Public Test Realm Patch Notes - 1.6.0 | 6/27/2005 5:44:43 PM PDT

[Cairenn]

Below are the official patch notes for the 1.6.0 version of the Public Test Realms. Please be aware that the PTR patch notes are not the final patch notes, and are subject to change/additions before the patch goes live.

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World of Warcraft Client Patch 1.6.0 (2005-??-??)

Blackwing Lair Released!

Nefarian's sanctum, Blackwing Lair, can be found at the very height of Blackrock Spire. It is there in the dark recesses of the mountain's peak that Nefarian has begun to unfold the final stages of his plan to destroy Ragnaros once and for all and lead his army to undisputed supremacy over all the races of Azeroth. Blackwing Lair is a max-level, 40-player raid dungeon, with many new encounters and tempting rewards awaiting the intrepid adventurer that dares enter its halls. (Blackwing Lair will not be accessible during the public test.)

Darkmoon Faire!

A gathering of the exotic from around the world and beyond, Silas Darkmoon has brought together the Darkmoon Faire as a celebration of the wondrous and mysterious found in Azeroth. While the Faire spends most of their time in parts unknown, they do stop from time to time in Mulgore and Elwynn forest. When the faire is on its way barkers will stop by Ogrimmar and Ironforge to announce its arrival.

Battlemasters!

There is a new way to enter the battleground queues. Battlemasters! Located in some of the cities, right-clicking on a battlemaster will allow your character to enter a battleground queue just like you normally would if you touched that battleground’s entrance portal. The functionality is exactly the same, so when it’s your character’s time to enter the chosen battleground, you will be teleported directly in. Glordrum Steelbeard stands in the Hall of Arms in Ironforge, serving as the Alliance battlemaster for Alterac Valley. Aethalas of the Silverwing Sentinels stands ready in Darnassus, next to the warrior trainers, to send Alliance characters into Warsong Gulch. And in the Hall of the Brave, located in Orgrimmar’s Valley of Honor, Brakgul Deathbringer serves as the Horde’s battlemaster for Warsong Gulch, while Kartra Bloodsnarl will send you to bring glory to the Horde in Alterac Valley. Guards in their respective cities can give you directions on how to find them.

General

* There is a new option upon the login screen. If you click the "Remember Name" checkbox on the left side of the screen, the game will automatically fill in your account name when it starts up.
* Will of the Forsaken (Undead Racial) - duration of the lasting immunity effect decreased to 5 seconds.
* Cannibalize (Undead Racial) - Regeneration increased to 35% of a character's total health over 10 seconds.
* Stoneform (Dwarf Racial) can now be used to cancel self-inflicted poison effects.
* Fist Weapons will now have the normal chance to parry that all weapons use.
* It will no longer be possible to swap any equipment while stunned.
* Pets will now enter passive/follow mode when their masters mount.
* The Dazed effect caused by NPCs will now stack with all other movement slowing effects. Note that the movement slowing effects will not stack, but the debuff icons will remain to ensure the full duration of these effects persist.
* Damage caused by environmental effects will now cancel stealth (e.g. swimming in lava).
* Several creature spells that silenced players are now properly flagged as silence effects, which will allow talents such as Unbreakable Will to provide a higher chance to resist the effects.
* Spells that drain mana will now properly report the amount of mana gained in the combat log.
* Clarified the error message when no corpses are available for the Cannibalize ability.
* Clarified the error message when trying to attack while mounted.
* Resurrection spells should now check range properly when used on targets that have released their spirit.
* Spell reflection effects have greatly improved visuals and functionality.
* Knockback effects are now synchronized with any associated missile impacts.
* Special abilities which are parried will correctly activate abilities which are usable after parrying.
* Damage shield spells no longer damage you if you use spells that damage both you and your enemies.
* Fixed graphical anomalies when using channeled abilities in a group with a grounding totem.
* Fixed the duration of Frostbite on pets which are dismissed and then recalled.
* Fixed a bug where broken off-hand fist weapons would prevent main-hand dagger abilities from being usable.
* Health leech effects no longer give you health while you are a ghost.
* You no longer spout profanity when talking about sitting while drunk.

Macintosh

* Some optimizations for terrain loading and rendering were added for the Macintosh build.
* Enabled multisample support in the video options.
* Fixed an issue where inspecting crafted items on other users could potentially show attributes that those items did not have.
* Updated the Mac sound code to use memory more efficiently.

PvP

* Honor System
o There is now a progress bar on the Honor tab of your character window that displays how close you are to your next rank.
o The honor screen now displays a bar indicating how far along your current rank you are (Scout, Private, etc). This will let you know whether you are moving towards your next rank or falling back towards your previous rank. from week to week.
o There is a new "This Week" section of the Honor tab, which will display PvP accomplishments of the current week.
o The "This Session" section of the Honor tab has been changed to "Today", and will now display the entirety of your accomplishments for the day instead of the most recent session.
o Players rank 11 or higher can now chat in the WorldDefense channel.
o The WorldDefense and LocalDefense channels will now display your rank as well as your name when chatting.
o Battleground scoreboards now display the time elapsed in a battleground.
* Warsong Gulch
o Warsong Gulch has new item rewards at the appropriate faction vendor near the entrances to the zone. These are available starting at Honored faction.
o Friendly flag carriers are now displayed on the overhead map in Warsong Gulch.
o Both the Warsong Outrider Supply Officer and the Silverwing Sentinel Supply Officer of Warsong Gulch now offer distinct tabards for purchase. Those heroes who are of Exalted status with one of these factions may purchase the tabard for 5 gold (discounts not included).
o Players now receive a faction bonus for completing the repeatable Warsong Gulch quests.
* Alterac Valley
o Each team will now gain additional bonus honor if their towers are not destroyed by the end of the map. The more towers that remained intact, the more honor received.
o If you manage to keep your faction's Captain alive for the duration of a battle, you will be granted extra points upon victory.
o Several Alterac Valley vendor items are now bind on acquire.
o The respawn time for tower guards (assuming the tower has not been destroyed) has been greatly increased.
o Korrak the Bloodrager has gained immunities to many different spell and ability effects.
o The minimum reputation needed to send a cavalry charge has been reduced to Honored.
o Players of Revered or higher reputation may now call offensive air strikes if they have managed to rescue their respective Wing Commanders.
o Alterac Valley's guard spawn is now controlled via a more intuitive mechanism. Please check the Officer Supply vendors for your faction to read up on the changes.
o Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the Alliance team from receiving honor for destroying towers.
o Fixed a bug that was not awarding Horde credit for owning a mine at the end of a game.
* Dispel Magic can no longer be used on players participating in a duel unless the caster is in the duel.
* You are considered in combat for the entire duration of a duel.
* You can’t assist players which are engaged in free-for-all PvP unless you are also in free-for-all PvP.
* If you have PvP combat toggled on, it will no longer be cleared when taking a flight.
* Hunter traps work properly in duels if the target is flagged for PvP and the hunter is not.
* Removing an insignia in PvP no longer marks both players as being in combat.