Turn and face the strange
by Matthew Rossi 
Oct 12th 2007 at 1:45PM
We now are starting to see just how big patch 2.3 really is. It's turning out to be almost as big as the heralded Before the Storm patch that led to The Burning Crusade although as of yet no hints have been dropped that this is leading up to Wrath of the Lich King.Still, we're seeing a lot of class changes, new mounts including one for engineers, and even a whole new stat which will have an effect on pretty much every melee class in the game for good or ill. And, just as in previous wide ranging patches, it's going to change the way people play the game to some extent. Anyone who played Warlocks from release can remember how drastically the class has varied from its conception to now, while us old-hand warriors can remember the days of the Arcanite Reaper. It is impossible to dispute that changes like the upcoming patch can entirely alter the way you can play a class.
I remember tanking Ragnaros with a 31/5/15 build, and the only person in my guild who had more points in protection than I did was our designated MT. It simply wasn't considered necessary to tank any end game content, ultimately - I even tanked Nefarian and Anub'Rekhan successfully with the spec. It was a time when a warrior could PvP and main tank with the same spec, and almost everyone did. And clearly, it's a time long since dead and buried, swept away alongside the Arcanite Reapers into the dustbin of expansion.
How have you changed over patches and class reviews? Did you start playing after a momentous patch and have gotten tired of old warhorses telling you what it was like before shamans could dual wield? Are you a better player for having been with your class for a long time, or do you feel like a fresh perspective uncluttered by what used to work sets you apart? How have the changes changed you?
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Expansions, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jack Spicer Oct 12th 2007 1:51PM
The most obvious response is that Holy Priests are no longer "the" healing class.
Diaz Oct 12th 2007 1:51PM
Once again Blizz fails on its promises to the Hunter Community. Thread after thread in the US and Europe Hunter forums has been ignored once again.
Arras Oct 12th 2007 1:59PM
Pre-BC my pally was a healadin, standing in the back of MC with the priests, spamming flash of light and cleanse. After BC (and the inevitable guild drama/shake-up) my pally suddenly became the MT for the guild. Most warriors either got shelved for other classes or went to PvP/grinding specs.
BC definitely changed the way I play my pally
Jess Oct 12th 2007 2:15PM
I fell in love with the druid class in beta, becuase I was such a big noob I didn't realize how broken the class was, nearly as messed up as Warlocks. We had two trees that were closed to broken. I think hurricane was the ultimate talent.
Now druids have the gear and the talent to make each three talent trees viable. I think Blizzard's original design was to make the druid "jack of all trades, master of none" but the reality was that specialization is the name of the game in the endgame. Now the druid is more a pocketknife, capable of doing many things but really shining in one or two areas. I love tanking with my bear and I'm proud to say I've stuck with this class from when it was the least played class in the begining of the game. Druids aren't the easiest class to master or the flashier but they're my favorite.
Neowar Oct 12th 2007 2:07PM
lol i was the main tank with a 31/5/15 spec as well, and our guild did pretty good. We cleared bwl, AQ40 up to twin emps, and killed a boss in naxx. And my tanking was clearly not what was stopping us from progressing further. It was the good old guild drama about various issues.
So imagine how much i was pissed when BC came out and i started sucking at tanking with my pvp spec =/
Smorisha Oct 12th 2007 11:45PM
I was a MT and warrior class leader of my guild in vanilla wow and some part of TBC, enjoyed prot build back in days since it made clearing content so much easyer. With lowering amount of players in raid 25 we lost the need for 3-4 tanks and I started playing as DPS, as much as I enjoy changes in playstyle generally constant changtes to warrior class are always giving me shakes. All of the promised buffs disapear somewhere during testing and all the nerfs crit us badly, after reading 2.3 patch notes I am very eager to test them on PTR but as many times before I think good stuff will be pushed to some corner which leaves us to good old [Nerf bat]
ninjasuperspy Oct 12th 2007 2:45PM
I remember back when I had Seal of Fury and I liked it! At least for multi-proccing Judgment of Light or Judgment of Wisdom. For tanking it was kind of rubbish.
Candina@WH Oct 12th 2007 2:48PM
My first char was a Shammy, back in 2005.
Could not DPS worth a crap. Gear sucked and if you used earth shock in an instance, you were kicked....
Got told, if your going to play a healing shammy, drop it and play a priest.
Archondan Oct 12th 2007 2:55PM
I remember when mana regen stopped as soon as you started casting a spell. Also when you could PW:shield anyone not just raid/party members.
Heck I remember it being a big deal to get 100 mana per tick regen outside the 5 sec rule. Of course you had to sacrifice alot. We were clearing MC at the time, Ah the memories :)
The priest class has changes several times since I started playing.
jaxson_bateman Oct 12th 2007 3:00PM
I was also one of the cleansbot pallies, spammies decursive like there was no tomorrow and throwing out Flashes of Light here and there. I remember the Sulfuron fight very clearly... in that fight, you would easily use your whole mana bar doing nothing but cleansing. I didn't really mind though. That's what we did. I also remember that for the most part, it was considered the norm to solo in healing gear with a 2h weapon out. +Spell damage gear from anything but raids was hard to come by, as was +healing gear. I used to stack mp5 just so I could keep on spamming Flash of Light. I had 140 mp5 w/ BoW iirc, which was considered a huge amount back then.
Then BC came out - and early on we could see that itemisation had been greatly, greatly improved. Gone were the days of getting something like the Lightforge gear, which was aimed at being a piece 'to be used by any paladin', yet didn't really cater to any one spec. Instead us holy paladins could find gear with stam, int, mp5, spell crit and spell damage and do somewhat decent damage with our Seal of Righteousness, Holy Shock and Consecration. And now, I look back on vanilla WoW and just think "gee, if only I had figured out how powerful I could have been if I had gone for only the well itemised stuff".
Now with 2.3, I find it's somewhat funny that I'll be going back to the soloing in healing gear thing. =) There are definately some worthwhile changes occuring in this patch which will benefit a lot of people. Only time will tell just how good or bad the overall patch turns out to be. But, still a healadin, I cannot wait for this one to come out. ^__^
Deusmortis Oct 12th 2007 3:15PM
I remember Reckoning Bombs with my two hander... good times, good times. I also remember the days before normalization. I had a higher DPS with a lightning fast 1h weapon than with a two hander as holy. I remember topping DPS in UBRS raids as holy, sword and board.
I remember Illumination, and the near endless heal spam. Oh, the hate from priests and druids alike over me never having to drink a mana pot. Speaking of priests and druids, I remember when no shadow priest or feral druid was allowed to raid. Hopefully, I can include Retribution in that list one day... kind of like when every raid brought one, just for Blessing of Kings.
Le Hv Oct 12th 2007 3:29PM
@5 - I am with you, I have been with Druid since the beginning, never having gotten an alt past 39 because I just love the druid playstyle. I ran a 0/25/26 build so that I could solo efficiently and still make a passable healer for group play, since NOONE would accept a druid in a group or raid as anything other than a healer... BC came out and during those first few months when Ferals were the most OP class/build in the game I just could not believe how EVERYONE wanted me to MT in runs! Those months before the nerfs were totally responsible for the change in perception that druids make great tanks and dps and why I now only run if I'm tanking or maybe dps...
I refuse to even own a single piece of healing gear now.
Cmoney Oct 12th 2007 6:02PM
Befor BC all you would ever see is priest healing many be a pally or 2 but now if u dont have a pally/shamm you cant run alot of 5 mans or heroics becaues priest ends up getting one shot.
Puh Oct 12th 2007 6:05PM
@5 the ultimate talent in resto was innervate, in balance it was hurricane, and in feral it was...get ready...swiftshifting (if I am remembering correctly).
I have played a druid since day one. I have leveled two druids (a tauren and a night elf) and both of them were feral. Before BC I never ever ever ever ever ever got to tank or dps. Now I have tanked everything up to Gruuls.
I used to have a more balanced build as well. Mainly feral but lots of points in resto. Despite that, I could heal anything (and I think that if given the chance I could have tanked most anything as well.) In BC I havent been able to pull off the same off spec success.