tanking-changes
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Warlords of Draenor: Clarification on the removal of Dodge
Following a question in a recent edition of The Queue, Technical Game Designer Chadd "Celestalon" Nervig tweeted some clarification on dodge in Warlords of Draenor: @oliviadgrace Dodge is removed as a stat on gear, not as a mechanic. Players can still dodge. Brewmasters will still Dodge a lot. - Celestalon (@Celestalon) February 15, 2014 It seems people may have missed that dodge is simply being removed as a stat, not as a mechanic. Players will still hit without hit, and dodge is just the same. It seems likely that base dodge will be how it works, or maybe dodge will scale off another stat, as it previously has off agility. Nonetheless, tanks who rely on high dodge, such as brewmasters and bears, have nothing to fear. What exactly will happen with dodge's interaction with expertise in PvP, we're not sure just yet. Expertise is a funny one thanks to its interaction with other removed stats, and how it's a removed stat itself, so further information is required! No miss/dodge against targets 3 levels above will be interesting in PvP with cooldowns like Evasion. All this just serves to reinforce the notion that Warlords changes aren't happening in a vacuum. They're changes, not isolated nerfs to one thing or another. They're looking to ramp everything down, not to pick on specific roles or classes. Sure, there are outliers that need additional changes, but it's all being done together. It's easy to forget that.
New changes to tanking cooldowns coming for Cataclysm
Blue poster Nethaera informed us today about a number changes coming to tanking cooldowns in Cataclysm (specifically, patch 4.0.3a). It seems an imbalance occurs in the current build when tanks stack mastery, leading to astronomical values of block. For now, specifics are only available for paladin, druid and warrior tanks. The post hints that cooldown changes for druid and death knight tanks will be coming later, once developers can get a better handle on the complexities of the classes' abilities. When asked for comment and analysis, Fox Van Allen's orc Grunk posited, "Me Grunk! Grunk fear change! Grunk smash!" Sadly, Grunk lacks the mental clarity to process the full meaning of all these forthcoming changes because as a warrior, Grunk does not stack intellect (and takes repeated physical blows to the head). If he did, the changes would be meaningless to him, as he'd have followed his dream and become an architect rather than becoming Orgrimmar's No. 3-ranked skull cleaver. In lieu of expert testimony from Grunk, we have the full blue post just after the break.
