Patch 3.1.0

Patch 3.1.0
“Secrets of Ulduar”
Release date	April 14, 2009
Initial version	9767
Interface .toc	30100 (changes)
Highlights & notes
Ulduar Dual Talent Specialization Argent Tournament introduced Many class changes
Official links
Patch notes Previews Class Change Highlights Dual Spec interview Upcoming Changes to Mana Regeneration PTR Patch Notes: enUS, enGB
Documented changes Undocumented changes
Patch chronology
← Previous Next → Patch 3.0.9 (Undocumented changes) Patch 3.1.1 (Undocumented changes)
Useful links
Patches • Patches category

Patch 3.1.0: Secrets of Ulduar is the first major content patch for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Among the highlights of this patch are the opening of the much anticipated Ulduar raid, the Argent Tournament and many notable class changes.

Trailer[]

Secrets of Ulduar[]

• Since discovering Ulduar in the Storm Peaks, adventurers have journeyed to the titan city to learn more about its mysterious past. Further exploration has revealed that the magnificent complex is above all a prison, intended to permanently confine the Old God of death, Yogg-Saron. This ancient horror has corrupted its guards, and now it is breaking through the last of its restraints. Faced with the peril of Yogg-Saron's imminent freedom, a band of mortals has made preparations for a sweeping assault on the city. Overcoming the legions of iron minions and towering defenses at the city's entrance will take tremendous strength, but even that great victory may not be enough to overcome the madness that dwells below.

The Argent Tournament Begins![]

• As the might of the Scourge wanes under the pressure of Azeroth's heroes, the Argent Crusade have taken a foothold in Arthas's back yard. Off the northeastern coast of Icecrown, the Argent Crusade have sounded the call for the most bold and brave adventurers of the Horde and Alliance to take part in the Argent Tournament. Representatives of all ten faction capitals, from Undercity to Exodar, have traveled to the tournament grounds to find champions among their heroes who will prepare for the inevitable battle against the enemy of all living beings, the Lich King.

In Memoriam: Dave Arneson[]

• Blizzard Entertainment would like to dedicate Secrets of Ulduar in memory of Dave Arneson. We were greatly saddened by the news of Dave's passing. His work, passion, and creativity helped give life to an entirely new genre of gaming, and our fondest memories of playing Dungeons & Dragons continue to inspire us. Farewell, Dave, and thank you. You will be missed.

General[]

• Due to significant talent tree revisions, all players will have their talent points reimbursed. Several new spells and abilities have been added for select classes. Players will need to visit their class trainer to learn new spells.
• All Ground Mounts may now swim without dismounting the rider. Flying Mounts still may NOT, and will dismount the rider upon entering water.
• The Argent Tournament, a permanent in-game event, has come to Icecrown. Players interested in taking part in this event should visit the Argent Pavilion located on the west side of the tournament grounds. Features include:
  • New ways of gaining reputation with capital cities.
  • All new daily quests, achievements and titles.
  • New rare and epic items, tabards, pets, banners, faction shirts and mounts.
  • Mounted combat, and much more to come!
• Players level 40 and higher will now be able to visit their trainer to pay a one-time fee (of 1,000) and access the dual talent specialization feature.
• The achievement  Brew of the Year has been removed from the  Brewmaster meta-achievement. The achievement  Brew of the Month has been added in its place.
• Noblegarden has been redesigned into a week-long holiday with new items, quests, and more. Various achievements have been added, including the meta-achievement  Noble Gardener, which is now required for the meta-achievement  What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been.
• Applying a glyph no longer requires a Lexicon of Power. The same rules for switching between dual talent specializations now apply to switching glyphs and cannot be performed while in combat, Battlegrounds (except when Preparation is up), or Arenas (no exceptions).
• New music can be heard at the Argent Tournament grounds and in Ulduar.

PvP[]

Arenas[]

• Enemy Unit Frames: This feature is only available while in Arenas, with several options in the Interface Options.

Battlegrounds[]

Alterac Valley[]

• Drek'Thar, Vanndar Stormpike, the tower Heralds and Warmasters have received a hit point and damage upgrade in the level 80 version of Alterac Valley.

Strand of the Ancients[]

• Capturing the Southern Graveyard will now automatically capture both the East and West graveyards.
• Seaforium Barrels can now be looted while mounted, seen from anywhere in the zone, and found at the Central Graveyard.
• Teleporters can now be used while mounted and be seen from anywhere in the zone.

Lake Wintergrasp[]

Races[]

• [Command] (Orc Racial): Applies to hunter pets, and now correctly applies to death knight pets.
• [Gift of the Naaru] (Draenei Racial): The heal has been changed to an instant-cast heal-over-time.
• [Stoneform] (Dwarf Racial): No longer makes you immune to poison, disease and bleed effects for 8 seconds. Instead, using Stoneform will clear those effects when cast. Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes from 3 minutes.

Classes[]

General[]

• Armor Penetration Rating: All classes now receive 25% more benefit from Armor Penetration Rating.
• The damage threshold for [Fear], [Psychic Scream], [Hex], [Intimidating Shout], and [Turn Evil] to break early has been significantly reduced.
• Haste Rating: shamans, paladins, druids, and death knights now receive 30% more melee haste from Haste Rating.
• Hysteria, [Tricks of the Trade], Enrage, [Wrecking Crew], [Death Wish], [Arcane Power], [Owlkin Frenzy], Beast Within, and [Avenging Wrath] damage bonuses no longer stack together.
• Mana Regeneration: The amount of mana regeneration derived from intellect and spirit has been reduced by 40%; however, talents that allow for mana regeneration while in combat have been increased. As a result, in-combat regeneration for classes with those talents will stay the same, while out-of-combat regeneration will be lower.
• The shaman's Fire Elemental and Spirit Wolves, mage's Water Elemental and Mirror Images, and druid's Treants have all gained avoidance from area-of-effect damage similar to what warlock and hunter pets already have.
• Taunts: All player or pet-generated taunts now have a shared diminish category. In addition, Taunt-type effects from pets and from classes other than death knight, druid, paladin, and warrior have been set such that bosses can be made immune to them while still affected by death knight, druid, paladin, and warrior taunts.

Death knights[]

Druids[]

• [Abolish Poison]: Now ticks every 3 seconds, up from every 2. Now lasts 12 seconds, up from 8.
• [Faerie Fire] and [Faerie Fire (Feral)]: Now decreases armor of your target by 5%. Has a 5-minute duration, and a 40-second PvP duration.
• Feral Faerie Fire: The damage generated by this ability in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form has been increased substantially.
• [Innervate]: This spell no longer costs mana.
• [Lifebloom]: Mana cost of all ranks doubled. When Lifebloom blooms or is dispelled, it now refunds half the base mana cost of the spell per application of Lifebloom, and the heal effect is multiplied by the number of applications.
• [Maim]: This ability is now considered a stun, and shares a diminish category with all other stuns. It no longer has a chance to break from the target taking damage. Duration lowered to 1 second per combo point.
• [Pounce]: No longer affected by diminishing returns with other stuns, however, it now shares a diminishing return with [Cheap Shot] (Rogue).
• [Savage Defense]: Trainable at level 40 with [Dire Bear Form] as a prerequisite. When the Druid deals a melee critical strike, they gain a physical damage shield equal to 25% of their attack power. The next hit completely consumes the shield, regardless of how much damage was done. Only active in Bear Form.
• [Starfall]: Cooldown reduced to 90 seconds.
• Swipe: The Bear Form and Dire Bear Form version of this ability no longer has a targeting requirement and hits targets behind the druid and to the sides.
• Talents
  • Balance
  • Feral
  • Restoration

Hunters[]

• Ammunition: All types of gun and bow ammunition now stack to 1000. All quivers and ammo pouches no longer provide haste. 15% ranged haste is now built into the hunter's [Auto Shot].
• [Aspect of the Pack] is now raid wide, and radius increased from 30 yards to 40 yards.
• [Call Stabled Pet]: This new ability lets the hunter remotely access the stable. 30-minute cooldown.
• Cunning, Ferocity and Tenacity pets now all have +5% damage, +5% armor and +5% health bonuses. This should make more pet families feel viable, while additional talents have been added to distinguish a pet’s abilities based on its specializations.
• [Disengage]: Cooldown increased by 5 seconds.
• [Frost Trap]: If the target who triggers Frost Trap is immune to its effect, the Frost Trap area effect will no longer be triggered. Now reduces speed by 50% (previously 60%).
• Pets now inherit more spell hit from the hunter. Pets with magic attacks should not require a player to stack additional hit compared to pets with physical attacks.
• [Viper Sting] redesigned: Stings the target, draining 4% of mana over 8 seconds (up to a maximum of 8% of the caster's maximum mana), and energizing the hunter equal to 300% of the amount drained. Only one Sting per hunter can be active on any one target.
• Talents
  • Beast Mastery
    • [Animal Handler]: No longer reduces the cooldown of Master's Call, but instead increases the duration of the Master's Call effect by 3/6 seconds.
    • [Improved Aspect of the Hawk] now has a new spell effect.
  • Marksmanship
  • Survival
    • [Entrapment] redesigned: When your [Frost Trap], [Immolation Trap], [Explosive Trap] and [Snake Trap] are triggered, you entrap all afflicted targets, preventing them from moving for 2/4/6 seconds.
    • [Explosive Shot]: Base damage lowered by 10%. Attack power scaling reduced by 12.5%. The periodic damage from this ability no longer triggers [Judgement of Wisdom] and [Judgement of Light].
    • [Hunting Party]: This talent has been reduced to 3 points, and now increases your total agility by an additional 1/2/3%.
    • [Lock and Load] redesigned: You now have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target with [Freezing Trap], [Freezing Arrow] or Frost Trap and a 2/4/6% chance when you deal periodic damage with your Immolation Trap or [Black Arrow] to cause your next 2 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo. This now has a new spell effect and sound.
    • New Talent: [Black Arrow]: Fires a Black Arrow at the target, increasing all damage done by you to the target by 6% and doing periodic shadow damage for 15 seconds. 30-second cooldown. Shares a cooldown with all other traps.
    • [T.N.T.]: Increases damage done by Explosive Shot, Immolation Trap, and Explosive Trap by 2/4/6%.
    • [Trap Mastery]: This talent has been moved up to tier-2, up from tier-9, and is now a 3-point talent.
    • Trap Mastery, [Resourcefulness] and T.N.T. now all affect Black Arrow.
    • [Improved Wing Clip]: This talent has been removed.
    • [Wyvern Sting]: Duration increased from 12 seconds to 30 seconds. PvP duration reduced from 10 seconds to 6 seconds.
• Pets

Mages[]

Paladins[]

Priests[]

• [Abolish Disease]: Now cleanses a disease every 3 seconds, down from 5. Duration reduced from 20 seconds down to 12 seconds.
• [Devouring Plague]: This spell now has a new icon.
• [Divine Hymn] redesigned: You recite a Holy hymn, summoning the power of the Divine to assist you in your time of need. Heals 3 nearby lowest-health friendly party or raid targets for 4960-5208 every 2 seconds for 8 seconds, and increases healing done to them by 15% for 8 seconds. Maximum of 12 heals. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell. Cooldown increased to 6 minutes, up from 5.
• [Divine Spirit] is now trainable at level 31.
• [Holy Nova]: Mana cost reduced approximately 20%.
• [Improved Holy Concentration] removed.
• [Hymn of Hope] redesigned: You recite a Holy hymn, restoring hope to those in despair. Restores 3% mana to 3 nearby low mana friendly party or raid targets every 2 seconds for 8 seconds, and temporarily increases their total maximum mana by 20% for 8 seconds. After the effect expires, the mana is lost. Maximum of 12 mana restorations. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell. Cooldown increased to 6 minutes, up from 5.
• [Mental Agility], [Inner Focus], [Shadow Reach], [Shadow Focus] and [Shadow Affinity] now all affect [Psychic Horror].
• [Prayer of Healing]: This spell now heals the target's party, rather than being limited to just your direct party.
• [Shadowfiend]: Health scaling increased. Now receives 30% of the master's spell power. Mana return increased to 5%, up from 4%. The Shadowfiend now returns mana when its melee attacks land, rather than when it deals damage. No longer has a 75% reduced chance to be hit by melee, ranged and spells. Movement speed normalized to player movement speed. Tooltip revised. New [Shadowfiend] ability, [Shadowcrawl], teleports the Shadowfiend to an enemy target and increases its damage done by 15% for 5 seconds.
• Talents
  • Discipline
  • Holy
  • Shadow

Rogues[]

Shaman[]

Warlocks[]

Warriors[]

Professions[]

Alchemy[]

Blacksmithing[]

Cooking[]

Enchanting[]

• Added a recipe for enchanting staves with spell power (Enchant Staff - Spellpower and Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower), available from Vanessa Sellers in Dalaran City.
• Greatly increased the drop rate of recipes found in pre-Lich King dungeons and raids.
• Several recipes in the 250-300 skill range have been rebalanced, and the reagent requirements have been reduced.
• Some enchants now have level restrictions. Note: the enchant is never removed from the item to which it's applied, however, the player no longer receives its benefit until they reach the required level. Any enchants modified in this way have had their tooltips updated.
• The enchanting interface now correctly sorts grey recipes by skill difficulty.

Engineering[]

First Aid[]

• You no longer need to complete the "Triage" quest to attain Artisan First Aid. Instead you can learn the Artisan skill from the trainers in the capital cities.
• You no longer need to learn First Aid from books. The trainers have finally done their reading and are able to teach you the same thing.

Fishing[]

Gathering Skills[]

Herbalism[]

• Find Herbs no longer tracks [Glowcaps].
• Northrend herbs now yield more herbs on average.
• The herbalism requirement for gathering  [Tiger Lily] has been reduced to 375.
• The time it takes to gather herbs has been reduced.

Inscription[]

Jewelcrafting[]

• Added a new recipe to cut [Black Diamonds].
• Added a recipe for  [Shifting Twilight Opal] to the daily jewelcrafting vendor.
• Added recipes for superior-quality PVP rings and necklaces to Northrend jewelcrafting trainers.

Leatherworking[]

Mining[]

• Northrend deposits now despawn 1 minute after mining them. This change was made to speed up respawning when nodes were partially looted.

Tailoring[]

• Added new recipes for epic gear, found rarely on Ulduar bosses. These recipes are unbound and can be traded.
• Added recipes for superior-quality PVP cloaks to Northrend tailoring trainers.
• The [Lightweave] tailoring enchant now sometimes grants a temporary spell power bonus instead of dealing direct damage to your target.
• Several lower-level items crafted by tailors have received major changes to make them more appealing.

Quests[]

Dungeons and Raids[]

• New dungeon maps have been added for all Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
• Eye of Eternity
  • Malygos will now properly delay before breathing after a Vortex on Heroic difficulty.

• Naxxramas
  • The Chains of Kel'Thuzad will no longer reset the raid's threat.
  • The Portal of Shadows created by Shade of Naxxramas will only persist for a maximum of one minute.
  • Players with pets who attempt to use the Obedience Crystals in Naxxramas will have their pets dismissed automatically so they may possess an Understudy.

• Vault of Archavon
  • Archavon, Emalon, and their allies will now banish themselves 10 minutes prior to the beginning of a Lake Wintergrasp battle. A warning will be given 15 minutes prior to the start of Wintergrasp. They will not banish themselves if in combat.

User Interface[]

• New Advanced features for quest tracking are now available. Players will need to activate this option within the Interface panel.
• A new Color Blind option is available under the Interface panel.
• Spell Effect Level setting has been split into Particle Density and Projected Textures. Previously, Spell Effect Level controlled both of these features.
• Added new Video Mode Ultra (should only be used on the highest-end systems).
• Shadow Quality has a new higher level of detail. The slider for adjusting Shadow Quality remains the same, though there is an additional step at the high end of the spectrum.
• A new feature has been added allowing players to allocate talent points before confirming they’d like to spend them. This feature must be turned on in the Interface Options.
• New high-resolution player textures for Northrend armor sets have been added. Players can enable this feature by setting Player Textures to High in the Effects Panel of the Video Options.
• Players can now return items purchased with an alternate currency back to the original vendor within 2 hours of the purchase time for the original cost of the item. Stackable items (such as Frozen Orbs and gems) and charged items that can be purchased with an alternate currency are not eligible.
• Confirmation boxes have been added to purchases over 150 gold.
• The calendar now supports a guild-wide sign-up sheet, allowing the event organizer to invite his or her entire guild.
• Class roles (i.e. damage, tanking, healing) have been added to the Looking For Group feature. Class roles will be displayed when sorting through the Looking For More section.
• Quest and Achievement tracking are now combined in a new Objectives Tracking window. Advanced features can be activated from the Objectives Options panel.
• On-Use items will display in the Objectives Tracking when tracking a quest that uses them. No more searching through your bags for that on-use quest item!
• Health and Fuel/Ammo bars have been added to the vehicle interface whenever operating a vehicle.
• The mini-map has been optimized for better performance. Displays for vehicles, class colors, and off-map pings have been added as well.
• Players first entering any dungeon that will result in a lock-out timer will be warned if they are going to be saved to the instance. This warning will include an option to port to the nearest graveyard before being saved.
• New elite mob frames have been added for V-Key frames.
• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum - http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114

Items[]

Glyphs[]

Death knight[]

Druid[]

Hunter[]

Mage[]

Paladin[]

Priest[]

Rogue[]

Shaman[]

Warlock[]

Warrior[]

Mac[]

• Support for Logitech G-15 and G-19 keyboards with LCD displays has been added.
• A number of performance and smoothness enhancements have been implemented.
• The new high-res player textures are supported on dual processor systems running OS X 10.5.
• A crashing bug involving chat channel commands has been fixed.
• A problem involving window focus and foreground/background status has been fixed.
• Movie recording feature has had some user interface improvements.

Bug fixes[]

• Leaving a group while in an instance will now port you to the nearest graveyard rather than your  [Hearthstone] location.
• Yaaarrrr! now has a detailed tooltip.

Death knight[]

• [Acclimation]: This talent will no longer sometimes grant nature resistance while fighting Sapphiron.
• [Anti-Magic Zone]: This ability will no longer cause strange absorb messages in the combat log and floating combat text.
• [Dancing Rune Weapon]: Fixed a bug making it trigger an unusual number of effects from the weapon equipped by the death knight. In addition, it will now only echo death knight spells whose primary purpose is dealing damage. This pet will no longer break stealth on nearby targets and attack them. Also corrected a bug making the effect last 8 seconds longer than intended.
• [Death Coil]: This spell will no longer sometimes cause the death knight to animate a swing twice.
• [Death Grip]: This spell will no longer automatically cast on the nearest enemy when no valid target is selected.
• Death Runes: Fixed a bug where it was possible when using two abilities with the same rune cost to not get correctly granted a second Death Rune when appropriate.
• [Ebon Plaguebringer]: Multiple death knights can now use this debuff against a target without overwriting each other.
• [Howling Blast]: Each rank now properly shares a cooldown with the other ranks.
• [Necrosis]: The damage from this ability will no longer benefit multiple times from damage increasing effects.
• [Pestilence]: This ability will now spread disease centered on a position between the death knight and its target, rather than the target’s center position (for very large creatures, this used to cause no disease spread at all).
• [Raise Ally]: The buff from this ability can no longer be right clicked to cancel. In order to end the effect, the player controlling the Risen Ghoul must right click on the unit portrait and dismiss the pet. In addition, using this ability on a player whose level is too low will now give a “Target is too low level” error message instead of “You have no target.”
• [Raise Dead]: This pet now despawns instantly when it dies. In addition, this ability can no longer be used while riding any type of vehicle. The Risen Ghoul is also now properly immune to Charm, Fear, Sleep, and Horror.
• [Rune of Cinderglacier]: Charges of this will now only be used if the target actually took damage from the attack.
• [Scent of Blood]: This talent can no longer be triggered by environmental damage.
• [Scourge Strike]: The tooltip incorrectly stated it did 60% weapon damage increased by 9% from diseases, when it was actually 45% increased 11% from diseases. The tooltip has been corrected, but the damage done is unchanged.
•  [Sigil of Awareness]: The tooltip on this incorrectly indicated it added much more damage than it actually did. The tooltip has been corrected to show the actual bonus.
• [Summon Gargoyle]: The Gargoyle will no longer re-attack rogues after they [Vanish], or night elves who use [Shadowmeld]. Monsters will stop trying to chase a Gargoyle after it flies away. The debuff on the target indicating he or she is being pursued by a Gargoyle will no longer display the duration, and will be removed when the buff is removed from the death knight. Max duration in the tooltip changed to 40 seconds.

Druid[]

Hunter[]

Mage[]

Paladin[]

Priest[]

Rogue[]

• [Master of Subtlety]: The amount of time remaining on the damage bonus for this talent is now displayed.

Shaman[]

Warlock[]

• [Dark Pact]: Can no longer be cast when the warlock has an enslaved demon pet that does not have mana.
• [Demonic Circle: Summon]: This spell can no longer be cast while on a transport or other moving object.
• [Fel Synergy]: This talent will no longer heal vehicles the warlock is riding.
• [Ritual of Summoning]: This spell can no longer be cast while on a transport or other moving object.
• [Unstable Affliction]: Feedback damage from dispelling this debuff will no longer be modified by effects on the victim which modify the damage the victim does.

Warrior[]

Items[]

Racials[]

• [Blood Fury]: The tooltip on the attack power version of this ability will now tell how much attack power it grants to the orc.
• [Shadowmeld]: Using this ability will no longer cause friendly players to deselect the night elf.

External links[]