Cataclysm hotfixes for Dec. 27
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Dec 27th 2010 at 10:15PM
- Winning as an attacker in Tol Barad now rewards players with 1,800 honor points, up from 180. Winning as a defender still rewards players with 180 honor points.
- Vashj'ir archaeology dig sites no longer unlock for players. They felt too punishing without additional benefits compared to low-level sites and were much more difficult to obtain artifacts in due to the way Vashj'ir navigation works.
- Gyreworms, Enormous Gyreworms, and Gorged Gyreworms no longer drop money or elite-level loot.
ZarhymGeneral
- Graveyard Rats are no longer considered critters and do not give credit toward the Critter Kill Squad guild achievement.
- Weekly guild reputation caps should now properly reset at the scheduled time. An error which prevented this reset from taking place if guild experience was earned at exactly 3:00 AM server time immediately prior to weekly maintenance has been corrected.
- The achievement Saving for a Rainy Day has the same requirements as its predecessor Time to Open a Savings Account. For this reason Saving for a Rainy Day has been temporarily disabled (it will still show in the user interface), as it requires a fix via a client-side patch.
Classes
Druids
- The heal from Frenzied Regeneration was too powerful and has been reduced by 50%.
- Pounce now correctly shares diminishing returns with other stun effects.
Rogues
- Cheap Shot now correctly shares diminishing returns with other stun effects.
Warlocks
- The Felguard ability Axe Toss now properly shares diminishing returns with other stun effects.
Dungeons & Raids
Blackwing Descent
Blackwing Descent
- Sweltering Armor is now properly applied to Magmaw's Mangle target once the debuff has faded, regardless of whether Magmaw was successfully impaled or not.
- Mekgineer Thermaplugg no longer sometimes awards dungeon completion prematurely.
Throne of the Four Winds
- It is no longer possible to disarm Al'Akir.
Items
- The Inner Eye proc from Heroic and normal versions of Jar of Ancient Remedies was not activating with some priest healing effects. This has been corrected.
- The Signet of High Arcanist Savor and Gilnean Ring of Ruination now have proper stats.
Professions
Archaeology
- Vashj'ir dig sites no longer unlock for players. They felt too punishing without additional benefits compared to low-level sites, and were much more difficult to obtain artifacts in due to the way Vashj'ir navigation works.
Cooking
- Stormwind Lobster Traps now respawn more quickly and can be gathered across all Stormwind quest phases.
Inscription
- The following reagents no longer have limits and are now available from Una Kobuna and Casandra Downs in unlimited quantities: Deathwing Scale Fragment, Scavenged Dragon Horn, Bleached Jawbone, Silver Charm Bracelet, and Preserved Ogre Eye.
PvP
Arenas
- Arena ratings are appropriately tabulating for wins and losses. More information on this issue can be found on our forums.
- Negative amounts of Conquest Points can no longer be awarded after a match win.
Battlegrounds
- Upon winning a rated Battleground, rating, wins, and Conquest Points are awarded and display properly.
- Negative amounts of Conquest Points can no longer be awarded after a match win.
Tol Barad
- Winning as an attacker now rewards players with 1800 Honor Points, up from 180. Winning as a defender still rewards players with 180 Honor Points.
Quests & Creatures
Deepholm
- Gyreworms, Enormous Gyreworms, and Gorged Gyreworms no longer drop money or elite-level loot.
Tol Barad
- Cell Watchers in the D-Block area no longer have boss-like immunities. Interrupts, stuns, snares, taunts, knockbacks, Banish, Root, Freeze, Fear, Horror and Death Grip all work correctly.
Twilight Highlands
- Crucible of Carnage quests can no longer be shared.
Uldum
- The Unearthing Uldum quest achievement can now be obtained after completing 105 quests in Uldum, down from 108.
- Players are now granted 250 Ramkahen reputation after completing the daily quest "Fire From the Sky".
Vashj'ir
- The Luxscale Grouper's Grouper Bite debuff now has a 5-second duration and will no longer sometimes get stuck on characters.
Zul'Drak
- Due to adjusted health pools, the heal-over-time effect provided by Blightblood Infusion (used by players controlling the Blightblood Troll) during the Overlord Drakuru encounter has been increased.
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Aceman67 Dec 27th 2010 10:29PM
its already incredibly easy for someone to win Tol Barad, and they up the reward for it?
For shame Blizz, for Shame.
Just get around to fixing it already.
Ilya Dec 27th 2010 10:35PM
From what I've heard, it's extremely easy to win if you're DEFENDING. I guess they're trying to reward a more focused offense or some such...
Unless I'm missing something, of course; I've not been to Tol Barad yet, myself, if only because I've heard the problems with taking it from defenders.
Draol Dec 27th 2010 10:35PM
If you actually read it...it increases the reward for winning as an attacker.
Not as a defender.
Revrant Dec 27th 2010 10:56PM
Which is nice and all, but uh, how about fixing the actual design rather than giving me incentives?
I WANT to win Blizz, honest, I just can't, I'm really not playing dead.
Honest.
kaminari Dec 28th 2010 1:06AM
actually it's an incentive for taking turns, i f you have ityou want the other side to get it so you can get the 1800 points again,
N-train Dec 28th 2010 1:21AM
These are hotfixes, guys, not patches. These are small, little adjustments that are often easy as flipping a "switch" or tweaking a couple numbers. There are so many major problems with Tol Barad that it got its own wow.com article, I think that's beyond the realm of a hotfix.
If anything, this fix shows that Blizz is at least aware of the balancing issues, and I bet we'll see some major changes in the next patch, probably along with the new class balances we're seeing GC talk about.
It took them about a year and a half to get WG tuned and balanced, let's all just be a little patient, yeah?
N-train Dec 28th 2010 1:26AM
In fact:
Zarhym in regards to the TB honor change:- "The odds are already stacked against the attacking force. In fact, they're stacked in favor of the defense more so than we would like at this point. **We're looking to address this in an upcoming patch** so that defending Tol Barad doesn't feel like there's virtually no fear of loss."
Rob Dec 28th 2010 10:26AM
This is obviously for two reasons:
1) So that attackers don't just leave when they see they're attacking, they now have a major incentive to work together to win.
2) So that defenders do a poorer job defending, so they can then get the 10x bonus at winning on attack.
It's just going to make the Defenders throw it all the time and let the Attackers win. So it will most likely bounce back and forth like a ping-pong ball until it can be properly fixed.
Good news. More people will be doing Tol Barad now, because a 10x bonus in Honor Points is well worth queuing when Attacking (as it's a good chance you'll win easily/quickly, as the opposing factions just tanks it).
SINisterWyvern Dec 28th 2010 10:31PM
@rob
which i say is fine for now since that way at least people get to get some dailies done on both sides until the patch can make the real changes happen
Marroc Dec 27th 2010 10:46PM
The Tol Barad change is simply to alleviate the immediate 'bad taste in mouth' feeling that attacking in Tol Barad brings. Obviously, they cannot fix the battleground with a hotfix. It simply is not possible given that it will require actual changes to how it functions. The change is simply the best they can do until a client patch is released.
theRaptor Dec 27th 2010 11:13PM
It isn't a client patch IMO as much as maintenance that is needed for the change (ie you can't push a code patch to all servers that could effect games in progress).
Considering today is patch day it also smells like it isn't going to get fixed for another week. IMO the head PVP designer has a hard on for the current design and is just trying to force players to "play correctly".
The problem I have with that is that balanced PVP should never require one team to play better than the other team. That by definition isn't balance.
It would be if capping a tower was permanent because then D and A would both have to split forces and it would come down to who was slightly better (not one side playing MUCH better as in the current design).
Jebediah54 Dec 28th 2010 12:45AM
Or maybe...
Blizz is trying to make it so the defending team tanks a game so they can have a shot at 1800 honor next time. Hmm...
Wolfbeckett Dec 28th 2010 9:51AM
Uh, if capping towers was permanent, then it would be a zerg rush battle. Both sides would immediately rush all of their forces to one tower, cap it as fast as possible, then rush to the one remaining tower and have a battle. Whichever side won that battle would cap the second tower and it would be over, I predict that it would take no longer than 5 minutes every single time the battle started.
Shadamehr Dec 27th 2010 10:52PM
Druids
* The heal from Frenzied Regeneration was too powerful and has been reduced by 50%.
This should really be placed under PvP changes
Imnick Dec 27th 2010 10:59PM
Why? It affects druids across the board, not just in PvP.
Changes to a single class go in that class section, changes to a PvP area or concept go in the PvP section.
theRaptor Dec 27th 2010 11:15PM
It matters in PVE a hell of a lot. I was quite enjoying being able to shift to bear and tank mobs for a while without healing, or easily pick up the boss when the tank died etc. Now Frenzied Regeneration feels like it isn't worth the rage loss.
Saeadame Dec 27th 2010 11:44PM
Yeah.. Frenzied Regen is also a PvE tank cooldown, so it's not just PvP
Tri Dec 28th 2010 8:38AM
50% nerf was quite harsh :-/
I guess now it'll make more sense to use the glyph that takes away the self healing and turns it into a healing bonus..
Jorges Dec 28th 2010 11:20AM
That's funny, I've never thought of it as a pvp ability. I use it a lot in pve, specially on those places where enemy respawn times are ridiculously low and you get ganked by 7 ghosts (I'm looking at you Tol Barad).
I guess it's back to hit and run tactics in cat form...
iChronos Dec 27th 2010 10:53PM
well atleast they are doing SOMETHING about the completely defense bias pvp zone... still broken out the wazoo
Though not having to go to Vash for arch is a nice touch.