Alterations for Hunters and Blackfathom Deeps - Season of Discovery

Blizzard has implemented a series of adjustments to the Season of Discovery Hotfixes, set to go live during the upcoming realm maintenance on December 12. These additional changes aim to enhance the overall gameplay experience by addressing certain issues and improving the balance within the game. Let's take a closer look at the latest hotfixes:

Hunter Adjustments

• Updates to Pet Attack Values

Blizzard developers have made updates to the attack values of Hunter pets in order to ensure a better scaling with Hunter attack power. Previously, pets that relied on casting spells, such as Scorpid Poison or Lightning Breath, were scaling too well, while those that used physical abilities were scaling too little. In an effort to normalize the amount of attack power gained, Blizzard has adjusted the scaling to align with the focus cost of individual pet abilities. This means that abilities with a higher focus cost, used less frequently, will now receive more benefit from attack power per attack compared to abilities with a lower focus cost that can be utilized more often. These changes are expected to level out the damage and reduce situations where certain abilities were either scaling too much or too little with hunter attack power. Furthermore, substantial improvements have been made to the way Scorpid Poison distributes additional damage, ensuring a more even spread across each stack on the target. Previously, the first stack of Scorpid Poison received most of its benefit from the Hunter's attack power. However, the revised mechanic now withholds the additional damage gained from the controlling hunter until all 5 stacks of poison are applied to the target. This adjustment introduces a ramp-up time, making it less immediately deadly in PvP scenarios.

• Pet Durability

Blizzard's development team recognized that Hunter pets were gaining excessive durability from hunter stats, resulting in certain pets having more than double the health and armor of a well-geared level 25 player. Although it is important for dedicated hunters to have the ability to tank specific dungeon and raid encounters, it was necessary to address this imbalance. As a solution, Blizzard has introduced adjustments to reduce the portion of a hunter's armor and stamina that is transferred to their pets. While this change ensures that pets remain effective for tanking purposes, it prevents them from becoming the universally superior choice.

• Redesigned Aspect of the Lion

Aspect of the Lion has undergone a complete redesign and now functions as an Aura. This means that hunters can now have Aspect of the Lion active simultaneously with another aspect, such as Aspect of the Hawk. This alteration serves as a counterbalance to the reduced damage output of certain hunter pets. To further incentivize hunters to use Aspect of the Lion, Blizzard has decided to shift it into an aura instead of an aspect. Players can expect this change to take effect during the scheduled weekly maintenance; however, the tooltip will not reflect this adjustment until a later hotfix, where the Aspect of the Lion will be renamed "Heart of the Lion" and the tooltip will be updated accordingly.

Blackfathom Deeps Adjustments

Blizzard has also made adjustments to Blackfathom Deeps, aiming to align the elemental resistances to levels more appropriate for a level 25 raid. Let's take a look at the specific changes:

By lowering the resistances of these elemental abilities, players can expect a more balanced and challenging experience within Blackfathom Deeps.

Conclusion

With these additional hotfixes, Blizzard aims to improve the gameplay experience for hunters and ensure a more balanced encounter within Blackfathom Deeps. By addressing the scaling and pet durability issues and aligning elemental resistances accordingly, players can look forward to an enhanced World of Warcraft experience. Stay tuned for more updates as Blizzard continues to fine-tune the game!