Heya guys!!  This is a short one, but a much needed post.  I’ve not gone in depth about the 3.1 changes as of yet for a very good reason.  The sheer scope of changes that they have implemented are crazy.  Some of the decisions that Blizz has made are quite honestly a bit out of depth, and lack good sense.  What am I talking about?  OK.  Let’s just look at 2 examples alone.  Death Strike the ability, and Dual Wield specs overall.

Death Strike

In the current PTR implementation DS is hitting *ALMOST* as hard a Obliterate hits on Live atm with diseases up.  It crits for the 8-9k on average.  And the healing?  Don’t get me started.  There are multiple, reliable, reports of DS crits healing a DK for 10-15k health without use of special cooldowns.  Now think about that for a minute.  You can work out a spec that will DS twice a rotation if you so choose.  What does that mean in PvP alone?  Forget tanking and PvE dps just for a second.  Do you really want to fight a target that twice per 10 seconds will self heal for anywhere between 4k to 12k health guaranteed?  No, it’s ludicrous.  This will not make it live.

Dual Wield Specs

The nerf bat hit DW hard.  Not just hard…but MEGA FRICKIN’ HARD!!!  They went overboard, big time.  Not only did they seperate away all of the driving talents that make DW what it is, but they also went and nerfed several of the DW talents that yielded so much extra for DW itself.  Most of the DW specs being discussed and tested atm simply do the same, or more damage, when you use a 2H weapon with them.  Will this be the final tally?  Probably not.  But even if so, Blizzard did post that they will correct the issue if they went to overboard.  And they also opened up discussion to the possibility of making one tree favor DW specifically, and then balancing that tree to make DW viable and equal to the rest.  But for this moment, it’s not doing too well.

Examples like these, and others like how the initial Plague Strike changes had it hitting as hard as a Scourge Strike (though it is physical while SS ignores armor), are simply stupid.  They can’t see the light of day.  They won’t.  So it isn’t that I am ignoring you guys, or hiding the truth of 3.1 from you.  It’s more along the lines that it just simply cannot go live as it is for DK’s.  Some things need drastic attention.  And some things have already gotten it.  Such as the PS Glyph that was part of the issue has already been nerfed.

I spent about…5 hours just reading up on DK’s yesterday.  I’ve also spent a few hours raiding on PTR as Unholy, and I also tried out a new “Shadowfrost” PvP spec yesterday as well.  Well, new to me.  But it’s been around for a few months now I think.  Quite effective.  I’ll be doing a post on it too.  When things settle down some, you’ll hear more from me on 3.1 guys.  Atm I am very hesitant to raise alarm bells because I think after the dust settles the 3.1 release will look different that the 3.1 PTR.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters

Tags: PTR