Cataclysm: Stat and system changes for prot warriors
by Matthew Rossi 
Mar 1st 2010 at 4:30PM
- Block will be heavily redesigned. There will be no more block value of any kind and all blocks will remove 30% of a blocked attack's damage. Block rating will still improve your chance to block as it does now, but if you do block an attack, rather than the current system where you block (as an example) 2000 damage because you have a shield block value of 2000, you'll block 30% of whatever the damage would have been. This means a gimmick block set won't make you invulnerable to trash mobs, but also that block will be more useful against bosses who hit for 50k. (A boss who hits for 50k now would hit for 48k using our hypothetical block value. He'd hit for 35k with the new system, as 30% of 50k is 15k.) This also means that Shield Slam will need some other method of calculating its damage.
- Parry is also changing. Right now, parry basically works like dodge: a parried attack does no damage. In the new system, when you parry an incoming attack, it and the next attack will hit for 50% damage. This takes parry out of the 'all or nothing' club of avoidance abilities (and leaves dodge alone as the sole pure avoidance stat) and makes it a triggered mitigation ability like block. Parry hasting will also be removed. (What effect this will have on expertise is as yet unknown.) Whether or not your parry damage reduction will be used up on a dodged attack, I can't say at this point.
- Defense is gone. We knew this, but there it is. Combined with the changes to block and parry, it's safe to say you'll be getting hit more often for less damage (since defense also provides a chance to not be hit at all in addition to its chance to not be critically hit). At present the plan is that you will become immune to critical hits just by switching into defensive stance. Since we know that resilience is changing to only work against player damage and not crits, mana drains, etc I would expect the crit immunity provided by defensive stance will not work against players, but that has not been stated yet.
- Mastery will be added. Mastery is still in the 'it will be really cool, but we're not ready to really tell you what it does' phase, but it's stated to be directly tied to your talents and talent choices so that having more mastery on gear will allow you to do whatever it is you do (tanking, in this case) better. Perhaps by increasing how much health Last Stand gives to pull an example out of my butt.
- Stamina on non-plate and non-tanking items will be going up, and tanks can expect that their gem item budget will be taken out of the stamina on an item, as gem budget is usually taken out of a piece's most attractive stat. Health pools for tanks will be lower, proportionately, when compared with non-tanks.
- They've specifically mentioned bonus armor as something that will be coming down. In addition, they're reducing how effective plate will be in mitigating damage compared to other armor types.
EyonixWe are also changing the mitigation difference among armor types so that plate doesn't offer so much more protection than mail, leather, and cloth.
So these are basically the changes we can expect. Raw stats will still be on gear, and stats like expertise, hit, dodge, parry and block will still exist (if heavily modified in some cases) but defense will be gone and warrior tanks will have lower proportionate armor and stamina compared to non tanks. It basically looks like the design is shifting away from huge bursts of damage (the 'non-crushing crushing blows' of Wrath) which made designing Icecrown require Chill of the Throne to balance out, and towards more mitigation.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
VerticalEvent Mar 1st 2010 4:36PM
Didn't they show off the mastery system? WoWhead has a picture of it, I think:
http://www.wowhead.com/?guide=cataclysm&spells#screenshots:abc:2
taedirk Mar 1st 2010 5:33PM
Mastery Stat has always been explained as throwing bigger numbers at whatever your Mastery is giving. The example here is saying something like 100 Mastery Rating at 85 could give you a 5% multiplier on all your mastery numbers (note: numbers pulled from thin air, never even used in a real example, blah blah blah).
CDave Mar 1st 2010 4:37PM
That parry change is weird. Does that mean the 2nd hit can be dodged or parried again? Is that 2nd hit exlusive of the regular combat table, or is it counted as your next calculated non-dodged/blocked/missed attack? Is that 50% calculated before or after mitigation?
Though I can see the change trying to make tank damage less spikey.
Also does parry change for melee dps?
Sleutel Mar 1st 2010 8:01PM
In response to you and the OP's "Whether or not your parry damage reduction will be used up on a dodged attack, I can't say at this point.":
Looking at the post from Eyonix, it says:
"Instead, when you parry an attack, it and the next attack will each hit for 50% damage (assuming they hit at all)."
It's the parenthetical I'm mainly interested in. It looks to me like it calculates the Parry, THEN factors in other mitigation, and a post-parry reduced-damage attack could be consumed by a dodge. So, let's look at three 50k hits in a row, assuming I'm right.
1.) Scenario 1: Parry, hit, hit.
50k -> Parry -> 25k damage taken
50k -> Post-parry reduction -> 25k damag
50k -> 50k damage
Total boss output: 150k
Total damage taken: 100k
2.) Scenario 2: Parry, dodge, hit.
50k -> Parry -> 25k damage
50k -> Post-parry reduction -> Dodge -> 0 damage
50k -> 50k damage
Total boss output: 150k
Total damage taken: 75k
I would assume that it's the "damage taken" I'm listing above that would then be further mitigated by armor, abilities, bubbles, etc.
zurkka Mar 1st 2010 10:18PM
and there is another scenario
parry block hit
boss hits and you parry 25k
boss hits and you block 25k - 30% = 17500
boss hits for 50k
total boss output = 150k
total taken = 92.500
or in step 3 get a dodge, and the damage taken be 42.500
this could get intresting, tanks dont need more huge health pools with this, offcourse they will matter, but they will be much more about mitigating and avoiding damage then taking the blow, i like this
hiphophomies Mar 1st 2010 4:40PM
The block rating to % chance to block ratio is going to need to be much lower than that for parry and dodge in order to be an attractive stat.
Jafari Mar 1st 2010 4:47PM
If block chances are very high for pallys and warriors, as they are now, then I expect that the parry change (to operate like a super-block) will be to normalize death knight tanks' incoming damage to be less spikey and more like a warrior or pally.
I wonder what they'll do with bears, though, to keep them from being spikey. . . maybe giant health pools and some kind of buff to incoming healing via a feral talent (like the one for cat form).
maybesew Mar 1st 2010 5:17PM
I've always thought bears could be given parry. Even if it was a 51 point talent or something called "stone paw." Block doesn't make must sense, but why not parry.
Killik Mar 1st 2010 6:05PM
Pure speculation, but they might make a corresponding change to Savage Defense fpr druids.
Umehte Mar 2nd 2010 8:48AM
Having played a monk in DnD... I can assure you, those without weapons CAN still block and parry quite effectively... just check out any kung fu movie!
busuan Mar 1st 2010 4:55PM
on Block and Parry:
Now AoE tanking is becoming not-so-doable?
In cases of trash mobs doing both melee and spell damages, things may turn south very quickly. Or Last Stand and Shield Wall would be more effective?
Xtofer Mar 1st 2010 5:16PM
Say hello again to crowd control?
ZMES_Matt Mar 1st 2010 5:19PM
I wouldn't be surprised if in Cata it would be a bad idea to AoE pull too many mobs at once no matter how much gear you get. I think Blizzard wants to go back to having to use CC apporpriatly in non-PvP settings again; it makes cooperation between players a bit more crucial, which in turn leads to greater benefits from playing with people you cooperate well with rather than pugging everything under the sun.
timupci Mar 1st 2010 6:50PM
LOL Wut, I AOE tank on my DK, and I have NO block. How is this gonna change AOE tanking?
jslim419 Mar 2nd 2010 9:27AM
"Say hello again to crowd control?"
say goodbye to warrior tanks again if we can't charge in to start a fight with rage?
constant crowd control needs to stay in the same pit of hell that 40-man raids are currently burning to a crisp in.
Rem Mar 1st 2010 9:36PM
this is why my warrior is now nothing but my farm slave, and my lock is a raider.
Glaras Mar 1st 2010 5:13PM
So.... after Cataclysm, if you want to take your now-lvl 82, say, warrior tank back to TOC to help gear some alts, or get the achievements... are we gonna get smoked by Gormok?
timupci Mar 1st 2010 6:53PM
So how are DK tanks tanking him now? DW Frost DK tank on Heroic Mode.
Vazpucci Mar 1st 2010 5:44PM
Okay..so i'm confused on the whole defense thing..is it removed? Or no? The article says it is but then acts like it isn't...unless I read it wrong. (Which doesn't surprise me) Anyone care to explain?
Ray Mar 1st 2010 6:11PM
Defense is removed. Tanks will be uncrittable in their defensive modes (defensive stance, righteous fury, bear form, frost presence).
We'll now rely purely on our 3 mitigation stats (dodge reducing 100% damage, parry reducing 50%, shield block reducing 30%).