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  • Shadowfiend nerf explained by GC

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    03.19.2009

    Ghostcrawler makes a quick run by the forums to break down that Shadowfiend nerf we heard about yesterday. The patch notes in the new build say that a Priest's creepy little best friend has lost their "reduced chance to be hit by spells and melee attacks." Apparently, Shadowfiends had a (completely?) random chance to sometimes cause a miss on various attacks aimed at them. Lots of people saw that as a nerf (and it is), but there are two buffs on the way, according to GC: Not only are the little fiends getting an HP buff "for PvP, " but they're also getting the standard pet AoE avoidance in PvE so they'll be able to stay alive longer on bosses that shell out damage to everything around them.There was also a bit of confusion on the datamined suggestion that Body and Soul is getting a nerf -- GC clarifies that the talent has two ranks, one at 30% and one at 60% movement bonus. That's been the way since we first heard about it -- no change to Body and Soul right now.That said, remember that all class changes are still not carved in stone until they go on to the live realms. The planned Shadowfiend changes may not ever go through, but clearly GC and Blizzard are trying to make Shadowfiend surivivability much less random than just a chance to not get hit. Until we see just what the HP bonus is, it may still be a nerf, but at least it'll be based on specific rules rather than RNG.