Ghostcrawler: Round 1 of patch 4.0.1 class rebalancing implemented

WoW Insider's own Matt Rossi had a terrific post yesterday about the class balancing issues that we were seeing with patch 4.0.1. Casters like me were experiencing the thrill of god mode, with reports of mages being able to one-shot their opponents. And while we casters were getting sweet, delicious ponies, melee players got a big pile of pony excrement. Arms and fury DPS were down -- way down. So was retribution paladin and kitty DPS.
Last night, Lead Systems Designer Ghostcrawler let us all know that fixes were on the way. Today, he confirmed that fixes were implemented and explained what was done to each affected class to balance them out. The full post explaining who got buffed, who got nerfed and why is available just after the break.
Class balance as of Oct 13, 2010We made many changes yesterday. A lot of these were bug fixes, and many bug fixes will affect damage one way or the other. So just because you don't see a specific change referenced below, doesn't mean it didn't change.
With that said, here are the specific changes we made in reference to my previous post:
1) We buffed the base points and coefficients of many warrior dps abilities. We didn't do as much to tanking abilities.
We buffed the base points and coefficients of many Ret abilities.
We buffed the base points and coefficients of many Feral cat abilities.
2) We lowered the base points and coefficients of many mage abilities, but lowered Fire more than the other two.
3) We nerfed Shadow Word: Death, but it is possible we didn't nerf it enough. It should not be Shadow's biggest spell.
4) We returned Searing Pain's damage to its 3.3.5 levels.
5) We increased the benefit of resilience by 50% for players level 80 and below. The tooltips will probably not reflect this change.
We don't have any other changes to announce at this time. I am reluctant to mention additional classes or specs that we are looking at currently for fear of instilling excitement or panic.
With that said, here are the specific changes we made in reference to my previous post:
1) We buffed the base points and coefficients of many warrior dps abilities. We didn't do as much to tanking abilities.
We buffed the base points and coefficients of many Ret abilities.
We buffed the base points and coefficients of many Feral cat abilities.
2) We lowered the base points and coefficients of many mage abilities, but lowered Fire more than the other two.
3) We nerfed Shadow Word: Death, but it is possible we didn't nerf it enough. It should not be Shadow's biggest spell.
4) We returned Searing Pain's damage to its 3.3.5 levels.
5) We increased the benefit of resilience by 50% for players level 80 and below. The tooltips will probably not reflect this change.
We don't have any other changes to announce at this time. I am reluctant to mention additional classes or specs that we are looking at currently for fear of instilling excitement or panic.
Filed under: News items, Raiding
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 9)
BritishBulldog Oct 14th 2010 3:11PM
QQ blizz catering for the casuals again not giving me my pony they only don't give me my pony because it's too OP and casuals dont like that. nerf pony.
Sunstreaker84 Oct 14th 2010 3:12PM
AND MY AXE!
Zheo Oct 14th 2010 3:16PM
and my bow!
Aaron Oct 14th 2010 3:18PM
And my sword.
bookworm13 Oct 14th 2010 3:19PM
And my axe (in a dwarven accent)!
Joe Oct 14th 2010 3:24PM
Hooray for LotR references!
Kunikenwad! Oct 14th 2010 3:24PM
ARCANITE REAPER HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
foust117 Oct 14th 2010 3:35PM
And my vuvuzela!
Tomatketchup Oct 14th 2010 3:42PM
AND MY MILK!
Buy it when you're in the shop.
David Oct 14th 2010 4:18PM
And my Pillaging Shovel! - Richard
Deathknighty Oct 14th 2010 4:24PM
And my camel!!
SaintStryfe Oct 14th 2010 4:46PM
NO CAMELS.
MusedMoose Oct 14th 2010 8:00PM
And my duct tape!
Quark1020 Oct 14th 2010 9:14PM
And my social life! >:o
Cyonisper Oct 15th 2010 8:21AM
And My Pointed stick of Death.
Blayze Oct 15th 2010 11:14AM
And my biting social commentary!
And *also* my vuvuzela!
Jordan Oct 14th 2010 3:04PM
Doctor, will he live?
Ma'am, I'm afraid the cancer has spread to Deathwing's speech bubble. We're going to have to put him down.
Klausse Oct 14th 2010 3:12PM
Agreed.
I'm all for recycling images, but this is getting to be a bit much.
Aaron Oct 14th 2010 3:22PM
...at least the font is getting better... that's a good thing? right? RIGHT??!
/sigh
Qot Oct 14th 2010 3:22PM
At least change what it says in the bubble.
"I broke your world slightly more than intended, but a crab fixed it."