Patch 8.3 Hotfixes - February 13, 2020

[Lumy]

Patch 8.3 Hotfixes - February 13, 2020

Dungeons and Raids

• Mythic Keystone Dungeons
  
  • Mindrend Tentacle
    
    • Mind Flay
      
      • Damage reduced by 25%.
        
  • Ravenous Fleshfiend
    
    • Tear Flesh’s bleed damage reduced by 20%.
      
  • Samh’rek, Beckoner of Chaos
    
    • Cascading Terror
      
      • Damage reduced by 40%.
        
      • Fear duration reduced to 2 seconds (was 3 seconds).
        
      • Cast frequency reduced.
        
        • Developers’ note: This ability works well as a dispel challenge, but its damage and disruption has proven to be more punishing than we’d like.
          
  • Urg’roth, Breaker of Heroes
    
    • Spirit Breaker’s damage reduced by 20%.
      

Items and Rewards

• Corrupted Items
  
  • Rogues’ Detection no longer builds Echoing Void.
    
• Heart of Azeroth
  
  • Changing a Minor Essence while The Crucible of Flame (Essence) is equipped in the Major Slot no longer causes Concentrated Flame to go on cooldown.
    

Quests

• Saurfang is no longer present in Grommash Hold while players are on the quest "A Gift for the Warchief's Advisor".

WoW Classic

• Blackwing Lair
  
  • Razorgore the Untamed
    
    • Fixed an issue where Nefarian's troops would sometimes continue attacking the group after Razorgore's eggs were destroyed.
      

[Relapses]

Pretty significant nerfs to the +10 Affix mini bosses. I wonder if they're trying to make skip strategies more viable? (I've yet to see anybody skip. I'm a 1k R.io shitlord though.)

[Biomega]

Pretty significant nerfs to the +10 Affix mini bosses. I wonder if they're trying to make skip strategies more viable? (I've yet to see anybody skip. I'm a 1k R.io shitlord though.)

What do you mean by "skip" here? Many routes already involve using the spires to skip trash mobs; several routes also already involve skipping a spire (or even two) to kill the guardians with the final boss. Whether or not these changes in particular will change those routes is up in the air, but it doesn't seem immediately likely to me.

[Echeyakee]

In what way is it a dispel challenge? You either dispel the tank or yourself. Unless you're overgeared, then you dispel a DPS.

[Antero]

Was wondering why my King's Rest felt especially easier. Still need to fix the wonky Explosive tab targeting though.

[Kanegasi]

Fixed an issue where Nefarian's troops would sometimes continue attacking the group after Razorgore's eggs were destroyed.

Haha, I remember when they made that change on retail many years ago.

[Marrilaife]

Tbh I'm glad they're rebalancing the unique affix mobs, so far the caster spider has been much easier than the rest while the fear guy was literally the worst (how is it a dispel challenge when outside of priest and shaman you can remove fear from 1 person and you spend majority of time having the group perma feared). Also the adds on the fear guy could literally kill you within 1 fear duration.

Talking from the perspective of doing 15s for weekly and loot, maybe on higher or lower keys it was different, but I think the nerfs are aimed well. Now if also they fixed the small adds dropping sanguine or bursting and bolstering each other, I'd be happy.

[Relapses]

What do you mean by "skip" here? Many routes already involve using the spires to skip trash mobs; several routes also already involve skipping a spire (or even two) to kill the guardians with the final boss. Whether or not these changes in particular will change those routes is up in the air, but it doesn't seem immediately likely to me.

Read the part about being a 1k R.io shitlord. Every garbage PuG group +10 I've done has just killed everything. These nerfs may make it easier for shitlord PuGs like mine to reasonably skip a spire and yolo'ing it with the boss.

- - - Updated - - -

Talking from the perspective of doing 15s for weekly and loot, maybe on higher or lower keys it was different, but I think the nerfs are aimed well. Now if also they fixed the small adds dropping sanguine or bursting and bolstering each other, I'd be happy.

Whoa dude. Don't get ahead of yourself.

[Voidwielder]

Why are they nerfing the Affix? It wasn't difficult, we're three weeks in to the new season. Learn to play, holy shit people.

Yes, I have done more than twelve 15's at this point. I main healer so a lot of it is on my shoulders. Instead of nerfing the stronger ones, they should have buffed the spider.

[Marrilaife]

Read the part about being a 1k R.io shitlord. Every garbage PuG group +10 I've done has just killed everything. These nerfs may make it easier for shitlord PuGs like mine to reasonably skip a spire and yolo'ing it with the boss.

Tbh I think while the concept of the affix isn't bad (here have some "free" shrouds so you don't need double rogue for your leet team), it's very unfriendly towards mid-to-low level pugs. The ones that "yolo" keys, don't use voice, MDT, weak auras and all the other fancy tools pro teams are using. With no communication it's much harder to plan skips because if everybody isn't on the same page, it can easily backfire.

The other day I was trying to kite one of the pillar add in underrot to skip some worms and I had dps nuke it to the point it died in very unfavourable spot, costing us a couple of awful ninja pulls on exit and ultimately the timer. These things can be much more common in low keys where people don't know the routes (hell I don't know majority of them myself, was mostly running 3 the same dungeons over and again this season since they drop most of my loot). Especially people who just step into 10s after doing 9s and below where this affix is completely absent.

Tbh if you kill add on spot as opposed to "with boss" the fear guy and the tentacle guy were the worst, not even the mini-bosses but their adds. And you can't expect every group to know every "pro" trick against them AND even if they know, use it well. For example people say "you can los the tentacles" but in some dungeons there are vast areas with no los spot available and in some other cases it just takes 1 guy to be out of place and get nuked by lazors.

Whoa dude. Don't get ahead of yourself.

Didn't they have to hotfix every seasonal affix to not be affected by sanguine, bolster and other crap? Haven't done my weekly this reset yet but I'm already dreading having all the mind flay tentacles spawn explosives or something similarly stupid. (Remember that bug where spores on last boss in Underrot could spawn explosives? Or when teeming King's Rest had literally 200% trash density?)

[Doffen]

Thought the fear was over quicker today and less frequent as well ye. Okay changes I suppose.

[Marrilaife]

Why are they nerfing the Affix? It wasn't difficult, we're three weeks in to the new season. Learn to play, holy shit people.

Yes, I have done more than twelve 15's at this point.

Look out, we have a badass over here!

[Voidwielder]

Look out, we have a badass over here!

Every single 15 that I've done was done in a pug, usually my own making. Most of them were timed with few dozen seconds left.
The new Affix is not hard. Plenty of classes have ways to entirely mitigated their gimmicks. The difficult part of the new Affix actually comes from properly kiting it to the places you want to drop the exit portals.

We'll be so, so much more powerful in a month that even the ''average'' player - who I am - will be able to blast these ''bosses'' and their adds like world mobs.

I simply do not understand this mentality of lowering the bar before most have even dared to jump over it. This season will last what, 6 months? 10 more months?

[Shakana]

They should fix/prevent also people losing their vessel when disconnected + progress on vision.

[Relapses]

Every single 15 that I've done was done in a pug, usually my own making. Most of them were timed with few dozen seconds left.
The new Affix is not hard. Plenty of classes have ways to entirely mitigated their gimmicks. The difficult part of the new Affix actually comes from properly kiting it to the places you want to drop the exit portals.

We'll be so, so much more powerful in a month that even the ''average'' player - who I am - will be able to blast these ''bosses'' and their adds like world mobs.

I simply do not understand this mentality of lowering the bar before most have even dared to jump over it. This season will last what, 6 months? 10 more months?

Hey dude, can I give you my b.net password so you can pilot me through some of these super easy affixes? I usually play completely shitfaced because alcohol is the only way I've found to cope with the current state of the game. Also, I'm really fucking bad. Apparently worse than I thought because average players are easily clearing 15s! Dang.

edit: In case the sarcasm isn't blatantly apparent: I'm usually against lowering the bar. God awful terrible really very, very bad players like myself will eventually adapt and overcome the extreme difficulty currently presented in +15s. But, like, I really don't think it's fair to present WoW's M+ running population as able to easily clear 15s.

[Biomega]

But, like, I really don't think it's fair to present WoW's M+ running population as able to easily clear 15s.

The population as a whole, no, but anyone who's even remotely ambitious - like in the clear heroic + a few mythic raid bosses ambitious sort of way - can indeed easily clear 15s, I would say. All you need is to do mechanics properly. The damage requirement isn't even the bottleneck, nor do you need meta comps. You just need to not die all the time to standing in poopoo etc. Serious, coordinated strategies don't really kick in until very high key levels, like 18+ right now.

And Awakening is a gift from Blizzard to all the not-quite-so-hardcore players. Not only is it an overall very easy affix because of how straightforward the mechanics of the various guardians are (dodge cleave, move out of puddle, dispel fear, interrupt, that's 2005's WoW) but it also has an inbuilt skip mechanic that allows you to make efficient routes without resorting to specific party compositions.

That being said, finding 5 people who don't facetank mechanics is not in itself a trivial matter these days. R.io score helps, but also works against you. If you vet your players, though, you'll definitely find PUGs that can clear 15s without you needing monster gear or uber skills. Whether or not that makes 15s "easy to clear" is up for debate, but it's certainly easIER than it was last season. Heck it might even be easier than Reaping, overall.

[Vynx]

The damage requirement isn't even the bottleneck, nor do you need meta comps. You just need to not die all the time to standing in poopoo etc.

I disagree with you here. The new affix feels like it eats more time than beguilling, and the proof of that is that a lot of my runs are close to deplete or depleted, even with good dps.

[Voidwielder]

Hey dude, can I give you my b.net password so you can pilot me through some of these super easy affixes?

But, like, I really don't think it's fair to present WoW's M+ running population as able to easily clear 15s.

Sure, DM me. I play EU though and usually at night hours as I work night shift only job. I don't care about your sarcasm.

They are not meant to be easily cleared (even though they can be and that mostly depends on tanks nowadays). Especially this early in the season. But people can and have. Once again, the only thing I get from these kind of replies is the fact that Blizzard has conditioned players via shit content like Warfronts and Islands to the idea that applying bare minimum will reward you eventually with rewards that are not proportional to the input.
M+ 15 right now, this week and this late in the expansion, does not require Meta comps, careful character maximisation or super in-depth knowledge of all the tricks.

There are M+ nerfs that were needed, like that SoB nerf which makes Fortified weeks unbearable. This though? Absolutely unnecessary.

- - - Updated - - -

I disagree with you here. The new affix feels like it eats more time than beguilling, and the proof of that is that a lot of my runs are close to deplete or depleted, even with good dps.

DPS is not a bottleneck. It just isn't. More than ever and this is something I think is a legitimate complaint, your route will make or break the run which entirely depends on tanks. ML with the new affix is a shining example. Clearing the right mobs up the first boss can and will grant you enough percentage to the point where you can skip killing almost nothing to the last boss, saving many minutes as opposed to the traditional route. But that does require in-depth knowledge of the dungeon.

[Ophenia]

Gotta wonder what happened to the Blizzard team which only needed to balance through 1.24% buffs/nerfs instead of whole "lowered damage by 40% rofl sorry guys"

[Relapses]

Sure, DM me. I play EU though and usually at night hours as I work night shift only job. I don't care about your sarcasm.

I play on 'murcian servers so I guess it wasn't meant to be. But feel free to DM me if you'd like some suggestions for decent burger joints if you ever want to visit the land of the free and the home of the brave.

But people can and have.

Well, shit. My whole argument has been defeated! "People" have cleared content so nothing should ever be nerfed, ever.