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Armor Penetration Nerf Incoming

September 5, 2009 By Garwulf 9 Comments

Yesterday evening Ghostcrawler announced in the Damage Dealing forum that a nerf to Armor Penetration was likely going to be on the horizon for Patch 3.2.2. The news wasn’t received so well by the forum community, and as a result, the thread has reached 13 pages. Needless to say, we’re not talking about 13 pages of “thank you Blizzard”. 😉

The nerf to armor pen in 3.2.2 is intentional. Compared to the recent buff where we increased the value of armor rating to 125%, this nerf would take it back down to 110%. While we are still evaluating the effects of this change in the 3.2.2 build, we did want to let you know of the possibility in case you were about to spend a lot on armor pen gems.

In fact, this was really the point. Several melee specs (and Marksman hunters) had begun to focus on armor pen at the expense of all other stats. Gear without armor pen was being passed over and gem sockets were increasingly being filled with just this one stat. While every spec has stats that are more valuable than others, this one felt like it was starting to trump everything. Not coincidentally, characters stacking lots of armor pen were starting to do more damage than their peers and more damage than we were comfortable with.

This change is largely for PvE reasons, though we won’t cry at all if melee damage in PvP drops a little as a result.

We’re letting you know now so that this doesn’t feel like a stealth nerf, assuming it goes live. While you might disagree or be frustrated by the change (though I also suspect it won’t come as a surprise to many players), we ask that you try and keep your response to something appropriate for these forums.

Fortunately for me, my latest upgrades were void of the stat. I’m not geared enough, nor do I have any of the necessary trinkets to make an effective MM armor penetration build. Instead, I’ve been focusing on crit more so as opposed to armor penetration.

However, for those that have stacked this stat and been able to post huge numbers doing so, this change is likely going to piss them off. 😡

We know that armor penetration is going to be removed altogether in Cataclysm, but this preemptive change is a bit of a surprise. I guess Blizz is going to be taking baby steps towards some of the radical itemization and mechanics changes mentioned at BlizzCon.

This change hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s very likely that it will go live with Patch 3.2.2. In other words, if you’re thinking of trying a MM armor penetration build, you may want to rethink that move. 😉

Filed Under: Cataclysm, General, Hunter PvP, Raiding Tagged With: armor penetration, marksmanship, patch 3.2.2

Ghostcrawler Speaks and Other Hunter News

August 21, 2009 By Garwulf 6 Comments

During the class panel at today’s BlizzCon festivities, Ghostcrawler announced some of the major changes in store for Hunters with the next expansion, “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm”.

They are:

  • Mana will be gone. Hunters will now utilize focus.
  • Intellect will be a needless stat for Hunters.
  • Focus will regenerate at a rate of 6 focus per second.
  • Steady Shot improves the rate of focus regeneration to 12 focus per second.
  • Shots are estimated to cost between 30 and 60 focus.
  • Hunters will have fewer cooldowns on abilities.
  • Hunter ammo will be an item and no longer a consumable.
  • Ammo may possibly be purchasable via emblems or it could be a boss drop. This is undecided.
  • Human HuntersHumans, Undead, Goblins and Worgen will all have access to the Hunter class.

Other changes that affect Hunters:

  • Agility will now grant Hunters and Rogues 2 AP per point. AP will most likely not be an itemized stat any longer.
  • Armor penetration is going to be removed.
  • Haste will also increase the rate at which Hunters regain focus.
  • Shadowmourne, a 2H axe,  is the next legendary weapon that will be introduced. This will of course be available to Hunters. 😀

This is just a quick highlight of some of the more notable updates that will be affecting the Hunter class.

On a side note, the Worgen racials look amazing for PvP.

  • 70% movement speed increase for 6 seconds, on a 3 min cooldown.
  • They have a 1% passive damage bonus called Viciousness.
  • They have a passive ability called Abberation which reduces curse and disease durations by 15%.

The last racial is a +15 bonus to skinning which doesn’t really offer any benefits other than ease of leveling, but the fact that a skinning knife is not needed is pretty cool. Worgen skin their kills using their claws! That is pure win.

The Goblin racials are pretty great too.

  • Goblins will have a passive 1% increased attack speed with all spells and attacks called, “Time is Money”. lol

Goblins also have two rocket based racial abilities which share the same cooldown, so only one can be utilized every 2 minutes. They are:

  • A 20 yard Rocket Jump available every 2 minutes.
  • Fire a Rocket Barrage at any enemy within 30 yards, also on a 2 min cooldown.

Not to be left out of the profession bonuses, Goblins have a passive boost to Alchemy.

  • “Better Living Through Chemistry” gives Goblins a +15 bonus to Alchemy, along with a 15% bonus to health and mana regen from crafted potions.

The other Goblin racials are more for convenience and comic relief…

  • Goblins will receive the “Best Deals Anywhere” providing the best possible prices on goods and services regardless of reputation.
  • Goblins will have a personal servant called a “Pack Hobgoblin” which can be summoned every 30 minutes, and will offer bank access from anywhere in the world.

Well, that’s all I have for now… I’m watching a rebroadcast right now of the footage I missed earlier this afternoon.

There were a ton of exciting announcements made today, so if you were unable to attend the convention or view the pay per view event, head over to the new Cataclysm site that just launched today.

All I can say… HEROIC LEVEL 85 DEADMINES..! Woot!!!

Filed Under: Cataclysm, General, Raiding Tagged With: agility, ammo, armor penetration, attack power, cataclysm, goblins, haste, racials, shadowmourne, worgen

New Shinies

February 16, 2009 By Garwulf Leave a Comment

Now that I’m hooked on running Heroics, I managed to get a couple new items over the past few nights. First was the Incisor Fragment from King Dred in Heroic Drak’Tharon Keep, and the second item was Pendant of the Outcast Hero which I purchased with the Emblems of Heroism I’d amassed in the past week. The new neck was a pretty decent PvE upgrade over my Hateful Gladiator’s Pendant of Triumph, giving me an additional 45 AP and a decent amount of crit.

Loken in Halls of LightningThe trinket will be something interesting to play around with. I used it last night in two Heroic Dungeons, The Culling of Stratholme and Halls of Lightning, and it seemed to give me some pretty big numbers when I did. Tonight in Naxxramas I’m going to equip my Giantmaim pieces along with this and see how it goes. Another thing I’m toying around with is binding this trinket to Aspect of The Beast when using the Devilsaur. It seems like stacking Armor Penetration, casting Bestial Wrath, and Kill Command while popping this trinket, plus the added melee damage of Monstrous Bite would make for some Dino-style ass whoopin’.

What I could really use is a Hit Rating trinket. Sphere of Red Dragon’s Blood would be ideal until I could find something better. Maybe I can scare up some guildies to run Heroic Nexus after the Naxxramas raid. 😀

Well, here’s to hoping that the Four Horseman feel like giving me their Claymore of Ancient Power tonight. 🙂

Filed Under: General, Raiding Tagged With: armor penetration, beast mastery, heroic dungeons, monstrous bite, naxxramas

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