9.2.5 - What actually comes out - FULL GUIDE | World of Warcraft GamePlay Guides

Important that we don’t mix that with the release date of Season 4 which is the increased ilvl rewards from dungeons, raids and PvP. Season 4 has been announced to be released later this summer.

Shadowlands Patch 9.2.5 will release on:

NA servers May 31st
EU servers June 1st
Asia servers June 2^nd

CROSS-FACTION GAMEPLAY

In 9.2.5 you can group up and do instances with players from the opposite faction. However, there are some can /can not do when it comes to cross-faction gameplay.

Are guilds cross-faction

No, they are not.

How to invite for Cross-Faction Gameplay

You can only invite a player on the opposite faction in a special way.

Either, you have to be

net friends.

Or, you have to be

In the same Battle.net WoW community
A battle.net WoW community has very similar functions as a guild.

Or, you can

Invite players in the Premade Group Finder
You can choose to include opposite faction or not when creating a group.

What can you do I Cross-Faction Gameplay

You can group up for Mythic plus dungeons
You can group up for Raids.
You can group up for Rated PvP
When outside an instance in a group, you can
Summon players on opposite faction, but player that helps must be on the same faction.
Send gold and items to your own characters on the opposite faction, but must be same realm.
Type and understand each other between faction. Only group works, b.net or community doesn’t work.
If Warmode is on, you can attack each other.
When inside an instance, you can
Trade gold and items with players on opposite faction, if you are on the same realm.
Buff and give food to players on opposite faction.
Portals to neutral zones works for players on opposite faction.

What can you NOT do in Cross-Faction Gameplay

Outdoor World Content is not part of the cross-faction gameplay.
Some Raids cannot be cross-faction, which are:
Trial of the Champion
Trial of the Crusade
Vault of Archavon
Icecrown Citadel
Baradin Hold
Siege of Boralus
Battle of Dazar´alor
Darkmaul Citadel (Exile´s Reach dungeon)
Raid Finder is not part of the cross-faction gameplay.
Arena Skirmish is not part of the cross-faction gameplay.
Random Battleground is not part of the cross-faction gameplay.
When outside an instance, you cannot
Trade with players on opposite faction.
Use portals for players on opposite faction.
Buff players on opposite faction.
Send mail to players on opposite faction.

RACE SPECIFIC QUESTLINES

Alliance - Dark Iron Dwarves

Requirements for getting the quest is:

Have a Dark Iron Dwarf.
Minimum lvl 50 on your Dark Iron Dwarf.
Already unlocked Heritage Armor on Dark Iron Dwarf.

Where to get the starting quest for Dark Iron Dwarf Questline

The starting quest is called The Anvil-Thane's Designs in Shadowforge City. Talk to Anvil-Thane Thurgaren.

Does Boosted/Race changed Dark Iron Dwarf work?

No, it doesn’t.

What is the reward for completing the specific Dark Iron Dwarves questline

Weapon & Shield Transmog (Arsenal: Lavaforge Armaments)
A mount (Grimhowl)

Horde – Blood Elves

Requirements for getting the quest is:

Have a Blood Elf
Be Exalted reputation with Silvermoon City.

Where to get the starting quest for Blood Elves Questline

The starting quest is called “Summons from the Matriarch” in Oribos. Talk to Lady Liandrin.

What is the reward for completing the specific Blood Elf questline

Mount (Elusive Emerald Hawkstrider)
Blood Elf Paladins will also be rewarded with
- A Blood Night Transmog Set
- A Polearm weapon transmog.

NEW ARENA – ENIGMA CRUCIBLE

This arena is a Zereth Mortis arena.

STORIES & CONTENT UPDATES

There are a bunch of stories and updates coming in 9.2.5 that are encrypted, meaning they are out for public testing, and they cannot be datamined by spoiler websites.

TORGHAST

Instead of having 2 wings open per week, we will get all wings open all the time.

Layers 1–8 are now unlocked by default.
Layers 9–12 now unlock after completing Layer 8.
Layers 13–16 now unlock after completing the previous Layer.

SPECIFIC KEY CHARACTER CONVERSATIONS

Conversations between key charcters scattered around oribos are available for “staying a while and listen” to.

BETTER WAY TO REPORT PLAYERS

We are getting a new way to report players in which we can choose more detailed options when right clicking on a player.

IMPORTANT ITEMS UPDATED

We are getting updates on important items.

Renown Boost.
The Broker Mark of Distinction that increases your renown directly to 40 has been changed to 60 instead.
Guaranteed Renown
You will 100% get Renown from:

Mythic and Mythic+ dungeons
Torghast Layers 9-16
Defeating a Shadowlands raid boss encounter
Winning a Rated Battleground

Grateful Offerings increased
You will get Grateful Offerings from the weekly quest in Zereth Mortis, “Pattern within Patterns”.
You will get more Grateful Offerings from Callings quests.

CROSS-REALM RAIDING

Sepulcher of the First Ones is now available for Cross-Realm raiding on Mythic difficulty.

PROFESSIONS

Legendary Crafting is now improved.
The experience points earned when crafting Specialized Armor and Jewelry for creating Runecarving items is increased by 400%.
This means that you only need to craft 3 base legendary items to reach the next rank.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

All search filter dropdowns now have a button that lets you easily remove all active filters.
The default hand cursor now has new, higher resolution art for its larger sizes under Interface Options → Accessibility.
The Report Player pane has been redesigned, with new categories added.

ACHIEVEMENTS

All Covenant Sanctum feature achievements are now visible and count towards your character's total achievement points, regardless of which covenant your character currently belongs to. Nonetheless, all characters must belong to a Covenant to earn that Covenant’s specific achievements.
Tower Ranger criteria now requires The Jailer's Gauntlet: Layer 4 (was Layer 8).
The Dancing Machine achievement text now specifies that the reward is a toy.
Anima Cannisters required for Kaal-ed Shot now respawn after General Kaal resets and the Slammed! debuff is no longer removed by immunity effects.
Fixed an issue that was causing The Enlightened faction to not count towards the Exalted Reputations achievements.
Fixed an issue that caused the Azeroth at War achievements to not be obtainable by players.

Class Changes

TANKS

All classes now generate more threat when in a tank specialization.
Developers’ notes: We’ve heard a lot of feedback about threat loss from the community (and our teammates) since the start of this season. Our design intent is that a tank who is actively directing their damage rotation at an enemy should be able to maintain threat on that enemy, but simple area of effect spells (like Consecrate or Death and Decay) alone should not be sufficient. We’ve analyzed this situation and feel that a small adjustment to tank threat modifiers should help maintain that balance for the remainder of the expansion.

Hunter

Beast Mastery
- All damage abilities and pet damage increased by 4%.
- Beast Cleave now causes your pet to strike other targets for 100% of your pet’s damage (was 90%).

Developers’ notes: Beast Mastery has not received as much AoE benefit from its set bonus as other specializations and consequently has fallen behind. We’re increasing the damage of their pets and Beast Cleave damage transfer to help their overall performance.

Mage

Arcane
- Arcane Missiles damage increased by 8%.
- Arcane Blast damage increased by 10%.
- Clearcasting can no longer be dispelled.

Developers’ notes: We feel that Arcane single target damage would benefit from an increase, but also want to offer some dispel protection for one of their critical rotational buffs in Clearcasting. This is a change that we will evaluate further going into Dragonflight as generally, we want magical buffs like these to be dispellable. In this case, we feel there is necessary to help this specialization in the short term.

Frost
- Gift of the Lich (Conduit) duration reduced by 33% in PvP.

Developers’ notes: Deathborne is one of the most impactful cooldowns in the game, but at the current scale of Conduits, it’s regularly lasting 50+ seconds. We feel it’s necessary to reign in that duration in PvP.

Monk

Mistweaver
- Reduced cooldown on Zen Focus Tea to 30 seconds (was 45).

Developers’ notes: Mistweavers are having a difficult time responding to burst damage reliably, as they regularly have to open their primary school in order to catch up. Giving them more access to an interrupt protection is intended to let them respond to burst damage more reliably.

Windwalker
- Rising Sun Kick damage Increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
- Fists of Fury damage to primary target increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
- Blackout Kick damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
- Tiger Palm damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
- Fist of the White Tiger damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.

Developers’ notes: As part of our ongoing balance efforts, we’re taking a more aggressive approach towards improving Windwalker Monks’ single-target damage, so that their performance is more competitive in raid situations where their unique strengths may not come to the forefront.

Priest

Discipline
- Blaze of Light increases damage to Smite and Penance by 30% (was 15%).
Discipline, Shadow
- Power Word: Shield absorb amount increased by 10% in PvP.
- Fixed a bug that reduced the value of Power Word: Shield critical strikes in PvP.

Developers’ notes: We’re looking to give Discipline more offensive options in PvP but also feel that Power Word: Shield has fallen off in terms of relative strength compared to other parts of the kit.

Rogue

Recuperator (Conduit) healing reduced by 50% in PvP.
Outlaw
- Between the Eyes damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
- Pistol Shot damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
- Sinister Strike damage increased by 20%. This change does not apply to PvP.
- Blade Flurry damage increased to 60% of single target damage (was 50%). This change does not apply to PvP.
- Enduring Brawler (PvP Talent) stacks up to 15 times (was 20).

Developers’ notes: Our intent with these changes is to improve Outlaw in both single target and 5-6 target cleave situations where Blade Flurry should shine. Outlaw isn’t standing out enough in these moments and we hope these changes move us in the right direction. However, in PvP, Enduring Brawler and Recuperator have given Outlaw more survivability than intended and we’ve decided to reduce the max stack count as a result.

Shaman

Healing Stream Totem’s healing increased by 20% in PvP.
Elemental
- Raging Vesper Vortex (Runecarving Power) damage reduced by 33% in PvP.
- Earth Shock damage is no longer reduced by 10% in PvP.
Enhancement
- Chain Harvest (Venthyr) damage and healing reduced by 15% in PvP.
Restoration
- Earthen Wall Totem’s absorb is no longer reduced by 30% while in PvP.

Developers’ notes: For Shaman, we want to address some of the big swing moments created by Vesper Totem and Chain Harvest, but compensate them with more sustained healing, damage and mitigation.

Warlock

Destruction
- Ritual of Ruin (2-piece bonus) now lasts 30 seconds.
- Summoning a Blasphemy (4-piece bonus) no longer stuns enemies in PvP.
Demonology
- Felguard’s Legion Strike now reduces effectiveness of healing on the target by 25% (was 10%) in PvP.

Developers’ notes: With these changes, we’ve set out to address a strategy of disengaging from the fight except in rare moments where the Warlock can setup huge burst through the set bonus. At the same time, we’re trying to give adequate time for the Warlock to respond to Ritual of Ruin proc with a 30 second duration. Also, we’ve increased the mortal strike effect of Demonology’s pet in PvP to help their effective damage.

Warrior

Arms
- Mortal Strike damage increased by 10%. This change does not apply to PvP.
- Overpower damage increased by 10%. This change does not apply to PvP.
- Execute and Condemn damage increased by 15%. This also affects Protection Warriors. This change does not apply to PvP.

Developers’ notes: These changes are intended to increase Arms single target performance while not affecting areas where they already excel.

Fury
- Depths of Insanity (Conduit) effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP.
- Battle Trance (PvP Talent) now generates 3 rage (was 5) every 3 seconds for 18 seconds after using Raging Blow twice in a row on a target.

Developers’ notes: 9.2.5 comes with a bug fix where the PvP talent Battle Trance wasn’t being activated by the Raging Blow replacement spell Crushing Blow from the Reckless Abandon talent. The above changes are intended to manage the effective buff Fury will be getting from that interaction.

Items

Gladiatior’s Distinction (PvP set) bonus Stamina increased to 500 (was 350).

Developers’ notes: In general, damage output is outpacing survivability in PvP leading to a volatile gameplay experience. We’re increasing the Stamina from the PvP trinket set bonus to reduce the effect of damage across the game.

Cosmic Gladiator’s Echoing Resolve no longer triggers from or provides immunity to interrupt effects. The tooltip for this will be updated in a future patch.

Developers’ notes: While the tooltip explicitly mentions interrupts, we’ve heard the feedback loud and clear that this trinket is removing counterplay that players enjoy. We’ll fix the tooltip in a future hotfix.

BIG Raid NERFS

Nerfs for Supulcher of the First Ones raid: Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic and Mythic difficulty.

These nerfs are targeting the mechanisms where a single error by a single player can cause a wipe.

Artificer Xy’mox

Decipher Relic cast time increased to 30 seconds on Mythic difficulty (was 25 seconds).

Prototype Pantheon

Imprinted Safeguards reduce damage and healing taken by 35% on Mythic difficulty (was 50%).

Lihuvim, Principal Architect

Lihuvim’s health reduced by 10% on all difficulties.
Protoform Schematics health reduced by 10% on all difficulties.

Halondrus the Reclaimer

Ephemeral Eruption initial damage reduced significantly on Mythic difficulty.
Lightshatter Beam increases the damage taken from Lightshatter Beam by 300% on Heroic difficulty (was 500%).

Anduin Wrynn

Anduin Wrynn’s health reduced by 5% on all difficulties.
Monstrous Souls health reduced by 5% on all difficulties.
Anduin’s Despair health reduced by 10% on all difficulties.
Anduin’s Hope movement speed reduced on Heroic and Mythic difficulty.
Remorseless Winter damage reduced by 10% on all difficulties.
Hopebreaker damage over time reduced by 15% on all difficulties.
Fiendish Soul’s Necrotic Claws cooldown increased by 50% on all difficulties.

Lords of Dread

Mal’Ganis and Kin’tessa health reduced by 5% on all difficulties.
Swarm of Decay and Swarm of Darkness damage reduced by 7.5% on all difficulties.
Ravenous Hunger now heals the Inchoate Shadow for 13% on Mythic difficulty (was 10%).
Cloud of Carrion no longer disorients when jumping between players on Heroic and Mythic difficulty.
Infiltration of Dread duration increased by 10 seconds on Heroic and Mythic difficulty.

Rygelon

Collapsing Quasar Field duration increased by 50% on Mythic difficulty.

The Jailer

Rune of Compulsion’s absorb reduced by 33% on Normal and Heroic difficulty, and 10% on Mythic difficulty.
Misery no longer knocksback on Raid Finder, Normal, and Heroic difficulty.
Decimator no longer knocksback on Raid Finder and Normal difficulty.
Diverted Life Shield no longer heals on Mythic difficulty.
World Crusher produces 2 less Bloods of Azeroth on Mythic difficulty.
World Shatterer produces 1 less Blood of Azeroth on Mythic difficulty.
Phase 4 is now triggered at 15% Health on Mythic difficulty.