I am going to do this in phases, first I am going to take a look at the Discipline Tree first.
Skills
- Divine Spirit is now a baseline spell.
Well I have to admit, I am a little surprised. Blizzard said they never would do this, as they wanted a Spirit buff to be a reason to bring a Disc Priest to a raid – even though Disc isn’t very Spirit Heavy. That at least frees up the talent point. Conclusion: Buff - Abolish Disease: Now cleanses a disease every 3 sec, down from 5. Duration reduced from 20 seconds, down to 12 sec.
Prevents 1 tick of the disease in between Abolish’s tick. It’s nice that they are now in line with each other. Game changing? No, but still technically a buff. Conclusion: Buff
Talents
- Penance (Tier 11) Damage increased slightly across all ranks.
Wait… people used this spell to DPS? Conclusion: /Boggle - Grace (Tier 9) now lasts 15 sec. (Previously lasted 8 sec)
Considering the CD on Penance was 8 seconds, you only had a gap of your Penance cast time to keep your Grace stacks up (if you didn’t cast Flash Heal). IMO, this buff is overdue. Conclusion: Buff - Rapture (Tier 8 ) revamped. Now a 3 point talent. When your Power Word: Shield is completely absorbed or dispelled you are instantly energized with 1.5% of your total mana, and you have a 33% chance to energize your shielded target with 2% total mana, 8 rage, 16 energy or 32 runic power. This effect cannot occur once every 12 seconds.
Interesting… the mana you get back from shields is only given to you if the entire shield is used up. There is no longer mana restored for effective healing done by GHeal, Flash, or Penance; which was traded in for 2% mana/8 rage/16 energy/32 runic power to your target when the shield is used up. (Could be interesting to cast it on yourself, eat damage… would you get both benefits?) Overall a nerf to the priest’s mana restoration since we lost the effective healing mana gains, but a buff to the target of your shield – I didn’t know rage was hard to come by anymore. /shrug Also we’ve removed the regen component from Aegis absorption. Conclusion: Nerf - Focused Will (Tier 7) now increases spell critical strike chance by 1/2/3% in addition to its previous effect.
Three points for 3% Crit… tough one. I suppose if you are lacking in crit this is an easy way to gain some, however coupled with Renewed Hope, and Holy Specialization its a 12% crit on your holy spells, then add in stats and gear. Conclusion: Buff - Reflective Shield has been moved from Tier 7 to Tier 5. It is now a 2 point talent and causes 22/45% of the damage you absorb with Power Word: Shield to reflect back at the attacker.
PVP talent, near useless in PVE since it only reflects damage done to the Priest not the Tank. Conclusion: Neutral - Improved Power Word: Fortitude (Tier 2) now also increases your personal stamina by 2/4%.
Nice for SPriests and Holy Priests who can’t reach Enlightenment currently. Free survivability. Conclusion: Buff - Enlightenment (Tier 6) is now a 3 point talent and now increases your total Spirit by 2/4/6% and increases your spell haste by 2/4/6%. (Previously a 5 point talent)
Removed the Stamina buff, and was moved to Imp Fortitude, however now only costs 3 points instead of 5 points, and you cap at 6% now instead of 5%. So you free up points AND get an additional 1% Spirit/Haste? Win. Conclusion: Buff - Meditation (Tier 3) now increases mana regeneration by 17/33/50%. (Previously 10/20/30%)
No surprise due to the nerf to Spirit-based regeneration. Conclusion: Neutral - Unbreakable Will (Tier 1) now reduces the duration of Stun, Fear, and Silence effects done to you by an additional 6/12/18/24/30%. (Previously 3/6/9/12/15%)
Unless we see some more Fear casting Bosses (a la Archimonde), this is a PVP talent. Conclusion: Buff - *New Talent* Improved Flash Heal, Tier 7, 3 point talent – Reduces the mana cost of your Flash Heal by 5/10/15%, and increases the critical effect chance of your Flash Heal by 4/7/10% on friendly targets at or below 50% health.
Coupled with the Glyph of Flash Heal, Flash Heal is now incredibly mana efficient. And a crit bonus to boot? Who needs a pally? Conclusion: Buff - *New Talent* Soul Warding, Tier 5, 1 point talent – Reduces the cooldown of your Power Word: Shield ability by 4 sec, and reduces the mana cost of your Power Word: Shield by 30%.
For only 1 Point, you get a notable cooldown on your shield. (while Weakened Soul will still be up on your MT, the reduced cooldown can help you get more shields out during heavy AOE fights). Then add on the 30% reduction of mana, its quite nice. Coupling this mana reduction, with Mental Agility for another 5% reduction, and Aspiration, PW: Shield is now even more tasty. Conclusion: Buff
Discipline Glyphs
- Glyph of Fear Ward — Reduces cooldown and duration of Fear Ward by 60 sec. (Old: 30 sec.)
PVP Glyph unless we see an increase to bosses who can fear. - Glyph of Inner Fire — Increases the armor from your Inner Fire spell by 50%. (Old: Increases the charges on your Inner Fire spell by 20.)
PVP Glyph, yay more armor?? - Glyph of Penance *new* — Reduces the cooldown of Penance by 2 sec.
Further reduction in one Discipline’s most sought after spells. Score! - Glyph of Pain Suppression *new* — Allows Pain Suppression to be cast while stunned.
PVP Glyph – take that Stunlock!
Another random thing that is changing, and me being a very visual being I am looking forward to the change to the Animation and Sound Effect for Power Infusion. Lame, perhaps, but let me relish in the little things.
Also, Aegis now stacks on itself, capping at 10,000 hp absorption. Nice buff there too!
Interesting Disc changes…. interesting.
Tomorrow: Holy Changes
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