[WoRBot]

The 3.2 PTR patch notes have been updated, plus more details on build 10083!Read More

[Leviathonlx]

Some neat changes for shamans in there.

[leto2626]

Earth Shock no longer interrupt .. great remove our only interrupt spell that has been in the game since release.

Is Blizzard seeking to change everything just to change it? First Execute (ok not really BIG nerf but still simethign that was in game since I can remember), and now earth shock. Really why? It wasn't overpowered for 4,5 years, now suddenly it is or something? Soon there will be no spells anymore to be changed, there is nothing wrong with leavign something as it is ... obviously not the view of the designers, sad.

[tino]

leto2626 said:

Earth Shock no longer interrupt .. great remove our only interrupt spell that has been in the game since release.

Is Blizzard seeking to change everything just to change it? First Execute (ok not really BIG nerf but still simethign that was in game since I can remember), and now earth shock. Really why? It wasn't overpowered for 4,5 years, now suddenly it is or something? Soon there will be no spells anymore to be changed, there is nothing wrong with leavign something as it is ... obviously not the view of the designers, sad.

/facepalm ever heard about windshock?

This is a huge buff for ele shamans. If you cant see it then you dont really deserv it.

[Tyrod]

I don't get it, these notes say they're buffing Blood of the North by making it 3 points instead of 5 but MMO-champion's notes say they're nerfing the hell out of it by making it 3/6/10 instead of 5/10/15. Which is correct?

[slayme]

leto2626 said:

Earth Shock no longer interrupt .. great remove our only interrupt spell that has been in the game since release.

Is Blizzard seeking to change everything just to change it? First Execute (ok not really BIG nerf but still simethign that was in game since I can remember), and now earth shock. Really why? It wasn't overpowered for 4,5 years, now suddenly it is or something? Soon there will be no spells anymore to be changed, there is nothing wrong with leavign something as it is ... obviously not the view of the designers, sad.

Now you have an interrupt independant on shock cooldowns, its a buff stop whining

[Leviathonlx]

leto2626 said:

Earth Shock no longer interrupt .. great remove our only interrupt spell that has been in the game since release.

Is Blizzard seeking to change everything just to change it? First Execute (ok not really BIG nerf but still simethign that was in game since I can remember), and now earth shock. Really why? It wasn't overpowered for 4,5 years, now suddenly it is or something? Soon there will be no spells anymore to be changed, there is nothing wrong with leavign something as it is ... obviously not the view of the designers, sad.

This is something that has been getting asked for ever since the Beta. Wind Shear is the interrupt now and isn't on the GCD and doesn't lock us out of doing damage during encounters like Vezax. I hated when I had to interrupt on Vezax due to only having 1 rogue and had to basically do no DPS since I had to save my shock for searing flames.

[Kody]

Tyrod said:

I don't get it, these notes say they're buffing Blood of the North by making it 3 points instead of 5 but MMO-champion's notes say they're nerfing the hell out of it by making it 3/6/10 instead of 5/10/15. Which is correct?

Actually, you're right. I just checked the patch notes page. It's different from the forum post, heh. Fixed it for now to go along with the patch notes page linked as the source.

[Tyrod]

Kody said:

Actually, you're right. I just checked the patch notes page. It's different from the forum post, heh. Fixed it for now to go along with the patch notes page linked as the source.

Oh ok so we are getting nerfed yet again. Oh good.... seriously this is beyond ridiculous now...

[Kody]

Tyrod said:

Oh ok so we are getting nerfed yet again. Oh good.... seriously this is beyond ridiculous now...

It's possible the patch notes page is incorrect. We'll see in a bit if one is edited.

[Geschan]

Leviathonlx said:

This is something that has been getting asked for ever since the Beta. Wind Shear is the interrupt now and isn't on the GCD and doesn't lock us out of doing damage during encounters like Vezax. I hated when I had to interrupt on Vezax due to only having 1 rogue and had to basically do no DPS since I had to save my shock for searing flames.

And now you can kick alone on 25 Vezax.. thanks to 6 sec CD Interrupt!

[Astelosia]

The change to shield of righteousness sounds like a threat nerf to me. Making the cap around 2400-2700ish, which I have already come close to with raid buffs and a few pieces of block gear just sounds awful. I can't remember where I read some theoretical numbers, which may be wrong, but it was ballparking non crit hits around the 3600 range? If so that is just terrible, as I was hitting close to 4000 normal hits at one time or another. Being the only tanking class as far as I know, to have no actual "high threat" ability, this just plain sucks, as our threat is essentially based off our dps + other threat increasing stats (hit,etc). This was at least to me, my ghetto taunt to pick anything up and hold it indefinitely for lack of better terms, and is kind of frustrating to see the nerf, even if it isn't guaranteed to hit live. I guess this was foreseeable after the announcement of the increase in block value on gear; buff block, then quickly nerf it yet again to barely begin to close the gap between Warrior/Paladin and Druid/Death Knight. The only reason I can see the reason for such a ridiculous nerf is from the pvp standpoint, tanks geared for straight block one shotting clothies...maybe I exaggerate but still. Just another reason I hate how pvp constantly messes with pve in this game for us tanks. The only other possibility which I hope isn't the case is if Blizzard was worried about classes with shield slam getting much too high tps; if such a thing happend I would like to think Blizzard would have a much easier time equalizing threat with no nerf to block among the four tanking classes than doing something relavent like equalizing the survivabilty amongst them which is a much larger problem.

A question for any Prot Paladins that may be on the PTR:

Do the changes in Seal of Corruption/Vengeance more than compensate for any threat loss that may be arising in the decision to add DR to damage gained through block for Shield of Righteousness? How about the change to exorcism; not many of us are going to be "casting" that for some nice on demand threat anymore are we? Do the changes, incomplete as they may be so far on the current build, nerf or buff our overall threat as a result?

I apologize for the long post/reply, first time poster, been using the site for years. These upcoming changes just really make me wonder as I really fell in love with tanking in BC when we were LOLTRASHTANKS and only grew in Wrath with promises of MT utility, and even that is beginning to go a bit downhill with hard modes and what have you. And just a shout out to any Death Knights, the nerfs were coming and its bad to see any fellow tank get smacked as much as you guys lately, but when you can be nerfed every patch since launch and still be the tank of choice on almost any hard mode, something is internally wrong and I would like to see buffs to the lacking classes to be up to snuff, but we all know what route Blizzard usually takes.

[Kody]

Astelosia,

The block value increase compounds that issue even further (assuming you mean you're close to the cap on live already) -- putting you at or above the cap when 3.2 releases. In essence Blizzard has removed some of the attractiveness of block value when it was a dismal stat going into the patch.

There has to be a better way of preventing extremes for block value-based damage in PvP without completely ruining its value as a stat in PvE.

In regards to Exorcism, that's an interesting point. Perhaps they should modify a deep Protection talent that allows it to be instant cast. Maybe when Holy Shield is up, the cast time is reduced by 100% or something?

And welcome to the forums, don't be a stranger.

[Astelosia]

Kody said:

Astelosia,

The block value increase compounds that issue even further (assuming you mean you're close to the cap on live already) -- putting you at or above the cap when 3.2 releases. In essence Blizzard has removed some of the attractiveness of block value when it was a dismal stat going into the patch.

There has to be a better way of preventing extremes for block value-based damage in PvP without completely ruining its value as a stat in PvE.

In regards to Exorcism, that's an interesting point. Perhaps they should modify a deep Protection talent that allows it to be instant cast. Maybe when Holy Shield is up, the cast time is reduced by 100% or something?

And welcome to the forums, don't be a stranger.

Thanks for the response

I think the idea of adding something like that for exorcism may be nice, maybe even mandatory depending on what our threat is looking like with the new patch. The only thing I don't like about it is it would essentially be a copy and paste from the ret tree, albeit with a different trigger, and I'm not sure we need more similarities amongst the trees, it would be like giving ret pallies the ability to keep divine plea active 100% via some means like crusader strikes or maybe even vengeance ticks (something a bit harder to do). Not to mention that would leave two out of three specs with the means of instant exorcisms, which makes the change seem almost pointless, from the added cast time perspective. I'm hoping the new seal behavior can maybe account for any loss in threat we may see in the inability to use exorcism, hell maybe even buff it a bit, tbh I wouldn't really mind eliminating it as a tanking tool as long as we are compensated in other areas. I also wonder how hand of reckoning is supposedly changing...which in the end won't mean much with DRs on taunts now.

Side note - 2 piece bonus for tier 9 tank sets...really?

[Kody]

Astelosia said:

Thanks for the response

I think the idea of adding something like that for exorcism may be nice, maybe even mandatory depending on what our threat is looking like with the new patch. The only thing I don't like about it is it would essentially be a copy and paste from the ret tree, albeit with a different trigger, and I'm not sure we need more similarities amongst the trees, it would be like giving ret pallies the ability to keep divine plea active 100% via some means like crusader strikes or maybe even vengeance ticks (something a bit harder to do). Not to mention that would leave two out of three specs with the means of instant exorcisms, which makes the change seem almost pointless, from the added cast time perspective. I'm hoping the new seal behavior can maybe account for any loss in threat we may see in the inability to use exorcism, hell maybe even buff it a bit, tbh I wouldn't really mind eliminating it as a tanking tool as long as we are compensated in other areas. I also wonder how hand of reckoning is supposedly changing...which in the end won't mean much with DRs on taunts now.

Side note - 2 piece bonus for tier 9 tank sets...really?

Well, the main reason for the change to Exorcism was for PvP. Blizzard felt it was being used as a "closer" ability -- i.e. when you're closing in on someone -- rather than what it should have been used for. Thus they added the cast time and then the Art of War change so PvE ret wasn't punished quite as bad by the change.

I haven't had a chance to test out the seal changes yet on my premade paladin (live paladin is only 70 ) but just a quick thought about the Vengeance / Corruption change sounds pretty sweet for protection paladins once you have a 5 stack.

[Astelosia]

Yes, the new seal changes did sound very good, and I hope it gives back the umph our Judge had pre ret nerfs. I guess I'll just have to wait and hope for the best, I would get on the PTR myself but I'm trying to conserve drive space, and its like installing a whole second copy of the game. Thanks for the replies, again