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Author Topic: Explanation of 4.3 Balance Changes, Part Two [Locked]
Spookysheep  4 stars
Title: Lieker of Cheese
Posts: 1,248
Registered: 2002-1-9 06:49:19
Heroics are srs bzness

 

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Cawlin  4 stars
Posts: 1,759
Registered: 2005-2-22 07:58:42
At the end of the day, there are two possibilities for the consideration of the presence of various specs of the same class in raids or in any other aspect of the game.

First premise: All specs are viable for raid encounters, and so there should be some representation of all specs in a raid.

Now, if that "equal" or "appropriate" representation is not being met - and it may not be equal because you may only need one of a given spec for "utility" or other reasons - then the raid model is broken in that the utility of the other specs are not required. Perhaps the raid needs to make use of the utility of the spec that offers lower DPS so as to offer that playstyle some time to shine. This happened a lot in vanilla by the way.

Second premise: There's no need to consider that ALL possible specs of a given class SHOULD be represented in raids because there are other aspects of the game wherein the other specs have their "time to shine". I.e. PvP/Arena.

If there is no viability for frost mages in PvP over say, arcane or fire, AND there is no viability for frost mages in a raid, then there is a problem.


So the question with respect to mages is:

Is there a part of the game wherein frost mages are viable or even preferred? Do they make the best choice for an arena mage for instance? I don't know that answer, it's an honest question. If the answer is yes, then there is no problem and the rationale should be clear - frost is the PvP spec, and arcane or fire are the raid spec. Presumably there will be some raid encounters or raid dungeons where either fire or arcane would be preferred for instance.


All in all, the big thing that I think WoW has moved away from and which is the REAL problem here is the give and take, the necessity to make choices between things like maximum DPS and maximum survivability, or utility, etc.

To use an example from early BC - back then, max DPS for hunters was Beast Mastery, but that's not what got hunters through the rough heroics (and they were rough back in those early days - most of you probably don't remember that, but I do - back when those heroics were required to get keys to raid instances beyond Karazhan). Hunters would get invited to heroics because they could spec for utility and crowd control, not because they could do DPS.

This game has largely homogenized various aspects of class choices and I think it has done so, in the name of "simplicity" but it has done so, also to the detriment of the game.

 

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If ignorance were painful, half the posters here would be on morphine drips.
Everyone playing WoW knows everything about playing two classes: 1) their own and 2) Hunters
Quazimortal  4 stars
Title: The One and Only
Posts: 1,557
Registered: 2004-9-18 21:52:58
The_Korrigan posted:

Quazimortal posted:

WTF? Did you seriously just equate the Cataclysm heroic dungeons to something that requires less pew pew and more thinking? I'm hoping that was just a bad comparison on your part...

WotLK = drop AOE and faceroll.
Cataclysm = think your pulls and use CC.
Definitely a difference. That's what the scrubs all whined about, they couldn't stand having to do some "basic thinking" when playing. I never pretended it was rocket science either, but for some it was still too "difficult" apparently.



That is just stupid. I know that isn't what I hated nor any of my friends or even the people I barely knew who talk in trade chat. The thing that sucked about Cata heroics was the retarded amount of damage going out to everyone that couldn't be CC'd or stopped or anything. Virtually every single one of the bosses, with the exception or two, was a dps check and had absolutely nothing to do with more thinking aside from your standard 'don't stand in sh1t' rule.

 

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“A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.
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Spookysheep  4 stars
Title: Lieker of Cheese
Posts: 1,248
Registered: 2002-1-9 06:49:19
Cawlin posted:

So the question with respect to mages is:

Is there a part of the game wherein frost mages are viable or even preferred? Do they make the best choice for an arena mage for instance? I don't know that answer, it's an honest question. If the answer is yes, then there is no problem and the rationale should be clear - frost is the PvP spec, and arcane or fire are the raid spec. Presumably there will be some raid encounters or raid dungeons where either fire or arcane would be preferred for instance.



Yes, in PVP, frost mages are face roll, literally. Hence it is why all the carebears who want to try their hand at PVP roll one. You could train a monkey in about 3 easy steps to get max rating with a frost mage.

Arcane and fire are the raid specs. So yeah, mages should quit their crying.


Unlike the other arguments in this thread though, my only point was how retarded blizzard is for saying that frost is viable in PVE because it is not, in any way. It is for PVP and if blizzard is too stupid to know that they designed it that way, their is little hope for the future

 

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I liek cheese
Pirates > Ninjas
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Cawlin  4 stars
Posts: 1,759
Registered: 2005-2-22 07:58:42
Spookysheep posted:

Cawlin posted:

So the question with respect to mages is:

Is there a part of the game wherein frost mages are viable or even preferred? Do they make the best choice for an arena mage for instance? I don't know that answer, it's an honest question. If the answer is yes, then there is no problem and the rationale should be clear - frost is the PvP spec, and arcane or fire are the raid spec. Presumably there will be some raid encounters or raid dungeons where either fire or arcane would be preferred for instance.



Yes, in PVP, frost mages are face roll, literally. Hence it is why all the carebears who want to try their hand at PVP roll one. You could train a monkey in about 3 easy steps to get max rating with a frost mage.

Arcane and fire are the raid specs. So yeah, mages should quit their crying.


Unlike the other arguments in this thread though, my only point was how retarded blizzard is for saying that frost is viable in PVE because it is not, in any way. It is for PVP and if blizzard is too stupid to know that they designed it that way, their is little hope for the future



It's kind of funny though that your perspective on what's "viable" is only from the raider view.

Really, what does "viable" mean?

We're way beyond the days of people kicking scrubs from heroics for low DPS as a regular thing, and of course any serious raider would have the ultimate spec, but casual raiders - they're casual for a reason - one of those reasons that I've heard over and over through the years is that they can't be bothered to worry about pulling their weight in a group and that they're just there to get what they can before the group bails... so... what does "viable" really mean?

 

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If ignorance were painful, half the posters here would be on morphine drips.
Everyone playing WoW knows everything about playing two classes: 1) their own and 2) Hunters
Spookysheep  4 stars
Title: Lieker of Cheese
Posts: 1,248
Registered: 2002-1-9 06:49:19
Cawlin posted:

It's kind of funny though that your perspective on what's "viable" is only from the raider view.

Really, what does "viable" mean?

We're way beyond the days of people kicking scrubs from heroics for low DPS as a regular thing, and of course any serious raider would have the ultimate spec, but casual raiders - they're casual for a reason - one of those reasons that I've heard over and over through the years is that they can't be bothered to worry about pulling their weight in a group and that they're just there to get what they can before the group bails... so... what does "viable" really mean?



Touche' bro. Tou, *#*$#, che'

 

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I liek cheese
Pirates > Ninjas
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