November 10 hotfixes: Enhancement Shaman pulled back to Windfury, Wrack reworked, and a 1-copper minimum auction deposit

Blizzard added a November 10 section to its WoW: Forever hotfix list at 03:25 UTC on 11 November. Enhancement Shaman is pulled back toward Windfury before the raid opens, Affliction's Wrack works in a new way, Hunter pets lose health they were never meant to have, and the Auction House's minimum deposit drops to a single copper. The quest gold Kaivax promised is in there too.

Enhancement Shaman goes back to Windfury

Stormstrike now deals 100% weapon damage, down from 150%, and its cooldown goes from 6 to 8 seconds. Mental Dexterity converts less Intellect into Attack Power: 33/66/100% per rank, down from 50/100/150%.

Maelstrom Weapon is reworked. Every stack now cuts cast time and mana cost by 20% at any rank, where it used to be 4% to 20% depending on rank. It also activates less often: 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 times a minute by rank, where it was 20 times a minute at every rank. Its tooltip now shows your chance per swing, which depends on your main-hand weapon's speed. Blizzard's example: with five points in the talent, a 3.6-speed weapon shows 60% and a 2.0-speed weapon shows 33%.

Blizzard explains why. The beta changes, together with the Shock and Lightning Bolt changes meant for Elemental, made Enhancement "favor Spell Power and Intellect gear too heavily" and pushed it away from Windfury, which the developers believe "should remain at the heart of the specialization's fantasy and gameplay." They wanted the change in before the raid opens, so players don't win "highly contested items that could become much less valuable after a later change." Many of these changes, they say, reverse the beta adjustments aimed at Enhancement.

Two changes help every Shaman. Weapon imbues and weapon totems now work at the same time, so Windfury Weapon and Windfury Totem can both have a chance to activate on your attacks. Maelstrom Weapon can now be tracked in the Cooldown Manager. Rage of the Storm, a Shaman quest reward, now has 16 Strength instead of 16 Intellect, and its speed goes from 3.2 to 3.6.

Wrack speeds up your damage over time

Affliction's Wrack no longer adds a percentage to your periodic damage. While you channel it, your Corruption, Siphon Life and Bane of Agony on the target deal their damage 100% faster, and Wrack's own damage drops by 30%. Your effects don't last longer, they tick more often: Bane of Agony still lasts its full 24 seconds, but it deals damage twice as often while Wrack is channelled.

Blizzard says the old version could give nothing at all if you stopped channelling just before a tick. Now the time Wrack skips is kept even if the channel ends or is interrupted. Its example: channel Wrack for 1 second during a 3-second Corruption tick and Corruption advances 2 seconds instead of 1, so the next tick lands 1 second later instead of 2.

Soul Siphon now counts only Corruption, Siphon Life and Bane of Agony on the target, not any Affliction spell. Each one adds 4/8/12% to Drain Life, Drain Soul and Wrack, up to 36%. Warlock pets also get sturdier: the Imp, Voidwalker, Incubus and Succubus each gain about 15% base health, and the first four ranks of the Imp's Firebolt hit harder. The Succubus whip sound plays less often, and Bane of Havoc now triggers the global cooldown.

Hunters

Hunter pets were wrongly getting 150% of their normal health. That is corrected to 115%. Arcane Shot now costs 11% of base mana at every rank. Blizzard says the cost at levels 6 and 60 is nearly the same as before and slightly lower in between. Beast Mastery's Summon Hawk gets the same 11% cost, and the Hawk's melee damage goes up by about 80%.

Other class fixes

Restoration Druids' Nature's Swiftness now also makes Wild Growth instant, and Omen of Clarity works again after you swap specializations. Arms Warriors' Sweeping Strikes no longer loses charges when there's no second target. The Revelation enchant no longer activates from Vampiric Embrace healing, and Paladins can now track Redoubt in the Cooldown Manager.

The Auction House and the mail

With realm restarts, the minimum Auction House deposit is now 1 copper instead of 1 silver. Blizzard also fixed unread mail showing as from "Stormwind Auction House" for everyone, and some mail arriving in about 2 minutes when it should take 60.

Gold, mounts and professions

Most quests of level 48 and higher now also reward gold. Blizzard's note gives the same reason Kaivax did: Forever has no XP-to-gold conversion at 60, and it doesn't want players saving finished quests to hand in later.

All racial vendor mounts are now Bind-on-Pickup. Vendors pay less for some bind-on-pickup armor from Leatherworking, Tailoring and Blacksmithing, which Blizzard says was meant to be crafted once for yourself.

Engineering's Swiftstrike Shot and Swiftfeather Arrow are no longer Bind-on-Pickup. They aren't available until raids unlock, but Blizzard flagged the change early because "it may influence profession choice." Iron Grenades' vendor price drops to 1 silver 25 copper, from 5 silver.

The Lesser Spirit enchants for boots and bracers now give Spirit, as they say; they were giving Resist All. The Journeyman Campfire Kit needs Cooking 90 to place instead of 140, matching its recipe. Blizzard also fixed one condition that sometimes stopped Fishing Racks giving lures, and says it knows about other "There is no loot" errors.

Quests and the world

A string of quests were fixed, including more Glade Vipers for "Poison Tips" in Riverglades and Murloc Tideskimmers dropping their eyes for "A Taste of the Sea." Shatterspear Trolls no longer give experience: "They're dancers, not fighters!" Players were being sent to the wrong graveyard when they died, and that's fixed too.

From November 9

Blizzard's November 9 section lowers the player population in congested zones, with a bigger change on the PvP ruleset. It also lists the 50% rise in dungeon kill experience, which went live on the evening of 8 November, and fixes creatures in the Drowned City doing about 30% more damage than intended, while softening the Deathless Marrow encounter. Warlocks who finished "Summon Felsteed" before the fix get their riding skill the first time they summon it.

These are Blizzard's own notes; we haven't tested the changes in the game. Blizzard says the list will keep growing as more hotfixes go out.