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The high cost of rez sickness
Lotonero got his thread locked because he posted it in the wrong forum, but he makes an interesting point: rez sickness costs are higher than ever. Death costs are already pretty high -- when you're dressed in greens and blues it's not much of a problem, but get yourself down to red on some high-level epics, and see if you don't wince when you hit up the repair vendor to pay the piper. But rez sickness costs are even worse -- they affect durability on all of your items, even those you're not wearing, and so when a dual-specced healer or tank with two or even three sets of gear goes rez-sick, the amount they have to pay goes through the roof.Now, you might think what I thought: if you're carrying around that much epic gear, then a) why are you dying, and b) why are you rezzing from a spirit healer? But Wryxian, right before sending Lotonero packing to the suggestions thread, throws in his own two cents: "Maybe not." Maybe Blizzard might consider it -- dual specs wasn't around when they originally thought up the cost of rez sickness, and maybe since many players are carrying around two sets of gear now, it's due for another look. I didn't think the Hearthstone cooldown needed a nerf either, but we got that anyway.So maybe it's something for Blizzard to think about. My guess is that most players will not think it's worth the change -- gold is flowing so freely nowadays and the death penalty is so cheap (back in the EQ days, we used to lose XP or even levels) that it's not a big deal, especially when you choose to go rez sick. But it's true that this is one of the game's oldest mechanics, so maybe it's time to take a critical look.
Recent in-game fixes
Who loves hot fixes?I do! I do!Well, perhaps I don't really love hot fixes all that much. They kind of sneak up on you (see what I did there?). Not very fun for some people.There have been a series of them over the last couple days we want to cover, besides the stealth nerf we talked about yesterday.Chief amongst them is that the Elemental Shaman buff has now gone live. This will no doubt make Sacco happy, since he is rather in love with his EleShammy in a weird way.The full list of hot fixes after the break.
Stealth detection items nerfed
I tried to make a "stealth nerf" pun in the headline, but it just wasn't coming to me. Anyway, Blizzard has decided that items that grant stealth detection were feeling too mandatory in arenas, "forc[ing] players to use lower level equipment even when more powerful items were available to them." Therefore, they've nerfed the lot of them. Ultra-Spectropic Detection Goggles can no longer be used in arenas. Epic engineering goggles will no longer grant stealth detection. Stealth detection on many other items (Catseye Ultra Goggles, Blood Guard's Dragonhide Gauntlets, Marshal's Dragonhide Gauntlets, Knight-Lieutenant's Dragonhide Gloves, General's Dragonhide Gloves, Bloodvine Lens, Knight-Lieutenant's Dragonhide Grips, Blood Guard's Dragonhide Grips, The Night Watchman) has been reduced. This hotfix is already live; tooltips are not updated, yet, but will be in the next patch (patch 3.1.2). What's your reaction to this? Obviously it's bad when people feel compelled to wear low-level items because they're overpowered (witness the Badge of Tenacity for Druid tanks), but is this going to lead to rogues becoming even more overpowered than (I hear) they already are?
EVE Online extended Thursday downtime to bring numerous fixes to game
CCP Games has announced that EVE Online will be patched to Apocrypha 1.2 on Thursday, May 14, and will require extended server downtime. Downtime is expected to last from 05:00 GMT to 12:00 GMT. The game's official forums will be unavailable for at least part of the downtime, CCP states. The sheer number of changes being made to EVE Online with this patch -- some minor, others major -- is beyond the scope of this post. However, there are a few significant aspects of Apocrypha 1.2 we'd like to point out for our readers:
Ulduar nerfed, more nerfs on the way
Blizzard posted a list of hotfixes to Ulduar last night in their ongoing hotfix thread, almost all nerfs, and a notice that they were "making further difficult adjustments via hotfix" to Ignis, Razorscale, XT-002 Deconstructor, The Assembly of Iron, Kologarn, and Auriya, with changes to other encounters "highly likely" to occur once they're done with these. In this case I read "making adjustments via hotfix" as "giving them a good whack with the nerf stick." The specific changes that they just announced for Ulduar: The Ignis the Furnace Master encounter has received the following changes: The interrupt effect and duration of the damage from Flame Jets has been reduced, the damage from the Slag pot has been reduced, the number of Heat stacks needed to transform an Iron Construct into a Molten state has been reduced, the base melee damage done by Ignis has been reduced, and the damage bonus Ignis receives from Strength of the Creator has been slightly increased.
Death Strike healing no longer based on damage
Death Strike is a bit of a strange skill in the Death Knight arsenal. Leveling, you use it in place of Scourge Strike/Obliterate when you need healing. In a raid, likewise, although you may be significantly less likely to need healing. In patch 3.1 this changed a bit, with Death Strike becoming the default UF ability for Blood builds, whether or not they needed healing at the time. However, this beefed-up Death Strike for Blood meant that Blood players were getting huge heals from DS without having to pay a damage penalty, which was an issue both in PvP and, apparently, while tanking. So after a brief period of being hotfixed to provide an unspecified amount less healing, DS now heals for a flat 5% of the DK's health per disease on the target, up to a maximum of 15%. The amount healed is no longer based on how much damage Death Strike does. Among other things, this means Unholy DKs, with their third disease, will actually get more healing from DS than Blood DKs who have talents to boost DS's damage. I'm not sure this is a problem, especially given Blood's other health-generating abilities, but it does feel slightly strange. I haven't played Blood since early leveling, though - do current Blood players have any opinions on the change?
Ghostcrawler explains why it took five months to nerf Death Knights
The Warlock community was in an uproar over the extremely quick hotfix that Blizzard applied to nerf Conflagrate among other niggling issues with the recent Patch 3.1. Aside from the fact that nerfs are never a fun thing, Warlock players pointed out that Death Knights, while acknowledged by Blizzard to be overpowered, reigned for months before getting nerfed (somewhat) in the latest patch. Warlocks also pointed an accusatory finger at Holy Paladins, who dominated Arenas throughout Season 5 and promptly got a fix along with Death Knights.On the other hand. it took all of 24 hours for Warlocks to enjoy insane Conflagrate numbers, which was promptly fixed. Ghostcrawler explain why through a lengthy response over at the forums, noting that Death Knights were imbalanced for more reasons than a simply overpowered spell coefficient. He also said that Death Knights and Paladins were nerfed over the course of several patches leading to Patch 3.1, but none proved to be enough to balance them.It needs to be said that Death Knights were changed the most in this patch, with talent trees completely revised, some notable abilities removed (oh, Shadow of Death, how we'll miss you...), and class mechanics changed. It's quite possible that even these changes won't curb Death Knight dominance, but it's a massive change that simply isn't hotfixable. It's a fair response and a pretty good read. Ghostcrawler makes several important points, one of which is that players shouldn't feel that developers don't love them. So don't be emo.
Major nerf of ECM ships coming to EVE Online
While this can hardly be considered flavor of the month (as it would've been a *really* long month), ECM (jamming) ships in EVE Online are considered to be overpowered by many players. Ships with bonuses to ECM modules are able to prevent target lock by other ships, drastically reducing the combat effectiveness of their opposition. After all, you generally can't shoot what you can't get a target lock on, and some of these ships can jam from extremely long ranges. With this in mind, CCP Games is taking a look at ECM ships and considering redefining their roles in the EVE Online. Game designer CCP Chronotis has written in the official site's Game Development Forum about what the devs would like to do to fix ships with bonuses to ECM. In a nutshell, CCP is considering altering the ships (and ECM use in general) in terms of range. Some ships might become 'short range brawlers' while others become 'long range snipers.' Chronotis proposes specific changes to ECM ships, detailing their reworked stats as they will appear on the Singularity test server in the coming days, and invites input from the playerbase on the matter. Despite the widespread perceived need for ECM changes to be made, some of the player response to the proposed changes is critical so far. Regardless, one thing is clear -- the days of Falcon alts are numbered. Have a look at what CCP is considering doing, and let us know if you agree or disagree with these changes. [Via A Misguided Adventurer]
Shadowfiend nerf explained by GC
Ghostcrawler makes a quick run by the forums to break down that Shadowfiend nerf we heard about yesterday. The patch notes in the new build say that a Priest's creepy little best friend has lost their "reduced chance to be hit by spells and melee attacks." Apparently, Shadowfiends had a (completely?) random chance to sometimes cause a miss on various attacks aimed at them. Lots of people saw that as a nerf (and it is), but there are two buffs on the way, according to GC: Not only are the little fiends getting an HP buff "for PvP, " but they're also getting the standard pet AoE avoidance in PvE so they'll be able to stay alive longer on bosses that shell out damage to everything around them.There was also a bit of confusion on the datamined suggestion that Body and Soul is getting a nerf -- GC clarifies that the talent has two ranks, one at 30% and one at 60% movement bonus. That's been the way since we first heard about it -- no change to Body and Soul right now.That said, remember that all class changes are still not carved in stone until they go on to the live realms. The planned Shadowfiend changes may not ever go through, but clearly GC and Blizzard are trying to make Shadowfiend surivivability much less random than just a chance to not get hit. Until we see just what the HP bonus is, it may still be a nerf, but at least it'll be based on specific rules rather than RNG.
Patch 3.1 PTR build 9658 Death Knight changes
Evidently, this is the build where they noticed that Death Knights could tank competently, and decided to do something about that. Where by "something" I refer to the six seven separate tanking nerfs that have ensued. Oh yeah, and they cut Fallen Crusader in half. Rune of the Fallen Crusader - Affixes your rune weapon with a rune that has a chance to heal you for 3% and increase total Strength by 15% (down from 30%) for 15 sec. I may be too invested in my class - I actually feel physically ill about this. FC was overpowered, yes, but not that overpowered. Frost Howling Blast damage has been doubled (from 259-281 to 518-562 for max rank), cooldown changed from 5 seconds to 10 seconds. So I guess we're meant to obliterate when HB is on cooldown, and just use HB once per rune set? Frost Presence now reduces spell damage taken by 10%. (Down from 15%) This is reasonable on its own. Unfortunately, it gets considerably worse. Guile of Gorefiend now increases damage done by your Blood Strike, Frost Strike, Howling Blast and Obliterate abilities by 5/10/15%. (Old - Critical damage only, 15/30/45%) Simple math: if your crit change is greater than 33%, this is a nerf; otherwise, it's a buff. I'm guessing that means it's a buff for most players. Lichborne doesn't increase the chance of your enemies to miss you anymore. Heyo! Goodbye, defensive cooldown. Update: Ghostcrawler has just posted that Unbreakable Armor is getting the same cooldown doubling that all our other analogous defensive cooldowns got. Awesome.
More Druid changes on the 3.1 PTR
The above headline is a polite, succinct means of saying "I went AFK for a few hours yesterday and returned to 2/3 of the Druid class wanting to throw itself in front of an oncoming train."Additions to the latest PTR build aren't extensive for Druids but include a 10% nerf to stamina returns from Heart of the Wild in the feral tree, and a doubling of Lifebloom's mana cost (and reworking of its bloom mechanics) in the Restoration tree.Well, no point checking our watches waiting for the next harbinger of welcome death by way of light commuter rail. Let's take a look.HEART OF THE WILD: Stamina bonus changed to 2/4/6/8/10%.Ouch, baby.Before I write anything else, a quick note to the people spamming the Tanking and Druid forums with End-of-the-World proclamations; it's the frigging public test realm. None of this is set in stone. Calmez-vous.I can finally stay on the PTR without disconnecting every 5-10 minutes, so I hopped on and started comparing the character sheet to my main's live version. The biggest problem right now is that the HotW change (in addition to the Survival of the Fittest armor nerf) has gone live on the PTR without Savage Defense going live alongside it. If you get any toons copied to the PTR or can just finally log on successfully, you'll find yourself down several thousand armor and several thousand HP without Savage Defense active to compensate.
On Blizzard and caving
Players complain that dual specs are available only at the highest level, and Blizzard drops them down to level 40 (and removes the reagent, to boot). Engineers complain they don't have a self-buff, and they get one. Hunters are finally getting that last bag back. Even after the Love is in the Air holiday ends, Blizzard decided to nerf the achievement so everyone can get it anyway. And when ghetto hearthing, a much-loved exploit, is removed from the game, Blizzard decides to nerf, of all things, the hearthstone cooldown. Is it just us, or is Blizzard doing a lot of spelunking lately?Not that it bothers us -- most of those changes are welcome. The good thing about Blizzard caving is that at least it'll make somebody happy. But on the other hand (just to play devil's advocate here), this game is great because the devs made it, not because the players did. If Blizzard caves in every time players throw a fit on the forums, won't that hurt the game?It's not happening, says Zarhym. He says the Hearthstone change, as well as presumably all of the other changes above, came about not because of constant pestering of the devs, but because they sat down and made the decision that it was right for the game. He doesn't say they never cave (we can probably all agree that the dual spec at 40 change likely came about from player feedback, even if it was very insightful feedback), but Zarhym says the devs won't move on stands they believe in. Given that patch 3.1 is like an early tax return with all of the bonuses we're getting back, we wonder what exactly those are. Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
Ghostcrawler defends Death Knight Howling Blast nerf
Ghostcrawler is on the forums today getting feedback on all of the patch 3.1 notes we saw yesterday, and the conversation has turned to the Death Knight's Howling Blast nerf, which some players are complaining has "dismantled" the DK's dual wield chances. Our own Daniel Whitcomb agrees -- he says that the 0/32/39 build will pretty much be out with 3.1 on the live realms.But Ghostcrawler responds with an insight that all classes might benefit from hearing: Players will find a way. First, he says that if Blizzard didn't want Death Knights to dual wield, they wouldn't be able to. He says that the damage needed to be nerfed, if only so other classes didn't think they were going to start being able to do that kind of DPS. And then had adds that just because one build is being quashed, it doesn't mean other builds won't eventually appear -- Blizzard predicts what players might do with their talents, but GC says they're almost always surprised by what players come up with, and that he expects Death Knights will come up with another way (some already known by Blizzard) to make two weapons more than viable.Which some players don't appreciate (they accuse GC of designing by breaking first and letting player fix later), but I kind of like that idea. As Ghostcrawler says in his followup, if there was just one way to play a class, everyone would play it that way. It's Blizzard's (and his team's) job to put the challenge not just in the dragons we fight, but in the tough choices in the talent trees. Everyone knew DKs were getting nerfed (and GC even says that players always say "but I didn't know they were getting nerfed that much!"), and it's interesting that Blizzard is already looking forward to Death Knight players re-finding their grooves, even with the nerfs.
Are Paladins going to get nerfed?
There's a cloud of gloom hanging over our collective Paladin heads over here at WoW Insider, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that Divine Plea still works. Even with the 50% healing penalty, Divine Plea is still a critical spell that's used without much of a second thought. Now it's just used a tiny, tiny bit less. Of course, Ghostcrawler also mentioned in his explanation of the new mana regeneration changes that they're going to nerf Spiritual Attunement for "non-tanking Paladins," too. So yes, there's that cloud.Here's the thing, though... that change will hurt Retribution Paladins more than it will Holy Paladins. Retribution Paladins rely on the synergy of Spiritual Attunement and Seal of Blood / of the Martyr in addition to Judgements of the Wise, Replenishment, and Divine Plea. We'll probably have to see exactly what the incoming nerf looks like before we panic, but considering how Paladins have a history of getting beaten by the nerf bat, it's not an altogether rosy proposition. In fact, I think Paladins are probably going to get nerfed beyond the current Divine Plea and the future Spiritual Attunement. My thoughts after the jump.
Breakfast Topic: Sorry about your nerf
I like Trixter's "silly idea" over on WoW Ladies. She says she came home the other day to a boyfriend bummed out by the Curse of Tongues nerf, and wished she had a greeting card for the occasion. Something, we'd guess, like "Sorry about your nerf. Hope you pwn soon." Funny. Which got us thinking: what other kinds of greeting cards might come in handy for WoW players?"It's a proto-drake! Congrats on your new mount!""Our condolences on your recent ninja attack. Here's wishing you all the best loot in the future.""Thanks for all your help with the raid-leading! You're the best!""Will you BEE our Tank?" (And there's a picture of a bee on it.)Ok, so those aren't that great. But what other ideas might Hallmark be interested in if they were designing a new line of greeting cards for you to give out to fellow players afflicted by what happens in Azeroth?
Arcane Barrage nerfed stealthily
For about five shining minutes, Mages were over-powered. Arcane Mages, to be precise. Or so everyone tells me. All I know is that for the first time in a long time, I felt the kind of power I always assumed Mages were meant to wield.Patch 3.0.9 has brought Arcane Mages back down to earth, though, and only some of the bad stuff was actually in the patch notes. You see, along with the incredibly clunky and obtuse changes to Arcane Power and Presence of Mind (effectively ending PoM-Pyro specs as we knew them), and the nerf to Slow, this briefly mighty spec has also received a bonus undocumented nerf to our signature spell: Arcane Barrage.After a whole lot of us noticed we simply weren't doing the same damage post-patch that we were pre-patch, the official forums lit up with Mages contending that Arcane Barrage simply wasn't packing the punch it used to. Though the tooltip hadn't changed, the damage had fallen off considerably. Last night, Eyonix responded with a post explaining the change and letting us know that its effects would be monitored. I always thought the PTR was a good place to monitor changes, but what do I know?Before we discuss this any further, let me just put it up front that I'm setting the over-under on "QQ MOAR" comments following this post at 45. I'm taking the over.
Spiritual Guidance: Mana nerfs and Priest buffs
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. Spirit nerf's are coming! Is it really doom and gloom for the Priest class? Eliah did a terrific job summarizing the mana regeneration changes that are slated to strike in 3.1. The general feeling I'm seeing right now among the Priest community appears to range from the "OH NO! NO MORE MANA" to the "Eh, guess I better load up on Mana Pots since they're cheap". On a side note, when is the last time you had to pot in a raid? And I don't mean from immediately being revived in the middle of a fight. I distinctly remember running out of juice on Kel'Thuzad a month or so ago. In any case, there are some rumblings abound as to what sort of impact this nerf would have to our playstyle. The better question to ask is what impact this nerf would have to our gearing, gemming, and enchanting choices. The underlying point that seems to jump out at everyone is that Spirit regen is being decreased. Let's see what this implies for the Discipline and Holy trees respectively.
A plea for Divine Plea
Blizzard is going to swing the nerf bat and it's going to hit Divine Plea. With the intended changes to mana regeneration mechanics in Patch 3.1, where Spirit will be nerfed to curb mana replenishment in raid scenarios, Paladins stand to be unfazed. Spirit isn't a useful stat for Paladins, so Blizzard is looking into raising the healing penalty that comes with Divine Plea, a spell intended to help Protection and Retribution Paladins recover mana. Even with the 20% healing penalty, Divine Plea gives Paladins such phenomenal mana recovery that they don't think twice about using it. Used in conjunction with Avenging Wrath, the penalty isn't even an issue. See, that's a problem.Blizzard wants the decision to use Divine Plea to be a tough one for Holy Paladins, not a no-brainer. Needless to say, Retribution Paladins and their 5k mana pool use it every time it's up. But when a Holy Paladin with 20k mana can recover 25% of their mana every minute, it's kind of an obscenity. So Blizzard is going to nerf Divine Plea by raising the healing penalty to 50%. Some people think this won't be enough to stop Holy Paladins from using the spell every time it's up, though. Rohan over at Blessing of Kings thinks the spell should not have a healing penalty but be canceled when the Paladin casts a healing spell.
Turn Evil glyph likely to be nerfed
The most powerful PvP glyph for Paladins looks like it's going to be hammered with the nerf bat. The Glyph of Turn Evil originally reduced the cast time of Turn Evil by 100%. In Patch 3.0, the spell Turn Evil had its cooldown removed, so when Paladins used this glyph they had access to a spammable instant cast crowd control spell that could completely shut down Death Knight ghouls and gargoyles, as well as Warlocks under the effects of Metamorphosis. In Patch 3.0.8, Blizzard revised the glyph to add an 8 second cooldown to the spell.Even with the change, some players are still crying foul, and Ghostcrawler responds that instant cast Turn Evil "might be a problem" and that they are likely to fix it. This is the latest in a series of nerfs and reworks applied to Paladin glyphs -- mostly affecting PvP -- since the release of Wrath of the Lich King. The original Glyph of Crusader Strike had Crusader Strike deal more damage to stunned targets, but now currently reduces the cost of the spell by 20%. The 41-point talent is plain enough (with the removal of the Judgement refresh aspect in 3.0) and the glyph to accompany it is even more boring. Glyph of Hammer of Justice originally extended the stun by 1 second but now only increases the range of the spell by a mere 5 yards. With the speed Blizzard tends to hotfix issues like these, expect a nerf to the Glyph of Turn Evil very soon. What was that famous Ghostcrawler line again? Oh, yeah... "to the ground, baby!"
Sunday Morning Funnies: Your nerf stick
This week, the Funnies are back on a Sunday that is actually a Sunday, and not a fake Sunday. While I do enjoy pretending, I figured I should probably keep it simple. The weeks where "morning" seems to mean "afternoon" are tricky enough! It seems that Cru the Dwarf needs to hurry. I hate being asked for heals. What do people think I'm doing other than staring at their bars, anyway? Still, healers shouldn't really walk away in the middle of a raid without saying they'll brb. Experience Points. Blood Elves sometimes get a little carried away when it comes to power (or hair). This week on Flintlocke vs. the Horde, the main "belf" gets a taste of it. I don't think she listens well either, what with all of that rage. Luckily, in the end, she gets a new hair accessory! Flintlocke vs. the Horde. Caught any coins lately? GU Comics: The Ruse. Check out the latest from LFG. Manic Graffiti will be undergoing some changes. NoObz illustrates how Youth has changed over the years. Unlike last week, when Ding! simply had not updated (perfectly preferable to the previous week), this week, there is indeed a comic. This was (is?) one of my favorites, so I'm hoping that it picks up again. If you really want to look, don't say I didn't warn you, while trying not to be blunt and trollish. Put Down Your Nerf Stick! says Teh Gladiators. Oh noes, Disgraph has not been updated! Nor was Dark Legacy Comics, come to think of it. The Scout Report also seems to be sans update, and its navigation bar is still a bit wonky. World of Warcraft, eh, also did not deliver on the promised sexy filler art. I'm not criticizing, I'm just QQ'ing. There's a difference. Clearly, our fave comic artists should always be around to entertain us for free. It's a thin list. What's a gal to do? Improvise! Check out a discussion about fun WoW pranks. BRK always has something hilarious in a pinch! Adam has a new 'Silent Bob' approach to raiding. Ghostcrawler made an unintentional funny! Well I laughed, anyway. In case it gets hit with an editing bat, the beginning of this particular blue response was, "From our POV, we assume you have Rel@%#%@hment just like we assume you have a tank."
