Blizzard
January 23HotfixesClasses- Druid
Feral
Increased the damage of most Feral spells and abilities by 8%. (Ashamane's Frenzy, Brutal Slash, , Maim, Moonfire, Improved Prowl, Merciless Claws, , Thrash, Rip)
Developer's 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%).
Developer's 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%.
Developer's 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 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%.
Developer's 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, , 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.
Developer's 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%.
Developer's 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 (down from 3.5%). - Blade of Justice damage increased by 20%, unchanged in PvP.
Developer's 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%.
Developer's 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 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.
ItemsPlayer versus Player- All Artifact Power rewards from Rated PvP have been substantially (50%-100%) increased.
Note: The PvP UI will not properly reflect the amount of Artifact Power that will be rewarded until a future patch.
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 Professions- Archaeology
The Nor'danil Wellspring digsite is no longer displayed in the middle of the ocean.
Quests