With the changes to spell pushback, Blizzard is moving in the right direction it seems with casters. Itemization in the game as it stands right now is somewhat annoying. A lot of the time there are +healing only drops that put magic user DPS out of the picture or +dmg/healing drops that might just be an upgrade for a healer but wouldn’t dare roll on it over a magic DPS class. Then there’s hybrids like druids, shaman, and paladins that are running around in cloth armor just to keep up with their own damage or healing.
Enter Spell Power. (src)
- For classes which do not heal, they should see no change in the character sheet other than new tooltip wording.
So basically this translates to very awesome. There will no longer be loot that is DPS or Healer specific in regards to stats. Everything will have the same spell power. Talents will be the deciding factor.
A lot of people are crying foul and complaining that with this change, fighting for loot priority is going to be a nightmare where many different classes have a legit desire for the same gear. I don’t really see that as being any different than it is now to be honest.
This change means great things for a priest that wants to heal for his raid, but would also like to respec into Shadow for PVP or questing. All he would have to do is keep the same gear he’s wearing but change his talent points so that all the collected spell power is now adding bonuses to his healing rather than damage. Loot as well is much easier to get because it’s pretty much everywhere. Crafters are getting very solid items they can provide, the new badge loot will be available, dungeon drops, reputation gear, the list goes on. And from everything I’ve heard on the new Naxxramas, it’s going to have MANY bosses with an extremely large loot table. Loot whores will be pissed, but their opinion doesn’t matter.
Also: Hit Rating, Critical Strike Rating, and Haste Rating now modify both melee attacks and spells. (src)
This is a GODSEND for hybrid classes that suffer the most when it comes to itemization. Shaman will be able to synergize much more with melee and spell damage, paladins as well will be able to utilize the same boons, and even druids will have more options in gearing at their disposal.
So far so good for classes that can heal and DPS, no more need to have an entire different set of gear in the bank.
[...] Spooncraft on New Stat Changes in Wrath of the Lich King Explained: Spell power and more. [...]
[...] Spellpower: -The death of spell damage and spell healing -Healers have litte to fear, healing spells themselves are being adjusted to give roughly the same output when you had +heal -Cons: healers will have to fight mages/warlocks for +stam, mages/warlocks fight for +spirit/mp5 -Pros: in theory any loot that drops will be useable by somebody instead of being called “so and so loot” and being disenchanted -Read a bit more about the pros and cons of the change [...]
At first I didn’t like this change. . . but having been on the PTR some with my pally. . . well now I’m mixed.
On one hand as a pally any plate that drops with spell power is still prob considered “healer” loot since blizzard nerfed spell dmg ret pallies a few patches ago. But now if a “+spell power” piece drops, instead of rolling against only the priests, druids or shammies, I now have to roll against mages & locks too? What will likely happen is the priests will demand that healers can only roll on the highest for of armor you can wear (pally plate, shammy mail, druid leather) because priests are gonna have a hard enough time rolling on cloth against the other cloth wearing dps.
Well to be honest that’s the way I have always dealt with loot rules in every guild I ended up leading or raid running.
9/10 times it’s always been random roll class priority which to me means you roll for armor within your armor class (plate, mail, leather, cloth) and if it’s going to be sharded or nobody within that armor class needs it for their main spec than it’s up for grabs by all.
Looking at the new mechanics and spells though that paladins get (using pally as an example here) I can see a ret paladin having some spell power gear. Plate is unique though because if plate with spell power drops there is only one class that can use it since death knights only use strength, crit, hit, etc and their spell’s damage (death coil and dots) are affected by their attack power.
so spell power is the new +dmg/healing stat but you can tell what pieces are for what class.
priests will have cloth with spirit + mp5 and spell power
warlocks will have stamina + hit and spell power
mages will have intellect + crit and spell power
leather’s easier. it’s either got rogue stats on it or it’s got moonkin stats. blizzard already said they are not making leather with strength for bear druids because it’d just muck up the loot world more than it needs to be. druids can spec for more tanking stats or spec for dps stats. but that’s their lot.
more than anything right now shaman and hunters are going to feel the crunch because enhance shamans (like me) need AGI+INT+hit just as much if not more than hunters do.
I think a big con to this whole change will be boomkin druids in arena. They will do the expected amount of damage because they are boomkin, and they can easily switch out and heal just as well. Looks like the 2v2 bracket is going to be full of warrior druid teams again in Season 5.
This is going to fill a huge hole for the Elemental Shamans. When I started raiding in BC, I took a look at the loot tables. Until you get to Black Temple there is only one or two items of casting mail that drop. Compare that to the nearly full sets of healing/attack mail you can get in each of the T4/T5 dungeon series. I specced resto so as to not have to rely on the T4/5 piece rolls and badges to get my loot.
This is rediculous. It was hard enough as a priest for me to aquire 3 piece Tier 6 and equiv without having to roll/bid dkp against mages and locks at the same time… This is absurd imo…
what would i consider taking up if i only want to do self help like gain riches with harm to noone and have protection