Oha, that was fast. Back in August, we first reported that Mike Ybarra, Blizzard's new co-lead, was not a fan of the "AoE cap"
. Lo and behold, in the patch notes from the PTR for patch 9.1.5 last night, the developers announced the removal of the "AoE Cap."The explanation reads, "The goal of the "AoE Cap" was to prevent groups from being able to bulldoze extremely large groups and then destroy them with all cooldowns in seconds. Instead, the effectiveness of area attacks should increase when fighting three to five enemies. As exceptions, spells like Consecration were waved through, promising low damage over an extended period of time. However, player feedback made it clear to the developers that it just feels bad when area-of-effect attacks don't catch enemies that are actually in range of the attack. Additionally, the limitation caused problems in Legacy content that players like to solo.
The AoE cap is therefore removed from many abilities. However, the area attacks will only reach their full damage potential on the first five targets. Starting with the sixth target, the attack will then cause reduced damage.
According to Blizzard, the following abilities are affected by this change:
- Death Knight
- Sacrifice Pact
- Monstrous Limb
- Reanimated Shuffler
- But
- Consumption (Talent)
- Bone Storm (Talent)
- Frost
- Frost Sickle (Talent)
- Unholy
- Bursting Boils (Talent)
- Demon Hunter
- Devastation
- Blade Dance
- Devil's Blast (Talent)
- Vengeance
- Soul Splitter
- Mood Bomb (Talent)
- Devastation
- Druid
- Paw Slash
- Savagery
- Brutal Slashing (Talent)
- Hunter
- Soulforge Embers
- Beastmastery
- Predatory Slash
- Multiple Shot
- Barrage (Talent)
- Marksmanship
- Multiple Shot
- Barrage (Talent)
- Explosive Shot (Talent)
- Survival
- Dismember
- Slaughter (Talent)
- Mage
- Arcane
- Arcane Echo (Talent)
- Frost
- Frozen Sphere
- Glacial Fragment
- Arcane
- Monk
- Brewmaster
- Rushing Jade Wind (Talent)
- Wind Runner
- Furor Fists
- Whirling Jade Wind (Talent)
- Brewmaster
- Paladin
- Retribution
- Divine Storm
- Retribution
- Rogue
- Assassinate
- Dagger Fan
- Blood Red Storm (Talent)
- Deception
- Black Powder
- Shuriken Storm
- Secret Technique (Talent)
- Assassinate
- Shaman
- Elemental
- Storm Elemental (Talent)
- Elemental
- Warlock
- Demonology
- Felguard's Felstorm
- Demonology
- Warrior
- Whirlwind
- Weapons
- Blade Storm
- Rift (Talent)
- Devastator (Talent)
- Fright Strikes (Talent)
- Furor
- Blade Storm
- Protection
- Devastator (Talent)
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