Comparing Warrior stances to other classes

#0 - March 8, 2009, 9:43 a.m.
Blizzard Post
Warrior Stances:
Q u o t e:
Berserker Stance:
An aggressive stance. Critical hit chance is increased by 3% and all damage taken is increased by 10%.
Instant, 1 sec cooldown

Battle Stance:
A balanced combat stance. Instant, 1 sec cooldown.

Defensive Stance:
A defensive combat stance. Decreases damage taken by 10% and damage caused by 10%. Increases threat generated.


Compare to a Death Knights Presence:
Q u o t e:
Blood Presence:
Strengthens the Death Knight with the presence of blood, increasing damage by 15% and healing the Death Knight by 2% of damage dealt. Only damage dealt to targets that grant experience or honor can trigger this heal. Only one Presence may be active at a time.
1 Blood, Instant, 1 sec cooldown

Frost Presence:
The death knight takes on the presence of frost, increasing total health by 10%, armor contribution from items by 60%, and reducing spell damage taken by 5%. Increases threat generated. Only one Presence may be active at a time.
1 Frost, Instant, 1 sec cooldown

Unholy Presence:
Infuses the death knight with unholy fury, increasing attack speed by 15%, movement speed by 15% and reducing the global cooldown on all abilities by 0.5 sec. Only one Presence may be active at a time.
1 Unholy, Instant, 1 sec cooldown


Druid Forms:
Q u o t e:
Cat Form:
Shapeshift into cat form, increasing melee attack power by 40 plus Agility. Also protects the caster from Polymorph effects and allows the use of various cat abilities.
The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.
35% of base mana, Instant cast

Bear Form:
Shapeshift into bear form, increasing melee attack power by 30, armor contribution from items by 180%, and Stamina by 25%. Also protects the caster from Polymorph effects and allows the use of various bear abilities.
The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.
35% of base mana, Instant cast


Mage Armors:
Q u o t e:
Mage Armor:
Increases your resistance to all magic by 40 and allows 30% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting. In addition, the duration of all harmful Magic effects used against you is reduced by 50%. Only one type of Armor spell can be active on the Mage at any time. Lasts 30 min.
26% of base mana, Instant cast

Molten Armor:
Causes 170 Fire damage when hit, increases your chance to critically hit with spells by 3%, and reduces the chance you are critically hit by 5%. Only one type of Armor spell can be active on the Mage at any time. Lasts 30 min.
28% of base mana, Instant cast

Ice Armor:
Increases Armor by 930 and frost resistance by 40. If an enemy strikes the caster, they may have their movement slowed by 30% and the time between their attacks increased by 25% for 5 sec. Only one type of Armor spell can be active on the Mage at any time. Lasts 30 min.
28% of base mana, Instant cast


Paladins Seals:
Q u o t e:
Seal of Justice:
Fills the Paladin with the spirit of justice for 2 min, giving each melee attack a chance to stun for 2 sec. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time.
Unleashing this Seal's energy will deal [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 1 ] Holy damage to an enemy. 14% of base mana, Instant cast

Seal of Corruption:
Fills the Paladin with holy power, causing attacks to apply Blood Corruption, which deals [ 19.2% of AP + 9.6% of Spell Power ] additional Holy damage over 15 sec. Blood Corruption can stack up to 5 times. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 2 min.
Unleashing this Seal's energy will deal [ 17.5% of AP + 28% of Spell Power + 1 ] Holy damage to an enemy, increased by 10% for each application of Blood Corruption on the target. 14% of base mana, Instant cast

Seal of Martyr:
All melee attacks deal [ 28% of mw ] to [ 28% of MW ] additional Holy damage, but the Paladin loses health equal to 10% of the total damage inflicted. Lasts 2 min.
Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy, instantly causing [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of mw ] to [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of MW ] Holy damage at the cost of health equal to 33% of the damage caused. 14% of base mana, Instant cast.

Seal of Vengeance:
Fills the Paladin with holy power, causing attacks to apply Holy Vengeance, which deals [ 19.2% of AP + 9.6% of Spell Power ] additional Holy damage over 15 sec. Holy Vengeance can stack up to 5 times. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 2 min.
Unleashing this Seal's energy will deal [ 17.5% of AP + 28% of Spell Power + 1 ] Holy damage to an enemy, increased by 10% for each application of Holy Vengeance on the target. 14% of base mana, Instant cast


With the exception of Seal of Martyr which is only 1 of 4 Seals with a debuff. Why must 2 stances include a negative bonus and 1 with NO bonus too it? How is that even considered balanced?
#32 - March 8, 2009, 6:38 p.m.
Blizzard Post
No other class has stances. We don't want warrior stances to be like DK presences for example. DKs aren't generally supposed to change their presence much. We want warriors to change stances (within reason. You don't need to point out that tanks stay in Defensive Stance nearly all of the time).

Part of the design of Berserker Stance is that it's a reckless stance. You do more damage and have access to some important abilities, but you also open yourself up to additional damage as well. We could, for example, change the crit bonus on Zerk to 10%, but we would offset that by lowering warrior damage -- we aren't just going to give warriors free damage unless we feel their damage is low, and for Fury warriors, we don't feel that way. (And let's please not turn this into another TG thread.)

Now as you can tell with the latest patch, we are trying to see if we can get rid of the stance penalties. But that does not mean getting rid of the stances, and that does not mean that shifting stance just becomes an extra button click you macro in to use the ability you want. For example, if you are considering going to Defensive because everyone is ganging up on you, that should be a decision not an instant reflex.

Similarly, rather than throwing up our hands and just letting warriors stay in Zerk all of the time for PvP, we are trying to create situations where going to Battle makes logical sense... but again, with a trade-off.