Archive for February 2nd, 2010:
Another month, another patch
Patch 3.3.2 is rolled out on the US realms today, and the EU realms tomorrow. Normally I don’t post about patches much, because there’s tons of sites out there who cover it better than I could, but as there are a couple protection warrior changes coming to us, I need to evaluate how this will impact my playstyle.
- Concussion Blow: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 50%, but its threat generation will remain approximately the same.
- Devastate: This ability now deals 120% of weapon damage, up from 100% of weapon damage.
- Shield Slam: The damage scaling from block value for this ability now diminishes faster and diminishes starting at a lower block value. The difference should be negligible for players in high-end tanking armor. In addition, the threat caused by Shield Slam has been increased by 30%.
- Warbringer: This talent no longer allows Charge and Intercept to break roots or snares. Intervene remains unaffected.
Let’s look at them one after the other.
1: This will mean CB will likely be pushed out of my rotation and will be relegated to its previously use in TBC: to be used as stun and interrupt on trash or encounters such as Assembly of Iron. I don’t need it to supply threat, I used it for doing damage.
2. Another damage boost to Devastate means that I can pretty much ignore Revenge beyond a certain rage level. Revenge will still deliver the best rage to threat ratio, so at the start of an encounter, in heroics, or in situations where you rage-starved yourself, it’s useful. I am sure people will run threat parses soon, but Devastate spamming sounds more and more attractive.
3. I actually have no idea how this will affect me. It’s not like I have huge amounts of SBV stacked, or ArP in my tanking gear, so I have to test the numbers. At least it will be more threat. Let’s just hope the Devastate buff will compensate overall.
4. This nerf makes me sad, because it cuts into our PvE utility so much. It was incredibly useful in heroics and just felt right to me. Thank you Arena. Not.
As far as other non-warrior changes go, heroics will be simplified across the board, which still makes me long for a heroic heroic switch that must be hidden somewhere in the game. Blizzard, please, if you should ever read my words, remember that there are people out there who don’t mind tough 5-mans. Don’t make me mourn TBC heroics forever and ever.
Furthermore, Toravon will be added to Vault of Archavon and Friends, meaning another opportunity to receive T10 gear without spending hard-earned frost emblems. This means I will have to try to run that every week now, rar.
Oh, and some dude called Lich King will be available as final encounter of Icecrown Citadel. Or so I have heard.
What are your thoughts on the new mini-patch?
