daze
Latest
Daze of our lives season finale: changes not incoming
Just like a soap opera, the "daze" ability has had a lot of ups and downs lately. First they said it was working fine, then they said it wasn't working fine. Well, now they say it is working fine after all. Drysc tells us:A change to the "Daze" mechanic was originally planned for introduction in patch 2.2. This change would have removed additional defense rating as a factor in reducing the chance of being dazed, equalizing the chance for heavy armor wearers to become dazed as compared to light armor wearers. With further testing and discussion it was decided that players would be too negatively affected in their ability to tank and reposition their targets, and this change will no longer be included with 2.2. We currently have no plans to reintroduce this change at a later time. Apparently the developers really do listen to what the forum goers say and go try things out for themselves now and then. Now, at last, we can put the whole issue to rest.
Daze of our lives: The continuing story
Remember back at the end of June when Drysc said that Daze was working as intended? Drysc said that since your base defense skill reduced the chance of getting Dazed, you should try to keep it maxed. He also said we just perceived that we were getting Dazed more in Outland for a variety of reasons including that we ran into more same level or higher mobs in Outland than on Azeroth. Mike called this a "little shaky". It seems that the programmers thought so too, looked into the mechanics a bit deeper and lo and behold we have this note in Patch 2.2:Daze: Defense skill will no longer reduce the chance players have to receive the Daze effect when attacked from behind by enemies. Bunnies (female Gnome, of course) called out Drysc on the forums to explain the descrepancy. Happily, Drysc took the challenge: Shortly after that write up, and due to us going back through the code, the programmers found that a character's defense as a whole was being taken in to account, and not just their base defense as intended. It was definitely our mistake in only looking at what values are taken into account when calculating daze, and not how those values are generated. They're separate bits of code in different locations, so it wasn't easily or immediately apparent.
Breakfast topic: Most hated mob abilities
I have previous expressed my burning hatred for whirlwinding mobs, and very few people are fans of getting feared into a nearby group of enemies.. But while leveling my pally, I've rediscovered my least favorite mob action of all time -- enemies that heal themselves when they're at about 20 percent health. These mobs also seem to conspire and wait until my Hammer of Justice in on cooldown, so all I can do is flail impotently with my big axe as they heal to 80 percent and laugh at me. I can also do a quick mana tap and arcane torrent, but by the time I think of that they're usually healed already. As I write this, I'm fighting caster murlocs who are underwater, heal themselves, and run away when they're low on HP, which has got to be some kind of record for most annoying mob abilities combined in one. What is your most hated mob ability -- healing, fear, daze, or something even more sinister?
