Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Warrior changes
by Matthew Rossi 
Feb 20th 2010 at 6:00AM
- Revenge: Damage done by this ability (base and scaling) increased by 50%.
- Rampage: This effect is now passive instead of being a proc from critical strikes.
The Rampage change, on the other hand, is what the ability always should have been. While a talented Leader of the Pack will still be better with its healing benefit, Rampage is now exactly as good as the baseline ability. I never understood making Rampage, an ability you have to spend quite a few talent points to get, inferior to one 10 points cheaper. Sure, it's nothing that's going to make or break the spec and it really should have been what we always had, but at least it's finally here.
Filed under: Warrior, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Micanos Feb 20th 2010 6:02AM
FINALLY
Tooay Feb 20th 2010 6:09AM
Matthew, it's six in the freakin' morning, go back to bed.
Possum Feb 20th 2010 7:34AM
Maybe he's just woken up and now he's going on a healthy 10 mile jog about the city then home again for some all bran cereal and morning Yoga?
Maymer Feb 21st 2010 1:03PM
I hear that Rossi does about 5000 pushups and situps, then follows it by running 50 miles, uphill, in the snow, both ways. He then proceeds to tame dragons, using only a toothpick, a pack of gum, and floss. After taming the king of the dragons, he swims to the bottom of the sea, where he battles C'Thulu into a coma for another day. Then he drinks some coffee and writes a post up.
And that's what he does on his Sunday workout...don't even get him started on the rest of the week
Valt Feb 20th 2010 7:09AM
Might spec to UA revenge tank build for the lols again....
Ok maybe not. But I'm glad revenge got buffs, most people left whole thing off since other buffs. Similar geared tank did about 0.7k more dps than me for skipping revenge and spammed more devastate so it was needed..well.. kinda..
now only thing left is thunderclap buff.
Eberron Feb 20th 2010 7:29AM
Rossi, I swear if you don't spec in to Improved Revenge and I ever hear you bitch about how low prot warrior DPS when you won't use what they give you, I'll smack you upside the head.
Oh, and go to bed!
.... What? Double standard, eat it. XD
Matthew Rossi Feb 20th 2010 9:38AM
Well, if 20% extra damage on one ability that I can only use when a specific condition lights up buffs my DPS a whole lot I'm gonna be REALLY surprised.
Raenz Feb 20th 2010 7:12PM
@Rossi
Most of the time boss tanking revenge is up pretty much constantly, if its worth mashing every CD again with the buff + glyph it could make a notable amount of difference (probably not enough to catch frost DK's tho :( )
JustinM Feb 20th 2010 9:52AM
If I'm not mistaken, currently you can use Rampage to pop Enraged Regeneration. That won't be the case anymore, surely, if it's up all the time. So while I do like the Rampage buff, it's a stealth nerf of another ability. It's still positive overall, but ER was nice to have up most of the time for those fights you knew a healer wasn't going to get to you quickly.
Killik Feb 20th 2010 11:52AM
Luckily, there's still berserker rage. And bloodrage, if you swing that way.
Big Shoe Feb 20th 2010 10:43AM
These bufss are better than nothing, but as Matt pointed out, the Revenge buff is minor, and Rampage was up most of the time, anyway. A boost to warrior AoE threat would be nice, though. Shockwave and Thunderclap are nice, but the long cooldowns and lack of a DoT threat make warriors work twice as hard to generate half the AoE threat of other tanking classes.
Sleutel Feb 20th 2010 11:39AM
AOE threat really isn't a big problem for Warriors these days, IMO. We have to work for it, yeah, but we're more than capable of holding a pack of mobs IF we know what we're doing (TC + SW + Cleave + tab-target to hit each of the mobs with single-target, high-threat abilities). I LIKE that my tank isn't completely faceroll.
Sleutel Feb 20th 2010 11:40AM
And if you don't think Prot Wars have a DOT, you don't have Deep Wounds, which makes you very, very wrong if you're seeing any issues at all with threat.
Big Shoe Feb 21st 2010 7:13PM
I did spec into Deep Wounds and found that it made almost no difference to my threat or DPS, even with five ranks of Cruelty to back it up. By "DoT threat," I meant something along the lines of Consecrate or Death and Decay, that will put some snap aggro on melee mobs and continue to build threat on them while a warrior rushes around to deal with ranged and casters. Deep Wounds just doesn't measure up to the AoE threat these abilities generate, but adding a DoT effect to Thunderclap, reducing the cooldown of Shockwave, or making it 360 degrees instead of the nebulous "frontal cone," would all help in situations where mobs don't neatly line up in front of you at the start of a pull. To each his own, but I get better mileage out of an Improved Cleave spec, despite the slow swing timer and high rage cost.
My point here is simply that warriors currently have to work twice as hard to generate half the AoE threat of the other tanking classes, which can be problematic with the notoriously impatient DPS burn squads that populate random dungeons. WotLK has ushered in an era of fast and sloppy AoE pulls, which don't mesh well with the mechanics of warrior tanks. This can certainly be worked around, but it gets tiresome in long instances that are packed with trash mobs. I've used tab targeting since the BC days of heroic Shattered Halls but just wish that it was a little smarter. Instead of jumping to the next closest target, it has a maddening habit of tabbing to a mob halfway across the screen that isn't even in combat yet, forcing you to waste time cycling through distant mobs when you need to pick your targets quickly. An option to set a range limit on tab targeting would be a huge help to warriors.
ikir Feb 22nd 2010 7:40PM
I agree Warriors have many problems especially in AOE. Being PRO using every ability to his max, changing target is a solution but not a fair one. Our DPS and threat sucks anyway, while a quite noob paladin tank can do the same without skills.
Eberron Feb 20th 2010 7:47PM
Oh, Matt, don't get me wrong dude I'm *totally* for a complete overhaul, but I'm saying when they throw you a bone, no matter how tiny, it's still a bone!
But, yeah, that comment was tongue firmly planted in cheek :)
rkaliski Feb 20th 2010 9:29PM
What the dps warrior could use is something to get rid of all that agro they build up. I tank as prot in raids and do heroics as arms. More than half the time I really can't use whirlwind or even thunderclap for fear of pulling agro. Can't tell you how many times I've simply done most of the fight on autoattack. Doing my regular rotation I end up pulling the mob. No, I do try to watch my threat meter and i use focus on the MT. You have some very lazy Pallys and DKs who seem to just rely on the AOE to build threat.
Figaro Feb 21st 2010 2:33AM
i hate to break it to you but .... warriors are renowned for being big mean looking guys in lots of plate that sort of beat on things savagely. A threat dump ability really isnt inline with that sort of imagery.
engish8 Feb 21st 2010 6:12AM
Warriors please remove the class, they moan and moan and hey whenever I have DPS'd with them I pull aggro. They cant tank for toffee and also rip aggro when they DPS. Seems Blizz are listening to their moans by making small improvements to them but also nerfing other classes. Shame on you warriors :(
Adrian Feb 22nd 2010 5:24AM
Your logic on Improved Revenge is a little odd. Getting 50% more damage for free makes an additional 20% MORE attractive, not less. Not saying its necessarily a no-brainer, but the idea that a 50% buff makes a scaling bonus less worthwhile is very silly.