It’s a big deal who starts the fight in World of Warcraft, and that’s true as WoW Classic moves into Mists of Pandaria with its current testing. What happens when someone pulls? How are resources generated? Who gets a full set of resources for pulling? What happens to persistent buffs? The latest development notes address a number of changes to the pre-pull effects and what happens when an encounter starts. Short version: Some buffs go away, some persist, and you generally should not expect to use an item or an ability ahead of the pull hoping that it won’t technically count as “used” when the encounter starts.
Developers also do realize that this can have a number of effects, of course, so the game is also ensuring that any and all abilities with cooldowns longer than 90 seconds are reset upon the end of an encounter. So don’t be afraid that using your ability will lock you out of it for an extended period; just don’t try to cheat cooldown rules. Respect the pre-pull.
Mists Classic is due to launch on July 21st.
