WoW Hotfixes, September 15: Venomous Abyss Tuning and Three Class Bugs

What changed

Blizzard's September 15 hotfix batch puts almost all of its weight on one raid. The Venomous Abyss takes 26 separate encounter adjustments across its four bosses, and they nearly all run in one direction: damage down, spawn counts down, cast times up, and several mechanics rebuilt to behave more predictably rather than more harshly.

Three class entries sit alongside the raid work, and every one is a bug fix rather than tuning. No damage, healing or cooldown value moved for any specialisation. The single item entry closes a shortfall Blizzard has been chasing since late August: characters holding more Spark Dust than Spark of Tides will be handed the missing sparks directly into their bags the next time they log in.

The previous dated section was September 10. Blizzard published nothing on the 11th or the 14th, so this is the first batch in five days on the rolling Midnight hotfixes page.

Classes

Three entries, one per specialisation, and not one of them changes a number a player chose. Two correct tier set bonuses that were misbehaving; the third is an animation that was not playing.

Hunter

Marksmanship Hunter

• Fixed an issue where Aimed Shot was not properly playing its cast animation when using a gun or crossbow.

Paladin

Protection Paladin

• Fixed an issue where Consecration's first tick would not benefit from the Venomous Abyss tier set's increase to its critical strike chance.

Priest

Holy Priest

• Fixed an issue where Renewed Vigor from the Venomous Abyss 2-piece tier bonus could exceed 3 stacks.

The Venomous Abyss

Every boss in the raid was touched, and the intent is legible without Blizzard having to state it: the later encounters lose damage and add counts, and Raid Finder gets its own separate round of reductions on the final boss.

Sszorak

• Tempest damage reduced by 20% on Heroic and Mythic difficulties.
• Caustic Claws no longer forms a pool of Caustic Residue on Heroic difficulty.

Twin Fangs

The add pressure comes down here, and the Broodling of Ithraz wave is capped rather than scaled.

• Corrosive Spit damage reduced by 20% on Mythic difficulty.
• Reduced the amount of Broodlings of Ithraz spawned by Rouse the Brood to 10.
• Visceral Burst cast time increased by 0.5 seconds.

The Coiled Altar

The longest list in the batch, and the most varied: damage cuts, longer cast windows, and four separate changes aimed at making the encounter's add and fixation behaviour readable.

• Venom Rupture damage reduced by 10% on Heroic and Mythic difficulty.
• Mutagenic Venom damage reduced by 15%.
• Wail of Terror cast time increased to 12 seconds on Heroic difficulty.
• Wail of Terror cast time increased to 10 seconds on Mythic difficulty.
• Spiteful Soulcoiler's spawning and relocation when interrupted are now more predictable.
• 1 Spiteful Soulcoiler will always spawn nearby Malacrass on Mythic difficulty.
• The number of players targeted by Dreadmarch no longer increases throughout the phase on all difficulties.
• Manifestation of Dread now deprioritize fixating on players that currently have Unnerving Fixation.
• Manifestations of Dread revealed by interrupting Wail of Terror now remain visible for an additional 3 seconds.
• The number of Fragments of Malacrass that spawn during the intermission reduced by 25% on Mythic difficulty.
• Fixed an issue where Coalesced Venoms and Virulent Mutations would fail to drop on the ground if a priest carrying one enters Spirit of Redemption.

Ula'tek

Ten entries, and they split cleanly in two: five that apply only on Raid Finder difficulty, and five that reach Mythic or every difficulty. The second group is what a progression roster will feel: three separate spawn-count reductions and a membrane that no longer lasts an hour. Guilds racing this boss were covered in our Mythic Ula'tek world first coverage.

• Failing to stand within Mother's Wrath now only inflicts 1 stack of Stone Venom onto the raid on Raid Finder difficulty.
• Doomscale Warden's Malice cast time increased to 5 seconds (was 1.5 seconds) and damage reduced on Raid Finder difficulty.
• The number of Blightscale Spawn reduced to 6 during Stage 2 on Raid Finder difficulty.
• Ula'tek's Unchecked Rage damage reduced on Raid Finder difficulty.
• Gore Rattler's Rattler Slam damage reduced on Raid Finder difficulty.
• Stone Venom damage reduced on all difficulties.
• Putrid Membrane duration reduced to 30 seconds on Mythic difficulty (was 1 hour).
• The number of Blightscale Spawn summoned from Serpent's Call reduced to 8 per wave during Stage 1 on Mythic difficulty (was 13).
• The number of Blightscale Spawn reduced to 12 per side during Stage 2 on Mythic difficulty (was 14).
• The number of eggs dropped by Serpent's Call during the intermission reduced to 8 on Mythic difficulty (was 14).

Items

• Players who are behind on Spark of Tides (they have more Spark Dust than they do Sparks in their bags/gear), will be receiving their missing sparks directly into their bags upon login.

This one has a history. Kaivax posted Fixing Misplaced Sparks of Tides on August 25, saying that weekly maintenance had already addressed players who were missing Spark of Tides items and that further cleanup waves would run through that week. Three weeks on, the September 15 entry is the automatic makeup grant for anyone still short. Nothing needs claiming and no vendor is involved. Log the character in and check the bags.

Quests

• Fixed an issue where the Hijacked Portal for "Still Behind Enemy Portals" was failing to teleport players to the correct destination.
• Delves should once again count for progress towards the objective of "Hope in the Darkest Corners".

The Coiled Isle

• Curse Surges now rotate every 30 minutes (was 45 minutes).

A third off the wait between rotations on The Coiled Isle is the batch's one outdoor change, and the only entry that alters a timer a player plans around rather than a number they take damage from.

Blizzard appends each batch to the same rolling article, so the next one will arrive as a new dated section on that page rather than at a new URL. The content update driving this round of raid tuning is broken down in our Midnight 12.1.5 overview.