Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Updated Feb 15th: Preliminary Paladin Ability Changes in Mists of Pandaria

Back before last Thanksgiving, I posted a list of Preliminary Paladin Ability Changes in Mists of Pandaria based on the Official Talent Calculator preview. Well, said calculator was updated just today, so let's go back and look at the changes once again to see how things compare. The changes listed herein are in comparison to the current 4.3.2 live game, and many are simply copied over from my previous post on the matter with details unchanged or only slightly tweaked. Note that for the most part, I will not be taking changes to mana costs into consideration unless the change fundamentally affects the purpose or usage of ability (such as turning a cooldown-limited ability into a spammable mana-limited one) because these numbers appear to still be very much in flux.

Level 1:
  • Parry (Passive) was conspicuously absent in the previous update, but has now returned and is at level 1 rather than level 10.
  • Armor Skills (Passive) remains relatively unchanged. It just removes the reference to training, since classes will automatically learn abilities rather than having to train them.
  • Weapon Skills (Passive) is unchanged.
  • Crusader Strike deals 100% weapon damage (down from 135%). The new version makes no mention of generating Holy Power, but this is likely an oversight considering the changes to Hammer of the Righteous.
Level 3:
  • Seal of Command: a new single-target damage-dealing seal. "Fills the Paladin with Holy Light, causing melee attacks to deal 9 additional Holy damage." Seal of Righteousness is being moved to level 42 and having the AoE component from the Seals of Command talent built in.
  • Judgement is being moved to level 5.
Level 5:
  • Judgement is being moved here from level 3 and given a 30 yard base range (up from 10 yards) and 6 sec base cooldown (down from 8 sec).
  • Devotion Aura is effectively being removed. There is a new Holy specialization ability with the same name at level 60, but the effect is completely different.
Level 7:
  • Hammer of Justice is being moved here from level 14, but is otherwise unchanged.
  • Holy Light is being changed to a level 33 Holy specialization ability.
Level 9:
  • Word of Glory appears to be having the base cooldown changed to 1.5 sec for all Paladins (down from 20 sec for Protection and Retribution, and up from the potential 1 sec minimum global cooldown for Holy Paladins).
Level 10:
  • (Holy) Holy Shock remains as-is, though the new calculator seems to imply it now has a full 40 yard range for hostile targets. Not sure if this is an intended change or oversight/tooltip limitation, but considering the change from the previous public talent iteration, it might be intentional.
  • (Holy) Walk in the Light is gone.
  • (Holy) Holy Insight (Passive) increases your mana pool by 400%. This is likely to compensate for the removal of Intellect's ability to increase maximum mana.
  • (Holy) Meditation is back! [See previous post on the topic.]
  • (Retribution) Templar's Verdict appears to require 3 Holy Power to use, and deals 165% weapon damage (up from 90% with 3 Holy Power currently).
  • (Retribution) Sheath of Light renamed to Sword of Light.
  • (Retribution) Sword of Light (Passive) is renamed from Sheath of Light and some effects have been changed. It now increases spell power by an amount equal to 100% of your Strength (up from 30% of attack power), no longer increases your chance to hit with spells by 8%, but instead increases the damage you deal with two-handed melee weapons by 25% and grants 5% of maximum mana every 2 sec.
  • (Retribution) Judgements of the Bold is being moved to level 28.
Level 12:
Level 13:
  • Redemption is being moved here from level 12, and is mostly unchanged from the 4.3 version which increases the range to 40 yards. There's also a fairly hefty mana cost increase to 75% base mana (up from 64%).
Level 14:
Level 15:
Level 16:
Level 18:
  • Divine Shield is being moved here from level 48, but is otherwise unchanged.
  • Exorcism is being changed to a Retribution specialization ability at level 46.
  • Hand of Protection is being moved to level 48.
Level 20:
  • No mention is made of the summon mount abilities for Paladins. Not sure if they're being removed or just not mentioned in the new talent calculator.
  • (Holy) Holy Wrath is being moved here from level 28 and is now a Holy specialization ability. It only costs 9% of base mana (down from 20%), has no cooldown (down from 15 sec cooldown), takes 1.5 sec to cast (up from instant), and no longer stuns demons and undead, but instead "prevents targets from causing critical effects for the next 6 sec." Additionally, the ability is now centered on an enemy target rather than on the player, and has a 30 yard cast range.
  • (Protection) Hammer of the Righteous is moved here from the Protection tier 3 talent position. Damage reduced to 20% weapon damage (down from 30%). Additionally, it now also places a Weakened Blows effect on all affected targets, which reduces their physical damage dealt by 10% for 30 sec. Weakened Blows is likely a debuff applied by multiple classes (similar to the Replenishment buff).
Level 22:
Level 24:
  • Consecration is being changed to a Protection specialization ability at level 33.
  • Seal of Truth is being moved here from level 44. It now replaces Seal of Command (from level 3), and causes melee attacks (changed from single-target attacks) to deal 10% Holy weapon damage in addition to applying Censure.
Level 26:
  • Retribution Aura is being removed, as are all current Paladin Auras. =(
  • Divine Protection is being moved here from level 30, and is having the Glyph of Divine Protection effect folded in. It now provides no physical damage reduction (down from base 20%) and instead provides 40% magical damage reduction (up from base 20%).
Level 28:
  • Holy Wrath is being changed to a level 20 Holy specialization ability.
  • (Holy) Judgements of the Pure (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 1 talent position. It no longer increases haste, but retains the 4.3 function of increasing mana regeneration from Spirit. It now states "Your Judgement increases your mana regeneration from Spirit while in combat by 30% for 1 min".
  • (Protection) Judgements of the Wise (Passive) is being moved here from the level 10 Protection specialization. It no longer grants mana, but instead states "Your Judgement hits grant one charge of Holy Power".
  • (Retribution)  Judgements of the Bold (Passive) is being moved here from the level 10 Retribution specialization. It no longer grants mana, but instead states "Your Judgement hits grant one charge of Holy Power and cause the Physical Vulnerability effect." Physical Vulnerability appears to be a new debuff which increases the physical damage taken by the target by 4% for 30 sec, and is likely a debuff applied by multiple classes (similar to the Weakened Blows debuff above and the current Replenishment buff).
Level 30:
Level 32:
Level 33:
  • (Holy) Holy Light is being moved here from level 7 and is now a Holy specialization ability with a 2.5 sec cast time (down from 3.0 sec).
  • (Protection) Consecration is being moved here from level 24 and is now a Protection specialization ability with a 9 sec cooldown (down from 30 sec).
  • (Retribution) Supplication (Passive) is a new passive class ability with an effect similar to the last part of Crusade. "For 15 sec after you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor, your next Flash of Light heals for an additional 300%".
Level 34:
  • Cleanse now removes all Poison and Disease effects (up from 1 of each).
  • (Holy) Sacred Cleansing (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 4 talent position. It no longer mentions the 1 Magic effect limit so it likely dispels all Magic effects.
Level 36:
  • Rebuke moved here from level 54, and cooldown has been increased to 15 sec (up from 10 sec).
  • Righteous Defense appears to be removed.
Level 38:
  • (Retribution) Divine Storm is being moved here from the Retribution tier 3 talent and is changed into an AoE version of Templar's Verdict. It now requires 3 Holy Power to use rather than 5% base mana, no longer generates Holy Power, no longer heals allies, and has no cooldown (down from 4.5 sec). It now states "An area attack that consumes 3 charges of Holy Power to cause 50% weapon damage to all enemies within 8 yards".
Level 39:
Level 40:
  • Again, no mention of the Paladin summon mount abilities.
  • (Protection) Shield of the Righteous is being moved here from the Protection tier 4 talent position and now requires 3 Holy Power to cast and has a 1.5 sec cooldown. In addition to dealing damage it causes the next melee attack against you to be blocked and increases the amount your shield blocks by an additional 25% for 6 sec.
  • (Retribution) Hammer of Wrath is being moved here from level 46 and is becoming a Retribution specialization ability. Additionally, it will generate a charge of Holy Power when used, but can only be used on targets with 20% or less health or during Avenging Wrath.
Level 42:
Level 44:
  • Heart of the Crusader (Passive) is the always-on passive replacement for Crusader Aura and only affects the Paladin.
  • Divine Plea is being changed to a level 46 Holy specialization ability.
  • Seal of Truth is being moved to level 24.
Level 46:
  • (Holy) Divine Plea is being moved here from level 44 and is now a Holy specialization ability, but is otherwise unchanged.
  • (Retribution) Exorcism is being moved here from level 18 and is now a Retribution specialization ability. It no longer costs mana, and instead generates a charge of Holy Power and is instant cast (down from 1.5 sec), but has a 20 sec cooldown (up from no cooldown).
Level 48:
Level 50:
  • (Holy) Infusion of Light (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 3 talent and no longer increases Holy Shock critical effect chance, but retains the 4.3 change which includes the option to reduce the cast time of Holy Radiance.
  • (Retribution) Art of War (Passive) is being moved here from the Retribution tier 3 talent and now gives autoattacks a 20% chance of resetting the cooldown of Exorcism rather than its previous effects.
Level 52:
Level 54:
  • Rebuke is being moved to level 36.
Level 56:
  • (Holy) Divine Light is being moved here from level 62 and is now a Holy specialization ability with a 2.5 sec cast time (down from 3 sec).
Level 60:
  • (Holy) Devotion Aura is effectively the Holy specialization ability designed to replace the Holy tier 5 talent Aura Mastery and its combinations with Concentration Aura and Resistance Aura, and has no real relation to the current Devotion Aura other than reusing the name. It is an instant cast, 2 min cooldown ability which states "Inspire all party and raid members within 40 yards, granting them immunity to Silence and Interrupt effects and reducing all Fire, Frost, and Shadow damage taken by 20%. Lasts 6 sec."
  • (Protection) Sanctuary (Passive) is a Protection specialization passive ability that combines the 10% increased armor value from items effect of the Protection tier 2 talent Toughness with the 10% damage reduction effect of the Protection tier 3 talent Sanctuary. It no longer decreases your chance to be critically hit (this effect has been moved to the Guarded by the Light passive at level 10) or restores mana on blocks or dodges.
  • (Retribution) Crusader's Zeal (Passive): a new Retribution specialization passive ability. "Your autoattacks have a 20% chance to increase your attack speed by 25% for your next 3 melee swings."
Level 62:
  • Crusader Aura is being removed and replaced by Heart of the Crusader at level 44.
  • Divine Light is being changed to a Holy specialization ability at level 56.
Level 64:
  • Seal of Justice is being changed to a Retribution specialization ability at level 70.
  • (Holy) Tower of Radiance (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 6 talent, and no longer generates a charge of Holy Power whenever Holy Radiance is cast (this effect has been built into Holy Radiance instead).
Level 66:
Level 70:
  • (Holy) Light of Dawn is being moved here from the Holy tier 7 talent position and is unchanged from the 4.3 iteration.
  • (Protection) Ardent Defender is being moved here from the Protection tier 7 talent position and is otherwise unchanged.
  • (Retribution) Seal of Justice is being moved here from level 64 and is now a Retribution specialization ability. Now properly slows instead of capping movement speed, and states "Fills the Paladin with Holy Light, causing melee attacks to deal 4 additional Holy damage and reduce the target's movement speed by 50% for 5 sec." It's unclear how this might work with the level 30 talent Burden of Guilt, which causes Judgement to reduce the target's movement speed by 50% for 12 sec.
Level 72:
Level 76:
Level 78:
  • Turn Evil was going to be moved to level 46, but now it seems it's being removed. =(
Level 80:
Level 81:
  • Blessing of Might moved here from level 56. No longer increases attack power and mana regeneration, but instead increases mastery by 5.
  • (Retribution) Inquisition is being changed to a Retribution specialization ability and as the latter portion of Inquiry of Faith partially baked in so it lasts for 10 sec per charge of Holy Power (up from 4 sec per charge without Inquiry of Faith, but down from 12 sec per charge with Inquiry of Faith).
Level 83:
  • (Holy) Holy Radiance is being changed to a Holy specialization ability and is being changed to have a 2.5 sec cast (down from 3 sec) and generate a charge of Holy Power innately (rather than requiring Tower of Radiance).
Level 85:
  • Boundless Conviction (Passive) acts as a new buffer zone for extra Holy Power to prevent it from being wasted. It reads, "You may store an additional 2 Holy Power beyond the maximum of 3. No ability ever consumes more than 3 Holy Power."
  • Guardian of Ancient Kings cooldown is being reduced to 3 min. Effects are otherwise unchanged.
Level 87:
  • Blinding Light: a new short-duration crowd control ability that costs 23% of base mana and is instant cast with a 3 min cooldown. "Emits a dazzling light in all directions, blinding enemies within 10 yards, causing them to wander disoriented for 6 sec."
Posted by Gryphonheart at 4:25 PM 1 comments
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Monday, January 16, 2012

Ultraxion

On Thursday, the casual 10-man raid group I run with managed to take down Ultraxion (on normal, not heroic). While I know that's not really a big accomplishment in the grand scheme of things, I think it's reasonably decent for a group that raids a fairly laid-back 3.5 hours per week.

Of all the fights we've faced thus far, I think Ultraxion has been my least favorite. Part of this is because while I was the healer lucky enough to get to pick up the blue crystal - which is the final (and, in my opinion, most appealing) of the 3 crystals to spawn - the vast majority of wipes occurred prior to its appearance. The other part of why I dislike the encounter is, I think, because its mechanics are designed in such a way that just one single failure from any individual in the raid almost invariably leads to an unnecessarily slow and drawn-out wipe. Now, I don't mind single failure wipes or slow wipes in and of themselves, but both mechanics together mean that raid groups like mine with particularly limited raiding schedules are disproportionately punished.

If a single failure is going to result in a wipe, then I'm of the opinion that said wipe should be brutally quick and immediately recognizable, because not only does it reinforce the idea that certain mechanics are extremely dangerous, but also makes it so that people can give the encounter another try with minimal delay and a reasonable opportunity to understand what just happened. Similarly, I think a slow, drawn-out wipe should provide ample opportunity for the raid group to try to recover and rally itself to a victory. Combining the two disproportionately punishes the people with the least amount of raiding time, since those are the same people who are most likely to have the least experience with gauging whether a given situation requires a passionate or pragmatic approach.
Posted by Gryphonheart at 8:00 AM 0 comments
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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Brief Thoughts on PvP

Lately, I've been getting more and more into PvP in WoW. Part of this is because how efficiently I can cap out Valor Points these days - all it takes is one day of Raid Finder and one day of raiding and I'm either capped, or extremely close to it. As such, it makes little sense for me to run heroic dungeons, because I've already obtained most of the meaningful upgrades they provide.

The other significant reason, as silly as it may sound at first, is the introduction of Void Storage. I think one of the biggest problems I had with PvP in the past is how squishy I'd felt, and since I didn't have enough bag space for a full set of PvP gear with which to unsquishify, PvP would easily become a source of frustration rather than enjoyment. Thanks to Void Storage cleaning out much of my bank and bags, I now have the inventory space necessary to maintain a complete set of resilience gear (well, nearly - I'm still using a PvE weapon because it's better than what's available from Honor Points), and as such I find myself leaps and bounds tougher to kill.

Momma said heal you out!
Rather than being frustrated by my own helplessness in one-on-one scenarios, now I find I can easily survive as long as I need to in such situations - often long enough for reinforcements to arrive or for my opponent to get bored and try to find someone less difficult to kill. It's gleefully heartening.

Plus, it seems that more and more of my raiding friends are also taking a new interest in PvP. While I certainly still queue solo almost all of the time, just the mere prospect that I know people I can go to for advice and the occasional Horde-slaying somehow makes the whole experience all the more enjoyable. What a difference a change as simple as that can make.
Posted by Gryphonheart at 8:34 AM 0 comments
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Another Healer-Friendly Grisly Trophy Place

Yesterday, I posted a couple of places in the Shadow Wardens area of the Molten Front where healers can more easily acquire Grisly Trophies for the Darkmoon Faire monthly quest Test Your Strength, given by Kerri Hicks (The Strongest Woman Alive!). Unfortunately - for the sake of argument, anyway - let's say you haven't unlocked the Shadow Wardens daily quest hub yet. Instead, you chose to first recruit the Druids of the Talon...and that's as far as you've gotten. Well, fear not! There's actually a semi-decent place for a healer to grind Grisly Trophies on the Druids of the Talon side of the front, too.

Healer go down the hooole!

The place you're looking for is known as The Molten Flow, a massive cavern which can be accessed through the a giant hole that opens up in The Furnace area during the Into the Fire quest given by General Taldris Moonfall. If you follow the leftmost path through The Molten Flow, you'll run into a cavern filled with Charhounds.

What distinguishes these mobs from most other level 85 mobs is their total health - or, rather, their lack of it: they only have about 31,000 hit points. This means that they die remarkably fast, even for healers. Additionally, since they're sleeping in packs on the cavern floor, it's fairly easy to grab and AoE down several at a time. Once you're in the right place, there are really only two things you have to worry about: a single Flamewaker Hunter that patrols through the area, and the respawn timer for the Charhounds themselves, which can be anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on how many other players are in The Molten Flow.

D'awww. Aren't they cute? Time to murder them all!

Good luck and happy hunting!
Posted by Gryphonheart at 8:39 AM 0 comments
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Monday, January 2, 2012

Farming Darkmoon Faire Grisly Trophies as a Healer

If you've visited the revamped Darkmoon Faire, you've probably run into the quest Test Your Strength, for which Kerri Hicks (The Strongest Woman Alive!) requests that you gather a whopping two hundred and fifty Grisly Trophies off of reasonably challenging enemies across the world (of WarCraft). Now, for whatever reason, Blizzard decided that when people are partied up, rather than giving everyone an equal shot at being able to loot a trophy, it would instead only drop for the person who attained the killing blow. In other words, it means that healers will inevitably get the smallest share of trophies in a group, since we are usually more preoccupied with keeping everyone alive than with trying to snipe kill shots.

Considering that, in addition to the group dynamic above, healers also tend to have the slowest killing speeds out of the 3 roles, it means that any healer who doesn't have a damage-dealing off-spec will have to either spend a disproportionately large amount of time trying to complete this quest, or they'll have to learn to play smarter rather than harder. In the spirit of that idea, here is a place healers can go to maximize their Grisly Trophy acquisition:

In Patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands, Blizzard added a brand new quest chain and a variety of daily quests that told the story of Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage's offensive into a place in the Firelands known as the Molten Front. As it turns out, the Molten Front is a fantastic place to farm Grisly Trophies if you know what you're doing, especially if you've progressed far enough to enlist the aid of the Shadow Wardens. The key to this are two quests given by the Shadow Wardens:

  • The Wardens are Watching is a daily that is occasionally available from Marin Bladewing at the Forlorn Spire. It's not always available, but when it is, it can be a particularly helpful quest for a healer collecting Grisly Trophies because it grants you a Shadow Warden guardian who will help you kill enemies in The Widow's Clutch and close to the Forlorn Spire...so long as you don't attack and capture a Druid of the Flame. Since killing blows from pets count for the pet's owner, this means that the Shadow Warden guardian can help deal damage for you without sniping away your chance at looting Grisly Trophies.

The Wardens are Watching this area here. It's fascinating.

  • Enduring the Heat is a guaranteed daily quest (unlike the above, which has a random chance of being available each day) along the Shadow Wardens route. The quest asks you to head into the Igneous Depths and destroy 8 blue runes inside the cavern. While inside, fire elementals will spawn and try to kill you, but by standing on the runes you will receive the Flame Protection Rune buff which significantly reduces the damage these elementals deal to you. Additionally, when you destroy the rune, not only will it detonate and instantly kill any nearby elementals, but it will also credit you for dealing the killing blow, thereby granting you Grisly Trophies. What this means is that if you simply run onto a rune and stand on it, wait for elementals to gather up around you, and then detonate it once you're surrounded, you'll get plenty of Grisly Trophies with very little effort. Unfortunately, if you're the only one doing the quest at the time there's a maximum of about 6-8 elementals up at once per person, but even with that limit you should still get between 48 and 64 trophies just from intelligently handling this one quest. Considering that you'll have to complete a good few other dailies to unlock this quest for the day, chances are that you'll only have to do the chain once or twice to fill up your Grisly Trophy quota.

If you can't take the heat...stand on the runes. They help. ;)
Posted by Gryphonheart at 8:25 AM 2 comments
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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy 2012!

Hopefully, the world won't come to an end...at least, not until I've managed to attract a 4th regular reader. =P

...And I feel fiiiiine!
Posted by Gryphonheart at 12:00 AM 2 comments
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Thursday, December 15, 2011

Happy Feast of Winter Veil!

The Feast of Winter Veil has official begun in-game, and so I wish you all a fantastic holiday season! Just remember to take it easy on the nog. =P
Posted by Gryphonheart at 11:23 PM 0 comments
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Patch 4.3 Discussions on PlusHeal

So, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here or not, but I'm one of the administrators over at PlusHeal, a forum community for World of Warcraft healers. One of the things I do there on occasion is to compile lists of useful and informative posts, either according to recent timeline or based on a particular topic. Now that Blizzard has officially confirmed that Patch 4.3: Hour of Twilight is being released today, my most recent update is all about 4.3 discussions.

Since the compilation won't go live for a few more hours, I figured I'd give you, dear reader, head start, just in case you want to read up on it right this instant. =P

General:
Druids:
Paladins:
Priests:
Shamans:
5-Player Dungeons:
Dragon Soul Raid:
So if you're interested in healing and an amazingly phenomenal forum community, feel free to head on over to PlusHeal and join the conversation.

PlusHeal: Join the conversation
Posted by Gryphonheart at 1:45 AM 0 comments
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Saturday, November 26, 2011

More Transmo-Gryph-ication!

I finally managed to get all the Valor Point upgrades for my Retribution set yesterday (plus a spiffy new axe), so I decided to celebrate the occasion by putting together my Retribution transmogrification set:

My purples are actually purple!

The entire above set, which is comprised of the Soulforge set plus Verigan's Fist, consists of pieces that can no longer be obtained. For those who like the look but don't already have the necessary gear, don't worry—the upgraded Darkmoon Faire will offer replicas of Soulforge pieces in patch 4.3, and you can seek out a Commanding Mallet to replicate the look of Verigan's Fist.
Posted by Gryphonheart at 10:44 AM 0 comments
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Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a reprieve from gastrointestinal bloating. ;)
Posted by Gryphonheart at 9:27 PM 0 comments
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