Breakfast topic: Hand out some buffs
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 17th 2007 at 8:35AM
theantipoet asks a great question over on Livejournal:If "you could buff any class -- any class but your own (your main or mains if you've got multiple) -- which class would it be and how would you buff them?"
I'll say that if you want cool points on this one, you should stay away from any classes you play regularly-- for me at the moment, that'll be shaman, rogue, and hunter. I really like anti's answer of priests-- they are QQing a lot, but there is no reason they should be DPSing while paladins heal in raids.
Personally, I'd hook up prot warriors a little bit-- right now, their DPS is such a joke that the only way they can really play is in instances. I'm not saying that we should give them tons of DPS-- that would mess everything up in PvP-- but just a little extra DPS would let them solo, and wouldn't unbalance PvE groups that much (since it's likely that if the group makeup is right, the prot warrior's DPS will still pale in comparison to your regular DPS class's hits).
A buff like that isn't really necessary, but it's an interesting thought experiment to see where you might make positive changes that don't actually affect you. So if Blizzard suddenly gave you the chance to buff any class except your own, what would you say?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Classes, Buffs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Twinny Apr 17th 2007 8:40AM
i agree,
Buff port warriors, the poor gimped bastards have no way of efficiently grinding money for raiding.
chaz Apr 17th 2007 8:41AM
holy priests
Falgorn Apr 17th 2007 8:49AM
Warriors are so heavily gear dependent that even a Prot warrior in DPS gear can get by solo if he has too. Buffing their damage only really means more threat unless its stance based.
TBH, Raid / Instance specs only really apply heavily to tanks and healers, but they are also most in demand for those spots and as such, don't have the same raid or group downtime as the less essential and more readily available DPS classes.
In light of the illumination nerf, I'd like to see Paladins granted some extra healing utility. They have the highest healing Power in the game (hp over x amount of time) but the lowest utility with no H.O.T's or aoe heals.
Would be nice if for example, seal of light was judgeable on a friendly target, who then get 150 - 200 health per attack.. Something like that I dunno..!
Twinny Apr 17th 2007 8:52AM
@3 even if i didnt know already, falgorn is/was deffo a pala :)
i would have much prefered priests to be buffed then pala's spanked. but blizz moves in mysterious ways.
Kirby1612 Apr 17th 2007 9:42AM
Buff healer specs. Resto Shamans/Druids, Holy Priests, Holy Pallys, and yes prot warriors (they cant heal I know =P).
None of these classes can really play outside of an instance, killing mobs becomes stupidly long and tedious. I was in Nagrand the other day watching another druid farming clefthoofs, turns out she was resto spec, poor girl took almost 5 minutes a fight. I've seen prot warriors try to farm, it's just no competition against me (feral druid) when I can decimate a mob in seconds while they just sit there slashing it with their sword and board.
If any class needs a real buff though, I think it's hunters. I've never seen posts on the forums of people getting owned by hunters, just the bad afk shot image people have given them. Buff hunters to the point where they are a threat!
bluebottleblues Apr 17th 2007 4:30PM
Tanking Bearform. I would like it if bearform had a skill that worked simular to sheildwall/last land. I don't like relying on a trinket that increases my dodge by 10% for 10secs and a hot that heals 1.6% of my hp every sec for 10seconds and burn my rage..
To stop it being abused in PvP it could have a raid/heroic dungeon restriction and be far down the feral talent tree (perhaps replace the utterly useless nuturing instinct).
Duromiir Apr 17th 2007 9:30AM
Holy priests, without a doubt, need a talent review and buff. Lightwell and CoH are simply awful as talents. Make them trainable or remove them outright and make Holy 41 a Clearcast on crit heals (free heal on the next cast) or a big spellhaste buff for the next heal.
/rant on
Yay for Druids getting some feral damage back! They didn't need to get nerfed like they originally did.
Boo for Holy Pallies getting nerfed! Leave my healers alone! ;)
"Personally, I'd hook up prot warriors a little bit-- right now, their DPS is such a joke that the only way they can really play is in instances."
QFT. I *can* solo, but it's very, very slow and really an ineffecient use of time. Also, if you check my build (so far I'm the only Duromiir in NA or EU :P) you'll notice a distinct lack of 1h weapon spec. I'm focusing more on the protective talents and I've never felt comfortable moving 5 points in there when they could be spent making my healers' lives a little easier.
Falgorn Apr 17th 2007 9:13AM
I am in fact a Warlock. I have a Paladin alt though for occasions where its no healer = no raid.
BeardedFerret Apr 17th 2007 9:22AM
I play a Lock and a Shammy, so please buff Warlocks and Shaman.
Actually no. Get Priests some good Holy talents fast, because damn. And hook up Pallies as well. It's bad enough that they're stuck at the back of the group with their attention focused on health bars - at least give them the tools they need to be good at what they do.
Poirot Apr 17th 2007 10:28AM
first off I applaud anybody who nominates Holy Priests for a buff. But seeing as i play on as main i won't comment.
I think that Pally tanks are getting the nerf bat with the 2.1 no more overhealing = mana thing. SO give them a little love plz.
Also give prot warriors something along the lines of reduced repair costs plz. Make them not hate tanking instances.
KissTheRing Apr 17th 2007 9:18AM
How about helping paladins hold aggro some more, my groups tank does a great job but paladins just can't seem to hold aggro as well as druid bears and warriors. I'm a boomkin druid and I often pull the aggro off the main, and that causes problems. I hate to slow down my dps but sometimes it's what I have to do.
Elbows Apr 17th 2007 9:19AM
Priests - holy tree.
Talk about lackluster 31/41 point talents. The rest of holy isn't too bad, but the best thing that the tree has going right now is Blessed Resilience, which is a PVP talent. The most popular Arena spec right now is 33 holy 28 disc, and no one takes circle of healing because you have to give up the much better 10% mana increase talent in disc, not to mention divine spirit.
Considering some of the other reallllly cool 41 point talents out there priests are definitely hurting. Too bad that when you look at how tightly Blizzard grips lolwell's stinking corpse you realize that a real change is probably never going to happen.
Astros Apr 17th 2007 9:21AM
BUFFS:
Holy Priests: When top-ended guilds are using only paladins to heal and their priests for dps...something is wrong, and needs to be fixed. Priests are supposed to be the games primary healers right? A major buff to priests holy tree is definetly needed. In my opinion, holy priests should get a fast, low mana cost heal equal to paladins Flash of Light.
Prot Warriors: Buff them the same way druids are getting buffed. Reducing threat and increasing damage which would overall produce the same ammount of threat as before.
However, they still needs to be some...
NERFS:
Rogues: Extend the length for Cloak of Shadows by 2 seconds, but also extend the cooldown for 1 additional minute. Being able to use this ability more than once in a short fight is not fair or balanced.
Warlocks: enough said...needs a good smackin with the nerf bat.
Seper Apr 17th 2007 9:22AM
ummm mabye those other prot warriors suck?
My buddy was respecced prot for endgame. He still goes out and solos. Only thing he complains about is the downtime of eating... after 4 or 5 mobs... in a row...
My main is a Druid. 2ndary is Mage. 3rd is Rogue.
I think you should buff priests. When 2 classes that are not supposed to out heal them... can outheal them... thats a big problem (druids and pallys). I would give them a plus healing buff or +spell crit buff. It would probably help them out alot . (did not put +armor or stamina.. because they already have those)
The next class that needs a buff is Mages. They might be dps kings... but thats what I saw in old world azeroth. Right now they can lay a few on that causes alot of threat then BAM they are dead to aggro. I would give them either there own small stam buff (that could stack with priests) or a threat reducer buff.
I would do a +stam buff or threat reducer (just like mages should get) to locks as well.
IMO Pallys, Rogues, should get a debuff after using a certain move. In pally's case. 25% less armor after bubble. Rogues should be 1% less armor or -1% to crit after each succesful stun move.
(you got me started i just couldn't stop)
Shamans suck IMO so I dont think they should be buffed or debuffed.
Druids are perfect as it is. We are pretty good at dps.. pretty good at tanking... pretty good at healing (i'm super good though ;).
Hunters are also perfect as is.
The Anonymous Apr 26th 2007 12:33PM
Warrior:
Arms: Talent that slows weapon speed and increases top-end by 1/2%. Improved Bloodrage deals the health cost as a DOT (anti-sheep).
Fury: Crits proc a -Threat%, -Armour that does little but stacks high. Feign-like move with moderate CD (1/2min).
Prot: Haggle, -10/20/30% Repair bills. An on-use ability that gives AP from your +Def.
Mages:
Arcane: Haste instead of slow, short term buff (5-15min) on party members that can proc +X% casting speed.
Fire: Phoenix, passive pet that deals good damage, is reborn on death after X seconds. Gives the mage Unreal Heat debuff that lowers their own damage X% to balance.
Flugsvampen Jun 24th 2007 8:07AM
I don't think any class need buffs but 2 classes need to nerf. Rogues and their cloak ability and paladins ability to heal when they've used their divine shield. Both those two abilitys totally ruin the arena!
Jason Apr 17th 2007 9:37AM
Holy/Disc Priests, Resto/Elemental Shamans, Prot warriors
Todes Apr 17th 2007 9:37AM
@2
Holy priests don't need a buff per se; they need their Discipline and Holy talent trees reworked. There's just too much that is crap or doesn't work as it should (crit based procs).
I have Holy Nova. All I've found it good for is pretending to be a mage when helping someone half my level and even then to kill anything with it, I use up all my mana. While AOE heals look good on paper (plus the damaging effects with HN, too), experience with it fails to reveal any utitity with the spell. What would make it nice? Half (or even a third) the cost, no healing, and a chance to stun (Improved Holy Nova?). Hell, give it a bit of threat but make it so I have a reason to use it on enemies MY level.
CoH I imagine has the same issues. Sure it's spammable and the possibilities look great on paper as far as HPM goes but it's too niche for a 41. If I had it my way, I'd move Spirit of Redemption there and add a self-res to the end of being an angel and a 30 minute cooldown.
Light(LOL)well? Please.
Pain Suppression is still a joke. Fade is still a joke. Fear is a joke as it's our only CC.
I can see the Shadow Weaving nerf as something to lower the DPS of Warlocks but it hurts Shadow Priests' utility in groups along with the nerfs to Silent Resolve and Vampiric Embrace. People still play Shadow Priests simply because it's still better than Holy or Disc.
Ah, well. I guess that means they're OP and can look forward to another nerf. Shadowform will become Shadowell and VT will be an AOE DOT without the mana recuperation. :P
yeybuffs Apr 17th 2007 9:40AM
Holy priests, warriors, and ret pallies. Everyone always laughs at ret pallies - would be nice if blizz gave them more skills that would help in a raiding situation, besides just buffing and pewpew damage refreshing judgements.
I actually like the concept #3 said - maybe it could be a skill put in the retribution tree to make them more viable in raids?
Jacckk Apr 17th 2007 9:39AM
Well, since my main is a priest, I really can't go with the obvious, but there is no way I will be speccing holy until that tree gets some serious attention.
That being said, I would like to buff the healing of druids/shamans so the world forgets that priests are intended to heal and I never have to drop Shadowform again. TYVM.