There are many versions of Nexus-Lord Donjon Rade throughout the PTR, so make sure you're speaking to the 9th!
Season 2’s PTR includes the DUMMY DOME!, a new test zone full of combat dummies and 50,000 pounds of MUD MUD MUD that you can reach by speaking to Nexus-Lord Donjon Rade IX in major cities. In this high-octane training arena, you can initiate fights against 1, 2, 3, or 5 dummies that have the same armor as Season 2 raid bosses and whose health decreases steadily over 5-minute encounters for maximum Execution Accuracy. Adrenaline junkies can also spawn a Hazardous Dummy that deals ramping steady damage that will literally kill you and your friends if you don’t heal through it. So rev your engines and cause some CARNAGE!
Set in an instanced version of the Undermine Demolition Dome, owner Duhg Dummy Dome will give players several options to spawn 1, 2, 3, or 5 regular dummies, or a single Hazardous healing Dummy, which can and will kill try to you. While good for healers, it is not advised to test solo, as releasing will place you back in the regular version of Undermine.
Another special thing about these dummies is that they have a lot of health, around 3.75 billion each (for reference, Mythic L'ura has around 975 million). While this is much more than can reasonably done, it's offset by a debuff gained upon entering combat: Self Destruct will cause dummies to lose ~0.33% of their health per second, resulting in their death after five minutes, even if you aren't damaging them.
They actually explode upon reaching zero health, which should be slightly ahead of that five minute mark... and when one dummy explodes, they all do!
This keeps dummy health fairly consistent, even if you're hard focusing just one target, which is useful for Execute testing, as well aligning with default Raidbots simulation options. Execute in particular is something that is very hard to test against normal dummies, which often have either too much health to reach that threshold or so little health that they blow right past it, neither of which are particularly conducive to good testing.
Fifty-five thousand damage per second adds up real quick, so be warned!
Players have long asked for better and more varied testing areas, particularly during PTR and expansion development; long-time players may even remember that Blizzard filled Shattrath with extra training dummies during the Warlord's of Draenor development, and added dummies to the Proving Grounds during Battle for Azeroth testing. Unpopulated test areas are very rare though, and to this day, Garrisons, Order Halls, and other remote locations such as Bel'ameth or Exodar remain popular test areas for players seeking solitude. Still, all of those areas have their own shortcomings: Bel'ameth only features a single target, Exodar's targets are very spread out, low-level Garrison dummies are affected by legacy damage scaling, and more popular capital cities are often populated by other players with their own myriad spell effects flying around, all of which can make it it harder to test effectively.
Damage issues aside, it's still the most peaceful test area in the game.
While this new Dummy Dome would be a really nice permanent feature, it does have a few shortcomings. What would be even better are training dummy decor that players could place in their homes, giving them the ability to personalize their own test environments however they see fit. With a little support, this could be extended to add even more features as well.
Apply group buffs.
Refreshing cooldowns.
Conjoured/unlimited consumables.
Additional Self Destruct death timers.
Choose where to put them, how near or far they are from one another.
Put down as many as you like, for testing bigger pulls or specific numbers of targets.
Warcraft Logs is already ahead of the game, having created a new rankings page to compare PTR performance.
Patch 12.1 Week 2
PTR Development Notes
Class Changes
Class & Tier Tuning
No More Scaling Crest Costs
Content Updates
Currency Tab Sorted
Dungeon & Raid Maps
Patch 12.1 Reveal
PTR Development Notes
Discord Integration
First Look & WoWCast Reveal
Ping Improvements
Addons and Aura Filters
Class Changes
Vantus Rune Nerfs
Scaling Gear Upgrades
DPS Cooldowns Nerfed
Endgame Gearing Changes
Season 2 Tier Set Bonuses
Season 2 Tier Set Appearances
Content Updates
Dummy Dome Test Area
Delve Nemesis Uncapped
Consolidating Housing Dyes
Housing Blueprints and Pets
New Warband Campsites
Season 2 Dungeon Rotation
Models
Spice Witch Set
Assassin's Attire
Outdoor Armor Sets
Outdoor Weapon Models
Venmous Abyss Weapons
Elite & Gladiator PvP Sets
Braclet and Mask Models
Shark and Wing Back Attachments
Creature Models
