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Breakfast Topic: Spell pushback
Spellpower of Malfurion posted on the Priest forums that spell pushback is an indication that Blizzard prefers melee classes over spell casters. In his thread, the original poster used the example of a sixteen-second actual cast time for a second and a half spell due to spell pushback. This greatly reduced the effect of casters against melee classes. Songbreeze of Dragonmaw echoed this sentiment with the response, "Welcome to World of Meleecraft." Other posters disagreed. Some stated that many PvE encounters favor casters. Nemarra of Tichondrius pointed out that melee characters have an equal disadvantage at range. Casters also have access to instant spells and abilities such as Blink, Frost Nova and Curse of Exhaustion to help them get out of melee range. Others have access to Power Word Shield and Earth Shield that mitigate the effects of pushback. If you're concerned about spell pushback, you should pay particular attention to how your spec can mitigate it.
Scattered Shots: Weapon choices
(Apologies for the late posting of Scattered Shots. Next week we'll be back on our Thursday schedule.)Last week I covered crowd control using traps. This week, filling in for David, I'll discuss the options available to hunters for weapon choice: ranged and melee alike. Hunters have a wide variety of weapons we can train, but our main concern is usually going to be ranged weapons: the bow, crossbow, and gun. Secondary to the ranged weapon of course is what we carry at our sides. Hunters can train in every weapon style except for maces (one and two hand) and wands. It's not technically a weapon, but for the sake of this discussion it's important to note that hunters cannot train in the use of shields. What this means is that there's a lot of weapons we can use, while not all of them are weapons that we should. Adding to the decision is the fact that we hunters can learn to dual wield one handed weapons at level twenty. With one weapon, you tend to get more punch close up, but with two weapons you might lose some damage in melee, but gain an extra weapon's worth of stat bonuses, enchantments, and other augmentations. Each weapon you have equipped contributes its individual bonuses, if any, so it's a good idea to weigh the options, even for melee weapons which you might hardly ever use.Earlier in the column, I recommended a low level hunter train in a two handed weapon early, since the first ten levels involve a greater percentage of melee combat, prior to getting a pet to handle your aggro. I'll talk about where to train what weapons, what augmentations you can add to weapons, and which ranged weapons are the best, after the jump!
The Light and How to Swing It: A class full of irony
I have once again managed to steal the Light for another week, as regular columnists Chris and Elizabeth are off on their own epic quests while I am left to tend to the shop, so to speak. For today, we'll take a closer look at how the class is designed and its inherent ironies. When I first rolled a Paladin, I didn't know what I was getting into. I rolled it mainly as a companion toon for my playing partner, my wife, who was elated at the Horde finally getting a 'pretty' race and promptly rolled a Warlock. As I leveled with her demon-enslaving new main, the experience challenged and frustrated me and it soon became apparent that Blizzard had designed the Paladin under a completely different design perspective. I was hooked. If there are any perceived failures about the class, it is largely because Blizzard had a vision for the Paladin class that was different from traditional class designs.Blizzard worked hard at defining each class with a clear directive to make each one feel different from the others. Rogues had Energy, combo points and finishing moves; Warriors had Rage, a sort of reverse Mana bar; and Shamans had the totem system. Paladins are designed largely around the interesting Seal system. Everything that a Paladin does revolves around Seals, Blessings, and Auras, with Seals being the primary mechanic for dealing any sort of damage. For the most part, class design has worked for many classes while others, like the Shaman, have had more than its fair share of issues. Personally, I love the Paladin class. My main is now a Blood Elf Paladin, with my Troll Shaman getting a little less love than it used to. I also used to play a Troll Hunter and an Undead Rogue. While I enjoyed all of them as I played them, it was the Paladin that appealed to me the most. To be honest, I still have no idea why. Maybe it was the challenge. Maybe it was hybrid aspect. Maybe, for all I know, it was the coolness of it all. When you get right down to it, though, Paladins have -- if you examine it very carefully -- what is probably the most inherently flawed ironic class design in the game. Let me explain.
New TR patch shoved out the door
Well, that was quick. I'm not too sure why I'm surprised, but players woke up this morning to find that Tabula Rasa's patch 1.5 had snuck out the door last night, and is patiently waiting on player desktops. Players didn't quite have a full week to fully digest the patch notes after they showed up on the public test server before they're going live, which is either helpful or incredibly reckless depending on how much stock you put into the QA process. In this case we're going to go with "reckless" because early reports (confirmed after we ourselves downloaded the patch) show a strange bug where the game resets your resolution every time you load up the game, causing crashes for some (this blogger included).As to the content of the patch itself, we've already talked about some of the neat things that players will find within. One of the changes we didn't get around to talking about are the changes to the Spy class. They've reworked the way Traitor works in PvP to make it more like a traditional Mind Control, in addition to throwing in a new melee attack for Spies that is similar to other players' melee attacks, and takes into account bonuses to damage and knockdown given by putting pumps into hand-to-hand. (Spies are one of only two melee classes in the game, so this new attack is distinguished from their normal blade attacks.) Oddly enough though, Spies do not get a respec. Full patch notes available after the jump.
Shifting Tanzanite shifts
A minor(but interesting) change was included in the last PTR push: The Shifting Tanzanite has had its stats changed up a bit. Previously a Strength/Agility gem, it is now Agility/Stamina, as you can see above.Previously, this was arguably the best blue gem in the game for melee DPS classes. With the introduction of the Heroic gems no longer being Unique in patch 2.4, it was a little exciting to be able to slot more than one of these at a time, even if blues aren't the most desirable color for physical damage dealers. Now, the Shifting Tanzanite is still desired, but not necessarily to fill that same role or by the same people. One of the few highly sought after Heroic gems has been gutted.Why? Nobody knows but Blizzard. One of my theories is these Heroic gems are not meant to be a "best in slot" but an alternative option, even now that you can socket multiples in your armor. It probably won't bother too many melee DPS because as good as that gem was, it was only the best blue for melee. Most melee do not stack blues at all. Tanks do stack blues, however. While this gem has become a little better for the tanks, it most likely does not outweigh Solid Stars of Elune and most certainly is not better than Solid Empyrean Sapphires for the raiders among us.
Wing Clip as weapon leveler
Mania posted about a tip from Lienna about spamming Wing Clip to powerlevel weapon skill, and I've confirmed that yes, as long as you wait for the global cooldown (obviously), you an spam Wing Clip and you'll receive weapon skill ups for those hits. Though I didn't try it with any abilities, I'd assume that it works for any instant melee hit (Sunder Armor jumps to mind). Of course, you not only have to worry about hitting whatever it is you choose to hit, but you also have to worry about killing it-- I did have to step back and finish off the mob with my hunter's bow.So it seems hunters can level their weapon skills a little faster than other classes. And why shouldn't they? They have a lot more weapons to skill up, and it's not like melee weapon skill matters much to hunters anyway, except at the very limits of min-maxing. A melee hit is a melee hit-- if hunters get to hit more often, then they get to level weapon skill faster, too.
Phat Loot Phriday: Cataclysm's Edge
No messing around here. Just a big, bad sword. This is why half of us are playing a sword and sorcery game in the first place, right?Name: Cataclysm's Edge (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWWiki, WoWDigger)Type: Epic Two-hand SwordDamage/Speed: 386 - 580 / 3.50 (138.0 DPS)Abilities: +75 (!) Strength, +49 Stamina Equip: your attacks ignore 335 of your opponent's armor. And that's not a proc, that's an equip. Wild. The math around that is complicated to say the least, but suffice it to say that whenever you attack anything with the sword, you treat the opponent like it has 335 less armor than it really does. Which means even more damage. And all that strength adds damage as well, since strength adds to attack power, which adds to melee damage, too. In short, when something gets hit with this sword, it feels it. And I always get called out and shown up when I make statements like this, but according to WoWWiki, this is the highest DPS melee weapon in the game. Theorycrafters, if you would like to challenge that, feel free to do so in the comments below. WoWWiki shows that the Axe from the Illidan Kael'thas (you're right, I'm drunk) event does more damage, but that's a summoned axe, and not a player-useable weapon. Same deal with the Artifact Twin Blades of Azzinoth. So I'm standing by the original claim. Prove me wrong if you must. How to Get It: Drops from Archimonde, the last boss in Mount Hyjal (and arguably, the game itself). It's a 10 to 15% drop, so you'll need to get him down a few times for the odds to fall in your favor. And you'll have to fight all those Mortal Strike warriors and ret pallies for the roll, since everybody who likes chopping things in half will be after this one.But the good news is that this will last long after the "gear reset" coming in the expansion. I hesitate to say that it will actually be able to challenge Frostmourne (because who knows how they'll implement that in the game), but odds are that if you're lucky enough to get this now, you'll be chopping things with it for quite a while.Getting Rid of It: Are you nuts? If you have so many of these things laying around that you have to get rid of one, go talk to Matthew Rossi, our warrior writer-- I'm sure he'll want one. But if you must vendor it, you'll get 19g 57s and 38c for it. Disenchants, as usual, into a Void Crystal.
Dungeons and Dragons Online PvP video
Shot in-game by a guild called The Black Plague, this video is sure to change some impressions people might have about Dungeons and Dragons Online. I have to admit, because my last interaction with D&D at all was the original sit-down-and-roll-some-dodecahedral-dice version, I was totally unprepared for the level of action inherent in DDO PvP.This is sheer lunacy. Watching this video gives the impression you're actually watching an Unreal Tournament mod -- this is the PvP that Fury wanted to be. The meleé combat alone is worth the price of admisison; it's fast, it's hectic, it's sloppy, just like real life! Except with CTF elements thrown in. Check it out after the jump -- it's DivX, so make sure you have the plugin installed.[Thanks, Schad!]
Age of Conan's Assassin class is stealthy, badass
Ten Ton Hammer has published the fourth in its series of "class interviews" with Funcom. Previously it spoke with the Age of Conan devs about the Dark Templar, the Guardian, and the Conqueror. This time it's the Assassin.You can read the interview for all the details, but the gist of it is: Asassins use stealth and quick bursts of high damage melee attacks in tandem with poison and debuffs to fell opponents quickly. As a counter-balance to their extraordinary offensive capabilities, they are very weak in terms of defenses. They wear thin silk armor because it allows them to move freely and silently.So the class is about 90% the same as the Rogue class in games like World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, "Assassins do it from behind" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Check out our Age of Conan interview and video footage, and our gallery of new artwork!
Classic Melee stages returning in Smash Bros. Brawl
Players intimidated by the chaotic, hazard-heavy stages of Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be delighted to hear that several classic stages will be returning from Smash Bros. Melee. Pictured above, the Temple stage is the only one officially announced, though director Masahiro Sakurai promises "a number" of stages from the Gamecube title (a few of the original N64 states couldn't hurt either, but there's no word on whether or not that's even a possibility).In other news, next Monday is December 3, otherwise known as the former release date of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. As this date has been slowly approaching, we here at Joystiq have noticed that the daily Brawl updates have lacked any startling new information. The last character announced was back in October, meaning that Brawl's blog is definitely overdue for some earth-shattering information. Perhaps Nintendo is holding off to make an announcement on the day we all expected to get our Brawl on? Maybe, maybe not. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Dojo update: YES! Hyrule returns
We're pretty sure it's been mentioned several times on the site here, but playing Super Smash Bros. Melee has come down to us pretty much fighting on one stage: Hyrule. Now, it returns in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (along with the promise of other Melee stages returning, as well). Also, it's now called The Temple, so no longer will we be labeling it Hyrule. Oh, you can't believe how giddy we are, as we giggle maniacally at the inclusion of our favorite stage into the new game. Is anyone else with us on this one?%Gallery-10206%%Gallery-6869%
Hunter deadzone is dead: new minimum range = 5 yards, not 1
It appears that the latest information from the PTR for Patch 2.3 regarding hunters' ranged attacks is incorrect, as are the cries of multitudes who feel that hunters shooting close up would be unfairly overpowered. Drysc says:There's a tooltip error, it should be "5-35 yards". We want melee and ranged to be kept separate, so that when in melee attack range you should not be able to use a ranged attack. There's some amount of 'give' there, especially in fast paced PvP which can produce some temporary gray area but that's fully known with this change. Feeding the issue of the tooltip error is a bug currently where you can indeed range attack someone while being meleed, but that's in the process of being resolved as well.When I first saw the new "1-41" range for hunters (that's with the extended-range talent "Hawk Eye") over on World of Raids, I knew that something was wrong. To let hunters use melee and ranged attacks at the same time means that they would often do better up close to their enemies rather than far away, and would go against a lot of the fundamental concepts around which the class is based. As it is, the mechanic of switching between melee and ranged attacks is one of the exciting things about being a hunter, and, now that the deadzone is dying at last, there won't be that block of frustration getting in the way between the two.
Patch 2.3 and you: Thursday grab-bag
Though the torrent of tidbits coming from Blizz Central has slowed, there are still a few new and interesting items for everyone (particularly Hunters, Mages, and melee people) to peruse today. [Hunter] Trueshot Aura will be free to cast and is going to last until canceled. (source) [Hunter] Serpent Sting, Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap are going to gain additional damage based on ranged attack power. (source) [Mage] Fire Ward and Frost Ward now gain additional benefit from spell damage bonuses (source) [Mage] Detect Magic removed, all players will see their target's beneficial effects at all times (source) [Rogue] one other change to poisons though is that they will last for one hour now, increased from 30 minutes. (source) all disarm immunity effects in the game were changed to 50% disarm duration reduction (non stacking) (source) The Guild Banks are still in the works and planned for patch 2.3. (source) Duration of wizard and mana oils created by enchanters has been increased. (source) Auction House will now sort server side. If multiple pages exist you will be able to sort across all pages. Auction House post times have been changed to 12, 24, and 48 hours. Deposit prices remain the same for each time increment. You will now be able to ctrl-click a recipe to preview the item the recipe will create in the dressing room. Ogri'la Faction Vendor: This vendor now sells potions useable anywhere for a large number of Apexis Shards. 50 shards, as good as super mana/heal pots. (source for the above 4) The big news here, as I see it, is that there will no longer be full disarm immunity in the game, at all, period. I sense a drop in value for Steel Weapon Chains. The TSA change makes perfect sense: it is called an aura, after all. And being able to sort AH searches across pages is also long, long overdue. How do you all feel about this latest preview of patch 2.3?
Calling the wipe... and what happens next
World of Matticus has an interesting piece up about a touchy subject in raidleading: calling the wipe. It's a tough job leading the raid. Everyone's there to down the boss, yes, but especially when learning a fight, a raidleader has to balance a lot of different priorities-- are potions used or not? Who rezzes after a wipe? How are the healers balanced? And when things go really bad, they have to decide, sometimes on a moment's notice, whether to call a wipe and reset the encounter, or try to push onward. Everyone knows what's possible-- everyone's seen a fight where the last Mage left is able to get one last fireball off and finish off the boss-- but the raidleader has to look at reality and make that call.Now, Matticus is actually pretty gung-ho about things-- he says not to wipe unless you're down to your last healer and you've only got one rez left. I agree that there are times when soulstones should be popped (if we have enough locks, we'll usually soulstone our main healer, and so if aggro ever gets lost, he pops right back up again), but if you're on the first attempt of the day, there's nothing wrong with saving a few rezzes and repair payments. Especially in a place like Gruul's Lair on High King Maulgar, where it's easy to get out when things go south, there's no reason to fight when two tanks drop on a bad pull. Just run, save the money, and come back when HKM has reset.But Matticus is dead on about what happens after a wipe is actually called.
Melee Haste and Spell Haste equal on PTR?
A posting on the general forums complains that melee haste has been reduced in effectiveness on the PTR, making it grant the same values per rating as spell haste. The debate rages as to what effect this will have on rogues trying to stay on top of the damage meters in raids, whether it will mean that top raiding guilds have no reason to bring rogues over ranged DPS, whether it also unfairly hurts feral druids, enhancement shamans and other melee DPS classes. Rogues mention that they have a lack of utility in raids and as a result, this is a large blow to their effectiveness.What are your thoughts? Will this make rogues less or more reliant on haste potions? Does this hurt melee DPS even more in raids or will it have a negligible effect? Is it purely based off of epics and legendaries that most players will never see, like the Warglaive of Azzinoth? Is melee haste still 'better' than spell haste because melee attacks don't cost mana?Thanks to World of Raids for a concise breakdown of the issue.
Why do hunters have a dead zone?
If you've never played a Hunter, you may be unfamiliar with the concept of a "dead zone." The term is used to describe a certain distance between the Hunter and their target in which the target is too close for the Hunter to fire ranged weapons and yet too far away for the Hunter to use melee attacks. It's an interesting feature of the Hunter class that is shared by none of the other ranged-attack classes: all of the casters, for example, can throw painful spells at you even when you're right in their face. Many Hunters argue that the dead zone is entirely unnecessary -- and weakens the class by giving it a range in which it's completely helpless. Some Hunters argue that their dead zone should simpy be removed while others suggest the addition of some mid-ranged attacks or allowing regular ranged attacks to work in the dead zone with reduced damage, to at least allow them something. (Though the melee classes are likely to disagree: the melee zone in which they do their best damage is much smaller than the Hunter's ranged zone in which they do their best damage.) But what do you, Hunters and non-Hunters, think about the issue? Is the dead zone required to keep Hunters balanced? Or is it nothing but a weakening nuisance?
Meet Gweryc, the melee hunter
Yes, I imagine that some readers in the audience cringed the moment they saw "melee" and "hunter" in the same sentence. However, Gweryc, who recently hit level 70, has clearly managed it -- and apparently enjoyed himself doing it, so who are we to criticize? And if you doubt his melee abilities, just take a glance at his weapon skills: Bows: 1/350 Crossbows: 1/350 Guns: 6/350 Yep -- these are the ranged weapon skills of a level 70 hunter. A level 70 hunter very dedicated to going against the grain. Of his character and playstyle, Gweryc says:It's a challenge playing this way, it really is. And that's exactly what I love about it. This way of playing isn't for everybody! That's okay! Some people enjoy raiding, some enjoy crafting or fishing, some like PvP. To each their own. For my part, I'll keep on looking for ways to do things just a little different, to make it work, and to have fun with it as I go.Anyone else out there going against the grain -- and loving it?
Shifting Perspectives: How fun is a druid?
Welcome to Shifting Perspectives! This is a new feature here on WoW Insider, which will bring you various perspectives on shifting forms as a druid, from David Bowers one week, and Dan O'Halloran the next.I'm here kick off our little druid feature for this week with a simple pair of questions to answer: "Is playing a druid fun?" and "should I play a druid?" I reply to both with a resounding yes, of course. "But why?" you ask. "What has the Druid class got to offer me that other, so-called 'superior classes' haven't got?" The answer is, naturally, everything! Well mostly everything. You see, more than any other class, druids have such a variety of abilities and can specialize in these abilities to such a degree that there are many very different play styles available to each druid player. The Druid is the ultimate class for the player who wants to tank sometimes, stealth and kill sometimes, heal sometimes, and then sit back and nuke things from a distance for a few months in order to get a change of pace. A druid can alternately be very good at healing, tanking, dealing up-close melee damage, or dealing far-away nuking damage, filling the roles of a priest, warrior, rogue or mage -- all in one class!
Rock 'em sword 'em robots
It's a Gundam!! Namco Bandai has launched the official site for its recently-announced Mobile Suit Gundam MS Front 0079 title. Set to hit Japanese stores this July 28th, the 20-plus-year-old franchise shows no signs of slowing down with its second game for the Wii console in just a few months. We spotted footage of the FPS in action at the teaser page, and have embedded them for your mecha-loving enjoyment after the post break. The barren setting looks unimpressive, but the videos give you a good idea of how the Wii remote will be used for melee combat and aiming with ranged weapons. Judging by what we've seen so far, Mobile Suit Gundam MS Front 0079 might be our first chance to finally wield something resembling a lightsaber on the Wii!
