The racial bonus of the Dwarves from World of Warcraft was nerfed in the first Shadowlands raid – immediately after a guild switched to the Alliance.
In the upcoming WoW expansion Shadowlands, the first raid takes place in Castle Nathria. This raid has some strong bleed effects that affect the players. Recently, we reported that the Russian professional guild Exorsus has switched to the Alliance. The reason was presumably a bonus that Dwarven players could obtain through their Stoneform – at least that was presumed. However, that very bonus has now been changed.
What happened? In the latest Shadowlands patch of the beta version, some debuffs in Castle Nathria were changed. They remain bleed effects but can no longer be cleansed by various cleansing effects such as the Dwarves’ Stoneform or the Kyrian’s potion. The damage of several abilities must now either be healed by healers or players must utilize specific mechanics of the fight.
This is what Exorsus says about the switch: In an interview with Raider.io, Alveona from Exorsus talked about the switch from Horde to Alliance. According to him, while the Dwarves’ Stoneform was a reason, it was by far not the only factor. Many other reasons played a role in why Exorsus switched to the Alliance. These are:
- A big bonus in the war mode, as the Alliance is mostly outnumbered. This leads to more XP and gold.
- Variety. After 10 years in the Horde, Exorsus wanted to experience the other side for a change of pace.
- Multiple racial bonuses that are better for raiding – not just the Stoneform.
The decision to want to switch to the Alliance was made a long time ago. Now was just a good time since there is currently a 30% discount on relevant account services.
However, we do not know why a large portion of players still chose a Dwarf when changing factions. Presumably, they still considered this bonus to be the most useful. Other bonuses, such as the Night Elf’s stealth that would be strong in “Mythic+” content, are rather uninteresting for Exorsus. The guild has little interest in Mythic+ and does not want to set any major records there.
It remains to be seen whether Blizzard will make further changes to the racial bonuses as more players conclude that the Alliance is the better choice in Shadowlands.
