Another Patch Day

So, it’s finally here. THE pre-patch. There’s a meeting tonight to figure out our raiding plans. I know that is foremost on many of my guildies’ minds. So, what is the top thought in my mind right now? Logging on to all of my characters to fill out as much of the toybox as I can. Yeah … I think perhaps my raiding has come to an end.

I downloaded Age of Conan this weekend because that’s what Lyss has been playing lately. I made a Cimmerian Conqueror because, duh … I always make something that can use heavy armor and big weapons. Lyss has asked repeatedly whether we will get an actual Conan post, and I did take screenshots but … I can’t find them. So, maybe later.

So then, how about some M&B? 😉

How’s that for action? All five factions in a line, each guy (other than poor Ordin-Naschokin of the Tsardom there in the lead) chasing another. Let’s see if I can identify the others … the Pole is clearly Jan III Sobieski. The Cossack is Popovich. I can’t see enough of the flag to identify the Swede. The Crimean is Yashlav-bey.

You know, it’s always going to be strange to me, playing another faction and having my beloved Cossacks as enemies. All those times I fought by their sides and then to turn around and have one of them chasing me down is just odd.

Yep, that’s Ivan Sirko tailing me. I’ve posted him before but I failed to wiki him at that time. This must be corrected because he’s important. He was Kosh Otaman of the Zaporozhian Host, the highest military ranking. This was in 1663 after the Khmelnytsky Uprising, though. Sirko, unlike most of his contemporaries, lived to be 70, and was around until 1680, so a lot of his important history is during the wars that resulted from the uprising.

As long as we’re on the Cossack subject again, we might as well get Lavrin Sinonos posted.

He only exists in the game. I like this shot because it also includes Popovich, Shumeiko, and Nosach.

Remember how I mentioned having Mirza Divey in my prison in Kezlev Fortress in my main game?

He’s still there. Maybe someday I should let him out, eh?

Abilities … Gone!

So … with the new 6.0 patch notes out, I am going to put down my thoughts here AS I READ THROUGH THEM. So, this is off the cuff, first reaction type stuff. I reserve the right to calm down and write something with more thought and insight later on if necessary.

Death Knights

I hope you weren’t too much in love with having your army or your temporary ghoul. Now you only get army as blood, or a permanent pet as unholy. Oh, and that army does 75% less damage, too. I think I can hear Schriko crying.

Horn of Winter is now a 1-hour buff with no cooldown that doesn’t generate runic power. So, it’s just like everyone else’s party-wide buffs.

Druid

Innervate … gone! Yes, they adjusted druid mana regen to compensate, but this still amuses me, as it has been an iconic druid ability since .. forever.

Symbiosis … gone! Really? REALLY? I haven’t even gotten to play with it yet. This was one of the most fun things ever added. I’m sad about this one.

Hunter

I … um … there are a lot of changes here.
Aspect of the Hawk … gone!
Distracting shot … gone!
Hunter’s Mark … gone!
Rapid Fire … gone!
Serpent Sting … gone!
Widow Venom … gone!
I have no clue what we have left. This isn’t even the whole list, just the things that apply to me as BM.

The one change I DO understand and like, Revive Pet and Mend Pet now share a button, which toggles depending on whether you have a live pet.

Mage

Arcane Explosion is only for Arcane, Blizzard is only for Frost. etc, etc. Basically they made a lot of things that were previously only available to a specific spec, back to only being for that spec. As it should be, really.

The three armors are also spec-specific now and are passive effects.

Monk

Clash has been removed. Hmm … that was quite useful to a tank who wanted to move a mob. Do not like.

Avert Harm has been removed. I don’t know why. I like damage reduction cooldowns. Need more explanation.

Healing Sphere as a spell has been removed. Like, the targeted, drop a sphere here thing. The other spells that create spheres still exist.

And it looks like each specialization just has its own stance, rather than being able to toggle between stances. Makes sense.

Paladin

Oh boy here we go. I’m almost afraid to read it! Please be good, please be good, please be good.

Avenging Wrath .. ret only. Ok.

Devotion Aura .. not available to prot. Meh.

Divine Light renamed to Holy Light. Yeah, yeah, holy light removed yada yada. I’ve already read through the healing changes and am ok with them for now. Whatever they do, I will adapt.

Divine Plea removed. Mana costs adjusted accordingly. One less cooldown to keep an eye on/forget to use.

Guardian of Ancient Kings .. prot only. Cool.

Hand of Salv and Inquisition remo … wait. Inquisition? So … do we get more damage passively then or what? *scratches head* Ok, so I’ll file that under ‘yay one less cooldown to keep track of’ for now.

So, ret gets wings and prot gets the angry man. What do I get as a cooldown as holy? Divine Favour I guess. And Holy Avenger if I take it. Basically, I have far fewer extra buttons to push and remember to use outside of my direct healing spells. Hell, I even have one less direct healing spell. I can live with this.

Priest

Hymn of Hope .. gone! So, what, they nixed every single mana return spell? I bet there’s no more mana tide totem, either.

Inner Fire and Inner Will removed … um. But … boo.

Rogue

Disarm Trap .. gone! Have fun in the suppression room in BWL like the rest of us losers.

Shaman

Rockbiter Weapon has been removed. I guess the hopes of the people holding out for a shaman tanking spec just went up in flames.

Stormlash Totem … gone! Ok, now Shudal is over in the corner crying with Schriko.

Nothing about mana tide totem? What?? So, is every raid going to require having a resto shaman now? D:

Warlock

Drain Soul and Fel Flame are gone. I never used them anyway.

A couple of the Metamorphosis spells are gone. Since I don’t recognize them, I guess I won’t miss them.

Soulshatter is gone, and I will miss that one. Seriously, why remove the one threat reduction spell? Does not compute.

Warrior

Battle Shout and Commanding Shout last an hour and do not generate rage. So, like Horn of Winter, they join the rest of the part-wide buffs.

Berserker Stance is gone.

Cleave …WHAT? YOU CANNOT REMOVE CLEAVE! HOW CAN I BE CALLED A WARRIOR AND NOT HAVE CLEAVE!?! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!11!1!1!

Demoralizing and Skull banners are gone.

Hamstring is now passive and causes Mortal Strike, Bloodthirst, Revenge, and Raging Blow to reduce the target’s movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds. R U SERIAL? LOVE THIS ❤

Whirlwind is fury only. Good, it has felt really, really weird to me to have that on my bar as Arms this xpac.

Other Stuff

Vengeance … gone! Replaced with Resolve, which increases your healing and absorption done to yourself based on stamina and damage taken in the last 10 seconds. I guess Schriko won’t be leading the raid in damage done anymore. And what will this do for leveling as a tank? I mean, the increased damage from vengeance was a big reason that leveling in a tank spec became possible. Are we going back to the dark ages or what?

Hey Rep! Keep reading, dummy! There’s more! Then, to keep tank DPS meaningful, we’ll be raising their damage, since it would be meager with no Vengeance Attack Power (Vengeance accounted for 70-90% of a tank’s damage on high-tank-damage fights in Mists). To do that, we’re increasing the damage of several prominent tank abilities, as well as having tanks also gain increased Attack Power from Mastery, in addition to the stat’s existing benefits.

Oh. Ok. Well then!

Glyphs

All classes automatically learn some important major glyphs as they level. Sure, NOW that I have everything leveled … ha! Still, this is a great change for newer players who may not have access to gold or a scribe.

I’m not even going to go through ALL of the class changes here. Let me just point you to the notes as posted on WoW Insider.