3.2.2 Patchnotes in scope
Well, 3.2.2 is here, with some changes to the way things are looked at, a new instance to kill time in, some new PvP changes, and of course, class changes. This patch came out officially on September 22, 2009, so let's take a look at the changes, and see what it all means.
* The Brood Mother Returns
Can't say we didn't see another remake with Naxx being tossed back in the mix and all, good choice by blizzard in my part, with some new changes, so it isn't quite the old same stuff, but for kicks they remade the level 60 gear to be a remix of level 80 gear with some old style effects, including lifestealing for 100-180 on polearms, and +10 resist stats on gear. There is of course the bad remake, so it's now a 22 slotter, very nice, and a low low low chance for a 310% speed Brood of Onyxia (drake) to drop...very nice. It'll be a somewhat easy encounter, with just the straight boss encounter, like the old remake, but remade for some fun (something like VoA).
* Armor Penetration Rating: The amount of armor penetration gained per point of this rating has been reduced by 12%.
Not a total loss, but it'll mean people either need to add an extra gem to make up for the loss or just not worry about it as much, for rogues, and blood dks, ArP (armor penetration) is pretty big, so maybe it'll bring them a bit more in line with other specs on those classes
* Players level 11 and higher will always see a daily Battleground quest
Good change, since it used to be 50ish or higher. Nice to see them cater to people while they level, collecting honor and marks.
* [Frost Presence]: The damage reduction granted by this ability has been increased from 5% to 8%.
Blizzard has this policy, Nerf hard, Buff in increments. After taking away so much mitigation, Death Knights are finally getting some back, 3% is still 3% on paper.
o [Gnaw]: This death knight ghoul ability now has a 1-minute cooldown.
It was a great ability for PvP, putting it on a one minute cooldown does bring it in line with other stuns, though hunter pets have a 45 second cooldown on some of those abilities.
+ Heart Strike: Secondary targets of Heart Strike now take half as much damage.
A solid hit to the blood spec, as Heart Strike is the cookie cutter rune dump, it'll still be, but you can bet frost spec dual-wielding will see some numbers up against blood.
+ Vampiric Blood: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute and duration reduced to 10 seconds.
Bringing it in line with the revamped unbreakable armor and Bone Shield, Blizzard spent so long making the three trees look and feel different, that now their finally putting solid caps on all abilties in all three trees, so they do not have random cooldowns.
+ Unbreakable Armor: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute and changed back to granting 25% additional armor while active instead of flat damage reduction based on armor. The amount of strength granted has been reduced to 10%.
A good change back to the start, and having it on a 1 minute cooldown with 20 second uptime means DKs will be using this 1/3 of the time, with the glyph of unbreakable armor still increasing the armor by +20%
+ Bone Shield: This ability now has 3 charges instead of 4. Cooldown reduced to 1 minute.
3 charges does hurt PvPers through intial burst, but the 1 minute cooldown from two minutes is a great change.
+ Dirge: This talent no longer grants additional runic power from using Obliterate.
Do not look for unholy DKs to keep using Obliterate in their rotation after this.
+ Moonkin Form: This form now also reduces the damage the druid takes while stunned by 15%.
With the previous change to owlkin frenzy, this makes PvPing moonkins look a tad stronger.
+ Predatory Strikes: This talent now also causes the druid's finishing moves to provide a 7/13/20% chance per combo point to make the next Nature spell with a cast time below 10 seconds instant cast.
Yes, this is a PvP booster, get it to proc, and instant cast even a healing touch. Not a bad upgrade at all.
+ Infected Wounds: The debuff generated by this talent no longer stacks and instead causes the full effect with a single application.
Another PvP change, for the better, since a Warrior's hamstring is a single stack/full effect
+ The Beast Within: The duration of this talent has been reduced to 10 seconds. In addition, hunters with this talent will do 10% additional damage at all times.
Could see more of these guys raiding, look for BM hunters to have less uptime burst and more overall damage output.
* [Arcane Blast]: The buff from using this ability now stacks up to 4 times instead of 3, and each application increases mana cost by 175% instead of 200%. In addition, the duration of the buff has been reduced to 6 seconds.
Extra stack, less time, cheaper cost, a well rounded change.
+ Missile Barrage: The effect from triggering this talent now removes the mana cost of Arcane Missiles. In addition, the chance for Arcane Blast to trigger this talent is now 8/16/24/32/40%. All other listed spells continue to have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to trigger it. This talent no longer has a chance to be triggered when spells miss.
* [Righteous Fury]: The bonus threat from Holy spells caused by this talent has been reduced from 90% to 80%.
Don't look for Paladins to miss much here. They won't be losing threat any time soon.
+ Judgements of the Just: The reduction in cooldown to Hammer of Justice provided by this talent has been reduced to 5/10 seconds instead of 10/20 seconds.
+ Touched by the Light: This talent now provides 20/40/60% of the paladin's strength as spell power instead of 10/20/30% of the paladin's stamina.
A PvP hit for sure. It's common to see Prot specced Holy PvP geared Paladins in Arena and BGs, this cuts their Spellpower, so it's not a simple single Flash of Light cast to fully heal someone anymore.
+ Seal of Command: This ability now chains to strike up to 2 additional targets when it is triggered by an attack that can only strike a single target.
Crusader Strike just got a new friend, works with Exorcism too.
+ Twisted Faith now grants spell power equal to 4/8/12/16/20% of spirit, up from 2/4/6/8/10%.
Shadow Priests have spirit, now there's more reason to stack it, 20% is a strong number, meaning 1k spirit is 200 Spellpower, not a bad bump if I say so.
* [Fan of Knives]: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 30%.
FoK will still be spammed in AoE fights, it just won't put rogues as number 1 for dps in the AoE department.
+ Throwing Specialization: This talent no longer causes Fan of Knives to interrupt spellcasting.
PvP hit to FoK and Rogues, won't affect PvE at all, but it does hurt Rogues in BGs.
* [Flame Shock]: The duration of all ranks has been increased by 6 seconds.
This will be in a rotation with an extra shock before it, 6 seconds is a perfect increase.
* [Lava Burst]: This ability no longer ever consumes a Flame Shock debuff off of the target.
All the more reason to use both Lava Burst and Flame Shock in the same rotation.
+ Critical Block: This talent now grants a 20/40/60% chance to block double the normal amount instead of 10/20/30%.
A nice buff for Warriors. Though they aren't the ones to stack block (Paladins are) the chance to block double is not a bad way to push Warriors to pick up a new shield or some extra block gear.
--
Overall, not a bad patch, I only touched on important things, and I decided not to go into bux fixes or professions changes, Classes were enough for me to hit on.
On that note...
-pwrtoppl
-out
Yes, this is a PvP booster, get it to proc, and instant cast even a healing touch. Not a bad upgrade at all.
+ Infected Wounds: The debuff generated by this talent no longer stacks and instead causes the full effect with a single application.
Another PvP change, for the better, since a Warrior's hamstring is a single stack/full effect
+ The Beast Within: The duration of this talent has been reduced to 10 seconds. In addition, hunters with this talent will do 10% additional damage at all times.
Could see more of these guys raiding, look for BM hunters to have less uptime burst and more overall damage output.
* [Arcane Blast]: The buff from using this ability now stacks up to 4 times instead of 3, and each application increases mana cost by 175% instead of 200%. In addition, the duration of the buff has been reduced to 6 seconds.
Extra stack, less time, cheaper cost, a well rounded change.
+ Missile Barrage: The effect from triggering this talent now removes the mana cost of Arcane Missiles. In addition, the chance for Arcane Blast to trigger this talent is now 8/16/24/32/40%. All other listed spells continue to have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to trigger it. This talent no longer has a chance to be triggered when spells miss.
* [Righteous Fury]: The bonus threat from Holy spells caused by this talent has been reduced from 90% to 80%.
Don't look for Paladins to miss much here. They won't be losing threat any time soon.
+ Judgements of the Just: The reduction in cooldown to Hammer of Justice provided by this talent has been reduced to 5/10 seconds instead of 10/20 seconds.
+ Touched by the Light: This talent now provides 20/40/60% of the paladin's strength as spell power instead of 10/20/30% of the paladin's stamina.
A PvP hit for sure. It's common to see Prot specced Holy PvP geared Paladins in Arena and BGs, this cuts their Spellpower, so it's not a simple single Flash of Light cast to fully heal someone anymore.
+ Seal of Command: This ability now chains to strike up to 2 additional targets when it is triggered by an attack that can only strike a single target.
Crusader Strike just got a new friend, works with Exorcism too.
+ Twisted Faith now grants spell power equal to 4/8/12/16/20% of spirit, up from 2/4/6/8/10%.
Shadow Priests have spirit, now there's more reason to stack it, 20% is a strong number, meaning 1k spirit is 200 Spellpower, not a bad bump if I say so.
* [Fan of Knives]: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 30%.
FoK will still be spammed in AoE fights, it just won't put rogues as number 1 for dps in the AoE department.
+ Throwing Specialization: This talent no longer causes Fan of Knives to interrupt spellcasting.
PvP hit to FoK and Rogues, won't affect PvE at all, but it does hurt Rogues in BGs.
* [Flame Shock]: The duration of all ranks has been increased by 6 seconds.
This will be in a rotation with an extra shock before it, 6 seconds is a perfect increase.
* [Lava Burst]: This ability no longer ever consumes a Flame Shock debuff off of the target.
All the more reason to use both Lava Burst and Flame Shock in the same rotation.
+ Critical Block: This talent now grants a 20/40/60% chance to block double the normal amount instead of 10/20/30%.
A nice buff for Warriors. Though they aren't the ones to stack block (Paladins are) the chance to block double is not a bad way to push Warriors to pick up a new shield or some extra block gear.
--
Overall, not a bad patch, I only touched on important things, and I decided not to go into bux fixes or professions changes, Classes were enough for me to hit on.
On that note...
-pwrtoppl
-out
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