#0 - March 7, 2009, 5:27 p.m.
There is no focus, no direction.
Here are some example of changes that make NO SENSE AT ALL:
-Warriors getting a bubble breaking ability.
*Most warriors I've talked to/read posts by/etc. are completely baffled by this change. This isn't something that will suddenly make warriors more versatile in arena. It sticks them into a role that really won't increase their viability by much. Giving a class specific counter-class abilities usually ends up being a bad idea and really OP (like plague strike/blood plague against druids).
-Shadow priests getting a disram.
*Seriously? SERIOUSLY? This seems like a DIRECT result of "why don't casters have a disarm" whining on the forums. Mark my words-shadow priests are still going to suck in PvP after this change. They'll still be too easy to FF, too easy to kill, too easy to shut down. Their core problems aren't being addressed. This is a band-aid change.
-Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey no longer works while in Aspect of the Dragonhawk.
*REALLY? ARE YOU JOKING? You already nerfed the glyph to have an internal cooldown of 20s. Now, despite combining Hawk and Monkey so hunters didn't have to aspect swap as much (now, only needed to go from DH to Viper)-you expect hunters to...aspect swap again. NO ONE WILL EVER USE THIS GLYPH AGAIN IF THIS CHANGE GOES LIVE. Let me say it again. NO ONE WILL EVER USE THIS GLYPH AGAIN IF THIS CHANGE GOES LIVE.
-Glyph of Strangulate goes from 1m CD reduction to 30s CD reduction to 20s CD reduction.
*NO ONE WILL EVER USE THIS GLYPH. 1m CD reduction was VERY OP. No DK will deny this. 30s was GOOD. 20s means no one will use this glyph.
-Hunter Survival tree completely wrecked.
*Many, if not most, hunter are already talking about going back to BM. BM started off too OP-it got nerfed, SV got buffed. Everyone went SV-now it's getting hit too hard-which leaves...BM again-because, even with the tiny Chimera cost reduction, it's still too costly and hunter trees are VERY dependent on 51 point talents while other classes are complaining that their 51 pointers are bad.
Anyway-this is just the tip of the iceberg. IMO, 3.1 needs to be a "bug fix and Ulduar" patch with almost none of the class balance changes going through. It's turning out to be a big conglomeration of changes that just don't make sense. There's no direction-there's no focus.
What SHOULD be happening is a comprehensive class-by-class review by the devs that assesses class/specs strengths and weaknesses in PvP and PvE, then addresses those changes. I can't fathom an assessment of warriors that said "man, they get kited really easily, have trouble genning rage... ... ... being able to break immunities will really make them more viable." I can't fathom an assessment of shadow priests that said, "man, they're really easy to shut down, easy to kill, have bad mobility-let's give them a disarm."
I guess my point is that A LOT of players seem confused by many of these seemingly "shot in the dark" changes that don't really appear to address core class issues. 3.1 just seems like more of the "overnerf, questionable buff" tendency lately.
