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Death Knights Prepare For Some Blood

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Death Knight tanks are two-pronged, it’s either you love them or hate them. Admit it, there are a couple of heroic dungeon PUGs where the DK tank kinda screws up the pull, can’t maintain a decent aggro, or worse, confused whether they’re really tanks or a 4th DPS. Players usually have a hard time choosing on which talent tree they should focus on when it comes to tanking. Unholy, Frost, and Blood specs have abilities that are extremely useful for tanks, but they couldn’t learn it because they need to spend talent points before getting them.

Originally, Death Knights are Blizzard’s experiment in concocting a hybrid class that can play 2 roles, whatever talent spec the player chooses. This experiment received mixed reviews as DKs tend to get envious of their Pally, Warrior, and even Druid counter parts’ dedicated tanking tree.

But fear no more, you harbingers or pain for ranged DPS (hunters hate your Deathgrip). Blizzard learned its lesson and now gives the Death Knight tanks something to look forward to in Cataclysm. There will be Blood as DKs have the Blood talent tree as a dedicated tanking tree.

During the time of Wrath of the Lich King (today), Blood, Frost, and Unholy share tank-useful skills and bonuses. These are now being transferred, such as Unholy’s Boneshield, to the Blood talent tree for maximum DK tanking experience. Having Blood as a pure tanking talent tree makes sense because it has several abilities that allow the Death Knight to absorb massive health from opponents while attacking. These life-draining attacks make the DK tank a hard nut to crack, especially in raids.

The Death Knight tank will also benefit from the Mastery Passive Talent Bonuses of the Blood talent tree:

Damage Reduction: Pretty self explanatory. No information yet though on how much damage reduction will a Blood DK receive.

Vengeance: A new mechanic designed to ensure that tank damage output doesn’t fall far off behind as damage dealers improve their gear during Cataclysm. Whenever the tank gets hit, Vengeance will grant a stacking Attack Power buff equal to 5% of the damage done, up to a maximum of 10% of the toon’s unbuffed health.

This ability definitely adds another dimension of damage dealing or damage recount. It’ll certainly give the DPSers a run for their damage count to prove that they are needed. A little unfair, but hey, DPSers get more health now from gears, remember? I guess it’s Blizzard’s way of balancing things out.

Healing Absorption: Again, self explanatory, but further details have yet to be released.

Death Knight tanks will also be treated with some new abilities learned outside their talent trees:

Outbreak (level 81): Outbreak infects the target with both Frost Fever and Blood Plague at no rune cost. This ability allows death knights to apply diseases quickly when they are switching targets or when their diseases have been dispelled.

A skill that can definitely add more damage being dealt and threat generated by the DK tank.

Necrotic Strike (level 83): Necrotic Strike is a new attack that deals weapon damage and applies a debuff that absorbs an amount of healing based on the damage done.

In my opinion, the Death Knight tank’s best ability out of the 3 new ones. This toughens up the DK even further as another damage done=health restored ability joins the fray.

Dark Simulacrum (level 85): The death knight strikes a target, applying a debuff that allows the death knight to copy the opponent’s next spell cast and unleash it.

A similar skill to Spell Reflection but does not cancel the incoming spell. Even though it’s not that great, it certainly is fun to play with during an encounter.

Stat changes in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm also affects the Death Knight tanks as certain stats are removed or modified to make things simpler. Parry and Block Rating and Stamina will be one of the tanks main concerns as the expansion hits the shelves.

The rune system will also be modified as it will change how runes will be regenerated and stored so that the Death Knight won’t have to worry about wasting runes during battles.

Essentially, you have three sets of runes filling every 10 seconds instead of six individual runes filling every 10 seconds. (Haste will cause runes to fill faster.) Another way to think of this is having three runes that go up to 200% each (allowing extra “storage”), rather than six runes that go up to 100% each.

Our much loved (and also much hated) Death Knight tanks have a lot of store in them as Cataclysm presents the Blood as a dedicated tanking talent tree. Gone will be the days where DKs get confused if they’re tanking of DPSing. It will be a glorious moment for these undead ex-agents of the Lich King.

Let’s just hope these boys can keep up with the other tanks that are getting some polishing as well.

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Warrior Tanks in Cataclysm

May 14, 2010 By 3 Comments

Cataclysm may surprise the Warrior Tanks


The Warrior tanks have a lot in store for them in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. From the introduction of the new and simplified stat system, the new Rage Normalization system, and of course some new and revamped skills and abilities; our classic Protection Tanks have new challenges to face when the 3rd installment hits the stores.

Ever since the Wrath of the Lich King and arguably even in the Burning Crusade expansions, Warrior tanks have somehow lost their uniqueness of being a heavy duty threat generating, aggro holding toons. Imagine almost everything a Protection Warrior does can be done by other tank types, and in some cases, they do it even better! It’s like this class has become the underachiever sibling in the tanking family!

In Cataclysm, Warrior tanks will either get an answered prayer or a nightmare come true depending on how you’ll look at it. Ultimately, it all boils down to how well the person plays the Protection Tank and how to manage everything in the expansion. Step up and listen now as we give a short discussion on the changes Warrior tanks will have to face.

STAT Changes
One ginormous concern our Protection tanks, or even all tanks for that matter, is the stat revamp in Cataclysm. Several stats have been merged with its relatives while others are either toned down or completely removed from gears or even the entire game. Here are the important stat changes Warrior tanks will need to look out for:

Stamina will now be improved in every gear giving you more health to abuse in the face of danger. This change is excellent since it gives healers little less to worry about in maintaining their targets in shape.

But wait a minute, why does the hunter almost have the same health points with the tank?! The priest, too?! Did the tank miss a buff? No, you’re not dreaming buddy. The Warriors, or heavy geared class or tanks, aren’t the only ones having an improvement in gear Stamina, but also the other classes too. Yes, mail, leather, and even cloth will have improved Stamina bonuses that allow them to proportionally have the same health points as to that of a Warrior, or a tank. Kinda makes tanks a little less valuable, huh? We might expect to see less tanks in groups or raids if this is true. But I suppose Blizzard will make adjustments to bosses and other NPC enemies, so all hope isn’t lost.

Block Rating is also getting a revamp. Instead of the amount of damage blocked depends on the gear, Blizzard opted to standardize the rating to 30%. This ain’t half bad because it means the more damage an enemy does, the more damage the Warrior tanks can block.

Parry Rating will also get a make-over. Instead f getting damage, the parried attack and the succeeding attack will be reduced by 50%.

Mastery is a new addition to the roster of stats. Though there is no word from Blizz on how exactly will it work, they gave us an idea that when you’re specialized in a specific talent tree, you will get stat bonuses from the corresponding tree. Meaning we might see some Stamina and Armor bonuses for our Protection Warriors. This might answer the issue of Stamina leveling in the stats. Warrior tanks are a little more important now again, yay!

Improved Abilities along with new ones and Rage Normalization

Protection Warriors will be having improved abilities along with new ones when Cataclysm starts devouring most of our lives. And what do we need when using abilities? Rage!

Rage generation has now been normalized. This means no matter how hard you hit or get hit, you will receive the same amount of Rage for your rage bar. This gives the Warrior tanks something to consider when doing their skill rotations in holding aggro.

Warrior Shouts will not consume Rage anymore and will have the similar effect of a Death Knights ‘Horn of Winter’. Plus, Shouts will generate rage in the process.

Among the new abilities, Warrior will learn Inner Rage (81), which can increase the damage output by 15% and Rage consumption by 50% if the Rage bar is full. Gushing Wound (83) which puts a bleed debuff on a target which can be stacked up to 3 should the target move.

Heroic Leap (85) is a Protection tank’s new best friend. It allows the Warrior to leap towards the target and apply Thunderclap to nearby enemies. Protection Warriors should have fun with this as it adds another option in approaching mobs and generating threat as soon as possible so that DPSers can hit hard fast.

Overall, Protection Warriors have a lot to consider when entering Cataclysm. Possibly the most frustrating part for them is the Stat alterations which allow non-plate users to have the same health as to those with plate wearers. Threat generation, skill rotation, and Rage management can be more effective than the previous expansions as long as the player knows how to play it well. These 3 are the Protection Warriors main arsenal in hopes of staying at top of the tanking world compared to other tankers. They need to step up to the plate and tank hard or else, we might see a group where DPS and Heals are the only players they need. EPIC WIN for Hunters!

Filed Under: Tanking Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tankers Get Ready for Cataclysm!

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
DK

Death Knights now have Blood as a Tank dedicated spec

From Deepholm, an ancient evil arises to pose a new threat to Azeroth and Kalimdor. As the battle rages on with the Undead Scourge, the world has undergone drastic changes signaling the rise of another epic adventure. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the 3rd installment of the highly popular MMORPG has taken the franchise into another dimension of Blizzard awesomeness. New races, new race-class combinations, new zones, instances, battlegrounds and raids,and an all new level cap of 85. It will be a completely different game than you’ve ever experienced in Northrend.

There have been several revamps in content that we’ve become attuned to in Wrath of the Lich King, and our Mr. and Ms. Popular in raids and groups, the Tanks, will have to get used to a whole new system that will challenge the tanks in adjusting their rotations and strategies in the game. Check it out tankers, here’s a sweet short glimpse of what’s in store for you in Cataclysm.

The Stats system has changed, rechanged, and changed again. This time statsare focused to what Blizzard likes to call “core” stats which simplifies and amplifies each statistic. Don’t worry though because some are not completely removed, they’ve just been incorporated into the main stats and removed from gears so that players can have an easier and less strenuous time gearing up. Tanks should primarily concern themselves with the removal of Defense Rating and Armor Penetration Rating as they’ll be replaced by stats coming from the Talent tree. In the absence of those, Stamina has been increased in gears.

Our classis tanks, the Warrior class, have undergone several revamps in Cata. The most notable is the mitigation and management of Rage. Warriors now have “Rage Normalization”, a new system introduced to standardize the Rage accumulation and consumption. Rage doesn’t rely anymore on the amount of damage dealt or received but instead will be based on the health the Warrior has. This is an attempt to solve the issue of Rage management and Rage starvation in battles.

Various attacks have also changed their Rage cost in exchange for higher damage or higher threat like Heroic Strike and Maul. While Shouts such as Battle Shout, Commanding Shout, and Demoralizing Shout will have no more Rage cost. These changes may leave a Warrior dumbfounded once Cataclysm hits our hard drives as strategies and rotations may differ from what they’ve been used to. But hey, gaming’s boring if we things over and over, right?

Our fuzzy-bear Feral druids will undergo a similar change as that of the Warrior, as “Rage Normalization” takes into effect. They will also enjoy additional skills beyond level 80 that may help them maintain agro while tanking. One of them is “Thrash” where bear druids deal damage and cause the targets within 10 yards to bleed. This additional skill allows our ADHD druid tanks to have another button to press during an encounter.

Our light-binding Paladin tanks will be more than happy with their additional skill, “Guardian of Ancient Kings”. The skill summons a guardian (duh) that either heals a target (for Holy specced Pallys) or absorbs all damage (for Protection Pallys) in a period of time. The Protection spec will be buffed up for a more tank-focused tree, where Paladins under the tree will have improved and focused defenses and threat generators that will help maintain agro.

Finally, our tanks with a lost identity, the Death Knights, will be having Blood as a dedicated tank tree leaving Frost and Unholy more room to grow in DPS. Runes will now generate faster by sets of 2 instead of one at a time making skill rotation faster. Additional skill that can be helpful in surviving as tanks is “Necrotic Strike”, a skill that allows the Death Knight to deal and absorb damage to and from the enemy.

Cataclysm is a whole new game for tanks, and if you’re attack pattern works in Wrath of the Lich King, don’t expect it to work as well in the 3rd expansion. Tanks are generally regarded as the person that can screw up or make up the battle at the beginning of an encounter. So better read up and stay updated as we approach Cata’s arrival so that us DPS and Healers won’t get pissed at you.

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