Blizzard open up about the biggest patch in WoW history

World of Warcraft patch 7.2: Tomb of Sargeras

What could have been World of Warcraft’s death knell turned rather spectacularly into new success in Legion. The game is more popular and well-regarded by players than it has been in years, and keeping that up is the next challenge. Patch 7.2 is not only Legion’s largest, but the biggest in the game’s history in terms of amount of content and number of changes – all despite barely touching classes themselves. We spoke to Blizzard about what all that means and how it came about, as well as plans on important topics to the community.

Check the second page of this article for a full rundown of WoW patch 7.2.

Explaining their decisions were senior producer Travis Day, senior game designer Ryan Shwayder – who was involved in a lot of the outdoor content in the patch – and Morgan Day, another senior designer who works mainly on instanced content like dungeons and raids.

world of warcraft legion secrets

PCGN: How has the alteration in patch pacing changed things for the development team, and are you happy with it so far?

Travis Day: “One of the biggest things that we wanted to do in the Legion patch cycle is deliver on the promise of a continuous stream of content. I think that is a huge point of pride for the team. With patch 7.2 not only are we delivering exactly when we wanted to – you gotta understand, I started on the patch cycle about a year ago now, with the initial planning of it, so this has been in development quite some time. So not only are we delivering on the content pace that we wanted to hit and we feel is appropriate, but we’re also delivering the largest patch in the history of WoW. It’s not just that we’re delivering something huge or we’re delivering something on time but it’s actually both at the same time, which is something we’re quite proud of.”

Similarly how has untying raids from patches affected things?

Morgan Day: “It’s something that we have been doing for a little while now, we try to service as many different types of players as possible. Our raid philosophy really fits with our overall content philosophy, which is that we want to deliver steady, well-paced content as often as we can.

“We’ve learned that means you don’t have to tie the raid with the patch – for instance Nighthold came out fairly recently and a lot of players are still working their way through that, enjoying that, still defeating bosses. A lot of people still haven’t killed Gul’dan, right? The raid finder for him just came out a week or two ago. In this case it’s a little too soon for Tomb of Sargeras, we’re happy with the pacing so far.”

TD: “Morgan’s touching on an important point, which is there is a huge number of different kinds of players of World of Warcraft and they’re interested in absorbing different kinds of content. I think the bifurcation of the raids from the content patches is a positive thing because it allows us to deliver outdoor content. We’ve got an entire new zone, new world quests, new class world quests, buildings, order hall campaigns, assaults, pet battle dungeons – the list goes on and on of what we’re delivering to the outdoor world player.

“Then we also have this raid that we’ve developed that is going to come out in the near future but timed more appropriately for the raiding community. I feel like we’re doing a better job than ever servicing the different kinds of players on a time schedule that’s most appropriate for them.”

With flying introduced in this patch, how much easier has it been to do than in Warlords of Draenor and do you think you’ve found a reliable system for expansions going forward?

Ryan Shwayder: “We obviously learned a lot from Draenor when we implemented flying unlock there. We heard a lot of feedback from players. Splitting it up into Pathfinder Part One and Part Two has been, I think, really good. It lets players know ahead of time like ‘Okay, Pathfinder Part One is a thing that’s going to get me on the right track for flight.’ It lets people who are super-interested in flying get a headstart on that.

Flying in Legion

“We knew that once 7.2 rolled around we wanted to make sure the focus remained on mastery of the over-land world, the unlock requirements are still very outdoor focused. As far as future expansions go, as always, we take the lessons we learn from every expansion and move forward with that. I can’t really speak to what we’re going to do necessarily.”

TD: “Are we doing another WoW expansion, really?” [laughs]

The other major change is the additions to artifacts, has everything gone to plan there or have there been challenges you weren’t expecting?

TD: “One of the great things that I think artifacts really succeeded in was giving you a unique experience for each spec by having that artifact quest line that gives you a nice little story hit and introduces you to the world of Legion in a way that brings you up to speed with a class or a spec that you’ve never played before. I think there’s a lot of success in that.

“I also think there’s a lot of success in having a alternate progression path outside of whatever your item level is and acquiring new gear. Again earlier we were speaking [about] a lot of different types of players of WoW and I think that having artifact power as a reward that can be [given out] through doing all the content in the game is an effective way to reward players and give [them] an ongoing target, ongoing progression.

Patch 7.2 artifact appearence

“When you get to the upper, upper echelons it can run the risk of feeling like a grind but I would argue that you are finding yourself working towards something that is built-in with diminishing returns, [which is] the intent at the top end. In 7.2, as we bring this forward, you’re gonna see that those who were at the very top power bands are given a nice passive right off the bat to keep them consistent and then we’re basically opening up the top end again for them to progress through.

“But at the same time what that system allows us to do and you’ll see play out in 7.2 is that if you’re a guy who likes to play alts but has felt dissuaded from it, now when you log in to your alt you’re actually going to be able to progress much more quickly. You’re able to get [back] into the middle of the pack.”

With the numbers that you’re dealing with there – 101,000% modifiers, needing some hundred trillion AP to get later ranks – would you rather have avoided dealing with numbers of that scale?

TD: “Luckily we can support 32 bit and 64 bit if we need to [laughs], we can deal with large numbers. There were definitely some meetings we had with the UI team to be like ‘Okay, what is this going to look like, represented onthe UI? What does this feel like as a player experience?’

WoW patch 7.2 AP prices

“I think one of the things that it allows us to do when you have such large numbers and such large exponential scales, it allows you to set a target power band throughout the expansion cycle where you want people to fall. It gives you the granularity you need to be able to tune for an entire, multi-year cycle.

“Does it end up looking a little wonky on the UI? Yeah, maybe, but does it end up benefiting the player and the player experience? Absolutely. I think the new traits are gonna be cool, the way that you progress them – the new quest lines – are gonna be cool. I think players are going to enjoy them, and I think players are going to enjoy having much more freedom to get into their alt specs.”

Legendaries are also getting significant reworks in this patch – how have your attitudes towards them changed through development?

MD: “Legendaries are a fun one, right? They’re a new system that we added in Legion and we’ve been kind’ve making changes every patch as we go along. This patch we heard the player feedback that they’re not super excited if they get a specific legendary so we want to address that issue, you should always be happy when you see a legendary, you should always be geeked out.

“If you get Prydaz you shouldn’t be like ‘Aw, this is a utility legendary.’ You should feel good about it, and we want you to feel just as good about that one as you might another one. We’re making more changes in 7.2 to bring those more in line with each other. We did that as well a little bit in 7.1.5, so we’re focusing on that problem right now and addressing that feedback. We’re definitely learning as we go and making changes.”

WoW legendary softcap

Is the legendary system something you’re committed to sticking with through Legion, or beyond?

RS: “We can only really speak to what we’re doing right now, we can’t really talk about 7.3 or any future patches. Obviously, as you can see from 7.2, we do continue a commitment to keep these legendaries fun and, like Morgan mentioned, narrowing the power gap between the perceived best and worst items. That’s one of the things we’re trying to do to make sure you’re always excited when you get a legendary. We think the legendary system is fun. Some of them were maybe a little more experimental than others, but we’re committed to supporting them through 7.2”

On the balance side, there are few class changes in this patch – what’s the reasoning behind that, and can we expect some soon?

MD: “In this patch we’re really focusing on the content in the outdoor world, in the Broken Shore, bringing all the new class campaigns, class mounts, all that stuff. 7.1.5 had a lot of class changes, which was not too long ago. We’re still waiting for that stuff to shake out, see how [it] goes from there. We’re not really focusing on class changes in this patch as much as we are just releasing new, really epic content.

RS: “In addition to a lot of class changes in 7.1.5 and in 7.2 we’ve got the new traits that you’re gonna unlock, and we’ve got the legendary rebalancing that we’ve been doing. Both of those things dramatically impact class balance over time. Turning all of the different dials at the same time can get you into trouble so we’re turning a couple of the big dials in 7.2 and if there are any outliers that come to light, we’ll certainly hotfix or address in a future patch any kind of class issues that may arrive.”

Finally, this outdoor zone is something you guys have done in a number of expansions, changing and developing it each time. How has the evolution gone and what do you feel you’re doing different and better this time?

RS: “We’re all avid players of World of Warcraft and have learned a lot and were inspired by a lot of the previous patches. Kinda obvious analogues you can draw for this patch and for Broken Shore specifically would be Isle of Quel’danas, Isle of Thunder, Timeless Isle – those all have Isle in them, I tried to change it to Isle of Broken Shore and they said no [laughs].

“We’ve learned from the world quest system – one of the kind of dreams of that was to be able to get a lot more dynamic gameplay going. Have an entire area change out what creatures are there, so one day it can be a bunch of jailers who have trapped Armies of Legionfall soldiers and the next day it can be a bunch of Mo’arg Brutes training.

“In addition to that, [we wanted] to have more specific world quests for different classes because Legion is very class fantasy focused. So being inspired from the expansion itself, from 7.0, we’ve taken the world quest system up a notch by having areas that completely change their population out and completely change what you’re going to be doing, the gameplay in that area. We also have class specific world quests that will unlock after you’ve done your follower questline.

“Just as an example, if you’re a Priest you might be going in and using the blessing of Prophet Velen to dissipate fel that’s creeping out throughout a beach. If you’re not a Priest then you’re going through and supporting that effort, taking out the enemies in the same area and working together to take down a final boss.

“In Timeless Isle there were a lot of rare elites that I found very enjoyable, to get the announcement from other players that there’s a big boss around and then run over there and take it out. We’ve taken that system and we’re trying something that’s, again, experimental but I think is gonna be pretty fun where a rare elite will appear, it’s up for half an hour, and it will respawn within that half-hour period very quickly. So it’s exciting that you see that it’s up, but you don’t have to [worry] about getting there [before other players burst it down].”

TD: “Things that differentiate it from the past, that are improved upon, is that again it’s worth enforcing that this is by far the most content-heavy patch that we’ve ever done for WoW. A lot of that is focused on the Broken Shore itself. One of the things that Ion [Hazzikostas, game director] talked about at BlizzCon and has been a guiding force is one of the unique features of an MMO and one of the cool things about an MMO is this living world, right? So one of the things we focused on delivering on the Broken Shore especially is that feeling of a living world – every day when you login the Sentinax is different, a different building is up, a different buff is up, there’s different content to explore, different POIs filled with different mobs, there’s different objectives on your map.

“[We wanted] to create that sense of ‘What is going to happen when I login today? I don’t know, let’s go find out and let’s go see where the adventure’s at.’ Create that sense of wonder and engagement that I think is really a keystone of what makes MMOs so strong.”

For more on WoW patch 7.2, see the official notes on the next page of this article. Patch 7.2.5 is expected to enter testing very soon.

World of Warcraft patch 7.2: Tomb of Sargeras

World of Warcraft’s next patch is 7.2, introducing a new raid, new dungeon and many, many more changes to the game. It’s now ready for deployment to live servers, with release due on March 28. Here’s all the information from the PTR, as well as Blizzard’s official patch notes.

WoW Patch 7.2 release date

It’s out now in the US, tomorrow in the EU. Not long now until you can return to the Broken Shore. Here’s Blizzard’s summary video:

And the launch trailer with Mr. Prepared And The Demon Gang:

WoW Patch 7.2 livestreams

Blizzard have done various livestreams about the game in general and changes coming in 7.2. March 23 will see game designer Ryan Shwayder take to the Warcraft Twitch channel to answer questions specifically about the patch. Here’s the archives of previous livestreams:

Quest and campaigns with Ryan Shwayder

Items ‘n’ stuff with Matt Goss

PvP ‘n’ killing with Brian Holinka

Overall design ‘n’ bits with Ion Hazzikostas

WoW Patch 7.2 class changes

Here’s Blizzard’s official notes on balance changes:

WoW balance changesAll classes:

  • The damage bonus that tanks and healers get per Artifact point spent has been increased to 0.65% for all tanks and Discipline Priests (was 0.5%), and the bonus has been increased to 1.3% for all other healers (was 1%).
  • Player Taunts now increase all threat caused against the target by 400% for 3 seconds (was 200%).
  • Non-tank specializations once again benefit from Bonus Armor from gear.
  • The Tauren and Dwarf racial bonuses Brawn and Might of the Mountain now correctly increase heals by 2% (was 1%).

Death Knight:

  • All:
    • Wraith Walk:
      • Now stops your movement speed being decreased below 170% for the 3 sec. duration
  • Blood:
    • No changes
  • Frost:
    • No changes
  • Unholy:
    • No changes

Demon Hunter iconDemon Hunter:

  • Havoc:
    • No changes
  • Vengeance:
    • Demonic Wards (survivability passive):
      • All damage taken reduced by 20%, up from 10%, and armor increased by 75%, down from 120%.

Druid iconDruid:

  • All:
    • Broken Isles Pathfinder mount speed bonuses now apply to Travel Form and Flight Form (while on the ground).
  • Balance:
    • Starfall:
      • Haste no longer has an effect.
  • Feral:
    • 4% more damage on: Rake, Shred, Swipe, Thrash, Brutal Slash, Moonfire, Ferocious Bite, Ashamane’s Frenzy, and Rip.
  • Guardian:
    • Spells:
      • Mangle:
        • Damage increased by 15%.
      • Swipe:
        • Damage decreased by 25%
      • Thrash:
        • Initial damage increased by 15%
    • Talents:
      • Intimidating Roar:
        • Now roots targets.
  • Restoration:
    • No changes

Hunter iconHunter:

  • Beast Mastery:
    • Dire Frenzy:
      • Causes your pet to charge up to 25 yards
  • Marksmanship:
    • No changes
  • Survival:
    • No changes

Mage iconMage:

  • All:
    • Shimmer:
      • Charges removed.
  • Arcane:
    • Mark of Aluneth:
      • Damage increased by 33%
  • Fire:
    • No changes
  • Frost:
    • No changes

Monk iconMonk:

  • All:
    • Chi Wave:
      • Now available to all specs.
      • Deals 86.7% AP damage or healing.
  • Brewmaster:
    • No changes
  • Mistweaver:
    • Mistwalk:
      • Heal increased to 1680% AP from 420%
    • Talents:
      • Essence Font (Rank 2):
        • Now learned at level 58, increased from 55
      • Fortifying Brew:
        • New spell at level 55
        • “Turns your skin to stone, increasing your current and maximum health by 20%, and reducing damage taken by 20%.”
  • Windwalker:
    • 8% more damage on: Tiger Palm, Blackout Kick and Rising Sun Kick.

Paladin iconPaladin:

  • Holy:
    • No changes.
  • Protection:
    • No changes
  • Retribution:
    • Judgement of Light:
      • Removed once-per-second limit.

Priest iconPriest:

  • Discipline:
    • No changes
  • Holy:
    • No changes
  • Shadow:
    • Mental Fortitude:
      • Maximum shield decreased to 4% of total health from 8%

Rogue iconRogue:

  • Assassination:
    • Bag of Tricks:
      • Proc chance now 2.5% chance per combo point
    • Urge to Kill:
      • Energy generation changed to 60, plus an additional 60 over two seconds.
  • Outlaw:
    • Spells:
      • Damage of Run Through,Ambush, Killing Spree, Death from Above,Cannonball Barrage,Pistol Shot, Saber Slash,Ghostly Strike and Between the Eyes increased by 3.5%.
    • Traits:
      • Fatebringer:
        • Energy cost reduction decreased to 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8 from 2/4/6/8/10/12/14/16
      • Curse of the Dreadblades:
        • Also effects Ghostly Strike
  • Subtlety:
    • No changes

Shaman iconShaman:

  • All specs:
    • No changes
  • Elemental:
    • No changes
  • Enhancement:
    • No changes
  • Restoration:
    • No changes

Warlock iconWarlock:

  • Affliction:
    • Reap Souls:
      • Now has a five second cooldown.
      • If refreshed, will now add duration to remaining duration, up to a max of 60 seconds.
      • Souls are reset to 0 at the start of raid encounters and mythic keystone dungeons.
    • Ulthalesh now has a greatly increased chance to generate the first three Tormented Souls at the beginning of a raid encounter.
  • Demonology:
    • No changes
  • Destruction:
    • No changes

Warrior iconWarrior:

  • All specs:
    • Charge / Intercept now roots the target for 1 second.
  • Arms:
    • No changes
  • Fury:
    • No changes
  • Protection:
    • No changes

And here’s what’s going on with items:

  • Broken Isles World Quest rewards now scale to item level 860 (was item level 845).
  • Set tokens for all raids from Serpentshrine to Siege of Orgrimmar have been updated to provide loot for your spec on right-click, in the same manner as newer raid set tokens. The vendor functionality of these items has not been changed.
  • A number of unavailable items belonging to PvP sets from the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King expansions have been made available again from vendors.
  • Class Order Hall Sets can now be upgraded to item level 870 via rare items obtainable from Broken Shore World Quests.
  • Drape of Shame: Now increases critical healing by 5% (was 10%).
  • Hunter
    • (Beast Mastery) The Eagletalon Battlegear 2-piece bonus should now correctly display its functionality with the Dire Frenzy talent.
    • (Beast Mastery) The Eagletalon Battlegear 4-piece bonus should now correctly display its functionality with the Dire Frenzy talent.

WoW Patch 7.2 New Raid – Tomb of Sargeras

Tomb of Sargeras raid

WoW’s next raid was announced at BlizzCon. We’ll delve into the deeps of the Tomb of Sargeras, fighting off evil avatars, demons, war machines and more on the way to victory. It’s due a few weeks after the patch itself and the below is some very basic dataming. Here’s the boss list, and a little bit of info on each:

  • Goroth
    • A fel-infused and very unhappy Pit Lord, Goroth continuously gains infernal power before unleashing a wave of destruction that must be hid from. Naturally, he spends most of the rest of the time on fire.
  • The Demonic Inquisition,Atrigan and Belac
    • This pair of demon captors will continuously torment you and lock you in prison when you tell them to stop.
  • Harjatan the Bludger
    • The largest Naga in the world, surrounded by murloc followers. A lot of adds in this fight, as well as many reasons to group up.
  • Mistress Sassz’ine
    • More fish people, this time more of a spellcaster than a brute. She also really likes summong endless nightmares from the abyss, so it’ll be quite like the year 2016.
  • The Sisters of the Moon, Captain Yathae Moonstrike, Huntress Naisha and Priestess Lunaspyre
    • Spawning one after the other as their combined health pool decreases, you’ll be dancing around the moon and trying not to be overwhelmed.
  • The Desolate Host, Engine of Souls and Soul Queen Dejahn
    • A multi-dimensional fight with a third enemy to consider at the very end, expect chaos and positioning challenges aplenty.
  • Maiden of Vigilance
    • Corrupted (surprise) by the Legion, the Maiden will throw both holy and fel magic at you endlessly across two phases. Don’t let the two collide.
  • The Fallen Avatar and Oath-Keeper Sacraya
    • Sargeras as a boss fight! Kind of. It’s the avatar of the big bad himself, trapped inside machinery he soon gets out of. The one who put him there is angry at you as well, obviously. God, why can’t you just leave well enough alone, adventurers?
  • Kil’jaeden
    • You may remember Kil’jaeden from his time spent bathing in the Sunwell. That now done with, he’s fully powered up and ready to spew damage everywhere. He has an attack called Armageddon, so you know, watch out.

Various exploration-masters have taken to the PTR and delved deep into the new raid. Of note are the final two boss rooms, Chamber of the Avatar and Kil’jaeden’s shipas screenshoted by community member ThorimEU. It will look like this when it is opened (spoilers, eh):

A new raid means new armour sets. They’re named for and look like the Tier 6 armour from The Burning Crusade. Here are the set piece bonuses for each class and spec, which are still early in development so expect regular changes and incomplete data:

Death Knight –Gravewarden Armaments:

  • Blood:
    • 2P: Blood Boil heals you for 25% of the damage it deals.
    • 4P: Blood Boil has a 25% chance to grant you 3,000 Versatility for a period.
  • Frost:
    • 2P: Hungering Rune Weapon / Empower Rune Weapon increases your damage dealt by 20% for 10 sec.
    • 4P: Reduce the cooldown of Hungering Rune Weapon / Empower Rune Weapon by 1 second for every 60 Runic Power spent.
  • Unholy:
    • 2P: Death Coil causes one of your Army of the Dead ghouls to explode, dealing (500% of Attack power) damage to some nearby enemies.
    • 4P: Each rune you spend reduces the cooldown of Army of the Dead by 3 seconds.

Demon Hunter iconDemon Hunter –Demonbane Armor:

  • Havoc:
    • 2P: Blade Dance refunds 40 Fury when it hits an enemy.
    • 4P: Blade Dance’s critical strike chance is increased by 50%.
  • Vengeance:
    • 2P: Enemies burning from your Sigil of Flame deal 5% reduced damage to you.
    • 4P: After creating a Sigil of Flame, you gain 2000 Versatility for 8 sec.

Druid iconDruid –Stormheart Raiment:

  • Balance:
    • 2P: Increase your Astral Power generation by 10% and your maximum Astral Power by 30.
    • 4P: Starsurge and Starfall increase your Haste by 3% for 15 sec. Stacks up to 5 times, but gaining a stack does not refresh the duration.
  • Feral:
    • 2P: Gain 2 Energy each time Rip deals damage.
    • 4P: Rip deals 15% increased damage and lasts 8 sec longer.
  • Guardian:
    • 2P: Frenzied Regeneration triggers up to a 40% reduced cooldown based on your current health when you use it. More reduced cooldown when used at lower health.
    • 4P: Ironfur and Mark of Ursol reduce the cooldown of Frenzied Regeneration by 2.0 seconds.
  • Restoration:
    • 2P: Swiftmend triggers up to 40% reduced cooldown based on the current health of your target. More reduced cooldown when used on a lower health target.
    • 4P: Swiftmend increases your Efflorescence healing by 400% for 8 seconds.

Hunter iconHunter –Giantbane Armor:

  • Beast Mastery:
    • 2P: Cobra Shot, Multi-shot, and Kill Command increase the damage bonus of Bestial Wrath by 1.5% for its remaining duration.
    • 4P: Cobra Shot, Multi-shot, and Kill Command deal 20% increased damage while Bestial Wrath is active.
  • Marksmanship:
    • 2P: Aimed Shot reduces the cast time of your next Aimed Shot by 20% and reduces its Focus cost by 20%.
    • 4P: Casting two Aimed Shots in a row increases your Critical Strike damage by 15% for 6 sec.
  • Survival:
    • 2P: Lacerate deals 15% increased damage and Flanking Strike increases the duration of your Lacerate by 6 sec.
    • 4P: Mongoose Bite consumes 3.0 seconds of your Lacerate on your target, instantly dealing 3.0 seconds worth of remaining damage.

Mage iconMage –Regalia of the Arcane Tempest:

  • Arcane:
    • 2P: Casting Arcane Missiles reduces the remaining cooldown on Presence of Mind by 4.0 sec.
    • 4P: Presence of Mind instantly grants you 4 Arcane Charges and increases your damage done by 10% for 15 sec.
  • Fire:
    • 2P: Fireball has a 15% chance to cause your next Pyroblast or Flamestrike to be a guaranteed Critical Strike.
    • 4P: Pyroblast and Flamestrike increases the damage of your next Pyroblast or Flamestrike by 10% for 8 sec.
  • Frost:
    • 2P: Frozen Orb increases your Critical Strike damage by 30% for 10 seconds.
    • 4P: The cooldown of Frozen Orb is reduced by 5.0 sec whenever you gain Brain Freeze.

Monk iconMonk –Xuen’s Battlegear:

  • Brewmaster:
    • 2P: Your attacks have a chance to grant you Effusion, causing your next Effuse to be instant and heal for 400% more.
    • 4P: After consuming Effusion, you clear 25% of your Staggered damage.
  • Mistweaver:
    • 2P: Your healing spell casts have a 10% chance to grant Surge of Mists, reducing the cost of your next Enveloping Mist by 75%.
    • 4P: Consuming Surge of Mists resets the cooldown of Thunder Focus Tea.
  • Windwalker:
    • 2P: Rising Sun Kick applies Rising Fist to the target for 8 sec, increasing the critical strike chance of your Fists of Fury against the target by 25%.
    • 4P: Fists of Fury increases the critical strike chance of your next Rising Sun Kick by 50%.

Paladin iconPaladin –Radiant Lightbringer Armor:

  • Holy:
    • 2P: Light of Dawn triggers Dawn’s Light, instantly healing your current friendly target within 0 to 40 yds for (300% of Spell power).
    • 4P: Light of Dawn triggers up to 40% reduced cooldown based on the current health of the target of your Dawn’s Light. More reduced cooldown when used on a lower health target.
  • Protection:
    • 2P: Judgment has a 25% chance to reset the cooldown of Avenger’s Shield.
    • 4P: Enemies hit by Avenger’s Shield deal 5% reduced damage to you for 5 sec.
  • Retribution:
    • 2P: Divine Hammer / Blade of Justice generates 1 additional Holy Power.
    • 4P: Judgment also increases the damage of Divine Hammer / Blade of Justice.

Priest iconPriest –Vestments of Blind Absolution:

  • Discipline:
    • 2P: The first bolt of light from your Penance deals an additional 200% damage.
    • 4P: Power Word: Shield has a 25% chance to cause your next Penance to be free and have 50% reduced cooldown.
  • Holy:
    • 2P: Serendipity reduces the cooldown of your Holy Words by an additional 1.5 sec.
    • 4P: Your Holy Words have a 40% chance to trigger a 50% reduced cooldown.
  • Shadow:
    • 2P: Mindbender’s / Shadowfiend’s damage dealt is increased by up to 60% / 180% based on your current Insanity.
    • 4P: Mind Blast reduces the cooldown of Mindbender / Shadowfiend by 1.0 sec / 3.0 sec.

Rogue iconRogue –Fanged Slayer’s Armor:

  • Assassination:
    • 2P: Garrote’s cost is reduced by 25 Energy andcooldown is reduced by 12 sec.
    • 4P: Garrote generates 1 additional combo point and deals 60% increased damage.
  • Outlaw:
    • 2P: Free Pistol Shots increase your critical strike chance by 10% for 8 seconds.
    • 4P: Adrenaline Rush persists for 15 sec longer when it ends, at half power.
  • Subtlety:
    • 2P: Symbols of Death costs 30 less Energy.
    • 4P: Symbols of Death causes your next 3 Shadowstrikes to critically strike.

Shaman iconShaman –Regalia of the Skybreaker:

  • Elemental:
    • 2P: While Storm Elemental / Fire Elemental is active, your Flame Shock deals 75% increased damage over time and always critically strikes.
    • 4P: Reduce the cooldown of Storm Elemental / Fire Elemental by 2.0 sec when Flame Shock periodic damage deals a critical strike.
  • Enhancement:
    • 2P: Crash Lightning increases your critical strike chance by 5% for 16 sec.
    • 4P: Stormstrike critical strikes increase the damage of your next Crash Lightning by 30%, stacking up to 10 times.
  • Restoration:
    • 2P: Your healing spells have a chance to increase the Critical Strike chance of your next Riptide by 100%.
    • 4P: When Riptide’s initial heal critically strikes, the healing done by your next Healing Rain is increased by 50%.

Warlock iconWarlock –Diabolic Raiment:

  • Affliction:
    • 2P: Your Unstable Affliction damage has a 20% chance to cause your next Drain Soul cast to deal 20% additional increased damage each time it deals damage.
    • 4P: Fully channeling a Drain Soul grants you 10% Haste for 5.0 sec
  • Demonology:
    • 2P: Shadowbolt has a 20% chance to reset the cooldown of Call Dreadstalkers.
    • 4P: Call Dreadstalkers automatically triggers Demonic Empowerment.
  • Destruction:
    • 2P: Incinerate has a 15% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard.
    • 4P: Chaos Bolt empowers your next Chaos Bolt to always gain maximum benefit from your Mastery: Chaotic Energies.

Warrior iconWarrior –Titanic Onslaught Armor:

  • Arms:
    • 2P: Colossus Smash reduces the cooldown of Ravager / Bladestorm by 1.3 / 2.0 sec.
    • 4P: While Ravager / Bladestorm is active, you automatically cast a total of 4 / 6 Mortal Strikes at random nearby enemies.
  • Fury:
    • 2P: Bloodthirst critical strikes have a 50% chance to grant you Raging Thirst, increasing the damage of your Raging Blow by 50% for 8 sec.
    • 4P: Raging Blow increases the damage and healing of your next Bloodthirst / Inner Rage by 50% / 20%, stacking up to 10 times.
  • Protection:
    • 2P: Berserker Rage generates 50 Rage.
    • 4P: Shield Slam reduces the cooldown of Berserker Rage by 3.0 sec.

Here’s a full playlist of the datamined models, all based on classic Black Temple sets.

Do note that Tomb of Sargeras won’t be going live with the patch itself, with at least a reasonable amount of time between patch and the raid being live.

Elsewhere on the raiding front, Blizzard confirmed that there would now be a zoning-in period allowing talents to be changed when heading into LFR.

Patch 7.2 New Dungeon – Cathedral of Eternal Night

Cathedral of Eternal Night dungeon

Along with going down into the Tomb of Sargeras, climbing its ramparts will take us to the Cathedra of Eternal Night. This is a new, five-person dungeon. Again, here’s a boss list:

  • Agronox
  • Thrashbite the Scornful
  • Domatrax
  • Mephistroth

Blizzard have an official preview now available, and here are videos of the dungeon itself.

In other small-squad news:

  • Enemies’ damage and health have been increased for all Heroic and Mythic dungeons, and the item levels of gear found in Legion Dungeons has been increased.
  • All Random Heroic dungeons now requires 825 item level to queue.
  • Lower Karazhan and Upper Karazhan have been added to the Random Legion Heroic list in Dungeon Finder.
  • The Arcway and Court of Stars have been added to the Random Legion Heroic list in Dungeon Finder.
  • The Tyrannical affix has been decreased to 15% extra damage from 20%.
  • The Fortified affix has been decreased to 30% extra damage from 40%.

Essentially, heroics will now be as difficult as initial mythics, with mythics a little harder than they were before. Now that the base difficulty can be queued for, the previously mythic-only dungeons can have heroic versions. Along with dungeons, World Quests also had their ilevel scaling upgraded to 860.

WoW Patch 7.2 Mythic+ Changes

  • Equipment rewards through level 10 have been improved:
    • Dungeon loot:
      • Mythic 2-3: 870
      • Mythic 4-5: 875
      • Mythic 6-7: 880
      • Mythic 8-9: 885
      • Mythic 10+: 890
    • Weekly chest:
      • Mythic 2: 875
      • Mythic 3: 880
      • Mythic 4: 885
      • Mythic 5: 890
      • Mythic 6: 890
      • Mythic 7: 895
      • Mythic 8: 895
      • Mythic 9: 900
      • Mythic 10+: 905
  • Artifact power rewards through level 30 have been improved
  • Added 60 seconds to the Black Rook Hold timer.
  • Added a Night Watch Mariner to the top deck in the Maw of Souls while Teeming is active.
  • Killing Cove Seagulls should now add Enemy Forces credit.
  • New affixes:
    • Bursting (level 4)
      • When slain, non-boss enemies explode, causing all players to suffer 10% of their maximum health in damage over 4 seconds. This effect stacks.
    • Fel Explosives (level 7)
      • Creatures have a chance to summon an Explosive Orb at a nearby location that will explode, inflicting damage of 50% of the player’s maximum health.
    • Quaking (level 7)
      • Periodically, players will Quake, inflicting damage of 20% of the player’s maximum health and interrupting spell casts of themselves and nearby allies.
    • Grievous (level 7)
      • While below 90% health, players are afflicted with Grievous Wound.
  • The Overflowing affix has been removed.
  • The Bolstering affix range has been reduced to 30 yards (was 45 yards).
    • Developer notes: The intent of this change is to allow players more opportunities for crowd control.
  • Necrotic Rot will now expire after leaving combat. Duration reduced to 9 seconds (was 10 seconds).
    • Developer notes: This should eliminate the situation where players were waiting for Necrotic to fall off after killing enemies, and it should give tanks more opportunities for resets while in combat.
  • Skittish threat reduction has been lowered to 75% (was 80%).
  • Fortified damage bonus lowered to 30% (was 40%).
  • Tyrannical damage bonus lowered to 15% (was 20%).
  • Sanguine radius increased to 8 yards.
  • Mythic Keystones can now direct you to Lower Karazhan, Upper Karazhan, and the Cathedral of Eternal Night.
  • Artifact Power rewards for Mythic Keystone dungeons have been adjusted:
    • Longer dungeons, such as Halls of Valor, now award a proportionately higher amount of Artifact Power.
    • Shorter dungeons, such as Maw of Souls, now award a proportionately lower amount of Artifact Power.
    • Artifact Power bonuses have been added to your weekly chest rewards. These increase based on the highest level Mythic Keystone you completed.

It’s also worth noting that your keystone reward from the first weekly chest will be lower than normal, as laid out by Blizzard here.

Elsewhere in M+-land, boss and trash mechanics have been “adjusted” with the example given being seagulls in Eye of Azshara providing completion percentage. Expect more details once the dedicated have had some more time with the build.

WoW Patch 7.2 New Zone – Broken Shore

Broken Shore zone

Well you’ve been there once, but things didn’t quite go as planned. It’s currently in-game and has a flightpath (as well as the start of the Kosumoth secret) but will be redesigned in 7.2 as a whole new questing area, with a new faction, the Armies of Legionfall. You’ll also continue your Order Hall campaign here.

There’s some fairly significant changes to how the zone looks, as shown in this gallery. On Twitter, game director Ion Hazzikostas made sure to specify that there was a lot more going on in the Broken Shore versus similar events in the past.

We learned more in early February, with the quest chain accessing Broken Shore beginning when you log in to 7.2. You’ll be given a quest to go to Dalaran to talk to Khadgar to begin preparations for the assault, plus the more mysterious quest called About Those Greater Threats… Here’s more on getting there from Wowhead, plus an early preview.

The Broken Shore also comes with new patch 7.2 world bosses. These are:

Brutallus

Brutallus

Brutallus abilities

Malificus

patch 7.2 malificus model

Si’vash

Si'vash model

Broken Shore Buildings and Perks

As part of the Broken Shore, players will be revitalising old buildings on the island, adding their power to the Legionfall forces. Bringing them back online involves contributions from large portions of the player base, and gives unique, zone-wide rewards. This is done through earning War Supplies from daily quests and rare mobs, and the buffs last three days once active. These are:

  • Mage Tower:
    • One of:
      • Knowledgable: Anytime you loot an item which grants Artifact Power in a raid or dungeon, theres a chance you will earn a bonus one.
      • Power Overwhelming: World Quests have a chance to grant an extra artifact power token.
      • Reputable: Increases reputation gains with the Armies of Legionfall by 30%.
    • Provides you with access to Artifact Challenges for their new appearences, Veiled Wyrmtongue Cache treasure spawns with Nethershards and War Supplies inside, Portals to all other Broken Shore zones.
  • Command Center:
    • One of:
      • War Effort: Chance when earning War Supplies to get bonus War Supplies.
      • Worthy Champions: Receive one piece of legendary follower equipment.
      • Heavily Augmented: World Quests have a chance to reward augment runes.
    • Provides you with access to additional Cathedral of Eternal Night world quests, helpful Wardens will show up to aid you in combat on the broken shore, extra difficult missions to send followers on for good rewards.
  • Nether Disruptor:
    • One of:
      • Seal Your Fate: Each day the Nether Disruptor is active, you can return to the Broken Shore to complete a quest that grants you a free Seal of Fate.
      • Fate Smiles Upon You: Chance that failed bonus rolls will be refunded on the Broken Isles.
      • Netherstorm: Chance to earn bonus Nethershards when earning Nethershards.
      • Reinforced Reins: Lets you interact with objects while mounted.
    • Provides you with access to the Broken Shore world bosses (ilevel 890 loot), Unstable Portals spawn across the Broken Shore that let you fight rare elites, lets crafters earn the legendary materials for the new crafted legendaries.

Legionfall Reputation rewards

As a new faction, the Armies of Legionfall have goodies for you if you’re nice to them. They cost unique resources nethershards, however. Here’s a rundown:

  • Honored:
    • Cauterizing Void Shard – 5,000 NS. An instant 520,000 heal, 10 minute CD item that also damages you for 80,000 every three seconds for twelve seconds afterwards.
    • Legionfall Banner – 4,000 NS. Places a banner at target location with the Legionfall logo. No mechanical effect.
  • Revered:
    • Legion Pocket Portal – 7,500 NS. A toy that opens a portal to a Legion world. Exactly what that means hasn’t been determined. 1 hour cooldown.
    • Repurposed Fel Focuser – 7,500 NS. A 500 main-stat elixer that lasts for an hour. 15 minute cooldown.
  • Exalted:
    • Legion Invasion Simulator – 25,000 NS. Places you in the role of a Legion command ship. 20 minute cooldown toy.
    • Legionfall Tabard – 10,000 NS. You can probably guess.

Broken Shore Nethershards and Sentinax

Elsewhere on the Broken Shore, killing mobs near the shadow of the giant Legion command ship Sentinax will award you with an item that starts a quest to learn how to control it. This awards various items, they include:

  • Three tiers of demon summoning, across six versions. These intially summon new demons to an area to fight, then stronger ones, then special elites of that type.
  • A set of three that each produce significant amounts of various gathering materials – felslate, starlight roses or Blood of Sargeras.
  • Nethershards, a currency which returns from the pre-Legion events and can be exchanged for various useful bits.

With Nethershards you can buy ilevel 835 gear, which can be upgraded with other items available in the Broken Shore. The two new Death Knight Glyph recipes are also available through this system. Lastly, one of the materials required for the new crafted legendaries is also there.

Broken Shore Shrines

Scattered around the zone are various shrines that can be clicked for unique buffs. Each lasts an hour and provides a massive power increased. Here’s the list:

  • Ancient Power: Increased damage dealt by 15%.
  • Ancient Fortitude: Reduces damage taken by 25%.
  • Ancient Wisdom: Increases base stats by 20%.
  • Ancient Winds: Increases Crit, Haste and Mastery by 5,000.

There are also various plants that spawn and will reduce max health but improve secondary stats. These are yet to be fully datamined.

WoW Patch 7.2 Legion Flying

Legion Flying

Flying finally comes to Legion with patch 7.2, letting you complete your Legion Pathfinder achievement and take to the skies once more. Here’s what you’ll need to do to get off the ground:

  • Complete Legion Pathfinder Part One – if you’ve been playing regularly, you’ve probably already completed this.
  • Explore the Broken Shore – Go to every point of interest on the Broken Shore.
  • Defender of the Broken Isles – This involves defeating the new Legion invasions in each zone on the Broken Isles.
  • Legionfall Commander – Get Revered with the new faction.
  • 2500 Nethershards – 2499 of these will be refunded upon completion.

In the final Q&A for patch 7.2, Ryan Shwayder said the fastest this could be acquired was roughly a couple of weeks.

To help you feel the need for flying, we’re also all getting…

WoW Patch 7.2 Class Mounts

Patch 7.2 class mounts

These are unique mounts for each and every class, with various tints also available depending on specs. To get them you’ll need to complete the Broken Shore quest lines. Here’s what each looks like, from Blizzcon 2016’s reveal:

Wowhead have higher quality shots of each mount and their spec-based tints too. Along with this playlist of many of the questlines to obtain them:

As for acquiring them, you’ll need Exalted with the new faction, Armies of Legionfall, and to finish the 11 week questing campaign.

WoW Patch 7.2 Artifact updates

Patch 7.2 artifact appearence

Artifacts are getting big updates in 7.2. Each is receiving four new nodes – one four-point regular, a one-point regular, a one-point gold and the Concordance of the Legionfall node. This stacks up to 50, providing an increasing proc that provides a large amount of primary stat (or Versatility for tanks), starting at 2,000 and scaling to 11,800. Procs per minute is set at 1.37.

In addition, the current last trait is being combined into one trait for each class. The vast majority receive 10% damage and 10% stamina, with slight changes for tanks. These are not listed below, but all the new-new traits are.

Death Knight:

  • Blood:
    • Carrion Feast: Increases the healing of Death Strike by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Vampiric Aura: Consumption grants 20% leech to you and four allies for 15 sec.
    • Souldrinker: Overhealing done by Death Strike and Consumption increases your maximum health by 50% of the overheal amount, up to a maximum of 30% of your health.
  • Frost:
    • Runefrost: Increases the chance to trigger Runic Empowerment by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Runic Chills: Crystalline Swords damage reduces the cooldown of Sindragosa’s Fury by 3 sec.
    • Thronebreaker: Obliterate has a 100% chance to cause the target to be pierced from behind by a Crystalline Swords.
  • Unholy:
    • Lash of Shadows: Festering Wounds deal an additional 6/12/18/24% damage when burst.
    • Death’s Harbinger: Apocalypse grants 3 Runes upon use.
    • Black Claws: While under the effect of Dark Transformation, your Abomination’s Cleaver / Ghoul’s Claw has a 50% chance toburst a Festering Wound.

Demon Hunter iconDemon Hunter:

  • Havoc:
    • Wide Eyes: Reduces the cost of Eye Beam by 5/10/15/20 Fury.
    • Bladedancer’s Grace: Increases the critical strike damage of Blade Dance by 20%.
    • Chaotic Onslaught: Chaos Strike has a 10% chance to slash an additional time.
  • Vengeance:
    • Lingering Ordeal: Increases the duration of Metamorphosis by 0.5/1/1.5/2 sec.
    • Erupting Souls: Soul Cleave deals (100% attack power) additional damage for each Soul Fragment it consumes.
    • Flaming Soul:Damage from Soul Carver and Immolation Aura extends the duration of your Fiery Brand by 0.5 seconds.

Druid iconDruid:

  • Balance:
    • Light of the Evening Star: Increases the damage of Starfall by 3/6/9/12%.
    • Wax and Wane: Moonfire increases the direct damage of your next Moonfire by 5%. This effect stacks 5 times.
    • Circadian Invocation: Moonfire damage increases the Arcane damage you deal to the target by 1%, and Sunfire damage increases the Nature damage you deal to the target by 1%, each stacking up to 6 times..
  • Feral:
    • Thrashing Claws: Increases the damage of Thrash by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Fury of Ashamane: Tiger’s Fury also grants 600 Versatility to you and four allies for 10 sec.
    • Bloodletter’s Frailty: Ashamane’s Frenzy also increases the damage your Feral abilities deal to afflicted targets by 30%.
  • Guardian:
    • Scintillating Moonlight: Moonfire reduces damage dealt to you by 1/2/3/4%.
    • Fleshknitting: Frenzied Regeneration gains 1 additional charge.
    • Pawsitive Outlook: Thrash has a 15% chance to trigger an additional Thrash.
  • Restoration:
    • Eternal Restoration: Increases the duration of Essence of G’hanir by 1/2/3/4 sec.
    • Joy of Spring: Effloresence’s healing increases up to 20% on a target that remains in Effloresence.
    • Deep Rooted: When your Rejuvenation, Regrowth, or Wild Growthheals a target below 35% health, its duration is refreshed.

Hunter iconHunter:

  • Beast Mastery:
    • Slithering Serpents: Reduces the cost of Cobra Shot by 2/4/6/8 Focus.
    • Thunderslash: While Aspect of the Wild is active, Hati and your primary pet also trigger a Thunderslash with each auto attack, dealing (100% of Attack power) Nature damage.
    • Cobra Commander: Cobra Shot has a 10% chance to create 2-4 Sneaky Snakes that attack the target for 6 seconds.
  • Marksmanship:
    • Unerring Arrows: Increases the effectiveness of Vulnerability by 10/20/30/40%.
    • Feet of the Wind: Aspect of the Cheetah grants you 50% dodge chance and makes you immune to snares.
    • Cyclonic Burst: The trail of wind left by Windburst deals (300% of Attack power) damage every 1 sec to enemies within, and reduces their movement speed by 50%.
  • Survival:
    • Jaws of the Mongoose: Increases the critical strike damage of Mongoose Bite by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Talon Bond: When Talon Strike triggers, your pet immediately attacks 2 times.
    • Echos of Ohn’ara: Flanking Strike has a 10% chance to summon the spirit of Ohn’ara to smite your foe for (1,000% attack power) Nature damage.

Mage iconMage:

  • Arcane:
    • Aegwynn’s Intensity: Increases the crit chance of Arcane Missiles by 3/6/9/12%.
    • Aluneth’s Avarice: Mark of Aluneth restores 20% maximum mana when it detonates.
    • Time and Space: Arcane Explosion echos at the last location where you cast Arcane Explosion within the last 6 sec, for 20% damage.
  • Fire:
    • Pre-Ignited: Increases the duration of Combustion by 1/2/3/4 sec.
    • Warmth of the Phoenix: Phoenix’s Flames has a 50% chance to grant 800 critical strike to you and four allies for 10 sec.
    • Strafing Run: Phoenix’s Flames chains to an additional 2 targets, dealing 75% damage with each jump.
  • Frost:
    • Obsidian Lance: Increases Ice Lance damage against frozen targets by 3/6/9/12%.
    • Freezing Rain: While Frozen Orb is active, Blizzard’s cast time is reduced by 100%.
    • Glacial Eruption: When Ebonbolt damages a target, a pillar of ice bursts from the ground at that locationafter 1 sec, dealing (500% of Spell power) Shadowfrost damage.

Monk iconMonk:

  • Brewmaster:
    • Draught of Darkness: Increases the damage of Blackout Strike by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Stave Off: Keg Smash has a 20% chance to trigger another Keg Smash.
    • Quick Sip: Drinking Purifying Brew grants Ironskin Brew for 1 second. Drinking Ironskin Brew purifies 5% of your Staggered damage.
  • Mistweaver:
    • Tendrils of Revival: Reduces the cooldown of Revival by 10/20/30/40 sec.
    • Effusive Mists: Effuse causes Sheilun to generate a cloud of mist.
    • Whispers of Shaohao: Consuming the mists of Sheilun causes each active mist to additionally heal a nearby target for (200% spell power).
  • Windwalker:
    • Split Personality: Reduces the cooldown of Serenity / recharge time of Storm, Earth, and Fire by 3/6/9/12 sec.
    • Master of Combinations: Triggering Combo Strikes has a chance to grant 600 mastery rating to you and four allies for 6 sec.
    • Thunderfist: Strike of the Windlord grants you a stack of Thunderfist for each enemy struck. Thuderfist discharges upon melee strikes, dealing (500% of attack power) Nature damage.

Paladin iconPaladin:

  • Holy:
    • Tyr’s Munificence: Increases the range of Tyr’s Deliverance by 2/4/6/8 yards, healing by 5%, and the healing bonus granted by 5%.
    • Stocism: Damage taken from Light of the Martyrreduced by 15%.
    • Sacred Dawn: All allies inside your Light of Dawnreceive 10% increased healing from your spells for 6 sec.
  • Protection:
    • Holy Aegis: Increases parry chance by 1/2/3/4%.
    • Defender of Truth: Ardent Defender grants an absorb shield for 12% of maximum health when it fades.
    • Blessed Stalwart: Your Judgment grants you Blessed Stalwart, increasing the damage and damage reduction of your next Shield of the Righteous by 25%
  • Retribution:
    • Righteous Verdict: Holy Power spending abilities increase the damage of your next Divine Hammer or Blade of Justice by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Blessing of the Ashbringer: When your Greater Blessings are active, gain Blessing of the Ashbringer. Blessing of the Ashbringer grants 2,000 strength.
    • Judge Unworthy: When you deal damage to a target afflicted by Judgment, it has a 50% chance to spread to a nearby target.

Priest iconPriest:

  • Discipline:
    • Lenience’s Reward: Atonement reduces damage taken by 0.5/1/1.5/2%.
    • Tyranny of Pain: Pain Suppression also heals the target for 33% of damage taken during Pain Suppression.
    • Aegis of Wrath: Power Word: Shield absorbs 50% additional damage, but the target takes 3% of the remaining absorb amount as Shadow damage every 1 sec.
  • Holy:
    • Caress of the Naaru: Increases the healing bonus from Light of T’uure by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Times and Measures: Damage you take has a chance to reset the cooldown of Desperate Prayer, proportional to the magnitude of that damage.
    • Cosmic Ripple: When Holy Word: Serenity or Holy Word: Sanctify finish their cooldown, you emit a burst of light that heals up to 5 injured targets for (120% spell power).
  • Shadow:
    • Fiending Dark: Increases the duration of Shadowfiend by 5/9/14/18 sec.
    • Mind Quickening: Void Torrent grants 800 Haste to you and four allies for 15 sec.
    • Lash of Insanity: Void Tendrils summoned by Call to the Void generate 3 Insanity for you when they deal damage with Mind Flay.

Rogue iconRogue:

  • Assassination:
    • Strangler: Increases the damage of Garrote by 4/8/12/16%.
    • Dense Concoction: Crimson Vial reduces the damage you take by 4%, increasing by 4% every second.
    • Sinister Circulation: Successful Lethal Poison applications reduce the cooldown of Kingsbane by 0.5 seconds.
  • Outlaw:
    • Sabermetrics: Increases the critical strike damage of Saber Slash by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Dreadblade’s Vigor: Curse of the Dreadblades also increases your damage done by 10% while it is active.
    • Loaded Dice: Activating Adrenaline Rush causes your next Slice and Dice to be 30% more effective or Roll the Bones to grant at least two matches.
  • Subtlety:
    • Etched in Shadow: Increases the effectiveness of Symbols of Death by 1/2/3/4%.
    • Shadow’s Whisper: Shadow Techniques also grants you 5 Energy.
    • Feeding Frenzy: Goremaw’s Bite causes your next three finishing moves to consume no Energy.

Shaman iconShaman:

  • Elemental:
    • Elemental Destabilization: Increases the effectiveness of Elemental Fury by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Swelling Maelstrom: Increases your maximum Maelstrom and the maximum cost of Earth Shock by 25.
    • Seismic Storm: Earthquake damage has a 5% chance to causeSeismic Lightning, dealing (700% of Spell power) Nature damage to the target.
  • Enhancement:
    • Crashing Hammer: Increases the damage of Crash Lightning by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Winds of Change: Windfury attacks generate an additional 2 Maelstrom.
    • Lashing Flames: Your Flametongue damage causes the target to take 2% increased damage from your next Lava Lash, stacking.
  • Restoration:
    • Tidewalker: Increases the duration of Spiritwalker’s Grace by 2/4/6/8 sec.
    • Pitter-Patter: Increases healing of Healing Rain by 30%
    • Deep Waters: 3 sec after casting Gift of the Queen, Sharas’dal casts another Gift of the Queen at the same location.

Warlock iconWarlock:

  • Affliction:
    • Winnowing: Increases the critical strike chance of your damage over time effects by 1/2/3/4%.
    • Sinister Seeds: Seed of Corruption requires 40% less damage to explode.
    • Rend Soul: Drain Soul damage has a 12% chance to rend the target’s soul, dealing (300% of Spell power) Shadow damage and summoning an additional Tormented Soul.
  • Demonology:
    • Left Hand of Darkness: Increases the damage of your pet by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Jaws of Shadow: Dreadbite increases damage taken from your Wild Imps’ Fel Firebolt by 20%.
    • Thal’kiel’s Ascendance: Demonic Empowerment has a 50% chance to enrage Thal’kiel, causing each of your pets to deal (50% of spell power) Shadow damage to its current target
  • Destruction:
    • Flames of Sargeras: Increases the damage of Conflagrate by 8/16/24/32%.
    • Cry Havoc:When Chaos Bolt damages a target afflicted by Havoc, it explodes, dealing (100% of Spell power) damage to enemies within 8 yards.
    • Flame Rift: Dimensional Rift can now summon a powerful Flame Rift.

Warrior iconWarrior:

  • Arms
    • Storm of Swords: Increases the damage of Bladestorm by 5/10/15/20%.
    • Soul of the Slaughter:Spending Rage has a 0.50% chance per rage spent to heal you for 1,000% attack power.
    • Executioner’s Precision: Execute causes the target to take 50% more damage from your next Mortal Strike stacking up to 2 times.
  • Fury
    • Pulse of Battle: Raging Blow critical strikes generate an additional 1/2/3/4 Rage.
    • Oathblood: Bloodthirst has a 10% chance to trigger a second Bloodthirst.
    • Death and Glory: Odyn’s Furys is empowered by either Odyn or Helya. Odyn empowers Odyn’s Fury with (300% attack power) Fire damage and generates 20 Rage. Helya empowers Odyn’s Fury with Shadow damage which heals you for 100% of the damage it deals.
  • Protection
    • Bastion of the Aspects: Increases damage prevented by blocking by 2/4/6/8%.
    • Gleaming Scales: Spell Reflection reduces magical damage you take by an additional 20%
    • Neltharion’s Thunder: Thunderclap now applies Neltharion’s Thunder, reducing your damage taken from the target by 1%, stacking up to 5 times.

Unlocking these is done via a quest chain right at the start of the patch, the same one that introduces the new Broken Shore zone. There’s also more artifact knowledge to gain, now up to level 50.Ion Hazzikostas laid out some non-specific plans on the forumand community manager Josh Allen followed up a little while later.

Values sit at100,100%for AK 26 through to 55,200,100% for AK 50. With this system comes an expansion of the catch-up mechanism, allowing alts to be automatically put to level 45 so long as your main is level 50. For reference, the final artifact point costs two hundred trillion AP.

The way you receive AP from dungeon runs, particularly Mythic+, is changing as well. As part of a program to stop the endless Maw of Souls farming that was previously required to hit max rank, as well as vary up which dungeons are most saught after. Time-spent is going to be a factor in how much AP is rewarded at the end of runs, though exact figures weren’t provided for that either. There will also be a significant amount rewarded in the end-of-week chest based on highest M+ completed, with it maxing out at level 10.

On top of the above, you’ll be able to equip multi-trait relics once you’ve acquired the two new Order Hall upgrades present in patch 7.2. There will also be a new appearence available from “challenging” solo content. These appearences were shown off at BlizzCon 2016, and you can see all of them on Wowhead. The various alternate colours are unlocked through doing the following:

  • Finishing Heroic Tomb of Sargaras using the appearence.
  • Winning 10 ranked battlegrounds using the appearence.
  • Defeating every Legion dungeon boss using the appearence

WoW Patch 7.2 Legendaries

Targeting slots for legendaries is now possible in patch 7.2. Relinquished items have been added, which are purchasable items from the Broken Shore that have a chance to become legendary when used. Depending on which you buy, the legendary will be in that slot. Legendaries now also require just level 101.

Crafted legendaries are also on the way in 7.2, with a unique questline to unlock them and some serious investment required. Here’s what they do, along with having a prismatic socket each:

  • Celumbra, the Night’s Dichotomy. Crit / Haste Cloth Shoulder.
    • You are able to see invisible and stealthed enemies during the day and and reduces your damage taken by 5% and increases your movement speed by 10%.
  • The Sentinel’s Eternal Refuge. Crit / Mastery Leather Shoulder.
    • Each time you kill an enemy, you gain 5% movement speed for 5 min, stacking up to 5 times. At 5 stacks, while you are out of combat you turn into a Wisp, increasing your movement speed further and granting you the ability to fly.
  • Vigilance Perch. Haste / Mastery Mail Shoulder.
    • Each time you kill an enemy, you gain 5% movement speed for 5 min, stacking up to 5 times. At 5 stacks, while you are out of combat you turn into a Spirit Owl, increasing your movement speed further and granting you the ability to fly.
  • Rethu’s Incessarnt Courage. Haste / Master Plate Belt.
    • When an enemy is within 8 yards of you, you heal for 2% of your maximum health every 3 seconds. When no enemies are within 8 yards of you, your movement speed is increased by 15%.

Many legendary items are also being changed:

  • All specs:
    • Sephuz’s Secret:
      • Now always grants 10% increased movement speed and 3% Haste.
      • When triggered, this bonus is increased to 70% movement speed and 25% Haste.
      • Movement speed bonuses now stack with other movement speed bonuses.
  • DK/Paladin/Warrior:
    • Aggramar’s Stride:
      • Added 617 Critical Strike (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
      • Now grants movement speed equal to 75% of your Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, or Versatility, whichever is highest.
  • Mage/Priest/Warlock:
    • Norgannon’s Foresight:
      • Added 617 Critical Strike (@ ilvl 940), as a third bonus secondary stat.
      • Charge time decreased to 6 seconds from 8
      • Duration decreased to 4 seconds from 5
  • Hunter/Shaman:
    • Roots of Shaladrassil:
      • Added 658 Critical Strike (@ ilvl 940), as a third bonus secondary stat.
  • Death Knight
    • All specs:
      • Acherus Drapes:
        • Added 771 Mastery (@ ilvl 940).
    • Blood:
      • Rattlegore Bone Legplates:
        • Now also increases Bone Shield’s damage reduction by 2%.
      • Service of Gorefiend:
        • Added 1233 Leech (@ ilvl 940) as a bonus tertiary stat.
    • Frost:
      • Perseverance of the Ebon Martyr:
        • Howling Blast bonus damage decreased to 20% from 40%
    • Unholy:
      • Death March:
        • Now also increases Death Strike and Death Coil damage by 15%.
      • Tak’theritrix’s Shoulderpads:
        • Damage bonus duration increased to 30 seconds from 20.
  • Demon Hunter iconDemon Hunter:
    • Havoc:
      • Achor, the Eternal Hunger:
        • Added 658 Mastery (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
      • Loramus Thalipedes’ Sacrifice:
        • Damage bonus now starts with the first target hit.
      • Mo’arg Bionic Stabilizers:
        • Damage bonus now starts with the first target hit.
      • Raddon’s Cascading Eyes:
        • Cooldown reduction is triggered by enemies hit, rather than crits.
      • Anger of the Half-Giants:
        • Bonus Demon Blades Fury generation decreased to an additional 1-6 from 1-8
    • Vengeance:
      • The Defiler’s Lost Vambraces:
        • Added 539 Avoidance (@ ilvl 940) as a bonus tertiary stat.
  • Druid iconDruid:
    • All Specs
      • Ekowraith, Creator of Worlds:
        • Added 658 Haste (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
    • Balance
      • Promise of Elune, the Moon Goddess:
        • Now also increases the damage of Solar Wrath and Lunar Strike by 8%.
    • Feral
      • Chatoyant Signet:
        • Now also increases your Energy regeneration by 5%.
      • Fiery Red Maimers:
        • Now also causes your next Maim to cost no Energy.
    • Guardian
      • Oakheart’s Puny Quods:
        • Barkskin instantly grants 45 Rage plus an additional 30 Rage (was 15 Rage) over 3 seconds.
    • Restoration
      • The Dark Titan’s Advice:
        • Now also causes Lifebloom’s periodic healing to have a 5% chance to trigger the final healing effect.
      • Tearstone of Elune:
        • Allies healed by your Wild Growth have a 15% (was 20%) chance to also gain Rejuvenation.
      • X’oni’s Caress:
        • Now also reduces Ironbark’s cooldown by 25%.
      • Essence of Infusion:
        • Tranquility heals targets below 60% (was 50%) health for 60% (was 50%) more.
      • Aman’Thul’s Wisdom:
        • Redesigned to: When your Rejuvenation heals a full health target, its duration is increased by 3 seconds, up to a maximum total increase of 15 seconds per cast.
  • Hunter iconHunter:
    • The Shadow Hunter’s Voodoo Mask:
      • Added 658 Critical Strike (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
  • Mage iconMage:
    • All specs:
      • Belo’vir’s Final Stand:
        • Added 658 Mastery (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
      • Shard of the Exodar:
        • Changed to: Your Time Warpdoes not cause Temporal Displacement on yourself and is not affected by Temporal Displacement or similar effects on yourself.
    • Arcane:
      • Cord of Infinity:
        • Each time Arcane Missiles hits an enemy, the damage of your next Mark of Aluneth is increased by 1.0%. This effect stacks.
  • Monk iconMonk:
    • Mistweaver:
      • Eye of Collidus the Warp-Watcher:
        • Each time Soothing Mist heals, the absorb amount of your next Life Cocoon is increased by 3% (was 1%), stacking up to 50 times (was 100).
        • Fixed a bug where the second Soothing Mist from Unison Spaulders did not grant a second stack of the buff.
      • Ovyd’s Winter Wrap:
        • Changed to: Each time Enveloping Mist heals, its healing bonus has a 50% chance to spread to an injured ally within 30 yards.
      • Ei’thas, Lunar Glides of Eramas:
        • Redesigned to: Uplifting Trance increases your Vivify healing by an additional 10% and causes it to heal 1 additional target.
    • Windwalker:
      • Hidden Master’s Forbidden Touch:
        • Now also increases Touch of Death’s damage by 40%.
      • Katsuo’s Eclipse:
        • Reduce the cost of Fists of Fury by 1 Chi (was 2 Chi).
      • Drinking Horn Cover:
        • The duration of Storm, Earth, and Fire is extended by 0.4 seconds (was 0.6 seconds) for every Chi you spend.
        • The duration of Serenity is extended by 0.3 seconds every time you cast a Chi spender
      • March of the Legion:
        • Added 641 Mastery (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
        • Reduced Haste.
      • The Emperor’s Capacitor:
        • Chi spenders increase the damage of your next Crackling Jade Lightning by 100% and reduce its cost by 5%, stacking up to 20 times.
  • Paladin iconPaladin:
    • Holy:
      • Tyr’s Hand of Faith:
        • Reduces the cooldown of Lay on Hands by 70% (was 60%).
      • Uther’s Guard:
        • Added 797 Haste (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
    • Protection:
      • Tyelca, Ferren Marcus’s Stature:
        • Now also increases Avenger’s Shield’s damage by 20%.
    • Retribution:
      • Aegisjalmur, the Armguards of Awe:
        • Added 617 Critical Strike (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
      • Justice Gaze:
        • Added effect: Causes Hammer of Justice to generate 1 Holy Power on targets above 75% health
        • Mastery decreased by 412
        • Haste increased by 412.
  • Priest iconPriest:
    • Discipline
      • Skjoldr, Sanctuary of Ivagont:
        • Now also increases Power Word: Shield’s absorb amount by 20%.
    • Holy
      • Muze’s Unwavering Will:
        • Health threshold reduced to 50% health (was 75%).
        • Now also affects Flash Heal.
      • Rammal’s Ulterior Motive:
        • Healing bonus increased to 20% (was 15%).
    • Shadow
      • Zenk’aram, Iridi’s Anadem:
        • Now also increases Voidform’s Shadow damage dealt bonus by 3%.
      • Anund’s Seared Shackles:
        • Each time Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch deal damage, your next Void Bolt gains 3% (was 4%) increased damage, stacking up to 50 times.
  • Rogue iconRogue
    • All specs:
      • Insignia of Ravenholdt:
        • Your single-target combo-point generating attacks deal 15% additional damage as Shadow to all targets within 15 yards in front of you.
      • Will of Valeera:
        • Added 658 Mastery (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
        • Haste decreased by 412
        • Critical Strike increased by 412
  • Shaman iconShaman:
    • Enhancement:
      • Akainu’s Absolute Justice:
        • Lava Lash deals 50% (was 30%) increased damage while your weapons are enhanced by both Flametongue and Frostbrand.
  • Warlock iconWarlock:
    • All Specs:
      • Pillars of the Dark Portal:
        • Added 658 Haste (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
    • Affliction:
      • Sacrolash’s Dark Strike:
        • Now also increases Corruption’s damage by 15%.
  • Warrior iconWarrior:
    • All Specs
      • Timeless Stratagem
        • Added 719 Versatility (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
      • Mannoroth’s Bloodletting Manacles
        • Added 771 Versatility (@ ilvl 940) as a third bonus secondary stat.
    • Protection
      • The Walls Fell
        • Name changed from Destiny Driver
        • Now also increases Shield Slam’s Rage generation by 2.
      • Thundergod’s Vigor
        • Each enemy you hit with Thunder Clap reduces the remaining cooldown on Demoralizing Shout by 3 seconds (was 1 second).

WoW Patch 7.2 Champions

There’ll be a whole batch of new class hall champions in this patch, as well as an increase in the cap by one to accomodate them. Some classes are getting more than one with new unique quests, while everyone gets one through the Breaching the Tomb storyline quests. Here’s the list:

  • Death Knight:
    • Minerva Ravensorrow
  • Demon Hunter iconDemon Hunter:
    • Lady S’theno
  • Druid iconDruid:
    • Thisalee Crow
  • Hunter iconHunter:
    • Nighthuntress Syrenne
  • Mage iconMage:
    • Aethas Sunreaver
    • The Great Akazamzarak – Obtained through a new quest chain unlocked by completing the class hall campaign.
  • Monk iconMonk:
    • Almai
  • Paladin iconPaladin:
    • Maximillian of Northshire – Obtained through completing his quest chain in Un’goro.
    • Nerus Moonfang
  • Priest iconPriest:
    • Aelthalyste
  • Rogue iconRogue:
    • Tess Greymane (Alliance) / Lillian Voss (Horde)
  • Shaman iconShaman:
    • Magtha Grimtotem
  • Warlock iconWarlock:
    • Kanrethad Ebonlocke
  • Warrior iconWarrior:
    • Darius Crowley (Alliance) / Eitrigg (Horde)

An Order Hall upgrade will also give you access to a new kind of troop.

WoW Patch 7.2 PvP Brawls

Southshore vs. Tarren Mill PvP Brawl

  • We’re opening the first of 7.2’s PvP Brawls – Southshore vs. Tarren Mill. If you were around for our 10th Anniversary Celebration a couple of years ago, you’ll recognize this brawl, but it could use some additional testing to make sure everything’s working properly in the 7.2 environment.

PvP brawls, similar to Hearthstone and Overwatch’s take on the formula, will be weird changes to how a battleground or area functions for a week. It will be a separatequeue, targetted at players wanting to blow off steam rather than the hardcore. Here’s a list of what will be available, as announced at BlizzCon 2016:

  • Southshore vs. Tarren Mill – Large scale team deathmatch, first debuted at the 10th anniversary event.
  • Warsong Scramble – WSG, but you can cap without your own flag, making it more of a race. There’s also new powerups and many more flags.
  • Packed House: 15 v 15 Arena – Going to be a tad hectic, we’d guess.
  • Eye of the Storm Gravity Lapse – Periodically shoots players up into the air, letting you traverse quite a lot of the map at speed. Players land without fall damage.
  • Winter Arathi Basin – Low visibility and iced over waterways change Arathi for the colder.
  • Eye of the Horn – Eye of the Storm on rams. Obviously.

WoW Patch 7.2 Demon Assaults

WoW patch 7.2 demon assaults

  • The Burning Legion is assaulting Azeroth with renewed determination. Look for Broken Isles zones to come under attack, fight to drive the Legion back, and defend the lands of your new allies.

These are zone-wide events, similar to the demonic invasions that ran ahead of the expansion launch. When one is active in a Broken Isles zone, the world quests there will be disabled and replaced with ones to stop the Legion – mainly, by killing large demons. These will count towards emissary caches as normal, as well as meaning the zone has a significantly different aesthetic during the invasion.

Each invasion progresses in stages before culminating in a three-player scenario to beat the Legion back.MMO Champion saysone such scenario will send you up to the Legion ship in the sky; here you’ll fight various NPCs before taking on the leader and bringing down the ship. Wowhead’s slightly buggy video of this is below.

These will begin in week two of the patch.

WoW Patch 7.2 Transmog changes

WoW patch 7.2 transmog

  • A new ‘Sets’ tab in the Appearances UI is where you’ll find this new way of tracking item sets from previous Raids, PvP Seasons, and more.
  • Set tokens for all raids from Serpentshrine to Siege of Orgrimmar have been updated to provide loot for your spec on right-click, in the same manner as newer raid set tokens. The vendor functionality of these items has not been changed.

As well as showing you which sets are available, this tracks which items are missing, tells you where to get them and allows you to preview the set as a whole more easily.

A datamined text string titled “TRANSMOG_REQUIRED_HOLIDAY” implies that certain holiday items – like Halloween witches hats – will become transmoggable, but only during their holiday period. Raiding with witches, essentially, but only in the spooky time.

WoW Patch 7.2 Paragon Reputation

WoW patch 7.2 paragon reputation

  • Reputation earned beyond Exalted will now contribute towards earning additional rewards from Broken Isles faction emissaries.

Exactly what this means isn’t clear, but looks to be another reputation level called Paragon. Upon each Paragon hit, you get an emissary cache from that faction. Five mounts have been added, one for each emissary cache, as rare drops – alongside the usual selection of items, curious coins and possible legendaries.

WoW Patch 7.2 Pet Battle Dungeon

  • Something nefarious is going on in the world of pet battles, and it’s up to you to look into it. If you have at least one level 25 battle pet, speak to Breanni in Dalaran to get directions to this new scenario.

WoW Patch 7.2 Tab Targeting

  • Tab targeting should feel more natural. While in combat, you will no longer be able to accidentally tab to a target that is out of combat with you. Furthermore, you’re no longer able to tab to a target that neither your character nor your camera can see.

Still a work-in-progress, but this is something that’s been much-requested since the launch of Legion. Despite being reverted to WoD functionality early on, players have found tab targetting buggy and unreliable. 7.2 has the first steps towards fixing that from Blizzard.

WoW Patch 7.2 Profession Changes

  • The Obliterum Forge will now always be available to players, and requires no questline.
  • All item level 815 crafted end-game gear will now be crafted at item level 835.
  • All existing items between item levels 815-830 will retain their existing item level. The first application of Obliterum will bring them up to 840, and the Obliterum cap has been increased to iLvl 875.
  • Some World Quests that are related to Professions now reward 1 skill point in their associated Profession.
  • All recipes that are dropped by dungeon end bosses on Mythic difficulty can now drop in that dungeon’s first chest on Mythic Keystone difficulty.
  • Most crafting profession recipes will now grant skill-ups to a higher maximum skill level, making it easier for crafters to reach skill level 800.
  • Alchemy:
    • Mana and Rejuvenation potions can now be used by specs for whom a mana bar is a non-primary resource.
    • The herb reagents required for Potion of the Old War, Potion of Deadly Grace, Leytorrent Potion, and Unbending Potion recipes have been reduced by 50%.
  • Archaeology:
    • You can now get Artifact Power from Archaeology.
    • New Elite digsites have been discovered in the Broken Isles.
    • All enemies summoned by Archaeology can now be killed by multiple nearby players.
  • Cooking:
    • Nomi now provides Prepared Ingredients as part of his work orders, which can be combined to create up to 10 servings of a random recipe known by the player.
    • Hearty Feasts now grant 400 stats (was 150), and Lavish Suramar Feasts now grant 500 stats (was 200).
  • Engineering:
    • The felslate requirements for the Failure Detection Pylon recipe have been reduced by 50%
    • The Chaos Blaster reagent cost has been reduced from 3 to 2.
    • Failure Detection Pylon can now be used in Mythic Keystone dungeons.
    • Sprocket Containers (bags dropped for wearers of the Boon of the Builder enchant) now have a 100% chance to contain a Hardened Felglass.
  • Inscription:
    • New Glyph of the Wrathguard: Warlock
      • Transforms your Felguard into a Wrathguard
    • New Glyph of the Shadow Succubus: Warlock
      • Transforms your Succubus into a Shadow Succubus
  • Mining
    • It should now be significantly easier to start the quest to learn 2-star and 3-star Infernal Brimstone mining.
    • The wall forges in the Dalaran blacksmith shop are now usable.
  • Tailoring:
    • The amount of comfort provided by the Bloodtotem Saddle Blanket has been reduced by 20%.

Archaeology

AP rewards come in various flavours, scaling from 85 base AP (multiplied by artifact knowledge) to 750. They’re classed as WoW’s various rarities up to Epic, so expect them to be roughly as common as you’d expect.

Fishing

New files indicate fishing updates including a new currency and various sorts of boss monsters, likely accidentally fished up. These have not yet been officially announced.

Inscription

Vantus runes have been added for Tomb of Sargeras, as well as all Legion dungeons. Four glyphs have also been added, two Succubus skins for Warlocks and two Death Grip skins for Death Knights.

Various

Costs of various Alchemy and Engineering projects have been reduced. Also please head to our Legendaries section for more information on the new crafted legendaries.

After speaking about it in a Q&A, Blizzard have implemented the change to remove the bracer requirements from unlocking the Obliterum forge, citing that this became less interesting and more of a money sink as the expansion went on. The Obliterum Forge will also receive new ways to turn multiple bits of unwanted PvP gear into single pieces of desired gear.

WoW Patch 7.2 UI changes

  • On PvE servers, players of the opposite faction now have orange names.
  • You can now assign a specialization to an equipment set in the Equipment Manager.
  • The Blood of Sargeras vendor now sells items in multiple amounts (Shift-click).
  • To help prevent accidental clicking, the resurrection option to “Decline” now has a brief countdown before it can be clicked.
  • An “Open All” button has been added to the mailbox.
  • In Archaeology, Elite digsites are now represented by a different icon.
  • Achievements linked from other players now show your own progress on the same tooltip.
  • Appearances
    • You can now preview an ensemble set by CTRL-clicking it.
    • The Transmogrifier NPC is now trackable on the minimap.
    • You can now search your Appearance Collection by dungeon name and boss name.
  • Player versus Player
    • In Arenas, your enemies’ crowd control Honor Talents are now tracked on their unit frames.
    • Various improvements have been made to party member visibility in Battlegrounds.
  • Quick Join
    • Auto Accept: A setting has been added to allow friends and guild members to instantly join your queues without a confirmation. This setting is located in Interface Options -> Social.
    • Group tooltips now show the available roles and if auto accept is enabled.
    • Right click a Quick Join group to whisper a member of that group.
  • Spellbook
    • Spells that haven’t been moved to an action bar are highlighted in the spellbook.
    • Mousing over a spell highlights it on your action bar, making it easier to locate.
    • Pet spells can now be dragged onto the player action bar.

That last section has sent me into a joy-spiral I may never escape from.

WoW Patch 7.2 friendly nameplates

You won’t be able to mod friendly nameplates come patch 7.2, due to some issues with mods anchoring to them and making mechanics of boss fights meaningless. More details in this forum thread.

WoW Patch 7.2 PVP changes

  • The honor requirements for leveling through the honor system have been reduced.
    • The amount of honor required to advance from 1 to 50 at Prestige 0 has been reduced by 50%.
  • The conversion of Honor to XP has been increased by 50%.
  • In instanced PvP (arenas, battlegrounds, and Ashran), Artifacts now grant a minimum Stamina increase to all players. This minimum is equivalent to the purchase of 36 points, one of which is the trait which grants 10% Stamina.
  • The 20% Expertise granted to players in PvP will no longer be counted against 100% Parry or Dodge abilities such as Evasion or Die by the Sword.
  • Players can now obliterate current Season Gladiator gear in the Obliterum Forge to create Echoes of Battle.
  • Players can now obliterate current Season Elite Gladiator gear in the Obliterum Forge to create Echoes of Domination.
  • Vendors have been added to Greymane’s Enclave and Windrunner’s Sanctuary that sell gear tokens for Echoes of Battle and Echoes of Domination.
  • In Arenas, a surrender option has been added to the queue icon on the minimap. Players can surrender once one of their teammates dies.
  • Demon Hunter
    • Havoc
      • The duration of Nemesis is reduced to 15 seconds in PvP.
      • The damage of Chaos Strike and Annihilation is reduced by 15% in PvP.
    • Vengeance
      • Vengeance no longer deals 10% reduced damage in PvP.
  • Druid
    • Balance
      • Enemy players can now see the radius of Starfall while active
      • Moonfire, Sunfire, and Starfall now deal 50% less periodic damage to player targets.
      • Solar Wrath now deals 40% more damage to player targets.
      • Shooting Stars grants 2 Astral Power on player targets (was 4 Astral Power)
      • Dying Stars restores 3 Astral Power (was 8 Astral Power)
      • Intellect increased by 15%.
    • Feral
      • Bloodletter’s Frailty increases the damage you deal to the target by 15% in PvP.
    • Restoration
      • Wild Growth cast by Overgrowth now only applies to the initial target.
  • Hunter
    • Survival
      • Diamond Ice no longer prevents the use of Ice Block and Divine Shield.
  • Mage
    • Arcane
      • Intellect reduced by 5%.
    • Frost
      • Concentrated Coolness now increases the damage of Frozen Orb by 225% (was 250%).
  • Monk
    • Brewmaster
      • Brewmaster no longer deals 10% reduced damage in PvP.
    • Mistweaver
      • Windwalkers’ Fortifying Elixir renamed and is now Fortifying Brew.
      • Mana cost of the Ancient Mistweaver Arts version of Soothing Mist reduced by 25%.
      • Mana Regeneration increased by 5%.
  • Paladin
    • Retribution
      • Lawbringer no longer damages targets that are under the effects of crowd-control abilities that break on damage.
  • Priest
    • Shadow
      • Intellect increased by 5%.
      • Edge of Insanity now provides a 20% damage increase while you’re at 100 Insanity and not in Voidform.
      • Edge of Insanity now activates above 65 Insanity when talented into Legacy of the Void.
      • Psyfiend can no longer be targeted using target macros.
  • Warrior
    • Protection
      • Mass Spell Reflection now provides 30% magical damage reduction while active.
  • Warlock
    • Affliction
      • PvP Template Intellect increased by 5%.
    • Demonology
      • The damage of Doom is reduced by 15% in PvP.
    • Destruction
      • Fel Fissure’s duration has been reduced to 6 seconds (was 15 seconds).

That’s it for this patch, with Blizzard’s official notes available here. WoW patch 7.2.5 will likely hit PTR just after 7.2’s launch.