[Patch 3.2] Quick Thoughs on Changes in New Build

AD Changed on the PTR

Ardent Defender: Redesigned. Any damage that takes the paladin below 35% health or below is reduced. This reduction applies only to the portion that pushes the paladin below 35% health (example: a paladin at 50% health takes a 40% hit; the first 15% hits as normal while the next 25% is reduced). In addition, once every 2 minutes an attack that would have killed the paladin will fail to kill, and instead set the paladin's health to 10/20/30% of maximum.

When I first heard the change, my initial reaction was ‘QQ got it nerfed’. But anyone who looked at the first pass of AD knew it couldn't and wouldn’t make it live like that. You can't really say something has been nerfed when it's still going to be better than what's on live now. The new AD will be a buff to Paladin tanks. The current form on the PTR is hopefully balanced enough to make it to Live.
I've never wanted Paladins to be overpowered tanks, just appoximately equal tanks. But come on, it would have been fun to have had the OP version of AD for a little while, wouldn’t it?

The change basically means that it will always work but only reducing the part of the hit that takes you under 35%.

It’s still better than what’s on Live. On Live, it doesn’t work at all if it gets leapfrogged. If a hit takes you from 36% to 0% AD wouldn’t do anything and you’d die. The new AD you still might die, but at least AD will have absorbed some of the damage.
I also love that we can now monitor through the combat log how much AD is saving us. World of Logs shows Absorbs as Heals so I can see that in my healing done report.

Bottom line for me is that I can tank anything I’ve put myself up against in the game so far. The new AD, even with the PTR changes is better than the old one. I still get the Guardian Spirit affect on a 2 minute cooldown.

Faction Switch

Didn’t see that one coming. As much as I love Lore, Modus, and the rest of our Blood Elf contingent on Maintankadin, I just don’t think I could bring myself to make Honorshammer a Blood Elf. If all my friends went Horde I’d have to reroll, probably a Druid or Warrior. I think it will be great for people who want to switch sides to run with friends without having to level up again.

Although if you think about they have to put in the bits of code to change your race, so race changes within a faction (Dranaei to Dwarf for my Hunter) would be in the mix.

Extending Raid Lockouts

This is a brilliant idea. Basically, it’s Monday night, and you didn’t quite get all the Bosses down that week you wanted to. You can extend your raid lockout and not have your instance reset. So a slower progressing guild could spend two weeks in the same Raid. Basically, you could take 2 weeks to clear Ulduar and all your progress from the first week is saved and you don’t have to repeat those bosses the second week. I love it.

Engineering Buffs

I’m thrilled for the Engineering buffs that are coming in 3.2, but I don’t regret dropping the profession at all. Having two production professions was really hard. Yes, I had a gatherer alt, but he only had a slow flyer. Plus, I’d have to go consciously go farm with him. With Honors now a miner, I just grab Saronite and Titanium as I’m flying around doing other stuff. It’s more fun. I miss being an Engineer, but I’d much rather be a JC. Mining is staying.

Threat Stats

Math geniuses Theck and Jasari have been playing with the MatLab code for Paladin threat. Let me give you their conclusions:

• SotP is still a weak talent, unless they change it in the future to affect the 5-stack SoV proc. As it currently stands, the order is still One Handed Weapon Specialization > Touched by the Light > Crusade > Conviction > Seals of the Pure > Reckoning
• Crusade specs are still king. Even 1 Conviction + 3 Crusade is stronger than 5/5 Seals of the Pure.
• 5 Seals of the Pure + 5 Reckoning isn't a bad option if you aren't going more than 6 points in Ret. If you're going deep enough to get Vindication or Pursuit of Justice though, 3 Conviction+3 Crusade would be even stronger.
• Reckoning is still our weakest threat talent, but it's come a long way. It's now 32 TPS per point, almost as good as Seals of the Pure's 37 TPS per point.
• STR is still our best threat stat
• Block Value from gear is our second-best threat stat, in terms of itemization points. It's far worse point for point though.
• Hit and Expertise are #3 and #4 in terms of itemization. They're both solid threat stats, and are the last of the "good" threat stats.
• AP is "mediocre," ArPen, Agi, and Crit are all "weak," and Haste/SP/STAM are all "bad."