Paladins: If a paladin scores a critical strike with any of their healing spells, the Illumination talent currently refunds 100% of the mana cost. It's the corner stone of any paladin build focused on healing. With lots of plus-crit-plate gear and Illumination maxed out, a paladin could make up for his/her lack of healing power with a steady stream of mana thanks to Illumination's regular refunds.
By far the biggest uproar was caused by the announcement that Illumination would be nerfed down to 50% of the mana cost regained instead. The most recent notes on the patch have already upped that number to 60%. But Holy pallies, who have been hunting for every piece of plus-crit-plate gear they could find, are still outraged at having the efficacy of their most important healing talent reduced by nearly half. If you listen closely, you can still hear their tortured screams across Azeroth as raiding parties leave them behind for restoration druids and priests.
Warriors: After beefing up druid and paladin tank builds, it seems that Blizzard doesn't know what to do for warriors with a penchant for dishing out pure damage. Those focused on the Fury talent tree will be especially angry with the changes to their Flurry talent. When maxed out, Flurry will only give a 25% increase to attack speed after a critical strike instead of 30%.
It doesn't sound like a big deal, but this change could be the final nail in the coffin for warriors who refuse to walk the path of the damage soaking meat shield. Expect more warriors to lay down their arms for the more traditional sword-and-shield-protection builds once the 2.1 patch goes live.
Rogues: While plate wearers receive a pounding in the latest update, it looks like rogues will make off like bandits. Improved Sap- commonly known as Imp Sap- allowed rogues to remain invisible after stunning a humanoid enemy from behind. It's a powerful talent that most rogues consider a must have for any build. With Imp Sap, a stealthy rogue could take one monster out of the picture at each encounter- significantly speeding up the clearing process and the group's survival chances- as raiding parties worked their way towards the boss.
But once the patch goes live, all rogues will essentially receive Imp Sap for free, as the base Sap skill will automatically keep them in stealth whenever it's used. The Improved Sap talent will be renamed as Dirty tricks and increase the range of the Sap and Blind skills while decreasing their energy costs. For rogues, it's like having their cake and eating it too. For non-rogues, this boon from Blizzard only adds salt to their wounds.
