- Author: Luxrah
- Date: December 3, 2024
- Updated: December 3, 2024
- Expansion: WoW Classic
Phase 6 is well underway for Season of Discovery, and the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj are due to open on December 4th. The Ahn’Qiraj raids and the new instanced Dragons of Nightmare bosses will become available two days later on December 6th. In preparation, Blizzard has rolled out another set of hotfixes for this season of WoW Classic.
There is one small change to the Blackwing Lair raid. Now players will be able to loot one extra item from the final loot cache – one of the eight class trinkets – if their group has had at least 1 affix enabled throughout the raid. The rest of the changes are all focused on classes.
Feral Druids have received a few adjustments to help with their snap threat, as well as a small nerf to the damage of their Tier 2.5 set bonus. Balance Druids will not be able to use tank defensives in Moonkin Form anymore, but they will no longer receive additional Nature and Arcane damage from players via Dreamstate, which should give them a smoother incoming damage profile in PvP.
Hunters have had some tweaks made to their runes to discourage swapping them around in combat. In addition, their pets will now benefit from Dodge and Parry on the Hunter’s gear, granting a little more survivability to your beast companions.
Frost Mages have seen their Cold Snap cooldown reduced by half. Meanwhile Fire Mages have seen some small nerfs to their Ahn’Qiraj set bonuses and a small adjustment to Living Bomb to allow it to apply fire vulnerability to enemies.
Finally, Holy Paladins have had their Tier 2.5 4-piece bonus changed to add a more significant “splash heal” to their Beacon of Light heals.
Season of Discovery
- Blackwing Lair
- Applying at least 1 affix in Blackwing Lair will now add an additional item to the loot cache. This item will be one of your faction’s 8 class trinkets.
- Druid
- Feral damage 2-piece Tier 2.5 set bonus now increases Shred damage by 15% (was 20%).
- Mangle (Bear) Threat modifier increased to 1.5x threat per damage (was 1.0x threat per damage).
- Lacerate’s impact Threat modifier decreased to 3.33x threat per damage (was 3.5x threat per damage).
- Lacerate’s damage over time Threat modifier decreased to 3.33x threat per damage (was 3.5x threat per damage).
- Developers’ notes: The threat changes are intended to assist in snap threat for Tank Druids, giving more value to using Berserk on the opening of a fight while retaining the value in stacking a lacerate.
- The following Balance Druid updates were implemented on November 19, 2024:
- Improved Frenzied Regeneration can no longer be used in Moonkin Form
- Survival Instincts can no longer be used in Moonkin Form
- Dreamstate’s increase to Nature and Arcane damage taken, can no longer be applied to players.
- Developers’ notes: These changes are targeted at Moonkin’s frustrations in PvP encounters. They will still have an option in these slots rune-wise for PvP, albeit way less durable or bursty, in the form of Elune’s Fire. Dreamstate will still provide the mana regeneration in PvP. This also made room for the talent adjustments made recently to buff up Improved Moonfire and Moonfury.
- Hunter
- Ranged Hunter Tier 2.5 2-set bonus is now a 20% increase to Kill Shot damage against non-player-controlled targets.
- Swapping to the Kill Shot rune will now correctly place it on a 12 second cooldown (was 15 seconds), adjusted for its new base cooldown.
- Swapping off of the Kill Shot rune will now place Flanking Strike on a 12 second cooldown, and prevent the stacking of Sniper Training for 12 seconds as well.
- Hunter Pets will now benefit from equipped gear on the Hunter that reduces the chance to be dodged or parried.
- Swapping Rapid Killing to Lock and Load now prevents the use of Lock and Load for 60 seconds.
- Mage
- The cooldown of Cold Snap has been reduced to 5 minutes (was 10 minutes).
- Fire Mage Tier 2.5 4-piece bonus decreased to 15% (was 20%).
- Fire Mage Ruins of Ahn’Qiraji 3-piece set bonus decreased to 15% (was 20%).
- Living Bomb now has an additional line of text that reads: “Living Bomb benefits from all talents and effects that trigger from or modify Scorch” allowing ticks of Living Bomb and the Explosion to apply Fire Vulnerability if talented.
- Paladin
- Tier 2.5 Holy Paladin set 4-set bonus has been updated – Your heals on your Beacon of Light target also heal the nearest friendly injured target for 90% as much (was 30%).
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