So Hydra 11 is nearing completion to the point where i can set a Premiere date on my stream at http://www.twitch.tv/hydramist to 18th (Saturday evening at midnight GMT ) and 19th (Sunday evening at midnight GMT)

I also want to take this opportunity to thank everybody that has ever supported me/the stream by donating and announce that i will also be including anybody who has ever donated over €5 in the credits! (People who have donated larger amounts will obviously be placed more prominently!) I’d love to include everyone but there are simply too many generous people out there it seems and the credits would go on forever then! This offer will also extend over the next week and a half or so until the final render is done! So if you want to contribute and get your name added, you still have a chance here!

People interested in buying a pre-roll/watermark ad in the movie should email me at hydra@hydramist.tv

Just a clip that i couldnt really fit into hydra 11 that i thought shouldn’t go to waste. Enjoy.

Some of you may have read Ceon’s post earlier in the week regarding the majority of this, but I felt the desire to write more about the topic.

While at first looking at changes to PvP we all get relatively excited because we hope they’ll be fixing things, I’m worried that their most recent prospective overhaul might not necessarily make things better for people who currently actively PvP and do not PvE.

Please note, that the majority of this post is based on information I had readily available to me. I haven’t been on the PTR yet, and I’m guessing the PvP power numbers will be tweaked on gear, or at least the usefulness of PvP power. Or, as you’ll see, they might have to be.
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Blizzard is changing Borrowed Time in 5.3 to:

Borrowed Time now reduces the cast time or channel time of your next Priest spell within 6 sec by 15%, rather than granting 15% haste for 6 sec.

Which means Discipline Priests will no longer be able to gain Borrowed Time and have the effect remain while casting instants to provide a lower GCD. Additionally the ability to cast Penance followed by a casted spell and have both spells benefit from Borrowed Time will no longer be possible in 5.3. Instead Borrowed Time will be consumed by the first channelled or casted spell to be used after the buff is gained.

This isn’t a major change to Disc, but the benefits of this spell have been present since it was implemented at the start of Wrath of the Lich King and Blizzard has, quite questionably, waited until now to change it.

This reason I bring this change up is because the reasoning for the change is particularly humours:

Not really a nerf. It only affects cast time heals now. It affected instants before, but many players didn’t understand how.

Many players didn’t understand how. Right… It’s been in the game since Patch 3.0.2. I guess they’ve been “keeping a close eye” on the matter since then.

In other news, we have this in regards to Atonement been reduced to heal for 80% of the amount of damage:

That guts disc’s offensive pressure in PvP, one of few things it’s actually good at.

Oh, my bad. We like Disc being able to hit decently hard. But you should still choose to heal sometimes.

Do you think Ghostcrawler actually believes Discipline Priests make use of Atonement in PvP? Or that Disc hits “decently hard”?

Keep the jokes coming Blizzard.

On a positive note, 5.3 is shaping up to have some good overall changes. What are your thoughts so far?

The latest patch 5.3 PTR changes have just been released and the PvP changes are very interesting:

• All characters now have a base Resilience of 65%.
• Resilience has been removed from most PvP gear.
• Season 13 Tyrannical gear had their item levels increased to ilevel 496, up from ilevel 493.
• Season 13 Tyrannical Elite gear had their item levels decreased to ilevel 496, down from ilevel 512.
• Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds, and Arenas now have an ilevel cap. All gear will be scaled down to ilevel 496.

There was a tweet earlier today from Blizzard hinting at a plan to fix the disparity between PvE and PvP gear:

We have a plan. It should also help with the fact that you can upgrade 5.3 PvE gear but not PvP gear.

This must be that plan. This looks somewhat interesting. People who solely do PvE will be able to enter PvP in their raid gear, but it’ll be scaled down to have similar power to the relevant PvP gear. It’s possible they plan for the presence of PvP Power on PvP gear to make said gear more powerful than PvE gear overall. The fact  resilience won’t be removed from gear entirely will also aid in this department, especially if set bonuses remain. It might be present on a few offset items or perhaps simply trinkets to make sure PvP trinkets are stronger than their PvE counterparts. This is pure speculation at this point.

Blizzard has stated a blog post with additional information and an explanation for the reasoning behind these changes will be available very soon.

Additionally:

New Arena: Shado-Pan

• Gladiator hopefuls have a new location to test their mettle amidst the Kun-Lai mountain tops, in the training grounds of the powerful Shado-Pan. Players must make use of the looming tiger statues and fenced platforms to gain an advantage that will bring victory and glory!

New Battleground: Gold Rush

• In the new Battleground situated in the Valley of the Four Winds, the Alliance and Horde continue their war for Pandaria’s precious resources. While the two factions battle for control over mines, they must also protect their own resources from being stolen and turned against them!

Blizzard look to have a solid idea in terms of gear and are working on new content especially for PvP. Simply put: Great stuff!