Warrior changes in PTR Patch 3.0.8: Dead parrot edition

Warriors are now the most powerful class in the game. Please delete all other characters and switch to your level 13 Warrior alt you haven't played in three years. Also, please be sure to level bandaging up quickly as 24 other warriors bandaging the main tank is all you'll need to defeat most Wrath raiding content.

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system... let's take a look at the three changes they've made to the Warrior class for PTR Patch 3.0.8.

First and foremost, the one you'll hear around the campfire the most – Titan's Grip has had the hit penalty removed. Completely gone. It is no more. The Titan's Grip hit penalty ceases to be. It is an ex-hit penalty!

'Ello hit penalty? Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!

/thumps-the-hit-penalty-on-the-counter

Now that's what I call a dead hit penalty.

If you're a Warrior this is where you're afraid Blizzard will chime in and say "Well, I'd better replace it, then." Just without the bravado and finesse of Michael Palin.

With the hit penalty removed Titan's Grip now has no additional negative consequences for equipping two two-handed weapons. Ghostcrawler has said before that the hit penalty becomes almost meaningless in its current state, and he's right. The 5% penalty that it is now doesn't do much and is very easy to get around.

So it's gone, and fury warriors lost the last bit of negativity they had with the spec. Now if only they had removed it while I was leveling in Fury for those few days...

But wait, there's more.

Bloodsurge has been changed so that instead of only being triggered by a Bloodthirst critical hit, it will now trigger on a hit with a Heroic Strike, Bloodthirst, or Whirlwind attack. The fully trained talent now will only give you a 20% chance of the effect triggering, instead of 100%.

Now on to the subject of Bloodthirst. They changed it a tad so that each hit regenerates 1% of the maximum health (up from 0.6%). But instead of the effect lasting for five attacks, it only lasts for three. This means that 3% of the Warrior's health is now regenerated over three seconds instead of five seconds; and that makes the change beneficial in that the health is regened faster.

I'm pleased with the changes. The continued saga of Titan's Grip is fun to watch, and despite my enthusiasm over its buffs I am confident that we'll see a nerf or two come along sometime soon. Many thought that while the hit penalty was meaningless, the ability itself was just a little too over powered.

Of course it is also important to keep in mind that these are just PTR changes. Blizzard could decide to change everything and make Titan's Grip send out pink fluffy bunnies to the attacker ever 3.14159 seconds if they wanted to. Not that I expect them to do that... but still, it's on the table of options.