World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - game update v.3.2.2a – v.3.3.0 GB/EU - Download

version: v.3.2.2a – v.3.3.0 GB/EU

== Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls ==

Looming over the stark wastes of Northrend, Icecrown Citadel awaits those who would see the Lich King and his Scourge brought low and the threat they pose wiped from the face of Azeroth. The heroes who venture within will face some of the greatest horrors yet seen. But before you burst into the front gate of the citadel, an alternate means of entry beckons. Journey through three separate wings of the new five-player dungeon, Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls, and follow Jaina Proudmoore or Sylvanas Windrunner into the Lich King's domain.

== Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Throne ==

All across Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and the Horde first reached these frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward -- and Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an accord with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. This coalition's strongest combatants, along with the champions of the Alliance and the Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel. In the new Icecrown Citadel raid dungeon, Azeroth's mightiest will face terrifying challenges before ascending to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King and his runeblade, Frostmourne, await to deliver the heroes to their deaths....

== Cross-Realm Dungeon Finder ==

The Dungeon Finder is now available, providing players with quick and easy access to five-player parties. This feature connects all realms within a battlegroup using an advanced matchmaking system, making it easier for players of all levels to find a dungeon group. In addition, players can reap additional rewards through the Dungeon Finder by choosing the Random option, which is available to both pick-up and pre-formed groups. Check out the User Interface section for more details.

== Getting Started and Quest Tracking ==

A number of changes have been made to World of Warcraft's introductory experience, including updated character and class information at the character-selection screen, more robust tooltips with images, improved health and mana regeneration at lower levels, and adjustments to various classes designed to make it easier for players to get started. In addition, all-new quest-tracking features have been added to assist players in finding objectives, including new interface functionality in the quest log, the map ("M" key), and the Objectives pane.

== General ==

* Icecrown Citadel

o Three separate 5-player dungeons – The Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection – containing all new challenges and missions of discovery, await players in normal and Heroic modes.

o 10- and 25-player challenges await players in Icecrown Citadel. Only when all challenges have been overcome in the raid dungeon can players unlock hard modes for individual bosses.

* Character Creation: The descriptions for races, classes, and race/class combinations have been improved to provide new players with a better idea of the roles and advantages of each class and race.

* Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed.

* Knockbacks no longer dismount players. If on a flying mount, you will be knocked back a short distance before being able to resume flying.

* The existing /welcome emote now greets/welcomes targets (character says "hello"), while the new /yw is for saying "you're welcome."

* Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players' pets.

* Level 1 characters no longer start with food or water in their inventory.

* Attack is now called Auto Attack. The tooltip has been changed to reflect that the player will continue automatically attacking a target.

* Meeting Stones: To use any Meeting Stone, it is only required that the character's minimum level be 15. There is no maximum character level requirement for any Meeting Stone.

== Classes: General ==

* Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We've redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, if a spell does 1000 damage to each target, it would hit up to 10 targets for 1000 each, but with more than 10 targets, each target would take 10,000 damage divided by the number of targets. 20 targets would be hit for 500 damage each in that example.

* Attack: Level 1 druids, mages, priests, and warlocks will no longer start with the Attack button placed on their action bars by default.

* Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon.

* Glancing Blows: The mage, warlock, and priest classes no longer have an increased chance for their melee attacks to be glancing blows; and the damage penalty due to their glancing blows is the same as for other classes.

* Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player's level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15.

* Pet Resilience: All player pets now get 100% of their master's resilience.

* Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage.

* Taunt Diminishing Returns: We've revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter.

== Races: General ==

* Orc and troll shamans now have their own unique totem art.

* Racial Attribute Bonuses: These bonuses have been recalibrated to even out the amount of starting health on the various races. All races start with a standardized level of stamina, except for orcs, dwarves, and tauren who now start with 1 extra point of stamina. For each class, bonuses and penalties to all attributes have been adjusted so that each race has an equal attribute total.

* [Will of the Forsaken] now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the [Medallion of the Horde], Titan-Forged runes, [Insignia of the Horde], etc.

==PvP==

* Arenas

o All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes.

* Battlegrounds

o Battleground Experience: Battleground experience gained is now based on the level of the player gaining experience, rather than the highest possible player level in that Battleground.

o All level 71-80 Battleground daily quests will now award 25 Arena points in addition to their current rewards.

* Wintergrasp

o You must now have the following ranks to build or pilot siege vehicles:

+ Rank 2: Build/pilot Catapults.

+ Rank 3: Build/pilot Demolishers.

+ Rank 3: Build/pilot Siege Engines.

== Dungeons & Raids ==

* Naxxramas

o Players no longer need to kill the final bosses in all four wings of this dungeon in order to teleport to Sapphiron. Teleportation orbs have been added to allow players access back and forth from Sapphiron's lair.

* Oculus

o Azure Ring Guardians aggro distance changed from 50 to 40 yards.

o Many bosses and creatures have had their total health reduced.

o Several bosses and creatures have had cooldowns on specific abilities increased, effect durations reduced, and damage on some of these abilities reduced.

o Ring-Lord Conjurers and Sorceresses now hang out in packs of 4 instead of packs of 5.

o Vehicle scaling on the drakes based on the rider's item level has been increased to make them more powerful.

== Classes ==

=== Death Knights ===

* [Army of the Dead]: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.

* [Raise Ally]: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

* Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.

* [Rune Strike]: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%.

* Talents

o Unholy

+ [Night of the Dead]: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players. In addition, this talent now reduces the cooldown of Army of the Dead by 2/4 minutes, down from 5/10 minutes.

+ [Scourge Strike]: Redesigned. The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease the death knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadow damage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.

+ [Unholy Blight]: This talent now deals only 10% of [Death Coil] damage as a damage-over-time effect on the target.

=== Druids ===

* [Prowl]: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%.

* [Rebirth]: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

* [Rejuvenation]: The base duration on all ranks of this spell is now 15 seconds.

* [Tranquility]: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

* Talents

o Balance

+ [Force of Nature]: Health on the treants has been increased.

o Feral Combat

+ [Predatory Strikes]: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.

o Restoration

+ [Gift of the Earthmother]: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste by 2/4/6/8/10% and reduces the base global cooldown of Lifebloom by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effects.

* Pets

o [Avoidance] (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

=== Hunters ===

* [Call Stabled Pet]: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

* [Deterrence]: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect.

* [Misdirection]: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously.

* Talents

o Beast Mastery

+ [Intimidation]: If the hunter's pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet's next swing or attack.

* Pets

o [Avoidance]: This talent has been replaced by [Culling the Herd]. Hunter pets now innately take 90% less damage from area-of-effect abilities like all other class pets. This does not apply to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

o [Cower]: Redesigned. This ability no longer affects threat, and instead reduces damage taken by the pet by 40% for 6 seconds with a 45-second cooldown. While cowering, the pet's movement speed is 50% of normal speed. Cower now only has a single rank and is available at pet level 20.

o [Culling the Herd]: This pet talent has replaced the Avoidance talent in the pet trees (Hunter pets now gain that benefit automatically without expenditure of talent points). Culling the Herd increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack.

o [Demoralizing Screech]: The attack power reduction from this ability has been increased by 40%, equaling the maximum possible attack power reduction from the abilities of other classes.

o [Improved Cower]: Redesigned. This ability now reduces the movement penalty of Cower by 50%/100%.

o Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%.

o [Venom Web Spray]: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.

o [Web]: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.

o [Wolverine Bite]: This talent is now enabled when the pet lands a critical strike rather than from the target dodging the pet's attacks. In addition, this talent no longer has a prerequisite.

=== Mages ===

* Talents

o Arcane

+ [Arcane Empowerment]: This talent now also grants 1/2/3% increased damage done by the mage's party or raid for 10 seconds after the mage gets a critical strike with [Arcane Explosion], [Arcane Missiles], [Arcane Barrage], or [Arcane Blast]. This effect is exclusive with [Ferocious Inspiration] and [Sanctified Retribution].

o Fire

+ [Blast Wave]: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.

+ [Burning Determination]: The duration of interrupt immunity granted by this talent is now 20 seconds.

+ [Dragon's Breath]: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.

+ [Firestarter]: When this talent is triggered, it makes the next [Flamestrike] cost no mana in addition to being instant.

+ [Improved Scorch]: The debuff from this talent no longer stacks, and instead can apply the full effect from a single cast of [Scorch].

o Frost

+ [Deep Freeze]: This spell now deals a large amount of damage to targets permanently immune to stuns. In addition, when this ability deals damage it will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost for those mages with the [Shatter] talent.

+ [Fingers of Frost]: This talent now triggers immediately on casting a spell rather than being delayed until the spell strikes the target.

+ [Frozen Core]: This talent now also causes [Ice Lance] critical strikes to reduce the cast time of the mage's next [Frostbolt] or [Frostfire Bolt] by 0.4/0.7/1 seconds.

* Pets

o [Avoidance] (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

o [Mirror Image]: Health on the mirror images has been increased.

o [Water Elemental]: [Waterbolt] mana cost reduced by 80%.

===Paladins===

* [Divine Intervention]: This ability now also removes [Exhaustion] or [Sated] from a target if the recipient is out of combat when the effect ends. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

* [Flash of Light]: This spell no longer causes a heal-over-time effect unless the player has the [Infusion of Light] talent.

* [Lay on Hands]: This ability will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others.

* Talents

o Holy

+ [Aura Mastery]: This effect of this talent has been reduced in duration to 6 seconds.

+ [Infusion of Light]: This talent now causes the paladin's Flash of Light spells to heal the target for 50/100% of the Flash of Light healing amount over 12 seconds.

o Protection

+ [Divine Guardian]: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active. In addition, the duration has been changed to 6 seconds, however the effect does not terminate when Divine Sacrifice is removed before its full duration.

+ [Divine Sacrifice]: Redesigned. The effect of Divine Sacrifice is now party-only and the maximum damage which can be transferred is now limited to 40% of the paladin's health multiplied by the number of party members. In addition, the bug which allowed Divine Sacrifice to sometimes persist despite reaching its maximum damage has been fixed. Divine Sacrifice will now cancel as soon as its maximum damage value is exceeded in all cases. Finally, damage which reduces the paladin's health below 20% now cancels the effect early.

o Retribution

+ [Repentance]: This crowd control effect will no longer break early from the damage done by [Righteous Vengeance].

=== Priests ===

* [Divine Hymn]: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

* [Power Word: Shield]: This spell can now be cast on non-raid/party friendly targets.

* Talents

o Shadow

+ [Improved Devouring Plague]: This spell now deals 10/20/30% of its total periodic effect instantly, up from 5/10/15%.

+ [Mind Flay]: The range of this ability has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.

+ [Shadowform]: This talent also now causes [Devouring Plague] and [Vampiric Touch] to benefit from haste. Both the period length and the duration of these spells will be reduced by haste. In addition, the mana cost has been reduced from 32% to 13% of base mana.

+ [Vampiric Embrace]: This talent now provides a 30-minute buff that cannot be dispelled, instead of a target debuff and only generates healing for single-target shadow damage spells.

* Pet

o [Avoidance] (passive): Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

=== Rogues ===

* Deadly Poison: In addition to its existing effects, when a rogue applies Deadly Poison to a target which has already reached the maximum number of applications, this will also trigger the poison which the rogue is using on his or her other weapon.

* Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.

* [Stealth]: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed.

* Talents

o Assassination

+ [Improved Poisons]: Bonus chance to trigger Deadly Poison from this talent increased.

+ [Murder]: This talent now provides a flat damage increase of 2/4% against all targets, instead of only targets which do not appear in Icecrown.

o Subtlety

+ [Preparation]: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

+ [Filthy Tricks]: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.

===Shamans===

* [Earth Elemental Totem]: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

* [Fire Elemental Totem]: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

* [Fire Nova Totem]: This totem has been replaced with a new spell, [Fire Nova], which is available at the same ranks as the old Fire Nova Totem. Existing characters will automatically learn this new spell in place of the totem. With a Fire Totem active, shamans will be able to use Fire Nova (fire magic) to emit the same area-of-effect damage as the old Fire Nova Totem from the active Fire Totem, not consuming the totem in the process. Fire Nova will activate a 1.5-second global cooldown when used and has a 10-second spell cooldown. The caster must be within 30 yards of the totem to use this ability, but does not need to be within line of sight of the totem.

* [Reincarnation]: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 60 minutes down to 30 minutes.

* Talents

o Elemental Combat

+ [Elemental Mastery]: This talent now increases spell haste by 15% instead of critical strike chance while active.

+ [Improved Fire Nova Totem]: Renamed [Improved Fire Nova]. This talent now provides an additional 10/20% damage to the spell and reduces the cooldown by 2/4 seconds.

o Enhancement

+ [Earth's Grasp]: This talent now also reduces the cooldown of the [Stoneclaw] and [Earthbind] totems by 15/30%.

o Restoration

+ [Improved Reincarnation]: This talent now reduces the cooldown of Reincarnation by 7/15 minutes, down from 10/20 minutes. Reincarnation cannot be used in Arenas.

=== Warlocks ===

* [Create Soulstone]: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

* Talents

o Affliction

+ [Improved Drain Soul]: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.

+ [Improved Felhunter]: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter's [Shadow Bite] ability by 2/4 seconds.

+ [Shadow Mastery]: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter's Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%.

o Demonology

+ [Decimation]: Redesigned. When [Shadowbolt], [Incinerate] or [Soul Fire] hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of [Soul Fire] is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards.

+ [Demonic Pact]: This talent now also increases the warlock's spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%.

+ [Molten Core]: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of [Immolate] by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 [Incinerate] or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect.

o Destruction

+ [Conflagrate]: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an [Immolate] or [Shadowflame] effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.

+ [Destructive Reach]: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.

+ [Ruin]: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp's Firebolt spell by 100%.

* Pets

o [Avoidance] (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

o Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.

o [Inferno]: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

o [Shadow Bite]: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock's damage-over-time effects on the target.

o [Summon Imp]: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.

=== Warriors ===

* [Victory Rush]: This ability is now trainable at level 6.

* Talents

o Protection

+ [Damage Shield]: This ability will no longer trigger any chance-on-hit effects from the warrior or the opponent it damages.

== User Interface ==

# Many of the default Interface Options settings have been changed for greater ease of use by new players. Existing players who create new characters may want to review the Interface Options in the event that the default settings feel different.

# Quest Tracking Feature

* Players can now track quest objectives on the map ('M' key).

* Quest Log

o A Show Map button has been added to the Quest Log. Selecting a quest and pressing this button will open the map for the zone in which the quest objective is located displaying the associated area of interest. Any other active quests in a player's Quest Log for that zone will also be displayed.

* Map

o The map interface has been separated into four separate panes: a map pane (left), a pane listing active quest names for the zone being viewed (right), a pane listing the full quest text for any highlighted quest (bottom left), and a pane listing the quest rewards for any highlighted quest (bottom right).

o All active quests listed in the right pane for the zone being viewed on the map will be assigned a number. These numbers will be displayed on the map according to the areas of interest for each quest.

o Highlighting a quest name in the right pane will highlight the corresponding area of interest on the map in the left pane, show its quest text in the lower left pane, and list the quest rewards in the lower right pane.

o Given that some quest objectives can be achieved in multiple locations within a given zone, highlighting such a quest will highlight an area of interest closest in proximity to the character's current location.

o This feature can be disabled by un-checking the Show Quest Objectives box in the bottom right corner of the new map interface, restoring the map to its standard full-screen display.

o Clicking on the arrow in the top right corner of the new map interface will hide all but the map pane, bringing the map out of full-screen mode and allowing players to leave it open while navigating a zone or engaging in combat.

* Objectives Tracking

o This frame has been improved to offer new functionality and can be used with the new shrunken map option.

o The Objectives frame is now docked below the mini-map next to the right 2 action bars and will track up to 10 quests for a zone.

o Numbers have been added next to each quest name and objective corresponding with those areas of interest displayed on the map.

o If a quest objective has been completed, the number will be replaced with a yellow question mark symbol.

o The arrow button in the top right corner of the Objectives frame can be used to toggle between minimizing and maximizing the quest objective display.

* Quest Difficulty Tracking

o This feature is off by default and can be enabled in the Objectives window from the Interface Options menu. Turning this feature on will color-code all quest names displayed in the map interface according to difficulty (grey, green, yellow, orange, and red).

# Dungeon Finder

* This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.

o Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.

o Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.

o Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.

+ The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two [Emblems of Frost] no more than once a day.

+ The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two [Emblems of Triumph] no more than once a day.

+ Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.

+ Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the "Quests" section for details).

+ Level-appropriate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.

+ Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.

+ Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player's inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon Finder.

o Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.

o Pick-Up Groups

+ Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.

+ As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.

+ Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.

+ A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.

+ Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon Finder for 15 minutes.

+ If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon Finder queue.

+ A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.

+ Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon Finder will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted [Perky Pug]ℜ É Ä ± non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.

+ The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon Finder and has been updated.

# Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.

# Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player's current level.

# Looking For Raid

* There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing "/LFR."

o Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.

o While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.

o Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader's name, the raid information (number of people in the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.

# The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon Finder interface.

# Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.

# Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.

# Buffs and Debuffs: This is a new section added to Interface Options.

* New option - Castable Debuffs: Enabling this will cause only debuffs you have cast on an enemy target to appear.

* New option - Consolidate Buffs: Enabling this adds a buff consolidation box near the mini-map. Very short term buffs (e.g. [Replenishment]) and very long term buffs (e.g. [Prayer of Fortitude]) are filtered into the buff box. The icons are stacked here, but they can still be seen by moving the mouse cursor over the buff box. Long term buffs will move out of the box when they are about to expire. Buffs such as important procs (e.g. [Art of War], Maelstrom Weapon), cooldowns (e.g. [Bloodlust] / [Heroism], [Combustion]) or limited in range (e.g. totems and paladin auras) are always displayed.

# Tutorial System: The tutorial pop-ups are now larger, contain images, and better try to direct players to the relevant locations or user interface elements on the screen. In addition, several new tips have been added, while some existing tips will now appear at more appropriate times for new players.

# Dungeon & Raid Difficult Display: A group's dungeon or raid difficulty setting will now be displayed via an icon off of the mini-map.

# Group Disenchanting Option: In addition to rolling Need or Greed on items, players now have the option to elect for an item to be disenchanted if an enchanter of the appropriate skill level is in the group. Disenchant works exactly like Greed except if a player wins the Greed roll, they will receive the disenchanted materials instead. Players who choose Need will always win the item and will always beat those that choose Greed or Disenchant.

# Lag Reports: Players can now report high latency or lag by accessing the Help Request menu.

# Unit Nameplates

* The range at which players can see unit nameplates has been increased by 40 yards.

* Unit nameplates are now subject to line-of-sight limitations in certain situations (this does not pertain to objects like Arena pillars or bridges).

* Players can now adjust select unit nameplate display settings listed below under Interface Options via the Names tab.

o Friendly/enemy pet nameplates can be toggled.

o Enemy totem nameplates can be toggled (friendly totem nameplates are never displayed).

o Players can choose whether or not unit nameplates overlap.

* Unit nameplates for critters are never displayed.

# Non spell-based tracking now persists through logout.

# Any party member may mark targets (this does not apply to raid groups).

# Players will be warned when their talents are reset due to a new patch.

# "/Settitle" command has been added.

# Instant quest text is on by default.

# Tentative status added for calendar responses.

# Players below level 10 may not join raids.

# Ignore list expanded to 50 to match the friends list.

# Unit frames added for special encounters.

# Interface element added next to the mini-map to show what dungeon you are in (ex: 10- and 25-player Heroic dungeons marked with a skull).

# Experience earned for a quest will display in the Quest Rewards section.

# Confirmation box added when buying stable slots.

# Macro Changes

* Symbol "@" added as a synonym for "target=". For example: "/cast [@focus] Flash Heal".

* New macro conditionals: "vehicleui" (if the player has a vehicle UI) and "unithasvehicleui" (if the target of the macro has a vehicle UI).

# Addon Author Changes

* "registerForClicks" added to XML buttons.

* "MouseIsOver" has been converted to a "C" function for increased efficiency (e.g. /dump PlayerFrame:IsMouseOver() ).

* When an addon file is loaded, the addon name and an addon table are passed to the file through '...'. The same addon table is passed to every file loaded by a particular TOC file (example at the top of a Lua file: "local addonName, addonTable = ...;".

* "motionScriptsWhileDisabled" attribute added to buttons. This allows "OnEnter" and "OnLeave" to fire while the button is disabled.

* "GetFileHeight()" and "GetFileWidth()" added to Texture objects. 0 is returned if no texture file is associated with the texture.

== Graphics ==

A new feature has been added to the D3D graphics engine to improve texture management (particularly for Windows XP users). If you are experiencing random crashes related to file read errors or out of memory, this new backend may help. To enable the new backend, add the following line to your Config.WTF file: SET gxApi "d3d9ex".

== Professions ==

* Enchanting

o [Enchant Weapon - Black Magic]: This enchantment now sometimes increases haste rating for the caster rather than inflicting the caster's target with a damage-over-time effect. It is also now triggered by landing any harmful spell rather than inflicting damage with a spell.

o [Enchant Weapon - Unholy]: This enchantment now inflicts Shadow damage in addition to its original effect.

* First Aid

o The training costs for most bandages have been reduced.

* Fishing

o The all-new Kalu'ak Fishing Derby, a test of fishing skill with a healthy dash of luck, has come to Northrend! Every Wednesday beginning at 8 PM players can try to catch the elusive [Blacktip Shark]. Elder Clearwater sits in Dalaran for one hour awaiting the return of the quickest, most experienced fisher to bring him this shark. This champion fisher will be rewarded in-kind for returning with the first catch. Those who aren't able to return with the first catch will still receive just reward for getting the Blacktip Shark to Elder Clearwater before he takes his leave. It is said that these sharks' favorite meal are the bite-sized [Pygmy Suckerfish]. Perhaps a hook in their waters will do the trick.

* Mining

o Enchanted Thorium: This ability now uses the Mining skill and is learned from trainers at a skill level of 250.

==Quests==

* Weekly raid quests are now available from Archmage Lan'dalock in Dalaran. Every Tuesday at 3 AM the Council of Six will choose a different strategic target that must die from either: The Obsidian Sanctum, Naxxramas, The Eye of Eternity, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, or Icecrown Citadel.

* For the various Icecrown Bomber quests at Aldur'thar: The Desolation Gate, players can now choose to eject from their bomber seats mid-run. If you do so, a rescue vehicle will transport your character back to the safety of your infra-green platform.

* Azure Drakes and Dragons will now attack back when attacked by characters not riding Wyrmrest Defenders.

* Brittle Revenants, quest creatures fought for the Sons of Hodir daily quest "Hot and Cold," no longer cast [Shield Slam].

* Blizzard Entertainment We're making several improvements to the user interface for tracking quest objectives in our 3.3 content update. These new features will serve to improve the questing experience for players through a multitude of new tracking options.

o Quest Log - We've added a new "Show Map" button on the Quest Log. The "Show Map" feature highlights any quest in the log and will pull up the map for the zone in which the corresponding quest objectives are located.

o Map - When viewing the large zone map ('M' key), players will notice that all quests they have for that zone will be automatically tracked. In addition, this large map is now separated into four separate interface panes. To the right of the map, all active quests for that zone will be listed by name and be represented with a number. These numbers will be placed on the map highlighting areas of interest for each quest. A third pane below the zone map will give players the full quest text for any highlighted quest, while the fourth pane will display the quest reward. The quest map tracking feature is enabled by default. Players can disable this feature and restore the map to its original state by un-checking the "Show Quest Objectives" box in the lower right corner.

o Areas of Interest - All areas of interest in a zone will be represented with a number corresponding to the number assigned to each active quest in that particular zone. When highlighting a specific quest, the corresponding number on the zone map will be highlighted as well. If the area of interest is large, for example, and a player needs to kill a number of quest creatures or collect quest items found within a large area on the map, the entire questing area of interest around the number on the map will be shaded blue. If quest objectives can be accomplished in multiple areas of the zone; for example, certain creatures need to be killed for a quest and have several different locations, the map will automatically display the nearest area of interest in proximity to the player.

o Shrunken Map and Objectives Tracking - When viewing the large zone map ('M' key), players can click the arrow in the top right corner to bring the zone map out of full-screen mode. The map will show all areas of interest for the zone; however the other three interface panes

• Last update: Wednesday, February 13, 2013
• Genre: RPG
• File size: 796.4 MB