09.11
I would like to begin today with a little history lesson.
BOOOO…no one likes history, just tell us what we need to know.
Relax, it’s going to be quick. Remember in BC and (for the most part) before patch 3.1? I know it was awhile ago but think hard. Remember when Armor Penetration (ArPen) was…awful? Seriously, ArPen was arguably the worse stat in the entire game and you might as well have avoided it like the plague (save for Grim Toll which actually gave enough of it to make up for it’s general weakness as a stat).
You’re boring me buddy. So ArPen used to be bad, I remember, what’s your point?
My point, my patient-deprived, figment of my imagination, is that in patch 3.1 ArPen received a significant buff: A 25% increase in the effectiveness of ArPen.
Alright everyone, here is the short skinny
The short skinny?
Yeah, it’s a phrase, it means “here’s the deal”
I’m pretty sure you just made that up.
Maybe. Anyway, here’s the deal. Gear and stat scaling are getting a little out of hand, at least a bit more absurd than Blizz originally intended and the buff to ArPen turned out to be too much, so they’re nerfing it. Sad but true, such is life, etc, etc.
So, we can whine, we can complain or we can suck it up, look at the numbers and figure out what (if anything) we need to do.
Oh lord, you’re going to do math now aren’t you? No way man, I’m out of here.
Fine. Good riddance. So, here are the current ArPen numbers according to Elitist Jerks:
Hard Caps
85% armor penetration (Mace spec) – 1047 armor pen rating
Mace spec provided the extra 15%
Soft Caps (Mjolnir Runestone)
85% armor penetration (Mace spec) – 382 armor pen rating
These are soft caps because Mjolnir provides 665 ArPen during it’s uptime (1232-665 = 567) so any ArPen above these caps is wasted during the proc uptime (which is significant).
So, the patch 3.2.2 nerf:
Currently, 1 ArPen Rating ~= .08% Armor Reduced (100/1232, rounded for simplicity)
Reducing this by 12% we get: 1 ArPen Rating ~= .07% Armor Reduced (.08 – (.08 *.12) again, rounded for simplicity)
So, what are our new caps?
Hard Caps
85% armor penetration (Mace spec) – ~1191 armor pen rating
Soft Caps (Mjolnir Runestone)
85% armor penetration (Mace spec) – ~519 armor pen rating
So, what we’re looking at it about ~150 or so more ArPen to reach the caps (depending on your setup). Is the cap still attainable? Probably. Is this a nerf because it is going to cost you other stats to obtain it? For sure. Is this a bad thing? Well, if you think all nerfs are bad, then yes, but really, no. It’s a balancing act (and it doesn’t just affect rogues, all us melee -and I guess those silly hunters- are going to feel it too).
So there it is: History and Math, what a joyous day! Don’t forget to study for your Science test next week.
Awesome explanation thanks Zaltu
I think its great that they are bringing armor pen more in line with the other stats. The stat was becoming so inflated that even mutilate rogues were considering it. I’m hoping that this would bring us away from that mindset a bit…but if the stat altogether will disappear with the expansion I guess we’ll have to talk about all this all over again.
I also have an additional request. It’s more geared for mutilate rogues but there has been some talks of weapon swapping coming back into play esp with the change to master poisoner. With DP no longer being used by envenom with 3/3 to MP there are people who are thinking of swapping for a different poison granted you have a OH of similar ilvl. I guess I just wanted to know your thoughts on the matter. Thanks!
Hey Zaltu, is there any benefit to putting 1 combo point in Vigorous instead of Relentless Strikes, or perhaps Lethality. Ive always done full talents except for the 1 point in Throw spec. Just wondered if it was too small a diff to matter.
-Wolverstone (llane realm)
Theirs zero reason to put a point in vigor over relentless strikes as it is only beneficial at the start of the fight because after that you should never get near 100 energy let alone 110 energy. And if you are energy capping your doing something wrong and losing a lot of DPS.
Weapon swapping. Short answer is it DOES increase your dps but only SLIGHTLY and that is assuming you do it perfectly, if you don’t you will end up losing dps… IMO it is not worth it since the gains you will see are less then 100dps.
I guess what we really wanna know is if it’s still worth gemming whole arpen or go back to agi/ap.
Agree with yean.. Ive tested it out for some weeks now, capped on all but going back to fist/dagger and trying ag with rupturless spec for a while now.
T8 armpen spec stacked with maces OR Stacking Ag etc in Evisc.spec? With offsetgear (loosing T8 and setbonus) and without maces.
I’d also like to know if its worth it to gem ArP instead of agi/ap. Specifically for a sword/axe combat rogue who’s focus is maxing dps for raids/boss fights. I know theyre dropping arp as a stat for cataclysm, but for the meantime?