wow How Will the Pre-patch Mythic+ Affix Nerfs Play Out?

[Starym 3,800]

 

The pre-patch is finally less than a day away and among the many changes it's bringing are significant nerfs to 5 affixes. Bursting, Explosive, Grievous, Sanguine and  Volcanic were affected and Raider.IO's Dratnos took a look at them and gave some thoughts on how those changes will play out in the pre-patch and change the way players approach them, including potential flying around on Volcanic's dime.

First off, here are the actual changes to the 5 affixes coming tomorrow/Wednesday:

Affix Nerfs (source)

 DUNGEONS AND RAIDS

• Mythic Keystone Dungeon Affixes
  • Bursting
    • Bursting is now a dispellable Magic debuff.
    • Bursting deals a flat amount of damage instead of a percentage based off of max HP.
  • Volcanic
    • Players are now knocked in the air when hit by Volcanic.
    • Volcanic now deals damage equal to 15% of the player’s health (was 40%).
  • Sanguine
    • Sanguine's duration reduced to 20 seconds (was 60 seconds).
  • Grievous
    • Non-periodic heals now removes 1 stack of Grievous.
    • Grievous now deals a flat amount of damage instead of a percentage based off of max HP.
  • Explosive
    • Explosive Orbs now spawn 4 to 8 yards from the unit that summoned them (was 3 yards).
    • Explosive Orb health has been reduced and no longer scales with keystone level.
    • Explosive Orbs now have a sound effect when defeated.

Mythic+ expert and veteran MDI and RWF caster Dratnos took a look at the changes and explained their impact on the meta. Here are two highlights, but be sure to check out the Raider.IO article for the rest.

Quote

Grievous

Grievous' changes should make that awful feeling of being unable to save someone from the DoT despite many globals of healing a thing of the past. This affix is also getting the flat scaling treatment, which should help healers out in lower level keys. During pre-patch, with our high levels of gear, this affix should feel dramatically easier at almost any level, though early in Shadowlands expect the damage to feel much nastier until we reach high levels of gear again.

Volcanic
Volcanic now does a LOT less up-front damage, though there will be some fall damage associated with getting hit. The big effect of the knockup will be the end of the days of standing still and intentionally getting hit while telling your healer to heal you so that you can keep casting. Be on the lookout for some degenerate new skip strategies developing around the idea of intentionally getting hit by Volcanoes to serve as a launch pad.

Source.

[Whiterhino 31]

so happy to see these changes

[Baharok 234]

Maybe its a bit harsh, but:

 

I learned to use the Sugar-Crusted Fish Feast of DMF a long time ago and if all in the group used it together with the healer, the healer could restore mana and all lose the debuff from eating the feast, since it restores health and mana the double amount than mage cookies. At least on higher levels this became a thing. I just never understood why people refused to use it, even when i combined it with  a macro to chat or a worldmark when i put it up as tank. When i asked people why they would refuse to use it (even with explanation that the healer would be full mana, whille we still lose the debuff and this way we would win alot of time) i got comments like "wth it only gives a tiny amount of versatility, thats total crap"...

Edited October 13, 2020 by Baharok