Cataclysm hotfixes for Dec. 20
by Alex Ziebart 
Dec 20th 2010 at 9:59PM
Community Manager Zarhym has documented and posted another list of hotfixes this evening. The list grows ever shorter compared to what they were immediately after launch, but the changes are still numerous. Here are some interesting examples:
- The search radius to find an archaeology node from the archaeology ability Survey has been increased. This will result in fewer searches needed while in the "green" range of surveying.
- Several cooking recipes were not counting toward the achievement Set the Oven to "Cataclysmic" and have been updated. Note that Darkbrew Lager, Highland Spirits, and Chocolate Cookie are not intended to count for this achievement.
- Several shirts have been corrected so they no longer cause a player's item level to increase. They are item level 1.
Zarhym -- HotfixesGeneral
- Paid services now allow characters level 81 or higher to be transferred with up to 50,000 gold.
- Several Winter's Veil decorations and NPCs have been checked for proper placement.
- Silverbound Treasure Chests can now be opened and looted correctly.
- Cobra Shot is no longer refreshing the duration of the Wyvern Sting damage-over-time effect. Cobra Shot is correctly extending the damage-over-time effect applied by Serpent Sting.
- Conjuring refreshments no longer count toward achievements like Set the Oven to "Cataclysmic" and Time To Open A Restaurant.
- Impact is no longer applying damage-over-time effects to enemy targets who are not within line-of-sight of the original target. A target in line-of-sight with the original target is still affected appropriately, even if they are not in sight of the mage.
- The range of the heal on Atonement has been increased to 15 yards. It has been verified to be working correctly for the priest and party/raid members.
- Chakra is no longer consumed by a Prayer of Mending bounce.
- Guardian Spirit's capped value did not rise properly from level 80-85. This has been corrected.
- Lava Surgers present in several dungeons now have loot and can be mined.
- Cho'gall's Worshipping effect can now correctly be interrupted with stuns and other interrupt abilities.
- Valiona will now prioritize taking flight and interrupt Devouring Flames if it's cast during a transition.
- Bellows Slaves no longer grant reputation.
- Lava Parasites will no longer cause the Magmaw encounter to reset if they Evade. In addition, their mounting range has been reduced to 5 yards and they can fail to mount when attacking players.
- Quests for Grim Batol are now appropriately flagged as dungeon quests.
- Players are now able to zone into the dungeon if Anraphet is in combat.
- The Lockmaw encounter no longer resets if a Frenzied Crocolisk Evades.
- Players are now able to zone into the dungeon if General Hussam is in combat.
- Ozruk's Paralyze ability is not supposed to critically hit and has been fixed.
- The buff from Corrupted Egg Shell will no longer absorb more than its intended amount.
- Winged Steed of the Ebon Blade is no longer showing as available for purchase by any class but death knights.
- Several shirts have been corrected so they no longer cause a player's item level to increase. They are item level 1.
- The search radius to find an Archaeology node from the Archaeology ability Survey has been increased. This will result in fewer searches needed while in the "green" range of surveying.
- The Alchemy specialization Elixir Master was granting extra potion procs instead of Potion Master when used on Cataclysm level recipes. The potions found to be causing this have been fixed.
- Both Willful Ember Topaz and Lucent Ember Topaz no longer award skill past 515 Jewelcrafting skill. The designs still show as grey in the Profession window, but no longer award skill up to 525.
- Several cooking recipes were not counting toward the achievement Set the Oven to "Cataclysmic" and have been updated. Note that Darkbrew Lager, Highland Spirits, and Chocolate Cookie are not intended to count for this achievement.
- Killing a level 85 dwarf mage now properly updates the achievement criteria for Dwarf Slayer.
- The return portal from Tol Barad now takes players to the appropriate capital city near the portal to Tol Barad.
- Shy Highlands Turkeys in Twilight Highlands are now coming out to play for achievements.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Rakah Dec 20th 2010 10:25PM
glad about the lava parasites. god that reset thing was irritating.
Luca Dec 20th 2010 10:26PM
Hooray for the Archaeology change, that thing turns green way too quickly.
Baba Dec 21st 2010 6:39AM
No, it means that when you're within 'green' distance of the item, you don't have to pinpoint it as accurately in order for it to show up.
Ronin Dec 21st 2010 10:19AM
Thanks for that, Baba. I was having a heck of a time trying to interpret what that meant. I think they could've worded it much more clearly.
Eirik Dec 21st 2010 1:49PM
I think that the search radius enlargement is largely due to the number of dig sites where the target location was placed outside the area you were permitted to use the Survey power. There was also a case or two where the artifact placement was in the middle of a cliff, where you could not stand either directly above or directly below the artifact and successfully "find" it.
Amaxe Dec 20th 2010 10:37PM
Is it just me or do the hotfixes this time around seem less extreme than those from LK in its first weeks
Hangk Dec 21st 2010 1:14PM
This release has been extremely smooth.
When WotLK came out, Wintergrasp would crash the world server, every single battle. None of the Cataclysm issues have been that bad.
BurgerTea Dec 20th 2010 10:45PM
And no fix for lolBarad.
Thanks, blizz.
Adam Dec 20th 2010 10:57PM
No, you're right - because fixing a balance issue in an open-world PvP battleground is as easy as flipping a bit on a database entry. Well played, sir.
Hivetyrant Dec 20th 2010 11:16PM
No fix needed, my server has no issues now that both sides know what they are doing.
poggg Dec 21st 2010 12:16AM
Tol Barad's issues are big, FAR too large to be hotfixed. There will need to be an actual patch before it gets working properly. It could be something earlier, but I wouldn't expect it before 4.1, myself.
hayesaha Dec 21st 2010 6:07AM
I'm pretty sure there are some hotfixes blizz could apply to at the very least tone the problems down. Things like cap rate, spawn timers, siege damage or anything that doesn't need the client to know ahead of time what to do.
Scooter Dec 21st 2010 11:18AM
@hayesaha
You might be right but your suggestions might not be seen as a real solution by Blizzard either. Pretty much anything Blizzard can do in a hotfix would benefit both sides or simply break the mechanic. In either case it's not much of a solution. Unfortunately, your going to have to wait until Blizzard does something or someone figures out a strategy that lets you win under these conditions.
Telwar Dec 20th 2010 10:48PM
Would be nice if, say, the dwarven racial did anything useful at all for archaeology, like the extra fragments we're supposed to get.
Just saying....Find Treasure was vaguely useful in Wrath (the Everfrost Shards the Sons of Hordir wanted showed up on it), but now one broken benefit and one that's not a benefit at all seem kind of lame.
thedoctor2031 Dec 20th 2010 11:24PM
It did give 2 back when everyone was getting 1. There may have been a bug with that and I am sure they will get right on it if there is.
crschmidt Dec 21st 2010 8:40AM
As a dwarf hunter, I typically get something like 10-15 shards per dig site (varying between 2 and 6 per survey location). As a human paladin, I get between 6 and 9 per dig site (2-3 per survey location). If it's not working for you, I'm sorry, but it's not broken for everyone.
Sanguinarius Dec 21st 2010 11:32AM
As a human DK, i get 9-18 frags per digsite. I was racing a friend (dwarven paladin) to 525. We were both gunning for Zinrohk. Started at the same time, but I hit max WAY earlier (about 2 hours). We were using the same strat for levelling (saving frags until 100, not using troll frags until 450, etc.), we also had the same flying mount speed and went to the same areas for surveying.
So maybe it is bugged for dwarves?
Teira Dec 20th 2010 10:52PM
Those silverbound chests were driving me INSANE.
Feldring Dec 20th 2010 11:06PM
Having only run across them on a mid to high level character, I made the assumption that they had "fixed" the treasure chest problem by having one version (Silverbound) with its own loot table be only lootable by lower level characters -- say, level 20 and under -- so that high levels wouldn't be farming them and treasure chests could stay in the game.
I'm glad we can get to our ice cold milk and bolts of silk cloth again, but I'm sad that an apparently clever design iteration was actually a bug!
VioletArrows Dec 20th 2010 11:28PM
I just assumed they were for rogues like the lockboxes used to be.