WoW Forever notes: big class talent rework, new Shank and race tuning (build 70707)

Build 70707 (October 30) came with no official post that day. The changes below come from the wclbox build comparison (machine-translated from the Chinese client), and the names are checked against Blizzard’s November 2 development notes, which cover this round in full. See the November 2 post for the official explanations and for everything that did not show up in the comparison.

Character & Class changes

Warrior

• Protection: Revenge now deals 138 + 22.5% melee attack power to 168 + 22.5% melee attack power damage (was a flat 138 to 168), and still generates a lot of threat.

Paladin

• Holy:
  • Holy Power now increases the critical healing bonus of Holy spells by 50% at max rank (it used to raise critical strike chance).
  • Light’s Vigil now has a 40 yard range and only works on allies; its damage effect is gone.
  • Holy Precision (Divine Precision) is down to 2 ranks and now also shortens Silence on you.
  • New talents: Oath of Light and Boundless Light. Voice of Truth, Blessing of Light and Greater Blessing of Light are removed.
  • Spiritual Focus, Improved Seals and Reverence change rank counts, and several talents move rows; Holy Conduit moves from Retribution to Holy.
• Protection:
  • Righteous Fury now raises all your threat by 33% and Holy threat by a further 90%.
  • Holy Shield drops to level 50 and 195 mana in the comparison. Swift Judgement now releases the Seal without sharing the Judgement cooldown.
  • Sacred Duty no longer grants Stamina. Iron Creed drops from 5 to 3 ranks, and Shield Specialization from 3 to 2.
  • New talents: Shieldsworn and Stoicism. One-Handed Weapon Specialization and Improved Seal of Fury are removed.
• Retribution:
  • Conviction now gives critical chance to all spells and attacks. Vindication no longer raises attack power.
  • Two-Handed Weapon Specialization now also lowers threat while you wield a two-handed weapon.
  • Champion of the Light goes to 5 ranks and shortens Hammer of Wrath’s cast. Instrument of Law is removed.
  • New talents: Turn Evil and Unsealed Wrath (stored Seal copies, up to 3 stacks). Vengeance now requires Seal of Command.

Hunter

• The comparison lists higher numbers for Aspect of the Hawk, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, Aimed Shot, Trueshot Aura, Sniper Shot and Barrage without naming the values. The exact figures are in the November 2 notes.
• Beast Mastery: Pathfinding moves from row 2 to row 3.
• Survival: Lightning Reflexes is improved.

Priest

• Holy: Cure Disease and Abolish Disease can now be used in Shadowform. Binding Heal is removed and replaced by Holy Binding (Flash Heal also heals you for 50%, without threat).
• Shadow: Shadow Word: Death is buffed.

Mage

• Arcane: Arcane Blast is changed, Arcane Resilience goes up to 3 ranks and Missile Barrage is nerfed.
• Fire: Incinerate is changed.
• Frost: Ice Lance lists an 8 second cooldown; Ice Barrier and Winter’s Chill are buffed.

Warlock

• Improved Drains has a new tooltip.

Druid

• Balance: Genesis is buffed.
• Feral:
  • Ferocious Bite gets a new Rank 1 at level 24, and Lacerate becomes a talent with new ranks learned at levels 25 and 34.
  • Primal Bite is now learned at level 60 in the comparison and moves to row 7.
  • Shifting Power’s cooldown drops from 16 to 8 seconds.
  • Berserk is removed. New talent Predatory Discipline. Enrage and Heart of the Wild change trees (Heart of the Wild goes to Restoration).
• Restoration:
  • Wild Growth is no longer instant; it has a 3 second cast.
  • Naturalist now also shortens the cast time of a second spell and raises damage by 10% (was 5%).
  • Gift of the Earthmother is removed. New talent Bloom.

Race changes

Dwarf

• Earth Fury is removed and Artisan’s Precision is added (+1% hit chance with spells and attacks).

Human

• Ruthless is nerfed and Human Spirit is buffed.

Orc

• Savage is removed and Command is added (Hunter and Warlock pets deal 5% more damage).

Skyborne

• Wind-Blessed Haste is nerfed for both Skyborne races.
• High Order: Read Leyline now casts in 0.5 seconds (was 2 seconds) and gives 50% regeneration for 15 seconds, with a 1 hour resonance bonus near a ley line.
• Windshaper: Skysight gives 15% movement speed for 30 seconds, with a 1 hour recharge effect near an elemental convergence.

Tauren

• Cultivation now lists a 15 minute cooldown.
• Plainsrunning gives 2% speed per stack, up to 60%, and no longer affects mounts. Endurance only gives 5% Health.

Troll

• Berserking lasts 15 seconds (was 10).

Undead

• Touch of the Grave internal cooldown is 15 seconds (was 25).

New developments / system changes

• Many new or changed items appear in the build: Blacksmithing plans for chain shirts, leggings and helms; Leatherworking patterns for leather armor, pants and helms; the Heart of the Mountain enchanting formulas; Enchant Boots - Speed; and a set of Initiate’s, Tracker’s, Watcher’s and Warden’s Signets in four stat flavors.
• Starter consumables such as Roasted Quail, Minor and Lesser Healing and Mana Potions, a Woolen Bag and an Adventurer’s Tent also appear.

Known issues

• No official known-issues list came with this build.