Why does blocking suck in WoW?

#0 - March 14, 2007, 6 a.m.

This game has the weakest blocking mechanics I've ever seen in an RPG. Even a geared out tank will block 200-300 damage of an attack at the most, which is a joke compared to the amount of physical damage dished out by both mobs and players. And a Shaman's blocking is not even worth mentioning. Prot Paladins make heavy use of blocking but even then what makes it useful is the damage they return when they block, not the actual amount of damage blocked, which is still pitiful against any serious mob or player.

Shields in this game seem to exist pretty much just to provide the passive armor increase, and don't do much else. Stupid.

Drysc

#4 - March 14, 2007, 6:21 a.m.

So it sucks because it serves a slightly lesser purpose than it might in another game? Hrm. That doesn't actually make any sense.

It's a different game, and different mechanics function differently depending on how the abilities are intended to be balanced around each other. Blocking may not mitigate a huge chunk of damage, but aside from the block canceling the chance for a critical or crushing blow (both huge advantages in their own right) shields obviously offer a clear advantage for damage mitigation. Now if you were to say change the block mechanic just so you saw a higher number blocked, then the balance would be to probably reduce stats on the shield or overall increase damage.

I don't see how re-balancing so we end up at the same conclusion but just with a bigger (xxx blocked) number counts for. Tom-ay-to to-mah-to really, you know? As far as in relation to other games, the mechanic is just different. Just making huge block numbers pop up for the sake of seeing huge numbers isn't really necessary, especially in an MMO when you have to design with future scaling in mind.