Racial trait balance

[Deleted]

Hello, I've been obsessing over this topic and I thought about putting it out here what I've been thinking about lately.

Horde is slightly better at “high level” PvE, but there is plenty of “high level” alliance PvE as well according to worldofwargraph data. This is in contrast to PvP where basically all high level players are Alliance.

Meanwhile at PvP while nearly 70% of horde prefer PvP servers (according to realmpop.com) and therefore showing more interest in PvP, the higher the PvP levels get, the less horde players there are. Out of the top 5000 3v3 ranked players on US, 96.04% are Alliance and 64.16% are Human.

PvP is worth fixing. 41,8% plays on a PvP servers in the US and 54,4% in Europe. There is a huge amount of interest in PvP. The PvP community feels ignored in general. While racial balance might be a small thing compared to class balance, flight or no flight, or whatever else, it has been a thorn in my eye for too long and can be an easy fix and feels more fair towards both factions. The playing field between the 2 competing factions should be equalized. Faction balance will and should never be 100% perfect, but we have gotten to a point where 1 faction is completely inferior to the other in PvP.

Faction % (1800+) % (Level 100)
Alliance 70.8% 51.6%
Horde 29.2% 48.4%

Faction % (2200+) % (Level 100)
Alliance 86.2% 51.6%
Horde 13.8% 48.4%

This proves the higher the level of PvP, the more important racials become. This trend is the same for every class/race. They should be closer to 50%. Perfect balance does not have to be acquired though.

The best races for PvP are the following (perfect balance would be 1, though this would never show in the graph if there was actually a perfect balance since other factors come into play as well, so consider it an indication of balance, however outliers clearly show imbalance):

Race % of race at 2.2K rating or above/% race
Human 2.95
Dwarf 1.91
Night Elf 1.64
Gnome 0.54
Undead 0.53
Orc 0.43
Draenei 0.34
Tauren 0.26
Troll 0.25
Blood Elf 0.16
Worgen 0.15
Pandaren (A) 0.12
Goblin 0.04 (data too low to be accurate)
Pandaren (H) 0.04 (data too low to be accurate)
There is some variance for better combinations of race/class/spec and the preference of players, but the general trend is the same everywhere. There is a carry effect as well, all other alliance races get a boost from alliance superiority in PvP because of the unbalanced racials.

Race % (2000+) % (Level 100)
Dwarf 56% (♂: 34.7% - ♀: 21.3%) 4.4%
Draenei 20.1% (♂: 5% - ♀: 15.1%) 6.8%
Orc 15.5% (♂: 9.4% - ♀: 6.1%) 8.8%
Tauren 3.1% (♂: 2.5% - ♀: 0.6%) 7.3%
Troll 2.5% (♂: 1.6% - ♀: 0.9%) 6.3%
Goblin 1.4% (♂: 0.9% - ♀: 0.6%) 2.7%

I couldn’t get the 2.2K data, so 2K+ ratings must do. See this injustice.

Race % of race at 2.2K or above/% race
Dwarf 12.73
Draenei 2.96
Orc 1.76

These are the top 3 Shaman races. Orcs are the best Horde shaman race. Dwarves are over 7 times better than Orcs. Even Draenei outshine them easily.

Race % (2200+) % (Level 100)
Night Elf 83% (♂: 18.1% - ♀: 64.9%) 11.2%
Tauren 8.5% (♂: 6.3% - ♀: 2.2%) 7.3%
Troll 5.8% (♂: 2.7% - ♀: 3%) 6.3%
Worgen 2.7% (♂: 2.2% - ♀: 0.5%) 4.7%

Race % of race at 2.2K or above/% race
Night Elf 7.41
Tauren 1.16
Troll 0.92
Worgen 0.57

This shows that the Horde is weaker at everything. Every class that can be a human is dominated by humans. Dwarves are the best Shamans and Night Elves are the best Druids. Worgen are behind, showing this is not just a horde-only thing. Worgen need a boost. Night elves are the outlier. These stats are the same for every race/class/spec basically.

Best PvE players races & faction
Players with 1/17 or more bosses killed in Mythic mode (T17)
Race % (1+ boss) % (Level 100)
Blood Elf 15.8% (♂: 5.9% - ♀: 9.9%) 14%
Human 14.7% (♂: 8.2% - ♀: 6.5%) 18.5%
Orc 10.5% (♂: 8.3% - ♀: 2.2%) 8.8%
Night Elf 9.5% (♂: 3.8% - ♀: 5.7%) 11.2%
Troll 9.1% (♂: 6% - ♀: 3.1%) 6.3%
Tauren 8.3% (♂: 7.2% - ♀: 1.2%) 7.3%
Draenei 6.7% (♂: 2.1% - ♀: 4.5%) 6.8%
Undead 5.7% (♂: 4.3% - ♀: 1.4%) 6.8%
Worgen 4.5% (♂: 3.3% - ♀: 1.1%) 4.7%
Dwarf 3.9% (♂: 3.5% - ♀: 0.5%) 4.4%
Pandaren(H)3.1% (♂: 1.5% - ♀: 1.6%) 2.5%
Gnome 2.9% (♂: 1.7% - ♀: 1.2%) 3.5%
Pandaren(A)2.6% (♂: 1.4% - ♀: 1.3%) 2.6%
Goblin 2.6% (♂: 1.7% - ♀: 0.9%) 2.7%

Faction % (1+ boss) % (Level 100)
Alliance 42.1% 51.6%
Horde 57.9% 48.4%

Horde is slightly better in PvE, is it because of more mature players, or are racials really out of whack? All races are more or less equally represented in terms of % of a race divided by their % at 100. The biggest outlier are the trolls. Expected Horde value in a world of perfect balance: 57.9/48.4=1.20. The troll high level PvE population: 9.1/6.3=1.44. 1.44/1.20=1.21. Trolls are overrepresented by 21% on Horde side. This is easily fixed by nerving Berserking. There are also other factors we should account for. Alliance racials are more defensive in nature, so people might just have a slight preference for Horde for dps boosts. This does not mean those defensive racials are worthless as they can avoid a wipe more easily. PvE is 40/60 Alliance/Horde when factoring in both faction’s population at level 100. Not a huge difference. Racials do not have as big of an effect on PvE as they do on PvP.

Conclusion: PvE racial balance is not really a problem, but should still be taken into account.

People are now forced to play Human in PvP to not have a disadvantage. Even those who will never be high level PvP players or those not that interested in PvP but still do not want a disadvantage roll human for the boost it provides in PvP. You can see this for how many people roll human and how few of them percentage wise are actually PvP players with a high rating, yet the higher their ratings, the more humans appear. Dwarves are the best shamans, night elves are the best druid. This imbalance is unacceptable.

Here is a quote from Blizzard pre-WoD:

“We want races to have fun and interesting perks, but if some of those traits are too powerful, players may feel compelled to play a specific race even if it’s not really the one they want to play. For example, Trolls' Berserking ability was extremely powerful, and their Beast Slaying passive was either completely irrelevant or tremendously powerful, based on the situation, compared to other racial traits. On the other end of the spectrum, many races had few or no performance-affecting perks. On top of that, a number of racials that currently grant Hit or Expertise will soon need replacing, since those stats are being removed in Warlords of Draenor.”

Look at the bolded text. Blizzard did not reach its goal. In fact, it deteriorated completely in PvP. Historically the 2 best Horde PvP races Orcs and Undeads got (rightfully for the sake of balance) nerved, while other alliance races got buffs in WoD and the best human racial got no change.

So here is my suggestion, not to achieve 100% balance, but to keep things fair and keep class flavor as well. Racials such as Diplomacy should not be changed, they add fun and flavor and should be kept since they do not provide unfair boosts.

Base structure: 3 racials, 1 tank racial, 1 dps racial and 1 racial that can be activated (doesn’t have to be adhered to, just a structure to make things easier).

All resistance racials are buffed to 2% to add more flavor and make them more noticeable without breaking anything in the game. This brings them a little closer to Night Elf and Blood elf racials who can dodge melee and ranged attacks or spell damage.

The racials are not 100% equal, 1% increase to Strength might be better than a 1% increase in Haste or Critical Strike, depending on the class/spec. This is intended and is only a small boost. Combine this with the varied racials that can be activated and it is hard to pick a best race for a class/spec/faction and sparks debate among the players about what is best, in which there should be no real winner.

The racials should now be so that both Horde and Alliance have different but similar versions in terms of duration, effect and cooldowns, which helps to reflect balance as well.

Draenei

Shadow Retribution : Increases damage and healing done by 1% and decreases damage taken by 0.5% for 10 sec when receiving Shadow damage (increases Versatility, does not stack).

Heroic (Presence) Resolve: Increases your highest base stat excluding Stamina by 1% (increases Agility, Intellect or Strength).

Gift of the Naaru: Heals the target for 20% of the caster's total health over 5 sec. 40 yd range 3’ cd Instant

Changed Shadow Resistance to Shadow Retribution for racial variety since this trait is shared with the Undead. As of patch 6.0.2, Gift of the Naaru heals 20% over 5 seconds instead of 15, which makes it a fine PvP racial and helped to make Draenei a viable PvP race without gimping yourself. Heroic Presence no longer fits since it does not affect the whole party, so I changed the name to Heroic Resolve. Increasing only the highest base stat makes it easier to see the change. The 1% increase in on the total, e.g. STR = (1458 + 2452) x 1.01.

Dwarf

Frost Resistance : Reduces Frost damage taken by 2%.

Might of the Mountain: Increases Multistrike by 1%.

Stoneform: Removes all poison, disease, curse, magic, and bleed effects and reduces all physical damage taken by 10% for 5 sec. 2’ cd Instant

Might of the Mountain is currently the same as Brawn, and for racial variety it has now changed to increase the chance for Multistrike to occur by 1%. Dwarves are way too good in PvP right now. Stoneform is overpowered and every shaman is forced to play Dwarf if you don’t want to gimp yourself. Not removing curses and magic effects may be enough to get them back in line as well as decreasing the active time to 5 seconds. With this change you teach the player about what debuffs are what and leads to a more informed decision about when to use Stoneform. This nerf is also good for PvE since Dwarves are overrepresented in PvE as well.

Gnome

Arcane Resistance: Reduces Arcane damage taken by 2%.

Expansive Mind: Maximum mana, rage, energy, and runic power increased by 5%. Increases Haste by 1% when above 50% Mana, 50 Rage, Energy or runic Power.

Nimble Fingers: Haste increased by 1%.

Escape Artist: Escape the effects of any immobilization or movement speed reduction effect. 1’ cd Instant

Gnomes are strong in PvP right now since Escape Artist only has a 1’ cooldown. Removed the least original racial Nimble Fingers and kept Expansive Mind for racial variety. Nimble Fingers has been worked into Expansive Mind, at a small cost. The racial also shows they are not good for long continuous fighting since their small frames are better suited to hit-and-run tactics.

Human

Perception: Reduces damage taken from area of effect attacks by 1% (increases Avoidance).

The Human Spirit: Increases your highest secondary stat 1% (increases Crit, Haste, Mastery, Multistrike or Versatility).

Every Man for Himself: Removes any Incapacitate and Stun effect. This effect shares a 30 sec cooldown with other similar effects.
2 3’ cd Instant

It’s shameful how Every Man for Himself is still the single most powerful racial in PvP. All elite PvP players and those aspiring to be or don’t want to be at a disadvantage in PvP (are forced to) roll human because of this racial. Change it now. Horde players will be happy to not be at a disadvantage any longer and Alliance players will be happy they don’t feel forced to roll a human. Now 90% of Alliance battleground characters are human. Humans make up 40% of the Alliance. Bringing about this change will increase racial diversity. Blizzard might not care about this and might be biased towards humans. That’s why the biggest motivator for Blizzard to do this is they will get more money. People will pay money to change to the race they always wanted to be since all races are more viable now in PvP. The proposed change still makes Every Man for Himself a great racial though, so human players shouldn’t complain. Every Man for Himself is still one of the most powerful PvP racials (better than Will of the Forsaken). The Human Spirit is still better than most other racials like it, and Perception has been re-added with a different effect . Bringing about this change shows Blizzard cares about the game and players will be happy.

Night Elf

Natural Quickness: Increases your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 1%, and increases your movement speed by 5% for 1 sec when receiving Nature damage (increases Speed, does not stack).

Touch of Elune: Increases your Haste by 1% during the night. Increases your Critical Strike by 1% during the day.

Shadowmeld: Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon cancellation of this effect. 2’ cd Instant

(Elusiveness: Reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while Shadowmelded.)

Elusiveness is obsolete since it just enhances Shadowmeld and can be build into it, so it is not removed but just worked into the racial. Night Elf racials are great for PvP, Shadowmeld can be extremely useful for a decent player, leading to all types of tricks and set-ups. The 2% increased movement speed is another hidden boost in PvP that matters a lot. Getting to your target 2% faster or 2% later is a big deal when the stakes are high, so it is changed. Brought Nature Resistance and improved movement speed together for a more original trait while still retaining the essence of the race. All in all a small nerf for the third best PvP race.

Worgen

Aberration: Reduces Shadow and Nature damage taken by 2%.

Viciousness: Increases critical strike chance by 1%.

Darkflight: Activates your true form, increasing current movement speed by an additional (30% + 1% every even level) for 10 sec (80% at 100) 2’ cd Instant

Darkflight has been buffed because Worgen racials are too weak in PvP and everyone likes going fast.

Blood Elf

Magic Resistance: Reduces the chance you will be hit by spells by 1%.

Arcane Acuity: Returns 1% of your damage and healing as healing to you (increases Leech).

Arcane Torrent: Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec and restore X of your [resource]. (Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec.)

Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec and restore 10% Mana.

Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec and restore 40 Energy.

Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec and restore 40 Runic Power.

Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec and restore 40 Focus.

Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec and restore 1 Chi and 20 Energy.

2’ cd Instant

While Blood Elves tend to not do well in PvP as a group, I believe the reason for this is not solely the racials, but the majority of people who play them. They are just not as interested in PvP or not as experienced. It is possible to be a hardcore Blood Elf PvP player though, which the data shows at higher levels of PvP. As a group they are the best Horde Paladins for example. Nerved magic resistance by 1% to bring it more in line with the other tanking racials. Arcane Acuity is the exact same as the Worgen racial, so the effect is changed to 1% Leech, a fitting stat for Blood Elves considering their characteristics. The last sentence of Arcane Torrent is removed since it doesn’t affect PvP and barely has any effect in PvE, so removed that line to streamline the ability. To make up for these small nerves the ability is buffed in resource restoration to compensate and make the ability more about gaining resources and not just about the silence.

Goblin

Time is Money: Cash in on a 1% increase to haste.

Rocket Barrage: Launches your belt rockets at an enemy, dealing (Level * 2/2+1) fire damage (5001 at 100).

Rocket Jump: Activates your rocket belt to jump forward. Other effects which slow the rate of falling cannot be used within 10 sec after using this ability.
1’ cd Instant (shared cd between Rocket Barrage and Rocket Jump)

Goblins have 2 racials that can be activated, deviating from the “system”, which is no problem and brings variety. 1’ cooldown makes their racials similar to escape artist for gnomes. In PvP, Rocket Jump is much more useful than Rocket barrage. Goblins need a buff so that is why the cooldown has been lowered. Rocket jumping is fun as well.

Orc

Hardiness: Duration of Stun effects reduced by an additional 10%.

Command: Increases Mastery by 1% (Secondary Stat Attunement increased by 1%).

Blood Fury: Increases your attack power by 5% and/or your spell power by 5%. Lasts 10 sec. 2’ cd Instant

Command is not a well designed racial. It is only useful for orcs with a pet. Mastery is fitting for a high-level veteran orc who has “mastered” his craft, fitting for one in “Command”. The amount of mastery given varies by class/spec, e.g. right now a Blood Death Knight’s Blood Shield needs 96 Mastery to be 1% more effective, while a Frost Death Knight’s Frozen Heart would need 300, so the Blood Death Knight gets 96 Mastery and the Frost Death Knight 300. Blood Fury is nerved to 10 seconds to balance out their strength in PvP and PvE, as well as being 10 seconds like Darkflight. A shorter time is also more like a Fury. 5% means it scales when you get more attack and spell power (it affects total attack and spell power as all my proposed racial traits do) and makes the effect of the boost more transparent.

Tauren

Natural Endurance: Increases Stamina by 1% and decreases Nature damage taken by 2%.

Brawn: Critical strike bonus damage and healing increased by 2%.

War Stomp: Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec. 2’ cd Instant

Put Natural Resistance and Endurance together. The Stamina increase is based on the total Stamina, e.g. STA = (890+2011) x 1.01, just like Heroic Resolve. War Stomp is now instant, since Tauren racials are a little weak for PvP and it isn’t gamebreakingly buffed for PvE either. Every other racial that can be activated is instant yet a Tauren has to sit and cast. There is no useful counterplay to Warstomp during its cast time so it serves no purpose but to hold back the Tauren. War Stomp is point blank melee range and subject to casting pushback. It is weak in PvE, suffers from diminishing returns in PvP and is only a 2 seconds maximum stun. This buff might make taurens a more viable PvP race.

Troll

Regeneration: Health regeneration rate increased by 20%. Regenerate 0.1% of total Health every 5 sec during combat.

Da Voodoo Shuffle: Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects (Roots by 20% and Snares by 40%). Trolls be flippin' out mon! While dancing, the Troll does not feel pity or remorse or fear and it cannot be stopped unless killed (just joking the last line is not serious).

Berserking: Increases your melee, ranged, and spell haste by 10% for 10 sec. 3’ CD Instant

Regeneration is more transparent now and most likely buffed. Buffed Da Voodoo Shuffle to make trolls better in PvP. 40% slow reduction because slows are often constant and reapplied, so this way it might be noticable. That is why snares last 40% less and roots 20% less. It is not so great right now, you can easily increase its effect, especially when considering diminishing returns. (Alternatively, it could reduce the effect of slows.) Nerved Berserking to 10 seconds with 10%. The reason for this is that Trolls are overrepresented in PvE, while the passive racials should bring them up in PvP, nerving Berserking will increase diversity in PvE.

Undead

Shadow Resistance : Reduces Shadow damage taken by 2%.

Touch of the Grave: Your attacks and damaging spells have a 5% chance to drain the target, dealing 0.5% of your total health as Shadow damage and healing you for the same amount.

Will of the Forsaken: Removes any Charm, Fear and Sleep effect. This effect shares a 30 sec cooldown with other similar effects. 3’ cd Instant

Now Touch of the Grave is more transparent. The actual damage and healing will be lower than the number it says considering the target’s defenses.

Pandaren

Bouncy: You take half falling damage.

Epicurean: Your love of food allows you to receive double the stats from Well Fed effects.

Quaking Palm: Strikes the target with lightning speed, incapacitating them for 4 sec, and turns off your attack. 2’ cd Instant

Pandaren racials are fine in my opinion. There are very few Pandaren who are hardcore PvP players and no one is waiting for a Panda invasion on the battleground. Besides it would be weird if a neutral race would become a PvP staple. They are available to both factions so they will never be a point of discussion between opposite faction players either. Quaking Palm is strong in PvP though. Their other racials are more situational and more suited to casual play.

Remember, the goal is not perfect balance at the cost of variety, leading to homogenization. The goal, however, is to bring down races that are doing too well and those that are struggling should be buffed a little. This isn’t as hard as people make it out to be.

Just thought I'd share this with the world.

[Soisoisoi]

As much as I agree Racials need tuning, I think the majority of high end players being the same faction is because they want to play with each other.

[Soisoisoi]

No factoring in for 'I like to play this race and don't waste time min-maxing' means your entire argument is predicated on pvpers ONLY choosing a race for its racial bonuses and not for things like aesthetics and lore.

Yeah, that's pretty much how it works. Especially considering a lot of them just use(d) a model changer, even streaming. Besides when I wanted to play Horde on Outland EU (99% Alliance PvP server) - I always go Human for EMFH, or N.elf if I can't for Shadowmeld. Dwarf is good as well, but I haven't made a char since.

Top Rogues/Hunters/whatever else likes double trinkets go Human > Other people who want to play with them go Alliance as well just so they can = Majority of top players the same faction.

[Kevyne-Shandris]

Remember, the goal is not perfect balance at the cost of variety, leading to homogenization. The goal, however, is to bring down races that are doing too well and those that are struggling should be buffed a little. This isn’t as hard as people make it out to be.

After the immaturity of both Blizzard and their love child the Horde calling Alliance "gay"? The racials are just perfect. -_-

[melodramocracy]

Traits need to just go away or have an advantage only outside of combat.

[Deleted]

After the immaturity of both Blizzard and their love child the Horde calling Alliance "gay"? The racials are just perfect. -_-

Well that isn't very nice, especially for a paladin.

[facerollin]

You're not stuck at 1500 because you play horde.

[Deleted]

You're not stuck at 1500 because you play horde.

I didn't use anecdotal evidence in my post, read again, human.

- - - Updated - - -

No factoring in for 'I like to play this race and don't waste time min-maxing' means your entire argument is predicated on pvpers ONLY choosing a race for its racial bonuses and not for things like aesthetics and lore.

It's also annoying when you play a race, get to max level, only to find out your racials aren't as good as some of the other races.

[Ryme]

So, for rogues at least, the difference between best and worst race is about the same as getting a couple of crits in a fight.

[Delaios]

/snip because of the huge post

Horde is slightly better in PvE, is it because of more mature players, or are racials really out of whack?

They rebalanced racials before WoD. Horde ones were considerably stronger than Alliance ones before that, specifically Troll and Orc ones. That skews those results at least.

You also might want to cut out the list of all the racials out of your post, or put them in a [ /code] thing.

[Blufossa]

Traits need to just go away or have an advantage only outside of combat.

Agreed, but I do like my self healing racial on my Draenei and my bounciness on my Pandaren.

[glycerethe]

You should really give us the ratio for 2.5k+ and 2.7k+ to let people see the real deal LOL.

- - - Updated - - -

As much as I agree Racials need tuning, I think the majority of high end players being the same faction is because they want to play with each other.

Okay, so there's no problems for you if they remove or just homogenize both factions racials then?

[Cæli]

Racial traits should just not affect any damage, or be non combat related. No +x% dmg crit, no +x% stat etc.

Just fun or "lore" abilities.

[Granyala]

Traits need to just go away or have an advantage only outside of combat.

Yes .. more homegenizing and equalization to please a super tiny minority of E-Sport nuts.

Clearly what this game needs. <_<

[Deleted]

You should really give us the ratio for 2.5k+ and 2.7k+ to let people see the real deal LOL.

Out of the top 5000 3v3 ranked players on US, 96.04% are Alliance and 64.16% are Human. Over 2/3th of the best Alliance PvP players are Human. Humans are overrepresent by factor 4.17 on Alliance side only, and by factor 7.06 compared to all other races at the top.

[Xtrm]

WoD attempted to balance racials, but it's impossible to do so. Imo, Blizzard needs to remove them completely and make race choice purely on appearance or lore or whatever tickles your fancy.