World of Warcraft News: 2/18/2014

(Or: SIXTY BUCKS? Sure... why not?)

Well, Patch 5.4.7 has landed, and some very interesting things went down.  The full list of notes will be included below, but here are a couple of the big things that hit with this.  

world-of-warcraft-level-90-boost.jpg
  • New in-game store added
    • A simple UI added to allow for in-game purchases, for level boosts and more (To be released)
  • Level 90 boost enabled
    • For a measly $60 USD you can increase ANY character new or old to 90, keep in mind that the free boost for one character is still on the table for Warlords, but in the meantime, feel free to unleash the beast for the low low cost.
  • New PVP season
    • Season 14 ended, congratulations to all the gladiators, and let Season 15 BEGIN
  • Honor gear item level is increased to 522, Conquest gear item level is increased to 550.
  • The new gear drops from the Celestials, too.
  • The Krasarang rares now only drop honor once per day.
  • Timeless Isle weapons are all automatically upgraded to ilvl 489 including ones you already own! Easier bridge to the LFR meaty goodness.
  • For the two of you complaining about AV still, there are terrain changes and NPC changes in Alterac Valley
  • Dampening will start at 5 minutes in 2v2 arenas only

Alright, those were the highlights, here are the official notes:

Classes

  • Druid
    • Talents
      • Heart of the Wild now provides the following benefits from PvP Power when activated.
        • Restoration Druids now receive 50% of their PvP Power applied towards damage while the ability is active (down from 100%).
        • Feral and Balance Druids now receive 100% of their PvP Power applied towards healing while the ability is active (down from 120%).
  • Rogue
    • Talents
      • Nerve Strike now causes a successful Kidney Shot or Cheap Shot to also reduce the damage dealt by player targets by 25% (down from 50% for player targets). No changes to the talent when used against non-player targets.
  • Warlock
    • Demonology
      • Felguard's Legion Strike and Wrathguard's Mortal Cleave now reduces the effectiveness of any healing received for 6 seconds (up from 5 seconds) so the pet can maintain the effect without Haste.
  • Warrior
    • General
      • Disrupting Shout and Pummel now both share a 15-second cooldown when either ability is used. Disrupting Shout's 40-second cooldown remains unchanged but the ability will be unavailable for 15 seconds after using Pummel.

Creatures

  • Celestials now drop Season 15 Prideful Gladiator gear in place of Season 14 Grievous Gladiator gear.
  • Rare spawns in Krasarang Wilds now award Honor Points only when they are defeated for the first time each day.
  • NPC guards around PvP vendors on the Serpent's Spine have been upgraded to have more health and deal more damage.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

  • Siege of Orgrimmar
    • Garrosh Hellscream
      • Garrosh Hellscream and Minions of Y'Shaarj now have less health on 10-player Heroic difficulty.
      • Unstable Iron Stars now triggered when 4 or more players are together (up from 3 players) on 10-player Heroic difficulty.

PvP

  • Season 15 has begun! With the start of the new season, Prideful Gladiator gear, and weapons are now available for purchase.
  • Season 14 Grievous Gladiator gear and weapons can now be purchased using Honor Points instead of Conquest Points.
  • Base Resilience for level-90 players is now 77% (up from 72%). Base Resilience for players below level 90 remain at 40%.
  • Resilience Diminishing Returns curve for Resilience has been adjusted for the new base resilience value to maintain the same value per point of Resilience as previously.
  • Battle Fatigue now reduces healing received while in PvP combat by 60% (up from 55%).
  • Gladiator's Distinction, the set bonus for wearing two PvP trinkets, now grants 5280 Resilience (up from 2600).

Battlegrounds and Arenas

  • Arenas
    • For the 2v2 Arena bracket, Dampening is now applied to the match starting at the 5 minute mark (down from 10 minutes).
    • For 3v3 and 5v5 Arena brackets, there is no change. Dampening will continue to be applied at the 10 minute mark.
  • Alterac Valley
  • The following NPCs now have more health and deal more damage.
    • Alliance: Vanndar Stormpike, Balinda Stonehearth, Stormpike Defenders, Stormpike Bowman, and all Marshals.
    • Horde: Captain Galvangar, Drek'thar, Frostwolf Guardian, Frostwolf Bowman, and all Warmasters.
  • The following NPCs are now immune to disarm, daze, and Death Grip.
    • Alliance: Vanndar Stormpike, Balinda Stonehearth
    • Horde: Captain Galvangar, Drek'thar
  • Terrain outside of Frostwolf Keep has been modified to prevent players from jumping over the walls.

Items

  • The following items sold by Mistweaver Ai on the Timeless Isle have been raised to item level 489 (up from item level 476). This change is retroactive to all items that had been purchased previously.
    • Cloudscorcher Greatstaff
    • Contemplation of Shaohao
    • Daylight Protectorate
    • Featherdraw Longbow
    • Hozen Can Opener
    • Ordon Sacrificial Dagger
    • Pandaren Peace Offering
    • Scavenged Pandaren Dagger
    • Shield of the Eternal Noon
    • Yak-Herder's Longstaff

UI

  • BattleTag or Real ID friends are now only able to send 10 chat messages every 10 seconds over Battle.net chat. User Interface Add-Ons should use the new send function and receive events to send communications information.

Isle of Thunder

  • Resolved a bug where walls on the Isle of Thunder may incorrectly revert to an earlier progression stage.