In The War Within, World of Warcraft changes how trinkets work for tanks and healers. Only DPS heroes are in the clear.
World of Warcraft: The War Within has entered beta, and many players are already flocking to the beta realms to thoroughly test the new expansion. This comes with some drastic changes that also affect the equipment of the characters. Blizzard has devised something for tanks and healers that will likely cause a lot of grumbling. Because the powerful trinkets that deal a lot of damage will soon have less effect.
What is changing? Trinkets are a great way in WoW to squeeze a bit more extra performance out of the character. Many of these “trinkets” are also popular among tanks and healers, especially when they deal significant damage. This way, tanks can significantly boost their own damage and healers can also contribute to the fight, throwing a devastating bolt or a flaming projectile into a boss encounter.
In The War Within, Blizzard is reducing the effectiveness of DPS trinkets and other bonus effects (e.g., on weapons) for healers and tanks by 33%. These items will then be significantly less attractive for tanks and healers.
Why is Blizzard doing this? Blizzard provided an explanation in the official WoW forum. It states:
Tanks and healers who choose to wear a damage trinket often see that it contributes disproportionately to their total damage dealt. Damage effects [on items] have exacerbated this problem. This change aims to place the power back directly into the players’ abilities while reducing the opportunity cost of choosing specialized tank or healer trinkets over pure damage trinkets.
Tanks and healers should no longer feel “forced” to resort to DPS trinkets due to this change and can instead comfortably choose trinkets that primarily enhance their role.
Note that this change comes from the beta of The War Within. A lot can still change before the release.
Is this retroactive? No. The change only affects new trinkets that will drop in The War Within. If you currently own a particularly strong trinket from Fyrakk, it will not suddenly become weaker. However, in The War Within, you will likely find yourself using trinkets that are more intended for a specialization more often – or have to forgo a significant part of their power. Blizzard is making not only trinkets a bit more boring – but also the tier sets.
What do you think of this change? A good thing? Or annoying that Blizzard wants to regulate this?
