity). The Auctioneer’s are faction specific, allowing Alliance characters to trade
with other Alliance characters and Horde characters to trade with other Horde characters. Each city’s
Auction House is run independently; all Auctioneers that exist in the same city are all a part of the
same Auction House. One non-faction based Auction House is located in Booty Bay. The Booty Bay Auctioneer
NPCs have the same functionality as the aforementioned faction based Auction Houses, with the additional
capability of allowing trade between Horde and Alliance characters. Sellers are able to place items up
for auction, set a starting price, set the auction duration and include a buyout price by speaking with
an Auctioneer. All auctions will be initially charged a deposit fee; the deposit fee is refunded upon the
successful sale of the item. All successful sales are charged an auction consignment fee which is
extracted directly from the final sale price. Sellers are able to cancel an auction at any time, however;
their deposit fee will be lost if a player elects to exercise this option. All fees are higher in Booty
Bay. Buyers are able to search through items up for auction, place bids and purchase items that include
buyout prices by speaking with the Auctioneer. Players are not able to place bids on items being sold by
a character on their own account. All items won at an Auction House will be delivered through the in-game
mail system.
Talent System
Talents are now available for the Warrior and Mage classes! Players can open the talent interface by
using the "Talents" button which resides next to the "Spellbook and Abilities" button, or by pressing the
"N" default hotkey. Talents will eventually be available for all classes.
PvP Changes
Players that die in PvP, either versus another player or versus a PvP-Flagged NPC must now wait 2 minutes
before resurrecting at their corpse. This delay does not apply to players that are resurrected by other
players or by using resurrection items. Control types of spells such as Charm, Fear and Stun will now be
subject to diminishing returns. This means that if a second spell of the same type is used against the
same player within 15 seconds of the first effect wearing off, the second spell’s duration will be
reduced by 50%, the third’s duration will be reduced by 75% and the player will be immune to the fourth
casting.
Rest State Changes
The Rest State system has undergone several changes. There are now two tiers of rest states: Rested = 200%
experience and Normal = 100% experience. At level one, players will all start in the normal tier. When a
player rests be it in a city or at an inn they will gain rest bonus at a very slow rate. Eight hours of
rest will be needed for a player to gain one "bubble" of rest bonus. At any given time, players will be
able to accumulate a maximum of 30 "bubbles" worth of rest bonus wh
