WoW: Dragonflight Pre-Patch Phase 2 Patch Notes Revealed

The second phase of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's pre-patch is right around the corner, and Blizzard has now revealed the official patch notes ahead of the update's arrival on November 15.

As previously announced, phase two of the pre-patch update will introduce Dracthyr Evokers, the game's new race (that is also a class). Players will be able to play through the Dracthyr starter zone so that they are ready to dive into Dragonflight proper come launch day on November 28.

The patch will also include a revamped version of a classic WoW dungeon, Uldaman, alongside a new Primal Storms event that tasks players with completing quests and world events as they look to fend off attacks from the Primalists and their elementals.

Though the previous pre-patch update introduced the new talent tree revamp and user interface changes, the phase two update will further refine both. Icons for some class talents will be changed to prevent confusion and duplicate icons within a talent tree, and numerous balance changes and bug fixes are slated to come to the game's various classes both in PvE and PvP. Mousing over a talent will highlight where it is on a player's action bar come the update, and in general, talents should be a little more readable.

On the UI front, players will be happy to know that the silver dragon portrait for rare elite mobs is making a comeback after being removed last update, as is the ability to track profession trainers using the minimap's filter options.

One major feature being removed with phase two of the Dragonflight pre-patch is the Threads of Fate leveling option from the game's Shadowlands expansion. The feature was added part way through Shadowlands as a means of providing players more freedom when it came to leveling up alternate characters during the expansion without having to play through the linear storyline of Shadowlands multiple times.

As Blizzard states in the patch notes, with the level cap for Chromie Time (the system Blizzard uses to allow players to choose which past expansions they want to play through as part of their leveling journey) being raised to 60, players will have more options when it comes to leveling, making Threads of Fate less important. Keeping Threads of Fate would mean making Chromie Time far more complicated, as Threads of Fate effectively makes it so that there are two different ways to experience Shadowlands instead of one.

Though characters who already started leveling with the Threads of Fate system will still have access to it, it will no longer be available for all characters come November 15. Blizzard makes clear, however, that it does not have plans to remove a system similar to Threads of Fate, called Adventure Mode, coming in Dragonflight.

The full patch notes for phase two of the Dragonflight pre-patch are below.

WoW: Dragonflight Pre-Patch Phase 2 Patch Notes

MEET THE DRACTHYR EVOKER

Players will menace their foes (or empower their allies) as the new dracthyr Evoker, World of Warcraft’s first-ever race and class combination. Able to switch between a humanoid visage and a fearsome draconic form, the dracthyr are highly mobile, and their unique Evoker class can specialize in ranged damage-dealing or in aiding their allies as a healer by harnessing the mystical gifts of dragonkind. They’ll awake from their slumber in the Forbidden Reach, where they’ll take up their training to join the forces of dragonkind in the defense of the isles. [LEARN MORE]

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NEW ZONE: THE FORBIDDEN REACH

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Journey through the Forbidden Reach as a dracthyr Evoker and dive into the mysteries of the past as enemies and potential allies, new and old, are drawn to this place of ancient power. [LEARN MORE]

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IN-GAME EVENT: PRIMAL STORMS

Ward off attacks from the Primalists with new quests and world events, setting the stage for Dragonflight’s launch.

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ULDAMAN: LEGACY OF TYR DUNGEON

Uldaman is an ancient titan facility where, long ago, allies of the heroic Keeper Tyr hid the Discs of Norgannon.

After returning to the Dragon Isles, Queen Alexstrasza learned of another disc locked away within Uldaman... one that holds the memories of Tyr himself. Believing this knowledge is needed to restore the power of the Aspects, Alexstrasza has asked her mortal allies to brave the perils of Uldaman and recover Tyr's memories to secure the future of dragonkind. [LEARN MORE]

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ACHIEVEMENTS

• Updated several achievements to correctly include the new race/class combinations added in the Phase 1 update.

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CLASSES

• Multiple class talents have had their icons adjusted to prevent duplicate icons in the talent trees.
• Fixed an issue with that was causing several talents' tooltips to not show their correct cooldown if it was possible to get multiple charges of the ability via talents.
• DEATH KNIGHT
  • Blood
    • Fixed an issue that was causing Death's Caress to incorrectly grant 6 stacks of Boneshield when cast.
• DEMON HUNTER
  • Vengeance
    • Fixed an issue that allowed Spirit Bomb healing to be increased by healing taken modifiers (like Guardian Spirit).
• DRUID
  • Moonkin Form now correctly increases Spell Damage by 10% for Feral, Guardian, and Restoration Druids.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Adaptive Swarm from jumping to new targets if the current target despawned.
  • Balance
    • Syzygy has been renamed to Orbital Strike.
    • Fixed an issue where Vulnerable Flesh blocked Twin Moons on the Balance talent tree.
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Touch of the Cosmos from being triggered when Celestial Alignment or Incarnation was active.
  • Feral
    • Brutal Slash now replaces Swipe in Bear Form as well. Brutal Slash does not cost energy or generate combo points while in Bear Form.
    • Fixed an issue that allowed Tear to benefit from Hasted periodic events when the Rip and Tear talent was selected.
  • Guardian
    • The Guardian Druid tree has undergone changes to its node connections and talent positions.
      • Scintillating Moonlight, Twin Moonfire, and Galactic Guardian are now after the 20 point gate.
      • Survival of the Fittest, After the Wildfire/Guardian of Elune choice node, and Soul of the Forest are now after the 8 point gate.
      • Dream of Cenarius has been split out of it's choice node with Ursoc's Fury.
    • Maul damage increased by 40%.
    • Mangle damage increased by 15%.
    • Twin Moonfire damage bonus to Moonfire reduced to 10% (was 20%).
    • Guardian of Elune's Mangle now increases the duration of your next Ironfur by 3 seconds (was 2 seconds).
    • After the Wildfire healing increased by 50%.
    • Ursoc's Endurance duration increased to 2 seconds (was 1 second).
    • Fixed an issue with Tooth and Claw costing an incorrect number of points.
    • Fixed an issue causing incorrect absorb values from Ursoc's Fury when in combat with low level enemies.
    • Fixed an issue where Scintillating Moonlight was not correctly reducing damage taken from targets afflicted with Moonfire.
    • Fixed an issue preventing Berserk and Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc from being dragged from the talent tree to Action Bars.
• HUNTER
  • Hunter pet's basic attack ability tooltips are now correctly adjusted by the Beast Master, Ferocity, and Training Expert talents.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing Rejuvenating Wind to heal for an incorrect amount.
  • Marksmanship
    • The chance to gain bonus Wind Arrows from the Legacy of the Windrunners talent should more consistently match the listed talent values.
    • Fixed an issue where Trueshot granted from Windrunner's Guidance didn't properly activate the Focus cost reduction from the Eagletalon's True Focus talent.
    • Fixed an issue where only the first periodic event of Volley could activate the Salvo talent.
    • Fixed an issue where Volley stopped dealing damage if the Hunter died before its duration was over.
  • Survival
    • Deadly Duo has been redesigned – While Spearhead is active, Mongoose Bite increases the damage of your next Kill Command by 40% and the reset chance of your next Kill Command by 25%, stacking up to 3 times. Kill Command cooldown resets extend the duration of Spearhead by 1.5 seconds.
    • Fixed an issue with Wildfire Bomb and the Wildfire Infusion variants not always properly transferring threat from damage dealt while Misdirection is active.
    • Fixed an issue that was causing Coordinated Assault to sometimes not activate the Hunter Pet portion of the attack if the pet was out of range.
    • Fixed an issue with Misdirection's cooldown not getting reduced when Wildfire Bomb dealt damage.
• MAGE
  • Arcane
    • Fixed an issue that allowed Arcane Echo's damage events to trigger Radiant Spark Vulnerability.
• MONK
  • Summon White Tiger no longer stops dealing damage when its crowd-controlled.
  • Brewmaster
    • Anvil and Stave's tooltip now specifies its proc cooldown.
  • Mistweaver
    • Unison now additionally functions with Jade Serpent Statue’s Soothing Mist.
    • Fixed an issue that cause Misty Peaks Enveloping Mists to not be extended properly by Rising Mist.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Refreshing Jade Wind's tooltip to display an incorrect healing amount.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Enveloping Breath to trigger from Misty Peaks procs.
    • Enveloping Mists from Misty Peaks now correctly trigger the Tear of Morning Enveloping Mist heal at 33% effectiveness.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Chi-Ji's buff to be consumed by Misty Peaks procs.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Gust of Mist to incorrectly trigger from Misty Peaks procs while channeling Soothing Mist.
• PALADIN
  • Fixed an issue that sometimes caused Divine Resonance to initiate PvP combat.
  • Recompense now correctly caps its damage at 30% of the Paladin's maximum health and its healing at 100% of the Paladin's maximum health.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed Divine Toll to be cast when targeting friendly or enemy targets that were out of line of sight.
  • Holy
    • Light of the Martyr now costs 9% of base mana (was 7%).
    • Barrier of Faith now costs 16% of base mana (was 9.5%).
    • Tyr's Deliverance now costs 12% of base mana (was 0%).
    • Crusader Strike now costs 10% of base mana (was 11%).
    • Holy Light now costs 16% of base mana (was 15%).
    • Fixed an issue that could cause Empyrean Legacy to remain on the Paladin after casting Word of Glory.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Bestow Faith's cooldown to not be reduced by Blessing of Dusk.
  • Protection
    • Fixed an issue causing Crusader's Judgment cooldown reduction to not function properly.
    • Fixed an issue causing Hammer of the Righteous' tooltip to fail to display its number of charges before being talented into.
    • Fixed an issue where Avenging Wrath's damage increase was not affecting Eye of Tyr or Tyr's Enforcer.
    • Fixed an issue where Judgment had incorrect charges while Crusader's Judgment was selected.
    • Fixed an issue causing Mastery: Divine Bulwark to trigger incorrectly.
  • Retribution
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Art of War from granting its full chance to reset Blade of Justice's cooldown.
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Executioner's Wrath from dealing damage to nearby targets.
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Radiant Decree from consuming and benefitting from Greater Judgment and Final Reckoning's Reckoning debuff.
    • Fixed an issue that caused Divine Storm cast by Empyrean Legacy to incorrectly consume and benefit from Empyrean Power.
    • Fixed an issue that was causing Judgment bounces from Boundless Judgment to incorrectly bounce to targets that were crowd-controlled.
• PRIEST
  • Power Infusion can now only be cast on players.
  • Discipline
    • Sins of the Many is now a passive learned at level 12.
      • Increases damage by 30% (was 12%).
      • Damage increase diminishes above 5 Atonement applications (was 1).
    • Sins of the Many has been replaced with Blaze of Light in the talent tree.
    • Blaze of Light increases the damage of your Smite and Penance by 8%/15% and Penance increases or decreases your target's movement speed by 25%/50% for 2 seconds.
    • Blaze of Light is no longer a PvP Talent.
    • Evangelism once again has a 1.5 minute cooldown (was 3 minutes).
    • Spell damage heals all targets affected by Atonement for 40% of damage done (was 50%).
    • Power Word: Radiance now applies Atonement for 60% of its normal duration (was 50%).
    • Schism increases spell damage to the target by 15% (was 25%).
    • Malicious Intent increases the duration of Schism by 6 seconds (was 3 seconds).
    • Harsh Discipline has been redesigned – Every 10 / 5 casts of Smite, your next Penance is free and fires an additional 3 bolts. (Was: When Atonement has healed a total of 200 / 100 times, your next Penance is free and fires 3 additional bolts).
    • Light's Wrath now has 5% damage variance.
  • Holy
    • All damaging abilities reduced by 10%.
    • Divine Favor: Chastise's damage bonus decreased to 30% (was 50%).
    • Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented Cosmic Ripple triggering from Holy Word: Serenity if Miracle Worker was talented into.
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Revitalizing Prayers from sometimes extending the duration of existing Renews.
    • Prayer of Mending's tooltip now correctly states it has up to 4 jumps.
  • Shadow
    • Insanity should always display now as Shadow whether in Shadowform, Voidform, or not in any form.
    • Mind Sear now requires Shadowform for it to be cast.
    • Fixed an issue that was causing Insidious Ire to last longer than intended.
• ROGUE
  • Outlaw
    • Fixed an issue that was causing Precise Cuts to increase Blade Flurry's damage by slightly less than intended.
• SHAMAN
  • Elemental
    • Lightning Rod can now trigger from Lava Beam in addition to Chain Lightning.
    • Fixed an issue causing Surge of Power to be incorrectly consumed when casting Earth Shock immediately after a Lightning Bolt.
  • Enhancement
    • Gathering Storms has been renamed to Converging Storms.
  • Restoration
    • The Earthliving Weapon imbue is no longer removed upon death.
• WARLOCK
  • Destruction
    • Fixed an issue where Mayhem would be applied to out of combat targets.
• WARRIOR
  • Shattering Throw now correctly removes immunities.
  • Sidearm damage increased by 25%.
  • Arms
    • Bloodsurge's chance to trigger is now 10% (was 15%).
    • Rend's Bleed Effect correctly triggers from Sweeping Strikes.
    • Tactician grants a 1.3% chance per Rage spent to reset Overpower (was 1.4%).
    • Deft Experience grants a 0.5% increase to Tactician per rank (was 0.45%).
    • War Machine now grants 5 Rage per enemy killed (was 10).
    • Bladestorm now generates 20 Rage.
    • Executioner's Precision now causes Execute to increase the damage of your next Mortal Strike by 30% (was 25%).
    • Hurricane now causes you to go into an unstoppable Bladestorm. The Hurricane icon has also been updated.
    • Whirlwind no longer shows an incorrect range on the tooltip.
    • Fixed an issue where Fatal Mark could be parried.
  • Fury
    • Titanic Rage now causes Odyn's Fury to Enrage you, deal 10% increased damage and grants you 2-4 stacks of Whirlwind. Titanic Rage also reduces the cooldown of Odyn's Fury by 10 seconds.
    • Odyn's Fury bleed effect now shows up on enemy debuff bars.
    • Onslaught now triggers Enrage before damage is dealt.
    • Onslaught now generates 30 Rage (was 20). Now correctly modifies the tooltip to mention enrage if you have Tenderize talented.
    • Tenderize now also causes Onslaught to grant you 3 stacks of Slaughtering Strikes.
    • Titanic Rage now triggers Enrage before damage is dealt.
    • Reckless Abandon now makes Recklessness grant 50 Rage and Rampage greatly empowers your next 2 Bloodthirsts and Raging Blows.
    • Ashen Juggernaut now lasts 15 seconds (was 12 seconds).
    • Hack and Slash chance to trigger increased to 25% (was 20%).
    • Dancing Blades now also increases auto attack damage.
    • Bloodcraze now applies 1 stack when you Bloodthirst, it is no longer is applied from chained attacks.
    • Fixed an issue that caused an error when using Annihilator in combination with Reckless Abandon.
    • Berserker's Torment activated Avatar and Recklessness now last 6 seconds.
    • Enraged Regeneration now appears on the personal resource bar.
    • Enraged Regeneration's tooltip now specifies that it can be used during incapacitate effects.
    • Multiple instances of Dancing Blades now partially overlap.
  • Protection
    • Bloodsurge chance to trigger is now 10% (was 15%).
    • New Talent: Defender's Aegis – Shield Wall gains 1 additional charge, and its cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds.
    • Unbreakable Will talent has been removed.
    • Battering Ram now also increases auto-attack damage by 20%.
    • Fueled by Violence should again trigger correctly.
    • Whirlwind no longer shows an incorrect range on the tooltip.
    • Fixed an issue causing Execute to sometimes incur a cooldown if you had Improved Execute talented on a different specialization.

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COVENANTS

• The Deepening Bond effect earned through Renown is now 1% movement speed in the Shadowlands with each rank (was 2% Stamina each rank).

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ITEMS AND REWARDS

• New Toy: Seed of Renewed Souls – Embrace the spirits of the weald, transforming into your Soulshape. 5 minute cooldown. Available from Lady Muunn in Heart of the Forest.

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PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• Dampening (Arena healing reduction) now starts at 10% in Arenas and Solo Shuffle, but continues to increase at current starting time and rate.
• Dampening now starts at 3 minutes in 3v3 Arenas (was 5 minutes).
• Dampening’s current healing reduction is now also displayed as stacks on the Dampening debuff aura.
• SOLO SHUFFLE
  • Deserter penalty rating increased to 150 (was 100).
  • Protection Paladins will remain classified as “healers” and will only be placed in matches where the other healer is also a Protection Paladin.
  • The remaining tank specializations will be classified as a damage dealer, with a maximum of one tank damage dealer permitted in the match.
    • Developers' note: Alongside these updates, we will be looking closely at and actively tuning tank abilities in PvP, specifically around how they fit in Solo Shuffle.
• CLASSES
  • Fixed an issue causing Precognition to fail to trigger when being struck by some melee and ranged interrupts.
  • DRUID
    • Regrowth’s initial heal is no longer reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
  • HUNTER
    • Kill Command no longer deals 15% reduced damage in PvP combat.
    • Marksmanship
      • Aimed Shot no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
      • Rapid Fire no longer deals 10% increased damage in PvP combat.
  • MAGE
    • Arcane
      • Arcane Missiles no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
    • Fire
      • Meteor is now 100% effective in PvP Combat (was 80%).
      • Fireball no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
      • Pyroblast no longer deals 15% reduced damage in PvP combat.
    • Frost
      • Ice Lance no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
      • Comet Storm no longer deals 10% reduced damage in PvP combat.
  • MONK
    • Mistweaver
      • Enveloping Mist no longer heals for an additional 10% in PvP combat.
      • Vivify no longer heals for an additional 10% in PvP combat.
  • PALADIN
    • Holy
      • Aura of Reckoning now increases the damage of Judgment by 100% (was 200%).
      • Fixed an issue that allowed Vengeance aura to be triggered by allies that were not in your auras.
    • Retribution
      • Radiant Decree is now 100% effective in PvP combat (was 68%).
      • Divine Storm no longer deals 10% reduced damage in PvP combat.
  • PRIEST
    • Power Word: Shield absorb value no longer increased by 10% in PvP combat.
    • Holy
      • Renew's heal is no longer increased by 15% in PvP combat.
    • Shadow
      • Vampiric Touch no longer deals 10% increased damage in PvP combat.
  • ROGUE
    • Outlaw
      • Between the Eyes no longer deals 9% reduced damage in PvP combat.
    • Subtlety
      • Eviscerate no longer deals 10% reduced damage in PvP combat.
  • SHAMAN
    • Restoration
      • Riptide’s heal is no longer reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
  • WARLOCK
    • Dark Pact is no longer increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Corruption no longer increased by 45% in PvP combat.
    • Affliction
      • Agony no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
      • Corruption no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
      • Siphon Life no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
      • Shadow Bolt no longer deals 10% increased damage in PvP combat.
      • Unstable Affliction no longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
      • Fixed an issue where Channel Demonfire could not be cast if Immolate's duration had been extended.
  • WARRIOR
    • Arms
      • Overpower no longer deals 9% reduced damage in PvP combat.
      • Execute no longer deals 13% reduced damage in PvP combat.

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QUESTS

• Removed the ability for players who have not started Threads of Fate to access the system.
  • Developers' note: The goal with Threads of Fate was to help alleviate the linear path of Shadowlands for alts as it was the only way for players to level from 50 to 60. Now that Shadowlands has been moved into Chromie time and Chromie Time’s level cap has been increased to 60, players have a multitude of methods to reach level 60. Players currently in Threads of fate can continue through it, but the option will not be available for any new characters.
    We do not have plans to do similar removals with Dragonflight’s Adventure Mode in future expansions. Threads of Fate is a choice to use in Shadowlands and irreversibly changes a player’s character once it is chosen. It previously created two different experiences of Shadowlands, which would double to four with both of the level up and Threads of Fate being accessible within Chromie time. Adventure Mode in Dragonflight is an overlay to the level up experience and is always on once it is earned regardless of decisions the player makes.

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USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• Silver dragon portrait border added back for rare elite mobs.
• The Dungeon Journal now indicates if a loot drop is very rare.
• Profession Trainers added back to the minimap filters.
• Group management frame has been fixed to appear for all group types.
• Names added back to the Trading pane.
• The backpack can no longer be assigned to a sorting category. This is a temporary change to resolve a bug, and we expect to bring it back in the future.
• AddOn API: Button highlight textures can be cleared.
• NEW MACRO CONDITIONAL: KNOWN
  • Use [known:] to check for a talent’s learned status. Works with names and spell IDs. Works with #showtooltip. Use [noknown:] to reverse the logic.
  • Example:
    • #showtooltip
      /cast [known:Execution Sentence] Execution Sentence; [known:384052] Wake of Ashes; Templar's Verdict
      #showtooltip [known:265187] Summon Demonic Tyrant; [known:Guillotine] Guillotine
• TALENTS PANEL
  • History nodes are more obviously marked.
  • Mousing over an active talent highlights where it is on your action bar.
  • PvP talents now show an error if a prerequisite talent is not active.
  • Arrowheads and lines are smaller to reduce visual clutter.
  • Several script and slash commands have been added for accessibility and general use:
    • Activate loadout by name:
      • /run ClassTalentHelper.SwitchToLoadoutByName(loadoutName)
      • /loadoutname loadoutname
      • /lon loadoutname
    • Activate loadout by dropdown list order, starting with 1:
      • /run ClassTalentHelper.SwitchToLoadoutByIndex(1)
      • /loadoutindex 2
      • /loi 3
    • Activate specialization by name:
      • /run ClassTalentHelper.SwitchToSpecializationByName(specName)
      • /specname specname
      • /spn specname
    • Activate specialization by order within the Specializations tab, starting with 1:
      • /run ClassTalentHelper.SwitchToSpecializationByIndex(1)
      • /specindex 2
      • /spi 3