Armor Pen Nerf

[Shadowwolf]

Just an FYI for you melee DPS classes

[blizzard author=Ghostcrawler link=http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=19717353372&sid=1]The nerf to armor pen in 3.2.2 is intentional. Compared to the recent buff where we increased the value of armor rating to 125%, this nerf would take it back down to 110%. While we are still evaluating the effects of this change in the 3.2.2 build, we did want to let you know of the possibility in case you were about to spend a lot on armor pen gems.

In fact, this was really the point. Several melee specs (and Marksman hunters) had begun to focus on armor pen at the expense of all other stats. Gear without armor pen was being passed over and gem sockets were increasingly being filled with just this one stat. While every spec has stats that are more valuable than others, this one felt like it was starting to trump everything. Not coincidentally, characters stacking lots of armor pen were starting to do more damage than their peers and more damage than we were comfortable with.

This change is largely for PvE reasons, though we won't cry at all if melee damage in PvP drops a little as a result.

We're letting you know now so that this doesn't feel like a stealth nerf, assuming it goes live. While you might disagree or be frustrated by the change (though I also suspect it won't come as a surprise to many players), we ask that you try and keep your response to something appropriate for these forums. [/blizzard]

[blizzard author=Ghostcrawler]There is rarely an ideal time to announce a nerf. In the case of e.g. the Prot paladin healing nerf, we had already decided we were going to fix it and how we were going to fix it so we announced it relatively early. The armor pen decision included more debate. I am sorry if the timing was bad for any of you personally, but we certainly can't promise that future nerfs or buffs won't necessitate gear changes.

I wouldn't focus too much on the issue of using too many of the same kind of gem. There are plenty of situations where that has been the case since BC (though it's not ideal in a perfect world). Rather the case was that classes that had been using Agi or Str or whatever were now switching almost exclusively to armor pen and being greatly rewarded for it. Gear without armor pen was being passed over. Specs that benefited a lot from armor pen were outstripping specs in the same class. As many other players have concluded, it was just too good.

That said, we don't think it will be a trash stat if we make this change. If you could beat plate-wearers in PvP before we don't think that will suddenly flip overnight. We don't think you'll feel the need to shard your items with armor pen.

We also think the change is good for both PvE and PvP. My earlier comment was to try and discourage players from thinking their PvE got nerfed for PvP reasons, though that absolutely happens sometimes when we can't avoid it. Some players have been concerned about the power of melee classes in Arenas. While this change alone isn't likely to sway their opinions, chilling out melee damage in PvP probably isn't a bad thing.

Yes, armor pen is gone in Cataclysm, at least as a rating on gear. Until then we want it to be a good stat but not one that trumps every other gear consideration. [/blizzard]

[Grendeel]

[blizzard]
This change is largely for PvE reasons, though we won't cry at all if melee damage in PvP drops a little as a result.

[/blizzard]

If this doesnt tell you anything about the state of casters in pvp nothing does

[Apolla]

Yet at the same time, without ArP- I barely tickle people in plate mail =/

It was nice while it lasted, though.  Maybe I will gem for strength and wreck them harder asking for armor pen nerfs =D

[Trismus]

I think it's good. Finally [item]Grim Toll[/item] wont be so damned important for warriors, and we might actually be able to stack meaningful stats instead of just ArP.

It would be nice to 2-shot clothies again.


-Tris

[Grendeel]

Yet at the same time, without ArP- I barely tickle people in plate mail =/

It was nice while it lasted, though.  Maybe I will gem for strength and wreck them harder asking for armor pen nerfs =D

Casters never asked for arm pen nerfs.  We get raped with or without it.  Once upon a time in a world where things made sense, clothies traded god aweful armor for superior dps.   Back then it was balanced and playable.  In the real world today, that dps was given to everyone and the armor remained the same.  On top of that they gave more and more snare and stun effects to melee to amplify their damage output and reduce ours.  Because casters cant get away, running through a cast became an extra silence ability as well.

Arm Pen wasnt even on the radar for a nerf as far as clothies were concerned  lol

[Docsamson]

As Gren said, all the classes stacking armor pen do it for plate/mail wearers.  It actually reduces damage output against cloth, because the way the math works, a plate wearer ends up losing more of their physical mitigation than we do.  After this nerf, when all the DPS goes back to stacking strength/crit/agility, it's actually going to increase melee damage vs. cloth, which is what was always most out of control.

[Trismus]

In order to hit ArP cap now it requires a truly absurd amount, including mace spec AND a t9+ 2 pc bonus (6% more arp in bstance).


Guess I'll be dumping that.


Tempted to just gem crit and get back up to 42% unbuffed... or I could add the ~800 attack power I was missing and start critting mages for 10k+


I don't think there will be too great of a dps reduction against mail/plate however. Yeah, there will be, but sunder is applied before ArP and is unaffected by diminishing returns. Combine that with the prot/holy nerf, the +5% crit size from using axes and the ~800 attack power and ~10% crit chance increase I'll be getting, and I will still be putting out some hurt. Or, worst thing that happens is I find a teammate or a pet and ss/spin as usual; that move will be even more effective because most pets have low armor.


There's ways to make it work, I think blizz was just removing a junk stat, or simply delaying ArP cap until icecrown citadel.