A late post by blue on the WoW Europe forums gives us a glimpse of some upcoming changes for the next iteration on Patch 2.3.2 on the PTR. Notable PvP changes? More adjustments to the rogue subtlety tree. As many suspected would happen, the Hemo damage got reduced — it’s back down to 110% (from 125%). They also tacked on a combo point to Shadowstep. Resto Shamans also got hit with a 30 sec cooldown on Earth Shield. (Read More for the rest of the patch notes posted)

Dreamhack Finals
The stage is set: after getting knocked down into the losers bracket for the first time, Pandemic had to fight it’s way through 3 lower bracket matches to get back into the finals and a shot at the Dreamhack title. Their opponent? Old nemesis Xecks and MoB TurtleForce. Whatever happened to Hamchook and MoB TurtlePower? Both Mob TF and Pandemic ran rogue/rogue/druid to counter…

Grand finals should be thrilling — all that’s missing is information on when to watch it. Hey you players in the WoW-as-an-eSport movement, how about giving the fans an easier time to actually follow the action.

Again, you can view the bracket and results here:

http://www.esl-world.net/masters/season2/wow/global_challenge_dh/rankings/

*** UPDATE: Finals will take place 3PM CET (9AM EST/6AM PST) Saturday.

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 2.3.2 - PvP Specific
(full PTR notes from EU post here)

General
- Effects triggered from being critically hit: Many abilities and talents were changed in 2.3.0 to allow them to trigger from critical strikes that occurred while the player benefitting from them was sitting.
- You will now automatically stand up when attacked, even if the attack doesn’t land.

Druids
- Lifebloom: When this ability is refreshed it will take on the strength of the incoming Lifebloom effect, rather than maintain the existing strength.

Hunters
- Arcane Shot: Ranks 1-5 will once again deal bonus damage based on attack power.
- Aspect of the Viper effect increased.
- Freezing Trap is no longer limited to one target at a time.
- Pet leveling speed has been increased.

Mages
- Cold Snap (Frost) cooldown reduced. It is now in the Ice Block position in the talent tree. This ability will no longer reset the cooldown on Fire Ward.
- Conjure Mana Gem mana restore variance substantially reduced,(Rank 5 – Emerald) now restores 2340 to 2460 mana and has three charges.
- Ice Block (Frost) is now available on the trainer to all mages at level 30.
- Icy Veins (NEW Frost Talent) decreases casting time of all spells by 20% and increases the chance your chilling effects will freeze the target by 10%. Lasts 20 sec. 3 min cooldown. It is now in the Cold Snap position in the talent tree.

Paladins
- Crusader Strike (Retribution) now causes 110% of weapon damage and no longer gains any bonus from spell damage.
- Righteous Fury: This spell will no longer cost twice the listed mana to cast.
- Sanctified Judgements (Retribution) now returns 80% of the Seal’s mana cost, increased from 50%.

Rogues
- Cheat Death: When multiple attacks land simultaenously, all those resolved after the attack which triggered Cheat Death will now have their damage reduced by 90% as intended. However, the combat log will still report them doing full damage.
- Hemorrhage: Rank 4 of this ability no longer has its charges consumed by non-physical attacks and spells.
- Hemorrhage weapon damage reduced from 125% to 110%, but the damage debuff has been increased.
- Shadowstep now awards 1 combo point.

Shaman
- Earth Shield (Restoration) mana cost reduced, now it has a 30 second cooldown.
- Lightning Shield mana cost reduced.
- Water Shield now restores mana periodically regardless of how many charges remain. Duration increased to 10 minutes.

Warlock
- The health cost taken from the Warlock after using Health Funnel will now remain consistent between uses.

Warrior
- Defiance: The expertise granted by this talent now works properly in all stances.
- Warriors no longer lose rage when using a macro to enter a stance they’re already in.

Bug Fixes
- Fixed “Spell/Ability is not ready yet” message when clicking quickly at the beginning of a cast.

Tags: News

7 Responses to “2.3.2 PTR Patch Notes; Dreamhack Finals”

1. Reinhold Says:
   November 30th, 2007 at 4:36 pm

   That is a pretty substantial nerf to hemo. I imagine this will knock most rogues back to the old specs… Mut or deep combat… which in effect knocks rogues as a pvp class back to 2.2. A lot of classes got (and kept) some serious buffs/changes in 2.3.

   Rogues will basically be a 2.2 class fighting 2.3 classes now. Will be pretty intersting to see how this plays out given the issues rogue’s have in 5v5s (which, as far as I know, is still the bracket these changes are supposedly balanced around)

2. Alex Says:
   November 30th, 2007 at 4:55 pm

   I can’t believe TurtleForce and Pandemic cheesed TurtlePower that badly. Who is a big enough dick to run double rogue against a mana drain team? I mean, of course I’d do it. But man, that is a cheesy.

3. Alex Says:
   November 30th, 2007 at 5:01 pm

   By the way, TurtlePOWER took out Pandemic the first time, not TurtleForce.

   Magog: Thanks for the correction, my mistake. Post will be edited.

4. Phate Says:
   November 30th, 2007 at 8:19 pm

   ES 30 sec cooldown is a god dam massive nerf. they better make it undispellable or it is a wasted 41 point talent

5. Plagueis Says:
   November 30th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

   So the livestream shows the actual arena game live or just audio for it? Wouldn’t wana stay up till 6 in the morning just for audio haha.

6. SycoraXx Says:
   December 1st, 2007 at 1:50 pm

   gz to pandemic…from the loser bracket to winning the finals…who would have thought that. Then again it’s their 7th win at a WOW tourney. Close and thrilling matches nevertheless, especially the last “best of five”.

7. Mitch Pitlin Says:
   January 28th, 2010 at 10:57 pm

   Nice website man, picked up a couple nuggets here…can’t wait for Cataclysm, I found a rumor that it’s being coming out November 2010, though with Blizz you never know :/

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