A quick note from the WotLK Beta. Haven't actually played too much of it recently for reasons I might blog about later, but I just wanted to record something of interest to casters.
Blizzard have rejigged the rules for bonuses to healing and spell damage. Essentially they have evened out, so items that used to be more beneficial for one type of spell are no longer. This means I in the current TBC version of WoW my shockadin pally has +792 spell damage and + 1374 healing unbuffed. But in Northrend, after all the balancing, I have a flat +820 to both stats. So, slightly more damage, a lot less healing. I would imagine if I was wearing Ornamented (the full healing specced gladiator armour) instead of Lamellar the difference would be even more noticeable.
Now, Blizzard say that this reduction in healing is balanced out by a bigger base effect from the spells themselves. So although I get a lower bonus to my Flash of Light, it basically heals a lot higher anyway. Quick thumbnail testing seems to confirm this. My Holy damage spells seem to do more damage as well - well, Holy Shock recharges a lot faster. I haven't paid a lot of attention to Consecrated ground and there is no seal of the Crusader any more. So generally it seems there is no real disadvantage to my spell power from the changes.
But, what has changed a lot, is my mana regen. In the TBC version I have 294mana/5 seconds when not casting and 67/5 seconds when casting. In WotLK I only get 126/5 and 25/5. This is a big change. It means that although I will heal party members at about the same level as before, I will run out of mana a lot faster. As things stand I can heal the main tank in Kara for a long long time before I get a little worried about mana. The Curator fight for example - using just Flash of Light I can heal that thing long enough for DPS to run out of mana (this has unfortunately been demonstrated far too many times!). But regenerating mana only half as fast - this could strain me and any other casters a lot sooner.
One other thought - I'm also at a bit of a loss as to why Blizzard are making these changes in the first place. There may well be some good reason. But surely they're not trying to homogenise all casters that can choose to heal or dps? Are they trying to remove that point of decision where you have to decide whether to spec your pally/priest/druid/shaman for damage or healing? Please tell me this is not true! I know Blizzard are under the mistaken impression that they need to make WoW as bland as possible in order to get the maximum number of subscribers, but surely eliminating specialised classes in the game that has largely defined group composition rules and raid tactics would be a step too far?
The change to "Spell Power" is one of many modifications to itemization designed to cut down on the need to carry different "suits" of gear. If you think this is bland or a bad idea, you've never had to do any of that.
Sun Aug 10 2008 3:27PM Report"I know Blizzard are under the mistaken impression that they need to make WoW as bland as possible..."
Could you provide a bit more evidence for this statement?
I appreciate you doing some number crunching on the new numbers. I would guess that by evening the modifiers it will drop the number of items required for Blizzard to create for pure dmg and pure healer classes and provide for loot tables to be more appropriate for all classes. Plus when you add the new tradeskill to the mix we may see the ability to regain the lost healing bonuses we were used to.
Sun Aug 10 2008 9:37PM ReportHmm, I can see how this could cut down the number of items you have to carry, but I wasn't aware this was a major problem for folks. I know a lot of people have problems with too many mounts and vanity pets - this, incidentally, has been addressed as all these are now stored like castable spells instead of trinkets.
As for the 'bland' thing, I just meant Blizzard has been making things simpler and easier for a long time and seems keen to keep on doing so. PvP for instance - the honour system was rejigged and titles removed from the game a couple of years ago to make pvp more attractive and rewards easier to obtain. Attunements have been removed from dungeons, requirements for faction items lowered, and so on. The introduction of welfare epics has made large numbers of instances boringly easy as so many players are overgeared. Yes, this does make higher level content more accesible, but it does remove a lot of challenges that used to be part of the game. So by 'blander' I mean easier and simpler.
I like a game that has stuff that is hard to do and hard to obtain. I also like a game that gives you choices to make, such as which specialisation to take with my character and which items to carry and use. If everyone's going to have the same gear, run the same instances, and do it all the same way, I might as well boot up my 360 and play Battlefield or COD4.
Mon Aug 11 2008 6:43AM ReportWoTLK got itself removed from the to-buy-list long ago. Reasons being so obvious that they're not worth mentioning.
Mon Aug 11 2008 8:03AM ReportMMORPG.com writes:
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