Blizzard
On Thursday, August 10th and Friday, August 11th we will be conducting raid tests of Antorus, the Burning Throne. If testing goes well, a number of the bosses tested will remain open on Normal difficulty over the weekend.
Thursday, August 10th
Varimathras - Heroic Antorus, the Burning Throne
13:00 PDT (16:00 EDT, 22:00 CEST)
The Coven of Shivarra - Heroic Antorus, the Burning Throne
14:00 PDT (17:00 EDT, 23:00 CEST)
Aggramar- Heroic Antorus, the Burning Throne
15:00 PDT (18:00 EDT, 0:00 CEST)
Friday, August 11th
Garothi Worldbreaker - Mythic Antorus, the Burning Throne
13:00 PDT (16:00 EDT, 22:00 CEST)
Felhounds of Sargeras - Mythic Antorus, the Burning Throne
14:00 PDT (17:00 EDT, 23:00 CEST)
Friday, August 11th - Monday, August 14th
Kin'garoth, Varimathras, Coven of the Shivarra and Aggramar - Normal Antorus, the Burning Throne
As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a PTR environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the bosses being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.
Q: How do I get into the raid zone?
A: In Dalaran, Orgrimmar, or Stormwind, you may speak to Nexus-Lord Donjon Rade Sr. in order to teleport into the raid zone while it is open for testing. (The option to teleport into a zone will not be available when the zone is not open for testing.)
Q: What character should I use to test the raid?
A: Whichever you prefer. We will be scaling players' effective level to 110 for raid testing, and their item level to an appropriate threshold for the encounter(s) being tested.
Q: How long does testing last?
A: The primary purpose of testing is to give us the information we need to balance the encounters, evaluate how mechanics are playing out in practice, and identify bugs. Once we're satisfied that we've received that information for a given boss, we'll be shutting down testing. Usually this takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, but there are no guarantees.
Blizzard
Catching up a bit on the newest changes people are starting to see on PTR, in particular:
"Static Overload: After using Stormkeeper, your next Chain Lightning causes Elemental Overload to trigger on every target."
Static Overload has been a sticking point throughout Legion (both in our eyes and based on feedback). Too much of the power of Chain Lightning was contained in an uncontrollable and very spiky proc. This is exacerbated by the fact that Chain Lightning is buffed tremendously in short windows by some effects--primarily, Stormkeeper and Lightning Rod.
A fully-controllable redesign of Static Overload should significantly mitigate the randomness in hoping it comes up during the moments it would be most valuable. The version we're trying out on PTR always gives a Static Overload at a high-value moment. We expect that it is overall a net increase to the power of the effect.
Summing up where we are with Elemental after various small changes in this patch:
--Single-target damage is buffed, through a flat buff to all spells other than Chain Lightning, and a larger buff to Earth Shock. We'll continue to monitor overall balance as always.
--Mastery will continue being valuable in higher values, which eases gearing constraints, and also prevents overall scaling from tailing off as it's capped out.
--Burst AoE potential available through Stormkeeper is both higher and more reliable. Increasing Elemental's on-demand AoE burst wasn't a big priority, but it's fine for it to happen in the process of switching to an on-demand design for Static Overload.
--Sustained AoE damage is similar or higher due to a large buff to Earthquake, and the likelihood of Static Overload's total contribution being higher in situations where Stormkeeper is being used.
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