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Honestly, whats the point of defense mechanic

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Ryoko
#0 - Nov. 24, 2008, 4:40 p.m.
Blizzard Post
What is the point of this mechanic except to say "This character has enough tank gear he won't take a crit." Cant you find some other way to know characters are a tank?

I have to wear things I dont want to because they have insane defense. I have to choose one item over another, because one has 60+ defense. I buy a shield that wasn't first choice because it has insane defense. I've given up real stats I want like dodge and parry items because they didn't have "enough defense". I've re-enchanted some of my gear, and will soon re-enchant more, for defense. Lastly, I had to use defense gems in several items.

Im looking at items in my bank with dodge / parry / block value (GOOD STATS TO HAVE) that I cant wear because "defense."

Lets see, I need a whopping +689 defense rating. Some items +60+60+70+70+50+40... DEFENSE. Are you kidding? And to think the amount of miss/dodge/parry/block that adds is minuscule anyway and only a few percent?

Sure sure, on WotlK tank gear theres "tons" of defense (literally) to accommodate this. At what cost? What other tank goodies (Oh, stamina... armor...dodge...parry...block....strength.....expertise) are we losing out on because the dang thing has 9999 defense on it?

Then tell me.... Bears don't need it anymore. WHAT? They can MT naxx fine in blues without a drop of defense? They have the privilege of stacking the stats they WANT to stack while the plate wearers give up nearly anything they have to meet +689 defense rating. The craftable cloak leatherworkers can make, is beautiful! But guess what, it too has no defense on it. Therefore, its a "bear cloak" because plate wearers are "defense orientated" No beautiful cloak for us. We need something with... oh, 80 defense on it or so, and no other stats.

All of it JUST TO SAY: THIS CHARACTER WONT TAKE A CRITICAL.
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Ghostcrawler
#21 - Nov. 24, 2008, 5:25 p.m.
Blizzard Post
The only thing that annoys me a little about the defense stat is that it does double duty as a tanking stat and as the mechanic that prevents you from fighting mobs much higher level than you are. There is a small voice in the back of my head saying that having one stat pull double duty might eventually be a problem.

I also suspect we might have an easier time making balance work across the board if defense provided mitigation (more like block) and not avoidance. That may be something we look at eventually.