Here’s last minute nerfs to raids and mythic plus, as well as PVP changes scheduled to kick in before the NA/EU reset.
0:28 Castle Nathria is receiving another large number of nerfs to a few outlying mechanics that we can at least speculate Blizzard noticed were giving trouble to raid teams in a variety of difficulties but not so much in mythic. Glyph of Destruction damage, which is the tank swap mechanic, was reduced by up to 20% in non-mythic difficulties. On the other hand, Withering Touch damage also reduced by 20%. Small but noticeable nerfs.
1:04 In Sun King’s Salvation, the health of just about all of the adds was reduced by 10% which gives healers much more bandwidth to pump heels into Kael’thas. For Inverva Darkvein, there are going to be fewer bottles to catch but that will depend on your raid size. Animal Web now does 20% less damage based on raid size. Shared Suffering does less damage for small raid sizes. And the 2 adds that spawn in normal and heroic difficulties have lower health. Overall targeted nerfs and tuning for small raid sizes.
1: 35 For Sludgefist, apparently there was a bug that made chain slime damage to not scale correctly with group size on heroic difficulty. Chain Slam damage ability has been nerfed by up to 35% on heroic difficulty. Colossal Roar damage is reduced by 20%. Stone Legion predictably is getting the most attention for it’s getting a blanket damage nerf in raid finder and normal. However in heroic, incoming damage will be decreased by 33% in smaller raids but increased by 17% in full raids. Mythic ads have their health decreased by roughly 10% to help those struggling guilds push forward. For the mechanical changes for Stone Legion, Heart Rend now targets 1 to 3 players instead of 4. Seismic Upheaval will not target up to 10 players depending on the raid size in normal and heroic. It targets half of that in raid finder. Wicked Laceration damage now scales with the number of players on normal and heroic difficulties. Overall, shorter fights slightly more forgiving mechanics although incoming damage might not be in your favor in a large raid.
Denathrius also got a nerf with the Crimson Cabalist getting a health nerf of 10% in non-mythic difficulties.
4:35 DUNGEON NERFS
The Other Side had 2 minutes added to its timer addressing an often complaint that the tuning for making time was too tight compared to other dungeons.
In the Hakkar wing, the son of Hakkar was nerfed, reducing melee damage by 50% and Blood Nova damage by 20%.
Dealer Xy’exa’s Arcane lightning damage was reduced by 25%.
With Nalthor the Rimebinder, the Champion’s boon duration has doubled, now 30 seconds.
In Spires of Ascension, Ventunax the Dark Stride had its duration reduced to 15 seconds from 20.
In Theater of Pain, Xav the Unfallen had its health reduced by 10%.
Unlike Castle Nathria which will be virtually deprecated as soon as the next season begins, mythic plus needs some of this regular tuning to kind of flatten difficulties between dungeon types. The logic of course goes halfway out the window once you consider affixes. That’s why it is sort of unusual to see the number of nerfs from the other week. This week’s nerfs are no doubt helpful but are more on the conservative side.
6:08 PVP CHANGES
Unholy Death Knights get a bit of longevity with a Necrotic Strike buff and get their full damage back from their diseases.
Marksman Hunters have more of their early attack bonus from Careful Aim.
Bestial Wrath has the full effectiveness of its buffs in PVP.
Mages also lose some defensive capability with a nerf to dampen magic. And Fire Mages have fewer combustions to use. Frost got a buff to the abilities that most anyone can see a mile away.
Mistweaver also got a small buff with a faster life Cocoon and more Mana Regeneration making them more viable in prolonged fights.
Holy Paladins will be taking more damage when they use the ultimate sacrifice. And their mana regeneration is being decreased by 30% in PVP.
Overall with these changes, we get increased accessibility to PVE content. On the PVP side, the usual seesaw action of our class being nerfed or forgotten while others get undeserving buffs. What do you think if these changes?