Well, they've finally done it...
11:07 AM
Posted by Reygahnci on Tuesday, August 4, 2009
That's right, my speculation on the matter was completely wrong, apparently. Version 3.2 has officially been released today AND the arena season does not end today... what fevered dream of madness is this!? I honestly could not have foreseen this; it seemed so unlikely.
Okay, let's recap for PvP points:
1) Ferals are getting SLIGHTLY nerfed in the DPS department... emphasis on slightly, you likely won't notice any difference in damage output from yesterday to today.
2) Resilience has been buffed and now specifically targets direct damage non-crits more than it did yesterday; this will likely play like a nerf to rogues/warriors/dks/rets/mages/etc and a relative buff to warlocks/spriests/ferals. Rip/Rake are STILL your bread-n-butter for PvP.
3) Resilience has been slightly nerfed in terms of its effectiveness, but it is a more attractive stat for dps classes (though rogues will still complain that it isn't).
4) Innervate has been changed from a 6min CD 20sec duration that restores ~15k mana, to a 3min CD 10sec duration that restores ~8k mana, for well-coordinated Feral+Healer teams, this will play as a buff (as dispelling innervate will still be effective, but LESS so).
5) Resto druids have been nerfed such that Innervate can be dispelled again... sweet!
6) Ferals are much MUCH prettier in 3.2
7) Ret pallies can't 2shot anyone anymore.
8) Frost dks still can, but their defensive cooldowns have longer cooldowns now, so invincibility is less of the fight.
There are a ton more changes, and obviously I can't cover ALL the bases, but these are definitely the big-hitters as far as Feral PvP is concerned.
August 4, 2009 at 12:48 PM
I was really hoping the patch wasn't going to drop just to make everyone anticipating it sad. Nice recap on feral concerns, I'm not looking forward to the damage nerfs (Though tiny they may be) but with the emblem conversions I can go pick up an idol of worship and start mangle spamming.
My 2s just hit 2k last night (Feral / Resto druid) and I swear of the 14 or so games we played before points rolled, we had 6 or 7 healers who just parked their butts on a pillar and made shred impossible. Clearly I'm just not skilled enough to make it work in such situations. ;)
August 5, 2009 at 8:14 AM
"just hit 2k last night (Feral / Resto druid)"
"healers who just parked their butts on a pillar and made shred impossible"
This is why I prefer teams with CCs on separate DR.
August 5, 2009 at 8:35 AM
I totally agree about the "teams with CCs on separate DR" statement, but I was doing skirmishes by myself last night in an attempt to check out the modifications to Lord and Sewers (which I'm going to make a post on today, if I have time... work is hectic this month).
ANYWAY, got teamed with a full Hateful resto druid and went against disc+rogue. Let me tell you something about the hilariousness that is druid+druid versus priest+rogue: crippling poison is a waste, and wound poison is basically never up... auto win because of mana longevity and pressure.
Also, it was kind of odd not using Cyclone as much, though the resto druid wasn't exactly amazing and didn't CC much as he was focused on healing.