wow Blue Posts Roundup: Apr 12

[Stan 5,240]

The latest blue posts roundup talks about mitigation changes in Battle for Azeroth, Legion Class mounts and minor bugs that will be reverted in future Alpha builds.

Holy Paladin Awakening Bug

Awakening puts Avenging Wrath on a 2 min cooldown. This is a bug that should be resolved in a future Alpha build.

Blizzard (Source)

This should be fixed in an upcoming alpha build. Possibly not the next one.

Legion Class Mounts in Battle for Azeroth

They will still be attainable after the new expansion launches.

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Mitigation Changes in Battle for Azeroth

Blizzard (Source)

Holy Shield doesn't actually work like this on the alpha. Not that you're wrong for asking--it's pretty confusing since it hasn't been updated thoroughly for the new block system. At the moment, it still does what it does on live and reduces a magic attack by 40%.

It might be more consistent in 8.0 if it blocked an amount based on the block value of your shield. But in any case, the magic portion of the talent shouldn't be affected by your armor in any way.

A few things about tank mitigation that came up in this discussion:

Magic mitigation, outside of major cooldowns like Shield Wall, is generally much lower this expansion. This is intended: the distinction between physical and magical damage is less "these are two parallel things that sometimes require different buttons" and more "this damage is different because it pierces many of your defenses." While tanks can still have some variance in the anti-magic tools, those tools are fewer than in the past and cap out at smaller amounts of mitigation.

Related to this, active mitigation is also making use of armor as a mechanic more often. There are a few reasons for this:
--It makes primary stat more important on tanks. So far in alpha, every tank except Brewmaster has an active or passive effect that turns primary stat into armor. This brings more consistency to the value of ilvl upgrades and other effects that increase primary stat. (TBD exactly how to handle this on Brewmaster)
--It allows us to make use of the fact that more difficult enemies (for example, endgame content later in the expansion) can demand more armor to reach a par level of mitigation (for theorycraft types--the "armor constant" can increase). This again allows for gear progression while keeping armor-related effects balanced at different tiers of content.

Block works similarly to armor. Its effectiveness now increases as you equip higher-ilvl shields with higher block value. Its effectiveness (as a %) decreases as you fight enemies that are meant for stronger gear. In particular, this makes a shield a more significant upgrade than it used to be, for the specs that use them.

In both of the above cases (armor and block), the plan is for the % mitigation they provide to remain roughly constant over the expansion, when in par gear for the content you are doing. Your % will be higher anytime your gear is ahead of the curve, and lower if your gear is behind.

PvP Info Coming Soon

Blizzard might have some cool PvP information to share with us soon!

Blizzard (Source)

Look if you are going to hang out here and meme with us can you please also relay legitimate concerns about the game back to the developers. It has been a long time since this community has been heard or acknowledged.

I'm always doing that. I just don't always have a lot to share at that moment. I can say though that we should have some BfA information to share about PVP specifically here pretty soon™.

Windwalker Monk Blackout Kick Cooldown

Blackout Kick cooldown will be reverted in a new Alpha build.

Blizzard (Source)

I cannot tell you just how awkward having a cooldown on Blackout Kick feels. 

Here's what I don't understand: Why is it that post-MoP, you guys at blizzard have done everything in your power to slow down Windwalker's rotation? They joy in playing a Windwalker, for myself at least, was the fact that I was always doing something. Rarely did I have dead spots in my rotation if I played it properly. It's not like we're sitting here spamming it multiple times in a row. You guys saw to that with our mastery. 

If it's a damage issue, lower the numbers, but PLEASE revert this change asap.

Sorry for not catching this thread sooner--the change to Blackout Kick cooldown wasn't intended, and should be reverted in an upcoming alpha.

[Valhalen 1,484]

43 minutes ago, Stan said:

They will still be attainable after the new expansion launches.

Ohhh that's good.

[Allseye 96]

Well i hope they don't do a big mess with this whole armor & block-stuff. It sounds there is a big potential for failure espacially in term of balancing the different tanktypes. I think this isn't as trivial as it eventually seems to be, so to be honest: i'm glad it isn't my job to develop such a mechanic :-D

[BaronOz 0]

Would like to see more love thrown Brewmaster's way, both windwalker and mistweaver have gotten their talents revisited and revamped whilst brewmaster has just had talents shuffled literally left to right with almost zero incorporation of artefact traits or legendary abilities "inspiring" any newfound abilities. Windwalker survived without its legendaries similarly with brewmaster and mistweaver, and yet has received three new talents each representing traits/legendary abilities. 

As a fan both conceptually and mechanically of brewmaster monks, please visit this idea and raise a toast for brewmaster's everywhere.