The idea that PVP will be slower in Cataclysm

#0 - Oct. 31, 2010, 7:37 a.m.

Right now, there are multiple reports on Arena Junkies that show we're gonna have another Season 5.

Here is an example of a Fury Warrior: http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/5033/seasonfivealloveragain.jpg.

Notice that Mione, who is a Death Knight, used Icebound Fortitude through that Fury Warrior damage.

I know it's only one example, but those numbers are so ridiculous, even relative to the high 100k health pools, that it's hard to turn around and say, "Well, it's just one class!" Besides, on AJ, I remember Mione has cited similar numbers for other classes.

Then there are the complaints that no healing classes but Restoration Shamans and Holy Paladins are capable of keeping up with damage. Discipline Priests fall over, and Restoration Druids are very easy to kill in a limited amount of CC. It seems like while damage is too high, healing is too low for the rest.

I know that a numbers pass is still going through, but we are now one month and two days from Cataclysm and one month and nine days from Season 9. I am starting to get very seriously worried that damage is going to stay out of control, and this is coming from someone who has tried to be relatively positive on Arena Junkies.

Fortunately, a simple resilience buff would make this much better, but from what I understand, it would have to be coupled with a nerf to Restoration Shamans and Holy Paladins.

Anyway, I'm not trying to cry here, but I'm wondering how everyone on the beta is feeling about the current situation in PVP. Opinions from other gladiators and whatnot would be extra helpful.

Ghostcrawler

#30 - Oct. 31, 2010, 5:58 p.m.

Some of those numbers have already come down. If you recall, Fury dps was low with the patch, so we buffed it, knowing that we would have to nerf it again to keep it under control at 85, especially with Colossus Smash and Deep Wounds. Ret had a similar issue with Inquisition.

We definitely want to increase survival time in PvP relative to what it was in Lich King. We are considering increasing resilience at 85 or even bumping health pools across the board even more.

Ghostcrawler

#49 - Oct. 31, 2010, 5:58 p.m.

Q u o t e:
any plans for if healing becomes too powerful as in before the latest resil nerf?

We can always lower healing. We suspect that won't happen though because healers can't fill a whole health bar in one or two casts at 85 like they can at 80. There is more give and take.

Q u o t e:
I suppose increasing health pools even more will help, but I can't help but ask, why not just lower damage. In GC's initial statements about the pace of combat, it was said they want to increase health pools a lot as you level, increase damage slightly, and increase healing even less.

At some point, players at 85 will do the same damage they do at 80. That feels really lame for the leveling experience, especially for players who aren't interested in PvP or raiding.