Design Question: Why isn't armor a factor....

#0 - May 17, 2009, 4:39 p.m.

This is a serious post. I am not pointing at any certain class but at the games design as a whole. Why do plate wearers do comparable damage as cloth wearers? Why isn't the armor type a factor in the damage? For as long as I have been playing games and RPG's in particular, this rule has been followed.

In my opinion, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that a warrior, paladin, or dk should be able to damage anywhere near the opposite end of the armor spectrum. (mage,warlock, even S.Priest) Rogues and druids should not do more than clothies but should do more than mail and plate, etc.

Am I the only one who feels this way? Is that what the designers want the game to be but just need time to make appropriate changes. I think part of the reason that people hate dks and pallies is because they are doing more damage than the squishiest of the squishy. And then the clothies are unhappy because their damage isn't as good as someone with 4 times their defenses.

Even if we were to assume they did the exact same burst, the armor plays a huge role.

20k in 4 GCDs 6000 armor
20k in 4 GCDs 18000 armor

So all I am wondering and hopefully GC can clear this up with me is whether or not this is intended. Obviously, I recognise that big changes take time, but if I know that the intended design is not to be this way then I will be much happier waiting. If I am waiting for changes that aren't coming ever, then I should stop while I am ahead. If anyone disagrees or agrees, please post. I am interested to see if anyone feels the same.

Ghostcrawler

#15 - May 17, 2009, 8:11 p.m.

I think you are just looking at the armor number and assuming that translates to survivability. A lot of the damage done, some even from plate wearers, is not physical. Plate-wearers are by and large melee while cloth-wearers are by and large ranged. If you're a caster, not only are you doing ranged damage but you're punching right through the armor anyway. All the casters have spells that increase their mitigation far beyond the simple armor number on their cloth.

I think a lot of the arguments you see on the forums right now about melee > ranged are simplistic. The armor on plate probably has an effect, but I don't think it's the main effect. Consider the rock-paper-scissors of a generic melee class to a generic caster class. The balance is supposed to be that the caster can cause damage at range. The melee class can attempt to close to do damage, but the caster has crowd control and escape mechanisms to get away. Now consider that most of the caster crowd control and some escape mechanisms are magic, which can be dispelled, while the snares, stuns and charges from melee are often physical or can't be dispelled at all. From that POV, you could argue that dispels and Blessing of Freedom in particular, are far more destabilizing to Arena balance than just plate.