2.1.0 PTR Patch Notes

[Fabricated]

What's funny is that if everyone gets buffed too much it'll be right back to the Pre-BC equipment gap. The only thing that will keep it from being too awful is that rep epics are very plentiful across the factions and aren't too hard to get if you're one of those people who only hits 5-man instances. Heroics are still thoroughly unpuggable and just glaringly too hard without a perfect group makeup for the most part, so I'm not counting Heroic epics.

[caladein]

As far as I can see, they're just adding separation between the the faction/early-Kara epics and the level 70 blues. All of the epics are staying the same relative to each other it seems.

[Modern Angel]

As far as I can see, they're just adding separation between the the faction/early-Kara epics and the level 70 blues. All of the epics are staying the same relative to each other it seems.

Mmm.... my Emerald Ripper is being upgraded to current gladiator status with my impending axe being bumped up to 95 dps or so, I'd anticipate. Heroics are getting nerfed somewhat and the change in glancing blows/AE melee mechanics should make them easier.

[Paelos]

What's funny is that if everyone gets buffed too much it'll be right back to the Pre-BC equipment gap. The only thing that will keep it from being too awful is that rep epics are very plentiful across the factions and aren't too hard to get if you're one of those people who only hits 5-man instances. Heroics are still thoroughly unpuggable and just glaringly too hard without a perfect group makeup for the most part, so I'm not counting Heroic epics.

The problem was that there was no gap at all. Karazhan provided very few actual upgrades to blue items, and it was supposed to be the filtering point into 25 man instances. Not to mention the fact that encounters in Karazhan when people had most of their blue sets were still ridiculously overpowered and had to be nerfed time and again just to create some kind of parity.

IMO, there has to be a pretty good jump between gear sets. You want to get a good solid reward at the end of difficult instances instead of ho hum percentage gains. You want those pieces that drop to give you a better advantage in the place as you kill earlier bosses to learn later ones. I never ever EVER want to see an AQ40 again, and I'm pretty sure that's consistent across the board of the raiding community.

[Fordel]

Any idea if they are going to look at the Arena/PvP armor? I'm not sure if they are off or not iLvL wise... but it would be really nice if the balance armor for druids had some spellcrit on it. The 10% mana reduction bonus for moonfire can be changed too 

[Chenghiz]

They should be looking at the pvp and arena epics this week.

[Calantus]

If they add healer (non-set) honor gear I'm going to be very happy and yet very upset that I bought half of them already in their DPS variant.

[Trouble]

The main complaint about the gear gap pre-TBC was its impact on PvP. With the addition of arenas, arena gear, and resilience, this is almost a moot point. Even tier 6 wouldn't really be suitable gear for the most part. You need loads of stamina and resilience on your pvp gear with a decent amount of damage stats. The problem was they basically introduced two solutions to the same problem. One was a great solution (arenas and gear with a focus on stam and resilience) and one was shitty (no gear progression from raiding). Removing gear progression from raiding "fixed" one problem and caused a dozen other, worse ones.

[Fabricated]

I'd also like to point out that blizzard seriously needs to make socket bonuses better for some spec-equipment. Every single bit of socketed epic tank equipment I see is just socketed with Solid Stars of Elune (+stamina) and nothing else because um...why the hell would you WANT anything else? Why give yourself a little extra +hit or +def and then a piddly socket bonus when you can just stuff it full of +stamina gems?

[Paelos]

I'd also like to point out that blizzard seriously needs to make socket bonuses better for some spec-equipment. Every single bit of socketed epic tank equipment I see is just socketed with Solid Stars of Elune (+stamina) and nothing else because um...why the hell would you WANT anything else? Why give yourself a little extra +hit or +def and then a piddly socket bonus when you can just stuff it full of +stamina gems?

Meh, it depends heavily on the item. Yellow sockets are fine because you can put good +stam/+def gems in them and claim the bonus. A lot of bonuses are to dodge/parry rating as well, which is fairly large for tanks that deal with raid bosses since that negates all damage. Red sockets on tanking gear are generally very weak, but if you put a +dodge thing in there, you can do yourself some big favors.

[rk47]

I'd also like to point out that blizzard seriously needs to make socket bonuses better for some spec-equipment. Every single bit of socketed epic tank equipment I see is just socketed with Solid Stars of Elune (+stamina) and nothing else because um...why the hell would you WANT anything else? Why give yourself a little extra +hit or +def and then a piddly socket bonus when you can just stuff it full of +stamina gems?

Netherstrike, Dragonscale Leatherworking
Set Bonus +23 Spell Dmg
Lots of +crit
+INT
+STA
+Spell Dmg

Socket Bonus. +2 AGI ? Wtf?

[Ironwood]

Yup, we really got sold a lemon with sockets and socket stuff.

The dreams of Diablo were cruelly shattered.

[Zetor]

Sockets are pretty much just glorified +12 sta (warrior) / +8 spellpower (warlock) / etc "enchants", true. The epic gems you can get from heroics provide some variety, but ultimately they're worse than regular blue gems unless you are building a pvp set or something (ie. the +6 str +5 resilience gem). Ultimately I think the set bonuses are too weak to allow for variance. Who's going to socket a red gem instead of +12 sta just for a 2 block rating bonus?

I do stack +crit and +str in my warrior's pvp set, but for tanking it's all about the +sta. Maybe a few of those +sta +def gems to hit 490, but eh.. and I don't have enough hp to feel comfortable socketing +dodge. +parry is pretty much useless, too expensive. (is this changing with 2.1?)


-- Z.

[Threash]

The main complaint about the gear gap pre-TBC was its impact on PvP. With the addition of arenas, arena gear, and resilience, this is almost a moot point. Even tier 6 wouldn't really be suitable gear for the most part. You need loads of stamina and resilience on your pvp gear with a decent amount of damage stats.

I used to think that way too but the truth is a lot of classes are better off using pve gear in the arenas because they are hardly ever the main target.  A paladin is always better off using healing pve gear, nobody ever goes for the pali first, hell stick a soul link warlock with 12k hps and 200+ resil on your team and everyone else can go full dps mode because hes the only one who'll ever get targeted.

[Trouble]

The main complaint about the gear gap pre-TBC was its impact on PvP. With the addition of arenas, arena gear, and resilience, this is almost a moot point. Even tier 6 wouldn't really be suitable gear for the most part. You need loads of stamina and resilience on your pvp gear with a decent amount of damage stats.

I used to think that way too but the truth is a lot of classes are better off using pve gear in the arenas because they are hardly ever the main target.  A paladin is always better off using healing pve gear, nobody ever goes for the pali first, hell stick a soul link warlock with 12k hps and 200+ resil on your team and everyone else can go full dps mode because hes the only one who'll ever get targeted.

That's not reliable enough to bank on, not at the high end anyway. There are a lot of different strategies and if you want to win you need to be prepared with the right gear. I think Paladin is the only class that would count for this exception, in almost all cases they are targeted last. Otherwise, I've seen just about every other strategy executed to success. Target the highest dpsers, target the first person you see, target the clothy, target the healer, etc.

[Chenghiz]

Also resilience/survivability gear is much much much more important in 2v2 and 3v3 arenas where there is no safety in anonymity.

[caladein]

They should be looking at the pvp and arena epics this week.

Arena and PvP stuff is updated. Same changes as the previous ones: a few points here and there. (The weapons might show a bit more changes as they changed the fist off-hand from 1.8 to 1.5 speed.) For example my Arena Robe gained:

3 Stam
2 Int
3 Resilience
5 Spell Damage

Which adds up quite a bit when you factor in a whole slew of epics.

[Chenghiz]

The weapons' changes are really underwhelming. My Kharazan offhand gained 7 DPS, the arena weapons gained 3. The offhand speed changes are pretty major for rogues though, making them some of the best DPS offhands in the game.

[MrHat]

Patch is live today, I think, for those that care.

[Rasix]

Out of pure selfishness, I'm hoping they didn't make the 200-300 jewelcrafting too much easier. I powered to 300 oblivious of the patch notes, costing myself more gold than I care to recount.  Boy, that is one painful, costly grind requiring a lot of rarer gem drops.  Prospecting is a total crap shoot at times.

At least I caught the notes before I prospected a 20 slot bag full of fel iron/adamantite ore.

Edit: Wow, thorium setting changed to 1 thorium in release. Was 2 in patch notes. I blew a lot of thorium on that crap.

[Merusk]

I should have played on TC a bit more.. but I expect my hunter is still gimpy in PvP. 

Ah well, Hordie mage now FTW. 

I'll keep the Hunter on the back-burner, and use the priest if I feel like checking out the new high-level dungeons.

[Kail]

Hmm, looks like the ingredients for super healing potions and super mana potions have been switched with each other.  Wierd.

Edit:  Okay, what the HELL?  There are NO NPCs in Garadar?  Alliance guys are standing around in the inn, poking me.  And I keep getting some wierd graphics glitch with mountains in the distance flickering?  What the fuck is going on?

Edit 2:  Okay, no NPCs in Nagarand, period, as far as I can tell... mobs included...  I'd check the other zones to see if this is a problem there, too, but the flight master has vanished into the fucking nether.

[Rasix]

Hmm, looks like the ingredients for super healing potions and super mana potions have been switched with each other.  Wierd.

That doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense, IMO.  Netherblooom is a harder herb to find (in a higher level area) and Super Healing Potions are a lower skill potion.  Glad my alchemist is already past a point where this matters to him.

And.. back to feral when I get home.  I'd like to actually be able to complete the 5 person group quests in this zone.  People really hate the shit out of moonies unless you're doing a Seth stealth run.   

[Hutch]

Up until today, I've only heard rumors about the "fear nerf", which according to the patch notes, looks more like a "cc nerf".

Now I've read the live patch notes. Does the change really only apply to level 60+ targets? Is the fear-dot-dot-dot-rinse-repeat strategy still going to work in sub-60 pvp?

Anyone in game yet with a fear ability? Any anecdotes to share?

[Rasix]

Darkweaver Syth's aggro radius has been increased, and he can now see through both stealth and invisibility.

 

Reduced the number of creatures in Shadow Labyrinth.

 

[WayAbvPar]

Reduced the number of creatures in Shadow Labyrinth.

Does that mean it won't take 30 minutes to clear the goddamned room with the pews now? That is the only part of SL that I hate.

[Fabricated]

Reduced the number of creatures in Shadow Labyrinth.

Does that mean it won't take 30 minutes to clear the goddamned room with the pews now? That is the only part of SL that I hate.

I just tried SL with my warrior last night (been playing my mage alt for a while) and thought that room fucking sucked. What a time sink. The whole instance is just coasting right along and then bam you gotta make a ton of huge pulls.

Also, what is with all the DPS race bosses in the endgame 5-mans?

[Ironwood]

My hunter is now INSANELY overpowered.  This mend pet change is huge.

[Merusk]

My hunter is now INSANELY overpowered.  This mend pet change is huge.

Pika? For PvE or PvP?  What spec?

I couldn't be arsed to actually put in the effort to check things out.  Between all the server reboots and crashes I just played my Horde Mage on another server.  Level 29, whee.   Now if only I wasn't just a squishy target for supertwinks in PvP right now.

[Paelos]

I tried a few heroics post-patch, and they are actually managable now with an epic off the last boss everytime. It's pretty much turned me around on the entire premise of raiding them.

[Chenghiz]

Mend pet has made hunters a lot easier to solo with, as if that was a problem in the first place. I'm not sure what level your hunter is, Merusk, but if you think he's underpowered in PvP you should try playing him again. Hunters are ridiculous.

That doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense, IMO.  Netherblooom is a harder herb to find (in a higher level area) and Super Healing Potions are a lower skill potion.  Glad my alchemist is already past a point where this matters to him.

They switched them because the demand for mana pots was much higher than health, so they wanted to make them easier to make.

[Merusk]

Hunter's 70 with the gun from Kara.  I'm marks spec, though, and that's traditionally been the weakest PvP spec.  However, beast has always been too 'gimmicky' for me and survival has been gimped.   

My RAP's something like 2089 now with the patch changes, so I crit for 1500+ BUT, that's still only 1/2 of the life of a clothie IF I crit on both long-cooldown abilities (4s and 10s are FOREVER in PvP).   Easy enough to pick-off people who're being softened-up, but since the hunter is Alliance, cooperative PvP is right-out the window.

PvE hunts pwn face, PvP it's been less than that for a while.

[Fabricated]

I tried a few heroics post-patch, and they are actually managable now with an epic off the last boss everytime. It's pretty much turned me around on the entire premise of raiding them.

No more neigh-instant obliteration if you don't have insane CC?

[Paelos]

I tried a few heroics post-patch, and they are actually managable now with an epic off the last boss everytime. It's pretty much turned me around on the entire premise of raiding them.

No more neigh-instant obliteration if you don't have insane CC?

Nah we ran the Slave pens with a feral druid, prot warrior, mage, lock, and priest. We had basically one CC and some OTing. The mobs hit the tanks for so much less now one healer isn't even a problem on both guys.

[Fabricated]

Oh yeah, some of the heroics (well, could be all of them, not all the spoiler sites have been updated fully) now have new epic items in them. Also, all the epic weapons in heroics have been upgraded as well (something that wasn't showing on WoWhead and other spoiler websites).

So far the only things I know are new are a new set of tanking plate shoulders, hunter/enhancement shammy gloves, and resto/elemental shammy shoulders.

edit: and once more, there's an interview with Tigole (ugh) and some other guy I can't remember on WorldofRaids where they talk about the future. Tigole says he'd love to redo Gnomeregan. Yeah, I bet he would.