Raging over Bestial Wrath change and my findings...

I used this picture because I had planned on being a happy hunter after testing the new Bestial Wrath on the PTR. So does is actually get the seal of approval? NO!!! The change is SHIT! Blizzard had the perfect opportunity to close the gap in PvE dps from BM to MM and SV and what did it do? Gave us an overall 2% dps increase. FUCKING 2%! Honestly, after taking forever to download the PTR, testing my dps on the PTR, and then testing my dps on live I could see no difference. It seriously looked like I was doing less dps on the PTR if not the same. This could be because of procs and crits and the sort, but what I am trying to say is a 2% increase on a spreadsheet can easily lead to an increase of NOTHING when actually fighting.

Here is what Bestial Wrath was changed to and what I assume will be it's final rendition before going live this week or next:

Bestial Wrath - Blah blah blah lasts 10 seconds.

The Beast Within - "Increases all damage you deal by 10% and while your pet is under the effects of Bestial Wrath, you also go into a rage causing 10% additional damage and reducing mana costs of all spells by 50% for 10 sec. While enraged, you do not feel pity or remorse or fear and you cannot be stopped unless killed.”

The newest change was reducing the shot cost by 50% for the ten second duration. What I got from that when I tested was that I lasted about 10 - 15 seconds longer before I was out of mana AT THE MOST. I didn't really test this as much, but it was just something I noticed.

And here are a few links for the mathy stuff behind the change... Which like I said, 2% increase is the general consensus, even though it looked pretty much the same.

http://huntsmanslodge.com/3860/beast-mastery-buff.htm
http://huntsmanslodge.com/3871/how-bout-them-apples.htm
http://huntsmanslodge.com/3891/beast-mastery-changes-acceptance-and-ponderings.htm
http://hunter-dps.dungeoneer.com/2009/09/new-ptr-tooltip-reads-increases-all.html

So, in closing, Blizzard/WoW Dev Team/Ghostcrawler all know what to do to increase BM dps. They had a perfect opportunity and didn't go for it. This actually reminds me of a reflection I had about the new mastery system unveiled at Blizzcon... Maybe I will post about that next...