World of Warcraft: Hunters rejoice! Wild ups and downs in the hotfix (Patch notes in English)

In World of Warcraft, the balance is heavily adjusted, a hotfix that is coming soon disrupts the entire balancing.

Nerf: Fire Mage, Warlock, Fury; Buff: Frost Mage, Hunter, Monk, Retribution

A hotfix that is already live in the USA reads a bit like playing a game of Chutes and Ladders. For some classes, it goes up significantly, for others, it goes down hard. Especially the caster classes are hit by a first nerf hammer, the Warlock gets it (especially the Demo Lock) and the Fire Mage loses 20% damage on Fireball and Pyroblast. The Fury Warrior doesn’t escape unscathed either.

On the other side, the Frost Mage can rejoice, he is buffed, just like the Hunter (who particularly suffered from the balance issues and is now the big winner). And there is a heart for hybrids: The Monk, the Feral Druid, and the Retribution can bite back more powerfully after the hotfix.

Furthermore, with the hotfix comes the ability to restore deleted characters. This new Louis de Funès feature “(Yes! No! But! Aaaaah!)” for the indecisive has already been announced. The patch notes (preliminary in English) can be found here. We will update once they are available in German.

Update 20.10: The patch notes in German are now available.

Character Restoration

• Players can now restore deleted characters.
• Details on which characters are eligible and about the restoration system itself can be found in our blog post Introduction of a New Feature: Character Restoration.

Class Balance

Note: All changes to class balance take effect only after a server restart.

• Druid
  • General
    • The damage of ‘Wild Bite’ has been increased by 12 %.
    • The damage of ‘Moonfire’ (Feral) has been increased by 12 %.
    • The damage of ‘Shred’ has been increased by 12 %.
    • The damage of ‘Claw’ (Feral, Cat Form) has been increased by 12 %.
  • Feral
    • The damage of ‘Rake’ has been increased by 12 %.
    • The damage of ‘Rip’ has been increased by 12 %.
    • The damage of ‘Mangle’ has been increased by 25 %.
• Hunter
  • General
    • The damage of ‘Arcane Shot’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Cobra Shot’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Explosive Trap’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Kill Shot’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Multi-Shot’ has been increased by 30 %.
    • The damage of ‘Chimaera Shot’ has been increased by 15 %.
  • Marksmanship
    • The damage of ‘Aimed Shot’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Chimaera Shot’ has been increased by 15 %.
  • Survival
    • The damage of ‘Black Arrow’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Explosive Shot’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Serpent Sting’ has been increased by 15 %.
  • Hunter Pet
    • Hunter pets now take 60 % of the Hunter’s attack power (previously 33 %).
  • Talents
    • The damage of ‘The Birds’ has been increased by 80 %.
    • The damage of ‘Suppressive Fire’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Alpha Wolf’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Exotic Munitions’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Focused Shot’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Glaive Toss’ has been increased by 15 %.
    • The damage of ‘Piercing Shot’ has been increased by 15 %.
• Mage
  • General
    • The damage of ‘Frostfire Bolt’ has been decreased by 20 %.
  • Fire
    • The damage of ‘Fireball’ has been decreased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Inferno Blast’ has been decreased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Pyroblast’ has been decreased by 20 %.
  • Frost
    • ‘Brain Freeze’ now increases the damage of ‘Frostfire Bolt’ by 85 % (previously 25 %).
    • The damage of ‘Frostbolt’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Frozen Orb’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Ice Lance’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • Water Elemental
      • The damage of ‘Water Jet’ has been increased by 20 %.
      • The damage of ‘Water Bolt’ has been increased by 20 %.
  • Talents
    • The damage of ‘Frost Bomb’ (Frost) has been increased by 25 %.
    • The damage of ‘Ice Nova’ (Frost) has been increased by 25 %.
• Monk
  • General
    • The damage of ‘Blackout Kick’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Strike’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Rising Sun Kick’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Spinning Crane Kick’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Tiger Palm’ has been increased by 20 %.
  • Windwalker
    • The damage of ‘Fists of Fury’ has been increased by 20 %.
  • Talents
    • The damage of ‘Chi Explosion’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Rushing Jade Wind’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The version of Xuen called by ‘Summon Xuen, the White Tiger’ now takes 60 % of the Monk’s attack power (previously 33 %).
• Paladin
  • General
    • The damage of ‘Crusader Strike’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Hammer of Wrath’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Judgment’ has been increased by 20 %.
  • Retribution
    • The damage of ‘Divine Storm’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Exorcism’ has been increased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Templar’s Verdict’ has been increased by 20 %.
  • Talents
    • The damage of ‘Final Verdict’ (Retribution) has been increased by 20 %.
• Warlock
  • General
    • The damage of ‘Corruption’ has been decreased by 10 %.
    • The damage of ‘Shadow Bolt’ has been decreased by 20 %.
  • Demology
    • The damage of ‘Chaos Wave’ has been decreased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Doom’ has been decreased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Hand of Gul’dan’ has been decreased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Soul Fire’ has been decreased by 20 %.
    • The damage of ‘Touch of Chaos’ has been decreased by 20 %.
  • Talents
    • The damage of ‘Demonbolt’ (Demology) has been decreased by 30 %.
• Warrior
  • Fury
    • The damage of ‘Bloodthirst’ has been decreased by 17 %.
    • The damage of ‘Raging Blow’ has been decreased by 17 %.
    • The damage of ‘Wild Strike’ has been decreased by 17 %.

Fixed Bugs (Classes)

• Druid
  • Feral
    • The bleeding effect of ‘Rake’ should now always trigger when the initial hit lands.
  • Talents
    • ‘Incarnation’ should no longer take the Druid out of his travel forms (e.g., Flight Form) when the effect ends.
• Mage
  • Frost
    • A bug has been fixed that caused the effect ‘Brain Freeze’ to sometimes not be consumed by casting ‘Frostfire Bolt’.
• Paladin
  • Holy
    • ‘Holy Shock’ should now correctly heal 6 allies within range.
• Rogue
  • Talents
    • ‘Cloak and Dagger’ should no longer incorrectly increase the range of ‘Ambush’, ‘Strangulate’ and ‘Cheap Shot’ while ‘Shadow Dance’ is active.

World Environment

• Creatures
  • Highmarshal Twinbraid should now be able to hit Horde characters with explosions again.
  • The debuff effect caused by Ishi’s ‘Corrupted Strike’ should now work correctly again.
  • Krakkano’s knockback abilities should now work correctly again.
  • Drones of the Sra’thik and venomous spitters of the Sik’thik should be able to use their ability ‘Caustic Splashes’ again.

Quests

• “Infiltration of the Black Temple”: A bug has been fixed that caused Ashenvale Primalists to permanently stun Warlocks.
• “Pasta Time” and “Pasta Time: Bonus”: A bug has been fixed that caused food guests to not sit down correctly and stand up again.

Dungeons, Raids & Scenarios

Raids

• Siege of Orgrimmar
  • Thok the Bloodthirsty should now drop set marks for the correct difficulty levels.
• Throne of Thunder
  • The damage of ‘The Weak Will Suffer’ of the vampiric cave bats is now triggered at a lower health threshold.
  • The ability ‘Screech’ of the nesting guardians should now apply a stackable debuff effect on player characters as intended in heroic mode.
  • Durumu the Forgotten should now no longer repeatedly use his ability ‘Lingering Gaze’ against the same player character.
  • The knockback effect of the ability ‘Frost Spike’ from Quet’zal the Stormcaller should now work correctly in heroic mode.
  • Some broken boss mechanics in the encounter with the Twin Concubines have been fixed.
• Heart of Fear
  • Bernformer Un’sok: The health of the Bern monstrosity has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
  • Grand Empress Shek’zeer: The damage of the corrupted dissonance fields has been reduced.
• Dragon Soul
  • [Requires a Server Restart] The healing absorption effect of ‘Searing Plasma’ has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
• Firelands
  • [Requires a Server Restart] The damage of ‘Magma Flow’ from the volcanic eruptions during the encounter with Lord Rhyolith has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
• Icecrown Citadel
  • [Requires a Server Restart] The damage of the cannons in the airship battle now scales with the item level of the respective player character.
  • [Requires a Server Restart] The damage of Sindragosa’s ability ‘Frost Breath’ has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
  • [Requires a Server Restart] The damage of the ‘Harvest Souls’ ability of the Lich King has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
• Trial of the Crusader
  • [Requires a Server Restart] The damage of the ability ‘Fire Bomb’ from the Snowballs has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
  • [Requires a Server Restart] The damage of the ability ‘Impale’ from Gormok the Impaler has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
  • [Requires a Server Restart] The damage of the ability ‘Burning Bile’ from Dreadmaw has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
• Ulduar
  • Flame Leviathan: The damage dealt by the vehicles now scales with the item level of the respective player character.
  • The damage of the Strangling Tentacles has been reduced to a more reasonable level.

Dungeons

• Mogu’shan Palace
  • The ability ‘Throw Shield’ of the Kargesh High Guards should now work correctly.
• The Stonecore
  • High Priestess Azil’s ability ‘Grasp of Power’ has been temporarily disabled.
• Tower of Utgarde
  • [Requires a Server Restart] It should now require 3 harpoons to knock Skadi the Ruthless off his dragon.

Scenarios

• Arena of Annihilation
  • [Requires a Server Restart] The damage of Little Liuyangs ‘Fireball’ has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
• The Brewfest
  • A bug has been fixed that caused Li Tes ‘Water Bubble’ not to burst when brought to a water fountain.

Battlegrounds and Arenas

• Warsong Gulch: Capturing a flag should grant reputation again.
• A bug has been fixed that caused mages and hunters to be incorrectly pulled out of their invisibility or camouflage.

Items

• The effect of ‘Bloodseeker’s Fury’ from the blood-soaked chitin fragment has been reduced to a more reasonable level.
• The regular damage effect of the dripping willow should no longer remove Frost Fever from the target.
• The soothing talisman of the Shado-Pan assault now restores a more reasonable amount of mana.
• [Requires a Server Restart] The set bonus of the Twin Blades of Azzinoth now grants a more reasonable amount of haste.
• [Requires a Server Restart] The effect of ‘Electrical Charge’ from the switching pulse lightning capacitor should no longer cause excessive amounts of damage.
• A bug has been fixed that caused items from the heroic, mythic, and raid browser version of the Siege of Orgrimmar to turn into normal items.

Fixed Bugs

• A bug has been fixed that caused mind-controlled player characters to take more damage than intended.
• A bug has been fixed that prevented boosted characters from learning certain talents.
• A bug has been fixed that caused favorite mounts not to be displayed correctly as favorites in the mount collection.