Anub HC - Nerubian Burrower incorrect interaction with block

#1 - May 5, 2023, 8:17 p.m.

Background
Back in 3.2-3.3.x we used an avoidance capped block tank to tank the adds on the Anub HC encounter. This was because Nerubian Burrowers had stacking attack speed, low damage dealt and a percent damage modifier that was applied after block value. This meant you could stack avoidance to 101.6 and ~3k BV to effectively become immune to melee damage.

Proof
Video of it being tanked by a block tank in 2009 with combat log open showing no damage taken on blocks with all 4 adds on them and 10 stacks of expose weakness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EWFz94HQWI

Example event from PTR:
https://imgur.com/a/mxWAPfr
Log the event is pulled from:
https://classic.warcraftlogs.com/reports/a32JVLcyjMAZ4vC7#fight=13&type=damage-taken&source=360&pins=0%24Separate%24%23244F4B%24auras-gained%24-1%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%248610249.0.0.Paladin%24true%2467721&ability=1&view=events

Fix
Move the damage multiplier applied on hit to applying after damage is decremented by block.
Current:
(DamageTaken * ExposeWeaknessModifier) - BlockValue
Expected:
(DamageTaken - BlockValue) * ExposeWeakness Modifier

Aggrend

WoW Classic Game Producer

#15 - May 22, 2023, 7:10 p.m.

Greetings,

Wanted to chime in and confirm that this is working as intended and at this time we do not intend to change it. There was a bug fix late in original Wrath that caused the game to calculate damage with multipliers (including Expose Weakness) before block was applied. This fix was made specifically in response to how the Anub’arak encounter behaved in ToGC in 2009. As the fix was systemic to how multiplying/stacking damage is calculated, a reversion here would be global and impact all combat and encounters in Wrath Classic, and going back and deliberately “breaking” an aspect of gameplay to recreate a specific interaction that was unintended even at the time isn’t something we generally prefer to do.

This fight is perfectly manageable now in its current form even in pick-up groups, as evidenced by the many many kills that occurred on PTR.

Thank you for the reports and analysis!