World of Warcraft Patch 6.0.2 PTR: Racial Traits

We want races to have fun and interesting perks, but if those traits are too powerful, players may feel compelled to play a specific race even if it doesn't suit their aesthetic preference. For example, Trolls' Berserking ability was extremely powerful, and their Beast Slaying passive was often irrelevant, but occasionally tremendously powerful compared to other racial passives. On the other end of the spectrum, many races had few or no performance affecting perks. We also needed to replace or update a number of racials that previously granted Hit or Expertise, since those stats have been removed.

We decided to bring down the couple high outliers, then establish a fair baseline and bring everyone else up to that. We achieved that by improving old passives, replacing obsolete ones, and occasionally adding new ones where needed. Our goal with these changes is to reach parity amongst races.

Blood Elf

Arcane Acuity is a new racial passive ability that increases Critical Strike chance by 1%.

Arcane Torrent now restores 20 Runic Power for Death Knights (up from 15 Runic Power), 1 Holy Power for Paladins, or 3% of mana for Mages, Priests, and Warlocks (up from 2% of Mana). Other parts of the ability remain unchanged. 

Draenei

Gift of the Naaru now heals for the same amount over 5 seconds (down from 15 seconds).

Heroic Presence has been redesigned. It no longer increases Hit by 1%, and instead increases Strength, Agility, and Intellect, scaling with character level.

Dwarf

Crack Shot has been removed (was 1% Expertise with ranged weapons).

Mace Specialization (was 1% Expertise with maces) has been replaced with Might of the Mountain.

Might of the Mountain is a new racial passive ability that increases Critical Strike bonus damage and healing dealt by 2%.

Stoneform now also removes magic and curse effects in addition to poison, disease, and bleed effects, along with reducing damage taken by 10% for 8 seconds. It remains unusable while the Dwarf is under the effects of crowd control.

Gnome

Expansive Mind now increases maximum mana, energy, rage, and Runic Power by 5% instead of only increasing maximum mana.

Escape Artist's cooldown has been reduced to 1 minute (down from 1.5 minutes).

Nimble Fingers is a new racial passive ability that increases Haste by 1%.

Shortblade Specialization (was 1% Expertise with one-handed swords and daggers) has been replaced with Nimble Fingers.

Goblin

Time is Money now grants a 1% increase to Haste (up from only attack speed and spell haste).

Human

Mace Specialization has been removed (was 1% Expertise with maces).

Sword Specialization has been removed (was 1% Expertise with swords).

The Human Spirit has been redesigned. It now increases Versatility, scaling with character level.

Night Elf

Quickness now also increases movement speed by 2% in addition to increasing Dodge chance by 2%.

Touch of Elune is a new passive ability which increases Haste by 1% at night, and Critical Strike chance by 1% during the day.

Orc

Axe Specialization has been removed (was 1% Expertise with axes).

Command now increases pet damage by 1% (down from 2%).

Hardiness now reduces the duration of Stun effects by 10% (down from 15%).

Tauren

Brawn is a new racial passive ability that increases Critical Strike bonus damage and healing done by 2%.

Endurance now increases Stamina by an amount scaling with character level, instead of increasing Base Health by 5%.

Troll

Berserking now increases Haste by 15% (down from 20%).

Beast Slaying now increases XP earned from killing Beasts by 20%, instead of increasing damage dealt versus Beasts by 5%.

Dead Eye has been removed (was 1% Expertise with ranged weapons).

Undead

Will of the Forsaken's cooldown has been increased to 3 minutes (up from 2 minutes).

Undead can now breathe underwater indefinitely.