Glyph of Flame Shock

A quick update to my last post.
Rawr and Enhsim have been updated, and it appears that initial napkin math on Glyph of Flame Shock was wrong. In my current gear Glyph of FS appears to be about a 40 dps upgrade over Glyph of WF.

Patch 3.3.3

So the latest patch is today.

Not a lot for shaman

Elemental Combat

•Flame Shock: The damage-over-time component of this ability can now produce critical strikes and is affected by spell haste.
•Elemental Oath: This ability is now always on as a passive aura.
Enhancement

•Unleashed Rage: This ability is now always on as a passive aura.

The Flame Shock change is very nice. It should be a nice little dps increase. With enough haste it also makes a 1:1 FS:ES rotation more attractive. Its a very high abount of haste, 1269 along with having a Wrath of Air in the raid. However thats also with perfect reaction times, a bit of lag and a bit of reaction time slow down or GCD overlap, and quite often you will avoid clipping that last tick. It also makes Bizuri's Totem of Shattered Ice that much more attractive, as it will get to five stacks that much faster. I will be getting that next. I need 9 more frosties first.

One thing that wasnt mention in the patch notes is the Glyph of Frost Shock. The current version allows the dots to crit, but thats now baseline. The last version on the PTR that I'm aware of is this

Glyph of Flame Shock
The current (for us) Glyph of Flame Shock does something like let Flame Shock crit at 230% damage. We'll try to get a new patch note up soon. Whatever it ends up as will probably be some relatively simple damage buff to replace the old crit buff.

I have no idea if that stuck. Napkin math on that glyph buts it well behind WF for Enhancement.

ICC Nerfs are here

Ok they are technically a buff to players but it amounts to a nerf to the instance. Guilds have had a few weeks to down Arthas, and many have done so. Fire and Blood hasn't gotten very far into P2 yet. I'm actually in favor if this. I like the fights to be challenging. Blizzard wants them to be accessible. This way eveyone's at least somewhat happy. The hardcore get the exclusivity for a while, and eventually the more casual get to win too. I'd have preferred another couple of weeks before they implemented this, but you can't have everything. I'm also not sure that I like being able to click the buff off. I understand the desire, but will there be away to determine who beat it unbuffed vs. buffed? I can see the progression arguments already.

Also Blizzard has released a lot of info on Cataclysm stat changes. The conservative in me dislikes them on principle, but I'll take a wait and see approach. I'm just not liking a complete rework of the Enhancement class mechanics again.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/cataclysm-stat-system-changes/

Here is the big one for us

If you are a melee DPS class, druid tank, or hunter, expect to see:

•A lot more Stamina. Bear-form Stamina scaling will be lowered as a result.
•Strength if you wear plate. Agility if you wear mail or leather.
•Existing Attack Power becomes Agility and Stamina.Armor Penetration becomes Haste or Crit.
•No Intellect on melee gear. Hunters won’t need Intellect since they will no longer use mana. Shaman and Retribution paladins will get mana and spell damage in other ways.

The other ways is going to be interesting to see what they come up with. Right now i blow through mana like nobodies business. I oom a lot in 5 mans when aside from bosses everything dies to fast to use SR effectively.