Upcoming Patch 10.2 PTR - Adjustments to Healing Classes and Enhancements for Shadow Priests

Greetings, fellow gamers! Today, we have some exciting news from Blizzard. They have just announced the upcoming Patch 10.2 class tuning hotfixes for the PTR. In this patch, there will be some significant changes to healer tuning, and one class, in particular, will be getting more nerfs. Brace yourselves, Disc Priests! Let's dive into the details of these changes and what they mean for the game.

Class Changes

• Demon Hunter - Vengeance

Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible (4) Set Bonus will now require 60 souls to trigger Recrimination, instead of the previous requirement of 20 souls. Additionally, the duration of Fiery Brand applied by this Set Bonus has been reduced to 3 seconds from 6 seconds.

• Monk - Mistweaver

• The damage of Blackout Kick has been increased by 15%. However, this change does not apply in PvP combat.
• Tiger Palm's damage has been increased by 50%, excluding PvP combat.
• Spinning Crane Kick's damage has been buffed by 5%.
• Faeline Stomp's healing and damage have been increased by 150%, up from 100%.
• Ancient Teachings of the Monastery can now stack up to 4 times, instead of its previous limit of 3 stacks.
• Essence Font now heals 5 targets, down from 6, but its overall healing has been increased by 40%.

The developers have stated that the changes to Essence Font are not meant to heavily push it into the rotation in Guardians of the Dream. However, the healing output has fallen behind, and this adjustment will help Faeline Stomp's initial heal feel more impactful.

• Paladin - Holy

• Healing has been reduced by 8%, compared to the previous 5% reduction.
• Holy Prism's healing has been increased by 40%.
• Blessing of Sacrifice now splits 20% of all damage, down from the previous 30%.

• Priest - Discipline

The developers have acknowledged that the previous damage reduction pass on Discipline Priest was not enough to bring it closer in line with other healers. Therefore, they have implemented further damage reductions that should make Discipline Priest more comparable to other healing classes while still retaining its ability to deal reasonably high damage.

• Sins of the Many now increases damage by 20%, down from the previous 40%.
• Atonement now heals for 40% of damage done, increased from the previous 35%.

• Priest - Holy

A few fixes have been made to Holy Priests. Holy Word: Sanctify will now hit 5 targets instead of the erroneous 6. Symbol of Hope has been adjusted to reduce the cooldown of major defensives by 30 seconds, instead of the previous 40 seconds. Lastly, the Proc chance for Amirdrassil, the Dream's Hope (4) Set Bonus has been reduced by 10%.

• Priest - Shadow

Shadow Priests will see a damage increase for Shadow Word: Pain, increasing it by 17%. The same goes for Shadow Apparition, with a 17% damage increase. Vampiric Touch will receive a 25% damage boost. Additionally, the Amirdrassil, the Dream's Hope (4) Set Bonus will now increase the initial damage of your next cast of Shadow Word: Pain by 225%, up from the previous 200%. All these changes, however, do not apply in PvP combat.

• Shaman - Restoration

All healing done by Restoration Shaman has been increased by 3%. Additionally, the Amirdrassil, the Dream's Hope (4) Set Bonus has been adjusted to increase the healing of Riptide by 25% (up from 20%) and now has a 6% chance to create a new Riptide (previously 5%).

Conclusion

These upcoming Patch 10.2 class tuning hotfixes bring some much-needed changes to the healer tuning, with a particular focus on Disc Priests. While some classes will see their damage reduced, these adjustments aim to bring the classes closer in line with each other and create a more balanced gameplay experience. As always, it's exciting to see how these changes will impact the game and how players will adapt to them. Good luck in your healing endeavors, and may the buffs be ever in your favor!