A small defense skill change in 2.4 could herald larger things
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Feb 10th 2008 at 3:20PM
It seems like a small change, but it could be the herald of something larger. It's a change to the way the defense skill is described in-game in patch 2.4, as reported by World of Raids. I'll let them describe it: * Old value: Higher defense makes you harder to hit and makes monsters less likely to land a crushing blow.
* New value: Higher defense improves your chance to dodge, parry, and block attacks, makes you harder to hit, and makes monsters less likely to land a critical strike against you.
So what does this mean? They've added things that have always been part of the skill, but have not been explicitly mentioned on the defense tab before, but what's most intriguing is what they've taken away.
I'll explain after the jump.
The new description has no reference to crushing blows. One of the biggest ways a Paladin or Warrior knows they're ready for the big time in tanking is if they can completely remove the chance to be crushed by an enemy using gear, talents, and skills. One of the biggest complaints that Feral Druids have had is that they have no skill or talent (such as Shield Block or Holy Shield) to help them avoid crushing blows. It's a topic that's on the mind of every serious tank every time they go to any raid instance.
We already know that the game developers want to get of crushing blows, thanks to an IRC chat with Kalgan and Tigole hosted by Stratics (Which we at WoW Insider liveblogged here, with the full transcript mirrored here at World of Raids, if you never saw it). We know as well that they seem to have already started to play around with the idea, as recently implemented bosses such as Halazzi of Zul'Aman often do not use crushing blows at all. While they cautioned in the aforementioned interview that any real action on crushing blows won't come soon, the removal of the mention of crushing blows from the defense skill may indicate that it's still on their minds. I'll most definitely be interested to see if any of the Sunwell bosses still employ the mechanic.
Personally, I'd say the best money is on them waiting until WoTLK to completely do away with crushing blows. Level 80 should allow them to more easily balance out the four tank classes while taking the removal of what has been a rather dominant mechanic in many encounters up until this point into account. That said, it could still be starting now, with this seemingly innocuous change becoming the harbinger of a much larger change in the way we tank.
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Death Knight, Buffs, Bosses, Raiding, Instances, News items, Analysis / Opinion, Patches, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
dan Feb 10th 2008 4:03PM
Crushing blows are amongst the only reason raids even take a prot warrior these days.
Matthew Rossi Feb 10th 2008 4:07PM
They'll keep taking them. It's Shield Block that creates warrior uncrushability, not defense.
Aerei Feb 10th 2008 4:09PM
Or, you know, maybe it's the fact that they generate the best single-target threat against single mobs of any tank class? That is, the fact that they can hold a boss, and allow DPS to go all out, much better than a paladin or druid.
Says the Prot pally, even.
dan Feb 10th 2008 4:14PM
I understand that Matt. The op implied heavily that this was a sign of the removal of the crushing blow mechanic not just a text change for accuracy. That's what I was commenting on.
and Aerei bears are fantastic threat generators since they're not as penalized as warrs due to static threat formulas. Static threat is singularly the great prot warr problem today.
Kuroyume Feb 10th 2008 3:52PM
it looks to me like all they did was correct the tooltip, since defense doesn't sirectly remove creushes, except by adding avoidance. This is different than what it does for crit, since it directly reduces the chance to be crit.
hurfdurf Feb 10th 2008 3:56PM
While Paladins and Druids would love this change, I suspect that warriors would throw a fit over this considering their ability to mitigate crushing blows is their greatest advantage when it comes to tanking raid bosses. Considering that they are already considered inferior in the realm of 5 mans to their other counterparts, they may feel completely marginalized.
On the other hand, maybe this is a sign that they are going to recieve some meaningful buff when it comes to multimob tanking (something comparable to swipe for example)
Matthew Rossi Feb 10th 2008 4:02PM
No, warriors won't throw a fit. Warriors mitigate crushes by using Shield Block to push their combined dodge, parry and block over 102%.
This literally does not change anything at all. This is exactly what defense does now.
Retro Feb 10th 2008 4:40PM
Warriors should stop complaining that Paladins and Druids are taking their jobs because raid bosses aren't causing Crushing Blows anymore, allowing other classes to take a Warrior's place.
Instead, they should start complaining that Blizzard has allowed them to become such a generic tanking class that absorbing some archaic, cumbersome, and random effect like Crushing Blows is one of their few strengths.
Having tanked a lot of pre-Kara as a Warrior and Kara as a Paladin, I have to say that Warriors are much more reliable in gaining and keeping huge amounts of threat (unlike a paladin who will often have to play conservatively with their Mana), but beyond that they lack any really exciting or interesting mechanics. Warrior tanking, at least to me, always felt like Pull, Sunder, Sunder, Revenge, Sunder, Sunder, with a few helpings of Shield Bash thrown in.
Warriors should be the first choice for tanking, not because they can deal with some vague mechanic like Crushing Blows, but because they possess abilities that make them so.
Being more interesting to play wouldn't hurt either. Especially when they have to compete with Death Knights in the near future
dagny Feb 10th 2008 7:29PM
Swipe is not a tanking skill, hasn't been for a very long time. It has no threat modifier.
Pzychotix Feb 10th 2008 10:23PM
It is if you have 4/5 T6. Or your swipe hits for around 250+ noncrit.
vyskol Feb 12th 2008 12:30PM
While Paladins would certainly love the removal of crushing blows, making it easier to be a raid-worthy tank, warrior crushing blow mitigation is definitely not superior to that of a paladin's. While Holy Shield doesn't increase the chance to block by as much as Shield Block, it does so for more charges and a longer duration.
Fast hitting bosses eat through warriors' Shield Block all the time. It is extremely rare for the same to happen to an uncrushable tankadin.
Matthew Rossi Feb 10th 2008 4:03PM
Nope, this is just a tooltip change. Defense doesn't actually reduce the chance to take a crushing blow right now.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Crushing_Blow explains it in detail.
Adam Holisky Feb 10th 2008 4:53PM
Begin Nit Picking
While Defense does not directly increase your resistance to crushing blows, each point of defense does increase your dodge, block, and parry by 0.04%. So indirectly it does help out, but not by much (unless of course, you play the min/max game... then its rather important.)
End Nit Picking
Adam Holisky Feb 10th 2008 4:55PM
Edit: How could I possibly resist nit picking the master of the warrior column, The Care and Feeding of Warriors? :-)
Matthew Rossi Feb 10th 2008 5:25PM
Adam - http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/12/07/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-making-life-easier-for-your-he/
I just didn't feel like writing over 1000 words about it again :)
Adam Holisky Feb 10th 2008 5:35PM
And that is why you are the master of the warrior column. :-)
Pzychotix Feb 10th 2008 7:36PM
Crushing blow chance is 15%.
No amount of defense in the game will push it off the table for warriors without Shield Block.
Aerei Feb 10th 2008 4:07PM
Research the topic before you write a story, please. >
Wolfstalker Feb 10th 2008 4:11PM
This is the dumbest post I've ever read.
Dan Feb 10th 2008 6:49PM
Agree, is the poster on crack? Why let someone who has no clue about tanking stats post about them?
Quote:
New value: Higher defense improves your chance to dodge, parry, and block attacks, makes you harder to hit, and makes monsters less likely to land a critical strike against you.
That is EXACTLY what defence does now. It has never had anything to do with crushing blows, and tanks stack defence to become CRIT immune, not crush. Does this blog even have an editor?