Breakfast Topic: Patch 2.0.10, thumbs up or thumbs down?
by Elizabeth Harper 
Feb 24th 2007 at 8:00AM
You've seen the patch notes and had a bit of time to think about them. And while I imagine your opinion of the patch will highly depend on what class you play, what do you think of the patch? As someone who plays a priest and a druid, I can't say I'm terribly enthusiastic -- but that's what I have other alts for, after all!
Filed under: Patches, Breakfast Topics, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Fi Feb 24th 2007 8:12AM
Well as a pally i dont think my changes really effect any of us... kind of a nerf though but no biggie.
monkeywraith Feb 24th 2007 8:22AM
give me more rage to keep aggro but take armor so i cant take the damage from said aggro ... brilliant ... i am just glad i am only have feral instead of full, since most of the nerfs are to the higher tier talents ... honestly the slight boomkin buff is tempting me even more to go at least partially ballance, we shall see
AngryPriest Feb 24th 2007 8:54AM
Ah, the WOW priest forums are in revolt after reading the patch notes.
stapleboy Feb 24th 2007 9:08AM
My main is a feral druid, so thumbs way down. With a mix of quest and crafted blues, I'll lose ~1500 armor in bear form. I'm more concerned, though, about how much less damage mangle will do; before it was well worth saving the rage a second or two for that cooldown and hoping for a crit.
It'll be harder for me to tank, and harder for me to PvP. But hey, as long as warriors get buffed, especially now that more of them are getting better weapons, more armor, and more stamina at level 70.
Sleepy Feb 24th 2007 9:30AM
mmm...priests got a metaphorical kick in the crotch from this patch....
cheers blizz!
Chris Gardner Feb 24th 2007 10:08AM
Warriors needed buffs. Happy for them.
However, I've played a Druid main since original Wow beta. It's the only toon I play.
We needed a Mangle nerf in bear form and a slight HP/armor nerf. We got those and we're fine with it.
On top of those, however, they added "compound nerfs". Savage Fury and Predatory Instinct also affect Mangle. So, Mangle gets nerfed by 30%, than that damage gets nerfed by 20%, then it gets nerfed by 5%. That's overkill, particularly because we need DPS to maintain aggro while tanking (we don't have the toolkit of warriors).
If they did JUST the base Mangle nerf or JUST the other dps nerfs we would be fine. These compound nerfs cripple the tanking ability of the class to the point of uselessness.
jellywerker Feb 24th 2007 10:39AM
As a shadowpriest without any notable alts, boo! Definitely a thumbs down.
Braz Feb 24th 2007 10:46AM
I am happy about the warrior buffs. Now I might actually take my 60 warrior into outland.
Otherwise, nothing major for my hunter, and only a slight change for my warlock.
Chris(Raszun) Feb 24th 2007 11:32AM
im not liking the new patch now there is no reason to go feral for druids just go blanace and you have just as much armor
Xansas Feb 24th 2007 11:06AM
WAHOO! Thanks Blizzard for removing the warrior suckyness. Now I'm useful again! Yay!
Kovalt May 4th 2007 11:36AM
Great Job Blizz!!! Im very happy about my warrior being top dog for tank again ! Druids are a good all around. Most of them wont be Extremely unhappy as they left their kitty alone for the most part... Only the thanks are Extremely QQin
Natali Feb 24th 2007 11:30AM
Warriors say: YAY! :D I am so happy we've had something given to us rather than taken away!
Baluki Feb 24th 2007 11:33AM
As an elemental shaman, I'm pretty damn happy. The change to Clearcasting is a great improvement, a long time coming, and it even affects the way I'll be picking out gear in the future. And I think it may actually make Totem of Wrath worth getting, since it effectively lowers my mana costs by 3% while it's out. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if this change turned out to be too overpowered and they increased spell costs slightly to compensate.
Not only that, but LO isn't a total liability anymore. Though with all the extra crit we'll be stacking, we're going to need an aggro dump anyway.
Enhancement shamans won't be pulling aggro as much either now, which is great.
The Stoneclaw stun is kinda laughable, but whatever. It makes it more useful in PvE, and it'll make players think twice before they mindlessly whack that Earth totem in PvP. The totem itself still needs some work; it needs a stronger taunt (it can't even overcome the threat caused by one lightning shield hit) and it would be nice if it affected Hunter and Warlock pets.
Overall, I think the changes made to the other classes are pretty good. Everyone knew there was a problem when Druids could out-tank Warriors. I think they've brought Druids down from 5 stars to 4 stars, and Warriors up from 3 stars to 4 stars (if that makes any sense). Painful for druids, but necessary.
And everyone knew that shadow priests would be getting a nerf. Unfortunately, priests needed both a nerf in some areas and a buff in others, and this round of changes offers only nerfs. Next patch I'm sure will have something to replace Circle of Healing (oof, that's bad) and probably a decent change to Lightwell.
The threat reduction change for priests is a big change, but it's such an obvious one. With just 18 talent points, shadow priests could get a whopping 45% threat reduction on their shadow spells. And they have an aggro dump too! Crit-happy Elemental Shamans get 10% with 28 points (30% with an unwieldy totem added) and we don't even have an aggro dump.
Matthew Rossi Feb 24th 2007 11:36AM
Yeah, as a warrior (as six warriors, actually) I have to say that getting actual, honest to god buffs, even if they're not much it's still awesome. Honestly, our class was nerfed and nerfed and nerfed again while druids and pallies took our role in raids and instances and no one would take a warrior over a rogue for DPS. (Aside from the Twin Emps, anyway.)
"It'll be harder for me to tank, and harder for me to PvP. But hey, as long as warriors get buffed, especially now that more of them are getting better weapons, more armor, and more stamina at level 70."
Now they'll actually get a chance to get those things: nerfing druids so that they can only tank as well as a warrior means there's parity. Druids had crazy advantages over warriors in five mans the whole time I was levelling to 70, to the point where my protection spec butt was getting told they'd rather have a feral on runs because bears hold aggro so much better that the group can unload DPS faster. It was imbalanced. Now it's balanced. If you want to do big DPS, do it in cat form.
Tontendez Feb 24th 2007 11:57AM
@ 12 "The threat reduction change for priests is a big change, but it's such an obvious one. With just 18 talent points, shadow priests could get a whopping 45% threat reduction on their shadow spells. And they have an aggro dump too! Crit-happy Elemental Shamans get 10% with 28 points (30% with an unwieldy totem added) and we don't even have an aggro dump."
Aggro dump? Are you kidding, fade doesn't do anything when you have aggro in shadowform. Also it is a temp drop in threat not a wipe. I already easily pull aggro in the black morass just using dots and mind flay. I can't wait to see how it works after the patch.
THUMBS DOWN.
Baluki Feb 24th 2007 12:08PM
Oh yea, I forgot about that. I was thinking that Fade was a flat aggro reducer. I've only levelled my Priest up to 20, and I barely ever group with anyone.
Well, at least they can still shield themselves...
...if they drop out of Shadow Form... :)
Basically, I guess shadow priests will just have to learn to rely on other classes for aggro reduction. And other classes will have to learn to help out shadow priests. If I see something heading for a shadow priest, I'll be sure to FROSTSHOCK!
FadedReality Feb 24th 2007 12:23PM
My level 21 warrior says WOO HOO
My level 68 shadow priest hangs up his Red Pointy Hat.
Tontendez Feb 24th 2007 3:00PM
"Well, at least they can still shield themselves...
...if they drop out of Shadow Form... :)"
We can shield ourselves in Shadowform..... to bad PW:S doesn't scale at all really.
Lyon Feb 24th 2007 1:45PM
I posted this in another place but thought it should be here.
thumps down
As a warrior, I thank the little we were given. But, really, I didn't want druids nerfed. I wanted warriors buffed to the same level. We still are using mostly the same skills we had before BC. The game hasn't changed. I am full protection and still don't really see any great advancement. Most every class has a dps boost but my aggro generating ablities are still at pre xpac levels. They've done nothing to improve them. Yes, I appreciate that TC is in def stance but the aggro generating better be decent becasue if a healer fires off a spell and the mob runs from me, then it really isn't worth it. And for millionth time devastate does not. It should focus the mobs attention on me no matter what. Look up the word and its meaning. It doesn't mean a little more aggro, it means (per dictionary) to destory or ruin; cause severe or overwhelming shock or grief. Does that sound like our 41pt talent in protection. No.
Also, I have TF. I was fortunate enough to have both bindings drop and got my sword right before xpac. Now, its going to be nerfed. WTF? Its dps is around 70 plus its proc of 300 + it slows target for 20%. Yeah, its nice but dps isn't as good as blues that I get in BC and TC slows for 20% with pts in it and 300 on a proc isn't largest ability I've seen on a sword. The only thing imo that makes it stand out is its ability to create great aggro. It is a tanking sword. It is a legendary sword. It was. Now, they are making it RP prop. I mean why now when the sword has less power (lvl70 vs lvl 60) would you nerf it? If it was ok for the sword to exist as is pre xpac then what changed? With what it takes to get the bindings and the mats, it is an insult.
Matt Park Feb 24th 2007 1:36PM
It's a good step in the right direction for Shamans. The earthbind thing is a bit WTF, but whatever.
A BIG thumbs down to the priest nerfs, though. I don't even play one and I understand how bad that's going to be for them.