There are several reasons to get exited about when a new patch is on the way. There is always new content to look forward to, usually new raids, instances, scenarios, bosses, or if we are really lucky all of them. There is also generally more story line added to the game, achievements, and much more.
Most of us would be kidding our selves though if we didn’t admit that the most important thing added with a patch is new gear! After all what excites most players more than finding new and more powerful gear to upgrade their character with.
So what kind of items are set to be added to World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria when patch 5.2 moves from the PTR to the live game?
New Heirloom Items
Not high level new raid gear, but almost as important for many of us with numerous alts to level up, there are new heirloom upgrades for purchase. The old heirlooms stopped providing their boost to experience at various levels but all stopped by level 80. These new ones grant an experience boost all the way to 85.
They are expensive though so be warned. They require you to have the old version of the heirloom and an additional amount of justice points to upgrade it to the new version. While the points do add up, most players will have a pile of justice points just sitting there anyway, so it is something to spend them on.
There are a lot of great items that are of a lot of use as you level up. Many players opt for the weapons since you will then not have to keep finding new weapons while levelling, but keep in mind that the weapons do not provide an experience boost. Therefore I would focus more of the pieces that do such as the chest and shoulders.
New Crafted PVP Gear
For those into the PVP scene there are several new pieces of PVP gear that can be created by players with the proper professions. These are all item level 458 PVP focused items that are part of the season 12 crafted sets.
These items should allow players to get up to speed PVP wise with enough PVP power and resilience to at least cope with the PVP scene. In addition there are some good looking models to go with them, so if you are looking to transmog a cool set, these may offer some useful looks.
Item level 429 Troll Items
This one is only important for players looking to get items for transmogrification as far as I can tell, however it does make it far easier for them. Many of the old Amani troll items from Zul’Aman and Zul’Grub had a cool look that players loved. Now that those are old instances, getting the items for transmogrification can be tough.
The models have made their return as item level 429 gear found on the various trolls added in the new patch. So if your looking to complete a transmog set, make sure you keep your eyes open for them, I am sure they will start showing up in the Auction Houses soon after the patch goes live.
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 130px;">
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 130px;">
The new Druid and Mage tier 15 sets
New Legendary?
While a new legendary item has not been found yet in the PTR, a new legendary quest chain has been found. The quests are part of the legendary quest chain that has been strung through the Mists of Pandaria expansion from Wrathion.
While there is no guarantee (in fact it is unlikely) that you will be granted a legendary from this patch’s round of quests, we will be getting something new from Wrathion. I for one am excited to see what we get next.
Raid Gear: Tier 15 sets and more!
Ok, on to the big items for everyone out there that is into raiding. This is the section you are looking for. There will be brand-new raid tier sets added with patch 5.2, tier 15. Blizzard does not disappoint with the looks of them either, as many of the sets are amazing looking, even though there are 2 that I really don’t care for the rest look really cool.
Also, don’t forget that that a new raid means that in addition to all the new tier 15 items, there will of course be a whole lot of new items found in that new raid, the Throne of Thunder.
While many of the set bonuses are in place in PTR and being discussed by Blizzard in the official forums already, they are not set in stone and many are already changing on the PTR. Here is the conversation so far regarding the new set bonuses.
Ghostcrawler PTR Class and Set Bonus Issues
Druid
Were still iterating on this design for Wild Mushrooms. Currently, they each absorb 25% overheal, up to a max of 33% of the Druids max health (total of 75% / 100% with 3 Mushrooms out). This max size isnt working in build 16446, but we hope to hotfix that soon. Upon blooming, their accumulated healing is split over the targets they heal. Several parts of this arent yet working in build 16446, leading them to be massively overpowered (which we also hope to hotfix soon). Feedback, especially in future builds, is appreciated.
Mage
The Mage 2T15 bonus does favor taking Invocation, as people quickly pointed out, and were considering revising it.
The Arcane Mage 4T15 bonus is a multiplier on all of the effects of Arcane Charges. Damage, mana cost, and number of additional targets hit.
The Fire Mage 4T15 bonus is before Critical Mass. Net increase to your Pyroblasts crit rate will be +6.5%.
This build included a new version of Blazing Speed. We changed it from the previous build because we thought that it was too strong. This is definitely something were still iterating on for 5.2. The new version replaces Blink, but goes farther than Blink (and distance is variable instead of fixed), does not cost a GCD, and provides brief stun and root immunity, and is on a different spell school. Feedback from playing with it is very helpful. We realize that there is somewhat of a conflict here with the PvP Glove bonus, and will resolve that if needed.
Another talent were iterating on is Invocation; its quite possible that the current version is overpowered, but wed like people to try it out, and give us feedback about how you use it, especially as Arcane.
Hunter
The Hunter 2T15 bonus is a chance to summon a Thunderhawk. That Thunderhawk will assist you, and will always cast 5x Lightning Bolts for 16k to 24k Nature damage. Its damage will scale with BM mastery, and will not scale with Survival mastery. However, the proc chances (which are Real PPM) vary by spec: 0.7/min for BM, 1/min for MM, 1.2/min for Surv.
The Hunter 4T15 bonus is affected by Survivals mastery, cannot trigger Wild Quiver, and procs at a rate of 3 RealPPM.
Monk
Storm, Earth, and Fire is a new ability for Windwalkers. Its intended to be fill the role of attacking 2 or 3 targets. Its a rather complex ability, technically, and youre seeing a very early version of it that still has some significant bugs (which were hoping to hotfix soon). To give you an idea of the design intent here, the spirits should mirror your damaging attacks against targets other than the one theyre on (so that its not a single target DPS gain). The spirits auto attack on their own. It should reduce your and your spirits damage while theyre out, but the exact tuning for that is still being iterated on. Theyre currently -40% for 1 (total of 120% of normal against 2 targets), and -55% for 2 (total of 135% against 3 targets). Non-damaging attacks (such as Spear Hand Strike) should not be mirrored, but damaging attacks (such as Fists of Fury) should. Feedback very appreciated.
Rogue
We are still iterating on Blade Flurry. We feel like the implementation of Blade Flurry on live forces rogues to go Combat on any cleave fights, while leaving Combat too far behind on any single target fights. It's fine if the rogue specs have niches, but the niches shouldn't be so rigid that you don't feel like you have any choice in spec. Blade Flurry will be how Combat does 2-5 target AoE damage. In the next PTR build, it deals 40% of normal damage to up to 4 additional targets, for a 20% energy regen reduction.
The Rogue 2T15 bonus does apply to all finishers with a duration, including Slice and Dice, Kidney Shot, Recuperate, Envenom, and Rupture. In build 16446, the Kidney Shot increase was broken, but is fixed for the next build.
Priest
Shadow Priests have raised concerns about both of their T15 bonuses being tied to Shadowy Apparitions. Know that we have improved Shadowy Apparitions. Previously, there was a cap of 4 out at once. In build 16446, thats raised to 5 if you have 2T15. However in the next build, we just raised the cap to 10, which you should basically never hit. And more importantly, we significantly improved their AI. Please try them out. If they give you problems, please be as specific as possible about those situations.
Shaman
The Elemental Shaman 2T15 bonus triggers from Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning hits (including Overloads). A Chain Lightning that hits 5 targets has 5 separate chances to trigger the Lightning Strike. If it Overloads, then 10 chances. There is no ICD, so it can proc multiple times from a single Chain Lightning. However, in the next build (or perhaps a hotfix), the damage from the Lightning Strike will be split between affected targets. There is a very high potential impact from this set bonus, so were keeping our eye on this, and may have to nerf it. But were trying it this way, since it is the most fun version.
Warlock
Fel Armor has a significant typo in its tooltip; we added the 10% damage reduction and took away the armor. The health and healing received are still increases, not decreases.
The new Glyph of Unstable Affliction reduces the cast time, but does not affect the GCD. Thus, it is not a DPS gain in a purely Patchwerk situation, but makes it harder to be interrupted, and allows you to start moving again slightly faster.
The Affliction Warlock 4T15 bonus increases the damage of Malefic Grasp itself, and the extra ticks triggered by it. Same with Drain Soul.
Warrior
The DPS Warrior 2T15 bonus has a RealPPM rate of 1.6 for Arms and 0.6 for Fury. It triggers all of the effects of enraging, including generating a Raging Blow charge, and 10 rage.
Death Knight
The DPS Death Knight 2T15 bonus has a RealPPM rate of 1.0. The Zandalari spirit it summons has damage and attacks similar to the normal DK Ghoul, benefits from Unholys mastery, does not replace your current ghoul, and you can have multiple of them up at once.
While the DPS Death Knight 4T15 bonus (increased Army duration) is on target, performance-wise, in most fights, its always challenging to have a set bonus improve a 10min cooldown. Were considering some additional changes to this, such as also lowering the channel time and / or rune cost. We understand this is a challenging set bonus to design, so we're going to have to iterate on it a bit.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.
