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Originally Posted by
Ariavo
Before I say anything go read up on the changes, I summed up the changes that affect Arms Warriors in PvP here:
•Taste for Blood has been redesigned. It now causes the Warrior to gain 2 stacks of Overpower (maximum of 5 stacks) when Mortal Strike deals damage or the target dodges, and no longer interacts with Heroic Strike. It now requires level 20 (was level 50).
•Slam now deals 220% weapon damage (was 190%).
•Shockwave now has a 40 second cooldown (was 20 seconds), striking 3 or more targets will reduce its cooldown by 20 seconds.
•Second Wind now causes a Warrior that has been reduced to 35% health or lower to regenerate 2% of their health per second (was 3%), and now generates 15 Rage over 10 seconds (was 20 Rage).
•Warbringer now reduces the target's movement by 50% for 15 seconds (8 seconds in PvP) in addition to its other effects.
•Storm Bolt now deals 125% weapon damage (was 100%).
•Glyph of Death from Above no longer increases the damage dealt by Heroic Leap.
First of all we can see that Blizzard thinks Shockwave has too much control atm by doubling the cooldown to 40 seconds. Hitting 3 or more targets will reduce its cooldown by 20 seconds, that's fun, but not very realistic in most Arena situations. A decent but very different alternative for Shockwave is Dragon Roar. A very strong damage ability but has a 1 minute cooldown, which I think won't replace the control Shockwave has. I can see many Warriors going Dragon Roar next patch because of the Shockwave nerf. In the end it's all about your comp, playstyle and preference. Í will probably stick to Shockwave.
The Second Wind nerf is a nerf that everyone knew was going to happen before MoP even came out. I don't think it's going to affect Warriors too much, at least, not in 3s. In 2s Second Wind is really strong and it will have a slight impact. I wouldn't be too worried.
Many high rated Warriors are already playing with the Storm Bolt talent right now, leaving Avatar behind. The % of Warriors that will choose Storm Bolt above Avatar is only going to go up with the 25% extra weapon damage increase and the nerf of shockwave. Control is only going to be more important with the overall nerfs of cc. I'm personally already playing with Storm Bolt, not liking the long cooldown of Avatar. It's very good for kills but also for peels.
With the Warbringer buff of slowing a target for 50% for 8 seconds I would say this is a no-brainer now. Glyph of Death from the above no longer increases the damage of Heroic Leap. No triple 50k crits anymore? Unfortunate.
Taste of Blood gets redesigned and thank God for that. Stacks didn't make any sense anymore after the nerf. It seems Mortal Strike, Overpower and Slam are the 3 abillities that can build up synergy without an annoying off-global Heroic Strike that you only use when you have one stack. The weapon damage of Slam gets increased by 30% aswell so there will only be an increase of damage.
Conclusion: Warriors will be affected by the control nerf but won't have any loss in damage and perhaps even an increase with the redesign of Taste of Blood and the increased damage of Slam (I'll have to play PTR for any of that information). The Shockwave nerf doubles its cooldown so the ability will have to be used very efficiently. Many will swap from Avatar to Storm Bolt and perhaps leave Shockwave behind for more burst with Dragon Roar but in the end, like I've mentioned before, it's all about your playstyle, comp, and preference.
Please leave behind more information if you have any and your thoughts about the Warrior changes.
I greet you.