wow Official Details on Mythic+ Affix Changes and the New Prideful Affix

[Starym 3,800]

 

Today sees the start of some big Mythic+ testing on the Shadowlands beta, including all 8 dungeons, and Blizzard are talking about the ways in which M+ will be changing. We get new details on the old affixes being changed, with developer commentary for each, as well as the new Prideful affix:

M+ Affixes (source)

With the latest update to the Shadowlands Beta, we’re now testing:

• All eight Mythic Keystone Dungeons
• Changes to existing affixes
• The new Seasonal Affix: Prideful
  • “Players overflow with pride as they defeat non-boss enemies, eventually forming a Manifestation of Pride. Defeating this Manifestation greatly empowers players.”

Players on the Torghast Beta realm can speak with the Keystone Vendor in Oribos to acquire test Keystones for all available dungeons and affixes.

We’ve updated a number of existing affixes, with the goal of making them better fit with Shadowlands dungeons and adding more opportunities for class utility to shine.

• Bursting
  • Now a Magic effect that can be dispelled.
  • Damage is now a flat amount that scales with keystone level, rather than a % of players’ maximum health.
    • Developers’ notes: While % damage made this affix feel very consistent, it also led to an odd interaction where having more Stamina felt like a penalty instead of a bonus.
  • Volcanic
    • Damage is now a flat amount that scales with keystone level, rather than a % of players’ maximum health.
    • Added functionality: Players hit are now knocked high into the air.
      • Developers’ notes: As responsibility for this affix is often placed Healers, it felt appropriate to shift its emphasis from damage to disruption.
  • Sanguine
    • Duration reduced to 20 seconds (was 60 seconds)
      • Developers’ notes: While players have many options to deal with Sanguine, we recognize that it can feel rough in dungeons with many tight corridors. Reducing the duration of Sanguine pools should make their placement feel less restrictive in those dungeons (especially the aptly-named Sanguine Depths).
  • Grievous
    • Damage is now a flat amount that scales with keystone level, rather than a % of players’ maximum health.
    • Added Functionality: Non-periodic heals now remove 1 application of Grievous Wound.
      • Developers’ notes: This allows healers to more reliably triage the effect while dealing with heavy group damage, and adds more texture to the choice between fast and efficient heals.
  • Explosive
    • Now appear slightly farther away from enemies that summon them.
      • Developers’ notes: The goal here is to make Explosives easier to see and target, as they’re less likely to be directly on top of other enemies.

[Ravenclaw89 27]

Looks like a nerf for them... not complaining

[lucantini 0]

Looks like Bursting is not the bane of Disc Priests existence now. Quite the opposite actually. Priests can counter this affix perfectly with Mass Dispel. Huge buff to Priests in M+, they were definitely the healers that were the most lacking!

[Seksi 208]

Also, the way it reads suggests that the new Grievous is a nerf to resto druid (who now need to directly cast rather than just keeping everyone topped with heals over time) and a buff to direct healers such as .. resto shaman, who might be able to get off multiple stacks with a single chain heal cast. Good looking changes so far!

[Hintes 0]

great to know about new stuff!

[Whiterhino 31]

Very, very, very, very good changes. Love to see it. I can't wait 

[Perak 25]

10 hours ago, Seksi said:

Also, the way it reads suggests that the new Grievous is a nerf to resto druid (who now need to directly cast rather than just keeping everyone topped with heals over time) and a buff to direct healers such as .. resto shaman, who might be able to get off multiple stacks with a single chain heal cast. Good looking changes so far!

Not entirely ? even if stack is not reduced by HoT, nearly all druid HoT have initial healing which count and normal heal which remove one stack….so druids will still be fine ?

 

The way They change these affixes is realy nice, but lets see how it will work with our gear on highter keys as its not % dmg anymore . ? 

 

And the seasonal affix is prety interesting too ? , from how its looks and sound, i am interested how will the rest of seasonal affixes looks like as this looks like to be based on Covenants (now 4 seasons with 4season affixes...and here we go....4 covenants and first season affix is Prideful ? )

Edited August 21, 2020 by Perak

[Gortan 38]

I find one thing unclear with the new Grievous. Say a player is low and has 1 stack. He gets a direct heal and the debuff gets removed but the player isn't healed over 90% health. Now is the debuff gone for good, gone until the next hit or will it keep reappearing until the player gets healed over 90%? Can it even be removed with a direct heal if it's on it's last stack?

[Ulzorn 29]

1 minute ago, Gortan said:

I find one thing unclear with the new Grievous. Say a player is low and has 1 stack. He gets a direct heal and the debuff gets removed but the player isn't healed over 90% health. Now is the debuff gone for good, gone until the next hit or will it keep reappearing until the player gets healed over 90%? Can it even be removed with a direct heal if it's on it's last stack?

i guess it would be removed until he would have gained an extra stack,so about 2-3 seconds after

[STINKFIST87 7]

I like those changes it gives a well balanced group of good players a chance to counter Bursting and greavious rather then sitting back and praying to god you don’t die I never really felt they was too bad as long as you played a class with a heal but I welcome those good changes and hope for more

[Ragingwolf 310]

These changes seem very promising and flexible for multi class scenario setups.  Bursting in itself can be a nightmare if you don't know how to mitigate the stacks and how to use select skills/cooldowns to prevent one shotting yourself or your party.  In King's Rest I would tell the party to stay back while I would Arcane Torrent the first set of minions to dispel them and take the stacks, popping blur and darkness, along with a abyssal potion if I was in Havoc; Vengeance I would pop Demon Spikes and allow my Last Resort talent to take affect after the stacks go off.  You can also tell party members (if you have a DH in group) to stay in Darkness and pop a pot if you start seeing stacks reach past 5 to help the healer not feel so overwhelmed specially if they are new to level 10-15 keys.  This new one in Shadowlands is like a breath of fresh air and I'm looking forward to doing keys on my MW Monk with this affix and not feel mana drained during select big trash pulls.

I really like this new change to Grievous compared to what we deal with in BFA.  Taking passive ticking damage from the final Boss fight in Junkyard on a 14-17 key with Grievous can be a pain.  Specially for select healing classes that are very dependent on standing still to heal while the party is constantly moving during the pylon phases.

I love the short duration for Sanguine which helps ease the drop of puddles in tight closed off spaces if needed.  The new one for Explosive should be interesting and should be very easy for melee and range to spot and attack.  The new Volcanic I may have to adjust myself to a bit but should get the hang of it relatively quick.  

[Seksi 208]

On 8/21/2020 at 10:07 AM, Perak said:

Not entirely ? even if stack is not reduced by HoT, nearly all druid HoT have initial healing which count and normal heal which remove one stack….so druids will still be fine ?

 

The way They change these affixes is realy nice, but lets see how it will work with our gear on highter keys as its not % dmg anymore . ? 

 

And the seasonal affix is prety interesting too ? , from how its looks and sound, i am interested how will the rest of seasonal affixes looks like as this looks like to be based on Covenants (now 4 seasons with 4season affixes...and here we go....4 covenants and first season affix is Prideful ? )

Druid will always be fine, with their awesome toolkit, but this makes Shamans not as bad against Grievous, because usually chain heal does not top the target = current Grievous keeps going up and up..with new one even if you do not top the targets, the Grievous still comes off ? 

[Perak 25]

13 hours ago, Seksi said:

Druid will always be fine, with their awesome toolkit, but this makes Shamans not as bad against Grievous, because usually chain heal does not top the target = current Grievous keeps going up and up..with new one even if you do not top the targets, the Grievous still comes off ? 

Shamans in M+ dont use Chain heal much. It take 2much time to cast and dont heal much (with M+ talents most used). Main heal is Healing Surge which dont have problem to make 30-50% of your overall healing at the end of M+. Going for 1st HS, 2nd Riptide and 3rd going for Vitality Conduct / cloud burst totem. And i think , that the first 2 most will not change in SL...but we will see ?