Ignite Munching And Why Mages Wanted A Fix - WotLK Classic PTR 3.4.2
Blizzard has addressed «Munching» in the latest PTR Update to Wrath of the Lich King Classic Patch 3.4.2, improving the quality of life (and DPS) for Mages, Warriors, and Hunters. Foolipe, the Classic Mage class Writer for Wowhead, provides a breakdown on what Munching was, why it impacted quality of life, and what extreme measures Mages went through to circumvent the issue. With the recent Bluepost from Blizzard, it was mentioned a much requested fix for Ignite which is a huge quality of life change for Fire Mages, currently one of the most popular and better performing specializations. This bug caused Ignite damage to be lost due to specific spell interactions. Essentially whenever two spells critically hit within approximately a 50ms range. This happens in a few scenarios:
When a Living Bomb explodes at the same time as a Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, or Pyroblast. When you cast an instant Pyroblast queued up after a Fireball using Hot Streak.Alongside Munching, there's was also a beneficial bug named Vomit (or bleeding) which instead added bonus Ignite damage. This was caused by landing a critical hit within 40-50ms of the next Ignite tick causing it to extend further and provide free unintended damage. This bug was not replicable through any player's efforts, and only had 30% «success rate» when in near perfect conditions. It's important to mention fixing these bugs isn't a buff since Munching was almost completely avoided with the clever use of specific tools which evolved throughout these first two phases. To explain why here are some simulated damage numbers using the Mage Sim:
In Phase 2 Best in Slot, Fire Mage can do 10201.29 DPS in a 180s fight — assuming both bugs are enabled. In Phase 2 Best in Slot, Fire Read more on wowhead.com
