As the newest expansion for World of Warcraft approaches, Blizzard is continuously making changes to the World of Warcraft: Shadowlands alpha. Constantly testing more and more new content, there’s always something new to discuss.
The latest updates bring some radical changes to the Warrior class in the game, hitting one of the original classes with some new – and old – playstyles once again. Perhaps most interesting is that all three specializations are being affected, heavily changing the entire class.
The fewest changes are coming to the Protection spec, the tanking spec for the class. Primarily, the only change released so far of much substance here is a significant buff to the Ignore Pain ability, which will now cap at 2x value instead of 1.3x.
Fury, however, was given a drastic number of changes. One of the most significant things to notice is that Single-Minded Fury is returning, allowing players to choose to dual-wield one-handed weaponry again. You can read all about the change here!
That’s far from the only difference, however. For example, Recklessness will now generate 40 rage on use to help Fury warriors get their rotation up and running. Collateral Damage has also been completely redesigned to provide more viability.
Several talents have been changed as well: Inner Rage, Furious Slash, Wrecking Ball, and Fervor of Battle have all been removed and replaced with talents named Frenzy, Seethe, Cruelty, and Meat Cleaver. Additionally, Frothing Berserker, Onslaught, Dragon Roar, and Reckless Abandon have all been redesigned.
Moving to Arms, Deep Woulds will no longer scale damage. Instead, it will cause bleeding targets to take increased damage. Additionally, Execute will no longer inflict Deep Wounds, helping keep it an ability used to end a battle rather than stack damage.
Cleave has been given a cooldown and will replace Sweeping Strikes, but can be used more freely without Whirlwind. It also has gained the damage bonus from Overpower. Collateral Damage has also been redesigned for Arms.
Finally, Ravager will be replacing Bladestorm and will also inflict Deep Wounds. However, it also has a lower cooldown to help it compete with Bladestorm, which is generally considered one of the more vital Arms warrior abilities.
There are bound to be more changes as the expansion grows ever closer. If nothing else, the simple addition of Single-Minded Fury is one of the most welcome changes to come to the class in several expansions. Hopefully, the changes that come will continue to be as well-received as Single-Minded Fury has been.
