black-smith
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Crafted Death Knight tanking weapons removed from PTR
One of the initial changes in patch 3.0.8 was the inclusion of Death Knight tanking weapons that could be crafted by a high level Blacksmith. As of the latest 3.0.8 PTR update, these have been removed. And all indication is that they'll stay removed. Ghostcrawler doesn't want Death Knights to hang onto the weapons throughout their time in Wrath of the Lich King, which is apparently what Blizzard is afraid will happen. The other issue with providing 2H tanking weapons was that Blizzard would have needed to start itemizing (putting tanking stats on and crafting gear for) 2H tanking weapons overall, and that's something they didn't want to do.The Ghost also points out that the new sigil and runeforge enchant should be enough to get the Death Knight defense up to where it needs to be.
New Blacksmithing patterns from the Beta
Elizabeth Harper was able to snap a few screenshots of the new Blacksmithing patterns from the game last night. The items all require at least level 75 and are of superior quality. That's good news for those that are looking to craft gear as they level – which can be a viable alternative to fill in certain missing pieces.You can browse through all the latest patterns below in our gallery. For a quick analysis however, take the piece that is featured in the right hand image of this article. They're tank legplates that have 1661 armor, 57 strength, 84 stamina, and 55 defense. No sockets or anything else like that. Let's compare it to the T6 warrior legs, which have 24 agility, 78 stamina, a red socket, 40 def, 41 parry, and 32 block value.%Gallery-28675%
