20-29 - Simplified Guide to Dragonflight Pre-patch for F2P/Vets (2024)

This is just a brief overview of the major points of the Pre-patch, as well as an introduction to the Invasion Pre-patch event. There is no definite date for item scaling, but if I had to guess, it will likely happen at launch. There will also be Twitch Drops for accounts linked to a Twitch account.

• Nov. 15th - 18th: Dragon Kite Pet
• Nov. 28th - Dec 1st: Feldrake TCG Mount
• Dec 9th - 13th: Cenarion Hatchling pet and Swift Windsteed store mount
  
• Dec. 13th - 28th: Perpetual Purple Firework Toy

Pre-patch will be split into 2 phases:

1. Oct 25th, where we'll get access to the new talents, UI and new race/class combos.
2. Nov 15th, where the Pre-patch event will start, and Elemental Invasions will become available. (Chromie Timewalking for Shadowlands is also available as of the 15th.)

• New Talents available
  • 100+ new talent options, 6 class points, 5 spec points at 20. Over 100+ new talent options across the board. With new spells available in the bracket like https://www.wowhead.com/ptr/spell=605/mind-control, https://www.wowhead.com/ptr/spell=268358/demonic-circle, https://www.wowhead.com/ptr/spell=6544/heroic-leap, https://www.wowhead.com/ptr/spell=1822/rake stun and https://www.wowhead.com/ptr/spell=2094/blind.
  • Change your talents anywhere, for free. Switching talents no longer requires being in a rested area or using tomes. However, you can’t change talents during combat.
  • Loadouts – Save and switch between multiple talent builds with ease.
    • Import/Export Loadouts – Easily import or talent builds from outside sources.
    • Saved Action Bars – By default, each loadout has its own saved set of action bars. However, you can set specific loadouts to share action bars by enabling the loadout option “Use shared action bars.”

• New UI Overhaul
  • Edit Mode - Allows you customize, import and export UI layout.

• New Race/Class Combos
  • All playable races can now join the fray as scholarly Mages, cunning Rogues, or devout Priests in the upcoming Dragonflight pre-expansion patch.

• New PVP Talents
  • All ranged spell casting and healing specializations have a new PvP Talent: Precognition – If an interrupt is used on you while you are not casting, gain 15% Haste and become immune to control effects for 4 seconds. (Rewards "juking" in PVP, and punishes players for missing interrupts)

• Battle Rezzes are now available at level 19
  • Paladins (new) now get access to Intercession.
  • Death Knights get access to Raise Ally.
  • Warlocks get access to Soulstone.
  • Druids get access to Rebirth.
  • Hunters get access to Exotic Beasts.

PROFESSIONS

Cultivation (Tauren Racial) - Reduced from 15 to 5
Arcane Affinity (Blood Elf Racial) - Reduced from 10 to 5
Better Living Through Chemistry (Goblin Racial) - Reduced from 15 to 5
Pride of Ironhorn (HM Tauren Racial) - Reduced from 10 to 5
Ancient History (Nightborne Racial) - Reduced from 10 to 5

Gourmand (Pandaren Racial) - Reduced from 15 to 5

Gemcutting (Draenei Racial) - Reduced from 10 to 5
Engineering Specialization (Gnome Racial) - Reduced from 15 to 5
Flayer (Worgen Racial) - Reduced from 15 to 5
Jack of All Trades (KT Racial) - Reduced from 5 to all, to 2
Mass Production (DI Dwarf Racial) - Reduced from 25% Blacksmith speed to 10%

Gathering racials, Darkmoon Firewater, Fizzy Apple Cider are effectively also nerfed, and 25% Deftness will actually reduce gathering time by 25% (e.g. 3.2s mining to 2.4 mining), as opposed to reducing gathering speeds by a full 1/1.5 seconds prior to Nov. 15th

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• Added an option to combine all bags into a single bag window.
• The login screen has been updated.
• Barbershop services are now free of cost.
• Icon selection for macros, equipment sets, and guild banks now supports drag-and-drop from certain sources (items, spells, mounts, battle pets, macros).
• OPTIONS MENU
  • You can now search for options using the newly added search bar.
  • NEW FEATURE: INTERACT KEY
    • Interact with objects without mouse-over.
  • NEW FEATURE: PRESS AND HOLD CASTING
    • Does not work with macros or items.
  • NEW FEATURE: ACTION TARGETING
    • Mobs auto-target based on camera aim.
  • NEW FEATURE: DISPLAY NAME SIZE ADJUSTMENT
    • Players can now set a minimum text size to keep in-world names legible.

CHARACTERS

• Resurrection Sickness now lasts 1 minute (was 10 minutes). Durability loss is now upped to 50%.
• Up to 5 players of any faction can tag an enemy to earn quest credit and drops.

Quarrall said:

Hey, this may be a silly question, but which of the pre-patch events (oct 25th vs nov 15th) will result in the ilvl of gear changing? And which one will lower the level to start shadowlands content? I cant find this info elsewhere on the forums or google, although tis probably there

Click to expand...

Proooooooooooobably right on the 25th. Educated guess there. But its me, so now that ive said it out loud, its wrong.

Quarrall said:

Hey, this may be a silly question, but which of the pre-patch events (oct 25th vs nov 15th) will result in the ilvl of gear changing? And which one will lower the level to start shadowlands content? I cant find this info elsewhere on the forums or google, although tis probably there

Click to expand...

Chromie time scaling will happen on Nov 15th according to MrGM - https://twitter.com/MrGMYT/status/1582421300068651008
For item scaling, there hasn't been any clear communication from Blizzard, so it will be hard to tell, that's why I'm guessing launch at the latest

Quarrall said:

Should I enchant my warforged gear before the 25th, or would Nov 15th be playing it pretty safe? I'm vet account and have been making red gems for alchemy (which you cannot relearn oops) and barely have enough spare for a full set. So the longer I can wait the better.

Click to expand...

The moment the pre-patch launches, because we do not know and there is zero info when the scalling will start.... Or just play russian roulette every day and wait.

Quarrall said:

Should I enchant my warforged gear before the 25th, or would Nov 15th be playing it pretty safe? I'm vet account and have been making red gems for alchemy (which you cannot relearn oops) and barely have enough spare for a full set. So the longer I can wait the better.

Click to expand...

Lol I know the feeling…. I’ve been on edge for a while about it…. I don’t have many chants left so gotta do it once and right.
PTR seems to be at release version now and all my toons haven’t got scaled gear so I’m assuming it’ll happen in Phase 2.
But with Blizz, anything can happen!

Dragonstormy said:

How long will the pre-patch event on nov 15th last? And will pure f2p's rly be able to get to Shadowlands? Dude that's noice indeed

Click to expand...

Until DF Launch so 2 weeks. And it's not really confirmed, but thats when Chrome Timewalking will have it added, so I assume F2Ps will also get it

Updated OP with the Twitch drop schedule:

• Nov. 15th - 18th: Dragon Kite Pet
• Nov. 28th - Dec 1st: Feldrake TCG Mount
• Dec. 13th - 28th: Perpetual Purple Firework Toy

Edit: The events have been extended by a day.