Hmmmmmmmm. . . .Improved Berserker Change

Interesting, 

The tooltip for Improved Berserker Stance is undergoing some changes on the PTR.  At first glance, I thought maybe they decided that the nerf to Titan's Grip was too high, and they were trying to make up for it some, but then I went through some of the math.

In fact, if you look at the sources, you'll see these are the different things being reported:

Current tooltip (at rank 5): Improves AP by 10% and reduces threat by 10%

Proposed tooltip (as of a week ago): Improves Strength by 20% and reduces threat by 10%

Proposed tooltip (more recently): Improves Strength by 15% and reduces threat by 10%

Ok, so let's see. . . .

At level 80, it's not uncommon to see Fury Warriors with around 900-1100 strength, which contributes 1800-2200 AP pre-increase, and 1980-2420 AP post increase.  This is out of the total AP which is usually in the 3000-3500 range.  

Suppose that instead of increasing AP, they instead increase Strength (which admittedly plays a big role in the AP calculation).  So to start with, let's take 90% of the total AP range giving about 2700-3150 total AP, of which, 1800-2200 is from strength.

Now we increase strength by a percentage, say p%  (so essentially, we have (1+p)*S where S falls somewhere between 900-1100 pre buff etc.

What does it take to get to an equivalent AP?

Well, suppose we get a range for it as well, since these are just estimates anyway.  Suppose we have the lower end of everything there.  

(1+p)*900*2 + 900 = 3000  

gives us p = 16 2/3 %  (approximately 16.67%)

Now let's look at the upper end of the range

(1+p)*1100*2 + 950 = 3500

gives us p = 15 10/11%  (approximately 15.91%)

So essentially, it seems as though the 15% is less than the equivalent AP buff which itself is less than 20%.

Let's get some anonymous true data from Fury warriors in my guild that do pretty well, all of them have improved Berserker stance.

#1  Strength 1069  AP 2721

#2  Strength 1173  AP 3467

#3  Strength 1030 AP 3700

So for Warrior #1, the un-increased AP would be 2449, and 2138 of it would be from Strength.

    So, 

           (1+p)*1069*2 + 311 = 2721

    gives

           p=12.7%   

For Warrior #2, the un-increased AP would be 3120, and 2346 of it would be from Strength.

   So,

          (1+p)*1173*2 + 775 = 3467

   gives

          p = 14.75%

And finally for Warrior #3, the un-increased AP would be 3330 and 2060 of it is from Strength.

   So, 

         (1+p)*1030*2 + 1270 = 3700

   gives

          p = 17.96%

Now, before you start saying "Why the fuss? Some warriors will benefit," I should point out to you that Warrior #1, was clearly off-tanking for someone yesterday, because they signed out wearing their shield and protection gear, so it's not a bit surprising that their AP isn't that high, and of the two remaining, the second one has "Berserking" enchanted on his weapon instead of "Massacre" so instead of adding a steady amount of AP, it has a proc chance and doesn't appear in his current AP.

So it would seem that the estimates are about right, somewhere just slightly higher than 15%, maybe as high as 18% would be needed to get this to work for them, just to keep it consistent.  

I have to believe that Blizzard must still be getting data that even after teh 10% physical damage nerf, Fury Warriors are still doing too much damage compared to other equally geared classes.  

I'd just really like to see the data they're basing that on.