Class Tuning Incoming – June 30

With scheduled weekly maintenance in each region, we’ll make tuning adjustments that are primarily targeted at specs that are unperforming in group content.

In PvP, we’re continuing to improve underperforming specs, address over-performing specs, and adjust burst damage where specs have too much or too little.

Classes

Druid

  • Balance
    • All damage increased by 4%.
  • Feral
    • Developers’ notes: Feral is performing well in M+, but their overall damage in raid is low. These changes shore up their single-target power and total raid damage.
    • All damage increased by 3%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Melee auto-attack damage increased by 15%.
    • Rip damage increased by 5%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
    • Rampant Ferocity damage reduced by 15%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
  • Restoration
    • Developers’ notes: Restoration’s damage compared to other healers is lower than we’d like. We’re rebalancing some of Restoration Druid’s damage out of Thrash and into the rest of the kit.
    • All damage increased by 15%.
    • Bear Form Thrash damage reduced by 25%.

Evoker

  • Devastation
    • All ability damage increased by 3%.

Mage

  • Arcane
    • All ability damage increased by 3%.

Priest

  • Holy
    • Holy Word: Serenity healing increased by 20%.
    • Holy Word: Sanctify healing increased by 20%.

Shaman

  • Restoration
    • All healing increased by 4%. This does not apply to PvP combat.

Player versus Player

Demon Hunter

  • Devourer
    • Developers’ notes: Devourer Demon Hunters have been performing above expectations, especially in defensive metrics, so self-healing is being reduced.
    • Shattered Souls now heals for 0.5% of maximum Health per Soul Fragment consumed (was 1%) in PvP combat.

Death Knight

  • Unholy
    • Developers’ notes: Unholy’s burst damage is overwhelming too frequently, so contributing abilities are receiving a reduction with some of that overall damage moving into the steadier output from Dread Plague.
    • Putrify damage reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
    • Soul Reaper damage reduced by 15% in PvP combat.
    • Dread Plague damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.

Druid

  • Guardian
    • Developers’ notes: Guardians’ burst potential with their apex talent has been higher than we would like for a tank specialization in PvP.
    • Wild Guardian now echoes at 50% effectiveness (was 200%) in PvP combat.

Evoker

  • Augmentation
    • All damage increased by 8% in PvP combat.
  • Preservation
    • Developers’ notes: Preservation Evoker is slightly overperforming in PvP, so we’re making one additional targeted nerf to them in this pass. Temporal Burst makes it hard for enemies to react to important casts like Sleep Walk, so we’re reducing its effectiveness.
    • Temporal Burst increases haste, movement speed, and cooldown recovery rate by 15% in PvP combat (was 30%).

Hunter

  • Marksmanship
    • Double tap now causes Aimed Shot to fire at 16% effectiveness or your next Rapid Fire to fire 16% additional shots (was 40%).
    • Developers’ notes: We’re reducing Double Shot’s burst potential to allow enemy players to have more time to react to the Marksmanship Hunter’s incoming damage.
  • Survival
    • All damage increased by 3% in PvP Combat.

Mage

  • Frost
    • Developers’ notes: We are redistributing some of Frost Mage’s damage out of Ray of Frost and into the rest of its kit with the intention of decreasing its burst capabilities and improving its steady-state pressure.
    • Ray of Frost damage decreased by 20% in PvP combat.
      All damage increased 3% in PvP combat.

Paladin

  • Protection
    • Developers’ notes: Templars’ burst capabilities have made Protection Paladin more of an offensive threat than we would like them to be in PvP.
    • Divine Exaction now casts Divine Toll again at 25% effectiveness (was 75%) in PvP combat.
    • Hammer of Light damage decreased by 30% in PvP combat.
  • Retribution
    • Developers’ notes: Retribution has been performing better than expected, so we are applying a small damage reduction.
    • All ability damage reduced by 3% in PvP combat.

Priest

  • Discipline
    • Developers’ notes: Voidweaver Priests are dealing too much damage in PvP. We’re reducing some of that damage and increasing their healing to compensate.
    • Expiation deals damage equal to 200% of the of the amount consumed from Shadow Word: Pain in PvP combat (was 300%).
    • Inescapable Torment damage reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
    • Shadow Word: Pain damage reduced by 10% in PvP combat.
    • Voidweaver: Atonement healing increased by 15%.
    • Oracle: Preventive Measures increases damage of Penance, Smite, Holy Nova by 20% (was 15%).
    • Ultimate Penitence healing increased by 25%.
  • Shadow
    • Developers’ notes: In addition to a needed boost of overall damage, Shadow Word: Death is also receiving a buff intended to make its damage worthwhile when striking enemies in its low-health threshold.
    • All ability damage increased by 4% in PvP combat.
    • Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 45% in PvP combat.

Shaman

  • Restoration
    • Developers’ notes: Farseer Restoration Shaman has been behind in performance in PvP compared to Totemic, we’re increasing the throughput of heals and effects provided by Farseer talents and their Ancestors to help close the gap.
    • Farseer: Maelstrom Supremacy increases healing of affected spells in PvP by 20% (was 15%).
    • Farseer: Hydrobubble’s effectiveness is no longer reduced in PvP (was a 20% reduction).
    • Farseer: Heals cast by Call of the Ancestors increased in PvP by 30% (was 20%).

Warrior

  • Arms, Protection
    • Developers’ notes: We’re slightly reducing Colossus’ ability to tank damage to make them more of a viable kill target.
    • Mountain of Muscle and Scars reduces damage taken by 3% in PvP combat (was 5%).

Warlock

  • Affliction
    • All damage increased by 3% in PvP combat.
  • Demonology
    • Developers’ notes: Demonology damage while freecasting has not been as effective as we would like, so we’re targeting a few adjustments to Shadow Bolt and Demonbolt with the intention of increasing their ability to punish enemies for allowing them to chain casts together.
    • Shadow Bolt damage increased by 200% in PvP combat.
    • Demonbolt damage increased by 30% in PvP combat.
  • Destruction
    • Incinerate damage increased by 50% in PvP combat.
9 Likes

Wait…so you nerfed rets damage in PvP…but buffed havoc dh?

8 Likes

ya because havoc is terrible and ret is overpowered

hope that helps

21 Likes

Hmmm. Voidweaver Disc damage is about all it had going for it in PvP. It’s healing was already well behind Oracle and most other healers. Its survivability is significantly worse than Oracle due to smaller shields. Atonement healing increase of 15% doesn’t seem like its going balance the scales much at all since healing output was already lacking before the damage nerfs.

VW in PvE is still not getting tuning either. Are we just leaving the spec dead and buried in M+ and Raid until next season at this point? It seems like most other specs and hero trees received some help when severely lacking in PvE but not VW disc. All it has caught all season is nerf after nerf because of Oracle tuning. VW was only middle of the pack at best at start of xpac in M+ and Raid but got thrown to the bottom of the trash heap due to repeated atonement nerfs aimed at Oracle with zero tuning to atonement in the Voidweaver tree to catch them back up. Absurd.

4 Likes

Hahahahaha. Nice one.

2 Likes

It took 84 years

13 Likes

Devourer is doing good… in PvP?

O.o

2 Likes

How about the elephant in the room, preservation evoker mobility in PvP. They are already very tanky but can also zoom across the map almost faster than mounted players, while carrying the flag that reduces your speed and can barely be slowed.

Queing blitz and getting a CTF map when the other team has a pres evoker and your team doesn’t is almost an instant loss. Seems……idk…..unbalanced? Yet Blizzard says they are only “slightly overperfoming in PvP”.

10 Likes

Even just based on vibes and with crappy gear I could tell that demo lock was a big raspberry in pvp. I’d say these buffs were needed.

4 Likes

It was probably the strongest individual spec in rated PvP overall, so yes.

People being bad at something doesn’t stop it being broken when it’s played well.

7 Likes

Glad to see Sanctify get some love, but I feel these just push dependence on Ultimate Serenity even more. Given the state of Holy, I guess any changes are welcome at this point.

8 Likes

frost mage is right there brother bear

2 Likes

I did say probably ;p, little out of the loop. Either way top 5.

3 Likes

Amen… I’ll take whatever I can get at this point…

6 Likes

Poor holy paladins. No changes on PTR. No changes in these surprise late season notes. Truly a forgotten spec.

4 Likes

No buff for Holy Paladin again?

6 Likes

50% incinerate buff. :dracthyr_tea:

3 Likes

Interesting, was resto damage balanced around bear form thrash weaving? Was that something people were actually doing?

3 Likes

The darts at a wall approach, nice.

5 Likes

Thank you. Yay. 3% sounds small but it’ll help for sure. Now can we get +5% max hp? We need it.

1 Like