The Amputation of Discipline

#1 - April 6, 2012, 11:32 p.m.

I made a few posts on the priest forums, and got slapped around a bit for not posting here. So I'm reposting here to fall on listening ears and devs.

I read today a post on how glyphs are not suppose to be mandatory and they are suppose to invoke a choice just like the new talent system. Well I transfer my priest over today and see attonment is a glyph. Oh not just attonement, but atttonement and boss hit cap for holy fire and smite. This is the best glyph there is for a healing priest. There is no choice, and this is the best glyph yet for a healing priest to choose from. It is a no brainer.

WHY IS THERE A PENANCE GLYPH THAT REDUCES MANA COST AND INCREASES COOLDOWN? I think my face turned red reading about this one, and I wanted to see where penance was for mana in MoP, maybe it would not be mana efficient. Nope the same mana efficient spell it was before. Why would you create a glyph that lowers throughput on an already mana efficient spell to make it more mana efficient? Who's going to choose that? I don't know how anyone knowing discipline would come up with something like this.

So the penance glyph is pretty silly on its own, but compare it to the circle of healing glyph. That glyph is a throughput increase at the cost of mana efficiency. It's the total opposite mechanic for a different spec. I want a powerful penance that is less efficient. Not a more mana efficient efficient spell with a longer cooldown. Holy also has a renew glyph that increases throughput for renew. I'm still looking for a single disc specific glyph worth slotting. We all know attonement is using one, but that's not disc specific.

What is your reasoning? I am blind to it.

I have a huge concern to the ability of discipline to heal on the move in MoP. All we have really is PW:S to heal while moving. With a 6 sec cooldown that's 1/4 the shields available on the move. Renew isn't available and unwanted regardless. Prayer of mending has too long a cooldown to rely on that. Holy fire if glyphed can be used, but this would require an enemy in range to cast it on. Again a weak solution to what we once were.

Throw a bone out. Maybe a glyph to cast penance while moving? And that would still not compensate from our current mobility toolset. I'm speaking loudly about a 25 man raid setting. This expansion seems like a really bad deal so far for disc priests.

You guys should consider putting a 6 sec cooldown on rejuv and see how that goes.

Ghostcrawler

Game Designer

#22 - April 12, 2012, 12:21 a.m.

"Amputation" is a strange word in this context. Is it the new gutted? :)

I think you guys can tell what we're trying to do with Spirit Shell. We want Disc to have a spammable absorb that isn't as powerful as the instant Power Word: Shield. Spamming an instant absorb is just really hard to balance, which is why we have constantly had to nerf it over the years. We want a model where Disc can cast Spirit Shell often, and use PW: Shield for more critical cases... much like a Flash Heal. Currently on beta, Spirit Shell is lackluster because it's trying to fill the Heal role, but that's never going to be a really exciting role for a spell. We are going to try letting it fill the Greater Heal role instead. It should absorb for a lot, and if the absorb expires or is dispelled, then the heal will still kick in.

We agree that Rapture was a cool mechanic for Discipline, and we'd like to add it back, but have it scale with Spirit, so that Disc priests don't neglect Spirit on their gear (or worse, get mad at us when priest gear that they share with Holy has Spirit on it).

We have already changed PW:Barrier to have a mana cost similar to Divine Hymn. We want to lower the mana cost of Mass Dispel, but it is so potent with the new dispel model that it may require a cooldown to compensate. Mana costs as a whole are something we are going to continue to adjust. I said last week that we thought heal costs were in a good place, but then folks running through dungeons and raids told us they couldn't cast their big heals, so something isn't quite right. Remember the goal is for mana management to be more forgiving than it was in early Cataclysm, but not be irrelevant in later tiers. If it doesn't feel that way yet, then it is just because we still have more work to do.

We still have some other changes to make. We're not happy with some of the priest talents yet, and the glyphs aren't finished. The glyph of Penance is pretty unappetizing.