MMO-Champion BlueTracker - GC quotes from Hunter forums:

2008-10-02 18:48:44

So Hunters got a "big question thread" answered recently, and some of their answers may be interesting for us:

Q u o t e:
Arena balance is a really big topic. Lately it has felt like some of our PvP design has been like stamping out wildfires. Oh class X is having trouble with Y so let's give them Z to help out. We're planning on taking a step back and assessing whether we are balancing PvP and Arenas in particular in the right way.

Of course this is probably the one most likely to be interpreted the wrong way, but this could mean many things to us. We've long been asking for fixes to our counterclasses like they've added big changes to the classes we used to counter (eg new Mage Armor), but we haven't seen any answers from blue. I personally think that they should mitigate the strength of counterclasses, since 1v1 counterclasses do tend to transfer to teamplay (unless you're a Warrior).

Well, we already know we're not getting a solution for melee... hopefully this means that they're remove that ridiculously hard counter that Mage Armor gives. I notice that Paladins don't seem to have that curse duration reduction talent anymore.

Q u o t e:
Sadly this is another big topic. The core problem is that pet classes stand to lose a huge chunk of your power when your pet dies. Non-pet classes just don't risk anything of that magnitude. Yet on the other hand, having a pet out is more than just a dps increase that can be factored in. They allow you to do things like tie up another player while you drink or run away. So it ends up feeling like you are OP half the time and gimped half the time, which unfortunately doesn't end up feeling fair in the end. Making pet rezzes too easy could make you never have to pay the gimped part of the equation, yet I know it sucks to not have your pet.

Nothing new, really, but at least we know (or at least she claims) that they're looking at the situation.

"Maso" was taken.

Blizzard, I want you to give me a reason to roll Warlock in WotLK.

Masolock

2008-10-04 21:18:07

Re: GC quotes from Hunter forums:

Q u o t e:
I think the fact that their design philosophy is still up in the air when it comes to arenas and PvP in general is a good indicator of how far we are from getting needed PvP attention.

I'm glad they're willing to step back and ask if their current approach is the correct one, but it would be nice if they'd been tackling that issue a year ago instead of now.

Bottom line for me is that I don't expect to use the warlock as a "serious" PvP character for a long time.

Just notice how many posts (in all the forums) are on Arena balance. Most of the concerns I see among warlocks are PvP, more interesting rotations, more survivability for pets (which is really for PvP), and shards.

Ghostcrawler

2008-10-04 21:28:13

Re: GC quotes from Hunter forums:

I come read here almost every day. But aside from the standard "every class but us got cool toys" and "we now do the lowest dps" and "change every one of these talents to be a dps increase" threads that every class posts in their forums, an awful lot of the warlock concerns are on PvP viability.

Demonic Circle isn't intended to be a pew pew spell. Not every ability has to be.

Shadowflame is something we're looking at.

Ghostcrawler