Dragonflight Patch – Class Tuning, Alchemical Experimentation, Bloody Tokens

DECEMBER 5, 2022

Achievements

• Fixed an issue where Iskaaran Harpoon was not granting credit towards Cutting Tusk Equipment.
• Obsidian Champion should now register step completions correctly. Unfortunately, previous credit for the quest “Forging the Answer” may need to be repeated.

Classes

• Tank Specializations
  • Tank-specialized characters now generate 650% additional threat (was 550%).
    • Developers’ note: We’ve heard feedback that on-pull burst in dungeon content is causing damage dealers to pull threat more often than is desirable. This change represents roughly a 15% increase to tank threat generation, which should help alleviate these cases, while still requiring tanks to actively engage with packs to hold threat.
• Demon Hunter
  • [With weekly restarts] The Hunt damage reduced by 10%.
  • [With weekly restarts] Fodder to the Flame’s trigger rate no longer scales with Haste.
• Druid
  • Restoration
    • [With weekly restarts] Regrowth healing decreased by 6%.
• Hunter
  • [With weekly restarts] Steel Trap damage has been reduced by 20%.
  • [With weekly restarts] Explosive Shot damage has been increased by 15%.
  • [With weekly restarts] Barrage damage has been increased by 15%.
  • Marksmanship
    • [With weekly restarts] All damage increased by 10%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Heavy Ammo now causes Trick Shot ricochets to deal an additional 25% damage (was 10%).
  • Survival
    • [With weekly restarts] All damage increased by 5%.
• Mage
  • Fire
    • [With weekly restarts] Flamestrike damage increased by 8%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Pyroblast damage increased by 5%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Fireball damage increased by 10%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Scorch damage increased by 10%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Ignite damage increased by 5%.
• Monk
  • Brewmaster
    • [With weekly restarts] Brewmaster’s Balance now grants 45% increased Stamina (was 30%).
  • Mistweaver
    • [With weekly restarts] Awakened Faeline Spinning Crane Kick now heals 3 nearby allies for 60% of the damage done (was 50%).
    • [With weekly restarts] Vivify healing to primary target increased by 20%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Peaceful Mending now increases healing received by Enveloping Mist and Renewing Mist by 30% (was 20%).
    • [With weekly restarts] Yu’lon’s Whisper now heals 5 targets (was 6) and healing increased by 15%.
• Paladin
  • Protection
    • [With weekly restarts] Aegis of Light now grants 50% increased Stamina (was 45%) and 30% increased Armor (was 15%).
• Priest
  • Mind Spike now correctly has a visual when damaging enemies.
  • Shadow
    • Fixed an issue causing Mental Decay to not extend the duration of Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch when damage was absorbed.
• Rogue
  • Assassination
    • [With weekly restarts] Exsanguinate cooldown increased to 3 minutes (was 45 seconds) and bleed effect magnitude reduced to 80% (was 100%).
      • Developer’s note: Recent data from Live and Beta indicates that Exsanguinate is drastically overperforming its historic and intended power level. We recognize that this is a heavy nerf for an individual talent, but it is important that Exsanguinate’s power be similar to alternative available talent choices. We see this as a temporary measure as we head towards the opening of Dragonflight’s first season, and we will be reconsidering Exsanguinate’s position and role as an available talent for Assassination and may move, replace, or redesign it in a future patch.
• Shaman
  • Restoration
    • [With weekly restarts] All healing spells healing increased by 5%.
    • [With weekly restarts] Acid Rain damage increased by 50%.
• Warlock
  • [With weekly restarts] Soul Leech now converts 3% of damage dealt to an absorb shield (was 6%).
• Warrior
  • Arms
    • [With weekly restarts] Fueled by Violence now heals for 85% of the damage done by Deep Wounds (was 65%).
  • Protection
    • [With weekly restarts] Fueled by Violence now causes Deep Wounds to heal you for 85% (was 65%) of the damage it deals.
    • [With weekly restarts] Brutal Vitality now adds 15% of the damage dealt to your active Ignore Pain (was 30%).

Dungeons and Raids

• Brackenhide Hollow
  • Decatriarch Wratheye
    • Fixed an issue where she might not perform her abilities.
• The Nokhud Offensive
  • Fixed an issue where Teera and Maruuk encounter can sometimes reset if pulled too quickly after their roleplay has ended.
  • Fixed an issue where Ukhel Deathspeakers were using the silver dragon border instead of the gold dragon border.
• Ruby Life Pools
  • Kokia Blazehoof
    • Fixed an issue where Molten Boulder could sometimes fail to indicate the correct impact location.

Items and Rewards

• Fixed an issue where learning a toy while they were stacked would consume the entire stack.

Player versus Player

• Classes
  • Death Knight
    • [With weekly restarts] Anti-Magic Shell (Talent) absorption amount reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
    • [With weekly restarts] Improved Death Strike increase to Death Strike’s healing has been reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • [With weekly restarts] Will of the Necropolis (Talent) damage reduction reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • [With weekly restarts] Anti-Magic Barrier (Talent) increase to Anti-Magic Shell duration and amount absorbed has been reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • [With weekly restarts] Abomination Limb (Talent) will no longer pull individual enemy players more than once over its duration (was every 4 seconds).
    • Frost
      • [With weekly restarts] Death Strike’s healing increased based on recent damage is reduced by 50% if the damage was dealt by players or their pets.
    • Unholy
      • [With weekly restarts] Death Strike’s healing increased based on recent damage is reduced by 50% if the damage was dealt by players or their pets.
        • Developers’ note: Death Knight survivability has been substantially higher than we’re comfortable with, so we’re targeting several aspects of their defensive kit. We feel that with these adjustments, Death Knights will maintain durability with options to counterplay defensively. Additionally, the multiple grips from Abomination Limb created scenarios of unfun gameplay with minimal counterplay in PvP. We’re changing this talent to be able to pull in a unique player in once per talent usage. We believe this change will allow the talent to be an attractive talent to pick while maintaining counterplay options for opponents.
  • Druid
    • Restoration
      • [With weekly restarts] Budding Leaves is now 70% effective in PvP combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Fixed an issue that caused Focused Growth’s buff to only apply to one Lifebloom at a time while using the Undergrowth talent.
        • Developers’ note: Lifebloom has been a higher percentage of Druid healing’s breakdown in PvP than we’d like, so we’re reducing Budding Leaves to bring it more in line.
  • Evoker
    • [With weekly restarts] Scarlet Adaptation’s cap is reduced by 30% in PvP combat.
    • [With weekly restarts] Fire Breath’s initial damage is reduced by 30% in PvP combat.
    • [With weekly restarts] Disintegrate and Pyre deal 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
      • Developers’ note: The goal of this tuning change is to reduce the very high burst from fully charged Fire Breath, which we felt was unfair as it had the potential to kill enemy players without any time to react. Living Flame also had the potential to deal high burst with all its modifiers combined together, so we’re reducing Scarlet Adaptation’s cap in PvP. To compensate for the lost power, we’re increasing the damage of Disintegrate and Pyre so that Evoker can contribute more meaningful consistent damage. Note that this will affect both Devastation and Preservation specializations.
    • Preservation
      • [With weekly restarts] Mana regeneration is reduced by an additional 10% in PvP combat.
        • Developers’ notes: All healers have reduced mana regeneration in PvP, so that fights end after a reasonable period of time. Preservation receiving this reduction brings them closer in line with the other healers so that mana is relevant in PvP.
  • Mage
    • Arcane
      • [With weekly restarts] Nether Precision now 75% effective in PvP combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Prodigious Savant now 80% effective in PvP combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Arcane Bombardment now 65% effective in PvP combat.
        • Developers’ note: We’re looking to address Arcane’s instant burst damage through adjustments targeting Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage modifiers. Arcane Bombardment in particular has been too powerful of an execute effect in PvP for its current availability.
      • Frost
        • [With weekly restarts] Piercing Cold is now 50% effective in PvP combat.
        • [With weekly restarts] Ice Lance damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
        • [With weekly restarts] (PvP Talent) Snowdrift no longer has a cast time (was 1.5 seconds).
        • [With weekly restarts] (PvP Talent) Snowdrift’s cooldown reduced to 45 seconds (was 60 seconds).
          • Developers’ note: Glacial Spike critical strikes are hitting harder than we would like, despite the long cast time attached to this spell. We’re reducing Piercing Cold’s critical strike damage modifier in PvP to help address this without impacting the base damage of the spell. We’re also increasing the damage of Ice lance as the Splitting Ice talent is less valuable in PvP, given the unpredictable and constant movement of players. Additionally, Snowdrift has been requiring more ramp up than intended, so we’re removing its cast time and lowering its cooldown.
  • Monk
    • Mistweaver
      • [With weekly restarts] Ancient Teachings of the Monastery now heals for 375% of damage done in PvP combat (was 240%).
        • Developers’ note: We would like to see more aggressive playstyles from Mistweaver Monk to be possible in PvP, so we’re targeting Ancient Teaching of the Monastery to bolster the playstyle.
  • Rogue
    • [With weekly restarts] Echoing Reprimand damage reduced by 30% in PvP combat.
      • Developers’ note: We’ve seen that the ability could have extremely high burst, more than we’re comfortable with, so we are partially reverting the change made in last week’s hotfixes, where Echoing Reprimand’s damage was no longer reduced in PvP.
  • Shaman
    • Elemental
      • [With weekly restarts] Magma Chamber effectiveness reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
        • Developers’ note: Earth Shock and Elemental Blast from Elemental Shamans deal more damage than intended with high stacks of Magma Chamber, so we are lowering its effect in PvP.
    • Enhancement
      • [With weekly restarts] Improved Maelstrom Weapon increases the damage and healing of spells by 8%/15% per stack of Maelstrom Weapon in PvP combat (was 10%/20%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Raging Maelstrom increases the effectiveness of Maelstrom Weapon stacks by 3% in PvP combat (was 5%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Stormstrike and Windstrike damage increased by 30% in PvP combat.
        • Developers’ note: Damage and healing from fully stacked Maelstrom Weapon are higher than intended in PvP, so we’re reducing the value of the associated talents. Separately, we’d like for Enhancement’s sustained damage to be more well-rounded in PvP, so we’re increasing Stormstrike’s damage.
  • Warlock
    • [With weekly restarts] Curse of Tongues reduces cast time by 10% in PvP combat (was 15%).
    • [With weekly restarts] Curse of Tongues applied through Amplify Curse reduces cast time by 20% in PvP combat (was 35%).
      • Developers’ note: We’re reducing the overall power of Curse of Tongues in PvP. We’d like for the spell to be valuable to cast, but not cause casters to have a frustrating time trying to cast spells.
  • Warrior
    • Arms
      • [With weekly restarts] Mortal Strike’s damage is no longer reduced by 30% in PvP combat.
      • [With weekly restarts] Sharpened Blades now increases critical strike damage by 5% in PvP combat (was 10%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Martial Prowess now increases Mortal Strike’s damage by 15% per stack in PvP combat (was 30%).
      • [With weekly restarts] Execute damage increased by 20% in PvP combat (Arms only).
      • [With weekly restarts] Rend damage reduced by 15% in PvP combat (Arms only).
        • Developers’ note: We’re looking to increase Mortal Strike’s consistent damage while keeping its burst potential in line through targeted adjustments to its modifiers. We’re also reducing Rend’s damage in PvP as Skullsplitter has been a culprit for one-shots.

• War Mode
  • Bloody Tokens from honorable kills are no longer awarded while in a raid.
    • Developers’ Note: We are happy to see awarding Bloody Tokens from player kills in the open world has had positive reception. However, we’ve seen some behavior going against the spirit of the game, particularly forming full raid groups to farm the currency rather than through organic PvP encounters in the open world. Bloody Tokens are still awarded for honorable kills in the open world when a player is in a party, but not in a raid group.

Professions

• Skill ranges indicated by Mining and Herbalism gathering journals now accurately reflect the leveling experience.
• Alchemy
  • Alchemical Experimentation has been re-enabled.
• Blacksmithing
  • Grekka Anvilsmash (Master Blacksmith) now correctly offers Blacksmithing Knowledge instead of Mining Knowledge.
• Engineering
  • Tinker’s Workbench and Portable Tinker’s Workbench are now also considered Anvils.
• Fishing
  • Fixed an issue where full Fishing Nets in River Mouth Fishing Hole occasionally disappearing.

Quests

• Adventure Mode
  • Fixed an issue where the campaign quest indicators were not appearing properly for quests in Ohn’ahran Plains and Thaldraszus.
• The Azure Span
  • Fixed an issue where quest rewards could be unavailable for some players turning in “For Imbu!”
• Ohn’ahran Plains
  • Fixed an issue where the first four quests of Thunderspine dailies were erroneously removing all items from player’s inventory and bank upon completion.
• Thaldraszus
  • Abandoning the Horde or Alliance versions of the quest “Deathwingurlugull!” while in the plane will now result in the player being teleported back to the quest givers.

Reputation

• Cobalt Assembly
  • Leech stacks now capped at 5.

User Interface and Accessibility

• The icon for Siege on Dragonbane Keep now disappears when it is no longer available due to already being completed.