WoW Forever notes: October 15 update (build 70425)

The October 15 maintenance moved the beta realm to build 1.60.1.70425. Players still on the old build need to quit and update through the Battle.net app. The headline items this round are a rework of racial abilities and changes to the Mage’s Arcane tree.

Character & class changes

General

Wands now need you to stand still for 0.5 seconds before firing, the way early World of Warcraft worked.

Hunter

Auto Shot has the same 0.5 second stand-still requirement. It keeps firing while you cast spells such as Aimed Shot.
Trueshot Aura now affects the whole raid.
Resourcefulness only triggers on melee and ranged ability crits now, not traps. It also correctly lowers the mana cost of Strider Kick.
You can keep one fire trap and one ice trap active at the same time. Before this, the limit was one trap of any type.
Summon Hawk spawns the hawk on the target you cast it on and keeps it attached to that target.
Pet abilities were toned down. Dismember now reduces healing by 25% (was 50%). Sonic Blast now slows casting by 30% (was 60%). Both last for less time and have longer cooldowns.

Mage

New spell: Frost Blast, learned at level 24. It’s a 1.5 second cast that deals damage and slows the target by 40%. Every talent that affects Frostbolt also affects it. The developers added it to cover what Rank 1 Frostbolt used to do, now that down-ranking is penalized.
Arcane Blast has been redesigned:
- It’s now a 1.5 second cast.
- Each cast gives the Mage spell damage equal to 15% of Intellect, stacking up to 4 times.
- The effect lasts 15 seconds from the first application.
- Damage and spell damage coefficients are 40% lower.
Missile Barrage moved to the first row and is now a 2-point talent. Arcane Missiles hits can trigger it as well.
New 16-point talent: Arcane Wrath. It’s a 3.5 second cast on a 6 second cooldown. Its damage is calculated as if the Mage had extra spell power equal to 5% of their maximum mana.
Fixed Presence of Mind not being consumed by spell casts.

Druid

Leader of the Pack now grants only melee and ranged crit chance, and it affects the whole raid. The aura from Moonkin Form now grants only spell crit chance, also raid-wide.
Shred (Rank 1) is learned at level 20 (was 22).
Faerie Fire now generates threat in Bear and Dire Bear Form.

Racial changes

Tauren:
- Endurance now grants 2% critical damage and healing (was 1% hit).
- Plainsrunning adds 3% mounted speed. Keeping the effect now requires covering a minimum distance per second.
- War Stomp cooldown is down to 90 seconds.
- Cultivation cooldown is down to 15 minutes.
Orc:
- Blood Fury cooldown is up to 3 minutes (was 2).
- Shatter Curse no longer grants immunity. It dispels curses and banes, and its magic damage reduction is 5% (was 15%).
- Axe Specialization is replaced by Savage: 1% crit chance.
Troll: Regeneration health regeneration bonus is up to 20% (was 10%).
Skyborne:
- Wind Blessed haste goes to 3% (was 1%).
- Walk on Air cooldown is down to 90 seconds.
- Skysight and Read Leyline can now be used while moving.
Human: Sword Specialization is replaced by Ruthless: 2% crit chance.
Dwarf: Mace Specialization is replaced by Earth Fury: 2% critical damage and healing.
Gnome: Eureka! is now an 8 second buff with no charges. It also works with Power Word: Shield.
Undead: Touch of the Grave was tuned to be more consistent: a 30% proc chance for casters, 20% for Paladins, Rogues and Warriors, and a 25 second internal cooldown.

Notable bug fixes

Fixed overly bright fog at low shadow settings.
Fixed Horde players being able to earn Kirin Tor reputation.
Creatures regenerate health properly out of combat again.
Some drink tooltips showed the wrong total mana regeneration. This is fixed.

New features / system changes

New players get a new tutorial experience.
Bloom intensity is now a slider in the Advanced graphics options.
Hunters get a new setting that switches automatically between auto attack and Auto Shot. It works on gamepad too.