Today’s maintenance buffed Warriors, and other classes had some changes too

We’ve got a week left of Legion but that doesn’t mean there isn’t time for more class tuning. During this week’s maintenance, Warrior s, Rogue s, and Paladin s had some across the board changes — and for once Warriors came out ahead. Arms Warriors flat out had a 4% buff to all damage abilities, but Rogues and Paladins weren’t so lucky. All three specs of Rogues had their damage nerfed, with Assassination and Subtlety getting a 4% reduction while Outlaw only had a 3% reduction. Retribution Paladins also had a 3% reduction to all damage abilities, which makes me wonder if Blizzard is reading my dream journal.

For other DPS classes, Arcane Mage s’ Mana Shield talent will empty your mana pool a lot faster, draining 50% of damage as as mana (up from 20%). Windwalker Monk s also have what looks like a sizable nerf, with Blackout Kick damage cut by 27%, but it was probably necessary to even out damage in the rotation.

The rest of the changes primarily target healers: Druid s, Monks, Shaman , and Priest s have gotten more nuanced changes. Restoration Druids were mostly buffed, with Photosynthesis increasing healing rate by even more, and Rejuvenation healing. But Cultivation has been reduced to 10% of Spell Power (down from 12%) possibly to adjust for the buffs to HOTs. Restoration Shaman had buffs to Cloudburst (which stores 30% of healing, up from 24%) and Unleash Life (which had its instant healing increased by 26%). Mistweavers had a buff to an underused talent, with Chi Wave healing increased by 25% — a Monk healer I respect said Wow, they’re really going to keep trying to get someone, anyone, to take that talent.

Priests had more changes than the rest. Smite’s damage is down by 6% and Divine Star’s healing is up to 50% of Spell Power (from 40%). Discipline had several changes that look like three nerfs and a bug fix from where I’m standing, well outside of first person knowledge of the Priest class. First, the damage cuts: Shadow Word: Pain is down 9%, Shadowfiend is down by 16%, and Mindbender is down 8%. But they also fixed Sins of the Many to increase Atonement healing from Shadowfiend and Mindbender, so at least there’s that, Discipline Priests.

Don’t worry, Holy Priests, because you weren’t left out of the nerfs. Binding Heal is up to 2.4% of mana (from 2.0%) and the Holy Word: Salvation cast time up to 2.5 seconds (up from from 2.0). I don’t play a Priest but those two definitely sound like nerfs to me. But there’s a buff, too: the Angel’s Mercy cooldown reduction was increased, which should be an overall positive change.

According to Kaivax, these changes will take place after weekly maintenance, so they’re already live for American and other regions will see them after they go down for maintenance. I’m not an expert, but it definitely feels like some healers weren’t feeling as evenly balanced and others and Arms Warriors definitely needed that buff.