AoE Cap removed

Several class abilities will have their AoE cap removed in the coming patch 9.1.5. Instead, those abilities will have reduced dmg done more than 5 targets.

Here is the Blizzard notes and what class abilities that will be affected.

Blizzard

  • Developers' note: With the launch of Shadowlands, we reduced the maximum number of targets that several abilities could hit specifically to address a few gameplay problems related to pulling a large number of enemies in dungeons. Players often refer to these changes as the “AOE target cap.” Our intention was to reduce the effectiveness of burst AOE buttons against large target counts (i.e. 15-20 enemies) while also increasing their effectiveness against fewer targets (e.g. 3-5 enemies) and communicating that strength clearly in the tooltips. The abilities that remained “uncapped” were generally ones that offered lower damage over a longer period of time (e.g. Blizzard or Consecration). Along with other changes, we set out to move away from “pull as many enemies as possible, use all your cooldowns and delete them” as the predominant strategy across various forms of content.We've received a lot of feedback that these abilities not hitting enemies in their range in any way creates a feel problem for WoW combat but is also an issue for trivial encounters like farming legacy content. For many of the abilities that underwent the change from uncapped to a strict target cap in 9.0, we're converting the damage to “reduced damage beyond 5 targets.” This means that the ability will deal full damage against 5 targets, then reduced damage to each additional target beyond 5. This means that while the overall damage done by the ability increases with the number of targets, the individual damage done to each target will decrease. This solution means these abilities and their relative classes will still have a very strong niche against packs of 4-6 enemies. As always, tuning will change as a result of this shift over the next few weeks based on your feedback from the PTR.
  • The following area-of-affect abilities are no longer maximum target capped and instead deal reduced damage beyond 5 targets: (These features will be available in a later PTR build)
  • Death Knight
    • Sacrificial Pact
    • Abomination Limb (Necrolord Ability)
    • Reanimated Shambler (Runecarving Power)
    • Blood
      • Consumption (Talent)
      • Bonestorm (Talent)
    • Frost
      • Frostscythe (Talent)
    • Unholy
      • Bursting Sores (Talent)
    • Demon Hunter
      • Havoc
        • Blade Dance
        • Fel Barrage (Talent)
      • Vengeance
        • Soul Cleave
        • Spirit Bomb (Talent) now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets (previously was soft-capped at 20 targets).
      • Druid
        • Swipe
        • Feral
          • Brutal Slash (Talent)
        • Hunter
          • Soulforge Embers (Runecarving Power)
          • Beast Mastery
            • Beast Cleave
            • Multi-Shot
            • Barrage (Talent)
          • Marksmanship
            • Multi-Shot
            • Barrage (Talent)
            • Explosive Shot (Talent)
          • Survival
            • Carve
            • Butchery (Talent)
          • Mage
            • Arcane
              • Arcane Echo (Talent)
            • Frost
              • Frozen Orb
              • Glacial Fragments (Runecarving Power)
            • Monk
              • Brewmaster
                • Rushing Jade Wind (Talent)
              • Windwalker
                • Fists of Fury
                • Rushing Jade Wind (Talent)
              • Paladin
                • Retribution
                  • Divine Storm
                • Rogue
                  • Assassination
                    • Fan of Knives
                    • Crimson Tempest (Talent)
                  • Subtlety
                    • Black Powder
                    • Shuriken Storm
                    • Secret Technique (Talent)
                  • Shaman
                    • Elemental
                      • Storm Elemental's (Talent) Eye of the Storm
                    • Warlock
                      • Demonology
                        • Felguard's Felstorm
                      • Warrior
                        • Whirlwind
                        • Arms
                          • Bladestorm
                          • Cleave (Talent)
                          • Ravager (Talent)
                          • Dreadnaught (Talent)
                        • Fury
                          • Bladestorm
                        • Protection
                          • Ravager (Talent)
2 Sep 2021