Everything Changes
I logged into the Beta server and found myself right where I had left off in Shattrah. But already I was different. All my gear had been changed and was now loaded with +STR, and all my talent points had been reset.
On Live I have 532 spell damage.
I have 16457 hit points.
Here are what my Melee and Defense tabs look like:
First things first, I had to respec. I decided to go with a Prot spec that was more of a Raid Tank spec. Respec fees are only 1c in Beta so I could afford to do that.
Once I had all my talents points arranged I looked at the results.
I took every Stamina talent I had in live but I have about 500 less HP because they changed Combat Expertise to give less Stamina. Not really excited about that, but I'm hopeful when they do the 'numbers pass' they will see if it's a problem.
I have about 1200 less mana.
My spell damage became Spell Power and went up by about 100.
My Attack Power and Hit Rating went way up. In addition, my Crit went way up. My Dodge went up, but my Parry and Block Rating went down.
My Defense is a problem. 481 isn't uncrittable against a level 72 or 73 (Boss). That's a problem for the 3.0 patch.
I switched my Band of the Stalwart Protector for a Ring of Sundered Souls and got to 489 Defense. That should suffice against anything but a Boss. Then I switched in my Belt of the Guardian and got over 490 and put my HP back over 16k.
Next I checked to see what new toys the trainer might have.
Your old Judgment spell becomes Judgment of Light and you have to train Judgment of Wisdom and Justice. Basically your Judgment debuff is independent of what you have Sealed. You can Seal of Righteousness and cast Judgment of Wisdom and get the Seal damage Judged plus put up the Judgment of Wisdom debuff.
Summon Warhorse was a new spell that teaches you to summon the Blood Elf version of the Level 30 mount. Here you can see it in the new Pet/Mount interface:
At this point I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by the whole Beta. I need to rethink my entire gearset and decide what is really better based on the new stats and mechanics.
I decided to go to the Isle of Quel'Danas to try the new stuff in a familiar surrounding. I did the "Kill 6 Demons" quest. The first big change I noticed was when I fought the large Fire demons. These guys usually give me fits on Live, but in Beta I was able to take one down without much problem. I did find myself going through my mana bar quite quickly. Of course I was questing in Tank gear. In live I would never solo in this gear.
Interestingly, you DO get XP for doing these quests and rested experience is working, but you don't start generating rested until your XP bar reappears.
The beta server is pretty laggy right now, but so far it's interesting.
On Live I have 532 spell damage.
I have 16457 hit points.
Here are what my Melee and Defense tabs look like:
First things first, I had to respec. I decided to go with a Prot spec that was more of a Raid Tank spec. Respec fees are only 1c in Beta so I could afford to do that.Once I had all my talents points arranged I looked at the results.
I took every Stamina talent I had in live but I have about 500 less HP because they changed Combat Expertise to give less Stamina. Not really excited about that, but I'm hopeful when they do the 'numbers pass' they will see if it's a problem.I have about 1200 less mana.
My spell damage became Spell Power and went up by about 100.
My Attack Power and Hit Rating went way up. In addition, my Crit went way up. My Dodge went up, but my Parry and Block Rating went down.
My Defense is a problem. 481 isn't uncrittable against a level 72 or 73 (Boss). That's a problem for the 3.0 patch.I switched my Band of the Stalwart Protector for a Ring of Sundered Souls and got to 489 Defense. That should suffice against anything but a Boss. Then I switched in my Belt of the Guardian and got over 490 and put my HP back over 16k.
Next I checked to see what new toys the trainer might have.
Your old Judgment spell becomes Judgment of Light and you have to train Judgment of Wisdom and Justice. Basically your Judgment debuff is independent of what you have Sealed. You can Seal of Righteousness and cast Judgment of Wisdom and get the Seal damage Judged plus put up the Judgment of Wisdom debuff.
Summon Warhorse was a new spell that teaches you to summon the Blood Elf version of the Level 30 mount. Here you can see it in the new Pet/Mount interface:
At this point I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by the whole Beta. I need to rethink my entire gearset and decide what is really better based on the new stats and mechanics.I decided to go to the Isle of Quel'Danas to try the new stuff in a familiar surrounding. I did the "Kill 6 Demons" quest. The first big change I noticed was when I fought the large Fire demons. These guys usually give me fits on Live, but in Beta I was able to take one down without much problem. I did find myself going through my mana bar quite quickly. Of course I was questing in Tank gear. In live I would never solo in this gear.
Interestingly, you DO get XP for doing these quests and rested experience is working, but you don't start generating rested until your XP bar reappears.
The beta server is pretty laggy right now, but so far it's interesting.
Comments
On any single target you will consume more mana. However in Beta I haven't found it to be a problem especially having BoS up at all times.
With the amount of Dodge you have from the pic of your stats as well as avoidance that only serves to make BoS proc's more for mana. On a single target or on more.
In Beta all the way to 77 so far one target is just too slow. I deliberately attack just about everything. If I get a caster it just dies first as well.
I quest and grind in Full Tank Beta gear since in Beta and just Tank gear with lots of Strength on it as well as is Defense. Relatively easy it's been. Got even easier after around 75 especially just wearing almost all WotLK gear. However I've also elected by choice to test leveling by just wearing almost all WotLK gear as well as tanking gear as well. At almost 78 leveling in Tanking gear is a piece of cake really with around 1600 AP and about 640 or so Strength.
Allot of players I'm seeing are almost 80 and still wearing some their BT/Sunwell gear. So it has value all the way leveling to various degree.
You should do just fine with all the good and high avoidance gear you have. As for 3.0 yeah guess you will have to switch gear or gems to get Uncrittable as needed.
Gratz on getting to Beta though. I guess Hammer time with "Hammer of the Righteous" till you get Shield of Righteousness.