HUGE Nerfs to Exp ‘Cheat’, BIG Class Buffs Coming & Crest Changes Reverted

[00:00] Hey folks, this is Colani. We have some

[00:02] big buffs coming through with the next

[00:04] weekly reset for some of the most

[00:05] underperforming specs in the current

[00:07] patch. We also have some huge updates to

[00:09] go over from this week's PTR build,

[00:11] including a huge nerf to one of the

[00:13] fastest leveling methods available right

[00:15] now. There are even more big class

[00:18] changes to go over and a lot of very

[00:20] important updates about how crest

[00:22] upgrades are going to work, how dungeons

[00:24] will change in season 2, what new

[00:26] seasonal rewards we'll be able to pick

[00:28] up. We have our first real preview of

[00:30] some major new systems. And there are

[00:32] some fun updates like hunters finally

[00:34] being able to use enchant illusions on

[00:36] their ranged weapons. The Midsummer Fire

[00:38] Festival event mount will also be much

[00:40] easier to pick up thanks to some recent

[00:42] hot fixes. There's a lot to talk about,

[00:44] so let's break it all down in this

[00:46] week's WoW news video. Now, before we

[00:48] jump in, be sure to hit up that like

[00:49] button and subscribe so you never miss

[00:51] another video. Let's kick things off

[00:54] with this week's round of class changes,

[00:56] buffs, and nerfs. There are a lot of

[00:58] blanket buffs to help some of the

[00:59] underperforming specs catch up a bit as

[01:01] we round out season 1. Balance druids

[01:04] will see a 4% damage buff for all of

[01:06] their abilities, which is always nice.

[01:08] Feral druids have been doing well in

[01:09] mythic plus, but not so great in raid,

[01:12] so they'll get a 3% damage boost across

[01:14] the board. Melee auto attack damage is

[01:16] also up 15%, rip damage, saw a 5% buff,

[01:19] and then rampant ferocity damage was

[01:22] nerfed by 15%. So, a bit of give and

[01:24] take for the feral druids this week. And

[01:27] then restored will see a huge 15% buff

[01:29] to all of their damage done. But their

[01:31] bare form thrash damage was reduced by

[01:33] 25%. So you won't have to swap to bare

[01:36] form quite as often if you want to kick

[01:38] out some decent damage as a resto druid

[01:40] next week. Devastation evokers join the

[01:43] crew with a 3% damage boost across the

[01:45] board. Arcane mages also get a 3% buff

[01:48] to all of their damage done. Holy

[01:50] priests will see some nice buffs to

[01:52] their holy words. Both serenity and

[01:54] sanctify healing are being increased by

[01:56] 20%. And then rest shaman's ekin at the

[01:58] end with a 4% increase to all of their

[02:01] healing done. So not a crazy list of

[02:03] changes for the live service this week,

[02:05] but at least some buffs are coming

[02:07] through for the specs that are

[02:08] struggling a bit. That will hopefully

[02:10] help more people achieve their end of

[02:12] season goals. All of these changes will

[02:14] go live with the next weekly reset,

[02:16] which will be June 30th for NA Realms

[02:18] and July 1st for EU Realms. Let's move

[02:21] on to the class changes that were

[02:23] included in this week's 12.1 PTR build.

[02:26] For the death knights, frost is going to

[02:28] see a lot of updates this week. Pillar

[02:30] of frost strength buff was cut down to

[02:32] 20% from 30%. Howling blast damage was

[02:35] increased by 100%. Empower rune weapon

[02:38] and glacial advance damage both saw 30%

[02:40] buffs. Icy death torrent, frost fever,

[02:43] and remorseless winter all saw huge 100%

[02:46] buffs. Frost size damage is up 20% and

[02:49] frost strike damage is up 25%. But then

[02:52] obliterate damage saw a 25% nerf. Breath

[02:55] of Syndraosa is down 20%. Frost Bane

[02:58] damage was reduced by 30%. Frostworm's

[03:01] fury damage caught a 20% nerf. And then

[03:03] perafrost was buffed up by 5%. So just

[03:06] like most other classes, a lot of damage

[03:09] has been moved from cooldowns and into

[03:11] your standard rotational spells.

[03:14] For the deathbringer hero talent tree,

[03:16] wither away now causes frost fever to

[03:17] deal its damage 75% faster, down from

[03:20] 100%. Deathly blows now increases frost

[03:23] strike damage by 35%, up from 15%.

[03:26] Reaper's mark cast and explosion damage

[03:28] were reduced by 25% and exterminate

[03:30] damage was cut down by 17%. For Rider of

[03:33] the Apocalypse, White Mane's unleash

[03:35] damage was nerfed by 30%. So, a lot less

[03:38] damage coming out of your hero talent

[03:40] trees as well. And then unholy has even

[03:43] more changes this week. Blight burst now

[03:46] causes putrify to extend the duration of

[03:48] plagues by 3 seconds down from 4.5

[03:50] seconds. Runic power spenders now extend

[03:53] the duration of plagues by 1 second down

[03:55] from 1.5. And dread plague now retains

[03:58] its extended duration when applied to a

[04:00] new target while within 40 yards of the

[04:02] death knight. So you won't be able to

[04:03] extend your plagues quite as freely. But

[04:05] swapping targets with dread plague

[04:07] should be much easier with these changes

[04:09] in play.

[04:11] Demon hunters are up next, and Havoc has

[04:13] a few changes this time. Trail of Ruin

[04:15] has been updated to be instant damage

[04:17] rather than damage over time. Serrated

[04:19] Glaes is now a buff on the Demon Hunter

[04:21] for 12 seconds rather than a debuff on

[04:23] your target. Blind Fury's fury

[04:25] generation was cut down to 10 and 20

[04:27] fury per second. And inner demon is now

[04:29] a choice node with Chaos Theory instead

[04:31] of Chaotic Transformation. For

[04:34] Vengeance, Sigil of Chains is going to

[04:35] be baseline, so you won't have to spend

[04:37] a talent point to pick that up anymore.

[04:39] Roaring Fire has moved to where Sigil of

[04:41] Chains used to be instead of being a

[04:43] choice node with Sigil of Silence. And

[04:45] then Sigil of Silence and Feed the Demon

[04:47] have swapped positions as well. So

[04:49] hopefully you can pick up some key

[04:50] talents much easier in 12.1.

[04:54] Guardian Druids have some more

[04:55] adjustments to their apex talents. The

[04:57] bonus rage was moved from rank one to

[04:58] rank three. The base chance to proc was

[05:00] adjusted to 10%. Spirit rage generation

[05:03] was increased to eight. And rank three

[05:05] grants one guaranteed spirit and

[05:06] increases thrash and mangle damage while

[05:08] a spirit is active. Fingers crossed to

[05:10] these apex talents end up in a good

[05:12] place. So they're an interesting pickup

[05:14] for guardian druids moving forward.

[05:16] Evokers and monks both got the same kind

[05:18] of hybrid healing buffs that many other

[05:20] classes got when the PTR first went up.

[05:23] So panacea healing, defy fate, and

[05:25] molten blood healing all went up 25% for

[05:28] evoker. Then Silent Sanctuary and Wind

[05:30] Walkers Expel harms saw 25% buffs as

[05:33] well. Paladins have a couple of quick

[05:36] changes this week. Prod is going to see

[05:37] a lot more abilities added into the

[05:39] cooldown manager so you can track

[05:40] whatever you want much easier. And then

[05:42] the rat fourpiece was changed to no

[05:44] longer cost the empowered Templars's

[05:46] verdicts to be free, but it will empower

[05:48] your next two Templar verdicts instead.

[05:51] For the shaman's reactive warding

[05:53] healing was increased by 25% and

[05:55] elemental stormkeeper has changed for

[05:58] this patch, but the previous notes

[05:59] weren't really clear. Stormkeeper no

[06:02] longer causes lightning bolt to generate

[06:03] an additional elemental overload, and

[06:06] that's pretty much the only change

[06:07] there. Now for enhancement, lightning

[06:09] bolt and chain lightning damage are up

[06:11] 20%. Lava lash, storm strike, and melee

[06:14] damage all saw 15% buffs, but then doom

[06:17] winds only increases the chance for

[06:18] windfury weapon to activate by 50% down

[06:20] from 100%. For the hero talent trees,

[06:23] Stormbbringer's tempest main target

[06:25] damage saw a 10% nerf, and the secondary

[06:28] target damage saw a 30% nerf. For

[06:30] totemic, surging totem tremor damage

[06:32] caught a 15% damage nerf, and surging

[06:34] bolts damage was reduced by 10%. And

[06:37] then warlocks and warriors saw some

[06:39] healing boosts as well. For warlocks,

[06:41] drain life and zebra's resilience

[06:43] healing are up 25%. And for arms

[06:45] warriors, ignore pain absorb was

[06:47] increased by 25%. Now, all of these

[06:50] updates are for the 12.1 PTR. So, if you

[06:52] want to check out the changes and your

[06:54] new tier set bonuses, you'll need to hop

[06:56] onto the PTR to check them out.

[06:59] This PTR build has more than just class

[07:01] balance tuning, though. For example, the

[07:03] leveling trick that some players were

[07:05] using with the earn race has been nerfed

[07:07] quite considerably, but it actually

[07:09] affects everyone to a lesser degree. In

[07:11] 12.1, the baseline experience gained

[07:14] from exploring zones has been reduced by

[07:16] 60%. So, everyone will get less

[07:18] experience from exploring as they level

[07:20] up. This impacts the earn more due to

[07:23] their wideeyed wonder racial ability,

[07:25] which significantly increases experience

[07:27] earned from exploring zones. That ratio

[07:30] turned out to be quite potent indeed, as

[07:32] some players were leveling from 10 to 90

[07:35] in under 3 hours from just exploring

[07:38] zones on their earn characters. There's

[07:40] even an add-on to make the whole thing

[07:42] easier and faster. Some folks were even

[07:44] using this trick to level up their alt

[07:46] super fast and then just paying for a

[07:47] race change so they didn't actually have

[07:49] to play as an earn character. It's kind

[07:51] of like a cheaper character boost. I

[07:54] guess this is probably why they're

[07:55] changing exploration experience in the

[07:57] first place. So when 12.1 goes live,

[08:00] this probably won't be fast enough to be

[08:02] worth it anymore. Now, it's not all bad

[08:04] news for the earn, though, because this

[08:06] will impact one of their racials quite

[08:08] significantly. The dev team are

[08:09] increasing the effectiveness of the

[08:11] well-fed buff gain from ingest minerals

[08:13] by 30%. So, an actually useful earn

[08:16] ratio is seeing a decent buff. Something

[08:19] else to consider is that if you really

[08:21] wanted to level up a few alts using the

[08:23] earn exploration trick, you'll still be

[08:25] able to until this patch goes live.

[08:27] These are not hot fixes, which means the

[08:30] XP nerfs won't come in until the patch

[08:32] hits live servers, which gives you at

[08:34] least until August to take advantage of

[08:36] the leveling trick before it goes away.

[08:39] Personally, I would just wait for the

[08:40] turbulent timeways event, but you do

[08:42] you.

[08:44] Something else that was confirmed this

[08:46] week is that upgrading gear will not be

[08:48] significantly changing as we head into

[08:50] season 2. When the PTR first went up,

[08:53] all gear upgrades were using the

[08:54] original season 1 design where crest

[08:57] costs would increase with each upgrade

[08:59] for an item. So, you would spend 10

[09:01] crests on the first item and it would

[09:03] increase by 10 for each bump up in item

[09:06] level. So, you would actually end up

[09:08] spending 50 crests to get an item from

[09:10] five of six to six of six. Naturally,

[09:13] everyone hated the idea. So, it was

[09:15] quickly shot down before the Midnight

[09:17] expansion went live. I guess that's why

[09:19] it was so surprising to see it pop back

[09:21] up in the first week of the PTR for

[09:23] patch 12.1. But the dev team

[09:25] specifically noted in this week's PTR

[09:28] build that the scaling upgrade costs was

[09:30] a bug. Gear upgrades will be the exact

[09:32] same as they were in season 1 with a

[09:34] flat 20 crest cost for each upgrade. So,

[09:37] if you were worried about this change

[09:38] making its way back into the game, you

[09:40] can breathe a sigh of relief.

[09:43] Something that will be changing as we

[09:45] head into season 2 are dungeons,

[09:47] specifically the difficulty load and how

[09:50] it's split between the various roles. In

[09:52] season 1, tanks and healers bore most of

[09:54] the burden with healers arguably having

[09:56] the hardest time. For season 2, the dev

[09:59] team wants to shift some of that burden

[10:00] over to the DPS, who have historically

[10:03] had the easiest time in most content

[10:06] types. To achieve that, we'll see

[10:08] slightly higher creature health pools, a

[10:10] larger emphasis on skills like target

[10:11] prioritization and damage checks, and

[10:14] some abilities trading raw damage

[10:15] effects for penalties to damage output

[10:17] or mobility. So, if your DPS don't do

[10:20] their job and target the right stuff,

[10:22] fights will likely take much longer, and

[10:24] you'll be at risk of wiping due to a

[10:26] lack of damage throughput. That should

[10:28] also make the healer's job a bit easier

[10:29] if certain abilities aren't throwing out

[10:31] huge chunks of damage to your team and

[10:33] are instead just reducing damage when

[10:35] things go wrong. It's an interesting

[10:37] change, and dungeon success should feel

[10:39] more evenly shared across the group. But

[10:41] only time will tell if this will

[10:43] actually do what the dev team intends.

[10:46] I'm all for trying new approaches,

[10:47] though, and we should expect season 2

[10:49] dungeons to have the same overall

[10:50] difficulty as season 1. So, if you

[10:52] enjoyed the easy Mythic Plus experience

[10:54] at the start of Midnight, season 2

[10:56] should be more of the same. We'll also

[10:58] see a change to how cone and line

[11:00] attacks are displayed with distinct

[11:02] borders that should make it easier to

[11:03] tell where these attacks will actually

[11:05] hit. This follows the change to circles

[11:07] and swirls, which gave them solid

[11:09] borders for the exact same reason. And I

[11:11] am so happy the dev team are continuing

[11:13] to make these spells easy to read and

[11:15] judge. You shouldn't ever have to double

[11:18] guess whether or not you're going to be

[11:19] hit by an ability due to poor visuals.

[11:22] So, this looks like a great next step

[11:24] forward.

[11:26] A lot of the new season rewards were

[11:27] also included in this build, including

[11:29] the new mounts for season 2 mythic plus

[11:32] dungeon achievements. If you reach 2,000

[11:34] rating and get the keystone master

[11:35] achievement, you'll earn yourself the

[11:37] breath of blight mount, which is a toxic

[11:39] green skeletal wind serpent mount, which

[11:42] is both very cool and quite unique. I

[11:44] don't think we've really seen many

[11:46] mounts like this before, so unique mount

[11:48] rewards are always awesome. If you can

[11:50] get up to 3k rating and earn the

[11:52] keystone legend achievement, you'll get

[11:54] the same mount, but in a red and black

[11:56] color scheme, which looks pretty

[11:57] amazing. If season 1 is anything to go

[11:59] by, getting up to 3k shouldn't be too

[12:01] bad, but I guess we'll have to wait and

[12:03] see how the new dungeon pool and these

[12:04] dungeon changes play out. The new season

[12:07] 2 Nemesis delve solo achievement mount

[12:10] can also be previewed if you manage to

[12:12] take down the new Nemesis all by

[12:13] yourself on the higher difficulty. You

[12:15] can walk away with the apotheic

[12:17] soulcrusher mount which is another mech

[12:19] style mount in that you'll stand in the

[12:21] same kind of place and will most likely

[12:22] move in the same kind of ways, but it's

[12:24] got a fiery troll theme going on which

[12:27] definitely fits in with patch 12.1.

[12:30] And then for all the raiders out there,

[12:31] if you can conquer the venomous abyss

[12:33] and take down Oollettech on mythic

[12:35] difficulty, you'll get the primeval sky

[12:37] friend. It says sky friend, but surely

[12:39] that's supposed to be sky fiend, right?

[12:42] Unless we're all just making friends

[12:43] with the flying snakes now. Either way,

[12:45] it's a two-headed flying snake mount.

[12:47] That looks pretty cool.

[12:49] We also have our first look at the new

[12:51] alter of corrosion talent feature coming

[12:53] for the open world players in this

[12:55] patch. Most activities are going to

[12:57] reward you with a new currency called

[12:59] corrosive coins, which are used to buy

[13:00] up all manner of cosmetic goodies and

[13:02] rewards, but they are also used to

[13:04] unlock talents. In this new altar, you

[13:07] can gain new powers that increase your

[13:09] primary stats, give you a chance to

[13:11] poison enemies, reduce the damage you

[13:13] take from venom pools, reduce the damage

[13:15] you take from monsters. You can find

[13:17] extra keys or treasures, and a variety

[13:19] of other small bonuses that make playing

[13:21] in the zone, especially in the vaults

[13:23] area, a bit easier to deal with. and

[13:26] less frustrating. There are 18 talents

[13:28] total, and the cost does increase for

[13:30] every talent point you earn, so you'll

[13:32] have to spend a lot of corrosive coins

[13:34] if you want to unlock everything, which

[13:35] means a lot of farming in the new zone.

[13:38] Now, while I would assume many of these

[13:40] talents only work in the new zone, many

[13:42] of them aren't really explicit about it.

[13:44] Giving your abilities a chance to

[13:46] inflict poison on enemies may carry over

[13:48] into other activities, especially if

[13:50] they're more openworld oriented like

[13:52] delves. So, we'll have to wait and see

[13:54] what the scope of this system could be,

[13:56] but usually the dev team tries to avoid

[13:58] making these powers a requirement for

[14:00] dungeons or raid progress. As you unlock

[14:03] more talent points, you'll earn more and

[14:04] more corrosive coins. So, if you want to

[14:06] max out your corrosive coins to buy

[14:08] everything on offer, it might be a good

[14:10] idea to focus on these talents first so

[14:12] that you're earning more coins from

[14:14] every source.

[14:16] Another update I want to highlight in

[14:17] this week's PTR build gives hunters the

[14:19] ability to use enchant illusions on

[14:21] their ranged weapons. I'm honestly

[14:23] surprised it took this long, but hunters

[14:25] can finally make their bows and guns

[14:27] sparkle, drip poison, crackle with

[14:30] flames, or whatever your favorite

[14:31] illusion happens to do. And then there's

[14:33] a bunch of focus testing starting up

[14:35] this week. The new dungeon, Alter of

[14:37] Fangs, opened up on all difficulties.

[14:39] So, we got our first look at the new

[14:40] three boss dungeon. Raid testing for the

[14:43] Venomous Abyss, started this week as

[14:44] well, with most of the heroic bosses

[14:46] being covered already. and Prey season 2

[14:48] became available, which has some very

[14:51] interesting updates that we'll get to in

[14:52] another video. So, the 12.1 PTR is

[14:55] chugging along quite nicely and

[14:57] hopefully we'll end up with a well

[14:59] polished, bug-free experience when it

[15:01] goes live sometime in August.

[15:04] Now, in other news, if you've been

[15:05] trying to get your hands on the special

[15:07] mount from the Midsummer Fire Festival

[15:09] event, there is some good news this

[15:11] week. In a hot fix, the dev team

[15:13] introduced bad luck protection for the

[15:15] mount, which should lead to most players

[15:17] picking it up if you complete the mini

[15:19] dungeon at least once per day. The Sun

[15:21] Festival painted rocks chance to drop in

[15:23] the satchel of chilled goods has been

[15:25] doubled for the first drop of the day on

[15:26] your account, and the drop rate will

[15:28] continue to increase each day until you

[15:30] obtain the mount. So, if you keep

[15:32] running the Frost Lord Aoon dungeon, you

[15:34] will have a much better chance of

[15:36] grabbing the mount before the event

[15:37] ends. If you had no idea this event was

[15:40] running, you can quickly hop into the

[15:42] dungeon by queuing from the dungeon

[15:43] finder tool. Just open the dropdown,

[15:45] pick the frost lord of hoon, and keep

[15:47] your fingers crossed. As a side note,

[15:49] the bug that people were using to try

[15:51] and get the mount multiple times per day

[15:53] was fixed. So even if you leave your

[15:55] bags unopened, you won't be able to pick

[15:57] up another one. So you are strictly

[15:59] limited to one chance per day now. But

[16:02] that's all of the updates we have. So

[16:03] that's it for this week's WoW news

[16:05] video. What do you think of patch 12.1

[16:08] from what you've seen so far and when do

[16:10] you think the patch will go live? Leave

[16:12] all your thoughts in the comment section

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[16:31] Thanks for watching folks. Good luck and

[16:32] have fun. And as always, I will see you

[16:34] next time.