Hotfixes: September 17, 2018, Azerite Trait Tuning September 17

September 17, 2018

Classes

• Druid
  • Skystep Potion and Lightfoot Potion will no longer drop shapeshifting forms, and shapeshifting while having one of these active will no longer cancel them.
• Paladin
  • Protection
    • Last Defender now has a cap of up to 50% reduction in damage taken.

Dungeons and Raids

• Shrine of the Storm
  • Vol’zith the Whisperer
    • Consume Essence cast time increased by 2 seconds.
    • Abyssal Eruption damage decreased by 20%.
• Uldir
  • G’huun
    • Bursting Boils should no longer spawn close to the boss.

Items

• The Frenetic Corpuscle now activates more often.
• Heart of Azeroth
  • Arcane Flurry (Marksmanship) buff duration increased to 10 seconds (was 3 seconds), and damage reduced by 45%.
  • Archive of the Titans primary stat increased by 20%.
  • Blood Mist (Feral) damage increased by 125%.
  • Brain Storm (Arcane) Intellect granted reduced by 75%, and duration increased by 100%.
  • Demonic Meteor (Demonology) damage increased by 200%.
  • Feeding Frenzy (Beast Mastery) damage increased by 400%.
  • Firemind (Fire) Intellect increased by 30%.
  • Flashpoint (Destruction) Haste increased by 25%, buff duration increased by 25%.
  • Frozen Tempest (Frost Death Knight) damage increased by 100%.
  • Iron Fists (Windwalker) required targets reduced to 3 (was 4).
  • Laser Matrix damage reduced by 30%.
  • Natural Harmony (Elemental, Enhancement) secondary stat bonuses increased by 40%.
  • Reorigination Array boss kill progress is now counted if the player is dead when the boss is defeated.
  • Shrouded Suffocation (Assassination) damage bonus reduced by 40%.
  • Simmering Rage (Fury) damage increased by 35%.
  • Sudden Onset (Affliction) damage bonus reduced by 30%.
  • Swift Roundhouse (Windwalker) damage bonus reduced by 55%.
  • Thunderous Blast damage reduced by 35%.

Player versus Player

• Hook Point Arena has reopened for play.
• Epic Battlegrounds now award bonus Conquest for first win of the day (was the first win of the week).
• Fixed a bug that caused Enlistment Bonus gained from participating in battlegrounds as a Mercenary to not increase Honor gain from some sources.
• The absorb granted by Mchimba’s Ritual Bandages is reduced by 55% while engaged in combat with enemy players.
• The absorb granted by Xalzaix’s Veiled Eye is reduced by 70% while engaged in combat with enemy players.

Professions

• Hydrocores now have a chance to drop off the final bosses of BfA dungeons in Heroic difficulty.
• Inscription
  • [With weekly maintenance in each region] The strength of Vantus Runes has been reduced to the same potency they had in Legion.
    • Developers’ notes: Vantus runes are a unique consumable that provide an extra boost when your raid group is focusing on a single boss. But if they’re too powerful, they can create a sense of regression as you try to re-kill the boss without their aid in subsequent weeks.

Quests

• Fixed a bug where Pa’ku could fail to appear as expected during “Zandalar Forever!”.
• Collecting Incandescent Duskwings or Crown of Torcali in a group now shares credit on “Alchemy is an Inexact Science”.

As mentioned in the Reddit AMA last Friday, we’re working on balance tuning for Azerite Armor traits. We’re planning to make the following changes during this week’s maintenance period. Note that there are more changes already in the works; this is just a first pass, focused on bringing some of the biggest outliers up (or down) to more acceptable levels.

General

• Archive of the Titans: Primary stat bonus increased by 20%
• Laser Matrix: Damage reduced by 30%
• Thunderous Blast: Damage reduced by 35%

Death Knight

• (Frost) Frozen Tempest: Damage increased by 100%

Druid

• (Feral) Blood Mist: Damage increased by 125%

Hunter

• (Beast Mastery) Feeding Frenzy: Damage increased by 400%
• (Marksmanship) Arcane Flurry: Duration increased to 10 seconds, damage reduced by 45%

Mage

• (Arcane) Brain Storm: Duration increased to 30 seconds, Intellect bonus reduced by 75%
• (Fire) Firemind: Intellect bonus increased by 30%

Monk

• (Windwalker) Iron Fists: Required targets reduced to 3
• (Windwalker) Swift Roundhouse: Damage bonus reduced by 55%

Rogue

• (Assassination) Shrouded Suffocation: Damage bonus reduced by 40%

Shaman

• (Elemental/Enhancement) Natural Harmony: Secondary stat bonuses increased by 40%

Warlock

• (Affliction) Sudden Onset: Damage bonus reduced by 30%
• (Demonology) Demonic Meteor: Damage increased by 200%
• (Destruction) Flashpoint: Duration increased to 10 seconds, Haste bonus increased by 25%

Warrior

• (Fury) Simmering Rage: Damage increased by 35%