New World of Warcraft Legion hotfixes are being deployed and will resolve several class bugs. Furthermore, the hotfix offers many PVP balances, including nerfs to Frost Mages, BM Hunters, Mistweaver Monks, Enhancement Shamans, Assassination/Outlaw Rogues, and Paladins.
Earlier this week Blizzard already deployed a minor hotfix, while also releasing a new patch 7.1 PTR build.
Blizzard has now announced another round of hotfixes for October 13. Some changes included with the hotfixes will take effect right away, while others will require scheduled maintenance. Most of the changes only apply to PVP combat, and more talent changes will be introduced with the upcoming patch 7.1 “Return to Karazhan”. This will also include changes to Destruction Warlocks, Windwalker Monks, Death Knights, Balance Druids, and Restoration Druids.
World of Warcraft Legion Hotfixes October 13
Bonus Events
- Entering a Timewalking Dungeon will no longer clear any planted plants from the Druid Evergreen upgrade.
- The fireballs from the cooking buff "Pepper Breath" should now scale properly in Timewalking.
- Class Hall Set 6-piece and 8-piece bonuses should now scale properly in Timewalking.
Classes
Druid
- Ironfur no longer incorrectly multiplies Bonus Armor effects from temporary buffs.
- (Balance) New Moon, Half Moon, and Full Moon are now in the Arcane spell school.
Items
- Spirit Cauldrons no longer have collision.
Player versus Player
Reminder: These changes are only active while in PvP combat situations and do not affect PvE. Many more Honor Talent changes are coming with Patch 7.1, including changes to Destruction Warlocks, Windwalker Monks, Death Knights, Balance Druids, and Restoration Druids.
Mage
Frost
- Ice Form now has a 60 second cooldown (was 45 seconds).
- Ice Form can no longer be cast while stunned.
- Ice Form will now cause the Mage to be immune to only stuns, instead of other unintended crowd-control effects, such as Paralysis.
- Frostbolt no longer deals increased damage in PvP (was a multiplier of +10%).
- Developers’ Notes: Frost Mages are intended to create burst windows with Shatter and Glacial Spike, but have been reaching unintended levels of damage. By reducing Frostbolt damage, we’re reducing the potential size of Icicles and Glacial Spike burst. The Ice Form fixes should reduce its uptime, which was too high.
Hunter
Beast Mastery
- Beast Mastery Agility reduced by 10% in PvP.
- Developers’ Notes: We’ve found Beast Mastery damage to be too high, but we don’t feel that it’s due to any specific ability or mechanic, so we’re reducing the overall PvP template.
Monk
Mistweaver
- Mistwalk can no longer be cast while silenced.
- Soothing Mist healing reduced by 10% in PvP. (Soothing Mist version of Ancient Mistweaver Arts is unaffected.)
- Soothing Mist healing cast by Summon Jade Serpent Statue reduced by 10% in PvP.
- Developers’ Notes: Mistweavers been one of our strongest healers. We feel Soothing Mist is doing too much healing per second on its own, making it so that the Mistweaver doesn’t have to use cast-time healing spells as much as other healers, even when their target is taking high amounts of damage. We’re reducing Soothing Mist slightly to address this. Mistwalk was never intended to be used while the Mistweaver was silenced or locked out of Nature, so we’ve fixed that as a bug.
Paladin
- Pure of Heart no longer causes Cleanse to incur a cooldown when it removes poisons and diseases.
- Pure of Heart no longer triggers when healed by a periodic heal effect, but will trigger when a spell such as Rejuvenation is initially cast.
- Developers’ Notes: Retribution Paladins are designed to be a formidable damage dealer and also have a protective, counter-control kit for their allies. Pure of Heart is intended to “soft-counter” poisons and diseases, but we feel it’s too strong currently when the Paladin is paired with a healing-over-time healer. Pure of Heart will now only trigger when a healing spell is applied, but not periodically during the spell.
Retribution
- Blessing of Sanctuary now has a 30 second cooldown, up from 25 seconds.
- Developers’ Notes: Blessing of Sanctuary has proven to be a strong, signature Honor Talent, but we feel its cooldown is too short.
Rogue
Assassination
- System Shock now properly requires an Envenom cast with 5 or more combo points.
- System Shock’s damage has been reduced by 20%.
- Assassination’s Agility has been reduced by 5% in PvP.
- Developers’ Notes: The Assassination Rogue is intended to be a strong, persistent damage dealer that pressures targets but lacks the utility that Outlaw excels in or the mobility that Subtlety provides. We’ve been monitoring their damage and feel its higher than intended, and we’ve found some bugs with System Shock contributed to this. We’ve also altered their PvP template to effectively reduce their damage.
Outlaw
- Control is King will no longer stack Adrenaline Rush above a 3 second duration.
- Developers’ Notes: Control is King is intended to be an attractive choice for the Outlaw Rogue when within a control oriented team composition. This has worked out a bit too well. Now, subsequent procs of Control of King will no longer add to the duration, and instead will just refresh itself.
Shaman
Enhancement
- Stormstrike’s damage is reduced by 15% in PvP.
- Heroism and Bloodlust now have a 60 second cooldown when modified by Shamanism (was 45 seconds).
Developers’ Notes: The Enhancement Shaman is intended to be a formidable damage dealer who also provides offensive group utility through totems and buffs. Shamanism has been a popular choice for the Enhancement Shaman, allowing them to use Bloodlust/Heroism frequently and also in Arena combat. We like the utility this gives the Shaman, but feel its uptime is too high. Further, we feel the Enhancement Shaman’s burst damage with Stormstrike has been reaching unintended levels.
Legion, the sixth World of Warcraft Legion expansion is currently available for PC. The expansion's first patch is currently live on the PTR, and Blizzard is organizing a patch 7.1 developers Q&A later today on Twitch.
