3.2.2 patchnotes

Here's some 3.2.2 enjoyment for you all to enjoy, I'll do a breakdown this week in addition to something productive

enjoy!

General

* The Brood Mother Returns
o After years of lurking in her lair battling the many brave adventurers who travelled from afar to challenge her, Onyxia returns to commemorate World of Warcraft's five-year anniversary.
+ Onyxia has been scaled to offer new challenges to level 80 players and is now available for testing in 10- and 25-player modes.
+ Adjustments have been made to the encounter to keep it fit for modern raiding, but the fundamental experience of fighting the Brood Mother will remain, as will the horror of the Deep Breaths!
+ Some classic items Onyxia offered level 60 players will have their stats adjusted appropriately for level 80 players.
+ [Brood of Onyxia], a very rare 310%-speed mount modeled after Onyxia herself will be available for the luckiest of challengers.
* Armor Penetration Rating: The amount of armor penetration gained per point of this rating has been reduced by 12%.

PvP Battlegrounds

* Players level 11 and higher will always see a daily Battleground quest, as the quest giver will only offer daily quests for a Battleground in which a player is eligible to participate according to level bracket (i.e. players levels 11-20 will always be offered a Warsong Gulch daily quest, while players levels 11-50 will be offered either an Arathi Basin or a Warsong Gulch daily quest, etc.).

Classes Death Knight

* [Frost Presence]: The damage reduction granted by this ability has been increased from 5% to 8%.
* Pets
o [Gnaw]: This death knight ghoul ability now has a 1-minute cooldown.
* Talents
o Blood
+ Heart Strike: Secondary targets of Heart Strike now take half as much damage.
+ Subversion: Now also increases the critical strike chance of Scourge Strike by 3/6/9%.
+ Vampiric Blood: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute and duration reduced to 10 seconds.
o Frost
+ Threat of Thassarian now also causes Rune Strike to use both weapons when dual-wielding.
+ 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%.
o Unholy
+ Bone Shield: This ability now has 3 charges instead of 4. Cooldown reduced to 1 minute.
+ Dirge: This talent no longer grants additional runic power from using Obliterate.

Druid

* Talents
o Balance
+ Moonkin Form: This form now also reduces the damage the druid takes while stunned by 15%.
+ Typhoon: The daze duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
o Feral Combat
+ 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.
+ Infected Wounds: The debuff generated by this talent no longer stacks and instead causes the full effect with a single application.

Hunter

* Talents
o Beast Mastery
+ 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.
+ Bestial Wrath: The duration of this talent has been reduced to 10 seconds.

Mage

* [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.
* [Arcane Missiles]: Casting this spell while both Missile Barrage and Clearcasting are active will cause only Missile Barrage to be consumed.
* Talents
o Arcane
+ 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.
o Fire
+ Combustion: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of Fire spells by 50% while it is active. In addition, Living Bomb periodic ticks will no longer interact with the count or the charges on the talent.

Paladin

* [Righteous Fury]: The bonus threat from Holy spells caused by this talent has been reduced from 90% to 80%.
* [Seal of Corruption] and [Seal of Vengeance]: These seals will now only use the debuff stacks generated by the attacking paladin to determine the damage done by the seal and by the judgement.
* Talents
o Protection
+ Ardent Defender: This talent now reduces damage taken below 35% health by 7/13/20% instead of 10/20/30%.
+ Blessing of Sanctuary: This blessing now grants 10% strength in addition to its current effects. Also, the strength and stamina bonuses from this blessing will no longer be lost when Blessing of Kings is removed.
+ 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.
o Retribution
+ 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.

Priest

* Talents
o Shadow
+ Improved Spirit Tap: Mind Flay periodic critical strikes now have a 50% chance to trigger this talent.
+ Twisted Faith now grants spell power equal to 4/8/12/16/20% of spirit, up from 2/4/6/8/10%.

Rogue

* [Envenom]'s scaling has been increased from 7% to 9% of attack power per combo point.
* [Fan of Knives]: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 30%.
* Talents
o Assassination
+ Master Poisoner: No longer increases the Deadly Poison application rate following a successful Envenom and instead now provides a 33/66/100% chance of preventing Envenom from consuming Deadly Poison.
o Combat
+ Throwing Specialization: This talent no longer causes Fan of Knives to interrupt spellcasting.
o Subtlety
+ Honor Among Thieves: A 1-second cooldown is now enforced on how often a rogue can gain combo points from his party via this talent.

Shaman

* [Flame Shock]: The duration of all ranks has been increased by 6 seconds.
* [Lava Burst]: This ability no longer ever consumes a Flame Shock debuff off of the target.
* Talents
o Enhancement
+ Earthen Power: No longer causes Earthbind to pulse a persistent snare immunity aura. It does still remove snares from allies as an instant pulse, but there is no lingering immunity. Earthen Power now also brings Earth Shock's melee attack speed reduction up to -15%/-20% (with 1 or 2 points in it, respectively).
o Elemental
+ Shamanism: Your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells gain an additional 3/6/9/12/15% and your Lava Burst gains an additional 4/8/12/16/20% of your bonus damage effects.

Warrior

* Talents
o Arms
+ Sword Specialization: Now has a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to proc an extra attack, up from 1/2/3/4/5%.
o Protection
+ Critical Block: This talent now grants a 20/40/60% chance to block double the normal amount instead of 10/20/30%.

Dungeons & Raids Shadowfang Keep

* Wailing Guardsman: Screams of the Past will no longer have multiple applications on a target. Recast time has been increased.

Ulduar

* Increased the cooldown on Immortal Guardians' Drain Life ability in the Yogg-Saron encounter.

Achievements

* The Achievement " Iron Dwarf, Medium Rare (25 player)" now requires 25 kills, down from 50.
* The Frostwolf Howler and Stormpike Battle Charger Achievements will now be awarded when a player learns the respective mount spells.

Professions

* The blacksmiths of Orgrimmar grew tired of running to the rear of the city to craft items and have installed a new anvil & forge at the General Store in the Valley of Strength.
* Engineering
o The [Mind Amplification Dish] no longer changes the appearance of your helmet.
* Inscription
o Added a recipe for Runescroll of Fortitude. This item grants a stamina buff equal to the highest rank of Power Word: Fortitude (untalented) to all players in the raid. Does not stack with other stamina scrolls and Power Word: Fortitude.
* Leatherworking
o Added a recipe for Drums of Forgotten Kings. These drums increase all stats by 8% for all players in a raid. Does not stack with Blessing of Kings.
o Added a recipe for Drums of the Wild. These drums grant a buff equal to the highest rank of Mark of the Wild (untalented) to all players in a raid. Does not stack with Mark of the Wild.

Items

* The Black Heart: This item's animation has been changed and no longer resembles Hand of Protection.
* Death Knight Tier-9 Tanking 4-Piece Set Bonus: Now decreases the cooldown on Vampiric Blood, Unbreakable Armor, and Bone Shield by 10 seconds instead of 20.
* Druid Tier-8 Healer 4-Piece Set Bonus: The amount of healing this set bonus grants on the initial cast of Rejuvenation has been reduced by 50%. In addition, this set bonus no longer has strange interactions with Harold's Rejuvenating Broach.
* Glyphs
o [Glyph of Bone Shield]: This glyph now grants 1 additional charge instead of 2.
o [Glyph of Flame Shock]: Redesigned. This glyph now makes [Flame Shock] periodic damage able to be critical strikes.
o [Glyph of Mind Flay]: This glyph no longer reduces the magnitude of the movement reduction on the [Mind Flay] victim.
o [Glyph of Scourge Strike]: Redesigned. This glyph now causes [Scourge Strike] to extend the duration of Frost Fever and Blood Plague by 3 seconds each time Scourge Strike is used on a target, up to a maximum of 9 seconds.
o [Glyph of Typhoon]: This glyph now increases the range on [Typhoon] by 10 yards in addition to its current effects.
o [Glyph of Unbreakable Armor]: Now increases the armor gained from [Unbreakable Armor] by 20%.
o [Glyph of Vampiric Blood]: The glyph now increases the duration of [Vampiric Blood] by 5 seconds instead of 10.
* [Libram of Obstruction]: The buff to block value from this relic is now exclusive with the buff to block value from Libram of the Sacred Shield; it is impossible to have both buffs at once.
* [Libram of the Sacred Shield]: The block value buff from this relic has been increased to match its item level.
* Relics: All buffs provided by relics (idols, librams, totems and sigils) now share an exclusive category such that gaining a buff from one of these items will remove all other buffs gained from items in this category.
* [Totem of Quaking Earth]: Attack power value increased to 400.

User Interface

* Battleground Queuing
o Players may now only queue for no more than two Battlegrounds at a time.
o The dialog box for entering a Battleground match has been changed to reflect the following options: "Enter Battle," "Leave Queue," and "Minimize."
o The time a player has to enter a battle when selected has been reduced to 40 seconds when not already in a Battleground and 20 seconds when in a Battleground.
o Players already in a Battleground can now choose "Enter Battle" for a new Battleground under any circumstance (i.e. while dead, in combat, falling, etc.).
o A new Battleground will not launch until the maximum number of players on each side are in the queue (i.e. 40 players per side for Alterac Valley).
* The size of the Focus Frame can now be adjusted via the Interface Options menu.
* Mail System Auto-Complete Feature
o The inline auto-complete feature for the mail system has been added back into the game. The mail system will now have both the pre- and post-3.2.0 auto-complete features available.
o Added a label to notify players that the Tab key will allow players to navigate through the character names listed via the auto-complete feature.
* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.

Bug Fixes

* Death Knight
o Rune of Razorice: The frost vulnerability granted by this enchantment will now increase the damage done by Frost Fever as intended.
* Druid
o [Balance of Power]: Misleading tooltip reworded. The tooltip previously reported an incorrect value for the increased chance to hit with spells. The actual benefit of the talent is unchanged.
* Hunter
o [Master's Call]: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of [Infected Wounds], [Frostfire Bolt], and [Slow].
o Trap Mastery's (Survival) tooltip now states the correct amount of snakes summoned.
* Mage
o [Arcane Missiles]: Ranks 12 and 13 will now properly cause players to enter combat.
* Paladin
o [Hand of Freedom]: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of [Infected Wounds] and [Frostfire Bolt].
* Priest
o [Divine Aegis]: Ranks 1 and 2 now work with [Holy Nova].
o [Glyph of Power Word: Shield] now correctly uses the Priest's spell critical chance instead of the target's.
* Rogue
o [Vanish]: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Frostfire Bolt.
o Honor Among Thieves: This talent will now work properly again if two rogues with different ranks of the talent are in the same party.
* Shaman
o [Grounding Totem] will now properly protect against the [Death Grip] spell.
o [Lava Burst] can no longer deal critical damage to targets who are immune to critical strikes (due to, e.g. Roar of Sacrifice, Blessed Resilience).
o [Lightning Shield]: This spell will no longer set off some trinkets when it is cast.
o [Stoneclaw Totem]'s pulses will no longer break stealth on nearby hostile units.
o [Thunderstorm] and [Shamanistic Rage] can no longer be used while Frozen, Cycloned, Sapped, or Incapacitated.
* Warlock
o [Demonic Circle]: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of [Frostfire Bolt].
o [Fel Armor]: This spell was unable to set off trinkets and other effects. That has been corrected.
o When using [Shadowbolt] or [Incinerate] while having Backlash and Backdraft active, only Backlash will now be properly consumed.
* Coliseum Trinkets: Some spells that should have triggered these trinkets will now trigger them (such as [Holy Nova] and [Fel Armor]).
* Death Knight Tier-9 DPS 4-Piece Set Bonus: Now grants the correct chance for disease damage ticks to be critical strikes.
* Hunter Tier-9 2-Piece Set Bonus: Critical damage from Serpent Sting will now work properly with the [Mortal Shots] and [Expose Weakness] talents.
* [Lightweave Embroidery]: This tailoring item enhancement will no longer trigger from the periodic healing granted by the warlock spell [Fel Armor].
* Mote of Flame: Corrected a typo in the tooltip.
* Paladin Tier-9 DPS 2-Piece Set Bonus: Now grants the correct chance for Righteous Vengeance ticks to be critical strikes.
* Shard of Flame: Corrected a typo in the tooltip.
* [Val'anyr, Hammer of the Ancient Kings]: Healing from [Prayer of Mending] now triggers the shield from this item. In addition, a bug was corrected which would cause the shield points to be overwritten rather than stack up as intended

RolePlay - Tanking the tanks

Being the Wall

Tanks are at first thought, a wall that stops a boss or encounter from crashing into the raid and killing everyone. A second thought, pretty much proves that, a tank has the sacred duty of being the only line of defense to the raid. But unlike a normal concrete wall, the tank can move, become more resilient, or even interrupt a boss, plus, they can die. First off, this isn't an article on healing, that'll be for another day, this is more about the tank.

Tanks do not have it easy. Anyone thinks they can play a tank, but there is a fine line between being a good tank, and a terrible tank. Although it can be taught, tanking is really a first-hand experience. Any good tank can give advice, but without practical application, and learning individual play styles, tanking can seem daunting.

Where do tanks come from?

Traditionally tanks are a select few classes spec'ing (with talent points) into their protection trees to gain extra survivability talents that will allow them to live longer in boss encounters. Protection Warriors, Protection Paladins, Frost Death Knights, Feral Druids, can all be tanks. To note, Death Knights can use almost any talent tree to pick up survivability talents, but Frost or Blood seem the most traditional as Unholy has become more the PvP talent tree, and Blood has lost some mitigation and stamina bonuses over time since their release.

Tanks, usually aim for gear with "Defense" stats posted on it. "Defense" increases some natural avoidance abilities (more on those in a minute) as well as decreases the chance for the tank to be critically hit. By reaching an amount of 540 at level 80, tanks become "uncrittable" meaning bosses and mobs can no longer deal extra amounts of damage to them. Feral Druids are the exception, as they can spec into a talent that makes them uncrittable for 3 talent points. Generally Defense gear should go to tanks if seen as an upgrade, because, having a better geared tank means that wall between the boss and raid becomes that much harder to knock down.

Pure Avoidance - the legit way to not get hit

Avoidance is when a tank dodges, or parrys an attack from a boss, and in return takes no damage. It's percent based, meaning there is a percent chance the tank gets hit, as well as a chance the tank does not get hit. Avoidance is a loved thing. It means less mana consumed from a healer, and the fight can proceed with damage and mana saved. Sometimes, that breather can allow healers to catch up on the tanks life bar and even top him off, making sure the tank is fit for the next major attack from a boss. Pure Avoidance is dodge, and parry. Both work about the same, but come from different stats. Dodge, comes on gear usually with defense, but also comes from Agility, while Parry, comes on gear usually coupled with defense, and also comes from strength as well. Those two stats help a tank survive even the most deadly of bosses, just by dodging or parrying their melee attacks. Pure Avoidance is something aimed for by any tanking class, except for Feral Druids who cannot acquire parry stats.

Blocking...a damage mitigation story

Block is another stat given to most tanking classes (Druids do not get block, but instead Savage Defense, where when the Druid critically strikes they get a buff that reduces the next hit taken by 25% of their attack power). Death Knights do not get Block, but can also spec to take less damage by entering their frost presence for straight damage mitigation. Block, in a nutshell, is when the tank uses a shield and when successful, mitigates some damage from the boss attacks. Warriors and Paladins get block from their shields used, and as the stat posted on their shield, when they do block an attack, damage mitigation occurs for the amount listed. However, block also falls under a percent chance, making it a percent to happen or not happen. Paladins and Warriors alike can spend additional talent points to increase block chance, and Paladins can use an ability coupled with some talent points to increase their block chance by large numbers (60%). Block, can be acquired from gear like parry and dodge, and is often stated with them. The shield block amount is how much damage is absorbed when the block occurs.

Health Pools - How much can i take?

Health, is important to any player, it means how much you can absorb without biting the dust, or dying in quintessential terms. Health for a tank is more important, as they are taking a majority of the damage done by the boss (some rare cases, but I am not going to indulge upon them at this time). Having a large health pool, means you can take bigger hits, or even multiple hits in a row before death occurs. Some bosses do abilities a tank just can't dodge, so that's where their health pool comes into play. Or say they don't get a dodge or parry off, again, to the health pool the damage goes. HP comes from stamina, which is overabundant on tank gear, coupled with dodge, block, and parry (not all gear contains all bonuses, it's a mix and match game). Tanks with higher end gear will 99% of the time have higher health pools then tanks just starting to tank. Health is the end all stat for a tank, either they take the hit and live, or take it and die, having a higher number is always a good thing, but it doesn't mean giving up pure avoidance for it all the time either.

A Balancing Act - To be hit or not to be hit

So, you have some gem slots (for gems that can provide additional bonuses for your stats) open do you? Sometimes, too much of one thing means losing out on another...meaning you could have a hugh pure avoidance, but lack in health, and when that pure avoidance doesn't stop two attacks in a row (remember it's percent based) you could be in trouble. But the same could be said about health, gemming, enchanting, and aiming for high stam gear could be bad if the boss hits you multiple times in a row and your healers call out that they are running low on mana (always a bad thing). The best thing, is to find your middle road, and roll with it (somewhere between 50% or higher avoidance can be good as long as you have a good amount of health to back it up [try not to count block as pure avoidance since it doesn't negate a hit, and isn't always up to block to begin with]). It might be hard to start with, but when you get multiple pieces of gear for the same slot, you can judge which helps more (just make sure to stay around the minimum required 540 defense number).

Aggro - Making threats and keeping them

Tanks are walls because they can take hits, and dodge them sometimes...but they can also be the stopper between a boss and the rest of the raid because they can force themselves inbetween so. Threat, occurs when a tank uses abilities that cause threat, and does more threat then the other raiders. Every player produces threat (unless otherwise noted on abilities). Whether healing or dpsing or tanking, everyone produces threat, some more then others. A Paladins Sacred Shield doesn't produce as much immediate threat as a Priests Power Word: Shield. A tanks abilities, usually produce a large amount of threat per second, or tps, that, as long as they remain on top, keeps the boss focused on them. When dps starts doing more tps then the tank, then the boss moves to that dpser and kills them, number one on the aggro chart means the first (and sometimes only) target the boss focuses on. Aggro, threat, is the same in terms, threat is produced off of abilities, and aggro is the result. So tanks, keep up their respective threat making rotations and keep aggro focused on them.

Situational Modifiers - Run away little girl

It's no small feat for a tank, they have to make some choices while tanking, more personal choice then anything, but none-the-less, a choice. If a boss has a cast bar on an ability, tanks can choose, one of three things, try to move out of the way, eat it, or interrupt it. These choices aren't available all the time, or even at the same time. Sometimes a boss might cast an aoe that can't be interrupted, be can be moved out of the way from, or just taken as damage. Of course, there are times when damage can't be avoided, or interrupted, but has to be taken. And then there's the only option to interrupt it where moving or eating it cannot be options. But tanks must do the research of every boss encounter and learn what options are open to them. By knowing the fights before hand, a tank can respond accordingly to every ability, and prevent less damage, overall.

And...?

What's above in the post, is a general overview of what tanks must look at before each raid, during, and afterwards. It's alot more work when people actually stop to think about it. When it unfolds during a fight though, it seems like a blur, and in minutes, everything is over, and either the raid lived or didn't. For the record, I respect tanks, they have to worry about stats and put them into practice on every encounter, pulling out all the stops.

If you want to be a tank, I highly recommend tankspot.com to get in depth videos of all encounters and explanations for them. elitistjerks.com also has some great spec/rotation/gear recommendations updated with the latest theorycrafting.

-whew, enough to type for now

-pwrtoppl is out