Spring is here, and there are many great things that come with it. Flowers budding, trees turning green, birds chirping and other Nancy crap. The thing that I enjoy about spring is the Horse Track will be opening again here shortly. It's a great place to bet on some ponies and play some cards and breath in the fresh air that's filled with the scent of horse manure and cigar smoke. Honestly I just go for the $1 beer and hot dogs and then cringe at the price of mini donuts. But this year spring has another flavor - The reconstruction of my entire class 5 months after it was created.
Yay?
So I spent the last 5 months learning and playing with abilities that some were fundamentally changed - go go Blizz! Some may say that Deathknights needed toning down in PvP thus why some PvE abilities got the axe - that's awesome, I don't PvP. I am purely a PvE DK - why some might ask, because I arena'd in BC as a Hunter with a Resto Druid...45 minute matches killed PvP for me.
Before I get in on this latest and greatest Blog post, I want to add that they did change Hungering Cold and glyph'd it's just about where I said it should be to make it useful - damn I'm good.
Hi, my name is Kaleyen, I'm a Blood Deathknight of the guild Delirium and I want to Dual Wield...waitwut? Yeah I still think they should have added some DW talents to the Blood tree as the reason why DW was so strong prior to 3.1 is that all the talents were condensed into the lower talents of 2 trees instead of using all 3 trees to balance.
Anyways, the big debate with Blood is if DRW is worth the setup over a much easier to use Unholy Blight. A lot of people prefer UB as it's extremely easy to manage - just hit a button and you have AoE damage swarming around you. I do like the fact that Blood can get some better AoE damage but at what cost? Oh yeah, it's burst...wait, don't I like this spec for bursty damage? Damn...
I do plan on going with a 51/2/18 spec as it requires setup, some thought process, some micro-managing of your RP to get the most out of your DRW and DS. I don't like hitting 1 button and getting DPS numbers (I played a Hunter back in BC and played BM a bit - yay clicking on one button for hours on end?). As to my DW brethern - EP is stackable now?
Showing posts with label Patch Notes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patch Notes. Show all posts
Monday, March 16, 2009 3.1 DK Changes, Guild Changes, Me Changes?
So I haven't really written anything on my thoughts on all the upcoming changes Blizz making to Deathknights. If you haven't seen them all yet (and there are a lot) I'd head on over to MMO Champion and read over them, and while you're there look at the Tier 8 armor because it looks hot. My first thought about all of this is simply - So, obviously they didn't get DK's right the first swing. What I mean by that is that we aren't really seeing some minor tweaking to the class, we're getting a complete overhall. DPS, Tanking, PvP it's all changing and there is still more to come, so it just raises the question "Are Deathknight's almost finished?", of which nobody has the answer to.
From a PvE DPS standpoint I'm really not minding the changes too much, obvious some nerfs but I view it as a culling of the weak. As Blood I really like the new direction of our base FU ability - which is now starting to favor Death Strike over Obliterate. I will admit I did create and participate in threads over on the live forums pushing for this change. One more change I would like to see on it is DS (Death Strike) added to the Sigil of Awareness with the other two FU abilities as well as to the Tier 7 gear. I understand that we'll be getting new gear in Uldaur with new set bonuses, but we're going to be stepping into new content not in this new gear, but with our old Tier 7 gear, so I do see it as something that would greatly benefit Blood as Blood is the only 2H build that come 3.1 won't get any benefit from them. I am confused as to why they are nerfing some Blood and Frost abilities while making the Unholy tree more attractive when the goal was to have more DK's stray away from Unholy. I do get that Blood has too much burst for PvP right now so they're taking all that way...but hey, the reason why I like Blood for PvE DPS is the burst, and I don't PvP. The way I DPS is all through throttling my burst, I build up my RP and get my runes ready then pop Hysteria, DRW and go through a basic OB x2, HS x2 Rotation and then hit ERW (Empowered Rune Weapon) and do it again and see 10k DPS spike! Then 15 seconds later I will start to throttle down, down, down then once my CDs are back up I'll do it again. For me, it's a fun play style that I enjoy, I really don't care if the above can /faceroll their way to high Arena ratings (besides, isn't that what rogues have been doing for 4 seasons now?). But who knows what future changes will take place to make what I wrote above useless information. Things seem to change every week so I'm sure if there are any new patch notes today or tomorrow we'll see some more DK DPS nerfs.
As for guild changes, Khaeli and I left our previous guild after I was called Hitler and she was called a Nazi because we supported when our Guild Leader wanted to post WWS reports. We're now apart of a more dedicated raid guild and I really hope it works out as the people seem both nice and informed (I actually had good DK conversations about the future of the class and current PTR changes, this is vastely different from my previous guild where there wasn't any mutual sharing of information, I was just called upon to answer questions and go through gear/gems/enchants/specs/etc. and find where people could use some help). It's been awhile since I was apart of a raiding group that could actually perform, have it's members live up to standards while still having drunken Vent nights (I'm not sure how this guild would handle a drunken Kaleyen IRL - I think I'll wait to test them with that if I make it past recruit). I really hope that Khaeli and I can surpass their standards as they test us with Heroics. I know that Khaeli gets a tad upset because her class/spec (Disc Priest) really has a difficult time healing a group as it's more about single target damage absorption and she gets really hard on herself when someone dies. She has mentioned that when she goes to play on her Resto Druid just how extremely easy it is to keep a group up compared to her Priest.
As for my self changes...in my interview for my new guild they were very interested in me and tanking as I mentioned in my application that I don't mind changing specs to suit the guild's needs and that I do know how to tank as a DK. Now, this does have me nervous as I really haven't tanked anything in 25 man content nor do I have a decent tank set or even a spec in mind. When I joined my previous guild as a tank and was asked to go DPS, I pretty much stopped reading all my DK tank forums as I had to be a quick learner on DK DPS. So now I might find myself in the opposite position and need to freshen up on Tank specs and gemming. As a DPS DK I am confident in my ability to DPS as I have done so in the 25 man raid environment and it's just what I do. But as for Tanking, I'm slightly nervous as I don't want to be judged so much on an aspect of game play I have set aside for the better half of three months to focus on DPS. I know I can be a great tank as it's all about awareness, of which I do have, it's the whole "Join a raiding guild and be judged on role that I haven't previously done in a raid environment" bit that has me nervous. We'll see...
From a PvE DPS standpoint I'm really not minding the changes too much, obvious some nerfs but I view it as a culling of the weak. As Blood I really like the new direction of our base FU ability - which is now starting to favor Death Strike over Obliterate. I will admit I did create and participate in threads over on the live forums pushing for this change. One more change I would like to see on it is DS (Death Strike) added to the Sigil of Awareness with the other two FU abilities as well as to the Tier 7 gear. I understand that we'll be getting new gear in Uldaur with new set bonuses, but we're going to be stepping into new content not in this new gear, but with our old Tier 7 gear, so I do see it as something that would greatly benefit Blood as Blood is the only 2H build that come 3.1 won't get any benefit from them. I am confused as to why they are nerfing some Blood and Frost abilities while making the Unholy tree more attractive when the goal was to have more DK's stray away from Unholy. I do get that Blood has too much burst for PvP right now so they're taking all that way...but hey, the reason why I like Blood for PvE DPS is the burst, and I don't PvP. The way I DPS is all through throttling my burst, I build up my RP and get my runes ready then pop Hysteria, DRW and go through a basic OB x2, HS x2 Rotation and then hit ERW (Empowered Rune Weapon) and do it again and see 10k DPS spike! Then 15 seconds later I will start to throttle down, down, down then once my CDs are back up I'll do it again. For me, it's a fun play style that I enjoy, I really don't care if the above can /faceroll their way to high Arena ratings (besides, isn't that what rogues have been doing for 4 seasons now?). But who knows what future changes will take place to make what I wrote above useless information. Things seem to change every week so I'm sure if there are any new patch notes today or tomorrow we'll see some more DK DPS nerfs.
As for guild changes, Khaeli and I left our previous guild after I was called Hitler and she was called a Nazi because we supported when our Guild Leader wanted to post WWS reports. We're now apart of a more dedicated raid guild and I really hope it works out as the people seem both nice and informed (I actually had good DK conversations about the future of the class and current PTR changes, this is vastely different from my previous guild where there wasn't any mutual sharing of information, I was just called upon to answer questions and go through gear/gems/enchants/specs/etc. and find where people could use some help). It's been awhile since I was apart of a raiding group that could actually perform, have it's members live up to standards while still having drunken Vent nights (I'm not sure how this guild would handle a drunken Kaleyen IRL - I think I'll wait to test them with that if I make it past recruit). I really hope that Khaeli and I can surpass their standards as they test us with Heroics. I know that Khaeli gets a tad upset because her class/spec (Disc Priest) really has a difficult time healing a group as it's more about single target damage absorption and she gets really hard on herself when someone dies. She has mentioned that when she goes to play on her Resto Druid just how extremely easy it is to keep a group up compared to her Priest.
As for my self changes...in my interview for my new guild they were very interested in me and tanking as I mentioned in my application that I don't mind changing specs to suit the guild's needs and that I do know how to tank as a DK. Now, this does have me nervous as I really haven't tanked anything in 25 man content nor do I have a decent tank set or even a spec in mind. When I joined my previous guild as a tank and was asked to go DPS, I pretty much stopped reading all my DK tank forums as I had to be a quick learner on DK DPS. So now I might find myself in the opposite position and need to freshen up on Tank specs and gemming. As a DPS DK I am confident in my ability to DPS as I have done so in the 25 man raid environment and it's just what I do. But as for Tanking, I'm slightly nervous as I don't want to be judged so much on an aspect of game play I have set aside for the better half of three months to focus on DPS. I know I can be a great tank as it's all about awareness, of which I do have, it's the whole "Join a raiding guild and be judged on role that I haven't previously done in a raid environment" bit that has me nervous. We'll see...
Friday, February 13, 2009 A Boy Named Nancy
My daddy left home when I was three
And he didn't leave much to ma and me
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.
Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me "Nancy."
Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke
And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk,
It seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named "Nancy."
Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean,
My fist got hard and my wits got keen,
I'd roam from town to town to hide my shame.
But I made a vow to the moon and stars
That I'd search the honky-tonks and bars
And kill that man who gave me that awful name.
Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July
And I just hit town and my throat was dry,
I thought I'd stop and have myself a brew.
At an old saloon on a street of mud,
There at a table, dealing stud,
Sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me "Nancy."
Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
From a worn-out picture that my mother'd had,
And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye.
He was big and bent and gray and old,
And I looked at him and my blood ran cold
And I said: "My name is 'Nancy!' How do you do!
Now your gonna die!!"
Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes
And he went down, but to my surprise,
He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear.
But I busted a chair right across his teeth
And we crashed through the wall and into the street
Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer.
I tell ya, I've fought tougher men
But I really can't remember when,
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile.
I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss,
He went for his gun and I pulled mine first,
He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile.
And he said: "Son, this world is rough
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along.
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you'd have to get tough or die
And it's the name that helped to make you strong."
He said: "Now you just fought one hell of a fight
And I know you hate me, and you got the right
To kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do.
But ya ought to thank me, before I die,
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye
Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you "Nancy.'"
I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I came away with a different point of view.
And I think about him, now and then,
Every time I try and every time I win,
And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but Nancy! I still hate that name!
Yes - Again I'm unsure of my DPS spec, and like before, I'm confused as ever as I like certain things from each tree but dislike other things from each tree as well.
And he didn't leave much to ma and me
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.
Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me "Nancy."
Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke
And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk,
It seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named "Nancy."
Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean,
My fist got hard and my wits got keen,
I'd roam from town to town to hide my shame.
But I made a vow to the moon and stars
That I'd search the honky-tonks and bars
And kill that man who gave me that awful name.
Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July
And I just hit town and my throat was dry,
I thought I'd stop and have myself a brew.
At an old saloon on a street of mud,
There at a table, dealing stud,
Sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me "Nancy."
Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
From a worn-out picture that my mother'd had,
And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye.
He was big and bent and gray and old,
And I looked at him and my blood ran cold
And I said: "My name is 'Nancy!' How do you do!
Now your gonna die!!"
Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes
And he went down, but to my surprise,
He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear.
But I busted a chair right across his teeth
And we crashed through the wall and into the street
Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer.
I tell ya, I've fought tougher men
But I really can't remember when,
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile.
I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss,
He went for his gun and I pulled mine first,
He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile.
And he said: "Son, this world is rough
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along.
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you'd have to get tough or die
And it's the name that helped to make you strong."
He said: "Now you just fought one hell of a fight
And I know you hate me, and you got the right
To kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do.
But ya ought to thank me, before I die,
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye
Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you "Nancy.'"
I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I came away with a different point of view.
And I think about him, now and then,
Every time I try and every time I win,
And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but Nancy! I still hate that name!
Yes - Again I'm unsure of my DPS spec, and like before, I'm confused as ever as I like certain things from each tree but dislike other things from each tree as well.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 Diseaseless Blood & Armor Penetration
The DPS spec that I have decided upon is the 51/0/20 2H build that focuses on a diseaseless rotation. The reasoning? - I like that it scales with gear as my guild is clearing all content and because I didn't pick up Annihilation + Epidemic so reapplying diseases became a tedious chore. Don't get me wrong, I believe that Deathknights should use their diseases to do their damage and when/if that gets changed in 3.1 I will change my rotation/spec to reflect that.
A few things about my spec choices:
I. I picked up Improved Rune Tap and Glyphed for it. Reasoning - I'm finding that healing DPS is a last priority even for the healers who's duty it is to heal the raid. And that they don't start healing DPS until they drop below 50% and as a spec that does an additional damage based on health I then need to make sure I stay above 75%. Also, after going through wws reports the mage that raids 98% of the time doesn't use Frostfire Bolt so glyphing for Blood Strike would be a waste of a major.
II. I don't have Death Rune Mastery as my rotation is the standard OBx2, HSx2
III. I picked up Vampiric Blood for the reasons stated in I.
IV. I do like the concept of Blood Worms - The passive heal that does damage (abit they do minimal damage it's still damage) and they don't waste a Blood Rune that I could have used on a HS nor do they consume a GCD. The problem I have with them is that they can soak up AoE Heals (when they are finally cast) and I've heard reports on Thaddius that they can consume a charge and wipe a raid.
So, where does Armor Penetration come in?
There was a glimpse of 3.1 changes posted in the general section of the WoW live forums. Blood Gorged is getting its expertise changed with ArP (Note ArP = Armor Penetration and AP = Attack Power). There were no details on if it was going to be a base number with each rank or a percentage gained that would scale with gear. I would hope for the latter as Blood itself seems like the build that scales the best with higher end gear.
At the moment there are no solid numbers for soft or hard caps for ArP, however there is a lot of interest in finding it. My concern is that there is a limited amount of gear in the current raid content that has ArP on it, this of course can change with 3.1. On a non-raid night I really want to test out gemming and gearing for straight ArP and spending a few hours in front of the raid dummy in Ironforge.
Some early thoughts on ArP on WoW gaming forums is that it doubles in value as you gain it. So with 1% ArP it is on the same value table with haste for 2H builds. But unlike haste once you're at 2% it will be of a larger DPS increase, and the value keeps doubling until it reaches the point of DR. Now - at what is the target percentage that is the "sweet spot" to reach is unknown - what the point of DR on ArP is unknown. Basically, a lot of unknowns but it's exciting to have a once thought useless stat become rather attractive with a Blood build.
On another note, I got Khaeli and I the Belkin N52TE Gaming Keypad. We're both keyboard turning clickers and have been for years. We're looking for something that can really help maximize our game play and simplify things and once we get use to this thing, it looks like the way to go...we'll see though.
A few things about my spec choices:
I. I picked up Improved Rune Tap and Glyphed for it. Reasoning - I'm finding that healing DPS is a last priority even for the healers who's duty it is to heal the raid. And that they don't start healing DPS until they drop below 50% and as a spec that does an additional damage based on health I then need to make sure I stay above 75%. Also, after going through wws reports the mage that raids 98% of the time doesn't use Frostfire Bolt so glyphing for Blood Strike would be a waste of a major.
II. I don't have Death Rune Mastery as my rotation is the standard OBx2, HSx2
III. I picked up Vampiric Blood for the reasons stated in I.
IV. I do like the concept of Blood Worms - The passive heal that does damage (abit they do minimal damage it's still damage) and they don't waste a Blood Rune that I could have used on a HS nor do they consume a GCD. The problem I have with them is that they can soak up AoE Heals (when they are finally cast) and I've heard reports on Thaddius that they can consume a charge and wipe a raid.
So, where does Armor Penetration come in?
There was a glimpse of 3.1 changes posted in the general section of the WoW live forums. Blood Gorged is getting its expertise changed with ArP (Note ArP = Armor Penetration and AP = Attack Power). There were no details on if it was going to be a base number with each rank or a percentage gained that would scale with gear. I would hope for the latter as Blood itself seems like the build that scales the best with higher end gear.
At the moment there are no solid numbers for soft or hard caps for ArP, however there is a lot of interest in finding it. My concern is that there is a limited amount of gear in the current raid content that has ArP on it, this of course can change with 3.1. On a non-raid night I really want to test out gemming and gearing for straight ArP and spending a few hours in front of the raid dummy in Ironforge.
Some early thoughts on ArP on WoW gaming forums is that it doubles in value as you gain it. So with 1% ArP it is on the same value table with haste for 2H builds. But unlike haste once you're at 2% it will be of a larger DPS increase, and the value keeps doubling until it reaches the point of DR. Now - at what is the target percentage that is the "sweet spot" to reach is unknown - what the point of DR on ArP is unknown. Basically, a lot of unknowns but it's exciting to have a once thought useless stat become rather attractive with a Blood build.
On another note, I got Khaeli and I the Belkin N52TE Gaming Keypad. We're both keyboard turning clickers and have been for years. We're looking for something that can really help maximize our game play and simplify things and once we get use to this thing, it looks like the way to go...we'll see though.
Thursday, January 15, 2009 Land of Confusion
So today has been a wild ride and it's only 3:15pm. Of course there's RL things going on (Birthday and an US Airways plane crashed into the Hudson River) but also some interesting PTR changes that effect DW DPS and Frost Tanking.
These changes are that Killing Machine only procs off your main hand and Howling Blast is back on a cooldown, abit a 5 second CD compared to it's live state at 6 second one.
All forums are in an uproar and I myself and feeling like a yoyo. So this yoyo has no idea how to take this news, how to spend his DKP (wtf do I spend it on a slow 1H or what happens if a 2H drops?!).
Or...maybe this yoyo will be given a tank role...or does this yoyo even want that? I'm so damn confused now...
These changes are that Killing Machine only procs off your main hand and Howling Blast is back on a cooldown, abit a 5 second CD compared to it's live state at 6 second one.
All forums are in an uproar and I myself and feeling like a yoyo. So this yoyo has no idea how to take this news, how to spend his DKP (wtf do I spend it on a slow 1H or what happens if a 2H drops?!).
Or...maybe this yoyo will be given a tank role...or does this yoyo even want that? I'm so damn confused now...
Thursday, December 11, 2008 Upcoming Deathknight Changes
If you haven't seen them yet, here they are!
From Ghostcrawler: We have talked about making some of these changes and wanted to provide more details. You should be able to try these out yourselves on the PTR before they go live.
Our reason for most of these changes should be obvious, but some common themes are:
-- Making tanking still rely on cooldowns, but rely on them a little less.
-- Make Blood a more attractive spec, and particularly for tanking.
-- Chill out some of the defensive capabilities all DKs have in PvP.
-- Avoid having to use Death and Decay as an out-of-combat runic power generator.
1) Rune Strike -- damage decreased from 200% to 150% but threat increased to 150% from 100%.
This was changed because RS was the "Rogue Killer", and far be it for a class to kill a Rogue so it's damage was modified. This change is indifferent to me as a Tank I feel that the threat increase is rather nice.
2) All multi-rune abilities generate 15 runic power.
Eh
3) Anti-Magic Shell -- cooldown lowered to 45 sec from 60 sec.
This is hot, completely hot. DK's were suppose to be the spell tank and this ability not only helps that, but really will help out in PvP. I really like this change.
4) The healing of Blood Aura, Blood Presence and Death Pact has been doubled.
I'm not a Blood DK and I'm not in Blood Presence much, but for when I group with Lorren this will be hot...beyond hot, sexy hot.
I like the fact that Blizz is trying to make the Blood tree more appealing and make all three trees have their special niche.
5) Bone Shield -- mitigation reduced from 40% to 20%.
BS was shown to scale extremely well as your avoidance went up -- too well. I knew, along with many others, that a nerf to BS was coming. However, down to 20% was a bit too drastic, I was looking at 30% personally. There are some early numbers also showing that with BS nerf along with IBF nerf that Unholy falls behind Frost in tanking. Looking forward to seeing this in action to get more solid numbers out of it.
6) Icebound Fortitude – now reduces damage by 20% instead of 50%. The amount of damage reduced increases with bonus Defense (to about 35% for 540 Defense, but it can go higher). The stun immunity is intended to be its primary role in PvP.
This one I'm trying to take in stride - yet another PvE nerf because of PvP. I think Blizz needs to decide what type of game they want, PvE or PvP then attempt to balance for that type and whatever happens to the other aspect of the game happens.
Now, as a tank I'll always have 540 Defense, however when I do choose to PvP, and I'm in PvP gear, my Defense will be significantly lower as PvP gear has resilience instead of Defense...not so hot.
7) Frost Presence -- bonus armor increased from 60 to 80% and magic damage reduction increased from 5 to 15%. We wanted to reduce the effectiveness of cooldowns but bring up base mitigation to reduce damage spikiness.
This was the main tanking buff that GC mentioned on briefly a few weeks ago. My only fear is that I don't want to tank like a Bear - IE shit ton of armor.
8) Corpse Explosion -- damage increased substantially, added 5 sec cooldown, and changed cost to 40 runic power.
CE is now useful! Yeee!
9) Heart Strike – we overhauled this ability. It no longer has a haste debuff but will now be able to strike two targets like a cleave. It still hits for more than Blood Strike, but you can still use Blood Strike if e.g. you don’t want to break CC.
Never spec'd Blood I don't have any in depth analysis on this, however the word of mouth from my Blood buddies is that they are excited to see HS get an overhall.
10) Horn of Winter -- now has no cost and grants 10 runic power in addition to its stat buff, but has a 30 sec cooldown.
I like this one as well...hoping to see that the glyph will add duration onto it as it is only a 2 minute buff.
11) Night of the Dead -- now grants 40/70% passive area spell avoidance to your pet in addition to its current effects.
NC
12) Outbreak – this talent no longer receive bonus damage from Pestilence. The bonus from Plague Strike and Blood Boil has been increased slightly.
NC
13) Bloody Strikes – the bonus damage from Pestilence has been moved here to help Blood AE slightly.
Which in turns lowers Unholy AoE damage...slightly, but a nerf to Unholy.
14) Pestilence -- no longer has a 10 sec cooldown.
HOT!
15) Raise Dead -- now split into two spells: Raise Dead now raises a ghoul or pet ghoul (if talented). Raise Ally now raises a fallen party member (at no reagent cost).
NC
16) New runeforge rune -- Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle (two-handed only) now grants 25 Defense and 2% Stamina.
Ok, granted the 4% Parry scales better then the 25 Defense - BUT! With this rune we can gem for other stats - dodge, parry, sta or go in for gear that has slightly less Defense on it because we have it covered on our weapon.
17) Shadow of Death -- duration reduced from 45 seconds to 25 seconds.
NC
18) Unholy Blight, Dancing Rune Weapon and Hungering Cold – cost reduced from 60 to 40 runic power.
HC = Still useless for PvE, has some PvP applications now.
19) Vampiric Blood -- in addition to its current effects, also adds 20% health temporarily.
More Blood buffness!
20) Will of the Necropolis -- now reduces the damage of any attack that takes the DK below 35% health by 5 /10/15% instead of boosting armor when wounded
NC
21) Many death knight glyphs have been changed. In many cases the negative consequences were removed.
This is a great addition as the Major Glyphs for DK's really sucked...really really bad. And not just a few of them, almost all of them.
22) New death knight sigils are now available, primarily from vendors, including a tanking-oriented sigil.
WOOHOO! I simply cannot wait for these! It's about time is all I can say!
From Ghostcrawler: We have talked about making some of these changes and wanted to provide more details. You should be able to try these out yourselves on the PTR before they go live.
Our reason for most of these changes should be obvious, but some common themes are:
-- Making tanking still rely on cooldowns, but rely on them a little less.
-- Make Blood a more attractive spec, and particularly for tanking.
-- Chill out some of the defensive capabilities all DKs have in PvP.
-- Avoid having to use Death and Decay as an out-of-combat runic power generator.
1) Rune Strike -- damage decreased from 200% to 150% but threat increased to 150% from 100%.
This was changed because RS was the "Rogue Killer", and far be it for a class to kill a Rogue so it's damage was modified. This change is indifferent to me as a Tank I feel that the threat increase is rather nice.
2) All multi-rune abilities generate 15 runic power.
Eh
3) Anti-Magic Shell -- cooldown lowered to 45 sec from 60 sec.
This is hot, completely hot. DK's were suppose to be the spell tank and this ability not only helps that, but really will help out in PvP. I really like this change.
4) The healing of Blood Aura, Blood Presence and Death Pact has been doubled.
I'm not a Blood DK and I'm not in Blood Presence much, but for when I group with Lorren this will be hot...beyond hot, sexy hot.
I like the fact that Blizz is trying to make the Blood tree more appealing and make all three trees have their special niche.
5) Bone Shield -- mitigation reduced from 40% to 20%.
BS was shown to scale extremely well as your avoidance went up -- too well. I knew, along with many others, that a nerf to BS was coming. However, down to 20% was a bit too drastic, I was looking at 30% personally. There are some early numbers also showing that with BS nerf along with IBF nerf that Unholy falls behind Frost in tanking. Looking forward to seeing this in action to get more solid numbers out of it.
6) Icebound Fortitude – now reduces damage by 20% instead of 50%. The amount of damage reduced increases with bonus Defense (to about 35% for 540 Defense, but it can go higher). The stun immunity is intended to be its primary role in PvP.
This one I'm trying to take in stride - yet another PvE nerf because of PvP. I think Blizz needs to decide what type of game they want, PvE or PvP then attempt to balance for that type and whatever happens to the other aspect of the game happens.
Now, as a tank I'll always have 540 Defense, however when I do choose to PvP, and I'm in PvP gear, my Defense will be significantly lower as PvP gear has resilience instead of Defense...not so hot.
7) Frost Presence -- bonus armor increased from 60 to 80% and magic damage reduction increased from 5 to 15%. We wanted to reduce the effectiveness of cooldowns but bring up base mitigation to reduce damage spikiness.
This was the main tanking buff that GC mentioned on briefly a few weeks ago. My only fear is that I don't want to tank like a Bear - IE shit ton of armor.
8) Corpse Explosion -- damage increased substantially, added 5 sec cooldown, and changed cost to 40 runic power.
CE is now useful! Yeee!
9) Heart Strike – we overhauled this ability. It no longer has a haste debuff but will now be able to strike two targets like a cleave. It still hits for more than Blood Strike, but you can still use Blood Strike if e.g. you don’t want to break CC.
Never spec'd Blood I don't have any in depth analysis on this, however the word of mouth from my Blood buddies is that they are excited to see HS get an overhall.
10) Horn of Winter -- now has no cost and grants 10 runic power in addition to its stat buff, but has a 30 sec cooldown.
I like this one as well...hoping to see that the glyph will add duration onto it as it is only a 2 minute buff.
11) Night of the Dead -- now grants 40/70% passive area spell avoidance to your pet in addition to its current effects.
NC
12) Outbreak – this talent no longer receive bonus damage from Pestilence. The bonus from Plague Strike and Blood Boil has been increased slightly.
NC
13) Bloody Strikes – the bonus damage from Pestilence has been moved here to help Blood AE slightly.
Which in turns lowers Unholy AoE damage...slightly, but a nerf to Unholy.
14) Pestilence -- no longer has a 10 sec cooldown.
HOT!
15) Raise Dead -- now split into two spells: Raise Dead now raises a ghoul or pet ghoul (if talented). Raise Ally now raises a fallen party member (at no reagent cost).
NC
16) New runeforge rune -- Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle (two-handed only) now grants 25 Defense and 2% Stamina.
Ok, granted the 4% Parry scales better then the 25 Defense - BUT! With this rune we can gem for other stats - dodge, parry, sta or go in for gear that has slightly less Defense on it because we have it covered on our weapon.
17) Shadow of Death -- duration reduced from 45 seconds to 25 seconds.
NC
18) Unholy Blight, Dancing Rune Weapon and Hungering Cold – cost reduced from 60 to 40 runic power.
HC = Still useless for PvE, has some PvP applications now.
19) Vampiric Blood -- in addition to its current effects, also adds 20% health temporarily.
More Blood buffness!
20) Will of the Necropolis -- now reduces the damage of any attack that takes the DK below 35% health by 5 /10/15% instead of boosting armor when wounded
NC
21) Many death knight glyphs have been changed. In many cases the negative consequences were removed.
This is a great addition as the Major Glyphs for DK's really sucked...really really bad. And not just a few of them, almost all of them.
22) New death knight sigils are now available, primarily from vendors, including a tanking-oriented sigil.
WOOHOO! I simply cannot wait for these! It's about time is all I can say!
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