Thursday, February 24, 2011

Starter Notes For 4.1

So yes the starter notes have been released for 4.1 and I just wanted to comment about a few things. First this

  • Zul'Aman has returned as a level-85 5-player Heroic dungeon featuring a revamp of the original dungeon and improved loot!

  • Zul'Gurub has returned as a level-85 5-player Heroic dungeon featuring all-new encounters, achievements, and improved loot!

  • Both dungeons will be in a new Dungeon Finder difficulty tier above the current level-85 Heroic dungeons and offer epic-quality item level 353 loot.

So as Blizzard stated from the get go Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep were just the start of Blizzard making old instances into new Cataclysm Heroics. My only concern is that these instances especially ZG were long and being a heroic the time frame on them seems to me like they would take quite some time to complete, but we will see.

Another interesting Change

  • We have added two new custom guild tabards as Guild Rewards. The tabards are account bound and offer a bonus to gaining guild reputation.

Wasn't the point of guild reputation being difficult was to prevent guild hopping to get access to specific rewards? My fear as this won't make it simple to gain guild reputation, but it will make it much easier. This may just be me being upset though because I am already exalted with my guild and feel everyone should do this the way I had to do.

Something that doesn't make sense

  • Recuperate base effect now heals 3% per tick, up from 2%.

  • Stealth base cooldown has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 10, and the movement penalty from being in Stealth has been removed.

  • Tricks of the Trade now has a 100-yard range, up from 20.

How does this make rogues not stupid in PvP situations? I understand this is the start of testing but this combined with the new rogue talent revamp to increase speed while in stealth seems at least to me just a little bit overpowered.

Crazy new warrior ability

  • Rallying Cry (new ability) is available from trainers at level 83. It temporarily grants the warrior and all party or raid members within 30 yards 20% of maximum health for 10 seconds. After the effect expires, the health is lost. It has no cost, no stance requirements, and is not on the global cooldown. It has a 3-minute cooldown, but also shares a cooldown with Last Stand.

Just wow this seems like an amazing a raid wide buff that can also be very effect in arena situations. I will admit this seems like it maybe too much in PvP, but we will see how it plays out.

And the last interesting change

  • All non-damaging interrupts off the global cooldown will now always hit the target. This includes Pummel, Shield Bash, Kick, Mind Freeze, Rebuke, Skull Bash, Counterspell, Wind Shear, Solar Beam, Silencing Shot, and related player pet abilities.

This to me seems like a tank PvE change for the most part since many tanks besides DKs at the moment are not at all a rush to get hit and expertise capped. Although this is also a great change for people in PvP if they happen to not be hit capped.

One thing I think is worth mentioning is these notes are released on the eve of Rift and I am wondering if this is one purpose. I for one don't think Rift is a WoW killer because the End game just isn't there. Also keep in mind that Firelands and the Abyssal Maw are not listed in these changes as of yet. So we know there will eventually be much more changes listed along with quite an extensive testing phase.

2 comments:

  1. Holy crap the rogue changes I completely agree with causing so many stupid problems

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  2. I disagree Guild Tabard is a great idea when you no longer want to do dailies for an entire week and no other way to get capped

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