BlizzCon 2009: Important Stat Changes
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iTZKooPA on Sunday, August 23, 2009 - 17 Comments Tags: agility, armor penetration, armor penetration removed, attack power, blizzcon, blizzcon 2009, defense, defense removed, dumbing down of wow, haste, intellect, mp5, plate hp envy, spell power, spirit, stat changes, tanking changes
iTZKooPA on Sunday, August 23, 2009 - 17 Comments Tags: agility, armor penetration, armor penetration removed, attack power, blizzcon, blizzcon 2009, defense, defense removed, dumbing down of wow, haste, intellect, mp5, plate hp envy, spell power, spirit, stat changes, tanking changes 
Here are The Rockstars Of The DayNote: The below information was covered as part of our Live Blogging & Tweeting during the show. But the information is simply too important to be glossed over. Here are the major gameplay changes in one convenient, to the point package.
I love math, but the number crunching in World of Warcraft has become incredibly complex lately. To the point were it can become very difficult to decipher which piece of gear is best for one's spec. I'm not referring to weighing just a few extra crit to a couple additional attack power. I refer to the complex matrix of attack power, crit, hit, expertise, agility, armor penetration and stamina that Solidsamm has to worry about on a daily basis. Then there are some statistics that overlap, Spirit and Mana per 5 seconds, or the stats that are damn near impossible to figure out without Blizzard's help. It's because of this that Blizzard has decided to reorganize the core statistics, merging the overlaps, dropping some from gear or abandoning others entirely.
- Attack Power - AP is being removed from gear, and replaced with Agility for most classes (Druid, Rogues, Hunters, Shamans). It's unconfirmed, but assumed, that plate wearers will gain AP from Strength. We'll be receiving 2AP from each Agil/Str point. One panelist stated that the side effect is that plate wearers will no longer want to steal "lesser" gear.
- Haste - Haste will no longer increase the speed of one's attacks. Instead it is going to increase the rate of resource generation (energy, rage, runes, focus), excluding mana (see below).
- Spell Power - Spell Power is being tossed in with Intellect "to make it (Intellect) stop sucking". Wasn't that a side effect of Intellect back in vanilla WoW? I can't remember.
- Mana Per 5 Seconds (Mp5) - Like Spell Power, this stat will be merged with another, Spirit. Spirit is to become the catch all statistic for mana regeneration. Following that logic, every mana user will be given a Meditation type spell for situational regen purposes.
- Armor Penetration - The fact that Blizzard had to outright explain this stat, in detail, eludes to its confusing nature. All you need to know is that it'll be gone when Cataclysm drops.
- Tanking - There's actually a pair of changes for the tanks out there. Most importantly the Defense stat is getting booted from gear. Instead, tank capable classes will cap the needed statistic via talents, like bear tanks. Block Value is also taking a walk. Let's not confuse this with the change made to blocking an attack. A blocked attack will mitigate a percentage of the damage.
- Stamina - "GONE!" Obviously the panel was joking. Stamina isn't seeing any direct changes, but the designers believe it will be a more level HP pool after all the other changes are put in place. I believe it was Ghostcrawler that put it as "no more plate HP envy."
There are many players out there claiming that Blizzard is once again dumbing down the game, but I just don't see it that way. As evidenced by the details above, most of the categories that are disappearing are being merged into another statistic because they were redundant. Agility has always given Attack Power, so why have them be distinct points on gear? Spell Power has always been a caster's AP, so the same logic follows. Tanks still need to worry about picking up the right talents to be defense capped, so that isn't any "dumber."
The only changes that I can see as a dumbing down of WoW are the removal of Armor Penetration and the merger of Mp5 into Spirit. That being said, Mp5 effectively is Spirit, just in an incredibly convoluted (quadratic equation fun time!) form. And as I stated a few times already, ArmPen was drastically misunderstood until it was explained.
I'll have follow up post(s) for other major changes later this week. If there is anything specific you want us to go into then leave a comment here, @ProjectLore, @iTZKooPA or for one of the other bloggers.
Reader Comments (17)
I agree... I don't see this as "dumbing down" the game. The stats were merged...not removed.
i just figured out the other ones though and now they change them again
Wasn't the whole point of wrath gear was that it was about the lesser stats rather than the major ones.
I'm guessing that how much % crit chance you get with int will be reduced slightly due to items will have loads more intellect. Which all in all = more mana less need for spirit for any caster dps. When I first saw this i was confused but mostly it will make things better for most things. So there is no "dumbing down" to this.
Derxor Eonar EU
So basically Haste will be worthless to casters. /sigh
So let me get this straight - the only difference between tanking and pvp gear in Catacalysm is gonna be the Block rating?
and dodge*
@Adrain casters will still have use of haste. We all want quicker cast times. It just doesn't effect attack speed.
Hate the haste change. Resto Shamans and Resto Druids have VERY specific haste requirements to be able to sustain their heals. Balance Druids have VERY specific haste requirements to be able to reach even passable DPS numbers. Hunters are going to be VERY unhappy for the same reason as are Mages, Warlocks, Elemantal Shamans, etc. There are MANY fights in higher end instances where non-melee classes depend on very high haste numbers to be able to do ANYTHING. You remove Haste and you have pretty much *severely* nerfed all non-melee classes. I say pffffffft. Can someone VERIFY that casters will still use Haste for lowering cast times or not?
I like the Spirit + MP5 Change. That was stupid having Shamans and Pallies use MP5 and Druids use Spirit. Dumb. Making the game less dumb is a good thing.
I like AP From AGI or STR. This will make gear choices that make more sense.
I love the change of removing Spell Power. If that is truly combined with INT it will finally be a reason for the min/maxers to say it's "okay" to stack INT. I want more mana!
Making other tanks defense capped through talents is VERY good. I love Druid tanks but it is kind of not fair that they can gear so much faster to be a great tank... I mean - they START OUT at lvl 80 as being defense capped. Lovely for Druids, a disadvantage for others trying to get groups.
Overall changes good. Are these Cataclysm changes or 3.3 changes - WANT.
I'm glad armor pen is getting removed. Not because it was confusing but because as an enhance shaman, I have to use every last gem/enchant available for expertise and hit rating. I've always tried to get the Grim Toll trinket, but everybody and their brother wants it (when it actually drops), so... yeah. I'm an enhance shaman whose armor penetration rating is 0 because Blizzard screwed my spec over with the tier gear. >>
as a ret pally.......wtf blizzard.lol.....all i had goin for me was my high health...now everyone gets it? NOOOOOO!!! but i do like that hunters get focus instead of mana...yay for my alt!
To clarify: Haste will increase the resource regeneration rate for NON CASTERS. Haste will still speed up a CASTER's cast time.
Meaning, if you use Mana, haste does not change at all. If you don't use Mana, haste will make it so whatever resource you do use generates faster.
Make sense now? Good. :)
So to be a tank, I just need to click the correct icons when I spec after the talent wipe. Hmmm... Don't like the sound of that, what with all cookie cutter talent specs that are in use.
being a bear tank for the later half of wotlk, i have only focused on a few things in regards to gear;
how much stam i get, how much agility i get, and how many sockets i get. the crit, hit, haste, AP, armor pen and expertise have been trivial for me from the start, and being able to tank ulduar in nothing but heroic epics and blues, i know i was right in doing this.
im jealous about the other tanking classes being able to itemize like me in the upcoming expansion. i want it only to be so easy for me :P
so maybe they will be sharing gear with their dps equivalents? i know how that feels, being "cheated" out of tanking gear by rogues, cat druids and even hunters.
while this descision by blizzard to get rid of defense and what not will blow the minds of alot of dps players, i can sit by and know nothing has changed for me. hell, maybe i will get MORE agil from gear, leaving me open to stam stack even more heavily than i already do :P
bring on change. its good for all of us.
so do bears get parry now? i mean if a bear only gets to stack dodge via agility, and you gimped dodge, and we cant parry though a boss can parry us, it would make sense, or stop a boss from parrying us. Also, if you take away armor pen, what will happen to all the stuff we have worked SO VERY HARD to get over the past year.... are they worthless now? are they converted? are they a fair conversion for the different classes that found them to be usefull in the past? or is it like the 5k we spent on epic flight only to have it lowered in cost for those that came in the future? Please dont turn this game into nothing but a flash of bright lights and pretty colors, some of us enjoy taking the time to learn our chars in order to benefit from it in the end. I chose a druid "-bear" so that i didnt have to press 1 button over and over and over to be good at whatever part i cared to play.... I learned what i am able to do through studying what you had available, dont take us back to atari days in the simplicity of this game.
So let me get this straight, HP envy will be gone? Does that mean everyone non-plate will be increased to plate level HP or will plate be lowered? If so who is going to survive the 23k hits?
Just one question: Since Warriors gain rage through attacking, and DK's get runic power through attacking, how will the haste help that regen, as those resources build up, instead of being consumed? Will that make the windfury totem a moot point for non-casters?