Blizzard has today, on January 4th, new nerfs for the dungeons in World of Warcraft. Almost all of the Mythic+ Keystone dungeons from Season 1 will become weaker. This is badly needed, players find – and demand further nerfs.
Which dungeons are being nerfed? A total of 5 of the 8 dungeons from Season 1 of Dragonflight will receive a nerf:
- The Algeth’ar Academy
- The Azure Vault
- The Nokhud Offensive
- The Ruby Life Pools
- The Temple of the Jade Serpent
Some of these dungeons were already nerfed in the past weeks due to being nearly unplayable, in some cases even multiple times. The new nerfs mainly target specific bosses and abilities that are currently causing issues for players.
These are the nerfs: For the most part, bosses and their mechanics are being weakened. In the Academy, for instance, the feared “tree boss” will no longer make the combination of seeds and explosive awakening affect so closely together that the abilities can almost certainly wipe the group out.
In the Temple of the Jade Serpent, the Sha of Doubt can no longer ignore line of sight when casting their spells. Those who are hiding will no longer be hit. Azureblade in the Azure Vault is now supposed to stay in the vulnerable phase longer.
In most other dungeons, effects that continuously deal damage to the entire group are particularly being weakened. You can find the full patch notes in the official forum.
In our special, you can find all info about Dragonflight. The trailer presents the most important features once again:
“The expansion feels like a gigantic heal check”
Dragonflight has raised the difficulty in many places. This is most evident in the Mythic+ dungeons. Even skilled players are struggling with levels that they previously could conquer with ease.
This is not only due to players currently lacking equipment but also because the abilities scale strongly. Healers are particularly being tested here, which many players notice and is also my impression (as a healer).
All healers have received a passive nerf and are currently struggling to keep groups alive in critical situations. The result is that some dungeons take several hours and require hundreds of deaths. A reddit user has shown a new, sad record with 457 deaths and over 5 hours in the Azure Vault +15:
On reddit, players are discussing whether the new nerfs are sufficient. Some demand, for example, that the affix “Tyrannical”, which is active this week, should receive a general nerf. It is still too strong and some dungeons are nearly unplayable.
The increased requirements have sometimes led to some players being too afraid to join random groups. There is even a community for shy players who are too nervous to run raids and dungeons with “randoms”.
Whether today’s nerfs, combined with players’ gradually better gear, will be enough to achieve more successes remains to be seen. Blizzard is already working on improving social interactions and group play, but the biggest change is likely still to come:
