Big changes…

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WARCRAFT III BETA VERSION HISTORY
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- BETA PATCH 306
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2003-APR-08

MAJOR ADDITIONS
- Added Battle.net Tournament support. We will be running occasional Tour-
naments through out the remainder of the beta.
- Added Icon selection support on Battle.net. Check your profile and click
the “Select Icon” button beneath your profile portrait to select from your
available icons.

BALANCE CHANGES
Maps:

- Turtle Rock – Increased the difficulty of the Goblin Merchant camps,
added Runes and Powerups to several creeps.
- Islands – Replaced the 4 less powerful turtle camps at the center of the
map with less powerful creep camps which drop less powerful items. Tweaked
the corner camps to use level 8 Revenants instead of level 7 Turtles.

Human Changes:

- Flamestrike has been completely rebalanced. Flamestrike initial damage
increased to 45/80/110 per second from 35/65/90 per second and duration
of initial damage increased to 3 seconds.
- Bloodmage strength increased to 18 from 16 and agility increased to 16
from 15.
- Mana Siphon drain/sec increased to 15/30/45 from 12/24/36.
- Phoenix negative regen is now -10 HP/sec, up from -14 HP/sec.
- Spellbreakers now have heavy armor instead of light armor, have had their
hitpoints increased to 650 from 550 and have had their damage reduced to
1d2 + 8 from 1d2 + 11.
- Spellbreaker attack range increased to 250 from 200, and movement speed
increased to 300 up from 270.
- Spellbreaker mana regeneration increased to .8/sec from .625/sec.
- Spell Steal steals a much wider array of buffs and debuffs now. Some
spells, such as anti-magic shell, unholy frenzy, and cyclone are only
affected if spell steal is cast on them manually. Spell steal only
affects unit cast spells, and doesn’t work on hero spells such as Howl
of Terror, Frost Armor, Drunken Haze, etc.
- Control Magic now works on wards.
- Dragonhawks have had their attack decreased to 1d2 + 15 from 1d6 + 20,
and their attack range decreased to 300 down from 600, but their cost
was decreased to 235/40 from 255/60.
- Dragonhawks have a new ability: Aerial Shackles. This ability is a
channeling spell which completely disables a target air unit, while
dealing 10 points of damage a second to it.
- Guard Tower upgrade time increased to 50 from 40 and armor type changed
to heavy.
- Arcane Tower feedback damage is now 12 per hit, down from 20 per hit.
- Arcane Tower build time increased to 50 from 30 and armor type changed
to heavy.
- Arcane Vault hitpoints increased to 485 from 410.
- Gryphon Rider hitpoints increased to 825 from 750.
- Gyrocopters are now heavy armor.
- Gyrocopter vs ground damage reduced to 1d2 + 6 from 1d2 + 10 and Gyro-
copter cooldown vs air is now 2 up from 1.
- Flak Cannons have been rebalanced.
- Heal now heals 20 hp per cast, down from 25, and costs 4 mana to cast,
down from 5.

Undead Changes:

- Essence of Blight, which was previously known as Replenish Life, now
heals 10 hitpoints per casting, up from 8.
- Spirit Touch now replenishes 5 mana per cast, up from 4.
- Obsidian Statue mana regeneration is now 2, up from 1.25.
- Tomb of Relics hitpoints increased to 475 from 400.
- Impale has been redone. The new impale sends a series of impaling spikes
through the ground. Enemy units hit by the spikes are impaled (taking
damage), thrown into the air, and then stunned.
- Level 2 and level 3 Carrion Scarab hitpoints are now 275 and 410 hitpoints
respectively, up from 260 and 380 hitpoints.
- Devour Magic now deals 180 damage to summoned units, up from 100.
- Devour Magic radius reduced to 200 from 250.
- Devour Magic cooldown is now 8 seconds up from 6.
- Frost Wyrm hitpoints increased to 1350 from 1100.
- Frost Wyrm base armor increased to 1 from 0.
- Black Sphinxes are now called Destroyers.
- Destroyer armor increased to 4 from 1.
- Tomb of Wonders now sells Healing Scrolls at tier 3.

Orc Changes:

- Hex now costs 75 mana at all levels, and its cooldown is always 7 seconds.
Additionally, Hex duration on units is now 15/30/45 by level (changed from
24/24/24), and its duration on heroes is now 4/5/6 (changed from 5/5/5).
- Watch Tower build time increased to 55 from 40.
- Watch Tower armor type changed to heavy.
- Burning Oil (from Catapults) is slightly more powerful than before.
- Unstable Concoction is now an instantaneous spell. Previously, it took a
brief amount of time to cast.
- Unstable concoction primary damage increased to 900.
- Troll Batriders now deal siege damage instead of piercing damage, deal 1d2
+ 10 damage, down from 1d4 + 18, and no longer deal splash damage.
- Troll Batrider hitpoints increased to 500 from 400.
- Liquid Fire now reduces building attack speed by 80%, up from 75%, and
deals 15 points of damage/sec to buildings, up from 5/sec.
- Voodoo Lounge hitpoints increased to 500 from 425.
- Disenchant has been re-balanced – its radius was increased to 250 from
200, its damage to summoned units increased to 250 from 200, and its mana
cost was increased to 125 from 75. It also correctly removes buffs on
friendly and hostile units now.
- Wand of Neutralization removed from Orc shop
- Scroll of Speed added to Orc shop at tier 1.
- Disenchant now removes buffs and debuffs from units.
- Level 2 and Level 3 serpent ward damage increased by approximately 10%.

Night Elf Changes:

- Huntresses have had their hitpoints reduced to 575 from 600, their armor
increased to 3 from 1, and their damage increased to 17-19 from 16-18.
- Ancients can no longer attack while producing a unit, researching, or
upgrading.
- Hippogryph Riders now have an attack value which is the same as the
Archer’s attack and hitpoints which match the sum of Archer and Hippogryph
hitpoints. Hippogryph Rider range was also reduced to 400 from 450.
- Faerie Dragon range decreased to 300 from 600 and damage increased to
13-14 from 12-13.
- Dryad mana regeneration increased to .75/sec from .5/sec.
- Den of Wonders hitpoints increased to 450 from 375.
- Chimaera hitpoints increased to 1000 from 900.
- Ballistas no longer require a Tree of Ages to be built.
- Tranquility no longer heals mechanical units.



Changes to Neutral Buildings, Units and Heroes:

- You can now purchase the Pit Lord and Beastmaster neutral heroes from the
Tavern. Their skill sets are described at the bottom of the patch text
for this version.
- Pandaren Brewmaster starting intelligence increased to 15 from 14.
- Drunken Haze now affects several units and is targeted much like Frost
Nova – the unit you target will always be affected, as will nearby units.
Its cost, cooldown and duration have all been rebalanced to reflect this
change.
- Tornado now tosses units into the air, and has been rebalanced for this
capability. We expect to make further improvements to Tornado in the next
patch, so this functionality is not truly “done” yet.
- Mana Shield has been improved. It now blocks 100% of incoming damage, and
prevents 1, 1.5 or 2 damage per point of mana spent depending on the level
of the ability.
- Forked Lightning damage reduced to 100/175/250 per target by level, down
from 110/180/250.
- Goblin Sappers now deal 750 damage to buildings, 250 damage to all units,
and 185 damage to heroes. These values are reduced by armor values such as
‘5 armor’, but do not interact with armor types (e.g. ‘medium armor’).
- Further slowed merc regen times. Mercenaries regenerate at 10 + (40 seconds
times level) now.

Item Changes:

- Rod of Necromancy now has 4 charges, down from 5.
- Potion of Divinity duration reduced to 25 from 30.
- Increased the level of the items Staff of Silence, Dagger of Escape and
Amulet of Spell Shield.
- Decreased the level of Medallion of Courage, Helm of Valor and Hood of
Cunning.
- Boots of Speed no longer stack – two boots of speed will make a hero just
as fast as one.
- Moonstone effect lasts 50% stronger than previously (30 seconds up from
20).
- Wand of Illusion can no longer be cast on hostile units. This change was
made to prevent players from cheesing high level creep camps by using Wand
of Illusion on high level creeps, and then using this illusionary creep to
tank the damage.
- Orb of Lightning and Orb of Fire now cost 400 gold, down from 450.
- Orb of Lightning does not deliver its purge ability to summoned units as
often as before (35% down from 55%).
- Orb of Lightning damage to summonables is now 150, down from 400.

Other:

- Several creeps now drop Runes. Runes work like tomes, but instead of
upgrading your hero, they provide some other immediate benefit.
- Units healed while ethereal gain an additional 66% benefit. For example,
casting level 1 Holy Light on an ethereal unit for 200 hitpoints actually
ends up healing 333 hitpoints. Only “spell” healing is affected by this –
item healing and aura healing is not.
- Creeps can no longer be dragged via constant attacks – they eventually
give up and return to their start location. As a result, we have re-added
the Ice Flow map to ladder play.
- Magic Damage now deals 125% damage against light armor.
- Creeps that are not in combat now ignore flying units. This means that if
you move flying units around using “move” instead of “attack move”, creeps
will generally not attack them.
- When “attack-moving”, air units now prefer to attack other air units more
often than previously.
- When a unit is purchasing from a shop, and the shop is selected, the
unit’s inventory will be displayed in the normal position.
- Dragons, Drakes, and Dragon Whelps are a lot tougher than they used to be,
particularly when fighting other air units.

Neutral Hero Abilities:

The Beastmaster - The Beastmaster is a high-hitpoint “tanking” strength hero
who deals his damage primarily through summonables. All of his basic spells
are some form of summoning.
* Grizzly Bear – High hitpoint / high damage melee attacker
Level 2: Gains the Bash ability.
Level 3: Gains the Blink ability.
* Quill Beast – Excellent ranged attacker.
Level 2: Gains the Rage ability, which causes the Quill Beast’s
attack speed and movement speed to increase in combat.
Level 3: Attacks become splash damage.
* Thunder Hawk – Versatile flying unit.
Level 1: No attack, truesight ability.
Level 2: Attacks air and ground units.
Level 3: Gains passive invisibility – when not attacking, a level 3
Thunder Hawk is invisible.
* Stampede (ultimate) - Summons waves upon waves of stampeding beasts which
explode and cause damage to enemy units and buildings in their path.

The Pit Lord - The Pit Lord is a high-hitpoint “tanking” strength hero with
a number of useful abilities.
* Rain of Fire – Similar to Blizzard, except it also ignites affected units,
causing moderate damage over time to them. Additionally, it costs a bit
more mana than Blizzard, has a longer cooldown, and in all circumstances
will do slightly more damage.
* Howl of Terror – The Pit Lord screams a blood-curdling cry which causes
nearby enemy units to have reduced damage for a limited time. Think of it
as a ‘reverse’ roar.
* Cleaving Attack – Causes the Pit Lord’s attacks to do splash damage to
targets near the primary target.
* Doom (ultimate) – Can be cast on any non-hero, ground unit. The unit is
enveloped in darkness, and takes damage over time. Since doom is not
dispelable, and cannot be cancelled, the unit WILL die. Once the unit dies,
it will turn into a Doomguard under the control of the player who cast
Doom.

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- BETA PATCH 305A
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2003-MAR-30

Major Fixes:
- Fixed a bug where tomes could be used multiple times.
- Removed magic damage resistance from the Defend ability.

Balance Fixes:
- Animate Dead duration is now 40 down from 60.
- Animate Dead cooldown is now 180 down from 240.
- You can not have more than 6 vengeance spirits summoned by the Avatar
of Vengeance at any given time.
- Heroes gain experience at the same rate as they used to for level 1 and
2, down from a slight bonus.
- Mercenaries restock slower in general, and many initial availabilities
of mercenaries have been adjusted.

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- BETA PATCH 305
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2003-MAR-28

Major Fixes:
- We have fixed a bug that occasionally caused unit commands to be ignored
by the game. This most commonly occurred when attempting to use healing
spells while creeping, as the bug was related to adding units to a
selection group and then using an ability.

Item Changes:

- Lion Horn of Stormwind is now a level-4 item.
- Items now have 75 hit points, down from 100.
- Clarity Potion, Scroll of Regeneration and Healing Salve are now
dispelled only when a unit under the effect is hit by an attack or an
offensive spell.
They are no longer dispelled by attacking.

Changes to Neutral Buildings, Units and Heroes:

- Forked Lightning has been rebalanced. It now requires a specific unit
target, and hits 3 targets, down from 4/5/6. It also has had its damage
per target changed to 110/180/250 from 125/160/200.
- Frost Arrows now last 5 seconds, down from 6.
- Delayed the initial availability of various mercenaries, such as the
Makrura Snapper and Goblin Shredder.
- The Pandaren Brewmaster has gained 2 Agility, but lost 1 point of
Strength and 1 point of Intelligence.
- Breath of Fire damage reduced to 70/140/190 from 75/150/200.
- Tornado is now a channeling spell, and does 40 points of damage a second
to buildings, up from 20.


Undead Changes:

- Gargoyle anti-air attack increased by roughly 50%.
- Black Sphinx hit points increased to 900 from 800.
- Obsidian Statue's Replenish Life and Spirit Touch abilities have been
rebalanced. They are much stronger now.
- Obsidian Statue mana regeneration increased to 1.25 from .5.
- Locust Swarm damage has increased 25%, but its life drain rate per
attack has been decreased 25%.
- Units created by Animate Dead are now invulnerable. Note that the creep
version of this spell does not create invulnerable versions.
- Units created by Animate Dead only last 60 seconds now, down from 120.
- Carrion Beetle damage increased by 15% at all levels.

Human Changes:

- Devotion now gives 1.5/ 3 / 4.5 armor per level. Note that this
fractional armor will not show up properly on unit information cards,
but will work properly on units in terms of damage reduction. We are
aware of this bug and will fix it at some point in the future.
- Banish range increased to 800 from 600.
- Banish now halves the speed of units rather than reducing it to 1/3 of
their total speed.
- Banish no longer affects mechanical units.
- Flame Strike now costs 135 mana, down from 150 mana.
- Flame Strike area increased to 225 from 200.
- The spell formerly known as Mark of Fire is now known as “Phoenix”.
- Phoenix cooldown increased to 180 from 120.
- Phoenix mana cost increased to 175 from 125.
- Phoenixes now shed feathers, which cause both initial damage as well as a
certain amount of damage over time to nearby hostile units. Note that
the graphics and effects of this spell are temporary, though the
functionality is done.
- When a Phoenix dies, it becomes a Phoenix Egg. If the Phoenix Egg is not
destroyed within 10 seconds, the Phoenix will be reborn.
- Phoenixes only lose 10 hp a second now, down from 14 hp a second.
- Casting Phoenix when you already control a Phoenix results in the original
Phoenix's being destroyed, in much the same manner as Feral Spirit.
- Blacksmith cost changed to 140/60 from 120/120.
- Gyrocopters now deal 1d2 + 5 damage to air units, down from 1d2 + 8.
Note that Gyrocopters with the Flak Cannons upgrade are still extremely
effective against other air units.
- Arcane Tower now deals 20 Feedback damage, down from 25.
- Siphon Mana now drains 12/24/36 mana per second, up from 8/16/24 mana per
second.
- Siphon Mana can now be cast at range 600, up from 500, and will keep
draining until the target is at a distance of 850, up from 800.


Night Elf Changes:

- Huntresses are now Light armor (formerly known as Heavy armor).
- Huntress damage increased to 1d3 + 15 from 1d3 + 14.
- Huntress hit points increased to 600 from 550.
- Archer damage reduced to 1d3 + 15 from 1d4 + 18.
- Archer hit points increased to 310 from 260.
- Cyclone no longer affects mechanical units.
- Shadow Strike move speed reduction is now 50% down from 60%.
- Fan of Knives now deals a maximum of 400/750/1075 damage by level, down
from 450/825/1200.
- Entangled units are now unable to attack, though they can still cast
spells.
- Entangle duration on units reduced to 12/24/36, down from 15/30/45.
- Hippogryph anti-air damage increased by roughly 50%.
- Blink no longer works when the Warden is immobilized.

Orc Changes:

- Spirit Link is now a “chaining” spell which affects 3 targets. It also
now costs 100 mana to cast.


Armor System Change:

We have switched around the naming of certain armor types for conceptual
reasons. Heavy armor became Light armor, Medium armor became Heavy armor,
and Light armor became Medium armor.

- Light armor units, most of which are air units, take bonus damage from
Piercing damage.
- Medium armor units, which include basic ranged units such as Archers, as
well as peon-type units, take bonus damage from Normal damage, and
reduced damage from Magic and Piercing damage.
- Heavy armor units, which include both tier-1 and tier-3 melee, take bonus
damage from Magic damage.

Other:

- No Upkeep is now from 0-50 food, Low Upkeep is now from 51-80 food, and
High Upkeep is now from 81-100 food. This change was made to compensate
for the need to have large amounts of lumber-gathering peons.
- Heroes gain more experience from creeps early on, and less once they hit
level 3. Once they hit level 5, Heroes can only gain experience through
killing units controlled by other players.
- Backpack upgrade now requires a shop.
- Ethereal units, which include Banished units and Spirit Walkers in
Ethereal Form, now take 66% bonus damage from spells and magic, down
from 100% bonus damage.
- Units can never move at a speed slower than 150 (roughly 60% the speed
of a Footman). This means that stacking slow effects such as Slow Poison,
Shadow Strike, Slow, etc. will no longer virtually stop units. Note that
Ancients still move very slowly.
- All standard spellcasters have had their mana regeneration increased by
33%. Examples include Druid of the Claw, Sorceress, Witch Doctor and
Necromancer.
- All workers (Peons, Wisps, etc.) now have Medium type armor, which was
formerly known as Light armor. This means that they take bonus damage
from Normal damage, and reduced damage from Piercing and Magic attacks.
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