Some new changes on abilities today that just absolutely confuse the hell out of me.
Heroic Strike: Now does 100% (was 160%) weapon damage plus 498 (was 796.8) (140% (was 224%) plus 697 (was 1116) if a one-handed weapon is equipped).
Okay, so it’s still a 30 rage ability, and back down to being an ability that’s more or less useless without Incite. But here’s the part that really bakes my noodle.
Slam: Now does 225% weapon damage plus 2101.5, up from 150% weapon damage plus 1401.
Then why in the HELL would I EVER use Heroic Strike again? Not even as a rage bleed! Even with critical strikes doing 200% damage, Heroic Strike STILL puts out less damage. Sure, if your Heroic Strike crits, Incite guarantees the next one to be a crit, but why would I even bother? A standard Slam already does more damage for the same rage!
Essentially, we’re back to where we are now in Cataclysm. Heroic Strike will be even more of a waste of space on your ability bar if this particular change makes it to the final release. Not that I’m complaining (I really hate Heroic Strike anyway – always have), but why have all of these special talents and abilities tied to a spec that won’t ever use it?
It’s just like the current T13 2-piece bonus. Not only is it NOT a passive ability like most other classes, but in order to be effective, it requires Incite and a boatload of rage you’re usually better off using for something else. Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple fights in Dragon Soul right now where the amount of damage you take keeps your rage pretty high, and for that it’s Heroic Strike heaven. But the majority of the time, you’re burning more rage than you should if you use it, and you get a better return out of Slam, even with the .5 sec cast time.
It’s haphazard changes like this that make me fear for the future of Warriors, not just Arms. If Blizzard returns us to the state we were in back in Wrath, I don’t know what I’m going to do.
cause it says its those values with a one handed weapon equipped. so maybe the values stay up for a 2hander. though still, you wouldnt want to use it. /shrug
Hold on, Rhuan – let me rewrite it here so it makes a little more sense, as all those nested parentheses get REALLY confusing. I had to reread it a few times myself.
Here’s what it was before the change:
Heroic Strike does 160% weapon damage plus 796.8 (224% plus 1116 if a one-handed weapon is equipped).
And here’s what it says now:
Heroic Strike does 100% weapon damage plus 498 (140% plus 697 if a one-handed weapon is equipped).
Not just a nerf, but a HUGE one.
The way it looks at the moment, I think Slam will function as the Arms warrior’s primary rage dump.. but I think it is conceivable that they will change something about Heroic Strike again to make it at least situationally useful (as extra rage dump on single targets in very high rage situations).
I would personally be happy to see it leave the Arms rotation completely and I had the same positive reaction as you did when you saw that Slam is finally losing its cast time. That’s one change I really hope will make it into live MoP!
That’s probably true, Nevi, given how many times I saw Overpower go off during my initial test.
I don’t like not having addons in Beta. It’s a pain.
Ultimately, this change is a baffling one for Arms right at the moment – I’ve only extensively tested Protection to this point, but I did mess with Arms (my second spec) and found it really quite ugly. As a long-term disliker of Heroic Strike, I was somewhat dismayed that it was propped up for tanks via the Ultimatum proc… And I can see it happening for Arms, too.
I’d rather they simply accepted that Heroic Strike simply isn’t compelling as a stand alone ability, and either made it work in a normal rotation or cut it altogether. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see which way they go.
The bigger problem is the new role of Execute, something you can’t establish on a dummy so I’d be interested in your thoughts on it. While it’s role has consistently been known as the filler for the execution phase, replacing Slam outright appears to make the rotation VERY clunky sub 25%.
I totally agree, Zellviren. I’ve never been a big fan of Heroic Strike either, and you’re very right: Heroic Strike is NOT a compelling ability. I can see that Slam is most likely going to become our “filler” ability – with just the small amount of testing I was able to do so far, the sheer amount of Overpower procs are just insane, and I can’t see fitting too many Slams in between.
I’ll have to do more extensive testing after finals week, but one of my big concerns is that all this tweaking they’re doing to Arms is going to cripple the spec back to Wrath-level weakness. If that happens again, I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but it will be hard sticking with the class and spec that I love when it’s not helpful to my raid.
Performance worries me less than enjoying myself. I played Arms throughout WotLK when it was one of the weakest DPS specs in the game, but via the use of Incite I was able to keep up; as ugly as it was to do so. It was truly bizarre to see Heroic Strike topping the damage done for an Arms warrior, but it was acceptable. So long as players are imaginative, they’ll find ways to keep up.
[In fact, recent warlock problems were foretold by Arms warriors being balanced around Incite in Icecrown – if you weren’t doing that, you fell behind. Badly.]
What concerns me here is the changes to how the spec “feels”. Right now, Arms is a great spec to play because it’s a simple, proc-enhanced (vice proc-reliant, such as Bloodsurge) priority system. The reason it works is because it has four key rotational abilities that fit very distinct roles, while retaining enough depth for changing it up and the inclusion of a good proc.
The most important part is Slam as a filler. When all else fails, you still “feel” like you’re doing as much damage as you can because you’re not wasting GCD’s. I’ve hated Fury throughout Cataclysm because of the gaps in the rotation making me feel like I’m getting it wrong. Even when those gaps are few and far between, I still feel that I’ve cocked it up and I can’t imagine that’s nice for anyone.
Now, Arms DPS is going to be geared toward how many times you can Slam throughout an encounter. This is potentially going to have ugly implications for the spec, as things like charges and shouts are slotted into a rotation just to make the most of rage gain and, thus, increasing the chance to Slam more often. Being able to practically spam Overpower seemed really exciting until I realised:
a) Slam is now above it on the priority list.
b) Improved Overpower is gone, as well as the critical strike.
What agitates me further is the inclusion of glyphs that encourage you to use non-rotational abilities just to prop up legitimately rotational ones. Cleave buffs your next Overpower by 10% via a glyph, yet even that doesn’t put it anywhere near Mortal Strike, Slam or Colossus Smash in terms of priority. Will Cleave plus a buffed Overpower be worth more than Slam assuming identical rage cost? If not, what’s the point? If so, what’s the point of Slam considering Overpower is practically spammable?
This is why I’m probably moving on from warriors in MoP, assuming I bother playing it much at all. It just appears to me that the warrior design team don’t actually play warriors and are just doing things for the sake of it.
I’m really looking forward to your results over the weekend. Hopefully we can chat a bit more about it then.
You are AWESOME Executioner!! What I have read on your blog in the last hour has given me more information on how to play my warrior then all the time I have been playing her in the last 2 years! I am going to really enjoy coming back here quite often for all the latest news! Hope you’re enjoying the beta.