The question of how these hotfixes will affect the encounter difficulty are still up in the air, but all signs obviously point to them being easier than when 3.0.8 was initially implemented.
Quote from: Daelo (Source)
We just hotfixed Sapphiron's Frost Aura so it should do the damage that was seen previous to the 3.0.8 patch regardless of the size of the raid or your server's performance. This should be 1200 every 2 seconds in Normal, and 1600 every 2 seconds in Heroic. You'll notice that the Frost Aura debuff you have no longer has a duration that refreshes. The tooltip also incorrectly lists the damage as occuring every second. The tooltip error will be fixed the next time we make a client patch available.
We also made a hotfix for the Heroic version of Malygos to add a small amount of time from the point when Malygos lands after Vortex to when he performs his Arcane Breath. This should allow players and pets enough time to reposition behind Malygos. The Normal version already had the additional time.
Comments
In other words, Saph should be at the same difficulty he was at when Wrath released.
Maly 25 on the other hand, is an obvious nerf. One of the challenges in the fight was to make sure exactly where the spark was and where you have to go or you get owned by the breath. /shrug. still have to do that but it's not as much of an emergency if you need a half second.
BOOM! Sapphiron:: BRICK WALL, wipe-fest.
The raid either dies off when our healers go OOM, or when the healers can't keep up with the raid-wide damage. (though there's also the occasional critical member missing the ice block)
Our main healer is a resto druid even better geared than my priest, so it's not like we're lacking on the healers - gear or skill.
The Frost debuff doing like double the intended damage? This is starting to make some sense now.
However, not everyone in raid was willing/able to stack frost resist either because the stat loss was too dear to them (tank understandable... no go under 540 def pls), or because they didn't feel they needed it (after all, the healers were keeping them up ... har har, OMFG! OOM!!!), or they wouldn't ask for help.
Basically, frost resist is a problem that exists between the chair and keyboard.