Now you nerfed deathbolt instead of buffing the underperforming talents in row 15, great work blizzard, so now not selecting a talent in row 15 will do more damage than deathbolt too…
Affliction
11 Likes
well we been using that talent since BFA pre patch came out. I knew it was going nerf sooner or later.
1 Like
I dont care about deathbolt, i care that they nerf even more the spec without fixing the real problems on the spec, we werent top dps but they still decide to nerf the class even more.
12 Likes
First of all, what do they mean by it’s been “the dominant choice for Affliction’s level 15 talent row for much of the expansion”. It’s been the ONLY choice for THE WHOLE expansion so far. A bit of understatement here 
Anyway,
best case: drain soul becomes actually competitive again and in return for this nerf they’re gonna buff AoE.
expected case: it’s a plain nerf, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised about that after this expansion so far.
6 Likes
So the choice for talent in row 15 now will be not selecting any at this line, since there will be no options now to pick up…garbage
4 Likes
Unless they buff drain soul its still a dps loss over not having anything at all which mean Nightfall will be the defacto choice. Now if they at least buffed Drain Soul to do as much as Shadowbolt then it would be another story.
Edit: i retract my statement. Literally nothing changes in tier 15. Deathbolt is still the best Talent, for all intent and purposes Affliction just got a flat nerf.(Blizzard has gotten really terrible at class design.)
7 Likes
I think most people here really hope for a drain soul buff. Maybe even bringing a new potential for m+. I’d probably start playing again.
I mean, to me personally this spec in its current state is dead, and a dead spec can’t be killed further… so in a change like this I see primarily hope that something fundamentally changes 
9 Likes
Jesus, you can’t even make a post about a well understood, defined and real problem without exaggerating it immensely; DB will still be king on that row and will be FAR better than not picking a talent.
To take this conversation to a more reasonable place; this needs to accompany changes to the rest of the talents on that row or this doesn’t do anything to address the issue and just ends up nerfing Aff.
Drain Soul is basically as bad as not picking a talent though, that hasn’t changed.
2 Likes
There are tons of talents that are unquestionably the best at everything and haven’t been nerfed (3+ years and multiple expansions for Alacrity now.) Why single out Deathbolt?
4 Likes
I am sure because they don’t like we keep using it. idk I am not a dev.
I’m here still hoping that because it’s early in this patch drop we will hear about buffs to the other two talents, or complete reworks altogether.
Fingers crossed y’all.
3 Likes
The worst part about the change is that we have no info about the other talents and quite frankly they are garbo. Deathbolt is the only choice because drain soul is so bad that its better to not have a Talent. Nightfall is a cool design but the problem is shadowbolt damage is so low that its no where close to deathbolt. And if blizzard is going off of that logic why don’t they not nerf haunt as well then.
Lets be real what line were they trying to hit with this nerf
bringing it more in line with picking no talent at all?
Deathbolt 45,258 3.7% Positive
Nightfall 44,020 0.8% Positive
No talent 43,661 —
Drain Soul 42,021 -3.8% Negative
The reason everyone takes deathbolt is cause the other 2 are just illusions of choice. nightfall is a 0.8% increase and DRAINSOUL IS A SELF NERF
4 Likes
To me personally if i would take drain soul if it was at least a 2% difference. I’d say the difference between nightfall and deathbolt isnt the worst if you consider human error but the different between Drain and even Nightfall is piss poor. Thats a nearly 5% difference on its own not even factoring in the Deathbolt difference.
Deathbolt needs another 5% nerf and drain soul needs a 15% buff.
2 Likes
What we need is an overhaul on row 15.
Look at the grand scheme of design, and it’s no doubt why Deathbolt, even if nerfed, will still be chosen. Does any other talent on that row even synergize with Darkglare like Deathbolt did?
Throw in Haunt to the mix, and it gets even more hilarious as the combination of Haunt+Deathbolt+Darkglare makes for one hell of a cooldown-on-steroid.
I afraid that simply bumping the numbers without changing the design would just be a temporary band-aid that will quickly wear off as our gear progresses.
Here’s the funny part: this is the second time Drain Soul was converted into a talent, and both times end up backfiring on our spec.
Begs the question why don’t they convert Shadowbolt as a talent instead. Because they knew almost no one will pick it up if it is a talent?
6 Likes
well we knew that was going to happen in this expac i am just being realistic. They said most we would get is talent balancing so while affliction needs an overhaul we need to be realistic.
This is why I don’t like the new talent trees 
All they do now is take things that should be baseline and throw them on a talent. Imo, if something is so core to a class’s rotation you can’t not pick it without it being gutted, it should be baseline because it’s not an “extra” at that point, it’s not a talent, it’s a core spell locked in a talent.
6 Likes
Can’t bring back even a good damage drain soul without having life tap or we will all be oom
I mean they re balanced the mana of everything else to account for life tap, why would this be any difference?
No changes in the new ptr notes, i think they will leave it as that, 3 worthless talents in row 15. Beta for azeroth.
Beta for Azeroth!
https://i.imgur.com/HatDdYw.png
2 Likes