Originally Posted by
Kagthul
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ITT: People who have absolutely no clue how gear in PvP actually works.
If i could make Picard up there 20x bigger, i would.
Now.. templates. Dear god, the misinformation. This one isn't directly solely at any one of you, because Blizzard makes the process completely opaque and doesn't document shit... but you're completely wrong in how it works.
Brief tutorial:
When you enter instanced PvP, your base statistics are raised to a certain iLevel floor. This is BEFORE your template is applied. It was 800 at launch, then raised to 850 in 7.1.5, and 900 in 7.2. What this means is that your base stats (Int, Stam, et al) are factored as if every item in your slots is an iLevel 900 stat-stick.
THEN your Template is applied. This is why, when you see Blizzard's tuning numbers, Templates are expressed in percentages. (ex - "Intellect reduced to 73%") It is setting your base stats, determined when you zoned in at iLevel 900, to that percentage of the base. Stam tends to be over 100%, primary stats are usually severely cut (which in turn reduces AP/SP). The Template also applies a bunch of invisible auras that affect your spells and abilities (self-healing on a lot of abilities is cut by a blanket percentage, tanks take 25% more damage, period, etc)
AFTER your Template is applied, bonus stats from your Artifact Traits (the traits themselves, not merely having them - so a Trait that adds 3% stam, like a Blood Death Knight's "Meat Shield", for instance, applies now, as well as any bonus stats from your Honor Talents.
THEN your bonus stam for traits is applied. The first 34 traits worth of bonus stam and the bonus Stamina (only) from the first skill on your new medallion are now granted gratis - but any traits anyone has above 34 still grant an additional .75% stam that a fresh 110 wont have. (At least up until the first point in Concordance of the Legionfall - Blizzard said there is now a "diminishing return" on stam gains from traits, but it is a solid .75% all the way up to the first point in Concordance, at the very least).
After all this, the bonus % gain from additional iLevels is added. This percentage bonus is calculated from iLevel 800. So, if you have iLevel 890, you have 9% bonus stats. And this is a blanket multiplier to all stats, including Stam.
And this isn't even factoring in the power differential granted by Artifact Traits themselves. A Blood DK, for instance, that has unlocked the new Medallion (Carrion Feast, Vampiric Aura, and Souldrinker) is heads and shoulders more powerful than one who hasn't. You cant even factor this in to some percentage-based evaluation - not that you need to, the raw mix is hard enough.