Its been a while since I posted on any of the changes to our class for 4.0.1 and Cataclysm. While there have been some rather big changes mostly its just number tweaking.
However this little nugget from GC has popped up into the epic Paladin Tanking thread currently running on the O-Board's.
While we still have grave concerns about players being able to fill every GCD, we also don't want to change paladin tanking so much that it is unrecognizable for long-term paladins. Therefore, we are going to try Crusader Strike on a 3 second cooldown for Protection only. Hammer of the Righteous will have the same cooldown. This will allow Protection to fill in almost every gap in the rotation and not be waiting so long on every cooldown, which should help the rotation feel more active. It will also allow Inquisition and Shield of the Righteous to sometimes be up at the same time. That change is pretty significant and will no doubt invite all sorts of theorycrafting on the right way to manage Holy Power. We still have additional grave concerns that once paladins can have both Inquisition and Shield of the Righteous up simultaneously that they will feel underpowered and therefore frustrated whenever they lack sufficient Holy Power for 100% uptime on both. We'll just have to see how that feels.
Its nice to see that they are at least willing to go back on their word and re work the class to make the players happy and prove to ether us or them whether this change will work or not.
The reduced gaps in our rotation is something I welcome a lot, while I am fine with having some gaps we were reaching points with very large spaces of nothing.
I now wonder whether CS will be nerfed again to compensate for the increased use or If they will find another way to balance around it.
The Great GC also postef
While we still think an off the GCD interrupt isn't an essential tool for a tank, we also don't think it's going to break anything for paladins to have one either. Our eventual solution is to let Vindication's ability to let HoJ interrupt also take HoJ off of the global cooldown. That change will require new tech, so it's not something you're likely to see anytime soon, but you can know that it's in our long term plans. Again, we don't think the interrupt issue is a critical problem that must be solved today. The rotation one in the previous paragraph is a bigger deal.
This Is a very nice little not, while It might be a while off the fact of having an interupt off the GCD even at 40sec CD is very appealing. The other up side to this is that after the class redesign they are relooking at abilitys that they said we would never have. While I wouldn't hold out on it this could mean that at some point a gap closer of some kind may still be up for consideration.
I am very happy with how the class is looking going into this expansion, with rotation holes filled and WoG useful we are looking very well off. My only wish now would be for a med length CD to generate HoPo at some rate, but that's probably something we can live without.
Look forward also to a big long awaited post coming from me in the next few days.
Showing posts with label Blue Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blue Post. Show all posts
Monday, October 4, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
New Patch and Improvements for Prot
This latest build has brought many new talents and tree changes that are very needed with the way current tree stands.
Holy
* Divinity is gone, moved to Protection
Great change, swapping this and PotI gives us a survivability option without having to spec into Eternal Glory.
* Protector of the Innocent is now a Tier 1 Holy Talent and has been revamped - Casting a targeted heal on any target, including yourself, also heals you for 1240.83 to 1427.62. (Multi ranks, but currently all with the same value)
An interesting little change that most probably won't take but may be useful in soling or PvP builds.
Protection
* Guarded by the Light additional effect - In addition, your Word of Glory will also cause Holy Shield.
This is a very nice change give us a reason to use WoG now at least a little, the heal might still suck but at least we won't have to worry about dropping HS now for it.
* Judgements of the Just now also reduces ranged attack speed.
Probibly won't have much effect in PvE but will defiantly make Prot more dangerous in PvP, Healers here I come.
Retribution
* Crusader Strike now causes 120% weapon damage, up from 100%.
Simple boost to CS cementing its place in single target rotations.
Over all some nice changes to help with PvP and make WoG more useful, still waiting on the proc based second HoPo generator though Blizzard.
Holy
* Divinity is gone, moved to Protection
Great change, swapping this and PotI gives us a survivability option without having to spec into Eternal Glory.
* Protector of the Innocent is now a Tier 1 Holy Talent and has been revamped - Casting a targeted heal on any target, including yourself, also heals you for 1240.83 to 1427.62. (Multi ranks, but currently all with the same value)
An interesting little change that most probably won't take but may be useful in soling or PvP builds.
Protection
* Guarded by the Light additional effect - In addition, your Word of Glory will also cause Holy Shield.
This is a very nice change give us a reason to use WoG now at least a little, the heal might still suck but at least we won't have to worry about dropping HS now for it.
* Judgements of the Just now also reduces ranged attack speed.
Probibly won't have much effect in PvE but will defiantly make Prot more dangerous in PvP, Healers here I come.
Retribution
* Crusader Strike now causes 120% weapon damage, up from 100%.
Simple boost to CS cementing its place in single target rotations.
Over all some nice changes to help with PvP and make WoG more useful, still waiting on the proc based second HoPo generator though Blizzard.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
As the Flux Ebbs
Just a while ago blues hit us with a huge update on the current state of Prot.
Remember that while reading this they may have already changed some or all of it as it seems that our tree continues to shift.
I apologise or the inc wall of text but I feel this Is really needed all in one go.
Here is how Prot paladins are working in our current beta build. You might not see these changes in the next beta build, but in the one after that. Things are still in a high degree of flux however.
Shield of the Righteous -- Now consumes Holy Power to cause damage.
Holy Shield -- Now a passive ability that causes your Shield of the Righteous to provide 5% block per stack of Holy Power consumed. In other words, you never click Holy Shield. You just click Shield of the Righteous and buff yourself.
Hammer of the Righteous -- Now generates Holy Power but shares a cooldown with Crusader Strike. Almost all talents that affect one or the other will affect both. The intention is you use Crusader Strike -> Shield of the Righteous for single target and Hammer of the Righteous -> Shield of the Righteous for multitarget.
Avenger's Shield -- No real change, but it still hits pretty hard. Both CS and HotR can proc Grand Crusader to lower the Avenger's Shield cooldown.
Vindication -- can be caused only by Crusader Strike or Hammer of the Righteous.
Holy Wrath -- With the above changes, we think Prot paladins have enough rotational buttons to hit, so we are downplaying Holy Wrath. Holy Wrath is really intended as a Ret filler spell (for when other attacks are on cooldown). Prot could technically use Holy Wrath, but we aren't providing any talent hooks.
Consecration -- Now on a 10 sec duration with a 30 sec cooldown. The Hallowed Ground talent makes it cheaper and hit harder -- it does not affect duration. Use Consecration when you need it, but you can't spam it. This is consistent with the AE changes we are making to all tanks.
With these changes in mind, Prot will be thinking about buttons such as these:
Single Target: Judgement, Crusader Strike, Shield of the Righteous, Avenger's Shield.
Multi-target: Judgement, Consecration, Hammer of the Righteous, Shield of the Righteous, Avenger's Shield, possibly Exorcism.
None of this includes things like Seals, Inquisition, defensive cooldowns, Word of Glory, etc.
So with Vindication off of Holy Wrath, is it intended that Prot Paladins are the only tank without an AoE Physical Damage debuff, or will similar changes be made to the Warrior/Druid/DK mechanics?
Hammer of the Righteous will be AoE enough. It hits many targets. It may not be as widespread as Demo Shout on a pull like a jillion Onyxia Whelps, but we don't really expect you to debuff pulls of that size.
Let me just clarify something - Hammer of the Righteous will generate 1 Holy Power per cast, or 1 Holy Power per target hit?
One per cast. Otherwise we think paladins might want to always be hitting multiple targets, like "Let me tank the boss and one of the adds or my Holy Power generation will be low."
Is Holy Wrath going to have the same model it currently has? As a split damage ability?
Yeah, we like the split damage because it lets Ret (and Prot if needed) use it in most situations.
Also will 3 stacks of holy power when using shield of the righteousness roughly equal the amount of threat it did before it got removed or is it changed?
It will be a hard-hitting button, especially with 3 stacks. I'd guess your highest damage ability.
So some interesting changes for us. I'm not sure I like Holy Shield being tied to SHoR. While its probably a logical step from allowing SHoR to refresh HS it almost kills HS outright, and makes it like some kind of SHoR Libram.
For the changes to AoE and how this effects us, I am liking that we have a clear idea of how our rotations are going to look in AoE situations vs single target but I really like HotR and loosing it as a spell I will use in a boss fight is sad. Also if this is an indication of whats to come then AoE is being completely gutted and I can guarantee that Warriors no longer have their "Consecration". However only being able to AoE every 30sec with the odd off rotation HW to fill in the aggro seems almost to low, maybe not for the start of the expansion but defiantly for latter when we can once again chain pull heroics.
Overall whether these changes stay or not its a very strong incite to how we can expect things to change from today. I quite like most of the changes particularly being able to use HoPo for more than just HS upkeep I just hope that HS wont be lost for good as they endeavor to tidy this current SHoR/HS system up more.
Remember that while reading this they may have already changed some or all of it as it seems that our tree continues to shift.
I apologise or the inc wall of text but I feel this Is really needed all in one go.
Here is how Prot paladins are working in our current beta build. You might not see these changes in the next beta build, but in the one after that. Things are still in a high degree of flux however.
Shield of the Righteous -- Now consumes Holy Power to cause damage.
Holy Shield -- Now a passive ability that causes your Shield of the Righteous to provide 5% block per stack of Holy Power consumed. In other words, you never click Holy Shield. You just click Shield of the Righteous and buff yourself.
Hammer of the Righteous -- Now generates Holy Power but shares a cooldown with Crusader Strike. Almost all talents that affect one or the other will affect both. The intention is you use Crusader Strike -> Shield of the Righteous for single target and Hammer of the Righteous -> Shield of the Righteous for multitarget.
Avenger's Shield -- No real change, but it still hits pretty hard. Both CS and HotR can proc Grand Crusader to lower the Avenger's Shield cooldown.
Vindication -- can be caused only by Crusader Strike or Hammer of the Righteous.
Holy Wrath -- With the above changes, we think Prot paladins have enough rotational buttons to hit, so we are downplaying Holy Wrath. Holy Wrath is really intended as a Ret filler spell (for when other attacks are on cooldown). Prot could technically use Holy Wrath, but we aren't providing any talent hooks.
Consecration -- Now on a 10 sec duration with a 30 sec cooldown. The Hallowed Ground talent makes it cheaper and hit harder -- it does not affect duration. Use Consecration when you need it, but you can't spam it. This is consistent with the AE changes we are making to all tanks.
With these changes in mind, Prot will be thinking about buttons such as these:
Single Target: Judgement, Crusader Strike, Shield of the Righteous, Avenger's Shield.
Multi-target: Judgement, Consecration, Hammer of the Righteous, Shield of the Righteous, Avenger's Shield, possibly Exorcism.
None of this includes things like Seals, Inquisition, defensive cooldowns, Word of Glory, etc.
So with Vindication off of Holy Wrath, is it intended that Prot Paladins are the only tank without an AoE Physical Damage debuff, or will similar changes be made to the Warrior/Druid/DK mechanics?
Hammer of the Righteous will be AoE enough. It hits many targets. It may not be as widespread as Demo Shout on a pull like a jillion Onyxia Whelps, but we don't really expect you to debuff pulls of that size.
Let me just clarify something - Hammer of the Righteous will generate 1 Holy Power per cast, or 1 Holy Power per target hit?
One per cast. Otherwise we think paladins might want to always be hitting multiple targets, like "Let me tank the boss and one of the adds or my Holy Power generation will be low."
Is Holy Wrath going to have the same model it currently has? As a split damage ability?
Yeah, we like the split damage because it lets Ret (and Prot if needed) use it in most situations.
Also will 3 stacks of holy power when using shield of the righteousness roughly equal the amount of threat it did before it got removed or is it changed?
It will be a hard-hitting button, especially with 3 stacks. I'd guess your highest damage ability.
So some interesting changes for us. I'm not sure I like Holy Shield being tied to SHoR. While its probably a logical step from allowing SHoR to refresh HS it almost kills HS outright, and makes it like some kind of SHoR Libram.
For the changes to AoE and how this effects us, I am liking that we have a clear idea of how our rotations are going to look in AoE situations vs single target but I really like HotR and loosing it as a spell I will use in a boss fight is sad. Also if this is an indication of whats to come then AoE is being completely gutted and I can guarantee that Warriors no longer have their "Consecration". However only being able to AoE every 30sec with the odd off rotation HW to fill in the aggro seems almost to low, maybe not for the start of the expansion but defiantly for latter when we can once again chain pull heroics.
Overall whether these changes stay or not its a very strong incite to how we can expect things to change from today. I quite like most of the changes particularly being able to use HoPo for more than just HS upkeep I just hope that HS wont be lost for good as they endeavor to tidy this current SHoR/HS system up more.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Build of Block and Shields
With the latest build there has been some reworking of the Mastery bonus's and of cause some more blue posts.
For Paladins we get;
Protection - Increases your chance to block melee attacks by 16%. Block chance increased further by mastery rating.
Where as warriors get;
Protection - Increases your chance to block by 10% and your chance to critically block by 10%. Chances increased further by mastery rating.
So while we block more often they block for larger amounts, but im not quite sure that our small extra % block makes up for their increased block and critical block. I would have expected their chance to block bonus to be a little lower but we will have to see how this goes live.
As for blue posts our friend SHoR might not be done for after all.
We'd also like to find a way to bring Shield of Righteousness back, but only if we can find an actual niche for it -- not just "here's another attack." Something like it consuming Holy Power but refreshing Holy Shield.
Im quite in favor of this idea, it lets us keep our vital HS up full time while giving us something to use HoPo on thats not directly HS. Hopefully this with the boost to HS duration will be enough to give us that breathing room we need for missed attacks or even another HoPo dump.
Also they had this to say on warriors
Currently we are looking really hard at AE damage abilities by all tanks. We tried Thunder Clap with no cooldown and didn't like it. We also tried Thunder Clap with a Consecrate-like talent, but I'm not sure we like that either. At the moment we are thinking of nerfing any of the really passive AEs, including Swipe, Death and Decay, Damage Shield and Consecrate. All of those abilities (well, maybe not Damage Shield) would still be usable, but they would be more situational.
Im quite glad that warriors are not keeping their concercration, it is our own unique spell and they have more than enough AoE with TC, SW and the new AoE Rend.
Seems that AoE is still up in the air for Cataclysm and will need alot more work before 4.0.
For Paladins we get;
Protection - Increases your chance to block melee attacks by 16%. Block chance increased further by mastery rating.
Where as warriors get;
Protection - Increases your chance to block by 10% and your chance to critically block by 10%. Chances increased further by mastery rating.
So while we block more often they block for larger amounts, but im not quite sure that our small extra % block makes up for their increased block and critical block. I would have expected their chance to block bonus to be a little lower but we will have to see how this goes live.
As for blue posts our friend SHoR might not be done for after all.
We'd also like to find a way to bring Shield of Righteousness back, but only if we can find an actual niche for it -- not just "here's another attack." Something like it consuming Holy Power but refreshing Holy Shield.
Im quite in favor of this idea, it lets us keep our vital HS up full time while giving us something to use HoPo on thats not directly HS. Hopefully this with the boost to HS duration will be enough to give us that breathing room we need for missed attacks or even another HoPo dump.
Also they had this to say on warriors
Currently we are looking really hard at AE damage abilities by all tanks. We tried Thunder Clap with no cooldown and didn't like it. We also tried Thunder Clap with a Consecrate-like talent, but I'm not sure we like that either. At the moment we are thinking of nerfing any of the really passive AEs, including Swipe, Death and Decay, Damage Shield and Consecrate. All of those abilities (well, maybe not Damage Shield) would still be usable, but they would be more situational.
Im quite glad that warriors are not keeping their concercration, it is our own unique spell and they have more than enough AoE with TC, SW and the new AoE Rend.
Seems that AoE is still up in the air for Cataclysm and will need alot more work before 4.0.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Hints of the Furture
So the twitter Dev chat has been underway an in amoungst the usual questions they alway get asked are some interesting news for Paladins.
Q: What is the goal when re-designing the paladin class? How do you plan to change rotations, talents, etc?
A. All of the paladin specializations will make use of a new resource called Holy Power. Holy Power accumulates from using Crusader Strike, Holy Shock, and some other talents. Holy Power can be consumed to augment a variety of abilities, including:
An instant mana-free heal: Word of Glory
A buff to increase holy damage done: Inquisition
A massive physical melee attack for Retribution paladins: Templar’s Verdict
Holy Shield’s duration is now extended by Holy Power
Divine Storm’s damage is now increased by Holy Power
We also introduced several new heals for Holy Paladins including Healing Hands (an AoE heal-over-time that is applied to all players standing near the paladin), Light of Dawn (a cone heal with a 30-yard range), as well as a new heal called Divine Light, which is similar to a priest's Greater Heal, and the new instant heal mentioned above, Word of Glory.
Q: Can you give us a sneak peek at one or two of the new Retribution abilities or talents?
A. Templar’s Verdict: An instant weapon attack that causes a percentage of weapon damage. Consumes all applications of Holy Power to increase damage dealt:
1 Holy Power: 55% Weapon Damage
2 Holy Power: 125% Weapon Damage
3 Holy Power: 225% Weapon Damage
Word of Glory: Consumes all Holy Power to heal a friendly target for a specific amount per application of Holy Power (0 mana cost, 0 cooldown, instant cast).
This is certanly a huge change to Paladins and while its something that has been thrown about before its not something I have seen mensioned recently.
While we will still have to wait for the next live build before we can look at this to much, it seems like we will be getting a bucket load of new spells ablilitys and proc's based around this Holy Power mechanic. I am really not sure where I will fit so many new spells on my bars but its looking promising indeed.
One thing this does concrete in is that Holy Paladins will most likey be healing from melee range much more and taking care of the Melee DPS and Tanks while others take care of the ranged.
I can not wait to see where they take this as long as its not to complicated to manage.
Q: What is the goal when re-designing the paladin class? How do you plan to change rotations, talents, etc?
A. All of the paladin specializations will make use of a new resource called Holy Power. Holy Power accumulates from using Crusader Strike, Holy Shock, and some other talents. Holy Power can be consumed to augment a variety of abilities, including:
An instant mana-free heal: Word of Glory
A buff to increase holy damage done: Inquisition
A massive physical melee attack for Retribution paladins: Templar’s Verdict
Holy Shield’s duration is now extended by Holy Power
Divine Storm’s damage is now increased by Holy Power
We also introduced several new heals for Holy Paladins including Healing Hands (an AoE heal-over-time that is applied to all players standing near the paladin), Light of Dawn (a cone heal with a 30-yard range), as well as a new heal called Divine Light, which is similar to a priest's Greater Heal, and the new instant heal mentioned above, Word of Glory.
Q: Can you give us a sneak peek at one or two of the new Retribution abilities or talents?
A. Templar’s Verdict: An instant weapon attack that causes a percentage of weapon damage. Consumes all applications of Holy Power to increase damage dealt:
1 Holy Power: 55% Weapon Damage
2 Holy Power: 125% Weapon Damage
3 Holy Power: 225% Weapon Damage
Word of Glory: Consumes all Holy Power to heal a friendly target for a specific amount per application of Holy Power (0 mana cost, 0 cooldown, instant cast).
This is certanly a huge change to Paladins and while its something that has been thrown about before its not something I have seen mensioned recently.
While we will still have to wait for the next live build before we can look at this to much, it seems like we will be getting a bucket load of new spells ablilitys and proc's based around this Holy Power mechanic. I am really not sure where I will fit so many new spells on my bars but its looking promising indeed.
One thing this does concrete in is that Holy Paladins will most likey be healing from melee range much more and taking care of the Melee DPS and Tanks while others take care of the ranged.
I can not wait to see where they take this as long as its not to complicated to manage.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Scrap That Post
Seems that Ghoastcrawler has taken to show me dead wrong on my comments for the previous post. I'm not going to delete because hey I spent a while typing it but consider the whole thing null and void.
I'm going to regret saying this, but the paladin trees are the most changed in the game. There are only a few of the current beta talents that survived the, um, cleansing.
I'm going to regret saying this, but the paladin trees are the most changed in the game. There are only a few of the current beta talents that survived the, um, cleansing.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
One of These Things is Not Like the Other
The talent tree bonus's for taken your chosen tree are release and I was very excited to first start looking over them. My first thoughts on Paladin trees were that they looked very good until I took a look into the other tanks ablilitys.
Lets start with us.
Paladin - Holy
Invokes the power of the Light to protect and to heal.
Holy Shock
Meditation
Healing Bonus
Paladin - Protection
Uses Holy magic to shield himself / herself and defend allies from attackers.
Avenger's Shield
Touched by the Light
Vengeance
I have added holy in here to show that Holy Shock is no longer baseline and therefor we have lost our OP 6sec Healthstone and one of our single target attacks.
The rest from Prot is rather self explanitory as its right out of our current trees.
Now for Warrior and DK's, I will list what they do incase you are unfamiliar with the class.
DK - Blood
A dark guardian who manipulates and corrupts life energy to sustain himself/herself in the face of an enemy onslaught.
Veteran of the Third War (+stam/expertise)
Death Rune Mastery (To do with rune use)
Heart Strike (Single Target attack with a cleave and no CD)
Vengeance
Warrior - Protection
A stalwart protector that uses a shield to protect himself/herself and his/her allies.
Shield Slam (Just like Shield of the Righteosness, 6 sec CD)
Vitality (+stam/expertise)
Vengeance
Druids at the moment are not listed due to tool tip errors.
As you can see we get a ranged pull thats very mana intensive on a 30sec CD and a talaent to increase damage done by a small amount. The other two tank get a short or no CD spell and a +Stam talent. Im not sure how these will play out at lower levels but as it looks to me the other classes will have more health and possibly more damage because of the far lower CD's on their spells.
On top of this Prot Paladins will still be lacking anyway to restore mana before we get Sanctuary possibly late in the tree.
Some judgement is ofcause still reserved uintil we see the new tree's but at the moment It feels as if Paladins will be doomed to run solo and OOM for the early levels.
Lets start with us.
Paladin - Holy
Invokes the power of the Light to protect and to heal.
Holy Shock
Meditation
Healing Bonus
Paladin - Protection
Uses Holy magic to shield himself / herself and defend allies from attackers.
Avenger's Shield
Touched by the Light
Vengeance
I have added holy in here to show that Holy Shock is no longer baseline and therefor we have lost our OP 6sec Healthstone and one of our single target attacks.
The rest from Prot is rather self explanitory as its right out of our current trees.
Now for Warrior and DK's, I will list what they do incase you are unfamiliar with the class.
DK - Blood
A dark guardian who manipulates and corrupts life energy to sustain himself/herself in the face of an enemy onslaught.
Veteran of the Third War (+stam/expertise)
Death Rune Mastery (To do with rune use)
Heart Strike (Single Target attack with a cleave and no CD)
Vengeance
Warrior - Protection
A stalwart protector that uses a shield to protect himself/herself and his/her allies.
Shield Slam (Just like Shield of the Righteosness, 6 sec CD)
Vitality (+stam/expertise)
Vengeance
Druids at the moment are not listed due to tool tip errors.
As you can see we get a ranged pull thats very mana intensive on a 30sec CD and a talaent to increase damage done by a small amount. The other two tank get a short or no CD spell and a +Stam talent. Im not sure how these will play out at lower levels but as it looks to me the other classes will have more health and possibly more damage because of the far lower CD's on their spells.
On top of this Prot Paladins will still be lacking anyway to restore mana before we get Sanctuary possibly late in the tree.
Some judgement is ofcause still reserved uintil we see the new tree's but at the moment It feels as if Paladins will be doomed to run solo and OOM for the early levels.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Quick Blue Flash
Just a quick post tonight with what I think are two very exciting posts from blues.
First
That means something like 3 new abilities for Retribution and several new or modified talents on top of that. Crazy.
As you can see, we're still iterating a lot on paladins. Our lack of communication is because things are changing quickly, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to share it all until things feel a little more stable.
Looking like Ret is getting a lot of new things to play with and Paladins are getting still more work(hopefully for the better).
Second
Forbearance
It will be reevaluated.
This is a very very good thing, I hope they find a way to do away with this bandaid once and for all. Its a terrible mechanic and had been used over the last two expansions as a quick fix for andything deemed "OP" with us, I will not miss it one bit whether it changes or just plain goes away.
First
That means something like 3 new abilities for Retribution and several new or modified talents on top of that. Crazy.
As you can see, we're still iterating a lot on paladins. Our lack of communication is because things are changing quickly, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to share it all until things feel a little more stable.
Looking like Ret is getting a lot of new things to play with and Paladins are getting still more work(hopefully for the better).
Second
Forbearance
It will be reevaluated.
This is a very very good thing, I hope they find a way to do away with this bandaid once and for all. Its a terrible mechanic and had been used over the last two expansions as a quick fix for andything deemed "OP" with us, I will not miss it one bit whether it changes or just plain goes away.
Friday, July 9, 2010
And the People Have Spoken
Just a quick post today as I have this week on standby for raids.
Another Blue post has gone up in responce to the overwelming negitive feedback on the perposed Real ID name to new forum posts.
"It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name."
Clearly Blizzard have been watching the many many posts with ligitimate conserns from bloggers and forum goers alike and seen ether issues they didn't think would be a problem or haddn't thought of at all.
Etherway its good news that they will be going back on this feature while continueing to try to improve Real ID and Forums in differnt ways.
Another Blue post has gone up in responce to the overwelming negitive feedback on the perposed Real ID name to new forum posts.
"It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name."
Clearly Blizzard have been watching the many many posts with ligitimate conserns from bloggers and forum goers alike and seen ether issues they didn't think would be a problem or haddn't thought of at all.
Etherway its good news that they will be going back on this feature while continueing to try to improve Real ID and Forums in differnt ways.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The New Face of Mastery and Trees
After the upset of the new Real ID change we needed something to once again lift our spirits and the great and wonderful Zarhym has brought it with the announcement of a HUGE overhaul to Mastery and the Talent system.
It was a very long post so rather than pull out alot of big quotes I will just sum up each change and give you my thoughts as we go.
The first and largest change is that Talent tree will be trimmed down to 31 points as opposed to the 51 we have currently.
Their goal with this is to help in the removal of boring and passive bonus talents.
To go with the reduction in talents they are also reducing the number of points we have to spend giving us our first point at level 10 then alternating every level after that between a new spell and a new talent point.
I am very happy with this change, it solves the problems Blizzard were having with bloated trees, much larger trees due to increased level cap and helps give us more interesting talents all in one swoop. Also the alternating rewards as you level will help keep each new level rewarding while making sure that its not just another "Ding".
The next change in line for Talent trees is that once you choose your tree you will not be able to take points in the other two trees until you reach 70 and take your 31st talent.
I have mixed feelings on this one as we have yet to see the new trees. My biggest worry is if mandatory talents for two specs lay in one tree for example Meditation in the Discipline tree for leveling Holy Priests currently. However if they can get around this issue then this will help with new players choosing a working spec rather than spreading their points around as some do currently.
The next change takes a grey area halfway between Mastery and Talent Tree's and its goal is to help define the separate trees early. To do this they have set in place a new system where upon setting your first Talent point you will automatically be given a trademark spell for that tree and at least one passive ability. For example a Ret Paladin might be given Divine Storm and Art of War.
Next up are changes to they way Mastery works. They have removed the slow scale of the first tier bonus's and instead made it so the bonus is automatically given in full upon reaching a certain point.
The second change to Mastery is that you must buy the skill "Mastery" from your trainer at 75 before you can use the stat when it appears on gear at 78. This will be similar to buying Dual Weld or Plate Armour and wont make much difference to how the stat is planned to work currently.
Overall these are some very large and very positive change for Cataclysm and now we also have the promise of a showing of the full Talent Trees for all classes some time in the near future.
Di spite what may be happening on the forums Cataclysm just keeps getting better and better.
It was a very long post so rather than pull out alot of big quotes I will just sum up each change and give you my thoughts as we go.
The first and largest change is that Talent tree will be trimmed down to 31 points as opposed to the 51 we have currently.
Their goal with this is to help in the removal of boring and passive bonus talents.
To go with the reduction in talents they are also reducing the number of points we have to spend giving us our first point at level 10 then alternating every level after that between a new spell and a new talent point.
I am very happy with this change, it solves the problems Blizzard were having with bloated trees, much larger trees due to increased level cap and helps give us more interesting talents all in one swoop. Also the alternating rewards as you level will help keep each new level rewarding while making sure that its not just another "Ding".
The next change in line for Talent trees is that once you choose your tree you will not be able to take points in the other two trees until you reach 70 and take your 31st talent.
I have mixed feelings on this one as we have yet to see the new trees. My biggest worry is if mandatory talents for two specs lay in one tree for example Meditation in the Discipline tree for leveling Holy Priests currently. However if they can get around this issue then this will help with new players choosing a working spec rather than spreading their points around as some do currently.
The next change takes a grey area halfway between Mastery and Talent Tree's and its goal is to help define the separate trees early. To do this they have set in place a new system where upon setting your first Talent point you will automatically be given a trademark spell for that tree and at least one passive ability. For example a Ret Paladin might be given Divine Storm and Art of War.
Next up are changes to they way Mastery works. They have removed the slow scale of the first tier bonus's and instead made it so the bonus is automatically given in full upon reaching a certain point.
The second change to Mastery is that you must buy the skill "Mastery" from your trainer at 75 before you can use the stat when it appears on gear at 78. This will be similar to buying Dual Weld or Plate Armour and wont make much difference to how the stat is planned to work currently.
Overall these are some very large and very positive change for Cataclysm and now we also have the promise of a showing of the full Talent Trees for all classes some time in the near future.
Di spite what may be happening on the forums Cataclysm just keeps getting better and better.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
A "Real" Step to Far?
A short time ago Nethaera posted about a major upset to the Official Forums
"The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it."
Right off the bat you can tell this will generate a lot of QQ.
While many complained about Real ID, I've been a fan all along. I love how it lets me keep in touch with friends and Officers across realm and characters. I feel the system needs some tweaks but overall works well and I don't mind letting people know my real name, especially seeing I can choose who I add.
This change however is a step to far. I understand Blizzards desire to tidy and prune the O' Boards and once again make them a place people want to visit, but I don't feel this is the way. I agree with their logic and I am sure that removing the anonymity will force out many of the trolls but It's a bad solution in my opinion. I didn't mind Real ID because I could choose who saw my name, now Blizzard have taken away my choice.
If I ever want to post my opinion on a topic, help out a new player or make a recruitment post for the guild people will see my real name.
I do not want the millions of subscribers on the US forums to know my real name and I don't think they need to know it.
I don't claim to have another solution for this problem and truthfully I don't even have a clue for it but this is a very bad step Blizzard are taking. This is personal information and its being given out by force against our will. It is for this very reason that so many people have disgust for Facebook at the moment and I don't wish to see that happen to Blizzard.
This is a very big topic and I would love to hear what you all think on it, is this going to far? Do you have any ideas on how to stop trolls outside of giving them an identity?
"The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it."
Right off the bat you can tell this will generate a lot of QQ.
While many complained about Real ID, I've been a fan all along. I love how it lets me keep in touch with friends and Officers across realm and characters. I feel the system needs some tweaks but overall works well and I don't mind letting people know my real name, especially seeing I can choose who I add.
This change however is a step to far. I understand Blizzards desire to tidy and prune the O' Boards and once again make them a place people want to visit, but I don't feel this is the way. I agree with their logic and I am sure that removing the anonymity will force out many of the trolls but It's a bad solution in my opinion. I didn't mind Real ID because I could choose who saw my name, now Blizzard have taken away my choice.
If I ever want to post my opinion on a topic, help out a new player or make a recruitment post for the guild people will see my real name.
I do not want the millions of subscribers on the US forums to know my real name and I don't think they need to know it.
I don't claim to have another solution for this problem and truthfully I don't even have a clue for it but this is a very bad step Blizzard are taking. This is personal information and its being given out by force against our will. It is for this very reason that so many people have disgust for Facebook at the moment and I don't wish to see that happen to Blizzard.
This is a very big topic and I would love to hear what you all think on it, is this going to far? Do you have any ideas on how to stop trolls outside of giving them an identity?
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