Hotfixes Include Dungeon Finder, Hunter Changes

UPDATE: Blizzard posted the following update on Feb. 19: "The changes to Aimed Shot and Aspect of the Hawk announced yesterday have not yet been applied to live realms and should not go into effect until after the holiday weekend."

Blizzard has posted its latest round of World of Warcraft hotfixes, and this batch includes some noteworthy changes for the Dungeon Finder and hunters. Here are the highlights:

  • Blizzard already discussed the Dungeon Finder/Vote Kick changes, which are an attempt to "reduce some undesirable behavior and annoyances" when using the feature. These changes will require realm restarts to take effect.
  • Hunter Aimed Shot damage has been decreased to approximately 160% weapon damage (at level 80+), down from 200%. Also, Aspect of the Hawk now provides around an additional 2000 attack power at level 85.
  • For priests, Body and Soul no longer reduces the mana cost of Power Word: Shield (the hotfix made on February 16 to provide this additional benefit has been reverted).
  • For warriors, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization (Arms passive) now gives 20% bonus damage with two-handed weapons, up from 10%.

Check out all the hotfixes after the jump and discuss them in this thread in our WoW general forum.


February 18

  • Battlegrounds
    • Demolishers were respawning too quickly in Strand of the Ancients. They are now on a 20-second spawn timer.
  • Classes
    • Death Knights
      • Death knight Ghouls under the effects of Dark Transformation can no longer cast Gnaw while it's on cooldown.
    • Hunters
      • Aimed Shot damage has been decreased to approximately 160% weapon damage (at level 80+), down from 200%.
      • Aspect of the Hawk now provides around an additional 2000 attack power at level 85.
    • Paladins
      • Light of Dawn no longer heals targets outside the paladin's party or raid. It correctly heals up to 5 targets in the paladin's raid.
    • Priests
      • Body and Soul no longer reduces the mana cost of Power Word: Shield (the hotfix made on February 16 to provide this additional benefit has been reverted).
      • Rapture now returns 2/5/7% of maximum mana when Power Word: Shield is consumed, up from 2/4/6%.
    • Warlocks
      • Instant-cast Shadowbolts from Shadow Trance (both the talent and Glyph of Corruption versions) should no longer consume charges of Backdraft if both procs are available. Shadow Trance will always take priority and be consumed first when Backdraft is active. Subsequent Shadowbolts will consume Backdraft stacks.
    • Warriors
      • Two-Handed Weapon Specialization (Arms passive) now gives 20% bonus damage with two-handed weapons, up from 10%.
  • Dungeon Finder
    • If a party member remains outside of a dungeon for more than 3 minutes, they become eligible for removal, regardless of other Vote Kick restrictions.
    • When players queue as a group with a tank or a healer, and the tank or healer drops group (or is kicked) within the first 5 minutes, all of the other players who queued with them are removed from the group as well.
    • If there is a group of 3 or more friends and someone in that group initiates a Vote Kick of a random party member, it now requires 4 votes to kick the player, instead of the standard 3 votes.
    • The penalty for using the Vote Kick feature too often is not issued to a player who kicks someone with whom they queued for a dungeon (i.e. the party member being selected for removal is not a player randomly selected via the Dungeon Finder).
    • The penalty for using the Vote Kick feature too often will be issued much more quickly to players who join as a party of 4 and kick the randomly selected 5th player.
    • The penalty for using the Vote Kick feature too often will now not allow the player to initiate a Vote Kick for 2 hours, up from 45 minutes.
    • These changes will require realm restarts to take effect. More information can be found here.
  • Dungeons & Raids
    • When switching a normal raid dungeon over to Heroic difficulty, players were instantly becoming saved without warning. There is now a warning dialog box which will appear before the difficulty is changed.

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