Sanya tries to explain the new buff system, and it seems pretty sound, just waiting until I can get in game and see for myself. Well, today has been awfully busy... For my final trick of the evening, I'm going to take a stab at explaining the new buff system here, since that seems to be the biggest area of confusion and debate. Please note I am not talking about the new concentration point rules, I'm just discussing stats, the changes, and how the changes affect the stats. Okay. There are three types of buffs - base, spec, and item. Base buffs are the buffs that you get just for leveling, no effort required. Spec buffs you get for using... spec points. Item buffs are the numbers on items that add to a stat. Think of a triangle: Base Spec Item Base buffs have been lowered in effectiveness. Spec and item buffs have been raised in effectiveness. Therefore, base buffs play a smaller part of the total formula than before, but spec and item buffs play a greater role. It USED to be that each player had a cap on how many buffing points were effective. We lumped all three buff types into a pool, and said, "you can go no higher than this number." Players were hitting this cap around level 20 or so with just their base buff. This was not effective, or particularly rewarding to people who chose to spec in buffs. Not only that, but at the levels that people were getting the cool +stat items, they weren't making a lick of difference. So NOW we have a different system. You can hit a cap in base, spec, or item (cap meaning a point past which you cannot be buffed), but the COMBINED buffs have no hard cap. (The cap is by default the three different caps added together.) The system overall IS more effective, especially at the higher levels, although people relying solely on base buffs have noticed less effectiveness. Each player has the capacity to achieve much better buffing than before the patch, and this system is more rewarding to those who chose to specialize in buff lines, or to do quests resulting in stat item rewards. I'm really looking forward to spellcrafting now, which will add stats to player made items. The change is not terribly noticeable pre-twenty, and as with most things becomes more apparent the higher you are in level. That's how it's supposed to work - let me know, as always, if this isn't clear.