Down... But Not Out

If anyone plays a warrior in arena, you know how much it sucks if you don't have a Gurthalak, and even then it still sucks. If you play Fury in raids, you know how frustrating it is to have to depend on said sword for decent DPS. Do you play SMF? I'm sorry, here's a puppy to make you feel better.

Arms hasn't been able to keep up with Fury for a long while, not since the beginnings of Wrath when they were about equal. Finally, again, Arms is beating the shit out of Fury in DPS, and it's not because Arms got better, it's because Fury got worse. The nerf to Dual Wield spec punched us in the face, and the bug fix laid us out. Yes, bugs need to be fixed, but it left the Fury spec reeling with a sense of false accomplishment without compensation. Put that with starved Fury rage regen, terrible AoE (even when specced), the crap Tier 13 four piece for Bloodthirst, reliance on unreliable proc weapons, plus Arms' ability to hit the 24% hit cap where Fury cannot without further gimping itself, and you are left with the worst melee DPS spec currently in the game: Single-Minded Fury.

My old RP partner would probably laugh at me right now as he always favored Arms over Fury, and I could just swap specs and Bladestorm abuse my way back to the top, but I don't want to do that. I play SMF because I've always preferred the playstyle, and when I wasn't tanking in Burning Crusade, I was Fury. It's always been a constant cycle of up and down for every class in WoW, and this is no different. I enjoy my times at the top, and figure out what I can do better or what went wrong while I'm at the bottom. If you're lucky you'll have a raid group that understands and lets you keep your slot just because they love you... Either that or they're dumb and won't kick you out. In the end, if you love to play Fury and have enough alcohol skill and patience, the blow to Fury won't be so severe, and it won't really matter. You can still smash DPS against subpar players (unless it's a subpar Arms warrior... Then you just kind of smash them).

Pop your gum girl. Pop your gum.

5.0 Unofficial Patch Notes - Warrior Edition, Part Two

Continued from 5.0 Unofficial Patch Notes - Warrior Edition, Part One. You can view the updated MoP Talent Calculator here.

As expected, the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator has updated, this time with some big changed for warriors. Otori listed many of the changes over on EJ, and I'll list them below.

• Deadly Calm now has 1 min CD.
• New talent Bloodbath
• New talent Storm Bolt
• Gag Order changed to work with Storm Bolt
• Enraged Regen changed to heal for 15% health and another 15% over 10 sec.

• Enraged mechanic change to be triggered by special abilities critical strikes and critical blocks.
• Removed Overpower CD.
• Added 1.5 CDs to every stance.
• Changed Berserker stance. Increases damage by 20% whenever an attack hits 4+ targets.
• Battle Shout increases attack power by 20% (akin to current attack power buffs like Blessing of Might, Trueshot Aura, etc).
• Rallying Cry back in.
• New skill: War Banner
• Shield Wall and Spell Reflection require shields again.
• Fury got CS back.
• Protection got Vengeance (though with the old incarnation)
• Shield Block cost reduced to 60 rage. Blocks next attack and increases block chance by 25% for 6 sec.
• Last Stand rage cost removed, 3 min CD added.
• Devastate armor reduction effect corrected.
• Sword and Board effect increases rage generation from Shield Slam by 5 (old incarnation increased by 10%).
• New ability: Shield Barrier. 60 rage, decreases magical damage taken by 25% for 6 sec.

Check out the rest after the jump.

5.0 Unofficial Patch Notes - Warrior Edition, Part One

Because we all like different parts and I feel like eating turkey at some point today. Happy Thanksgiving to you Americans.

I could talk about the 4.3 patch notes but I'm not going to just yet because let's face it - The major overhaul to the game that will revolve around an April Fool's joke Mists of Pandaria is way more interesting at the moment. Maybe that's just me. I don't know if I'll be playing seriously in the next expansion as I'm not doing that much in this expansion, but I'll go ahead and talk like I am anyway.

After the jump, I'll get my hooves dirty.

WTF Lycannon?

Yeah, I know. I don't forget to update so much as I get caught up doing other things. I'm a terrible person.

I could talk about the changes they're thinking about for warriors. I could rage about how rage normalization is scary, but I wasn't around when it was (if that tells you anything about how long I've been playing this game). I could talk about rend dancing, and how it actually gives you a DPS increase if you know how to use it. Don't worry newbies, that's not for you.

Instead of all the technical stuff, I'm actually going to talk about why I even like playing, and role playing, a warrior. What's so special about them? They don't use magic to defeat their foes. No shiny lasers or sparkles to heal people with. Warriors are nasty, gritty juggernauts. Some are more disciplined and refined in their practice, while others are mindless, berserking killing machines who tear through whatever, however. They are the most basic of fighters, and if you can pick up a weapon, you can be one too.

Warriors don't need to skulk around in the shadows to kill their foes. They are up front and in your face. Killing seems to come natural for them, and being covered in blood and gristle at the end of the day comes with the job. They aren't always noble, but they always seem to have a reason to fight and kill. (Even the berserkers). 

I've always liked the warrior class, no matter what game I was playing. Standing far away and shooting stuff at my enemy never appealed to me. I guess I could blame my mom for that. She's always had a thing for mythology, especially Greek mythology. Her favorite goddess is Athena (or Minerva, for you Roman lovers). Now, if you know anything about her, she's the goddess of war, wisdom, and heroic deeds. I knew this ever since I could remember, and I grew up with that. It's not surprising that I too like the idea of a female heroine who isn't afraid to get mean.

Enter: Lycannon. She's not a new character. In fact, I created her a long time ago for a forum based Sci-Fi RP. For this, though, we'll use her draenei incarnation. She used to throw sparkles at people (Paladin), then terrible things happened (Battle of Shattrath) and she turned into a vengeful, dangerous bitch (Fury Warrior). She's mentally unstable with a deadly lust for blood and battle. When she's fighting, she teeters on the edge of completely losing all self control and killing everything in sight, be it friend or foe. She's a good person (really), she just has a huge chip on her shoulder. Really huge. Like, sun huge.

Of course, I've developed this character since that original idea. One day, her friend invited her to go on a mission under the lead of a particular Corporal McSars. This old man was a grizzled war veteran who didn't give a damn about anyone. Lycannon eye rolled and wanted to show him up. In the end, they impressed each other. Throw in some playful jibes, flirting, lust, and general relationship progression, and you have two angry warriors who love each other very much. Awww.

Since then, I've gotten better at playing the warrior class, and better at what I wanted Lyc to be as a character. With the end of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion on the horizon, I figured that the release of Cataclysm would be the perfect opportunity to 'fix' all that I felt was wrong with Lycannon, both RP and game play wise. I never liked Titan's Grip, and I think that I've let her be psycho long enough.

So, she's dead. I'm not sure I'll bring her back. I may continue playing the character, but I may not role play her. I could also be saying this to bullshit you. Maybe. I dunno.

TL;DR version: I love warriors. I love role play. I love role playing warriors. So should you.

Cataclysm Class Preview: Warrior Follow-Up

Ouote Bornakk:

Here are some follow ups based on what is being discussed.

Q: Will the rotation for a Fury Warrior just be Bloodthirst and Slam with Heroic Strike to burn off rage?
A: We think Fury is going to end up needing another attack in there for single-target fights. Furious Sundering was intended more as having to Sunder being less of a penalty, but at only 3 stacks, it may not end up being a big deal and we don’t want Fury to feel like they have to purchase a talent that they may not always use. We don’t want Whirlwind to be a good button against single targets however. It essentially gets “free” damage against groups of targets when it’s effective at using against single targets. It’s okay if warriors still do more damage in fights where they can use Cleave and similar attacks often, but right now it’s too extreme.

Q: Are one-handed Fury warriors going to be competing with rogues for one-handed weapons?
A: This is unlikely. Rogues and shaman will want one-handers with Agility, while warriors and death knights will want them with Strength. I won’t be surprised when one of these classes picks up the other’s weapon as it could be an upgrade simply based on the damage, but it won’t be optimal.

Q: Why are warriors not getting some kind of AoE tanking tool?
A: We think the newly buffed Thunder Clap plus Shockwave are sufficient abilities for AoE tanking. The design of Vengeance should make sure that threat generation doesn’t start to slip behind as the dps characters gear up. It’s not our intention that tanks face a constant struggle to generate enough threat, even in group situations, but we also don’t want threat to be totally irrelevant either. The danger for tanking too many creatures should also be tank death not threat management.

Q: Is only Sunder Armor being changed?
A: Rogue Expose Armor and other abilities that apply a similar debuff are being changed accordingly. They will all provide the same debuff at 12% armor reduction.

Q: What about rage loss when changing stances?
A: We still want the act of changing stances to require more consideration than just clicking two buttons to use the ability you want. One idea we are going to explore is that you don’t lose rage when you change stances, but you won’t gain additional rage for a short period of time after changing. This lets you say swap to do an Execute without losing your rage bar, but still keeps the idea that shifting constantly comes with inherent efficiency risks.

Q: Is the intent of Gushing Wound that warriors constantly ask for targets to be kited around?
A: No, it’s intended to be a bonus when you’re in an encounter where the target either moves around a lot (Ex. BONNNNE STORMMMM-ing Marrowgar) or just has to be moved around a lot (say Lich King). Warriors shouldn’t have the expectation of forcing every PvE opponent to move but it would be entertaining to watch this (from a third party perspective). :)

Cataclysm Class Preview: Warrior

Our favorite class was just posted over on the Blizzard Cataclysm forums not too long ago. I'll post the preview and the Q&A, then /discuss. Quote Bornakk:

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will bring with it several changes to class talents and abilities. Here you will get a glimpse into some of the changes we have in store for the warrior. The information you're about to read is not complete, and is only meant to act as a preview for some of the exciting new things to come.

New Warrior Abilities

Inner Rage (Level 81): Whenever the character reaches a full 100 Rage, he or she will gain a buff that causes attacks to consume 50% more Rage and do 15% more damage for a short amount of time. This is a passive ability so it won't need to be activated by the player. The goal for this ability is to provide a benefit for hitting max Rage instead of it feeling like a penalty. However, we also don't want warriors to feel like they're supposed to pool Rage and do nothing until they hit 100, so we'll be closely monitoring how this plays out during the beta testing, and making adjustments as needed.


Gushing Wound (Level 83): This ability will apply a bleed effect to the target. If the target moves, the bleed gains an extra stack and refreshes its duration, up to a maximum of three stacks. The ability is currently planned to have no cooldown, cost 10 Rage, and have a 9-second duration. Gushing Wound is designed to be weaker than Rend with one stack, but better with three stacks, which will be reached when fighting a moving target.


Heroic Leap (Level 85): This ability makes the character leap at their target and apply the Thunder Clap ability to all enemies in the area when they land. Heroic Leap will be usable in Battle Stance and shares a cooldown with Charge, but the Juggernaut and Warbringer talents will allow Heroic Leap to be used in any stance and possibly while in combat. The cooldown for this ability might be longer than the Charge ability, but it will also apply a stun effect so you can make sure the target will still be there when you land.

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

In addition to learning new abilities, you'll see changes to other abilities and mechanics with which you're already familiar. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we intend for each spec.

• Heroic Strike will no longer be an "on next swing" attack, as we are removing this mechanic in Cataclysm. To keep the niche of Heroic Strike as a Rage dump, it will become an instant attack, but will cost between 10 and 30 Rage. This ability will not be usable until you have 10 Rage, but if you have more than 10, it will consume up to 30, adding additional damage for each point of Rage consumed above the base 10. Other abilities, such as Cleave, Execute, and Maul (for druids) will work similarly. The goal is to provide players with an option where if you can't afford the Rage, you don't push the button, but if you have excess Rage, you can push it a lot.
• Battle Shout, Commanding Shout, and possibly Demoralizing Shout will work more like the death knight's Horn of Winter ability. Specifically, these shouts will cost no resources, generate rage in addition to their current effects, and be on a short cooldown.
• Whirlwind will hit an unlimited number of targets, but only for 50% of weapon damage. The intent is for this ability to be used in multi-target scenarios and not on single targets.
• Overall, heals cast by players in Cataclysm will be a lower number relative to players' health than the current game. So to make the Mortal Strike debuff less mandatory but still useful in PvP, Mortal Strike will reduce healing by only 20%. All equivalent debuffs, including the Shadow priest and Frost mage debuffs, will be for 20% less healing. At the moment we aren't considering giving this debuff to anyone else, though we will certainly consider PvP utility for historically under-represented specs that use other mechanics.
• Sunder Armor will be reduced to three stacks instead of five, and still provide only a 4% reduction in armor per stack. We want to make this debuff easier to apply and less of a damage swing when it falls off.

New Talents and Talent Changes

• The Furious Sundering talent in the Fury tree will make the Sunder Armor ability cause 25/50% weapon damage and reduce the threat generated by 50/100%.
• The Mace and Poleaxe Specialization talents in the Arms tree will be removed. These provided just passive stats, which are not the kinds of talents we want to design in the future. We will keep the Sword Specialization talent, but it will be changed to a talent that applies to all types of weapons.
• As a Fury talent, Booming Voice will increase the Rage generated by shouts.
• While we like how Titan's Grip plays, we recognize some warriors liked the Fury tree because of the really fast swings that dual-wielding one-handed weapons could provide. Therefore, we're planning to try out a talent called Single-Minded Fury that is parallel to Titan's Grip and will provide a large boost to the damage of a pair of one-handed weapons.
• Several talents that reduce the Rage cost of abilities will be changed to focus on increased damage for those abilities instead.
• The new Arms talent called Disarming Nature will make successful disarms cause the target to cower in fear for 5/10 seconds.
• Another new Arms talent called Blitz will make the Charge ability hit for extra damage. The amount will possibly vary depending on the distance travelled.
• Improved Pummel, a Fury talent, will cause a successful interrupt to generate 10/20 Rage.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Arms

• Melee Damage
• Armor Penetration
• Bonus Swing

Bonus Swing: This is similar to the Sword Specialization talent that is currently in the game, but Bonus Swing will work on all attacks and with all weapons. You have a chance to proc a free, instant weapon swing that hits for 50% damage.

Fury

• Melee Damage
• Melee Haste
• Enrage Intensity

Enrage Intensity: Every benefit of being enraged is increased. This includes doing more damage/healing/ etc. from abilities like Bloodrage, Death Wish, Enrage, Berserker Rage, and Enraged Regeneration.

Protection

• Damage Reduction
• Vengeance
• Critical Block Chance

Critical Block Chance: As we mentioned in the stat changes preview, block rating is changing to a chance to block 30% of a melee swing's damage. Protection warriors have a chance that the block will be a critical block and block for 60% of a melee swing's damage instead. There will likely be talents available to push the amount blocked even higher.

Vengeance: This is a mechanic to ensure that tank damage (and therefore threat) doesn't fall behind as damage-dealing classes improve their gear during the course of the expansion. All tanking specs will have Vengeance as their second talent tree passive bonus. Whenever a tank gets hit, Vengeance will give them a stacking attack power buff equal to 5% of the damage done, up to a maximum of 10% of the character's un-buffed health. For boss encounters, we expect that tanks will always have the attack power bonus equal to 10% of their health. The 5% and 10% bonuses assume 51 talent points have been put into the Protection tree. These values will be smaller at lower levels. Remember, you only get this bonus if you have spent the most talent points in the Protection tree, so you won't see Arms or Fury warriors running around with it. Vengeance will let us continue to make tank gear more or less the way we do today – there will be some damage-dealing stats, but mostly survival-oriented stats. Druids typically have more damage-dealing stats even on their tanking gear, so their Vengeance benefit may be smaller, but overall the goal is for all four tanks do about the same damage when tanking.

We hope you enjoyed this preview, and we're looking forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on these additions and changes. Please keep in mind that this information represents a work in progress and is subject to change as development on Cataclysm continues.

Warrior Threat

This is actually taken from a post I made on my Furious guild forum regarding tanks having to deal with DPS not letting them do their job properly. My companion (McSars) who made the post was completely right about how he felt, and this isn't a rant at him, but more at the fact that warriors are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to threat (amongst other things).

"I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I actually explode into retarded amounts of DPS usually under three conditions.

1. When McSars is tanking.

2. When Marius is tanking.

3. When I'm in a raid.

Number one and two are simply because both of these two people are amazing at tanking, and I actually feel safe intercepting and then popping all of my cooldowns, plus cleaving and whirlwind-ing at the same time. Yes, there is a great chance I will pull aggro, and to be honest, it's okay. Really, it's alright. I say this because nine times out of ten, this happens on trash pulls anyway. Very rarely do I pull bosses off of my tanks (which in my honest opinion, is really what matters in instances), and even when I do give chance for some threat build-up on a group of mobs, sometimes I just pull. I (warriors) have no threat reducing abilities outside of clicking off the mobs and hoping the tank can pull them off of me while I stand there getting my face beat in.

Rogues have an innate 29% reduction to threat, and can Vanish and Tricks. Hunters can Misdirect and Feign Death, as well as have pets taunt for them. Priests can Fade, and Shadow Priests have a passive 20% threat reduction. Paladins can bubble and Hand of Sanctuary. Warlocks can Soulshatter. Mages can Iceblock and Invisibility (Not to mention the 40% threat reduction of Arcane). Shamans can use their Stoneclaw and Earth Elemental totems and Wind Shear. Death Knights have an innate 20% threat reduction modifier, untalented, when in Blood or Unholy presences. They can get an additional 24% reduction in those two presences with the Subversion (Blood) talent. Feral Druids can Cower, and both Feral and Balance druids have talents which gives a 30% threat reduction (and all Alliance Druids can Shadowmeld). Now, Battle/Berserker stances have a passive 20% threat reduction (With Improved Berserker Stance giving another 10%), and this is cool except for a few problems. Heroic Strike generates a lot of threat. Whirlwind is not affected by the passive threat reduction, and neither is Execute. Hell, even shouts generate threat, and I have to do them every 2-4 minutes. As I said before, warriors have no threat reducing abilities. Fury is so very explosive, it can be ridiculous sometimes. As of right now, with rampage up all of the time, I have a near 50% chance to crit, which means half of the time you will hear very loud gushes of blood coming from those mobs, and there is nothing I can do about it. That is without Recklessness, Death Wish, and Paragon.

*breathes*

Number three is really just obvious. A raid tank with full buffs should be able to hold a boss off of me.

Now, I'm not saying this to defend myself (okay, maybe a little), but really to say that I get it. I was a tank in Burning Crusade, the expansion where AoE tanking was a nightmare for warriors, and dungeons were full of AoE packs. (Shattered Halls, anyone?) I tanked heroics till my eyes bled, and I was a main tank for the lower end raid instances. That is actually the reason I switched to Fury, was because I was fed up with tanking.

Seriously though, I haven't seen any better tanks than McSars and Marius. They always seem to know what's going on, and they have eyes in the backs of their heads. They also probably have every possible shortcut to pulling aggro off of people bound to the easiest keys, and they probably know all of them, when to use them, how to use them and even when not to use them. By now, they've probably come to expect me and my exploding DPS, which in some ways I imagine makes tanking things in a group with me a bit easier. "Well, Lycannon's here, time to focus her and taunt, since she will most likely be the one sucking up threat." That's what I seem to notice anyway. When my Omen screams at me, I look over at my party frames and 90% of the time, I'm the only one with a red border. Also, Marius is a doctor.

What they might not know, is if in the rare occasion another party member pulls aggro, especially the healer, I will turn and hit that mob with everything I've got, pummel if I have to, and try to bring it to the tank, or they will pull it off me when they realize what happened. (Which goes with what I said earlier.) I will also Challenging Shout off of the tank if he is about to bite the dust, to give the healer time to get them up. If the tank is dying, the healer usually and should focus them first, and I've noticed that because of this, the concept seems to work. Yes, I might die, but that's okay because the tank might not. Believe it or not, I focus my tank all of the time, and I do my best to switch targets when they do. This doesn't always work when two of my top three attacks on mob groups are AoE abilities (Cleave and Whirlwind), but the fact remains that I do try. Also, as I become more geared because I raid, it may also become increasingly more difficult to hold aggro off me as the gap between gear widens. A tank who only does heroics and has badge gear to reflect that may find it hard to keep me off of the top of the threat meter when I'm sitting in ICC 25 stuff.

Some people really are dense when it comes to instancing (hunters and their pets come to mind), and others, like myself, really do understand what is going on. Yes, it can be annoying, but such is the way of the tank, and of the DPS warrior."

It really got me thinking about warrior threat as DPS, and how we need some sort of ability like the other classes have to drop our threat in those 'oh shit' moments. If I have aggro, I usually pop Gift of the Naaru and sometimes Enraged Regeneration at the same time if I'm taking tons of damage, but then that doesn't help reduce my threat at all. If anything, it just adds to it.

Thoughts on Gear Before Tuesday

Well I finally got my four-piece Tier 9, only a few days until Patch 3.3 is expected to release. Its a great set for Fury, I think. With the two-piece activated, Berserker Stance grants an additional 2% critical strike chance, and Battle Stance grants an additional 6% armor penetration. four-piece increases the critical strike chance of your Slam and Heroic Strike abilities by 5%. Both Slam and Heroic Strike are two bread and butter abilities of Fury, and I use both often. Arms benefits as well, especially since I've been seeing a few builds utilizing Heroic Strike, instead of completely ignoring it. Slam, of course, is the filler when Mortal Strike, Rend, and everything else is on cooldown. 

Anyway, I also managed to get Victor's Call, which finally enabled me to get the Epic Achievement (hah), as well as my T9.5 pants. I think I'll actually gem those with Armor Penetration and use those in my Arms spec. The Legguards of Ascension that my warrior currently uses is much better for Fury, and I'm already over the Expertise cap by 7 points.

I had a glance at the T10 and the set bonuses it provided. I'd have to look at and think about them a bit more before I can really put my thoughts down on stone. At a glance, I'd say the two-piece looks rather weak with only a 3% chance to increase attack power. The four-piece is strange to me, in the fact that it alters your spells instead of straight buffing them. Arms would get a chance to have instant Slams, but then I'm not entirely sure if the effect is activated for both spells in either Battle or Berserker stance. In any case, I think it would add a bit of technicality to the Fury and Arms rotations, and in doing so, make them more interesting and fun to play.


You can check out the T10 set bonuses here and here, and you can look at my warrior and her gear here.

At least I Got an Axe

The Justicebringer.

I managed to get this weapon just before the Emberstorm and Whirlwind Battlegroups tanked for the third time today. They were down for a full 10+ hours due to a power outage and then scheduled maintenance after that.

Our guild was just passing out loot for Anub'arak 25 when our server went down, and now we're all sitting on vent waiting for a hopeful fix soon.

In any case, I'm really stoked that I got a new main hand. I've had my eyes on The Justicebringer for a while now, and I think it goes great with my Sharpened Obsidian Edged Blade. I had been hurting for a new weapon, being that I was using the Edge of Ruin and raiding 25 mans as Fury. As a Warrior, your weapon is probably the most important item. It can make all the difference in DPS. Fury Warriors are especially crippled by mediocre weapons, as they need two to function properly. Ret Paladins, Arms Warriors and some Death Knights only need one weapon to do the same amount of damage (if not more), so having two good weapons as a Fury Warrior is critical to keep up on the charts. Yes, it would be slightly easier to gear an Arms Warrior, but the more technical rotation balances that fact out, in my opinion. I also enjoy the playstyle of Fury more than Arms, and I plan to stick by it no matter what.

When Moon Guard comes back up, I plan on grabbing a new chestpiece and fixing up my new gear, then testing it out to see just how much more damage and DPS I do. I'll also change my Arms PvP spec back to Poleaxe Specialization and mess around with that some.

Until then, it's more PTR for me.

Whirlwind and Emberstorm Battlegroups are Boulderfisted

Blizzard has officially announced it with no word yet on the cause. You can take this time to go check out the PTR and experiment on a shiny and decked out warrior. We still have at least a month to mess around and figure out if we still want to be Prot, or try out that Fury PvP spec that you don't think will work well, but always wanted to play with just for the hell of it.

Updated Patch Notes: Patch 3.3 PTR - Warriors

Warriors

• Blood Frenzy: This debuff is no longer considered a Bleed effect that can be removed separately from the actual Bleed effect which caused it.
• Bloodrage: Tooltip now adjusts to show effect of Anger Management on this ability.
• Glyph of Cleaving: Now updates the tooltip of Cleave to show that more targets are struck by the ability.
• Glyph of Hamstring: Now updates the tooltip of Hamstring to indicate it has a chance to immobilize.
• Glyph of Vigilance: Now updates the tooltip on Vigilance to show that more threat is transferred.
• Mocking Blow: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability.
• Rampage: Rampage now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability.
• Recklessness: Heroic Throw and Shattering Throw will now benefit from this ability and consume charges of this ability. In addition, Recklessness now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability.
• Sudden Death: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.
• Sweeping Strikes: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.
• Vigilance: The threat transfer granted by this ability will now reactivate when Tricks of the Trade or Misdirection cast by the Vigilance target expires.
• Warbringer: Tooltip typo corrected.

Well, a lot of things were fixed, but nothing new changed or added yet. Blizzard has mentioned something about Heroic Strike, though, when it was brought up on the forums*.

The question was:

Why no heroic strike fix?
Not to beat a dead horse, but why on earth hasn't there been a fix implemented for constant heroic strike spam yet?

This is a serious quality of life issue that is a bit silly to still have in the game....

And the answer, from Ghostcrawler:

We have become pretty dissatisfied with the on-next swing mechanic. Come Cataclysm, we'd love to get rid of all of them. Obviously that will necessitate some pretty significant changes in how warriors generate threat or do damage (unlike Maul or Rune Strike, Heroic Strike gets a lot of use outside of tanking), which makes it too risky a change for 3.3. We think some of the other ideas like toggling the ability are also risky in the sense that they might require a lot of iteration to feel right, or worse, might mess up threat generation or damage dealt.

The original design of HS as a tanking tool wasn't that you replace every white swing with a Heroic Strike. You did it when you wanted to burn off rage. These days tanks (and increasingly dps warriors too) are rarely rage starved beyond perhaps the first few seconds of the fight. That turns Heroic Strike into a button you always push.

A couple of other ideas we have considered, as someone above referenced, were making Heroic Strike do more threat the more rage you have but also spend more rage. Another is that you somehow go into "high rage mode" at which point everything costs double but hits harder. This would work for dps warriors too. Those are just ideas at this point, not announcements. Please don't tell us in a few weeks that you were promised these changes for 3.3. :(

As of right now, I really hope that Heroic Strike does not turn into another 2-5 minute cooldown. It is, after all, a primary part of Fury DPS, and and some Arms Warriors have thrown it into their rotations too. Yes, he did say this it was not an announcement, and yes, Cataclysm is some time off. It is way too early to tell what the state of Warrior DPS will be at the end of Wrath, much less the beginning of the next expansion.

(* From the official World of Warcraft forums, here.)

Shadow's Edge and Shadowmourne

The proc on Shadowmoune is interesting to say the least. As it is, Retribution Paladins will be clamoring for this, seeing as how the proc scales with their damage against the same types of targets.

But, this blog isn't about Ret Pallies.

Let's break down the proc. 1 Soul Fragment grants the wielder 40 strength, which stacks up to 10 times. That's 400 strength, on top of another 1900 - 2100 shadow damage split between all enemies within 8 yards. Don't forget that. If each enemy took this amount of damage, that would be rather ridiculous. The legendary-ness has to stop somewhere.

This is definitely a weapon exclusive to what's going on with Icecrown Citadel, and Arthas, for sure. The shadow damage may not be great against every type of mob, but we aren't dealing with every type of mob, we're dealing with undead.

The 400 strength gain is nothing to shake a stick at. Shadow's Edge already has 185 strength on it, plus two red sockets with a socket bonus of +6 strength. I would imagine Shadowmourne would have even more. That's a lot of strength. Fury Warriors might want to greatly consider trying for this axe for that reason. (It is Unique, however, Shadowmourne and Shadow's Edge may be able to be coupled together.) Remember, rank 5 of Improved Berserker Stance increases strength by 20%. This isn't to say Arms Warriors shouldn't look at this weapon. Both specs would enjoy the upgrade. Poleaxe Spec would come back into play for those who went Sword Spec to try out the Obsidian Edged Blade, and I still consider that the best of the three specializations. Even if you decide that seeking the legendary Frostmourne is too much trouble, Shadow's Edge is still something to think about getting come Patch 3.3.

I can say that I will definitely be trying to obtain this weapon on my Fury Warrior, which will be extremely hard in a guild with other plate DPS who want the same thing. I see no reason as to why multiple people can't have this weapon, but I'm sure many people will disagree with me on this. After all, a legendary is legendary for a reason. however, the fact that you need 25 other people to complete certain parts of the questline to forge the item tells me that since teamwork is involved in making it for any one person, teamwork could also help several people want the axe. I see nothing wrong in boasting that "my guild has gotten Shadowmourne for a few of it's DPS plate raiders". The point of a raiding guild is to gear up it's members to further the progression of the guild anyway. I can't see how only allowing the top plate DPS in the guild to obtain the weapon would help very much. If anything, it only puts the others who may not be doing as great further behind.

Here is a list of the quests required for Shadowmourne and/or Shadow's Edge, quoted from MMO Champion*.

The Sacred and the Corrupt
It is against my judgment that I present you this errand, , as it will likely end in your undoing. Ignore my counsel and embark on the endeavor, and I shall provide you with the knowledge and resources to see it through.

You must return to Frostmourne Cavern and recover Light's Vengeance, Arthas' discarded hammer. Reforged with saronite and etched with the acidic blood of the Lich King's abominations, it will provide the foundation for our work.

Unholy Infusion
Before your weapon can reach its full potential it must be endowed with its signature powers. First among them is unholiness. You must seek out and defeat the one called Professor Putricide, but his death is not your only goal. You must use his resources against him.

Find a way to absorb his mutated slime. Use the foul substance to infuse your weapon with the power of the unholy. Only when this has been done shall I reveal your next task.

Blood Infusion
Your weapon is now prepared to be endowed with the power of blood. You are to face Queen Lana'thel in battle and bathe the axe in her Blood Mirror power. When it has been fully infused, you must slay her unmercifully.

May her screams pierce the ears of the Lich King as he awaits his fate.

Frost Infusion
Shadow's Edge is prepared to receive its final infusion of power. Sindragosa, the enemy's own mount, must fall. But before she is brought down, you must sustain three of her frozen breath attacks without tasting death.

Without his dragon, nothing shall stand between you and the Lich King.

The Splintered Throne
The Lich King's throne once served as his prison. Kil'jaeden himself crafted the vessel of icy crystals from the twisting nether. Its sole purpose was to hold Ner'zhul's vengeful spirit. When Arthas struck the crystal with Frostmourne, he released Ner'zhul's soul, allowing it to merge with with his own. Splinters from that impact are now scattered throughout the citadel.

I shall require those shards, held only by the Lich King's most powerful servants, to seal the power contained in your blade.

A Feast of Souls
Shadow's Edge is among the greatest weapons a could hope to obtain. Is your lust for power sated, ?

I thought not. A final warning then... You now embark on the most treacherous leg of your quest. Bridle your aspirations, for if your aims are impure then your life, your very soul, is forfeit.

The weapon you hold is but an empty husk, a mere shadow of what it may become. Only the devouring of a thousand souls will unlock its true potential.

If you take a look at the links, you'll see just how much is involved in forging Shadowmourne. Killing 1000 mobs in ICC alone is no easy task, and that's only after you've collected many other items that may or may not be guaranteed drops, or large gold sinks.

In any case, this seems to be a good, old-fashioned legendary item and quest. I missed out on Thunderfury and the Hand of Ragnaros, so I've got my mind set on Shadowmourne.

(* From MMO-Champion, here.)

Chance to Hit Increased by 1%

So says the tooltip of the passive Draenei racial. Having the 1% hit may not seem like much to those new to playing a warrior, but at level cap, you can never have too much hit rating as a Fury Warrior.

This is what my main character is; a level 80 Draenei Fury Warrior named Lycannon. I also have a level 80 Holy Paladin, a level 77 Restoration Druid, and various other lower level characters.

I play on the RP server, Moon Guard and belong to The Stonemasons raiding guild. (Yes, I role play and raid. It's a hard balance!)

I've been playing for a little over two years now, stung out across 3 different servers with Moon Guard being the latest.

I created this blog with the intention on covering things many blogs don't cover about warriors, namely the DPS side of things, as well as a look at various other aspects of the game, such as role playing and PvP.