Step number two appears to be rioting
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 1st 2007 at 12:27PM
Here's an interesting bit of devil's advocacy for you. It seems that the best way to get what you want for your class is to hold a riot. Observe:First, nerfs are announced to the priest class that hit Vampiric Embrace and Prayer of Mending hard.
Then, priests riot across the servers, as Blizzard promises to ban those involved.
But a few days later, priests profit, and un-nerfs appear in the patch.
The Inciter (Time for fun!) inside me says the evidence is clear: riots are how you get your way. Of course I'm sure that's not the message Blizzard wanted to send (has anyone heard of any major bans that went down because of the priest ingame and forum riots?), but, as Relmstein hints, the evidence kind of speaks for itself.
I should point out that priests didn't completely get what they want-- Vampiric Embrace, a staple of facemelting, is still getting a fairly harsh nerf, and PoM is still feeling that cooldown. But it's not nearly as bad, and while I'm sure Blizzard will claim the changes came down as a result of playtesting, it makes you wonder. I don't condone rioting or any kind of griefing, but as I said, this is devil's advocacy. Maybe the only conclusion Blizzard should take from this is simply to not release the patch notes (as they would say) until they're done.
Filed under: Priest, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jp Mar 1st 2007 12:37PM
Considering the number of times Warriors have "rioted" in much the same way, and how little came from their efforts, I sincerely doubt it.
Sylythn Mar 1st 2007 1:14PM
Ugh - please, this is the biggest, most common falacy in arguments ever.
If A->B, and B->C, then A->C ONLY if A and C are related and there are no other factors in between. Those priests could've stripped naked and ran across the country in the dead of winter and the same thing would have happen. They could have cheered for the nerfs, claiming it was the best thing to ever happen to their class, and Blizz still would have fixed things.
I'm amazed daily by the number of people who think QQing on the forums, rioting in game, and all sorts of other protesting by 1% of the game population has any affect whatsoever on the people inside Blizzard who are working hard every day to identify and solve problems in the game.
How about we have some patience...and wait for Blizzard to find out whether their new idea on fixing something actually works, and let them repeal it or try something else if it doesn't - before screaming and yelling that they're killing the game.
Ragbar Mar 1st 2007 1:00PM
I don't see how priests got what they want. 10 seconds CD on PoM still effectively eliminates a Priest's survivability. 20% to shield is a joke (what's 100-200 more pts of dmg absorbed?), and the 20% to 15% VE nerf is HUGE, especially for raiding shadowpriests (which are slowly becoming a necessity in TBC).
Regardless, yes there was rioting, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Priest saying "oh, well now it's not so bad"
Mike Hunt Mar 1st 2007 1:26PM
Druids have been fighting 2 years to change the way devs thik the class should handle. TBC fixed many problems, and while some still wanted a few things changed, most every druid considered the devs work good and well received.
Then this upcoming patch sets druids back about 1.5 years...
All druids have the strength to do now is just wait until the broom handle meets with resistance and hope the devs tire themselves out and just leave druids alone...
Eliah Hecht Mar 1st 2007 1:00PM
I'm gonna have to disagree with you about it being "not nearly as bad." It is nearly as bad. PoM is still something I'm going to have to glance at a CD before using, and it'll still be no good for keeping myself up in an emergency. Shadow Priests are still going to have to do 25% less damage in PvE to avoid getting stomped. The VE change was relatively minor; PoM and Silent Resolve are still the big issues from where I stand. And the PW:S and CoH changes are really not worth mentioning.
Jelement Mar 2nd 2007 12:25PM
I think #4 is trying to say that priests haven't been patient? LOL.
Oraculum Mar 1st 2007 1:48PM
The priests rioting did absolutly nothing to affect the changes made to their class. Case in point, Palidans. They get a pretty nasty forberance nerf. When they ask about it and if its a bug. Blizzard states it is intentional, but they've decided to removed it...
So, to recap. An entire (already nerfed) class riots and they get nerfed out of the game. Another class gets a nasty nerf and asks if it is a bug, and they get promptly restored to their original overpowered place.
juztuzp Mar 1st 2007 2:21PM
Logic of the poster is dull. You can't possibly say if those whining priests had anything to do with the buffs.
Guernia Mar 1st 2007 2:03PM
I have not verified the factual accuracy of this, but far be it from me to not spread a juicy rumor.
A Druid friend of mine mentioned that some players are suing Blizzard to recover monthly subscription fees claiming that Blizzard has misrepresented their product... and they're winning. Perhaps a priest- or druid-class action lawsuit to recover subscription fees would be the right sort of combination between financial disincentive and bad publicity to get Blizzard to reconsider their nerfs, and also be really really careful in future with regards to class changes.
Or maybe it'll force them to abandon any development work at all, killing WoW for everyone.
(This reply is posted somewhat tongue-in-cheek...)
Elbows Mar 1st 2007 2:05PM
@1
But if you recall, it was the initial riots in early 2005 (late 2004?) that resulted in our first round of buffs i.e. overpower proccing on special attacks, BS rage cost cut in half ect.
Sylythn Mar 1st 2007 2:11PM
@7 - Except that you're hearing the part where they said "ok -15% damage reduction on forebearance was a bad idea" and missing the part where they said "we're working on finding another way to reduce paladin burst damage". Our nerf is coming - it just won't be in the form of a forbearance debuff.
@5 - Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying...in the context of these particular changes to this particular patch that just got applied 2 days ago. Sometimes it takes more than a standard testing cycle plus two days of up-time to get good data back on whether the change works the way Blizzard (not us players) intended it to. I'd say at least wait until the next patch-day before crying nerf...they might do exactly what they did with the Pally's, realize they were wrong, repeal the change and look for another solution.
steve Mar 1st 2007 4:03PM
I'm going to assume that it had more to do with mass account cancelations and people re-rolling to other classes. I know of about 15 priests that flat out cancelled thier accounts and haven't been back to thier guilds since the changes were initially announced. I haven't logged onto my priest to do anything but send gold to my new paladin.
Rich Mar 1st 2007 2:57PM
"gh - please, this is the biggest, most common falacy in arguments ever.
If A->B, and B->C, then A->C ONLY if A and C are related"
WRONG!
If A->B, and B->C, then it *is* the case that A->C. If A and C are "related", by which I assume you mean they have an implicative relationship, then A->C regardless of B.
I think what you *meant* to say is that it's a fallacy to assume that A caused B simply because B followed A - this *is* a fallacy and does apply to this situation.
Lostmimic Mar 1st 2007 3:31PM
Wow, didn't know Wow insider had forum troll writers.
Anyhow, if you haven't been a priest for a while you wont understand. You pick on a little kid enough one day he snaps and you hope his father doesn't own a gun he can get access to.
[legal]
Please note children playing with guns is very bad. My statement in no way condones or makes light of the subject matter, it is used only as metaphor to the situation.
[/legal]
Bland Mar 1st 2007 6:30PM
Canceled accounts? Riots? Law suits? I think some people need to take a step back, because it IS just a game. We all put a massive amount of time into it, but no one forces us to play - we play for fun. If the fun supposedly gets destroyed by such CLASS RUINING nerfs, then don't play! I'm gonna stick with my priest.
FadedReality Mar 1st 2007 6:35PM
All the priests cancelling and/or rerolling are jumping the gun here. After the initial patch notes they tweaked things and buffed Fade. The patch still isn't out and remember, they're working on Black Temple, netherwing quest chain, and still trying to balance things in live from raising the cap to 70. Beta or not, things are gonna change when you expose them to 8 million people.
Personally, I'm just waiting it out and getting everything non-instance and pre-raid done I need to while Blizz figures it out. Sure they may need to hire a few more devs to speed it all up, but all my fellow priests who are QQing need to man up and realize:
It's just a game.
P.S.: If you NEED PoM to stay alive, you're a crappy priest and should re-roll anyway.
Alan Joyce Mar 1st 2007 7:37PM
Post hoc anyone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc