PTR Notes: Miscellaneous changes
by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 14th 2008 at 11:45PM
In addition to the big change of Nethers not being BoP anymore, some other changes were pushed to the PTR tonight:- Commendation of Kael'thas has had its dodge rating bonus reduced from 380 to 152
- Five epic trinket jewelcrafting recipes have been added, all with passive benefits and on use effects. See this MMO-Champion screenshot for materials.
- Crimson Serpent: +33 Int, + 49 Stam, use: +150 damage/healing for 20 sec (2 min cooldown)
- Empyrean Tortoise: +42 def rating, use: +165 dodge rating for 20 sec (2 min cooldown)
- Shadowsong Panther: effective stealth level increased by one, +80 attack power, use: +320 attack power for 15 sec (2 min cooldown)
- Khorium Boar: +84 attack power, use: summon the Khorium Boar to fight for you for 30 sec (5 min cooldown)
- Seaspray Albatross: +18 mp5, use: restores 900 mana over 12 sec (3 min cooldown)
- New gem cut: Regal Nightseye, +4 dodge rating, +6 stam, matches red or blue
- Warlocks' Drain Mana buffed by 50%; top rank now drains 300 mana per second (was 200). But remember that resilience now affects mana drain, to the tune of -20% at 400 resil.
- Paladins' Holy Shock damage buffed by about 35%, healing buffed by about 75%. Top rank now deals 721-779 damage or heals for 931-987 (was 530-574 damage or 530-574 healing).
[via MMO-Champion]
Filed under: Paladin, Warlock, Patches, Jewelcrafting
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
jaxson_bateman Feb 15th 2008 12:08AM
I'll have to see first hand how much a max rank Holy Shock heals for now, but it was a much needed change.
Now they just need to significantly reduce the cooldown, or take it off the GCD. =)
Aticus Feb 15th 2008 12:26AM
I couldn't have said it better myself lol.
I really like the 35% damage buff though. It looks like they are trying to prepare us Holy Paladins for Wrath. I've been awaiting this buff to HS for months. Praise be to 2.4!
-Aticus, http://www.paladintales.blogspot.com
Nogun Feb 15th 2008 2:05AM
Personally I think this buff was not needed, every single holy paladin I know picks up this talent so it can't have been that useless, and according to my combatlogs they actually end up using it for healing purposes in raids too.
Now Priests have a similar talent, Holy Nova aka the snake trap killer or the stealth breaker, it has no single use outside that unless Deadmines and Stratholme are your priorities. Nearly all PvE Holy priests skip this talent.
It all feels like buff / nerf what is whined about most not what needs most help, because only naive people think those 2 things are the same.
jaxson_bateman Feb 15th 2008 2:08AM
You know why we pick it up?
Because there's very little else to put our points into.
Most pallies go either 41-42/19-20/0, or 40/0/21, just because there are so few necessary talents to a healadin.
It's ok as a situational heal, and helps our loldps, but it's not powerful enough right now to make paladins praise Elune for having it.
klink-o Feb 15th 2008 12:24AM
Also, before people start yelling about another warlock buff, realize that drain mana will now be affected by resilience.
willferal Feb 15th 2008 1:00AM
It is undeniably a warlock buff. Drain mana's effect was increased by 50%, but even the best-geared players have around only ~450 resilience, which is a 22.83% reduction of mana drain on the PTR. So on live right now, a warlock drains 200 mana/s. On the PTR, against a target with 450 resilience, a warlock drains ~231.51 mana/s.
Drain Mana was the weakest out of the various mana damaging skills to begin with, but seriously, a warlock buff?
klink-o Feb 15th 2008 2:24AM
Oh yeah it's definately a buff, I was jsut saying that for a well geared PVP'er it's not as drastic as it first looks.
outforprophets Feb 15th 2008 6:05AM
Great to hear about the warlock buff especially since that ability was nerfed pretty bad before. Still not amazing but anything too crazy would cause players to get up in arms =\
jumb Feb 15th 2008 7:29AM
Definetly an buff to warlocks, but also nerf hunter/priest mana drains.
Thank goodness, we all know how hard a time lock's have in pvp as it is!
Good_Idea Feb 15th 2008 12:28PM
Overall, even after resilience, it was still a buff to Locks mana drain. Locks compose a major part of mana drains teams, so this buffs mana drain teams.
Mana drain in general needs major nerfs, not buffs. What the hell was Blizz thinking?
Anh Feb 15th 2008 12:32AM
Empyrean Tortoise: Seems like a nice upgrade to the pocket watch, or maybe just something to switch between... I'm curious whether or not they will share a cooldown.
Regal Nightseye: Should add some nice variety to my tank gemming... though I dunno if I'll grab that one instead of the Def + Stam one.
Go go warrior updates!!! We need some attention!
The Rossinator Feb 15th 2008 12:45AM
I wish they would add a HoT and a DoT to HS that would be awesome that would definitely be better than reduced cooldown
Eleazar Feb 15th 2008 1:44AM
Yet again, more buffs for locks, and nothing for shaman. Love it....! =/
Acceptable Risk Feb 15th 2008 2:00AM
Save it. Warlocks have been on the nerf end of the scale nearly every patch since the TBC release. I know Shaman are in a sad way, but seriously, ragging on how OP Warlocks are got old over a year ago.
Eleazar Feb 15th 2008 2:08AM
You sound like my mother.
I know it got old awhile ago, but it's the frakkin truth. Even with the warlock nerfs, they're still extremely well balanced and well taken care of. Shaman continue to be ignored and tossed to the wayside. This small buff is just another notch in the belt.
Pzychotix Feb 15th 2008 2:10AM
Mana drain effects are now affected by resilience.
400 Resilience reduces mana-drain effects by 20%. This means that warlocks will drain only a tiny bit more. The big people who are affected are priests and hunters.
Rabbit Feb 15th 2008 8:38AM
Ehhh...it is a buff, but with extremely limited use. I haven't noticed Warlocks mowing people down as much in the last few months. Truth is that this increase would be a game winner one in ten times--and maybe not that often. We all agree that Shaman can use some love, but Warlocks play this game too and they have been getting hit with the nerf bat pretty hard for a while now. I can immediately think of about five things that are OP on other classes that should be of more concern than this trifle.
NeSuKuN Feb 15th 2008 2:02AM
Yes, it's another warlock buff, but won't change anything, seriously, who uses drain mana? warlocks have lots of sources to get almost unlimited mana. And draining someones mana to avoid them casting is 99% not worth the waste of time, you better should be doing lots of DPS instead of channeling DM. I know no lock that uses this spell at all (this includes PVPers and PVErs). The only way this skill would have some use (and still I wouldnt use it most of the time) is that it changed from a channeled spell to debuff spelll, And then lots of people would cry LOCKS ARE OP even louder.
Pzychotix Feb 15th 2008 2:09AM
You obviously have never played arenas.
jaxson_bateman Feb 15th 2008 2:44AM
"You obviously have never played arenas."
QF-MF-T.
Depleting a healer of mana limits their healing. Depleting a dpser of mana limits their damage. Pretty basic.