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[Angry Grimace]

Isn't his point "over doing it" ?

Considering 1 viable spec , DK and Druid went from near top to the bottom two.

Priest, Pladin, and Shaman were raised above them. Ret being the 2nd best over all.

Why?

How is it "overdoing" it? The only place to go beyond the point they are at is into the range of Warlocks and Hunters, where by design they aren't supposed to be. Moreover, they don't have 1 viable spec, they have 3. Frost is 400 dps behind Unholy, and Blood is a fine tank.

I'll grant you that Shadow and Ret are outliers in that chart, but in reality Ret isn't going to be putting down that kind of DPS unless they never move and Shadow is an outlier that's getting nerfed as needed.

You guys must not remember classes that were legitimately not viable. The only way these classes aren't "viable" is in delusional fantasy reroll-when-my-class-isn't-tops-on-simcraft land.

 

[Alex]

I think Unholy is pretty good where it is, despite rankings it's just a couple hundred DPS of difference in all of the middle-tier classes. Considering some of it's quirks it has a leg up even on some of the things above it in an actual fight (pet uptime, etc).

I am, however, very unimpressed with what they've done with Frost, specificly Frost 2H. When I was a DK I always wanted to do Frost 2H but you were always forced into UH. Don't get me wrong, I like UH, I just think they get too complacent with one spec sometimes and don't polish up the other enough. That and I still don't think DW or modern day Fury needs to have access to 1Hers anymore, it's just a waste of the loot table.

They went too far with Ret and Shadow. I think Shadow needs to be babysat by a Warlock (along with Balance) to get those numbers though which is really stupid considering the landscape and changes they try to shove down our throats. (Hell, if it was up to me, I'd still want Shadow to be a mana battery, that was FUN)

 

[AdventureRacing]

Wait so after all the changes to enhance caster weapons are still viable, maybe even i tiny bit ahead?

Or am i reading it wrong.

Pretty good to see the numbers so even.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I think Unholy is pretty good where it is, despite rankings it's just a couple hundred DPS of difference in all of the middle-tier classes. Considering some of it's quirks it has a leg up even on some of the things above it in an actual fight (pet uptime, etc).

I am, however, very unimpressed with what they've done with Frost, specificly Frost 2H. When I was a DK I always wanted to do Frost 2H but you were always forced into UH. Don't get me wrong, I like UH, I just think they get too complacent with one spec sometimes and don't polish up the other enough. That and I still don't think DW or modern day Fury needs to have access to 1Hers anymore, it's just a waste of the loot table.

They went too far with Ret and Shadow. I think Shadow needs to be babysat by a Warlock (along with Balance) to get those numbers though which is really stupid considering the landscape and changes they try to shove down our throats. (Hell, if it was up to me, I'd still want Shadow to be a mana battery, that was FUN)

The problem with making Frost 2H better is that it's hard to do when they are trying to support ToT at the same time.

It doesn't necessarily play the same way as ToT Frost (since it emphasizes RP generation through haste) does so its hard to make it good. I mean, it wasn't possible at all in 3.2+ so I wouldn't be afraid to play it if that's what you like. It's not *really* so far behind as to be unplayable.

As for Shadow needing Warlocks, consider Fury is probably being simmed with Unholy Frenzy too. (for the record, good Warlocks don't give DPS Dark Intent)

 

[Alex]

Wait so after all the changes to enhance caster weapons are still viable, maybe even i tiny bit ahead?

Or am i reading it wrong.

Pretty good to see the numbers so even.

Tiny bit ahead. It's so silly.

The most reassuring blurb from today was that AoE for lots of specs is getting a glance. Hope to god that means Enhance because we have the worst AoE in the game, bar none. Fear my Magma totem ticks! 800 per target raid buffed in a tiny radius every two seconds and kills my single target DPS to use. :lol Contrary to whining, Earthquake is quite rad esp post-buff, I wish we could get a lesser, non-channeled version of that

Realisitcly though, I would like to see them buff that (Magma Totem) up a bit and finally just change Chain Lightning into Forked Lightning.

 

[J-Rzez]

Was that a modeled sim or a training dummy sim anyways? Pre or post "hot-fixes"?

 

[dimb]

I have no idea what to do with my warrior gear/stat wise right now. So dumb.

 

[AdventureRacing]

Tiny bit ahead. It's so silly.

The most reassuring blurb from today was that AoE for lots of specs is getting a glance. Hope to god that means Enhance because we have the worst AoE in the game, bar none. Fear my Magma totem ticks! 800 per target raid buffed in a tiny radius every two seconds and kills my single target DPS to use. :lol Contrary to whining, Earthquake is quite rad esp post-buff, I wish we could get a lesser, non-channeled version of that

Realisitcly though, I would like to see them buff that (Magma Totem) up a bit and finally just change Chain Lightning into Forked Lightning.

Did they even test the changes? I thought the whole point was to make caster weapons non viable.

I really hope our AOE gets fixed. Really that's probably my biggest complaint as enhance right now. In general i think enhance right now is in a better position than it's ever been (across PvE and PvP).

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Was that a modeled sim or a training dummy sim anyways? Pre or post "hot-fixes"?

4.03:
Timestamp: Sun Feb 06 00:21:11 2011
DK Unholy 28k


4.06:
Timestamp: Tue Feb 08 23:52:09 2011
DK Unholy 30k

Timestamp: Sat Feb 12 08:51:42 2011
DK Unholy 26k

Timestamp: Sun Feb 13 08:07:56 2011
Dk Unholy 26K

 

[ToyMachine228]

So we did Nefarian attempts tonight. My 10-man guild. We got add control and everything else in Phase 1 down. Phase 2 is causing us a little bit of trouble. We can make it through, but the healing is pretty intense. Running low on mana, and getting shitty combos of shadow barrage and electricity. How many crackles do you guys usually take in phase 2? Any other general tips for Phase 2?

 

[charlequin]

Tiny bit ahead. It's so silly.

This makes me so outrageously annoyed, heh. I refuse to do it so I just hope they actually fix it soon. I do appreciate that it got Windfury Weapon buffed though!

Realisitcly though, I would like to see them buff that (Magma Totem) up a bit and finally just change Chain Lightning into Forked Lightning.

what... does this mean

I really hope our AOE gets fixed. Really that's probably my biggest complaint as enhance right now. In general i think enhance right now is in a better position than it's ever been (across PvE and PvP).

Yeah, the AOE thing sucks but otherwise I really love playing enhancement. Unlike, well, the busted-ass other two shaman specs we have fun mechanics and an interesting priority queue setup (that isn't so insanely GCD-locked like it apparently was in Wrath.)

 

[charlequin]

Without bringing buffs, individual players would feel no more powerful in a raid group than in a regular group and there's no real synergy beyond good teamwork. I can't really see how not having buffs is more compelling than having them.

Yeah, I guess I mean less "there should be no buffs whatsoever" and more that it should move to being an even more passive mechanic so that it manifests as a benefit of being in a raid group rather than a thing you have to manage. Unleashed Rage is just on all the time without me having to worry about it and I think that's basically a good thing.

I mean, you could say they used to be more "interesting" so to speak, but that kind of gameplay involved having true support classes, like TBC era Shadow Priests i.e, mana batteries. That wasn't exactly fun for the priests or the raid leader than had to shoehorn one in.

Yeah, I'm not big into the "support classes" thing.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Yeah, I guess I mean less "there should be no buffs whatsoever" and more that it should move to being an even more passive mechanic so that it manifests as a benefit of being in a raid group rather than a thing you have to manage. Unleashed Rage is just on all the time without me having to worry about it and I think that's basically a good thing.



Yeah, I'm not big into the "support classes" thing.

For the most part that is true of all buffs. I don't know much about Shamans and can't really comment on exactly how they work. I think mine just hit level 11.

 

[Cyrillus]

what... does this mean

I assume he means the frontal cone ability that some mobs have.

 

[charlequin]

I assume he means the frontal cone ability that some mobs have.

Oh. Yeah, that'd be nice.

 

[Scrow]

what... does this mean

it's so intense!

 

[wonderdung]

So we did Nefarian attempts tonight. My 10-man guild. We got add control and everything else in Phase 1 down. Phase 2 is causing us a little bit of trouble. We can make it through, but the healing is pretty intense. Running low on mana, and getting shitty combos of shadow barrage and electricity. How many crackles do you guys usually take in phase 2? Any other general tips for Phase 2?

My group (10 man) takes 1 crackle, but you can do it without one. Phase 2 is definitely hardest on healers, but it won't be so bad once they figure it out. Getting onto the platforms is the hardest part of phase 2 for everyone else in the raid, although you absolutely cannot have missed interrupts under any circumstances. I guess your healers shouldn't be afraid to burn some mana if they really have to. Supposedly P3 is really easy to heal except perhaps for the healer on the add tank.

I'd link a kill video from my guild but there are a few million of them on youtube and you can find a better one for sure.

 

[Thoraxes]

what... does this mean

Probably something like this.

So we did Nefarian attempts tonight. My 10-man guild. We got add control and everything else in Phase 1 down. Phase 2 is causing us a little bit of trouble. We can make it through, but the healing is pretty intense. Running low on mana, and getting shitty combos of shadow barrage and electricity. How many crackles do you guys usually take in phase 2? Any other general tips for Phase 2?

We ended up pushing 2 crackles in P1, and 1 crackle in P2, and then just finished the fight normally, though it took a while for our DK and Pally Healer to get really solid at the adds.

 

[Thoraxes]

Delete. Sorry for the double post.

 

[Meier]

In the end, I did end up canceling my account again due to boredom. I'll probably come back a few months before the next XP to get reacquainted and do some raiding but we'll see. Hopefully the queues are much shorter by then at a bare minimum.

 

[TheExodu5]

I just gave up on heroics as a dps. They're really not needed anyways. I already have all the 359 I can get. All that's left is upgrading two 359 pieces to tier, but the rogue tier bonus isnt that great in the first place. Raiding gives me 700-900 points a week...I'll just buy boe boots and sell them from now on.

 

[Angry Grimace]

In the end, I did end up canceling my account again due to boredom. I'll probably come back a few months before the next XP to get reacquainted and do some raiding but we'll see. Hopefully the queues are much shorter by then at a bare minimum.

Queues get shorter by default because the avg. gear level gets higher but the difficult of heroics doesn't, which increases the number of people willing to try to tank.

 

[PatzCU]

Queues get shorter by default because the avg. gear level gets higher but the difficult of heroics doesn't, which increases the number of people willing to try to tank.

Guilty.

 

[cuevas. PhD.]

In the end, I did end up canceling my account again due to boredom. I'll probably come back a few months before the next XP to get reacquainted and do some raiding but we'll see. Hopefully the queues are much shorter by then at a bare minimum.

Is there just nothing in the end game for you? Raiding or pvp?

 

[C.Dark.DN]

In the end, I did end up canceling my account again due to boredom. I'll probably come back a few months before the next XP to get reacquainted and do some raiding but we'll see. Hopefully the queues are much shorter by then at a bare minimum.

What do you plan to do after you get raid ready? Find a guild? You can do that now. Pug? Seems like it'd be just as frustrating as dungeons if not more.

 

[ToyMachine228]

We ended up pushing 2 crackles in P1, and 1 crackle in P2, and then just finished the fight normally, though it took a while for our DK and Pally Healer to get really solid at the adds.

I think that's what we might end up doing. We are making it through Phase 1 with two crackles no problem, Phase 2 is still a little bit iffy. When we've made it to Phase 3 everything seems to be pretty much under control. We just have to make it out of Phase 2 with everyone up. Really wish we had a Prot Pally to Divine Guardian the P2 crackle.

 

[Thoraxes]

I think that's what we might end up doing. We are making it through Phase 1 with two crackles no problem, Phase 2 is still a little bit iffy. When we've made it to Phase 3 everything seems to be pretty much under control. We just have to make it out of Phase 2 with everyone up. Really wish we had a Prot Pally to Divine Guardian the P2 crackle.

Is it because of RNG on bad timing from the crackles? We usually have that problem, and it'd be really nice to have a prot. pally for that phase; it'd help it go by so much quicker/less scary.

 

[ToyMachine228]

Is it because of RNG on bad timing from the crackles? We usually have that problem, and it'd be really nice to have a prot. pally for that phase; it'd help it go by so much quicker/less scary.

Basically. And a bad healer on one platform. But we're looking to replace him anyway. I'm a Holy Paladin, and not to brag but no one on my platform died. The one time someone did die, I had my platform buddies topped off, they got hit by a barrage which knocked them down to 55k, I got one heal off on them, and a crackle went off killing them. Nothing you can really do about that. Just makes me nervous about having a strategy to eat a crackle during phase two though.

 

[PatzCU]

Basically. And a bad healer on one platform. But we're looking to replace him anyway. I'm a Holy Paladin, and not to brag but no one on my platform died. The one time someone did die, I had my platform buddies topped off, they got hit by a barrage which knocked them down to 55k, I got one heal off on them, and a crackle went off killing them. Nothing you can really do about that. Just makes me nervous about having a strategy to eat a crackle during phase two though.

You pretty much need to take a crackle in phase two. Otherwise phase 3 will just be way too much damage to handle. Plus the adds in Phase 3 are a pita to control properly, so the less time spent in that phase, the better.

 

[wonderdung]

You pretty much need to take a crackle in phase two. Otherwise phase 3 will just be way too much damage to handle. Plus the adds in Phase 3 are a pita to control properly, so the less time spent in that phase, the better.

I've heard that it's not optional in 25 man. In 10 man taking a crackle in P2 does make things a little easier but it's doable without one.

My 10 man advice: work on getting through phase 2 cleanly without a crackle. If you're having trouble under 20% in phase 3, then start working in a crackle in phase 2.

 

[Conceited]

Streaming rated BG's right now, Legendary coming up soon;

http://www.justin.tv/gamebreakertv

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Streaming rated BG's right now, Legendary coming up soon;

http://www.justin.tv/gamebreakertv

what's the center of screen addon that's showing enemy cast with icon?

 

[ToyMachine228]

You pretty much need to take a crackle in phase two. Otherwise phase 3 will just be way too much damage to handle. Plus the adds in Phase 3 are a pita to control properly, so the less time spent in that phase, the better.

Even in 10-man? Tankspot says it's not necessary.

 

[davepoobond]

got a random "account password recovery" email today, and its for sure legit from blizzard. I have an authenticator on my account, so i'm hoping i dont have to worry that much.

i sent blizzard an email telling them i didnt request it. my email and acct was hacked a while ago, so they're probably trying to constantly get into it. no idea if there's anything more i should do than just having my authenticator stay on. as if i were gonna remove it so they can try and reset my password.

just scares me that they have enough information on me to do that. ugh.

 

[Ferrio]

Got SoulBlade and Parasitic Worm in one night. Very nice.

 

[cuevas. PhD.]

got a random "account password recovery" email today, and its for sure legit from blizzard. I have an authenticator on my account, so i'm hoping i dont have to worry that much.

i sent blizzard an email telling them i didnt request it. my email and acct was hacked a while ago, so they're probably trying to constantly get into it. no idea if there's anything more i should do than just having my authenticator stay on. as if i were gonna remove it so they can try and reset my password.

just scares me that they have enough information on me to do that. ugh.

Hmm, I got an email from an old Xfire account I had today.

 

[Entropia]

Since the release of patch 4.0.6, we’ve been keeping an eye on healers and how they are performing and are currently in the process of making some additional adjustments.

Priests

The cost of Power Word: Shield is being increased by 33%. While we wanted Discipline priests to be able to utilize this spell more often and with better results, we also did not want it to be the main spell (and often the only spell) used while in groups. We don’t find this to be a particularly compelling playstyle and have found that it encourages players to avoid using other spells such as Penance. We believe that using a shield in a tight moment is totally appropriate, but we don’t want it to be incredibly efficient to do so with more frequency than that.

We realize that by making Power Word: Shield slightly more expensive for Discipline priests to cast that it might cause Holy priests to avoid using it. To that end, we are adding mana savings into the Body and Soul talent. The tooltip will not reflect this change until a future patch, however. Ideally, Holy priests should not notice much of a change to the Power Word: Shield costs.

Shaman

We are also applying a hotfix for Purification for the Restoration shaman passive from 10% to 25%. We think that shaman healing per second is not as competitive with other healers and while we hoped to bring down Holy priest and Holy paladins (in particular) in 4.0.6, which we did, shaman still appear to be behind. In this case, it is simply easier to buff Restoration shaman rather than nerf everyone else or rebalance the encounters.

In Addition- Restoration Druids and Restoration Shaman

We agree with the sentiment among some players that Restoration druids and Restoration shaman are lacking in the healing cooldown department. The shaman buff and Power Word: Shield adjustment above should bring all healers reasonably close in terms of throughput. The decision on who to bring then might end up being dictated by the strong cooldowns offered by paladins or priests. This isn’t the kind of thing we can address via a hotfix, but it is something we are looking at for the next major content patch.

As always, we appreciate your continued constructive feedback and will do our best to keep you informed of ongoing developments.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2089271114#1

 

[davepoobond]

Hmm, I got an email from an old Xfire account I had today.

weird.


Blizzard's response to me was that there wasn't any e-mails sent out, which is odd, because the e-mail in question was signed by their smtp server.

So i'm not sure if this is some new fake e-mail thing that they can send it through other servers before it is sent to you.

 

[charlequin]

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2089271114#1

FUCK yes.

 

[cuevas. PhD.]

FUCK yes.

FUCK no. I'm a pally but I loved the a relief disc priest brought to raids.

 

[LukeSmith]

FUCK yes.

Druids already have a top 5 raiding CD in the game - Rebirth.
Shaman have the best Mana regeneration tool in the game - Mana Tide.
Sure, these aren't Power Word: Barrier or Lay on Hands, but they are incredibly strong in their own ways.

 

[Sai-kun]

Man, leveling is slow. I kinda powered through the 70's on my shaman, and then I went from 80-83 in just a couple days, but 83 is just dragging onnnnn and onnnn

Also, Enhance is SUPER fun. But it sucks that I never get to do dungeons as Enh because queues are so long, so I basically always have to do dungeons as Resto.

I hope I'll get to raid a bit with my Shaman once I hit 85 the guild I'm in is pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, the guild my main is in is still only 3/12. Im not too down about it, but it just kinda sucks because there's a core group of us who are super awesome and pro and all that, and then the people we fill the rest of the raid with from the guild aren't geared too well, and don't seem to be willing to run heroics for their points and stuff.

 

[borghe]

experience from my guild/server is:

running as enh in heroics is impossible. Well, ok not impossible, but the standard 30+ minute queues.

running as enh in raids is perfectly fine, and enh shaman depending on the fight are regularly keeping up at the top.

best suggestion for heroics is at the start of the instance, ask if it's fine to roll on agility gear. really as long as you are rolling only on mail and there are no hunters in the instance, the only gripe might be feral druids and rogues. though if they are in the instance, they sat through the 30 minute queue so it's really only right to give them the trink/ring/neck drops.

on my enh shaman I am finding that really if I queue as resto, the only people getting pissy about my grabbing enh gear are hunters, but again, they actually waited out the queue and don't get the 10 minute healer shortcut. usually though as long as there's not a hunter in the group they don't care about rolling need (every once in a while you get the ones bitching because they want the shards... but f'em in that case, IMHO)

 

[Alex]

Fuck yeah, go Shaman.

Druids already have a top 5 raiding CD in the game - Rebirth.
Shaman have the best Mana regeneration tool in the game - Mana Tide.
Sure, these aren't Power Word: Barrier or Lay on Hands, but they are incredibly strong in their own ways.

I hope you aren't really serious about that. Rebirth, really now? That's not a healer cooldown, that's a perk that's shared with another class in addition to all specs of Druid. For modern progression raiding having chained cooldowns of the throughput/DR variety is about the most important facet of it. Hard mode bosses hit like ton of bricks.

Currently, Paladins and Priests reign down over the other two in a really stupid manner. Druids can at least cop up a Tranqulity or a mediocre Tree of Life though! Poor little Shaman has nothing currently of the type of ability in question.

I've no qualms with Tide taking a slot of the raid cooldown variety, it is a very strong spell (although it basically screws their own mana efficiency over a smidge just to have) but Shaman needs at least one additional true throughput/DR tool in addition to that. It is a bit goofy to imply that Tide as a healer cooldown is as compelling as: LoH, BubbleSac, GoAK, Divine Favor and Avenging Wrath combined, not even going into the situationals or lessers Paladins are also riddled with.

Shamans should probably see the return of Tidal Force in some form and some DR cooldown involving Earth Shield. Those are always my suggestions.

FUCK no. I'm a pally but I loved the a relief disc priest brought to raids.

Disc needs to get it's identity in check. Their throughput was too much but this change kinda takes away the absorption from the absorption healer. I wish Blizzard would make Disc more into it's own thing besides just Aegis and a somewhat stronger PW:S. Let's see an AoE bubble take the place of PoH, and perhaps other prevention mechanics in place of standard healing.

It's just such a neat concept that's not been taken far enough.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

So uh, just got a message in my spam folder saying that it looked like someone was trying to sell my account. Ridiculous since I have tried no such thing (I haven't played for a week, but whatever) and I have an authenticator attached, so it would be very unlikely that someone was able to pass that.

Went to the battle.net website manually and everything seemed okay, so I just deleted the message, figuring it was phishing.

I've gotten some emails like this before, and pretty much shrugged them off the same way. A while back, I was receiving (what definitely seemed to be) legitimate emails saying my information had changed....on a defunct trial account (lol?) so I just ignored that.

Anyway, I may finally turn the game back on today with a week's worth of rested to level my Paladin and Mage, still not in a good mood over doing any endgame stuff though. And if I'm not raiding, that leaves more time make gold, which I need some more of - spent about 40k on some gear the day I took a break, and 20k about a week before that. Have to build up again without a huge base of capital behind me (I still have 20-30k I think though, but I haven't been that low since the end of Wrath.)

Edit: Forgot I have Love is in the Air to finish too, so there's that.

 

[AdventureRacing]

I enjoy mostly using shields with my disc priest. That's what makes it different to the other healing classes i use.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

I enjoy mostly using shields with my disc priest. That's what makes it different to the other healing classes i use.

As far as I know, Penance is still unique as a channeled healing spell. Which is a shame really, as it's quite fun.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

We don’t find this to be a particularly compelling playstyle

"I don't pay them to make the game so that they find it fun."

That is, that's what I woulda said had I not figured out long ago that these statements are GC using Blunt Object Balancing to fix some discrepency without thought to the ramifications of said changes, all while talking down to people who'd believe this explanation at face value.

I enjoy mostly using shields with my disc priest. That's what makes it different to the other healing classes i use.

Sir, there are much more important things than keeping playstyle distinction, role posibility, and unique functionality intact and engaging. You know, like K.I.S.S. for GC.

 

[Hixx]

Why are Rogues so rare? 3 weeks in a row, Rogue is the only class not in my weekly BH run and one of them was a 25 man. They seem like the forgotten class. Back in vanilla everyone wanted to have a Rogue...

 

[MrToughPants]

Why are Rogues so rare? 3 weeks in a row, Rogue is the only class not in my weekly BH run and one of them was a 25 man. They seem like the forgotten class. Back in vanilla everyone wanted to have a Rogue...

My main was a combat rogue and I gave up at 85. Leveled my ele shaman to 85 and gave up on it too. Leveled my fury warrior 80-85 and I haven't even played my other toons since.