Patch 4.2 hotfix roundup

Hotfixes for patch 4.2 have been released at a steady pace ever since the patch's release. Though patch 4.2's launch was impressively smooth, it wasn't without its hiccups. Luckily. Blizzard is pretty quick to get errors addressed and fixed as soon as possible, which is why these hotfixes keep coming out at a regular rate.
From tweaks to various class mechanics to the encounters in the Firelands raid, the amount of information regarding these hotfixes has been pretty substantial. Rather than leave you to sift through weeks worth of hotfix posts, we've collected all hotfix information for patch 4.2 in one handy spot. You want a recap of everything that's been adjusted and changed in regards to the latest patch? Follow after the break for a complete compilation of patch 4.2 hotfixes.
From tweaks to various class mechanics to the encounters in the Firelands raid, the amount of information regarding these hotfixes has been pretty substantial. Rather than leave you to sift through weeks worth of hotfix posts, we've collected all hotfix information for patch 4.2 in one handy spot. You want a recap of everything that's been adjusted and changed in regards to the latest patch? Follow after the break for a complete compilation of patch 4.2 hotfixes.
General
- Characters should no longer randomly suffer falling damage.
- An issue has been corrected that would cause players to lose their progress towards Veteran of the Horde II, Veteran of the Alliance II, Warbringer of the Horde, or Warbound Veteran of the Alliance if Veteran of the Horde or Veteran of the Alliance were complete.
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Druids
- Feral druids can now use Skull Bash in the Firelands raid. It only seems fair.
- It is no longer possible to cancel Lunar Shower by right-clicking the buff, or canceling it via a macro.
- Starfall is no longer hitting targets that are within 40 yards if they are not in combat with the druid or his/her party/raid members. It is targeting all hostile characters in combat with the druid's party/raid members, is not hitting Stealth characters, is not breaking crowd control effects, and is not targeting nearby critters.
- Faerie Fire and Faerie Fire (Feral) will now remove Stealth, Invisibility, Vanish, Shadowmeld and Prowl from players.
- Rake should again be able to trigger Primal Fury.
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Hunters
- All of the Hunter-centric rare spawns in Mount Hyjal and Molten Front are now immune to both Distracting Shot and Taunt.
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Mages
- When using Spellsteal on a shaman, Lava Flows will no longer be given to the mage as a buff. The buff, however, will be removed from the shaman.
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Priests
- The Flash Heal from Surge of Light will now correctly activate Chakra.
- The heal-over-time effect from the Glyph of Prayer of Healing now will correctly apply to targets that are within 30 yards of the target of Prayer of Healing, but over 40 yards away from the priest.
- Channeled spells are no longer being interrupted if cast immediately after Shadowfiend.
- Shadowfiend is now causing the casting priest to enter combat when cast on enemy players.
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Rogues
- Sap is no longer placing the rogue in combat when he/she is visible and the target is sapped.
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Shaman
- A Fulmination critical strike for more than 30,000 damage (10-player) or 45,000 damage (25-player) should now properly interrupt Rageface's Face Rage in the Firelands.
- When Lava Flows is stolen by a mage via Spellsteal, the mage will no longer gain the Lava Flows buff.
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Warlocks
- Warlocks will no longer fall through pillars in Ring of Valor if the pillar is moving when the player uses Demonic Circle: Teleport.
- Pets should no longer be attacking new targets at random while a player is under the effects of any crowd control.
- Characters should no longer disconnect or receive movement enforcement errors when certain spells, abilities, or item effects are used while on moving transports.
- Combat pets should no longer aggro creatures while the player is mounted.
- Pet Defensive stance will no longer cause the pet to assist the player while a vanity pet is active.
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Dungeon Finder
- It is no longer possible for two separate guild groups with less than five players each to be matched with any other groups or players in the queue from the same guild.
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Baradin Hold
- The Eye of Occu'thar shared cooldown on Focused Fire has been increased, while eye health has been decreased.
- Eye of Occu'thar damage and health is now properly scaled for 10- and 25-player versions of the dungeon.
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Blackwing Descent
- Atramedes's Sonar Pulses are properly moving toward raid members when spawned underneath him.
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Blackwing Lair
- All Brood Affliction debuffs applied by Chromaggus are now removed after zoning out of Blackwing Lair.
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Firelands
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Ragnaros
- Molten Elementals can no longer be knocked back while having the Molten Power buff. Molten Elemental move speed has also been decreased by 15% on Heroic difficulty. These adjustments will require a realm restart to take effect.
- Several locations which could be used to avoid damage from Engulfing Flames have been adjusted so they're no longer safe spots.
- Combustible will always be reapplied to Living Meteors, even if the attacking character dies as a Meteor Impact occurs.
- Living Meteors will now become frozen by Cenarius under all conditions when transitioning into phase 4 on Heroic difficulty.
- If a Living Meteor is frozen in the lava pool during the transition into phase 4 on Heroic difficulty, it will teleport on a player after the stun ends, but will no longer explode immediately. Players now have a 2-second window to escape the meteor's melee range.
- Living Meteors will gain the Living Meteor Transform buff once frozen in the Breadth of Frost trap, even if a meteor is knocked into it.
- If a Living Meteor's fixated target drops aggro via Feign Death, the meteor will target the pet, and then select a new non-pet target upon which to fixate.
- Ragnaros now enrages after 18 minutes in all raid difficulties and sizes, up from 15 minutes.
- Molten Elementals are no longer able to critically hit players.
- The responsiveness of the Molten Power ability has been increased on Heroic difficulty.
- Living Meteors no longer evade and return to their spawn point when their original target dies or uses a threat drop. They will instead choose a new target.
- The Sons of Flame can no longer be missed by melee attacks and abilities.
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Baleroc
- Baleroc's health has been increased on 10-player Heroic difficulty.
- Baleroc's gate now despawns properly when he resets.
- Shards of Torment despawn when Baleroc resets even if they are spawned after Baleroc has despawned.
- Death knight Bloodworms are no longer removing stacks of Torment when they explode to heal other players.
- Baleroc's gate will now properly unlock itself again after a wipe, even if Shannox is still alive.
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Shannox
- Successful attacks on Rageface will now always be critical strikes while he is channeling Face Rage.
- Players on the legendary quest Delegation should now be able to get the Dull Emberstone Focus charge off of Shannox's spear more easily, so long as it's placed within 50 yards of the spear.
- Shannox will now rotate when appropriate instead of moving to get in range of his target while being tanked.
- Shannox will always use Hurl Spear after a raid wipes, even if Riplimb collapsed just prior to the group wiping.
- Rageface's Face Rage is now slightly less rageful, as the increase of the rate of damage per tick has been reduced.
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Alysrazor
- Voracious Hatchlings will now Imprint on a new target if their current target dies.
- Blazing Talon Clawshapers and Blazing Initiates cannot be interacted with any longer prior to them shifting to human form.
- The Molten Feather power bar is now reappearing when appropriate.
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Lord Rhyolith
- Rhyolith is now slightly easier to turn in 10-player mode.
- Lord Rhyolith can now be quickly snapped from left to right, or right to left, if the appropriate amount of damage is dealt to the opposite foot.
- Lord Rhyolith now prefers to activate volcanoes that are in front of him over volcanoes that are behind him.
- Lord Rhyolith now spawns slightly further back on his platform, allowing players to stand on the edge of the terrain and not aggro him.
- Lord Rhyolith no longer despawns when reaching the end of the encounter area, and does not despawn when casting Drink Magma from any of the possible locations.
- Lord Rhyolith now summons in volcanoes when intended, and it is no longer possible for the first set of volcanoes to be ignored.
- Concussive Stomp damage has been increased on Heroic difficulty.
- Eruption now increases fire damage taken by 5% per stack, down from 10%.
- The Eruption debuff is now cleared when transitioning into phase 2 of the fight.
- Multiple volcanoes casting Eruption will now create separate stacks. Crushing a volcano will cause its stacks of Eruption to fade shortly after.
- Ranged pets can no longer damage Lord Rhyolith's legs without beginning the encounter.
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Majordomo Fandral Staghelm
- Flame Scythe now properly hits pets.
- Fandral can now cast Searing Seeds and Burning Orbs while moving.
- Majordomo Staghelm has had his health increased by 10% on Heroic difficulty.
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Beth'tilac
- Beth'tilac and her offspring now have increased health and damage on Heroic difficulty.
- Beth'tilac's trash will no longer respawn after she has been killed.
- Cinderweb Drones will now add threat to players on the bottom floor (below the web) and not give any threat to players above the web.
- The Widow's Kiss will now ignore immunities, including Divine Shield and Anti-Magic Shell.
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Creatures
- Cinderweb Spiderlings no longer drop any loot and their health is restored to full after players exit combat.
- The Flame Archon range of Fiery Torment has dramatically increased.
- Flamewaker Subjugator, Flamewaker Animator, and Unstable Magma health has been reduced. Flamewaker Subjugator damage has been increased for 25-player raids.
- The damage-over-time effect from the Hell Hound ability Rend Flesh now stacks up to 5 times, down from 10.
- Molten Flamefathers had too much health in 10-player mode, and too little health in 25-player mode. This has been corrected.
- Surger damage dealt by Surge has been reduced.
- Unbound Blazing Elementals now have a greatly reduced chance to drop epic items and crafting recipes. They also drop less gold.
- Unbound Pyrelords can properly target banished/cycloned Smoldering Elementals with Ignite Elemental. In addition, Ignite Elemental cannot be interrupted.
- Unbound Pyrelord health has increased, while Unbound Smoldering Elemental health has decreased.
- Neither the Sulfuron Span nor Shatterstone volcano are able to be affected by the siege damage done by a Saronite Bomb.
- The rate at which crafting recipes drop has been greatly reduced.
- The stationary Hell Hound pack at the front of the dungeon should no longer cause players to become stuck in combat.
- There are now fewer Hell Hounds before Beth'tilac, making the engagement a little less... hellish.
- Creatures linked to Shannox will now respawn every 4 hours until he is killed, up from 2 hours.
- The aggro radius on the third pack of Hells Hounds on the way to Beth'tilac has been reduced.
- Unstable Pyrelords now have an active stealth detection aura present when the gauntlet is triggered which prevents stealth classes from traversing up the hill undetected.
- The Ancient Lava Dweller can no longer be looted by engineers with the Loot-A-Rang.
- Unbound Pyrelords are no longer casting Ignite Elemental on the same target. All Unbound Smoldering Elementals should now be changed to Unbound Blazing Elementals by the time the pyrelord dies.
- The Unbreakable Shell buff present on Unbound Smoldering Elementals now reduces damage received by 50%, down from 90%.
- Unbound Smoldering Elementals are now correctly resetting and are no longer retaining Blazing Flame when they leave combat.
- Heroic difficulty has been activated and is accessible in all regions.
- Pet corpses, guardians, and placed items should no longer provoke Engorged Broodlings to a premature detonation.
- The pack of creatures fighting each other around Flamewaker Beast Handlers will stop fighting each other and attack the raid once provoked.
- Flamewaker Subjugators now award 50 reputation, up from 15, while Flamewaker Animators award no reputation or loot.
- The aggro radius on the third pack of Hells Hounds on the way to Beth'tilac has been reduced.
- Unstable Pyrelords now have an active stealth detection aura present when the gauntlet is triggered which prevents stealth classes from traversing up the hill undetected.
- Fiery Blood from Fire Scorpions now only affects other Fire Scorpions and Giant Fire Scorpions.
- Fire Turtles should no longer keep players in combat after their pack is killed.
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Ragnaros
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Zul'Drak
- Players are again successfully able to complete the quest Betrayal.
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Zul'Gurub
- High Priest Venoxis and Zanzil have had the damage of many of their spells and abilities reduced.
- Cauldron of Battle and Big Cauldron of Battle no longer lose flask charges from repeated clicks when players already have one in their inventory.
- Eternal Embers dropped in the Firelands raid now bind when picked up. Master Looters are only able to give Eternal Embers to players who are on the quest All-Seeing Eye.
- Paladin tier 12 2-piece set bonus: It should no longer be possible to get a double proc of Flames of the Faithful.
- Many item procs were not being triggered properly by melee auto attacks after a hotfix made yesterday. This has been corrected.
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Holiday Rewards
- Satchel of Chilled Goods, Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest, Heart-Shaped Box, and Loot-Filled Pumpkin will no longer remain in character inventory once the associated holiday is over. Players must loot the items from these caches before the corresponding holiday ends. More information can be found here.
- Alliance and Horde Guild Battle Standards cannot be used inside the Firelands raid.
- Both Faldren Tillsdale and Jamus'Vaz (Valor Point vendors) now display items grouped together in the following manner: rings, necks, bracers, relics, ranged weapons, thrown weapons, then tier sets.
- The Severed Visionary Tentacle is no longer infinitely applying to characters.
- The Heroic and normal versions of the crossbows Arbalest of Erupting Fury and Lava Bolt Crossbow no longer have identical stats.
- Jamus'Vaz and Faldren Tillsdale are once again offering players Conquest Points in exchange for Valor Points.
- Normal and Heroic versions of Deflecting Star now correctly bind when picked up.
- Eternal Embers are now epic quality.
- Normal and Heroic versions of Pauldrons of Roaring Flame now have mastery rating instead of hit rating.
- Ruthless, Vicious, and Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Clasps of Cruelty have had their Stamina values increased to remain consistent with equivalent belts. Note that the tooltip will require a patch to update.
- Riplimb's Lost Collar seemed to truly be lost. This item now properly has a chance to drop from select creatures.
- Several Ruthless Gladiator's items have had their Stamina values increased to more appropriate levels.
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Arenas
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The Ring of Valor
- There is no longer a 6-second delay on the rising of the pillars after the match has begun.
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The Ring of Valor
- It is no longer possible to complete some daily quests more than once a day by turning them in during a small window before the standard reset time.
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Elemental Bonds Quest Chain
- Aggra's bubble is now significantly larger and has a sparkle effect, making it easier for players to locate her when on the quest Elemental Bonds: Desire.
- Players should be able to see Therazane and turn in the quest Into Constant Earth while at any stage of Deepholm progression without issue.
The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new tier 12 armor!





Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Shoryl Jul 19th 2011 10:06AM
There's downtime today. It should be in process, as a matter of fact. Unlike the normal insanely early downtime, it's even earlier today. (Makes me a sad panda, because I can normally get my pre-work time in and get booted right as I'm supposed to get up and put on the dress shirt to head to work, but today there was no morning WoW.)
nosoup4u76 Jul 19th 2011 9:28AM
Possibly a dumb question, but here goes... Is there some place that Blizz announces the "scheduled" maintenance other than the tweet announcement 4 hours prior to downtime? I usually assume that Tuesday is equal to downtime, but as someone with an IT background, extended maintenance announced at the last minute is generally not acccepted unless it's to address an emergency.
Also, have to say that I love the tweet this time. Just a notification of when it starts. Guess someone decided they didn't like all the angry responses to the fact they went so far over their deadline last week.
Let me say, I'm sure that Blizz's engineers are working hard to get the servers back up, but they really need to follow some best practices for their field. I think timely notifications (instead of being 30 minutes late delivering them) would go a long way to easing some of the frustrations that are displayed on the forums
gewalt Jul 19th 2011 10:08AM
yes, maintenance is scheduled to be 8 hours long every Tuesday. This has been the case for over 5 years now.
some days, maintenance is shorter, or not needed and cancelled altogether, the announcement is usually made just before it was scheduled to start. There are many good reasons for this and I'm not going to list them all out for you, but the primary reason is that they just don't know. Even if they didn't think they needed to do anything major serverside, something could come up monday night. If they announced on monday that servers would be playable tuesday, the community would RAGEFACE at blizzard if they changed their mind and needed to go down tuesday after all.
It's better for blizzard to just say that tuesday is reserved and leave it at that.
Swifteye Jul 19th 2011 10:26AM
@gewalt
I've been playing for about 2.5 years, and in that entire time, the VAST majority of the maintenances were 5-11am, six hours. There *were* a small handful of 3-11am maintenances, but they certainly weren't anywhere near the norm.
Why are so many people saying they're "always" eight hours? They are almost always six hours, and eight *quite* rarely... just sayin'.
(I work graveyard shift and thus always play in the morning, as it is "my" evening... so I am always keenly aware of maintenance times, as they effectively cost me a full day of WoW nearly every week... *shrug*)
Zapwidget Jul 19th 2011 11:36AM
I'd link you to the forum, but it's, uhm, under maintenance at the moment. Anyway, the Realm Status forum will typically have an announcement posted. The time varies but it's usually a good day or so prior. The post will also show up at your login screen in a text box in your upper left corner.
onq Jul 19th 2011 9:43AM
when are they gonna fix the tab targetting bug
Pocky Jul 19th 2011 9:57AM
This 100x! I thought it was my mouse that was crazy! Nice to know it's not just me.
Cos Jul 19th 2011 10:14AM
Good lord, I couldn't agree more. Can't count how many times I've been tanking corpses since the patch, can't wait til they fix that one. It's not quite as bad as Wrath's "if you move, everything will run BEHIND you and /daze" bug, but it's still pretty obnoxious.
Philster043 Jul 19th 2011 10:44AM
So it's a bug. I should have known.
Jayjay Jul 19th 2011 10:57AM
They are aware of it anda fix should be sometime *soon* (tm)
And yes, its very very annoying to be using all your CDs on what you discover too late is a corpse..
gewalt Jul 19th 2011 10:59AM
@cos: I still have bosses/mobs/critters/penpals running BEHIND me every time I strafe to reposition. as a non-rage based tank, it makes me RAGE irl every single time.
I have developed a habit of always taking a few steps backwards after every strafe now just to compensate for this behavior, but honestly, it shouldn't be needed.
@onq: I believe blizzard said there were several bugs causing the problem and they didn't feel the need to expedite them, so don't expect it to get fixed in a timely manner.
Pocky Jul 19th 2011 9:56AM
I'm confused. A lot of those were mentioned as being in a hot fix a while back already. Didn't they fix most of those issues? I particularly remember the one putting my Rogue in combat with a sapped target being fixed.
Outis Jul 19th 2011 10:02AM
Pocky, this is a recap of all the hotfixes that have been implemented since 4.2 hit.
Pocky Jul 19th 2011 10:33AM
Ah... makes sense now. I have to quit reading this stuff as soon as I get up, and before coffee.
Brain... not.. working...
Joe Jul 20th 2011 11:45AM
So is there maintenance EVERY Tuesday for this long?
Infinite Duck Jul 19th 2011 10:38AM
Still on track for the freebie honor for those who bought the season 9 honor gear before they replaced it a week later? I don't see anything in the patch notes, and while I'm not one of those players who is screaming "^@!!! I wasted so much honor on the season 9 gear!!!" I still like the idea of getting some of that honor I spent back. 4k isn't enough to replace the 4/5 season 9 pieces I picked up, but I still like free honor. (I was 200 honor short for the chest, and bought it the next morning after a random bg... only it's season 10... so my warlock is yellow/green with a blue/purple chest. Reminds me of bc... clashing armor is in again!)
And for those who say "Just grind it back" It was av weekend. The easiest and best time to gain honor in huge sums. I think I got about 14k that weekend.
noel mcleod Jul 19th 2011 11:50AM
So much this. As Alliance, I won 12 out of 14 BGs on my main PvP toon and at least another half-dozen on my alts. (I usually win at best 50% unless I am lucky enough to fall in with a group consistently requeueing that can work together). That weekend was awesome, so the screwup was even more of a letdown.
I am now 4 slots away from a full Vicious set, that 4K would do a lot for me to finish it. (An arena partner or RBG team would be better, but THOSE are few and far between on my server).
Necromus Jul 19th 2011 3:24PM
Beware that contrary to Blizzards claim that starfall is not hitting CC. It is indeed hitting things CC'd by frost traps at least in Firelands.
discfor1 Jul 19th 2011 3:49PM
Any word on whether the disappearing Oracle eggs have been fixed?
VioletArrows Jul 19th 2011 2:08PM
I'm not sure what you mean; I bought an egg last week and it hatched (into yolks -_-* ) just fine.