Ebon Plague to get some multiple user loving, says Ghostcrawler
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Dec 6th 2008 at 1:00PM
So there's a slight problem affecting Unholy Death Knights in groups and raids these days: When there's multiple Unholy Death Knights, only one can put Ebon Plague on a mob. This wouldn't seem to be an issue at first glance. After all, Multiple Curses of the Elements from multiple Warlocks don't stack, right? Here's the deal though. The Ebon Plague counts as a third disease for the purpose of Death Knight abilities that count diseases to deal damage, such as Scourge Strike and Blood Strike. When only one Death Knight can have Ebon Plague up, the other Unholy Knights are left out in the cold and have a part of their damage stripped away.
Luckily, relief is coming. Ghostcrawler has said that they are aware of the issue and are looking into fixing it. They don't want the debuff to actually stack, of course, but they also don't want to cheat Unholy Death Knights out of damage.
How they'll do it is still up in the air, but hopefully we'll see something like all Unholy Death Knights being able to use any instance of Ebon Plague, or perhaps multiple instances of the debuff on a mob with only one actually provided the magic vulnerability.
There's no ETA on the fix, but for those of you bringing multiple Unholy Death Knights to an instance or raid, it should be some welcome relief. In the meantime, I suppose you could always draw straws to see who gets to respec to Blood.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Instances, Raiding, Bosses, Talents, Buffs, Death Knight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jason Dec 6th 2008 1:11PM
This is not a new problem. Warlocks have the same issue with Shadow Embrace. I'm not sure what Ghostcrawler's response has been to it, but it's definitely a bug.
I would think common code handles the application of both spells (especially considering they both do similar things) which is why they are both having problems.
Blizzard needs to fix BOTH spells. Not just DK's.
Vampyl Dec 6th 2008 1:50PM
Umm, shadow embrace doesn't do damage so how is it broken?
Corazu Dec 6th 2008 2:02PM
@Vampyl:
I think he's referring to Affliction locks; they have a talent that increases the amount done by drain life I think, based on how many dots or curses or w/e on the mob. Same mechanic as the diseases with DKs.
Athzar Dec 6th 2008 2:02PM
In response to Vampyl (no reply button for him), Shadow Embrace is broken in the exact same way that Ebon Plague is. Shadow Embrace increases periodic damage taken by the target by 5% as well as reduces their periodic healing. For Affliction Warlocks, whose bread & butter is periodic damage, losing out on that 5% because somebody else is getting it is sort of silly.
Athzar Dec 6th 2008 2:04PM
Oh, yes, and as Corazu said, it also synergizes with our Soul Siphon talent. Not having Shadow Embrace up lowers the potency of our Drain Life & Drain Soul by 4% (well, it's 4% in lost potential for extra damage).
In short, it's a key affliction talent.
Acceptable Risk Dec 6th 2008 2:18PM
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=17805
Shadow Embrace counts as an Affliction effect. That's four percent taken off of every Warlock's Drain Life per Warlock beyond the first.
Joelock Dec 6th 2008 1:54PM
just have the other DKs spec 3/3 Crypt Fever and 0/3 Ebon Plague, Yes we lose out on the 3% crit from EP as well, but I top the melee charts and have done all raid content with a EP-lacking spec, Decided the tank DK got more use from 3% crit then I did (seeing as WITH the talent he has ~10% lol)
Affectionate - US Firetree
skbid Dec 6th 2008 2:12PM
Better yet, why not just allow the talent to determine if there is a disease on the target and allow the damage based on the number of diseases on the target no matter which DK or Lock put them there.
You can still have only one ebon plague per target and if it's on the target then all DK's in the party or raid get the benefit.
Athzar Dec 6th 2008 2:16PM
If you do that, then DK damage would SKYROCKET. Frost DKs would just use Blood Strike twice (for Death Runes), Obliterate, Obliterate, Obliterate, Frost Strike to dump RP, then do that again. Only one DK would have to apply diseases, so the other DKs could just use impossibly high damage rotations all raid.
sharkeater75 Dec 6th 2008 2:21PM
the 99% of face rolling retards who chew on crack for teething rings weren't op, Adamarius , and the wife beating crew should get more op, too bad you can't run naxx without me, and I won't take but one or two of you. if you pull mobs off of me with grip you get a spot. the non skilled are bitches. and will remain so.
yes, I hate death knights.
jrizutko Dec 6th 2008 3:24PM
And I hate drama queens. Looks like we won't be raiding together anytime soon.
sharkeater75 Dec 6th 2008 2:24PM
lets just make a class called, "we passed over the noobs, we may suck too but were smart enough to swtich games'
and call it darkfall.
Anowscar Dec 6th 2008 2:45PM
Now if only they'd let us disease vehicles in Wintergrasp, we'd be able to do some damage...
jrizutko Dec 6th 2008 3:24PM
Blood is better for single target dps anyway.
Tuberon Dec 6th 2008 4:17PM
While you're off fighting one, I'll be fighting 3-4, thanks.
PeeWee Dec 6th 2008 6:47PM
And while Tuberon is trying to down the last of his mobs, the Blood Death Knight has obliterated his 5th or 6th already, and is standing with full HP and all runes at the ready to keep on going.
And this is regardless if all the mobs are casters of not. I hear Death Grip is on a 35 second cooldown.
Unholy is nice and shiny in areas with tons of squishy melee-mobs standing tight together, like the Wastes Diggers (http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=26492) in the crevices in northern Dragonblight. For most other purposes of DPS, the Blood-tree is far superior. Especially as DPS in boss-fights. And for a lot of people, that is where things matter.
vampyl Dec 6th 2008 4:23PM
I know, I have an affliction lock and i would suggest you read the tooltip, it says it increases ALL periodic damage, not just yours. Therefore it is not broken because its even increasing the periodic damage of a mage's fireball dot
Cyanea Dec 6th 2008 5:47PM
Shadow Embrace?
"increasing all periodic damage dealt to the target BY YOU by 5%"
Balius Dec 6th 2008 5:08PM
Rogue poisons have a similar problem, wherein if two rogues are in a group and one applies a higher level deadly poison than the other, the rogue with the lower level deadly poison will never see it get applied to the target.
For an assassination rogue who relies on stacking deadly poison for eviscerates and mutilates, it can mean SEVERAL HUNDRED DPS reduction.
Rogues generally use the highest level poison available, so it only really becomes an issue when dealing with a group that includes a level 80 rogue and a 79 or 78 rogue.
Gorehorn Dec 6th 2008 8:30PM
Fixing this should be pretty easy. Just split up the 2 debuffs, have Ebon Plague not be a disease (either Magic or general debuff) and you're done. Thematically it's a little weird to have something called "Ebon Plague" not being a disease, but hey, it's for the balance of the game, isn't it?