Build 70291 cuts every Penance rank, including the two Blizzard says heal more

Build 70291 reached the beta on the afternoon of Oct 8, with Blizzard’s notes for it. The headline changes in those notes run on Blizzard’s servers, so the game files can’t show them. They are about 20% more XP from creatures killed in dungeons, a fix for party kill XP, three fixes to how Rage is earned, and the City of Dalaran dungeon opening for testing. Blizzard · Oct 8 The leveling page has the XP change.

The files change 80 class abilities and talents, 254 other spells and 151 items (counting a change shared by several ranks once, and only what a player can see). Most match a line in the notes. These don’t. Game files · build 70291

Penance heals less on every rank

Blizzard says Penance was dealing damage and healing as if it were a 3-second channel instead of a 2-second one. The files cut its spell power ratio by exactly that, from 28.5% to 19% per tick. The notes then say healing “has been increased on Penance ranks 2 and 4”. Blizzard · Oct 8

Every rank heals less per tick in build 70291. Next to a straight two-thirds cut, ranks 1 and 2 come out ahead and ranks 3 and 4 fall behind:

Rank (learned at)	Healing per tick, 70245 → 70291	Two-thirds of the old value	New value against that
1 (30)	184 → 134	123	9% higher
2 (40)	291 → 209	194	8% higher
3 (50)	482 → 279	321	13% lower
4 (60)	673 → 425	449	5% lower

Values are at each rank’s highest level, before spell power. A cast heals three times, when it lands and then once a second for 2 sec. Since this build, ranks 1 to 3 grow with your level. Game files · build 70291

So rank 4, the one a level 60 Discipline Priest casts, got no increase. Damage fell harder, to 45, 53, 72 and 92 per tick for ranks 1 to 4 (was 81, 113, 180 and 131). Rank 3 used to hit harder than rank 4; each rank now beats the one before it. Mana costs went up on ranks 1, 2 and 4: 100 to 150, 185 to 220 and 355 to 385. Rank 3 stays at 270.

Game files · build 70291

Armor buffs and debuffs use a new effect

Seven spells that add or remove a flat amount of armor moved to a new effect type in build 70291. They are Mark of the Wild, Gift of the Wild, Devotion Aura, Sunder Armor, Expose Armor, Faerie Fire and Curse of Recklessness. The armor amounts are the same. The tallstrider pet’s Dust Cloud made the same move, and so did Boosted Stats, a 308 armor buff that matches the Enchanted Lute’s camp bonus. The new effect type is also on a test spell called “(DNT) Mod Armor No Mods” (1322297), added in build 70170. Game files · build 70291

Going by that name, other armor bonuses no longer multiply the armor these spells give or take. The files hold the label and the amounts. How the server treats them can’t be read from the files, and the notes don’t mention any of it.

More the notes skip

• Will of the Forsaken lost the three effects that removed Charm, Fear and Sleep. In their place it gives immunity to all three for 0.1 sec. The notes only say it can now be used while asleep or charmed. Classic Era’s version gives 5 sec of immunity. Game files · build 70291
• The pet health fix reaches more pets than the notes name. Pet Hardiness now keeps a pet’s health percentage instead of adding its bonus to current health each time it’s applied, which fits the notes’ fix for Hunter pets gaining health over and over. Hunter Pet Scaling, Warlock Pet Scaling and the three engineering dragonlings made the same switch. Game files · build 70291
• Mana Tide Totem is now a level 25 spell (was 40), the level its row of the Restoration tree opens. The totem itself didn’t change.

The Oct 2 Warrior changes reach the files

Blizzard’s Oct 2 Warrior post came with a server hotfix, and the game cached those changes on build 70245. Build 70291 is the first client build with them in its own files. That covers Berserker Rage at level 30, Bloodthirst at 45% of Attack Power, wider and cheaper Shouts from Booming Voice, off-hand Rage on Dual Wield Specialization, the new Furious Precision, Gore Drinker and Lingering Rage talents, and cheaper Cleave and Whirlwind from Raging Blows. Warriors who played after Oct 2 already have all of it.

Blizzard · Oct 2

The Oct 2 write-up covers the two changes that post left out.

The notes’ changes, in numbers

Change	Build 70245 → 70291
Thorns damage, ranks 1 to 6	4, 9, 11, 13, 16, 22 → 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 (Classic’s values)
Retribution Aura damage, ranks 1 to 5	7, 12, 18, 24, 30 → 5, 8, 12, 16, 20 (Classic’s values)
Bear Form and Dire Bear Form threat	+30% → +50%
Demoralizing Shout threat on each target, ranks 1 to 5	none → 11, 19, 27, 35, 43
Demoralizing Roar threat on each target, ranks 1 to 5	none → 8, 16, 26, 34, 42
Last Stand	the 30% health now adds to your current health, as in Classic (more on Last Stand)
Improved Wing Clip, Improved Concussive Shot	the tooltip’s chance is no longer cut by a second roll (4% and 20% → 100%)
Natural Instinct, was Predatory Instincts	adds spell healing equal to 12/25% of your Intellect
Wolfshead Helm	20 → 5 Energy from Shifting Power
Truthseeker’s Bow	required level none → 40

Smite, Lesser Heal, Heal, Lightning Bolt, Fireball, Frostbolt, Arcane Missiles, Shadow Bolt and Wrath had their early ranks reworked. Each grows less per level, and base values moved a few points either way. Blizzard says this makes every new rank an upgrade. Game files · build 70291

Items

Blizzard’s notes lower dungeon quest rewards from Rare to Uncommon. In the files, ten items went from Rare to Uncommon and one from Epic, with smaller stats. Ironwood Destroyer traded 9 Stamina, 7 Spirit and 24 Attack Power for 19 Nature spell damage, and Amulet of Forgiveness went from 10 Spirit and 8 Intellect to 7 Spirit, 13 healing and 4 spell damage. Game files · build 70291

The Gelkis and Magram quest rewards in Desolace weren’t touched in the client files, but a server hotfix cached on this build tunes 12 of them. Six drop from item level 43 to 38, among them Centaur Spear (11 Strength and 13 Stamina to 9 and 11). The six Magram items drop to 42, and Abandoned Ferocity slows from 2.7 to 3.2 sec. They need level 1 to equip in both; the notes promise level 35 in a later hotfix. Game files · build 70291

Changes the notes leave out:

• Whirlwind Axe, Whirlwind Sword and Whirlwind Warhammer gain 1 Strength and 1 Stamina each, to 16 and 15.
• Only Shamans can wear the Spiritcaller set now.
• Rage of the Storm swings faster, 3.30 sec (was 3.60), and drops from 16 to 12 Intellect.
• Heavehammer goes from 26 to 32 Attack Power, loses its 7 Agility, and its bonus armor drops from 70 to 60.

Changed by hotfix since

Two spells outside the classes were tuned by hotfix after the build shipped. Highland Venom now lowers the damage of whatever it hits by 20% (was 15%) and lasts 10 minutes (was 15). Rend Flesh deals 12.5 damage every 2 sec (was 10.5). Game files · build 70291

Every change in the build, internal settings included, is on the build 70291 page.

Sources

1. Blizzard, Development Notes, October 8
2. Blizzard, Warrior updates (Oct 2)