5.3 PTR Patch Notes

Patch 5.3 will soon be available for testing on the Public Test Realms ! By participating, you can help us test new content before it's available. This patch includes a brand new Battleground, a new arena, new scenarios, assorted bug fixes, and more.

Please keep in mind that the below notes are not final, and a great deal could change before the final patch 5.3 release.

Table of contents

General	Death Knight
Quests	Druid
Creatures	Hunter
Pet Battles	Mage
Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios	Monk
PvP	Paladin
Battlegrounds	Priest
Professions	Rogue
Items	Shaman
UI	Warlock
Bug Fixes	Warrior

Updated March 22

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 5.3

General

• Please note: During the 5.3 PTR, not all the content listed may not be available for testing or may only be available during a limited testing window. Keep an eye on our PTR Discussion forum for details.
• New Battleground: Deepwind Gorge
  • In the new Battleground situated in the Valley of the Four Winds, the Alliance and Horde continue their war for Pandaria’s precious resources. While the two factions battle for control over mines, they must also protect their own resources from being stolen and turned against them!
• New Arena: Shado-Pan
  • Gladiator hopefuls have a new location to test their mettle amidst the Kun-Lai mountain tops, in the training grounds of the powerful Shado-Pan. Players must make use of the looming tiger statues and fenced platforms to gain an advantage that will bring victory and glory!
• New Scenario: Battle on the High Seas
  • Help your faction fend off enemy forces in the midst of a battle for naval supremacy on the High Seas.
• New Scenario: Blood in the Snow
  • An agent of Zandalar has infiltrated Dun Morogh and rallied the Frostmane trolls. At Varian’s request, Moira will lead her personal guard against them once the king’s champions have stopped the magical storm protecting Shimmer Ridge.
• New Scenario: Dark Heart of Pandaria
  • Goblin engineers have been excavating in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to find a mysterious artifact, but all they've found is trouble; you have been personally called upon by the Warchief to aid them in their hour of need.
• New Scenario: The Secrets of Emberdeep
  • Infiltrate the Emberdeep Caverns and assist the Gob Squad in investigating a recent disappearance in Durotar.
• Heroic Scenarios
  • A heroic difficulty for Scenarios have been added and are designed to provide challenging content for small groups of well-seasoned adventurers. Completing a Heroic Scenario awards Valor points, and a chance to obtain Raid Finder quality items.
     

Classes

Death Knight

• More information coming soon.
   

Druid

General

• Mark of the Wild had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 10%.
• Symbiosis: Intimidating Roar had its cooldown increased to 90 seconds, up from 60 seconds.
   

Hunter

• More information coming soon.
   

Mage

General

• Arcane Brilliance had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4%.
• Dalaran Brilliance had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4%.
   

Monk

General

• Spear Hand Strike now locks a spell school out for 4 seconds, down from 5 seconds.

Windwalker

• Legacy of the Emperor had its energy cost reduced to 1%, down from 6%.
• Legacy of the White Tiger had its energy cost reduced to 1%, down from 6%.
   

Paladin

General

• Blessing of Kings had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 22.3%.
• Blessing of Might had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 22.3%.
   

Priest

General

• Power Word: Fortitude had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4.4%.
   

Rogue

• More information coming soon.
   

Shaman

• More information coming soon.
   

Warlock

General

• Dark Intent had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4%.
   

Warrior

Talents

• Vigilance now resets the cooldown on Taunt in addition to its current effects.
   

Quests

• More information coming soon.
   

Creatures

• Oondasta
  • Shiny Pile of Refuse now has a chance to contain a Primal Egg, and a number of Dinosaur Bones.
  • Spitfire Beam no longer increases in damage with each jump, deals a flat 200,000 damage(up from 150,000 damage), and jumps to 99 targets (up from 20 targets).
     

Pet Battles

• Dueling for Pet Battles are now available in all dungeons and raids. Enjoy!
   

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

Loot Specialization

• Players can now choose to receive loot for a specialization that's different from their current class role. This feature could be accessed by right-clicking on the character portrait and selecting the option from the drop-down list. Loot specialization is available for bonus rolls, Raid Finder, and Pandarian quest rewards.

Raids

• Bonus Roll
  • Protection for bad luck streaks have been added to bonus rolls. Each bonus roll that does not provide loot has a progressively better chance to award loot to the player.
• Serpentshrine Cavern
  • For the Fathom-Lord Karathress encounter, Cataclysmic Bolt now deals 10% of the target's maximum health plus 500 damage, down from 50% of target's maximum health, the stun effect is now a Stun mechanic, and can target any player instead of only characters with mana.
  • Lady Vashj
    • Coilfang Strider's Panic ability now activates every 4 seconds, up from every 2 seconds.
    • Shock Blast's stun effect is now a  Stun mechanic.
    • Tainted Elementals now despawn after 20 seconds, up from 15 seconds.
• Tempest Keep
  • For the High Astromancer Solarian encounter, Nether Scryer's Domination spell now has a 2 second cast time, up from instant cast, and can be silenced.
  • For the Void Reaver encounter, the radius for Arcane Orb has been reduced to 15 yards, down from 20 yards.
• Throne of Thunder
  • Amani’shi Beast Shaman no longer casts Chain Lightning while mounted on Amani Warbears.
     

PvP

• Additional information and explanation for the reasoning behind these PvP changes could be found on the blog titled: PvP Gear in Patch 5.3.
• All characters now have a base Resilience of 65%.
• Resilience has been removed from most PvP gear.
• PvP Power will remain on PvP gear.
• Season 13 Tyrannical gear had their item levels increased to ilevel 496, up from ilevel 493.
• Season 13 Tyrannical Elite gear had their item levels decreased to ilevel 496, down from ilevel 512.
• Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds, and Arenas now have an ilevel cap. All gear will be scaled down to ilevel 496.

Battlegrounds

• More information coming soon.
   

Professions

• Herbalists of low skill can now pick herbs in Pandaria for a small amount of usable material. The yield an herbalist will be able to harvest from each node is determined by skill level.
• Miners of low skill can now mine mineral deposits in Pandaria for a small amount of usable material. The yield a miner will be able to harvest from each node is determined by skill level.
   

Items

• The Voidbinders are back in capital cities and shrines.
  • PvE Item Upgrades
    • Items upgradable by Valor now require 250 Valor to upgrade per 4 item levels, for a total of 500 Valor for 8 item levels per item. This is retroactive to all items that use Valor.
    • Items upgradable by Justice now require 750 Justice to upgrade per 8 item levels, for a total of 750 Justice for 8 item levels per item. This is retroactive to all items that use Justice.
  • PvP Item Upgrades
    • Malevolent Gladiator’s Conquest (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.
    • Dreadful Gladiator’s Honor (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.
    • No other PvP items are upgradable.
• Unclaimed Black Market Containers are now available on the Black Market Auction House. What's inside? It's a mystery! When opened, the container has a chance to contain any item that can be available on the BMAH.
• Courageous Primal Diamond had its clearcasting effect renamed to “Lucidity” to differentiate it from other spells with that name.
   

UI

• More information coming soon.
   

Bug Fixes

• More information coming soon.
   

Major Payne’s Pet Menagerie: Kun-Lai Runt

Crithto has informed me that some of you felt last week's pet was too adorable. And here I thought I was easing you into your training. How else are we supposed to mold you into a lean, mean, Pet-Battling machine!?

Fine, let's ramp things up. Meet your newest soldier: the not-so-cuddly Kun-Lai Runt! Give 'em the lowdown, pug.

Crithto : Shaking the very ground with each step it takes, the Kun-Lai Runt is an offensive powerhouse! At higher levels, the Runt can employ a 3-hit combo, chilling foes with Frost Shock, followed by a stunning Deep Freeze attack, and finishing off any foe with massive damage from its powerful Takedown.

Excellent. Now, the goal here is to get you in shape and ready to conquer the mighty pets of Azeroth. Sure, you may have had trouble with my team, but whippin’ you into tip-top form is my goal! This week, your job is to climb the peaks of Kun-Lai Summit, but there are a few ground rules. First, you can’t use a mount. Hoof it, tamer! Second, you must visit the grummles, find the ones with the giant rucksacks, and carry three of them on your back as you head up. That’s right, channel your inner yak! Third, you have to get there by walking backwards. From Krasarang!

Move out!

Come join the discussion about this pet in our Pet Battles forum. You can also learn more about the Kun-Lai Runt by visiting Warcraftpets.com.

Item Upgrades in 5.3

As you’re probably aware we introduced a new system in 5.1 which allowed you to upgrade some gear a few items levels at a time by paying with the PvE (Valor/Justice) and PvP (Conquest/Honor) currencies. In 5.2 the Voidbinders (NPCs who perform item upgrades) took a break to let people focus on just acquiring new items with their points. It also gave us time to evaluate the system, and decide how we want to continue supporting it.

PvE Item Upgrades in 5.3:

• Voidbinders will return to their places in capital cities and shrines.
• Items upgradable by Valor now require 250 Valor to upgrade per 4 item levels, for a total of 500 Valor for 8 item levels per item.
  • This is retroactive to all items that use Valor.
• 5.2 Justice items now require 750 Justice to upgrade per 8 item levels, for a total of 750 Justice for 8 item levels per item.
  • This is retroactive to all items that use Justice.
  • This is higher than Valor to account for the increased acquisition rate of Justice since patch 5.2.

We still like the upgrade system for PvE as a way to make steady progression against bosses you can’t quite kill yet. You very predictably earn Valor every day, and use that Valor toward increasing your character’s power and overcoming an obstacle. It’s also good that Valor always has a use; it’s a currency we always want to be valuable regardless of where you are in progression.
 

"...go ahead and fully upgrade that new belt for only 500 Valor..."

The thing we didn’t like about item upgrades previously was that it created these rather brutal decisions where you were essentially betting against yourself, or having to offload large sums of Valor to keep from capping. If you just got a belt, but next week you’re going up against a Heroic boss that drops a best-in-slot belt for you, you might bet that you’ll get that belt and so you’d wait to upgrade it. But that’s complicated by the issue of being Valor capped and needing to spend some. So you dump Valor on upgrading a different slot and just hope you don’t replace that one instead.

In 5.3 the costs are dramatically cut to the point that these decisions are far less brutal, and you can pretty easily upgrade every slot instead of hedging bets against specific slots being replaced or not. In the example above you could go ahead and fully upgrade that new belt for only 500 Valor, as opposed to the 1500 it would have cost you before.

PvP Item Upgrades in 5.3:

• Malevolent Gladiator’s Conquest (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.
• Dreadful Gladiator’s Honor (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.
• No other PvP items are upgradable, and no new PvP items for the foreseeable future will use the upgrade system.

"...no new PvP items for the foreseeable future will use the upgrade system."

It shouldn’t be too surprising, given that we’ve already come out and said it some weeks ago, that item upgrades are essentially not coming back for PvP. It’s something a lot of PvPers asked that we remove, it’s something we didn’t feel worked out too well, and so unsurprisingly the result is that it isn’t coming back. We’re still probably going to allow the Season 12 items that had previous upgradability to remain upgradable, as noted in the bullets above, but it’s not something we’re absolutely certain about at this moment. We’ll let you know if that changes.

Because gearing in PvP is based almost entirely on currency purchases, Conquest and Honor already always have a use, and we ask players to amass a lot of them to continue gearing. Honestly it was fairly unanimous that balancing the means of gear acquisition against upgrades just didn’t make good sense, at least with the current systems.

Let us know what you think in the comments, or on Twitter @Warcraft.

Moons + Explosives = Lunar Festival!

 Every year, the druids of Moonglade hold a celebration of their city's great triumph over an ancient evil. During the Lunar Festival, citizens of Azeroth have the opportunity to honor their elders by celebrating their sage wisdom, sharing in magnificent feasts, and (of course) putting on a fireworks display!

THE EVENT

• When:  January 27 - February 9
• Where:  Stormwind, Thunder Bluff, Booty Bay, Moonglade (look for portals in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms).
• Learn More: Wowhead, Wowpedia

ACTIVITIES

The Lunar Festival is a time of celebration for the peoples of Azeroth. They gather to acknowledge their triumph of ages ago, when an alliance of Azerothian races (Night Elves, Tauren, and the proto-dwarven Earthen) defeated the Burning Legion. At the beginning of each year, elders of generations past manifest around the world to impart their wisdom upon all who listen. Should you encounter these venerable spirits in your travels and take the time to heed their wisdom, they may even pass along tokens of their gratitude — Coins of Ancestry, the lessons of a past age in physical form. Gather enough Coins of Ancestry and the Cenarion Circle will open their stores of celebratory garb, fireworks, trinkets, and recipes!

The Cenarion Circle has good cause to celebrate, for the Lunar Festival marks the return of many Ancients that fell in battles past: Goldrinn, Malorne, Aviana, and Cenarius himself. But this celebration is darkened by the eternal torment of one of their own — Omen, a wolf Ancient blessed by the moon goddess Elune, has risen from the depths of Moonglade’s lake. Though Omen was once as noble and proud as any Ancient, he was driven mad by the Burning Legion’s tainted magics during the War of the Ancients. Omen’s immortality means that he is forever cursed to return in his maddened state at the advent of each new year - and this year, he has grown further in power, a challenge for even heroes of level 90. Heroes must make haste to ease this tormented Ancient’s suffering, in the hopes that perhaps next year he will return with a clearer mind.

• Coin of Ancestry
  Coins of Ancestry are used to purchase festival clothing and other special items. You can collect them by completing quests, including the daily quests that are part of the festival.
• Seasonal Boss: Omen
  The great wolf Omen was once a hero of this world. An embodiment of strength and fortune, Omen fought beside the heroes of the War of the Ancients until he succumbed to demonic magics. Turning against his allies, he raged across Azeroth, leaving death and terror in his wake. Omen was finally defeated in Moonglade, and he now sleeps among the silt of Lake Elune'ara. But each year, at the beginning of the festival, he stirs...
• Elders
  During the Lunar Festival, you will have the opportunity to honor your elders; in doing so, you’ll also honor their culture and people. Those who show their elders respect will be rewarded with Coins of Ancestry and Lucky Red Envelopes.
• Fireworks
  The innovative and artistic engineers of Undermine have been slaving away since their display of pyrotechnics in July. Their latest and greatest -- not to mention highly dangerous -- creations will be on display in the cities of the world every hour after sunset. Keep your eyes to the skies, and be sure to stick around for the finale!
• Revelers
  Many soldiers have come home from abroad to engage in the festivities. Share in the merriment and dance with the revelers, or, if you're so inclined, blow a kiss to one that catches your eye. It's all in fun; they appreciate the attention!
• Festival Outfits
  A selection of unique clothing is available to help you join in the festivities. Such outfits have been worn in times past during the Lunar Festival, and each is hand-crafted with only the finest fabrics and other quality components.
• Merchants & Vendors
  These sellers will exchange food, festive clothes, pets, and more for your Coins of Ancestry.

EVENT DETAILS

ITEM REWARDS

Pets:

• Lunar Lantern (Alliance) and Festival Lantern (Horde)
  These beautiful lanterns can be procured from Valadar Starsong in Moonglade for 50 Coins of Ancestry. They will illuminate your path in the dark places of the world.

Fun items:

• Lunar Festival Invitation
  The “Lunar Fireworks” quest reward can be used to teleport to Moonglade while standing in the Greater Moonlight, a large white beam of light located in the main Festival camps.

• Seasonal recipes
  The Lunar Festival offers Engineers a variety of schematics for fireworks: Large Rocket Clusters(blue, green, and red), Large Rockets (blue, green, and red), Small Rockets (blue, green, and red), and a Cluster Launcher.
  Tailors will also be able to learn to sew Festival Dresses and Festival Suits!

• Festival garments
  For 5 Coins of Ancestry, you can purchase a Festive Black Pant Suit, a Festive Blue Pant Suit, a Festive Green Dress, a Festive Pink Dress, a Festive Purple Dress, or a Festive Teal Pant Suit.
• Elune's Lantern
  This lantern transforms a Solid Stone into an Elune Stone. It is part of the Elune's Blessing quest reward.
• Seasonal Food
  You can purchase Festival Dumplings from Valadar Starsong in Moonglade for 1 Coin of Ancestry.

EVENT DETAILS

 OTHER REWARDS:

• Achievements
  The Lunar Festival currently offers a total of 190 achievement points, split over 16 achievements and 1 meta-achievement.
• Titles
  If you complete twelve Achievements during the Lunar Festival (Elders of Cataclysm, Elders of Kalimdor, Elders of the Horde, Elders of Northrend, Lunar Festival Finery, Frenzied Firecracker, Elders of Eastern Kingdoms, Elders of the Dungeons, Elders of the Alliance, 50 Coins of Ancestry, The Rocket's Red Glare, Elune's Blessing), your character will gain the title of Elder.

Check out our Lunar Festival gallery!

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