I agree with many of the people here that if you wanted to change annihilation and wathcman, I think these are steps in the wrong direction. Anni has crazy utility and the group healing is something that makes it unique in the game as a dps class. However, if you wanted to change the class, you should nerf healing output, not implement such major damage changes. Additionally, the proposed changes ruin the stable "rotation" that anni currently has. The smooth flowing rotation you seek to implement by players using Juyo rend + bleeding center sacrifices massive dps compared to the live rotation. Running blood fury rather than bleeding center increases the dps, but by marginal amounts that don't offset the lack of 4x hit on rend. Using draining center still results in around a 24% decrease in rend damage (a huge portion of anni's overall damage), while completely ruining any smooth playstyle that anni currently has, let alone the "more smooth" playstyle you wanted to give it. At the end of the day, I don't think many people will be taking Juyo rend because of it's weaker damage output, so people will still be using draining center, and as a result, healing even more. So you have promoted even further self-healing on a class that already puts out at least 1/3 of a healer's output. Are you trying to make healerss roles irrelevant because of a dps's healing capabilities? I wouldn't think so since that's sort of the opposite of balancing. If you feel the need to change anni, it should be to somewhat nerf it's healing output while keeping its damage and already existing smooth gameplay the same; not by increasing healing, decreasing dps, and destroying any resemblance of an organized playstyle.

No, the 4x to 2x initial melt change is a very significant nerf. It decreases the damage dealt by force rend by approximately 29%, which results in around a total 6% total dps loss, which is very significant. It's not the only aspect of the nerf to this tree choice, as you pointed out; it also makes the rotation clunky and unreliable for getting berserk back by the time rend comes off cooldown. But the change from 4x to 2x on initial hit is, nonetheless, a very significant dps nerf, that is not nearly made up by the smaller increases in other abilities.

Thanks guys; this is very helpful! Any possibility on being able to trade in FP-1, OP-1, and WZ-1 at the SoW vendor for tech fragments? I think I speak for many players when I say I’m maxed out with these currencies with no reason to spend them on gear since Hyde and Zeek! It would be great if gathering more wasn’t a complete waste.

Because the majority of gear in 7.1 is legacy bound, I find that I am hitting the cap on FP-1 and WZ-1 currencies, but have no need to purchase new or upgrade existing FP or PvP gear. As such, these currencies are continually racked up without any profit. Perhaps it would be beneficial to have an option to trade FP-1, OP-1, and WZ-1 currencies for tech fragments at the Spoils of War vendor - much like Conquest Commendations?