Class Tuning Incoming With the Weekly Maintenance on March 17

Class Tuning Incoming With the Weekly Maintenance on March 17
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The first few days of Midnight max-level play have given us data and feedback needed to make our first tuning pass, with the goal of reducing outliers. We will continue to keep a close eye on class balance as both Heroic week and week 1 of the PvP season start, and players continue to gain gear and begin using tier sets.

Classes

Death Knight

  • Blood
    • Deathbringer: Reaper's Mark damage increased by 20%.
    • Deathbringer: Exterminate damage increased by 20%.
    • Deathbringer: Wave of Souls damage increased by 20%.
    • Deathbringer: Deathly Blows now increases the damage of Death Strike by 12% (was 5%).
    • Deathbringer: Bind in Darkness now increases the damage of Blood Boil by 30% (was 10%).
  • Unholy
    • All damage reduced by 20%.
    • Epidemic damage increased by 10%.
    • Virulent Plague damage increased by 15%.

Demon Hunter

  • Devourer
    • All damage dealt reduced by 4%.
  • Havoc
    • All damage increased by 6%.
    • Immolation Aura damage increased by 10%.
    • Burning Wound bonus to Immolation Aura damage reduced to 35% (was 40%).
    • Ragefire damage increased to 35% of Immolation Aura critical damage (was 30%).
    • Essence Break damage increased by 10%.
    • Glaive Tempest damage increased by 10%.
    • Aldrachi Reaver: Reaver's Glaive damage increased by 8%.
    • Aldrachi Reaver: Fury of the Aldrachi damage increased by 8%.
    • Aldrachi Reaver: Thrill of the Fight bonus Haste increased to 8% (was 6%).
    • Aldrachi Reaver: Reaver's Mark damage bonus increased to 6% (was 5%).
    • Aldrachi Reaver: Wounded Quarry effect increased to 25% of Physical damage (was 20%).
  • Vengeance
    • All damage increased by 10%.
    • Immolation Aura damage increased by 10%.
    • Aldrachi Reaver: Wounded Quarry effect increased to 20% of Physical damage (was 15%).
    • Aldrachi Reaver: Reaver's Glaive damage increased by 8%.
    • Aldrachi Reaver: Fury of the Aldrachi damage increased by 8%.
    • Aldrachi Reaver: Thrill of the Fight bonus Haste increased to 8% (was 6%).

Druid

  • Balance
    • All damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Starsurge damage increased by 8%. Not applied to PvP
    • Starfall damage decreased by 14%. Not applied to PvP
    • Wrath damage increased by 10%. Not applied to PvP
    • Elune's Chosen: Lunar Calling increases Starfall's damage to your primary target by 120% (up from 100%). Not applied to PvP
    • Season 1set 2-piece: Increases Shooting Stars damage by 40% (was 50%).
    • Season 1 set 2-piece: Shooting Stars outside Eclipse generate 2 Astral Power (was 3).
    • Season 1 set 4-piece: Chance for Starsurge or Starfall to generate an exploding Shooting Star reduced to 30% (was 40%).
    • Season 1 set Armor 4-piece: Fixed a bug causing the exploding Shooting Star to increment Orbit Breaker's count by 1 for every target hit. It now always counts as one Shooting Star, as intended.
  • Feral
    • All damage dealt increased by 6%. Not applied to PvP.
    • Rake Bleed damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP.
    • Rip damage increased by 10%. Not applied to PvP.
    • Swipe damage increased by 10%.
    • Rampant Ferocity damage increased by 10%.
    • Unseen Swipe damage increased by 15%.
    • Frantic Frenzy damage reduced by 10%.
    • Fixed a bug causing Frantic Frenzy to hit 6 times,instead of 5.
  • Guardian
    • Moonless Night now causes your direct-damage melee abilities to deal 20% additional damage (was 40%).
    • Wild Guardian Rank 4 now causes echoes to deal 300% increased damage (was 150%).
    • Ability damage (excluding Moonfire) reduced by 20%.
    • Moonfire damage reduced by 10%.
    • Druid of the Claw: Damage dealt by Ravage to its main target reduced by 27%.
    • Druid of the Claw: Damage dealt by Dreadful Wound reduced by 23%.
    • Druid of the Claw: Killing Blow now increases Maul, Raze and Ravage damage by up to 70%, based on rage consumed (was 100%).
    • Druid of the Claw: Strike for the Heart now increases Mangle damage by 10% (was 20%).
      Bestial Strength now increases Maul, Raze, and Ravage damage by 10% (was 20%).
  • Restoration
    • All healing reduced by 6%.

Evoker

  • Devastation
    • Scalecommander: Mass Disintegrate damage bonus for each missing target reduced to 10% (was 15%).
  • Augmentation
    • Scalecommander: Mass Eruption damage bonus for each missing target reduced to 10% (was 15%).
    • Molten Embers damage bonus reduced to 15% (was 25%).
    • Duplicate Rank 4 stat bonus reduced to 75% (was 100%).
    • Fixed an issue that could cause Motes of Possibility to apply their buff to a target other than the ally who came in contact with the Mote.
  • Preservation
    • Rewind healing increased by 200% outside of raid (was 100%).
    • Rewind healing is no longer increased by 67% in PvP combat.
    • Merithra's Blessing increases the direct healing of Dream Breath by 250% (was 125%).
    • Dream Breath's direct healing increased by 20%.
    • Merithra's Blessing reverses 1% damage (was 2%) on targets with Reversion.
    • Reversion healing increased by 25%.

Hunter

  • Survival
    • Auto attack damage increased by 35%.
    • Wildfire Bomb primary target damage bonus increased to 80% (was 60%).
    • Raptor Strike damage increased by 10%.
    • Raptor Swipe now deals 35/70% increased damage to its primary target (was 25/50%).
    • Sentinel: Fixed an issue causing Sanctified Armaments to do be modified by damage taken and damage dealt increases.
  • Beast Mastery
    • Barbed Shot damage dealt increased by 35%. Does not affect PvP combat.
    • Cobra Shot damage increased by 100%. Does not affect PvP combat.
    • Dark Ranger: Black Arrow initial damage increased by 50%. Does not affect PvP combat.
  • Marksmanship
    • Sentinel: Fixed an issue causing Sanctified Armaments to do be modified by damage taken and damage dealt increases.

Mage

  • Arcane
    • Arcane Blast damage increased by 25%.
    • Arcane Barrage damage increased by 15%. Does not affect PvP.
    • Arcing Cleave additional targets receive 40% of Arcane Barrage's damage (was 60%).
    • Spellslinger: Splintering Orbs damage bonus reduced to 10% (was 25%).
    • Spellslinger: Controlled Instincts Cleave percentage reduced to 40% (was 60%).
  • Fire
    • Ignition now increases Flamestrike's Ignite damage by 15% (was 50%).
    • Season 1 set 2-piece: Now increases Pyroblast and Flamestrike damage by 6% (was 8%).
    • Season 1 set 4-piece: Fire Blast cooldown reduction reduced to 0.3 seconds (was 0.5 seconds).
    • Fireball damage increased by 15%. Does not affect PvP combat.
    • Frostfire Bolt damage increased by 15%. Does not affect PvP combat.
    • Fire Blast damage increased by 25%. Does not affect PvP combat.

Monk

  • Brewmaster
    • Master of Harmony: Meditative Focus now increases damage dealt by Tiger Palm by an additional 50% (was 100%).
    • Master of Harmony: Aspect of Harmony stores vitality based on 12% of damage done, and 6% of effective healing (was 25% and 12%).
  • Mistweaver
    • Sheilun's Gift healing increased by 60%.
    • Sheilun's Gift clouds now increase its healing by 10% per stack (was 33%).
    • Jadefire Teachings now increases the transfer rate of Ancient Teachings by 270% (was 200%).
    • Way of the Crane now transfers 340% of damage onto 1 ally (was 125% onto 3 allies).
    • Jadefire Stomp damage now transfers into Ancient Teachings at 20% effectiveness.
    • Developers’ notes: Jadefire Stomp's tooltip will be updated to reflect thisin a later patch.
    • Invigorating Mists healing increased by 30%.

Paladin

  • Retribution
    • Final Verdict damage increased by ~~30%~~ 15%.
    • Resolved an issue causing Execution Sentence to only deal 10% of the Holy damage dealt to the target, instead of the intended 20%.
    • Light Within main target damage increased by 25%.
    • Templar Slash and Templar Strike damage increased by 25%.
    • Melee damage increased by 25%.
    • Crusading Strikes damage increased by 25%.
    • Crusading Strikes now reduces auto-attack speed by 20% (improved from 35%).
    • Highlord's Judgment damage increased by 25%.
    • Divine Storm damage reduced by 12%.
    • Herald of the Sun: Dawnlight damage increased by 25%.
    • Herald of the Sun: Dawnlight now cleaves 4% of the damage it deals to nearby enemies (was 5%).
    • Templar: Empyrean Hammer damage increased by 30%.
    • Templar: Wrathful Descent now deals 35% of Empyrean Hammer damage (down from 50%).
    • Templar: Hammer of Light damage increased by 10%.

Priest

  • Discipline
    • Penance damage and healing increased by 20%.
  • Shadow
    • All damage increased by 10%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 40%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Mind Blast damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Mind Flay damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Idol of N'Zoth damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Shadow Word: Madness damage increased by 20%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Psychic Link now causes direct damage spells to inflict 20% of their damage to all other targets afflicted by Vampiric Touch (was 60%).

Rogue

  • Subtlety
    • Backstab/Gloomblade damage increased by 20%.
    • Shadowstrike damage increased by 15%.
    • Eviscerate damage increased by 8%.
    • Melee auto-attack damage increased by 15%.
    • Black Powder damage reduced by 12%.
    • Potent Powder bonus Black Powder damage reduced to 20% of Mastery (was 30%).
    • Trickster: Unseen Blade damage increased by 20%.
    • Trickster: Nimble Flurry effect reduced to 50% of listed attack damage (was 65%).
    • Trickster: Clever Combatant crit bonus for Shuriken Storm reduced to 10% (was 15%).

Shaman

  • Elemental
    • Chain Lightning damage increased by 10%.
    • Earthquake damage increased by 10%.
  • Enhancement
    • All damage increased by 8%.
    • Lightning Bolt damage increased by 10%.
    • Chain Lightning damage increased by 10%.
    • Primordial Storm damage increased by 10%.
  • Restoration
    • Healing Rain healing increased by 45%.
    • Chain Heal healing increased by 20%.

Warlock

  • Destruction
    • Hellcaller: Xalan’s Cruelty now increases Shadow damage dealt by 5% (was 8%).
    • Hellcaller: Xalan’s Ferocity now increases Fire damage dealt by 5% (was 8%).
    • Hellcaller: Blackened Soul damage reduced by 50%.
    • Hellcaller: Through the Felvine now increases Rain of Fire damage by 6% (was 8%).
    • Hellcaller: Through the Felvine now increases Chaos Bolt damage by 35% (was 10%). This change does not affect PvP.
  • Demonology
    • Dominion of Argus Antoran Inquisitor damage reduced by 5%, Antoran Jailer damage reduced by 45%, Lady Sacrolash damage increased by 35%, and Grand Warlock Alythess damage increased by 35%.
      • Developers’ notes: The intention with these adjustments is to ensure that all demons summoned by Dominion of Argus are competitive with one another, avoiding random chance having a large effect on damage output.
    • Soul Harvester: Demonic Soul damage reduced by 55%.
    • Soul Harvester: Manifested Demonic Soul damage reduced by 50%.
    • Soul Harvester: Soul Anathema damage reduced by 35%.
    • Soul Harvester: Wicked Reaping damage increased by 50%.
    • Soul Harvester: Demoniac's Fervor now increases damage dealt by Demonic Soul by 200% to the main target of Hand of Gul'dan.

Warrior

  • Piercing Howl's cooldown increased to 90 seconds (was 30 seconds), and ally speed buff radius reduced to 6 yards (12 with Battlefield Commander).
    • Developers’ notes: Piercing Howl has been available more frequently than intended and does not align with other similar effects, so we're making changes to bring this ability in line while keeping it distinct among similar effects.
  • Arms
    • Master of Warfare's final rank Heroic Strike now increases the damage you deal to enemies affected by your next Colossus Smash by an additional 3%. Stacks up to 5 times.
    • All damage dealt increased by 15%.
  • Fury
    • All damage dealt increased by 10%.
    • Slayer: chance for Reap the Storm to trigger changed to 20% (was 30%).
  • Protection
    • Phalanx rank 1: Thunder Clap now causes your next Shield Slam deal 10% additional damage and unleash a wave of force, dealing Physical damage to all enemies in front of you.
    • Phalanx rank 4: In addition to existing effects, enemies damaged by Phalanx's wave of force deal 5% reduced damage to you for 8 seconds.
    • All damage dealt increased by 10%.
    • Developers’ notes: These changes are aimed at redistributing the power of Protection Warrior's Apex talents to better align with our design goals for Apex talents.

Player versus Player

  • All tank role specializations’ self-healing reduced by 25% in PvP combat.

Death Knight

  • Frost
    • All damage increased by 10% in PvP combat.
    • Deathbringer: Reaper's Mark damage reduced by 25% in PvP combat.

Demon Hunter

  • Devourer
    • All damage increased by 9% in PvP.

Druid

  • Restoration
    • Healing increased by 11% in PvP combat.
    • All damage reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
    • Fixed an issue where Convoke the Spirits was casting the Balance version of Starsurge and dealing too much damage.
  • Balance
    • Dying Stars now causes enemies to suffer 25% additional damage from Moonfire and Sunfire when dispelled (was 15%).

Hunter

  • Marksmanship
    • Consecutive Concussion now slows movement speed by an additional 10% (was 20%).
  • Survival
    • All damage dealt in PvP reduced by 8%.

Mage

  • Frost
    • Ray of Frost damage decreased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Frostbolt damage increased by 100% in PvP combat.
    • Frostfire Bolt damage increased by 100% in PvP combat.
    • Brain Freeze now increases the damage of Flurry by 25% in PvP combat (was 50%).
    • Flurry damage increased by 75% in PvP combat.
    • Frostfire: Frostfire Empowerment now increases the damage of Frostfire Bolt by 10% (was 36%) in PvP combat.

Monk

  • Rushing Wind Kick no longer deals 20% increased damage in PvP combat.
  • Jadefire Stomp damage reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
  • Mistweaver
    • All healing reduced by 8% in PvP combat.
    • Sheilun's Gift healing decreased by 20% in PvP combat.

Paladin

  • Holy
    • A Just Reward healing decreased by 50% in PvP combat.
    • Divine Vision (PvP Talent) now reduces the cooldown of Aura Mastery by 30 seconds (was 60 seconds).
  • Retribution
    • All ability damage reduced by 15% in PvP combat.

Priest

  • Psychic Shroud now lasts 6 seconds (was 15 seconds).
  • Discipline
    • All damage done reduced by 8% in PvP combat.
    • Power Word: Radiance healing increased by 40% in PvP combat.

Rogue

  • Assassination
    • Implacable Strikes damage decreased by 35% in PvP.
    • All ability damage increased by 4% in PvP combat.
  • Outlaw
    • All ability damage increased by 12% in PvP combat.
  • Subtlety
    • All ability damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.

Shaman

  • Elemental
    • Tempest damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Earth Shock damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
    • Damage from dispelling Flame Shock increased by 600%. This effect can no longer critically strike.
  • Enhancement
    • Damage from dispelling Flame Shock increased by 600%. This effect can no longer critically strike.
  • Restoration
    • All healing done increased by 8% in PvP combat.
    • Healing Tide Totem healing increased by 75% in PvP combat.

Warlock

  • Affliction
    • All damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
    • Shadow Bolt damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Drain Soul damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
    • Dark Harvest damage reduced by 30% in PvP combat.
    • Damage from dispelling Unstable Affliction increased by 25%.

Warrior

  • The duration of Intimidating Shout has been reduced to 5 seconds (was 6 seconds).
    • Developer's Note: The duration of Intimidating Shout when talented into Resonant Voice surpassed our targets for PvP crowd control duration.
  • Bladestorm damage no longer decreased by 23% in PvP combat.
  • Slayer: Unhinged now casts Mortal Strike / Bloodthirst at 40% effectiveness (was 60%) in PvP combat.

Updates
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We’ve made several updates to the tuning pass coming tomorrow.

Updated three Fire Mage changes to offset any change to PvP.
  • Fireball damage increased by 15%. Does not affect PvP combat.
  • Frostfire Bolt damage increased by 15%. Does not affect PvP combat.
  • Fire Blast damage increased by 25%. Does not affect PvP combat.

Updated one Mistweaver Monk line to the correct increase of 270% (not 260%).
  • Jadefire Teachings now increases the transfer rate of Ancient Teachings by 270% (was 200%).

And the following Retribution Paladin note has been adjusted, with an additional new bug fix.
  • Final Verdict damage increased by 30% 15%.
  • Resolved an issue causing Execution Sentence to only deal 10% of the Holy damage dealt to the target, instead of the intended 20%.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We’ve added the following additional adjustments to the OP. All will be implemented during maintenance in this region.

Classes

Death Knight
  • Unholy
    • Resolved an issue causing Magus of the Dead to have unintended wait time between casts.
    • Resolved an issue causing Let Terror Reign to put Whitemane’s Death Coil on cooldown.

Evoker
  • Augmentation
    • All ability and pet damage increased by 13%.
    • Livery of the Black Talon 2-piece: Eruption damage increase reduced to 10% (was 15%). Ebon Might extension bonus reduced to 0.1 seconds (was 0.25 seconds).
    • Livery of the Black Talon 4-piece: Empower spell cool down rate bonus reduced to 10% (was 20%). Empower spell damage bonus reduced to 10% (was 20%).

Priest
  • Shadow
    • Fixed an issue causing Shadow Word: Madness to increase the damage the target takes from Shadowy Apparitions by 100%.
      • Developers’ notes: This fix would be a large damage loss, so we’re making further adjustments in our tuning pass for the specialization to be appropriately powerful.
    • All damage increased by 16%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Mind Blast damage increased by 30%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Mind Flay damage increased by 30%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Idol of N’Zoth damage increased by 30%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Shadow Word: Madness damage increased by 30%. Not applied to PvP combat.
    • Void Torrent damage increased by 30%. Not applied to PvP combat.

Player versus Player

Priest
  • Shadow
    • All damage increased by 7% in PvP combat.

Season 1 Trinket Tuning - March 17
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Before Season 1 begins tomorrow, we’re making adjustments to two trinkets that players will soon acquire.

Items

  • Gaze of the Alnseer primary stat gain reduced by 20%.
  • Crucible of Erratic Energies – fixed an issue causing inconsistent proc behavior for some specializations.

We will continue to monitor all aspects of item performance so that we can make necessary changes as quickly as possible.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Class Tuning Incoming With the Weekly Maintenance on March 17 started by Lumy View original post
Published on 2026-03-16 10:30 PM
33 Comments
Comments 33 Comments
  1. Xkiller9000's Avatar
    Demonic Soul damage nerf insane
  1. Railander's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xkiller9000 View Post
    Demonic Soul damage nerf insane
    the apparition nerf was expected, but the other ones felt uncalled for.
    also they buffed demonic soul in single target? i dont get it.
  1. deenman's Avatar
    ''Psychic Link now causes direct damage spells to inflict 20% of their damage to all other targets afflicted by Vampiric Touch (was 60%).''

    huh...somehow i dont think those buffs compensate for this huge swing, was shadow aoe rly that strong?
  1. Doffen's Avatar
    Where is the buff to MM Hunters aoe talents? We dont use them atm because they performing worse on AoE than our Single target talents. Its ridiculous.
  1. stoffe's Avatar
    I like to see some BM hunter buffs but we gonna need a bit more to not be in C tier.

    Where is the kill commnad buff for exempel?
  1. Thalrend's Avatar
    So they buffed bear damage by %30, then they nerfed their damage overall by %20, then they also reduce druid of the claw by another roughly %20, which compounds with %20 ability damage, so in the end the bear is in worse state then before, which needed huge buffs to be even considered a tank, mid survive, now shit damage?

    I get it needs nerfs, it doesnt need this big of a nerf, its worse than before the buffs, what kind logic is this?????
  1. caemen's Avatar
    Somehow they managed to nerf warrior in pvp once again. Tripling the Piercing Howl cooldown is just savege for a specc which already constantly cced and slowed..
  1. Ashana Darkmoon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by deenman View Post
    ''Psychic Link now causes direct damage spells to inflict 20% of their damage to all other targets afflicted by Vampiric Touch (was 60%).''

    huh...somehow i dont think those buffs compensate for this huge swing, was shadow aoe rly that strong?
    The notes aren't detailed enough to know, but Publik says apparitions are bugged (doing double damage). The guess is that this is a 20% buff in ST and a 7-12% nerf in AE which is pretty massive especially once they fix spirits.
  1. Foolicious's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by deenman View Post
    ''Psychic Link now causes direct damage spells to inflict 20% of their damage to all other targets afflicted by Vampiric Touch (was 60%).''

    huh...somehow i dont think those buffs compensate for this huge swing, was shadow aoe rly that strong?
    Remove Voidform Psychic link pls!

    But seriously its a hard to talk about. Numerically its not that huge of a nerf like it looks at first glance. Roughly 6-8% less aoe. But the nerf gets bigger the higher the target count gets. Also no one really knows if void blast and mind flay insanity will be buffed as well or how much the aura buff will actually do because blizzard can never decide if they include pets in the aura buffs or not. Sometimes they do, often they don't.
    Also appartitions still doing double damage sometimes all the time is a bug that can affect performance a lot. (And some evil tongues claim blizz isn't aware of that and nerfed shadow instead of fixing the bug)

    On top of that did shadow do that much aoe damage to begin with? Not really. Not enough to nerf it imo.

    But its only the first tuning pass. No patch notes are complete without a change to psychic link after all. Get ready for a rollercoaster
  1. Plehnard's Avatar
    Piercing Howl's cooldown increased to 90 seconds (was 30 seconds), and ally speed buff radius reduced to 6 yards (12 with Battlefield Commander).
    It was fun while it lasted
  1. Spearhawk1969's Avatar
    How about doing something about the fact that Devourer has to ramp up for ages before doing any real damage and during that time...no armor boost, no self heal to speak of, they just sit there and die while casting consume forever...
  1. Nzx's Avatar
    Some of the most insane balancing I've seen from Blizzard in a long time. It's extremely frustrating feeling like all the effort you put into a character prior to the first few weeks of a season is just throwing shit at a wall - if you spent all your time in EA on a Guardian Druid, you now have to hope they either change you again for the better next week, or hope that you have a bunch of spare time on your hand to get declined from 10x as many groups as you would've before the changes. On the other hand if you're playing something middle of the pack, there's a 50/50 chance you'll be the best spec in the game next week or worse than you are right now.

    If they just committed to making 2 or 3% aura buffs/nerfs every week or two for the whole season, at least you could commit to a class knowing you have a chance at being made good.
  1. BeerEelemental's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nzx View Post
    Some of the most insane balancing I've seen from Blizzard in a long time. It's extremely frustrating feeling like all the effort you put into a character prior to the first few weeks of a season is just throwing shit at a wall - if you spent all your time in EA on a Guardian Druid, you now have to hope they either change you again for the better next week, or hope that you have a bunch of spare time on your hand to get declined from 10x as many groups as you would've before the changes. On the other hand if you're playing something middle of the pack, there's a 50/50 chance you'll be the best spec in the game next week or worse than you are right now.

    If they just committed to making 2 or 3% aura buffs/nerfs every week or two for the whole season, at least you could commit to a class knowing you have a chance at being made good.

    Are you running for either HoF or M+ Seasonal?
    If so, you probably have a few different classes/specs leveled anyway.
    If not? Stop caring about this stuff, it doesn't matter, at all. The 'meta' only exists in your own heads and the game is 10x more fun when you stop giving a rat's ass about it.
  1. Nzx's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by BeerEelemental View Post
    Are you running for either HoF or M+ Seasonal?
    If so, you probably have a few different classes/specs leveled anyway.
    If not? Stop caring about this stuff, it doesn't matter, at all. The 'meta' only exists in your own heads and the game is 10x more fun when you stop giving a rat's ass about it.
    I don't care about the meta at all, but the large majority of the playerbase does. If you want to pug keys, the experience trying to do so on the DPS spec at the top of the meta vs the bottom is the difference between being accepted immediately and applying to groups for 20 minutes before maybe being accepted. Yes, you can find a guild, yes you can make your own groups, but all of these things are made more difficult by being lower down the tuning totem pole. That is objective fact and has been for decades.
  1. LordVargK's Avatar
    Soo, about those Affliction buffs... Did Blizzard forget again, that Affliction exists as a PvE spec?
    But most likely it needs a talent tree rework/rearangement, not just numerical tuning.
  1. xskarma's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by LordVargK View Post
    Soo, about those Affliction buffs... Did Blizzard forget again, that Affliction exists as a PvE spec?
    But most likely it needs a talent tree rework/rearangement, not just numerical tuning.
    The problem with Aff is that Blizz seems to insist on it being a spread target god that can't be allowed to have meaningful single target. Which means you kinda have to get lucky with the particulars of the fights in the Raids to be good there (hello long execute phase fights), and will need your AoE to be over powering to be brought in M+, cause your boss damage is going to be sub par.

    From the sims it seems Aff is "fine" overall, but I would still be happier if Aff could be a little more relevant on singletarget.
  1. Nymrohd's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nzx View Post
    I don't care about the meta at all, but the large majority of the playerbase does. If you want to pug keys, the experience trying to do so on the DPS spec at the top of the meta vs the bottom is the difference between being accepted immediately and applying to groups for 20 minutes before maybe being accepted. Yes, you can find a guild, yes you can make your own groups, but all of these things are made more difficult by being lower down the tuning totem pole. That is objective fact and has been for decades.
    I think that is only valid for the first couple of weeks of the season, then rating is supreme
  1. Nzx's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nymrohd View Post
    I think that is only valid for the first couple of weeks of the season, then rating is supreme
    Yes but that is even worse. Everyone knows this, so your only real option as a solo player is to be on a spec that is at least in what content creators will decide is "A+ tier" when the season starts, or you will be behind the rating curve AND on a spec that isn't "viable".

    If you have two people with ten hours to play the game at the first reset and they both leveled and geared different classes in the pre-season, the one that ends up lucking in to the meta spec will pessimistically wait five minutes looking for groups. If a dungeon clear takes about 25 minutes, that means they can do 20 dungeons in their 10 hours of playing.

    For the person on a non-meta spec, their queue times are likely to be more like 10-15 minutes. That means they can do around 15 dungeons in the same period of time. At the start of a season, that means a difference of hundreds of io by the end of the reset, so going into the following week they're fucked in terms of reasonable queue times. And that's without even considering how much more punishing a deplete is when you have to wait 10 minutes to go again and only have time for 15 runs in the week.

    Abandoning balancing the game after 4 weeks is pathetic. Abandoning balancing the game after 4 weeks when they're swinging classes by more than 20% in one direction or another is just insulting to people's time investment in their characters.
  1. Nymrohd's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nzx View Post
    Yes but that is even worse. Everyone knows this, so your only real option as a solo player is to be on a spec that is at least in what content creators will decide is "A+ tier" when the season starts, or you will be behind the rating curve AND on a spec that isn't "viable".
    Run your own keys for the first couple of weeks. I know it is annoying as that is the answer to 90% of M+ questions but it doesn't change the fact it is the actual solution.
  1. Nzx's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nymrohd View Post
    Run your own keys for the first couple of weeks. I know it is annoying as that is the answer to 90% of M+ questions but it doesn't change the fact it is the actual solution.
    I'm not sure what this has to do with the point, which is that Blizzard's smash and leave strategy for balancing their video game contributes massively to the reason these problems exist in the first place. Time spent on any class that isn't meta when the music stops and Blizzard decide they've done enough balancing until next season is time wasted.

    In any case, even if you follow this magical advice of making your own keys, and assuming people don't avoid your key because it's very obviously an undergeared, under-scored player making a group because they can't get an invite, unless you stay on the curve you're eventually going to get to a point where people are filtering your ilvl/io from being able to apply to their groups, and to a point where people are filtering out your io from their own searches.

    If you're an arms warrior main today and you're paying the same sub fee I am, I'm sorry. You can't even respec because fury is only barely better and still has no utility, and if you want to tank prot is mid too.
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