The developers of World of Warcraft have announced extensive class changes and a long maintenance period for the upcoming ID change. Some players criticize the poor communication. Others speculate that update 10.2.6 could be coming soon.
What exactly have the Blizzard developers announced? On Wednesday, March 13, 2024, there will be maintenance for the World of Warcraft servers from 3:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
Additionally, Community Manager Kaivax revealed in the WoW forum that significant changes for nearly all classes will land on the live servers of Dragonflight with the ID change.
You can find the translated summary of the class changes below.
Why are some WoW fans upset? Under Blizzard’s announcement post, there are now more than 290 posts in which players criticize the class changes in particular and the developers’ communication policy in general.
The criticism of the communication problem is by no means new. Just a few days ago, Cyrios from the Community Council asked in the WoW forum why the small Classic team does a much better job regarding announcements, answers to player questions, and insights into design decisions than those responsible for Dragonflight. Other council members supported the criticism.
Why such a long maintenance period? One example of the poor communication from the large WoW team concerns the upcoming maintenance. Nowadays, it is not really necessary to take the servers offline for so many hours to implement a few class changes.
However, due to the lack of an official explanation, players are left with only patience and speculation. On WowHead, some fans discuss whether Blizzard will surprisingly release WoW Patch 10.2.6 this week. Alternatively, the developers could also be preparing a release for the coming week with the maintenance.
WoW Patch 10.2.6 is just a short stop before The War Within – here again is the cinematic trailer for the upcoming expansion:
All buffs and nerfs from March 13, 2024
As promised, here is the translated summary of the upcoming class changes:
- Restoration Druid: Rejuvenation healing will increase by 12 percent. Does not affect PvP battles.
- Preservation Evoker: The total healing of the clone from Time of Need will increase by 100 percent. The healing of the clone from Living Flame will increase by 16 percent. The Flame of Life will heal for 40/80 percent of the damage dealt (previously 35/70 percent). Born Resilience also reduces the magical damage taken by 4/8 percent (previously 2/4 percent). Dream Weaver, in turn, increases both dealt and received healing by 3/6 percent (previously 2/4 percent).
- Marksmanship and Survival Hunter: The total damage done by you and your companions will increase by 3 percent.
- Frost Mage: The damage of Ice Shard, Water Bolt, and Water Jet will each increase by 25 percent. The damage of Frostbolt will increase by 10 percent, and the damage of Ice Lance by 5 percent.
- Windwalker Monk: All healing will decrease by 6 percent. Does not affect PvP battles. As compensation, the healing (and damage) of Sheilun’s Gift, Damage Redirect, and Jade Fire Smash will each be increased by 6 percent.
- Subtlety Rogue: The damage of Riposte will decrease by 6 percent. Does not affect PvP battles.
- Elemental Shaman: All damage will increase by 3 percent. Does not affect PvP battles.
- PvP – General: A problem is fixed where the Light’s Protection, Soul Rend: Bloodsucker, the snare effect of Icy Feet, Master of Elements, and Wrath of Elune were susceptible to enemy cleansing effects.
- Devastation Demon Hunter in PvP: The reduction of physical damage by Demon Skin is now 3 percent (previously 5 percent). Scars of Suffering grant you an additional 2 percent versatility (previously 4 percent). Illidari Knowledge and Illidari Ferocity now grant you a bonus of three percent for magical damage reduction and health, respectively (previously 5 percent). The damage bonus of Essence Break for Chaos Strike/Blade Dance is reduced to 40 percent (previously 50 percent). Lastly, a problem is fixed that prevented the 50 percent PvP reduction for Glaive Toss from being applied through the Brutality of the Screaming Torch Demon set.
- Druid in PvP: Adaptive Swarm can no longer be cast while preparing for arenas or battlegrounds. A problem is still being fixed that caused the debuff from Sharpened Instincts not to be removed at the beginning of a PvP match.
- Feral Druid in PvP: Frenzied Regeneration will no longer be reduced by 37.5 percent for Feral and Balance Druids in PvP combat. Wild Attunement will no longer activate when Whirlwind is cast on an immune target.
- Restoration Druid in PvP: A problem is fixed that caused Reforestation stacks to persist beyond the starting area in PvP instances. Another problem is fixed that caused Reactive Resin to be applied to the Restoration Druid when “Healing Over Time” effects were dispelled after a spell steal.
- Beast Mastery Hunter: The damage of Kill Shot will be increased by 25 percent in PvP (previously 10 percent).
- Survival Hunter: The damage of Raptor Strike and Mongo Bite will be increased by 5 percent in PvP (previously reduced by 11 percent).
- Mage in PvP: Fire Ring now deals 18 percent of the target’s health over 6 seconds (previously 24 percent).
- Arcane Mage: Prismatic Barrier now reduces magical damage taken in PvP combat by 10 percent (previously 15 percent) and reduces the duration of incoming magical effects by 15 percent (previously 25 percent).
- Fire Mage: Feverish Spell Formula now increases critical hit damage in PvP combat by 1 percent (previously 2 percent) per stack. The damage of Fireball will be increased by 35 percent in PvP (previously 18 percent), the damage of Combustion by 300 percent (previously 200 percent), the damage of Fire Strike will be reduced by 8 percent (previously 14 percent), and the damage of Living Bomb will be increased by 800 percent (previously 440 percent).
- Windwalker Monk: The healing from Revive will be reduced by 10 percent in PvP (previously 20 percent), the healing from Empowering Mist will be increased by 12 percent, and the healing from Soothing Mist (also from the Jade Serpent Statue) will be increased by 15 percent.
- Holy Paladin in PvP: The damage of Denunciation will be increased by 70 percent and the damage of Judgment by 50 percent. The absorption of Greater Judgment will also be increased by 30 percent.
- Discipline Priest in PvP: The damage of Holy Pain will be increased by 25 percent, the healing of Atonement by 8 percent.
- Outlaw Rogue in PvP: The effectiveness of Float Like a Butterfly has been reduced by 50 percent. The damage reduction from Precision Shot is 3 percent (previously 5 percent). The haste granted by Piece of Cake is now 10 percent (previously 15 percent) and the duration is now 10 seconds (previously 12 seconds).
- Enhancement Shaman in PvP: The healing from Healing Wave will be increased by 25 percent.
- Warlock in PvP: Soul Rend: Demonic Circle now lasts for 4 seconds (previously 6 seconds) and increases movement speed by 30 percent (previously 50 percent).
- Destruction Warlock in PvP: The damage of Conflagrate caused by the 4-piece set bonus from Amirdrassil is reduced by 30 percent.
- Warrior in PvP: The damage threshold of Ear Shattering Roar will be increased by 100 percent (previously 200 percent).
- Arms Warrior in PvP: The damage of Execute will be increased by 25 percent (previously 15 percent).
- Fury Warrior in PvP: The damage of Execute will be increased by 65 percent (previously 50 percent).
How do you evaluate the upcoming class changes for WoW: Dragonflight as well as Blizzard’s current communication policy? More information about the upcoming content for WoW can be found here: WoW shows roadmap for 2024 – The War Within coming this summer, secret Patch 10.2.6 incoming
