5.4 Changes and Notes as of 7/10

[Omaric 246]

Yay!!!

[Zagam 1,982]

In case you missed it, GoSac has already been announced to be a nerf for Affliction (30%-20%).  Your "prediction" is correct lol

[Kaboozey 16]

In case you missed it, GoSac has already been announced to be a nerf for Affliction (30%-20%).  Your "prediction" is correct lol

 

Yeah, we kinda talked about it before when I called it an Affliction nerf, and we ended up talking about various class scaling abilities being stupid (GoSac and the 30% mage crit bonus specifically).  This graph popped in my head back then with Affliction now being very cyclical in terms of power level (wavering between "Krillin" and "over 9000!").  You'd think they would have learned back in what... Burning Crusade I believe is when they nerfed Taurens from scaling total health (including gear stam).

[Darthsoul 3]

So far my experience in ptr although brief demo has insane aoe for any add fights. DS x2 with demo burst aoe equals crazy high dps even in nerfed gear.

[Zagam 1,982]

Of course.  They haven't adjusted Demonology yet.  Most of the AoE scaling happens in short bursts which acclimates well to the 100% damage buff to Mannoroth's Fury + Dark Soul.  Since those effects are multplicative and Demonology stacks Mastery, you find intense periods of AoE.  While AoE is nice for some fights, it's always good to know how good a spec is single target.  We'll see how they wrap everything up in the next couple of iterations.

[Wolland 1]

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/10158897/54_PTR_Patch_Notes_-_August_14-8_14_2013

 

Updated to 14/Aug.

 

I suppose the days of the affliction warlock without pets are over, and the multi-target fights will be affliction's to own. The changes to soul swap and KjC are welcome. Mastery becomes important again to fit Zagam's play style.

 

Is the new glyph of havoc any good? (3 additional charges but 35 secs cd), can it be applied to 3 targets at the same time?, it says "additional", does that mean 4 charges in total then?

 

I'm not sure Demo would get an adjustment. Destro's RoF has been adjusted, but I haven't seen yet the compensation they promised, unless I missed something. So either there are more class changes incoming, or...  :(

[Zagam 1,982]

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/10158897/54_PTR_Patch_Notes_-_August_14-8_14_2013

 

Updated to 14/Aug.

 

I suppose the days of the affliction warlock without pets are over, and the multi-target fights will be affliction's to own. The changes to soul swap and KjC are welcome. Mastery becomes important again to fit Zagam's play style.

 

Is the new glyph of havoc any good? (3 additional charges but 35 secs cd), can it be applied to 3 targets at the same time?, it says "additional", does that mean 4 charges in total then?

 

I'm not sure Demo would get an adjustment. Destro's RoF has been adjusted, but I haven't seen yet the compensation they promised, unless I missed something. So either there are more class changes incoming, or...  

Pretty sure they're trying to make all 3 specs use pet talents again.  They're all relatively close, so you can play as you want.  I don't think losing 1-2k DPS taking Grim of Sac makes it an undesirable choice.  KJC really shouldn't be taken unless it's a very heavy movement fight.  I'm thinking 40-50% constant movement, then MAYBE you take KJC.  Fel Flame is very good now and makes a solid swap from MG, Incinerate, and Shadow Bolt during movement.  Archimode's Darkness will be the default raiding talent because it doubles our only DPS CD uptime while Mannoroth's Fury will be very nice for burst AoE.  Mastery's value is going to change drastically with the drop of UVLS.  Haste's value will also not be as high going into 5.4 with the RPPM adjustment as to how Haste affects those uptimes.  I think we're going to see all 3 stats pretty close for all 3 specs.

 

Glyph of Havoc is only going to be an increase if your opportunities to use it have at least a 60 second interval.  If you get a secondary target once every 60 seconds or more, then it'll be attractive.  Otherwise, you lose Havoc uptime.  Right now, you get 3 charges every 25 seconds.  With the glyph, you get 6 charges every 60 seconds.  You can see with some simple math, your charges per second go down with the glyph, but that fact is negated if you only need to use it every 60 sec.  It will function just as it does now...one additional target, 6 charges.  6 Incinerates, Shadowburns, Conflagrates, Immolates, etc. or 2 Chaos Bolts.

 

Destruction will be buffed.  It almost has to be.  It was the spec behind before the RoF adjustment, and some piddly 10% to Immolate isn't going to make it up.  Expect a 9th inning adjustment to Destruction; otherwise, the spec just won't be played much.  Demonology won't likely be touched because it's already been violated with the RPPM change which essentially gutted UVLS. 

[Zagam 1,982]

Ok, now I don't get it.  Was Affliction so shitty somewhere? 

 

Agony is now +16%, up from +10%

UA is now +21%, up from +10%

DS is now -34%, up from -40%

MG is now -34%, up from -40%

 

Why is Affliction continuing to get buffed?  Spriests saw a sizeable buff to DoTs as well (SW:Pain + 25%, VT + 20%).  Just feels...weird.  The Spriest one was necessary...more Aff buffs?  I just feel like we're going to get smacked back down soon.

[Wolland 1]

Thanks Zagam for the insight, it helps me a great deal with catching up with changes once 5.4 lands, as I'm usually waiting until the last minute to learn what's new.

 

Does soul link on 5.4 only transfers dmg one way: player -> pet, and not the other way around (pet -> player)?

[Zagam 1,982]

Soul Link will be awesome in 5.4.  It transfers both ways, but remember that your pet only takes 10% dmg from AoE stuff.  During AoE damage, you're essentially cutting your damage taken in half.

[Kaboozey 16]

Demo has gotten some *small* gains through Corruption buffs.  Maybe a few more will put it back into the arena of being better than simply a Demonic Fury generator.

[Zagam 1,982]

+10% to Corruption doesn't do shit for Demonology.  It's still just a fury generator.  At 545 item level on Megaera, I saw an average hit of 8500 and an average crit of 17,800.  +10% to that would add 850 and 1780 to each.  122 ticks of the normal version and 65 ticks of the crit version would add (122*850) + (65*1780) = 103700 + 115700 = 220k damage.  Fight duration was 4:46, so that's a DPS gain of 800.  Still negligible.  The Corruption buff is for Affliction.

 

Demo lost an Imp to Imp Swarm and UVLS modifications.  Demo will see a small hit to its DPS.

[Lappenforce 0]

Seems like affliction will be the go-to spec once again. I can see demo viable only in fights where AoE burst is needed, such as durumu/lei shen. Simple multitarget and/or singletarget fights affliction will rock I guess.

Edited August 15, 2013 by Lappenforce

[Wolland 1]

Seems like affliction will be the go-to spec once again. I can see demo viable only in fights where AoE burst is needed, such as durumu/lei shen. Simple multitarget and/or singletarget fights affliction will rock I guess.

 

Yup, so we can enjoy the green fire spells we so much worked for... oh wait...

[Zagam 1,982]

Still don't know why a greenish purple Malefic Grasp wasn't implemented.  Just ride your Felsteed everywhere.

[Omaric 246]

Because it's not fire.  :P

[Watermasta 7]

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/10158897/54_PTR_Patch_Notes_-_August_14-8_14_2013

 

Updated to 14/Aug.

Can we get a copy/paste for those of us who are websensed.

[Omaric 246]

Can we get a copy/paste for those of us who are websensed.

 

Here's the entire warlock section:

 

General

• Corruption damage has been increased by 10%.
• Demonic Gateways are no longer attackable once more. The debuff from using a Demonic Gateway has been increased to 60 seconds (up from 15 seconds).
• Fel Armor no longer reduces all damage taken by 10%.
• Fel Flame now deals 13% more damage, costs 2% less mana, and no longer increases the duration of damage-over-time spells.
• Immolate damage has been increased by 10%.
• Rain of Fire now has a reduced chance to generate Burning Embers.
• The Codex of Xerrath now infuses additional spells with fel magic (green fire effect).
  • Summon Felsteed, Summon Dreadsteed, Summon Abyssal, Demonic Fury, Dark Apotheosis, and Demonic Leap.

Affliction

• Agony damage has been increased by 16%.
• Drain Soul no longer energizes Soul Shards from the pets and guardians of players, and now deals 34% less damage. If other periodic Affliction damage effects are triggered by Drain Soul, they now deal 60% of their normal damage (down from 100%).
• Haunt now deals 50% more damage, and increases damage done by all of the Warlock's damage-over-time spells against the target by 45%.
• Malefic Grasp now deals 34% less damage, and causes all of the Warlock's other periodic Affliction damage effects to instantly deal 30% of their normal periodic damage (down from 50%).
• Nightfall now gives Corruption a 10% increased chance to generate a Soul Shard on the most recently applied Corruption.
• Soul Swap no longer does any damage, and now copies damage-over-time effects instead of just moving them without needing a glyph. Copied effects now once again preserve their power and duration. Duration has been reduced to 6 seconds (down from 20 seconds).
• Unstable Affliction damage has been increased by 21%.

Demonology

• Dark Soul: Knowledge now increases the effects of Mastery: Master Demonologist by an additional 30%.

Talents

• Archimonde's Vengeance has been redesigned and renamed into Archimonde's Darkness.
  • Archimonde's Darkness gives the Warlock's Dark Soul spell two charges.
• Grimoire of Sacrifice no longer affects Drain Life.
  • For Affliction Warlocks, Grimoire of Sacrifice now increases the power of various single target spells by 20% (down from 30%).
• Harvest Life no longer replaces Drain Life. Harvest Life is now a passive talent that increases Drain Life's damage by 50%, and healing by 150%. The talent no longer turns the ability into an area-of-effect spell.
• Howl of Terror is no longer a talent and is now a baseline skill for all Warlocks.
  • Demonic Breath is a new talent replacing Howl of Terror. The Warlock sends out a cone of Shadow damage, snaring targets, has a 20-second cooldown.
• Kil'jaden's Cunning no longer reduces movement speed, and will now allow the Warlock to cast Incinerate, Malefic Grasp, and Shadow Bolt while moving.
• Mannoroth's Fury is no longer a passive ability. Mannoroth's Fury now has a duration of 10 seconds with a 60 second cooldown, and increases the area of area-of-effect by 500% and increases damage by 100% for Hellfire, Immolation Aura, Rain of Fire, and Seed of Corruption.
• Soul Leech can now also activate from Shadowburn, and caps out at 15% of the Warlock and their pet's maximum health (down from 100%).
• Soul Link now transfers 20% of damage taken by the Warlock to their pet, and 3% of all damage dealt by the Warlock will be returned as healing for the Warlock and their pet. This ability is always active while the Warlock's pet is active.

Glyphs

• Major Glyphs
  • Glyph of Dark Soul has been replaced by Glyph of Curse of the Elements.
    • Glyph of Curse of the Elements causes Curse of the Elements to hit 2 additional nearby targets.
  • Glyph of Everlasting Affliction has been replaced by Glyph of Eternal Resolve.
    • Glyph of Eternal Resolve: Changes Unending Resolve into a passive ability that provides a constant 10% reduction to damage taken.
  • Glyph of Fear no longer causes Fear to have a cooldown.
  • Glyph of Imp Swarm now summons 4 Wild Imps (down from 5 Wild Imps).
  • Glyph of Shadowflame has been replaced with Glyph of Unending Resolve.
    • Glyph of Unending Resolve reduces the damage reduction of Unending Resolve by 20%, and the cooldown is reduced by 60 seconds.
  • Glyph of Soul Swap has been replaced with Glyph of Havoc.
    • Glyph of Havoc: Havoc gains 3 additional charges, but the cooldown is increased by 35 seconds.

Class Armor

• Warlock Tier-14 4-piece set bonus now reduces the cooldown of Unending Resolve by 20 seconds.

[Watermasta 7]

Danke!

[vaeevictiss 17]

so wait, mastery is good again for aff locks? I know for a while again it was a haste/mastery balance.

 

So im guessing my 30%+ haste is just way too much and i should reforge/gem into mastery again?

[Omaric 246]

I can't see why haste would be bad at this point.  More Corruption ticks in the same amount of time = more chances at soul shards.  Even though MF and DS are getting nerfed, you still can't discount their damage and the way haste interacts with them.

[Zagam 1,982]

Haste = more ticks of DoTs, but at the expense of Mastery.  Haste was overvalued in 5.3 because of its effects on the meta and trinkets.  Mastery is going to be significantly better because of the increase to Agony, UA, and Corruption while Haste goes down in value.  Since Haste and Mastery were close when Haste was worth more, Mastery will trump Haste going into 5.4.

 

The amount of Mastery you give up to gain one additional tick for Corruption comes at a steep cost.  Going from +2 ticks to +3 ticks costs 4500 secondary stats.  That would equate to 15% reduction in Agony, Corruption, and UA damage.  That loss isn't going to be made up by an additional tick of each, and that doesn't happen.  Another 4500 rating is needed to get to +4 ticks, so you give up the same amount. 

 

The proc chance of Nightfall can be set up with a simple distribution P=0.1 and n = number of ticks you get.  The base number of ticks is 7, so if you look at the chance to get 1 proc in at least 9 tries, the chances of you getting a proc are 1-(1-p)^n = 1-.9^9 = 1-.3874=.61=61%.  So your chance of getting a proc is 61%.  If you increase this to 10, your chance goes up to 1-(1-p)^n = 1-.9^10 = 65%.  Not sure a 4% increase in an RNG is a better choice over guaranteed damage.

 

Math for number of procs with Nightfall at 10%:

 

1 tick = 10%

2 ticks = 19%

3 ticks = 27.1%

4 ticks = 34.4%

5 ticks = 40.9%

6 ticks = 46.9%

7 ticks = 52.2%

8 ticks = 56.9%

9 ticks = 61.2%

10 ticks = 65.1%

11 ticks = 68.6%

12 ticks = 71.8%

13 ticks = 74.6%

14 ticks = 77.1%

15 ticks = 79.4%

16 ticks = 81.5%

17 ticks = 83.3%

18 ticks = 85.0%

19 ticks = 86.5%

20 ticks = 87.8%

 

It's also to note that as you increase the number of ticks, the probability gain per additional tick gets proportionally less.  This also factors in to why Mastery will be better than Haste.  Haste has a behavior that follows a logrithmic curve while Mastery is linear. 

[Omaric 246]

Yes, but that's strictly factoring in Corruption.  You *do* get more ticks from every full duration MG and DS at certain haste levels, right?  Those ticks are all related to your mastery as well.  I'm still seeing a healthy relationship between the two stats, but I'm just talking based off my feels. 

Edited August 15, 2013 by Omaric

[Zagam 1,982]

Right...but Haste doesn't affect the damage of the extra hits within MG and DS.  Remember, the hits on MG and DS were reduced, so that factor is less.  MG and DS don't gain ticks with Haste (for some stupid reason) and only decrease casting time, which essentially is the same thing, but it doesn't calculate the same with Haste v Mastery.

 

One thing is clear, the difference will be, as always, minor.  And Crit is still shit.

[Omaric 246]

I've always found that kind of funny.  "Secondary stats aren't that big of a deal, but don't get crit, FOR IT SHALL RUINZ YOO!" (complete exaggeration)

 

I know what you're saying, but people that aren't well informed would take the fact that crit is such a no-no to mean that secondary stats really are important to think about.  Which, they definitely can be for sure.  For example, being a troll with free haste and going for higher mastery, I can explode on my opening for over 1 million DPS.  I don't think I could come even close to that if I focused on mastery, but as long as you completely avoid crit, it's hard not to get at least of 10k of each stat at 543+ ilvl.  So, situational is situational and all that "blah blah" that we all know and have heard before.