Hotfixes Patch 4.0.6 February 14

February 14

General

Players who are exalted with 40 factions are again awarded The Exalted title. Note that the associated achievement does not state that this title will be awarded when it’s earned. This will be corrected in a future patch. More information can be found here.

Druid

Starfall will now hit any target in range which is in combat or not at full health (including the Exposed Head of Magmaw, which was causing issues with Starfall).

Paladin

The hotfix to Beacon of Light and Light of Dawn on February 11 did not produce the intended results and has been reverted. Light of Dawn should still trigger Beacon of Light.

Raids & Dungeons

Blackwing Descent

The Atramedes achievement Silence is Golden was incorrectly failing when any raid member’s sound bar went over 30%. The achievement now requires no one’s sound bar to go over 50% as advertised.

Professions

Alchemy

The Mysterious Potion was restoring the wrong amount of mana. It now restores 1 to 15,000 mana, instead of 1 to 30,000.

Fishing

The Bone and Jeweled Fishing Pole quest rewards are now item level 15, down from 200.

Herbalism

Whiptail was spawning too quickly in Uldum after patch 4.0.6. The spawn time has been reduced.

Upcoming Paladin changes patch 4.0.6

Paladin

The mana costs of Blessing of Might and Blessing of Kings have been increased by approximately 217%, making them roughly equal to the cost of Mark of the Wild.
Crusader Strike weapon damage percent has been increased to 135%, up from 115%.
Divine Light mana cost has been increased by approximately 10%.
Divine Plea now lasts for 9 seconds, down from 15. It grants 4% mana per tick, instead of 2%, for a total of 12% mana, up from 10%.
Flash of Light mana cost has been increased by approximately 10%.
Forbearance
The duration has been lowered to 1 minute, down from 2.
Lay on Hands now causes Forbearance on the target. It used to only cause it when cast on the paladin. This was an old design from when Divine Protection caused Forbearance and the paladin didn’t want to prevent a tank from using their defensive cooldown.
Lay on Hands cannot be a critical effect and will not be affected by most abilities which modify healing (such as Beacon of Light). In addition, Lay on Hands is no longer on the global cooldown.
Since only Divine Shield, Lay on Hands and Hand of Protection cause Forbearance, the tooltips have been adjusted to better explain the mechanic.
Holy Light mana cost has been increased by approximately 10%.
Holy Wrath no longer counts nearby critters when dividing damage among its targets.
Inquisition is no longer dispellable.
Rebuke can now be trained by all paladins at level 54. Existing characters will need to visit their trainer, even if they had talented Rebuke before.
Seal of Truth: All single target attacks (including Judgement, Hammer of Wrath, Exorcism, and Templar’s Verdict) can now trigger this seal.

Talent Specializations

Holy

Aura Mastery: This ability no longer increases the benefit granted by Crusader Aura.
Denounce now has a spell overlay.
Protector of the Innocent heals for 30% less.

Protection

Eternal Glory: The chance to not consume Holy Power from this talent now also applies to not consuming the clearcasting effect generated by Divine Purpose.
Vindication no longer allows Hammer of Justice to interrupt stun-immune targets. With Rebuke baseline, this functionality is no longer necessary.

Retribution

Act of Sacrifice will no longer cause Cleanse to remove movement impairing effects from vehicles the paladin is riding.
Divine Purpose: The chance for applicable abilities to generate Holy Power has been reduced to 7/15%, down from 20/40%, but instead of generating 1 Holy Power, the next applicable ability used consumes no Holy Power and acts as if the paladin has 3 Holy Power.
Divine Storm weapon damage percent increased from 80% to 100%.
Hand of Light (Mastery): A percentage of the damage done by Templar’s Verdict, Crusader Strike, and Divine Storm is done as additional Holy damage. This Mastery now grants a 2.1% increase to Holy damage per mastery, down from 2.5%.
Repentance is no longer broken from damage done by Censure (Seal of Truth).
The Rebuke talent has been replaced with a new passive talent, Sacred Shield. Paladins who had Rebuke before will automatically have Sacred Shield. Sacred When reduced below 30% health, paladins gain the Sacred Shield effect. The Sacred Shield absorbs X damage and increases healing received by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. Undispellable.
Seals of Command will no longer trigger twice on each swing with Seal of Truth.
Zealotry is no longer dispellable.

Glyphs

Glyph of Divine Plea now adds 6% mana, for a total of 18% over 9 seconds.

Paladin Bug Fixes

The Silence debuff from Avenger’s Shield was using the Dazed visual effect, and its Daze debuff did not have a visible effect. This has been remedied.
The damage bonus from Communion is no longer applied even when the paladin has no paladin auras active.
Divine Storm no longer incorrectly highlights when Hand of Light procs.
Exorcism automatically re-targets whomever it does damage to when it finishes casting.
The healing amount in the buff tooltip for Holy Radiance is now accurate.
Pursuit of Justice is now providing Holy Power when the paladin gets stunned by the Fire mage talent Impact. Conversely, Pursuit of Justice is no longer granting Holy Power when the Paladin is hit by Holy Wrath.
Repentance tooltip now states that it does not break Censure damage.
Rank 1 of Shield of the Templar was reducing the cooldown of Guardian of Ancient Kings by 45 seconds, which is inconsistent with the scaling of ranks 2 and 3. This has been adjusted.
The tooltip for Tower of Radiance indicated that Holy Light would generate a charge of Holy Power. This has been fixed.
Word of Glory no longer resets the swing timer.

Glyph Fixes

The damage-over-time effect of Exorcism added by Glyph of Exorcism is now correctly affected by Exorcism’s damage.
The tooltip for Holy Wrath is now updated to reflect changes when Glyph of Holy Wrath is active.
The Glyph of Light of Dawn is now updating the tooltip for Light of Dawn.
The Glyph of Seal of Insight now requires level 32 to be consistent with when Seal of Insight can be learned from the trainer.
The Glyph of Templar’s Verdict is now updating the tooltip of Templar’s Verdict.

Cataclysm Guild Achievements

General

Profit Sharing – Loot 50,000 gold from creatures.
Time To Open A Savings Account – Loot 200,000 gold from creatures.
Extended Storage – Purchase the 7th guild bank tab.
Critter Kill Squad – Kill 10,000 critters
A Class Act – Reach level 85 on each of the classes listed below.
Stay Classy (Horde) – Complete the classy achievmenets listed below.
Classy Orcs – Reach level 85 of each of the Orc classes listed below.
Classy Tauren – Reach level 85 of each of the Tauren classes listed below.
Classy Trolls – Reach level 85 of each of the Troll classes listed below.
Classy Blood Elves – Reach level 85 of each of the Blood Elf classes listed below.
Classy Undead – Reach level 85 of each of the Undead classes listed below.
Classy Goblins – Reach level 85 of each of the Goblin classes listed below.
Stay Classy (Alliance) – Complete the classy achievmenets listed below.
Classy Humans – Reach level 85 of each of the Human classes listed below.
Classy Night Elves – Reach level 85 of each of the Night Elf classes listed below.
Classy Gnomes – Reach level 85 of each of the Gnome classes listed below.
Classy Dwarves – Reach level 85 of each of the Dwarven classes listed below.
Classy Draenei – Reach level 85 of each of the Draenei classes listed below.
Classy Worgen – Reach level 85 of each of the Worgen classes listed below.

Raids & Dungeons

We Are Awesome – Obtain three of the legendary weapons listed below.
We Are Hardcore – Obtain all of the legendary weapons listed below.
Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros – Guild Edition – Wielder of Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros.
Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker – Guild Edition – Wielder of Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker
Warglaives of Azzinoth – Guild Edition (WIP) – Wielder of a set of Warglaives of Azzinoth.
Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury – Guild Edition – Wielder of Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury
Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings – Guild Edition – Wielder of Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings
Shadowmourne – Guild Edition – Wielder of Shadowmourne

WoW Classic Raids

Guild Classic Raider – Complete the classic raid achievements listed below while in a guild group.
Molten Core Guild Run – Defeat Ragnaros.
Blackwing Lair Guild Run – Defeat Nefarian.
Temple of Ahn’Qiraj Guild Run – Defeat C’Thun.
Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj Guild Run – Defeat Ossirian the Unscarred.

The Burning Crusade Raids

Guild Outland Raider – Complete the Burning Crusade raid achievements listed below while in a guild group.
Karazhan Guild Run – Defeat Prince Malchezaar in Karazhan.
Zul’Aman Guild Run – Defeat Zul’jin in Zul’Aman.
Gruul’s Lair Guild Run – Defeat Gruul the Dragonkiller in Gruul’s Lair.
Magtheridon’s Lair Guild Run – Defeat Magtheridon in Magtheridon’s Lair.
Serpentshrine Cavern Guild Run – Defeat Lady Vashj in Serpentshrine Cavern.
Tempest Keep Guild Run – Defeat Kael’thas Sunstrider in Tempest Keep.
The Battle for Mount Hyjal Guild Run – Defeat Archimonde in The Battle for Mount Hyjal.
The Black Temple Guild Run – Defeat Illidan Stormrage in The Black Temple.
Sunwell Plateau Guild Run – Defeat Kil’jaeden in Sunwell Plateau.

Wrath of the Lich King Raids

Glory of the Lich King Raider – Complete the Northrend raid achievements listed below while in a guild group.
The Twilight Zone – Guild Edition – With all three Twilight Drakes still alive, engage and defeat Sartharion the Onyx Guardian while in a guild group..
Alone in the Darkness – Guild Edition – Defeat Yogg-Saron without the assistance of any Keepers while in a guild group.
Just Can’t Get Enough – Guild Edition – Defeat Kel’Thuzad in Naxxramas while killing at least 18 abominations in his chamber while in a group group.
You Don’t Have an Eternity – Guild Edition – Defeat Malygos in 6 minutes or less while in a guild group.
He Feeds On Your Tears – Guild Edition – Defeat Algalon the Observer while in a guild group without any raid member dying to Algalon at any point during that raid lockout period.
Call of the Crusade – Guild Edition – Defeat every boss in the Trial of the Crusader while in a guild group.
The Twilight Destroyer – Guild Edition – Defeat Halion in The Ruby Sanctum while in a guild group.
The Frozen Throne – Guild Edition – Defeat the Lich King in Icecrown Citadel while in a guild group.

Cataclysm Raids

Guild Glory of the Cataclysm Raider – Complete the Cataclysm raid achievements listed below while in a guild group.
Blackwing Descent Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in Blackwing Descent while in a guild group.
Throne of the Four Winds Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in Throne of the Four Winds while in a guild group.
The Bastion of Twilight Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in the Bastion of Twilight while in a guild group.

WoW Classic Dungeons

Ragefire Chasm Guild Run – Defeat Taragaman the Hungerer.
Deadmines Guild Run – Defeat “Captain” Cookie.
Wailing Caverns Guild Run – Defeat Mutanus the Devourer.
Shadowfang Keep Guild Run – Defeat Lord Godfrey.
Blackfathom Deeps Guild Run – Defeat Aku’mai.
Stormwind Stockade Guild Run – Defeat Hogger.
Razorfen Kraul Guild Run – Defeat Charlga Razorflank.
Gnomeregan Guild Run – Defeat Mekgineer Thermaplugg.
Razorfen Downs Guild Run – Defeat Amnennar the Coldbringer.
Scarlet Monastery Guild Run – Defeat the Scarlet Crusade within the Scarlet Monastery.
Uldaman Guild Run – Defeat Archaedas.
Zul’Farrak Guild Run – Defeat Chief Ukorz Sandscalp.
Maraudon Guild Run – Defeat Princess Theradras.
Sunken Temple Guild Run – Defeat Shade of Eranikus.
Blackrock Depths Guild Run – Defeat Emperor Dagran Thaurissan.
Lower Blackrock Spire Guild Run – Defeat Overlord Wyrmthalak.
King of Dire Maul Guild Run – Defeat each wing of Dire Maul.
Scholomance Guild Run – Defeat the leaders of Scholomance.
Stratholme Guild Run – Defeat the evil masterminds inhabiting Stratholme.

The Burning Crusade Dungeons

Guild Outland Dungeon Hero – Complete the heroic Burning Crusade dungeon achievements listed below while in a guild group.

Heroic: Hellfire Ramparts Guild Run – Defeat the leaders of Hellfire Ramparts on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Blood Furnace Guild Run – Defeat Keli’dan the Breaker on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Slave Pens Guild Run – Defeat Quagmirran on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Underbog Guild Run – Defeat The Black Stalker on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Mana-Tombs Guild Run – Defeat Nexus-Prince Shaffar on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Auchenai Crypts Guild Run – Defeat Exarch Maladaar on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Escape From Durnholde Guild Run – Defeat Epoch Hunter on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Sethekk Halls Guild Run – Defeat Talon King Ikiss on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Shadow Labyrinth Guild Run – Defeat Murmur on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Opening of the Dark Portal Guild Run – Defeat Aeonus on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Steamvault Guild Run – Defeat Warlord Kalithresh on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Shattered Halls Guild Run – Defeat Warchief Kargath Bladefist on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Mechanar Guild Run – Defeat Pathaleon the Calculator on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Botanica Guild Run – Defeat Warp Splinter on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Arcatraz Guild Run – Defeat Harbinger Skyriss on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Magister’s Terrace Guild Run – Defeat Kael’thas Sunstrider on Heroic Difficulty.

Wrath of the Lich King Dungeons

Guild Northrend Dungeon Hero – Complete the heroic Northrend dungeon achievements listed below while in a guild group.
Heroic: Utgarde Keep Guild Run – Defeat the Utgarde Keep bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Nexus Guild Run – Defeat The Nexus bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Azjol-Nerub Guild Run – Defeat the Azjol-Nerub bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom Guild Run – Defeat the Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Drak’Tharon Keep Guild Run – Defeat the Drak’Tharon Keep bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Violet Hold Guild Run – Defeat Cyanigosa in The Violet Hold on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Gundrak Guild Run – Defeat the Gundrak bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Halls of Stone Guild Run – Defeat the boss encounters in the Halls of Stone on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Halls of Lightning Guild Run – Defeat the Halls of Lightning bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Oculus Guild Run – Defeat The Oculus bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Utgarde Pinnacle Guild Run – Defeat the Utgarde Pinnacle bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Culling of Stratholme Guild Run – Defeat the Caverns of Time: Stratholme bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: Trial of the Champion Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in the Trial of the Champion on Heroic Difficulty.
Heroic: The Forge of Souls Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in The Forge of Souls on Heroic difficulty
Heroic: The Pit of Saron Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in The Pit of Saron on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: The Halls of Reflection Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in The Halls of Reflection on Heroic difficulty.

Cataclysm Dungeons

Guild Cataclysm Dungeon Hero – Complete the heroic Cataclysm dungeon achievements listed below while in a guild group.
Heroic: Blackrock Caverns Guild Run – Defeat Ascendant Lord Obsidius on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: Throne of the Tides Guild Run – Defeat Ozumat in Throne of the Tides on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: The Stonecore Guild Run – Defeat High Priestess Azil in the Stonecore on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: The Vortex Pinnacle Guild Run – Defeat Grand Vizier Ertan in the Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: Grim Batol Guild Run – Defeat Erudax in Grim Batol on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: Halls of Origination Guild Run – Defeat Rajh in Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: Lost City of the Tol’vir Guild Run – Defeat Siamat, Lord of the South Wind in the Lost City of the Tol’vir in Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: Shadowfang Keep Guild Run – Defeat Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: Deadmines Guild Run – Defeat “Captain” Cookie in Deadmines on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: Shadowfang Keep Guild Run – Defeat Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep on Heroic difficulty.

Reputation

Diplomacy – Raise 15 reputations to Exalted.
Ambassadors – Raise 25 reputations to Exalted.
United Nations – Raise 55 reputations to Exalted.
Dungeon Diplomat – Earn exalted with the dungeon reputations listed below.
Raid Representation – Earn exalted with the raid reputations listed below.
Classic Battles – Earn exalted reputation with the classic battlegrounds listed below.

Player vs. Player

Are You Not Entertained?! – Earn a 2200 rating in the arena with a team composed entirely of guild members.
Now That’s an Achievement – Earn 5000 guild achievement points.
Kill Squad – Get 500,000 honorable kills.
Guild Gankers – Get 1,000,000 honorable kills.
Creepjackers – Get 2,500,000 honorable kills.
City Attacker – Kill 500 enemy players in any Horde home city.
City Attacker – Kill 500 enemy players in any Alliance home city.
Active Duty – Win 500 Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
Call of Duty – Win 1000 Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
Tour of Duty – Win 1500 Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
5-Cap Crew – Win 10 Arathi Basin matches while controlling all 5 flags in a guild group.
Horde Slayer – Complete the slayer achievements listed below.
Alliance Slayer – Complete the slayer achievements listed below.
Orc Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Orc races listed below.
Human Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Human races listed below.
Night Elf Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Night Elf races listed below.
Dwarf Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Dwarf races listed below.
Draenei Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Draenei races listed below.
Worgen Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Worgeni races listed below.
Tauren Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Tauren races listed below.
Undead Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Undead races listed below.
Troll Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Troll races listed below.
Blood Elf Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Blood Elf races listed below.
Goblin Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Goblin races listed below.

Professions

Skinnin’ For A Livin’ (WIP) – Skin 10,000 corpses.
Mix Master – Craft 10,000 flasks.
Dust, Dust and more Dust! – Disenchant 10,000 items.
Dinner Party – Place 5,000 Feasts.
Bushels and Bushels – Gather 50,000 herbs.
Mighty Miners – Mine 50,000 ore and rocks.
Gemcrafter Extrodinare – Cut 10,000 gems.
Master Crafter – Craft 1,000 Epic items.

Upcoming Paladin changes

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.2.0

We have several big changes coming up for the paladin class in patch 3.2. The paladin class Q&A is still in progress, so rather than making you wait, we wanted to give you a preview of what we’re trying to do with all three paladin talent trees. We thought some of the patch notes might not make sense until you understand the design goals.

Caveats: Some of these changes are still in progress and may ultimately end up in a different form or with different numbers. We definitely want to see these changes in action on the PTR and we will iterate on them accordingly based on player testing and feedback. None of this is set in stone. Furthermore, assume that talents, glyphs or set bonuses that affect any impacted abilities will also be changed accordingly. Finally, don’t expect that every class will see this many changes. We are making far fewer changes to class mechanics overall in 3.2, but paladins in particular have some issues we feel are in need of being addressed.

Protection
Currently, we think paladin tanks are almost there and that they just need slightly better cooldowns to handle some of the tougher boss fights. Rather than add a new ability that felt like a clone of another class’s ability, we decided to buff an existing talent that was no longer cutting it. Ardent Defender has two important changes. The first is that the damage can no longer “skip over” the 35% health level – it will always be reduced. Secondly, it has a new effect that if a blow would kill you, it instead sets you to 30% health. This portion of the ability cannot occur more than once every 2 minutes. Think of it as a Last Stand that you don’t have to push.

A second change to Protection is we want to make sure Blessing of Sanctuary is always the tanking blessing of choice. A likely change here is to have it boost stamina as well.

We also recognize that block does not provide the mitigation it once did. While we have long-term plans to change the way block works entirely, in the short term we are doubling the effect of bonus block value on items (so jewelry, but not shields).

Holy
We like that Holy paladins have a niche as single-target healers. The problem is we think this niche is a little too narrow at the moment. Furthermore, paladins don’t have a wide arsenal of healing spells so it’s important that all of them are being used.

First, we are changing Flash of Light so that it places a heal-over-time effect on any target with Sacred Shield on them (the effect will be similar to Sheathe of Light). This should make Flash see a little more use.

Second, and more importantly, we are changing the way Beacon of Light works. Currently, it does not count over-healing on the target. We are changing that. In other words, if you place Holy Light on a rogue who is already at full health, it will still have the full effect on a tank with Beacon of Light on them. This is a huge buff, particularly when you consider the Holy Light glyph which allows for a small amount of “splash” healing. This effect isn’t common when you use Holy Light on a tank because the tank is often standing alone. But if you heal the melee, you are likely to get a lot more total healing from this effect (while still healing the tank through Beacon of Light). We are also going to try to allow a target to have more than one beacon (i.e. from different paladins) on them.

Many players may surmise that this change would make paladins far and away the best healers in the game. This is partially because paladin mana regeneration is so potent. That isn’t an issue when the paladin can generally only heal the tank. With the Beacon of Light change, the paladin can provide a lot more raid or party healing. To adjust for this, we are going to reduce the amount of mana returned by Illumination. If you use Holy Light too recklessly (such as on targets who don’t require that much healing) you do risk burning out of mana too quickly. Of course, they will still have Divine Plea and other mana regeneration mechanics.

As a footnote, we are also likely to slightly adjust Replenishment and buff the amount of MP5 on gear.

These changes should lead to healing as Holy being more dynamic – you are going to be targeting a lot more group members than just the tank, while still providing massive healing on the tank. However, you won’t be able to just constantly spam your biggest heals, at least not on the more challenging encounters. There is an opportunity here for skilled players to really do some outstanding healing as paladins, but it’s going to take a little more effort. This is something a lot of players have been asking for so we hope that it delivers without completely changing what some paladins enjoy about their healing style.

Retribution
Depending on who you ask, Retribution paladins are either perceived as being in need of improvements to make them stronger or are in need of changes to make them less powerful. We are really happy with the overall changes to the Seal and Judgement system from Lich King. However, Ret still has some problems. There aren’t enough buttons to push and they are all limited by cooldowns, allowing Ret paladins to have a lot of up-front burst without requiring a lot of skill or timing to actually hit those buttons (now after the opening moves of a fight, we think things get a lot more interesting because now the paladin’s defenses, healing and dispelling can come into play). We have other problems to fix as well. Exorcism currently can’t be used on players, which we think is a weak design. We have also become less enamored with the drawback to Seal of Blood / Seal of the Martyr causing damage to the paladin.

Here are the design changes we hope will fix all of these problems:

First, Exorcism has a cast time of 1.5 seconds but can be used on players again. This will let paladins use it in PvP, but not while moving towards a target.

Second, we are changing The Art of War to make not only Flash of Light instant, but also Exorcism. Choose healing or damage. Paladins will have to watch for this proc and use Exorcism when it happens. The spell itself is still ranged, but the proc will only occur when the paladin is already in melee.

Third, we are lowering the cooldown and damage of Crusader Strike to four seconds from six seconds. This accomplishes a few things. It lowers burst, it gives the paladins more buttons to push since they aren’t always waiting on cooldowns, it requires a little more skill since the player will have to choose between Crusader Strike and other attacks more often (such as the new Exorcism procs), and it gives Retribution a chance to get more damage out of their Seals (providing a sustained DPS boost for PvE).

Fourth, we are removing Seal of Blood and Seal of the Martyr. The damage recoil increasingly felt like a liability in PvE, and wasn’t serving to offset the massive burst damage capable in PvP. We are buffing Seal of Vengeance / Corruption and redesigning Seal of Command with the expectation that these are now the seals of choice for PvP and PvE. Righteousness can remain a tanking seal.

Finally, we are replacing the current effect of Vindication with an attack power debuff that works like Demoralizing Shout. In PvP, Ret paladins can still debuff melee targets, while in PvE they can provide another necessary debuff in the case that the tank is not a warrior or druid. In addition, the talent may be more attractive to Protection paladins.

These changes do not close the door on adding additional attacks, PvP utility or even the oft-requested Crusader Strike debuff. If the changes outlined above finally accomplish the goal of balancing Retribution in PvE and PvP, then we can start exploring those other design issues.

Again, these are our current plans and they may change based on testing and feedback. The changes to all three trees are things we are working on right now. Some of them might not work out quite the way we intended and will have to undergo iteration before finally showing up in 3.2. Even once the patch goes live, we are still likely to have to tweak numbers. This is simply a preview of what may yet come and we hope that it will be viewed as such.