World of Warcraftis introducing a sweeping list of changes to the game’s classes and specializations as the launch ofDragonflight’s inaugural season looms ahead. Though Blizzard has been hard at work in addressing thetechnical issues ofDragonflight’s release, proper balance tuning has also been a priority for the development team, especially in an expansion that introduces a whole new class to the game. While the bulk of these balance changes came in the final days of beta, sometimes it takes a live experience for Blizzard to realize what the under-performing and over-performing classes are.
The changes curiously skip the new Evoker hero class for a Player vs. Environment context, instead only nerfing its insane burst in Player vs. Player combat. This speaks to Blizzard’s confidence in Evokers for their debut tier in Vault of the Incarnates, asDevastation and Preservation Evoker join theWorld of Warcraftmetaand immediately look to be a formidable addition.
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The changes coming in this class tuning goes live on December 6th, with the next weekly reset. Given recent complaints, Blizzard will increase threat generation for all tank specs by 650% (up from 550%), letting players maintain aggro in dungeons with more ease. The biggest overall beneficiary of these balance changes seems to beFire Mage, receiving a flat increase to most of its main abilities: Pyroblast, Flamestrike, Fireball, Scorch, and Ignite all get a damage bonus from 5% to 10%.
Hunters will also enjoy sizable buffs across the board, with Survival getting a flat 5% increase to damage, and Marksmanship getting a 10% increase. Moreover, Barrage and Explosive Shot will have its damage raised by 15%. On the flip side,Havoc Demon Hunterssuffer a significant nerf by having The Hunt’s damage reduced by 10%, in addition to Fodder to the Flame no longer scaling with Haste. Assassination Rogues who love Exsanguinate may also end up disappointed, as its cooldown has been increased from 45 seconds to 3 minutes, in addition to reducing its bleed to 80% of its original value.
In terms ofhealers inWorld of Warcraft, Restoration Druids can expect a 6% decrease to Regrowth healing, while Mistweaver Monks will see an increase to Vivify’s healing by 20%, and an increase of 15% to the healing caused by Yu’lon’s Whisper. Restoration Shamans have plenty of reasons to rejoice as well, given that Blizzard is increasing their base healing by 5% across all spells and abilities.
Blizzard has posted a detailed list of the changes coming on the officialWorld of Warcraftforums, where players can browse the patch notes in detail at their leisure. ThoughDragonflight has introduced plenty of positive additions to the game, and seems to have broughtWorld of Warcraftback on track following the mixed reception ofShadowlandsandBattle for Azeroth, the coming months will end up defining the expansion pack.
