Shadowlands Pre-Patch Class Changes - Guide Writers Comment on Tuning to their Specs

Live Опубликовано 10.11.2020 в 16:55 Anshlun

announced yesterdayBeast Mastery HunterImpaktThe Beast Mastery Hunter nerf is extremely questionable, and not at all indicative of how BM has been performing in the Shadowlands Beta. In the Shadowlands Beta, BM is not close to being overpowered anywhere, which leads me to believe that the reason they decided to nerf the spec is because of how well it is performing in the pre-patch. This is obviously a huge oversight though since the only reason BM is performing well in the pre-patch is their Azerite Traits, which we lose in two weeks. Hopefully, they will get some better data when the new expansion is live, but this is not a good thing. Beast Mastery was already going to be overshadowed a bit by Marksmanship, and a blanket 5% nerf just makes it worse.Frost MageMalonDon't scream about the sky falling for Frost: this nerf adds up to perhaps 5% on a single target and 10% in cleave, without changing talent viability. The buffs to Кометная буря and Леденящий дождь are very minor, and Ледяные осколки will still be the go-to option on the row.

The effect of the Чародейский взрыв nerf is minuscule. It's a very small nerf for Fire and Frost, and doesn't even affect Arcane very much as a lot of the spec's AoE power in Shadowlands comes from Чародейский обстрел.Holy PaladinPelinalThe holy paladin changes are nice. They feel like they are aimed at ensuring both paladin playstyles remain somewhat competitive which is awesome. The reduced mana cost to Удар воина Света is something the community has asked for quite a while, and it helps lessen the problem, but the underlying constraint still exists. The Шок небес buff is a nice one but is largely offset by the Проблеск Света nerf. It feels like these changes are geared towards deliberately closing the gap between the two prominent shadowlands play styles. The first being a Свет небес/Прилив Света focused “caster” build. The second being a Удар воина Света/Holy Power spender focused build.

These changes are certainly a step in the right direction; however, It seems like it won’t have as large an impact as may be necessary to solve some of the larger balance issues. It does seem to help address some problems. The glimmer of light nerf helps to ensure that Частица веры doesn’t lag too far behind in relative power, and the Торжество buff seems aimed to maintain both Word of Glory and Свет зари remain competitive with each other after a recent buff to Light of Dawn healing on beta.
Protection PaladinLincolnThe Paladin changes made in the hotfixes are exceptionally minor. First, they nerfed Щит праведника damage component by 15% which translates to a reduction in DPS by 3-6%. With the threat buff, it could be offset from a threat perspective. It just means that Protection will be lower on the meters. Second, they nerfed the hidden passive armor modifier from 20% to 10%. In practice, this is a very small amount of armor since it only affected armor from gear. Using Mythic raid K values, it translates to a ~2% damage reduction nerf from armor. And finally, they rearranged Торжество. They buffed the base heal but nerfed the missing health bonus. It's about a ~3% reduction in WoG’s effectiveness when used optimally. In totality, it won’t change where Protection sits in the tank meta.Retribution PaladinBolasThe nerfs seem to be targeting a 1-minute burst build for Ret that has appeared in pre-patch and on beta. For Kyrian and Necrolord this was looking to be one of the best single target builds, but for the others, it wasn't especially strong which will probably cement the gap between Venthyr and the rest even further. Execution Sentence now being unable to crit makes sense in order for the ability to not double dip on critical strike (ie. crits from abilities during the debuff could have their damage bonus that gets added to Execution Sentence also crit), but the additional nerfs to Смертный приговор and Последний расчет seem a little heavy-handed relative to how strong that talent combination actually was in PvE.

In return, a 4% flat damage buff to all abilities is a tradeoff that leaves Ret in a much more favorable spot now than before these hotfixes. Священный гнев's buff is also a nice bonus, and in Shadowlands the talent will most likely be competitive with Священная война for single target and dominant in AoE situations.WarriorArchimtirosThe direct damage buffs are welcome, as both Warrior specs have been performing very poorly since the Pre-patch went live. Arms, which was previously one of the stronger specs in the game, received no major nerfs and continues to benefit from one of the strongest Azerite Traits in the game (Испытание силы), but fell from the top spots to the bottom overnight.

Рассекающий удар no longer replacing Размашистые удары is another welcome change, as it removed a core part of the toolkit's capabilities while giving back something barely stronger in return, creating a significant opportunity cost without much return. Another way to fix this would have been direct tuning, but that also would have upset the balance on the talent tier in turn.

Nerfing the Вихрь cleave effect is unwanted, but likely warranted, as Fury's design makes it difficult to buff single target without increasing multitarget in turn. That said, pushing more damage into Вихрь клинков is decent compensation, as that talent has historically suffered next to Рев дракона. Unfortunately, it still falls short since Рев дракона remains without a target cap, but it's a good start. While they aren't all buffs, the spec still comes out ahead thanks to the 10% damage increase added to Воин - Неистовство aura buff.

Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы оставить комментарий

Написать комментарий

Предыдущая новость

Следующая новость