Dots, hots and haste

We are trying to make haste a slightly more attractive stat for classes that utilize a lot of damage or healing over time spells, specifically Shadow priests, warlocks (though especially Affliction) and Resto druids. We realize other classes use hots and dots too, but I think we can all agree that it's a bigger problem for the ones I mentioned.

I'm going to share with you an idea that the class and item designers came up with for 3.3. This is a work in progress so it's possible we'll end up going a different way after we see how it plays. However I also wanted to explain our logic here in case it wasn't obvious.

We have new tech that will allow specific hots and dots to tick faster -- the time between ticks would decrease. This means more damage or healing per time but also having to refresh those spells more often. Since there is a trade-off, we're not sure the change is a no-brainer, especially in the healing case.

Because of this, we are planning on introducing the concept through glyphs. Glyphs represent a great test bed for new ideas because they are easier to change (and easier on the players when we do change them) compared to core spell functions or even talents. If we like the way it feels and players like the way it feels and the glyphs prove popular or fun, then this may be the kind of thing that shifts from glyphs over time -- not unlike the way some favorite set bonuses eventually become talents.

For 3.3 we are talking about introducing three new glyphs for Shadow Word: Pain, Corruption and Rejuvenation that would allow these spells to tick faster with the more haste you have. There are glyphs of Corruption and Rejuv already, and we're not sure how we're going to resolve those yet. For Shadow Word: Pain, we are likely to rename the current glyph to Glyph of Mind Flay, remove the old Glyph of Mind Flay, and increase Mind Flay by 10 yards in the base spell.

Again, these are not promises (nor ponies). For a variety of reasons, you may see these changes on the PTR or you may not. If you do see any or all of the three glyphs implemented however, we wanted you to have some idea of what we were trying to do. Feedback is certainly appreciated, especially if you get to try them out.

Q u o t e:
I thought in 4.0 haste was going to just make people regen Energy/Focus/Mana faster. Why make a change like this now?

Getting Energy, Focus or Rage faster is a big deal and can lead directly to higher dps. That is usually less of an issue for mana. Haste is already pretty attractive for many casters, just not those that use a lot of over-time spells.

I wouldn't worry about Renew at this point or any other over-time spell. We're not even 100% sure we're going to offer it for Rejuv or if will even greatly benefit Rejuv or if you'll lose too many GCDs on Rejuv (or whether that will be okay). It just feels a little premature to worry about classes potentially getting left out.

Q u o t e:
Question though. Why did you decide upon using Glyphs instead of Talents? This feels more like squeezing "mandatory" Glyphs down their throats.

Glyphs are typically less "mandatory" than talents. If the glyph proves to be a bad idea for someone, say it doesn't improve damage or healing or it does but in a frustrating way because your rotation is painful, then players can just not use that glyph. If they want to swap glyphs from day to day or even fight to fight, they can do that. Changing the talents is a bigger deal and harder to avoid.

If we just changed Shadowform for instance to have that effect (which is certainly on the table), then Shadow priests are stuck with their dots ending sooner whether they like it or not. (And Shadowform's tooltip goes from 4 chapters to 5 chapters.) I don't know that experiment is the right word because it carries connotations that we have no idea what the outcome will be. Instead I'd say we're dipping our toes in the water to decide if a change like this is good for the game rather than having an armor pen-like situation where we have to overhaul a lot to remove an idea that we are less enamored with than we once were.

Q u o t e:
I underlined the important part. These classed use multiple HoTs or DoTs (and in some cases channeled spells) at the same time. Making haste work with just one of the HoTs or DoTs is a lot like making it work with just the channeled spells as you did some time ago. Until the stat works for all (or something close to it) of what they're using, it's not going to be something they want to gear for.

I agree with that logic, but we still want to approach the concept cautiously. We don't want to break the dot specs. If it makes haste less of a junk stat, then that's a win even if players don't choose to gear for haste over other stats.

Q u o t e:
Ghost, might I suggest that if you don't like the functionality of the implementation you stated previously, that you might look into having haste simply add ticks while keeping the overall duration the same? This would work especially well at resolving the issue with HoTs. There's 2 problems with this method, however, but it still may be worth consideration.

Someone may have mentioned this, but it actually makes haste better for dots than for direct cast spells, since you are getting more HPM. Haste (usually) makes you deal damage and spend mana faster.

Now you could balance it (maybe) if haste only affects some hots or dots but makes them more efficient in addition to just being faster. That is one of the many issues w'ere going to be grappling with.