Disc Priests in PvP brackets below max level

[Ermelloth]

Imo, this deserves a separate thread. I am very surprised such thread haven't been yet made.

Disc Priests were a low level PvP's menace for years. Yes, years. Since Wrath at the very least. Blizzard manages to balance them time after time at max level, but nearly any level below the current one (that matters next expansion) Disc Priests continue to harass and completely ruin battlegrounds, be it twink Discs or just random leveling ones.

All due to one stupid overpowered ability: PW:S. Power Word Shield. It used to grant a debuff: Weakened Soul, before, however today it seems there is no debuff anymore. So they can spam it and ruin all the fun for the people in low level BG brackets.

Tell me, how is that even possible that ONE ability can be allowed to completely ruin and devastate entire 10-109 battleground level range???

How is it possible that one player can tank 4,5, THROUGH stuns, interrupts and CC thrown on him while topping his and surrounding players' HP with 1-2 easy casts?

Finally, take any team without Discs vs. team with 2-3 Discs. First team won't have any chances whatsoever to win, below level 110-119 range (where the amount of players with LEGIONdaries can finally balance them out).

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You will probably say: low level PvP, who cares. But here you are very wrong, especially BFA wise, since honor levels now are account wide, meaning honor titles, rewards and mounts can be earned at below 120 as well. And since any BG bracket has meaning now, I think it's completely unfair just ONE spec in the game out of 36 has it so EZ and granted on plate while being simply godlike.

Question is: why can't they make PW:S usable on players only at 120? Or make a 30 sec. cooldown on that? Thoughts.

[zlygork]

the debuff is coming back in 8.1, rapture (the big CD that buffs the shield) will have the extra effect of allowing disc to cast the shields without debuff just like they do now while it's active

[Ermelloth]

You know, I might sound mad, but I want at least once per all those years I play WoW and twink various DPS spec, that Disc gets nerfed to the ground, hard, and becomes worst or one of the worst PvP specs in the game.

At least rogues - another grossly overpowered class in low-level PvP - had some periods of "downtime" here and there (start of MoP, middle of WoD, Legion)... disc, as long as I remember, has always been OP in low level brackets.

[Ultima]

PvP isn't balanced around low-level, as you said.

Also, PW: Shield is not the issue at 120. Is it scaling weirdly below that or is there another issue that you aren't considering?

It my opinion, the biggest issue players have with Discipline is locking out the wrong spell school or just jumping on it without any co-ordination. You don't see these complaints in higher rated Arena discussions.

[Ermelloth]

Also, PW: Shield is not the issue at 120.

I wasn't talking about 120, I mentioned several times Disc is broken at 10-109.

PvP isn't balanced around low-level, as you said.

Not every spec is balanced at 120 either, and it's OK that some classes are performing slightly better or worse. But sorry, there is NO other spec as imbalanced as Disc, 10-109 level wise.

And since low lvl PVP matters now (at least honor system wise), it needs to be addressed.

P.S. Just lost a bg on twink despite being top 1 DPS. Enemy team had 3 Discs who fortified upstairs with flag in Twin Peaks, and even with 9 stacks it was impossible to kill the Disc fc, since others insta topped his HP and 2 rogues guarded the entrance with CCs. ANY other player would die at 9 stacks though, from ranged attacks. But these ridiculous absorbs....

[Druitz]

Game is about max level content. Deal with it.

Also no, low lvl pvp doesnt matter. Rated pvp is all that matter for blizzard and its good.

I am actually suprised they bring back weakened soul. It's so rare to spam shields at 120 but i bet casuals do it

[Ultima]

Feel like you missed the rest of my post that has points directed at you.

I'll have to disagree with your initial statement on lower level PvP earning greater importance as well this expansio as well. Honor levels becoming account wide wasn't made for that reason. It's certainly a nice bonus though.

[Mufaroth]

Game is about max level content. Deal with it.

Also no, low lvl pvp doesnt matter. Rated pvp is all that matter for blizzard and its good.

I am actually suprised they bring back weakened soul. It's so rare to spam shields at 120 but i bet casuals do it

Such a toxic reply and mindset. Not only that, OP did a good job explaining why lower level BGs are more relevant now than they ever have been

Infact, I'd go a step further and say battlegrounds are MORE useful pre-120. I do a lot of BGs before my character hits 120 because it grants experience and a great alternative to doing questing content for the millionth time. Random BGs don't really give any level specific reward at 120.. so to say they don't matter pre-120 is not only asinine, its flat out wrong. They're literally more rewarding pre 120.

And it's not like what OP is suggesting would take some major fix. Just bring back weakened soul or tweak the ability pre-120. I've noticed the same problem with discs. There's no good reason to allow them to keep running rampant, effectively ruining a match if 2 of them queue up together & choose to do so.

Anyway, sounds like blizzard is actually fixing this (or attempting to), so good.

[Ermelloth]

Mufaroth, thank you very much for the support. I'm glad someone understands the point I've presented.

[tikcol]

The main problem here is that blizzard has completely forsaken the game pre max level. This can seem like it isn't a problem at all. I mean who cares?

New players care, new players quit before they even reach max level because everything is a mess. Quests are a mess, leveling in general is a bloody mess, pvp is a mess, dungeons are a walk in the park.

Then people wonder where is the fresh infux of players. It exists, the thing is, they leave pretty quickly because the game they see isn't the same game old whales see. They see a disorganized mess of a game badly tuned with 0 reward structure and simply leave.

[TomBrokovski]

Infact, I'd go a step further and say battlegrounds are MORE useful pre-120. I do a lot of BGs before my character hits 120 because it grants experience and a great alternative to doing questing.

I really don't know why they put arena master trinkets in the game with absolutely ridiculous requirements (12 chests each, 1 of them from a 1x a week per month event) and took out BG holiday weekends. Before you'd get the XP you got for having 2x arena master trinkets without needing them and you'd get random bonus for queuing up for a specific BG. I used to level alts just doing battlegrounds back in WotLK, now the only alternative is the horrible timegated pvp trinkets that I see almost nobody using.

On topic of dpriests being OP in low brackets, I honestly think its a lot less PW:S and more of them having two schools to interrupt vs every other healer only having one. I'd rather they get rid of shadow mend and go back to flash heal but that'll probably never happen, and pugs don't have the coordination to have two dps interrupt both healing schools, let alone get a single one.

[Ermelloth]

pugs don't have the coordination to have two dps interrupt both healing schools, let alone get a single one.

The main issue is that Disc nearly never comes alone - it's usually 2 or 3 of them in a single BG (there the problem lies). I, for instance, always interrupt and watch their casts, and I believe that haf of the DPS are competent enough to do so. But for 2 Discs you need 4 people to shut them down, for 3 - it's 6 and so on, cause one Disc, left to freecast, is enough to insta top 2 other ones' HP and shield them all the time. And don't forget ALL these Discs do no little damage as well!

Now, while one team struggles for its life to bring one of the Discs down, other team has it piss easy (having much more free DPS) to annihilate the opposition and win the objectives.

[ilik2345]

I'd suggest the problem is probably one of scaling where the shields scale too large to the health pools for low level pvp (though it really depends as 10-110 is a very large bracket) but this is not a new issue? PvP at lower levels has been broken since wrath - filled with certain specs scaling oddly usually in a game breaking manner.

Not defending this as the way it should be just saying this is the way blizzard seems to like it.

To mitigate, bring your own healer, or roll a healer as i very much doubt blizzard will ever have the time to fix 10-110 pvp when max level pvp is pretty terribly balanced.

Even if you fixed disc with the way you say, and that would cause issues with having to level as disc, so i don't think it would be a good idea. But even if blizzard managed to fix how shields scale with hp at low level, i'm fairly sure you'd start noticing all the other specs are broken in different ways, some dps classes killing people in 1 hit, other healers being just as op if not more :P

[quite an expert in wow]

Group focus DPS on healers and don't fragment it. I also doubt you utilize your cc all the time.

[drbatman]

lrn2dispell

[ClashTytan]

Priest is nerfed now(

[Konoshono]

Well, I play disc and you're right, they needed balancing. Now I'm waiting for the same post about balance and arcane.

[xindralol]

disc is very good in low level bgs because of the questionable scaling (at least used to, when I last checked). insane damage even compared to most dps specs.

[ilik2345]

There are a heck of a lot of low level pvp classes at various brackets that are op. Blizzard never has and i doubt never will bother balancing it, it may be frustrating but so are unkillable dks, mages that one shot people etc - in fact depending on bracket most classes get a spot in the op spotlight. If you want a better pvp experience try rated play at 120 - it is there waiting for you. If lower level twinked play is your thing, perhaps find a healer to heal you as well?

[Ultima]

Minor necro. Closed.