#267 - Jan. 5, 2017, 7:51 p.m.
01/05/2017 09:23 AMPosted by
Tyberim 01/04/2017 03:25 PMPosted by
Ornyx Why do you feel blessings and auras are fun? I can understand that it feels "nice" to help other players with buff spells, but, in general, they were just niche spells that actually didn't contribute much to meaningful game play (Seals are a different story, I guess). I never thought to myself on my Pally that turning on Retribution or Devotion Aura was going to result in an exciting change besides some passive armor or thorns-like-damage reflect.
The anti-undead themed abilities were cool though, in my opinion. I guess the question there that had to be answered was what happens when there's a zone or dungeon with no undead? Or an entire expansion without undead? Those skills essentially became useless.
The class can mean different things to everyone, so there's no right answer. Not trying to troll here btw, just personally curious on these points. :)
Also, updated descriptions of each class and spec were provided in the Legion Class Preview series, and you can find the Paladin one here: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/19955661
I doubt you'll read this because the thread has gone on for so long, but for the sake of providing feedback, I'll throw my two cents in the ring.
I'm going to base my argument around Paladins and Shamans, but a lot of what I'm going to say could just as easily be applied to other classes and the buffs they used to have.
So, why are Blessings and Auras fun? For the sake of including Shamans in the argument, I'll combine Auras with Totems, but will just call them Auras.
The reason why players enjoyed Paladin auras doesnt come from any one source. Giving someone an extra 2% physical damage reduction with Devotion Aura may not be gamebreaking, but it was there. You could always tell that the Paladin had your back just by looking up at the corner of your screen and seeing that shield icon for Devotion Aura. But that 'hell yeah' feeling from Auras wasnt solely a gameplay function.
When players talk about class fantasy, one of the things I think Blizzard constantly misunderstands isnt just how the class feels to play, it's how the class should play in terms of lore. A Paladin isnt just a Warrior who happens to use the Light. They're a guardian, a divine protector, a shield who stands at the front lines and protects their allies. You'll never find a Paladin sitting in the back with a bow or hurling magic. They wear Plate for a reason, and that reason is because you'll always find them right in the middle of the brawl.
A Paladin is a knight who leads from the front lines, but that isnt what defines them. A Paladin is a righteous crusader who protects the innocent, shields their allies, and takes the brunt of the damage onto themselves. When a group of soldiers see that a Paladin has joined the fight on their side, they get a burst of morale, because now the Paladin is here to save them and suddenly there's hope of winning when there wasn't before.
A Paladin's Auras represented that perfectly. When a Paladin is in a fight, they dont just fight the enemy, they strengthen and rally their allies. Soldiers who were wounded are suddenly brought back from the brink of death when the Paladin lays their hands on them. Soldiers who fled in fear find their courage bolstered. Soldiers who are exhausted find the strength to pick up their swords and march back into the fray. A Paladin brings that sense of duty and courage and hope with their mere presence, and giving Paladins the ability to strengthen their allies through Aura spells was a fun and thematic way of presenting that.
Not to fire shots or start a flamewar, but the reason that Auras were removed werent because players didn't like them, it's because Blizzard didn't like them. Paladin Auras were nerfed several times because Blizzard didn't like how a Paladin's allies were essentially getting free buffs, despite that being an iconic theme of the class. Then when the nerfs were so heavy that the Auras did effectively nothing, they were removed entirely. Players never asked for this. Asking players why they want something back that made the class fun 'because it wasnt good' is a bit disingenuous when Blizzard is the reason they werent good to begin with.
TL;DR Paladins want their Auras back because a Paladin's presence grants strength and hope to their allies. That's what a Paladin does. Taking that away weakens the theme of the class as a whole, and pruning abilities just because they'd be easier to bake into the class is not an improvement of design.
I don't think it's anything close to "shots fired", I think it's a perfectly reasonable explanation.
I feel like the nerfs that came to them were a move in the direction of making it to where bringing a Paladin didn't feel necessary to the group because of the buffs they provided, which is much the same with Shaman totems. Though I understand the sentiment a bit more with Shaman totems (its never felt the same since they were removed in Mists), as I've played my Shaman longer than my Paladin. Even now, the auras are given off at a much reduced range, with different effects for the most part, which isn't so much akin to how it was previously.
My concern there is that there is probably a better and more involved way of bringing that theme of an "inspiring presence" to the battlefield than what auras were/are. Personally, I think the way they are now may not be a good "fantasy" of this, and there are probably improvements that could be made to the overall theme, but I'm not too sure which way they could/might go. This is more the reason I ask why you want it back.
Fun is subjective, sure, but in that vein its good to note that the game's population has very much diversified since the days where auras were as you remember, and there is a much wider audience who might not look at it in the way of "turning on this passive buff really felt like I was inspiring my group and creating a meaningful difference". Its hard to see when looking at the forum community, as most posters here are some of the longest-time players, and don't always represent, I feel, a super wide berth. Creating a skill that lasting and memorable for that greater group seems like a better direction, philosophically, (albeit a harder one) and creating something feels like auras did way back when, but has an impact that adheres to more modern design is something I can see us doing more than just giving auras back as they were.
I don't necessarily have answers to these questions, and I don't necessarily feel there is a "right" answer. Also worth saying: what I say isn't necessarily our design direction, FYI.
