@Cataclysm stat change preview

#0 - March 1, 2010, 6:55 p.m.

Q u o t e:
Block Rating - Block is being redesigned to scale better. Blocked attacks will simply hit for 30% less damage. Block rating will improve your chance to block, though overall block chances will be lower than they are today.

Parry - Parry no longer provides 100% avoidance and no longer speeds up attacks. Instead, when you parry an attack, it and the next attack will each hit for 50% damage (assuming they hit at all). In other words, Dodge is a chance to avoid 100% of the damage from one attack, Parry is a chance to avoid 50% of the damage from two attacks, and Block is a chance to avoid 30% of the damage from one attack.

My question is, does this imply that all tanks will have a chance to block, dodge, and parry? Or will it continue to be a matter of druids will have more armor to make up for this, while deathknights will have a higher parry chance, etc.

Ghostcrawler

#123 - March 2, 2010, 6:45 a.m.

Tanks will still be required to tank raids and I expect most heroics. You're not in any danger of being upstaged by a dps spec who has slightly more armor and health than they do now.

Ghostcrawler

#141 - March 2, 2010, 7:33 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Being needed doesn't mean it's balanced. If tanks are doing 1/3 the amount of damage as a dps and only have an extra 10 or 20% hp. That doesn't really sound like balance to me. I know GC said we're in no danger of being upstaged. I'm not worried about losing my slot as a tank though just about the relative balance to dps. This is just my major concern atm. I would really like some clarification to exactly HOW much the difference between a tank and a dps will be.

I posted something similar in the Cataclysm forum, but let's look at actual numbers. A level 80 Prot warrior in Icecrown gear unbuffed has like 45,000 health and 30,000 armor. A level 80 mage in Icecrown gear unbuffed might have 20,000 health and 2000 armor. Yes, 2000 armor. We have a lot of room to narrow the gap a little. It's a big gap. :)