Patch 4.1 PTR notes updated for March 1
by Anne Stickney 
Mar 1st 2011 at 5:20PM
The patch notes for PTR patch 4.1 have been updated, and we've got all the latest changes for you below. Included in this update is some startling information regarding death knight talents.
The original round of 4.1 patch notes can be found here.
General
Death Knights
The original round of 4.1 patch notes can be found here.
General
- Resilience scaling has been modified for linear returns, as opposed to increasing returns. Under the new formula, going from 30 resilience to 40 resilience gives players the same increase to survivability as going from 0 to 10. Resilience now scales in the same way armor and magic resistances do. A player with 32.5% damage reduction from resilience in 4.0.6 should see their damage reduction unchanged in 4.1. Those with less than 32.5% will gain slightly. Those with more will lose some damage reduction, increasingly so as their resilience climbs.
Death Knights
- Raise Ally has been redesigned to be a battle resurrection, analogous to Rebirth. It is instant cast, but costs 50 Runic Power to use, and has a 10-minute cooldown. It shares the same global battle resurrection cap with Rebirth and Soulstone.
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Talent Specializations
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Blood
- Blood Shield now only works while in Blood Presence.
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Frost
- Frost Strike now deals 130% of weapon damage, up from 110%.
- Howling Blast damage has been increased by 20%. To compensate, the area-of-effect splash now does 50% of the single-target damage, down from 60%. The net result of this change leaves the area-of-effect damage roughly the same as 4.0.6 numbers.
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Blood
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Glyphs
- Glyph of Raise Ally is now Glyph of Death Gate, and makes Death Gate cast 60% faster.
Druids
- Swipe (Bear) cooldown has been reduced to 3 seconds, down from 6.
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Talent Specializations
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Restoration
- Gift of Nature (passive) also reduces Tranquility's cooldown by 2.5/5 minutes.
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Restoration
Priests
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Talent Specializations
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Discipline
- Power Word: Barrier's cooldown has been increased to 3 minutes, up from 2, and its effect has been reduced to 25%, down from 30%.
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Discipline
Warlocks
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Talent Specializations
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Affliction
- Shadow Mastery (passive) has been increased to 30%, up from 25%.
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Affliction
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Pets
- Doomguard's damage has been increased by 50%. The Doomguard is intended to be the best guardian for single-target damage, and the Infernal the best when there are multiple targets.
- Shadow Bite (Felhunter) damage and effect has doubled.
Warriors
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Talent Specializations
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Arms
- Strikes of Opportunity damage has been increased by 10% to keep stat parity with other strike changes.
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Fury
- Unshackled Fury now only grants 2 base points of mastery, down from 8. This change offsets the Flurry boost to better control Fury burst damage.
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Arms
Items
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Item Sets
- The current damage-dealing death knight 4-piece raid set bonus now also grants increased attack power when Killing Machine triggers, as well as when the death knight gains Death Runes).
- The current Holy paladin 4-piece raid set bonus now grants 540 Spirit for 6 seconds after casting Holy Shock.
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Ad134 Mar 1st 2011 5:24PM
Restoration
* Gift of Nature (passive) also reduces Tranquility's cooldown by 2.5/5 minutes.
YESSSSSS
Saku Mar 1st 2011 5:41PM
.....this totally makes up for the LB nerf 100%
Elwoods Mar 1st 2011 5:50PM
Oh yeah this I do like, gives us a nice Raid CD
Asmodeius Mar 1st 2011 5:27PM
Yeah, because DK's totally need a buff. Unbelievable. And they still have yet to address the fact that prot warrior's rage while tanking 85 content is broken. But it totally makes complete sense to just nerf them down more /sarcasm.
Finnicks Mar 1st 2011 6:24PM
Because DKs weren't the only class without -any- form of raid utility.
[/sarcasm]
Seriously, what do DKs currently bring to the raid besides damage? No real raid buffs (only passive ones). No ressurections (excepting only the current form of Raise Ally, which is rarely useful). No Crowd-Control.
Seriously, DKs needed some utility.
squig_masta Mar 1st 2011 9:20PM
They have utility. They bring the Agility/Str buff, 4%more physical/8% more magical, the ability to pull wriley mobs back to the tank via deathgrip, the BEST aoe kiting via chillbains and absolute zero (although they would have to spec in and out of it) and one of the best raid savers, Anti-magic zone (again, situational, but almost mandatory for fights like Nefarian) and to my knowledge one of if the only real tanking spec with raid buffs (both 10% attack power and minor raid healing through leeches).
Heck, even the old raise ally was, in my mind, far more usefull then this. In 10 mans you only get one battle res, but a dk can ghoul rez as often as he wants. Sure it's gimmicky, but after the brez is used that ghoul can be the difference to a 1% wipe and a boss down.
Not that I agree with captain QQ up there, but don't try and say you have zero raid utility when, if you're willing to spec into it, you have some of the best situational abilities in the game.
pancakes Mar 2nd 2011 1:26AM
"and to my knowledge one of if the only real tanking spec with raid buffs (both 10% attack power and minor raid healing through leeches)."
Pallies, and druids (or even warriors, if you count shouts) aren't real tanks? I wish someone had told me that before I started queueing for all those heroics =(
Joe Mar 2nd 2011 5:20PM
@squig_masta AGi/strength buff comes from both warriors AND shamans now. Deathgrip, atleast the way you described it, is rarely ever used for that in raids. The only time I've ever needed to do that is in 25 man BoT trash up to the twin dragons. Speccing into chillblains is a significant DPS loss. I have yet to find any talent called "Absolute zero" even with multiple wowhead searches. Again, speccing into Anti Magic zone is another signifcant dps loss and is not found in any of the viable PvE specs. As for your view of Raise ally as it is, terrible. You can't use it whenever you want. It's on a massive 10 minute cooldown. other than that, it's horrible to use anyways. You literally would have to run around, looking for a dead body, click on it then res it, all for a minimal amount of dps that the ghoul does. They are changing Raise ally because it's terrible, and always has been terrible. Really everything you said was wrong, and I have to wonder if everybody that thumbed you up has even played a DK before.
Ilmyrn Mar 1st 2011 5:26PM
No more ghouling raidmates? LAME.
I guess I should be grateful for another battle-rez, especially since my regular ten man group runs with only a shaman for that sort of thing, and that is, of course, a self-only thing. Still, I will miss turning folks into undead monstrosities.
Drack Mar 1st 2011 5:46PM
Yeah, I'm gonna miss my little ghoulish party mates, but I guess creating my own "death-knights" is pretty good compensation, eh?
And to everyone complaining about the DK B-Res, I say this: QQ moar n00bs. But no, in all seriousness, come on, why complain about a good thing? I think its kinda cool, think about it:
You're in a group and someone just died, 3 scenarios come of this:
A: Healer doesn't have a battle resurrection.
B: Healer has to trade between stopping healing for a bit or just not resurrect.
C: The healer is the one who died.
So what happens? Mr. AwsomesauceDK just so happens to be there to help out the group.
TL;DR- DK battle resurrection is good, not bad. Quit whining.
Grovinofdarkhour Mar 1st 2011 6:05PM
Yeah, it took me a few minutes to come around at first. But then I realized, when I'm healing, my battle rez is a total DWYDA ("Drop what your doing, and"). The solution to the fact that we're already undermanned is something that requires 2 seconds in which I can't cast any heals on any one else? If someone else can do it (especially with an instant cast), awesome.
Snuzzle Mar 1st 2011 6:45PM
Well, I'm a druid, and while I'm a little miffed that one of our major unique raid utility spells is being handed to a class that seems to constantly get shiny toys, I do appreciate the fact that they can't just raise people as a ghoul on a whim anymore. Because this is how it always goes:
*Key Player has died*
Raid Leader: "Hey druid, brez Key Player please."
Death Knight: "Looooool IMMA MAKE HIM A GHOUL!"
Key Player: "Why am I a ghoul?"
*Raid wipes*
I still don't think it makes any kind of sense though. If even a death knight can raise a fallen ally, then why are healers so special? Why can't a warrior rez people? And how can a Death Knight, who is imbued with the power of the scourge, raise people without them becoming tainted with scourge energy or undeath? Raises some interesting RP perspectives, like a paladin who refuses to accept a rez offered by a DK.
Drack Mar 1st 2011 7:16PM
@Snuzzle
"I'm a little miffed that one of our major unique raid utility spells is being handed to a class that seems to a class that seems to constantly get shiny toys"
My second main is a shaman, so I have two words for you: Time Warp. But I understand your miffedness.
" Why can't a warrior rez people? "
Because they don't have THE POWER (Whether or not its the power of voodoo or the power imbued by Greyskull is up to debate.)
"And how can a Death Knight, who is imbued with the power of the scourge, raise people without them becoming tainted with scourge energy or undeath?"
Actually, there's a quest in Icecrown where a death knight raises an argent crusade paladin after he was ripped apart, and there didn't seem to be any scourge-like consequences .http://www.wowpedia.org/Quest:He%27s_Gone_to_Pieces
I do agree with your point on RP for this. I can see a whole bunch of scenarios where a Priest/Paladin would refuse to be raised by a DK, as to not become an "abomination of the light", or some-such, and demanding a druid/priest/shaman/paladin to raise them.
Angrycelt Mar 1st 2011 8:01PM
Great. Now all those 14 year olds playing DKs will have something else to screw up.
"Can't brez, 2 bzy dpsing lol!!!1!" while they're standing in fire and death gripping mobs off of the tank.
I also can't wait for someone not paying attention to yell at a DK tank for not stopping to brez someone mid-fight.
Opposite note, since every special ability seems to be shared these days, I'm not opposed to having another b-rez'ing class, and I do like the thought of not having to stop healing altogether to raise someone. I just think it was a healing ability and it should've stayed with a healing class, ie Shammy/priest/pally.
Byron Huskey Mar 1st 2011 8:45PM
I have a druid and dk both, and I think it's a great addition. Raise Ally was always a cute gimmick, not a shiny toy. Now it's a useful reason to bring the player, not the class, so to speak, because of additional raid utility. Frankly, I like that they gave it to a non-healing class. It fits the flavor, the lore, and makes it a unique trait.
Drack Mar 1st 2011 9:12PM
@Angrycelt
Oh look... a "DKs r badies lololol" post. How frickin' refreshing. Let me guess, you're one of those Hordies who goes around saying "LOL ALLIES R KIDS LOL", aren't ya? All classes have their good players and bad players, DKs are just popular to poke fun at because they were new and had little understanding, but that's no longer the case. Some of the best tanks I've seen have been DKs.
And as I've said before, this will be a fairly hard spell to mess up with. I'm sure most people have enough common sense to B-res someone, in lue of DPSing.
TL;DR- Don't hate us 'cause we're beautiful.
goldfish_girl99 Mar 1st 2011 11:24PM
My main is a resto druid, and while part of me is sad to lose the uniqueness of our battle rez, I think it's a good idea overall. Besides, mine is still better because druids have a glyph that brings people back with 100% health. :)
Pumabackup Mar 2nd 2011 1:21AM
initially, i hated this change. im not a fan of other classes being given abilities that were previously specific to one certain class, and as a boomkin, this hit close to home. in my raid, i'm more often than not the one who handles the b-rezzing (we also have a tree and bear in the group), and the more i think of it, the more i doubt that DK's will be chosen for a rez over a druid. for starters, the DK needs to build up the runic power to use it, while we druids just needs to pop a quick cast out there and be done. druids also have the glyph of rebirth, which brings people back with 100% health and mana, so the ability itself is still more useful then either a DK's or lock's rez.
i think right now, my biggest peeve with it is just the idea of a DEATH knight bringing someone back to LIFE. however, if they ever changed it so the rezzed person uses a random undead model, but retains all they're gear and abilities...that might make it a little more believable.
so pros:
----groups that dont have a druid or warlock can still have access to a brez
----a little less stress off of resto and tank druids
cons:
----more utility sharing across classes, reducing the uniqueness of the classes
----the idea is just absurdly silly
----we no longer have a mini temp rez that doesnt count against the limit
Sinthar Mar 2nd 2011 4:45AM
@ Snuzzle & Drak
The fact you have UNIQUE raid abilities (or had) should be answer in itself. Blizzard have stated for a HELL of a long time now that there should be no special snowflakes that get raid slots based soley on their class ability - as part of their 'Bring the player, not the class' tactics. Battle Rez and Heroism are two of the most powerful raid abilities, which previously practically guarenteed the player a raid slot, almost reguardless of skill.
I personally do not automatically agree with either this policy (although I conceed the validity of their thoughts), or the way they have implemented it, and definately agree for RP purposes this seems very off, but the change itself (ie the abilities will be available to another class) should not come as a surprise.
Oh and Snuzzle, if your RL is anything like decent there should be another few lines after your example :-
*Key Player has died*
Raid Leader: "Hey druid, brez Key Player please."
Death Knight: "Looooool IMMA MAKE HIM A GHOUL!"
Key Player: "Why am I a ghoul?"
*Raid wipes*
Rail Leader "DK Why did you do that?"
Death Knight "for fun"
Raid Leader "Well enjoy this"
*DK is removed from the raid*
There fixed. No point in bringing a D*ckh**d DK with you to a raid imo.
And yes I have led Raids, and no I wouldnt tolerate that sh*t, not even in a PUG heroic tbh.
Scooter Mar 2nd 2011 9:05AM
While this is certainly a cool ability swap it is a total cop-out to actually turning raise ally into something useful. Now we just have a copycat spell that breaks from the logic and nature of a DK's abilities. At the very least it should be a limited resurrection. Here's my version
Stitch Ally
- Restore player to % health and applies the "Stitched Together" debuff.
"Stitched Together"
- Here the players receives a decreasing stitch debuff. If the debuff runs out they die and cannot be resurrected 10 minutes. The debuff can be removed if the player is healed to full before the last stitch comes loose.
Special: Players with the "Stitched Together" debuff can be targeted by the DK's blood healing abilities.
Glyph: Players successfully healed receive a 10% damage reduction bonus for ## Seconds.
Insert your own flavor text.