Protection PVP specs, Cataclysm, Mastery

#0 - April 10, 2010, 5:08 a.m.

As of right now, in WOTLK, both Warrior and Paladin Protection trees are fairly effective in PVP.
They deal good damage and have fantastic utility.
With the implementation of the Mastery system in Cataclysm, Protection specs will not have access to damage increasing masteries, instead receiving entirely tank based bonuses.
I suppose my questions in the end are:
1) Are you happy with the current design of Protection in Arenas and/or Battlegrounds, where they are effectively damage dealing specs?
2) Should we expect this design to continue? If so, how will we make up for the damage we will lose to other specs via mastery?
3) Alternatively, shall Protection once again be relegated to tank status in PVP, effectively taking them out of any sort of competitive arena, and turning them into Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch flag defense?
4) With the changes to Rogues and Hunters coming down the pipe, is there any chance of a Protection spec gaining the ability to apply a similar anti-targetting ability to their allies for example?

Ghostcrawler

#17 - July 5, 2010, 7:50 p.m.

We want the Protection specs to have a place in Arena play, but to be frank, it's not our highest priority. Our sense is that most players who chose Protection chose it for tanking.

We don't want Protection dps to be trivial, but we also don't want it to rival that of say mages and rogues even in PvP. A Protection class in PvP should be more about survival and control, not about massive damage. With the added focus on BGs in Cataclysm, the tanking specs will be good at flag defense or flag-carrying, which suits their strengths.

The Vengeance mechanic is a way to help us balance tank damage. It can be as high as it needs to be in PvE, while much lower and most-importantly dispellable in PvP.