World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Pre-Patch Now Live

World of Warcraft’s latest expansion, Battle for Azeroth, is almost here and to celebrate – the pre-patch for the wildly popular MMORPG is now live! Whether you’re for the Horde, or consider yourself (scum) Alliance, all players know that new expansions mean new adventures and Blizzard has just announced that their pre-patch for Battle of Azeroth is now live!

From new events, to new ways to customize, a lot of the new features from the upcoming patch are now accessible for players to use and enjoy! So what’s new, you may be asking. Luckily, Blizzard supplied in-depth patch notes to clue those interested in on what exciting new things await in World of Warcraft. Let’s get started!

New Events and Character Customizations

According to Blizzard: 

New Events in Teldrassil and Lordaeron

Beginning the week of July 24 and continuing for three weeks leading to the launch of Battle for Azeroth on August 14, experience the escalation of all-out war in Teldrassil, and later Lordaeron. A new chapter of the relentless conflict at the heart of the Warcraft saga is unfolding, and it’s time for you to take your place on the front lines!

New Character Customizations

The war with the Burning Legion has left orcs standing tall, a new posture option available to all orc player characters. Blood Elves now have access to golden eyes, as well as a few new faces.

All of these new options are available at Barber Shops throughout Azeroth, and you can now alter your character’s skin color while you’re there.

Player vs Player

PvP is huge in this game and for those looking for more of a challenge, Blizzard has just the thing. “The PvP Honor and Prestige system has been updated. Your PvP progress in Legion has been converted into account-wide Honor levels, which you’ll continue to earn through PvP.”

They added, “All class specializations’ PvP Talents have been revamped. Hit default hotkey ‘N’ to get a look at your PvP Talents, and default hotkey ‘H’ to see the new PvP system.”

According to the patch notes: 

War Mode

You can now enable War Mode and venture out into a world full of others who have made the same dangerous choice. Enabling War Mode provides additional bonuses:

• All PvP Talents you’ve chosen will be available to use anywhere PvP can occur.
• You’ll gain an additional bonus to experience while leveling up.
• Earn additional bonus gold and Resources from World Quests.

War Mode can be toggled on or off beginning at level 20 by visiting either Orgrimmar or Stormwind and setting your preference in the Talent pane (default hotkey ‘N’). Beware! Once you venture out in War Mode, all zones will become contested, including zones such as Northshire Abbey.

Sanctuary areas will still be PvP free.

Additional War Mode features such as Bounty Hunter and Air Drops will become available in the new zones of Battle for Azeroth.

July 17, 2018 marks the end of the final Legion season of ranked PvP, and the post-season period has begun. Look for all the new PvP progression and rewards to unlock and become earnable after the launch of Battle for Azeroth in a few weeks.

Strand of the Ancients and Ashran are no longer available.

Social features and Loot

Players can now create cross-realm social groups in-game, making the community even more expanded than it already was. Now adventuring with friends, and making new ones, is easier than it has ever been and just made even easier with the inclusion of Voice Chat for Groups, Guilds, and Communities. 

The team also explained their new Legacy Loot Mode, “Now, when you enter an instance at 10 levels or more above the maximum level of the content, Legacy Loot rules will be automatically enabled. Under Legacy Loot rules, drops will include a chance for all items that would drop for a full party or raid at the instance’s level.”

Classes + Full Patch Notes

“Sargeras’ cruel, final blow dramatically impacted both Azeroth and all of its denizens. The power of every Artifact weapon has now been depleted. Some powers from Artifacts have now been incorporated into their specializations. Your characters that are just getting started in Legion content will still seek out and acquire Artifacts.”

Blizzard added that the statistics in-game have also changed, with the value for players and enemies seeing a little bit of a scale back, “This includes values such as item-level, damage, armor, health, and defense measurements.”

As for the rest? There are a lot of changes! Below are the full patch notes: 

Death Knight

• Death’s Advance – Grants you increased movement speed and resistance to forced movement effects, knockbacks, and slows.
• Blood
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Consumption – Strikes all enemies in front of you with a hungering attack that heals you for 100% of its damage
    • Hemostasis – Each enemy hit by Blood Boil increases the damage and healing done by your next Death Strike.
• Frost
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Frostwyrm’s Fury – Summon a frostwyrm who breaths on all enemies in a large area, dealing massive Frost damage.
    • Obliteration – While Pillar of Frost is active, Frost Strike, Glacial Advance, and Howling Blast always grant Killing Machine and have a chance to generate a Rune.
• Unholy
  • Army of the Dead and Raise Dead now have shorter cooldowns.
  • Many other Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New spells and Talents include:
    • Apocalypse – Brings doom upon the enemy, dealing damage and bursting Festering Wounds on the target. Summons an Army of the Dead ghoul for each burst Festering Wound.
    • Grip of the Dead – Defile/Death and Decay reduces the movement speed of enemies within its area.

Demon Hunter

• Demon Hunters have a new ability, Consume Magic – Consume a beneficial Magic effect from an enemy, removing it and granting you Fury or Pain.
• The spell previously named Consume Magic is now Disrupt.
• Demon Hunters now have Chaos Brand – Your Chaos damage (Havoc) or Fire damage (Vengeance) brands the target, increasing the magic damage the enemy takes from you and other players by 5%.
• Havoc
  • Chaos Strike now has a consistent chance to refund Fury, instead of relying on critical strikes.
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Immolation Aura – Engulf yourself in flames, dealing fire damage to enemies and generating Fury.
    • Trail of Ruin – The final slash of Blade Dance inflicts additional Chaos damage over time.
• Vengeance
  • Lesser Soul Fragments now heal based on damage recently taken (was previously a flat amount of healing).
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Charred Flesh – Fiery Brand increases the Fire damage you deal to the target.
    • Gluttony – Consuming a Soul Fragment has as chance to activate Metamorphosis.

Druid

• Druids now have Soothe – Soothes the target, dispelling all enrage effects.
• Travel forms now each have a separate ability in your Spellbook.
• Balance
  • Solar Wrath now has a chance to grant Lunar Empowerment, and Lunar Strike has a chance to grant Solar Empowerment.
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • New Moon – Deals damage to the target, generates Astral Power, and transforms into Half Moon and Full Moon.
    • Twin Moons – Moonfire deals increased damage and also hits another nearby enemy.
• Feral
  • Some Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Feral Frenzy – Unleash a furious Frenzy, clawing your target multiple times and causing a Bleed. Awards combo points.
    • Tiger Dash – Activates Cat Form and greatly increases movement speed, reducing gradually.
• Guardian
  • In Bear Form, Druids now generate Rage in the same way as Warriors, with Rage generated from both melee attacks dealt and melee attacks taken.
  • Some Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
• Restoration
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Photosynthesis – While your Lifebloom is on yourself, your periodic heals heal faster. While your Lifebloom is on an ally, your periodic heals on them have a chance to cause it to bloom.

Hunter

• All Hunters now have Disengage as a baseline spell.
• Hunter Pet families now all belong to one of three specializations – Cunning, Ferocity, or Tenacity – and each specialization offers unique abilities, instead of stats.
• Hunters now have Command Pet – Commands your pet to perform its unique ability, based on the specialization of your active pet:
  • Cunning: Master’s Call
  • Ferocity: Primal Rage
  • Tenacity: Survival of the Fittest
• Beast Mastery
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • Dire Frenzy is now Barbed Shot.
  • New Talents include:
    • Animal Companion – Your Call Pet additionally summons the first pet from your stable as a second companion to fight by your side.
    • Killer Instinct – Kill Command deals increased damage against enemies below 35% health.
• Marksmanship
  • The Marksmanship specialization has seen a major overhaul.
  • Core Marksmanship abilities:
    • Aimed Shot – A powerful shot that deals increased damage the first time it hits an enemy. Costs Focus.
    • Rapid Fire – Fires a stream of shots at your target while moving. Generates Focus.
    • Arcane Shot – A quick shot that deals Arcane damage. Costs Focus.
    • Steady Shot – A steady shot that can be used while moving. Generates Focus.
  • New Talents include:
    • Double Tap – Your next Aimed Shot will fire a second time instantly without consuming Focus, or your next Rapid Fire will shoot additional shots.
    • Streamline – Rapid Fire now lasts 30% longer.
• Survival
  • The Survival specialization has seen a major overhaul, and is now an adaptive ranger who uses explosives and animal venom, in addition to coordinated attacks with their pet.
  • Core Survival abilities:
    • Raptor Strike – A vicious slash dealing heavy Physical damage. Costs Focus.
    • Kill Command – Give the command to kill, causing your pet to savagely attack your enemy. Has a chance to immediately reset its cooldown. Generates Focus.
    • Serpent Sting – Fire a poison-tipped arrow at an enemy, dealing Nature damage over time. Costs Focus.
    • Wildfire Bomb – Hurl a bomb at the target, exploding for Fire damage in a cone.
  • New talents include:
    • Chakrams – Throw a pair of chakrams at your target, slicing all enemies in the chakrams’ path, then returning to you, damaging enemies again.
    • Wildfire Infusion – Lace your Wildfire Bomb with extra reagents, randomly granting it one of three different enhancements each time you throw it.

Mage

• Mages again have Arcane Intellect – increasing allies’ Intellect by 10%.
• Mages now have Remove Curse – Removes all Curses from a friendly target.
• Arcane
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • Arcane Missiles can now be launched at any time, with a Clearcasting proc sometimes making them free and fire faster.
  • New Talents include:
    • Amplification – When Clearcast, Arcane Missiles fires 1 additional missile.
    • Reverberate – If Arcane Explosion hits at least 3 targets, it has a 50% chance to generate an extra Arcane Charge.
• Fire
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Pryoclasm – Consuming Hot Streak has a chance to make your next non-instant Pyroblast deal massive additional damage.
    • Searing Touch – Scorch deals increased damage and is a guaranteed critical strike when the target is below 30% health.
• Frost
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Chain Reaction – Your Ice Lances against frozen targets increase the damage of your subsequent Ice Lances.
    • Freezing Rain – Frozen Orb makes Blizzard instant cast and increases its damage.

Monk

• Monks now have Mystic Touch – Your damage weakens the target, increasing Physical damage the target takes by 5%.
• All specs now have Leg Sweep baseline – Knocks down all nearby enemies and stuns them.
• Brewmaster
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Bob and Weave – Increases the duration of Stagger.
    • Guard – Guard against future attacks, causing incoming damage that would have been delayed by Stagger to instead be prevented.
• Mistweaver
  • Soothing Mist is once again a manually-cast channeled heal.
  • While channeling Soothing Mist, Vivify and Enveloping Mist may be cast instantly on the target.
  • Vivify now heals all targets that have Renewing Mist on them.
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Rising Mist – Rising Sun Kick heals all allies with your Renewing Mist, Enveloping Mist, or Essence Font, and extends those effects.
    • Upwelling – The longer Essence Font remains off cooldown, the longer the next cast of Essence Font may be channeled. The duration of its heal over time is increased.
• Windwalker
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Fist of the White Tiger – A powerful physical strike that generates 3 Chi.
    • Tiger Tail Sweep – Increases the range of Leg Sweep and reduces its cooldown.

Paladin

• Holy
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Avenging Crusader – An ability with a significant cooldown that causes your attacks to heal injured allies, increases your Crusader Strike, Judgment, and auto-attack damage, and speeds up the cooldowns of Crusader Strike and Judgment.
    • Awakening – Light of Dawn has a chance to grant you Avenging Wrath for several seconds.
• Protection
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Redoubt – Avenger’s Shield bounces to an additional target and increases your Block.
    • Unbreakable Spirit – Reduces the cooldown of your Divine Shield, Shield of Vengeance, and Lay on Hands.
• Retribution
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Selfless Healer – Your Holy Power spending abilities reduce the cast time and mana cost of your next Flash of Light, and increase its healing done.
    • Wake of Ashes – Lash out at your enemies, dealing great damage to all enemies in front of you and reducing their movement. Demon and Undead enemies are also stunned. Generates 5 Holy Power.

Priest

• Priests again have Power Word: Fortitude – Increases the Stamina of all raid and party members by 10% for 1 hour.
• Discipline
  • Discipline Priests now know Desperate Prayer and Holy Nova.
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Contrition – When you heal with Penance, everyone with your Atonement is healed.
    • Luminous Barrier – Create a shield on all nearby allies that absorbs a fixed amount of damage for 10 seconds.
• Holy
  • Renew now reduces the cooldown of Holy Word: Sanctify.
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Cosmic Ripple – When Holy Word: Serenity or Holy Word: Sanctify finish their cooldown, you emit a burst of light that heals up to 5 injured targets.
    • Holy Word: Salvation – Heals all nearby allies, and applied Renew and 2 stacks of Prayer of Mending to each of them. Cooldown reduced each time you cast Holy Word: Serenity or Holy Word: Sanctify.
• Shadow
  • Mind Sear is again an active ability, causing damage to all enemies near the target, and generating Insanity.
  • Shadow Priests now know Leap of Faith.
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Dark Ascension – Immediately activates a new Voidform, then releases an explosive blast of pure void energy, damaging all nearby enemies and generating 50 Insanity.
    • Dark Void – Unleashes an explosion of dark energy around the target, dealing damage and applying Shadow Word: Pain to nearby enemies. Generates 30 Insanity.

Rogue

• Assassination
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Hidden Blades – Every 2 seconds, gain increased damage for your next Fan of Knives, stacking up to 20 times.
    • Poison Bomb – Envenom and Rupture have a chance per combo point spent to smash a vial of poison at the target’s location, creating a pool of acidic death that deals Nature damage over time to all enemies within it.
• Outlaw
  • Saber Slash is now Sinister Strike.
  • Run Through is now Dispatch.
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Blade Rush – Charge to your target with your blades out, dealing great damage to the target and all other nearby enemies. While Blade Flurry is active, damage to nearby enemies is increased. Generates Energy.
    • Loaded Dice – Activating Adrenaline Rush causes your next Roll the Bones to grant at least two matches.
• Subtlety
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Secret Technique – Finishing move that creates shadow clones of yourself. You and your shadow clones deal damage to both the primary target and nearby enemies.
    • Shuriken Tornado – Focus intently, and then release a Shuriken Storm every second for the next 4 seconds.

Shaman

• Tremor Totem and Earth Elemental are again available to all specs.
• Elemental
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Stormkeeper – Charge yourself with lightning, causing your next 2 Lightning Bolts or Chain Lightnings to be instant and trigger an Elemental Overload on every target.
    • Unlimited Power – When your spells cause an elemental overload, you gain Haste.
• Enhancement
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Elemental Spirits – Reduces the cooldown of Feral Spirit and causes your Feral Spirits to be imbued with Fire, Frost, or Lightning.
    • Totem Mastery – Summons four totems that increase your combat capabilities: Resonance Totem, Storm Totem, Ember Totem, and Tailwind Totem.
• Restoration
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Flash Flood – When you consume Tidal Waves, the cast time of your next heal is reduced by 20%.
    • Earth Shield – Protects the target with an earthen shield, increasing your healing on them and healing them when they take damage.

Warlock

• All specs now know Shadowfury – Stuns all nearby enemies.
• Warlock Healthstones no longer share cooldowns with potions.
• Affliction
  • Affliction Warlocks now know Summon Darkglare – A Darkglare from the Twisting Nether that extends your damage-over-time effects on all enemies, blasts its target for Shadow damage, and is empowered by every damage-over-time effect you have active on any target.
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Creeping Death – Your Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life, and Unstable Affliction deal their full damage 15% faster.
    • Vile Taint – Unleashes an explosion at the target location, dealing damage over time to all nearby enemies and reducing their movement speed.
• Demonology
  • Demonology Warlocks now know Summon Demonic Tyrant – A Demonic Tyrant that increases the duration of all of your current demons by 15 seconds while damaging your target.
  • This specialization has received a major overhaul.
  • New Talents include:
    • Dreadlash – When your Dreadstalkers charge into battle, their Dreadbite attack now hits all nearby targets and deals additional damage.
    • Summon Vilefiend – Summons a Vilefiend from Argus to fight for you.
• Destruction
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Grimoire of Supremacy – While you have an Infernal active, each Soul Shard spent increases the damage of Chaos Bolt by 8%.
    • Dark Soul: Instability – Infuses your soul with unstable power, increasing your critical strike chance by 30% for 20 seconds.

Warrior

• Warriors again have Battle Shout – Increases the Attack Power of all allies by 10% for 1 hour.
• Arms
  • The Arms specialization has seen adjustments to many core abilities:
    • Overpower is now baseline – Overpower the enemy, dealing Physical damage and increasing the damage of your next Mortal Strike or Execute.
    • Sweeping Strikes is now baseline – For 12 seconds, your single-target damaging abilities hit 1 additional nearby target for 75% damage.
    • Tactician affects Overpower instead of Colossus Smash – Spending Rage as a chance to reset the cooldown of Overpower.
    • Colossus Smash is now a major cooldown – Smash the enemy’s armor, dealing heavy Physical damage and increasing damage you deal to them.
    • Mastery: Deep Wounds – Striking an enemy with Mortal Strike, Execute, or Bladestorm inflicts Deep Wounds, dealing heavy Bleed damage over time.
  • New Talents include:
    • Sudden Death – Your attacks have a chance to make your next Execute cost no Rage and be usable on any target regardless of their health.
    • Warbreaker – Replaces Colossus Smash. Smash the ground and shatter the armor of all nearby enemies, increasing damage you deal to them.
• Fury
  • Battle Cry is now Recklessness – Go berserk, increasing all Rage generation by 100% and granting your abilities increased critical strike chance.
  • The Fury specialization has seen adjustments to some core abilities:
    • Bloodthirst now has a consistent chance to Enrage you, instead of relying on critical strikes.
    • Raging Blow now has 2 charges, has a chance to immediately reset its own cooldown, and no longer requires Enrage.
    • Whirlwind now generates Rage per target hit.
    • Furious Slash is now a talent, and the effects of the Frenzy talent have been combined with it.
  • New Talents include:
    • Meat Cleaver – Whirlwind has a chance to Enrage you and generates additional Rage per target hit.
    • Siegebreaker – Break the enemy’s defenses, dealing physical damage and increasing your damage done to the target. Generates Rage.
• Protection
  • Protection Warriors now know Avatar, Intimidating Shout, and Rallying Cry
  • Many Talents and PvP Talents have been adjusted.
  • New Talents include:
    • Bolster – Last Stand’s cooldown is reduced, and it causes you to block all melee attacks.
    • Menace – Intimidating Shout disorients enemies for an additional 4 seconds, and it causes all enemies to cower in fear instead of fleeing.

Source: Blizzard