Friday, August 29, 2008

Racial Imbalance: Alliance in General

We've all felt the imbalance, usually while PvPing.. (because honestly, who feels racial imbalance whilst in the midst of PvEing? A few of you do, undoubtedly, because no one is the same, but really... do you sit there casting Starshards and think about how awesome Devouring Plague would be instead?)

However, in PvP we've all felt the sting of the other side's racials. And yes, I am biased. I'm Alliance. Therefore, I feel the Horde racials are bigger, better and more useful. If the Horde think the same thing about Alliance... they're pulling your leg while internally laughing at the joke of it all. The worst thing to happen to the Horde went away when they gave the Horde Paladins. (To be fair, the worst thing to happen to the Alliance went away when they gave the Alliance Shaman. Blizzard can't help that the Horde are better at PvP... oh wait. Yes they can.)

(Well, they can help a little bit. They can't help that Alliance PvP is made up of dimwits who think it's cool to make premade losing teams.)

(And poop! I was so proud of myself. I was making a table and I put all the values in so I'd look all spiffy, and though I typed in the html all the way it said I should, blogspot added a whole bunch of other values, that no matter what I try, I can't get to STAY AWAY, and it screws up my whole table. Poop poop poop.)

So here goes, the less spiffy and more haphazard presentation.

(Let's play a game. A matching game! I list the races, the abilities and what they do, and you connect them!)

(Just kidding. I'm not that ambitious.)


Dwarf: Stoneform: Immunity and dispelling of poison, disease and bleed effects + 10% armor. 8 second duration, 3 minute cooldown.

This ability is quite useful in the Moroes fight for removing Garotte. And I suppose when leveling if you aren't a dwarf paladin or priest in removing some of the nasty things afflicting you before you die. In PvP, it can be useful to get rid of a few things... but they're just going to get reapplied, you know it. And on a 3 minute cooldown...

It removes all bleed effects (rip, rend, deep wounds, rupture and garrote), poisons (cripping, deadly, wound, mind numbing, etc), hunter stings (serpent, viper, wyvern, scorpid and snake trap poison) and diseases (devouring plague).

Gnome: Escape Artist: Any immobility or movement speed effects are removed. 1m45s cooldown.

The quick cooldown is a nice little pat on the back for an ability that I've heard most gnomes say doesn't work as intended. Perhaps this is because a lot of immobility effects or movement speed effects stun or aren't actually 'immobility' or 'movement speed effects'. Wording is very specific.. thus, very important. At least it can fail frequently!

Things it works on! Frost Armor, Slow and Frost Nova, Root, Hamstring, Earthbind Totem, Frost Shock, Concussive Shot and Frost Trap.

Things it doesn't work on! Sleep, Sap, Sheep, Fear, Death Coil, Warstomp and a rogue with Vile Poisons.

Human: Perception: Increases stealth detection radius/ability. 20s/3m cooldown.

Really? In a world of Shadowstep rogues, really? For 20 seconds, 3m cooldown... very useful in PvP. Highly. Stupendously. Occasionally would be useful in PvE. Like in Arc with the invisible succubi, or Blackheart the Inciter's chamber in SLabs.

Because rogues don't have the patience in PvP to wait until the little 'perception' buff goes away after 20 seconds to sneak up and sap your ass.

It does see through MoD, so if you're about to kill a rogue and they vanish, pop it and you'll be able to whack on them some more.

Night Elf: Shadowmeld: When you are immobile and out of combat, you can be stealthed. Passively it increases stealth level of rogues and kitty druids.

This is about worthless for anything. The only bonus I found for it is when you're guarding a base or something in PvP and you aren't a rogue or druid... and you have nice juicy bait sitting there, all alone, no one else around... The surprise you can imagine on their face when they get charged into by a warrior that was stealthed is priceless. While the clothy bait dances in glee. Whee! Otherwise... pop it after you sit down to eat and drink and you can be stealthed while you snack! Uber! Just don't mount up or sneeze, because BAMF... visible in all your glory! (put your pants back on, pervert.)

Druids and rogues can pop it while their stealth is on cooldown, and it works as a stealth button.

It's usable by laser turkeys and trees as well.

As a bonus! Ooh, bonus! You can log out while in Shadowmeld form! SA-WEET!


Draenei: Gift of the Naaru: A 35+15/level over 15s heal. 1.5s cast time/3m cooldown. (potential for a holy spell lockdown for priests and paladins)

This is a nifty little ability that can come in handy for those draenei players who don't come with an innate ability to heal. In the case of mages with good gear, the healing bonus boosts the spell enough to give some mages the giggles as they see themselves on the healing charts. In terms of PvP, I'm not sure if it can be dispelled (I'd be surprised if it couldn't) and as previously mentioned, there's the chance for it to lock out other holy spells if you're caught casting it.

Nice, but hardly essential (or overtly useful) in PvP, in PvE, sometimes it's the difference between life and death... cast it, go attack, cast it again when it's up if you're still fighting in 3m... hey, it saves on a bandage or a food item!

It cannot crit and costs no mana, so it's only effected by +healing and threat reduction.

Bonuses from a Priest's Silent Resolve, Healing Focus and Spiritual Healing. A shaman's Healing Grace and Purification.


As always.. comments, questions, opinions, criticisms... bring it on! :)

(and more poop! I tried to break my sections with little lines... but that also didn't show up. What's the point of me learning some basic html if it doesn't work here.)

1 comment:

  1. Alliance racials are totally gimped. I have rerolled some Horde and am going to try to see what winning in PVP is like.

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