WoW Classic Naxxramas pre-patch goes live: Dec 1 patch notes

Bill Cooney

Blizzard is rolling out a new patch for World of Warcraft Classic to get players ready for the Scourge Invasion coming when Naxxramas goes live later on in the week.

Naxxramas is the last Vanilla content that will be added to WoW Classic before we start getting into Burning Crusade expansion territory.  The patch for that content will officially arrive on Dec. 3, but, a pre-update patch will be here much sooner.

The ‘Pre-Naxx’ patch drops on Dec. 1, and one thing players will notice right away is the Lich King’s dark pyramid known as the ‘Necropolis’ hovering menacingly over Azeroth.

WoW classic Naxxramas no this is patrick
He’s just floating there… menacingly!!

There’s more than just a creepy new structure flying around though, crafted nature resist pieces are now available with a high enough Cenarion Circle reputation, and Nature resist enchants for leg and head gear are now available from Zul’Gurub, in case your guild isn’t quite done with Ahn’Qiraj just yet.

Several skill books for new skill ranks are available as well, which will finally allow your guild’s resident Mage vending machines to produce more powerful food and water for the new raid.

If you’re gearing up to grind Argent Dawn reputation this week (how many times can you run Scholomance without losing your mind?), there will be PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands to watch out for, and a token system with the faction that offers a way for players to earn gear by turning in materials at Light’s Hope Chapel.

Naxxramas is the final Vanilla raid for World of Warcraft Classic.

There has been some pushback from the community over Naxxramas coming out right after the latest new WoW expansion Shadowlands, which some say doesn’t give players enough time to enjoy both, but it seems Blizzard’s mind is made up.

The full World of Warcraft Classic patch notes for the Dec. 1 are listed below, and we’ll see you in Naxxramas!


World of Warcraft Classic Version 1.13.6

December 1, 2020

SHADOW OF THE NECROPOLIS

Floating above the Plaguelands, the necropolis known as Naxxramas serves as the seat of one of the Lich King’s most powerful officers, the dreaded lich Kel’Thuzad. Horrors of the past and new terrors yet to be unleashed are gathering inside the necropolis as the Lich King’s servants prepare their assault. The Scourge marches again…

Items and Content

This patch includes the following new pursuits:

  • Being exalted with your Warsong Gulch faction now offers epic-quality leg gear.
  • Crafted nature resist pieces are now available with Cenarion Circle reputation.
  • Nature resist enchants for leg and head gear are now available from Zul’Gurub.
  • Several skill books for new skill ranks (Frost Ward, Shadow Ward, Flame Shock, Conjure Food, Eviscerate, Ferocious Bite) are obtainable.
  • There are now PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands.
  • An Epic nature resist ring is available from a quest to kill an Elemental Lord in Cenarion Hold.
  • The Argent Dawn token system offers a way for players to earn gear by turning in components at Light’s Hope Chapel.

Bug Fixes

  • Many helpful auras and buffs that improve Attack Power now properly apply to Ranged Attack Power.
    • Developers’ notes: This was an issue that was the result of a technical limitation in original World of Warcraft that was fixed in later updates to the game. During internal testing we discovered that this issue also affected the Paladin and Shaman 6-piece Tier 3 set bonuses, and in fixing that, we decided to also fix it in many other situations where buffs and auras should affect Ranged Attack Power.
  • Resolved an issue that caused the Darkmoon Card: Twisting Nether to sometimes stop functioning for Priests talented into Spirit of Redemption after logging out and back into the game with the trinket equipped.
  • Resolved an issue that caused the Shaman talent Improved Weapon Totems to not apply its damage improvements to other players in the Shaman’s party.
    • Developers’ notes: This talent was introduced late in original World of Warcraft and behaved in this unintended way until the beginning of Burning Crusade. It was considered a bug at that time, and will now be resolved here, as was originally intended.
  • Fixed some terrain exploits in Booty Bay that allowed players to grief players arriving or leaving via Flight Masters with no fear of reprisal from guards or other players.
  • Resolved an issue that caused the Mail recipient auto-complete filter to behave in a frustrating way when attempting to send a mail to someone who shares a similar name with a member of your current guild.
  • Stabling a pet with Prowl active no longer prevents other pets with Prowl from using the same ability.
  • Resolved an issue that caused a Hunter’s Auto Shot ability to occasionally experience a slight delay on recast if its cast was interrupted by Aimed Shot.
  • Hunter and Warlock pets will now correctly attack nearby enemy PvP targets when set to aggressive.
  • Hunter and Warlock pets may now correctly “detect” nearby enemy PvP targets in stealth.
    • Developer’s notes: In Original WoW, Hunter pets worked similar to mobs in that they could detect stealth players that passed nearby in their line of sight and would “snap” to face the enemy if they partially detected them. Additionally, pets would even attack enemy players in stealth if they came close enough to be fully detected, provided the pet was set to aggressive. This behavior has been restored.
  • Fixed a bug with the Scarab Brooch item that prevented the Persistent Shield proc from this item from applying to new targets in certain scenarios.
  • Resolved an issue that caused Bloodthirst to not always benefit from +Attack Power gained from items.
  • Resolved an issue that prevented the Bind-on-Equip Epic item The Lion Horn of Stormwind from being able to drop.
  • Fixed an art issue that caused the Conqueror’s Spaulders and Avenger’s Pauldrons to display a less-vibrant color palate than intended.
  • Many items such as Hammer of Northern Wind, Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros, and Nightfall may now proc while the wielder is under the effects of a Global Cooldown.
  • Resolved several terrain exploits in Warsong Gulch that were being used to unfairly stall games.
  • Resolved several terrain exploits in Arathi Basin that were used to reach unintended areas of the map.
  • Resolved an issue that caused partial resists to Damage-over-Time effects to snapshot for the entire duration of the DoT effect.
  • Enslave Demon now appropriately fades from a Warlock’s Infernal when the controlling Warlock dies.
  • Resolved an issue that caused neutral guards to attack PvP targets affected by the initial impact of the Inferno spell rather than the Warlock who initiated the attack.
  • Resolved an issue that caused certain raid and boss monsters to be incorrectly affected by stat-modifying debuff effects such as Vindication and Scorpid Sting.
  • The epic trinket Jom Gabbar may now correctly be activated in Shapeshift forms.
  • Fixed a visual issue with several items such as Gaea’s Tunic that were using incorrect geometry and appearing incorrectly.
  • Fixed a bug that caused a Lua error to occur when adjusting Max Foreground or Max Background FPS in the system settings menu.
  • Resolved an issue that caused Blocked damage to not be reported correctly in the advanced combat log.
  • The Crystal of Zin-Malor no longer snapshots its damage on equip and now correctly has damage variance.
  • Resolved an issue that caused some creatures in the world to not play appropriate audio when attacking or using abilities.

About The Author

Bill is a former writer at Dexerto based in Iowa, who covered esports, gaming and online entertainment for more than two years. With the US team, Bill covered Overwatch, CSGO, Influencer culture, and everything in between.