Two kinds of mechanic are checked here. Contested rules: what retail did is itself argued, or the sources disagree. Server bugs checked: the retail rule is clear; the question is whether this server follows it. The reference is WotLK Classic's final state (which version). So far the Rogue and Priest have been checked in full; the Mage is next, and other classes are added as their comps are.
Status: Confirmed: tested on the live server, with a strong source for the rule. Likely: tested or found in the data, with the source weaker than a log or footage, or the sources differ in a detail. Open: no source settles it; the server keeps its current behaviour, recorded as an assumption. Not yet checked: the rule is known, the server hasn't been tested.
The tables are generated from the project's mechanics spec, where each row is a claim with its sources and a confidence. A row's status can't claim more than that confidence, and a row listed as contested must record how the sources disagree.
Contested rules#
| Mechanic | Here | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diminishing returns | Full, half, quarter, then immune; crowd control on players lasts at most 10 s. The category resets exactly 15 s after its last crowd control ends; retail reset in 15 to 20 s (a 15 s timer checked every 5 s) | Live tests on stuns and Polymorph; the reset from a period wiki | Likely (levels and cap confirmed; the reset differs from retail, to be fixed; whether categories are fully independent is still being checked) |
| Damage breaking Psychic Scream | Breaks once the damage taken since it landed totals about 2,650 after absorbs, at level 80, not a share of the victim's health: no hit smaller than that breaks it on its own, one hit that size does | Patch 3.1.0 names Psychic Scream among the fears with a damage threshold, and the warlock's Glyph of Fear shows a fear breaks on an amount of damage; no source gives the WotLK number | Open |
| Two crowd controls at the same moment (double Sap, Vanish against Blind) | No delay window: the first to reach the server wins | Retail footage exists only for later expansions; WotLK Classic footage could settle it | Open |
| Shadowfiend | May hit too hard and carry the wrong auras | Reports against the Classic test realm; sources disagree on its scaling | Not yet checked |
| Stealth detection | An enemy sees a stealthed rogue in the front half of its view within about 7 yd, and from behind only at about 1 yd (level 80 against 80, the loadout rogue with Master of Deception 1/3 against a priest with no detection effects) | AzerothCore's model, measured on this server; no retail source | Open |
| Tricks of the Trade and Sap | Sap keeps the buff for the next damaging attack | The tooltip says the next damaging attack; one undated wiki tip says Sap uses it up | Likely (changed on this server, #256) |
Server bugs checked#
| Mechanic | Here | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arena healing cut (spell 74410, named Arena - Dampening in the 3.3.5a client) | Healing and absorbs reduced by a flat 10% in arenas | Patch 3.3.2 notes, and a hotfix of 2010-02-05 for absorbs; still in Classic's client data, but no Classic log shows it applied | Likely |
| Wound Poison's healing reduction | 50% | Client spell data; Renew's ticks measured on this server | Confirmed |
| Rogue damage +5% | From the Slaughter from the Shadows talent, on all damage including poisons | Client spell data and patch 3.3.3 notes; measured on this server with and without the talent | Confirmed (not a bug) |
| Recasting a running crowd control (re-Sap) | A recast that would last less than the time left fails (a more powerful spell is already active), costs nothing and doesn't advance DR; a longer one replaces it | WotLK Classic footage of re-Sapping, cited in the upstream report | Confirmed (fixed on this server) |
| Pain Suppression while stunned, with its glyph | Castable while stunned, as the glyph says | Glyph tooltip; a reported bug that did not reproduce | Confirmed |
| Arena start: buffs cast before the gates | Short buffs are removed at the gates from players and their pets | Retail removed players' buffs with under 25 or 30 s left (sources differ); no source mentions pets, which the server missed | Likely (fixed on this server) |
| Focused Will and resilience | Procs on crits, and on non-crits with a chance equal to the victim's resilience crit reduction | Patch 2.0.7 notes and a developer post on resilience | Confirmed (fixed on this server) |
| Poison scaling with attack power | Instant Poison 9% of attack power a hit, Wound Poison 3.6% a hit, Deadly Poison 2.7% a tick | The 2010-01-07 hotfix; Wound Poison's measured on this server | Confirmed (fixed on this server) |
| Rupture ticks can crit | Yes | Patch 3.3.3 notes; checked against them, but no test on this server asserts it | Not yet checked |
| Feint triggering poisons | Should not (fixed in Classic patch 3.4.2) | Wrath Classic 3.4.2 patch notes | Not yet checked |
| Two Wound Poisons via a lower rank | Should not stack (fixed in Classic patch 3.4.2) | Wrath Classic 3.4.2 patch notes | Not yet checked |
| Shadow Sight orbs | Appear 90 s into a match | Wowpedia; AzerothCore was corrected from 60 s upstream; checked against these sources, not measured on this server | Not yet checked |
| Backstab after a stun on a turning target | Works from behind as the client shows | Backstab needs the target's back (its tooltip); a reported bug, not reproduced for players | Confirmed |
| Dalaran Sewers waterfall | Blocks line of sight from the first cycle | Found broken in the first cycle and fixed; the rule rests on the later cycles and TrinityCore's code, no retail source | Likely (fixed on this server) |
| Arena doors before the gates | Closed on the four arenas played here until the gates open (Ring of Valor is disabled) | Reported bug, not reproduced; the gate test asserts it. Likely, not Confirmed: the rule's only source is the report's own expected behaviour, with no retail source, where Backstab's rests on its tooltip | Likely |
| Tricks of the Trade and Cheap Shot | Cheap Shot keeps the buff; the next damaging attack passes it on | The tooltip, and Season 5-6 footage of Cheap Shot not using it up | Confirmed (fixed on this server) |
Known differences left in place#
- Engine timing: differs from Classic's modern engine: batching, movement and latency follow the 3.3.5a engine. Basis: the project keeps AzerothCore and the 3.3.5a client (D-038); no one has measured Classic's timing. Status: Open.
What else stays as in 3.3.5a, and why, is on which version.