WoW Dragonflight beta dev notes

World of Warcraft’s upcoming expansion Dragonflight is one of the most anticipated WoW expansions in the past several years after the blunders like Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands.

After months of testing in alpha, Dragonflight transitioned to beta last week. Since we can finally fully experience Dragonflight, we have a full picture of how leveling, end game, and Mythic+ dungeons will function. Although Dragonflight already seems like a huge step away from bowered power systems, time-gating, and bland storyline prevailing in Shadowlands, tweaks and adjustments are absolutely necessary to ship the game in its finest state.

With all this in mind, Blizzard Entertainment shared a list of developer notes that tackle the talents, professions, and user interface and accessibility. Although almost every class is getting at least minor changes, Blizzard primarily focused on Druids and Warriors that suffered from what seemed to be incomplete talents. 

Here are the latest WoW Dragonflight beta dev notes.

Classes

Evoker

• Evokers now have access to the Starter Build in their loadouts menu 

Preservation

• Rewind – Heal over time now scales with Haste.
• Temporal Anomaly – Now works with Mastery: Life-Binder.
• Cycle of Life – Counter should no longer go away when you die, and now lasts 15 seconds (was 10 seconds).
• Life-Giver’s Flame – Now only counts healing based on damage done to up to five targets.
• Flow State – Now connects to Golden Hour in the talent tree.

Death Knight

Class Tree

• Festermight maximum stacks reduced to 20. 
• New Talent: Enfeeble

Unholy 

• Eternal Agony epidemic effect now also extends the duration of Dark Transformation.
• Ghoulish Frenzy effect duration is now also extended when Dark Transformation’s duration is increased (i.e. by Eternal Agony).
• Death Rot epidemic effect now applies Death Rot to your primary target.
• Summon Gargoyle is now off global cooldown (GCD) and generates 50 Runic Power on use. Gargoyle Strike base damage increased by 60 percent.

Druid

Class Tree

• Added Improved Nature’s Cure for Restoration Druids to replace Remove Corruption.
• Added Remove Corruption nodes visible for Balance, Feral, and Guardian in the same location.

Feral

• New Talents: Protective Growth, Pouncing Strikes, Piercing Claws, Double-Clawed Rake, Dreadful Bleeding, Tear Open Wounds, Ferocious Frenzy, Raging Fury, Frantic Momentum, Berserk: Heart of the Lion, Wild Slashes, Bite Force, Veinripper, Rip and Tear 
• Removed Improved Tiger’s Fury, Improved Shred, Improved Prowl, Berserk: Jungle Stalker, Removed Savage Roar, Draught of Deep Focus.
• Improved Bleeds changed to one rank.
• Max Energy renamed to Tireless Energy, changed to two ranks, and grants two percent Haste per rank.
• Sabertooth now increases Ferocious Bite damage by 20 percent and increases damage dealt by Rip by four percent for each combo point spent for four seconds.
• Sudden Ambush and Taste for Blood changed to two ranks (was three) 
• Berserk replaces Berserk: Relentlessness – Berserk now grants combo point refund on finishing moves and causes Rake and Shred to deal damage as if stealthed.
• Infected Wounds now also increases Rake damage by 20 percent.
• Berserk: Frenzy no longer causes combo point generating abilities to reduce the cooldown of Berserk.
• Modal Cooldown Bonus is now Ashamane’s Guidance – Gives auto attacks a chance to trigger Incarnation for 6 seconds.

Restoration

• New Talents: Flash of Clarity, Waking Dream, Nature’s Splendor, Nurturing Dormancy, Dreamstate, Verdancy, Budding Leaves, Embrace of the Dream, Regenerative Heartwood 
• Autumn Leaves has been removed.
• Improved Lifebloom – Lifebloom counts for two stacks of Mastery: Harmony.
• Invigorate – Your heal over time effects on the target complete 100 percent faster.
• Power of the Archdruid – Wild Growth has a 50 percent chance to cause your next Rejuvenation or Regrowth to apply to three additional allies within 20 yards of the target.
• Unending Growth – Rejuvenation healing has a 1/2 percent chance to create a new Rejuvenation on a nearby target.
• Undergrowth – You may Lifebloom two targets at once, but Lifebloom’s healing is reduced by 10 percent.
• Reforestation – Every three casts of Swiftmend grants you Incarnation: Tree of Life for nine seconds.
• Verdant Infusion – Swiftmend no longer consumes a heal over time effect, and extends the duration of your heal over time effects on the target by 10 seconds.
• Unstoppable Growth – Wild Growth’s healing falls off 20/40 percent less over time.
• Ysera’s Gift now restores three percent health per five seconds by default.
• Ready for Anything now reduces Nature’s Swiftness’s cooldown by 12 seconds.
• Improved Regrowth now increases chance for a critical effect by 40 percent by default.
• Inner Peace now reduces the cooldown of Tranquility by 60 seconds by default.
• Stonebark now increases healing from your heal over time effects by 20 percent during Ironbark by default.
• Improved Ironbark now reduces the cooldown of Ironbark by 20 seconds by default.

Hunter

Class Tree

• Hunter’s Agility now reduces damage taken from area of effect attacks by 6 percent
• Rejuvenating Winds and Improved Traps have swapped spots.
• Scatter Shot is now usable with any weapon type. Survival uses a one-hand special shot.
• Binding Shot’s root effect can now break from taking damage.

Marksmanship

• Windrunner’s Guidance has been redesigned.

Survival

• Ferocity and Intense Focus lowered to one rank.

Priest

General

• Smite – Damage increased by 50 percent to offset the loss of Smite.

Class Tree

• Rhapsody – Increases the healing done by Holy Nova by 20 percent per stack.
• Depth of the Shadows – Increases the healing done by your next Circle of Healing by one percent per stack, up to 50 stacks.
• Mindgames – No longer generates Mana or Insanity. Reversed damage and healing done reduced by 33 percent.
• Halo – Fixed an issue where Halo was not dealing its maximum damage between 26-30 yards.

Discipline

• Corrected a missing connection between Empyreal Blaze and Searing Light.
• Spirit Shell has been removed.
• Exaltation no longer references Spirit Shell.
• Shadow Covenant redesigned.

Holy

• New Talent: Divine Service
• Prayer of Healing – Mana cost reduced by 25 percent.
• Healing Chorus – Increases the healing done by your next Circle of Healing by 1 percent per stack, up to 50 stacks (was 2 percent per stack, up to 25 stacks).
• Prismatic Echoes – Increases the healing done by your Mastery: Echo of Light by 6 percent/12 percent (was 15 percent/30 percent).

Shadow

• New Talents: Coalescing Shadows, Puppet Master, Harnessed Shadows, Deathspeaker
• Painbreaker’s Psalm has been removed.
• Pain of Death – Now a 2-point node.
• Dark Ascension – Now generates 30 Insanity.
• Pain of Death – Shadow Word: Death deals 20 percent/40 percent of its damage to all targets affected by Shadow Word: Pain within 40 yards.

Shaman

Enhancement

• New Talent: Storm’s Wrath
• Focused Maelstrom has been removed.
• Stormbringer is now a part of Mastery for Shaman.
• A bunch of talent nodes moved around on the right-hand side of rows four-eight
• Improved Maelstrom Weapon is now a two-rank node.
• Raging Maelstrom now also increases damage and healing by an additional 5 percent per Maelstrom Weapon stack.
• Lashing Flames has returned as a talent node on row seven.
• Legacy of the Frost Witch has been redesigned.

Warlock

General

• Spell Lock has been removed from the talent tree and returned to the Felhunter.
• Demonic Circle has been moved to row one and is granted freely.
• Abyss Walker has been moved to row three.

Demonology

• Borne of Blood and Shadow’s Bite have swapped places.
• Nerzhul’s Volition and Gul’dan’s Ambition have been updated.

Warrior

Class Tree

• New Talents: Uproar, Wrenching Impact 
• Battle Stance is no longer available in the Fury class tree, and Berserker Stance is no longer available in the Arms or Protection class trees.
• Sidearm has been removed from the Fury tree and is now located in the class tree. 
• Thunderous Roar’s direct damage reduced to 160 percent.
• Memory of a Tormented Warlord changed to the following – Activating Avatar or Colossus Smash casts Recklessness at reduced effectiveness.
• Armored to the Teeth has changed position and is now two ranks..
• Shockwave, and Thunderous Roar now have 110-degree cones
• All versions of Sudden Death and Massacre have now returned to the specialization trees.
• Berserker Stance – Auto attacks now deal 10 percent more damage.
• Reinforced Plates and Endurance Training are now one rank.
• Endurance Training Fury – Now also reduces the effectiveness of movement impairing effects by 15 percent.

Arms

• Improved Sweeping Strikes removed.
• Fatality now deals 200 percent damage per stack.
• Blunt Instruments no longer gives an additional benefit to Warbreaker.
• In for the Kill now increases your Haste by 10 percent and by 25 percent if the target is under 35 percent health.
• Test of Might now grants five percent increased Strength for every 30 Rage spent.
• Fatal Mark can now also be applied via Cleave.
• Sharpened Blades, Battlelord, and Exhilarating Blows now also apply to Cleave.
• Rend caused by Blood and Thunder no longer increases stacks of Collateral Damage.
• Skullsplitter now generates 30 Rage.
• With Storm of Swords talented Whirlwind’s cooldown is now reduced by your Haste.
• Overpower’s damage reduced to 90 percent.
• Juggernaut now has a cap of 15 stacks.
• Execute damage reduced to 220 percent.
• Arms auto attack damage reduced by five percent.
• Battlelord chance to trigger reduced to 25 percent but the rage reduction applied to Mortal Strike has increased to 15.
• Critical Thinking now provides five percent Execute Critical Strike damage per rank.

Fury

• New Talents: Dancing Blades, Ashen Juggernaut
• Removed Siegebreaker and Deafening Crash talents.
• Unbridled Ferocity now has a 20 percent chance to trigger Recklessness.
• Frenzied Flurry, Meat Cleaver, and Cruelty are now one rank.
• Haste no longer reduces the cooldown of Odyn’s Fury.
• Bloodborne now increases your Bleed damage by 30 percent.
• Vicious contempt now increases damage dealt by Bloodthirst by 25 percent per rank.
• Cold Steel Hot Blood now deals 30 percent damage.
• Crushing Blow damage reduced to 90 percent for both main hand and offhand damage.
• Raging Blow damage reduced to 58 percent for both main hand and offhand damage.
• Annihilator should correctly generate Rage from each rank of Swift Strikes.
• Removed Wrath and Fury and replaced it with Massacre which is no longer present on the core tree.
• Odyn’s Fury should now add to the duration if quickly cast within succession in line with other Bleed effects.
• Odyn’s Fury’s periodic damage should now correctly be flagged as a Bleed effect.
• Memory of a Tormented Titan should now trigger Odyn’s Fury without incurring its cooldown.

Protection

• New Talent: Storm of Steel 
• Devastate should now be baseline at the specialization level and no longer require a talent point.
• Removed Never Surrender and replaced it with Skull Banner.
• Revenge has a 110-degree cone.

PvP

Classes

Death Knight

• Rot and Wither and Necrotic Aura – Now available for all Death Knight specializations.
• Chill Streak – Removed as a PvP talent (moved into the talent tree).

Demon Hunter

• Cover of Darkness, Rain from Above, Glimpse, Sigil Mastery  – Now available for both Demon Hunter specializations.

Druid

• Malorne’s Swiftness and Reactive Resin – Now available for all Druid specializations.
• Reactive Resin’s triggered heal is at 75 percent effectiveness for Guardian, Feral, and Balance.

Mage

• Torment the Weak has been removed.
• Burst of Cold has been removed.

Rogue

• Veil of Midnight, Control is King – Now available for all Rogue specializations 
• Flying Daggers, Intent to Kill, and Float Like a Butterfly – Removed as a PvP talent (moved into the talent tree).

Shaman

• Traveling Storms and Tidebringer – Now available for all Shaman specializations
• Traveling Storms has been redesigned.
• Lightning Lasso – Removed as a PvP talent (moved into the talent tree).

Professions

• Enchanting and Fishing enabled
• Unlocking Specializations requires 25 skill in that Profession. Once unlocked, players can spend Specialization points to unlock various bonuses for their Profession.

User interface and accessibility

• Unit frame art and Edit Mode updated

If you want to check out the entire list of changes, you can find it here.