Gnome Eureka! no longer boosts periodic effects in the latest Forever build
· ForeverDB
The latest beta build changes the Gnome racial Eureka! so it no longer benefits damage-over-time and heal-over-time effects. Channels still count. The client files confirm the tooltip change on four of the five class versions, but one caster version was not updated.
Blizzard's updated beta development notes, posted by Kaivax on October 1, change the Gnome racial Eureka! Eureka! again (Wowhead reported it too). Under Races, the Gnome entry reads:
Eureka! no longer benefits periodic effects at all. Channeled spells do not count as periodics. Developers' notes, posted by Kaivax (Community Manager)
These are beta changes. Anything here can still change before launch.
What Eureka! does
Eureka! is an on-use Gnome racial with a 2 minute cooldown. For 15 seconds it makes your next 3 damaging abilities cost 10% less and deal 10% more damage (healers also get the healing version). After this build, periodic effects such as damage-over-time and heal-over-time spells no longer gain the bonus and no longer use up the charges. Channelled spells are not periodics, so they still count.
What changed in the client files
In the beta client (build 1.60.1.70170) four of the five class versions of Eureka! had their tooltips changed from "Your next 3 damaging abilities" to "Your next 3 non-periodic damaging abilities":
- Eureka! (Rage), for Gnome Warriors.
- Eureka! (Energy), for Gnome Rogues.
- Eureka! (Mana), a caster version.
- Eureka! (Mana), the version that also covers healing, now reads "Your next 3 non-periodic damaging or healing abilities".
The fifth version, Eureka! (Mana), still reads "Your next 3 damaging abilities" in the client files and was not in this build's change list. Its tooltip and the notes disagree, so the exclusion may not yet apply to every class, or the tooltip may just be behind. Blizzard's known issues list still says Eureka "does not affect every Damaging Spell or Healing Spell for some classes" and that this is fixed in a later build.
What it means for players
Classes that lean on direct hits, like Warriors and Rogues, are barely touched: their abilities were never periodic. The change matters most for casters with damage-over-time or heal-over-time spells, such as Warlocks, Mages and Priests. Those periodic spells no longer soak up an Eureka! charge or gain the 10% bonus, so the racial now rewards front-loaded, direct casts. Because channels are not periodics, a channelled spell still benefits.
This follows the September 24 build, which changed Eureka! across every class. More on that in our September 24 notes write-up, the rest of the October build in Level 30 build goes live, and Gnome racials in races, classes and racials.