Hello there,
It has been quite some time since I've posted something around here, mainly it's because there's been nothing but whining and random comments flying by, the original creativity and constructive criticism that these forums once had are no longer here it seems, but that's not part of the topic, moving on.
First, I would like to share some thoughts that I've been having for quite some time now, I've been seeing this re-occurring pattern pop up every time and I just had to put it out there.
Is true pvp balance achievable ? probably not 100%, but let's say it can be pretty damn close to being the ideal pvp that everyone wishes it were, but the real question is why?
The answer is pretty simple really, it's all about money.
Now you want to tell me that a multi- billion dollar company such as blizzard does not have the budget or resources to balance this game after all the years and experience they've been through? I highly doubt it, in fact I believe it is their goal to never achieve balance in this game, why ? because they simply make more profit that way, it is in their best interest that every patch there is a new fotm and an underdog, everytime they release a patch they buff the underdog(s) and nerf the fotm, and the cycle continues , it keeps players wanting to play as they wait for the "time" or hope that their class is going to be better , with promises of getting the good old days back, which in truth will probably never come.
Second, moving onto the core of this topic, Balance.
I'm pretty sure people have come pretty close to guessing how things should be fixed, and if truth be told there is not only one way of fixing things, but I will share my idea at least and hopefully I'll receive some constructive criticism if needed.
How to fix PvP in general :
-Trinkets : yes trinkets, they only have to change pvp trinkets, remove all the stats and make pvp trinkets give special bonuses in equipped, by doing so, blizzard can control specific areas that need to be buffed in pvp only without touching pve at all, here's an example of a possible warlock trinket:
Malevolent trinket of whatever :
Equip: ( Affliction) all damage over time spells now deal 10-15% more damage. OR ( affliction) Dispelling haunt will enable your haunt to be cast instantly and not cost a soul shard, 10 secs duration, 1 charge.
( Destruction) your backlash proc also grants you 3 seconds of interrupt immunity.
Things like that, no on use stats ,the bonus on equip can grant any class what it really needs instead of random things, the % and amount given can be controlled depending on what is needed, if X class is OP , you dont nerf the class you just nerf the trinket, reduce the % in something etc, or buff the classes that need it,with this you can give the classes / specs exactly what they need, this would fix pretty much all class issues down to a fundamental level.
This would not only fix the issue with class balance, it would also fix the issue with pve trinkets being used in pvp.
Now concerning recent lock changes, there are so many things that are being changed and so many opinions about it, my personal opinion is, blood fear being changed is a good step towards the right direction, but the class as a whole is limping, blood fear was one of the few tricks that kept it up, consider it the walking stick that the man was leaning on, unless proper compensation is given, there will be nothing for the limping man to lean on, if you catch my drift.
I'd personally go with, giving mortal coil back as baseline for all spec, introduce a new talent in it's stead, and as for blood fear, the idea is good, but the overall design is flawed, if I had a hand in it, I'd say make it similar to druids nature's grasp, give it 3 charges, every hit received should not fear, but horrify the target ( as in horror CC type, so it does not DR with our fears), also remove the silly health cost, I highly doubt consuming 20% of my own health to remove a target briefly off my back is a sane choice for most people, also I'd fix the entire tier if I had a hand in it, it's too costly overall.
Sac pact, the shield value being halved is a very wrong direction in my opinion, I believe blizzard changed it to reduce the estimated " inflation" of pet health throughout the course of the expansion, but this also trashes the talent entirely for a good deal up through S14 or so, If anything, simply keep the 25% pet heal cost, but give the shield a stagnant SOLID value , lets say 300k for example,it would be good now, but towards the end of the expansion it would be decent at best, the good part about it is we wouldn't have to keep worrying about pet health when we use the shield, and since ( eventually) pet killing strategies might become effective again soon, it would be more of a reason to change it that way.
overall,I'd say pets still die too easily, and affliction needs a thorough look at it's pvp functionality, it simply brings NOTHING to the table anymore, I can pick several classes that can spread pressure better, some that have better dispel protection, most have better utility and ALL have better survivability, affliction is a liability at the moment, I'm not saying it's not playable, I've done 2.2k with it this season , as far as affliction goes it just feels like I'm just tickling people, aside from DS/trinket, which is slightly better pressure, overall it's in a sad state as a spec atm, highly lacking.
That's it for now, feel free to give your opinions and comments regarding the topic, but please be constructive, flaming and whining is silly and I never bother replying to those who do.