WoW 5.3: a Rundown of the PTR Updates

Updates to the PTR notes for the upcoming patch 5.3.

If you have not read the original World of Warcraft patch 5.3 patch notes, make sure to do so and get caught up before reading these.

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PvE

Heroic scenarios will require that your group be premade. In WoW patch 5.3, heroic scenarios or normal scenarios will reward bonus valor once per day, you can’t gain the extra VP from both. More bonus valor can be earned in heroic scenarios by completing bonus objectives.

Four of the new scenarios will be available as heroics alongside two preexisting scenarios. These will be: Battle on the High Seas, Dark Heart of Pandaria, Blood in the Snow, the Secrets of Ragefire, Crypt of Forgotten Kings, and a Brewing Storm.

Lorewalker Cho in the Seat of Knowledge will help players start Quest Campaign: Escalation. Alliance players will work with the SI:7 to help the fight against Garrosh on the outskirts of Orgrimmar. Horde players will join the Darkspear Rebellion in fighting against the Kor’kron.

Going hand in hand with the new WoW patch’s quest campaign is Battlefield: Barrens where players will fight against the Kor’kron forces there, stealing their resources from them. Players will also aid in the escorting of caravans from their respective factions. The reward for this will be upgrades from the Darkspear for Latent Kor’kron armor.

Wrathion’s legendary quest chain will involve the player accompanying the black dragon to seek out the aid of the August Celestials. There is a wealth of audio spoilers released for this.

The Brawler’s Guild is receiving some love as well: two new tiers of challenges await you. Furthermore, there will be a VIP section for those with a rank 8 or higher. The arena looks a bit different now, too.

PvP

As of WoW 5.3, resilience has been removed from most PvP gear, as previously stated, but gems and enchants will still allow the player to up said stat if desired.

Glorious Tyranny will now give 600 PvP power instead of 400 PvP power and 200 PvP resilience. Bloody Dancing Steel and Spirit of Conquest will share the same visual effect of Glorious Tyranny while acting as the PvP prestige equivalent of Dancing Steel and Jade Spirit respectively. They will require a 2200 rating.

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Tabard and Tyrannical Gladiator’s Great Cloak will be added as prestigious awards for players with a 2500 rating.

Dalaran Arena will now have ramps on all four of the corners as opposed to just two. Eye of the Storm‘s starting platforms have been lowered.

Pet Battles

In WoW 5.3, players can now pet battle in all dungeons and raids. Said battles along with all other duels and even battles in the wild can be observed by other players.

Hit chance is now displayed for each move. There is no longer a base chance for abilities to be dodged or missed when two pets are of the same level. Chance to miss against higher level opponents has been nerfed to 2% (down from 5%.)

Blistering Cold has received a 100% damage buff.

A ton of new achievements and rewards for pet battles have come out. Furthermore, wins at max-level in matchmaking will now be recorded in statistics.

New pets have been added to the Throne of Thunder and Isle of Thunder. A new Northrend WoW battle pet can be tamed: the Unborn Val’kyr. The Ethereal Soul Trader pet has been returned to his original size.

New battle pets will be dropped from raid bosses in World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade’s Karazhan, Serpentshrine Cavern, and Tempest Keep. Collecting the three of them will get you Karazhan’s Tito as a battle pet.

The Beasts of Fable is now broken into three parts that can be done over time or all at once. The difficulty of the elite pets for Beasts of Fable have been increased. Those quests along with the Spirit Tamer quests now reward XP and lesser charms.

A new weekly quest has been added in WoW 5.3 for players who have max-level pets. They must defeat 10 players with a team of level 25 pets.

Class

Druid‘s Glyph of Solar Beam has been removed. It is being replaced by Glyph of Omens. This glyph will work when players are not in a lunar or solar eclipse. It will generate 10 lunar or solar energy when using the following spells: Cyclone, Disorienting Roar, Entangling Roots, Faerie Fire, Faerie Swarm, Mass Entanglement, Mighty Bash, Solar Beam, Typhoon, or Ursol’s Vortex.

Solar beam will be more responsive as players leave or enter it.

The talent Force of Nature no longer has a global cooldown. It will now only summon a single Treant. It no longer has a control bar and will immediately use its special moves on the Druid’s current target, generating 1 charge of a max of 3 every 20 seconds.

If it is summoned by a resto druid, it will cast swiftmend on the druid’s target. This will not consume a heal over time slot on the target.

Hunters in WoW 5.3 can now stable up to 50 pets. Mage‘s Teleport: Vale of Eternal Blossoms and Portal: Vale of Eternal Blossoms has had its icon changed.

Misc.

The amount of justice points, honor, and Darkemoon Fair tickets to upgrade heirloom items has been decreased.

Level-80 gear can be purchased from merchants in either Vash’jir or Hyjal for players starting on Cataclysm content.

In WoW 5.3, pet tamers can now be tracked on the world map in order to help players find the ones they’ve unlocked for daily quests.


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Joseph Rowe
World traveling English teacher, writer, and aspiring front-end developer.