PvP Power Nerfs in 5.3, and Other PvP Stuff for 5.4.

Update for Patch 5.4

Battle.net says:

PVP Season 14 arrives with Patch 5.4, which means a few different things. First, Season 14 Grievous gear will become available. Elite versions of Season 14 Grievous will also be available as a mark of prestige for players that reach a personal rating of 2,000 and earn 27,000 Conquest Points over the course of the season, and the non-Elite pieces will no longer be a pre-requisite to purchase them. The prior season’s Season 13 Tyrannical gear will be available for purchase with Honor Points, while Season 12 Malevolent gear can now be crafted. Finally, equipping any pair of PvP trinkets from Season 12 or later will grant a 10% reduction in damage taken from other players.

As of Aug 27 patch 5.4 is still in the PTR, but here are the changes that are likely to happen when it goes live on Sept. 10.

• Base Resilience now reduces damage players deal to others players by 72% (up from 65%). This gives damage (DPS) classes zero reason to gem for Resilience. Remember that PvP Power was nerfed in 5.3 (see below) and that the value of the PvP gems was cut in half in 5.3. They now provide stats at the same rate as Str or Int or Ag.
• Battle Fatigue now reduces healing for players that are engaged in PvP combat by 55% (up from 45%).
• Season 14 Grievous gear is now available. (What an awful name, but not as bad as “dreadful.”)
• Elite versions of Season 14 Grievous are now available as a mark of prestige for players that are able to attain a personal rating of 2000 and earn 27,000 Conquest Points in the current season. Pricing per piece remains the same, but the previous piece requirement has been removed. The Elite gear is just a cosmetic change, the gear isn’t actually “better” than the other gear.
• Season 13 Tyrannical gear can now be purchased with Honor Points.
• Season 12 Malevolent gear can now be crafted. For the Crafters: I assume the recipes will have to be researched and that previously learned “Dreadful” recipes will not be upgraded.
• Equipping any pair of PvP trinkets from Season 12 or later will now grant a 10% reduction in damage taken from other players. Note that this will give players a reason not to use PvE trinkets.

Arena: There’s been various changes to the Arena system. The most important part is that players will no longer need to create or join an Arena team to compete. Similar to the Rated Battleground system, players in a party of the appropriate size (even cross-realm!) can queue for an Arena bracket of the same size as their party (2v2, 3v3, or 5v5).  Go here for more:  Patch 5.4 Arena Update.

Here are the official 5.4 pvp patch notes.

There’ve been some changes to PvP in patch 5.3.

This will change your gearing, gemming, and maybe enchanting choices. It seems to me that this will make high level PvE gear valuable in some PvP situations, if it’s significantly higher level than the PvP gear that you have. Go raiding, get the hot gear, hop into the BGs and be competitive.

Resilience

• Resilience has been removed from most PvP gear.
• All characters now have a base Resilience of 65%.
• Resilience gems and enchants will continue to be available. PvP gems have been nerfed by 50%. See below.
• 4-piece PvP set bonus for all Season 12 and 13 armor sets that granted 1000 Resilience now grants 1000 PvP Power instead.

PvP Power

• PvP Power will remain exclusively on PvP gear.
• PvP Power conversion ratio to obtain 1% damage at level 90 has been changed from 265 to 400. Basically this means that PvP power is worth 2/3 of what it was before. Along with the PvP gem nerf this will give you good reason to use pure stat gems Vs PvP Power gems. Your 160 Int/Ag/Str will be worth much more than the 160 PvP Power on blue gems.
• PvP Power bonus to healing is now based on class and specialization.
  • Healing specializations (eg: Resto Druid) receive a 100% bonus to healing from PvP Power.
  • Damage specializations (eg: Feral & Balance Druids) for Druids, Monks, Paladins, Priests, and Shamans receive a 70% bonus to healing from PvP Power.
  • All other specializations (eg: Guardian Druid) and classes (including tanking) receive a 40% bonus to healing from PvP Power.

Enchants and Gems

• The amount of PvP Power and Resilience on gems and Mystic Cogwheel have been reduced by 50%. PvP Gems are now the same value as gems with your primary stats.
  • Stormy gems
  • Mystic gems
• Glorious Tyranny weapon enchantment now grants 600 PvP Power instead of 400 PvP Power and 200 Resilience. The Res. portion has been eliminated.
• New weapon enchantment: Bloody Dancing Steel is functionally equivalent to Dancing Steel, shares the same visual effect as Glorious Tyranny, costs a scroll of the base Dancing Steel enchant, and requires a 2200 rating. The only difference is in the visual effect.
• New weapon enchantment: Spirit of Conquest is functionally equivalent to Jade Spirit, shares the same visual effect as Glorious Tyranny, costs a scroll of the base Jade Spirit enchant, and requires a 2200 rating. The only difference is in the visual effect.

PvP Gear

• Tyrannical weapons no longer have a conquest-earned prerequisite to purchase them.
• Tyrannical Gladiator’s Tabard and Tyrannical Gladiator’s Greatcloak are available as new prestige items at 2500 rating for 1000 Conquest Points.
• Season 13 Tyrannical gear had their item levels increased to ilevel 496, up from ilevel 493. Weapons and shields/off-hand items remain unchanged at ilevel 498.
• Season 13 Tyrannical Elite gear had their item levels decreased to ilevel 496, down from ilevel 512.

Misc. 

• Battle Fatigue now reduces the amount of healing and absorbs by 45%, up from 30%.
• Big Zokk Torquewrench has returned from his leave of absence.
• Glorious Conquest Quartermasters (Acon Deathwielder, Ethan Natice) have returned after refitting their wares.

PvP Changes in patch 5.3

A rundown of the 5.3 changes:

Hansol discusses Fire Mage gemming, but this should be applicable to any class and spec.