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Patch Notes — Patch Notes · WoW Classic

Explore the history of updates, balancing changes, and gameplay improvements.

Original World of Warcraft patch history (2004–2006), with modern Classic updates in a separate archive.

21 updates of 21

Sources reviewed:

2006

9 updates
Minor patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.12.1 — Riding skill and world PvP fixes

Published: UnknownDeployed: 11 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

A follow-up to Drums of War.

General

  • Level-40 mounts require Riding 75 and level-60 mounts Riding 150; existing mount owners receive the appropriate skill.

PvP

  • World PvP buffs in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands persist after death within the zone.
  • Stealthed players no longer earn tower-capture Honor; Lordaeron’s Blessing cannot be dispelled.
  • Tower ownership and Silithyst turn-ins no longer interrupt resting players; Fungal Vale deaths use the controlled Crown Guard Tower graveyard.
Show more · 7 changes

Classes— Warlock

  • Relogging with a summoned pet correctly credits a Soul Shard; pet audio is available in every language.

Classes— Warrior

  • Canceling Bloodrage during a duel or PvP no longer drops the Warrior out of combat.

Items

  • Most item enchants stop consuming player-effect slots; armor-set bonuses update correctly when equipment changes.
  • The four-piece Plagueheart bonus applies to Corruption, and Blade of Eternal Darkness triggers only when damage is dealt.

User Interface

  • Purchased quest items appear in the tracker; Battle Map dragging and action-bar window positions are corrected.

Bug Fixes

  • Disenchanting no longer loses both the item and reagent if its window closes or inventory is full; instant abilities correctly trigger weapon procs.
  • Naxxramas teleport placement and Anub’Rekhan crashes are corrected; Spirit Tap no longer incorrectly triggers from totems.
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.12.0 — Drums of War

Published: UnknownDeployed: 28 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Cross-realm battlegrounds and Rogue talent revisions.

PvP

  • Battleground groups span multiple realms; world PvP objectives arrive in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands.
  • Repeated Honorable Kills diminish by 10% per kill instead of 25%; Deserter continues expiring while offline.

Talents— Rogue

  • Rogue talent revisions refund spent points.
Show more · 25 changes

Classes— Warlock

  • Life Tap at rank 3+ gains 80% of bonus spell damage before further talent/item modifiers.
  • Siphon Life benefits from Shadow Mastery; a pet despawning without dying refunds a Soul Shard.
  • Howl of Terror uses Fear’s resistance checks; Aftermath and Improved Shadow Bolt remain applicable after the caster dies.

User Interface

  • Floating combat text and automatic quest tracking become available.
  • V displays enemies, Shift-V friendly units, and Ctrl-V both; blue-or-better item destruction and guild disbanding receive confirmation dialogs.
  • Bind-on-pickup rolls allow three minutes; Auto Self Cast and hidden party/raid/guild addon messages become available.

General

  • Temporary threat-reduction effects expire without leaving the player permanently below their normal threat level.
  • The haste/slow formula is corrected: stacking effects previously multiplying speed now multiply attack/cast time; affected tooltips are adjusted.

Classes— Druid

  • Cat Form gains innate threat reduction; Ferocious Bite scales further with Attack Power and its rank-5 book drops from The Beast.
  • Furor works in Cat Form again; weaker Rip effects cannot overwrite stronger ones.

Talents— Hunter

  • Ferocity affects non-physical pet abilities, including Lightning Breath and Thunderstomp; Improved Concussive Shot can land after its caster dies.

Classes— Mage

  • Arcane Power and Power Infusion cannot be combined through timing; Evocation is unavailable while silenced.
  • Ignite, Impact, Frostbite, and Winter’s Chill still apply if their spell reaches the target after the Mage dies.

Classes— Priest

  • Psychic Scream uses Fear’s resistance checks; Spirit of Redemption correctly cooperates with the Twisting Nether resurrection effect.

Classes— Rogue

  • Vanish removes Hunter’s Mark and Mind Vision and preserves Combo Points; Pickpocket can target enemies already in combat while the Rogue is stealthed.
  • Eviscerate, Garrote, and Rupture gain improved Attack Power scaling; Eviscerate rank 9 drops from Blackhand Assassins in Blackrock Spire.
  • Relentless Strikes no longer activates when a finisher misses; Sap always removes an enemy Rogue’s stealth.

Classes— Shaman

  • Chain Heal chooses the most injured next target by absolute missing health and prioritizes raid members when the first target is in the raid.

Classes— Warrior

  • Bloodthirst includes creature-type Attack Power bonuses; Shield Slam is corrected so one hit does not remove multiple beneficial effects.

Items

  • Thunderfury can be equipped in either hand; Warbear Leather stacks to 20; Argent Shoulders no longer require a Righteous Orb.
  • Normal-mount items become rare and swift-mount items epic; Benediction/Anathema transformation cooldowns cannot be bypassed by zoning or relogging.

Professions

  • Sapper Charge damage can be resisted; Explosive Sheep deal Fire damage.
  • Goblin Land Mines and Compact Harvest Reapers no longer block other engineering devices while alive; Harvest Reapers receive a 10-minute cooldown.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Uldaman’s Shadowforge Ambushers stop being elite and Stone Stewards respawn every two hours; several Zul’Farrak waves and enemies are weakened.
  • Ahn’Qiraj emperors cannot immediately Unbalancing Strike or Arcane Burst after teleporting; Andronov’s Aura of Command no longer generates threat.
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.11.0 — Shadow of the Necropolis

Published: UnknownDeployed: 21 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Naxxramas and new class progression.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Naxxramas opens as a 40-player raid.

Talents— Mage

  • Mage talent revisions refund spent points.
Show more · 19 changes

Classes— Druid

  • Innervate becomes trainable at level 40; Swiftmend replaces it as the 31-point Restoration talent.
  • Swiftmend consumes Rejuvenation or Regrowth for an instant heal; Nature’s Swiftness instant spells do not consume Nature’s Grace.

Classes— Mage

  • Evocation cooldown becomes 8 minutes; Pyroblast loses its cooldown.
  • Evocation becomes trainable at level 20; Arcane Explosion becomes instant and does not consume Presence of Mind.
  • Improved Scorch’s vulnerability lasts 30 seconds; other absorption shields are consumed before Mana Shield.
  • Arcane Power takes precedence over Power Infusion instead of stacking; Cold Snap always resets Frost Ward, even when Fire Ward started its shared cooldown.

Classes— Warrior

  • Shield Slam costs 20 Rage and scales with shield block value.

General

  • Talent-reset cost decays by 5 gold per month to a minimum of 10 gold; temporary weapon enhancements survive zoning and logout.
  • Fear break chance uses final damage after modifiers; damage-over-time is less likely to break Fear. Periodic heals snapshot healing power when cast.

Classes— Paladin

  • Illumination refunds Mana correctly after rapidly successive critical heals; Seal of Command critical hits can trigger Vengeance.
  • Benediction no longer double-discounts Seal of Justice; Divine Favor cannot retroactively turn a completed heal into a critical heal.

Classes— Shaman

  • Lightning Bolt’s Mana cost falls by approximately 17%; Healing Stream Totem gains bonus-healing scaling.
  • Magma and Searing Totems gain bonus-spell-damage scaling; Clearcasting is consumed before Elemental Mastery when both are active.

Talents— Warrior

  • Improved Revenge stun chances become 15/30/45%; Improved Bloodrage generates its added Rage when activated.
  • Sweeping Strikes correctly handles Execute’s 20% threshold, Whirlwind’s damage range, armor, and attacks that deal no damage.

Items

  • A keyring stores permanent dungeon keys: 4 slots at levels 1–39, 8 at 40–49, and 12 at 50–60.
  • Many leather, enchanting materials, herbs, and reagents gain larger stack sizes; Warsong Gulch vendors add Exalted epic leggings.

Professions

  • Cenarion Circle offers new nature-resistance cloth, leather, and plate recipes; Nightfall changes from reducing resistance by 60 to increasing spell damage taken by 15%.
  • Black Amnesty, Blackfury, Ebon Hand, Blackguard, Nightfall, Dark Iron Bracers, and Fiery Chain Girdle cost fewer materials; engineering grenades/mortars share controlled-stun diminishing returns.
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.10.0 — Storms of Azeroth

Published: UnknownDeployed: 14 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Weather, dungeon-set upgrades, and Priest talent changes.

General

  • Weather is introduced; level-60 quest experience converts into gold.
  • Connected flight paths can be selected as a single journey; spells that remove effects check whether an eligible effect exists before spending resources.

Items

  • Dungeon armor upgrade quests include new encounters and epic pieces.
Show more · 11 changes

Dungeons & Raids

  • Stratholme, Scholomance, and Blackrock Depths allow five players; Blackrock Spire allows ten.

Talents— Priest

  • Priest talent revisions refund points; Holy Fire becomes trainable for all Priests at level 20.

Classes— Priest

  • Mind Soothe and Troll Shadowguard become instant; Prayer of Fortitude gains greater range and area.
  • Inner Fire becomes a 20-charge armor buff lasting 10 minutes, with one charge lost per melee or ranged hit.
  • Shadowform reduces all physical damage, including ranged attacks; racial Priest spells receive reduced replacement-training costs.
  • Heal/Greater Heal cap at 3-second casts with roughly 10% more healing per Mana and unchanged healing per second; Holy Nova loses its cooldown, and Power Word: Shield gains a small bonus-healing coefficient.

Classes— Hunter

  • Improved Aspect of the Hawk lasts 12 seconds instead of 8; the pet turtle’s Shell Shield no longer roots or pacifies and its cooldown falls to 3 minutes.
  • Bestial Wrath no longer generates Hunter threat; Hunter’s Mark no longer triggers caster procs.

Classes— Paladin

  • Holy Shield costs approximately 15% less Mana and gains spell-damage scaling; Holy Shock works with Divine Favor/Illumination and costs less Mana.

Classes— Rogue

  • Poisons can be applied without breaking Stealth; Slice and Dice cannot miss or be avoided, Blind cannot be dodged/parried, and Blade Flurry considers its secondary target’s armor.

Classes— Shaman

  • Healing Wave costs approximately 9% less Mana; Flurry lasts its intended three swings and equipped items can be used in Ghost Wolf.

The archived Blizzard header incorrectly prints “3/28/05”. The release date is cross-checked against a March 28, 2006 contemporary report, not copied from the typo.

Minor patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.9.4 — Guild recruitment and transport timing

Published: UnknownDeployed: 2 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Recruitment tools and small movement fixes.

User Interface

  • A Guild Recruitment chat channel is added, disabled by default.

Bug Fixes

  • Local movement jumps and Intel Mac transport timing are corrected.
Minor patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.9.3 — Love is in the Air and Intel Mac support

Published: UnknownDeployed: 3 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

A holiday event and platform update.

General

  • Love is in the Air arrives; native Intel Mac support makes WoW a Universal Application.

Talents— Paladin

  • Eye for an Eye retaliates while stunned and after a lethal critical spell.

Classes— Rogue

  • Deadly Poison V increases from 105 to 120 charges.
Minor patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.9.2 — Movement smoothing

Published: UnknownDeployed: 1 changeOriginal Blizzard archive

A terrain-movement correction.

Bug Fixes

  • Characters no longer visibly jump between nearby terrain positions.
Minor patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.9.1 — Shapeshifting and disconnect corrections

Published: UnknownDeployed: 2 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

A follow-up stability and class-bug pass.

Talents— Druid

  • Heart of the Wild preserves health percentage when shifting, preventing unintended healing from form changes.

Bug Fixes

  • Disconnect issues and Charge/Feral Charge desynchronization when entering water are corrected.
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.9.0 — The Gates of Ahn’Qiraj

Published: UnknownDeployed: 18 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

The war effort, linked auction houses, and Paladin talent overhaul.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Realm war efforts open the 20-player Ruins and 40-player Temple of Ahn’Qiraj.

General

  • Auction houses share listings within each faction; neutral auction houses are linked separately.
Show more · 16 changes

Talents— Paladin

  • Paladin talent revisions refund spent points.

Classes— Paladin

  • Greater Blessings cost twice the single-target Mana and require a reagent; they affect every raid member sharing the target’s class for 15 minutes.
  • Holy Shock now heals allies or damages enemies; Exorcism and Holy Wrath also work on Demons.
  • Righteous Fury replaces Seal of Fury, is trainable at level 16, adds 60% Holy threat, and lasts 30 minutes.
  • Divine Shield, Divine Protection, and Blessing of Protection apply one-minute Forbearance. Seal of Command procs deal 70% weapon damage.
  • Judgement of Command deals immediate damage, halved against unstunned targets; debuff Judgements last 10 seconds and refresh through melee hits.

Classes— Warrior

  • Bloodthirst becomes 45% Attack Power; Improved Execute and other discounts correctly convert saved Rage into damage.
  • Enrage changes to 5/10/15/20/25% extra damage; Unbridled Wrath triggers only on normal melee swings.

Classes— Hunter

  • Turtle Shell Shield reduces all damage by 50% for 10 seconds; boars gain Charge and gorillas gain Thunderstomp.
  • Base pet movement speed is standardized, including old pets; periodic damage no longer dazes Aspect of the Cheetah/Pack users.

Classes— Shaman

  • Tranquil Air Totem reduces nearby party threat by 20%; elemental hits can trigger Lightning Shield.

Classes— Warlock

  • Searing Pain costs 10% less Mana; Infernal and Doomguard gain 10% armor and 30% damage.

Talents— Mage

  • Blizzard can trigger Arcane Concentration Clearcasting; Conjure Water rank 7 creates ten waters instead of four.

Racials

  • Troll Berserking becomes activated: 10–30% melee, ranged, and casting speed for 10 seconds, scaling with missing health; cooldown becomes 3 minutes.
  • Blood Fury applies a healing-received penalty instead of its old Attack Power penalty; Hardiness is restricted to stun effects.

Professions

  • Tailors can make Soul Shard bags, beginning at 20 slots; fishing schools and floating wreckage create new gathering opportunities.

2005

10 updates
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.8.0 — Dragons of Nightmare

Published: UnknownDeployed: 15 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Emerald Dream dragons, Silithus, and Druid talents.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Four corrupted Green Dragonflight bosses guard the Great Tree portals; Silithus gains high-level content.

Talents— Druid

  • Druid talent revisions refund spent points.
Show more · 13 changes

General

  • Instant-attack Attack Power uses fixed speeds: 3.3 for two-handed weapons, 1.7 for daggers, and 2.4 for other one-handers; normal weapon swings are unchanged.

Items

  • Vendors allow buying back the last 12 items sold during the current session.
  • Item hit chance offsets the dual-wield miss penalty; transforming Benediction/Anathema or Thunderstrike/Shadowstrike preserves enchants and durability.

Classes— Druid

  • Hurricane becomes trainable at level 40, targets an area up to 30 yards away, and benefits from Nature’s Reach; multiple Hurricanes no longer stack their slow.
  • Tranquility’s cooldown becomes 5 minutes and Mana cost falls 25%; Swipe loses its own cooldown.

Classes— Rogue

  • Ambush, Backstab, and Sinister Strike use normalized Attack Power; Blade Flurry correctly copies special attacks and Vanish removes Frost Armor’s Chilled effect.

Classes— Warrior

  • Mortal Strike, Overpower, and Whirlwind use normalized Attack Power; Charge is immediately available after a trinket removes immobilization.

Classes— Warlock

  • Death Coil gains a short undiminished Fear with a shorter cooldown and higher Mana cost; Curse of Agony lasts 24 seconds, keeping approximately the same total damage.
  • Bane also reduces Soul Fire/Hellfire casting time; Intensity and Pyroclasm affect Soul Fire. Soul Link’s damage split and Ruin’s critical-damage bonus are reduced.

Professions

  • Cenarion Circle reputation unlocks Silithid leatherworking armor; Twilight’s Hammer encoded messages award tailoring and blacksmithing recipes.
  • Blue, Green, and Black Dragonscale armor gain set bonuses; Artisan First Aid, Fishing, and Cooking quests require level 35 instead of their old minimum.
  • Expert Alchemy now requires 125 skill; crafted enchanting wands become green-quality items with increased damage.

PvP

  • Battleground victories award three Marks of Honor and losses one; Warsong Gulch adds levels 10–19. Alterac Valley starts with 20 players per side, admits players in balanced pairs, and reduces NPC power by 15–30%.
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.7.0 — Rise of the Blood God

Published: UnknownDeployed: 15 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Zul’Gurub, Arathi Basin, and Hunter talent changes.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Zul’Gurub opens as a 20-player raid.

PvP

  • Arathi Basin supports 15 players per faction and a race to 2,000 resources.
  • Battleground holidays run Thursday midnight through Tuesday morning, rewarding more Honor and reputation for objectives; Warsong Gulch/Arathi Basin use 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, and 60 brackets in this patch.
Show more · 12 changes

General

  • The debuff limit doubles from 8 to 16; Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza is added.

Talents— Hunter

  • Beast Mastery and Survival talents are revised and Hunter points refunded.

Classes— Druid

  • Cat Form gains 1 Attack Power per Agility, higher base weapon damage, and stronger Rip, Rake, and Ferocious Bite; extra Bite Energy converts into more damage.
  • Tiger’s Fury uses a 1-second personal cooldown instead of the global cooldown and lasts 6 seconds; Entangling Roots follows standard long-duration PvP crowd-control timing.

Classes— Hunter

  • Pet skills are refunded; pets can learn four active abilities plus armor, stamina, and school resistances. Growl costs no training points.
  • Pet untraining starts at 10 silver and rises to 10 gold; pet experience uses the pet’s level rather than the Hunter’s, while kills must still reward Hunter experience.
  • Cats learn Prowl, birds Screech, scorpids a five-stack poison, and wolves Furious Howl affecting the party’s next attack within 15 yards.
  • Ranged Weapon Specialization affects all ranged attacks; trap resistance uses Hunter skill rather than trap rank, and Feign Death cannot be resisted by players.

Classes— Paladin

  • Hammer of Wrath becomes available at level 44 as a Holy attack against wounded enemies; Blessing of Sacrifice cannot share damage with a dead Paladin.

Classes— Priest

  • Vampiric Embrace heals for 20% of actual Shadow damage, including criticals and modifiers; Focused Casting becomes free and no longer triggers the global cooldown.

Classes— Warlock

  • Conflagrate becomes instant with higher damage and Mana cost; Felhunter Spell Lock also silences, and Demonic Sacrifice buffs cannot be dispelled.

Classes— Warrior

  • Retaliation allows up to 30 counterattacks in 15 seconds and cannot counterattack while stunned; changing stances preserves Retaliation, Recklessness, and Shield Wall.

The combined archive carries a September 22 revision heading and also includes 1.7.1. The original 1.7.0 release is September 13.

Minor patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.6.1 — Blackwing Lair and Warrior fixes

Published: UnknownDeployed: 3 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Corrections following the Blackwing Lair update.

Classes— Warrior

  • Bloodthirst’s damage becomes 40% Attack Power.

Talents— Warrior

  • Rank 3 Improved Shield Block correctly grants the extra block.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Blackwing Lair drakes remain in their laboratory; Vaelastrasz correctly exits combat when his timer expires.
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.6.0 — Assault on Blackwing Lair

Published: UnknownDeployed: 14 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Blackwing Lair, Darkmoon Faire, and class talent revisions.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Blackwing Lair opens as a 40-player max-level raid.
  • Blackwing Lair receives an access quest; Scholomance and Stratholme lose several creature spawns, and Stratholme permits repeat Ramstein/Baron attempts after a failed pull.

General

  • Darkmoon Faire and city Battlemasters are introduced.
Show more · 11 changes

Talents— Warrior

  • Warrior talents are revised: Bloodthirst becomes an instant attack for 30% Attack Power; Shield Slam replaces Shield Discipline.
  • Improved Hamstring becomes a three-rank 5/10/15% chance to root for 5 seconds; Improved Berserker Rage grants 5/10 Rage on use.
  • Death Wish can remove Fear; Piercing Howl loses its prerequisite, and Improved Demoralizing Shout becomes 8/16/24/32/40% stronger.
  • Shield Slam replaces Shield Discipline, requires Concussion Blow, and has a 50% chance to dispel one magic effect while dealing shield damage and threat.

Talents— Warlock

  • Warlock talent revisions refund spent points.

Classes— Warlock

  • Demonic Sacrifice’s Voidwalker buff restores 3% maximum Health every 4 seconds; the Felhunter buff restores 2% maximum Mana every 4 seconds.
  • Demon Skin/Armor regenerate Health in combat; Improved Healthstone’s bonus applies to other players using the stone.

Racials

  • Will of the Forsaken’s lasting immunity falls to 5 seconds; Cannibalize restores 35% maximum Health over 10 seconds, and Stoneform can remove self-applied poisons.

Classes— Druid

  • Shapeshifting removes frost-based movement slows; Feral Charge still interrupts targets immune to its immobilization.

Classes— Mage

  • Frost Nova and Blast Wave still deal damage to immobilization-immune targets; rank-3 Arcane Instability correctly adds 3%, rather than 2%, periodic damage.

Professions

  • Thorium Brotherhood, Timbermaw, and Argent Dawn unlock additional reputation recipes across crafting professions; Argent Dawn also offers a First Aid recipe at Honored.

The archived page combines 1.6.0 and 1.6.1. Its August 2 heading belongs to the later update, not the Blackwing Lair release.

Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.5.0 — Battlegrounds

Published: UnknownDeployed: 7 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley bring structured battleground PvP.

PvP

  • Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley open; battleground Spirit Guides resurrect dead Hunters with their pets.

Classes— Warlock

  • Improved Voidwalker and Improved Succubus enhance all their spells by 10/20/30%; Master Summoner additionally cuts summoning Mana costs by 20/40%.
  • Demonic Sacrifice and Siphon Life become instant; Siphon Life damage rises and it and Curse of Agony can coexist from different Warlocks.
  • A newly summoned Infernal remains enslaved for 5 minutes; Honorable Kills can provide Soul Shards through Drain Soul or Shadowburn.
Show more · 3 changes

Classes— Hunter

  • Volley damage increases; Unleashed Fury grants its full listed bonus, and Tranquilizing Shot benefits from Efficiency and Hawk Eye.

Classes— Shaman

  • Totems use the caster’s level; Windfury and Flametongue Totems enchant only the main hand, and Grounding Totem no longer redirects certain area spells.

Classes— Rogue

  • Vanish reacts faster against incoming attacks; dead targets lose Combo Points, while Blind in a duel no longer removes them.
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.4.0 — The Call to War

Published: UnknownDeployed: 8 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

The original Honor system and outdoor events.

PvP

  • The Honor system introduces PvP rankings and rewards.

General

  • Children’s Week, the recurring Gurubashi Arena chest, and elemental invasions are documented.
Show more · 6 changes

Talents— Mage

  • Improved Scorch gains 20/40/60/80/100% application chances for a 2% Fire vulnerability stacking five times; Improved Mana Shield reduces Mana spent per absorbed damage by 10/20%.
  • Arcane Brilliance becomes available as a level-56 loot-learned party buff; Pyroblast and Fireball damage-over-time can coexist.

Classes— Druid

  • Shapeshifting removes Polymorph; Feral Charge costs 5 Rage instead of an erroneous 10, and Entangling Roots receives PvP diminishing returns.

Classes— Priest

  • Holy Nova deals damage and heals party members within 10 yards without generating threat; Holy Fire’s cast time falls from 5 to 4 seconds with a stronger, longer periodic component.

Classes— Rogue

  • Deselecting a target preserves Combo Points; Preparation resets Blade Flurry, Kick locks the school of interrupted channels, and Lethality no longer increases Ambush critical damage.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Epic Hunter and Priest quest chains are added, together with Paladin/Warlock epic-mount quests and Warlock Infernal and Ritual of Doom quests.
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.3.0 — Ruins of the Dire Maul

Published: UnknownDeployed: 8 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Dire Maul, outdoor raid bosses, and dungeon group limits.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Dire Maul opens for five-player groups at levels 56–60; Azuregos and Lord Kazzak become outdoor raid encounters.
  • Raid-group limits are 40 for Molten Core/Onyxia, 15 for Blackrock Spire, five for Dire Maul, and ten for other dungeons in this patch.

General

  • Meeting Stones help assemble dungeon groups; they are not the later summoning implementation.
Show more · 5 changes

Classes— Mage

  • Mage Armor is trainable at level 34, retains 30% Mana regeneration while casting, and adds magic resistance; Improved Blizzard refreshes its 1.5-second chill every damage tick, extended to 4.5 seconds by Permafrost.

Classes— Warrior

  • Thunder Clap becomes Physical instead of Nature damage; Execute preserves unspent Rage on a miss, and dodged special attacks enable Overpower.

Classes— Warlock

  • Nightfall’s proc chances become 2/4%; a Shadow Bolt already being cast cannot consume Shadow Trance, and Curse of Agony scales with bonus Shadow damage.

Classes— Shaman

  • Reincarnation no longer causes resurrection sickness; Tremor Totem receives a larger radius and more frequent pulses.

Classes— Rogue

  • Zone-specific footlockers provide lockpicking practice, from Durnholde Keep to Tyr’s Hand; very high-end gems are removed from junk boxes and pickpocketing.
Minor patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.2.3 — European localization update

Published: 1 changeOriginal Blizzard archive

A small localization update documented on February 4.

General

  • French and German localization corrections are the stated scope; cross-faction dueling remains available.

The archived page repeats earlier notes. Only its new localization/dueling notice is summarized; deployment date is unknown.

Minor patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.2.2 — Seal of the Crusader and loot fixes

Published: 2 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

A Paladin damage fix plus loot-permission and auction-house corrections.

Classes— Paladin

  • Seal of the Crusader no longer incorrectly increases damage per swing alongside attack speed.

Bug Fixes

  • Group Loot permissions and auction-house scrolling freezes are corrected.

The page date is preserved. Conflicting historical deployment timelines are not used to infer a regional release date.

2004

2 updates
Major patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006

Patch 1.2.0 — Mysteries of Maraudon

Published: UnknownDeployed: 7 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

Maraudon, holiday activities, and new interface options.

Dungeons & Raids

  • Maraudon opens in Desolace for levels 40–49.

User Interface

  • Players can hide their equipped helm and cloak; a Looking for Group chat channel is added.
Show more · 5 changes

General

  • Faction mounts from other races become purchasable at Exalted reputation.

Talents— Warrior

  • One-Handed Weapon Specialization grants 2% damage per rank; Mortal Strike deals weapon damage plus 85/110/135/160 rather than percentage-based damage.

Classes— Druid

  • Hurricane correctly requires channeling; this fixes the talent casting without its intended channel.

Professions

  • High-level-zone fishing is restored but vendor value and green-item catches are reduced; Artisan First Aid questgivers teach Heavy Mageweave, Runecloth, and Heavy Runecloth Bandages.

PvP

  • Gurubashi free-for-all combat is confined to the arena floor; duels gain a short countdown before combat starts.

Blizzard announcement

Minor patchOriginal Vanilla · 2004–2006Announcement

Patch 1.1.1 — Launch-era client adjustments

Published: 7 changesOriginal Blizzard archive

The original November 17 client notes, before the retail launch.

General

  • Spirit Healer durability loss becomes 25% instead of 100%; resurrection sickness lasts at most 10 minutes.
  • Mark of the Wild, Arcane Intellect, and Power Word: Fortitude lose their reagent requirements.

Classes

  • Growl and Taunt no longer require Rage or trigger the global cooldown.
Show more · 4 changes

Classes— Druid

  • Growl loses its Rage cost and global cooldown; Bear Form generates improved threat, and Cower has stronger threat reduction with a cooldown.

Classes— Warrior

  • Taunt loses its Rage cost and global cooldown; Defensive Stance is adjusted to hold enemy attention more effectively.

Classes— Shaman

  • Reincarnation becomes a level-30 passive allowing self-resurrection once per hour.

Classes— Paladin

  • Judgement is learned at level 4, Divine Protection and Seal of the Crusader at level 6, and Purify at level 8.

Pre-launch client notes, not a statement of the retail launch date.

Original Vanilla patch history from 2004–2006 is shown separately from modern Classic (2019 onward). Original notes are verified against captured Blizzard pages; uncertain deployment dates stay unknown, and archive capture dates are labeled separately. This is a curated archive, not a claim of complete coverage.