Changes to Shield Slam Mechanics in patch 3.3.2

[Insahnity]

Any testing done on the specifics on the changes? I hate the "Don't worry, it won't matter for highly geared tanks", my faith in the definition of "highly geared tank" has been shaken by LFD.

I can't seem to find anyone testing it on the PTR. Hopefully somebody uses this thread to mention something.

[MellvarTank]

I haven't really done much testing per se... but tanking the new VoA boss and ToC 10 last night I noticed no threat loss. As for damage, I couldn't tell you as I simply haven't done the math on it. Here's a *bump* for good measure, hopefully someone will give you an answer.

[Insahnity]

In an attempt to consolidate posts, there is a thread by WarTotem

http://www.tankspot.com/showthread.p...lam-DR-Formula

Having said that, in regards to your post, they said they are nerfing the DPS and upping the threat by 30%. So we know threat is going up by 30%, but how much the DPS is going down they predictably skirted the subject.

[Airowird]

The threat increase is 240 innate threat iirc. Going from the top of my head, bit late and cba looking it up (sorry!)

[WiiMote]

From what I've read and heard, they're not really nerfing it as much as changing the way it does its damage to prevent it from face rolling in PvP. I believe it's supposed to scale much better now with block value, and less so much with armor pen and strength.

A well geared tank shouldn't notice a difference, or might see an increase in damage. Players in PvP gear would notice a big difference, though.

[Kojiyama]

The threat increase is 240 innate threat iirc. Going from the top of my head, bit late and cba looking it up (sorry!)

My tests today seemed to indicate that Shield Slam actually did recieve a 30% bonus to its total threat, not just the innate portion. Multiple tests seemed consistant with (Damage + 770) * 1.3 in total threat.

At one point I was in my block set and got an 8010 Shield Slam crit for a total threat increase of 23672.1, which is quite insane.

[Airowird]

WiiMote: It's an overall nerf. It doesn't scale less with ArP or strength(which is directly related to BV) and at higher block values, the ability does less damage regardless of the situation(PvE or PvP). The reason PvP see a bigger difference is because they generally had more block value, which now starts being DR'd earlier.

[Airowird]

My tests today seemed to indicate that Shield Slam actually did recieve a 30% bonus to its total threat, not just the innate portion. Multiple tests seemed consistant with (Damage + 770) * 1.3 in total threat.

At one point I was in my block set and got an 8010 Shield Slam crit for a total threat increase of 23672.1, which is quite insane.

That's actually quite good as it scales with dmg buffs, thanks!!

[WiiMote]

WiiMote: It's an overall nerf. It doesn't scale less with ArP or strength(which is directly related to BV) and at higher block values, the ability does less damage regardless of the situation(PvE or PvP). The reason PvP see a bigger difference is because they generally had more block value, which now starts being DR'd earlier.

Ah, well color me misinformed.

[Fledern]

So was it just me that had his 2K raidbuffed block value drop down to 1750? (base block before buffs is 1500 and it's the same, no change). I looked, all the relevant buffs seemed to be there. I guess i need to do some more checking

[TomHuxley]

I would think it has to be just you, as they didn't touch SBV in the patch, just the relationship between it and how much damage SS does.

[Baervar]

Is http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=2565 limited by the diminishing returns normall or does the doubled block value ignore any caps for it's duration?

[Kojiyama]

There was a blue post to the effect that DR wouldn't apply, however I'm a bit unconvinced about that fact. (I'm actually not certain how it would work, since Shield Block is simply additive Block Value Multipler %, which is same stat used in Shield Mastery and Glyph of Blocking. If Shield Block avoided the cap, it would stand to reason that those two things were unaffected as well--e.g. DR cap calculated pre-multiplier.)

I haven't seen any tests to indicate one way or another and I haven't had time to do tests myself.

[Baervar]

There was a blue post to the effect that DR wouldn't apply, however I'm a bit unconvinced about that fact. (I'm actually not certain how it would work, since Shield Block is simply additive Block Value Multipler %, which is same stat used in Shield Mastery and Glyph of Blocking. If Shield Block avoided the cap, it would stand to reason that those two things were unaffected as well--e.g. DR cap calculated pre-multiplier.)

I haven't seen any tests to indicate one way or another and I haven't had time to do tests myself.

Haven't done any real tests, i'm mostly asking because i'm tempted to try out a PvP prot spec and want to know what to gem and how to gear.
I've played around with some gear planners and got to around 2.3k block value without sacrificing much dps or res and i was wondering whether i should sacrifice either of them for more block value or not, given that i think it would be partly wasted if Shield Block got the same soft/hard cap.