Patch 3.3.3 PTR: What the Vitality change means for warriors

Yes, another day, another set of patch notes for the 3.3.3 PTR. At present we're looking at the following changes for warriors:

• Revenge: Damage done by this ability (base and scaling) increased by 50%.
• Talents
  
  • Fury
    
    • Rampage: This effect is now passive instead of being a proc from critical strikes.
  • Protection
    
    • Vitality: Now boosts Stamina by 3/6/9%, up from 2/4/6%. Strength and expertise benefits have not changed.

The most recent change is of course the change to Vitality, making each talent point spent in the ability that much better. Frankly, I don't know a warrior tank without it anyway, so it's basically just a straightforward 'more betterer' situation. (Yes, I did butcher that particularly horribly.) But what it basically reveals is that while you may believe one thing or another about how warriors are faring as tanks (I'm personally not particularly upset about where I am as a tank right now) the fact remains that any adjustments being made are being made in small increments. Course corrections rather than radical changes in direction, you could say.

The recent change to Devastate (that required a hotfix to fully implement) lead to the Revenge change. Similarly, the recent hotfix to Paladins Sacred Duty talent (the class had the best stamina scaling because unlike other tanks they had two talents that affected it, Sacred Duty and Combat Expertise) leads directly to this recent buff to Vitality. Even with this change, Vitality won't provide as much health as these two talents maxed, of course, but it'll bring tanks closer which is clearly a long term goal of the tanking design in Wrath of the Lich King. It remains to be seen if this talent change makes it to live... I could see the strength being buffed to match stamina as a means to add more sustained prot DPS (one of their stated goals) or the change reverted totally. That is, after all, what public test realms are for, testing things.