Class/PvE/PvP/Profession changes this week

January 23

Hotfixes

Classes

[All class changes below will take effect with weekly realm restarts in each region.]

  • Druid
    • Feral
      • Increased the damage of most Feral spells and abilities by 8% (Ashamane's Frenzy, Brutal Slash, Ferocious Bite, Maim, Moonfire, Rake, Shred, Swipe, Thrash, Rip).
        • Developers’ Notes: Feral's playstyle feels good, but isn't putting up the numbers that it should be, so we're giving them an across-the-board damage buff.
  • Hunter
    • Combat Experience (Pet Passive) now increases the damage of primary pets by 60% (was 50%).
      • Developers’ Notes: This is primarily a damage buff to Beast Mastery, but will have a tiny benefit to Survival and occasionally Marksmanship as well.
    • Marksmanship
      • Arcane Shot now generates 8 Focus (was 5).
      • Multi-Shot now generates 3 Focus per target hit (was 2).
      • Sidewinders damage increased by 33%.
        • Developers’ Notes: Marksmanship has given a lot of feedback that the rotation often winds up casting too many consecutive Focus generators.  We are making two changes: first, helping avoid that problem by increasing the Focus generation of Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot. Second, making it more attractive to use Sidewinders in more situations, for players who prefer the pacing of the rotation with that talent.
  • Mage
    • Arcane
      • Increased the damage of most Arcane spells and abilities by 8% (Arcane Barrage, Arcane Blast, Arcane Explosion, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Orb, Nether Tempest, Supernova).
      • Overpowered now increases the damage and mana cost bonuses of Arcane Power to 60% (was 70%).
      • Amplification now increases Arcane Missiles damage by 12% (was 15%).
        • Developers’ Notes: Arcane has been doing well in Patch 7.1.5, but its numbers are lacking a bit. We're giving them an across-the-board damage buff, but tempering that with small reductions to a couple of new talents that are proving to be too strong.
    • Fire
      • Increased the damage of most Fire spells and abilities by 3% (Blast Wave, Cinderstorm, Dragon's Breath, Fire Blast, Fireball, Flame Patch, Flamestrike, Living Bomb, Meteor, Phoenix Flames, Pyroblast, Scorch).
      • Pyroblast mana cost reduced by 20%.
      • Flamestrike mana cost reduced by 17%.
        • Developers’ Notes: Under certain circumstances, it was possible for Fire to run out of mana. It's only intended that mana is a constraint on Fire's utility, not its damage.
    • Frost
      • Increased the damage of most Frost spells and abilities by 4% (Ebonbolt, Blizzard, Cone of Cold, Flurry, Frost Bomb, Frostbolt, Frozen Orb, Ice Lance, Ice Nova, Waterbolt, Ray of Frost, Water Jet).
      • Comet Storm damage increased by 30%.
      • Flurry now fires its missiles faster.
        • Developers’ Notes: Comet Storm is failing to live up to expectations, so we're buffing its damage. The Flurry change will help Flurry feel more responsive, while simultaneously solving a potential issue where Winter's Chill could apply to two Ice Lances (instead of just one, as intended) at extremely high Haste levels.
  • Monk
    • Brewmaster
      • Keg Smash damage increased by 10%, and it no longer deals reduced damage to 6+ targets.
      • Breath of Fire damage increased 11%.
        • Developers’ Notes: Brewmasters could use a bit of help on damage, especially in AoE.
  • Paladin
    • Retribution
      • Crusade now increases damage and Haste by 3% per stack (was 3.5%).
      • Blade of Justice damage increased by 20%, unchanged in PvP.
        • Developers’ Notes: Retribution's total damage is looking quite strong in 7.1.5, which is fine on its own. However, how that damage is delivered matters quite a bit as well. We've been seeing more and more than Paladins find that the optimal way to maximize their performance is to focus everything they can on boosting their damage during Crusade. This creates a number of problems, including: Crusade feels mandatory, your damage feels very unrewarding outside of Crusade, trinkets and artifact traits are viewed as either amazing or terrible based on whether they synergize with Crusade, and others.
        • As such, we're going to tone down Crusade, and compensate with a buff to Blade of Justice. For those that had maximized Crusade to an extreme degree, this may result in a small overall nerf – this is intended. This change also helps prevent Divine Hammer from being too dominant in single-target situations.
  • Warlock
    • Destruction
      • Chaos Bolt damage increased by 9%.
      • Rain of Fire damage increased by 30%.
      • Cataclysm damage increased by 29%.
        • Developers’ Notes: Destruction's damage isn't as high as it should be. In particular, some of its spells that should feel the most rewarding aren't hitting hard enough, especially in AoE situations. We're buffing the damage of those spells.

Dungeons and Raids

  • Fixed a bug where some Warlords dungeon bosses were not always dropping loot.
  • The Windwalker Monk Vestments of Enveloped Dissonance 2-piece bonus and the Restoration Druid Garb of the Astral Warden 4-piece bonus should now scale down correctly in Timewalking dungeons.
  • Siege of Orgrimmar
    • Fixed a bug where Garrosh Hellscream would not drop loot on Raid Finder difficulty.
  • The Nighthold
    • High Botanist Tel’arn
      • High Botanist Tel’arn now takes more time between using abilities on Normal difficulty.
    • Gul’dan
      • Resolved an issue where Resonant Barrier would fail to apply its effects if the player was under the effects of immunities.
      • Resolved an issue where the Essence of Aman'thul abilities would disappear from players when using an immunity effect.

Items

  • Windwalker Monks who unequip the Vestments of Enveloped Dissonance should no longer gain the 4-piece bonus.
  • Feretory of Souls should no longer be activated by a spell that did not complete casting.

Player versus Player

  • [After realm maintenance in each region.] All Artifact Power rewards from Rated PvP have been substantially increased.
    • Note: The PvP UI will not properly reflect the amount of Artifact Power that will be rewarded until a future patch.
  • [After realm maintenance in each region.] Season 19 Achievements that should not have been granted have been correctly removed.
  • You can no longer target a flag carrier with Guardian of the Forgotten Queen.
  • Demon Hunter
    • Eye of Leotheras will no longer scale with increased damage, and instead will always deal a maximum of 6% of the target’s health in damage each time it activates.
  • Mage
    • Ray of Frost cannot be channeled if the Mage is interrupted and locked out of the Frost School, as intended.
  • Warlock
    • Cremation now correctly only applies the damage-over-time effect of Immolate. Cremation no longer allows Havoc to spread Immolate to a target who is out of line of sight of the Warlock when Incinerate or Immolate are cast.

Professions

  • Archaeology
    • The Nor'danil Wellspring digsite is no longer displayed in the middle of the ocean.

Quests

  • Players on the quest "Fate of the Nightborne" will no longer be sent into a separate phase of the Nighthold until they have spoken to Oculeth to begin the quest.
  • Felsworn Defilers now spawn in more locations during “The Felsworn Must Fall”.
24 Jan 2017