Problems in patch land

"Why," a warrior friend asked us last week, "does Blizz hate warriors?"
"Huh?" we replied.
"They're NERFING us again!" he exploded.

Ah, so it was the new 2.1.0 patch that was getting his goat. The official notes released about a month ago, but since the first hints of what's to come hit the community, the rumor mill has been grinding so hard we're surprised our computer isn't smoking.

Whenever a new update rolls out, it seems like every player cries "foul" and feels that they've got the short end of the stick. So what exactly is causing the uproar this time around? Well, for starters Elixirs will be split into offensive and defensive rankings, and only stack twice in each area. Also, the stat power of Flasks will go down.

"We want alchemy to be a cool, needed profession." says Blizzard. But for most players who consistently stack three to five elixirs in raids, this nerf strikes many as neither "cool," nor "needed." Instead, it seems designed to offset the easier dungeon mobs - which have been weakened in this patch - so that the dungeons' overall difficulty level remains the same. Without the ability to swill so many pots before fights, players will become even more dependent on their gear.

We'll have to wait to see if promises about buffed gear and better drop rates balance out the loss of liquid power ups, or guilds may find themselves wiping on dungeons they've had on farm status.