1.8 Instant Attack Change

[Kasonic]

Finally.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...=1#post4981387

Originally Posted by Eyonix

The mechanics of most instant melee attacks will be modified to improve item balance upon the release of patch version 1.8. Currently, instant melee attacks do damage based on the damage range of the weapon, plus a bonus for the player’s attack power. This bonus is then multiplied by the speed of the weapon. As a result, slow weapons do more damage than is intended, and fast weapons are considered inferior by most players. We are changing the way the attack power bonus is calculated for instant attacks. This change will NOT affect attack power calculations for normal melee attacks. Instead of multiplying by the speed of the weapon, the attack power bonus will be multiplied by a fixed number pulled from the following table:

Two-handed weapons: 3.3
Daggers: 1.7
All other one-handed weapons: 2.4

As a direct result of this, many weapons will shift position in their relative power. In particular, many epic (purple) quality items will now be more powerful than slower superior (blue) weapons. For the purpose of instant attacks, the Arcanite Reaper and the Barman Shanker will drop slightly in relative power, while Typhoon and Alcor’s Sunrazor will increase in power.

We expect to see the total damage output of a Mortal Strike warrior go down about 4% with the Arcanite Reaper, and up about 4% with Typhoon. We expect the total damage output of a Backstab rogue to go down about 2% with the Barman Shanker and up about 2% with Alcor’s Sunrazor.

This change was not made to reduce the power of instant attacks, but to correct the relative imbalance of weapon itemization. At a given level requirement, epic quality weapons should always be more powerful than superior quality weapons.

Please also note that all normal weapon swings will be completely unaffected by this change. The following abilities are affected by the design change: Sinister Strike, Ambush, Backstab, Whirlwind, Mortal Strike, and Overpower.

[Tripamang]

Should of never made it to retail, I'm glad it got changed.. =p

[Minute]

Too bad this "fix" is a nerf to every 2H weapon over 3.3 speed and not just the blue ones. I suppose this is their solution to the TUF whines as well seeing as it just got nerfed for both warrior and shamans.

[Sinter1]

took a while... too long tbh.

[Elgonn]

With fixes like this I almost feel like casters will get a magical attack power stat eventually.

[trotsky]

Originally Posted by Minute

Too bad this "fix" is a nerf to every 2H weapon over 3.3 speed and not just the blue ones. I suppose this is their solution to the TUF whines as well seeing as it just got nerfed for both warrior and shamans.

Windfury isn't on the list of effected skills so...shaman glide under the radar yet again

[Mist]

Its not that big of a change. Slower weapons will still be better than faster weapons of the same DPS, just not as good. It will be base weapon damage range + (attack power * 1.7)

[Metranon]

bloodthirst is ftw now i think

also this buffs cat and bear form DPS slightly since cat weapon speed= 1.0 and bear weapon speed= 2.6, although only cat form really has enough instant attacks to make it noticeable

also what about hunter pet attacks? and what about sword spec extra attacks? what about flurry axe/Ironfoe etc? Retaliation?

there are a bunch of abilities that are potentially affected by this change because they grant instant attacks but aren't mentioned

[Heavens_Myst]

Originally Posted by trotsky

Windfury isn't on the list of effected skills so...shaman glide under the radar yet again

Because long-term Windfury damage is independent of weapon speed.

and yes, this change is about 10 months too late.

[Phoenix]

So why didnt they add SoC and Windfury?

[ex-genj]

This is an across the board nerf to warriors and rogues.

[Dokomo]

This has been a general statement summarizing the above post.

[Tetra]

Finally warrior/rog weapon itemization will make sense. Their seemingly random method to determine weapon speed was a glaring itemization problem.

[Ultramax]

Originally Posted by Tripamang

Should of never made it to retail, I'm glad it got changed.. =p

Totally agree. About time and I'm happy with the change.

[Neppy]

This is a pretty half ass fix. Slow weapons will still be better, just not by as much, and some of the slow weapon favoring skills like seal of command aren't even being adressed. It also means they won't fix it for real for another 5 years probably.

edit - mixed up command and crusader