Blizzard Entertainment posted a new World of Warcraft hotfix list on October 30, covering Midnight, Mists of Pandaria Classic, Season of Discovery, Burning Crusade Classic, WoW Classic Era, and Hardcore. Some of the changes took effect as soon as they were implemented, while others require scheduled realm restarts, and Blizzard said the list will keep growing as more hotfixes go live.
The update mixes class tuning with bug fixes in scenarios, dungeons, and Season 2 systems. It also includes several PvP changes, with Blizzard adjusting some specs for underperformance and trimming others that were doing too well.
Restoration druid gets help in dungeon content
Blizzard’s most detailed class note focuses on Restoration druids. The developer said the spec is performing well in raid settings, but it is behind other healers in 5-person groups, so the changes are aimed at helping it survive burst damage in dungeons.
In PvE, Feral druids now deal 5% more damage, Fire mages deal 5% more damage, and Marksmanship hunters gained a larger area-damage boost through Trick Shots, which now increases the ricochet damage of Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire by 85%, up from 75%. Restoration druids also received a 60% increase to Verdancy healing, a 10% increase to Regrowth healing, and Improved Swiftmend now increases Swiftmend healing by 40% instead of 30%.
Blizzard also fixed several spec-specific issues. Mistweaver monks had a bug that could stop Mistline from healing the lowest health target. Enhancement shamans had an issue where Voltaic Blaze would not hit secondary targets when Ula’tek was the main target, and another issue where Surging Elements would not appear on the Cooldown Manager. Affliction warlocks also had a Cooldown Manager problem, where Summon Darkglare was not always displayed correctly.
PvP tuning hits healers, hunters, mages, and rogues
The PvP side of the hotfixes is just as broad. Blizzard said Fire Mage has continued to overperform, so its overall damage is being reduced in PvP combat. Frostfire, meanwhile, has not been competitive this season, so Blizzard increased a few burst tools to separate its damage profile from Spellslinger.
- Fire mage: all damage reduced by 5% in PvP combat.
- Frostfire: Isothermic Core’s Meteor damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
- Frostfire: Duality’s Pyroblast damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
- Holy paladin: all healing increased by 5% in PvP combat.
- Divine Favor now reduces the mana cost of Holy Light by 50% in PvP combat, up from 30%.
- Marksmanship hunter: Kill Shot damage increased by 40% in PvP combat.
- Deathblow’s chance to be activated by Aimed Shot increased to 25% in PvP combat.
- Dark Ranger: Black Arrow damage increased by 40% in PvP combat.
Blizzard also pushed several healer adjustments. Mistweaver monks using Conduit of the Celestials gained 35% more Celestial Conduit healing and 25% more Strength of the Black Ox absorb in PvP combat. Holy priests were tuned around Archon, with Prayerful Litany, Prayer of Healing, Resonant Energy, Empowered Surges, and Realized Potential all adjusted to improve the spec’s group healing and proc power.
Rogue changes split between specializations. Blizzard said the compensation buff that came with the 12.1.5 patch overshot expectations, and that Trickster benefited more than Deathstalker from the earlier changes. As a result, Trickster’s Fazed now increases damage by 5% instead of 7%. Assassination rogues using Deathstalker also got PvP buffs to Deathstalker’s Mark, Hunt Them Down, and Darkest Night.
Other PvP changes touched a wide set of specs. San’layn death knights had Vampiric Strike damage reduced by 20% in PvP combat. Devourer demon hunters got a 20% increase to Collapsing Star damage. Restoration shamans had Healing Stream Totem and Stormstream Totem healing increased by 20%. Preservation evokers using Chronowarden received stronger PvP effects for Chronal Dynamo and Reverberations.
Scenarios, dungeons, and Season 2 rewards get cleanup
Blizzard also used the hotfix pass to clean up a long list of scenario and reward issues. The “Voices of Stone” bonus objective in the “Bear’s Burden” scenario no longer gets stuck on the UI, and “The Wandering” scenario now behaves better after fixes to erratic tether icon flickering and a separate problem that could make the Remnant stop moving briefly when players stepped in and out of spirit tether proximity.
Other scenario fixes cover completion and credit tracking. Blizzard said some scenarios were not granting Great Vault credit, the “Containment Breach” scenario no longer double-counts a re-ignited Flame of Jan’alai brazier toward the “Flames Relit” objective, and the “Come to Your Senses” bonus objective will no longer complete multiple times outside the “Encroaching Darkness” scenario. The “Returning the Bounty” scenario also received attention after the Pit Boss could despawn when it left combat or fail to spawn at all.
Season 2 neighborhood content saw its own batch of changes. Blizzard said only one chest will now spawn when capturing Shade of Seabreaker Skoloth, and players can now exit combat with the Shade. The Murder in a Row update now adds a visual marker showing the safe zone around each barrel, after Blizzard fixed an issue where the safe spot could be assigned to a barrel a player was not actually hiding behind.
Several Labyrinth of Kindo’jan issues were fixed as well. Players can now speak to Kinduru in De Empire’s Rest antechamber to leave the labyrinth while on the Kindo’jan scenario, the lever for “A Golden Opportunity” can be used by players level 80 and above, and L00T RAID-R Minis can be used in a group inside the labyrinth. Blizzard also extended the availability of Fabled: Let Me Solo Him: Kindo’jan, which can now be earned until weekly maintenance during the week of October 27.
Reward and progression fixes round out the list. Ascendant Venomstones are now available after completing the quest “Ascending with Venomstones,” the Ancient Hash’ey Battle Art glove enchantments can be applied to Warbound Until Equipped items, and the Void Eruption effect on Kith’ix’s armor pieces can no longer hit enemies outside combat. Blizzard also made Conquest and Bloody Tokens uncapped, added the Spoils of War buff for increased Conquest and Honor gains in Battlegrounds and Arenas, and put the Venomous Equipment Chest up for purchase from conquest quartermaster Irissa Bloodstar.
Additional fixes cover more of the current content cycle. The furbolgs needed for “Not Quite Nalorakk” have returned, the quest “To Be Changed” can now be completed, and the Skardyn Behemoth no longer gets stuck in an unattackable state that could block “Draw Its Ire.” Blizzard also fixed a rare issue that could make players fall through the map in The Speaker’s Chamber area of The Labyrinth of Kindo’jan.
Among the smaller quality-of-life changes, shorter character models no longer fall through the floor when respawning in Jan’alai’s Refuge. Players can also now hold up to four stacks of the Carrying a Jan’alai Tear buff instead of one, and the Seriously Sharp Seashell effect from Gebbo’s Bottomless Bag no longer breaks stealth or invisibility effects. Blizzard said the hotfix list will be updated again as more changes are applied.
is the restoration druid fix enough to make them worth taking in keys again, or is this still mostly raid healing with a dungeon band-aid? the article makes it sound like Blizzard knows they were getting deleted by burst, but i’ve only seen them in raid logs. curious what people actually feel in groups after the 60% verdancy buff and regrowth changes.
from my groups, rsham and pres evoker still feel safer on trash right now. if the burst healing lands, rdruid could be fine for anything not super degenerate.
i’d try it now
worth taking? that’s the question innit
fire mage eating a 5% pvp nerf after still overperforming is the most predictable thing ever. Blizzard always lets one spec cook for a bit too long, then swings the hammer like they just discovered it.
i get the joke but 5% alone usually doesn’t fix the actual problem if the spec is overtuning from burst windows and talent interactions. the bigger story here is they also buffed frostfire tools and split the pvp profile, so it looks more like a nudge than a panic nerf. fire being good in pve and trimmed in pvp is not shocking, that is how they keep the spec from being mandatory everywhere.
the weird part is they nerf fire in pvp but still give it a pve buff. seems like they want the spec split hard now, which is probably healthier than gutting it everywhere.
yeah, that’s the only part that makes sense to me. if they can keep fire spooky in raids while cutting the pvp nonsense, i’ll take that over one blanket nerf.
Conquest and Bloody Tokens being uncapped is the one line i actually care about. that should make alts and late starters way less miserable than sitting behind a weekly wall.
not really, uncapped just means more grind for the same gear. if the pace stay slow, it is still a wall, only longer.
still better than capped, though
anyone know if the labyrinth leave fix works mid scenario?
Yes, it says you can speak to Kinduru in De Empire’s Rest antechamber to leave while on the Kindo’jan scenario. That should be much better than being trapped after a fail or when the group wants to reset fast. I would still test it on live before trusting it in a run, because Blizzard sometimes fixes one exit and another bug appears.
good enough for me, thanks
sounds like it
holy paladin getting a 5% pvp heal buff is spicy
it helps them stay alive longer, but i’d still watch the group healing side more than raw hps. the Holy Light mana change looks like the bigger part for drawn-out rounds.
fair enough
bubble still exists
yeah, and Divine Favor making Holy Light cheaper is the real menace. paladins heard ‘mana issues’ and Blizzard said ‘fine, have more gas’ 🙂
The Labyrinth of Kindo’jan fixes are the stuff I notice most. Being able to leave through Kinduru, use the lever at 80+, and stop the map-fall bug in The Speaker’s Chamber sounds like Blizzard was cleaning up a lot of the annoying edge cases rather than just tweaking numbers. I also like that they extended the Fabled Kindo’jan window, because when a title is that picky, a few extra days matters more than people think.
marksmanship getting another pvp boost is kinda wild. kill shot + dark ranger buffs on top of that feels like Blizzard wants mm back in the meta whether people asked for it or not.
I had a mm hunter in arena delete my teammate from half hp after a setup, so i get why they keep touching it. But if the spec keeps needing these Kill Shot and Deathblow bumps, maybe the real issue is the burst pattern is too feast-or-famine and not the numbers alone. That kind of tuning usually just shifts the problem to whoever gets caught in the opener.
nah, mm has been bad enough into coordinated teams that a few buffs don’t suddenly make it broken. if anything the bigger issue is how easy it is for certain comps to stop the setup, so the spec feels useless or gross with almost no middle ground.
maybe, but if they keep pumping Kill Shot and Black Arrow it won’t stay ‘a few buffs’ for long