Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsPatch 3.3.3 PTR: Priests
by Dawn Moore 
Feb 21st 2010 at 12:00PM
Renewed Hope: now has a 60-second duration, up from 20 seconds, but a 20-second cooldown.
Seems a bit strange, doesn't it? Is it a buff, a nerf? What would be the point of adding a cooldown to an ability that has a duration exceeding the cooldown? Well, after kicking the Blizzard downloader all night and day, I've finally tested it for myself and as it currently functions on PTR it appears to have no negative impact on discipline priests. That said, I do not believe it is currently working entirely as Blizzard intends it to. For more information on what I observed, hit the jump.
As of Saturday evening, when using Power Word: Shield, a 1-minute duration Renewed Hope buff is applied. You can use PWS a moment later on a party member, raid member, or non-party member, and the buff will be refreshed on you and your party, even though 15 seconds (more on this below) has not elapsed. The combat log reads that the buff is refreshed on each party member, each time a new shield is applied, just as it does on current live servers. Improvements to the talent in patch 3.1.2 remain unchanged: Renewed Hope cannot be dispelled or stolen.
Ghostcrawler said the following about the changes to auras:
"Removing the constant application and removal of these buffs (through both the passive aura and the range increase) might improve performance a tiny bit, will clean out your combat logs (which actually improves performance too), and reduce the UI and in some cases spell effect spam, which might make combat a little more easier to understand."
So, since the combat log is still getting spammed, my guess is that Blizzard is still working on the talent's cooldown. This could also explain why the patch notes, which refer to a 20-second cooldown, conflict with the in-game tool tip that states a 15-second cooldown will be applied.
As for the improvements to the duration of the talent, I'd consider them favorable. Changing it to 1-minute means disco priests will have an easier time keeping up Renewed Hope in fights where movement or other mechanics might keep you from getting a shield up every 20 seconds. It doesn't really improve priest mobility, since you can already bubble on the run, but fights like the Lich King come to mind, since you can't cast while in the clutches of the Val'kyr mobs.
That sums up the priest changes from the patch notes. There is one other change being added in patch 3.3.3 that is of great interest to discipline priests, though. The change is in the mage arcane tree.
Incanter's Absorption: This talent now only grants additional spell power when damage is absorbed by Mana Shield, Frost Ward, Fire Ward, or Ice Barrier. The limit of 5% of the mage's health on the spell power buff has been removed.
If you are out of the loop, arcane mages with Incanter's Absorption have had a great love for discipline priest bubbles for most of Wrath of the Lich King, due to the magnitude of the bonus spellpower that can be given by this talent. Unfortunately, it seems Blizzard is putting an end to that. To me this is a truly sad day, marking the end of a beautiful year shared with our arcane allies. There have been many mages I have bubbled with love, but soon my shields will mean nothing more to them than any other heal. I mourn the loss of this relationship.
You still have my power infusion, my beloved mages. *tear*
Patch 3.3.3 is up on the PTR and as with every new patch there's a flurry of new information. Check out the official patch notes, changes to battlegrounds, new achievements that hint at future content, new models (and more new models) in the game files, things to do with those pesky frozen orbs, UI updates, and perhaps more to come before it hits the live realms.
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
splodesondeath Feb 21st 2010 12:45PM
That last part brought frozen tears to my eyes.
/sniffle
FireMaster Feb 21st 2010 1:00PM
This pic is so Epic that it alone makes out to this one be one of the best posts in WoW.com :P
Paul Feb 21st 2010 2:00PM
If Renewed Hope can be dispelled, then I would assume that is the reason for the cooldown. Although I'm sure it's not dispellable.
Chris Anthony Feb 21st 2010 2:23PM
I think that what Ghostcrawler is talking about is the buffs that have been changed to auras and the buffs whose ranges have been increased. Dancing in and out of buff range, and re-applying buffs that haven't quite worn off yet (or catching them just after they have), causes quite a bit of combat log spam. Joe Perez posted about the buff changes here: http://www.wow.com/2010/02/19/patch-3-3-3-ptr-raid-buff-changes/
As for the cooldown: I agree with Paul that cooldowns on buffs really only make sense if the duration is shorter than or equal to the cooldown or if the buff can be removed. That makes me worry about Renewed Hope, to be honest - I'm concerned that they're going to stick charges on it (a la Inner Fire) or something.
bremic Feb 21st 2010 3:28PM
It still seems wrong that so many "proc buffs" are becoming auras, but Shadow Priests still have to deal with the horrible talent that is Shadow Weaving. It there is more than 15 between fights, which is common, then our dps drops 10%. If there is a phase in a fight where you don't dps, our dps drops 10%. If you are stunned or have to do something not dps related in a fight, our dps drops 10%. If the mobs don't live long, our dps is penalised.
This is a horrible mechanic that blizzard seems to love.
Candina@WH Feb 21st 2010 4:24PM
Shadow Priest single target DPS takes too long to stack up to full potency, and is so fiddly that keeping it stacked optimally is nearly impossible during movement fights.
Now, our mind sear DPS is great for trash packs of 3 or more targets.
WTB single target DPS that doesn't require 3 dots, a stacking debuf, a channeled spell, and sacrificing a rooster by the dark of the moon to maintain.
Leeloominai Feb 21st 2010 5:54PM
"...and sacrificing a rooster by the dark of the moon to maintain."
Well. We ARE shadow priests.
Chicken Feb 21st 2010 6:39PM
oh no shadow priests get it really bad, id almost feel sorry for you if i wasnt a boomkin and lost 40% of my damage if i didnt get to dps for 15 seconds due to wasting whatever eclipse was procced.
Kylenne Feb 21st 2010 4:52PM
As an arcane mage still crying bitter tears over IA (OP as it was), I just want to say this won't make me love you shiny fabulous Disco queens any less.
We'll always have Paris, um, Silvermoon.
BoomingEchoes Feb 21st 2010 5:52PM
It makes sense however that they'd change the absorption. Blizzard never wants 1 class or spec to be singled out to get a buff or improvement from another, and this furthers that point. Its bad enough that many arcane mages decided they needed Resto Shaman Mana Tide totems and Druid innervates on retainer when Blizzard finally decided to make the tree viable, to have a 3rd class/spec needlessly feeding into the spec was just ludicrous.
The talent should have been to just mage shields in the first place, its not like Mages don't have enough of them on their own. Any other shield working in this manner seemed to have been another on of their absentminded oversights that Blizzard seems to make so often.
venomslife Feb 21st 2010 5:59PM
i'm not sure what to think about this although i kinda see it as a buff.
im a little confused by the author's idea that priests might not be able to keep up the buff.
the only situation i've encountered that is very similar is something like festergut when i'm just unloading everything on the main tank for about 30 seconds. come to think of it when things like that are happening its probably hard to keep up the buff.
sounds like a great change to me
Arladris Feb 21st 2010 6:36PM
Why not make Renewed Hope an aura already?
Sny Feb 21st 2010 7:08PM
I'm thinking this change was for PvP, maybe I'm wrong though.
Meknow Feb 22nd 2010 2:16PM
IA is not as OP as everyone seem to think. Arcane Mages sacrifice over 5k-6k mana everytime that mana shield goes down. For an arcane mage thats a hefty amount of mana espacially if you have been waiting for the extra SP boost to blow your CDs. Once Arcane Power/Icy Veins/BL is on, mages become mana hungry and that 5-6k mana goes a long way. Mana gems only grant about half of the mana lost and it has a 2 min CD. Some other classes regain mana over-time without stopping their routine DPS, evocation takes 10 secs which might not seem a lot but it is when BL is up. I still think its a good change overall so mages don't abuse PW:S. Raiding arcane mages are already familiar with 2pts in frost warding. This talent will be great since there is no SP restriction.
Pyromelter Feb 22nd 2010 2:36PM
Mana Shield? Really?
I'm going to chalk this up to our own Archmage Pants not educating the masses. Here it is in a nutshell:
In PvE, NEVER cast mana shield. EVER. There is NO reason to cast mana shield in any PvE situation. In PvP... yes. Definitely. PvP is 100% about survival, and I've spammed the heck out of mana shield to absorb whatever I could to get away from a hairy situation to cast invis and then evocate my health and mana up. So for pvp... yes. With PvE, it's a wasted GCD and mana to cast it to proc IA, you'd be better off with your ab/mbam rotation.
You proc IA with warding only (after the patch), while currently PW:S and Val'anyr procs are the main way mages are gaining IA buffs.
Also, evocation is an 8 second channelled spell affected by haste. Timed correctly with IV, 2pcT10, assuming wrath of air totem, and if you can catch it at the end of a BL, your evo can take about 3.5 seconds.
Someone before mentioned mage dps as being wildly inconsistent. Get ready for this to be even moreso after this patch. We're gonna do 20-30k dps on koralon, and will be lucky to break 10k on festergut (which involves almost the same amount of movement).
Talusazaroth Feb 22nd 2010 9:47PM
There is an instance in which i have used mana shild and have it acctuly help me. On festergut i made a noob mistake on the spore count and missed the last spore by accident, my ice block on cd to save the damage from the first pugent blight. With no hope of reciving a shild from a priest due to the tank healing our disc priest was doing, i poped mana shild and prayed.
I survied with less than a precent of health left.
Also i love the picture at the end of the artical.