3.3 Kitty Summary

I’ve compiled all information that is relevant to kitty kats and what changes to expect in 3.3. This has been a work in progress as I’ve made 3 seperate posts but this is the post that I’ve updated to include all relevant information or a “one stop shop” for the readers. If you’re interested in full patch notes for 3.3 please check out here. In case you’re interested in seeing the other posts I made (which may be out of date), they are located here:

10/28/09 – 3.3 Kitty Summary – Update #1
12/11/09 – 3.3 Kitty Summary – Update #2

Kitty Mechanics Changes

• Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We’ve redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, if a spell does 1000 damage to each target, it would hit up to 10 targets for 1000 each, but with more than 10 targets, each target would take 1000 damage divided by the number of targets. 20 targets would be hit for 500 damage each in that example.
• Rebirth: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
• Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness butt from this talent now has an 8-second duration.
• Prowl: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%

Nothing too gamebreak or amazing this time around, but at least there are no nerfs so far (knock on wood). The AOE change is an interesting mechanic change but in reality it’s really not a big deal. There are few and far situations where there are more than 10 adds (Freya, Anub, Onyxia… anything else?) so the game (raidwise) will essentially stay the same. I can see this being a pain in the ass if you’re soloing an instance or you’re trying to grind a bunch of mobds for some reason. Rebirth is a very nice change and with the concept of attempt timers in TOC, this makes a lot of sense. How many of you have waited Brez’s out to try and maximize each and every attempt? Predatory Strikes/Prowl changes don’t really have any direct effects on dps or PVE so they are somewhat moot.

Tier 10 Token System (Update #1)

Quote From: Blizzard (Source)
With t10 we’re going to see a hybrid. The tier 10 items (the ones with item levels you’d find in the 10-player raid) will be purchased with Emblems of Frost.

The tier 10.5 items (the ones with item levels you’d find in the 25-player raid) will be obtained by getting a token (one that is specific to 3 or 4 classes, much like the ulduar tokens) and using it to upgrade the tier 10 item that was purchased with emblems of frost.

This is the perfect solution to the current issues with T9 from TOC. Currently there is not upgrade system from ilv 232 -> ilv 245 -> ilv258. To obtain each level of T9 gear you need to start from scratch which quite frankly is a pain in the ass. It also discourages people from obtaining the ilv 232 set if you know that the ilv 245 set is available in time. Factor in that most people did not drop their T8 until they had 2pc or 4pc then you have a lot of badges sitting around waiting for the optimal time to switch. Now in 3.3 by having an upgade system this will encourage people to get 232 quickly and upgrade along the way.

Tier 10 Artwork

Here’s the mmo-champion HD link to alliance/horde and male/female artwork for T10.

Tier 10 Bonuses

• 2 Pieces (Feral): Your Swipe (Bear) and Lacerate abilities deal 20% additional damage and the cost of your Rip ability is reduced by 10 energy.
• 4 Pieces (Feral): Your Enrage ability no longer decreases your armor and instead decreases all damage taken by 12%, and the periodic damage done by your Rake ability can now be a critical strike.

First look is WOW at the 4pc bonus! Finally a 4 pc that is actually provides a pretty big difference! It’ll be interesting to see what % they use for the critical bonus but regardless having a large portion of your DPS suddenly be available to crit should generate a large increase. Based on this, that means that only 1 slot will require a non set pc. Waiting on the theorycrafters out there to make some calculations on what slot would fit that best.

Tier 10 Cost (Update #2)

With the above information known on obtaining Emblem of Frost, its important to understand the costs and how the system works. As mentioned above, to upgrade each tier ilv you need to own the previous tier level. So in other words start stocking up on emblems to buy your base T10 so that you can start upgrading as soon as possible. For a full summary check out MMO-champ’s page.

Helm (ilv 251) – 95 Emblem of Frost
Shoulders  (ilv 251) – 95 Emblem of Frost
Chest (ilv 251) – 95 Emblem of Frost
Pants (ilv 251) – 60 Emblem of Frost
Gloves (ilv 251) – 60 Emblem of Frost

To upgrade to ilv 264, you’ll need a Vanquisher’s Mark of Santification and to upgrade to ilv 277, you’ll need a Heroic Vanquisher’s Mark of Santification.

3.3 Idol

• Idol of the Crying Moon – The periodic damage from your Lacerate and Rake abilities grants 44 Agility for 15 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.

This is not a huge upgrade from the “T9” relic which is the Idol of Mutilation. Instead of 200 flat Agility, you’ll gain a maximum of 220 Agility from keeping your Lacerate or Rake dots up. I guess it is good in the sense that it will make players more aware of their dots and that there will be a penalty for not keeping them up all the time. 20 Agility is still 20 attack power and 0.43% crit so it’s still better, what I could see happening is players bypassing the idol first for other badge upgrades and coming back to this later since it’s a minor improvement. Something else to note is you need to keep your rake up at all times, there will most likely be fights that will prevent this from occurring causing you to lose your stack.

3.3 Kitty Items via Dungeons & Raids (Update #2)

• Icecrown Citadel (10 & 25 Player)
• Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, Halls of Relfection (5 Player)
• Frost Emblem Loot List

3.3 Leather DPS Crafted Items (iLv 264) (Update #1)

Here are the recipies for crafted 3.3 items which are obtained via Ashen Verdict Reputation. The items of particular interest are…

• Footpads of Impending Death
• Bladeborn Leggings

It’s definitely still too early to say “wow” or “bah” as we don’t know what the tier gear looks like. Once that starts appearing we’ll be able to tell whether it’s worthwhile to obtain these items. I’m assuming the cost to make will be very expensive as usual. Whats interesting though is that 3.2 dps gear in the leggings/feet slots generally had +hit (See Leggings of the Broken Beast, Icewalker Treads), so if we are moving away from having +hit in these slots, where is that stat going to be coming from in 3.3?

Icecrown Weapon Procs (Update #1)

• Item – Icecrown 25 Normal Slow Melee Weapon Proc – Your weapon swings have a chance to grant you Necrotic Touch for 10 sec, causing all your melee weapon attacks to deal an additional 9% damage as shadow damage.
• Item – Icecrown 25 Heroic Slow Melee Weapon Proc – Your weapon swings have a chance to grant you Necrotic Touch for 10 sec, causing all your melee weapon attacks to deal an additional 10% damage as shadow damage.

Not really sure what this is all about, my assumption is that it will be something related to a specific mechanic in a fight.

Icecrown Trinkets Procs (Update #1)

We now know these sexy procs are from Deathbringer’s Will. What we know of the trinket so far is that each class has 3 random procs for each class and from what I’ve read, for kitties it is Agility/Strength and Armor Penetration. Most importantly, YES you do transform even in kitty kat!!!

• Strength of the Frost Giants – Grants the form and strength of the Frost Giants for 30 sec.
• Agility of the Wolvar – Grants the form and agility of the Wolvar for 30 sec.
• Power of the Taunka – Grants the form and attack power of the Taunka for 30 sec.
• Precision of the Iron Dwarves – Grants the form and precision of the Iron Dwarves for 30 sec.
• Aim of the Tuskarr – Grants the form and aim of the Tuskarr for 30 sec.
• Speed of the Gorloc – Grants the form and speed of the Gorloc for 30 sec.

Obtaining & Maximizing Frost Emblems (Update #2)

With the new tier system that requires you to purchase your base tier first before you can advance up to the next ilv, obtaining Emblems of Frost as fast as possible is extremely important. As of right now while only the Icecrown entrance is available there are only a few ways to obtain badges:

• (One Time) Echoes of tortured Souls = 2
• (One Time) Deliverance from the Pit = 2
• (One Time) Wrath of the Lich King = 2
• (Daily) Random Heroic Dungeon = 2
• (Weekly) Random Raid = 5
• (Weekly) Icecrown Entrance (10 Player): 4 Bosses * 2 Emblems = 8
• (Weekly) Icecrown Entrance(25 Player): 4 Bosses * 2 Emblems = 8

So, your first week maximum would be 41 and going forward your maximum for the next 4 weeks would be 35. Thus until the next wing of ICC opens your maximum total would be 181 emblems. Just enough to buy two  T10 pieces, so save and spend wisely! (thx to Kal for fixing my poor math)

Emblem Changes

As like in 3.2 when all Emblems were unified into Emblem of Conquest, 3.3 will see Conquest disappear and all instances will drop Emblem of Triumph. For the new raid instaces, Emblem of Frost will be the new raid badge. As always, you will be able to trade 1 Emblem of Triumph -> 1 Emblem of Conquest ->  1 Emblem of Valor -> 1 Emblem of Heroism. Looks like this will be something that will happen at every new major content patch to ensure that players can remain up to date with current content instead of behind the gear curve.

While it’s great for alts, casuals and for players to keep up to date, it does not promote the development of players from a skill perspective and that is a big problem (esp on low population servers). I can’t even count the # of applicants we’ve had to our guild who are geared adequately but quite frankly have minimal understanding of raid environments or basic mechanics of the game.

Ashen Verdict Faction (Update #2)

This is the faction that grants rep within Icecrown Citadel. From the first week of doing 10 man and 25 man I got about 4k rep (1k/6k friendly now). Naturally as more wings open up, rep should become even faster to obtain. There are rewards rings associated that are upgradable with reputation improvements (friendly -> honored -> revered -> exalted) similar to the previous AQ40 and Mount Hyjal rings. MMO-Champion has a pretty good page summary of what you can obtain through the faction here. Below I’ve included the kitty ring which I’m personally not to fond of in it’s current form but the exalted version that has a 480ap proc does look pretty nice. It also has quite a bit of hit which if you’ve been checking out the new gear seems to be lacking.

• Friendly (251) – Ashen Band of Vengeance
• Honored (259) – Ashen Band of Greater Vengeance
• Revered (268) – Ashen Band of Unmatched Vengeance
• Exalted (277) – Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance

Bind on Account Reputation Enchants

• The following reputations have been sped up by roughly 30%:
  • Argent Crusade
  • Alliance Vanguard
  • Horde Expedition
  • Kirin Tor
  • Knights of the Ebon Blade
  • Sons of Hodir
  • Wyrmrest Accord
• Sons of Hodir quests now give more reputation overall.
• Top-level helm and shoulder faction-related enchants are now available as Bind-on-Account items that do not require any faction to use once purchased.
• Reputation commendations can now be purchased for 1 Emblem of Triumph each.