The affix “Thundering” in World of Warcraft has been nerfed. A change ensures that tanks no longer have to worry about anything when the rest does their job.
Tanks have a pretty high responsibility in World of Warcraft, especially in the “Mythic+” area. They are expected to know the perfect route for the dungeon and guide the group safely through all dangers. Although of course all members of a dungeon group must bring a certain amount of experience, the tank sets the pace and route.
For this reason, many affixes in the “Mythic+” area have little impact on the tank. A major exception has been the seasonal affix “Thundering” – but that has now changed. A hotfix has ensured that tanks need to react less often or not at all if the rest of the group plays well.
What is the “Thundering” affix? This is the seasonal affix of the first season of Dragonflight, which becomes active at “Mythic+10”. At fixed intervals of 60 seconds, all players in the group are afflicted with one of two debuffs. They receive a positive or negative charge that provides them with a damage buff of 30% for 15 seconds.
Within these 15 seconds, however, it is necessary to dispel this debuff by running into a group member with an opposite charge. If more than one character has one of the debuffs after the timer expires, all affected characters will be stunned for several seconds and take moderate damage. Especially at higher dungeon levels, this almost always means a wipe.
The most popular dungeons of Dragonflight are ranked here:
What has Blizzard changed? In a hotfix on January 21, Blizzard changed how the Thundering debuffs are distributed in the group. In the future, there will be 3 negative (“Minus”) and 2 positive (“Plus”) debuffs. The tank is always guaranteed to receive the “Minus” symbol. Since only 4 of the 5 debuffs need to be dispelled and one “Minus” remains at the end, tanks no longer have to worry about this affix.
Why is Blizzard doing this? The developers are responding to feedback from the past weeks. The fact that tanks have to deal with the “Thundering” affix not only causes more stress for the tanks, but also brings a whole range of other problems.
Because tanks are generally busy keeping strong area attacks away from the group. The so-called “Frontals” can easily take out other group members with a single blow, especially at higher key stones. These attacks often happen spontaneously and without much warning.
When it was attempted to dispel the Thundering debuff with a tank, it often occurred that the corresponding group member unexpectedly died. The alternative would have been to accept a strong stun.
Now that the tank always receives the red debuff (Minus), it is no longer necessary for the tank to look for a partner to dispel it when the rest of the group plays the affix correctly.
What do you think of this change to the affix? A good, sensible solution? Or does it make everything more complicated for you and too easy for tanks?
Next week there will be further changes – as Patch 10.0.5 goes live.
