Blizzard Entertainment published a large World of Warcraft hotfix list on October 15 that spans Midnight, Mists of Pandaria Classic, Season of Discovery, Burning Crusade Classic, WoW Classic Era and Hardcore. The update fixes quest and encounter bugs, changes several dungeon and raid mechanics, and adjusts class performance across PvE and PvP.
Some of the changes went live immediately, while others may still need realm restarts. Blizzard also noted that a few problems cannot be handled without a client-side patch, and said the list will keep expanding as more hotfixes are applied.
Midnight bugs and rewards get a broad cleanup
The Midnight section opens with quality-of-life fixes that players will notice outside of boss tuning. Blizzard fixed a problem where faction-specific mounts were hidden from the Mount Journal for characters of the opposite faction. It also corrected health-reset behavior for Sullied Revenant and Sha’Kuro after failed attempts, and made sure scenario bosses now award credit if they are defeated a second time during the same run.
Questing in and around recent content also gets attention. Battle for Azeroth quests should no longer appear in the logs of characters who never completed them when those characters are outside Battle for Azeroth content. Blizzard also fixed the turn-in for “De Legend of de Hash’ey” in Zul’Aman, and addressed NPC visibility in Amani’Zar Village for the same quest line.
Other changes focus on reward structure and encounter stability. Impressive Treasure Chest, Impressive Treasure Pile and Impressive Treasure Trove now require level 80 to loot, down from 90. The final boss of the invasion should also once again randomize correctly among its three possible types.
Blizzard’s hotfixes also bring back Dundun, who now hides within Bountiful delves again. The developer paired that return with fixes for the “Returning the Bounty” scenario, including an issue that could block the opening bag interaction and another that could stop Hording Looters from spawning.
Dungeons and raids see targeted nerfs and encounter fixes
A large portion of the hotfixes trims down the danger in several instances, especially at higher difficulties. In the Altar of Fangs, Primal Serpent’s Piercing Hiss damage was reduced by 25%, while Paralyzing Shot now deals 20% less periodic damage and lasts 14 seconds instead of 20. Ritual Chieftain’s Blood Sacrifice absorb effect was cut by 12%, Rav’i’s Carrion Burst dropped by 10%, Zul’jan’s Axegrinder periodic damage fell by 15%, and Zaen Bladesorrow’s Fire Bomb was reduced by 33% in Murder Row.
Ruby Life Pools saw several adjustments as well. Earthbound Guardian’s impact damage and periodic damage were lowered, Primalist Cinderweaver’s Living Bomb can now be dispelled without triggering the explosion, Storm Warrior’s Thunderous Stomp was reduced by 18%, High Channeler Ryvati’s Tempest Stormshield absorb fell to 15% from 20%, and Kokia Blazehoof’s Blazebound Firestorm lost health and damage. Other dungeon changes include a cooldown increase for Melidrussa Chillworn’s Infused Whelp’s Cold Claws, plus lower health, lower periodic damage and fewer projectiles for several enemies in The Blinding Vale.
Blizzard also adjusted mechanics in more advanced content. In The Venomous Abyss, Sszorak now takes five more seconds to reach 100 rage on Mythic, while The Coiled Altar has fewer opening orbs and fewer Virulent Mutations on Mythic, smaller mutation radii, fewer Dreadmarch targets and a longer Eternal Nightfall cast time. Manifestations of Dread now show their red glow immediately when they begin fixating, despawn if the marked target dies, and are easier to detect and stun by 10 degrees on all difficulties. In Voidscar Arena, Feral Saberon’s Savage Leap cooldown went up, Chitigoth’s Insidious Aura channel was shortened, Brutal Overseer’s slam scaling was lowered, and Atroxus and Charonus both had damage reductions.
The developer also fixed several encounter bugs. Kindo’jan now properly completes when it reaches 1 health, the kill credit issue in the Labyrinth has been addressed, Halazzi’s Lair no longer spawns enemies inside walls, and players should no longer fall through the terrain when respawning in Nalorakk’s Rest. Ancient Foes in the Vaults of Atal’Utek will now properly award Primordial Venom Motes to players who defeat them in raid groups, and Ancient Hash’ey Battle Arts enchantment effects should no longer trigger outside delves and The Labyrinth of Kindo’jan. Blizzard raised that enchantment’s maximum item level to 344 from 334.
Classes and PvP talents get a wide tuning pass
The class section is just as broad, with both bug fixes and direct tuning. For Death Knights, Blizzard said a recent bug fix caused Blightfall to deal more damage than intended, so the ability now deals 100% of remaining plague damage instead of 200%. The studio also corrected Augmentation Evoker Reattribution damage from plague erupt effects so it is attributed correctly.
Demon Hunter Devourer damage is being increased on several single-target tools, including Consume, Devour, Reap, Cull, Eradicate, Collapsing Star, The Hunt and Voidblade. Blizzard said these buffs are meant to bring the spec closer to expected output, and they do not affect PvP combat. Monk changes follow a similar pattern: Brewmaster gets stronger baseline durability through Quick Sip and Pretense of Instability, while Mistweaver’s Enveloping Mist healing is up 15% in raid-focused tuning.
Subtlety Rogue’s Trickster build also gets support. Fazed now makes enemies take 7% more damage, and both Unseen Blade and Coup de Grace deal more damage. Blizzard said the goal is to narrow the gap between Trickster and Deathstalker. Enhancement Shaman receives one of the clearest throughput boosts in the list, with all ability and auto-attack damage up 4% and Lava Lash damage up 35% in PvE.
PvP tuning is equally active. Tank specializations now have stronger Focused Assault talent interactions across Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Druid, Monk, Paladin and Warrior. Focused Assault itself stacks to 6, lasts 10 seconds, has a shorter cooldown and reaches farther. Blizzard also buffed several individual PvP talents and spells, including Death Knight’s Dark Simulacrum and Blood’s Death Chain and Price of Progress, Demon Hunter’s Cover of Darkness and Illidan’s Grasp, Druid Balance’s Moon and Stars, Restoration Druid’s Ancient of Lore: Mass Blooming, Evoker Augmentation’s general damage, Hunter’s Hunting Pack and Beast Mastery’s Dire Beast: Hawk.
“We’re finding Brewmasters’ death rates in dungeons is higher than we’d like,” Blizzard said.
“We’re buffing Trickster for Subtlety to reduce the performance gap between it and Deathstalker.”
“This list will be updated as additional hotfixes are applied.”
The hotfixes arrive after Blizzard’s recent Zul’Aman timing update and follow a busy stretch for Midnight, including the later addition of the Kith’ix raid, the Labyrinth and a new campaign in 12.1.5. Blizzard’s latest pass now widens that effort with more cleanup for live content, a handful of class shifts, and a long list of dungeon and raid adjustments across the game’s current and classic branches.
finally some love for classic stuff too. the zul’aman turn-in fix and the bountiful delves dundun return are the bits i actually care about, because both felt broken for way too long in my runs
when you say the turn-in was broken, did it block the quest entirely or just the npc phase? i haven’t hit that one yet and i’m trying to figure out if it’s worth holding off
dundun hiding again is the real endgame content apparently xD sounds like blizzard spent the week rescuing one npc from a bush
nice fix
im glad they fixed the opposite faction mounts being hidden in the journal. that one always annoyed me because collecting cosmetics is half the game for me
i’d rather they fix dungeon deaths than a mount tab filter, honestly. useful, sure, but not the thing that makes my keys feel better
why not both? one is a ui bug and the other is actual gameplay, they can patch more than one thing at a time you know
fair, but the list is full of raid and dungeon nerfs and that’s what most people will notice. if they trim all the nasty casts and still leave obvious quest bugs, the order feels off to me. i get cosmetic fixes matter to collectors, i just wouldn’t call it the headline issue
7% more damage on Fazed is probably still not enough Trickster cope, but i’ll take the buff and laugh at the Deathstalker mains anyway
nah, Deathstalker still wins
based on what, the vibes? the whole point is they literally said they want to narrow the gap, mate
we’ll see then
for people doing m+ right now, are the Brewmaster changes enough to make it less of a paper bag? i only have a few nights a week and i’m trying to avoid rerolling into a trap
i’ve tanked a bit on brew and the issue is usually more on cooldown timing than raw stats. if blizzard really hit the death rate, maybe it helps, but i would still test it in low keys first
from my experience, the extra durability helps a bit but it is still a tank you need to play clean. if you were dying to random spikes before, this may smooth it out, but i would not expect a miracle
rerolling for one hotfix?
Lava Lash 35% is wild