What "soft nerf" mechanic does Shadowlands have?

[Argorwal]

none.

blizzard is catering this expansion solely to hardcore raiders regardless of effects thats why you will see no nerf mechanic .

another reason why over 50 % of playerbase left game.

Ion has 1 goal - to get rid of 90% of playerbase by 9.1

only then he will see SL as success

Soft nerfs beyond gear typically only happened at the final raid tier.

Naxx None
SWP None
ICC 30% buff
DS 30% debuff
SoO 4/4 valor upgrades
HFC 4/4 valor upgrades and legendary ring upgrade
Antorus Argus trinket upgrades
Nya'lotha Cloak upgrades

Legion/BFA had AP/titanforging, but many of us feel infinite grinds or rng proccing better items is terrible and glad to see it gone.

1st/mid tier raids pretty much just have gear as the nerf, so even having soulbinds/conduits is better than the vast majority of the game.

[Loveliest]

They nerfed some bosses but I expect some nerfs to Denathrius.

Though Blizz' perception might be skewed by ppl having bought pvp gear and getting it from M+ chest, in which case they wont realize ppl who only raid hc will not have a very high ilvl. I certainly felt the lack of gear from raids and how it affected my guild's progression since half the ppl dont do anything outside raiding, not even a key per week for some manner of loot.

[Bee76]

What? I know they have nerfed loot quantity and drop rates, but it is hardly the slowest it's been since classic. I literally hit 60 this week on my hunter and he's already over 200 ilvl.

Well, he is right. 200ilvl is nothing to mention.

In bfa there was tf/wf and later corruptions to gear, and good corruptions where more important than ilvl. And you were able to "work" fpr echoes.

Now u are doomed to hope on the great vault lottery. You can spam m+ but ilvl 210 is the best you can get out of it. I never got any loot from raid bosses on mythic. I fill my vault with 4-5 options a week and now item upgrade out of it for 3 weeks. The only mythic raiditem i wear is a helmet with bad stats. but hey, gv offered it the thired time for me
So yes, gearing is way to hard atm, and completly luck based.
Of course you can spend valor, but 5750 isnt that much to gear a char, you can fill bad item slots with ilvl 220 gear....

[Eninya]

I'd say gearing (Great Vault, primarily). I was hitting 220 iLvl before joining a Mythic raiding guild, and world first heroic Sire was like 189 average ilvl, and the ilvl of guilds downing pre-nerfs was much lower on average. I think WF Mythic Council of Blood (pre-nerfs) was 206 average, Mythic Sludgefist was 214, and Mythic Sire was 221 (lolPvPgear).

We have also seen a high number of boss nerfs so far. I know Soulbinds and Conduits are mentioned, but some classes/specs get virtually nothing from their conduits. Warriors don't see monumental boosts to having double Potency, and we've seen highly competitive DPS without them, even now.

[Soon-TM]

I'd say gearing (Great Vault, primarily). I was hitting 220 iLvl before joining a Mythic raiding guild, and world first heroic Sire was like 189 average ilvl, and the ilvl of guilds downing pre-nerfs was much lower on average. I think WF Mythic Council of Blood (pre-nerfs) was 206 average, Mythic Sludgefist was 214, and Mythic Sire was 221 (lolPvPgear).

We have also seen a high number of boss nerfs so far. I know Soulbinds and Conduits are mentioned, but some classes/specs get virtually nothing from their conduits. Warriors don't see monumental boosts to having double Potency, and we've seen highly competitive DPS without them, even now.

Not to mention that most specs seem to have a "good" soulbind, a mediocre one, and a really facepalm-worthy one to complete the set, in true Blizzard fashion. It is basically the same thing that has been happening with a lot of talent rows since at least Legion lmao.

[VinceVega]

Not to mention that most specs seem to have a "good" soulbind, a mediocre one, and a really facepalm-worthy one to complete the set, in true Blizzard fashion. It is basically the same thing that has been happening with a lot of talent rows since at least Legion lmao.

That is the way it was since classic. One way is the best the rest is shit. No matter the system.
And there won't be perfect balance ever. Not possible.

I have to switch between some skills depending on the boss as a druid. That is enough for me tbh.

------------------

OT: Getting gear is the nerf and the fact that there allready have been quite a few hard nerfs for the bosses directly from blizzard. Getting gear is still not as bad as people make it out to be. We have been in mythic for a few weeks now and we allready disentchant most of the stuff from the first bosses...
If you only pug... well... thats on you^^

[KaPe]

They're being pretty slow with actual nerfs in this tier - then again, seeing how 9.1 PTR is nowhere in sight, we might actually be further away from it than normal. M Denatrius still didn't get any significant changes (hell, he got slightly harder with class nerfs), SLG had a lot but is still an incredibly annoying fight, and any "soft nerfs" were done 3+ weeks ago, when we got our final 2% stamina buff.

[Argorwal]

They're being pretty slow with actual nerfs in this tier - then again, seeing how 9.1 PTR is nowhere in sight, we might actually be further away from it than normal. M Denatrius still didn't get any significant changes (hell, he got slightly harder with class nerfs), SLG had a lot but is still an incredibly annoying fight, and any "soft nerfs" were done 3+ weeks ago, when we got our final 2% stamina buff.

They haven’t really hit Sire much with nerfs, maybe because he is probably easier than SLG.

As for pacing they hand out nerfs frequently. Below are just the mythic nerfs.

March 15th:

Artificer Xy’mox
[With regional restarts] Health reduced by 5% on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] Withering Touch damage reduced by 15% on Mythic difficulty.

March 1st:


Hungering Destroyer
[With regional restarts] Health reduced by 5% on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] Reduced the damage players wearing Gluttonous Miasma take by 10% on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] The damage increase of Essence Sap has been reduced by 20% per stack.
Sun King’s Salvation
[With regional restarts] Increased the amount of healing Essence Overflow heals Kael'thas to 2.5% of his maximum health on all difficulties (was 2%). The tooltip will be updated to reflect the change in a future hotfix or patch.
[With regional restarts] Increased the healing done bonus from Sinfall Boon to 100% per application on Mythic difficulty (was 50%).
[With regional restarts] Reduced the strength of the Cloak of Flames damage shield on Shade of Kael'thas by 10% on Mythic difficulty.

February 16th:

Castle Nathria
Artificer Xy'mox
There is now an additional delay before Edge of Annihilation is cast upon entering the third phase on Mythic difficulty.

February 11th:

Castle Nathria
Stone Legion Generals
General Grashaal will no longer cast Seismic Upheaval as his first spell in the final phase of Mythic difficulty.

February 8th:
Stone Legion Generals

[With regional restarts] Stone Legion Goliath health decreased 11.1% on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] Stone Legion Skirmisher health decreased 10% on Mythic difficulty.

January 25th:

Sludgefist
[With regional restarts] Colossal Roar damage reduced by 10% on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] Chain Slam and Chain Bleed damage reduced by 35% on Mythic difficulty.

Stone Legion Generals
[With regional restarts] Stone Legion Goliath health reduced by 10% on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] Stone Legion Goliath’s Ravenous Feast cooldown increased by 6 seconds on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] Stone Legion Skirmisher health reduced by 6% on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] Serrated Tear and Stone Fist damage reduced by 20% on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] Serrated Swipe, Serrated Tear, and Stone Fist’s range increased to 100 yards (was 10 and 20 yards).
Developers’ note: In addition to slightly reducing overall difficulty, we've made a number of changes to this encounter with the goal of making it feel more consistent between attempts. This means that while certain abilities are no longer avoidable, their impact together with other abilities should be more realistic to manage and the order in which they occur should be more reliable.
[With regional restarts] Heart Rend’s range increased to 300 yards (was 10 yards).
[With regional restarts] Heart Rend no longer applies Heart Hemorrhage to the player who dispelled the Magic effect on Mythic difficulty.
[With regional restarts] General Kaal and General Grashaal’s spell cooldowns now reset with phase changes.
[With regional restarts] Volatile Stone Shell absorb shield reduced by 20% on Mythic difficulty

December 21st:

Castle Nathria
Stone Legion Generals
Stone Legion Skirmisher’s now cast Wicked Slaughter every 10 seconds on Mythic difficulty (was 8 seconds).
Stone Legion Commando’s Volatile Stone Shell absorb shield has been reduced by 10% on Mythic difficulty.