Shaman and Hunter Changes to AP in WotLK

[Akasha]

Oooooohh!!

Shamans and Hunters seem to have an undocumented but confirmed change in the upcoming expansion to how Attack Power is generated and will be an extreme deciding factor in how both classes choose to gear in the future for DPS.

Beta user Malan makes this observation:

I happened to roll my mouse over the Agility line of the char screen and was surprised that it says I'm gettting 250 Attack Power from Agility and I definitely have more AP than I do on live with the same gear. (I am not spec'd into Mental Dexterity so its not Intellect doing it)

Anyone able to verify this?

For reference: with my full kit on my AP shows 1888. I remove the exalted hyjal ring (29 Agility and 60 AP).
My AP on the char sheet drops to 1799, a difference of 89. 29 + 60 = 89. Its definitely giving me AP for my agility.

Blizzard Class Designer Koraa responded with this information:

Sorry about that, it should of been in the patch notes. The idea is for DPS mail (with AGI and AP) to be viable for both Hunters and Shaman. Strength is mostly now only a stat for Death Knights, Warriors and Ret Paladins.

So there you have it! People who have hunters or shamans might want to reconsider what type of enchantments and gems they purchase before the expansion is released.

[Coud]

still doesn't stop either class from wearing leather over their given armor class @ 40 ( mail ). but hey i say it's nice blizzard is aware of current itemization problem and are willing to try and fix it.

[SnowMana]

I wonder if 1STR=2AP for shamans.

[Theleb]

Originally Posted by SnowMana

I wonder if 1STR=2AP for shamans.

Yes.

But the change to agility is potentially massive and could well catapult what is precieved by many as a "support class" right up the damage meters.

[Kiralyn]

I think, as stated above, that it's more to resolve itemization issues than to balance classes. Using mail wearers as an example, we currently have mail with agi/ap for hunters, str/ap for enhance shaman, dam for elemental shaman, and healing for resto shaman. That's really 4 full mail sets you'd need to fill all itemization gaps for that armor type. With this change, both hunters and enhance shaman will be looking for agi/ap mail, and both resto and elemental shaman will be looking for spellpower mail. That cuts in half the itemization needs for mail, so we're much more likely to see everyone's needs filled in Wrath. Yes, it will water down the gear a bit, but I think for hybrids, it's a tradeoff we're willing to make to get something that is suited for us.

That said, from a pure class perspective, I'm kinda peeved that instead of tailoring gear more to each class (anyone remember health per 5 cloth?), they're diluting it to suit even more roles. At the high end, there really will need to be a way to differentiate yourself from every other clothie in the raid. Class sets (which need to be REALLY class specific imo) might not be enough to cut it when everyone is chasing the same min/max off-set pieces.

[Theleb]

Changing itemisation issues is one thing but this will fundamentally alter the class. Don't get me wrong, I have a shaman, several of my friends raid with shaman and universally people are collecting 3 sets of gear, and looking into itemisation for other classes to address the shortfalls in mail so I do agree that some manner of change needed to be made..

That said, the homogenisation of gear in Wrath of the Lich King would have been enough in my opinion. Ah well, I'm not going to complain at the possibility of filling out my sets

[Coud]

well atm there's more mail with agi / int / ap on them then there's mail with str on.

most shammy go leather for enchance because there's a stack of agi / ap and sockets

with the talent in enchance tree converting int to AP and now this change, i think blizz is nudging shammy to use "hunter loot" more rather then steal rogue leather.

I thought Snow was asking if 1str = 2AP AND 1agi = 1AP... seems kinda OP if it is Oo