Sunder Armor: NEGATIVE Threat?

#0 - Sept. 26, 2007, 6:57 p.m.
Blizzard Post
I have this theory that Sunder Armor actually results in negative threat when your group/raid consists of >>>melee<<< DPS.


When the tank uses the ability Sunder Armor, they are generating a low amount of threat. For the sake of example, we will say it generates 300 threat.

Now, let's say a rogue in dpsing the mob the tank is tanking. That Sunder Armor directly increases the amount of dps the rogue puts out, and therefore directly increases the amount of threat the rogue generates.

My theory is that the rogue generates more threat as a result of a Sunder Armor than the tank does.

Think of it this way (purely for example's sake):
Tank generates +300 threat.
Rogue generates +400 threat.
In this example, the tank generated NEGATIVE threat in relation to the melee DPS.


Here is an example for you visual learners....
Tank Threat Pre-Sunder
====================
Rogue Threat Pre-Sunder
==========
Tank Threat Post-Sunder
========================
Rogue Threat Post-Sunder
=================

As you can see, the tank had twice as much threat as the rogue before the sunder, but now only has about 25% more threat even though the tank's threat also increased.

I have not run any tests on this theory with actual numbers but if anyone has, let me know!

P.S. I am well aware that the armor debuff also affects the threat of the tank's attacks, however I don't believe that this small benefit can be compared to the benefit that melee dps receives.

Post your opinions!
#11 - Sept. 26, 2007, 8:11 p.m.
Blizzard Post
Lowering a targets armor does provide more damage for others who are attacking the target. A lot of new high end items in the game ignore a certain amount of armor so that they can do more damage which leads to more threat. Being careful on threat levels is always something to watch out for and can keep you on your toes.
#29 - Sept. 26, 2007, 8:35 p.m.
Blizzard Post
Q u o t e:
And here is the obligatory response requesting that Blizzard implement an in-game threat meter or at least an API.


We stated at BlizzCon that we want to implement a threat meter into the default UI. It may be a bit before this comes out, but we do want to make it happen.
#40 - Sept. 26, 2007, 8:44 p.m.
Blizzard Post
Q u o t e:
Are they looking at making the PRIMARY tank class able to tank efficently as arms/fury again in the near future? Could we get a response on that? Not asking for alot of mitigation like prot but threat should be given to the PRIMARY tanking class in all specs.


While arms/fury warriors aren't meant to be as good as protection warriors at tanking, we do plan to make an additional to Tactical Mastery that may help them out. This talent will grant greatly increased threat from Mortal Strike and Bloodthirst when in Defensive Stance.
#51 - Sept. 26, 2007, 8:58 p.m.
Blizzard Post
Q u o t e:


How about a greatly reduced ammount of threat from Mortal Strike and Bloodthrist when in Berzerk or Battle Stance?

It seems to me that seems a little more important to the warrior community than an increase in threat from hybrid tank specs.


If you are having issues with too much threat, there are some trinkets out there that can lower your threat level. This change is meant to provide some additional tanking options for warriors who have these strong dps abilities.
#71 - Sept. 26, 2007, 9:14 p.m.
Blizzard Post
Q u o t e:
NO one does the same tanking we did pre-bc, where sunder was king. Blizz decided they want us to use our full range of aggro abilities. I start with a trinketed shield slam, and our best rogue can't pull off me. I only sunder 5 times per fight, then I switch to devastate, also using SS, revenge and heroic stirke/tclap. I think it would be a good idea to research some before posting these misleading threads.


It may also simplify things a bit to when we make Devastate combine the effects of Sunder Armor into it's effect and be affected by all talents and items that affect Sunder Armor. We plan to make this happen in 2.3.