I think, at least in my opinion, the gripe is that Blizzard not consistent with it. You see a couple of specs having no cap, then you have tanks that have the 5 target cap or "heavily reduced damage past 5 targets" which pretty much invalidates the reason of having say a Frost Mage, because the Mage is just going to be kiting 4 mobs out of 9 because the Warrior's Thunderclap does less damage past 5, which means significantly less threat.
It also makes the gap larger for some classes to perform as well as others that are considered "meta", for example 2-3 Rogue is likely going to be meta again for M+ moving into Shadowlands. Between Tricks, 8 target AoE cap, stuns, self-healing, strong defensive cds, and group stealth there's really no reason to bring any of the 5 target AoE cap units who can't even bring a fraction of the utility that rogue can.
Edit: I also want to say it's pretty obnoxious when it comes to old content too. It slows down the run pretty significantly when something like Whirlwind is only hitting 5 targets when you have 90 mobs chasing you in black temple.
I'm suggesting that it might be used situationally depending on the group, & dialing everything back a few key levels doesn't really change all that much besides putting a softcap on the high end & denying the lower end a chance to do the content they've been doing for 4 years at this point.
Let's be honest, Blizzard have a nigh on impossible job with Mythic+. The top end is by far the best its ever been, while I'd argue the lower end has managed to fall even lower over the past few expansions.
There are other elements from the EQ model that work really well. Like mana actually means something, so you have to be conservative / smart. A lot more buffs with CD so you need to plan more. Comparatively, imo, WoW dungeons feel like junk food. They are fun and flashy, but they lack the core RPG adventure feel. EQ I still go back and play time to time and while the game has a myriad of problems and its age shows, the dungeon gameplay I actually find superior to WoW.
Pantheon is an MMO that seeks to replicate that feel but update it to fit modern standards. I hope it succeeds.
Playstyles change.
I am almost certain you won't even care once you get to level 60 and in a bit of gear.
Yeah, this is the real answer. SL will be developed around this change so most people probably wouldn't have even noticed if it wasn't mentioned in patch notes and the change happened at 60.
The only real loss here is people farming legacy content, but realistically this group of people shouldn't have design decisions even remotely based around them. Sorry you need to cast your AOE button 3 times instead of once to kill everything easily for transmog.
The fact that the ability is fantasy doesn't matter, it behaves as expected. If I swing a big effing sword into a group of 10 people, it should effing hit 10 people, it shouldn't only hit 5 and not hit the other 5, even though it very clearly visually hit them, "because reasons". What's next? Am I going to hop to the left 3 feet every 10 feet I run straight "because reasons". It needs to be grounded in reality and behave how it's expected and be congruent with the rest of the presented reality. This rule feels inorganic with that, which reduces immersion. The less immersed I am, the less I care about the game.
It's a half-assed and dumb solution.
Last edited by Mojo03; 2020-10-20 at 04:06 AM.
This could work. Or they could use the same formula as in good ol' WC3:
- Up to 5 targets: 100% damage.
- 6 to 9 targets: 70% damage.
- 10+ targets: 40% damage.
This way, you discourage mass AoE strategies, without making the game feel unresponsive. It's quite jarring to see your e.g. Divine Storm hit a bunch of mobs, but only a handful is actually taking damage, it looks like the GCD debacle all over again. If they wanted to nerf melee AoE, which BfA dungeons very much favoured, you could always nerf the biggest offenders individually, without screwing everyone as well. Since you know, caster AoE is also getting hard capped - and no, arcane or fire mages aren't the only casters in WoW.
A significant amount of people play m+. This change doesn't just affect MDI players, nor is it only aimed at MDI players.
Furthermore, even if that wasn't the case, games are almost always balanced around the upper echelon of players. That isn't unique to world of warcraft.
I think it's bullshit too. Game would be better with no such caps.
Well yes, but not with double tanks and classes with less caps. Having two tanks meta is a problem whether you agree or not and i only a thing because tanks do more damage than dps with less cap punishments. Why would you take a class capped at 5 when you have others capped at 8+. People will always adjust to end tier content. It just sadly diminishes alot of DPS class value as it stands.
I mean the game had its highest playerbase with many of these caps in place, so although you might prefer it without the caps, and although the game was quite different back then, I see nothing confirming that the game would be "better" without the caps.
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Although in this case, the Council of Internet happens to agree with your point distribution, please refrain from rewarding any further internet points without first consulting the council.
Idk...some of it doesn't make sense...
I can see an AoE cap for spells that transfer from one target to another. (chain lightning) or diminishing targets/dmg, but exploding spells make no sense. If a bomb goes off while 5 ppl are in the blast radius - they all get hit.
I think it's a good change for the current M+ and raids in Shadowlands, for balance and class diversity's sake, but I do not understand why we can't have an uncapped AOE spell for outdoor use and old instances/raids.
Not that it's REALLY important to have one, but it's a nice QOL that they yoinked away.