Since the start of Turtle WoW our mission has always been to provide a unique Vanilla experience by either picking up where Blizzard left off or, in this case, altering or enhancing certain existing aspects of the game to uphold current standards.
Since Turtle’s earliest days we’ve seen and heard players suggest class changes, all with differing opinions and viewpoints, each and every of these has been taken into account and we all wish to thank you for your passion and insights.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your patience and the feedback you've been giving since the first iteration of the changelog. We're as excited as you are for the release, but there are still a few bugs that need ironing out, and even though its close to being finished the release date is not fully clear yet.
We wanted you to see the entire picture of this batch of class changes, so we've compiled the final list of additions, changes and tweaks coming with Patch 1.16.1. Talent calculator itself will be updated later on.
Thank you again for your patience.
We want to welcome all of you to discuss & give constructive feedback on any changes made in the final iteration of the list.
The vanilla design of the Druid is infamous for being pretty unfinished. Its mechanics weren’t fully realized until well into the first expansion. Because of this, there’s a lot of freedom on how to improve on the class while sticking with the “vanilla feeling.” That said, simply attempting to recreate the druid of later expansions is a cop-out, but we feel incorporating some iconic and fan-favorite abilities would be a good idea.
Changes to Baseline Spells
Claw now also deals 100% of weapon damage in addition to its current damage.
Note: This value is calculated on the invisible Claw weapon druid forms get when shapeshifting and does not correspond with your normal weapon.
Frenzied Regeneration now also heals for 1% of your Stamina.
Insect Swarm is now a Balance spell and available to all Druids starting at level 20.
Faerie Fire (Feral) is now available to all Druids starting at level 30.
New Abilities
Owlkin Frenzy
Learned at Level 60 | Requires Moonkin Form | Passive |
Attacks done to you while in Moonkin Form have a 15% chance to cause you to go into a Frenzy, causing you to be immune to pushback while casting Balance spells. Lasts 10 sec.
Savage Bite
Learned at Level 54 | Requires Bear Form | 30 Rage | 6 Second Cooldown
Savagely bites the target, dealing normal damage plus 61.
Talent Changes
Balance
Natural Weapons | Now 3 Ranks (down from 5)
Increases the damage you deal with physical in all forms by 4/7/10% and increases your chance to hit with melee attacks and spells by 1/2/3%.
Nature's Grace
All spell criticals grace you with a blessing of nature, reducing the casting time and global cooldown of your next spell by 0.5 sec.
Moonkin Form
Transforms the Druid into Moonkin Form. While in this form the armor contribution from items is increased by 360%, the Mana cost of your Moonfire, Starfire, and Wrath spells reduced by 20%, and all party members within 30 yards have their spell critical chance increased by 3%. The Moonkin can only cast Balance spells, Innervate, and Remove Curse while shapeshifted.
Omen of Clarity
Imbues the Druid with natural energy. Each of the Druid's melee attacks and direct damage spell casts have a chance of causing the caster to enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the Mana, Rage or Energy cost of your next damage or healing spell or offensive ability by 100%. Lasts 10 min.
Feral
Primal Fury and Blood Frenzy have had their existing effects combined into Primal Fury: Gives you a 50/100% chance to gain an additional 5 Rage anytime you get a critical strike while in Bear and Dire Bear Form and your critical strikes from Cat Form abilities that add combo points have a 50/100% chance to add an additional combo point.
Reduced the ranks of Thick Hide from 5 ranks to 3 ranks.
Increases your Armor contribution from items by 4/7/10%.
Feral Instinct reduced from 5 ranks to 3 ranks.
İncreases threat caused in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 5/10/15% and reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while PRowling.
New Talent: Blood Frenzy (Row 4) | 2 Ranks
Increases the duration of Tiger's Fury by 3/6 seconds and your Enrage now also instantly restores 5/10 rage. In addition, increases attack speed by 6/12% when either effect is active.
New Talent: Berserk (Row 5) | 6 Minute Cooldown
Removes all Fear effects and increases your energy regeneration rate by 100% while in Cat form, and increases your total health by 20% while in Bear form. After the effect ends, the health is lost. Effect lasts 20 seconds.
Restoration
Swiftmend has moved from a Row 7 to a Row 3 talent, replacing Insect Swarm.
Tranquil Spirit is no longer a prerequisite for the Row 7 major talent.
Improved Rejuvenation is now a prerequisite talent for Improved Regrowth.
Improved Enrage has been removed from the Restoration tree and has been integrated into the new talent Blood Frenzy.
Subtlety now also reduces threat generated from Balance spells.
Reduces the threat generated by your Healing and Balance spells by 4/8/12/16/20%.
New Talent: Tree of Life Form (Row 7)
Shapeshift into the Tree of Life. While in this form you increase healing received by 15% of your total Spirit for all party members within 30 yards, your movement speed is reduced by 20%, and you can only cast Swiftmend, Innervate, Nature's Swiftness, Rebirth, Barkskin, poison removing and healing over time spells, but the mana cost of these spells is reduced by 20%.
The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.
Hunter’s main problem in vanilla comes down to two issues: DPS does not scale well with their gear so they tend to not be competitive in endgame stages, and their pets are particularly fragile in a raid setting, often leading to them not being used. Burning Crusade fixed these problems at the same time with pet scaling, Kill Command, and Steady Shot abilities - leading them becoming massively overpowered. Avoiding this while also addressing their vanilla issues can be done by not giving them all three at once.
New Abilities
Trueshot
A precise shot with a ranged weapon that strikes the target for X additional damage. (Cooldown of this ability is equal to the attack speed of your ranged weapon.)
Rank 1: 10 Additional Damage, 15 Mana, Learned at Level 36
Rank 2: 20 Additional Damage, 40 Mana, Learned at Level 42
Rank 3: 30 Additional Damage, 60 Mana, Learned at Level 48
Rank 4: 40 Additional Damage, 85 Mana, Learned at Level 54
Rank 5: 50 Additional Damage, 110 Mana, Learned at Level 60
Aspect of the Wolf
Learned at Level 30 | Toggled | 185 Mana Cost |
The hunter takes on the aspects of a wolf, increasing melee attack power by 155 and disabling the use of ranged attacks. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
Avoidance
Learned at Level 50 | Pet Passive |
Reduces the damage your pet takes from area of effect attacks by an additional 50%.
Talent Changes
Beast Mastery
Improved Eyes of the Beast
Increases the duration of Eyes of the Beast by 30/60 seconds. While channeling this ability your tamed pet deals 5/10% additional damage and increases its focus generation by 10/20%.
There isn’t much to improve on for the Fire and Frost mage specs in vanilla - they are tightly designed and synergize well with other mages very well. That said, Arcane falls far behind despite having an opportunity to fill its own niche, and the possibility of encouraging the Elemental Mage playstyle.
Changes to Baseline Spells
Arcane Missiles: Spell Power scaling coefficient has been increased: (0.24 -> 0.286)
Talent Changes:
Arcane
Improved Arcane Explosion > Arcane Impact
Increases the critical strike chance of your Arcane Explosion and Arcane Missiles spell's by an additional 2/4/6%.
New Talent: Arcane Potency (Row 4)
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Arcane spells by 18/36/50%. Requires Arcane Mind as a prerequisite talent.
New Talent: Brilliance Aura (Row 5)
Gives Mana regeneration to party members equal to 15% of the Mage's mana regeneration within 30 yards. Lasts 30 minutes. Requires Arcane Potency as a prerequisite talent.
Let’s be frank - the only good thing a paladin can do in vanilla is heal. Sure, with the right setup you can do decent tanking or decent dps, but it still doesn’t all quite come together. A lot of the potential and uniqueness to the class has always attracted people to it, but that was progressively lost over time in retail post-vanilla. We believe there is a lot of opportunity to help the Paladin perform more than just healing adequately without making them too powerful or “warrior-lite.”
Changes to Baseline Spells
Consecration is no longer a talent and is now available to all Paladins starting at level 20, its scaling coefficient has been increased (0.042 -> 0.119) and mana cost for all ranks has been reduced. Example: Rank 5 Mana Cost 565 -> 505
Judgement of Righteousness scaling coefficient has been increased: (0.5 -> 0.728)
Retribution Aura scaling coefficient has been added: (0.033)
Holy Strike cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds.
New Abilities
Crusader Strike
A strike that causes X damage and increases the holy damage taken by the target by up to Y per Crusader Strike. Can be applied up to 5 times. Lasts 30 seconds.
Rank 1: 25 Mana, 12 Damage, 6 Bonus Holy damage per stack
Rank 2: 40 Mana, 27 Damage, 10 Bonus Holy damage per stack
Rank 3: 55 Mana, 46 Damage, 15 Bonus Holy damage per stack
Rank 4: 70 Mana, 69 Damage, 22 Bonus Holy damage per stack
Rank 5: 90 Mana, 103 Damage, 30 Bonus Holy damage per stack
Crusader Strike is not able to proc seals, damage-based procs, or refresh judgements.
Talent Changes
Holy
Healing Light (Row 3)
Increases the amount healed by your Holy Light, Flash of Light, and the effectiveness Holy Shock spells by 4/8/12%.
Holy Shock | Rework: (Values are for Rank 3):
Cooldown reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
Mana cost increased from 325 to 485.
Healing Increased from 365 to 628.
Damage increased from 365 to 496.
Lasting Judgements (Row 5) removed.
Protection
Redoubt and now has a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to activate off of any direct attack instead of being the victim of a critical strike.
Precision. Increases your chance to hit with melee weapons and spells by 1/2/3%.
Blessing of Kings has been moved from the Row 3] of the Protection talent tree to the Row 3 of the Retribution talent tree.
Shield Specialization. Increases the amount of damage absorbed by your shield by 10/20/30% and has a 33/66/100% chance to restore 1% mana when a block occurs. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.
Improved Concentration Aura has been moved from the Row 4 of the Protection talent tree to the Row 5 of the Holy talent tree.
New Talent: Improved Seal of Justice (Row 4). Increases the chance your Seal of Justice will stun the opponent by 22/33/67% and your Judgement of Justice has a 33/66/100% chance to taunt your target to attack you, but has no effect if the target is already attacking you.
Blessing of Sanctuary has been moved from Row 5 to Row 3 in the Protection tree.
Holy Shield moved from Row 7 to Row 5.
New Talent: Ardent Defender (Row 7). When you have less than 35% health, all damage taken is reduced by 25%.
Retribution
Seal of Command moved from Row 3 to Row 5.
Sanctity Aura has been moved from the Row 5 of the Retribution talent tree to the Row 3 of the Holy talent tree.
Greater Blessing of Kings' Mana Cost has been adjusted: (150 Mana -> 15% Base Mana)
New Talent: Sanctified Command (Row 5). Gives your Seal of Command a 45/90% chance to resist dispel effects and your Judgement of Command will restore mana equal to 10/20% of the base mana cost of the Seal of Command to you and nearby party members. Requires Seal of Command as a prerequisite talent.
Shadow priests are notorious for being good, but also not. Their mana economy is horrendous and comes with several downsides other dps+caster hybrids don’t have to work around. The challenge for Shadow is to boost its utility and mana economy without increasing their power, as their damage per second is actually very good already.
Changes to Baseline Spells
Holy Fire initial damage component scaling has been adjusted: (0.75 -> 0.857)
Divine Spirit (Row 5) is now baseline for all Priests starting at level 30.
Lightwell (Row 7) has been made baseline and is available for all Priests starting at level 40.
New Abilities
New Passive: Improved Shadowform. | Learned at Level 60 | Passive
Reduces the Mana cost of your Shadow spells by 15% and allows 15% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting while in Shadowform.
New Ability: Pain Spike | Learned at Level 60 | 15 Second Cooldown | 265 Mana Cost |
Causes 333 to 377 Shadow damage instantly, but the damage caused will begin healing itself over 5 seconds after landing. Requires Shadowform.
New Ability: Shadowmend | Attained via class quest at Level 60 | 635 Mana Cost | 30 Second Cooldown
Heal the friendly target 518 to 615. This spell generates reduced threat. Requires Shadowform.
Talent Changes:
Shadow
Improved Vampiric Touch has been renamed as Vampiric Embrace: Increases the percentage healed by Vampiric Embrace by an additional 5/10% and your Vampiric Embrace now causes all party members to also gain mana equal to 1/2% of any Shadow spell damage you deal.
Holy
Holy Nova damage component scaling has been adjusted: (0.107 -> 0.161)
New Talent: Holy Champion (Row 7)
Allows you to choose another player as your holy champion, granting you several unique abilities:
Proclaim Champion | 250 Mana Cost | 10 Second Cast | 2 Hour Cooldown
Proclaim the friendly target as your champion for 2 hrs. Increases armor by 230, all resistances by 10 and allows the use of various Champion spells on that target.
Note: Persists through death and continues its duration and cooldown countdowns while offline.
Note: Armor buff does not stack with Scroll of Protection IV
Champion’s Grace | Learned at Level 40 | 250 Mana Cost
Bestow the target Champion with grace, increasing all healing done by the priest by 10%. Lasts 2 hrs.
Champion’s Bond | Learned at Level 44 | 250 Mana Cost
Creates a bond between priest and Champion. When the priest takes damage up to 20 will be taken by the Champion instead. Lasts 10 min.
Empower Champion | Learned at Level 50 | 1100 Mana Cost
Empower the target Champion, increasing all healing and spell damage done by up to 20 and attack power by 30. Lasts 2 hrs.
Note: Does not stack effects with Greater Arcane Elixir or Juju Power/Elixir of Giants
Champion's Resolve | Learned at Level 58 | 250 Mana Cost | 5 Minute Cooldown
Wards the champion againist Fear. The next Fear effect used againist the target will fail, using up the ward. Lasts 10 sec.
Revive Champion | 81% Base Mana Cost | 2 Second Cast
Return the priest's Champion to life with 2500 health and 2600 mana.
Note: Cannot be cast in combat.
Discipline
New Talent: Reflective Shields (Row 5)
Causes 15% of the damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield to reflect back at the attacker. This damage causes no threat. Requires Improved Power World: Shield as a prerequisite talent.
Not a lot to say for Rogues. If anything, Combat being the only viable talent spec in PvE all the way to late AQ40/Naxx is unfortunate. Debuff cap limits and some new abilities to add to their toolkit without majorly changing the way the class functions is something we believe Rogue players are looking for.
New Abilities
Detection | 10 Energy | Learned at Level 30 |
Hidden traps will be easier to spot for 5 sec.
Surprise Attack | 30 Energy | 15 Second Cooldown |
A strike that deals 90% weapon damage. This attack cannot be blocked, dodged or parried. Awards 1 combo point.
Agitating Poison | Learned at Level 60 |
Coats a weapon with poison that lasts for 30 minutes. Each strike has a 20% chance of poisoning the enemy which instantly inflicts 67 to 85 Nature damage, and causes additional threat. 115 charges.
Flourish | 25 Energy | Learned at Level 42
Finishing move that increases your chance to parry by an additional 20%. Lasts longer per combo point:
1 Point : 3 Seconds
2 Points: 4 Seconds
3 Points: 5 Seconds
4 Points: 6 Seconds
5 Points: 7 Seconds
Talent Changes
Combat
Dagger Specialization (Row 4) and Fist Weapon Specialization (Row 5) have been combined into Close Quarters Combat (Row 4): Increases your chance to get a critical strike with Daggers and Fist Weapons by 1/2/3/4/5%.
New Talent: Throwing Weapon Specialization (Row 5)
Increases the range of your throwing weapons by 3/6 yards.
Subtlety
Improved Sap (Row 4)
Gives you a 50/100% chance to return to stealth mode after using your Sap ability.
Elemental and Enhancement both have struggles in PvE that can be addressed somewhat easily. Restoration is pretty solid in vanilla, but its talent tree leaves a lot to be desired - something to keep in mind for the future.
New Abilities
Calm Elements | Learned at Level 22 | 90 Mana Cost |
Calms the target, reducing the range at which it will attack you by 10 yards. Only affects Elemental targets level 70 or lower. Lasts 15 sec.
Water Shield | Learned at Level 60 | 15 Mana Cost |
The caster is surrounded by 3 globes of water. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, 83 mana is restored to the caster. This expends one water globe. Only one globe will activate every few seconds. Lasts 10 min. Only one elemental shield can be active on the Shaman at any one time.
Earth Shield | Learned at Level 60 | 300 Mana Cost |
The caster is surrounded with an earthen shield, giving a 30% chance of ignoring spell interruption when damaged and causing attacks to heal the shielded target for 150. This effect can only occur once every few seconds. 3 charges. Lasts 10 min. Only one elemental shield can be active on the Shaman at any one time.
Totemic Recall | Learned at Level 40 | No Mana Cost |
Returns your totems to the earth, giving you 25% of the mana required to cast each totem destroyed by Totemic Call.
New Shaman Racial Spells
| Acquired via Class Quest at Level 40 |
Orc: Feral Spirit | 21% Base Mana Cost | 5 Minute Cooldown |
Summons two Spirit Wolves under the command of the Shaman for 20 seconds.
Tauren: Spirit Link | 21% Base Mana Cost |10 Minute Cooldown |
Link the spirits of an ally and their 3 closest allies within 15 yards together. When linked targets take damage, 10% is distributed among the other linked allies. Lasts 20 seconds.
Troll: Hex | 21% Base Mana Cost | 5 Minute Cooldown |
Transforms the enemy into a frog that cannot cast, and does 66% less damage for up to 4 seconds. Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters.
Changes to Baseline Spells
New Rank 2 of Stormstrike added, learnable at level 60. Differences from Rank 1: Cooldown is 12 seconds as opposed to the 20 seconds of Rank 1. Costs 12% of your base Mana as opposed to 21% of your base Mana with Rank 1.
Talent Changes
Enhancement
Two-Handed Weapons (Row) and Parry (Row 5) are now baseline for all Shamans and trainable at level 20.
New Talent: Thunderhead (Row 3).
Allows your Lightning Shield to be cast on allies and reduces its mana cost by 20%. Requires Improved Lightning shield as a prerequisite talent.
Stormstrike has been moved from Row 7 to Row 5.
New Talent: Bloodlust (Row 7)
Increases melee, ranged, and spell casting speed by X0% for a party member within 30 yards. Lasts 15 sec.
Rank 1 (Talent): 10%
Rank 2 (Level 60): 15%
New Talent: Spirit Armor (Row 4)
Increases the armor gained from Shields by 10/20/30%.
Toughness and Anticipation have been combined into one talent: Ancestral Guidance (Row 3)
Increases your armor value from items by 2/4/6/8/10% and chance to dodge by an additional 1/2/3/4/5%.
Elemental
Elemental Focus (Row 3) changed: after landing a critical strike with a Fire, Frost, or Nature damage spell, you enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next 2 damage spells by 40%.
Flame Shock initial damage increased and mana cost decreased:
Example: Rank 6
Mana Cost: 450 -> 410
Initial Damage: 292 -> 309
PvE is the only area where Warlock has an issue - they’re boring! A class with as much cool stuff in its toolkit should not have to be limited to just spamming Shadowbolt exclusively. Debuff cap discussion aside, there are definitely ways to expand on the class fantasy of the Warlock in addition to addressing its singular issue. Something to also take into consideration for the future is that the Warlock talent trees went virtually untouched through the course of development through Burning Crusade. Also, similar to the Hunter, the Warlock’s demons are too vulnerable in raid settings with large amounts of AoE damage.
Changes to Baseline Spells:
Voidwalker's Torment now deals a very small amount of Shadow damage.
Rank 1: 7 to 6
Rank 2: 13 to 15
Rank 3: 18 to 21
Rank 4: 26 to 30
Rank 5: 36 to 40
Rank 6: 43 to 48
New Abilities
New Ability: Mana Funnel
Rank 1 (Level 40): | Transfers 18 mana from the caster to her pet every second.
Rank 2 (Level 50): | Transfers 36 mana from the caster to her pet every second.
New Ability: Demon Portal | Learned via hidden Grimore at Level 60 |
Opens a portal into the Twisting Nether that summons a Felguard under the command of the caster for 5 min. Once control is lost, the Felguard must be Enslaved to maintain control. Requires the caster and 2 additional party members to complete the ritual. In order to participate, all players must right-click the portal and not move until the ritual is complete.
Avoidance
Learned at Level 50 | Pet Passive |
Reduces the damage your pet takes from area of effect attacks by an additional 50%.
Talent Changes
Affliction
Improved Drain Life and Improved Drain Mana have been combined into one talent: Soul Siphon
Increases the Health drained by your Drain Life spell by 5/10% and causes 15/30% of the Mana drained by your Drain Mana spell to damage the opponent.
Demonology
Improved Enslave Demon reduced to 2 ranks (down from 5). Reduces the Attack Speed and Casting Speed penalty of your Enslave Demon spell by 10/20%, reduces the resist chance by 10/20%, and the casting time by .5/1 second.
Soul Link and Health Funnel will now work with enslaved demons.
Improved Healthstone, Improved Firestone, and Improved Spellstone have all been combined into one talent: Master Conjurer (Row 2). Increases the amount of Health restored by your Healthstone by 10/20% and increases the bonuses and effects of your Firestones and Spellstones by 15/30%.
Inferno cooldown reduced from 1 hour to 20 minutes and can now be cast indoors.
Fel Intellect has been reduced from 5 ranks down to 3 ranks. Increases the maximum Mana of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus and Felhound by 5/10/15%.
Fel Stamina has been reduced from 5 ranks down to 3 ranks. Increases the maximum Health of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus and Felhound by 5/10/15%.
Destruction:
Intensity (Row 4). Gives you a 70% chance to resist interruption caused by damage while casting or channeling any Destruction fire spell.
Pyroclasm (Row 5). Gives your Rain of Fire, Hellfire, Conflagrate, and Soul Fire spells a 25% chance to stun the target for 3 sec.
Warrior in Vanilla is overpowered. Just straight up too powerful for the game. That being said, this just means that any change made to the class must down one of two things only: either optimize what doesn’t work but should for the class, or improve on suboptimal playstyles to allow for more options for the player. The changes proposed for the coming patch attempt to stick within those guidelines.
Changes to Baseline Spells
Thunderclap can now be used in Defensive Stance.
New Abilities
New Ability: Intervene | 10 Rage | 30 Second Cooldown | Requires Defensive Stance | Acquired via Class Quest at Level 50 |
Run at high speed towards a party member, intercepting the next melee or ranged attack made against them.
Note: Shares a cooldown with Intercept.
New Ability: Decisive Strike | 15 Rage | 2 Second Cast
Focus an attack equal to Slam (Rank 4) on an opponent. Can be cast while moving and will not suffer cast time pushback when taking damage.
Note: Credit to Wall (Video) of Wallcraft for his brilliant rework of Slam.
Note: The cast time of Decisive Strike is reduced by Improved Slam.
New Passive: Die by the Sword| Acquired via Class Quest at Level 30 |
Increases your chance to parry attacks by 20% while under the effect of Retaliation.
Talent Changes
Arms
Improved Thunder Clap (Row 2). Reduces the cost of your Thunder Clap ability by 1/2/4 rage points and increases the damage by 40/70/100%.
Polearm Specialization (Row 6) has been combined into Axe Specialization (Row 5) and renamed Poleaxe Specialization (Row 5).
New Talent: Improved Disciplines (Row 6). Reduces the cooldown of your Retaliation, Recklessness and Shield Wall abilities by 2/4/6 min.
Protection
Improved Shield Block has been reduced from 3 ranks down to 1 rank. Allows your Shield Block ability to block an additional attack and increases the duration by 1 second.
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https://talents.turtle-wow.org/
) and the healing being increased by...90? Damn, that's a lot, albeit justified considering how little it was used in raids. Now it could be a proper healing cooldown, though maybe the healing would be a bit much in PvP?
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