WoW Seeds of Renewal 10.2.5 patch notes: Follower Dungeons, Reclaiming Gilneas & more

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is about to get a major update that changes some huge areas of the game and advances the story significantly, as Blizzard prepares for The War Within.

The arrival of Patch 10.2.5. Seeds of Renewal is the first step in Blizzard’s roadmap for 2024. Despite being a 0.5 patch, the update is bringing some major content additions and quality-of-life changes that fans have been calling for in significant numbers.

Beyond that, the developer is planning to release a mystery 10.2.6. in the near future. As part of the roadmap, it is scheduled for arrival before Season 4, which itself is expected to go live in the Spring.

Here are the full patch notes covering everything players can expect to see when 10.2.5. goes live on January 16.

Complete 10.2.5. Seeds of Renewal patch notes

New Zone – Bel’ameth

Blizzard Entertainment

One of the biggest new content additions in Patch 10.2.5 is the new zone Bel’ameth, one of the great sanctuaries of the Kal’dorei or Night Elves. It lies beneath the canopy of the new World Tree Amirdrassil and Blizzard has confirmed several points of interest for players to explore.

Arlithrien Lodge, Bel’ameth Harbor, Evenfall Watchtower and Twilight Watchtower have all been listed as new locations within the zone, though what they will contain will remain a mystery until the patch releases. Expect all of the usual flora and fauna associated with the Night Elves, including Hippogryphs, Owls and much more.

Dragonriding available worldwide

Blizzard Entertainment

In a move that seems to make practical sense more than anything else, Dragonriding will now be available across the many continents and worlds in the game. The dynamic flying mechanics introduced by the system have been a breath of fresh air, and many will be delighted to be able to use them as they traverse WoW’s huge maps.

One concern with the introduction of this system is that it renders many of the pre-dragonriding mounts relatively pointless. Why fly slowly when you can fly extremely quickly? In any case, this new feature will make farming for old armor appearances and mounts a lot easier.

Azerothian Archives

Blizzard Entertainment

The Azerothian Archives are set to play a significant role throughout Patch 10.2.5., supposedly offering players a window into the history of the Dragon Isles, with a cast of characters introduced along the way. Traitor’s Rest will feature solo and group activities, including an hourly public event.

As many have seen with similar events in the past, there will be plenty of armor and weapon appearances, mounts & pets to unlock by participating and earning currency in the new event.

Reclaiming Gilneas

The loss of Gilneas is a huge part of the lore of World of Warcraft, and it seems that Blizzard is finally going to address it more directly in Patch 10.2.5. Players are set to help Genn Greymane as he attempts to take back the city that was once his.

Of course, in typical WoW fashion, this will not go as expected and there will be plenty of foes to conquer along the way.

Follower Dungeons

Arguably the most exciting feature in the upcoming patch, Follower Dungeons will finally give tentative players the chance to try out a new role or class in a low-pressure setting. Essentially, Follower Dungeons will fill out a player’s group with AI-controlled members.

These can be used in any configuration, whether a player wants to try the dungeons solo, or a few friends just need a couple of extra bodies to fill out the group. The amount of dungeons players can run in this system is set to be limited to ten per day on launch, most likely in an attempt to avoid players exploiting them to farm gold.

Outland Cup

In a move that will make Mario Kart fans happy, Blizzard is introducing the Outland Cup event. Set to run January 18-31, players will be able to challenge thirteen races in Normal, Advanced and Reversed modes, all in the hope of earning unique rewards.

There is a new achievement for earning a gold medal on all of the courses and plenty to earn including new transmogs, dragon customizations and Valdrakken Accord Insignias.

Character customizations

In an effort to continue the momentum they have built up in the customization department, Blizzard are introducing new ways to make your character unique. Trolls, Draenei and Warlocks are all set to see new visuals, though images of what these will look like are yet to appear.

Race and Class changes

The full list of race and class changes is as follows:

• DRACTHYR
  • New Passive Ability: Empowered Soaring – Soar is now equivalent to dragonriding, granting access to vigor and all dragonriding abilities.
  • New Passive Ability: Expedited Takeoff – Soar’s cooldown is reduced to 10 seconds.
  • Soar dragonriding will become available after learning dragonriding on the account and the Evoker has completed the Forbidden Reach starting experience.
  • Familiar Skies (Racial) has been removed. 

• Multiple Class talents that were previously Shadowlands Covenant Abilities (such as Convoke the Spirits, Divine Toll, and Sepsis) have had their spell visuals updated to match their Class visual kit. We’ll be adding a way to revert these talents back to their Shadowlands visuals in a future update.
• DEMON HUNTER
  • Elysian Decree is now Chaos damage (was Arcane).
  • The Hunt is now Chaos damage(was Nature).
• EVOKER
  • Source of Magic now lasts 1 hour (was 30 minutes). 
  • Preservation
    • Developers’ note: We would like maintaining Reversions to feel more rewarding for Preservation Evoker, even when playing an Emerald Blossom focused build. As a result, we are tying in casts of Reversion with Essence Burst. This should make the rotational flow of Preservation smoother and more enjoyable. Since this introduces more mana-free spell casts, we are also increasing mana costs to compensate. 
    • Essence Burst may now trigger from casts of Reversion.
    • Mana cost of most spells increased by 10%.
    • Grace Period now increases your healing by 10/20% on targets with your Reversion (was 5/10%).
    • Timeless Magic now also affects Temporal Anomaly, and reduces the mana cost of Reversion, Temporal Anomaly, Echo, and Time Dilation by 10/20% (was just duration at 15/30%).
• MAGE
  • Shifting Power is now Arcane damage (was Nature).
• MONK
  • Mistweaver
    • Dance of the Wind has been redesigned – Your dodge chance is increased by 10% and an additional 10% every 4 seconds until you dodge an attack.
    • Ancient Teachings now additionally increases Stamina by 5% while active.
    • Teachings of the Monastery now highlights Blackout Kick on the action bar when it reaches max stacks.
    • Thunder Focus Tea now has additional functionality with Expel Harm, causing it to transfer 25% more healing to damage and create a Chi Cocoon on yourself.
    • Tea of Plenty now has the possibility to grant Expel Harm and Enveloping Mist instead of Essence Font and Renewing Mist.
    • Secret Infusion now has additional functionality with Expel Harm, granting Versatility.
    • Faeline Stomp has been renamed to Jadefire Stomp.
    • Awakened Faeline has been renamed to Awakened Jadefire.
  • Windwalker
    • Dance of the Wind has been redesigned – Your dodge chance is increased by 10% and an additional 10% every 4 seconds until you dodge an attack.
    • Faeline Stomp has been renamed to Jadefire Stomp.
    • Faeline Harmony has been renamed to Jadefire Harmony.
    • Way of the Fae has been renamed to Path of Jade.
    • Fae Exposure has been renamed to Jadefire Brand.
• ROGUE
  • Echoing Reprimand changes to Physical damage (was Arcane) and damage increased by 43% to account for armor. 
• SHAMAN
  • Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, and Storm Elemental (as well as the Primal versions of these elementals) now have a reduced size in instances for the Shaman’s allies and enemies. For the Shaman, the Elementals still appear large.
  • Updated the tooltip of Thorim’s Invocation to include a value for the damage of Lightning Bolts and Chain Lightnings triggered by the effect. Functionality unchanged.
• WARRIOR
  • Spear of Bastion has been renamed to Champion’s Spear.
  • Elysian Might has been renamed to Champion’s Might.
  • Piercing Verdict has been renamed to Piercing Challenge.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• SHAMAN
  • Enhancement
    • Developers’ note: We’re removing a previous PvP reduction to the base damage of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning and focusing the reduction on spells triggered during Ascendance to target burst damage.
    • Lightning Bolts and Chain Lightnings triggered by Thorim’s Invocation now deal 30% reduced damage in PvP combat.
    • Thorim’s Invocation now increases the damage of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 20% in PvP combat (was 10%).
• WARRIOR
  • Fury
    • Slaughterhouse (PvP Talent) now triggers off of Odyn’s Fury and Onslaught damage, in addition to Rampage damage.

Other updates

QUESTS

• DRAGONFLIGHT EPILOGUE QUESTS
  • A small quest chain where players join the Aspects as they reflect on the events of Dragonflight and look to the future, are introduced to the new night elf city of Bel’ameth, and can stay awhile and listen to the conversations of key characters throughout Valdrakken.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• A preview window has been added to the “Quest Text Contrast” setting in Accessibility Options.
• Art has been updated for predictions and absorbs on unit frames.
• The skull icons on the instance difficulty banner (near the minimap) have been updated with new art.
• In the Transmog Sets pane, you can now favorite individual set pieces from collected appearances by using right-click. Each set piece also now says its slot type in the tooltip (e.g. “Shoulder”).
• Limited-time (holiday) Traveler’s Log activities will now be marked as such, with the time left shown.
• The Trading Post catalog now displays a list of all items included in a bundle.
  • Each item is a clickable button that will preview it on your character.
  • Multiple items can be selected and previewed together if they occupy different slots.
• All appearances received from quest rewards will now have a chat message.
• Interacting with the Auction House quantity field should now be a much more consistent experience.
• Most toasts can now be immediately dismissed with a right click. This includes toasts that appear near the top-center of the screen, such as Great Vault unlocks.
• Edit Mode Frame Snapping Improvements:
  • Can now snap a frame to any intersection of grid lines.
  • Can now snap a frame’s center to any grid line (previously only available for center purple grid lines).
  • Edges of frames can now snap to the horizontal and vertical center lines regardless of whether the grid is enabled.
• A hex code field has been added to the Color Picker. The Color Picker now previews transparency and shows a before and after comparison of the chosen color.

That’s everything you need to know heading into the release of the Seeds of Renewal patch on January 16.