This patch is extreme.  There are many balance changes and there are hopefully going to be some new strats developed by these changes.  Take a read of over some of the things they changed!

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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.
- Defend no longer reduces damage from spells (for real this time).

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 Relics 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% longer 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.