In the most recent bout of data mining the PTR patch (specifically build 11623), the fine folks at MMO-Champion discovered more changes and clarifications to how warrior abilities will work. Keeping in mind again that this is the PTR and you never know how things are going to change, here are the specifics.

Protection

• Revenge damage has been slightly lowered, it now deals [ 31% of AP + 1636 ] to [ 31% of AP + 1998 ] damage at max rank. Down from [ 31% of AP + 2181 ] to [ 31% of AP + 2665 ] damage.
• Improved Revenge now Increases damage of your Revenge ability by 30/60% (up from 10/20%) and causes Revenge to strike an additional target for 50% damage.
• Vitality now increases your total Strength by 2/4/6%, Stamina by 3/6/9% and your Expertise by 2/4/6.(On live, this is Strength and Stamina by 2/4/6% and Expertise by 2/4/6.)

Arms

• Trauma now lasts 1 min, up from 15 sec.

The Trauma change is probably one for convenience, as it can be hard in a high mobility fight (like, say, running out of a Defile) to keep Trauma up and this way you'll have more leeway to keep those bleeds ticking at max efficiency while still getting out of bombs or fissures or what have you. Vitality is pretty much exactly as it was the last time we talked about it.

As for Revenge, the baseline ability is being adjusted slightly downward from our original exciting 3.3.3 revelation. But Improved Revenge is being hugely buffed. Hugely. When we first heard the news that Revenge would be getting some improvements, we speculated in the comments that perhaps they'd throw some AoE viability in there, and now they have done exactly that. By baking it into the talent instead of the baseline ability (and by removing the stun from Imp Revenge, it appears) you cut back on prot warrior stuns in PvP while giving a strong new reason to pick up Imp Revenge for more damage and more AoE threat. It's a pretty solid change for a tanking prot warrior.

Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, News items

Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Revenge of the Warrior, now Improved originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Frozen Orbs matter again. Come Patch 3.3.3, Frozo will be exchanging your frozen orbs for crafting materials used in some of the better Pre-ICC craftables. It is prudent, then, in my mind, to inform the greater playerbase at large about this development. Most people know about the new value of frozen orbs. If you read WoW.com, you've already been exposed to some pretty comprehensive coverage. This post is to address a growing trend I personally see in random heroics -- rolling need on the orbs ahead of the patch.

No one should fault people for rolling need on frozen orbs at this point in the game. They have new value. Technically, we all can use them. Frozen orbs are directly convertable into some better cash items. While the items you can buy currently with frozen orbs on the PTR are not set in stone, and their costs are subject to change, we know that they will be useful.

Two different solutions to the frozen orb situation present themselves: 1) Blizzard removes the need roll from frozen orbs so everyone gets a chance to get the orb or 2) change the behavior of the populace and everyone roll need on frozen orbs and educate the masses on the new, impending value of frozen orbs.

If you've ever been upset at a random pick up group player rolling need on a frozen orb, you have a weapon to fight it -- just roll need, and tell everyone else to roll need as well. Do everyone a favor and educate -- let people know frozen orbs will have a new place in the economy. Now you've got a random chance for frozen orbs and of avoiding the end of instance standoff.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

Frozen Orbituary: The Death of Rolling 'Greed' originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Icy Prism now requires Frozen Orb, Chalcedony x 1 (Down from 3), Shadow Crystal x 1 (Down from 3), Dark Jade x 1 (Down from 3)
• Intricate Bone Figurine (Daily Quest) - Craft an Intricate Bone Figurine by combining the Proto Dragon Bone with a Sun Crystal and a Dark Jade. (Old - Chalcedony + Dark Jade)

These are small changes, but for many Jewelcrafters they are welcome ones. On many servers due to the rising number of tanks, Chalcedony can be very difficult to come by on the auction house and relying on the random number generator can sometimes leave you high and dry when you are prospecting for specific gems. Lowering the amount of gems required for the Icy Prism makes it a tad bit easier for aspiring jewelers to obtain the various gems they may need to level their profession to the skill cap, as well as making it slightly more profitable when you manage to gain a good gem like a Cardinal Ruby or Dragon's Eye.

Just like Inscription having the material components reduced for many of it's recipes and the Titansteel cooldown being removed, I think we will continue to see this trend as Cataclysm approaches. Making it easier for players to hit their profession skill caps before the expansion drops is a very good way to get people ready for when the skill cap is raised again.

Filed under: Patches, News items

Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Minor Jewelcrafting changes originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yesterday was a very good day to be a balance druid in the World of Warcraft. While things seemed a bit rocky at the start of the PTR, the most recent build held two changes that are certainly going to benefit all of our feathery friends out there. The first of these changes was an increase in the damage and scaling of Starfall, the second was a change to the way in which Nature's Grasp functions.

To start with Starfall, the updated patch notes do not tell the entire story of this change. In order to clarify things, Ghostcrawler made a few statements on the Damage Dealing forums about it. Although there have been several posts on the matter, the most important was this:

The Starfall change is difficult to patch note because of the nature of the spell, but I'll share the numbers so that the theorycrafters among you can plug them in. It's a significant boost to the spell's damage.

Initially, we had designed the spell to be more AE focused, but that hasn't been super useful for a class that also has Hurricane. Rather than adding another nuke we thought it made more sense to make the 51 pointer something that really delivers on damage. Yes it can be countered. PvP is designed with the intent that things can be countered.

Main shot
Base points 432 -> 562
Coefficient 0.21 -> 0.37

Splash damage
Base points 77 -> 100
Coefficient 0.12 -> 0.13 .

source

Continue reading Starfall and Nature's Grasp PTR changes

Starfall and Nature's Grasp PTR changes originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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