I spent the better part of 3 hours running around with a guildie gathering all the new flight paths and sightseeing. During that time, I snapped a bunch of screenshots and tested out some new abilities. I will post up as soon as I get off work.
The new world is gorgeous. I couldn’t stop staring at the road in Stormwind! Everything looked new and pristine. The new graphics are phenomenal. Every zone that was redone looks amazing, and I cannot wait to level another toon!
The best part was the abundance of forested or jungle areas. This is my favorite WoW environment, and there can’t be enough of it. The new mobs were pretty cool as well, including the new monkeys, foxes, and elemental models.
Poor Old Blanchy…that’s all I will say there.
I have a ton more to do in game, and I will get everything up as quickly as I can. Boo for having to work day after the patch! Stay tuned!
Here are some of the main things I noticed:
Crusader Strike
The damage seems to have been reduced, but my tooltip still showed 149% weapon damage. I didn’t get to test it enough to try anything out, but something or another was amiss.
FCFS Rotations
Rotations are pretty much the same, but I wouldn’t worry about rotations with Cataclysm only 2 weeks away. Inquisition will totally shake things up at 85, so it is time to start adjusting and preparing for rotations at level 85 instead of level 80.
Spec Changes
Retribution still has the same exact spec. Nothing changed enough in our tree to warrant spending points elsewhere.
Leveling 1-59
Much quicker it seems. The guildies I saw starting new classes were flying thru the beginning levels. I also made my 2 toons for leveling guides: Khore, Human Paladin and Khorbacca, Tauren Paladin. Original, right?
DPS changes
From my work on the dummies, I was hovering at around 6k to 7k, which is pretty much the same. Exorcism is a monster, and Hammer of Wrath still hits hard. I didn’t get to test out if the nerf was in place, but I’ll get to that tonight.
Divine Storm
Change was good. I’m loving it. Spammable at 60% weapon damage, I believe it is upped to 80% for Cataclysm. This made AoE situations much, much better. Mana usage was minimal, and I didn’t miss using Crusader Strike at all (in the right circumstance).
Stat priorities
Still the same. Hit (until cap) > Exp (until cap) > Str > Haste (until cap) > Crit > Mastery . Again, for the leveling process, these priorities won’t weigh as heavily as they will at level 85. During leveling, just try to stack your strength and crit.
Hit Cap, Expertise Cap, and Haste Cap
Still the same. 8% hit cap and 23 expertise needed. 1019 soft cap for Haste to get Crusader Strike and Divine Storm to a 3 second cooldown (assuming zero latency).
No comment on the Meta Gem changes, requiring more Blue Gems then Red?
CS says 149% coz you have Crusade which is 30% buf.
So it’s originally 115% (115%*1.3=149%).
Gem requirements will be reverted but this cannot be done with the hotfix. We need to wait for the next patch. There is a blue note about it.
DS is already up to 80% (at least tooltip says so).
However, even that is too week. We would need at least 4 opponents (assuming multiple HP proc chances which is not confirmed) to use it instead of CS (even nerfed one).
@ Kaz – What Milos said, it was reconsidered and should be fixed!
@ Milos – Thanks for the clarification, obviously I was too taken in by all the prettiness to stare down the details. Good observations! I had been reading 3 mobs for Divine Storm instead of 4, but I think that information was still relevant to the old damage. I am not sure 4 would even out-weigh Crusader Strike. Those numbers look to be roughly the same.
Dungeons and Raids at 85 hopfeully have some dense aoe packs
The reality is we got nerfed big time. Personally till yesterday i was hitting constanty 10.5-11.00 k dps on lvl 83 dummy in a 5 min test with only BoM on me (no food no flask) now on a lvl 80 dummy on same test conditions i could only get 9.5-10k dps
@ Bushido – It’s actually not that bad. Our numbers are down a bit at level 80, yes…but this most recent balancing act is directed at level 85.
When we start factoring in Inquisition, and the spells all take their level 85 form, things should be much different.
Besides, I didn’t think we got nerfed too bad…just ask any Warlock!
Well yeah i guess every class got “rebalanced” but idk, i dont trust Blizz when its about retpaladins…
So what’s the deal with attack power… Is it going to be taking out of the game?? please explain Ty
Any suggestions on gemming until the next patch? Wait and see? Swap out meta? I have pretty much red in everything and cringe at changing THAT many gems when they will be replaced by green quality gems in two weeks.
Can someone tell me at what number of mobs it is useful to switch from the CS (3HP) -> TV rotation to Divine storm spam?
@Kaz
Regarding the Meta…
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/136970/dps-meta-gem-changechange-it-back
The world seems fresh again, should be a great expansion
Additionally i found it takes about an hour and a half to get from 75-76 so much, much better there! Anyone else leveling 71-80 toon test the 20% less exp?
Huh, something weird I just discovered, and it’s an apparent bug, but a positive one
.
Believe it or not, old T10 2pc bonus is still there. DS CD gets reset
in 40% of cases. This is just awesome. Hopefully Blizzard won’t notice this soon, since T10 gear is anyway outdated.
Additionally I noticed that one of my glyphs changed. Glyph of Lay on Hands is a Major glyph now, not Minor. Just another change.
Just noticed that when DBW procs you can mount
Also hit Divine Plea and you instant get three holy power!!!
The T10 bunus has changed its not about DS anymore. Divine plea doenst give u holypower if u arent spec for it. That’s a talent deep into protection spec.
Which is teh critical cap??? i have 28%
@Bushido
You seams not to be able to understand what’s written. He said DP gives 3 holy powers. Talent tooltip says 1.
And DS bonus is still there in addition to 5% dmg increase. You can test it yourself instead of being “smart”. You even get it as a combat text.
I have to disagree with you about no talent changes, but it’s a minor thing. I didn’t bother speccing into divine storm before, now I do.
As far as damage, mine is way down. I know the meta gems aren’t working, but still, I took a big hit.
@Milos
I am sorry i wasnt trying to be smart, but my Sanctified tier 10 bonuses are:
Increases all damage u deal by 5%;
Your seals and damage deal 10% aditional damage;
All i said was i dont see any DS bonus. Ds doesnt get reseted.
If i am wrong sorry but that;s what i see on my 4 T10 pieces.
Excuseme, nothing to change???
Crusader Strike is down to 115% from 150% – huge nerf.
Hammer of Wrath is nerfed for almost 30%.
Protector of the Innocent no longer triggers from self-heals. – huge PvP nerf.
TV was nerfed from 290 to 235 weapon damage
Rebuke no longer initiates Auto Attack
Seal of Truth: Periodic damage from Censure reduced by 25%.
in my opinion a lot and anough to change to be little fret!