Dragonflight Hotfixes Roundup – Class Tuning, Scaling Changes, Dungeon Tweaks

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

Dungeons and Raids

• Brackenhide Hollow
  • Hackclaw’s War-Band
    • Fixed an issue where Rogues would be knocked out of stealth before combat.

Items and Rewards

• Vendors have amassed enough Serevite Skeleton Keys to lockpick for years to come and are now offering a lower price for them.

Mounts

• Jade, Bright Foreseer has removed its unnecessary horseshoes and now just leaves water splashes behind it.

Wrath of the Lich King Classic

• Items and Rewards
  • Updated the Platinum Disks of Swiftness trinket’s on-use effect to no longer be able to be dispelled, bringing it in parity with the other Platinum Disks trinkets.

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Classes

• Druid
  • Guardian
    • Fixed an issue causing Raze to sometimes fail to strike large enemies even while in melee range.
• Priest
  • Shadow
    • Fixed an issue causing Pain of Death to sometimes deal more damage than intended.
• Warlock
  • Fixed an issue where Demonic Servitude was not being cleared when Reign of Tyranny is re-talented.
  • Fixed an issue where Reign of Tyranny would not dynamically update when re-talenting into it.

Dungeons and Raids

• Shrine of the Storm
  • Fixed an issue causing Galecaller Apprentice’s Slicing Hurricane to sometimes inflict more damage than intended.
• Underrot
  • Fixed an issue causing Living Rot’s Wave of Decay to sometimes inflict more damage than intended.

Items and Rewards

• The buffs from the Sands of Temporal Perfection should now only benefit the player wielding them.

Quests

• The Storm Peaks
  • Fixed an issue where players were not able to complete “Changing the Wind’s Course” when out-leveling the content.
• Stormsong Valley
  • Fixed and issue where players were not able to complete “Aww, Rats!”

Wrath of the Lich King Classic

• Fixed an issue where the Glyph of Righteous Defense was not applying the correct glyph in the Glyph UI. It is now working properly again.

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Classes

• Death Knight
  • Blood
    • [With weekly restarts] Heart Strike damage increased by 15%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Blood Plague damage increased by 15%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Blood Boil damage increased by 15%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Death and Decay damage increased by 20%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Shattering Bone damage increased by 5%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Sanguine Ground damage while inside Death and Decay increased to 6% (was 5%).
  • Frost
    • [With weekly restarts] Unleashed Frenzy duration increased to 10 seconds (was 6 seconds).
    • [With weekly restarts] Cleaving Strikes Obliterate now hits 2 additional targets (was 1).
    • [With weekly restarts] Frost Fever damage increased by 15%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Glacial Advance damage increased by 20%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Frost Strike damage increased by 10%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Frostwhelp’s Aid damage increased by 100%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Frostscythe damage increased by 35%.
• Druid
  • Fixed an issue that caused Nature’s Vigil to transfer damage from Verdancy and Embrace of the Dream.
  • Nature’s Vigil damage will no longer target enemies in crowd control, stealthed or invisible enemies, totems, or enemies out of combat with the Druid.
  • Guardian
    • [With weekly restarts] Armor bonus from Ironfur increased by 20%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Reinforced Fur increases armor from Ironfur by 15% (was 8%) and Barkskin’s damage reduction by 10% (was 5%).
    • [With weekly restarts] Ursoc’s Fury now grants absorb shield based on 50% of damage dealt by Thrash and Maul (was 30%).
    • [With weekly restarts] Reinvigoration’s Frenzied Regeneration cooldown reduction increased cooldown reduction increased to 20/40% (was 15/30%).
    • [With weekly restarts] Layered Mane’s chance to trigger increased to 10/20% (was 5/10%).
    • [With weekly restarts] Lunar Beam healing increased by 230% and cooldown reduced to 1 minute.
  • Developers’ notes: We are keeping a close eye on variances in survivability across tank specializations. These changes are intended to alleviate some difficulties Guardian Druids have been experiencing with certain damage types, as well as targeting some underperforming talents which were not delivering meaningful survivability improvements.
  • Restoration
    • [With weekly restarts] All healing reduced by 3%. This does not apply to PvP combat.
• Evoker
  • Devastation
    • Living Flame healing will once again have a chance to grant Essence Burst when cast with Leaping Flames.
  • Preservation
    • [With weekly restarts] All healing reduced by 5%.
• Hunter
  • Beast Mastery
    • [With weekly restarts] Damage dealt by Hunter and pet abilities increased by 5%.
  • Marksmanship
    • [With weekly restarts] Damage dealt by Hunter and pet abilities increased by 5%.
  • Survival
    • [With weekly restarts] Damage dealt by Hunter and pet abilities increased by 5%.
• Monk
  • Mistweaver
    • [With weekly restarts] All healing increased by 3%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Vivify healing increased by 5%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Clouded Focus now increases healing and decreases mana cost by 20% (was 15%) for Enveloping Mist and Vivify.
    • [With weekly restarts] Peaceful Mending now increases the healing of Enveloping Mist and Renewing Mist by 25/50% (was 15/30%).
    • [With weekly restarts] Spinning Crane Kick damage increased by 15%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Ancient Concordance increases the chance for Rising Sun Kick to reset by 5/10% (was 3/6%).
    • [With weekly restarts] Lesson of Doubt increases healing and damage by up to 40% (was 35%).
• Paladin
  • Protection
    • [With weekly restarts] Avenger’s Shield damage increased by 10%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Blessed Hammer/Hammer of the Righteous/Crusader Strike damage increased by 30%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Hammer of Wrath damage increased by 15%.
• Priest
  • Holy
    • [With weekly restarts] All healing done increased by 3%.
• Shaman
  • [With weekly restarts] Healing Surge healing increased by 10%.
  • [With weekly restarts] Chain Heal healing increased by 10%.
  • Restoration
    • [With weekly restarts] Healing Wave healing increased by 10%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Healing Rain healing increased by 10%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Overflowing Shores healing increased by 10%.
• Warlock
  • [With weekly restarts] Inquisitor’s Gaze Fel Barrage damage increased 35%.
  • [With weekly restarts] Inquisitor’s Gaze no longer casts Fel Blast.
  • [With weekly restarts] Summon Soulkeeper damage increased 35%.
  • Developers’ notes: Inquisitor’s Gaze and Summon Soulkeeper are not contributing to the Warlock damage profile as much as we’d like. After this adjustment, we’ll continue to watch Warlocks’ overall performance and we will make further adjustments if needed.
  • Demonology
    • [With weekly restarts] Wild Imp damage increased 15%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Vilefiend damage increased 30%.
  • Destruction
    • [With weekly restarts] Soul Fire damage increased 20%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Incinerate damage increased 5%.
  • Developers’ notes: We feel that both Destruction and Demonology could use some improvements to their overall contribution in single-target situations. These adjustments are specifically targeting talents that we feel could be more competitive, while also putting additional power into rotational spells.

Dungeons and Raids

• Vault of the Incarnates
  • Sennarth, the Cold Breath
    • Suffocating Webs now reliably hits the intended number of targets.

Items and Rewards

• Chronologically Unstable Loop, Bronze Band of Destinies, and Heat of Primal Winter are now eligible for socket upgrades. This fix is retroactive and requires relogging.
• [With weekly restarts] Outdoor activities have generally had their item levels increased by 6 to 7 item levels. This includes: World Quests, Elite World Quests, and first weekly completion of Hunts, Dragonbane Keep, and Community Soup event.
• Vestment of the Raging Tempests and Drakebreaker’s Vestment should now be eligible for the Revival Catalyst when fully upgraded.

Player versus Player

• Items
  • [With weekly restarts] Neltharax, Enemy of the Sky now grants 1% attack speed in PvP (was 5%).
• Classes
  • Demon Hunter
    • [With weekly restarts] Restless Hunter (Talent) damage bonus for next Blade Dance/Death Sweep reduced by 40% in PvP combat.
    • Developers’ notes: We’ve continued to see the potential burst provided by Restless Hunter much higher than we would like, especially in combination with Essence Break and The Hunt.
  • Druid
    • Guardian
      • [With weekly restarts] Frenzied Regeneration healing now 50% (was 62%) effective in PvP Combat.”
    • Developers’ note: This is intended to offset Reinvigoration’s buff noted above.
  • Evoker
    • [With weekly restarts] Living Flame healing increased by 30% in PvP Combat.
    • [With weekly restarts] Verdant Embrace healing increased by 20% in PvP Combat.
    • [With weekly restarts] Oppressing Roar increases the duration of incoming crowd control by 30% (was 20%) in PvP Combat.
    • Developers’ notes: This is intended to offset the above noted game-wide 5% healing reduction by targeting abilities that we would like to see more prominent in a Preservation Evoker’s PvP healing profile. Additionally, Oppressing Roar has not been as valuable a talent point as we’d hoped, so we are slightly increasing its effectiveness.
  • Hunter
    • Beast Mastery
      • [With weekly restarts] Stormwing Harrier’s Camouflage 4-piece now increases the damage of your next Kill Command by 10% in PvP (was 20%).
    • Marksmanship
      • [With weekly restarts] Rapid Fire damage increased by 15% in PvP Combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Aimed Shot damage increased by 15% in PvP Combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Chimaera Shot damage increased by 30% in PvP Combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Unerring Vision critical Strike Damage bonus effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP Combat.
    • Developers’ notes: With the removal of Double Tap, Marksmanship Hunter damage has been lower than we would like to see, so we are increasing several main rotation abilities while decreasing Unerring Vision, with the goal of higher sustained damage.
  • Monk
    • Mistweaver
      • [With weekly restarts] Healing Sphere (PvP Talent) now triggers the dispel backlash effects from Unstable Affliction and Vampiric Touch. Healing increased by 320%.
    • Developers note: This change is to have more consistency among dispel effects that are intended to require careful consideration of the risks and benefits of dispelling it. Additionally, we felt that the healing on Healing Sphere has been too weak.
  • Priest
    • Shadow
      • [With weekly restarts] Psyfiend (PvP Talent) healing reduction no longer stacks with similar effects.
    • Developers’ notes: Psyfiend’s healing reduction effects appear mechanically similar to many others, but were stacking with other such effects and each other in a way that was not clearly communicated to players, and yet was having a significant impact on which specializations were being favored and often overperforming in PvP. We are standardizing their behavior to follow the same rules as similar effects.
  • Rogue
    • Assassination
      • [With weekly restarts] Vault Delver’s Toolkit 4-piece set bonus Bleed damage bonus reduced by 50% in PvP Combat.
    • Developers’ notes: The 4-piece set bonus for Assassination has been more significant in their damage profile than we would like.
      • [With weekly restarts] Wound Poison (Deathmark version) healing reduction no longer stacks with similar effects.
    • Developer’s note: The Wound Poison (from Deathmark) healing reduction effects appear mechanically similar to many others, but were stacking with other such effects and each other in a way that was not clearly communicated to players, and yet was having a significant impact on which specializations were being favored and often overperforming in PvP. We are standardizing their behavior to follow the same rules as similar effects.
  • Shaman
    • Restoration
      • [With weekly restarts] Damage dealt to Earthen Wall Totem caused by damage absorbed by pets is reduced by 90%.
    • Developers’ notes: The intent for this adjustment is to make Earthen Wall Totem feel more impactful as a defensive ability. As we noted, it was being destroyed too quickly in scenarios where teammates have pets.
  • Warlock
    • Affliction
      • [With weekly restarts] Unstable Affliction backlash damage increased by 35%.
        • Developers’ notes: After our recent changes to normalize Unstable Affliction’s backlash damage, we’re seeing it get dispelled frequently. Our intent is for dispelling Unstable Affliction to require careful consideration of the risks and benefits and its damage was not fulfilling that.
    • Destruction
      • [With weekly restarts] Chaos Bolt damage increased by 40% in PvP Combat (was 15%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Fixed an issue that caused Bane of Havoc (PvP Talent) to deal more damage than intended to targets.
      • Developer Note: We’re addressing a bug with Bane of Havoc that was causing Havoc to deal full damage instead of the intended 60%, which is a significant nerf to the spec in PvP. Chaos Bolt has not been as threatening as intended in Dragonflight, so we’re increasing its damage to compensate for the bug fix.
      • [With weekly restarts] Fel Fissure (PvP Talent) Healing reduction no longer stacks with similar effects.
        • Developers’ notes: Fel Fissure’s healing reduction effects appear mechanically similar to many others, but were stacking with other such effects and each other in a way that was not clearly communicated to players, and yet was having a significant impact on which specializations were being favored and often overperforming in PvP. We are standardizing their behavior to follow the same rules as similar effects.
  • Warrior
    • Arms
      • [With weekly restarts] Executioner’s Precision is now 30% effective in PvP Combat (was 50%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Martial Prowess is now 33% effective in PvP Combat (was 50%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Overpower damage increased by 20% in PvP Combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Slam damage increased by 40% in PvP Combat.
    • Developers’ notes: We’ve seen Mortal Strike come to represent too much of Arms Warriors’ total damage in PvP. Additionally, it often results in spikier damage than we’re comfortable with, so we’re moving toward an overall rebalance across several abilities.

Professions

• Alchemy
  • Potion Cauldrons have had their size greatly increased.
• Enchanting
  • The Prismatic Diamond Loop that drops from Avalantus in the Primalist Future should now disenchant into Dragonflight materials.

Quests

• [With weekly restarts] Gold rewards from world quests have been increased.
• The Azure Span
  • Big Kinook should now give out tasks to more players at a time when the Community Feast is very busy.
  • [With weekly restarts] The Tuskarr of Iskaara will now hold their Community Feast once every 1.5 hours (was every 3.5 hours).
    • Developers’ note: After this change the event timer will always be visible on the map to show the 15-minute meal prep timer before cooking begins, the 15 minutes while cooking is active, and the 60 minutes of dining time for adventurers to chow down on the soup that you worked so diligently on.

Wrath of the Lich King Classic

• Daily quests now reset at 7:00 a.m. realm time, in order to coincide with all other daily resets.
• Fixed an error when exchanging Emblems with Usuri Brightcoin.
• Classes
  • Paladin
    • Retribution
      • [With weekly restarts] New glyph recipe added to inscription requiring 390 skill: Glyph of Reckoning. “Your Hand of Reckoning spell no longer taunts the target and can be used on targets immune to taunt effects.” This glyph will appear on inscription trainers.
      • Seal of Vengeance and Seal of Corruption now apply stacks of their debuffs (Holy Vengeance and Blood Corruption respectively) when using melee abilities such as Divine Storm and Crusader Strike.
• Dungeons and Raids
  • Ulduar
    • Fixed an issue where some players randomly received full resources (i.e. mana) unexpectedly in Ulduar.
• Items and Rewards
  • Fixed an issue where certain gloves would display a texture on a character’s upper arms.