The next patch of World of Warcraft brings back some familiar faces, including buffs that were famous and infamous.
A few days ago, Blizzard introduced the next patch 11.1.5 for World of Warcraft. This patch is all about the Disturbing Visions, which are making a comeback. However, there are not only cosmetic rewards but also a few classics that will noticeably improve your character. The corruption effects from Battle for Azeroth are returning.
And yes, that means: Soon the Shadowflame Devastation will rampage.
Shadowflame Devastation razes everything
What kind of effects are these? During the last major patch of “Battle for Azeroth,” items had the chance to be corrupted by N’Zoth. This corruption brought powerful, positive effects to weapons – such as increased stats or a black death laser that turned everything in front of the character to ash. However, every point of corruption also increased the amount of negative effects that the character had to deal with. This started with fairly harmless illusions but ended with special enemies that could kill the character with a touch.
So one had to balance: How many positive, powerful effects do you want on your armor, and how many negatives can you endure to justify that?
This period produced some very special combinations. There were entire raid groups made up entirely of tanks using the death laser “Shadowflame Devastation.” Because the amount of damage scaled with the maximum HP of the character. If 20 tanks with high HP all had Shadowflame Devastation on several items, they could even laser down raid bosses in no time. In many “Mythic+” groups, these corruption effects were even the majority of the damage dealt. Some characters could even handle Mythic+20 solo at that time.
That was quite a curious time in World of Warcraft, hated by some, but truly loved by others.
How are the effects returning? In patch 11.1.5, the Disturbing Visions will be reintroduced. There you can earn these old corruption effects – now as a new weapon enchantment. Many classics are making a comeback, such as the repeatedly mentioned Shadowflame Devastation, but also the summoning of void tentacles and falling stars are back as well.
However, it is clear that the effects are not as powerful compared to how they were in Battle for Azeroth. This is mainly because they are not full “corruption” effects, but simply new enchantments. As it currently stands, it will not be possible to stack multiple corruption effects since the enchantments are only suitable for weapons.
Also, note that Blizzard will be testing this content on the PTR first. How strong the enchantments ultimately turn out to be will remain to be seen. However, it is a nice thing to bring back this “wild, old time.” And for those who do not want that, they can continue to use the known enchantments.
Until then, there is still much to do in WoW – for example, unlocking the secret reputation faction.
