Warlocks get a short breather in World of Warcraft. Their nerfs have been postponed, but hunters are already worried.
Just recently, we reported that destruction warlocks will have to endure a significant nerf and their power in World of Warcraft will be weakened. Just a few hours later, Blizzard backtracks due to player protests and cancels the nerfs.
Did the “whining” help here? No, as players have good reasons why the nerfs are coming at such a bad time.
What kind of nerfs are these? The tier set of destruction warlocks is set to be weakened. The summoned infernals from the set bonus “Blasphemy” will no longer have the effect “Rain of Chaos”. This means that Blasphemy can no longer create additional chaos beasts that deal high area damage and generate soul shards. Warlocks could then hardly keep up with spending soul shards and could use their most powerful spells almost without interruption.
WoW isAdvertising in a curious way:
Why did Blizzard postpone the nerfs? The reason for this is likely the MDI, the “Mythic Dungeon International”. This is one of Blizzard’s esports events, where the best teams in the world compete against each other to complete extremely challenging “Mythic+” dungeons as quickly as possible.
The tournament starts in just a few weeks, and the practice phase has already begun. Many teams have chosen their members and classes based on the current balance. The changes would ruin the planning of these teams and create chaos. However, during the MDI, a fair playing field with consistent rules is desired.
Blizzard stated:
In response to player feedback, we have decided not to implement the changes to destruction warlocks this week. We expect to implement these changes along with those for survival hunters at the start of Season 4.
In our adjustments from April 20, we adjusted destruction warlocks and survival hunters to regulate their performance in Mythic+ dungeons. These changes were not enough, and we need to make further adjustments. But we are aware that this would have a significant impact on players who have invested a lot of time and effort into these two specializations for the rest of the current Mythic+ season.
Please prepare for the reduction of damage from destruction warlocks and survival hunters in situations with many targets at the beginning of Season 4.
What happens to hunters? Survival hunters are also on Blizzard’s target list. They are currently dealing far too much damage in “AoE situations” and drastically outpace all other classes—except warlocks. Therefore, hunters can also expect significant nerfs.
When will the nerfs come? With the start of Season 4. There is still no specific date for this, but it is currently estimated that there are about 4 to 8 weeks remaining before Shadowlands enters its final, 4th season. Until then, warlocks and hunters can still enjoy their strength a little and deal so much damage in situations with many simultaneous targets that other classes cannot keep up.
Do you think it is good that Blizzard takes this into account? Or should nerfs always come immediately when they are necessary—regardless of whether a tournament is currently taking place?
