Dragonflight Patch 10.1.5 Development Notes – Updates to Hybrid Healer, Mana Regen Nerfs

Hello! Here’s this week’s Fractures in Time PTR notes:

CLASSES

• Developers’ note: We’re continuing to playtest the mana economy for hybrids and feel the changes are not as limiting on off-healing as we’re intending with our upcoming changes, so we’re making some adjustments to all specializations affected by our changes.
• DRUID
  • Balance
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
  • Feral
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
  • Guardian
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
• EVOKER
  • Scarlet Adaptation stores 40% more total power.
  • The amount of damage Scarlet Adaptation adds to Living Flame now matches the amount stated in the tooltip. For Devastation, this damage will still be amplified by Mastery: Giantkiller based on the target’s remaining health.
  • Augmentation
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
  • Devastation
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
  • Preservation
    • Vault of the Incarnates 2-set bonus has been adjusted – Now increases Reversion’s healing by 35% instead of increasing its critical healing chance by 25%.
• MAGE
  • Arcane
    • Arcane Barrage damage increased by 6% and no longer has a 3 second cooldown.
    • Resonance now increases Arcane Barrage damage by 12% per target hit (was 15%).
    • Arcane Explosion damage reduced by 6%.
    • Arcane Orb damage reduced by 6%.
  • Fire
    • Pyroblast damage increased by 4%.
    • Ignite damage increased by 3%.
    • Fireball damage increased by 4%.
    • Intensifying Flames is now implemented.
  • Frost
    • Ice Lance damage increased by 8%.
    • Flurry damage reduced by 6%.
    • Cryopathy now highlights Ray of Frost’s icon when at max stacks.
    • Chain Reaction now increases Ice Lance damage per stack by 2% (was 1%).
    • Brain Freeze increases the damage of your next Flurry by 50% (was 65%).
    • Slick Ice now reduces Frostbolt’s cast time and damage by 4% (was 2%). Maximum stacks reduced to 5 (was 10).
      • Developer’s note: This change is not in this week’s PTR deploy and will be in a future build.
    • Coldest Snap has been updated to require you hit 3 or more enemies to reset cooldowns and apply Winter’s Chill.
      • Developers’ note: Coldest Snap was intended to be an impactful capstone to enhance Frost’s AoE capabilities. However it was also proving to be very strong in single target which added unnecessary complexity to Frosts rotation when combined with the other updated/reworked talents. We have opted to change its functionality slightly so you only get it’s benefits when you are hitting 3 or more enemies.
      • This change is not in this week’s PTR deploy and will be in a future build.
    • Ebonbolt has been removed from the talent tree.
      • Developers’ note: After some consideration we have decided to remove Ebonbolt from the talent tree. In 10.1.5 Frost has seen a few talent updates to make existing abilities more viable in single target which in turn increased the complexity of Frost. While some added complexity in the single target rotation can be a nice option it felt like Ebonbolt was tipping things a little too much in the wrong direction.
      • This change is not in this week’s PTR deploy and will be in a future build.
• MONK
  • Brewmaster
    • The following changes have been made to Press the Advantage:
      • Second charge of Keg Smash no longer consumed by bonus casts.
      • Face Palm’s value is now correctly reduced when triggered by bonus casts.
  • Windwalker
    • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible 2-set bonus now has as caster-only visual.
• PALADIN
  • Holy
    • Light of Dawn healing reduced by 18% (was 10%).
    • Tyr’s Deliverance healing increased by 25% (was 40%).
    • Blessed Focus increases the healing of Glimmer of Light by 25%.
    • Awakening is now a 1 point talent.
    • Awakening now stacks up to 12 times (was 10/20).
    • Sanctified Wrath has moved to a choice node with Awakening.
    • Aura of Mercy healing increased by 50%.
    • Aura of Mercy now increases its healing by 50% while Aura Mastery is active (was 100%).
    • Merciful Auras/Blessing of Seasons and Awakening/Sanctified Wrath have swapped locations.
    • Glimmer of Light’s damage increased by 700% (was 850%).
    • Glimmer of Light healing increased by 360% (was 400%).
    • Beacon of Light transfers 25% of all healing done (was 30%).
    • Beacon of Virtue can target 4 additional allies (was 3).
    • Beacon of Virtue now costs 4% base mana (was 2%).
      • Developers’ note: We are increasing the target count of Beacon of Virtue and increasing its mana cost with the goal of this spell being a way to trade mana efficiency for throughput.
  • Protection
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
  • Retribution
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
• PRIEST
  • Holy
    • Fixed an issue causing Holy Word: Salvation to appear in the wrong Spell Book.
  • Shadow
    • Fixed an issue causing Halo to sometimes appear twice in the Spell Book.
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
• SHAMAN
  • Resolved an issue causing Nature’s Guardian to sometimes trigger before its intended health threshold.
  • Elemental
    • Lava Bursts are no longer fired at enemies affected by breakable crowd control when triggered by Deeply Rooted Elements or Primordial Wave. If the Shaman’s primary target is in breakable crowd control when casting a Lava Burst that triggers either Primordial Wave or Deeply Rooted Elements, the additional Lava Burst will still fire.
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
  • Enhancement
    • Lightning Bolts are no longer fired at enemies affected by breakable crowd control when triggered by Primordial Wave. If the Shaman’s primary target is in breakable crowd control when casting a Lightning Bolt that triggers Primordial Wave, the additional Lightning Bolt will still fire.
    • Area of effect damage from a Deeply Rooted Elements proc will no longer damage nearby enemies in breakable crowd control.
    • Mana regeneration is now 1% per second (was 1.3%).
  • Restoration
    • All healing increased by 3%.
      • Developers’ note: Ancestral Guidance’s functionality is being adjusted in Fractures in Time and we are expecting this to be a slight overall healing loss. We are compensating this by increasing all healing for Restoration Shaman.

ITEMS AND REWARDS

• Self-damage from Vessel of Searing Shadow and Neltharion’s Call to Suffering no longer breaks stealth and is less likely to interrupt other actions.
• PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER
  • Field Medic’s Hazard Payout now contains a new item: Medal of Conquest. Medal of Conquest is a bind-on-account item that awards 30 Conquest on use.
  • Field Medic’s Hazard Payout now has a higher drop rate of Medals of Honor.
    • Developers’ note: We’re adding additional healer incentives to players queueing for Solo Shuffle as we’ve seen a lot of great feedback from the community that queue times for non-healer roles are too long. Updating the Field Medic Hazard Payout rewards is the first step we’re taking to make Solo Shuffle more appealing for healer specializations and we’re going to be keeping an eye on how it plays out for future patches, in addition to potentially exploring additional gameplay and rewards changes for healers specializations in Solo Shuffle.

PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER

• EVOKER
  • Augmentation
    • Ebon Might increases the Augmentation Evoker’s damage by 20% (was 14%) in PvP. In battlegrounds, damage is increased by 14% (was 10%).
    • Born in Flame increases the max stacks of Burnout to 3.
• PRIEST
  • The absorb shield from Purification is now dispellable.
  • The increased healing taken buff from Divine Hymn is no longer dispellable.
  • Power Word: Life can no longer heal battleground vehicles.

USER INTERFACE AND ACCESSIBILITY

• Updated the rested animation in the Unit Frame.