AoE Cap Removed in Patch 9.1.5 - Capped Abilities Deal Reduced Damage Against More Enemies

PTR Posted 2021/09/01 at 8:41 PM by Anshlun

Whirlwind

Developers' note: With the launch of Shadowlands, we reduced the maximum number of targets that several abilities could hit specifically to address a few gameplay problems related to pulling a large number of enemies in dungeons. Players often refer to these changes as the “AOE target cap.” Our intention was to reduce the effectiveness of burst AOE buttons against large target counts (i.e. 15-20 enemies) while also increasing their effectiveness against fewer targets (e.g. 3-5 enemies) and communicating that strength clearly in the tooltips. The abilities that remained “uncapped” were generally ones that offered lower damage over a longer period of time (e.g. Blizzard or Consecration). Along with other changes, we set out to move away from “pull as many enemies as possible, use all your cooldowns and delete them” as the predominant strategy across various forms of content.We've received a lot of feedback that these abilities not hitting enemies in their range in any way creates a feel problem for WoW combat but is also an issue for trivial encounters like farming legacy content. For many of the abilities that underwent the change from uncapped to a strict target cap in 9.0, we're converting the damage to “reduced damage beyond 5 targets.” This means that the ability will deal full damage against 5 targets, then reduced damage to each additional target beyond 5. This means that while the overall damage done by the ability increases with the number of targets, the individual damage done to each target will decrease. This solution means these abilities and their relative classes will still have a very strong niche against packs of 4-6 enemies. As always, tuning will change as a result of this shift over the next few weeks based on your feedback from the PTR.
The following area-of-affect abilities are no longer maximum target capped and instead deal reduced damage beyond 5 targets: (These features will be available in a later PTR build)
Death Knight

Sacrificial Pact
Abomination Limb (Necrolord Ability)
Reanimated Shambler (Runecarving Power)
Blood

Consumption (Talent)
Bonestorm (Talent)

Frost

Frostscythe (Talent)

Unholy

Bursting Sores (Talent)

Demon Hunter

Havoc

Blade Dance
Fel Barrage (Talent)

Vengeance

Focused Cleave
Spirit Bomb (Talent) now deals reduced damage beyond 5 targets (previously was soft-capped at 20 targets).

Druid

Feral

Brutal Slash (Talent)

Hunter

Soulforge Embers (Runecarving Power)
Beast Mastery

Beast Cleave
Multi-Shot
Barrage (Talent)

Marksmanship

Survival

Frenzy Strikes
Butchery (Talent)

Mage

Arcane

Arcane Echo (Talent)

Frost

Frozen Orb
Glacial Fragments (Runecarving Power)

Monk

Brewmaster

Rushing Jade Wind (Talent)

Windwalker

Fists of Fury
Rushing Jade Wind (Talent)

Paladin

Retribution

Divine Storm

Rogue

Assassination

Fan of Knives
Crimson Tempest (Talent)

Subtlety

Shaman

Elemental

Storm Elemental's (Talent) Eye of the Storm

Warlock

Demonology

Felguard's Felstorm

Warrior

Whirlwind
Arms

Bladestorm
Cleave (Talent)
(Talent)
Dreadnaught (Talent)

Fury

Bladestorm

Protection

(Talent)

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Comment by ElxJasonxI can live with thisComment by akaRavenIt's not what we want exactly, but it is a start and a welcome change.Comment by DavidAlienBONESTORM!Comment by Leechesx1 and a half yearsComment by MerroldEXCELLENT CHANGE! I wanna see what people comment on now? Guild Housing? xDComment by ashkevBut Blade Flurry....Comment by TehLucariowon't punish players doing old dungeons and raids for mog but will still put a bit of a limit on the mass pulls in mondern dungeons. Works for me.Comment by MercaleBetter than nothing.Comment by VanderzI think this is a good middle ground.Comment by RoguePostDocWait, where's Outlaw?Comment by nlbaxmasterFinally , maybe this will change my DH from Unbound chaos to Trail of ruinComment by CSM101The long nightmare is over.Comment by PanthraxNow, take Frenzied Regen off the GCD.Comment by PestiiNo love for Outlaw?Comment by pocketkittySo is this in PTR yet? I dont know if i can access it since its kinda of new patch? or is it not updated yet?Comment by reboundI wonder if it will affect AoE covenant abilities too (Wild Spirits etc.)Comment by KryzMI do have a feeling that SL is really going to end in 9.2.Comment by AngrymamaWhat the actual fudge....Where is Outlaw?Comment by AtomicWalrus911Oh hey, look, more of the usualComment by Lazypandabearblizzard wanted to make it clear that Outlaw rogue was targeted by that change... They have the audacity to buff WW monks by uncapping their aoe while all the youtube videos of monks doing 150k dps are popping on youtube. But hey outlaw rogue get outdps by holy pally in aoe...

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