Hey, I know the title sounds drastic; I suppose in most cases, it kind of is. But in this case, it's no real problem as it doesn't mean I'm disappearing any time soon.
Sorry to disappoint anyone. :P
Roughly speaking, it's time to consolidate all the blogs/writings that I've put out over the last few years. I started with a World of Warcraft blog centred firmly around Protection warriors (the Dead Good Tanking Guide), then moved onto an altogether larger project with Piercing Howl (designed for multiple warrior authors). Lastly, with Sith Immortalis, I created a blog designed to concentrate on Star Wars: The Old Republic and, truthfully, I've posted about 15 blogs and only managed about two that deal directly with the game it was intended for.
Meh.
Anyway, this blog will be closing down within a fortnight and everything I do will be at two places:
Zell's Building is now my "everything" blog.
Zell's Building @ YouTube is going to see me take the step into videocasting.
Anyone who's enjoyed my scribblings over the years is assured that there's more to come, but I must stress that the only way you'll see it is to subscribe to either my sole blog or my YouTube channel. It'll take a while to get the videos sorted out, but hopefully not too long, and obviously new posts will come with hopefully the same frequency they always have.
I'm not ready to make the jump into Facebook or Twitter yet, but that's largely because there's no need. In time, should the subscriber base be of any numerical significance, that'll be the next step.
But enough; you're all invited to visit me at Zell's Building, and I hope to see you join me there. If not, take good care and enjoy whatever else you choose to do.
Peace. :3
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Thursday, 29 September 2011
My final post.
Don't worry, don't worry - it's my final post "at this address". Whether or not you can be bothered with my ramblings, I'm sure most can agree that the blogging community can scarcely afford to lose another warrior.
As mentioned yesterday (gotta love the pace of change), I've migrated all of my previous writing from this address to the new one and have managed to set up a template that I kind of like and I kind of hope is more inspiring than the dreary, tombstone black of this blog. The settings and "fluff" are now pretty much all in place as well, there will just need to be a few updates over the next couple of weeks due to my ongoing trial and whether I pass or not. You might be interested to know that I did pretty well last night, but for getting the most complicated Shannox tactic I've ever seen a bit wrong. 39th in the world on heroic Baleroc isn't bad, though - boy did I underestimate the contribution of Rend.
So, without further ado, I will be continuing at:
Piercing Howl.
I'm sticking with Blogspot because it's been good to me but, as you can tell by the name, I intend to spread content to a wider warrior audience than just tanks. The title, Piercing Howl, is a hat tip to an iconic tri-spec talent that also plays into my new race of worgen. The aim is to produce content more often, without cutting back on quality, and covering subjects that I invariably leave alone - playing Fury, Arms and (though a weak period) getting stuck into PvP. I did a bit of an Arms post a while back, but it was from the vantage point of a dabbler who played Arms as an off-spec for a bit of a laugh. Indeed, the fact I never write about Fury or PvP much is because I don't actually play Fury or PvP much. I suppose that leads onto the obvious question of how in the blue Hell do I intend to cover these subjects when I don't really play them?
I'm looking for authors!
If you love playing a warrior and want the opportunity to write about it, let me know in the comments. I'm not looking for pure-bred experts in server leading guilds who can automatically link first class parses (as nice as that would be). What I'm looking for is players who love getting stuck into a raft of content with their plate-clad deliverers of pain, and are passionate about the development of their favourite class and how its doing. Rather than the work of starting your own blog, this opportunity comes from the vantage point of an already established set up with an author of over two years experience in blogging and one who's had his work linked on WoW Insider on several occasions.
The warrior community has lost some high-class authors, and I'd like to set the ball rolling that plugs the gap. Wider and more varied content brings in a wider and more varied readership which, in turn, will hopefully inspire other authors to start writing about their favourite class in their favourite game.
I look forward to hearing from anyone interested in taking up this opportunity, and hope to start providing more top-quality content as soon as possible.
Welcome to the ground floor!
As mentioned yesterday (gotta love the pace of change), I've migrated all of my previous writing from this address to the new one and have managed to set up a template that I kind of like and I kind of hope is more inspiring than the dreary, tombstone black of this blog. The settings and "fluff" are now pretty much all in place as well, there will just need to be a few updates over the next couple of weeks due to my ongoing trial and whether I pass or not. You might be interested to know that I did pretty well last night, but for getting the most complicated Shannox tactic I've ever seen a bit wrong. 39th in the world on heroic Baleroc isn't bad, though - boy did I underestimate the contribution of Rend.
So, without further ado, I will be continuing at:
Piercing Howl.
I'm sticking with Blogspot because it's been good to me but, as you can tell by the name, I intend to spread content to a wider warrior audience than just tanks. The title, Piercing Howl, is a hat tip to an iconic tri-spec talent that also plays into my new race of worgen. The aim is to produce content more often, without cutting back on quality, and covering subjects that I invariably leave alone - playing Fury, Arms and (though a weak period) getting stuck into PvP. I did a bit of an Arms post a while back, but it was from the vantage point of a dabbler who played Arms as an off-spec for a bit of a laugh. Indeed, the fact I never write about Fury or PvP much is because I don't actually play Fury or PvP much. I suppose that leads onto the obvious question of how in the blue Hell do I intend to cover these subjects when I don't really play them?
I'm looking for authors!
If you love playing a warrior and want the opportunity to write about it, let me know in the comments. I'm not looking for pure-bred experts in server leading guilds who can automatically link first class parses (as nice as that would be). What I'm looking for is players who love getting stuck into a raft of content with their plate-clad deliverers of pain, and are passionate about the development of their favourite class and how its doing. Rather than the work of starting your own blog, this opportunity comes from the vantage point of an already established set up with an author of over two years experience in blogging and one who's had his work linked on WoW Insider on several occasions.
The warrior community has lost some high-class authors, and I'd like to set the ball rolling that plugs the gap. Wider and more varied content brings in a wider and more varied readership which, in turn, will hopefully inspire other authors to start writing about their favourite class in their favourite game.
I look forward to hearing from anyone interested in taking up this opportunity, and hope to start providing more top-quality content as soon as possible.
Welcome to the ground floor!
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Moving on.
Though I usually critically strike for walls of text here on the DGTG, this is a general update post about what's going to be happening in the short term as there are some pretty large changes and some less than large ones. I'll start with the smaller, I guess.
1) Your humble author will no longer be visiting TankSpot for any reason. While that has no impact on readers here, I have used this blog to comment on some of the threads there in the past and this obviously won't happen any more. The standard of raiding content has gone down significantly, and the finance behind it has caused a "quantity > quality" approach. Personally, I don't care about Lore's opinions one iota (he now dominates the site through the Weekly Marmot, PST and Legendary) and I can't be bothered putting up with a small, but prolific, forum clique of online bullies who attempt to belittle those who disagree with them.
Learn2Raid is a significantly better resource for raiding, with better players at the helm. If you happen to love Darnell (as I do), you can get your weekly fix of Blizz Blues from Gamebreaker.
2) I've bemoaned the loss of Veneretio and Kadomi from the Protection warrior world of blogs, but they're not the only ones. It seems that so many warrior posters have bitten the dust as players have lost interest in blogging, the game, or both. Some of them use Twitter, a media I struggle to see the sense of if you're interested in thought provoking debate.
The problem with my blog to date is that it's widely read, but rarely debated. It could be my style, it could be my content, it could be my lack of charm or grace... Whatever it is, I want to start plugging the gap departed warriors have left behind and I'm dreaming up ways of making this happen. If you have suggestions, please post them. :)
3) This blog will be moving to something more aptly named. Originally, I started as a Forsaken toon and the "dead good" was a play on that concept. As I'm unlikely to ever play Forsaken on my main character again, the name no longer fits and a change is needed. I can change the name of the blog easily enough, but not the address so I'll create an entirely new one and then migrate everything here across. The exact title and focus is not yet determined, as it depends on point 2 and plays into point 4...
4) I'm no longer a member of Argent Dawn, or indeed The Inner Cloister (duh!). The opportunity arose for your humble author to step up to a more progressed and more serious raiding guild, so I took that opportunity because it's not one that comes along very often at all. As I said to my friends back at Argent Dawn, moving on always means you're leaving people behind - and that's never easy. But truth be told, I'd become a little disenchanted with how things were going and I felt I needed to leave the server behind.
And play Alliance. :o
I'm now to be found plying my trade on Darksorrow, hoping to prove to my new guild mates that I'm the warrior they never knew they needed. The standard trial is a fortnight, so I hope you'll wish me well during it and I'll be seriously trying to up my game to a level I've never played at before. That said, I'd like to publicly thank those who chose to spend their time with me (in any capacity) at Argent Dawn. Time, unlike any other commodity, can be spent, but never be earned. I shun those who take my time, am entertained by those who share it, and cherish those who contribute to it.
There are friends on Argent Dawn I shall ever cherish. :)
So, onwards and upwards. A couple of announcements should be expected by the weekend. o/
1) Your humble author will no longer be visiting TankSpot for any reason. While that has no impact on readers here, I have used this blog to comment on some of the threads there in the past and this obviously won't happen any more. The standard of raiding content has gone down significantly, and the finance behind it has caused a "quantity > quality" approach. Personally, I don't care about Lore's opinions one iota (he now dominates the site through the Weekly Marmot, PST and Legendary) and I can't be bothered putting up with a small, but prolific, forum clique of online bullies who attempt to belittle those who disagree with them.
Learn2Raid is a significantly better resource for raiding, with better players at the helm. If you happen to love Darnell (as I do), you can get your weekly fix of Blizz Blues from Gamebreaker.
2) I've bemoaned the loss of Veneretio and Kadomi from the Protection warrior world of blogs, but they're not the only ones. It seems that so many warrior posters have bitten the dust as players have lost interest in blogging, the game, or both. Some of them use Twitter, a media I struggle to see the sense of if you're interested in thought provoking debate.
The problem with my blog to date is that it's widely read, but rarely debated. It could be my style, it could be my content, it could be my lack of charm or grace... Whatever it is, I want to start plugging the gap departed warriors have left behind and I'm dreaming up ways of making this happen. If you have suggestions, please post them. :)
3) This blog will be moving to something more aptly named. Originally, I started as a Forsaken toon and the "dead good" was a play on that concept. As I'm unlikely to ever play Forsaken on my main character again, the name no longer fits and a change is needed. I can change the name of the blog easily enough, but not the address so I'll create an entirely new one and then migrate everything here across. The exact title and focus is not yet determined, as it depends on point 2 and plays into point 4...
4) I'm no longer a member of Argent Dawn, or indeed The Inner Cloister (duh!). The opportunity arose for your humble author to step up to a more progressed and more serious raiding guild, so I took that opportunity because it's not one that comes along very often at all. As I said to my friends back at Argent Dawn, moving on always means you're leaving people behind - and that's never easy. But truth be told, I'd become a little disenchanted with how things were going and I felt I needed to leave the server behind.
And play Alliance. :o
I'm now to be found plying my trade on Darksorrow, hoping to prove to my new guild mates that I'm the warrior they never knew they needed. The standard trial is a fortnight, so I hope you'll wish me well during it and I'll be seriously trying to up my game to a level I've never played at before. That said, I'd like to publicly thank those who chose to spend their time with me (in any capacity) at Argent Dawn. Time, unlike any other commodity, can be spent, but never be earned. I shun those who take my time, am entertained by those who share it, and cherish those who contribute to it.
There are friends on Argent Dawn I shall ever cherish. :)
So, onwards and upwards. A couple of announcements should be expected by the weekend. o/
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker.
And, there it is - my very first legendary weapon is complete after finally seeing Garr drop that damn second binding I was missing.
I'll admit, it must have been more awesome in Vanilla. I'll also admit that the quest "chain" is notably weak in comparison to nowadays. But there's still something strangely hypnotic about blasting a dummy with this puppy.
I'll admit, it must have been more awesome in Vanilla. I'll also admit that the quest "chain" is notably weak in comparison to nowadays. But there's still something strangely hypnotic about blasting a dummy with this puppy.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
"Dance" encounters Vs "Output" encounters.
I've been thinking a lot about encounter and raid design recently, and this week's news of 4.3 really got me thinking. Due to my disappointment with the raid content in Cataclysm, particularly in 4.2, it worries me that future fights may well be more complex than they already are, excluding ever more people as a result. If you can stick a pin in the "we wunt challengezor" cry that booms from the rooftops for a moment, I'll try to explain why.
I recently got reading this entry from Greedy Goblin talking about "the dance" and how an encounter's mechanics now dictate success as opposed to how well you can play your class. Of course, that doesn't imply that there aren't rough DPS checks to be found; there absolutely are. But the point is that classes are now easy enough to play that you cannot necessarily show skill simply by being good at it. Everyone is.
Now, I should quickly point out that I don't necessarily agree or disagree with the linked post. It actually makes a muddled attempt at indicting voice communications for some reason, while also managing to subversively insult those of us who use it. But the fact remains that playing your class has gotten significantly easier over time, while playing an encounter has gotten significantly harder. Statistically, these "dance" fights see far fewer successful pulls than those where perfecting your rotation (henceforth known as output) yields best results and the reason is probably pretty obvious. Take a look at these two differing "parses", assuming a ten-man raid with two tanks and two healers:
Parse 1
Fury warrior: 12k.
Retribution paladin: 12k.
Survival hunter: 12k.
Frost death knight: 12k.
Affliction warlock: 12k.
Feral druid: 12k.
Parse 2
Fury warrior: 14k.
Survival hunter: 13k.
Feral druid: 12k.
Affliction warlock: 12k.
Frost death knight: 11k.
Retribution paladin: 10k.
The difference in raid DPS is nothing - exactly the same damage is being done. However, parse 2 is seeing two people being carried by stronger players and this is why "output" fights are always going to be more casual friendly. At the very bottom line of it, worse players can be safely carried by better ones when there is no real risk of dying to a dance. Conversely, in dance-orientated fights, should players die off then even excellent colleagues cannot make up the difference.
TL, DR?
Plummeting raid success in Cataclysm is thanks to personal responsibility being flunked in dance-heavy content.
It's impossible to be sure, but I would imagine this isn't lost on the developers - yet 4.3 has got a lot more dance-content in the pipeline from what I've read. To counteract this, the LFR tool will be coming in to provide dumbed down versions of main raids so that the more casual or less skilled can get involved a lot more easily, and be more expectant of success. My problem with this is that it shifts emphasis further away from playing your class well (which I find unpalatable) and can potentially create other problems with progression, achievement-demands and, worst of all, gearing. Zarhym has already alluded to LFR tier being used to complete 4-pieces, so is it supposed to be used as a viable method for normal raiding guilds to fill out any slots?
As far as I see it, the distinction between output content and dance content could easily be where the casual and not-so-casual raiders differentiate. I support the introduction of the LFR tool, just not the fact it's being used to counteract a problem with a more sophisticated solution. Namely, why not make the normal raid the output raid and then introduce the dance as part of the heroic content? From what we've seen in the Firelands, very little actually changes from normal to heroic in most cases other than more damage and health to deal with. As a result, why couldn't normal raids be the more output based encounters of WotLK that encourage casual play, while heroic encounters introduce the dance that separates those more committed?In this way, we can keep the two difficulty settings while adding in the LFR tool for cross-realm raid matching. Not only does this mean less development and maintenance work, it deals with all the other logistical problems that would accompany three settings.
Moving on, though, Gevlon does make a very interesting point that should be borne in mind. Currently, the idea of personal progression is diluted because it only lasts as long as an individual boss survives. They're all sufficiently different enough to cause raids to pretty much need to start again once they've downed one encounter and moved onto the next to start the learning process. I must admit I'm totally with him here, as I'd like to see something that links the encounters in a raid zone intelligently and provides that "raid progressive" feeling that comes with killing associated bosses.
Unashamedly, I'm in love with the idea of shared mechanics where it makes sense. Something that happens across every encounter in a zone and ties them all together. This could be in the form of a bar, such as Cho'gall's corruption mechanic being applied to every fight in the Bastion of Twilight, or a buff/debuff that persists and has a similar impact depending on the mechanics of the fight. I'll try to paint an example of what I mean and I might as well use the aforementioned Bastion of Twilight and the current Firelands.
Cho'gall's corruption bar is present in all four encounters in the zone. Against Halfus Wyrmbreaker, players stack corruption when hit by Shadow Nova, meaning there ain't much that can impact them. While fighting Valiona and Theralion we could see Dazzling Destruction, Deep Breath and Fabulous Flames increasing corruption. Imagine also a heroic version where Blackout is added to the list, giving a little corruption to everyone or a lot to one person... With that person getting 100 being quite deliberate as was often seen in heroic Cho'gall strategies. We then get to the Ascendant Council where there are a myriad of avoidable sources of corruption for you to avoid. In this scenario, the mechanic is introduced slowly at first but ramps up throughout the raid and links it all together.
As another idea, take Ragnaros' Burning Wound and put it into every other fight. Replace Jagged Tear for Shannox, Widow's Kiss for Beth'tilac, replace the stacking damage from Sparks of Rhyolith, use it for Inferno Blades on Baleroc, give the ability to Voracious Hatchlings who throw a Tantrum against Alysrazor and have Staghelm applying it when scorpion cleaving or using Leaping Flames. It would replace the abilities that have similar effects while, once again, tying the whole instance together.In both cases, not only does it make the bosses in a zone "feel" more linked to one another, it also gives players a chance to learn how certain mechanics work throughout a raid and know what to look for. Heck, in the Bastion of Twilight example, it could potentially see new and compelling strategies being worked out.
All told, as a raider, the content I play in will dictate how much I enjoy playing the game. And because subscriptions are falling in Cataclysm, it's reasonable to assume that the change in standard of the largest hook for players is the cause. I'm not arguing that the new dance heavy direction is wrong, merely that it doesn't look to be popular and it's not hard to figure out why. More importantly, I think it's important that we as a player base try to highlight what we think isn't working as well as it could be, then try to suggest potential ways to improve it.
Of course... It's not as if I'm known for keeping quiet. :)
I recently got reading this entry from Greedy Goblin talking about "the dance" and how an encounter's mechanics now dictate success as opposed to how well you can play your class. Of course, that doesn't imply that there aren't rough DPS checks to be found; there absolutely are. But the point is that classes are now easy enough to play that you cannot necessarily show skill simply by being good at it. Everyone is.
Now, I should quickly point out that I don't necessarily agree or disagree with the linked post. It actually makes a muddled attempt at indicting voice communications for some reason, while also managing to subversively insult those of us who use it. But the fact remains that playing your class has gotten significantly easier over time, while playing an encounter has gotten significantly harder. Statistically, these "dance" fights see far fewer successful pulls than those where perfecting your rotation (henceforth known as output) yields best results and the reason is probably pretty obvious. Take a look at these two differing "parses", assuming a ten-man raid with two tanks and two healers:
Parse 1
Fury warrior: 12k.
Retribution paladin: 12k.
Survival hunter: 12k.
Frost death knight: 12k.
Affliction warlock: 12k.
Feral druid: 12k.
Parse 2
Fury warrior: 14k.
Survival hunter: 13k.
Feral druid: 12k.
Affliction warlock: 12k.
Frost death knight: 11k.
Retribution paladin: 10k.
The difference in raid DPS is nothing - exactly the same damage is being done. However, parse 2 is seeing two people being carried by stronger players and this is why "output" fights are always going to be more casual friendly. At the very bottom line of it, worse players can be safely carried by better ones when there is no real risk of dying to a dance. Conversely, in dance-orientated fights, should players die off then even excellent colleagues cannot make up the difference.
TL, DR?
Plummeting raid success in Cataclysm is thanks to personal responsibility being flunked in dance-heavy content.
It's impossible to be sure, but I would imagine this isn't lost on the developers - yet 4.3 has got a lot more dance-content in the pipeline from what I've read. To counteract this, the LFR tool will be coming in to provide dumbed down versions of main raids so that the more casual or less skilled can get involved a lot more easily, and be more expectant of success. My problem with this is that it shifts emphasis further away from playing your class well (which I find unpalatable) and can potentially create other problems with progression, achievement-demands and, worst of all, gearing. Zarhym has already alluded to LFR tier being used to complete 4-pieces, so is it supposed to be used as a viable method for normal raiding guilds to fill out any slots?
As far as I see it, the distinction between output content and dance content could easily be where the casual and not-so-casual raiders differentiate. I support the introduction of the LFR tool, just not the fact it's being used to counteract a problem with a more sophisticated solution. Namely, why not make the normal raid the output raid and then introduce the dance as part of the heroic content? From what we've seen in the Firelands, very little actually changes from normal to heroic in most cases other than more damage and health to deal with. As a result, why couldn't normal raids be the more output based encounters of WotLK that encourage casual play, while heroic encounters introduce the dance that separates those more committed?In this way, we can keep the two difficulty settings while adding in the LFR tool for cross-realm raid matching. Not only does this mean less development and maintenance work, it deals with all the other logistical problems that would accompany three settings.
Moving on, though, Gevlon does make a very interesting point that should be borne in mind. Currently, the idea of personal progression is diluted because it only lasts as long as an individual boss survives. They're all sufficiently different enough to cause raids to pretty much need to start again once they've downed one encounter and moved onto the next to start the learning process. I must admit I'm totally with him here, as I'd like to see something that links the encounters in a raid zone intelligently and provides that "raid progressive" feeling that comes with killing associated bosses.
Unashamedly, I'm in love with the idea of shared mechanics where it makes sense. Something that happens across every encounter in a zone and ties them all together. This could be in the form of a bar, such as Cho'gall's corruption mechanic being applied to every fight in the Bastion of Twilight, or a buff/debuff that persists and has a similar impact depending on the mechanics of the fight. I'll try to paint an example of what I mean and I might as well use the aforementioned Bastion of Twilight and the current Firelands.
Cho'gall's corruption bar is present in all four encounters in the zone. Against Halfus Wyrmbreaker, players stack corruption when hit by Shadow Nova, meaning there ain't much that can impact them. While fighting Valiona and Theralion we could see Dazzling Destruction, Deep Breath and Fabulous Flames increasing corruption. Imagine also a heroic version where Blackout is added to the list, giving a little corruption to everyone or a lot to one person... With that person getting 100 being quite deliberate as was often seen in heroic Cho'gall strategies. We then get to the Ascendant Council where there are a myriad of avoidable sources of corruption for you to avoid. In this scenario, the mechanic is introduced slowly at first but ramps up throughout the raid and links it all together.
As another idea, take Ragnaros' Burning Wound and put it into every other fight. Replace Jagged Tear for Shannox, Widow's Kiss for Beth'tilac, replace the stacking damage from Sparks of Rhyolith, use it for Inferno Blades on Baleroc, give the ability to Voracious Hatchlings who throw a Tantrum against Alysrazor and have Staghelm applying it when scorpion cleaving or using Leaping Flames. It would replace the abilities that have similar effects while, once again, tying the whole instance together.In both cases, not only does it make the bosses in a zone "feel" more linked to one another, it also gives players a chance to learn how certain mechanics work throughout a raid and know what to look for. Heck, in the Bastion of Twilight example, it could potentially see new and compelling strategies being worked out.
All told, as a raider, the content I play in will dictate how much I enjoy playing the game. And because subscriptions are falling in Cataclysm, it's reasonable to assume that the change in standard of the largest hook for players is the cause. I'm not arguing that the new dance heavy direction is wrong, merely that it doesn't look to be popular and it's not hard to figure out why. More importantly, I think it's important that we as a player base try to highlight what we think isn't working as well as it could be, then try to suggest potential ways to improve it.
Of course... It's not as if I'm known for keeping quiet. :)
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Warrior: Feedback.
[Posted on the official forums, as requested.]
I'm a career Protection warrior, focusing on heroic raids and heroic dungeons. I also play DPS occasionally, as well as some PvP; but I'll leave commentary on that to those of more experience. This is all personal opinion based on my own musings.
1) The talent revamp for Protection was an overwhelming success. There are meaningful choices throughout the Protection tree which have an impact on performance and playstyle, with compelling talents to be found in the Fury and Arms trees depending on the content you're running.
2) Sentinel should provide expertise as well as its current effects, similar to Veteran of the Third War.
2) Incite is too good. The additional critical strike chance to Heroic Strike is in line, but the guaranteed follow-up makes the talent incredibly strong and the biggest contributor to single-target threat. While my preference of nerfing this talent to let other attacks hit harder is a personal preference, it doesn't alter how powerful Incite really is.
3) Toughness, Shield Mastery, Last Stand, Bastion of Defence, Devastate, Sword and Board, Shockwave and Field Dressing are not optional talents. I understand getting rid of them all would make the tree very strange, but nobody is skipping these.
4) The difference between a warrior picking up Blood and Thunder/Thunderstruck, and a warrior not picking them up, is possibly too large. Blood and Thunder, however, is a great talent and I'd hate to see it changed or chopped. I think working the effects of Thunderstruck into it would make warrior AoE less punitive than the current four-point asking price, though I appreciate the impact this could have for Arms PvE which is already very powerful on AoE fights.
5) There is no longer a valid reason for Warbringer being unable to break roots using Charge and Intercept.
6) Impending Victory, though stylish, is awkward. A much smaller chance to proc, with a significantly higher window of opportunity, would see it more widely used.
7) Vigilance is horribly weak, and only contributes to conventional offtanking that Sentinel deals with. Due to the situational nature of the taunt refresh, it's essentially a dead talent.
8) Blood Craze gives a dreadful return for a hefty three-point investment. Even for Arms and Fury, it's sorely in need of a buff.
9) Mastery (both block and critical block) is too strong. Looking to 4.3, warriors are going to be significantly overpowered if this doesn't change.
10) Out of our rotational trio of Shield Slam, Revenge and Devastate, Revenge is sorely underperforming due to it's abnormally low critical strike chance. It's the only one of our main attacks that sports a baseline less than 20% and this works out to make Devastate always better on a single target.
11) Heroic Strike, as a non-rotational resource dump, is too powerful and damage should be shifted from Heroic Strike to Revenge and Devastate. Shield Slam already hits hard enough thanks to Sword and Board, but Revenge and Devastate should look more like Avenger's Shield and Crusader Strike accordingly.
12) Warriors still lack a proper damage cooldown such as Berserk, Dancing Rune Weapon or Avenging Wrath. Recklessness can only reliably be used once per fight (and is unappealing when tank damage is high).
13) Heroic Leap needs some of the coding restrictions removed, it's too unreliable. Colossus Smash is fine despite the DPS balance problems that have dogged it, but Inner Rage is a design failure. Cataclysm set out to remove Heroic Strike spam, then reintroduced it two months later. Also, I just can't see where it fits into the "active mitigation" model.
What are your biggest QoL issues?
Most of the above covers this, but Heroic Leap and Inner Rage are the biggest culprits. Low rage generation when levelling is also a pain.
What makes playing your class more fun?
Compelling talent choices not on offer elsewhere, mobility other melee dream about and unique utility that can change the face of an encounter.
What makes playing your class less fun?
Spiky rage generation and the reliance on Heroic Strike for competitive damage when we were promised the back of it in Cataclysm.
How do you feel about your “rotation”?
Heroic Strike is too strong, Revenge is too weak. The role of Concussion Blow, Shockwave and Rend is also confusing, but compelling. The Sword and Board mechanic, however, is what makes playing a Protection warrior the absolute blast that it is, while keeping the "rotation" fresh.
What’s on your wish list for your class?
Less passive mitigation, better self-healing, more damage AND THE RETURN OF WARBRINGER.
What spells do you use the least?
Concussion Blow and Rend. Due to the aforementioned Sword and Board, I almost always prefer Devastate to both (Rend particularly).
I'm a career Protection warrior, focusing on heroic raids and heroic dungeons. I also play DPS occasionally, as well as some PvP; but I'll leave commentary on that to those of more experience. This is all personal opinion based on my own musings.
1) The talent revamp for Protection was an overwhelming success. There are meaningful choices throughout the Protection tree which have an impact on performance and playstyle, with compelling talents to be found in the Fury and Arms trees depending on the content you're running.
2) Sentinel should provide expertise as well as its current effects, similar to Veteran of the Third War.
2) Incite is too good. The additional critical strike chance to Heroic Strike is in line, but the guaranteed follow-up makes the talent incredibly strong and the biggest contributor to single-target threat. While my preference of nerfing this talent to let other attacks hit harder is a personal preference, it doesn't alter how powerful Incite really is.
3) Toughness, Shield Mastery, Last Stand, Bastion of Defence, Devastate, Sword and Board, Shockwave and Field Dressing are not optional talents. I understand getting rid of them all would make the tree very strange, but nobody is skipping these.
4) The difference between a warrior picking up Blood and Thunder/Thunderstruck, and a warrior not picking them up, is possibly too large. Blood and Thunder, however, is a great talent and I'd hate to see it changed or chopped. I think working the effects of Thunderstruck into it would make warrior AoE less punitive than the current four-point asking price, though I appreciate the impact this could have for Arms PvE which is already very powerful on AoE fights.
5) There is no longer a valid reason for Warbringer being unable to break roots using Charge and Intercept.
6) Impending Victory, though stylish, is awkward. A much smaller chance to proc, with a significantly higher window of opportunity, would see it more widely used.
7) Vigilance is horribly weak, and only contributes to conventional offtanking that Sentinel deals with. Due to the situational nature of the taunt refresh, it's essentially a dead talent.
8) Blood Craze gives a dreadful return for a hefty three-point investment. Even for Arms and Fury, it's sorely in need of a buff.
9) Mastery (both block and critical block) is too strong. Looking to 4.3, warriors are going to be significantly overpowered if this doesn't change.
10) Out of our rotational trio of Shield Slam, Revenge and Devastate, Revenge is sorely underperforming due to it's abnormally low critical strike chance. It's the only one of our main attacks that sports a baseline less than 20% and this works out to make Devastate always better on a single target.
11) Heroic Strike, as a non-rotational resource dump, is too powerful and damage should be shifted from Heroic Strike to Revenge and Devastate. Shield Slam already hits hard enough thanks to Sword and Board, but Revenge and Devastate should look more like Avenger's Shield and Crusader Strike accordingly.
12) Warriors still lack a proper damage cooldown such as Berserk, Dancing Rune Weapon or Avenging Wrath. Recklessness can only reliably be used once per fight (and is unappealing when tank damage is high).
13) Heroic Leap needs some of the coding restrictions removed, it's too unreliable. Colossus Smash is fine despite the DPS balance problems that have dogged it, but Inner Rage is a design failure. Cataclysm set out to remove Heroic Strike spam, then reintroduced it two months later. Also, I just can't see where it fits into the "active mitigation" model.
What are your biggest QoL issues?
Most of the above covers this, but Heroic Leap and Inner Rage are the biggest culprits. Low rage generation when levelling is also a pain.
What makes playing your class more fun?
Compelling talent choices not on offer elsewhere, mobility other melee dream about and unique utility that can change the face of an encounter.
What makes playing your class less fun?
Spiky rage generation and the reliance on Heroic Strike for competitive damage when we were promised the back of it in Cataclysm.
How do you feel about your “rotation”?
Heroic Strike is too strong, Revenge is too weak. The role of Concussion Blow, Shockwave and Rend is also confusing, but compelling. The Sword and Board mechanic, however, is what makes playing a Protection warrior the absolute blast that it is, while keeping the "rotation" fresh.
What’s on your wish list for your class?
Less passive mitigation, better self-healing, more damage AND THE RETURN OF WARBRINGER.
What spells do you use the least?
Concussion Blow and Rend. Due to the aforementioned Sword and Board, I almost always prefer Devastate to both (Rend particularly).
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