So this is one of those rare times where I'll probably spend time talking about both classes. I promise eventually there will be a normal post, but then again, maybe that kind of post won't end up being normal. I haven't done this whole blog thing much in a while :)
Mages
Arcane Blast stacking effect is no longer considered a Magic effect and will not be dispelled.
Mage Armor: Now grants 50% of mana regeneration while casting.
Talents
Arcane
Arcane Meditation: Now grants 17/33/50% of mana regeneration while casting.
Fire
Ignite: The damage done by this talent no longer receives modifications from effects that increase or decrease damage done by a percentage.
Pyromaniac: Now grants 17/33/50% of mana regeneration while casting.
Frost
Improved Water Elemental: Renamed Enduring Winter. Instead of the Water Elemental increasing mana regeneration for the Mage’s party, casting Frostbolt now has a 33/66/100% chance to provide the Replenishment buff to up to 10 people in the Mage’s party or raid.
Glyphs
Glyph of Arcane Barrage: Reduces the mana cost of Arcane Barrage by 20%.
Glyph of Deep Freeze: Increases the range of Deep Freeze by 10 yards.
Glyph of Ice Barrier: Increases the amount of damage absorbed by your Ice Barrier by 30%.
Glyph of Living Bomb: The periodic damage from your Living Bomb can now be critical strikes.
Glyph of Mirror Image: Your Mirror Images gain the Winter's Chill talent, granting their Frostbolt spell a 100% chance to apply the Winter's Chill effect, which increases the chance spells will critically hit the target by 1% for 15 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.
General
Added a new recipe for the Titansteel Spellblade.
Added a recipe for enchanting staves with spell power.
Thunder Capacitor again requires four charges.
---
Warriors
Taunts: All player or pet-generated taunts now have a shared diminish category.
Battle Stance: Now increases armor penetration by 10%.
Berserker Stance: Now increases damage taken by 5%.
Charge: Duration of stun effect now lasts 1.5 sec. This effect no longer has diminishing returns.
Defensive Stance: Now reduces damage caused by 5%.
Disarm: This ability now disarms ranged weapons as well.
Heroic Throw missile speed increased.
Intimidating Shout: Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes.
Shattering Throw: This new warrior ability, trainable at level 71, deals damage the same as Heroic Throw, but also causes the victim’s armor to be reduced by 20% for 10 sec. (stacking with Sunder Armor). If the victim is immune, it will remove that immunity instead of dealing damage and reducing armor. Costs 25 rage, only useable in Battle Stance, 5 min cooldown.
Talents
Arms
Blood Frenzy improved to 2/4% increased damage.
Deep Wounds: The damage done by this talent no longer receives modifications from effects that increase or decrease damage done by a percentage. The base weapon damage used in the calculation will still be modified by those effects.
Taste for Blood: Will now proc 33/66/100% of the time with a 6 second cooldown.
Protection
Last Stand: Cooldown reduced to 3 min.
Glyphs
Glyph of Bladestorm: Reduces the cooldown on Bladestorm by 15 sec.
Glyph of Enraged Regeneration: Your Enraged Regeneration ability heals for an additional 10% of your health over its duration.
Glyph of Last Stand: Now reduces the cooldown of Last Stand by 90 sec.
Glyph of Shield Wall: Reduces the cooldown on Shield Wall by 3 min, but Shield wall now only reduces damage taken by 40%.
Glyph of Shockwave: Reduces the cooldown on Shockwave by 3 sec.
Glyph of Spell Reflection: Reduces the cooldown on Spell Reflection by 1 sec.
Glyph of Vigilance: Your Vigilance ability transfers an additional 5% of your target's threat to you.
---
General
Increased the health granted by the Flask of Stoneblood.
New Advanced features for quest tracking are now available. Players will need to activate this option within the Interface panel.
Hearthstone: Cooldown has been reduced to 30 min. down from 60 min.
Thunder Capacitor again requires four charges.
So what does it mean to me?
This is an exciting time to be a warrior, but first I think I'm going to look at mage changes. I can't be as in-depth about them, because I'm only 74 on my mage, but you can have my thoughts anyway.
Since starting the grind to 80 on my mage, I've learned that it's a big no-no to use Mage Armor in groups, but I have to admit even in kara/badge gear from BC and around a 13k mana pool, I can easily go oom on trash even, just ABing my way ot oblivion. I mention this because if I'm reading this correctly, Mages can now have 100% mana regen while casting. Maybe this will help me not oom myself out of the DPS charts in groups :)
Fire seems tobe getting a closer look, though not many changes have been made for them yet. That will be nice, since they've flown under the radar since 3.0. I've always loved the Arcane tree, and I'm happy to see it finally be an accepted spec, but I hate to see how fire just kind of disappeared. Who knows, I might even try out fire again, if they don't mess it up by taking a close look. I'm still in a wait and see mode on that. Personally, I'll leave frsot to the PvP group.
I'm kind of excited about the titansteel spellblade. I can't recall having seen a blacksmithing pat for mages until now.
Warriors, I'm not forgetting about you. I don't think I've seen Blizz buff a class so definitely in a while. Despite all that buffage, only a little love for the prot tree. It's a nice change, though, 5% of our damage is given back to us. I'm not concerned about the taunt, since it has been stated that it's only a 15 sec. DR, so it's more like a bug fix, preventing people from trivializing encounters by passing the boss around and rarely getting hit.
Overall I'm excited about the changes coming with 3.1, and look forward to seeing what goes live.
