When the Dark Portal opened, everything changed. What was once powerful now had to contend with new and powerful forces that had not been seen before. In the chaos, some heroes have thrived, while others have been forced to adapt. The landscape has shifted and the only thing we can say for sure is that things aren’t the way they once were.
On that topic, we have three general remarks which we would like to start this blog with:
First off, even though you haven’t heard much from us, we have been paying close attention to what you have been saying, both in-game and on our Discord and Forum. Your feedback is important and informs the direction of our changes. Keep it coming.
Secondly, we would like to remind you that chaos is the breeding ground of opportunity. The fact that you need to update your previously acquired knowledge to stay on top of your game is a result of the meta shifting into something new and fresh.
Finally, we get that feeling forced to change how you play can be disheartening, and we are working to bring builds that have lost some of their power back up to being competitive. Over the next few weeks you can expect to see buffs to underperforming builds and archetypes, and new build-enabling Mystic Enchants.
Tier 4 changes
The tier sets for Tanks and Physical DPS have been reworked to better work for a Classless realm. The new stats are in the game, all you’ll need to do to see them is clear your cache. If you haven’t already, we recommend you download the Atlas Loot available from our Launcher. There you will be able to see and compare both the Normal and Heroic versions of the gear.
Here’s a summary of some of the bigger changes:
- The Warbringer Armor set is now itemized for Shield tanks. It gives lots of Block Value, among other things.
- The Warbringer Plate set has been added. This set is high in Stamina, Strength, Agility and also has some Hit, Dodge and Parry ratings.
- The Justicar Armor now gives Spell Power in addition to its defensive stats.
- The Warbringer Battlegear is now a Strength-oriented set. It no longer has Agility, but has increased Strength and Critical Strike rating.
- The Justicar Battlegear and Cyclone Harness sets now give Spell Power in addition to their melee stats.
On the topic of Set bonuses, you’ll notice that most of them are unchanged. Instead of creating powerful custom set bonuses we have decided to focus our resources on creating Mystic Enchants instead. That way it’ll be easier for you to test out the cool new interactions we implement, and if you like them you’ll be able to keep them even after getting gear upgrades. Win-win!
proc system: technical overhaul
We have implemented a solution that allows us to be much more flexible in determining how triggered spells and spell procs work. This change will result in proc effects being more consistent and their behavior easier to understand. That's all you really need to know, but if you're curious about the technical details you can continue below.
In order to explain a bit more of what has actually changed, we'll need to first define what we’re talking about. Let's say a particular weapon has a 10% chance on each hit to deal extra Fire damage. That chance on hit is what we refer to as a proc. This proc triggers fire damage, and that fire damage is considered a triggered spell. Procs and triggered spells are everywhere - you are probably familiar with the Clearcasting talent that procs a buff that reduces your mana cost or the Instant Poison temporary weapon enchant that procs a triggered poison damage spell.
Most procs should not (and do not) proc from most triggered spells. You can’t for example gain Clearcasting from damage triggered by Instant Poison. Instant Poison damage also does not proc off itself. This works just fine; so far, so good.
The problem however is that certain spells that should proc things are considered triggered spells, and therefore don’t. This is true for channeled spells such as Arcane Missiles or Penance, for some periodically triggered spells like Explosive Shot and for certain melee abilities such as the off-hand hits of Stormstrike and Whirlwind, to name a few. With this change, we are now able to decide not only whether a proc effect should proc off triggered spells, but to specify which exact triggered spells should or shouldn’t be able to proc the effect.
This change fixes a number of long-standing issues, such as Arcane Missiles, Penance, and Stormstrike off-hand attacks not being able to trigger any trinket or weapon procs, Explosive Shot not proccing Ignite or Fired Up, and much more. It also means that some effects currently proccing of triggered spells, such as the Growing Rage Mystic Enchantment, won’t get free procs from dealing damage with Poisons.
As a general rule, unless the spell tooltip states otherwise, procs should only work for spells and abilities that:
- Have a cast time or incur a global cooldown
- Have a mana, energy, or rage cost
Our goal is that this overhaul will be so smooth that you won’t even notice it happening. In the background, we are however changing a total of 2747 procs, which is pretty monumental. If you should encounter any bugs, make a bug tracker report and we’ll get it fixed quickly. With any luck, a week from now you will have forgotten about this and will already be used to the new and improved proc system.
