Patch 4.0.6 Feb. 22 Hotfixes, Blue Posts, Artworks, Comic

Here you'll find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the recently released World of Warcraft: Cataclysm patch 4.0.6. Hotfixes are updates we make on our end without requiring you to download a new patch. Some of the hotfixes below will go live the moment they are implemented, while others may require your realm to be restarted to go into effect. Please keep in mind that some issues cannot be addressed without a client-side patch update. We will continue to update this thread in the days ahead as additional hotfixes are applied. Visit our Bug Report forum for a list of 4.0.6 known issues.

February 22

Hunter (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)

• Aimed Shot damage has been decreased to approximately 160% weapon damage (at level 80+), down from 200%.
• Aspect of the Hawk now provides 2000 attack power at level 85.

Throne of the Four Winds

• The Catch Fall aura is now removed whenever a player leaves the dungeon.

Arena 2200 Weapons
They should be available now. We'll be watching just in case any further issues arise with these vendors. (Source)

Hunter (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Recent hunter hotfixes
That's mostly on target, but there's a little more to it. We actually had a few different goals with these hotfixes. While it’s true that we wanted to reduce Marksmanship burst in PvP, that’s only part of the story; we equally wanted to make Survival and Beast mastery more attractive choices in PvE. That involved bringing Marksmanship damage down a bit in fights where little or no movement is required, and reducing the amount of Aimed Shot spam once mobs drop below 80%.

Marksmanship's burst damage in PvP was indeed higher than we wanted, and we felt that Aimed Shot was the best place to bring burst back into line, so we've reduced its damage, including the Aimed Shot! generated by the Master Marksman proc, by about 20%. To help compensate for the loss of dps and improve Survival and Beast Mastery output, Aspect of the Hawk should now provide 2000 attack power at level 85. This will also make the talent One with Nature more powerful as well. The net effect of the change to Aspect of the Hawk should result in a buff to Survival and Beast Mastery in PvE and (in combination with the Aimed Shot nerf) a slight reduction to PvE Marksmanship dps. The changes should also make Aimed Shot less attractive once a target drops below 80% health and Careful Aim no longer applies.

This is also good time to clear up some of the confusion about hunter shot cast times. Essentially, ranged attacks in World of Warcraft have always had a built in 0.5 second delay to their cast time. Since this does not apply to instant attacks, for hunters it only really applies to Aimed Shot, Steady Shot and Cobra Shot. Prior to the 4.0.6 changes, Aimed Shot was listed with a 3.0 cast time, but due to the delay, in reality it had a cast time that amounted to 3.5 seconds. Now that it is listed at 2.4 seconds, the actual cast time is now closer to 2.9, which is where we want it to be. We realize this caused some confusion (even for us), and we’re going to see if we can make the 0.5 second delay more visible in the future.

Finally, we also wanted to let you know that Deterrence is functioning properly: Deterrence now provides 100% miss chance rather than 100% parry chance and remains in effect even if the hunter's weapon is disarmed, but it's still possible to temporarily delay a hunter’s use of Deterrence with the judicious use of disarm effects. In combination with some of the recent adjustments to melee mobility, Deterrence should still be more effective overall. We'll continue to keep an eye on it. (Source)

Deterrence in 4.0.6
In the past Deterrence provided 100% parry, which could only be performed with a melee weapon equipped. Now it provides 100% miss chance, which means that your avoidance will still work.

The real issue is that some attacks, especially rogue attacks like Cheap Shot, could not be parried. Therefore a rogue could Cheap Shot through Deterrence, which totally countered the intent of Deterrence as a melee defense. With this change, Cheap Shot should correctly miss a hunter under Deterrence.

Wait, is that all ranged attack or ranged physical attacks?
It applies to attacks based on the ranged weapon slot. Those are not the same as spells, and this largely applies to hunters. Other non-spell ranged attacks in the game tend to use the melee weapon (like Shattering Throw) or are instant (like Fan of Knives). (Source)

Aspect of the Hawk change and stance dancing
Are you aware how the change to aspect of the hawk promotes stance dancing for hunters again in PVP? This was a mechanic you wanted to avoid in WotLK by introducing Dragonhawk, a combination of monkey and hawk. Now its returned and its annoying.
Changing aspects appropriate to what you're doing isn't necessarily a problem. With the old Aspect of the Monkey, hunters would swap only when being attacked until they could make some space again. Ideally, a hunter who changes Aspects intends to stay in that Aspect for a little while, at least. Aspects cost a global cooldown, so using an aspect for only a very brief period of time, then that may not be the best decision.

We're okay with players making a tactical decision between a high damage, but less mobile Aspect, and an Aspect that offers mobile damage and focus generation. (Source)

Mage (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Ignite munching
Since the design of Ignite doesn’t allow us to resolve munching (defined as multiple simultaneous crits that fail to properly proc Ignite) directly, we’re thinking about a solution that would instead prevent Ignite from proc’ing on periodic crits. This might be a minor dps loss, but possibly no dps loss at all since it would stop most cases of munching. If it turned out to be a dps loss, we could compensate for it elsewhere. You're likely to see some experimenting in future patch PTRs. This is a pretty good example of something we can't hotfix, or rather wouldn't try. It’s the kind of change that would likely have unpredictable side-effects. (Source)