Paladin/Warrior Mastery Undertuned

#0 - Sept. 29, 2010, 3:37 p.m.

Updated 10/5 : Added changes to diminishing returns and Strength->Parry Rating

Currently, Dodge and Parry provide more damage reduction per combat rating than Mastery for Warriors and Paladins. They need to increase the block chance granted by Mastery, the % damage blocked, or a combination of both. This is especially true for Warriors, since Shield Block vastly diminishes the value of their Mastery.

I've only looked at Warrior and Paladin mechanics because they're fairly simple to model, whereas the Death Knight and Druid Masteries are more complex.

Following are graphs of increased damage reduction per combat rating. We're not concerned with where we start for damage reduction, but with how much reduction each rating gives us above that.

Warriors : https://spreadsheets.google.com/oimg?key=0AtLYhB4IZpj3dDcxQ0tXa2dxTUZiSDMzVUNCVmFSM1E&oid=6&zx=hkuurseutxa4

Paladins : https://spreadsheets0.google.com/oimg?key=0AtLYhB4IZpj3dGl1ZFBkVGhOZDNpZzNRTy1LQ0FHbUE&oid=1&zx=6k66e163bjgz

I used the combat ratings from http://elitistjerks.com/f15/t29453-combat_ratings_level_85_cataclysm/ For Shield Block, I assumed it had a value of 75% block chance (25% avoidance). For Hold the Line, I assumed a 60% uptime. Altering these values within reason has little effect on the graph.

As currently balanced, Mastery is completely outclassed by avoidance. This should be buffed, or every bit of Mastery will just get reforged into dodge or parry.

If you'd like to see my spreadsheets, they're here:
https://spreadsheets1.google.com/ccc?key=t71CKWkgqMFbH33UCBVaR3Q#gid=0
https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=tiudPdThNd3ig3QO-KCAGmA#gid=0

Updates:

Parry and Dodge now have the same diminishing returns for Warriors and Paladins. Parry's cap was adjusted upwards, and Dodge's was adjusted down. They have also added in Parry Rating from Strength. Each 1 Strength yields .25 Parry Rating, rounded down.

For the new Strength -> Parry mechanic, I've assumed 3150 Strength. In T11 quality gear, you will have about 3k Strength. BoK or MotW adds 5%. This is the reason the Parry curve is still lower than the Dodge curve. You will already have 787+ parry rating from Strength.

#85 - Sept. 30, 2010, 12:40 a.m.

This has been an interesting thread.

Increasing the value per point of mastery for paladins or warriors is not hard to do. Likewise, we might shift more of the warrior mastery between block and critical block because of the value of Shield Block.

I'm also not sure we're that worried about paladins (or anyone) blocking, dodging or parrying every hit. That isn't the game breaking scenario that it used to be. If in later tiers of gear you manage to do it, probably by giving up on other stats, I'm not sure it's a huge danger. Sixty percent of damage is still a lot and none of those stats help with magic damage. In a world where two back to back normal hits could kill you, it would be a lot more valuable. In Cataclysm, it might just translate to healer mana savings. We'll keep an eye on it of course.

We did change parry to scale from Strength.