The latest hotfix for World of Warcraft has arrived, and with it comes a number of changes to the game, with the tuning and rebalancing of classes taking the forefront in this recent update. Two of the most notable changes have come to the Hunter and Druid classes, with Blizzard nerfing select abilities and features of each one in ways that players may want to prepare for.
As is often the case with a patch in a game as large as World of Warcraft, especially with how frequent Blizzard implements these hotfixes, the changes are seemingly slight. That being said, even subtle changes can have drastic implications for how the meta in this kind of title shifts, especially with players still digging into the full limits of the new Shadowlands expansion.
The first of these nerfs comes to the Druid's Balance Specialization, a subclass that balances the two types of magic at the player's disposal and allows access to the Moonkin transformation. Two of these class aspects have been targeted in the hotfix specifically, the Starfall attack spell and the Balance of all Things legendary item effect, making more of an impact on DPS players as opposed to the more utilized Restoration Druids in World of Warcraft. Starfall has had its damage reduced by 6% and Balance of all Things will now give a 40% critical chance bonus on all arcane and nature spells, bringing it down from the original 50% increase.
Hunters saw a similar decrease in power in the Marksmanship Specialization, reducing the damage of the abilities Aimed Shot and Arcane Shot. Both of these attacks have had their damage reduced by 5%, making the rebalance a little less technical than the one applied to Druids, but still making an impactful change in one of World of Warcraft's best DPS classes. A number of other changes have also been introduced in the recent hotfix, with almost every class being rebalanced in some way to better mesh into the new Shadowlands era of the game.
The full patch notes read as follows:
Player versus Player
• Demon Hunter
• (Conduit) Unnatural Malice’s effect is reduced by 50% in PvP.
• Mage
• Arcane
• (Legendary) Arcane Harmony may only reach a maximum of 10 stacks in PvP (was 15).
• Rogue
• (Conduit) Reverberation effectiveness reduced by 50% when engaged in combat with enemy players (was a 30% reduction).
• (Kyrian Covenant) Echoing Reprimand initial damage reduced by 50% when engaged in combat with enemy players.
• Assassination
• Nightstalker increases damage dealt while Stealth is active by 25% (was 50%).
• Subtlety
• Cold Blood (PvP Talent) damage is now properly reduced by effects such as Versatility.
• Shadow Blades now deals an additional 30% damage against enemy players, (was an additional 40% damage).
• Nightstalker increases damage dealt while Stealth or Shadow Dance is active by 8% when engaged in combat with enemy players (was 12%).
• Pelagos Soulbind
• Combat Meditation Mastery value reduced by 50% in PvP, and duration increased by 50% in PvP.
Classes
Tank Specializations
• Threat generation for all Tanks increased by 10%.
Death Knight
• Unholy
• Mastery: Dreadblade effectiveness reduced by 20%.
• Blood
• Blood Boil damage increased by 10%.
• Heart Strike damage increased by 15%.
• Marrowrend damage increased by 10%.
• Death Strike damage increased by 5%.
Demon Hunter
• Havoc
• All damage abilities increased by 5%.
Druid
• Balance
• Starfall damage reduced 6%.
• Balance of all Things [Legendary] now causes Eclipse to increase your critical strike chance with Arcane or Nature spells by 40%, decreasing by 8% every 1 second (was 50% crit, decreasing by 10% per second).
Hunter
• Marksmanship
• Aimed Shot damage reduced by 5%.
• Arcane Shot damage reduced by 5%.
Rogue
• Assassination
• All damage abilities increased by 5%.
Shaman
• Restoration
• All healing abilities reduced by 4%.
• Healing Rain reduced by an additional 10%.
Warlock
• Destruction
• Chaos Bolt damage increased by 22%.
Warrior
• Arms
• Mortal Strike damage increased by 20%. Damage reduced by an equivalent amount in PvP.
• Slam (Rank 3) now increases Slam’s damage by 50% (was 25%).
• Fury
• All damage abilities increased by 5%.
The meta in World of Warcraft is always shifting due to the game receiving substantial expansions, as well Blizzard consistently rebalancing classes and gear in order to keep the game running smoothly. While this can restructure the race to maximum power in World of Warcraft, it is an aspect that keeps the game interesting, even if players don't often appreciate nerfs as they drop. The constant shifting of power is something that Blizzard has become quite skilled at, but that doesn't mean the developer will ignore player feedback if some of these nerfs and buffs go too far in either direction.
Source: Blizzard Forums