Added class paladin Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Holy Power → Holy Strike crit
Holy Power now adds 15% critical strike chance to Holy Strike.
- After
- +15% crit to Holy Strike
Beta Development Notes — September 24
beta 60.1.700 Last verified
First major tuning pass of the beta. Broad class changes (Warrior, Paladin, Mage, Druid, Hunter, Priest, Shaman, Warlock, Rogue), a temporary 1-silver talent respec cost for testing, an expanded controller support pass and the new configurable Cooldown Manager. Individual numbers below are confirmed from Blizzard notes; datamined extras are marked observed.
Previous build: 60.1.680 · Diff 60.1.680 → 60.1.700
Added (5)
Added spell druid Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Rejuvenation / Tranquility / Wild Growth crit
Three Druid heal-over-time and group heals can now crit.
- After
- Can critically heal
Added spell priest Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Renew can crit
Renew can now critically heal.
- After
- Can critically heal
Added client Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Cooldown Manager
A new configurable Cooldown Manager UI entered limited testing.
- After
- New UI feature
Added client Confidence: Reported. Community-reported and not yet independently verified.
Expanded controller support
Controller support was expanded in this beta build.
- After
- Broader controller support
Changed (20)
Changed spell warrior Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Slam cooldown
Slam now comes off cooldown more slowly, but Improved Slam claws it back.
- Before
- 15 sec
- After
- 18 sec
Improved Slam now reduces the cooldown by 1.5 / 3 sec, so talented Arms play lands close to the old cadence while untalented Slam is slower.
Changed spell warrior Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Bloodthrill activation chance
Bloodthrill procs roughly twice as often, but only from main-hand melee hits.
- Before
- 2/4/6/8/10%
- After
- 4/8/12/16/20%
Activates only off main-hand melee attacks, including Cleave and Heroic Strike.
Changed class warrior Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Protection talent order (Bastion / Focused Rage)
Bastion and Focused Rage swap rows so Focused Rage is reachable sooner while leveling.
- Before
- Bastion row 5 · Focused Rage row 6
- After
- Focused Rage row 5 · Bastion row 6
Blizzard's stated intent: smoother Protection leveling before Shield Slam is available.
Changed spell paladin Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Holy Strike weapon-damage scaling
Holy Strike now scales up at every rank instead of every other rank, ending at 50%.
- Before
- 25/25/30/30/35/35/40/40%
- After
- 25/29/32/36/39/43/46/50%
Improves early ranks so each new rank feels like an upgrade while leveling.
Changed spell paladin Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Holy Strike cooldown
Holy Strike becomes available more often.
- Before
- 12 sec
- After
- 10 sec
Changed spell paladin Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Righteous Fury Holy threat
Righteous Fury generates less Holy threat.
- Before
- 90%
- After
- 60%
Changed class paladin Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Retribution talents (Vengeance / Two-Handed Spec / Sacred Arbiter)
Retribution loses some raw output in exchange for a stronger Sacred Arbiter and cheaper seals.
- Before
- Vengeance to 5 · Two-Handed 3/6/9% · Sacred Arbiter 10%
- After
- Vengeance to 3 · Two-Handed 2/4/6% · Sacred Arbiter 20%
Vengeance now triggers from any non-periodic crit. Twist of Light also cuts Seal mana cost by 20%.
Changed spell mage Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Arcane Missiles line of sight
Arcane Missiles now checks line of sight only when the cast begins.
- Before
- LOS checked during channel
- After
- LOS checked at start
Changed class mage Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Wake of Fire / Hot Streak durations
Two Fire mage windows are lengthened.
- Before
- Wake of Fire 20s · Hot Streak 15s
- After
- Wake of Fire 30s · Hot Streak 20s
Changed spell druid Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Wrath base damage
Wrath base damage increased by roughly 50%.
- Before
- Baseline
- After
- ~+50% base damage
Changed spell druid Confidence: Reported. Community-reported and not yet independently verified.
Mangle → Primal Bite
Mangle is renamed Primal Bite in Forever.
- Before
- Mangle
- After
- Primal Bite
Changed spell hunter Confidence: Reported. Community-reported and not yet independently verified.
Furious Howl attack-power bonus
The pet ability grants less attack power.
- Before
- Baseline
- After
- -40% AP bonus
Changed spell hunter Confidence: Reported. Community-reported and not yet independently verified.
Tame Beast level restriction
Tame Beast no longer works on Beasts above your level.
- Before
- Could tame above level
- After
- Level-limited
Changed spell priest Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Power Word: Shield overwrite
Power Word: Shield now overwrites an existing shield when there is no Weakened Soul.
Changed spell priest Confidence: Reported. Community-reported and not yet independently verified.
Dark Sacrifice scaling
Dark Sacrifice now scales with Spirit.
Changed spell shaman Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Lightning Bolt / Lava Burst damage
Both core Shaman damage spells were buffed.
- Before
- Baseline
- After
- Increased damage
Changed spell shaman Confidence: Reported. Community-reported and not yet independently verified.
Totem duration / stacking
Flametongue Totem loses its duration; air totems no longer stack across Shamans.
- Before
- Flametongue had a duration · air totems stacked
- After
- Flametongue permanent · air totems do not stack
Changed spell warlock Confidence: Reported. Community-reported and not yet independently verified.
Voidwalker Sacrifice scaling
Voidwalker Sacrifice now scales with the Warlock (about 10%).
- After
- Scales ~10%
Changed spell rogue Confidence: Reported. Community-reported and not yet independently verified.
Sap on PvP-flagged targets
Sapping a PvP-flagged target now flags the Rogue too.
Changed system Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Talent respec cost
Respec costs 1 silver on the beta to encourage build testing (temporary).
- Before
- Normal respec cost
- After
- 1 silver (beta only)
After your first reset the cost rises, but drops back to 1 silver after an hour.
Removed (1)
Removed class paladin Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Improved Holy Strike talent
Improved Holy Strike is removed from the tree; its effect becomes baseline.
- Before
- Talent node
- After
- Baseline
Blizzard folded it into the base ability because it felt mandatory for Holy.
Fixed (1)
Fixed bugfix warrior Confidence: Confirmed. Stated directly by an official source.
Sunder Armor threat values
Threat corrected on all ranks, with a small increase from Attack Power.