Dragonflight Hotfix Roundup – Neltharion & Sarkareth Nerfs, Major Class Tuning, M+ Key Scaling Nerf

August 24, 2023

Dungeons and Raids

• Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible
  • Echo of Neltharion
    • Fixed an issue where Volcanic Heart can target players with Corruption.

Events

• Kalimdor Cup
  • The Kalimdor Cup is now open to all players level 30 and above. NPCs have been added to Orgrimmar and Stormwind to start the quest and spend your winnings.
• Time Rifts
  • Fixed an issue where The Lich King’s Remorseless Winter was targeting melee players too often.

Player versus Player

• Fixed an issue that caused Precognition to trigger from interrupts reduced by a Paladin’s Concentration Aura.
• Warlock
  • Demonology
    • Fixed an issue causing our recent changes to Demonbolt’s damage in PvP combat to be applied incorrectly.

August 22, 2023

Classes

• Warlock
  • Fixed an issue that caused Haunted Soul to remain when untalented.

 Dungeons

• Creatures that detect stealth and invisibility are now immune to the effects of Mind Soothe.

 Player versus Player

• Solo Shuffle
  • Stormkeeper gained by the Elemental Shaman 2-piece set Runes of the Cinderwolf bonus now properly resets between Solo Shuffle rounds.
  • The shared cooldown between Gladiator’s Medallion, Will To Survive, Stormform, Fireblood, and Will of the Forsaken now properly resets between Solo Shuffle rounds.

August 21, 2023

Classes [With weekly realm maintenance]

• Druid
  • Guardian
    • Absorb granted by Ursoc’s Fury reduced to 45% of damage dealt (was 50%).
    • Innate Resolve’s bonus to Frenzied Regeneration reduced to 120% (was 150%).
• Demon Hunter
  • Havoc
    • Eye Beam is no longer interrupted by school lockout effects.
• Vengeance
  • Fel Devastation is no longer interrupted by school lockout effects.
• Druid
  • Fixed an issue where Sunfire and Moonfire were not updating quick enough after receiving a Mastery increase from an external source.
• Mage
  • Fixed an issue that caused Mass Invisibility to cancel inconsistently, with no direct actions taken.
  • Developers’ notes: This change also adjusts the timing of when Mass Invisibility is removed from spell casts. Mass Invisibility now cancels when beginning a cast, instead of when it ends, which is consistent with other invisibility effects.
  • Fire
    • Flamestrike damage reduced by 6%.
    • Flame Patch damage reduced by 8%.
    • Incendiary Flames can now only proc once every 10 seconds (was 8 seconds).
    • Conflagration damage reduced by 10%.
    • Developers’ notes: Fire Mage damage in heavy AoE scenarios is still higher than we’re comfortable with. We intend these adjustments to further rein it in.
• Monk
  • Mistweaver
    • Ancient Teachings now transfers 150% of damage done (was 135%). Does not apply in PvP combat.
    • Yu’lon’s Grace can now stack up to 15% of maximum health (was 10%) and stacks 3% per second (was 2%).
    • Chi Cocoon’s absorb is increased by 100%.
    • Enveloping Breath’s healing decreased by 12%.
    • Developers’ notes: We’re shifting more of Celestial Harmony’s throughput into Chi Cocoon, with the intent of keeping the talent’s power level similar in raid, and increased in dungeon content. 
• Paladin
  • Holy
    • All damage decreased by 10%.
    • Blessing of Summer now causes attacks to deal 20% additional damage as Holy (was 25%). Blessing of Summer remains at 30% in PvP c
    • Developers’ notes: Holy Paladin damage output has been higher than we would like, considering their toolkit as a whole. 
• Rogue
  • Assassination
    • All ability damage increased by 5%.
    • Auto-attack damage increased by 5%.
• Warrior
  • Protection
    • Defensive Stance’s reduction to damage dealt reduced to 5% (was 10%).
    • Spell Reflection’s damage reduction increased to 25% (was 20%).
    • Vanguard’s increase to stamina increased to 35% (was 30%).

Dungeons and Raids [With weekly realm maintenance]

• M+ Dungeons
  • Above keystone level 20, each additional keystone level will now increase enemy health and damage by 8% (was 10%).
  • Developers’ notes: We’ve recently made and are currently making a number of adjustments to specs that were particularly powerful in Mythic+, and while we feel these changes will have the desired effect, we’ve also heard concerns that it may now be much more difficult to complete very high keys and achieve ratings that were previously within reach. We think this is a fair concern, so we’re making a temporary adjustment to the scaling of key levels above 20 in the hope that it provides players some space to continue competing for Mythic+ rating before the end of Season 2.
• Halls of Infusion
  • Glacial Proto-Dragon’s Deep Chill now damages affected players every 2 seconds (was every 1 seconds). This reduces the damage over time portion of the spell by 50%.
• Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr
  • Infinite Timereaver’s Stolen Time cooldown increased to 8 seconds (was 4 seconds).
  • Developers’ notes: We’ve heard feedback that certain dungeon creature abilities can feel oppressive for groups without access to Mass Dispel, and we’re hoping these abilities will now feel more manageable for those groups.
• Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible
  • Echo of Neltharion
    • Neltharion’s health reduced by 5% on mythic difficulty.
    • Voice from Beyond’s health reduced by 5% on Mythic difficulty.
    • Ebon Destruction’s periodic damage reduced by 10% on Mythic difficulty.
    • Shatter’s periodic damage reduced by 10% on Mythic difficulty.
    • Fixed an issue where Neltharion may fail to apply Corruption on players during phase 2 of the encounter on Heroic and Mythic difficulties.
  • Scalecommander Sarkareth
    • Sarkareth’s berserk time increased 8 minutes (was 7:30) on Mythic difficulty.
    • Echoing Howl damage per tick reduced by 20% on Mythic difficulty.
    • Empty Recollection health reduced by 17% on Mythic difficulty.
    • Blasting Scream cast time increased by 25%.
    • Scaling changes in Normal and Heroic difficulties:
      • Astral Flare duration increased to 33 seconds (was 30 seconds) for 10-player groups.
      • Oblivion damage per tick reduced by 10% for 10-player groups.
      • Void Surge damage per tick reduced by 20% for 10-player groups.
      • Astral Eruption damage reduced by 60% for 10-player groups.

Events

• The Kalimdor Cup is now open to all players level 30 and above. NPCs have been added to Orgrimmar and Stormwind to start the quest and spend your winnings.

Items

• The Neltharion’s Call to Dominance primary stat buff is now removed upon starting an encounter or Mythic+ dungeon.

Player versus Player [With weekly realm maintenance]

• Death Knight
  • Necrotic Aura now increases magic damage taken by 4% (was 8%).
  • Frost
    • Dead of Winter now increases the cooldown of Remorseless Winter by 10 seconds (was 25 seconds).
    • Frost Fever damage increased by 30% in PvP c
    • Frost Strike now deals 75% increased damage in PvP combat (was 67%).
    • Remorseless Winter now deals 100% increased damage in PvP combat (was 80%).
• Demon Hunter
  • Havoc
    • Chaos Strike/Annihilation damage is now increased by 10% in PvP combat.
    • Eye Beam damage is no longer increased in PvP combat (was increased by 16%).
    • Isolated Prey (Talent) no longer has reduced duration bonus for Chaos Nova in PvP combat (was reduced by 50%).
    • Soulrend (Talent) damage is now reduced by 8% in PvP combat (was reduced by 17%).
    • Essence Break (Talent) damage is now reduced by 10% in PvP combat (was reduced by 20%).
    • Essence Break (Talent) bonus damage for Chaos Strike and Blade Dance is now reduced by 19% in PvP combat (was reduced by 38%).
• Druid
  • Balance
    • Moon and Stars now reduces interrupts and silences by 50% for 6 seconds (was 70% for 10 seconds).
• Evoker
  • Augmentation
    • Verdant Embrace healing decreased by 25% in PvP combat.
    • Molten Blood is now 50% effective in PvP combat (was 70%).
    • Panacea healing decreased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Ebon Might is now 80% effective on allies.
    • Ebon Might now increases the Augmentation’s damage by 30% in PvP combat (was 20%).
    • Prescience now grants 6% critical strike chance in PvP combat (was 3%).
    • Developers’ notes: The Augmentation Evoker ability to extend game length has been more effective than we would like, so we’re decreasing the effectiveness of some healing spells. Additionally, we’re shifting more of Ebon Might’s output into the Evoker themselves. 
• Hunter
  • Explosive Shot damage increased by 20% in PvP.
  • Beast Mastery
    • Kill Shot deals 10% increased damage in PvP (was 9% decreased).
  • Marksmanship
    • Master Marksman talent effectiveness in PvP increased to 12/25% (was 7/15%).
    • Rapid Fire damage is increased by 40% in PvP (was 25%).
• Monk
  • Dampen Harm’s minimum damage reduction is now 25% in PvP combat (was 30%).
• Priest
  • Discipline
    • Power Word: Shield is no longer reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
    • Aegis of Wrath increases Power Word: Shield by 20% (was 30%) and decays by 2% (was 3%) every second in PvP combat.
    • Developers’ notes: Aegis of Wrath was too impactful in PvP due to its ability to deal with burst damage, so we’re reducing Discipline’s reliance on the talent and baking in some of its power to Power Word: Shield baseline. This should encourage more build diversity and give Discipline a small bump up in PvP. 
• Shaman
  • Elemental
    • Lava Burst damage is now increased by 12% in PvP combat.
    • Lightning Bolt damage is now increased by 45% in PvP combat (was 31%).
    • Volcanic Surge now increases the damage of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning by 35% (was 25%) and increases the damage of Lava Burst by 55% (was 45%).
    • Skybreaker’s Fiery Demise now increases the critical strike chance of Flame Shock by 25% in PvP Combat (was 50%).
    • Fire Elemental now causes Flame Shock to deal damage 15% faster in PvP Combat (was 33%).
    • Developers’ notes: We’re adjusting some of Elemental’s damage away from Flame Shock and into instant damage spells to improve the spec’s finishing power, which has been lacking this season.
  • Enhancement
    • Ascendance’s immediate damage is reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Windstrike now deals 25% additional damage in PvP combat (was 45%).
    • Stormstrike’s damage is increased by 60% in PvP combat (was 45%).
    • Ice Strike’s damage increased by 45% in PvP combat.
    • Developers’ notes: We’re evening out the rate at which Enhancement Shaman deals its damage, as it is more reliant on inconsistent procs than we would like.
• Warlock
  • Corruption now deals 25% increased damage in PvP combat (was 10%).
    Shadow Bolt now deals 60% increased damage in PvP combat (was 30%).
  • Affliction
    • Agony now deals 25% increased damage in PvP combat (was 10%).
    • Drain Soul now deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
    • Oblivion’s damage increased by 40%.
  • Demonology
    • Demonbolt’s damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Dreadbite damage increased by 10% in PvP combat.
  • Destruction
    • Chaos Bolt’s damage increased by 75% in PvP combat (was 60%).
• Warrior
  • Avatar increases damage by 15% in PvP (was 20%).
  • Arms
    • Warbreaker and Colossus Smash increase damage taken by the target by 20% in PvP (was 30%).
    • Deep Wounds damage is no longer reduced in PvP combat (was 28% reduced).
    • Mortal Strike damage increased by 35% in PvP combat (was 10%).
    • Bladestorm damage increased by 70% in PvP combat (was 40%).
    • Fatal Mark may stack up to a maximum of 5 times in PvP combat (was 8 times).
    • Execute damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
  • Fury
    • Onslaught damage is increased by 35% in PvP (was 15%).
    • Execute (Fury) damage is increased by 40% in PvP (was 25%).
  • Protection
    • Execute damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.

Professions

• Cooking
  • Empty Kettle of Stone Soup and Hoard of Draconic Delicacies should now correctly transform into their completed feasts when enough ingredients have been contributed.