Blizzard's latest WoW hotfixes buff Blood DKs and crank up PvP rating inflation
World of Warcraft's September 29 hotfixes touch Midnight and five Classic versions, with broad class tuning, a softer Venomous Abyss and a deliberate push to inflate rated PvP ratings.
Blizzard has pushed a substantial round of World of Warcraft hotfixes, dated September 29. They cover World of Warcraft: Midnight alongside Mists of Pandaria Classic, Season of Discovery, Burning Crusade Classic, Classic Era and Hardcore, which is a wide net for a single note.
Class tuning
The heaviest changes are damage adjustments spread across the class list, with Death Knights, Druids, Hunters and Warlocks getting the most attention. Blood Death Knights are among the clearest winners: the notes give them a flat 6 percent increase to all ability damage, plus targeted buffs to Deathbringer. Discipline Priests get a different kind of pass, with Atonement reworked so its effectiveness differs by content type.
Venomous Abyss gets easier
The Venomous Abyss raid takes several adjustments, including a 40 percent cut to Ula'tek's Stone Venom damage and health reductions on the encounter. Blizzard has also patched a set of bugs that let players fall through the world during the fight.
Ratings are going up on purpose
The line most likely to change behaviour is on the PvP side. Blizzard says it has "significantly increased PvP rating inflation for all rated PvP modes," singling out Battleground Blitz, Rated Battlegrounds and Rated 3v3 Arena. In practice that makes rating milestones and the rewards attached to them easier to reach as the season runs on, which is a routine lever late in a PvP season but a large one to pull in a hotfix.
Why it matters
Hotfixes are where WoW's real balance lives between patches, and a deliberate inflation bump plus a 6 percent buff to a tank specialisation's damage will reshape both rated ladders and raid rosters within days.