combat-resurrection
Latest
Warlords of Draenor: Combat resurrection system overhaul
Combat resurrection is one of those mechanics in World of Warcraft that seems to change far more than others. Personally, I remember in vanilla WoW where it was possible for a player to remain out of combat on a raid boss, and you could designate a paladin to resurrect your raid members indefinitely as they died. Of course, no one considered that legitimate gameplay, only a ... creative use of game mechanics. Those days are long gone. We moved from there to a system where legitimate combat resurrections were able to be used without limit, and every expansion (and many content patches) afterwards, the number you were allowed to use in any given fight changed often. Now Warlords is bringing another overhaul. Warlords of Draenor is not only refining the number of combat resurrections able to be used in any given boss fight, it's also bringing some transparency to the process. The relevant excerpt from the patch notes is below.
Zarhym: Soulstone combat resurrections in the works
Hot on the tails of the recent death knight Raise Ally combat rez change on the patch 4.1 PTR, Blizzard's Zarhym has confirmed another (hopeful) change: at some point in the future, warlock Soulstones will be usable in combat to rez fallen members. This has led to some grumbling among the general forum posters that Blizzard's looking to make raiding too easy or classes too homogenous. Zarhym answered back that combat rez is already something that's easily obtainable from the druid class and is, in fact, expected by most raid groups. Since combat rezzes appear to be considered mandatory by many raid groups, says Zarhym, Blizzard wanted to make the ability available to more classes. Certainly, this would fit with the modus operandi it's long had of granting abilities to multiple classes to allow for more flexibility in raid makeup. Zarhym also answered concerns that spreading battle rezzes would contribute to class homogeneity by noting that he's never felt like his warlock plays exactly like a druid, and giving warlocks a combat resurrection shouldn't change that. In fact, one of the reasons Blizzard gave battle rez to some non-healer classes was to avoid the threat of class homogeny. While Zarhym says Blizzard hopes to have the change in for patch 4.1, it is still trying to get the code straightened out. Regardless, it looks it's only a matter of time now. As soon as Blizzard works out the kinks, we can expect to see yet another class with the ability to give raids one more chance to down the boss. WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you. From previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new Valor point mechanics to the new Archaeology items.
Why survivability matters in Cataclysm class design
Blizzard has told us again and again that survivability is going to matter more in Cataclysm, and it sounds like we may have to unlearn a lot of the bad habits from Wrath. I think this point was really driven home by developer Ion Hazzikostas in the class Q&A at BlizzCon 2010. A player was complaining about being forced to take utility talents to reach the bottom of her tree, and she gave as an example a talent that reduced the magic damage taken. She pointed out that the only time you'd take damage was if you stood in fire, which should never happen anyway. Ion could have pointed out the many, many boss encounters in which the room just pulses unavoidable AoE damage throughout the fight, but instead, he went in what I think was a very insightful route when he responded: In an ideal world, none of these things would be needed, right? In an ideal world, something like combat rez wouldn't be a useful ability because no one should ever die. In reality, people die. This is pretty much spot on. We've had a lot of discussion recently about combat rez changes -- but just like no one should ever get hit by a void zone, so too should no one ever die if everyone is doing his or her job. But they do, and combat rez is a great ability. With healers at risk of running OOM in Cataclysm, anything that reduces your damage taken or increases your self-healing is going to help your raid. After all, dead DPS do no damage, and wiped raids kill no bosses. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Blizzard clarifies combat resurrections for Cataclysm
Earlier today, Blizzard's Zarhym posted some clarifications on the changes to Create Soulstone and Rebirth that we can expect to see in Cataclysm. I know a lot of warlocks and druids who are going to be very unhappy about this change. These mechanics are not fully implemented on beta yet. These limitations affect raid content only. One combat resurrection is allowed per boss attempt in 10-man raids (Rebirth or Soulstone). Three combat resurrections are allowed per boss attempt in 25-man raids (any combination of Rebirth and Soulstone). Accepting a combat resurrection is what counts towards the total accrued, not the cast. Create Soulstone has a 15-minute cooldown. Rebirth has a 10-minute cooldown. Zarhym also hinted at the possibility of adding to the existing functionality of Soulstone by allowing one to be cast in combat on a deceased character, a change that would soften the blow ever so slightly for many raid leaders. Zarhym remained cagey when questioned about the ultimate fate of Reincarnation, but it seems that reincarnating currently counts towards the attempt combat resurrection total. Whether this is a bug or a feature is yet to be determined. The full blue posts are after the jump.
