One of the largest changes for Cataclysm was going to be the glyph interface. Along with some cosmetic changes to the way they looked in your spellbook, many of the glyphs themselves were going to change quite dramatically to match the new abilities for the expansion. Some have been changed, some have been added and some have been gotten rid of outright.
And to keep my readers (are there any?) happy, here is a list of the Prime, Major and Minor warrior glyphs as they stand. Remember, you will be able to choose three of each glyph when you hit level 85.
Prime Glyphs
Bloodthirst: Increases the damage of Bloodthirst by 10%.
Devastate: Increases the critical strike chance of Devastate by 5%.
Mortal Strike: Increases the damage of Mortal Strike by 10%.
Slam: Increases the critical strike chance of Slam by 5%.
Bladestorm: Reduces the cooldown on Bladestorm by 15 seconds.
Overpower: Increases the damage of Overpower by 10%.
Raging Blow: Increases the critical strike chance of Raging Blow by 5%.
Revenge: Increases the damage of Revenge by 10%.
Shield Slam: Increases the damage of Shield Slam by 10%.
Major Glyphs
Long Charge: Increases the range of your Charge ability by 5 yards.
Shield Wall: Shield Wall now reduces damage by 60%, but it’s cooldown is increased by 2 minutes.
Thunder Clap: Increases the range of your Thunder Clap by 2 yards.
Cleaving: Increases the number of targets your Cleave hits by 1.
Colossus Smash: Your Colossus Smash refreshes the stack of Sunder Armor on a target.
Death Wish: Death Wish no longer increases damage taken.
Heroic Throw: Your Heroic Throw applies a stack of Sunder Armor.
Intercept: Increases the duration of your Intercept stun by 1 (presumed) second.
Intervene: Increases the number of attacks you intercept on your Intervene target by 1.
Piercing Howl: Increases the radius of Piercing Howl by 50%.
Rapid Charge: Reduces the cooldown of your Charge ability by 7%.
Resonating Power: Reduces the rage cost of your Thunder Clap ability by 5.
Shockwave: Reduces the cooldown on Shockwave by 3 seconds.
Spell Reflection: Reduces the cooldown on Spell Reflect by 1 second.
Sunder Armor: Your Sunder Armor ability affects a second nearby target.
Sweeping Strikes: Reduces the rage cost of your Sweeping Strikes ability by 100%.
Victory Rush: Increases the total healing provided by your Victory Rush by 50%.
Minor Glyphs
Battle: Increases the duration by 2 minutes, and area of effect by 50% of your Battle Shout.
Berserker Rage: Berserker Rage generates 5 rage when used.
Command: Increases the duration by 2 minutes, and area of effect by 50% of your Commanding Shout.
Bloody Healing: Increases the healing you receive from Bloodthirst by 100%.
Demoralizing Shout: Increases the duration by 15 seconds, and area of effect by 50% of your Demoralizing Shout.
Enduring Victory: Increases the window of opportunity in which you can use Victory Rush by 5 seconds.
Furious Sundering: Reduces the cost of Sunder Armor by 50%.
Intimidating Shout: Targets of your Intimidating Shout no longer move faster when feared.
And that’s your lot. As you know, all of this comes with the usual beta caveat of “subject to change” - but I’d imagine this is around 85% right for what we’re going to be seeing in Cataclysm.
As for Protection warriors, here’s what you’re looking at:
Prime: Revenge, Shield Slam and Devastate.
Major: Long Charge, Shield Wall, Thunder Clap, Cleaving, Heroic Throw, Intervene, Rapid Charge, Resonating Power, Shockwave, Spell Reflection, Sunder Armor and Victory Rush.
Minor: Command, Demoralizing Shout, Enduring Victory, Furious Sundering and Intimidating Shout.
Your Prime glyphs are no-brainers really, and there is no choice at the moment. As a result, I’d expect to see something else in the way of Prime glyphs. There is, however, a heap of choices when you start looking at Major glyphs and that’s where most of the customization is going to come in; much of it dependent on spec. Lastly, the Minor glyphs are “QoL” at best and will have very limited impact on how you play.
Enjoy. :)
Running wild through Azeroth from the perspective of a Protection warrior.
Search the Ramblings
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Remaining Vigilant.
One of the more subtle yet significant changes for Protection warriors in Cataclysm comes in the form of the revamped Vigilance. As a talent, it's been a staple for us throughout WotLK and was basically how the developers updated Defiance from it's terribly boring Outland incarnation.
Throughout the last couple of years, Vigilance has received a sort of love/hate kind of attention; warriors hated it, high-threat damage dealers universally loved it and it had numerous applications that made intelligent use of the Taunt refresh (starting with Gothik, finishing with Arthas himself). Getting 10% threat from another player was an unwanted crutch for a tank that comfortably did the least damage, while said damage dealer was free to go for it with no risk of pulling threat and probably being saved if they did. Of course, the 3% damage reduction was also helpful but tended toward the superfluous thanks to things like Blessing of Sanctuary or (in our case) Renewed Hope.
But here's the change:
Vigilance
"Focus your protective gaze on a group or raid target, reducing their damage taken by 3%. In addition, each time they are hit by an attack your Taunt cooldown is refreshed and you gain Vengeance as if 20% of the damage was done to you. Lasts 30 min. This effect can only be on one target at a time".
When 4.0 lands, Vigilance will go from an all-tank talent to a niche talent with very limited use.
Let me explain.
First of all, put yourself in the position of the heroic instance tank. There is no threat transfer, so putting it on any of your damage dealers is pointless. Yes, it may allow you to save them through taunting, but the enhanced health pools of Cataclysm are enough of a crutch to avoid that. Lastly, will the 3% damage reduction be of any benefit when lost aggro is nothing more than an uncommon accident? It also goes without saying that Vengeance won't be stacking, as they won't be getting hit.
Now let's say you're a boss tank.
Your problems are similar to those above. With no threat transfer, you're limited on who it's worth putting on. You'll be taking damage yourself, meaning the Vengeance contribution is also significantly hampered and you're not likely to be doing any taunting. Again, the damage reduction sounds okay but is 3% going to make much difference in the Cataclysm world of large health pools?
We then come to the conventional off-tank and we see why the talent was re-designed.
When you're not directly taking damage, your main tank can be building Vengeance for you so that you can open up high burst on adds when required, or the boss himself. The taunt refresh is also potentially very handy if you're going to be picking up streaming adds while in an encounter that calls for it. Lastly, assuming your main tank isn't a paladin, the 3% damage reduction will be hugely worthwhile... Once again, assuming the lack of a Discipline priest.
TL, DR?
Vigilance has been significantly altered in order to cover up a known, yet relatively unimportant, weakness with Protection warriors, but has lost the vast majority of its applicable function in the process. And while most tanks will probably keep picking it up in case the taunt refresh mechanic can be abused (or through habit), you certainly won't see me questioning warriors who choose to leave it out.
All told, it's very disappointing to see a "solution" come in the form of what is actually a pretty significant change for the worse.
A more elegant solution might have been making the talent add a percentage of damage dealt by the target (already suggested), or seeing critical strikes from the target give a 50% chance to proc Revenge; you could even buff Revenge itself slightly under these circumstances, or do something out of the box like also making it available in Battle Stance.
Considering the additional rage coming in from Sentinel, I consider the DPS contribution of a Protection warrior when not tanking to already have been given enough help without dismantling Vigilance, too.
Of course, my preferred option is potentially to make it an additional part of another talent that is a bit lacklustre. There are candidates for this, considering the Protection tree itself is badly flooded with talents that every tank is going to be awfully hard pressed to turn down. As luck would have it though, there is an elephant in the room that is going to see selection very rarely due to its lack of real utility. It also so happens that the talent concerned would have a lot in common with Vigilance from a "feel" perspective and it would make inherent sense to wrap up both talents instead, as opposed to the costly three it would otherwise sit at.
I am, of course, talking about the somewhat reviled Safeguard. One or two points for the Vigilance effect as well as a minor damage cooldown wouldn't be too much to ask at this stage.
Regardelss of how they may change it, I just sincerely hope its current beta version doesn't make it to live. I know it's a free point for choice, but it lacks any real utility and is more than likely to be relegated to the "bum talent" the developers are so desperate to avoid.
Throughout the last couple of years, Vigilance has received a sort of love/hate kind of attention; warriors hated it, high-threat damage dealers universally loved it and it had numerous applications that made intelligent use of the Taunt refresh (starting with Gothik, finishing with Arthas himself). Getting 10% threat from another player was an unwanted crutch for a tank that comfortably did the least damage, while said damage dealer was free to go for it with no risk of pulling threat and probably being saved if they did. Of course, the 3% damage reduction was also helpful but tended toward the superfluous thanks to things like Blessing of Sanctuary or (in our case) Renewed Hope.
But here's the change:
Vigilance
"Focus your protective gaze on a group or raid target, reducing their damage taken by 3%. In addition, each time they are hit by an attack your Taunt cooldown is refreshed and you gain Vengeance as if 20% of the damage was done to you. Lasts 30 min. This effect can only be on one target at a time".
When 4.0 lands, Vigilance will go from an all-tank talent to a niche talent with very limited use.
Let me explain.
First of all, put yourself in the position of the heroic instance tank. There is no threat transfer, so putting it on any of your damage dealers is pointless. Yes, it may allow you to save them through taunting, but the enhanced health pools of Cataclysm are enough of a crutch to avoid that. Lastly, will the 3% damage reduction be of any benefit when lost aggro is nothing more than an uncommon accident? It also goes without saying that Vengeance won't be stacking, as they won't be getting hit.
Now let's say you're a boss tank.
Your problems are similar to those above. With no threat transfer, you're limited on who it's worth putting on. You'll be taking damage yourself, meaning the Vengeance contribution is also significantly hampered and you're not likely to be doing any taunting. Again, the damage reduction sounds okay but is 3% going to make much difference in the Cataclysm world of large health pools?
We then come to the conventional off-tank and we see why the talent was re-designed.
When you're not directly taking damage, your main tank can be building Vengeance for you so that you can open up high burst on adds when required, or the boss himself. The taunt refresh is also potentially very handy if you're going to be picking up streaming adds while in an encounter that calls for it. Lastly, assuming your main tank isn't a paladin, the 3% damage reduction will be hugely worthwhile... Once again, assuming the lack of a Discipline priest.
TL, DR?
Vigilance has been significantly altered in order to cover up a known, yet relatively unimportant, weakness with Protection warriors, but has lost the vast majority of its applicable function in the process. And while most tanks will probably keep picking it up in case the taunt refresh mechanic can be abused (or through habit), you certainly won't see me questioning warriors who choose to leave it out.
All told, it's very disappointing to see a "solution" come in the form of what is actually a pretty significant change for the worse.
A more elegant solution might have been making the talent add a percentage of damage dealt by the target (already suggested), or seeing critical strikes from the target give a 50% chance to proc Revenge; you could even buff Revenge itself slightly under these circumstances, or do something out of the box like also making it available in Battle Stance.
Considering the additional rage coming in from Sentinel, I consider the DPS contribution of a Protection warrior when not tanking to already have been given enough help without dismantling Vigilance, too.
Of course, my preferred option is potentially to make it an additional part of another talent that is a bit lacklustre. There are candidates for this, considering the Protection tree itself is badly flooded with talents that every tank is going to be awfully hard pressed to turn down. As luck would have it though, there is an elephant in the room that is going to see selection very rarely due to its lack of real utility. It also so happens that the talent concerned would have a lot in common with Vigilance from a "feel" perspective and it would make inherent sense to wrap up both talents instead, as opposed to the costly three it would otherwise sit at.
I am, of course, talking about the somewhat reviled Safeguard. One or two points for the Vigilance effect as well as a minor damage cooldown wouldn't be too much to ask at this stage.
Regardelss of how they may change it, I just sincerely hope its current beta version doesn't make it to live. I know it's a free point for choice, but it lacks any real utility and is more than likely to be relegated to the "bum talent" the developers are so desperate to avoid.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Ode to the new Warchief.
I never liked Garrosh Hellscream. In truth, I viewed him as a character of limited depth, limited intelligence and limited mileage. As you can probably imagine, I was somewhat perplexed when the news hit that Garrosh was going to be the new Warchief of the Horde while Thrall did his best to deal with the world pulling itself apart as the new Guardian of Tirisfal. Not only was I "somewhat perplexed", I was deeply unhappy with Blizzard's choice and hoped they would reverse it. Then I saw the model for him and that simply confirmed my view that he was just a dumb, brutish ogre that would rip the Horde apart.
It's not difficult to pinpoint why I (and others) hated Garrosh. He personified the old version of the orc from time immemorial; a thick-headed and hot-blooded savage with little capacity for sound judgement or reason, and a personality that lent itself to easy manipulation due to an inherent inability to consider consequences beyond the next dust up. Blizzard had spent the best part of four years forging a shamanistic personality for the orcs, one that formed the bedrock for a stronger future of enlightenment that would be led by the ancestors.
In the space of one transition, the orcs had reverted to type and gone back to the days when their only consideration was the next opportunity to incite a bloodbath. The responsibility for this lay firmly at Garrosh's hearth which started in earnest by the killing of Cairne Bloodhoof and saw consolidation by the strained relationship with Vol'jin.
Honour good. Garrosh bad.
Of course, I then started playing the beta and spending a bit of time in Orgrimmar to chase down profession trainers and get access to places like Mount Hyjal, Deepholm and Vash'jir. The first thing that will hit anyone on entering the new Orgrimmar for the first time is the sheer volume of change that has hit it. The barest of bare bones in the layout are the same, but it's almost as if Garrosh razed the entirety of the city and started again in accordance with his own vision. The buildings are bigger, there are districts for the city, it's more fortified and the Warchief shows his personal preference by planting his throne in the Valley of Strength.
Then (assuming you play with sound) the music hits you. Music that's a bombastic mix of drums and horns, with the sound practically pounding you in the face as you move about. I have no shame in telling you that when I hear it, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, as if to attention, ready to hear the orders of the Warchief and then see me rush to follow them. It's spine-tingling, inspiring and boiling with orcish pride. Then you finally enter the throne room, with the music banging and the guards moving around, and you approach Warchief Garrosh and hear him loudly proclaim that you should "Live by these words; Lok'tar ogar - Victory or Death!"
It's here that it hits you. You realise the point in all of it. And you acutely grasp that Thrall was correct whilst speaking to Vol'jin.
Garrosh is the right choice.
In such a short space of time, he's recreated what Thrall spent an inordinate amount of time eroding.
Identity.
We're back in a world where the Horde no longer accepts tolerance or, at a stretch, equality. It's a Horde that demands superiority. Garrosh expects that every member will be their best, strive for the perfection we'd forgotten to chase, live in honour while defending our comrades and give our lives defending the principles that Garrosh's father, the late and great Grom Hellscream, gave his life to grant all orcs.
Garrosh sees the Horde as an absolute sovereignty, the only power to be reckoned with in the known world. And while Thrall practically begged the Alliance to look past the fact we were orcs, trolls, tauren and Forsaken in an effort to be accepted, Garrosh makes absolutely no apology for who he is and, by default, who we are; he is a savagely proud orc that viscerally demands the same patriotism from every man, woman and child under his stewardship. He personifies that stoic adoration we have for ourselves as members of our own race, while obliterating the flimsy notion that the Horde owes anyone anything just by virtue of being.
Not only is Garrosh the right choice, he's the perfect choice.
All of a sudden we're reminded of why we joined the Horde in the first place, why we're fighting for the expansion of our ideals and principles and why we're killing members of the Alliance in battlegrounds instead of trying to befriend them. The Horde stands for those who value honour, regardless of race, and will always strive to be unconditionally committed to brothers in arms and blood-curdlingly hateful of those who seek our humility.
I explicitly understand why people would hate or despise Garrosh. After all, killing Cairne and insulting Vol'jin aren't exactly the acts of someone you'd instantly fall in love with. But ask yourself; what is Garrosh doing to the Horde? Is he fracturing it? Destroying it? Harassing it? Or is he reforming it with a proud, honourable, powerful and wise identity that no enemy would go against willingly and that will never apologise for its nature?
You come to the Horde, you view its members as equals; not as a conglomerate amalgamation of misfits that deserve pity. The decision to do otherwise will soon see you lethally chastised.
In short, the Horde is back to what it was when I first joined and first loved it. So when you next enter the field in order to conduct your latest campaign into hostile or Alliance territory, and you can remember the last visit to Orgrimmar when you prepared for this battle while having those drums banging in your head, remember those words that will support you endlessly no matter what:
Hellscream's eyes are upon you.
LOK'TAR!
It's not difficult to pinpoint why I (and others) hated Garrosh. He personified the old version of the orc from time immemorial; a thick-headed and hot-blooded savage with little capacity for sound judgement or reason, and a personality that lent itself to easy manipulation due to an inherent inability to consider consequences beyond the next dust up. Blizzard had spent the best part of four years forging a shamanistic personality for the orcs, one that formed the bedrock for a stronger future of enlightenment that would be led by the ancestors.
In the space of one transition, the orcs had reverted to type and gone back to the days when their only consideration was the next opportunity to incite a bloodbath. The responsibility for this lay firmly at Garrosh's hearth which started in earnest by the killing of Cairne Bloodhoof and saw consolidation by the strained relationship with Vol'jin.
Honour good. Garrosh bad.
Of course, I then started playing the beta and spending a bit of time in Orgrimmar to chase down profession trainers and get access to places like Mount Hyjal, Deepholm and Vash'jir. The first thing that will hit anyone on entering the new Orgrimmar for the first time is the sheer volume of change that has hit it. The barest of bare bones in the layout are the same, but it's almost as if Garrosh razed the entirety of the city and started again in accordance with his own vision. The buildings are bigger, there are districts for the city, it's more fortified and the Warchief shows his personal preference by planting his throne in the Valley of Strength.
Then (assuming you play with sound) the music hits you. Music that's a bombastic mix of drums and horns, with the sound practically pounding you in the face as you move about. I have no shame in telling you that when I hear it, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, as if to attention, ready to hear the orders of the Warchief and then see me rush to follow them. It's spine-tingling, inspiring and boiling with orcish pride. Then you finally enter the throne room, with the music banging and the guards moving around, and you approach Warchief Garrosh and hear him loudly proclaim that you should "Live by these words; Lok'tar ogar - Victory or Death!"
It's here that it hits you. You realise the point in all of it. And you acutely grasp that Thrall was correct whilst speaking to Vol'jin.
Garrosh is the right choice.
In such a short space of time, he's recreated what Thrall spent an inordinate amount of time eroding.
Identity.
We're back in a world where the Horde no longer accepts tolerance or, at a stretch, equality. It's a Horde that demands superiority. Garrosh expects that every member will be their best, strive for the perfection we'd forgotten to chase, live in honour while defending our comrades and give our lives defending the principles that Garrosh's father, the late and great Grom Hellscream, gave his life to grant all orcs.
Garrosh sees the Horde as an absolute sovereignty, the only power to be reckoned with in the known world. And while Thrall practically begged the Alliance to look past the fact we were orcs, trolls, tauren and Forsaken in an effort to be accepted, Garrosh makes absolutely no apology for who he is and, by default, who we are; he is a savagely proud orc that viscerally demands the same patriotism from every man, woman and child under his stewardship. He personifies that stoic adoration we have for ourselves as members of our own race, while obliterating the flimsy notion that the Horde owes anyone anything just by virtue of being.
Not only is Garrosh the right choice, he's the perfect choice.
All of a sudden we're reminded of why we joined the Horde in the first place, why we're fighting for the expansion of our ideals and principles and why we're killing members of the Alliance in battlegrounds instead of trying to befriend them. The Horde stands for those who value honour, regardless of race, and will always strive to be unconditionally committed to brothers in arms and blood-curdlingly hateful of those who seek our humility.
I explicitly understand why people would hate or despise Garrosh. After all, killing Cairne and insulting Vol'jin aren't exactly the acts of someone you'd instantly fall in love with. But ask yourself; what is Garrosh doing to the Horde? Is he fracturing it? Destroying it? Harassing it? Or is he reforming it with a proud, honourable, powerful and wise identity that no enemy would go against willingly and that will never apologise for its nature?
You come to the Horde, you view its members as equals; not as a conglomerate amalgamation of misfits that deserve pity. The decision to do otherwise will soon see you lethally chastised.
In short, the Horde is back to what it was when I first joined and first loved it. So when you next enter the field in order to conduct your latest campaign into hostile or Alliance territory, and you can remember the last visit to Orgrimmar when you prepared for this battle while having those drums banging in your head, remember those words that will support you endlessly no matter what:
Hellscream's eyes are upon you.
LOK'TAR!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Solving the mana conundrum.
This is a long one.
Much of the discussion on the Beta forums currently surrounds the wholly contentious issue of mana regeneration and the power of heals coming from those who swing the light to keep us all alive. It seems many people are not happy with the new model which (cutting a long story short) has nerfed regeneration considerably, and also lowered the output of each spell. The notion, basically, is that healing gameplay is more about the triage process of decision-making as opposed to the first-person-shooter version that we've had throughout Wrath of the Lich King.
I don't want to get into that discussion as, to be honest, it doesn't interest me that much. Good players will ever remain as such, so I'm not concerned that our guild healers are suddenly going to be bad when 4.0 hits. They'll learn to adapt. What I do wish to talk about, however, is how tanks should be approaching the issue with regard to level cap PvE content.
It breaks down like this:
1) Each spell will do less healing than it currently does in live (by percentage of your health).
2) Less spells can be cast on you due to mana constraints (in a given encounter).
Of course it's accepted that, if you're a healer, this appears to be a rather savage double whammy. Not only will heals themselves be weaker, less of them will be able to be cast. What this means for tanks, then, is pretty simple; we're going to have two jobs, too.
1) Make each spell as powerful as possible.
2) Ensure healers have to cast less spells.
Making each spell as powerful as possible.
The definition of more powerful is obvious - anything that we, as a class, can do to make a heal land for a higher number than it would normally. In this regard, warriors have a rather lovely talent entitled Field Dressing. For two points in the Arms tree, the warrior will see 6% added to any heal that lands on him (not including the other significant effect). This basically means that once you've got your 31 points in the Protection tree, your next stop should be Field Dressing as an absolute no-brainer. In addition, that 6% will scale with gear so that the talent will only get more powerful as your healer gets more powerful.
Get your hands on Field Dressing and never let it go. This part of the discussion is over.
Ensuring healers have to cast less spells.
Throughout Wrath of the Lich King, effective health has been all that mattered. The more spike damage you can survive, the better you are as a tank - something that has unnecessarily penalized warrior players in a regard they couldn't do anything about. Come Cataclysm, effective health is going to be far less important as a tank will not be taken down within three blows. This means that a part of tanking that has been told to go stand in the corner for two years is about to make a comeback.
Avoidance.
There. I said it. Avoidance is going to be good. But before I am befouled by a plague of frogs, or struck down with a nasty bout of dysentery, it's worth considering that avoidance is going to make the single biggest contribution to your healer not having to cast so many spells over the course of an encounter. In fact, if your sole consideration is going to be effective health then you're going to be a BAD tank for demanding 100% of your healers attention. But the emboldened part is important and worth taking note of; we are talking about a mana pool that has to last over an encounter, not a health pool that has to survive for three seconds. This change in priority is what has caused avoidance to be desirable again, and must be borne in mind.
Of course, warriors can do something else to lessen damage. They can block. Again, this is something that has been largely ignored for the last two years because its random nature and limited impact made for something that couldn't reliably be counted on to save a tank. Of course, that hasn't changed (as it hasn't for avoidance) but it's the shift in gameplay that makes these stats compelling once more.
Oh, and the fact a block will stop 30% of any physical blow.
Consider that for a second. 30% of a physical blow will be removed from any attack that you manage to block. Over the course of an encounter, that's extremely powerful especially when you consider the impact of Shield Block for periods when lots of physical damage is on the way in. The warrior mastery, Critical Block, makes this even more exciting when that block value can be doubled at higher levels of mastery.
In short, warriors can spend elongated periods of time without ever needing a heal by virtue of their gear alone. The change in gameplay means that healing will be reactive in Cataclysm, something that will directly enhance the benefit of avoidance and mitigation. But gear is only half of the equation we can consider. Assuming people are playing correctly, the talent choices are pretty awesome when we're looking to save the healers a job.
The self-healing warrior.
Once the domain solely of the death knight, all of a sudden warriors can spend a few talent points in healing themselves up lessening the healer migraine even more than gear allows. Our only heal to date, Enraged Regeneration, is actually being buffed by our old friend Field Dressing. Not only does it improve heals cast on us by 6%, it buffs our self-healing abilities by a whopping 20%. So, clicking Enraged Regeneration is going to see it heal us up for an additional 20% of what it normally does, including even more healing if we assume the glyph makes the cull.
40% of your health back over the period, with an additional 20% on top of that thanks to Field Dressing? Let's assume a health pool of 100k to keep things nice and simple. We're basically looking at being able to heal ourselves for 48k (almost half our health) every time Enraged Regeneration is up. That's actually hugely impressive, and becomes another cooldown that compares favourably to both Last Stand and Shield Wall.
But what else do we have going for us in the self-healing stakes?
Well, there's Blood Craze. Again, sticking with the 100k health theme, we're looking at potentially healing ourselves for 7.5k health every time we take damage. Well, whoopee doo. But Blood Craze could be up every 20 seconds or so, making it hugely attractive for a prolonged encounter. Plus, I forgot to add the 20% extra from good old Field Dressing, which rounds our number up to just under 10k health.
And we're still not done!
Impending Victory is another talent that looks fantastic to me, should a Protection warrior be tanking a raid boss. Every 2nd Devastate (on average) is going to allow the use of Victory Rush, granting a shiny heal worth 6k on the 100k health model, Field Dressing considered. This will also help to lessen the impact of additional damage in the execute phase of an encounter, the phase that is typically the most dangerous for everyone in the raid group.
And that's it.
TL, DR?
Mana matters in Cataclysm, and healers want to use it as sparingly as possible. As Protection warriors, we can actually have quite a significant impact on how much attention healers have to devote to us during an encounter of difficulty; how much of an impact is dependent on your talents and gear set up. But we can buff heals on us with Field Dressing, while that same talent will also increase our considerable self-healing capabilities through Enraged Regeneration, Blood Craze and Victory Rush. Heck, there's nothing stopping us from stacking Enraged Regeneration with Last Stand, as we tend to currently, for an absurd amount of self-healing through difficult phases. When you add all that to our mastery bonus and the fact that parry, dodge and block are all going to be worthwhile stats again, we can start to fully appreciate just how much fun we'll be for healers to work with when the proverbial hits the fan.
Warriors are back to being hard to kill.
It's about time.
Much of the discussion on the Beta forums currently surrounds the wholly contentious issue of mana regeneration and the power of heals coming from those who swing the light to keep us all alive. It seems many people are not happy with the new model which (cutting a long story short) has nerfed regeneration considerably, and also lowered the output of each spell. The notion, basically, is that healing gameplay is more about the triage process of decision-making as opposed to the first-person-shooter version that we've had throughout Wrath of the Lich King.
I don't want to get into that discussion as, to be honest, it doesn't interest me that much. Good players will ever remain as such, so I'm not concerned that our guild healers are suddenly going to be bad when 4.0 hits. They'll learn to adapt. What I do wish to talk about, however, is how tanks should be approaching the issue with regard to level cap PvE content.
It breaks down like this:
1) Each spell will do less healing than it currently does in live (by percentage of your health).
2) Less spells can be cast on you due to mana constraints (in a given encounter).
Of course it's accepted that, if you're a healer, this appears to be a rather savage double whammy. Not only will heals themselves be weaker, less of them will be able to be cast. What this means for tanks, then, is pretty simple; we're going to have two jobs, too.
1) Make each spell as powerful as possible.
2) Ensure healers have to cast less spells.
Making each spell as powerful as possible.
The definition of more powerful is obvious - anything that we, as a class, can do to make a heal land for a higher number than it would normally. In this regard, warriors have a rather lovely talent entitled Field Dressing. For two points in the Arms tree, the warrior will see 6% added to any heal that lands on him (not including the other significant effect). This basically means that once you've got your 31 points in the Protection tree, your next stop should be Field Dressing as an absolute no-brainer. In addition, that 6% will scale with gear so that the talent will only get more powerful as your healer gets more powerful.
Get your hands on Field Dressing and never let it go. This part of the discussion is over.
Ensuring healers have to cast less spells.
Throughout Wrath of the Lich King, effective health has been all that mattered. The more spike damage you can survive, the better you are as a tank - something that has unnecessarily penalized warrior players in a regard they couldn't do anything about. Come Cataclysm, effective health is going to be far less important as a tank will not be taken down within three blows. This means that a part of tanking that has been told to go stand in the corner for two years is about to make a comeback.
Avoidance.
There. I said it. Avoidance is going to be good. But before I am befouled by a plague of frogs, or struck down with a nasty bout of dysentery, it's worth considering that avoidance is going to make the single biggest contribution to your healer not having to cast so many spells over the course of an encounter. In fact, if your sole consideration is going to be effective health then you're going to be a BAD tank for demanding 100% of your healers attention. But the emboldened part is important and worth taking note of; we are talking about a mana pool that has to last over an encounter, not a health pool that has to survive for three seconds. This change in priority is what has caused avoidance to be desirable again, and must be borne in mind.
Of course, warriors can do something else to lessen damage. They can block. Again, this is something that has been largely ignored for the last two years because its random nature and limited impact made for something that couldn't reliably be counted on to save a tank. Of course, that hasn't changed (as it hasn't for avoidance) but it's the shift in gameplay that makes these stats compelling once more.
Oh, and the fact a block will stop 30% of any physical blow.
Consider that for a second. 30% of a physical blow will be removed from any attack that you manage to block. Over the course of an encounter, that's extremely powerful especially when you consider the impact of Shield Block for periods when lots of physical damage is on the way in. The warrior mastery, Critical Block, makes this even more exciting when that block value can be doubled at higher levels of mastery.
In short, warriors can spend elongated periods of time without ever needing a heal by virtue of their gear alone. The change in gameplay means that healing will be reactive in Cataclysm, something that will directly enhance the benefit of avoidance and mitigation. But gear is only half of the equation we can consider. Assuming people are playing correctly, the talent choices are pretty awesome when we're looking to save the healers a job.
The self-healing warrior.
Once the domain solely of the death knight, all of a sudden warriors can spend a few talent points in healing themselves up lessening the healer migraine even more than gear allows. Our only heal to date, Enraged Regeneration, is actually being buffed by our old friend Field Dressing. Not only does it improve heals cast on us by 6%, it buffs our self-healing abilities by a whopping 20%. So, clicking Enraged Regeneration is going to see it heal us up for an additional 20% of what it normally does, including even more healing if we assume the glyph makes the cull.
40% of your health back over the period, with an additional 20% on top of that thanks to Field Dressing? Let's assume a health pool of 100k to keep things nice and simple. We're basically looking at being able to heal ourselves for 48k (almost half our health) every time Enraged Regeneration is up. That's actually hugely impressive, and becomes another cooldown that compares favourably to both Last Stand and Shield Wall.
But what else do we have going for us in the self-healing stakes?
Well, there's Blood Craze. Again, sticking with the 100k health theme, we're looking at potentially healing ourselves for 7.5k health every time we take damage. Well, whoopee doo. But Blood Craze could be up every 20 seconds or so, making it hugely attractive for a prolonged encounter. Plus, I forgot to add the 20% extra from good old Field Dressing, which rounds our number up to just under 10k health.
And we're still not done!
Impending Victory is another talent that looks fantastic to me, should a Protection warrior be tanking a raid boss. Every 2nd Devastate (on average) is going to allow the use of Victory Rush, granting a shiny heal worth 6k on the 100k health model, Field Dressing considered. This will also help to lessen the impact of additional damage in the execute phase of an encounter, the phase that is typically the most dangerous for everyone in the raid group.
And that's it.
TL, DR?
Mana matters in Cataclysm, and healers want to use it as sparingly as possible. As Protection warriors, we can actually have quite a significant impact on how much attention healers have to devote to us during an encounter of difficulty; how much of an impact is dependent on your talents and gear set up. But we can buff heals on us with Field Dressing, while that same talent will also increase our considerable self-healing capabilities through Enraged Regeneration, Blood Craze and Victory Rush. Heck, there's nothing stopping us from stacking Enraged Regeneration with Last Stand, as we tend to currently, for an absurd amount of self-healing through difficult phases. When you add all that to our mastery bonus and the fact that parry, dodge and block are all going to be worthwhile stats again, we can start to fully appreciate just how much fun we'll be for healers to work with when the proverbial hits the fan.
Warriors are back to being hard to kill.
It's about time.
Why I'll be playing through the Cataclysm.
If you wish to follow the discussion that this post is centred around, then you can do so here.
However, I'll copy the text for easier reference. This one is from Ghostcrawler:
"You are correct that a lot of players moan about things being too easy without having seen the content personally. We definitely place less emphasis on their feedback than on people who have actually tried those encounters.
The hardest encounters of LK were harder than anything we've offered before. And honestly, that point isn't often in contention. I think what surprised players is say how far they got in Naxxramas on their very first night, without a lot of planning or gearing, or how they managed to kill 2-3 heroic bosses on their first night of a new heroic wing being opened in Icecrown (though to be honest, fighting a boss for weeks on normal mode first definitely exacerbates that phenomenon).
We'll continue to offer some content for the cutting-edge progression raider. There is an encounter in Bastion of Twilight for them. But we also think true pugs shouldn't be stumbling their way through encounters they've never seen before, at least without a very strong or experienced leader.
To use my own guild as an example, in say the Serpentshrine days, we'd take a few weeks to master a new boss. I could probably count the number of time we got two new bosses on one night. I think a progression rate like that feels better to a lot of players. You spend time in between raid nights discussing what you could do differently on a tough boss, but then celebrate each victory.
A heroic dungeon doesn't need to be quite so brutal, but it still doesn't seem bad if you wipe on a new boss 2-3 times before you figure out a solid stragegy and everything falls into place. A lot of players love that puzzle-solving aspect of the encounters. It lets them exercise their mind, creativity and knowledge of game mechanics. When you can just overpower the boss and ignore the encounter mechanics, then a lot of that is lost."
In one post, Ghostcrawler has summed up why I'm going to be playing Cataclysm and why most of the people I like, respect and enjoy playing with will be doing likewise.
Amid all the number crunching, buttonology and theorycrafting that swings to and fro with alarming regularity (and frequently based on incorrect assumptions), we've just been treated to an honest appraisal of where the lead systems designer thinks the game should be from a philosophical standpoint. In many ways, this is worth more than all of the mathematical equations surrounding the Beta combined; it's an opinion.
For the vast majority of Wrath of the Lich King, the PvE community have been bemused by the lack of enjoyable, challenging and engaging content offered at the level cap. A lot of that enjoyment comes from being able to use your head, not just push your buttons. Boss fights should be meaningful, something that requires all of the group to contribute to success instead of just getting stuck in and hoping that your tank uses a cooldown for some of the most horrible damage, and the healer manages to keep everyone up.
Here's the scores on the doors:
1) PvE content is being made more challenging across the board, while still containing the Algalon style fights for those who have the stomach for them.
2) Dungeon difficulty will be scaling properly - this will facilitate the introduction of a scaling level of encounter difficulty that creates better players.
3) The gameplay itself is changing, meaning that decision making is more important than button-mashing.
4) Gear is going to be harder to obtain, with raids being the only meaningful source of epic quality loot.
5) The entire lore content of the game, through quests, is being utterly dismantled and seeing replacement with an experience that is 1000% times more enjoyable.
6) So many quality of life issues, cross-class and UI wise, are being addressed intelligently and seeing thoughtful and innovative solutions.
7) Level cap character progression will be returned with Archaeology, something that is far larger in scope than was originally thought.
People are looking at Cataclysm through lenses that are tinted by what they want to see. For me, there were many things I hoped would make a return - mainly from the Golden Age of PvE content, The Burning Crusade. But while not everything I hoped for is going to see the light of day, I can accept that what the developers are trying to do is recreate the world we play in to be up to date and engaging, while not demanding ridiculous amounts of time to be viable. I want to see reputation grinds, specialized crafting and intelligent raid grouping. The fact that I won't see those three things shan't cloud what I am getting from Cataclysm (see the list above).
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is Blizzard redesigning their game from the ground up, with the lessons of six years learned and safely in tow. I had so many reservations about it throughout some of the early discussions and whilst looking back on how the admittedly abysmal Wrath of the Lich King turned out.
But I'm excited now. I genuinely believe that the upcoming expansion is going to be some of the most fun we've ever had in Azeroth, with a personal gameplay and communal strategic demand that will be compelling and fun for all.
This isn't today's topic, I'm about to write that. But this post is for anyone who's not "down with the Cataclysm" and is being waylaid by the fog of confusion and QQ that is blighting the Beta forums.
It's looking awesome and is going to be fun.
Don't miss it.
However, I'll copy the text for easier reference. This one is from Ghostcrawler:
"You are correct that a lot of players moan about things being too easy without having seen the content personally. We definitely place less emphasis on their feedback than on people who have actually tried those encounters.
The hardest encounters of LK were harder than anything we've offered before. And honestly, that point isn't often in contention. I think what surprised players is say how far they got in Naxxramas on their very first night, without a lot of planning or gearing, or how they managed to kill 2-3 heroic bosses on their first night of a new heroic wing being opened in Icecrown (though to be honest, fighting a boss for weeks on normal mode first definitely exacerbates that phenomenon).
We'll continue to offer some content for the cutting-edge progression raider. There is an encounter in Bastion of Twilight for them. But we also think true pugs shouldn't be stumbling their way through encounters they've never seen before, at least without a very strong or experienced leader.
To use my own guild as an example, in say the Serpentshrine days, we'd take a few weeks to master a new boss. I could probably count the number of time we got two new bosses on one night. I think a progression rate like that feels better to a lot of players. You spend time in between raid nights discussing what you could do differently on a tough boss, but then celebrate each victory.
A heroic dungeon doesn't need to be quite so brutal, but it still doesn't seem bad if you wipe on a new boss 2-3 times before you figure out a solid stragegy and everything falls into place. A lot of players love that puzzle-solving aspect of the encounters. It lets them exercise their mind, creativity and knowledge of game mechanics. When you can just overpower the boss and ignore the encounter mechanics, then a lot of that is lost."
In one post, Ghostcrawler has summed up why I'm going to be playing Cataclysm and why most of the people I like, respect and enjoy playing with will be doing likewise.
Amid all the number crunching, buttonology and theorycrafting that swings to and fro with alarming regularity (and frequently based on incorrect assumptions), we've just been treated to an honest appraisal of where the lead systems designer thinks the game should be from a philosophical standpoint. In many ways, this is worth more than all of the mathematical equations surrounding the Beta combined; it's an opinion.
For the vast majority of Wrath of the Lich King, the PvE community have been bemused by the lack of enjoyable, challenging and engaging content offered at the level cap. A lot of that enjoyment comes from being able to use your head, not just push your buttons. Boss fights should be meaningful, something that requires all of the group to contribute to success instead of just getting stuck in and hoping that your tank uses a cooldown for some of the most horrible damage, and the healer manages to keep everyone up.
Here's the scores on the doors:
1) PvE content is being made more challenging across the board, while still containing the Algalon style fights for those who have the stomach for them.
2) Dungeon difficulty will be scaling properly - this will facilitate the introduction of a scaling level of encounter difficulty that creates better players.
3) The gameplay itself is changing, meaning that decision making is more important than button-mashing.
4) Gear is going to be harder to obtain, with raids being the only meaningful source of epic quality loot.
5) The entire lore content of the game, through quests, is being utterly dismantled and seeing replacement with an experience that is 1000% times more enjoyable.
6) So many quality of life issues, cross-class and UI wise, are being addressed intelligently and seeing thoughtful and innovative solutions.
7) Level cap character progression will be returned with Archaeology, something that is far larger in scope than was originally thought.
People are looking at Cataclysm through lenses that are tinted by what they want to see. For me, there were many things I hoped would make a return - mainly from the Golden Age of PvE content, The Burning Crusade. But while not everything I hoped for is going to see the light of day, I can accept that what the developers are trying to do is recreate the world we play in to be up to date and engaging, while not demanding ridiculous amounts of time to be viable. I want to see reputation grinds, specialized crafting and intelligent raid grouping. The fact that I won't see those three things shan't cloud what I am getting from Cataclysm (see the list above).
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is Blizzard redesigning their game from the ground up, with the lessons of six years learned and safely in tow. I had so many reservations about it throughout some of the early discussions and whilst looking back on how the admittedly abysmal Wrath of the Lich King turned out.
But I'm excited now. I genuinely believe that the upcoming expansion is going to be some of the most fun we've ever had in Azeroth, with a personal gameplay and communal strategic demand that will be compelling and fun for all.
This isn't today's topic, I'm about to write that. But this post is for anyone who's not "down with the Cataclysm" and is being waylaid by the fog of confusion and QQ that is blighting the Beta forums.
It's looking awesome and is going to be fun.
Don't miss it.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
How good are the Guild Perks?
In my last entry, I discussed how the guild levelling system is going to work in Cataclysm and what guild members should be aware of in regard to it. If you're not already familiar with how it's going to be implemented, I recommend going back and reading it.
This entry is going to concentrate on one of the main features, if not the bona fide main feature itself; guild perks.
Below, I've listed all of the perks and the descriptions of their maximum level effects. I've also written what guild level you need to be to unlock the perk, purely to be systematic and thorough. I've also said what I think about each one individually from (I hope) a rounded point of view.
Read on to learn what your guild could soon be offering to you!
Fast Track (Levels 1 and 5): Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
Pretty obvious upgrade here, both for levelling alts (goblins or worgen, particularly) and for levelling main characters; it's quickly unlocked to help that push to 85, but the 10% buff (plus heirlooms) will see alts levelled quicker than ever before. Better for social and/or levelling guilds, really, but always going to be relatively useful.
Mount Up (Level 2): Increases speed while mounted by 5%. Not active in Battlegrounds or Arena.
A convenience perk, not much more. Again, it'll see most benefit if you're lower level and getting yourself to 85. I'm unsure if this will apply to flying mounts, but I suspect not. Any guild will get use out of this, but it's not worth writing home about.
Mr. Popularity (Levels 3 and 11): Reputation gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
This is potentially a huge benefit to those who like grinding reputations, including guild reputation. It will also be of benefit when running instances with your reputation tabard, making it more of a level-cap perk. Of course, if you're chasing Insane in the Membrane! then it may be worth waiting on this to unlock to make it slightly less painful. Slightly. Very slightly. Raiding guilds will get good use from this while farming the reputations that provide character enhancements, while social guilds with reputation grinders will also see a lot in this one.
Cash Flow (Levels 4 and 15): Each time you loot money from an enemy, an extra 10% money is generated and deposited directly into your guild bank.
Guild taxes or gold generation for the guild bank, begone! At 10%, and in a large guild, this is quite possibly the biggest perk available. At no cost to the player, every member will be contributing to the guild itself simply by playing. Good for every guild out there.
Reinforce (Levels 6 and 8): Items take 10% less durability loss when you die.
A raiding guild perk. Those horribly costly nights of wiping will be a bit less of a drain on the bank and when considered over a period of a full tier, this could save your guild something in the region of tens of thousands of gold.
Hasty Hearth (Level 7): Reduces the cooldown on your Hearthstone by 15 minutes.
Another one for the levellers amongst us. The Hearthstone cooldown isn't particularly restrictive, but Blizzard seem to be encouraging those of lower level to simply keep resetting their stone to the most convenient place and then using it liberally.
Chug-A-Lug (Levels 9 and 21): The duration of buffs from all guild cauldrons and feasts is increased by 100%.
At first sight, this seems a bit underwhelming. Feasts are usually refreshed after a wipe and the buffs rarely expire otherwise. However, this could potentially be a big one for those who are levelling using the dungeon finder as they can set it down and then see a two hour buff. Also, this could encourage group questing for more combat effectiveness and would also be good for farming raid content for those last bits of gear and/or alts. One that will probably be missed if you ever end up losing it.
Mobile Banking (Level 10): Summons your guild bank. Instant, 1 hour cooldown.
I would suggest this is a raiding guild perk, one that will see the bank summoned for flasks, feasts or BoE and item dumps. I can see few other uses for the level 10 milestone perk.
Honourable Mention (Levels 12 and 18): Increases honour points gained by 10%.
Clearly for PvP orientated guilds and players. 10% more honour sounds good to me, especially for those in Battlegrounds.
Working Overtime (Level 13): Increases the chance to get a skill increase on tradeskills by 10%.
This is a wide ranging perk and is nice for everyone. We all either need or like tradeskills, so increasing the chance to get a tradeskill point makes those pesky yellow options much more attractive.
The Quick and the Dead (Level 14): Increases health and mana gained when resurrected by a guild member by 50% and increases movement speed while dead by 100%. Does not function in combat or while in a Battleground or Arena.
Levellers and raiders this one. Faster corpse runs, particularly after a wipe, will soon be taken for granted. It's another that players will miss substantially should get used to it and lose it.
Guild Mail (Level 16): In-game mail sent between guild members now arrives instantly.
Purely a convenience perk, pretty sad for such a high level. Sending things around guild will (obviously) be quicker, but I can't really think of an occasion where I was really annoyed at the waiting time.
Everyone's a Hero (Levels 17 and 24): Increases Heroism points gained by 10%.
This is one for the PvE players, pure and simple; and it's awesome. While some PvP folks may like the look of specific vendor gear and find this perk good for farming it, only those who really enjoy their dungeons are going to see the biggest benefit from this.
Happy Hour (Level 19): Increases the number of flasks gained when using a flask cauldron by 100%.
I suspect raid guilds will get the most out of this, as they're the ones most likely to be using flasks. In saying that, Battleground or arena players will get benefit, as will any leveller looking for a bit more bite.
Have Group, Will Travel (Level 20): Summons all raid or party members to the casters current location. Unlimited range, 6 second cast/channelled, 2 hour cooldown.
This is a bit of a mixed blessing for me; it's one of the trademark perks, but I suspect it will see little use. Nobody can doubt the utility of being able to summon your raid group to you, but the long cooldown means it's unlikely to be used for fear of "wasting it". This is particularly true when your raid is forming and is never all ready at the same time. I could see a niche being formed for it, mid-raid, when everyone goes away for ten minutes to grab flasks and get new gear enchanted. We shall see. Needless to say, only raiding guilds will get any tangible benefit from it.
Bountiful Bags (Level 22): Increases the quantity of material gained from Mining, Skinning, Herbalism and Disenchanting by 15%.
Awesome perk and, in my view, one of the best. Whether you're a gold farmer or a crafter, this one has the potential to provide you with a bucketload of free materials. Totally justifies its high level and is great for every type of guild.
Bartering (Level 23): Reduces the price of items from vendors by 5%.
Depending on how this pans out, it could be wonderful or lacklustre. If it applies to all vendors, including heroism or honour point vendors, it will be a great boon and will be completely worthy of a level 23 perk. If it only applies to gold related vendors, it loses practically all of its shine as vendor items are never prohibitively priced. One to wait on before judging, but will be relevant to any guild really.
Mass Resurrection (Level 25): Brings all dead party and raid members back to life with 35 life and 35 mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. 64% of base mana, unlimited range, 10 second cast.
Another raiding guild perk, and a wonderful time saver assuming someone survives a wipe and can use mana (hai, huntardz - oh wait... Focus). Needless to say, this could be an excellent way of saving time and maintaining momentum while charging down Deathwing.
So, what does that mean?
Let me put it this way. The top five perks (in no particular order), as I see it, are:
1) Cashflow. You're generating more gold, what's not to like?
2) Reinforce. You're saving more gold - doh - but this saves you more the more you need it.
3) Working Overtime. This will undoubtedly lead to quicker profession levelling.
4) Bountiful Bags. As above, and can be used by gold farmers.
5) Everyone's a Hero/Honourable Mention. Farming points will simply feel less like "farming".
The least useful (again, in no particular order) are probably:
1) Hasty Hearth. 30 minutes isn't particularly prohibitive, shaving 15 from that isn't worth much.
2) Mobile Banking. With the proliferation of banking alts, as well as raiding groups being ready before the first pull, it's hard to see where this will be used.
3) Guild Mail. Players in guilds tend to only mail their alts, which is already instant.
4) Have Group, Will Travel. I just don't see this being as useful as it first appears, and the cooldown is a killer.
5) Chug-A-Lug. Nice enough, but a minimal benefit.
So, that's it - you've now read everything I think about the new guild levelling system - what do you think?
This entry is going to concentrate on one of the main features, if not the bona fide main feature itself; guild perks.
Below, I've listed all of the perks and the descriptions of their maximum level effects. I've also written what guild level you need to be to unlock the perk, purely to be systematic and thorough. I've also said what I think about each one individually from (I hope) a rounded point of view.
Read on to learn what your guild could soon be offering to you!
Fast Track (Levels 1 and 5): Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
Pretty obvious upgrade here, both for levelling alts (goblins or worgen, particularly) and for levelling main characters; it's quickly unlocked to help that push to 85, but the 10% buff (plus heirlooms) will see alts levelled quicker than ever before. Better for social and/or levelling guilds, really, but always going to be relatively useful.
Mount Up (Level 2): Increases speed while mounted by 5%. Not active in Battlegrounds or Arena.
A convenience perk, not much more. Again, it'll see most benefit if you're lower level and getting yourself to 85. I'm unsure if this will apply to flying mounts, but I suspect not. Any guild will get use out of this, but it's not worth writing home about.
Mr. Popularity (Levels 3 and 11): Reputation gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
This is potentially a huge benefit to those who like grinding reputations, including guild reputation. It will also be of benefit when running instances with your reputation tabard, making it more of a level-cap perk. Of course, if you're chasing Insane in the Membrane! then it may be worth waiting on this to unlock to make it slightly less painful. Slightly. Very slightly. Raiding guilds will get good use from this while farming the reputations that provide character enhancements, while social guilds with reputation grinders will also see a lot in this one.
Cash Flow (Levels 4 and 15): Each time you loot money from an enemy, an extra 10% money is generated and deposited directly into your guild bank.
Guild taxes or gold generation for the guild bank, begone! At 10%, and in a large guild, this is quite possibly the biggest perk available. At no cost to the player, every member will be contributing to the guild itself simply by playing. Good for every guild out there.
Reinforce (Levels 6 and 8): Items take 10% less durability loss when you die.
A raiding guild perk. Those horribly costly nights of wiping will be a bit less of a drain on the bank and when considered over a period of a full tier, this could save your guild something in the region of tens of thousands of gold.
Hasty Hearth (Level 7): Reduces the cooldown on your Hearthstone by 15 minutes.
Another one for the levellers amongst us. The Hearthstone cooldown isn't particularly restrictive, but Blizzard seem to be encouraging those of lower level to simply keep resetting their stone to the most convenient place and then using it liberally.
Chug-A-Lug (Levels 9 and 21): The duration of buffs from all guild cauldrons and feasts is increased by 100%.
At first sight, this seems a bit underwhelming. Feasts are usually refreshed after a wipe and the buffs rarely expire otherwise. However, this could potentially be a big one for those who are levelling using the dungeon finder as they can set it down and then see a two hour buff. Also, this could encourage group questing for more combat effectiveness and would also be good for farming raid content for those last bits of gear and/or alts. One that will probably be missed if you ever end up losing it.
Mobile Banking (Level 10): Summons your guild bank. Instant, 1 hour cooldown.
I would suggest this is a raiding guild perk, one that will see the bank summoned for flasks, feasts or BoE and item dumps. I can see few other uses for the level 10 milestone perk.
Honourable Mention (Levels 12 and 18): Increases honour points gained by 10%.
Clearly for PvP orientated guilds and players. 10% more honour sounds good to me, especially for those in Battlegrounds.
Working Overtime (Level 13): Increases the chance to get a skill increase on tradeskills by 10%.
This is a wide ranging perk and is nice for everyone. We all either need or like tradeskills, so increasing the chance to get a tradeskill point makes those pesky yellow options much more attractive.
The Quick and the Dead (Level 14): Increases health and mana gained when resurrected by a guild member by 50% and increases movement speed while dead by 100%. Does not function in combat or while in a Battleground or Arena.
Levellers and raiders this one. Faster corpse runs, particularly after a wipe, will soon be taken for granted. It's another that players will miss substantially should get used to it and lose it.
Guild Mail (Level 16): In-game mail sent between guild members now arrives instantly.
Purely a convenience perk, pretty sad for such a high level. Sending things around guild will (obviously) be quicker, but I can't really think of an occasion where I was really annoyed at the waiting time.
Everyone's a Hero (Levels 17 and 24): Increases Heroism points gained by 10%.
This is one for the PvE players, pure and simple; and it's awesome. While some PvP folks may like the look of specific vendor gear and find this perk good for farming it, only those who really enjoy their dungeons are going to see the biggest benefit from this.
Happy Hour (Level 19): Increases the number of flasks gained when using a flask cauldron by 100%.
I suspect raid guilds will get the most out of this, as they're the ones most likely to be using flasks. In saying that, Battleground or arena players will get benefit, as will any leveller looking for a bit more bite.
Have Group, Will Travel (Level 20): Summons all raid or party members to the casters current location. Unlimited range, 6 second cast/channelled, 2 hour cooldown.
This is a bit of a mixed blessing for me; it's one of the trademark perks, but I suspect it will see little use. Nobody can doubt the utility of being able to summon your raid group to you, but the long cooldown means it's unlikely to be used for fear of "wasting it". This is particularly true when your raid is forming and is never all ready at the same time. I could see a niche being formed for it, mid-raid, when everyone goes away for ten minutes to grab flasks and get new gear enchanted. We shall see. Needless to say, only raiding guilds will get any tangible benefit from it.
Bountiful Bags (Level 22): Increases the quantity of material gained from Mining, Skinning, Herbalism and Disenchanting by 15%.
Awesome perk and, in my view, one of the best. Whether you're a gold farmer or a crafter, this one has the potential to provide you with a bucketload of free materials. Totally justifies its high level and is great for every type of guild.
Bartering (Level 23): Reduces the price of items from vendors by 5%.
Depending on how this pans out, it could be wonderful or lacklustre. If it applies to all vendors, including heroism or honour point vendors, it will be a great boon and will be completely worthy of a level 23 perk. If it only applies to gold related vendors, it loses practically all of its shine as vendor items are never prohibitively priced. One to wait on before judging, but will be relevant to any guild really.
Mass Resurrection (Level 25): Brings all dead party and raid members back to life with 35 life and 35 mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. 64% of base mana, unlimited range, 10 second cast.
Another raiding guild perk, and a wonderful time saver assuming someone survives a wipe and can use mana (hai, huntardz - oh wait... Focus). Needless to say, this could be an excellent way of saving time and maintaining momentum while charging down Deathwing.
So, what does that mean?
Let me put it this way. The top five perks (in no particular order), as I see it, are:
1) Cashflow. You're generating more gold, what's not to like?
2) Reinforce. You're saving more gold - doh - but this saves you more the more you need it.
3) Working Overtime. This will undoubtedly lead to quicker profession levelling.
4) Bountiful Bags. As above, and can be used by gold farmers.
5) Everyone's a Hero/Honourable Mention. Farming points will simply feel less like "farming".
The least useful (again, in no particular order) are probably:
1) Hasty Hearth. 30 minutes isn't particularly prohibitive, shaving 15 from that isn't worth much.
2) Mobile Banking. With the proliferation of banking alts, as well as raiding groups being ready before the first pull, it's hard to see where this will be used.
3) Guild Mail. Players in guilds tend to only mail their alts, which is already instant.
4) Have Group, Will Travel. I just don't see this being as useful as it first appears, and the cooldown is a killer.
5) Chug-A-Lug. Nice enough, but a minimal benefit.
So, that's it - you've now read everything I think about the new guild levelling system - what do you think?
Monday, September 06, 2010
Guild Perks and Levelling.
One of the most exciting updates regarding Cataclysm as far as concerns me, isn't actually one related to Protection warriors or even raiding in a direct sense. As a guild leader, I have the hopes and dreams of an entire group of people looking up at me, praying I'll guide them into a shining future. As they chant my name, praise my deeds and long for the day my attention is undivided upon them, their visions of the future will be shaped by my foresight and omnipotence.
Okay, I'm giving my mind a treat. In fact, if most of my guild members were to read that statement then I'd have a lot of explaining to do.
But the topic of this post isn't my bordering-on-insanity delusions of grandeur. Nope, what I want to discuss is the way Guild Perks are going to alter the landscape for guilds of all shapes and sizes when a Mr. Grumpy Deathwing wakes up from the wrong side of the Deepholm bed.
Let me start by saying that I really love the idea of guild levelling and guild reputation. The guild talent tree notion was one that scared me, because it carried the very real likelihood to cause arguments, incite drama and see many people ditching guilds because they didn't like the way they were specced. In saying that, it did provide a level of customisability to a guild, something that could easily differentiate one group from another and let you choose how your guild progressed and chose its focus.
However, I don't see that as a good enough trade off for having a website theorycraft which talents would be best for a "raid guild", a "levelling guild", a "PvP guild" or a "social guild" - you can imagine the mockery if a guild claimed it was a raid guild, but had picked up levelling talents.
Sigh.
But before continuing, I'm going to expend both the time and effort to explain exactly how the new guild system is going to work in Cataclysm, as well as how it will affect members of that guild. I've struggled to find a concise description of how it works, so now is the time to provide one for my gentle readers.
Guild Levels.
Guilds will be able to level up, much the same way as characters. The level cap will be 25, with a perk being awarded for every level the guild increases. "Experience" is earned by guild members levelling professions, completing dungeons and raids, winning pre-made battlegrounds or being part of a successful guild arena team. Every member of the guild can gain experience through their activities and the cumulated experience is contributed to the guild level. All members of a guild, regardless of reputation, will make use of the guild perks obtained and they are largely non-combat orientated but can provide massive benefits over time.
Guild Reputation.
Guild reputation is farmed in a similar fashion to faction reputation, with the same type of rewards being doled out at the appropriate level. The guild vendor will offer players their wares depending on whether they are Neutral, Friendly, Honoured, Revered or Exalted with the guild and each individual character will have to gain reputation on an individual basis before having access to the best items. Items include mounts, vanity pets, profession recipes and battle standards with the guild logo. Further, anyone earning (for example) a mount for being Exalted with their guild, will lose the item should they choose to leave.
Be mindful here, though, and don't confuse guild perks with guild reputation. Perks are for every character in a guild, and all will get the benefit of them. Reputation is an individual thing that a character will have to earn themselves.
Before another sentence is typed, I should state that I think the new system is pretty awesome. For any guild of long standing reputation and with a strong member base, the levelling experience should be relatively painless. The farming of reputation may well be a longer grind, but any reputation farm requires a time investment for nicer rewards; guild reputation should be no different.
However...
Scott Andrews over at WoW.com has spent the last couple of weeks talking about the negative impact freeloaders can have on your guild. A freeloader is, basically, someone who takes advantages of all your guild perks, without actually contributing anything to it themselves. He tries to elaborate on certain examples, as well as how you can spot freeloaders and deal with them if they slip through the net. This caused a debate (as his posts always do) which circled around how a freeloader negatively impacts on your guild, especially relating to the definition of a "freeloader". One player who likes low-pressure questing and levelling in a bit of spare time could easily be identified as a freeloader by someone who's always running raids with the guild. Obviously, this can have serious implications depending on the type of guild you're in.
But Mr. Andrews, for once, seems to have missed the magic in the system.
While a player may well join a guild for the perks, it's impossible to play in any real fashion without contributing. Perks such as Cash Flow mean that any player, regardless of what they're doing, will be contributing in a material sense to a guild simply by playing. In addition to this, none of the perks are numerically limited which means they can't be "stolen" or abused in any way - they are continually available to everyone. It's only when you're dealing with the reputation rewards that more desirable items become an issue, but no player can get a hold of them without meaningfully contributing to the guild itself by increasing their reputation. Add to that the fact that someone might want to farm a guild mount, but has to be in the guild to keep it, and you have a system that is practically impossible to steal from.
In short, freeloading is a non-issue and Scott is making one from nothing.
If someone joins for guild perks, then becomes difficult or unmanageable in some way, you would deal with them the same way you would any other disruptive member; with disciplinary measures or, in extreme cases, guild removal. There is no specific crime for "freeloading", every other undesirable behaviour already covers it.
In the next blog, I'll discuss the guild perks and how I rate each one. In the meantime, just let me say that the system about to come in is all positive in my book; it provides easily tangible rewards, it can't be meaningfully abused by bad players and is both interesting and compelling enough to engender guild loyalty and improve behaviour while in a guild. Whether you're small or big, the new guild perk and reputation system provides strong reasons to want to stay in a guild and behave yourself accordingly.
I can't wait.
Okay, I'm giving my mind a treat. In fact, if most of my guild members were to read that statement then I'd have a lot of explaining to do.
But the topic of this post isn't my bordering-on-insanity delusions of grandeur. Nope, what I want to discuss is the way Guild Perks are going to alter the landscape for guilds of all shapes and sizes when a Mr. Grumpy Deathwing wakes up from the wrong side of the Deepholm bed.
Let me start by saying that I really love the idea of guild levelling and guild reputation. The guild talent tree notion was one that scared me, because it carried the very real likelihood to cause arguments, incite drama and see many people ditching guilds because they didn't like the way they were specced. In saying that, it did provide a level of customisability to a guild, something that could easily differentiate one group from another and let you choose how your guild progressed and chose its focus.
However, I don't see that as a good enough trade off for having a website theorycraft which talents would be best for a "raid guild", a "levelling guild", a "PvP guild" or a "social guild" - you can imagine the mockery if a guild claimed it was a raid guild, but had picked up levelling talents.
Sigh.
But before continuing, I'm going to expend both the time and effort to explain exactly how the new guild system is going to work in Cataclysm, as well as how it will affect members of that guild. I've struggled to find a concise description of how it works, so now is the time to provide one for my gentle readers.
Guild Levels.
Guilds will be able to level up, much the same way as characters. The level cap will be 25, with a perk being awarded for every level the guild increases. "Experience" is earned by guild members levelling professions, completing dungeons and raids, winning pre-made battlegrounds or being part of a successful guild arena team. Every member of the guild can gain experience through their activities and the cumulated experience is contributed to the guild level. All members of a guild, regardless of reputation, will make use of the guild perks obtained and they are largely non-combat orientated but can provide massive benefits over time.
Guild Reputation.
Guild reputation is farmed in a similar fashion to faction reputation, with the same type of rewards being doled out at the appropriate level. The guild vendor will offer players their wares depending on whether they are Neutral, Friendly, Honoured, Revered or Exalted with the guild and each individual character will have to gain reputation on an individual basis before having access to the best items. Items include mounts, vanity pets, profession recipes and battle standards with the guild logo. Further, anyone earning (for example) a mount for being Exalted with their guild, will lose the item should they choose to leave.
Be mindful here, though, and don't confuse guild perks with guild reputation. Perks are for every character in a guild, and all will get the benefit of them. Reputation is an individual thing that a character will have to earn themselves.
Before another sentence is typed, I should state that I think the new system is pretty awesome. For any guild of long standing reputation and with a strong member base, the levelling experience should be relatively painless. The farming of reputation may well be a longer grind, but any reputation farm requires a time investment for nicer rewards; guild reputation should be no different.
However...
Scott Andrews over at WoW.com has spent the last couple of weeks talking about the negative impact freeloaders can have on your guild. A freeloader is, basically, someone who takes advantages of all your guild perks, without actually contributing anything to it themselves. He tries to elaborate on certain examples, as well as how you can spot freeloaders and deal with them if they slip through the net. This caused a debate (as his posts always do) which circled around how a freeloader negatively impacts on your guild, especially relating to the definition of a "freeloader". One player who likes low-pressure questing and levelling in a bit of spare time could easily be identified as a freeloader by someone who's always running raids with the guild. Obviously, this can have serious implications depending on the type of guild you're in.
But Mr. Andrews, for once, seems to have missed the magic in the system.
While a player may well join a guild for the perks, it's impossible to play in any real fashion without contributing. Perks such as Cash Flow mean that any player, regardless of what they're doing, will be contributing in a material sense to a guild simply by playing. In addition to this, none of the perks are numerically limited which means they can't be "stolen" or abused in any way - they are continually available to everyone. It's only when you're dealing with the reputation rewards that more desirable items become an issue, but no player can get a hold of them without meaningfully contributing to the guild itself by increasing their reputation. Add to that the fact that someone might want to farm a guild mount, but has to be in the guild to keep it, and you have a system that is practically impossible to steal from.
In short, freeloading is a non-issue and Scott is making one from nothing.
If someone joins for guild perks, then becomes difficult or unmanageable in some way, you would deal with them the same way you would any other disruptive member; with disciplinary measures or, in extreme cases, guild removal. There is no specific crime for "freeloading", every other undesirable behaviour already covers it.
In the next blog, I'll discuss the guild perks and how I rate each one. In the meantime, just let me say that the system about to come in is all positive in my book; it provides easily tangible rewards, it can't be meaningfully abused by bad players and is both interesting and compelling enough to engender guild loyalty and improve behaviour while in a guild. Whether you're small or big, the new guild perk and reputation system provides strong reasons to want to stay in a guild and behave yourself accordingly.
I can't wait.
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