Patch 4.0.1 Tomorrow?
You're all going to ask anyway. The answer is very likely no, they pushed a PTR build over the week-end and I don't see them testing a Release Candidate so quickly. Most likely next week.


Stormwind Update - Deathwing Hates Humans
Stormwind has been updated (once again!) in the latest beta build! This time, the towers attacked by Deathwing had a pretty huge graphical upgrade.




Cataclysm Darkmoon Cards
Just like previous expansions, Cataclysm will have its own set of Darkmoon Cards: Darkmoon Cards of Destruction. The mechanics didn't really change and they're still crafted by scribes for a couple of uncommon inks + elemental life.



Heroic Blackrock Caverns Video
TotalBiscuit posted a less ... wipy video of the Heroic Blackrock Caverns, for those of you who want to take a good look at difficulty of the instance.



Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
GCD Usage and not thinking with your fingers
We don't think so. It might be fun when you're looking at a target dummy, but then in an actual encounter with other players, you might find yourself sitting there looking at those two buttons without realizing that everyone else in the group is dead. Because you have such little time to look at anything besides those buttons, you aren't really playing as a group. You're just focused -- solely -- on maximizing your own rotation.

We had a lot of complaints in LK that the complexity of managing a class rotation was at odds with the complexity we also add to the boss encounters. If anything we want to buy more space for the boss encounters, because those are at least varied, rather than simplify those while complexifying your rotation, which just makes every encounter feel the same. At the very least, we want to slow the game down a little so that you have more opportunity to make decisions with your head instead of every wipe being a mistake of the fingers.

This is a subjective call, and we don't expect everyone to agree with it, but that's where we're coming from. (Source)

Healing
Mana Management and Overhealing
I think the risk of overhealing will exist. If you're not doing so now, it's probably because you're in green or blue gear with relatively low crit rates. If the rogue takes 2K damage from a splash attack, and you use Divine Light, you'll probably overheal. If you're in a raid and both healers attempt to heal her, you'll almost certainly overheal.

I agree that the risk of overhealing is key to mana management. There is more to healing than mana management though. The cast times and cooldowns of heals have a big role too. If you start casting a slow heal for a very wounded ally, then they might die. If you squander your cooldown then it's not going to be there for you when you really need it. Healers are also somewhat notorious for keeping everyone else up but forgetting to keep themselves alive. You just slip into the selfless role I suppose. (Source)

Tanking
Tanks with 100k HP 2-shot in Heroic
If your tanks are taking 50K in a boss hit, then one of the following is most likely true:

1) You are ignoring some mechanic of the fight (like debuffing or interrupting).
2) You're talking about an isolated scary moment in the fight when you and the tank need to consider cooldowns.
3) The encounter is bugged or overtuned. If you suspect this is the case, then provide specific feedback (the name of the boss at the very least) in the dungeons and raids forums (ideally the beta version).

If you are a reasonably competent healer who uses a variety of heals and isn't spamming Divine Light on every trash pull, then you should be able to keep everyone alive. If your group isn't just ignoring encounter mechanics and trying to burn the boss down, then you shouldn't be running out of mana either. (Source)

Vengeance
As I said in the other thread just now, you shouldn't be dependent on Vengeance to maintain threat in 5-player dungeons. Vengeance scales slowly and falls off quickly for that reason -- we don't want that to be the system that lets you stay ahead. It's intended to help with raid scaling, not be a crutch for poor dps.

As we have said several times, we don't want Prot paladins to fill every GCD. You also shouldn't need to in order to maintain threat.

If you are having difficulties in PTR or on Beta, please let us know, but be as specific as you can. Who were you losing threat to? What kind of dps were they doing? Was it an AE or single target scenario? How was their gear relative to yours? We're unlikely to just buff threat generation based on generic "I have threat problems" reports. Specificity is the key here. It could very well be a bug on the side of the tank or the dps that is causing the problem.

Remember that we very recently buffed the threat generation of Righteous Fury (and similar mechanics for the other tanks), so try and base your perceptions on very recent experiences. Things change pretty quickly at this stage. (Source)

Vengeance falling off
It shouldn't translate to bosses though, because you shouldn't be dependent on Vengeance to keep threat. If Vengeance falls off, you shouldn't immediately wipe. That's not the intent. We don't want Vengeance to be the ultimate threat ability. It will eventually stack up and generally stay that way. It shouldn't be a razor's edge for you being able to keep threat.

-- The rouge pulls as soon as the fight starts -- a tank problem perhaps, but not a Vengeance problem. (It could also be that the rogue is hitting the wrong target or not waiting for the tank.)
-- The healer's hots pull mob #5 in an AE situation -- a tank problem perhaps, but not a Vengeance problem. (It could also be that the tank is terrible at generating threat.)
-- Six minutes into a boss fight, the mage starts to creep up on your threat -- this is a Vengeance problem. (It could also be that the tank isn't doing a good job hitting their main attacks.)

The reason we keep downplaying Vengeance in 5-player dungeons, which is all anyone is running at the moment on beta, is because it's not a dungeon mechanic. If you need a comparison, think of something like Fortitude or Blessing of Kings. It's nice but not at all mandatory for even heroic 5-player runs. It's pretty close to mandatory for a raid. (Source)

Tank Threat
We don't want tank threat to be so high that the dps are absolved of all responsibility. If players are on the wrong targets, that is a L2P problem. If the mage opens with Arcane Blast before you even get a hit in, that is a L2P problem. If your group feels like they have to wait 6-10 seconds before they can start attacking, then that's either a tank problem or a problem on our end. Likewise, if your group feels constantly throttled several seconds or minutes into the fight, then either you aren't generating as much threat as you are capable of, or our numbers are preventing you from doing so. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Divine Plea
Your calculations seem to assume that damage comes in at a steady rate and so you can just solve for when to use Divine Plea. But damage usually doesn't work like that. You should use Divine Plea at the right time, which doesn't always mean as soon as you start to get low. (Source)

Using all your GCDs
Yes, and we have said this a lot, so it shouldn't come as a surprise. In a nutshell, the problem with filling every single GCD is it gives you no room to do anything else. If you're called upon to do something special or even run away or even look around to see how the fight is going, you don't have the cognitive space to do so. If we give you a proc to use and your rotation is so locked then you can't use the proc, then we have a problem. If you literally can't stand to go 1.5 sec every now and then without hitting a button, then our game has serious problems.

I know this is really weird for paladins who just have the muscle memory of always hitting something -- anything -- every GCD. It will take some getting used. Just try to evaluate whether it's truly not fun or whether it's just really different. Having any class that hits a button every 1.5 seconds is something we're trying to move away from though. We don't think it's good for the game.

You should not be using Hammer of the Righteous or Inquisition on single target fights, because there are better alternatives. Holy Wrath is designed to be used in both single target or group fights. (And if you can't use Holy Wrath because of breaking CC concerns, then back the target away or just hold off on Holy Wrath for the time being -- same as a warrior using Thunder Clap). I would use Avenger's Shield on both single target or group fights, though it can be used in a lot of different ways, so if you need to silence a caster, then I would use some common sense there. I would use Consecrate for groups, particularly for spawning or moving groups. If you have the mana to use it single target, then go for it. Exorcism is probably too expensive to ever be a serious Protection ability. (Source)

Tanking abilities
This keeps coming up, so let me just spell it out.

Single target abilities: Crusader Strike, Shield of the Righteous, Judgement, Holy Wrath, Consecrate (maybe), Avenger's Shield.

AE abilities: Hammer of the Righteous, Inquisition, Judgement, Holy Wrath, Consecrate, Avenger's Shield.

That's ignoring things like Divine Protection, Word of Glory, Hammer of Justice, Hammer of Wrath, etc.

I wouldn't just hit all of those on cooldown though. Sometimes you want to position Consecrate, as you point out, or save Avenger's Shield to deal with adds. Sometimes you risk breaking CC. Sometimes you might want to blow a cooldown or use a Hand or something else. (Source)

Threat generation and GCD
I see two different arguments keep coming up.

The first is that you can't generate enough threat without more buttons to push. This isn't our design and it sounds like threat may still just be too tight in some circumstances. More GCDs does not have to be the answer to threat situations though. If Avenger's Shield hit for 60K then you'd have a healthy threat lead for a long time.

The second argument is that you just like having to hit something every single global. This isn't a "I can't function" complaint like the one above. It's a personal preference. We don't think there is anything sacred about the 1.5 sec GCD. I think current paladins have just grown accustomed to hitting a button every 1.5 sec. But we don't think the current paladin plays well. We don't like the 969 rotation. If you do, I understand, but it isn't coming back.

Let's get the threat situation ironed out and see how the Protadin plays for you then. At worst some of you may find the spec boring, but a lot of players find it boring on live, so we're not really out much there. If playing it is less EZ mode on the other hand, it might be more interesting to you or perhaps to other players who never paid the class much attention before. (Source)

Protection Paladin rotation complexity (I strongly suggest that you read the whole Paladin Tanking Thread)
This was a problem though, because the Protection paladin was a fairly easy spec to play well while the other 3 tanks had a lot more they had to manage. It was frustrating for the warriors, druid and death knights to have to give it their all just to keep up with a novice paladin. (To be fair, the other option is just to make everyone more autopiloty.)

Now don't get me wrong. We often ask a lot of tanks in terms of moving the boss, knowing when the big hits are coming, and so on. We don't want the paladin rotation to be John Madden, and we don't everything to collapse if you fail to hit Crusader Strike at the right time. I'm getting the impression that threat is on the razor's edge for a lot of you, which is going to make everything feel too restrictive and frustrating. It could be a level 80 issue (since we have spent most of our time balancing at 85) or it could be that players are doing different things that we are doing internally or seeing on the beta. We watch a lot of dungeons, but we don't catch everything. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Enrage uptime
We think it's dumb for Enrage to be up 100% of the time. What's the point? It should just be tacked on to Defensive Stance at that point. We aren't going to balance warrior dps around it being up 100% in Cataclysm if in fact it is not up 100% of the time.

Virtually every number related to Prot warriors changed, so it's difficult to just compare a -5% here and a +5% there to figure out if your dps went up or down. The most helpful thing you can do is report on differences you notice before or after a PTR copy / beta conversion or even how you stack up relative to other tanks or other dps.

Warrior DPS is lacking
Unfortunately, "most agree that prot warrior dps is lacking" is not an actionable item. I need something more concrete than that to take to my team. Is your dps lower than it is on live? How much lower? In what circumstances? Is it lower than other tanks? How much lower? In what circumstances?

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with being vague. Maybe your post will spur someone else to chime in with more details in agreement or disagreement. Just don't make the leap from "My dps feels low" to "Why haven't they buffed me yet?"

In the specific case of AEs such as Thunder Clap, we don't want them to be so powerful that they can hold threat all on their own. We don't want the AE tanking rotation to be just TC and Shockwave. If you are killing things one at a time, then you should make additional attacks to the next target to be killed and Thunder Clap should be sufficient to prevent healer aggro or the like. (Source)

Comics
Dark Legacy Comics #258 and Teh Gladiators #172 + #173 are out!

This article was originally published in forum thread: Stormwind Update, Cataclysm Darkmoon Cards, Blue Posts, Comics started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 129 Comments
  1. drsjohnny's Avatar
    wow look at those flames on the tower gotta love how much detail they put into alot of this stuff
  1. Eixel's Avatar
    Liking the new tower effects
  1. mmoc1d3ba0029e's Avatar
    Its pretty strange how the citizen of Stormwind doesn't seem concerned about putting out that molten lava on top of their key defenses.
  1. mmoc31862dbed3's Avatar
    Loving the new towers - Stormwind looking a little more epic
    also, Dark Legacy = <3
  1. Magmaros's Avatar
    no 4.0, sad panda :<
  1. hotbanana's Avatar
    They should add more effects to all city
  1. Seregon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Boubouille View Post
    Cataclysm Darkmoon Cards
    Just like previous expansions, Cataclysm will have its own set of Darkmoon Cards: Darkmoon Cards of Destruction. The mechanics didn't really change and they're still crafted by Inscribers for a couple of uncommon inks + elemental life.
    Now, now Bibi. They're not called Inscribers, are they?
  1. Olderonous's Avatar
    those trinkets are amazing
  1. Supyo's Avatar
    Weird proc on the darmoon cards. Chance to strike your melee target :S
  1. Nekosom's Avatar
    No hunter trink? Hope there's more of them!
  1. Supyo's Avatar
    Weird proc on the darkmoon cards. Chance to strike melee targets only?

    I guess that rules hunters out of the picture
  1. Boubouille's Avatar
    @Seregon: You're mean.
  1. Zycho123's Avatar
    Caster darkmoon looks pretty danm good if i may say so
  1. Seregon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Boubouille View Post
    @Seregon: You're mean.
    What can I say? It's what I do :P
  1. TK99's Avatar
    ...

    Yeah but will Ret Pallies be fixed?


    Dun dun dun dunnnn...............
  1. Emaluri's Avatar
    The Darkmoon cards are really disappointing for me. They just look like standard +stat trinkets with a tiny proc that's a little useful. They're not nearly as interesting as the other sets.

    Also, boo to the 4.0.1 release. The sooner it gets here, the sooner 4.0.3 gets here, the better!
  1. Sockgoblin's Avatar
    Of all the news here, the one thing I can't unsee is a blue said rouge.
  1. Ikkatsu's Avatar
    What a surprise.

    More Paladin and Warrior QQ.
  1. Rugus's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Seregon View Post
    Now, now Bibi. They're not called Inscribers, are they?
    Indeed, they are called SCRIBES.
  1. Ikkatsu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sockgoblin View Post
    Of all the news here, the one thing I can't unsee is a blue said rouge.
    LOL,

    Nice spot there.

    (Hopefully it was intentional, possibly mocking the OP)

Site Navigation