We've discovered more interesting tidbits from the recently deployed Wrath of the Lich King Beta Build 8788. To see what we discovered earlier today, go here.
The list of changes to classes has been updated and you can now find Hunter information and also extended Paladin information. Furthermore, the mana cost change to prevent downranking is explained in detail by Blizzard employee Wryxian.
Also, 12 Priest Inscription Glyphs and 1 Druid Inscription Glyph have been changed. Last (but not least!) the new mage spell Frostfire Bolt has a new animation.
Inscription
Druid
- Glyph of Rip - Increases the duration of your Rip ability by 4 sec. (old: 3 sec)
Priest
- Glyph of Lightwell - Increases the amount healed by your Lightwell by 20%.
- Glyph of Renew - Reduces the duration of your Renew by 3 sec. but increases the amount healed per time by 40%. (old version: Increases the duration of your Renew by 3 sec)
- Glyph of Dispel Magic - Your Dispel Magic also heals your target for 6% (was 3%) of maximum health if it removes a damaging effect.
- Glyph of Flash Heal - Reduces the mana cost of your Flash Heal by 10%.
- Glyph of Prayer of Healing - Your Prayer of Healing spell also heals an additional 20% of its initial heal over 6 sec.
- Glyph of Mind Flay - Increases the range of your Mind Flay spell by 10 yards, but it no longer reduces the target's movement speed.
- Glyph of Holy Nova - Your Holy Nova spell heals for an additional 40%, but deals 40% less damage.
- Glyph of Fade - Increases the effect of your Fade spell by 100%.
- Glyph of Spirit of Redemption - All heals cast while Spirit of Redemption is active have a 20% chance to increase the remaining duration of Spirit of Redemption by 20 sec.
- Glyph of Inner Fire - Increases the duration of Inner Fire by 100%.
- Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain - Reduces the mana cost of your Shadow Word: Pain spell by 20%.
- Glyph of Mind Soothe - Increases the duration of your Mind Soothe spell by 5 sec. and reduces the range at which the victim will attack by an additional 100%.
New Frostfire Bolt animation
Changes to Classes
Death Knight
Blood
- Bloodworms: 3/3 Your weapon hits have a 12% chance to spawn 2-4 Bloodworms. Bloodworms attack your enemies, healing you as they do damage for 20 sec or until killed. (Healing amount remains the same)
- Sudden Doom now lasts 15 seconds (was 10 seconds).
Frost
- Chains of Ice cooldown has been removed.
- Icy Talons description changed: You leech heat from victims of your Frost Fever (old: your Icy Touch), so that when their melee speed is reduced, yours increases by 20% for the next 20 sec.
- Lichborne cooldown lowered from 5 minutes to 1 minute. Duration reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds.
- Aneurysm has been removed.
- Endless Winter has been reworked and moved to Aneurysm's position, it now requires Chillblains: Your Chains of Ice has a 50/100% chance to cause Frost Fever and the cost of your Mind Freeze is reduced to 20/0 runic power.
- Frigid Dreadplate changed: Enemies who hit you in melee have a 30/60/100% chance to become unsettled, decreasing their chance to hit for 5% for the next 12 sec. (old: decreasing their attack speed)
- Runic Power Mastery stats changed: Scaling runic power abilities behave as if you had an additional 20% runic power. (old: 2% runic power)
- Acclimation now affects the whole raid.
Unholy
- Anti-Magic Shell: Runic Power cost increased from 10 RP to 20 RP.
- Morbidity moved to Tier 1 in unholy
- Virulence moved to Tier 2 in unholy
- Blood-Caked Blade: Your autoattacks have a 5/10/15% chance to cause Blood-Caked Strike, which hits for 50% weapon damage times the number of your diseases on the target. (Was 60%)
- Night of the Dead: Hitting a target with Plague Strike or Scourge Strike reduces the cooldown of your next Raise Dead and your next Army of the Dead by 30 sec / 1 min. This effect stacks up to 5 times. (was bugged to be 1 min for both ranks)
- Desecration range component increased from 2 yards to 7 yards around the target.
Druid
Feral
- Savage Roar: Attack power increased from 25% to 35%.
Hunter
Beast Mastery
- Animal Handler (Beast Mastery): No longer increases speed while mounted, but now reduces the cooldown of your Master's Call ability by 5/10 sec.
- Beastial Swiftness is now a pet talent tree talent, and has been removed from the Beast Mastery Hunter tree.
- New Talent * Aspect Mastery (Beast Mastery)
- Pathfinding (Beast Mastery): Now also increases the movement speed while mounted by 5/10%.
- Spirit Bond (Beast Mastery): Also increases healing done to you and your pet by 5/10%.
Mage
Arcane
- Torment of the Weak description changed: All damage you cause to Ensared targets is increased by 2/4/6%. (old version: All damage done to slowed targets is increased by 2/4/6%.)
Fire
- New Frostfire Bolt animation.
Frost
- Fingers of Frost description/duration changed: Gives your Frost damage spells a 5/10% chance to apply the Fingers of Frost effect, which treat your Frost spells cast on the target as if the target were Frozen. Lasts 4 sec. (old version: Gives your Frost damage spells a 5/10% chance to apply the Fingers of Frost effect, which treat your next 2 Frost spells cast on the target as if the target were Frozen. Lasts 10 sec.)
Paladin
Protection
- Stoicism (Protection) moved to tier 2, now reduces duration of Stun effects by 10/20/30% and reduces chance your spells will be resisted by 10/20/30%.
- Divine Shield wording change: Protects the paladin from all damage and spells for 12 sec, but increases the time between his or her attacks (old: your attacks) by 100%. Once protected, the target cannot be made invulnerable by Divine Shield, Divine Protection or Hand of Protection again for 3 min.
Priest
Nothing yet. Check back for possible new information.
Rogue
Nothing yet. Check back for possible new information.
Shaman
Nothing yet. Check back for possible new information.
Warlock
Affliction
- Improved Felhunter description changed: Your Felhunter gains mana equal to 100/200% (old: 50/100%) of the damage done by it's Shadow Bite ability, and increases the effect of your Felhunter's Fel Intelligence by 1/2%.
- Dark Pact: Drains 700 of your summoned demon's Mana, returning 200% (old: 100%) to you.
- Haunt description changed: You send a ghostly soul into the target, dealing 645 to 754 Shadow damage and increasing all damage done by your damage-over-time effects on the target by 20% (old: 0%) for 12 sec. When the Haunt spell ends or is dispelled, the soul returns to you, healing you for 20% of all damage done to the target.
Warrior
Nothing yet. Check back for possible new information.
Mana cost change to prevent downranking
As you may have noticed, in this latest build we have updated spells and abilities using mana. These no longer cost a fixed amount and instead they're a percentage of your base bana, not including any mana increase from Intellect. For the most part this should mean mana-based spells and abilities are costing roughly the same amount as they do in the live game, though there might be some slight changes either up or down. But we have tried to keep them as close as possible to the same mana cost for a level 70 as they are now in the live game.
What will change though is that lower rank spells will lose their appeal. We have made this mana cost change purely to prevent downranking, which is an unintended technique that we were not at ease with. We've previously tried ways to discourage it, but have decided that we'd rather find a solution than continue to find ways to penalise those who choose to downrank. The solution we chose was to make downranking obsolete, encouraging people to always use their highest rank of each spell and nothing else.The highest rank of a mana-based spell or ability will now remain the most powerful effect, but at the same mana cost as earlier ranks.
We're certain that for some people this will cause a period of readjustment. Hopefully removing a few more of the extra buttons you've been pressing will eventually be seen as a good thing; it might also be easier for some people to do their role without having to learn to downrank. We are anticipating such a big change may have some teething problems, perhaps causing balance issues, and we're all set to deal with them as they arise. In the meantime, we appreciate any comments and feedback related to this change.
[Source]
