Withering Fire Dark Ranger Bug - Affects both MM and BM.
Environment
https://hackmd.io/@Azortharion/WitheringFireBug
Live and PTR as of Aug 25.
Any scenario.
Any Dark Ranger Talent Build with Withering Fire specced, as either Marksmanship or Beast Mastery. Trueshot and Call of the Wild must be specced and used, respectively.
Expected Behavior and Relevant Mechanics
Withering Fire tells us that whenever we fire a Black Arrow during Trueshot/Call of the Wild (depending on spec), two extra Black Arrows are fired for 50% damage. Henceforth, I will call these "WFires". If only one target is up, then all WFires will hit that main target as well.
Our Dark Ranger 4PC Tier Set Bonus, also called Blighted Quiver, tells us that depending on how many stacks we manage to build up (50% chance per Deathblow proc consumed), all Black Arrows fired during our next Withering Fire (aka our next Trueshot/Call of the Wild) will fire X additional WFires. Up to 8 stacks are possible.
Thus, every single Black Arrow inside Trueshot/Call of the Wild should fire 2 + X Withering Fires, where X is determined by how many Blighted Quiver stacks you had when you activated Trueshot/Call of the Wild. These WFires can hit a single target multiple times, so even if only a single target is alive, there is nothing in principle that should prevent 10 (max stacks of Blighted Quiver - 8) plus the two normal ones from Withering Fire, to fire all of the time, every single Black Arrow cast during Trueshot/Call of the Wild.
The Bug/Actual Behaviour
Withering Fire will sometimes fail to fire the appropriate number of WFires when casting Black Arrows during Trueshot.
This has major implications for the value of our 4PC, which relies entirely on this to work.
The fundamental cause is unknown, and the bug is inconsistent.
How To Reproduce (for Blizzard & QA)
Enter any PvE Scenario on Live or PTR servers, including dummies.
Build up some Blighted Quiver stacks. Building up 8 is more likely to show the issue as the scope for variance in WFires shot is greater. Blighted Quiver takes 2:30-3 min of generating and spending Deathblow procs on a dummy to stack up to 8 - or just give yourself 8 stacks of Buff ID 1236975.
Activate Trueshot, and fire Black Arrow.
Note the number of Withering Fire arrows fired. A minimum of 2 should always fire, with Blighted Quiver 4PC stacks allowing for more. Frequently, none will fire, or significantly fewer than expected. Notably, the number of WFires shot can vary dramatically from one Black Arrow to the next, even within the same Trueshot window. It is supposed to always fire the exact same number (2+X as described above).
The first Black Arrow of a Trueshot tends to be most likely to bug and not fire the appropriate amount of Withering Fires, or fail to shoot any at all.
Evidence (Logs)
Jonnymetal - Note the “ramping” character of how many Withering Fires are being shot. The first Black Arrow secnds 5, then 6, then 7, and then it dips back down to 2. You’d expect 7 Withering Fires every single Black Arrow here (5 from Blighted Quiver, 2 normal ones) https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/hY9KwLmQDWxtzn1C?fight=last&type=damage-done&source=5&pins=2%24Off%24%23a04D8A%24damage%24-1%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Any%24true%24466930%7C468037%24and%24auras-gained%24-1%24238802765.0.0.Hunter%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Any%24true%24466991%24true%24true%5E0%24Separate%24%23909049%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%24238802765.0.0.Hunter%24true%24238802765.0.0.Hunter%24false%241236975%5E0%24Separate%24%23a04D8A%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%24238802765.0.0.Hunter%24false%24466991&view=events&start=160936&end=195043
Jonnymetal - Note how the first Black Arrow in this Trueshot at 34:21 entirely fails to shoot ANY Withering Fire Arrows - https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/hY9KwLmQDWxtzn1C?fight=last&type=damage-done&source=5&pins=2%24Off%24%23a04D8A%24damage%24-1%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Any%24true%24466930%7C468037%24and%24auras-gained%24-1%24238802765.0.0.Hunter%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Any%24true%24466991%24true%24true%5E0%24Separate%24%23909049%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%24238802765.0.0.Hunter%24true%24238802765.0.0.Hunter%24false%241236975%5E0%24Separate%24%23a04D8A%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%24238802765.0.0.Hunter%24false%24466991&view=events&start=2075651&end=2107913
Tassili - Note the 2nd Trueshot used here at 1:35:883 - https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/2DBcMaxbqNHQgGvA?type=damage-done&source=8&fight=5&pins=2%24Off%24%23a04D8A%24damage%24-1%24226499041.0.0.Hunter%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Any%24true%24466930%7C468037%24and%24aurasgained%24-1%24226499041.0.0.Hunter%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Any%24true%24466991%24true%24true%5E0%24Separate%24%23909049%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%24226499041.0.0.Hunter%24true%24226499041.0.0.Hunter%24false%241236975%5E0%24Separate%24%23a04D8A%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%24226499041.0.0.Hunter%24true%24226499041.0.0.Hunter%24false%24466991&view=events
Yanix, BM Dark Ranger Log - Note how the first Black Arrow completely fails to send any Withering Fires, despite entering Call of the Wild in this case with 5 Blighted Quiver Stacks https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/dctq81rkZHQW7gzM?fight=13&type=damage-done&source=16&pins=0%24Separate%24%23244F4B%24casts%240%240.0.0.Any%24202018744.0.0.Hunter%24true%240.0.0.Any%24false%24466930%5E0%24Separate%24%23909049%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%24202018744.0.0.Hunter%24false%24466991%5E0%24Separate%24%23a04D8A%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%24202018744.0.0.Hunter%24false%241236975&ability=468037&view=events&start=1804769&end=1862881
Impact
Dark Rangers of both the Marksmanship and Beast Mastery variety regularly do significantly less damage than they are supposed to, and the 4PC Tier Set Bonus' damage value is inconsistent, poor, and sometimes even zero. Dark Ranger is already one of the most RNG-laden specs in the game (~9% simDPS std.dev%, highest in the game by a massive margin). With this bug, Dark Rangers face an additional layer of RNG beyond the intended design, which is that their Hero Talent Capstone/4PC Set Bonus will just randomly decide to not do any damage for them.
What To Do About It (for players)
There is no known workaround or ways of mitigating this.
