Class Tuning Incoming - July 25, Monte Krol Leaving Blizzard

Class Tuning Incoming – July 25
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
In response to player feedback and internal data, we’ve developed the following class tuning changes to address several over- and under-performing classes.

These adjustments will be applied to the live game with scheduled weekly maintenance on Tuesday, July 25 in this region.

Classes

Death Knight
  • Blood
    • All ability damage increased by 10%.

Druid
  • Guardian
    • Ursoc’s Fury absorb shield reduced to 50% of damage dealt by Thrash and Maul (was 60%).

Evoker
  • Augmentation
  • Developers’ notes: Augmentation is overperforming in dungeons and is doing less direct damage than intended relative to the power of their buffing effects. These adjustments will increase their personal damage in all situations and moderately reduce the effectiveness of their buffs in dungeon content.
    • Close as Clutchmates now causes Ebon Might and Breath of Eons to be 20% more effective when not in a raid (was 40%).
    • Fixed a bug where Close as Clutchmates would not increase the Evoker’s damage done via Ebon Might for periodic effects such as Fire Breath.
    • Ebon Might now increases the Evoker’s damage done by 20% (was 10%).
    • Eruption damage increased by 40%.
    • Fate Mirror’s chance to occur reduced to 15% (was 20%).
    • Aspects’ Favor amplifies Black Attunement to 7%/10% maximum health (was 10%/16%).

Hunter
  • Beast Mastery
    • Barbed Shot damage increased by 15%.
    • Cobra Shot damage increased by 15%.
    • Kill Shot damage increased by 15%.
  • Marksmanship
    • Trick Shot, Aimed Shot, and Rapid Fire ricochets now deal 65% of their normal damage (was 55%).
  • Survival
    • Mongoose Bite damage increased by 5%.
    • Raptor Strike damage increased by 5%.
    • Flanking Strike damage increased by 10%.
    • Kill Command damage increased by 10%.

Monk
  • Brewmaster
    • Damage of Spinning Crane Kick reduced by 20%.
    • Damage of Keg Smash reduced by 5%.
  • Windwalker
    • Rising Sun Kick damage increased by 10%.
    • Fists of Fury damage increased by 10%. Does not apply to PvP Combat.
    • Blackout Kick damage increased by 10%.
    • Tiger Palm damage increased by 15%.

Paladin
  • Protection
    • All ability damage increased by 8%.

Priest
  • Discipline
    • Luminous Barrier absorption increased by 30%.
  • Shadow
    • Psychic Link now causes direct damage spells to inflict 15% of their damage on all targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch within 40 yards (was 25%).
    • Void Spike damage to enemies within 10 yards of the target reduced by 30%.
    • Devouring Plague damage increased by 12%. Does not apply to PvP Combat.
    • Mind Blast damage increased by 12%. Does not apply to PvP Combat.
    • Void Bolt damage increased by 12%. Does not apply to PvP Combat.
    • Mind Flay damage increased by 12%. Does not apply to PvP Combat.
    • Mind Flay: Insanity damage increased by 12%. Does not apply to PvP Combat.
    • Mind Spike damage increased by 12%. Does not apply to PvP Combat.
    • Mind Spike: Insanity damage increased by 12%. Does not apply to PvP Combat.
    • Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 12%. Does not apply to PvP Combat.
    • Prayer of Mending now costs 10% of base mana (was 4%).
    • Power Word: Life now costs 10% of base mana (was 4%).
    • Renew now costs 8% of base mana (was 4%).

Shaman
  • Restoration
    • All healing increased by 5%.
    • The range of Restorative Mists heals from Ascendance is now 40 yards (was 20 yards). The initial burst healing from Ascendance remains at 20 yards.

Warrior
  • Protection
    • All ability damage increased by 7%.

Player versus Player
There are a few additional PvP-specific changes that we have planned for next week’s reset, but we’re still discussing specifics. We plan to update this thread on Monday with further details.

Druid
  • Balance
    • New Moon, Half Moon, Full Moon no longer deal increased damage in PvP (was 20%).
    • Owlkin Adept (PvP Talent) now reduces cast time by 10% (was 15%).
    • High Winds (PvP Talent) now reduces the targets healing and damage by 15% for 3 seconds (was 30% for 6 seconds).
    • Umbral Embrace now increases damage of Wrath or Starfire by 15% in PvP (was 20%).

Evoker
  • Augmentation
    • Ebon Might’s increase to the Evoker’s damage is no longer 40% more effective in PvP Combat.
    • Eruption damage is now increased by 25% in PvP Combat (was 50%).
    • Upheaval damage is now increased by 25% in PvP Combat (was 15%)
    • The damage bonus from Tectonic Locus is now reduced by 70% in PvP Combat.
    • All healing done is now reduced by 10% in PvP Combat.
    • Dream Projection healing is now reduced by 25% in PvP Combat.
    • The absorption effect from Molten Blood is now reduced by 30% in PvP Combat.
    • Born in Flame now lasts 3 seconds (was 6 seconds).
    • Burnout from Born in Flame is no longer dispellable.

Hunter
  • Beast Mastery
  • Developers’ notes: We’re increasing Barbed Shot’s bleed damage, as we’d like to decrease the damage differential between attacking high armor and low armor targets for Beast Mastery Hunters.
    • Barbed Shot damage is no longer decreased in PvP Combat (was reduced by 10%).

Mage
  • Master Shepherd increases Versatility by 12% (was 6%).
  • Arcane
  • Developers’ notes: The high-end burst damage of Arcane Mage was reduced with the release of Fractures in Time, so we’re increasing the damage of Arcanosphere, as we’d like it to be a more threatening piece of Arcane’s toolkit. We’re also increasing the baseline damage of a few rotational spells, as Arcane’s overall damage has been lower than we would like, and Nether Tempest has not felt like a competitive spell in PvP.
    • Arcanosphere damage increased by 25%.
    • Arcane Missiles damage increased by 12% in PvP Combat (was 5%).
    • Arcane Orb damage increased by 30% in PvP Combat.
    • Nether Tempest damage increased by 150% in PvP Combat.
  • Fire
  • Developers’ notes: We’re offsetting a few recent damage reduction adjustments and greatly increasing the damage of Living Bomb, with the goal of making it a viable talent option in PvP.
    • Pyroblast damage increased by 18% in PvP Combat (was 12%).
    • Fire Blast damage reduced by 3% in PvP Combat (was 8%).
    • Phoenix Flames damage increased by 22% in PvP Combat (was 16%).
    • Living Bomb damage increased by 300% in PvP Combat.
  • Frost
  • Developers’ notes: We would like Ray of Frost to remain a threatening cast, but still feel it’s slightly more lethal than we’d like. Frostbolt’s damage has fallen behind other options, so we’re increasing its damage to reward casting. Snowdrift’s activation has felt a little too difficult for the amount of risk involved, so we’re reducing the time to trigger the stun effect.
    • Cryopathy is now 50% effective in PvP Combat (was 60%).
    • Frostbolt damage increased by 150% in PvP Combat (was 100%).
    • Snowdrift now has a 2 second activation time (was 3 seconds).

Priest
  • Angel’s Mercy’s cooldown reduction is now 25% effective in PvP Combat.
  • Shadow
    • Mind Trauma now steals 2% haste (was 4%) and stacks up to 9 times (was 6).
    • From Darkness Comes Light now stacks up to 25 times in PvP Combat (was 50).

Monk
  • Windwalker
  • Developers’ notes: Windwalker Monk’s damage profile is more bursty than we would like, so we are moving more of its damage into base rotational spells.
    • Rising Star critical strike damage bonus is now 50% effective in PvP Combat.
    • Serenity now increases damage and healing by 10% in PvP Combat (was 15%).
    • Whirling Dragon Punch damage is now increased by 120% in PvP Combat (was 80%).

Shaman
  • Elemental
  • Developers’ notes: We feel the backlash damage from Flame Shock has not been sufficiently high as to make the decision to dispel it compelling.
    • Control of Lava damage increased by 40%.
  • Enhancement
  • Developers’ notes: We feel the backlash damage from Flame Shock has not been sufficiently high as to make the decision to dispel it compelling.
    • Control of Lava damage increased by 40%.
  • Restoration
    • Now regenerates 700 mana per second at max level in PvP Combat (was 800).

Warrior
  • Slam damage is now increased by 85% in PvP Combat (was 48%).
  • Arms
  • Developers’ notes: We’re increasing the damage of Bladestorm baseline and removing some power from the Unhinged talent, as its damage could be unpredictable for both the Warrior and their enemies. We’re also increasing the damage of Overpower to increase Arm Warrior’s consistent pressure.
    • Overpower damage is now increased by 30% in PvP Combat (was 20%).
    • Bladestorm damage increased by 40% in PvP Combat.
    • Mortal Strike damage increased by 10% in PvP Combat.
    • Mortal Strikes from the Unhinged talent are now cast at 60% effectiveness.
  • Fury
  • Developers’ notes: We’re increasing the damage of a few Fury Warrior spells we feel are not impactful enough in PvP.
    • Execute damage is now increased by 25% in PvP Combat (was 10%).
    • Onslaught damage increased by 15% in PvP Combat.
    • Ravager damage increased by 30% in PvP Combat.

Monte Krol Leaving Blizzard
Monte Krol had his last day at Blizzard today and we wish him the best and will miss him! He has been with the company almost 23 years!

  • Monte started at Blizzard in October of 2000
  • A friend showed him Diablo and he played a ton. He bought Blizzard's next game without seeing it (Starcraft).
  • He saw the Warcraft 3 trailer and decided to try and work on a Blizzard game.
  • He flew out, interviewed, didn't know what game he was working on. WoW was still a secret at this point, so he thought he would be working on Starcraft 2.
  • He spent most of his career working on World of Warcraft, but was most recently working on Arclight Rumble.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Class Tuning Incoming - July 25 started by chaud View original post
Published on 2023-07-22 01:18 AM
60 Comments
Comments 60 Comments
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    How many more times are they going to nerf Psychic Link? Fuck man. Just give us back MSear at this point.
  1. Altmer's Avatar
    I'm super ignorant on this one, but who is Monte Krol?. He looks like one of those veterans devs, but I haven't read about him so far.
  1. Kyphael's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Altmer View Post
    I'm super ignorant on this one, but who is Monte Krol?. He looks like one of those veterans devs, but I haven't read about him so far.
    This and other "former Blizz employee" goodbye threads is like playing Jeopardy, the "Who gives a shit?" edition.
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Altmer View Post
    I'm super ignorant on this one, but who is Monte Krol?. He looks like one of those veterans devs, but I haven't read about him so far.
    WoWpedia lists him as a lead programmer. If I'd wager a guess, he's one of the guys who's in charge of deciphering the two decades of spaghetti and invisible bunnies which represent WoW's kernel. A relatively thankless job from players but probably responsible for a lot of cool shit we take for granted.

    Also, before anybody starts the "another talented dev leaves Blizz" circlejerk please ask yourself how many jobs you've personally stayed at for 23 fuckin' years. This is not a sign of the apocalypse or internal collapse within Blizzard. Dude's probably getting a fat VC check from some reddit crypto-bros that want to make their own WoW in 37 years.
  1. Altmer's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Relapses View Post
    WoWpedia lists him as a lead programmer. If I'd wager a guess, he's one of the guys who's in charge of deciphering the two decades of spaghetti and invisible bunnies which represent WoW's kernel. A relatively thankless job from players but probably responsible for a lot of cool shit we take for granted.

    Also, before anybody starts the "another talented dev leaves Blizz" circlejerk please ask yourself how many jobs you've personally stayed at for 23 fuckin' years. This is not a sign of the apocalypse or internal collapse within Blizzard. Dude's probably getting a fat VC check from some reddit crypto-bros that want to make their own WoW in 37 years.
    He looks older, maybe around 50's. Maybe he is already going to retire or maybe choose a more relax job. I bet his job was really taxing as a lead programmer.
  1. deenman's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Relapses View Post
    WoWpedia lists him as a lead programmer. If I'd wager a guess, he's one of the guys who's in charge of deciphering the two decades of spaghetti and invisible bunnies which represent WoW's kernel. A relatively thankless job from players but probably responsible for a lot of cool shit we take for granted.

    Also, before anybody starts the "another talented dev leaves Blizz" circlejerk please ask yourself how many jobs you've personally stayed at for 23 fuckin' years. This is not a sign of the apocalypse or internal collapse within Blizzard. Dude's probably getting a fat VC check from some reddit crypto-bros that want to make their own WoW in 37 years.
    most people who have good careers at a good company stay for 20+ years,most of the elderly people i know have stayed for over 40 years,why would anyone leave their dream job after 20 years? some maybe because they wanna do something else,but most will proly do it because the company is shit,we know blizzard is bottom tier when it comes to paying people and has become a joke in the industry,i would leave just to avoid that stink on my reputation,i mean who even wants to be asociated with blizzard at this time is highly delusional
  1. Railander's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Relapses View Post
    WoWpedia lists him as a lead programmer. If I'd wager a guess, he's one of the guys who's in charge of deciphering the two decades of spaghetti and invisible bunnies which represent WoW's kernel. A relatively thankless job from players but probably responsible for a lot of cool shit we take for granted.

    Also, before anybody starts the "another talented dev leaves Blizz" circlejerk please ask yourself how many jobs you've personally stayed at for 23 fuckin' years. This is not a sign of the apocalypse or internal collapse within Blizzard. Dude's probably getting a fat VC check from some reddit crypto-bros that want to make their own WoW in 37 years.
    if he joined in 2000 and started working on WoW while it was still a secret, he's probably directly responsible for a lot of that legacy codebase.
    very rare to have the people that know the code well enough still in the company after such a long time to teach newcomers. this is probably a blow to the programming team.
  1. Sangi's Avatar
    so they wanted to make a support spec that does their dmg over buffing the other players instead of doing the dmg itself and now they are nerfing the buffs and increasing the dmg of the spells?
    Wtf? Why not make a normal dps spec then in the first place? These half assed attempts to do something special only to back down shortly after are what's wrong with current wow. Like this we will end up with another dps spec that just performce worse in the dmg-meters so it can buff the other classes a tiny bit...
    same thing that happened to disc priest

    let aug evokers do no dmg at all and only focus on buffing, give them more buffs, raidwide buffs like dh or monks have that increase the dmg on the target or or increase the healing on the raid or a buff on the players that transform any incoming overheal to shields for a short duration of time.

    Are they really so uncreative at blizzard that so only thing that they came up with was "buff main stat" and "buff crit" ? Really?
  1. deenman's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sangi View Post
    so they wanted to make a support spec that does their dmg over buffing the other players instead of doing the dmg itself and now they are nerfing the buffs and increasing the dmg of the spells?
    Wtf? Why not make a normal dps spec then in the first place? These half assed attempts to do something special only to back down shortly after are what's wrong with current wow. Like this we will end up with another dps spec that just performce worse in the dmg-meters so it can buff the other classes a tiny bit...
    same thing that happened to disc priest

    let aug evokers do no dmg at all and only focus on buffing, give them more buffs, raidwide buffs like dh or monks have that increase the dmg on the target or or increase the healing on the raid or a buff on the players that transform any incoming overheal to shields for a short duration of time.

    Are they really so uncreative at blizzard that so only thing that they came up with was "buff main stat" and "buff crit" ? Really?
    the spec still has to be able to do moderate dps,its not a healer spec and even those do good dmg,nerfing their support was clearly needed,this is proly in he top 2-3 most broken things the game has ever seen,i rly dont see your issues here
  1. bmjclark's Avatar
    That AoE nerf for spriest seems pretty heavy handed. I'm surprised they didn't just knock it down to 20 or even 18%. A 40% nerf to an ability that does 25-30% of spriests aoe just seems brutal
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by bmjclark View Post
    That AoE nerf for spriest seems pretty heavy handed. I'm surprised they didn't just knock it down to 20 or even 18%. A 40% nerf to an ability that does 25-30% of spriests aoe just seems brutal
    It's a couple percentage AE and a decentish ST buff. It's not the end of the world though it does suck that they keep hitting PL after buffing it so much with the rework.
  1. Armael's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sangi View Post
    so they wanted to make a support spec that does their dmg over buffing the other players instead of doing the dmg itself and now they are nerfing the buffs and increasing the dmg of the spells?
    Wtf? Why not make a normal dps spec then in the first place? These half assed attempts to do something special only to back down shortly after are what's wrong with current wow. Like this we will end up with another dps spec that just performce worse in the dmg-meters so it can buff the other classes a tiny bit...
    same thing that happened to disc priest

    let aug evokers do no dmg at all and only focus on buffing, give them more buffs, raidwide buffs like dh or monks have that increase the dmg on the target or or increase the healing on the raid or a buff on the players that transform any incoming overheal to shields for a short duration of time.

    Are they really so uncreative at blizzard that so only thing that they came up with was "buff main stat" and "buff crit" ? Really?
    You literally cannot join any key group 20 or higher, if you can lust (like a hunter) unless you're a fire mage, because the other 2 slots are Aug (100% guaranteed) and S Priest (95% guaranteed). I have a WA where I can see class colors of what's already in the group, so I'll see that it needs a Luster. I am overqualified for the group I'm applying for, by as much as 400 io a lot of times, but they will have Aug in their title/description or they'll eventually get one anyway and I'll get declined, expired, or "full and delisted." This week has been total shit.

    Surprisingly I have timed WAY more keys this week when I haven't been in a group with an Aug than with.
  1. GUZ's Avatar
    Soo Aug is just back to being another DPS spec…oops fun detected should’ve just made it a tank with support buffs would have been way easier to balance.
  1. Syegfryed's Avatar
    Its funny that a lot of people whine about all the devs being horde and because of it there is an "horde bias" somewhere there, but every dev across the sun that show up plays alliance, i think only Sam Didier would be an actual horde player and he is just art director.
  1. stoffe's Avatar
    Finally some hunters buff, have been needed for so long now. Just to see it getting nerfs again in 2-3 weeks.
  1. Sangi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Armael View Post
    You literally cannot join any key group 20 or higher, if you can lust (like a hunter) unless you're a fire mage, because the other 2 slots are Aug (100% guaranteed) and S Priest (95% guaranteed). I have a WA where I can see class colors of what's already in the group, so I'll see that it needs a Luster. I am overqualified for the group I'm applying for, by as much as 400 io a lot of times, but they will have Aug in their title/description or they'll eventually get one anyway and I'll get declined, expired, or "full and delisted." This week has been total shit.

    Surprisingly I have timed WAY more keys this week when I haven't been in a group with an Aug than with.
    that's the thing.
    as a developer you can now either decide to make the jump and introduce another category besides heal dd and tank or you make the aug evoker just another dd

    BUT if evoker should really be a support then ofcourse you will need one in your group, same goes for heal, tank or dd. You can't run a dungeon without a tank can you?

    if they make him just another dd he will soon be useless and nerfed out of existence because nobody wants to play a damage dealer that does less visible dmg than everyone else

    and the problem you discribed was there long before the aug evoker, as a meele you are most of the time fucked when it comes to pug myth+ keys and nobody cared for the last 2-3 expansions

    balancing the game for high keys will never work and will just end up killing the game because the casuals will leave and then the try-hards will leave too because the game is empty. Happened in shadowlands...
  1. Matsudah's Avatar
    These hunter (BM and MM) buffs are pathetic... Maybe we will feel it in PVP but we need massive rework in PVE... Blizz start to work for your money pls...
  1. Lucrece's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Armael View Post
    You literally cannot join any key group 20 or higher, if you can lust (like a hunter) unless you're a fire mage, because the other 2 slots are Aug (100% guaranteed) and S Priest (95% guaranteed). I have a WA where I can see class colors of what's already in the group, so I'll see that it needs a Luster. I am overqualified for the group I'm applying for, by as much as 400 io a lot of times, but they will have Aug in their title/description or they'll eventually get one anyway and I'll get declined, expired, or "full and delisted." This week has been total shit.

    Surprisingly I have timed WAY more keys this week when I haven't been in a group with an Aug than with.
    And this is why you run your keys as a DPS. Hell, as a preservation Evoker in its OP S1 days with 2.2k io I was still having trouble even getting invited to a +17. So I built my keys and did my 20s shortly.

    The nice thing about running your keys is that you have direct control over who your tank and healer will be if you're not impatient and check io. Specifically, a tank will brick your keys with shitty overpulling just because he's done it in a premade before and doesn't realize pugs are a different environment and you don't need wall to wall pulls to time keys.
  1. Julmara's Avatar
    i miss the old days when keysmash was doing nice damage
  1. LordVargK's Avatar
    Augmentation should have been a heal spec.
    It would solve MANY problems healers have now:
    - forced to DPS
    - suffer from DPS mistakes
    - solely responsible for many m+ affixes

    If you let healers buff the group, then DPS players would feel the impact of making a mistake or not doing affixes, since then their DPS suffers from getting less buffs, since the healer has to spend more time healing.
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