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Patch 3.1.3 Goes Live Today

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World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.1.3 is being implemented today on live servers. Thank goodness!

For those unaware, this is the patch that’s going to buff Hunters and nerf others. 😈

Hunter’s Mark is being buffed from 300 RAP up to 500 RAP at level 80. This means that when fully talented and glyphed, Hunter’s Mark will now be worth 750 RAP. Yikes! 3/3 in Improved Hunter’s Mark will now be a must for raiding MM. I’m strongly considering 3/3 in IHM + the glyph for BM in arena. 450 more RAP vs. marked targets will help our burst out a little for sure.

Marksman Hunters are receiving a huge buff by having mana reduced by as much as 25% for Aimed and Chimera Shots. This will help Marksman Hunter’s mana issues considerably, and may possibly result in putting Marksman at the top for Hunter raiding specs.

Here are the official patch notes:

( 😀 Indicates changes I’m… well… happy about!)

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.1.3

Death Knight

  • Frost Presence: Armor bonus is now 60% down from 80%. 😀

Druid

  • Improved Barkskin: This talent now also grants 80/160% additional armor while in Travel Form or not shapeshifted.
  • Improved Tree of Life: The armor bonus to Tree of Life Form from this talent has been reduced to 67/133/200% bonus armor. 😀

Hunter

  • Hunter’s Mark: The ranged attack power bonus from this ability has been increased from 300 to 500. 😀
  • Master Marksman: This talent now also decreases the cost of Aimed Shot and Chimera Shot by 5/10/15/20/25%. 😀

Paladin

  • Eye For An Eye: This talent now deals 5/10% of the critical strike damage taken by the paladin back at the attacker. 😀
  • Hand of Freedom: The base duration of this buff has been reduced from 10 seconds to 6 seconds. 😀

Rogue

  • Overkill: Talent redesigned. Now increases energy regeneration by 30% while stealthed, and for 20 seconds after breaking stealth.

Warlock

  • Chaos Bolt: This spell no longer ignores damage reduction effects of the target. 😀

Warrior

  • Blood Frenzy: This talent now provides 5/10% haste instead of 3/6%.
  • Bloodthirst: Cooldown reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds, and rage cost reduced from 30 rage to 20 rage.
  • Juggernaut: This talent now also increases the cooldown on Charge by 5 seconds. 😀

Items

  • Death Knight PvP Gauntlets: The chance to refresh a Frost Rune when casting Chains of Ice has been removed. When equipped, these gloves now generate 5 additional runic power whenever Chains of Ice is used.

Raids & Dungeons

Ulduar – Mimiron

  • The flight time of Rocket Strikes has been increased, and Rocket Strikes will try to prefer players at range.
  • The Leviathan Mk II component of the V-07-TR-0N will become stunned during Phase 4 when the VX-001 component begins to cast the P3Wx2 Laser Barrage ability.
  • Proximity mines now deal less damage and have a lower duration. A small arming time has also been added so proximity mines will not immediately detonate on creation.

Bug Fixes

  • Druid Tier 8 Balance Set: The 4-piece bonus no longer has its effect consumed by Starfire casts in progress when it triggers. The chance for the effect to be triggered has been reduced down to 8%, as it was originally inflated to compensate.
  • Ice Layered Barrier: Upgraded to item level 232. In addition, the stats in the tooltip have been correctly adjusted to 78 spell power, 48 haste rating, 16 mana per 5 seconds, 52 Intellect, and 50 Stamina.
  • Pulsing Spellshield: The stats listed in the tooltip for this item were incorrect and have been adjusted. This item provides 69 spell power, 34 haste rating, 42 critical strike rating, 45 intellect, and 45 stamina.

Patch 3.1 PTR is Available

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The Public Test realm for patch 3.1 is now available on the downloader.

Here are some of the highlights of Patch 3.1: (Source: MMO-Champion)

  • New Dual Spec feature is available for 1000G.
  • New mounts and non-combat pets are available, including an aquatic mount!
    • Aquatic Riding Ray – Summons and dismisses an Aquatic Riding Ray. This is an aquatic mount.
  • New glyphs and glyph changes for all classes.
  • All of the new dungeon maps have been added to the game.
  • New crafted items added.
  • A legendary mace is being added to the game – Val’anyr, Gavel of Ancient Kings.
  • Upgraded rings of the Kirin Tor have been added. The inscribed rings can be bought for the price of the original ring + 1000 gold.
  • The Argent Tournament is now live on the PTR. Here are some notes from an official blue post from Zarhym on this latest surprise event that Blizzard has introduced:
    • In patch 3.1, a new world event titled “The Argent Tournament” will be coming to Northrend! This tournament will be live on the 3.1 PTR and open for testing, though certain aspects are still in development. Players will find a host of new features here, including:
      • The ability to prove your worth to a capital city of your choosing through our new mounted combat system (still in development)
      • New daily quests to construct the great Argent Crusade coliseum for glorious battles to come
      • All new rewards – new items, titles, banners, tabards, pets, mounts, and more
      • All new achievements
      • Many more festivities, and more to come in future content updates!

      Players will find the Argent Tournament in Icecrown. Speaking to any Northrend flight master will get you on track to prove your worth to the Argent Crusade, your faction’s leaders, and all denizens of Azeroth!

Hunter Glyph Changes

  • Glyph – Aimed Shot — Reduces the cooldown of your Aimed Shot ability by 2 sec. (Old: Reduces the mana cost of your aimed shot ability by 20%)
  • Glyph of the Monkey — While Aspect of the Monkey or Aspect of the Dragonhawk are active, each time you dodge you gain 30% increased movement speed for 6 sec. Can only occur every 20 sec. This speed does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects. (Old: Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey — While Aspect of the Monkey or Aspect of the Dragonhawk are active, each time you dodge you gain 30% increased movement speed for 6 sec. This speed does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.)
  • Glyph of Wyvern Sting — Decreases the cooldown of your Wyvern Sting by 6 sec. (Old: Decreases the cooldown of your Wyvern Sting by 15 sec., but decreases the damage it deals by 20%.)
  • Glyph of Snake Trap — Snakes generated by your Snake Trap take 90% reduced damage from area of effect spells. (Old: Your Snake Trap creates 2 additional snakes)
  • Glyph of the Hawk — Increases the haste bonus of the Improved Aspect of the Hawk effect by an additional 6%. (Old: Renamed from Glyph of Improved Aspect of the Hawk)
  • Glyph of Chimera Shot *new* — Reduces the cooldown of Chimaera Shot by 1 sec.
  • Glyph of Explosive Shot *new* — Increases the critical strike chance of Explosive Shot by 4%.
  • Glyph of Kill Shot *new* — Reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot by 6 sec.
  • Glyph of Explosive Trap *new* — The periodic damage from your Explosive Trap can now be critical strikes.
  • Glyph of Scatter Shot *new* — Increases the range of Scatter Shot by 3 yards.
  • Glyph of Raptor Strike *new  — For 5 sec. after using Raptor Strike, you take 20% less damage.

Interesting changes in the Glyph department. Glyph of Kill Shot looks like the winner here for me anyway. The Glyph of Snake Trap is somewhat intriguing, but I wonder if the 90% damage reduction will still be enough to keep them up long enough to apply the casting debuff to PvP targets. Glyph of Scatter Shot and Raptor Strike are nice additions for arena Hunters.

I really liked the previous Monkey Glyph for PvP, but with the nerf, it’s going to be giving its slot up for the Glyph of Kill Shot.

Undocumented Hunter Class Changes

Beast Mastery

Skills

  • *New Skill* Call Stabled Pet – A pet of your choice busts out of its stable and joins you no matter where you are, replacing your current pet. Cannot be used in combat. Instant. 30 min cooldown. Requires Level 80.

I like this change… a lot.

Marksmanship

Skills

  • Kill Shot no longer has a minimum range. It can now be used in melee range.

Awesome!

Talents

  • Wild Quiver (Tier 9) now increases your chance to shoot an additional shot when doing damage with your auto shot, dealing 80% Nature damage, by 4/8/12%. (Previously it dealt 50% nature damage and had a 4/7/10% chance.)
  • Piercing Shots (Tier 7) Your critical Aimed, Steady and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed for 10/20/30% of the damage dealt over 8 sec. (Previously triggered 2/4/6% armor ignore).
  • Ranged Weapon Specialization (Tier 6) is now a 3 point talent, increasing damage with ranged weapons by 1/3/5%. (Previously a 5 point talent increasing damage by 1/2/3/4/5%)

Survival

Skills

  • Disengage cooldown increased to 30 secs. (Previously was 25 secs)

Talents

  • Hunting Party (Tier 10) is now a 3 point talent, increasing agility by 1/2/3% and your Arcane Shot, Explosive Shot and Steady Shot critical strikes have a 33/66/100% chance to grant up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 0.25% of the maximum mana per second. Lasts for 15 sec.
  • Trap Mastery moved from Tier 9 to Tier 2 and is now a 3 point talent. Increases the duration of Frost and Freezing trap by 10/20/30%, Periodic damage of Immolation and Explosive trap by 10/20/30%, and number of snakes summoned by Snake Trap by 30%. (Previously was just 1 point)
  • *New Talent* Black Arrow (Tier 9) – Fires a Black Arrow at the target, increasing all damage done by you to the target by 6% and dealing [ 10% of RAP + 785 ] Shadow damage over 15 sec. Costs 6% base mana. 5-35 yard range. Instant Cast. 30 sec cooldown.
  • Sniper Training (Tier 9) has been changed to increase the critical strike chance of your Kill Shot ability by 5/10/15%, and while standing still for 6 sec., you gain Sniper Training increasing the damage done by your Steady Shot, Aimed Shot, Black Arrow and Explosive Shot by 2/4/6% Lasts 15 sec. (Previously increased damage and critical strike chance based on your range to the target)
  • Wyvern Sting (Tier 7) now lasts 30 sec on the target. (Previously lasted 12 sec)
  • T.N.T. (Tier 4) now increases the damage done by your Explosive Shot,  Explosive Trap and Immolation Trap by 2%. (Previously increased critical strike chance of explosive shot and and gave it a chance to stun the target)
  • Lock and Load (Tier 4) now has a 33/66/100% chance to proc off Freezing Shot, Freezing Trap, and Frost Trap, and a 3/7/10% chance to proc off the periodic damage of Immolation Trap and Black Arrow. (Previously worked on all traps and included serpent sting)
  • Improved Wing Clip has been removed from the game.

Is it just me, or is Survival getting buffed even further? What is this all about..?!

I know… they’re still probably fine-tuning the massive buffs to the BM tree and making sure that we’ll only be moderately overpowered.

</wishful thinking>

For complete coverage on the most recent patch notes, visit MMO-Champion and Wowinsider.