Forum post of the day: Stunted stuns
by Amanda Dean 
Jan 19th 2009 at 11:00AM
What's interesting about this thread was Ghostcrawler's response. Blizzard is working to remove random proc stuns, such as this one, but also mentioned that Blackout will soon be on the blacklist. He claims that Blizzard is "waging a war" against random stun effects. Many are concerned that Impact will also be impacted.
This shift will only effect random stuns. Abilities such as Warstomp, Seal of Justice, and Kidney Shot are not on the hit list because they are cast as stuns, not at the mercy of the RNG. In addition to concerns about the shift in ability itself some players are disappointed with this change because it leads to further homogenization among classes.
According to Ghostcrawler these changes will take some time to implement. They will require a shift in talents and, in some cases, compensation. Sorry, my feathered brethren as it stands there appears to be no compensation for the Starfall nerf. Don't be surprised when your random-proc stun vanishes.
Filed under: Druid, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Talents, Forums, Forum Post of the Day
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
xb Jan 19th 2009 11:17AM
TAKE OUT ALL THE STUNS ON BALANCE DRUID ATTACKS> ITS ALREADY SO DUMB THAT IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A 3 YEAR OLD IF YOU PLAY DRUID. zomg zomg moonfire zomg its stunned yay, i can get away, zomg moonfire yay its stunned i can get away. ZOMg moonfire its stunned yay i can get away. take away then stuns and they will be a better class. dont cry about losing the stuns! you sap. why don't they give warriors a chance on hit to stun again. oh wait to many druids cried.
Hazerduz Jan 19th 2009 11:54AM
Wow, just wow. Your complete and utter lack of class knowledge is astounding, Moonfire does not proc a stun effect. Starfire can through talents, and even then you still have between a 2 and 3 sec cast time (depending on talents and haste).
xb Jan 19th 2009 11:56AM
lol @ u for caring about druids
Dawnwind Jan 19th 2009 12:10PM
Hmm... I wasn't aware that Moonfire could stun. I thought it was just Starfire and Starfall.
Perhaps you should grow up and provide something useful to discuss, rather than nonsensical gibberish.
The article was not complaining about the stuns being removed, it was informing the WoW Insider community of the fact that random stuns are going to be removed.
Elvrag Jan 19th 2009 12:17PM
Actually balanced druids cant really do many stuns, maybe feral but it sounds more like your talking about a rogue. Roll one yourself instead of whining.
SarahTheGnome Jan 19th 2009 12:43PM
Waw, xb is not only a moronic name, there's also a moron behind the keyboard... who would have thought!
Clbull Jan 19th 2009 1:31PM
I don't see Balance Druids doing many stuns. They can knockback and do a lot of burst. Rogues have too many stuns and abilities to burst people quickly to death imho (e.g. Mutilate, Ambush)
Bojangles Jan 19th 2009 11:08AM
Lame.
Hydden Jan 19th 2009 11:09AM
What can I say, I'm stunned.
Not really, I'm glad they're going. From the point of view of the one talenting into them, they were too little in PvE and too much in PvP. From the receiving end, they were frustrating because it was unclear what caused the stun - is there a rogue around? /cue freakout
sephirah Jan 19th 2009 11:10AM
Strange that the first thing nerfed in blizz "war against random stun effects" hasn't been warlock pyroclam (not that anybody get that talent, but still...)
Tiis Jan 19th 2009 11:11AM
How about getting rid of the knockback effects?
Lemons Jan 20th 2009 4:29PM
While Blizz doesn't tolerate stupid crap like RNG stuns they do love them some stupid crap like knockbacks and RNG arena maps.
In fact I think they're adding a new arena...
"Storm Peak Zenith"
"You will be pit against your opponents on the top of the highest pinnacle in Storm Peaks. The arena is 10 yards wide and has no railing...no, we don't see a problem with this...at all.
Also there is a good chance of you getting eaten by a passing proto drake, or maybe it'll turn out the mountain is a volcano that will erupt and no one wins! This arena will be added in patch 3.1 instead of that whole "duel specs" business we were previously promising"
I...can't...WAIT!
Isrephael Jan 19th 2009 11:21AM
Yes! Shadow Priests must be nerfed in PvP!
Wait...
What?
mcclary Jan 19th 2009 12:03PM
I know, right?
Jess Q. Jan 19th 2009 1:11PM
I was leveling a SPriest because my Warlock sucks so hard in PVP.
*falls down crying*
Plastic Rat Jan 19th 2009 11:25AM
I like the idea of less RNG dependant stuff. That's cool.
However I strongly dislike the class homogenization we're getting. It's really sucking a lot of the charm and depth out of the game. It's getting to the point where there really is little difference between playing a hunter, a mage or a warlock. You all pretty much just walk along behind the tank and AOE dps most of the way, stopping to do a bit of single target DPS now and then. Periodically you have to do a dance for a boss.
I miss the days when my role as a hunter meant I trapped stuff and kept the clothies safe. Or when I played a mage I'd open pulls with a sheep. Or when rogues sapped stuff and went after the casters in a pull.
Treason Jan 19th 2009 12:55PM
"I miss the days when my role as a hunter meant I trapped stuff and kept the clothies safe. Or when I played a mage I'd open pulls with a sheep. Or when rogues sapped stuff and went after the casters in a pull."
You miss CC being necessary. The rest of us don't. You know, those of us who don't play CC classes.
Orestes Jan 19th 2009 1:02PM
Speak for yourself. I don't miss the need to cc because the tank's threat gen or armor was an issue but I most certainly would like to see some pulls requiring more brainpower than the typical lolAOE shit that seems prevalent these days
Heilig Jan 19th 2009 1:51PM
You should. CC being necessary is what lent an element of risk to an otherwise boring game. When you can just run along behind the tank and AoE everything down without any thought or strategy, what's the purpose of having trash at all? For that matter, why even have instances? Why not just have boss rooms lined up in Dalaran that you can go into once a day to grab some loot? For that matter, once you've proven you can beat the boss once, why even make us run the dungeons? Why not just give out random loot once a week so people can strut around IF showing off?
This is not really an arguable point. CC and the necessity for CC is what makes this game interesting for groups. If there is never any chance that you will die from not controlling the fight, every fight becomes exactly the same. Just look at Naxx. Why do you think everyone is complaining about it being too easy? Saps, Sheeps, MC's, Shackles, and traps used to be REQUIRED to be able to clear to the boss, and the bosses were incredibly origianl and tactically difficult. That's what made it fun. Now, you just AoE everything down, and half the time you can just brute force the boss too. Can't dance well on Heigan? That's OK, you can take two or three hits before you die. It used to be insta-death. Miss the polarity shift on Thaddius? That's OK, CoH and WG will fix your mistake. It used to be an insta-wipe. Hell, we healed through Noth with NO ONE THAT COULD DE-CURSE the other day. That's not really supposed to be possible, but we just brute-forced it.
Yeah, you may be more successful, but it's not FUN. FUN is when you're praying your sheep doesn't break from someone's AoE because you just got silenced and that mob can one-shot a priest before you can re-sheep. Fun is when every single person has to know their job and do their job for you to be successful. Fun is when everything goes right and you manage to squeak through and down that boss that you couldn't before.
Why do you think all the most difficult achievements in this game involve lots of coordination? Sartharion with 3 drakes? Not even doable unless every person in the raid knows their job and performs flawlessly. 5 minute Malygos? You better be able to hold those sparks in place on top of each other until enough spawn to make it worth the wait. 2 minute Anub'arak? Can't even take a normal group, you have to specifically plan for that fight in both class makeup and execution to be able to pull it off.
These are the kinds of things that make games fun. Planning. Coordination. Execution. If none of that is required, then the game just turns into the same fight in different rooms.
And just for the record, EVERY class is a CC class. CC isn't short for "sheep" or "sap". It's short for "Crowd Control." How you choose to control the crowd is half the fun. No hunters in the group? That warrior can probably just Off-tank the mob until we're ready to drop it. No rogue for the sap? Send in the warlock's pet to tank that guy. Need to break up some casters? Line of sight the pull and have the priest AoE fear when they get close, you can kill the first guy before it breaks.
EVERY class can function as a CC class. When it is no longer necessary for them to do so, there is no point to having separate classes anymore.
Warla Jan 23rd 2009 2:05PM
@ Heilig
Great post, but there is one thing I wanted to say. I think part of what you were talking about with the raid was a size problem and less of a difficulty problem. In the origional 40man Naxx, you had to address the needs of far more peole than you do now. With Noth for instance. It would have been impossible to brute for him back then, but part of the reason for that is that you could creat the needed healer to DPS ratio needed to keep everyone up with out gimping your DPS. The fewer people in 10man Naxx means that can brute force it, less because its easy and more because its actually possible for the healers to do.
Still, the apparent need for a lack of cordination and strategy has caused certain dungeons to become boring because their is no challenge in AOE. On the note I totally agree