​MMOSO WoW - What's changed after WoW Shadowlands 9.2.5 update?

Oct-01-2022

Shadowlands' patch 9.2.5 is finally live after entering the Public Beta Realm (PTR) in mid-March. Players can expect World of Warcraft Shadowlands 9.2.5 to launch on Tuesday, May 31st. This patch is set to be the final update of the expansion before Dragonflight is ready to go through pre-patch and beyond.

Players at retail WoW have plenty of time to complete Shadowlands' final raid, and WoW Shadowlands 9.2.5 is changing some of the core game mechanics at retail, but before we get there, the reveal of the next expansion, WoW Dragonflight, is a clearly taking over player's heart. However, now that the final phase of WoW Classic TBC is kicking off, WoW Shadowlands 9.2.5 looks set to be the next step for the entire World of Warcraft.

Here are the official patch notes.

Achievements

All Covenant Sanctum feature achievements are now visible and count towards your character's total achievement points, regardless of which covenant your character currently belongs to. Nonetheless, all characters must belong to a Covenant to earn that Covenant’s specific achievements.

Tower Ranger criteria now requires The Jailer's Gauntlet: Layer 4 (was Layer 8).

The Dancing Machine achievement text now specifies that the reward is a toy.

Anima Cannisters required for Kaal-ed Shot now respawn after General Kaal resets and the Slammed! the debuff is no longer removed by immunity effects.

Fixed an issue that was causing The Enlightened faction to not count towards the Exalted Reputations achievements.

Fixed an issue that caused the Azeroth at War achievements to not be obtainable by players.

Characters

Removed the experience point reduction that is applied to level 51–60 characters while in Party Sync.

Cross-Faction Instances

Players are now able to directly invite members of the opposite faction to a party if you have a BattleTag or Real ID friendship, or if you are members of a cross-faction WoW Community.

Premade Groups in the Group Finder listings for Mythic dungeons, raids, or rated arena/RBGs are now open to applicants of both factions, though the group leader may choose to restrict the listing to same-faction applicants if they so choose.

WoW Communities now have the option to be cross-faction, while Guilds will remain single-faction.

Random matchmade activities like Heroic dungeons, Skirmishes, or Random Battlegrounds will all remain same-faction.

The following instances are not cross-faction:

Trial of the Champion

Trial of the Crusader

Vault of Archavon

Icecrown Citadel

Baradin Hold

Siege of Boralus

Battle of Dazar'alor

Darkmaul Citadel (Exile’s Reach dungeon)

Dungeons and Raids

Sepulcher of the First Ones

Cross-Realm raiding is now available on Mythic difficulty.

Mythic+

With Cross-Faction Instances becoming available, the Cryptic Hero: Shadowlands Season 3 achievement now requires a Mythic+ Rating in the top 0.1% of all players in your region.

Items and Rewards

Broker Mark of Distinction now increases the Renown of your currently active Covenant to 60 (was 40).

Renown catch-up is accelerated through Renown 60 (was 48).

These activities will now have a 100% chance to reward 1 Renown upon completion:

Mythic and Mythic+ dungeons

Torghast Layers 9-16

Defeating a Shadowlands raid boss encounter

Winning a Rated Battleground

Reward boxes from Callings now contain twice as many Grateful Offerings, still scaling with your covenant sanctum's Anima Conductor level.

The Zereth Mortis weekly quest "Patterns Within Patterns" now awards Grateful Offerings.

Fixed an issue that sometimes caused Blizzard Shop transmog cosmetics to temporarily disappear from your collection.

Fixed an issue where Jingles battle pet would display as "Unknown" when summoned and its wreath and candy cane accessories were the incorrect size in the Pet Journal

Player versus Player (PVP)

New Arena: Enigma Arena

The mysterious Enigma Arena from Zereth Mortis was created by the Progenitors and serves as an ever-changing battlefield. A switch located at the center of the Arena can be used to create a cover for yourself and your allies—or deny it from your opponents. Clever strategists will control and dictate the flow of battle; those who cannot adapt will surely be defeated.

Solo Shuffle Brawl

The minimum item level requirement for the queue has been raised to 252 (was 239).

Fixed an issue that caused some abilities to not be removed from players in between rounds.

Fixed an issue that caused a round to not reset properly if a player on each side of the brawl died at the same time.

PvP Talents

In 9.2.5 we’re planning adjustments to a few PvP talents for specs that could benefit from mechanical changes, beyond the scope of our standard balancing (which will continue separately, as needed). Since these will be limited and the changes are aimed at addressing specific concerns, feedback on your experiences with these classes and effects during 9.2.5 will be valuable for informing future development.

Warlock

Demonic Embrace now increases your Stamina by 20% (was 10%) in PvP Combat.

Demon Armor (PvP Talent) has been removed.

Affliction

New PvP Talent: Shadowfall – Gain the Nightfall talent with 100% increased chance to cause your next Shadow Bolt to be instant. If you already have this talent, you may select another in the same row.

Professions

Increased the experience points earned when crafting Specialized Armor and Jewelry for creating Runecarving items by 400%.

Quests

Blood Elves can start a quest to earn a new mount, weapon appearance, and the Blood Knight armor set for Blood Elf Paladins by speaking to Liadrin in Oribos. Requirements: Level 60 and Exalted with Silvermoon.

Dark Iron Dwarves can start a quest to earn a new mount and weapon appearances by speaking to Anvil-Thane Thurgaden in Shadowforge City, Blackrock Depths (accessed via Mole Machine). Requirements: Level 50.

Torghast, Tower of the Damned

All wings are now open (was 2 wings available per week).

Layers 1–8 are now unlocked by default.

Layers 9–12 now unlock after completing Layer 8.

Layers 13–16 now unlock after completing the previous Layer.

User Interface and Accessibility

All search filter dropdowns now have a button that lets you easily remove all active filters.

The default hand cursor now has new, higher-resolution art for its larger sizes under Interface Options → Accessibility.

The Report Player pane has been redesigned, with new categories added.

WoW 9.25 is just around the corner, WoW TBC Classic is also in its final stage, and unsurprisingly, WOTLK Classic will follow. Whether it's WoW Gold, TBC Classic Gold or WOTLK Classic Gold, you can buy it at MMOSO, safe, secure and cheap.