Change report
Build 70425 checked against the files: the changes Blizzard's notes got wrong or left out
We read every class and racial line of the Oct 15 notes against build 70425 and the server's hotfixes. Most hold up. Portal of Summoning, Unstable Affliction, Fire Nova, Winter's Chill and Lingering Rage don't match the notes.
Oct 16, 2026Checked against build 1.60.1.704255 min read
Build 70425 went up on Oct 15 with the longest class notes of the beta. We checked each class and racial line against the build’s files and the server’s hotfixes, which are the changes the live server sends on top of the files. Most lines match. Some lines show nothing in either, so Blizzard handles them in server code, and we can’t confirm them yet. The rest are below. Shadow Priest has its own write-up.
What the notes left out
Warlock: 
Portal of Summoning got a lot more expensive. Cooldown 2 min to 60 min, mana 12% to 100% of base mana,
Soul Shards 1 to 5. Ritual of Summoning is unchanged. None of this is in the notes.
Warlock: Unstable Affliction may have lost its DoT bonuses. Every rank lost the spell-family flag that DoT gear and runes look for, and Hellfire’s damage spell picked up that same flag. As the files stand, the Tier 2 two-piece (+10% periodic), Zila Gular and the “Damage Over Time Increase” ranks boost Hellfire instead of Unstable Affliction. It looks like a mix-up rather than a design, so test it before you trust it.
Warlock: Affliction’s swap costs damage. Malediction (+10% to all your periodic damage) became Grim Reach, which only adds range. Shadow Mastery doubling to 10% Shadow damage covers most of it. Also unannounced, Siphon Life ticks can crit, Demonic Embrace lost a hidden Spirit penalty, and Amplify Curse no longer touches Curse of Exhaustion in the files though its tooltip still says it does. (Update, build 70450: a server hotfix puts it back. Details.)
Shaman: Elemental Reach no longer lengthens Flame Shock’s range. The effect became a blank and the tooltip line is gone. Kiting Shamans lose range the notes don’t mention.
Shaman: Fire Nova took more than “significantly reduced” suggests. Top-rank base damage fell from about 420 to 246, and the spell-power share from 0.214 to 0.143. The mana cost is 25-32% lower. A server hotfix also adds a line of sight check from the totem, so it probably stops hitting through walls. Trial by Fire (the renamed Improved Fire Nova) also adds 10/20 sec to Magma Totem, which the notes skip.
Shaman: the “new ranks” are old ranks moved earlier. Lava Burst’s talent rank 1 comes at 30 with base damage 123 (it was 164 at 40), and each rank arrives 10 levels sooner with the previous rank’s numbers. Mana Tide’s new level-38 rank restores 133 per tick; the 290 top value still waits for 58. The spells arrive earlier at the same strength.
Rogue: Relentless Strikes covers Death Mark, Forever’s level-40 finisher. Death Mark builds get the 25 Energy refund back at 20% per combo point. Gnome Rogues’ Eureka! also discounts Death Mark now.
Hunter: 
Multi-Shot is instant (was 0.5 sec), which fits the new rule that Auto Shot and wands need you to
stand still for 0.5 sec first. On the server, the Forever ranks of Scare Beast are trained at 14, 30 and 46.
Mage: Arcane Blast lost more than the notes list. The -40% damage, 1.5 sec cast and 15 sec stacks all match. Its old buff also raised your other spells’ damage by 10%, and that is gone: Arcane Blast no longer boosts Fireball or Frostbolt.
Mage: Frost Blast is weaker on the server than in the files. Three ranks (24, 36, 48), a 9 sec slow, and a spell-power share of 0.343 in the files that the server lowers to 0.271. Frostbolt rank 1 has 0.407.
Warrior: Demoralizing Shout tags every mob it hits. Their XP and loot are yours on the spot. On the server, Bloodthrill’s Overpower window is 5 sec, not the 6 the files say.
Druid: Regrowth got the same fix as Rejuvenation, so high ranks no longer block another Druid’s. Insect Swarm lost its “stacks per caster” flag, so two Druids probably can’t both keep one on a target.
Where the notes and the files disagree
| Note line | What we found |
|---|---|
| Lingering Rage no longer stops health regeneration | The files fix it; a server hotfix puts the old effect back. Health regen after combat may still stop. |
| Winter’s Chill: +40% Cone of Cold damage per stack | The files have 40%; the server sends 5% per stack plus a 7% spell-damage share, eaten by the next Cone of Cold. The notes’ second Winter’s Chill line is the live one. Its old crit bonus is gone. |
| Missile Barrage: Arcane Missiles hits can trigger it | The row 1 move and 2 ranks match. The server’s tooltip drops the Arcane Missiles clause, so that part may not be live. |
| Shadow Word: Death cooldown “was 12 seconds” | Build 70374’s files said 15 sec. It is 18 now. |
| Read Leyline minimum “was 20 seconds” | It was 15 sec in build 70374’s files. It is 30 now. |
| “Touch of the Dead” | The spell is Touch of the Grave. Its 30% (casters) and 20% (melee) chances and 25 sec cooldown match. |
| “Shadow Infinity removed” | The talent that left the Shadow tree is Shadow Affinity, its threat cut. |
| Shred’s flat bonus “unchanged” | The old tooltip showed Classic’s numbers (up to 180). The real bonus is 22/32/44/64/80, and rank 1 went from 24 to 22. |
Two bugs that did the opposite of their tooltips
Before this build, the Mage talent Frost Channeling raised your Frost threat by up to 30% instead of lowering it, and the Hunter talent Improved Mend Pet made Mend Pet cost 20% more. Both are fixed in 70425.
Worth testing in game
- Will of the Forsaken lost its “usable while fleeing”, “usable while confused” and “usable while charmed” flags. The Classic Era version has none of them and still breaks Fear, so it probably works. Check it against Fear and Charm.
- Feral Swiftness is 0 at its base in the server’s data, with the speed coming from the talent. If that doesn’t take, Cat Form gets no speed bonus.
- Unstable Affliction with DoT gear or runes, as above.
The lines that match
The rest of the notes match the files. A short list of the ones players will feel most:
- Raid-wide buffs: Battle Shout, Trueshot Aura, Moonkin Aura, Leader of the Pack (both now stack) and four Shaman totems reach the whole raid.
- Chain Lightning costs about a third less on every rank (rank 4: 485 to 315 mana).
- Paladin: Seal of Righteousness counted spell power twice and doesn’t now. Judgements go to a 0.429 share, Consecration ticks to 0.042 (was 0.095), and Champion of the Light is halved. Spell-power Retribution loses a lot. Righteous Fury threat goes from 60% to 90%, Reckoning stores up to 4 attacks again, and Salvation is its own buff with a new Revoke.
- Hunter pets: Dismember, Sonic Blast and Mine! are all much weaker.
- Mage: Arcane Wrath, Frost Blast, 5 ranks of Critical Mass, a 3-point Fire Power, and Ice Lance on frozen targets drops from 4x to 3x damage.
- Racials: the weapon racials are gone. Human gets 2% crit, Orc 1% crit (with Blood Fury at 3 min and a weaker Shatter Curse), Dwarf and Tauren 2% crit damage and healing. Troll Regeneration doubles, and Skyborne get 3% haste.