Army of the Dead

[goatygoat]

Did they revert the 50% damage penalty on Army of the Dead in the last PTR build, or are they still hitting for less than live?

[Melonberry]

I can answer that with a question. Did they revert the cooldown back to 20 minutes?

[annomander999]

Did they revert the 50% damage penalty on Army of the Dead in the last PTR build, or are they still hitting for less than live?

Stop complaining, at least you have cool abilities...

All a warrior ever gets to do is spin in a circle as the clothies laugh 30 yards away.

[Bael]

Eh. I'll be able to cast it every 6 minutes. I don't care if the damage if half. To be honest, the damage was obscene in pvp. If I got off a full cast I was guaranteed to devour 3 players prior to the damage nerf, even though I only personally attacked one. Occasionally I'd get more. In raids I tend to use it rarely. I time it with bloodlust when I can. And I have to constantly consider what it may do to positioning. If there are adds to a fight that require controlling, I can't even use it. The other half of the time I don't want to be off-target for the time it takes to cast the bloody spell.

This damage nerf doesn't matter.

[Noxia]

This damage nerf doesn't matter.

For PvE dps it does. 50% nerf is a 50% nerf. It will now be a dps loss to cast army of the dead midfight. You can still cast it pre pull, but considering it will deal something like 35k dmg total as of 3.3, it hardly feels worth it. Like that emo kid on youtube said, leave army alone! Or was it britney?

[kingmob]

For PvE dps it does. 50% nerf is a 50% nerf. It will now be a dps loss to cast army of the dead midfight. You can still cast it pre pull, but considering it will deal something like 35k dmg total as of 3.3, it hardly feels worth it. Like that emo kid on youtube said, leave army alone! Or was it britney?

50% less dmg but castable 50% more of the time... how exactly does that result in a loss? If anything you'll be seeing people using it more often than the do now because the 20min cooldown is insanely prohibitive. It's just like shield wall in vanilla.

[Sigmundus]

50% less dmg but castable 50% more of the time... how exactly does that result in a loss? If anything you'll be seeing people using it more often than the do now because the 20min cooldown is insanely prohibitive. It's just like shield wall in vanilla.

[BoxofRox]

50% less dmg but castable 50% more of the time... how exactly does that result in a loss? If anything you'll be seeing people using it more often than the do now because the 20min cooldown is insanely prohibitive. It's just like shield wall in vanilla.

Some fights don't last 6 minutes, Most fights don't even last 10 for us Blood Spec'd folks. Overall DPS loss due to the length of the fights in the current game.

Plus, who besides Unholy specs for NotD?

[dotsdotsdots]

it just should stop taunting bosses...

[Jeleh]

50% less dmg but castable 50% more of the time... how exactly does that result in a loss? If anything you'll be seeing people using it more often than the do now because the 20min cooldown is insanely prohibitive. It's just like shield wall in vanilla.

your bad.

The reason it's a dps loss is due to the channel time, the time spent channeling it in relation to the dps gain means that if you use it mid fight you will loose dps over keeping your normal rotation going.

Now if they had cut the channel time by half along with the damage and cooldown, sure it would work. PvE it's a dps loss to use it during a fight now. perhaps a transition phase or something if the fight allows.

[Daez]

Or was it britney?

Chris Crocker is FAR from emo!

[Daez]

Plus, who besides Unholy specs for NotD?

In PvE, no one in their right mind that isn't unholy picks it up. In PvP, its not that uncommon to see high bred specs with Master of the Ghouls although you are going frost/blood. Ideally, this change will set it up so that AotD is usable on every boss at the start of the fight, but on many bosses that isn't the wisest decision.

[goatygoat]

@ Melonberry: The latest patch notes do not mention the reduced damage, but mention the reduced cooldown and talent changes. This is why I am asking. Logic is not the answer I am looking for since Blizzard doesn't use it when they come up with their notes and changes, someone simply testing it and answering me straight is what I am asking for.

@ annomander999: Who is complaining douchebag? I asked a fucking question, the 50% reduction in damage was left out of the most recent patch notes but the cooldown reduction was put it. Legitimate question, gfto.

@ Bael: The damage nerf does matter. Due to the rune cost and channeling time, you will not cast this ability mid fight just as you will not cast this ability mid fight on LIVE with 100% damage.. As such, you will still only use it once per fight (not like any fight is longer than 6 minutes anyways) meaning you will flat out get 50% less damage from using this ability at the start of a fight, which is the only time you would use it anyways.

@ kingmob: Think about the amount of resources and the casting time that you must now spend to obtain the same damage as before with Army of the Dead. Well, that right there is hard mathematical proof of a DPS loss with this change. Then factor in how runes work, how long most boss fights are, and how a channeled spell works for a melee class, and you have yourself a nerf.

@ dotsdotsdots: You are an idiot. Army of the Dead does not taunt enemies that are 3 or more levels higher than the Death Knight. What level are bosses again? Oh yea, 83.


Can someone just answer the damn question, and can all the freaking idiots that cant do third grade math or read a sentence get the hell out?

[strossus001]

@ dotsdotsdots: You are an idiot. Army of the Dead does not taunt enemies that are 3 or more levels higher than the Death Knight. What level are bosses again? Oh yea, 83.

It does taunt lvl 83. It does not taunt bosses.

[BoxofRox]

@ dotsdotsdots: You are an idiot. Army of the Dead does not taunt enemies that are 3 or more levels higher than the Death Knight. What level are bosses again? Oh yea, 83.

BUT HE DOES SO MANY HEROICS!two!1!one!1elven!!!2

[Fargom]

it just should stop taunting bosses...

Good news! You don't know how army works!

[Naughtý]

What blizz needs to do regarding Army of the dead.

1. Make them controlable just like your Ghoul what that attacks they attack simple CTRL1 (only for Unholy)
2. Remove the freaking taunt.. on Anub harmode it whould be nice to use them in phase 3 to increase the dps on the fight. or is it? NO! they run off taunting the adds like a kid that is addicted to candy.
3. if they where to change the cooldown to 6 minutes (2 points in night of the dead.) and dmg -50% then lower the casting time to forexample 60-50%

people may call this an insane nerf.. but its rarely you could use it in any Hard fights atm anw..

[goatygoat]

What blizz needs to do regarding Army of the dead.

1. Make them controlable just like your Ghoul what that attacks they attack simple CTRL1 (only for Unholy)
2. Remove the freaking taunt.. on Anub harmode it whould be nice to use them in phase 3 to increase the dps on the fight. or is it? NO! they run off taunting the adds like a kid that is addicted to candy.
3. if they where to change the cooldown to 6 minutes (2 points in night of the dead.) and dmg -50% then lower the casting time to forexample 60-50%

people may call this an insane nerf.. but its rarely you could use it in any Hard fights atm anw..

Imo, a great way to help Army of the Dead would be to make a minor glyph that removes their ability to taunt, but increases their damage, and then add some sort of tanking buff while the ability is active that also gets removed by the glyph.

That way it can actually be a real DPS or tanking cooldown.



But it is not currently possible to make them controllable pets. How would you have both Army active and a permanent Ghoul? There is a great blue post about Warlock demons that explains the guardian and pet system.

You can basically have only one (type of) controllable pet active at one time, because you cant control pet abilities with multiple pet bars, you only get one pet bar. If you have guardians, you can't control them, but you can have a bunch active at one time. That is how you are able to get Gargoyles, Army of the Dead Ghouls, and a Permanent Ghoul all at once. The former two are all guardians, so they can do different types of attacks and you can have them all out at once, but you just can't control them.

[goatygoat]

It does taunt lvl 83. It does not taunt bosses.

Elaborate, I thought the only level 83's in the game were bosses and that was how they made Army not taunt bosses, by making it not taunt creatures 3 levels or above the player.

[Naughtý]

Well goatygoat then Blizz should Fire some people that cant manage that. the idea is to make it so that army works the same way as gargyle imagine no casting bar.. but they spawn the same way they do now BUT they dont change target unless the current target is dead and NO taunt. what this whould do.. is to make Army not an awsome ability but allso make it wery.. WERY viable seems like i need to go to church next sunday and pray since this is prob never gonna happen :P