#0 - June 19, 2009, 3:52 a.m.
FULL DISCLOSURE - I run a 3s setup that is pretty much entirely based around "CC the healer and burst a target down". I have zero problems with changing our team's playstyle, as long as a viable playstyle remains.
Deathknights -
Why didn't blizzard decide to "spread around" the damage dealt by frost DKs in PvP?
I totally understand that frost strike hits freaking hard, especially on wounded targets. I also totally get the avoidance change: defensive abilities like evasion need to have at least SOME effect against something that hits that hard. What I don't understand is why you nerfed a main component of a frost DK's damage and didn't try to recoup the lost damage through another ability. Unholy DKs already deal more overall damage during a match. I'm not linking screenshots of end-of-match reports, because I'm sure blizzzard is already aware of this. So why the overall damage nerf, and not a damage spread? Are you saying that DKs in general are doing too much damage in a match? Without MS? it seems puzzling.
Why was Hungering Cold left untouched?
This one has me completely stumped. At the high levels of arena, HC is arguably more important of a tool than frost strike, because it's 10 seconds, applies a damage-increasing DoT effect, and doesn't share a DR with most other forms of CC. This thing was begging to get nerfed to 6 seconds. Does this mean that Frost DKs are still meant to trap a healer in 2 HCs (one to force trinket, the second to make the healer sit through it) over the course of the fight in order to land a kill? I'll take a 6 second HC if it means we get a stronger plague strike or blood strike. Anything to get our overall PvP damage up to ret or warrior levels.
Why was desecration tweaked to be a single target (and therefore PvP-friendly) ability?
Unholy does perfectly fine as far as overall damage and burst damage goes in PvP. Why are you giving them Death-Coil deep wounds?
Overall PvP questions
Are you happy with resto shamans' reliance on "control" classes in arenas for viable comps?
The most effective 3s comp for a resto shaman right now is resto sham/muti rogue/destro lock. Why? Both classes have strong CC and can't be left alone without serious consequences. The overall effect is to prevent the shaman from being a viable target, allowing the shaman to utilize his offensive abilities. The riptide change that removes the haste from LHW is going to reinforce the necessity for shamans to pair with control classes or deal with failure. Secondly, I thought blizzard was trying to get away from the crit bonuses for healing spells after all the complaints from pallys regarding illumination. Is 25% more crit a reliable healing mechanic? Would you take a shaman because he says "hey I'm a great healer, my LHWs crit like half the time!". Good thing 2s don't count anymore, I'd love to see a shaman try to get a heal off against double-DPS...
Are you still happy with the current design of massive changes done infrequently, as opposed to minor changes done more often?
I honestly can see the pros and cons of each approach, but I wonder if blizzard is happy with saving the major PvP changes for the beginning of each season, as opposed to trying more significant changes to faltering classes in an attempt to raise representation.
Does blizzard factor in comp diversity for classes in regards to overall representation?
Apologies if the question is hard to understand, but I'd like to know if blizzard accounts for, say, a low warlock representation in 3s due to the fact that it really only has 1 or 2 viable comps. Same goes for hunters and shaman. Also, does blizzard ever make design changes specifically intended to boost synergy amongst the classes in order to increase comp diversity?
Does blizzard consider it a viable strategy for non-MS damage dealing classes to get kills without using CC or healer interrupts in arena?
Putting it bluntly, does blizzard find it okay if a ret, warlock, mage, etc can "brute-force" a kill by simply pumping out a lot of damage? I see an inconsistency here in regards to the non-MS damage dealing classes. Obviously, blizzard doesn't want rets or DKs hitting as hard as they do, but destro locks and mages still retain the power to overwhelm a target through healing if allowed to run their rotation. Is this more of an issue between melee burst/ranged burst? Is it an issue of setup? In my mind, I see that rets and DKs lost a viable strategy while casters retained it.
