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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPatch 4.2: Normal mode tier 11 encounters nerfed
by Anne Stickney 
May 24th 2011 at 1:40PM
Patch 4.2 PTR testing is in full swing, and we've got another round of patch notes, courtesy of Zarhym and the official Warcraft blog. Today's notes are primarily a metric ton of nerfs to normal mode encounters in Blackwing Descent, Bastion of Twilight, and Throne of the Four Winds. The nerfs were explained by Nethaera as follows:
Nethaera
Follow us after the break for the full list of patch notes.
Nethaera
With the upcoming content patch, 10- and 25-person Normal mode raid encounters will be receiving a comprehensive set of tuning adjustments to decrease their difficulty.
These changes will allow players, groups, and guilds who have yet to experience the content in Blackwing Descent, Bastion of Twilight, and Throne of the the Four Winds an opportunity to do so.
With the addition of a new tier of armor and weapons, we want to make the previous tier more accessible in ways other than just a shift of currency type, so we are making item level 359 gear purchasable for Justice points in the upcoming content patch.
These changes will allow players, groups, and guilds who have yet to experience the content in Blackwing Descent, Bastion of Twilight, and Throne of the the Four Winds an opportunity to do so.
With the addition of a new tier of armor and weapons, we want to make the previous tier more accessible in ways other than just a shift of currency type, so we are making item level 359 gear purchasable for Justice points in the upcoming content patch.
Follow us after the break for the full list of patch notes.
ZarhymClasses
- Dodge: Death Knights, paladins, and warriors no longer receive any bonus to their chance to dodge from Agility. Their base chance to dodge is now a fixed 5%.
- Parry: Death Knights, paladins, and warriors now receive 27% of their Strength bonuses as parry rating, up from 25%. This conversion still only applies to Strength above and beyond their base Strength.
Mage
- Pyroblast: The version of this spell cast when Hot Streak is not active did slightly less damage than the Hot Streak version. Its damage has been increased so that both versions of Pyroblast now do the same amount of damage.
- Spellsteal mana cost has been increased 100%.
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Fire
- Impact: When Living Bomb is spread via this talent, it will only be spread to two additional targets. The net effect is that if the Mage's most recent Living Bomb target is the same as their Impact target, that target will no longer lose the Living Bomb effect. If Living Bomb is active on multiple targets when the Impact effect is cast, Living Bomb will remain active on the most recent Living Bomb target, and will be added to two other nearby targets.
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Frost
- Deep Freeze and Ring of Frost will now cause diminishing returns for each other.
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Ring of Frost now has a 1.5-second cast time. -
Spellsteal now has a 6-second cooldown.
- Seal of Righteousness – now can be proc'd by any melee ability, not just single target melee abilities. This adds Hammer of the Righteous (the physical component) and Divine Storm to the list of abilities that can proc it. In addition, Seal of Righteousness procs can now crit.
Talent Specializations
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Holy
- Walk in the Light now improves Word of Glory healing by 30% in addition to its current effects.
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Protection
- Guardian of Ancient Kings now uses the 'Assist' pet stance functionality.
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Retribution
- Seals of Command: This talent now makes Seal of Righteousness hit an unlimited number of melee targets, instead of only 2 additional targets.
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Glyphs
- Glyph of Seal of Truth: The expertise bonus granted by this glyph now also works when Seal of Righteousness is active.
- Shadowfiend now uses the 'Assist' pet stance functionality.
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Shadow
- Sin and Punishment's Vampiric Touch backlash Fear effect no longer has diminishing returns.
Dungeons and Raids
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Bastion of Twilight
- The damage modifier on Normal has been reduced for Arion, Elementium Monstrosity, Feludius, Ignacius, and Terrastra.
- Removed one of each type of Bound elemental from the Ascendant Council chamber.
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Arion
- Chain Lightning damage has been reduced.
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Cho'gall
- Health, melee damage, Health of Corrupting Adherent, Depravity damage, Corrupting Crash damage, Flaming Destruction damage, and Unleashed Shadows damage has all been reduced by 20%.
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Corrupting Crash and Depravity
- Halved the amount of Corruption they give to 5 from 10.
- Corrupted Bite effect caused by Blood of the Old God reduced.
- Damage Taken from Corruption of the Old God per Corrupted Blood has been reduced from 3% per stack to 2% per stack.
- Debilitating Beam damage has been reduced by 20% to 6,400.
- The duration of Twisted Devotion has been reduced by 25%.
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Dragon Siblings
- Health, melee damage, Twilight Meteorite damage, Devouring Flames, Blackout damage, Unstable Twilight damage, Twilight Zone damage, Twilight Blast damage, Fabulous Flames damage, has all been reduced by 20%.
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Elementium Monstrosity
- Electrical Instability damage has been reduced.
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Feludius
- Damage due to being Frozen while Waterlogged has been reduced.
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Halfus
- Health, melee damage, Fireball/Fireball Barrage damage, Furious Roar damage, Scorching Breath damage, Shadow Nova damage, has all been reduced by 20%.
- Nether Scion, Slate Dragon, Storm Rider, Time Warden, and Orphaned Emerald Whelp health has been reduced by 20%.
- Shadow Nova base cast time has been increased.
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Ignacious
- Rising Flames now increases damage by 3% per stack, down from 5%.
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Terrastra
- Harden Skin now increases Physical damage dealt by 20% (down from 100%.)
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Blackwing Descent
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Atramedes
- Health, melee damage, modulation damage, Roaring Flame Breath damage, and Searing Flame damage has all been reduced by 20%.
- Modulation no longer causes Sound in normal difficulty.
- Sound given by Sonar Pulse has been reduced to 3 (from 5.)
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Chimaeron
- Health reduced by 20% and melee damage reduced by 10%.
- Chimaeron will now only cast two caustic slimes per 30 second cycle, at second 17 and second 23.
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Drakeadon Mongrel
- Time Lapse no longer stuns.
- Frost Burn silence is now 3 seconds
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Dwarven Kings
- Whirlwind no longer drops threat.
- Execution sentence now deals damage only.
- Shield of Light absorption now reduced.
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Magmaw
- Damage and hit points reduced by 20%.
- Lava Parasites have been diminished
- Lava Spew damage, Magma Spit damage, Massive Crash damage, and Infectious Vomit damage have all been been reduced.
- Mangled Lifeless no longer instantly kills, and damage has been reduced.
- Parasitic Infection has been decreased.
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Maloriak
- Health, damage, Aberation health/damage, Arcane Storm damage, Prime Subject damage, Flash Freeze/Shatter damage, and Scorching Blast damage has all been decreased by 20%.
- Aberration stacking damage buff decreased.
- Prime Subjects no longer fixate, and are no longer immune to taunt.
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Nefarian
- Animated Bone Warriors take 33 seconds to fall over, (down from 50.)
- Blast Nova cast time increased.
- Chromatic Prototype Health reduced 20%.
- Electrocute damage reduced 30%.
- Fewer Animated Bone warriors spawn.
- Magma Stacking debuff effect reduced 75%.
- Nefarian health and melee damage reduced by 20%.
- Nefarian's Shadowblaze cast frequency cannot increase beyond 1 per 15 sec.
- Onyxia health and melee damage reduced by 20%.
- Shadowflame Barrage damage reduced 20%.
- Tail Lash damage reduced 50%.
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Omnotron Council
- Barrier absorb amount increased by 100%.
- Increased the cooldown on Power Conversion (Converted Power chance).
- Health, Melee damage, Electrical Discharge damage, Lightning Conductor damage, Health of Poison Bomb, Incineration Security Measure damage, Arcane Annihilator damage, has all been reduced by 20%.
- Flamethrower damage has been reduced by 40%.
- Static Shock caused by Unstable Shield damage and Poison Bomb damage has been decreased by 50%.
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Atramedes
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Throne of the Four Winds
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Al'Akir
- Acid Rain now stacks every 20s (up from 15s.)
- Electrocute now pulses every 1s (up from 0.5s.)
- Feedback duration increased to 30s (from 20s.)
- Health, damage, and Wind Burst damage have all been reduced 20%.
- Lightning and Lightning Rod recast time has been increased.
- Lightning Strike friendly chain damage has been halved.
- Will no longer use Static Shock on normal difficulty in phase 1 or phase 2.
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Conclave of the Four Winds
- Gathering Strength cast time has been increased
- Ice Patch slow is now 5% per stack, up to 10 stacks (down from 10% per stack, up to 30 stacks), damage reduced by 20%.
- Rohash, Anshal, Nezir melee, Ravenous Creeper health/damage, Ravenous Creeper toxic spores damage, Hurricane damage, Sleet Storm damage , Permafrost damage , Slicing Gale, and Wind Blast damage have all been reduced by 20%.
- Wind Chill damage decreased by 20%and now increases damage taken by 5% per stack.
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Al'Akir
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Tier 11 Set Bonuses
- Restoration druid Tier 11 2-Piece: This set bonus has been redesigned to work with the new Restoration druid mastery. Druids with this bonus now receive the bonus to Spirit while the Harmony mastery bonus to periodic healing is active.
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Tier 12 Set Bonuses
- Hunter 4P: The effect which makes Shots cost no focus now also makes Kill Command cost no focus.
- Mage 2P: This set bonus can now also be triggered by Frostfire Bolt.
- Mage 4P: The portions of this bonus referring to Arcane Missiles have been removed. Instead, the set bonus now makes Arcane Power reduce the cost of Mage spells by 10% instead of increasing their cost.
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Arenas
- The Ring of Valor has been added to the Arena rotation once again.
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 2 of 10)
shadcroly May 24th 2011 2:04PM
Uh, bro... the Legendary Staff is obtained through TIER 12, not Tier 11.
They're nerfing Tier 11 for the people who couldn't experience it. No nerfs have been reported for Tier 12.
jonas May 24th 2011 2:07PM
While you do need to run the old raids to be eligible for the quest chain, you can not get the actual legendary part without lots of firelands runs.
Just like Shadow's Edge/Shadowmourne, the base, epic version will be relatively common, but the legendary one will not.
Unlike Shadow's Edge, there's several epic versions along the way, and I bet each higher version will be less and less common.
Kole May 24th 2011 2:09PM
Well so what? I mean there are two types of raiders out there right now...hardcore raiders that have had heroic mode content down for MONTHS and the rest of us.
If your raid team already has this stuff on farm then it doesn't affect you in the least. If you're on a raid team that doesn't then you have a small amount of time to try to get it down (I'd say at least a month /shrug), and if you can't you will hopefully be able to after the patch.
I will also say this will be good for my former raid team that was struggling with Magmaw/Halfus. Now they can go in and gain some confidence by kicking butt.
firstlordmoth May 24th 2011 2:12PM
Yes, it's a t12 legendary, but he's looking down the road. Lately, it's been Blizz policy to nerf down high end raid content when they release the next raid tier. So you can expect to see a bunch of fresh orange staves shortly after the onset of t13 raid content...savvy?
Mr. Crow May 24th 2011 2:23PM
Man, downrated to the ground.
This is a good change for guilds that haven't cleared T12 yet. This really isn't a bad change for anyone, and it's the people who are crying foul about this change that I meant to mock the most.
I suppose I could have made that more clear.
Manadar May 24th 2011 2:29PM
The legendary quest will require you to have killed 12/12 normal mode.
I don't really care about this change. Anyone should be able to see all the normal mode bosses, and if you haven't managed that in 6 months you're either late to the party, casual or well...bad (and in that case you need these nerfs).
Mr. Crow May 24th 2011 2:33PM
Let me try that again.
"This is a good change for guilds that haven't cleared T11 yet. This really isn't a bad change for anyone, and it's the people who are crying foul about this change that I meant to mock the most. "
That's what I meant to say here. WTB Edit button. ^_^
Skarn May 24th 2011 8:03PM
@Kole
"I mean there are two types of raiders out there right now...hardcore raiders that have had heroic mode content down for MONTHS and the rest of us."
I really hate seeing this suggestion that there are only two types of raiders. With a playerbase this large, that's really a ridiculous idea. I'm no hardcore raider. I've not beaten any hardcore modes. My guild is 11/12 and just started Nefarian two weeks ago. We take it easy, only raiding two nights a week, but we have fun and we down bosses eventually. These nerfs aren't targeted at us. We'll get Nef down before Firelands hits. We're a group right smack in the middle.
There's more than two types of raiders out there. Some of "the rest of us" like things just fine as they are. We also have no problem with letting other people see the raids though. I have no issue with other people having fun, if they aren't hurting my own fun.
NinjaClarinet May 24th 2011 1:48PM
Kinda bummed by the raid nerfs. Our guild was just starting to make progress and really dig deep, and now it feels like it'll just be handed to us. I wish instead of nerfing the raid, they would make an "easy" mode, so we have easy, normal, and heroic. And to head off the "elitist" claims that will be thrown at me, I don't even care if the gear is all the same, I play for the challenge and camaraderie, not the lewt.
N-train May 24th 2011 1:55PM
My gut reaction was that this seemed like overkill, my guild was struggling and we all found most of these fights to be a little too unforgiving, but a 20% cut across the board seemed like too much and too late.
But at the same time, it's going to make getting ready for Firelands a whole lot easier for new guilds/raiders/returners, and I think it represents a step back to Wrath thinking, where everyone with the motivation should get to see and participate in content, regardless of time constraints or relative skill. For those who want a challenge, hard modes haven't been touched and Firelands is sure to be difficult. For those who just want to play around with their friends one night a week, then that option is (will soon be) open to them as well.
emberdione May 24th 2011 1:56PM
The thing is, I would bet money that if they did add an easy mode, that had the same gear as normal, they would seriously be played by at least if not more than 75% of the player base. Normal SHOULD be easy mode. Heroic should be hard. It's that simple. More gradients aren't needed, but rather the leap between the two should be more pronounced.
Also your guild always has the option to complete it before the patch, as well as then try hard modes (which are not getting nerfed).
Just because some people like the game frustratingly difficult, doesn't mean everyone does.
Wild Colors May 24th 2011 2:08PM
I don't understand why Blizz is doing this as opposed to adding a stacking buff like they did in ICC.
That was perfect, in the sense that you had the option to turn it off (no one did, but the *choice* was there), and in the sense that the encounters didn't actually change...you just began to overpower them.
Actually doing things like reducing the number of blood parasites in Magmaw, or the amount of corruption dealt in the Cho'gall encounter, seems permanent and goes a long way towards trivializing the encounters. These are qualitative changes, rather than just a stacking quantitative buff.
Nina Katarina May 24th 2011 2:10PM
You've still got time - Firelands is not going to go live next week or the week after. I don't know how far your progression is, but there's still time to make leaps and bounds.
sporkwind May 24th 2011 2:11PM
yeah, I liked how in ICC you could tell Wrynn to go jump off a cliff if you wanted and the song would remain the same.
Malchome May 24th 2011 2:15PM
Um no, we need more gradients. This is so that all levels of ability have something to work on. Otherwise you get ToC/ICC Bull. Where you could do normal easily and then rip your eyes out on Hard Mode. Ulduar was the best tier or raiding ever because of the multiple bosses with multiple levels of difficulty.
emberdione May 24th 2011 2:28PM
Spork - How many raids did you run in ICC where the buff was turned off? I raided on 3 toons through ICC with two guilds, and commonly pugging it on weekends. Never once was the buff turned off. In fact I recall a pug raid where someone thought they would be funny, turned it off, and the raid leaving, then reforming less that person, just to get it back.
I think a true test would to have Heroic modes give the same gear as regular ones. How many people would honestly run heroics then?
People too often assume what is fun for one person is fun for everyone.
Skarn May 24th 2011 2:36PM
@emberdione
I vehemently disagree. "Easy and Hard" is a silly difficulty split. For me and my raid group, "easy" is way too boring. "Hard" is too frustrating. The current normal difficulty is an excellent middleground. It's still challenging without being insane. It's still beatable without sleeping through it. I have no problem with the idea of an easy mode, but I absolutely DESPISE the idea of getting rid of normal mode. I'm ok with nerfing the "old" tier to let more people see it, but the current tier should maintain a "normal" level of difficulty.
Azizrael May 24th 2011 3:17PM
Well I can see why Blizzard would nerf tier 11 content - 4.2 makes it easy to get tier 11 gear through justice points, these raids will only award justice points from 4.2, and the simple fact is that there appears to be a large percentage of the player base who haven't really been able to get into raiding this tier.
If you're already through normal mode tier 11 this won't affect you because you'll be working on Firelands. If you're not, you have a good few weeks to work on it. If you've not been able to get going on the current raiding tier, the nerfs will take away the fear factor and encourage more guilds to give it a shot, get through it relatively quickly, and catch up to the tier 12 hardcore.
It's a good thing for the game.
TheBlob May 24th 2011 4:58PM
My opinion on this is that my guild is 9/12 right now, and I am hoping that we can down all the end bosses before 4.2 hit, but if we can't, we will absolutely be close (We've been working on Cho a lot since we beat AC two weeks ago).
With these changes, we can pretty much be guaranteed to beat them so we can work on Dragonwrath and all get 4-piece t11. I'm happy.
noel mcleod May 24th 2011 5:24PM
There is just no way for Blizz to do this fairly. Cata came out about the time my guildies were just getting ready to do Wrath raids (except for those who had grown impatient and moved on to other guilds with their mains). We likely would have got there, we are not incompetent just slow - as in maybe getting the group together once every two-three weeks. I'd rather play with people I like even if they (or me, for that matter) can't be on enough to progression raid. My favorite healer from Wrath for when I'm tanking is currently level 83 (has level 85 alts, but they're DPS alts). We won't be raiding any time soon, but if NOTHING ELSE CHANGED WE WOULD GET THERE.
So I'm good with Blizz moving the content along for those who move fast through it, but let's not confuse playing forty hours a week with playing six. (And I count farming, researching and analyzing with playing, not just the actual hours spent in a raid).
If Blizz stopped all development now, I could probably play for 2 - 3 years at my current pace before I ran out of things I'd like to do with the guild at our current pace.
It doesn't mean I'm a lousy player, I just have other things to do in RL that take precedence.