I wish people would tell me I'm writing about something about to change! ... Then again, it probably wouldn't have stopped me anyway. It would have just given me more to write about!
One of my commenters was kind enough to point me to the WoW Forums (where I never venture) to show me where someone posted about upcoming changes to racials.
Whether those will still be true by the time WotLK comes out, we shall see.
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Monday, September 8, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Racial Imbalance: Horde in General
Finishing up my four part series on Racial Imbalances, I present the flip side to the Alliance in General post I made a little over a week ago.
In that post, I outlined the Alliance racials, their pros and uses. Their pitiful little uses.
In this post, I'm going to outline the Horde racials, their pros and uses. Their overwhelming usefulness. (Bitter, who, me? Nah.)
Orc: Blood Fury: Increases attack power/spell damage and healing for 15 seconds. Applies a debuff to self of reduced healing by 50% for 15 seconds. 2 minute cooldown. Does not trigger global cool down.
The attack power buff is 2+level * 4 (ie: 282 for level 70) and the spell damage/healing is 3+level*2 (143 for level 70).
Melee classes get the attack power buff, warlocks get the spell damage and shaman get both melee and spell damage bonuses.
As one can imagine, this is a nice little ability, like an extra trinket. In the world of PvP where you may not be getting healed or against PvE mobs where you won't get healed if you aren't in a group with a healer (ie: soloing. No one does that though.) who cares about a healing debuff?
Admittedly, the 50% healing debuff is a hefty negative, it only lasts for 15seconds, which is as long as the buff. So you go all blood fury and whack a few people, by the time you need healing, the debuff is probably gone.
The nice thing though, is that this ability, though it has a nice offensive ability, does have a negative drawback for using it. You run the risk of not getting healed enough to stay alive.
Tauren: War Stomp: Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. 2 minute cooldown. Does not trigger global cool down. Cannot auto-attack on the stunned target. 0.5 second cast time.
We've all been the victim of this ability. Whomp. Whomp. Whomp. 2 minutes when in the real world seems more like 5 seconds. The 2 second stun effect feels like 3 minutes. You all know what I mean!
A lot of times when it's used, it allows druids and shaman to get a chance to heal without interruption. Because they need that extra time! (They don't already have Lesser Healing Wave or HoTs that heal for a lot with low casting time. No. Not in the least.) Isn't that useful?
While auto-attack is interrupted for the duration of War Stomp, special attacks and spells will still work.
I dunno, I think Escape Artist is far more useful.
Troll: Berserking: Increases attack and casting speed by 10% to 30% for 10 seconds. Does not trigger global cool down. 3 minute cooldown. Cost to use is 6% of base mana, 10 Energy or 5 Rage.
The haste increase depends on the amount of damage. Being healed after the racial is triggered does not alter the haste rating gained.
For spell haste at the least, 30% is achieved when you are at 40% health. It decreases linearly from 40-100% down to a 10% increase. Fuzzy math makes head hurt. Ungh.
Essentially, this is an ability used when you're hurt and they're hurt and you want to win. It's like a miniature I-Win button!
Forsaken: Will of the Forsaken: Provides immunity to charm, fear and sleep and will dispell those effects if used when charmed, feared or sleeping. 5 second duration, 2 minute cooldown.
It USED to stay active for 20 seconds. I don't need to elucidate on the benefits of this ability, do I? (Honestly, Shadowmeld... MUCH more useful.)
It's similar in effect to those nifty trinkets. So ... if they have the trinket. They have TWO outs of sleep, fear and charm. Who knew it was so good to be dead?
Forsaken: Cannibalize: 10 second cast, 5 yard range. When active, restores 7% of total health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Any movement, damage taken or action done will interrupt the effect. 2 minute cooldown. Only works on humanoid and undead corpses.
The warlock armor buff Fel Armor will increase the healing gained.
The dead are not damned! They are favored. They get TWO active racials! Woot woot!
Blood Elf: Mana Tap: Reduces the target's mana by X (where X = 50+level) and charges the caster with 10 Arcane energy. 30 second cooldown. Mana Tap lasts 10 minutes and has 3 charges. Activates the global cool down.
Mana tap breaks sheep, sap and freezing trap (counts as an attack), so presumably it will also break seduce.
By itself, this is merely a mana drain ability. However, combine it with...
Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent: Silences all enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. In addition, you gain 10 Mana for each charge of Mana Tap affecting you. 2 minute cooldown.
Mana return scales with level. (At max level, 161 mana / charge).
(Blood Elves also get two racials. Isn't that cute? They can twirl, do their hair, attack and cast like they're ballerinas and they get two active racials! Woot woot!)
So, in addition to the Horde having an every 2 minute stun move for 2 seconds, the Horde also have an every 2 minute AoE silence!
Summary:
Of general racials,
- three remove debuffs from the target (Stoneform, Will of the Forsaken and Escape Artist)
- two are healing (Gift of the Naaru and Cannibalize)
- one is a search function (Perception)
- one is almost useless as an active trait (Shadowmeld)
- five are offensive abilities (Blood Fury, War Stomp, Berserking, Mana Tap and Arcane Torrent)
- of those five, one buffs and debuffs the caster (Blood Fury), one is an AoE stun effect (War Stomp), one is an AoE silencing effect (Arcane Torrent), one is a mana drain (Mana Tap) and one is purely offensive (Berserking)
- two Horde races have two active racials
- zero Alliance races have two active racials
Of Horde racials,
- two have no offensive capabilities (Will of the Forsaken and Cannibalize)
- two are AoE abilities that do no direct damage (War Stomp and Arcane Torrent)
- two are damaging offensive abilities (Blood Fury and Berserking)
- one is a minor mana drain that has the potential to buff the caster.
- average cooldown is 2 minutes (5 at 2 minutes, 1 at 3 minutes, 1 at 30 seconds)
Of Alliance racials,
- five have no offensive capabilities (Escape Artist, Stoneform, Peception, Shadowmeld, Gift of the Naaru)
- zero are AoE abilities.
- zero are damaging offensive abilities.
- average cooldown is 2 minutes (3 at 3 minutes, 1 at 1m45s, 1 (useless) at 10 seconds)
On the whole, Horde racials seem especially geared to PvP fighting or even PvE play. On the whole, Alliance racials are rather useless. Stoneform and Gift of the Naaru are the only real applicable useful abilities. Escape Artist, as noted previously, has lots of gnomes who say it doesn't work as intended.
Way back in the day before Shaman were on both teams, it was noted that Horde seemed designed to PvP. The Shaman were the PvP equivalent of the PvE Paladin. Their racials are more offensive (and actually are useful. Hate you Shadowmeld.) and so much cooler than Alliance.
Now, one can argue that the very names tell why. The HORDE versus the ALLIANCE. Hordes are fury barely contained. They are offensive, they are brutal. They are a horde. Alliance denotes civilization, having tea and crumpets, walking the dog and watching hummingbirds at feeders.
...
Screw that. The Alliance is a team of noble knights and defenders of the defenseless! And stuff.
We want racials that compare to the Horde racials in terms of utility and usefulness in PvP. Not racials that we use once in a blue moon when the whooperwill is seen flying over the home of the 7th son of the 7th son!
Again, comments, criticism, etc. Please speak up! What do you think? What do you feel? Do you use your Alliance racials more often than I think most people use them? When do you use them? Are you Horde and laughing your ass off? STFU.
No, kidding. Comment too, stupid horde, I care about your opinion! :)
Do you feel it's as unfair as I'm writing it to be? Or am I overly biased? Am I right to be biased?
I think I have a fair grievance here. I've laid out all the abilities that are race based. Not only do the Horde have more of them, but their abilities are more useful on and off the battleground. Is this just someone not paying attention? Or someone who really thinks Shadowmeld is the coolest thing ever!
Maybe make it so EVERY Night Elf could stealth like a rogue. Now, THAT would be an awesome racial to have.
I say, let's start a petition to Blizzard! All for universal stealth for Night Elves, say aye!
In that post, I outlined the Alliance racials, their pros and uses. Their pitiful little uses.
In this post, I'm going to outline the Horde racials, their pros and uses. Their overwhelming usefulness. (Bitter, who, me? Nah.)
Orc: Blood Fury: Increases attack power/spell damage and healing for 15 seconds. Applies a debuff to self of reduced healing by 50% for 15 seconds. 2 minute cooldown. Does not trigger global cool down.
The attack power buff is 2+level * 4 (ie: 282 for level 70) and the spell damage/healing is 3+level*2 (143 for level 70).
Melee classes get the attack power buff, warlocks get the spell damage and shaman get both melee and spell damage bonuses.
As one can imagine, this is a nice little ability, like an extra trinket. In the world of PvP where you may not be getting healed or against PvE mobs where you won't get healed if you aren't in a group with a healer (ie: soloing. No one does that though.) who cares about a healing debuff?
Admittedly, the 50% healing debuff is a hefty negative, it only lasts for 15seconds, which is as long as the buff. So you go all blood fury and whack a few people, by the time you need healing, the debuff is probably gone.
The nice thing though, is that this ability, though it has a nice offensive ability, does have a negative drawback for using it. You run the risk of not getting healed enough to stay alive.
Tauren: War Stomp: Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. 2 minute cooldown. Does not trigger global cool down. Cannot auto-attack on the stunned target. 0.5 second cast time.
We've all been the victim of this ability. Whomp. Whomp. Whomp. 2 minutes when in the real world seems more like 5 seconds. The 2 second stun effect feels like 3 minutes. You all know what I mean!
A lot of times when it's used, it allows druids and shaman to get a chance to heal without interruption. Because they need that extra time! (They don't already have Lesser Healing Wave or HoTs that heal for a lot with low casting time. No. Not in the least.) Isn't that useful?
While auto-attack is interrupted for the duration of War Stomp, special attacks and spells will still work.
I dunno, I think Escape Artist is far more useful.
Troll: Berserking: Increases attack and casting speed by 10% to 30% for 10 seconds. Does not trigger global cool down. 3 minute cooldown. Cost to use is 6% of base mana, 10 Energy or 5 Rage.
The haste increase depends on the amount of damage. Being healed after the racial is triggered does not alter the haste rating gained.
For spell haste at the least, 30% is achieved when you are at 40% health. It decreases linearly from 40-100% down to a 10% increase. Fuzzy math makes head hurt. Ungh.
Essentially, this is an ability used when you're hurt and they're hurt and you want to win. It's like a miniature I-Win button!
Forsaken: Will of the Forsaken: Provides immunity to charm, fear and sleep and will dispell those effects if used when charmed, feared or sleeping. 5 second duration, 2 minute cooldown.
It USED to stay active for 20 seconds. I don't need to elucidate on the benefits of this ability, do I? (Honestly, Shadowmeld... MUCH more useful.)
It's similar in effect to those nifty trinkets. So ... if they have the trinket. They have TWO outs of sleep, fear and charm. Who knew it was so good to be dead?
Forsaken: Cannibalize: 10 second cast, 5 yard range. When active, restores 7% of total health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Any movement, damage taken or action done will interrupt the effect. 2 minute cooldown. Only works on humanoid and undead corpses.
The warlock armor buff Fel Armor will increase the healing gained.
The dead are not damned! They are favored. They get TWO active racials! Woot woot!
Blood Elf: Mana Tap: Reduces the target's mana by X (where X = 50+level) and charges the caster with 10 Arcane energy. 30 second cooldown. Mana Tap lasts 10 minutes and has 3 charges. Activates the global cool down.
Mana tap breaks sheep, sap and freezing trap (counts as an attack), so presumably it will also break seduce.
By itself, this is merely a mana drain ability. However, combine it with...
Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent: Silences all enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. In addition, you gain 10 Mana for each charge of Mana Tap affecting you. 2 minute cooldown.
Mana return scales with level. (At max level, 161 mana / charge).
(Blood Elves also get two racials. Isn't that cute? They can twirl, do their hair, attack and cast like they're ballerinas and they get two active racials! Woot woot!)
So, in addition to the Horde having an every 2 minute stun move for 2 seconds, the Horde also have an every 2 minute AoE silence!
Summary:
Of general racials,
- three remove debuffs from the target (Stoneform, Will of the Forsaken and Escape Artist)
- two are healing (Gift of the Naaru and Cannibalize)
- one is a search function (Perception)
- one is almost useless as an active trait (Shadowmeld)
- five are offensive abilities (Blood Fury, War Stomp, Berserking, Mana Tap and Arcane Torrent)
- of those five, one buffs and debuffs the caster (Blood Fury), one is an AoE stun effect (War Stomp), one is an AoE silencing effect (Arcane Torrent), one is a mana drain (Mana Tap) and one is purely offensive (Berserking)
- two Horde races have two active racials
- zero Alliance races have two active racials
Of Horde racials,
- two have no offensive capabilities (Will of the Forsaken and Cannibalize)
- two are AoE abilities that do no direct damage (War Stomp and Arcane Torrent)
- two are damaging offensive abilities (Blood Fury and Berserking)
- one is a minor mana drain that has the potential to buff the caster.
- average cooldown is 2 minutes (5 at 2 minutes, 1 at 3 minutes, 1 at 30 seconds)
Of Alliance racials,
- five have no offensive capabilities (Escape Artist, Stoneform, Peception, Shadowmeld, Gift of the Naaru)
- zero are AoE abilities.
- zero are damaging offensive abilities.
- average cooldown is 2 minutes (3 at 3 minutes, 1 at 1m45s, 1 (useless) at 10 seconds)
On the whole, Horde racials seem especially geared to PvP fighting or even PvE play. On the whole, Alliance racials are rather useless. Stoneform and Gift of the Naaru are the only real applicable useful abilities. Escape Artist, as noted previously, has lots of gnomes who say it doesn't work as intended.
Way back in the day before Shaman were on both teams, it was noted that Horde seemed designed to PvP. The Shaman were the PvP equivalent of the PvE Paladin. Their racials are more offensive (and actually are useful. Hate you Shadowmeld.) and so much cooler than Alliance.
Now, one can argue that the very names tell why. The HORDE versus the ALLIANCE. Hordes are fury barely contained. They are offensive, they are brutal. They are a horde. Alliance denotes civilization, having tea and crumpets, walking the dog and watching hummingbirds at feeders.
...
Screw that. The Alliance is a team of noble knights and defenders of the defenseless! And stuff.
We want racials that compare to the Horde racials in terms of utility and usefulness in PvP. Not racials that we use once in a blue moon when the whooperwill is seen flying over the home of the 7th son of the 7th son!
Again, comments, criticism, etc. Please speak up! What do you think? What do you feel? Do you use your Alliance racials more often than I think most people use them? When do you use them? Are you Horde and laughing your ass off? STFU.
No, kidding. Comment too, stupid horde, I care about your opinion! :)
Do you feel it's as unfair as I'm writing it to be? Or am I overly biased? Am I right to be biased?
I think I have a fair grievance here. I've laid out all the abilities that are race based. Not only do the Horde have more of them, but their abilities are more useful on and off the battleground. Is this just someone not paying attention? Or someone who really thinks Shadowmeld is the coolest thing ever!
Maybe make it so EVERY Night Elf could stealth like a rogue. Now, THAT would be an awesome racial to have.
I say, let's start a petition to Blizzard! All for universal stealth for Night Elves, say aye!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Racial Imbalance: Horde Priests
The other day I posted about Alliance Priests. Now it's time to look at the other side!
Touch of Weakness: Level 10: Forsaken and Blood Elf: A 10-minute buff (magic) to the priest that causes the next damaging melee attack to do X shadow damage to the attacker and applies a debuff (curse) that decreases damage done by Y for 2 minutes. No cooldown.
At max rank, this costs 235 mana to cast, causes 80 shadow damage and decreases damage done by 35.
This is highly beneficial to shadow priests, as the shadow damage will apply a Shadow Weaving charge and can possibly proc Blackout.
This ability is improved by Blackout, Mental Agility, Force of Will, Darkness, Shadow Focus and Shadow Weaving.
Now, I already admitted that I am biased. However... does anyone else notice something about this LEVEL 10 ability? Something that's missing from the Alliance side in it's entirety? This lasts 10 minutes and 2 minutes. The best offensive level 10 ability that the Alliance has is Starshards. Because priests are heavy into the Arcane damage abilities.
So a priest, especially a shadow priest, pops this and for 10 minutes can curse anyone who hits them.
The only saving grace is that the debuff doesn't stack. However, I get the impression that the shadow damage attack does continue to hit. (And can continue to proc Shadow Weaving... increasing the subsequent shadow damage done each hit, up to a 10% increase... and Blackout... which has the chance to stun someone for 3 seconds with each proc. At max rank, 10% chance.)
(Before people cry 'But Alliance priests have Shadow Word: Pain too! That can proc...', it only procs on initial hit, it does not proc with tick damage.)
Hex of Weakness: Level 10: Troll: Decreases damage done by X and decreases healing recieved by 20% for 2 minutes. (Curse) No cooldown.
At max rank it costs 295 mana to use and reduces damage done by 35. Healing by 20%.
Abilities that help are Mental Agility, Shadow Focus and Shadow Reach.
This is another very useful ability! And another debuff. The healing decrease works on potions and bandages, as well as Vampiric Embrace returns and straight healing. Additionally, downranking against players that are casters will net you lower spell cost but still the 20% healing reduction.
Both horde level 10 abilities... are wow.
Devouring Plague: Level 20: Forsaken: Causes X shadow damage over 24 seconds, healing the caster. (Disease) 3 minute cooldown.
At max rank it costs 1145 mana and causes 1216 shadow damage. This likely scales with additional shadow damage.
This does extra healing if Vampiric Embrace is on the target.
Useful abilities to have with this: Blackout, Darkness, Force of Will, Mental Agility, Shadow Affinity, Shadow Focus, Shadow Reach, Shadow Weaving, Shadowform, Silent Resolve and Vampiric Embrace
It does have a high mana cost, higher than Feedback. That's a saving grace. However, the health/damage returned/done is higher than the mana cost to use, unlike Feedback.
However, Inner Focus and Mental Agility will 1: make it manaless and 2: lower the cost of it. It also makes a Forsaken shadowpriest like a healing warlock. Dots, direct damaging spells and siphon life! Since Inner Focus is also on a 3 minute cooldown, it's a nice way to do damage and heal yourself at the same time with no mana cost! (Of note, it cannot crit, so will waste Inner Focus's additional 20% crit chance.)
Shadowguard: Level 20: Troll: A self buff (Magic). Attacker takes X shadow damage. No cooldown. 3 charges.
At max level it costs 270 mana and delivers 130 damage per charge.
It recieves 26.7% of your spell damage. It is a direct damage spell. Causes no threat.
Because it is shadow damage, it can proc Blackout and Shadow Weaving. (We discussed this already.)
Other useful talents are Darkness, Force of Will, Mental Agility, Shadow Focus, Shadowform and Vampiric Embrace. (It will trigger "passive" Vampiric Embrace healing, whatever that means. I don't have a shadow priest, so I can't comment on how that would work.)
It is instant cast. Cannot be interrupted. And can be cast whenever it goes down, like Lightning Shield for a shaman. Only for a priest.
Consume Magic: Level 20: Blood Elf: Dispels one beneficial magic effects and gives X to Y mana. 2 minute cooldown.
Scales with ranks (only rank 1 is listed).
It's a mana regen tactic.
(What is this? Is this a Horde Racial that isn't offensive and overwhelming? In fact, it's a little wimpy seeming.)
The tactic for this is for the priest to cast rank 1 inner fire on themselves and then consume magic. If it works, you get a bunch of mana for a low mana spell. However... there is no way to guarantee what buff it will eat. So you may have just lost your Mark of the Wild or Fortitude buff.
Summary:
Of the priests talents,
- one is a healing talent (Desperate Prayer: Alliance);
- two are direct damaging abilities (Starshards: Alliance, Shadowguard: Horde);
- two are mana returns (Symbol of Hope: Alliance, Consume Magic: Horde);
- one is pure defensive (Elune's Grace: Alliance);
- five are damaging with some debuff, incapacitate abilities or self heal component (Touch of Weakness, Hex of Weakness, Devouring Plague: Horde and Chastise and Feedback: Alliance).
Of the Horde talents,
- none are direct heals,
- four out of five are damaging abilities, (That's 80%)
- three out of those four apply debuffs to target or healing effects to caster and only one is a mana regen ability.
- The average cooldown is 1 minute. (0 second Touch of Weakness, Hex of Weakness, Shadowguard, 3 minute Devouring Plague, 2 minute Consume Magic)
Of the Alliance talents,
- one is a direct heal,
- three out of six are damaging abilities, (That's 50%)
- one is a mana regen ability and one is a defensive ability.
- None cause debuffs to the target nor have a health return.
- The average cooldown is a little over 3 minutes (10 minute Desperate Prayer, 30 second Starshards, 30 second Chastise, 5 minute Symbol of Hope, 3 minute Feedback and 3 minute Elune's Grace).
...
Do I need to say more? I will continue the slog through HORDE OMGWTFBBQ AWESOMNESS in my next post on general Horde racials.
As always, comments, criticisms, opinions, etc, are welcome. :)
Touch of Weakness: Level 10: Forsaken and Blood Elf: A 10-minute buff (magic) to the priest that causes the next damaging melee attack to do X shadow damage to the attacker and applies a debuff (curse) that decreases damage done by Y for 2 minutes. No cooldown.
At max rank, this costs 235 mana to cast, causes 80 shadow damage and decreases damage done by 35.
This is highly beneficial to shadow priests, as the shadow damage will apply a Shadow Weaving charge and can possibly proc Blackout.
This ability is improved by Blackout, Mental Agility, Force of Will, Darkness, Shadow Focus and Shadow Weaving.
Now, I already admitted that I am biased. However... does anyone else notice something about this LEVEL 10 ability? Something that's missing from the Alliance side in it's entirety? This lasts 10 minutes and 2 minutes. The best offensive level 10 ability that the Alliance has is Starshards. Because priests are heavy into the Arcane damage abilities.
So a priest, especially a shadow priest, pops this and for 10 minutes can curse anyone who hits them.
The only saving grace is that the debuff doesn't stack. However, I get the impression that the shadow damage attack does continue to hit. (And can continue to proc Shadow Weaving... increasing the subsequent shadow damage done each hit, up to a 10% increase... and Blackout... which has the chance to stun someone for 3 seconds with each proc. At max rank, 10% chance.)
(Before people cry 'But Alliance priests have Shadow Word: Pain too! That can proc...', it only procs on initial hit, it does not proc with tick damage.)
Hex of Weakness: Level 10: Troll: Decreases damage done by X and decreases healing recieved by 20% for 2 minutes. (Curse) No cooldown.
At max rank it costs 295 mana to use and reduces damage done by 35. Healing by 20%.
Abilities that help are Mental Agility, Shadow Focus and Shadow Reach.
This is another very useful ability! And another debuff. The healing decrease works on potions and bandages, as well as Vampiric Embrace returns and straight healing. Additionally, downranking against players that are casters will net you lower spell cost but still the 20% healing reduction.
Both horde level 10 abilities... are wow.
Devouring Plague: Level 20: Forsaken: Causes X shadow damage over 24 seconds, healing the caster. (Disease) 3 minute cooldown.
At max rank it costs 1145 mana and causes 1216 shadow damage. This likely scales with additional shadow damage.
This does extra healing if Vampiric Embrace is on the target.
Useful abilities to have with this: Blackout, Darkness, Force of Will, Mental Agility, Shadow Affinity, Shadow Focus, Shadow Reach, Shadow Weaving, Shadowform, Silent Resolve and Vampiric Embrace
It does have a high mana cost, higher than Feedback. That's a saving grace. However, the health/damage returned/done is higher than the mana cost to use, unlike Feedback.
However, Inner Focus and Mental Agility will 1: make it manaless and 2: lower the cost of it. It also makes a Forsaken shadowpriest like a healing warlock. Dots, direct damaging spells and siphon life! Since Inner Focus is also on a 3 minute cooldown, it's a nice way to do damage and heal yourself at the same time with no mana cost! (Of note, it cannot crit, so will waste Inner Focus's additional 20% crit chance.)
Shadowguard: Level 20: Troll: A self buff (Magic). Attacker takes X shadow damage. No cooldown. 3 charges.
At max level it costs 270 mana and delivers 130 damage per charge.
It recieves 26.7% of your spell damage. It is a direct damage spell. Causes no threat.
Because it is shadow damage, it can proc Blackout and Shadow Weaving. (We discussed this already.)
Other useful talents are Darkness, Force of Will, Mental Agility, Shadow Focus, Shadowform and Vampiric Embrace. (It will trigger "passive" Vampiric Embrace healing, whatever that means. I don't have a shadow priest, so I can't comment on how that would work.)
It is instant cast. Cannot be interrupted. And can be cast whenever it goes down, like Lightning Shield for a shaman. Only for a priest.
Consume Magic: Level 20: Blood Elf: Dispels one beneficial magic effects and gives X to Y mana. 2 minute cooldown.
Scales with ranks (only rank 1 is listed).
It's a mana regen tactic.
(What is this? Is this a Horde Racial that isn't offensive and overwhelming? In fact, it's a little wimpy seeming.)
The tactic for this is for the priest to cast rank 1 inner fire on themselves and then consume magic. If it works, you get a bunch of mana for a low mana spell. However... there is no way to guarantee what buff it will eat. So you may have just lost your Mark of the Wild or Fortitude buff.
Summary:
Of the priests talents,
- one is a healing talent (Desperate Prayer: Alliance);
- two are direct damaging abilities (Starshards: Alliance, Shadowguard: Horde);
- two are mana returns (Symbol of Hope: Alliance, Consume Magic: Horde);
- one is pure defensive (Elune's Grace: Alliance);
- five are damaging with some debuff, incapacitate abilities or self heal component (Touch of Weakness, Hex of Weakness, Devouring Plague: Horde and Chastise and Feedback: Alliance).
Of the Horde talents,
- none are direct heals,
- four out of five are damaging abilities, (That's 80%)
- three out of those four apply debuffs to target or healing effects to caster and only one is a mana regen ability.
- The average cooldown is 1 minute. (0 second Touch of Weakness, Hex of Weakness, Shadowguard, 3 minute Devouring Plague, 2 minute Consume Magic)
Of the Alliance talents,
- one is a direct heal,
- three out of six are damaging abilities, (That's 50%)
- one is a mana regen ability and one is a defensive ability.
- None cause debuffs to the target nor have a health return.
- The average cooldown is a little over 3 minutes (10 minute Desperate Prayer, 30 second Starshards, 30 second Chastise, 5 minute Symbol of Hope, 3 minute Feedback and 3 minute Elune's Grace).
...
Do I need to say more? I will continue the slog through HORDE OMGWTFBBQ AWESOMNESS in my next post on general Horde racials.
As always, comments, criticisms, opinions, etc, are welcome. :)
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Racial Imbalance: Alliance Priests
Continuing my Racial Imbalance theme...
Priest Racials: Priests get two racials that depend on... race. The first is at level 10. The second is at level 20.
Desperate Prayer: Level 10: Dwarf and Humans: Heals the caster for X to Y on a 10 minute cooldown.
So an extra heal basically. Mana free.
At the highest rank, it's base is for 1601 to 1887. (This is comparable to a wimpy Greater Heal Rank 4, which heals for 1798 to 2006. Rank 3 heals for less than 1609.)
In the upcoming expansion, when they're getting rid of downranking (gonna cry, I am!) this will serve as a mid-range heal, likely.
The high cooldown on it means it isn't something you can rely on every time you need it, but it can come in handy on mana intensive fights.
Holy Specialization increases the critical effect chance by 1-5%.
Silent Resolve reduces generated threat by 4-20%.
Spiritual Healing increases the ammount healed by 2-10%.
Starshards: Level 10: Night Elf: X Arcane Damage over 15 seconds. No mana. 30s cooldown.
At max rank, base 785 damage.
This is a nice little spell. It allows holy priests to guilt-free DPS! You don't have to worry about the mana 'waste' the way you do with using SW:P (I still use SW:P anyway. The mana cost is quickly replaced by passive Mp5). It's an arcane spell, so even if you're locked out shadow or holy, you can still cast it. It's an instant cast and another DoT. (love dots! more dots!)
(It used to be channeled. I mean, really.)
Force of Will (discipline talent) will increase the damage done by this spell.
On boss fights, my priest will throw this on the boss every chance I get. It gets resisted a lot (no spell hit on a holy priest), but when it sticks, it sticks and does damage. You never know when that little bit of damage will be the difference between success and failure.
Symbol of Hope: Level 10: Draenei: X mp5 for 15s. 5 minute cooldown.
At max level, it returns 333 mana every 5 seconds.
This is another nice little buff for the group, especially on mana intensive fights. (And with the upcoming potion debuff... possibly more vitally useful than anticipated.)
Not really that useful in PvP, unless someone can see a use I'm not seeing? Situationally useful for the priest that's running low on mana, yes... but... anyone else have an application for this for PvP?
Chastise: Level 20: Dwarf and Draenei: X to Y holy Damage, root for 2 seconds.
At max rank 370-430 damage. (Possibly scales with spell damage) 300 mana cost to use.
It is a holy spell (sorry Shadowpriests!), instant cast, no GCD.
It specifically says it ROOTS the character, but does not incapacitate. As noted with Escape Artist, there's a fine use of language here. It is an immobilization effect, but players afflicted can still use actions. They just can't move for 2 seconds. Enough time for someone to start running away, maybe?
Feedback: Level 20: Human: An anti-magic shield, any attack burns mana of the attacker, causing 1 shadow damage per 1 point of mana burned. 15 second duration. (No listed cooldown, but it has one. Human priests, lemme know!)
Cost to use 710 at max rank. Burns 165 mana.
This spell will still trigger effects even if Power Word: Shield is in place. If you RESIST the spell being cast, it will not trigger. It burns 18 mana per attack and thus causes 18 damage.
Maybe it's just me, but the mana use versus mana burned imbalance makes this something I don't think you'd WANT to use? If you have Mental Agility, a tier 4 Discipline talent, will reduce the % of the spell (up to 10% at max rank), maybe that makes it more palatable?
It doesn't transfer the amount that the enemy's pyroblast would do to damage against the mage (wouldn't that be pretty?), but it will keep you from getting eaten by it.
It also may be useful against channeled spells, as each tick of damage triggers the effects.
Elune's Grace: Level 20: Night Elf: Decreases chance to be hit by 20% for 15 seconds. 3 minute cooldown.
If I recall correctly, this used to be decreases damage by ranged attacks. This is a bit more palatable. For a mere 60 mana, you reduce your rate of being hit by 20% for 15 seconds. Yes please! Too bad the cooldown is so long (down from 5 minutes that it used to be, but still a trifle too long for 15 seconds of Neo.)
It is a holy spell (again, sorry Shadowpriests!) and it also does not effect spell damage, just ranged and melee.
Again... comments, criticism, opinion, etc. Please let me know! I'll be working on the Horde side here shortly.
Priest Racials: Priests get two racials that depend on... race. The first is at level 10. The second is at level 20.
Desperate Prayer: Level 10: Dwarf and Humans: Heals the caster for X to Y on a 10 minute cooldown.
So an extra heal basically. Mana free.
At the highest rank, it's base is for 1601 to 1887. (This is comparable to a wimpy Greater Heal Rank 4, which heals for 1798 to 2006. Rank 3 heals for less than 1609.)
In the upcoming expansion, when they're getting rid of downranking (gonna cry, I am!) this will serve as a mid-range heal, likely.
The high cooldown on it means it isn't something you can rely on every time you need it, but it can come in handy on mana intensive fights.
Holy Specialization increases the critical effect chance by 1-5%.
Silent Resolve reduces generated threat by 4-20%.
Spiritual Healing increases the ammount healed by 2-10%.
Starshards: Level 10: Night Elf: X Arcane Damage over 15 seconds. No mana. 30s cooldown.
At max rank, base 785 damage.
This is a nice little spell. It allows holy priests to guilt-free DPS! You don't have to worry about the mana 'waste' the way you do with using SW:P (I still use SW:P anyway. The mana cost is quickly replaced by passive Mp5). It's an arcane spell, so even if you're locked out shadow or holy, you can still cast it. It's an instant cast and another DoT. (love dots! more dots!)
(It used to be channeled. I mean, really.)
Force of Will (discipline talent) will increase the damage done by this spell.
On boss fights, my priest will throw this on the boss every chance I get. It gets resisted a lot (no spell hit on a holy priest), but when it sticks, it sticks and does damage. You never know when that little bit of damage will be the difference between success and failure.
Symbol of Hope: Level 10: Draenei: X mp5 for 15s. 5 minute cooldown.
At max level, it returns 333 mana every 5 seconds.
This is another nice little buff for the group, especially on mana intensive fights. (And with the upcoming potion debuff... possibly more vitally useful than anticipated.)
Not really that useful in PvP, unless someone can see a use I'm not seeing? Situationally useful for the priest that's running low on mana, yes... but... anyone else have an application for this for PvP?
Chastise: Level 20: Dwarf and Draenei: X to Y holy Damage, root for 2 seconds.
At max rank 370-430 damage. (Possibly scales with spell damage) 300 mana cost to use.
It is a holy spell (sorry Shadowpriests!), instant cast, no GCD.
It specifically says it ROOTS the character, but does not incapacitate. As noted with Escape Artist, there's a fine use of language here. It is an immobilization effect, but players afflicted can still use actions. They just can't move for 2 seconds. Enough time for someone to start running away, maybe?
Feedback: Level 20: Human: An anti-magic shield, any attack burns mana of the attacker, causing 1 shadow damage per 1 point of mana burned. 15 second duration. (No listed cooldown, but it has one. Human priests, lemme know!)
Cost to use 710 at max rank. Burns 165 mana.
This spell will still trigger effects even if Power Word: Shield is in place. If you RESIST the spell being cast, it will not trigger. It burns 18 mana per attack and thus causes 18 damage.
Maybe it's just me, but the mana use versus mana burned imbalance makes this something I don't think you'd WANT to use? If you have Mental Agility, a tier 4 Discipline talent, will reduce the % of the spell (up to 10% at max rank), maybe that makes it more palatable?
It doesn't transfer the amount that the enemy's pyroblast would do to damage against the mage (wouldn't that be pretty?), but it will keep you from getting eaten by it.
It also may be useful against channeled spells, as each tick of damage triggers the effects.
Elune's Grace: Level 20: Night Elf: Decreases chance to be hit by 20% for 15 seconds. 3 minute cooldown.
If I recall correctly, this used to be decreases damage by ranged attacks. This is a bit more palatable. For a mere 60 mana, you reduce your rate of being hit by 20% for 15 seconds. Yes please! Too bad the cooldown is so long (down from 5 minutes that it used to be, but still a trifle too long for 15 seconds of Neo.)
It is a holy spell (again, sorry Shadowpriests!) and it also does not effect spell damage, just ranged and melee.
Again... comments, criticism, opinion, etc. Please let me know! I'll be working on the Horde side here shortly.
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.
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.)
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