Masterwork Elementium Deathblade hotfixed
by Matthew Rossi 
Jul 29th 2011 at 4:30PM
If you are a warrior, DK or paladin looking to pick up the Masterwork Elementium Deathblade, well, you probably don't care that it is simply hideous. Reusing the same model as pretty much every blue sword outside of the crafted 2H blue Obsidian Executioner (which, in my opinion, had a superior model) was bad enough. But a lot of people were still interested in it due to its stats -- specifically, a slow swing speed of 3.8 and a top-end damage of 3,256. (To give you an idea, the Skullstealer Greataxe, a weapon with nearly 100 more DPS, has lower top-end damage.) Top-end damage is often used to calculate special attacks for various melee classes, making the sword very attractive for the ilevel.
However, if you were looking to pick up the MED for that reason, don't bother. As you can see from the original link, its top-end damage has been lowered to 2,769, while its swing speed has been increased to 3.5. Forum posters immediately noticed, and Blizzard's Zarhym soon clarified the change.
Now, of course, there's debate raging back and forth about the change and if the sword is even worth crafting anymore. My take on it is yes, it's worth crafting -- it's just not better than Firelands drops for some players anymore. It shouldn't be even close, which it was. If you're crafting or buying this sword, you're still getting a better weapon than drops in normal mode tier 11 raids, and that's fine. It shouldn't outperform heroic tier 11 and be able to compete with tier 12 weapons. It's meant to help you catch up to Firelands, and it will still do that.
The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new tier 12 armor!
However, if you were looking to pick up the MED for that reason, don't bother. As you can see from the original link, its top-end damage has been lowered to 2,769, while its swing speed has been increased to 3.5. Forum posters immediately noticed, and Blizzard's Zarhym soon clarified the change.
Now, of course, there's debate raging back and forth about the change and if the sword is even worth crafting anymore. My take on it is yes, it's worth crafting -- it's just not better than Firelands drops for some players anymore. It shouldn't be even close, which it was. If you're crafting or buying this sword, you're still getting a better weapon than drops in normal mode tier 11 raids, and that's fine. It shouldn't outperform heroic tier 11 and be able to compete with tier 12 weapons. It's meant to help you catch up to Firelands, and it will still do that.
The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new tier 12 armor!Filed under: News items, Cataclysm, Hotfixes
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Arackattack Jul 29th 2011 4:36PM
Does this hopefully mean that AH prices will drop somewhat due to the change? Or will the expensive mats keep it going for over 10k?
Eskarel Jul 29th 2011 8:18PM
It won't go down and that's sort of the problem. On my server the lowest I've gotten truegold for is 650 which is already a massive loss for the seller. Multiply this by eight and then add in the chaos orbs which if you win every single roll will take a minimum of 2.5 hours to get, and the miscellaneous cost of the other items and thirty some days of grinding to get the recipe. Your essentially looking at close to ten k if people sell truegold at a loss.
These crafted items are simply too expensive and time consuming for their value even as it is and a nerf will make it worse.
Jordan Jul 31st 2011 1:17PM
over 10k? Dude I just sold on for 19k on my Server and plan on making another once I get orbs. For a weapon (not armor sir, a Weapon...) that's better than normal mode T11, costs 8 True Gold (alone that is 6.4k on my server), 5 Orbs (which can only be earned), two gems (okay these are a joke on price =P) and 4 x Hardened Elementium (cost about 720 Gold) you have an item that costs $7,120 gold to craft, not counting orbs going rate... yeah this will NEVER be "under 10k" unless someone wants to waste ALOT of time on the AH.
Going rate should start at 14k (especially considering how few people even have the pattern this stage of the game) and go up from there - like I said I just sold one for 19k and I didn't even need to re-list it - demand is there, and as long as it is market price is going to be high. 20K isn't a lot for a tier 11.5 two hander, I've seen one handed weapons of i356 going for around 10k (Soul Blade) - so it's not an outrageous price.
avgjoe Jul 29th 2011 5:06PM
call me crazy but i love that model im still using that coc 2h on my dk. the only problem is that its overused.
Drysta Jul 29th 2011 5:57PM
I, personally, am not a big fan of this 'foam sword' model as it appears to be dubbed as. However, personal taste is everything in this game. I prefer swords over axes/maces in terms of 2h looks, but others in my guild swing other directions (pun not entirely intended). Diversity is everything and is good.
You can't deny though this model has been used *so* much this expansion which probably makes haters hate it more. Leveling through some lower levels it is really disappointing to find some low level greens that have amazing artwork and last all of an hour because you level so fast.
The saving grace, in my mine, is at least it isn't the model that has the pink/red look to it. The blue makes it much more tolerable for an alt to use when push comes to shove. I'll still be logging out in my PvP weapon though so I don't have to see it on the loading screen! Haha.
MisterRik Jul 30th 2011 1:58PM
It's as if Blizzard decided that the fact that a character has no tier gear wasn't enough - those players should also have a big neon sword that proudly announces, visually, "I don't raid!"
Arrohon Jul 29th 2011 4:39PM
The armory had this item with the current stats all along. I thought that it was simply a tooltip error.
vocenoctum Jul 30th 2011 1:06PM
It was a "hot fix" on the PTR, it went live with the 3.5 stats and is simply a tooltip error. A guildie noticed the error as soon as he made one and wielded it.
wheatbee Jul 29th 2011 4:43PM
That is utter BS (excuse the pun). People spent alot of money and time getting that made and alot of folks may not be able to raid Firelands, so imo, this is just sad. Maybe as an Arms Warrior I should just chuck mine in the trash and start using Ranseur of Hatred instead. So confusing why they can't get this straight the first time and ruining people's expectations, money and effort
leggomymuoio Jul 29th 2011 4:58PM
If you can't raid Firelands, isn't it still better than anything else you can get outside of a hunter/feral weapon? It's still good, just not on par with 378 weapons, which it shouldn't have ever been in the first place.
Jeremy Jul 29th 2011 5:24PM
I think this is an excellent change... while I'm not a raiding elitist, I do feel that to should have to "do the time" to get the really good gear... gold has been stupid easy to come by since Wrath.
Spending some money at the AH to purchase the mats to have this crafted does not equal effort.
Elaundar Jul 29th 2011 4:45PM
The 3.5 speed is too big of a nerf. At 3.5, the 2handed sword is an increase of about 2.6% or so over the 359s while the 1handers are an increase of 5.4% over the old 359s.
If the new sword was 3.6 weapon speed it would also be a 5.4% increase over the 359 weapons, making it an upgrade even with what the 1handers got.
This change smells like yet another instance of class bias (anyone who has played melee vs range knows how one sided cataclysm mechanics are).
thebitterfig Jul 29th 2011 4:46PM
RGGLRRLGLGRGHR. Top end.
Will I never see an end of it? "Top end" is meaningless. Average weapon damage, top end plus bottom end divided by two (alternately, dps*speed), is a meaningful stat. Top end is BS.
John Jul 29th 2011 5:11PM
Bitter fig?
Or Bitter Murloc?
Angus Jul 29th 2011 5:32PM
Unless the attack is one which is normalized (which most 2-handed attacks are not) top end matters. The slower a weapon, the better it is. Thi is in a LOT of ways.
1: damage on most attacks is based on a single swing. The slower the weapon, the bigger the top AND bottom end of damage. A 1.5 speed dagger getting an extra attack does 50% the damage of a 3.0 weapon on that attack on average.
2: enchant procs on PPM care, a lot. Instant attacks use the percentage set by the base speed. If a weapon only swings 15 times and it is supposed to proc 3 times in a minute, there is a 20% chance per swing. Instants get to use that 20% chance too. Now if the weapon is swining 21 tikes in a minute it goes from 1/5 to 1/7. The instant attack take the same hit.
Okay so maybe 2 is a couple and not a lot. But they are big ways.
I have often refused to take a "better" but faster weapon because it ends up not being much of an upgrade.
I won't replace a 359 with this thing, just not worth the cost.
xth Jul 29th 2011 6:01PM
To expand on Angus' point, the core DPS abilities of the following specs are all very concerned with top end weapon damage (regardless of the weapon type) - Arms Warrior, Frost DK, Ret Paladin, and Enhancement Shaman. I believe Fury Warriors and Unholy DKs are also interested it, but perhaps not to the same extent that the previous specs are. Essentially, the less important white damage is to your total damage output the more important top end weapon damage is to you. For example, three main attacks of an Arms warrior (Mortal Strike, Overpower, and Colossus Smash) are all based on 150%, 125%, and 150% weapon damage, respectively. For Ret paladins it's even more exaggerated - their basic Holy Power generator, Crusader Strike, is based on 135% weapon damage and their finisher, Templar's Verdict, does 235% weapon damage with 3 Holy Power. That's before additional modifiers such as glyphs, set bonuses, and mastery.
thebitterfig Jul 29th 2011 6:32PM
%#$%@%$%$@&%$$@%! (I've moved on from murloc cursing to Beetle Baily swearing)
No, Angus, 'top end' is still meaningless. Your point #1 is why Average Weapon Damage matters, not why 'top end' matters. Your point #2 is why Weapon Speed matters. Both are correct, but have next-to-zippo to do with 'top end.'
Slower is better, sure. Most attacks are normalised in the sense that their attack power scaling is based on a fixed attack speed (3.2 for 2h, iirc), but they use Average Weapon Damage as well, so slower is better. The effect in itself isn't major (not in the way totally non-normalised attacks would be), but it's a clear dps increase to have a weapon with a higher base damage. You nailed the proc part with PPM benefiting a slower weapon more.
However, 'top end' is this useless thing some nitwit thought up. Again, the only number anyone ought to care about is the average of top and bottom, which is equal to DPS*Speed. Base damage. Heck, that's even 3 characters shorter than 'top end.' It's more accurate than the 'top end' nonsense, plus it might actually help someone understand the reasons why slower weapons are better.
I think what gets to me most is that Angus understands why base damage, average damage, weapon speed, etc matter, but still insists on using the inane neologism 'top end.' I'm almost off my rocker over the absurd "inscriptionist" when the shorter, elegant, and correct inscriber and scribe are available (scrivener if you're feeling poetic), but that's "just" ignorance of language. 'Top end' is bad language, plus the potential to spread bad information.
Natsumi Jul 30th 2011 12:25PM
Figgy, I can call you Figgy right?
Top end does indeed matter. 2 weapons that have the same Average DPS but different speeds do NOT perform the same, the slower weapon will ALWAYS perform BETTER. Top end is DIRECTLY RELATED TO WEAPON SPEED. Since instant attacks are based on the weapon's damage the slower weapon (which has the higher top end to keep the average DPS equal) will do MORE DAMAGE than the faster one.
Eg. Reclaimed Ashkandi and Shalag'doom are both 359 ilvl, both have 623.3 average DPS, both have 341 strength and 228 crit, both have a precision based secondary stat at 228. However, Reclaimed Ashkandi will put out significantly higher DPS than Shalag'doom due to it's higher top end (as we are assuming both properly gemmed and 26 expertise and 8% hit while using a single weapon), the higher damage range makes those instants hit harder, especially when you add in the other bonuses you are bound to have (like 3% increased critical strike damage from your Meta). With some specs, "white damage" is not nearly as big a part of overall DPS as "yellow damage".
Also, would you rather see a 30k crit or a 40k crit? If you need to burst something down (like a boss's shield or some pesky add that explodes) your instant attacks become much more important, making the top end gap much more noticeable.
vocenoctum Jul 30th 2011 1:15PM
Because the phrase "top end" means a 1-4000 sword is better (4k top end) than a 2000-3500 sword (3500 top end), even if they have the same speed.
Numbers made up of course, but he's simply saying that the average damage is what you should be looking for since that's what you'll average, not the highest number it can give since that doesn't automatically mean "more" on average.
thebitterfig Jul 30th 2011 3:15PM
Dug through wowhead, and bliz is wicked sharp these days about a normalised damage range on weapons, with bottom end being 0.8*speed*dps, and top end being 1.2*speed*dps. There are a few exceptions, but most conform to that formula these days.
Top end remains a more fraught term than average damage (that is, speed*dps), since that 1.2 modifier isn't set in stone. There's no reason why it couldn't be 0.6 and 1.4 and still have the same average damage, so if bliz ever changes those modifiers, top end will truly be meaningless. However, in the short term, a minor mea culpa. Of course, no one else pointed out that bliz had standardised the damage ranges, so I'll withhold gold stars from anyone else...