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The 6.2 Patch Notes for the Various Classes. Buffed or Nerfed?

Patch 6.2, Fury of Hellfire, has arrived (June 23. ) This is official. So the class tweaks/buffs/nerfs below are pretty final. Except for the hotfixes. Buffed or Nerfed, that is the question, isn’t it? So let’s see.

Mastery got a lot of small nerfs and some basic strikes got buffs. Others got Mastery buffs and their attacked nerfed (Demonology!) I have no comments on whether any of the nerfs make any sense at all, especially to those Demo ‘locks.

There are a number of other changes in that patch, as well. This post just looks at the class changes and tweaks.

Drop down to the bottom to add your piece.

Updated for hotfixes through July 20.

Skip down to: Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior

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The Patch 6.1 Class Changes

Patch 6.1 has been around for a few days now. This is a summary of the class changes. All the other changes are on the Blizzard page.

As to the Why and Wherefore of the changes, here’s some Dev commentary:

Developer Commentary: A primary focus for class changes in Patch 6.1 is improving overall talent balance. Not every talent needs to be useful in every situation; and in fact it’s often better if they have strengths and weaknesses. But we do try to have each talent be useful in some situations, and make them close enough in value that if you really enjoy the gameplay of a talent you don’t feel like you’re dragging your group down by using it.

For these changes we focused primarily on tuning (tweaking numbers), and nearly all changes are buffs to underperforming Talents. The goal is to reach more variety of viable builds, without bringing down the existing popular choices.

Read on for the details.

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The Warlords of Draenor Warlock Changes

The Warlock in Warlords of Draenor

Gnome Warlorck for Warlords of DraenorWarlords of Draenor arrived on  Nov 13, 2014 (our WoD posts are here.) Are you prepared? Likely you will find the new system somewhat easier to manage. One of the goals of WoD is to streamline abilities and ease the issue of “button bloat” (too many buttons for your action bars.) Certainly they’ve done a lot of trimming and streamlining, but you will need to decide if it’s “better.” Certainly though we didn’t need a bunch of additional abilities clogging our bars, right?

You do have those new talents to play with, once you hit 100.

Warlock changes in Warlords are less than with most classes. They saw the most change of any class in Mists of Pandaria, and so were in need of less revision this time around. Even so, there were quite a few changes and a number of abilities removed.

Onward.

Skip to =>6.1 changes —  Stats — Ability Changes — Affliction — Demonology — Destruction — Talents — Glyphs — Perks — Misc

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The Warrior Changes in Warlords of Draenor

Undead Warrior Warlords BetaThe official release date for Warlords of Draenor (WoD) was Nov. 13, 2014. No there 6.1 patch has landed and a few additional changes were made.

The big change, as far as Warriors as concerned, is just the ten levels and the level 100 talents. Warrior tanks will lose their Vengeance, but will get a replacement, so should be fine. Ah yeah, lots of abilities are going away or being consolidated.

Arms Warriors, with their new Mastery, should actually feel more like Arms Warriors. Ditto Fury and Prot.

So are the changes good? Leave a comment and state your piece.

Skip to: 6.1 changes — Stats — Ability Changes — Arms — Fury — Protection — Talents — Glyphs — Perks

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The Shaman Changes Coming in Warlords of Draenor

New Dwarf Shaman for Warlords of DraenorWarlords of Draenor (WoD) arrived on Nov 13, 2014, and things changed, as they always do. What’s different this time is that there are very few new abilities and a number have been removed. There are the usual number of changes to lots of abilities, and some are now restricted to one or another specialization (spec.)

Your Shaman has new talents, new glyphs, and new “Perks,” along with all the other tweaks and pokes. One of the goals of the expansion is to “clean up” the ability list and smooth out the “rotation.” Do you think it worked?

Skip to:

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Priest Changes in Warlords of Draenor

As you likely know by now, Warlords of Draenor was released on November 13, 2014. You got access to those ten new levels, Garrisons, new this, new that, a lot of Orcs, and so on. One thing you didn’t get is a whole bunch of new abilities. In fact, you’re going to lose a few and a number of others will be changed.

You got a few new talents, though, and gained various “Perks.”

In general, Priests received several significant changes, mainly focused on reining in Discipline’s damage absorption shields, improving quality of life for Discipline and Holy specializations, and solving single-target damage issues for Shadow. All of the new abilities will be tested and we’ll eventually get an idea if those “improvements” really did the trick. It should also result in cleaner action bars and smoother rotations.

Skip to: Patch 6.1 changes — Stats — Ability Changes – Talents – Glyphs – Perks
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The Paladin Changes in Warlords of Draenor

Draenei Retribution Paladin wearing Battlegear of Winged TriumphThe changes came on Nov 13, 2014, for Paladins and everyone else.

So what’s happening with Paladins in Particular? For Retribution, not much. For Protection and Holy, quite a bit more. Bliz is doing a lot of tweaking to tanking and more to healing.

They’re also doing away with Hit & Expertise, adding new stats, and recalculating how your primary stats work. Nothing big with that last, but tanks might notice a drop in their Parry numbers and Holy will get a few less critical heals.

Otherwise, read on for the abilities that have been hacked, pruned, tweaked, or otherwise changed, plus the new talents and the new Perks and Glyphs.

And, after all that, more changes came with patch 6.1 and still others will come with later patches.

Skip to: Patch 6.1 — Stats — Abilities — Talents — Glyphs — Perks
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The Warlords of Draenor Monk Changes

Human Monk Grievous GladiatorMonks were just introduced in Mists of Pandaria, so what Monk changes could be needed for Warlords of Draenor? Let us count the ways…

Bliz is pretty happy with how Brewmaster Monks turned out, they’re a little less so with Windwalkers, but feel that they worked out fairly well, overall.

They’ll be focusing more on Mistweavers, to try and get them “just right.” (And why does that give you that funny look on your face? 😉 ) Yes, Mistweavers will be getting the lion’s share of the changes.

So what’s new? The new row of level 100 talents and the Perks, which are enhancements to existing abilities. Your stats will also undergo a few changes and, of course, there are a bunch of abilities removed and another bunch of tweaks.

Read on.

Skip to: Patch 6.1 — Stats — Abilities — Talents — Glyphs — Perks — PvP
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The Mage Changes in Warlords of Draenor

Undead Mage, Firelord GearWarlords of Draenor officially landed on Nov. 13, 2014 and is now up to patch 6.1.2.

The idea behind the changes is generally this: Bliz feels that button bloat (too many abilities on the action bars) has gotten unmanageable for most, so is working to trim that. What that means for your Mage is that some abilities are going away and other are changing in one way or another.

Also, Crowd Control has gotten a bit out of hand, in their view. Some of the various changes being made will reflect that view.

Will your Mage still be recognizable? Yes, just a bit streamlines. Read on and tell us what you think.

Skip to: Patch 6.1 — Stats — Abilities — Talents — Glyphs — Perks
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Hunter Changes in Warlords of Draenor

Many Hunter changes came with with Warlords of Draenor (which launched Nov 13, 2014.) This post covers those changes as well as the patch 6.1 tweaks.

Blizzard decided to do some cleanup on abilities and “button bloat” (too many buttons to reasonably use.) So they’re doing a little hacking and chopping and trimming and tweaking and… well, you get the idea.

They’re not revising the talent system this time around, or changing mana into focus, or anything that major. Generally it’s cleanup, reducing that button bloat, and so on. You’ll still be nearly the same hunter as before, hopefully just a little more streamlined.

Skip down to: General Changes — Beast Mastery — Marksmanship — Survival — Talents — Glyphs — Perks — Pet Changes — Patch 6.1 Changes
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