wow Anchor Weed, Azerite Trait Scaling, Arcane Torrent GCD Blue Posts - September 24th

[Starym 3,800]

 

It's Monday so it's back to work for the devs, with several issues getting addressed over in the forums and on twitter. From an Anchor Weed harvesting buff, to Azerite traits in PvP getting increased damage when you lower your item level, as well as a long discussion on Arcane Torrent being on the GCD, there's a lot to cover.

We start with Anchor Weed and a hotfix is coming up that will increase the amount harvested at Ranks 2 and 3, easing the slightly insane prices of flasks etc. right now, in addition to the upcoming 8.1 recipe cost tweaks.

Anchor Weed (source)

Posted by Margirita
Yeah though. Considering time invested people are not asking unreasonable prices for these pots. Something is very wrong with the supply of herbs to the market.

Right now its the lack of Anchor Weed driving it all up.

We've got a current hotfix in the works that should address some of the right now problems by increasing the amount of Anchor Weed per gather for ranks 2 and 3.

In case anyone hasn't seen the datamining for 8.1, we're also looking at tweaking the recipe costs a little to bring the material cost of recipes requiring Anchor Weed down as well. This of course isn't final and could change, but just wanted to let you guys know that we're looking into these kinds of things.

The there's the pretty weird Azerite trait damage scaling up when the overall item level goes down:

Azerite Trait PvP Scaling (source)

Posted by Dccw

Credit to u/Narabug on Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldofpvp/comments/9hbnj4/tested_some_azerite_trait_scaling/

TLDR: Azerite trait dmg and healing scales inversely to your equipped iLVL. Traits with static numbers (not percentage based) will scale exponentially by lowering your equipped iLvL.

"PvP Scaling Magic" -
Damage - You become more balanced as you and your enemies iLvl are closer together. If your iLvl is significantly lower and your enemies is significantly higher, you will deal more and take less damage from them, and they will deal less and take more damage from you.

Healing - You will heal your teammates less if you lower your iLvl and they have a higher iLvl. However, they will be able to heal you significantly more in proportion to your total HP when your iLvl is low and the healers iLvl is high.

UPDATE:
Based on peoples testing it seems like the optimal gear setup would be -

Highest iLVL Azerite gear with triple stacked traits.
Low iLVL armor with the most gem sockets possible and most optimal secondary stats for your spec. Also, old world gear with special bonus effects on them.

The bonuses from lowering your iLvL seem to taper off once you get below 300 or above 370.

 

Hey guys!

There are indeed some issues that you guys have pointed out, which are in the process of being hotfixed. These have to do with Azerite gear slots (and gems) not being weighted in the system as much as they should, and bugs with lower level trinkets being usable at max level. As much fun as it is to relive Taunka Time, we will be working on getting these fixed up.

I've raised the cap on this thread so any further specific examples you guys have that haven't already mentioned would be great, as getting this resolved is a high priority at the moment. Thanks for all the examples so far.

Then there's a long discussion on Arcane Torrent and why it's on the GCD:

Arcane Torrent GCD (source)

Arcane Torrent is effectively a Mass Dispell/AoE Purge, as well as a free HP generation. I think it's pretty fair that one is on the GCD as its still very powerful.

Shadowmeld doesn't have near that much of an impact if you're comparing what the abilities actually do. I don't think the mentality should be "All Racials should be on or off GCD" but rather what they do individually that dictates that.

Of course the feedback is welcome but specific examples of why X or Y ability should be on or off is great as always.

...

Posted by Sifu
You don't think a VANISH that lets you escape from death every 2 minutes doesn't have as much impact?

When you're comparing the two abilities to each other, no. I think Arcane Torrent is far more powerful in both a PvE and PvP standpoint.

The ability for classes like Paladins to purge a buff, and generate a HP, in a singular global is very strong. Imagine that off the GCD and it becomes even stronger.

...

Game worked fine for 11 years with a much better Arcane Torrent off the GCD isn't specific enough?

I think you need to look in the context of what Arcane Torrent did originally. Since it was a Silence/Interrupt, it would be a little strange on the GCD as interrupts shouldn't be on the GCD. That's at is core is what the ability was made to used for, to silence. So it should be off.

Now with the rework since its more in line with a Purge, it should be on the GCD. I'm not the biggest fan of some of the GCD changes personally but I think the new Arcane Torrent is an example of something that definitely should be on the GCD.

...

Posted by Nexcoyotl
HP generation? Torrent only provides class resources like mana/runic power/energy. Kind of a shame how a blizz employee does not even know how the spell functions.

 

09/24/2018 12:41 PMPosted by Sifu
What HP generation? It generates a minuscule amount of resources that isn't even worth the 1.5s GCD it incurs. Unless there is something to dispel, it is worthess.

 

If you play Ret for example, it generates a Holy Power, which is a class resource for Ret. So if all your abilities are on CD waiting for the next ability, you can toss in Arcane Torrent if there is nothing to purge. Which equates to a free Holy Power every time it's up. This can save your Relentless Inquisitor, Inquisition, or Righteous Verdict, so that you can keep those buffs rolling. That's a lot of power for a racial ability.

There's a reason why its in the Ret opener, and mentioned in the overall rotation, for most if not all guides if you're a Blood Elf. It's small when compared to your regular class abilities but that's a pretty big for a racial.

09/24/2018 12:40 PMPosted by Dliver
Feel free to change it back whenever ?

I do find myself missing the AoE silence, but I actually prefer the newer version myself. I think it's a bit more of a niche being a purge and I think abilities like that can be pretty fun.

And finally, a reminder of when non-elite PvP ensembles will become available:

Ensembles for the non-Elite appearances will indeed be made available at a later date, but likely not immediately after the conclusion of that PvP season. https://t.co/DKKBOjadUk

— WarcraftDevs (@WarcraftDevs) September 24, 2018

[Rudy199 8]

''as well as a free HP generation''  You mean mana and other power generation not hp...

[Kickemman 3]

11 minutes ago, Rudy199 said:

''as well as a free HP generation''  You mean mana and other power generation not hp...

Holy Power is what he meant. I believe he was responding about ret pallies there

 

Edited September 25, 2018 by Kickemman

[Coldlight 1]

4 minutes ago, Kickemman said:

Holy Power is what he meant. I believe he was responding about ret pallies there

 

He/She is saying that HP meant to be Holy Power. People are just being ignorant know-it-all's and don't take the time to actually read what's being said, even the article thinks they are referring to HP when they are actually referring to Holy Power. They don't actually know what they are talking about, but guess what the Blizz Employee does.

[Hypersonic 119]

7 hours ago, Starym said:

We've got a current hotfix in the works that should address some of the right now problems by increasing the amount of Anchor Weed per gather for ranks 2 and 3.

Just to be clear this hotfix means it's come right now or we need to wait+-2 months until 8.1? Btw. really hope they are really thinking about tweaking down the recipes costs.

7 hours ago, Starym said:

I do find myself missing the AoE silence

Ahaha I still use sometimes and try to interrupt groups.

[Xavenir 1]

One big bullshit about Arcane Torrent which is 100% pointless racial, if you're not a paladin. Blizzard as always small indie company

[tkioz 229]

1 hour ago, Xavenir said:

One big bullshit about Arcane Torrent which is 100% pointless racial, if you're not a paladin. Blizzard as always small indie company

I don't know my raid is finding it rather usual on Zul and there are lots of placing an AoE purge is really handy in Mythic+ if you don't have a priest.

[Drachar 45]

If you think an AoE dispell is useless you have never done PvP or M+. It is worse then the previous version, no one is arguing that, but it is hardly useless.