Oh and those other warriors get some love too. :) The information here is based on what's been released from WWI and the scant alpha information available. No, I'm not on the alpha or the beta and don't know anyone at Blizzard. So this all very much probably going to change. Actually, I can almost guarantee it will. Still, it's fun.
One of the QQs on the official Warrior forums was that "this is all alpha, it'll change, so quite griping about it" kinda of crap. Even some Blizzard Blues came out in support of this, with the (granted somewhat rational) explanation that they don't want to make game design decisions based on such an early build of the game. But... there's a reason WHY we have alpha tests, beta tests, and forums to discuss changes BEFORE they happen. So I say, yeah, get in there and discuss these and the other changes to the Warrior class. Only by talking about it now are we gonna have a voice in what we actually get.
WoWHead put up a Level 80 talent calculator with the information they gathered playing the Alpha from WWI and that's what I used to mess around. Try it. You can even spec out a Death Knight. :) Honestly, not knowing how these new abilities will play out, I had more fun using the level 80 calculator to beef up existing Arms specs. Yah, Improved Mortal Strike AND Flurry in the same build. Yummy!
But to Arms... Someone else will give a much better run down of all the changes than I can, so I'm just gonna hit the big ones.
Arms Goodness
Sudden Death - Every time you crit you get a (up to) 30% chance to activate Execute regardless of the target's health state. Now think about that. If you're generating massive amounts of rage and this thing procs... the damage swing would be massive! I don't see this one getting through to release, but keep your fingers crossed. Bye bye over powered clothies. Sundering down a Priest or Lock just got a lot easier. (I mean, c'mon... they should have a chance to escape, granted, but having to follow them around for 2 or 3 minutes to wail off thier mana??? If you've got 'em dead to rights, they should be... well, dead.)
Bull Rush - Increases the stun effect of Charge and Intercept up to 1 second. Like it. Would love more. It's deep tree, so you'll probably have to take it to get to the other good stuff. We've see worse have-to-takes.
Unrelenting Assault - Reduces the cooldown of Overpower and Revenge by as much as 3 seconds. Wowee! :) Having Overpower up that much quicker will be more a convenience, but a nice one. If it works well, might even see the Prot/Arms warrior coming more into play.
Strength of Arms - Trainable up to Rank 5, it increases your Strength and Health by 1-5%. Deep tree so you have to take it before Bladestorm. Again, not bad at all for a have-to-take. Stuff like this will largely depend on the caps needed to take down raid level bosses and max utility in arenas and stuff like that. But for the average Arms warrior, this looks pretty good.
Bladestorm - Better than expected. :) It sets off a Whirlwind every second for 4.5 seconds (so 4 Whirlwinds, I would assume). You can move, but you can't do anything else for the 4.5 seconds. Who cares right? You're firing off four freakin' back-to-back Whirlwinds!!! You're also immune to all fear and movement-reduction effects and the attack can't be stopped unless you die. I like it. A lot! Is it something that's going to be required? Not as is. I don't think PvP warriors are going to take it. PvP is too situational and moves a lot faster for this to be overly effective (your opponent will probably see it coming and just move out of the way. heh.) For PvE it might be more useful. Having the tank hold the bad guy's arms while you stand behind the boss and set this off could be pretty effective. Really, just sounds kinda fun to me. :D
Fury of Love!
Furious Resolve and Improved Berserker Stance - No threat dump alas, but these are a little better. Each reduces threat and increases Stamina and Attack Power (respectively). Very nice.
Titan's Grip - Deep tree talent that allows you to dual wield two-handers. :) The trade off is a 28% reduction in speed. I seriously doubt that will have much impact. Definitely an ability that will require a lot of testing. Theory? Could be the extra little bit Fury warriors need.
Heroic Leap - Jump in the air, slam the ground and cause 50% weapons damage and stun the crap of anyone in front of you, up to 5 yards. Ouchie! Good one. I'll spec fury for awhile just to do this. Should be in Arms though, just because I said so.
Protection Love
Sword & Board - Awesome. Basically it gives a percent chance, depending on level, to automatically refresh your Shield Slam AND give you a free one immediately. As in zero rage cost. Bad ass. More threat, more damage for the Prot Warrior.
Shockwave - Could potentially be awesome. Does damage based on AP, and stuns everything in front of the tank for 4 seconds. Nice and nice. And generates a huge amount of threat. Not exactly the AoE threat grabber tanks were hoping for, but could be good. A little extra minor benny is that it will be a nice AoE stun for P-Tanks in PvP.
Obviously, I didn't hit everything new here, or removed, or moved. Still very alpha and plenty of time to see what makes the cut, what doesn't, and how it'll all fit together. But we might as well start yappin' about it. :)
Now... I can has beta?
-Fri
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