Patch 9.0.2 Hotfixes - December 14, 2020

[Halfaheart]

Having passive damage nerfed is better than having an active ability nerfed or the class slowed down etc - at least the class feels identical while being brought more in line

It's still an overcorrection no matter how you look at it. If you're going to decimate passive damage then do something with the damage abilities. It's going to be a noticeable difference and it's nonsensical. Make other classes better if balance is the goal. Some specs are DOA at the moment

[h8ryan]

While I am not the person you were arguing with, I wanted to chime in here. Arcane is the only mage spec I play, and is the spec I've played since vanilla (I was a vanilla Grand Marshal running the cliche 3 minute mage spec with PoM/Pyro back in the day) and I've raided with it since, even into Naxx40 before TBC hit, and through all its good and bad times over the years. If I tried doing Torghast (or any content really) as Fire or Frost, my performance would decline significantly compared to my performance with Arcane due to 16 years of experience with Arcane and virtually nil with Frost or Fire. I'd also find the experience unpleasant because I simply don't enjoy the playstyles of Frost or Fire.

It's easy to say "don't play Arcane then". But if that's the only option, then it means I would stop doing Torghast, for the most part, since I have my legendary already and more than enough ash to get it to rank 2. I'll simply rely on table mission and layer 1 runs for ash to push it to 3 and 4 and then never set foot in it again barring story content. But I'd like to think the devs wouldn't want to make the experience such a slog for only a few specific specs that it starts making them eschew the content, especially when Torghast is supposed to be one of the primary features of the expansion. I think every spec should be able to clear the end boss of a layer assuming an appropriate gear level for the layer and an adequate level of skill with the spec.

Obviously anima powers play a part in this and it's already bad enough that RNG dictates what comes up as options, with our only agency being what we choose from what the RNG offers. Nerfing the powers that were good vs the end bosses, and not doing anything about the powers that aren't good or are flat out useless against the end bosses isn't the right course of action in my opinion. It's particularly frustrating when the end bosses have a stacking buff that renders them immune to most of the tools I usually rely on to survive, such as Frost Nova and Slow. And even with those tools, time spent kiting is time spent not going full throttle against the end boss. And with the amount of HP they have, I can't not go full ham on them and hope to kill them before they kill me.

Your 16 years of experience with a class means nothing when that class has been gutted and reworked every other expansion for the last 16 years, you are just refusing to adapt to other speccs in favor of hitting 2 buttons and standing still

It's not a testament to your experience at this point, you're just refusing to try anything else

[Eapoe]

well its usually easier to nerf a bit 3 overperforming specs than buff like ~20 ;P

Agreed, but then I think of how many people they would make happy to do that. Instead we have ~20 specs feel bad for underperforming, just to follow up with them still feeling bad but now making the higher spec players also feel bad.

- - - Updated - - -

lol in almost 20 years of wow it NEVER happened...

Oh, I know; but, just once I’d love for something awesome like that to happen. Player’s heads would probably explode.

[dohboi75]

So Maldraxxus constructs still won't stealth with Rogue and will still aggro entire zones? Guess I will continue not to use one.

[Dystemper]

A few needed nerfs to fix some imbalances in PvP and a buff for Torghast for tanks and healers (who were roflstomping the place compared to some DPS specs that still remain undertuned---Hi Mages and Sub rogues!) makes the whole thing a "garbage fire".

You're pretty entitled, kiddo. Maybe games without a built in god mode aren't for you.

Its adorable you think thats all that is wrong with this expansion there champ. #FireIon of the 2 guilds I am in , over 50% who are level 60 have not been on for 5-7 days. Most other who are still leveling have given up. only a handful are sticking with the expansion, most others are quitting and waiting for later patch near the end. This expansion is just terrible. At least it looks pretty but it is worse off than BFA

[willtron]

So rogues get the needed nerf, but paladins untouched. Cool.

[Aggressive]

So rogues get the needed nerf, but paladins untouched. Cool.

Not to be mean, but I step into a arena and literally in 2 to 3 globals and I am dead. Sorry. I know getting nerfed sucks. It really does. But sub rogues are just fucking out of control. To be bursted in 2 or globals is just feeling good at all. So I do agree with whatever nerfs they get at this moment.

[KajiSagara]

No buff for bm, igues this expac the way is clumsy mm, ah well...

[Easo]

They clearly think that Torghast should be harder. Not sure if changing that now is the right choice, but hey, its Blizzard...

[ExtremelyCrusty]

Still no higher Fury buff, hah. What a joke blizzard.

[Deadite]

Wait wait wait. They're making torghast take LONGER?!?!?! You have to be kidding me. I just. Wow.

It is certainly a unique way to sort the queuing issues in Torghast. Make it such a monumental chore that almost no one will want to do it.

[h8ryan]

So rogues get the needed nerf, but paladins untouched. Cool.

what is your arena rating? every team above 2.1k already has a 50% chance of having a rogue, to have them this overpowered is completely irrelevant to the fact that you get solo'd by ret paladins at 1400

[Dundebuns]

I can see Torghast getting old very quickly. Making it take longer and not necessarily harder is a dick move.

[Crispin]

So it's not okay to nerf one single Legendary that is obviously over-performing? Yeah okay, cool. There's no reading comprehension required here, just easily incensed shitty WoW players who want to blame Blizzard for their inability to press buttons well.

So you don't see the odd part, in Blizzard themselves saying they wont nerf legendaries without testing in on the ptr, and then the day after do exactly that?

No need to resort to ad hominems, just because you instantly jumped on the "lol crybabies" bandwagon, and missed the point. I honestly could care less about what legendaries they nerf, but found the obvious lie rather amusing.

[Kinjin]

Torghast as a Warlock is easy. But if you get a bad run of powers it becomes tedious and not fun. I also keep getting offered melee stacking weapon buffs and speed increases, which is just a waste of a choice. Unless you are going to give me Demo tanking back, fix your broken shit Blizzard.

[Kaoelin10]

I can see Torghast getting old very quickly. Making it take longer and not necessarily harder is a dick move.

Yep, this nerf coming to a lot of powers seems very stupid. I'm enjoying Thorgast a lot to the point I'm doing runs just because it's fun to be OP, and doing this kind of changes is once again sucking the fun out of the game. This is supposed to be a roguelike of sorts, it's supposed to feel that way. Why is Blizzard trying to balance things by nerfing....

[Dystemper]

Yep, this nerf coming to a lot of powers seems very stupid. I'm enjoying Thorgast a lot to the point I'm doing runs just because it's fun to be OP, and doing this kind of changes is once again sucking the fun out of the game. This is supposed to be a roguelike of sorts, it's supposed to feel that way. Why is Blizzard trying to balance things by nerfing....

Everything in SL is about the Time played metric . Fun or enjoyable doesn't even register in the top 5 .

[Steelangel]

Its adorable you think thats all that is wrong with this expansion there champ. #FireIon of the 2 guilds I am in , over 50% who are level 60 have not been on for 5-7 days. Most other who are still leveling have given up. only a handful are sticking with the expansion, most others are quitting and waiting for later patch near the end. This expansion is just terrible. At least it looks pretty but it is worse off than BFA

That's funny. Of the 3 guild I am in, we have 5-10 players on at a minimum constantly.
Maybe your guilds are like you, folks who just log in to hate and leave.

[Zig Zug]

Really? A 20% nerf to DK. 15% was already overnerfing. Pretty much a dead spec now I think.

Ya, totally incorrect.

Expect Unholy to continue to be a high performer.

[Kyriani]

Your 16 years of experience with a class means nothing when that class has been gutted and reworked every other expansion for the last 16 years, you are just refusing to adapt to other speccs in favor of hitting 2 buttons and standing still

It's not a testament to your experience at this point, you're just refusing to try anything else

I like what I like and I dislike what I dislike. I'm not going to suddenly gain proficiency and enjoy fire and frost. I "try" them both periodically, and the playstyles just don't appeal to me. And yes, arcane has been gutted and reworked many times over the years, and each time I've adapted to the changes, but the general array of skills is still there. Arcane Blast, Arcane Barrage, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Explosion, Arcane Power, still basically do what they've done for 16 years, with most of the nuance of the spec coming down to its mana management, but I'm not here to debate the merits of the spec or how "easy" or "simple" it might be to play and perform well.

The fact is, I don't enjoy Frost or Fire on my mage. It's the same for Discipline on my Priest, Outlaw on my Rogue, Unholy on my Death Knight, or Enhancement on my Shaman. I'm not going to play specs I don't enjoy. I'd stop playing WoW as a whole first. I thought the whole point of playing games was to have fun. Playing specs I don't find fun runs counter intuitive to that.