Patch updates for DKs

Patch notes updates via MMO Champion. Overall its more interesting to read and reflect that as much as it appears that players are getting more, you’re essentially not getting a huge amount here at all. But then its a patch note, so the world should not be shocked or moving; its all still very early.

Death Knight

• The Bloodworms summoned by Blood Parasite now have 200% more health and heals for triple the amount.
• Strangulate cooldown has been reduced to 60 seconds, up from 120.
• The Frost and Unholy tier-14 2-piece set bonus has reduced to 4% (was 10%) increased damage on Frost Strike, Obliterate, and Scourge Strike.
• The Frost and Unholy tier-14 4-piece set bonus now increases the chance to trigger Sudden Doom and Killing Machine by 30%.

Hmm.

• Bloodworms are a favourite of mine, but I rarely think they matter too much. Perhaps this is to address this. All buffs are welcome, and that is a significant buff.
• Changing Strangulate to have a shorter cooldown is great, I can really see that being used with more complex boss mechanics. There have been times (Empress Wind-bastards) when an extra interrupt would be great, except its on cooldown.
• The t14-2 for Dps changing from 10% to 4% is questionable, and I suppose only Blizzard has the true data on how much of a nurf/buff is intended from t14-2 set. Will 4% be enough to make the choice of a Tier item more important than equivalent item level gear? Well that depends on the other stats involved and the spec. If that same item has gobs of Mastery and you’re a Frost DK then I doubt it will be useful.
• The t14-4 for Dps is far better than farting around with Army of the Undead. Good or bad remains to be felt, but it is better than attaching a 4-set bonus to an ability which is only useful rarely, and often reviled and misunderstood by other players.

And some misc notes to ponder:

Raids, Dungeons and Scenarios – Heroic Pandaria dungeons now award 100 Justice points per boss. Gold drops for those bosses have also been changed from a static 50 gold to a 40-60 gold range. Less gold will drop in groups consisting of less than 5 players.

Justice bump is good. Farm that justice to upgrade…no wait that NPC is removed in 5.2. So I guess we farm Justice to heirlooms for Alts we don’t have time to play? Or what the hell else do we do with Justice points? More Valor too? Nah, of course not.

Items

• Transmogrification rules have been broadened for several weapon types.
  The ethereals that offered to upgrade items using Valor or Justice points have departed Azeroth for the moment. They may yet return in a future patch.

  • Two-handed axes, maces, and swords can be Transmogrified to each other.
  • One-handed axes, maces, and swords can be Transmogrified to each other.
  • Staves and polearms can be transmogrified to each other.

• The cost of Valor Point gear introduced in patch 5.0 has been reduced by 50%.

• The cost of Valor Point gear introduced in patch 5.1 has been reduced by 25%.

Spiffy. And yet not spiffy at all.

No upgrades to gear anymore. Well I hope the ilevel dropping from 5.2 LFR is much higher than Normal & Heroic mode HoF and ToES, otherwise we’re shit out of luck for upgrades. Seems an odd choice.

Transmog relaxed for some items. Not really relaxed far enough to allow DKs to appear to use Polearms, when there are only Agi polearms in the last few expansions but DKs can still use them. Meh, no big deal but an irritation.

The cost reduction for Valor gear is welcome, except that the 5.1 Valor gear had really shitty itemisation, which meant that it was often worse than lower item level items. So go ahead and buy the 5.1 stuff to meet the LFR requirements, but you’re missing the point if you buy them thinking they’re the best.

And given I thought we were getting new Valor gear in 5.2 why would anyone buy 5.0 or 5.1 stuff at all? Please, please, please tell me we are getting more than Boots, Rings, and Tabards in 5.2 as purchasable for Valor.

I do not yet understand what the upgrade path is for players who raid Normal mode irregularly. We had LFR + Upgrades before as a way to stay competitive.

Oh, perhaps it is Valor farming for new items added in 5.2? Terrific, can somebody link me the URL to unsubscribe from the Valor grind Warcraft?

UI

• The Reputation panel on the character screen will now let players know which reputations they have purchased and used Grand Commendations for.

• There is now an option to show absorb effects (such as Power Word: Shield) on player, target, party and raid frames. This feature is currently enabled if you turn on the predictive healing option. Unlike predictive healing, absorb effects will display for enemy targets.

I asked for the viewing of the Commendations in a previous post, and really pleased to see this. Good. Showing the absorb affects is great too. Two small UI changes which are welcome.