Well, it seems every week brings a change to the warrior talent trees; and, therefore, my options need to change. For an initial look at why I chose what I did, please refer to my original post on the topic.
But here are the changes!
The “Boss Tank Survival Spec”:
While this may look odd to start with (Incite being in there, for example), I’ve deliberately tried to make the absolute most of self-healing abilities; and with Second Wind now available, it looks more attractive from a survival point of view than anything that I’ve skipped. Further, I’ve chosen to pick up Impending Victory due to Victory Rush now being used in all stances. War Academy was also chosen with this in mind.
The “Single Target DPS Spec”:
This one is actually pretty difficult to come up with any certainty for. I’ve elected to drop Deep Wounds in favour of Battle Trance for single targets, as Incite sticks around and Shield Specialization is merely to grab a bit more rage. Cruelty and War Academy are no-brainers and while Blitz is a bit “meh”, it’s slightly better for that opening salvo (extra rage) than anything else. Proper testing will be required to see whether Deep Wounds is the stronger choice, though.
The “AoE and/or Heroic Instance Spec”:
Again, not much to change in the Protection tree from the one above (dropping Incite for Shield Specialization/Shield Mastery) - it’s where you spend your other points that will change. Deep Wounds is now a staple, while more common use of Warbringer should get a bit more out of Blitz. The difference between Cruelty and Battle Trance is probably more to preference. But a constant critical rating added to Shield Slam probably just edges out a rage free attack in an environment where Shield Specialization should see rage freely-flowing, anyway.
So that's it. As I've said, a lot of the choices are relatively subjective depending on what you're trying to do, but the choices are (in most cases) one decent talent versus another decent talent.
What do you think?
Running wild through Azeroth from the perspective of a Protection warrior.
Search the Ramblings
Friday, July 30, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Level cap character progression.
In the lead up to Cataclysm, I've been a bit concerned with the lack of interest being put into overall character development outside of levelling and gearing. Indeed, Wrath of the Lich King has been blighted by this issue because, once at the level cap, players can only chase gear as a means of doing anything worthwhile and that has meant that the proliferation of alts has exploded synthetically. I'd wager that there is only a small percentage that genuinely enjoys rolling alts, while most others do it because they feel they have nothing else to do.
This is the main reason why I was so disappointed to see Path of the Titans ditched and archeology gutted. I honestly hoped it would plug the gap of character development in a fully customizable and compelling way, a way that did effect how your character performed in PvE and PvP but in several ways that couldn't be easily datamined into one optimal choice and everything else being sub-optimal. In short, an avenue of individuality and differentiation that didn't have a negligible time investment. As more news has come out and the Beta has worn on, we've been seeing nothing else that seems to address these particular concerns and it's even appeared that we're losing customizable options in favour of idiot-proof talent specializations that prioritise stock efficiency over quirky individuality.
This is not good for the game.
Fortunately, Blizzard is addressing some of the issues that have, by and large, wrecked Wrath of the Lich King for many of my guild members. During The Burning Crusade, our guild was a PvE guild and not a designated raiding guild; a notion that is surely alien to those who have started playing over the last two years. But during that time we enjoyed all manner of things that immersed us in the world, including dungeon runs, quest completion, exploration, reputation chasing and flavour item collection. Nowadays, a PvE guild and a raid guild are synonymous because there are no other interesting options open to players who want to engage in PvE. But what exactly do I mean by this?
1) Five man instances are now mindless zergathons, where every pull is conducted in identical fashion regardless of circumstance/environment.
2) Questing has been gutted throughout Wrath of the Lich King as they've been too easy to complete and there hasn't been enough of them. Additionally, questing in the Old World has lost its charm due to the sheer volume of time spent navigating flight paths as opposed to actually doing quests.
3) Reputation gains have become shortened into necessities. Due to inscriptions or arcanums and the new tabard system, you would become Exalted with a faction that you didn't necessarily know a single thing about.
4) Solo item collecting, such as tabards and mounts, is almost a thing of the past.
Now, as many will know, a lot of this is being addressed. Five man instances are seeing crowd control pulled back in and I honestly hope it's a success, as it's the group interaction that made me enjoy running them so much. The quest revamp is possibly the greatest thing Cataclysm is going to achieve, as it's totally redesigning some of the horrid quest areas that were a chore to play in, but the insertion of several thousands of interested and phased quests is going to give solo players a heck of a lot to do. With regards to item collection, though, I had hoped archaeology was going to be something of a renaissance in solo flavour. Of course it may well remain to be so, but we'll have to wait and see what actually happens with it. I suppose the magic of it is in the fact it can be updated, patch to patch, and even see quest chains added in depending upon what you find.
But it's in reputation grinding where I'd perhaps like to see the largest change. Personally, I despised the Wrath of the Lich King model of tabard reputation farming. The quest chains that accompanied the Sons of Hodir or Ebon Blade were really good fun while they lasted and I believe it should be the model for future faction reputation. I enjoyed the quests and item turn ins that accompanied factions like the Mag'har, Ogrila or the Consortium and they were entirely optional because the rewards were fun as opposed to functional. Personally, I'm a bit of a tabard collector and enjoyed the time taken to amass my compendium; I really did not enjoy being handed one at friendly and wearing it for a period before dinging Exalted.
Another idea could be to use a quest chain that introduces you to the faction, while having a different (potentially phased) quest chain that unlocks at each reputation level. This completion could put you at a certain percentage along the line for the next level, with dailies and item turn ins providing the rest of the reputation required.
Anyway, I've gone on a bit. Suffice it to say I have been deeply disappointed by the lack of meaningful character progression at the level cap and sincerely hope that it's brought back into Cataclysm in an interesting way. Let's face it, the fact that some people don't want to do it is never a reason to inhibit those who do.
All told, I'm quite positive about what's in the pipelines, I'd just like to hear more about it.
Fingers crossed.
This is the main reason why I was so disappointed to see Path of the Titans ditched and archeology gutted. I honestly hoped it would plug the gap of character development in a fully customizable and compelling way, a way that did effect how your character performed in PvE and PvP but in several ways that couldn't be easily datamined into one optimal choice and everything else being sub-optimal. In short, an avenue of individuality and differentiation that didn't have a negligible time investment. As more news has come out and the Beta has worn on, we've been seeing nothing else that seems to address these particular concerns and it's even appeared that we're losing customizable options in favour of idiot-proof talent specializations that prioritise stock efficiency over quirky individuality.
This is not good for the game.
Fortunately, Blizzard is addressing some of the issues that have, by and large, wrecked Wrath of the Lich King for many of my guild members. During The Burning Crusade, our guild was a PvE guild and not a designated raiding guild; a notion that is surely alien to those who have started playing over the last two years. But during that time we enjoyed all manner of things that immersed us in the world, including dungeon runs, quest completion, exploration, reputation chasing and flavour item collection. Nowadays, a PvE guild and a raid guild are synonymous because there are no other interesting options open to players who want to engage in PvE. But what exactly do I mean by this?
1) Five man instances are now mindless zergathons, where every pull is conducted in identical fashion regardless of circumstance/environment.
2) Questing has been gutted throughout Wrath of the Lich King as they've been too easy to complete and there hasn't been enough of them. Additionally, questing in the Old World has lost its charm due to the sheer volume of time spent navigating flight paths as opposed to actually doing quests.
3) Reputation gains have become shortened into necessities. Due to inscriptions or arcanums and the new tabard system, you would become Exalted with a faction that you didn't necessarily know a single thing about.
4) Solo item collecting, such as tabards and mounts, is almost a thing of the past.
Now, as many will know, a lot of this is being addressed. Five man instances are seeing crowd control pulled back in and I honestly hope it's a success, as it's the group interaction that made me enjoy running them so much. The quest revamp is possibly the greatest thing Cataclysm is going to achieve, as it's totally redesigning some of the horrid quest areas that were a chore to play in, but the insertion of several thousands of interested and phased quests is going to give solo players a heck of a lot to do. With regards to item collection, though, I had hoped archaeology was going to be something of a renaissance in solo flavour. Of course it may well remain to be so, but we'll have to wait and see what actually happens with it. I suppose the magic of it is in the fact it can be updated, patch to patch, and even see quest chains added in depending upon what you find.
But it's in reputation grinding where I'd perhaps like to see the largest change. Personally, I despised the Wrath of the Lich King model of tabard reputation farming. The quest chains that accompanied the Sons of Hodir or Ebon Blade were really good fun while they lasted and I believe it should be the model for future faction reputation. I enjoyed the quests and item turn ins that accompanied factions like the Mag'har, Ogrila or the Consortium and they were entirely optional because the rewards were fun as opposed to functional. Personally, I'm a bit of a tabard collector and enjoyed the time taken to amass my compendium; I really did not enjoy being handed one at friendly and wearing it for a period before dinging Exalted.
Another idea could be to use a quest chain that introduces you to the faction, while having a different (potentially phased) quest chain that unlocks at each reputation level. This completion could put you at a certain percentage along the line for the next level, with dailies and item turn ins providing the rest of the reputation required.
Anyway, I've gone on a bit. Suffice it to say I have been deeply disappointed by the lack of meaningful character progression at the level cap and sincerely hope that it's brought back into Cataclysm in an interesting way. Let's face it, the fact that some people don't want to do it is never a reason to inhibit those who do.
All told, I'm quite positive about what's in the pipelines, I'd just like to hear more about it.
Fingers crossed.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Protection warrior in Cataclysm.
So, they’ve hit; the 31-point talent trees. And though the entire World of Warcraft now seems awash in a sea of complaint and QQ, I think it behooves us to realistically look over what the Protection warrior in Cataclysm might look like and what his options are.
The options are awesome.
While most of the talents in the Protection tree will need to be taken to hit 31, there is an awful lot of customization that allows us to fill a multitude of roles in order to get there. Not only that, our Fury and Arms options are compelling enough to demand serious consideration regardless of what it is you’re after and hope to achieve.
So, what are the better specs?
Unfortunately, it’s hard to ascertain exactly what’s going to be worth it because we haven’t seen exactly what our standard abilities are going to do yet. However, something like the 2/8/31 would likely be the most versatile choice for main tanking bosses and raids.
Moving along, we’re now in a world of four tanks where all are equally (almost) gifted in the boss-tanking role and most certainly equally entitled to fill it. To that end, the usually weaker off-tank has seen a massive improvement in that department with something along the lines of the 2/3/36 build that makes use of interesting and compelling talents to increase our viability as off/trash tanks.
Finally, some of us really like big numbers. We trust our healers so implicitly, we don’t much care for mass stacking of survival or mitigation stats and we love high threat and damage. If that’s your bag, I’d imagine something of a 5/5/31 build will let you really rack up the pain.
So, why have we gone down these routes?
Let’s look at the boss-tanking spec in a bit more detail. As you know, we need 31 talents to get into the other trees and talents such as Blood and Thunder along with Sweep and Clear have no place when you’re busy with a single target. Picking up everything else in the tree makes sense, so we have a shiny set of 10 points to go with. Now, personally, I think surviving in boss fights is the most important consideration, so I was immediately looking at Field Dressing and Blood Craze to help with mitigating the extra damage going out, especially when racked up with Enraged Regeneration which will likely be quite powerful in Cataclysm due to the much lower proliferation of tank gibs. Cruelty is a nice choice to boost Shield Slam for general threat generation and gives us the points we need in Fury.
When it comes to off-tanking, we’ve always had nice mobility to get in position but often our burst threat or general AoE damage has lacked horribly when it’s come to this role. Step up the erstwhile overlooked Blood and Thunder; when matched up with Improved Rend, you’re looking at some pretty tasty multi-mob threat. With Sweep and Clear keeping the rage flowing, warriors will never be found lacking here. Yes, offtanking a boss will still be a bit of a pain; but Rend itself helps with that, as does the change to Vigilance that sees us gain more DPS as opposed to threat.
Finally, you might want to mangle opponents to death and put out numbers that will make DPS players ashamed whilst in your presence. Again, we have the talents to do just that. Giving up the survival orientated points placed in Shield Mastery and Gag Order, we can grab Cruelty as well as Improved Rend and War Academy. This is more for those single targets, but also worthwhile on trash due to the presence of Blood and Thunder with Sweep and Clear.
Granted, this is still beta and some people will like certain talents more or less than I do; and their builds will be different. But don’t get bogged down for a second with the complaints and rafts of nay-saying that abound the WoW Europe forums.
Protection warriors are looking REALLY good come Cataclysm, should the current trees be a decent guide.
I suppose the only elephant in the room remains Safeguard, with those two points being really rather expensive for such a grossly situational talent. I can’t imagine there are going to be a lot of encounters in Cataclysm that call for it (I can only think of two throughout Wrath of the Lich King), but I guess it’s a nice utility to have in the back pocket depending on the encounter.
Anyway, that said, it’s looking like a good expansion could be on the way for the long-suffering Protection warrior. Just so long as the same depth of choice is given to the other tanks (as opposed to just getting everything for free), then Blizzard can consider it a great job.
Let’s raise a glass to Deathwing’s return!
The options are awesome.
While most of the talents in the Protection tree will need to be taken to hit 31, there is an awful lot of customization that allows us to fill a multitude of roles in order to get there. Not only that, our Fury and Arms options are compelling enough to demand serious consideration regardless of what it is you’re after and hope to achieve.
So, what are the better specs?
Unfortunately, it’s hard to ascertain exactly what’s going to be worth it because we haven’t seen exactly what our standard abilities are going to do yet. However, something like the 2/8/31 would likely be the most versatile choice for main tanking bosses and raids.
Moving along, we’re now in a world of four tanks where all are equally (almost) gifted in the boss-tanking role and most certainly equally entitled to fill it. To that end, the usually weaker off-tank has seen a massive improvement in that department with something along the lines of the 2/3/36 build that makes use of interesting and compelling talents to increase our viability as off/trash tanks.
Finally, some of us really like big numbers. We trust our healers so implicitly, we don’t much care for mass stacking of survival or mitigation stats and we love high threat and damage. If that’s your bag, I’d imagine something of a 5/5/31 build will let you really rack up the pain.
So, why have we gone down these routes?
Let’s look at the boss-tanking spec in a bit more detail. As you know, we need 31 talents to get into the other trees and talents such as Blood and Thunder along with Sweep and Clear have no place when you’re busy with a single target. Picking up everything else in the tree makes sense, so we have a shiny set of 10 points to go with. Now, personally, I think surviving in boss fights is the most important consideration, so I was immediately looking at Field Dressing and Blood Craze to help with mitigating the extra damage going out, especially when racked up with Enraged Regeneration which will likely be quite powerful in Cataclysm due to the much lower proliferation of tank gibs. Cruelty is a nice choice to boost Shield Slam for general threat generation and gives us the points we need in Fury.
When it comes to off-tanking, we’ve always had nice mobility to get in position but often our burst threat or general AoE damage has lacked horribly when it’s come to this role. Step up the erstwhile overlooked Blood and Thunder; when matched up with Improved Rend, you’re looking at some pretty tasty multi-mob threat. With Sweep and Clear keeping the rage flowing, warriors will never be found lacking here. Yes, offtanking a boss will still be a bit of a pain; but Rend itself helps with that, as does the change to Vigilance that sees us gain more DPS as opposed to threat.
Finally, you might want to mangle opponents to death and put out numbers that will make DPS players ashamed whilst in your presence. Again, we have the talents to do just that. Giving up the survival orientated points placed in Shield Mastery and Gag Order, we can grab Cruelty as well as Improved Rend and War Academy. This is more for those single targets, but also worthwhile on trash due to the presence of Blood and Thunder with Sweep and Clear.
Granted, this is still beta and some people will like certain talents more or less than I do; and their builds will be different. But don’t get bogged down for a second with the complaints and rafts of nay-saying that abound the WoW Europe forums.
Protection warriors are looking REALLY good come Cataclysm, should the current trees be a decent guide.
I suppose the only elephant in the room remains Safeguard, with those two points being really rather expensive for such a grossly situational talent. I can’t imagine there are going to be a lot of encounters in Cataclysm that call for it (I can only think of two throughout Wrath of the Lich King), but I guess it’s a nice utility to have in the back pocket depending on the encounter.
Anyway, that said, it’s looking like a good expansion could be on the way for the long-suffering Protection warrior. Just so long as the same depth of choice is given to the other tanks (as opposed to just getting everything for free), then Blizzard can consider it a great job.
Let’s raise a glass to Deathwing’s return!
Friday, July 09, 2010
Tails and Teeth; Revisiting old foes.
We've all read about them, heard about them and watched them on television and in movies. They are typically as old as the world they are set in, holding powers that "lesser races" can barely comprehend and have lineage that demands certain levels of social decorum (or lack of). They are often in dysfunctional families that argue, scuffle and war with one another over the way they view their interaction with the world and will hold entrenched notions of station and nobility. Invariably, a couple of them will be crazy.
Yep, I'm talking about dragons.
The lore of dragonkind is easily as wide, diverse and eclectic as any other form of storytelling we know of. And as a fantasy role playing game, it's no surprise to find dragons playing an ever more prominent role in the evolution of Azerothian storylines in World of Warcraft. So as a tip of the hat to possibly our oldest gaming and imaginative nemeses, and also in recognition of the major antagonist in the upcoming World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, I figured a quick resume of how to deal with dragons was in order.
This is from a tanks point of view, but the points are valid for every member of a raid.
My, what big hands you have.
Dragons are living large, and in charge - especially with their foreclaws. Huge sweeps of said claws will damage a lot more than the small target likely no bigger than their fingernails. Put succinctly, dragons Cleave which means you never want to get in front of them unless you are a tank.
Listerine won't fix it.
Sticking with the front end, dragon breath is hot, smoky and potentially magical. Not only will it engulf the entire area in front of the gargantuan reptile, it can have horrid after effects that last longer than the breath itself. Again, never get in front of a dragon unless you're a tank; but if you ARE a tank, check for debuffs after being breathed on. You never know what's been left behind.
A tail of woe.
Every dragon ever spoken of has a tail, and most of them are spiked, barbed or otherwise infused with magic or poisons. Naturally, people should wish to stay away from large appendages that swish violently and with deadly intentions. Never go behind a dragon unless you want fly-swatted away from your chums with busted ribs for company.
Size is everything.
Unless they're whelps which require far less attention, dragons are typically huge. The average house or dwelling is dwarfed by their massive frames, and villages or towns are usually devastated by their trampling rampages throughout. This means your positioning with a dragon is easier than you may think. Big hit boxes give you more freedom of movement than you'd normally expect, while also meaning that their tails and teeth cover far bigger areas.
Where'd that wind come from?
Those big leathery things found on a dragon's back are not there for show. Throughout the storybooks, there's not much a dragon likes more than taking to the skies and stretching their wings. In World of Warcraft, if a dragon takes to flight, it's time for you to change target. Magical vortices, streams of underlings and entire areas bathed in flame are just some of the things that may happen when a dragon hits the sky. Be aware and remain on the lookout for new (and unexpected) threats.
Please... MERCY!
While we're all undoubtedly fearless combatants of stout constitution and pure heart, dragons are undoubtedly terrifying. Their size and power makes them creatures to fear as well as revere. As such, it's often the case that a dragon will bellow at the top of his voice and send his assailants running off in horror. As a player, you want to be ready for the often inevitable happening of your whole raid being scattered at the worst possible time; prevention is better than cure.
Aaaaaaand that's about it.
With the return of Deathwing creeping up on us, it's worth knowing what dragon fights are typically about. There can be no doubt that these fights are usually amongst the most challenging, visually dynamic and intimidating fights in World of Warcraft, but they're also immense fun due to the epic proportions of the encounters. But when preparing for wars with a dragon, knowing what they all do and, thus, what you're likely to be faced with as default, you're giving yourself a head start in mastering the special mechanics that will undoubtedly accompany the fight.
Tails and teeth.
Avoid both.
Yep, I'm talking about dragons.
The lore of dragonkind is easily as wide, diverse and eclectic as any other form of storytelling we know of. And as a fantasy role playing game, it's no surprise to find dragons playing an ever more prominent role in the evolution of Azerothian storylines in World of Warcraft. So as a tip of the hat to possibly our oldest gaming and imaginative nemeses, and also in recognition of the major antagonist in the upcoming World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, I figured a quick resume of how to deal with dragons was in order.
This is from a tanks point of view, but the points are valid for every member of a raid.
My, what big hands you have.
Dragons are living large, and in charge - especially with their foreclaws. Huge sweeps of said claws will damage a lot more than the small target likely no bigger than their fingernails. Put succinctly, dragons Cleave which means you never want to get in front of them unless you are a tank.
Listerine won't fix it.
Sticking with the front end, dragon breath is hot, smoky and potentially magical. Not only will it engulf the entire area in front of the gargantuan reptile, it can have horrid after effects that last longer than the breath itself. Again, never get in front of a dragon unless you're a tank; but if you ARE a tank, check for debuffs after being breathed on. You never know what's been left behind.
A tail of woe.
Every dragon ever spoken of has a tail, and most of them are spiked, barbed or otherwise infused with magic or poisons. Naturally, people should wish to stay away from large appendages that swish violently and with deadly intentions. Never go behind a dragon unless you want fly-swatted away from your chums with busted ribs for company.
Size is everything.
Unless they're whelps which require far less attention, dragons are typically huge. The average house or dwelling is dwarfed by their massive frames, and villages or towns are usually devastated by their trampling rampages throughout. This means your positioning with a dragon is easier than you may think. Big hit boxes give you more freedom of movement than you'd normally expect, while also meaning that their tails and teeth cover far bigger areas.
Where'd that wind come from?
Those big leathery things found on a dragon's back are not there for show. Throughout the storybooks, there's not much a dragon likes more than taking to the skies and stretching their wings. In World of Warcraft, if a dragon takes to flight, it's time for you to change target. Magical vortices, streams of underlings and entire areas bathed in flame are just some of the things that may happen when a dragon hits the sky. Be aware and remain on the lookout for new (and unexpected) threats.
Please... MERCY!
While we're all undoubtedly fearless combatants of stout constitution and pure heart, dragons are undoubtedly terrifying. Their size and power makes them creatures to fear as well as revere. As such, it's often the case that a dragon will bellow at the top of his voice and send his assailants running off in horror. As a player, you want to be ready for the often inevitable happening of your whole raid being scattered at the worst possible time; prevention is better than cure.
Aaaaaaand that's about it.
With the return of Deathwing creeping up on us, it's worth knowing what dragon fights are typically about. There can be no doubt that these fights are usually amongst the most challenging, visually dynamic and intimidating fights in World of Warcraft, but they're also immense fun due to the epic proportions of the encounters. But when preparing for wars with a dragon, knowing what they all do and, thus, what you're likely to be faced with as default, you're giving yourself a head start in mastering the special mechanics that will undoubtedly accompany the fight.
Tails and teeth.
Avoid both.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Intimidating EVERYONE, not someone.
It seems that reports from the Beta realms are speaking of a tanking inability to maintain threat, or to simply get obliterated for doing so. This is good; both matters need serious consideration for the reintroduction of crowd control to be a success. In saying that, some people are starting to complain about the length of time it would take to do a dungeon run if every pull had to be carefully planned out before hand. The argument is typically accompanied by reference to, say, the Shattered Halls, the Shadow Labyrinth or Magister's Terrace during The Burning Crusade (the Golden Age of PvE) as indicative of just how time-consuming this can be. This is invariably followed by citing the fact that nobody did those instances without a mage.
First off, let's allay the fears:
1) Ghostcrawler has already said that trash pulls will be mixed up; they won't all require careful planning.
2) Instances should take longer, as people will be doing them more for enjoyment than for farming.
3) Mechanics that mean the whole group has to get involved in a pull should be supported.
4) Blizzard has ensured that practically every class has a viable form of crowd control to bring along.
Now, it's on part four that I want to concentrate and, particularly, how this relates to warriors.
It's a fact that warriors have had little to no viable PvE crowd control throughout their WoW history. In a world where even Retribution paladins have such a thing (and, shock horror, they get the absolute best one in Repentance), warriors are entitled to feel a little left out when they want to play DPS in a world that requires crowd control. Then I read that the potential Blizzard solution was to change Intimidating Shout to be a longer-duration, single-targeted fear effect that can be used. Can I just say one thing?
Please, Blizzard, NO.
If you have any decency in you, leave Intimidating Shout alone. To me, it's an absolutely iconic ability that has such a dramatic impact, I would feel horribly short-changed if we ever lost it. I can appreciate the need for a single-target CC ability for warriors, I really can - and I'd support such an implementation wholeheartedly. But don't transform Intimidating Shout into just another boring, choice-less, repetitive, utterly predictable form of crowd control.
I know some people don't like it; you hit it rarely and, when you do, a stray mob will typically bring a pile of chums back with him (the Shattered Halls... Ouch). But I can unequivocally say that in those nigh-on unique times where it works, it really makes a warrior look and feel absolutely awesome for snatching victory from the jaws of sure defeat. I would trade every single Devastate buff in the world for more moments where the pull went to Hell in a hand basket, the DPS are being killed off, the healer has less than a few seconds left and my absolute last choice is to heroically terrify our enemies just long enough for those who are still alive to regroup, get topped off and regain their bearings.
No, it's not used very often. And no, it's not usually successful. But, damn, do you feel good when it comes off.
Don't touch it.
I won't forgive you.
First off, let's allay the fears:
1) Ghostcrawler has already said that trash pulls will be mixed up; they won't all require careful planning.
2) Instances should take longer, as people will be doing them more for enjoyment than for farming.
3) Mechanics that mean the whole group has to get involved in a pull should be supported.
4) Blizzard has ensured that practically every class has a viable form of crowd control to bring along.
Now, it's on part four that I want to concentrate and, particularly, how this relates to warriors.
It's a fact that warriors have had little to no viable PvE crowd control throughout their WoW history. In a world where even Retribution paladins have such a thing (and, shock horror, they get the absolute best one in Repentance), warriors are entitled to feel a little left out when they want to play DPS in a world that requires crowd control. Then I read that the potential Blizzard solution was to change Intimidating Shout to be a longer-duration, single-targeted fear effect that can be used. Can I just say one thing?
Please, Blizzard, NO.
If you have any decency in you, leave Intimidating Shout alone. To me, it's an absolutely iconic ability that has such a dramatic impact, I would feel horribly short-changed if we ever lost it. I can appreciate the need for a single-target CC ability for warriors, I really can - and I'd support such an implementation wholeheartedly. But don't transform Intimidating Shout into just another boring, choice-less, repetitive, utterly predictable form of crowd control.
I know some people don't like it; you hit it rarely and, when you do, a stray mob will typically bring a pile of chums back with him (the Shattered Halls... Ouch). But I can unequivocally say that in those nigh-on unique times where it works, it really makes a warrior look and feel absolutely awesome for snatching victory from the jaws of sure defeat. I would trade every single Devastate buff in the world for more moments where the pull went to Hell in a hand basket, the DPS are being killed off, the healer has less than a few seconds left and my absolute last choice is to heroically terrify our enemies just long enough for those who are still alive to regroup, get topped off and regain their bearings.
No, it's not used very often. And no, it's not usually successful. But, damn, do you feel good when it comes off.
Don't touch it.
I won't forgive you.
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