Dragonflight Season 4 PTR Development Notes

This Public Test Realm (PTR) is a testing environment for the content coming with the Dragonflight: Season 4 update.

Dragonflight: Season 4 Update Development Notes

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SEASON 4 MYTHIC+ DUNGEONS

• Season 4 brings back all eight Dragonflight dungeons to the Mythic+ rotation: Ruby Life Pools, Brackenhide Hollow, The Nokhud Offensive, Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr, Neltharus, The Azure Vault, Halls of Infusion, and Algeth’ar Academy.
• DIFFICULTY CHANGES
  • One of the most notable changes players can look forward to is the removal of the timer for Mythic Keystone dungeons for what are currently 0 and 10. Players can run through these dungeons at their own pace without the need to watch the clock while still honing their skills.
  • Heroic difficulty and rewards will move up to roughly the current level of Mythic 0. These dungeons will remain available to queue into via Group Finder (default hotkey: “I”), though the item level requirement to queue will also go up accordingly.
  • Mythic 0 difficulty and rewards will move up to roughly the current level of Mythic 8-10 (this is a bit hand-wavy - numerically it’s close to M10 but not having a timer at all or affixes really offsets that quite a bit).
  • The existing Mythic+ system will pick up where that leaves off, such that a Mythic 5 in Season 4 is roughly equivalent in difficulty, rewards, and M+ Rating awarded, to a Mythic 15 today.
    • Normal
      • This difficulty is unchanged.
    • Heroic
      • The tuning and rewards of this difficulty are increasing to be equivalent to a baseline Mythic (Mythic 0) dungeon in the current system.
      • Mythic difficulty changes and mechanics will not be present in this difficulty.
      • This remains a queueable experience.
    • Mythic
      • The tuning and rewards of this difficulty are increasing to the equivalent of a +10 dungeon with affixes in the current system.
      • There are no timers, affixes, or limitations on changing specializations or talents while in the dungeon.
      • The goal is to create a mega-dungeon like difficulty for this experience. This difficulty should present a meaningful challenge and provide commensurate rewards without the pressures of the current Mythic+ system.
      • Mythic 0 is still on a weekly lockout under this model.
    • Mythic+
      • The Mythic+ system will have rewards up to level 10, with +2 starting from what would regularly be a +11 in the current Mythic+ system.
        • A +5 should be as hard as a +15 and +10 should be as hard as a +20 in the current Mythic+ system etc.
      • Affixes would slot in at +2, +5, and +10
        • +2 - Fortified/Tyrannical
        • +5 - Entangling / Incorporeal etc.
        • +10 - Bursting / Bolstering etc.
      • Dungeon ratings should be equivalent to what they represent in the current system.
      • There should be a smaller range of keystone levels to find groups for, and more meaningful progression between each level.
  • It’s important to note that the basic structure of dungeon rewards is not changing significantly, so what you would have earned for completing a Mythic 0 will be earnable in the Heroic difficulty dungeon instead. Here is a basic rundown of what you can expect:
• Crest and Flightstone rewards are changing to match the same difficulty with only some minor adjustments.
  • Flightstone earnings for any given Mythic+ will match the equally challenging Mythic+ from previous seasons. This means that a Mythic +2 in Season 4 will give the same number of Flightstones as a Mythic +12 in Season 3 currently does. The rewards will continue to match difficulty, even if what we’re calling those difficulty changes.
  • Bonus Flightstone awards for increasing any party member’s Mythic+ score remain unchanged.
  • Whelpling Crests are no longer available from Mythic+ dungeons, as those difficulties no longer exist. Players can continue to collect Whelpling Crests from many outdoor sources.
  • Players will earn 10 Drake Crests on successful completion of a Mythic 0 dungeon, as there is no timer to beat.
  • Wyrm Crests will be available in Mythic +2 to Mythic +5 dungeons in the same quantities as existing Mythic+ dungeons.
  • Aspect Crests will be available in any Mythic difficulty from +6 and up, also in the same quantities as existing Mythic+ dungeons.

Dungeon Updates

The following are the most notable changes in each dungeon:

HALLS OF INFUSION

General

• Dungeon checkpoint added after defeating Gulping Goliath.
• Normalized the spawn rate of Crashing Tsunami during the gauntlet.
• Containment Apparatus Containment Beam’s damage has been reduced by 42%
• Primalist Galesinger
  • Wind Buffet has been removed.
  • Thunderstorm has been removed.
  • Now uses Thunderstrike – Inflicts Nature damage to all players within 7 yards of impact.
• Primalist Earthshaker Rumbling Earth’s rim visual will no longer clip into the terrain.

Encounters

• Watcher Irideus
  • Titanic Fist now has a visual during cast.
  • Power Overload now has a rim visual around afflicted player.
  • Power Field now gradually grows to its full size.
• Khajin the Unyielding
  • Added rim visuals on Ice Boulders that will trigger Avalanche.
• Primal Tsunami
  • Cast Away now occurs at 50% health (was 100% energy).

AZURE VAULT

General

• Increased the timer of Azure Vault by 1 minute.
• Crystal Fury
  • Piercing Shard now has a precast visual.
  • Piercing Shard ’s impact area has been reduced.
• Conjured Lasher Mystic Vapors will now be cast less frequently.
• Arcane Tender Erratic Growth’s cast time has been increased to 3.5 seconds (was 2.5 seconds).
• Unstable Curator Heavy Tome will now be cast less frequently.
• Drakonid Breaker
  • Shoulder Slam’s knock back has been removed.
  • Shoulder Slam now inflicts Physical damage and increases Physical damage taken by 10%.
  • Shoulder Slam will now be cast less frequently.

Encounters

• Leymore
  • Erupting Fissures now follows current target player.
• Azure Blade
  • Reduced the frequency of periodic damage from Overwhelming Energy to every 2.5 seconds (was every 2 seconds).
• Umbrelskul
  • Oppressive Miasma removed in Mythic difficulty.
  • Crystalize now pulses Arcane damage while the crystal is shielded.
  • Crackling Vortex now has a larger movement radius.

BRACKENHIDE HOLLOW

General

• Rotbow Stalker
  • Renamed to Rotbow Ranger
  • Shoot now has a recast of 6 seconds.
  • Diseased Meat renamed to Rotten Meat, and is now a Poison dispel.
• Brackenhide Shaper
  • Summon Lashers has been removed.
  • Touch of Decay has been removed.
• Stinkbreath
  • Violent Whirlwind ’s radius has been reduced to 6 yards (was 7 yards).
  • Stink Breath now locks facing after targeting a player.
  • Stink Breath now has a visual while casting.
• Gutstabber Withering Poison has been removed.
• Bracken Warscourge Bloody Bite has been removed.
• Claw Fighter Bloody Bite has been removed.
• Decay Speaker Rotchanting Totem has been removed.

Encounters

• Hackclaw’s War-Band
  • Predatory Instincts’ Haste bonus has been reduced to 5% (was 10%).
  • Mark for Butchery’s damage frequency has been increased to 1 seconds (was 0.5 seconds).
  • Gash Frenzy’s damage reduced by 21%.
  • Gash Frenzy’s duration reduced to 15 seconds (was 45 seconds).

ALGETH’AR ACADEMY

General

• Spellbound Scepter Arcane Rain has been removed.
• Spectral Invoker Arcane Missiles’s damage has been reduced by 50%.

Encounters

• Crawth
  • Firestorm ’s frequency has been reduced.
  • Savage Peck ’s initial and periodic damage has been reduced.
• Echo of Doragosa
  • Unleash Energy added as the new Mythic mechanic.

NELTHARUS

General

• Each Burning Chain can only be used once.
• Burning Chain now stuns all enemies in it and increases their damage taken by 50% for 5 seconds.

Encounters

• Chargath
  • Fiery Focus’s pulsing damage near the Chargath has been removed.
  • Fiery Focus’s now channels damage on current target.
  • Grounding Chain now persists on defeated player.
  • Grounding Chain now does a small knockback to the player when applied.
• Warlord Sargha
  • Curse of the Dragon Hoard now stacks.
  • Curse of the Dragon Hoard duration reduced from to 30 seconds (was 5 minutes).
  • Azure Stone of Might has been removed.

THE NOKHUD OFFENSIVE

General

• Nokhud Longbow
  • Multi-Shot has been removed.
  • Rain of Arrows will now be cast less frequently.
• Nokhud Beastmaster Hunt Prey ’s damage bonus has been reduced by 25%.
• Nokhud Thunderfist Storm Shock has been removed.
• Primalist Stormspeaker Storm Bolt has been removed.

Encounters

• Balakar Khan
  • Frequency of Stormwinds during intermission has been reduced to every 10 seconds (was every 6 seconds).

RUBY LIFE POOLS

General

• Primal Terrasentry Stone Missiles has been removed.

Encounters

• Kyrakka
  • Infernocore’s duration has been increased to 4 seconds (was 3 seconds).
  • Infernocore’s periodic damage has been reduced by 25%.

ULDAMAN: LEGACY OF TYR

Encounters

• The Lost Dwarves
  • Fiery Surges’ s damage has been reduced by 50%.

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DAWN OF THE INFINITE: HARD MODE

Dawn of the Infinite: Hard Mode is available for testing with updated tuning and rewards.

Hard mode does not have a timer and rewards a Hero track item. Hard mode is intended to be more challenging than a standard Mythic difficulty dungeon.