Blizzard dove into the changes coming to tank Warriors in patch 11.1: Undermine(d). The main focus of the changes is to make the spec easier to play. Blizzard are doing that by reducing the required Actions Per Minute of the spec. From reducing burst Rage generation so Shield Block and Ignore Pain aren’t spammed as much as frequently to Shield Slam resetting too often, the explanations go in-depth on the reasoning behind it all.
Thank you all for your feedback! It’s valuable and heard.
Protection Warrior requires a very high APM to play currently, and we feel that the APM requirement is too high. High APM, especially from frequently pressing abilities that are off the GCD like Shield Block and Ignore Pain, can be uncomfortable or even painful for some players.
One of the culprits in driving APM up is high burst Rage generation which feeds into dumping excess Rage into Ignore Pain. This is what has driven many of the changes we’ve made, cutting down on burst Rage generation and moving more of it into steady sources so you should always have enough Rage for mitigation and your rotation, without frequently dumping excess into off-GCD abilities.
The other major culprit is the frequency of Shield Slam resets via Devastator and Strategist. Not only is Shield Slam the primary source of Rage generation, Shield Slam is also the highest priority ability for Protection Warriors. The more time that Shield Slam is available, the less time you have to use procs like Revenge! and Sudden Death or spend excess Rage on Revenge. The previous 30% reset rate makes Shield Slam more prominent in the rotation than we’re happy with and leads to other procs stacking up and Rage accumulating while the Warrior is trying to keep up with their Shield Slam resets. This also puts more pressure on off-GCD abilities to serve as Rage dumps, as opposed to abilities like Revenge. We feel that reducing Shield Slam’s prominence in the rotation will allow for Revenge and other abilities to fill the rotation and serve to consume excess Rage.
We’re monitoring Protection’s performance, especially the tuning of Ignore Pain and total damage. The Rage income changes affect other talents like Anger Management, and we’re working to keep all aspects of Protection competitive following these changes.
Thanks again for the many helpful feedback posts here.
