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World Of Warcraft Shadowlands Patch Notes For 9.0.5: Adds Valor Points, Rebalances Classes

World Of Warcraft's latest patch makes a barrage of small changes and adds Valor Points to help players upgrade their Mythic+ gear.

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World of Warcraft's latest patch drops very soon, and it introduces a litany of small changes that will definitely make a difference to your average player. Though this isn't the major Chains of Domination update that was announced back in February, it does tackle a significant issue that players have been reporting with Shadowlands: an inability to progress through its endgame without participating in PvP, or other content that they might not enjoy as solo players.

In order to alleviate this persistent issue, Patch 9.0.5 reintroduces Valor Points, a currency that players can use to upgrade Mythic+ gear. Though the Valor Points system is still in early stages, it's essentially a currency that players earn when they complete Mythic+ dungeons that they can spend to augment their existing gear, for those times when you don't quite get the drop you wanted from the dungeon. Rare and epic Covenant Callings also award players with Valor.

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In terms of other changes, the patch brings minor shifts to many aspects of the game, particularly individual classes. These changes are quite detailed, so if you're looking to learn how your preferred class has been changed, it's probably best to scroll down to the patch notes below. The patch also adjusts Covenant companions to make them slightly more effective in combat.

Adventures

  • Kyrian Covenant Companions
    • Kyrian Phalanx health increased by 16%.
      • Developers’ note: Phalanxes still feel underpowered relative to Halberdiers, so giving them some additional durability to allow them to fill the tank role before players have maxed out their roster.
  • Necrolord Covenant Companions
    • Fixed an issue where Bonesmith Heirmir Serrated Shoulder Blades weren’t inflicting damage back to the enemy.
    • Maldraxxus Plaguesinger’s Plague Song has been redesigned – Plague Song now deals damage to ranged enemies every round.
    • Rencissa the Dynamo spell effectiveness increased by 40%.
    • Assembler Xertora spell effectiveness increased by 10%.
    • Rattlebag spell effectiveness increased by 20%.
      • Developers’ note: We fixed a few issues where some Necrolord Covenant Companions weren’t dealing damage reliably. Additionally, a few companions have received an improvement that fits with their purpose.
  • Night Fae Covenant Companions
    • Qadarin spell effectiveness increased by 24%.
    • Blisswing’s damage reduction now correctly applies to enemies.
    • Yira’liya health increased by 16% and spell effectiveness increased by 50%.
    • Duskleaf health increased by 20% and spell effectiveness increased by 25%.
    • Lloth’wellyn health increased by 33% and ability damage increased by 25%.
      • Developers’ note: A few Night Fae Covenant Companions were not as well established in their different roles as we hoped, to address this we’ve improved many abilities and decreased some Companions’ overall fragility.
  • Venthyr Covenant Companions
    • Venthyr Nightblade attack increased by 25%.
      • Developers’ note: We’re generally happy with how the changes to Venthyr in the 9.0.2 landed, but wanted to offer some additional help for players using Nightblades to fill out their compositions.

Characters

  • Undead cloaks will now be as tattered as the forsaken wearing them.

Classes

Covenants

Dungeons and Raids

  • Halls of Atonement
  • Sanguine Depths
    • Anima Cage's now persist for 1 minute after activation (was 45 seconds). While active, Sinfall Boon is applied to players when any enemy is slain nearby (was certain enemy types) and duration increased to 75 seconds (was 60 seconds).
    • Moved one of the Anima Cages away from a patrolling Chamber Sentinel.
  • Mythic Keystone Dungeons
    • The formula for determining the level of the first Mythic Keystone players receive each week has been adjusted.
      • Previously, players would always receive a Keystone 1 level below the highest they'd completed so far in Season 1.
      • After this change, Keystone level will continue to decrease by 1 per week until players again complete a higher level Keystone.
      • For example, a player who completes a level 15 Keystone will receive a level 14 Keystone the following week. If they do not complete a 15 or higher Keystone that week, they will receive a level 13 Keystone the week after.
    • Plaguefall
    • Sanguine Depths
      • General Kaal's Gauntlet
        • Stonewall Gargons no longer trigger the Necrotic Affix.

Items and Rewards

  • The community voted mount, The Wandering Ancient, is now available!
  • Gear acquired from Mythic Keystone dungeons are now upgradable with Valor, a new currency that is earned from completing Mythic Keystone dungeons and covenant Callings. The weekly Valor cap will start at 5000 Valor earnable in the first week, and will increase by 750 Valor each week. There will be a maximum of 1500 Valor a character can hold at a time. Gear that dropped before the patch is unable to be upgraded.
    • 200 Item Level: Initial item upgrade level.
    • 207 Item Level: Requires the Keystone Explorer achievement – Earned by completing all eight Shadowlands dungeons at Mythic 5 or higher, within the time limit.
    • 213 Item Level: Requires the Shadowlands Keystone Conqueror achievement – Earned by completing all Shadowlands dungeons at Mythic 10 or higher, within the time limit.
    • 220 Item Level: Requires the Shadowlands Keystone Master achievement – Earned by completing all Shadowlands dungeons at Mythic 15 or higher, within the time limit.
  • Completing a Mythic Keystone dungeon after the timer has ended will now reward a second item. The item level of the second item will be slightly lower (e.g. finishing a Mythic 7 Keystone dungeon, but not completing the timer now rewards the party with a 200 iLvl item and a 197 iLvl item.
  • The Great Vault raid loot requirements is now defeat 3/6/9 raid bosses (was 3/7/10).
  • Potency Conduits now also drop in Castle Nathria.
  • Once players reach 40 Renown with their Covenant, the weekly quest to gather 1000 Anima will now award you with 1500 gold.
  • Once players have recruited the maximum amount of Souls for their Covenant, your weekly quest to rescue Souls from the Maw will now award you with 500 Anima.
  • Rhinestone Sunglasses can now be used in transmogrification and will appear in your collection once found.
  • Vendor prices for items below item level 75 have been adjusted.
  • The Lightless Force weapon enchant no longer targets out-of-combat or crowd-controlled enemies.
  • The Hunger of the Pack trinket now grants the Speed stat instead of movement speed percentage.
  • The Barrier Generator Toy can no longer be used in instanced PvP.

Runecarving Legendary Items

Player versus Player

  • Battlegrounds
    • The Horde flag size in Warsong Gulch and Twin Peaks have been increased to match the size of the Alliance flag.
    • Focused Assault and Brutal Assault now increase damage taken by 10% per stack and reduces healing received by 5% per stack in Warsong Gulch, Twin Peaks, and Eye of the Storm.
    • Deepwind Gorge side-capture point flags now spawn 14 seconds after the battleground has begun, and the central flag spawns 18 seconds after the battleground has begun (was immediately at start).
    • Fixed an issue that caused Battle Flags to not be usable in Wintergrasp or Ashran Battlegrounds.
    • Bloodlust, Heroism, Time Warp, Primal Rage and Drums of Heroism/ Maelstrom are no longer usable during the Battleground preparation phase.
    • Ashran
      • Maximum player count per faction is now 35 (was 30).
      • Starting reinforcements are now 175 (was 150).
      • To allow both factions to have easier access to Star Root Tubers and Song Flowers, both these tasty treats will now spawn alongside each other in the Dark Woods and Root Den.
      • Artifact Fragment cost to summon Kronus and Fangrall reduced to 1500 (was 3000).
      • Horde and Alliance tower mages are now worth 30 Reinforcements when slain (was 50).
      • Horde and Alliance tower mages have had their spells adjusted:
        • Rylai Crestfall – Alliance Tower Mage
        • Jeron Emberfall – Horde Tower Mage
          • Fireball now deals 8% of the target's maximum health in Fire damage.
          • Combustion Nova now deals 15% of the target's maximum health in Fire damage.
          • Ignite now deals 1% of the target's maximum health in Fire damage.
          • Living Bomb initial spell now deals 5% of the target's maximum health in Fire damage.
          • Living Bomb explosion now deals 15% of the target's maximum health in Fire damage.
          • Living Bomb no longer causes a knockback when exploding.
          • Magma Blast cast by Jeron's summoned Lava Fury now deals 5% of the target's maximum health in Fire damage.
    • Isle of Conquest
      • Glaive Thrower health has been increased by 40%.
      • Alliance and Horde Commander health increased by 50%.
      • Demolisher health increased by 25%.
      • Catapult health increased by 100%.
      • The amount of siege damage required to break down keep walls has been increased by 20%.
    • Wintergrasp
      • Broken Temple and Sunken Ring Workshops are now controlled by the attacking team when the battle starts.
      • Wintergrasp Wall, Wintergrasp Fortress Wall, and Wintergrasp Fortress Gate health has been reduced by 20%.
      • Destroying Towers reduces match time by 8 minutes (was 5 minutes).
      • Siege Engine's Steam Rush ability deals 20-35% of a player's health (was 30-45%).
      • Demolisher's Hurl Boulder ability deals 20-25% of a player's health (was 36%).
      • Demolishers will now more consistently deal siege damage when striking fortress walls and towers.
      • After 5 minutes, all players in the battleground who do not have a rank (including players who join late) will now be granted the rank of Corporal.
  • Classes

The Maw

  • A new account-wide unlock has been added to Ve'nari that reveals teleport nodes on all the long walkable chains in Torghast so you can quickly cross the chains and no longer have to face your fear of heights.
  • Reduced the health and amount of Anima Devourers required for Stage 1 of the Winged Soul Eaters Hunt.

Torghast, Tower of the Damned

WoW Companion App

  • Changed the expansion select button action to a tap and added a button to switch expansions in the menu.
    • Developers' note: We received feedback that players were having trouble remembering the expansion switch tutorial so we simplified the action and added a second way to switch expansions.
  • Clarified the region and character select flow.
    • Developers' note: We changed the flow based on feedback to help clarify and resolve the wrong region being selected versus having no characters in a region.
  • Fixed an issue where news articles didn't show content when the phone's language did not match the article's language.
  • Fixed an issue with duplicate Missions and Callings.
  • Various updates to Adventures.

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