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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsCrowd Control to return in future instances
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 26th 2009 at 5:00PM
This opinion probably isn't shared by everyone, but I have to say: I miss crowd control in PvE. Nowadays, thanks to Death Knights or Blizzard or whoever you want to blame, instance runs are more or less zerg affairs -- everyone runs in on a cue, targets whatever the most dangerous mob is, and then lets the rest die off from the incidental damage thanks to their glyph-ed up, AoE abilities. But I long for a more civilized time when CC was used as a more elegant weapon, when a successful group was based on teamwork rather than gear, and when you needed a sheep, or a trap, or a banish, or all three, to make it through the instance.Fortunately, crowd control isn't dead forever -- GC confirms that while Blizzard doesn't want every pull to take "months of planning" (and obviously they want you to bring the player, not the class, so requiring a Warlock or a Mage along isn't always the best policy), "there will be more CC in the future." Of course, whether that means raids only or future expansions, we have no idea. He does say that "Noxromulous" was made to be accessible, so you might think raids, but one instance players always mention in terms of 5-man difficulty is Magister's Terrace, and let's not forget that that one also came in a content patch.
Despite the bad rep that CC has gotten in PvP, it plays a significant role in the strategy of PvE, and lots of that interesting gameplay has really been lost lately. Hopefully in the future, we'll see Blizzard able to bring back sheep and traps in a way that will test groups without leaving anyone out.
Filed under: Hunter, Mage, Warlock, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Instances, Bosses
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)
Shade Jan 26th 2009 6:03PM
You know, I think the trash is fine. It's just enough, without being really annoying. But the boss fights? Most of the new zones bosses are kinda...easy. Really easy. The tricks you learn to figure out the fights aren't all that difficult to figure out, and there's no real interesting catches. I think my favorite is the guy that casts insanity - it's got a mechanic involved that is interesting, entertaining, and difficult to beat.
Beli Jan 26th 2009 5:14PM
LOL... this article flies right in the face of a heroic UK pug i was in last night. Rather than just make the pulls and AOE everything down (and with 2 mages, that would have been real fast), the tank insisted on 1-2 sheeps for every pull. Easily the worst pug i've been on in a few weeks...
MrDuck Jan 26th 2009 5:15PM
Please no! Seriously, what annoyed me in BC, all the way from heroics up to BT was that we spent more time on trash than on actual bosses. There's nothing challenging on having the mobs require CC, my main is tank, my alt is mage, and well, while tanking, it's really boring to pull mobs one by one just 'cos they hit hard or have some stupid ability. I see way more fun and challenge keeping these mobs off crazy DPSers than yelling at the brain-dead mage to CC the mob. And from the mage's point of view, i don't really care if i should CC or not, it doesnt bother me, it isnt that much fun, i'll rather cast that fireball than sheep.
If CC was required on bosses, there we can talk, but please no more half a hour worth of trash to reach every boss 'cos the trash takes 5min each pack thanks to CC -.-
Firestride Jan 26th 2009 5:19PM
What's funny is they gave Druids the ability to cast Entangling Roots in doors some time ago, and I've used it maybe 3 times in instances.
SaintStryfe Jan 26th 2009 5:53PM
Same with my Hex.... it's just not worth stopping to cast.
h8rain Jan 26th 2009 5:19PM
Ghostcrawler. Bringing sheepy back.
Angus Jan 26th 2009 5:20PM
You know, shaman prayed for a CC and then they took the need away. Thinking it was better for everyone is not entirely accurate.
Currently I know of 2 fights in Naxx where CC is very useful.
Gluth, after decimate. CC those adds and end them.
Anoob, wreck'em (yes I meant to spell it that way) the adds. If the tank allows 1-2 stacks of the dot to hit then stuns it for 10 seconds while DPS burns it, you can be completely rid of the buff before more stacks come in, this makes the healer blow kisses in vent.
It isn't completely necessary, but it does help a ton.
Even outside of Naxx it isn't necessary but sometimes helpful.
Heroic AN: Skirmishers should be stunned since they have no aggro table anyway.
Every now and then the record room of halls of stone it helps, and in halls of lightning on the whirlwind happy dwarves.
Tyler Jan 26th 2009 5:21PM
Trap Mastery making a return? Nah... we're still hardly used as is.
Matchu Jan 26th 2009 5:26PM
Does this mean the next CC glyph will turn the enemy into a crab?
James Jan 26th 2009 5:26PM
BC instances were ALL trash mobs and no bosses..... very mindnumbingly boring. I literaly went and ran a lowbie thru auch crypts last night. It was a horrible remider of how god awful 5mans were pre wrath. Reguardless if you want cc to be involved, which i admit could be fine. But if you remember pulling one side of the room and always huging a wall. That shit was dumb, bottom line is there isnt a legit reason to fully clear rooms until now because they're not overcrowed w/ npc garbage.
Before you start writing your ranting back at me try and remember "shattered halls" i've nvr seen so much trash in my life, single pulls of 6-7 npc's...r u kidding? All for what a couple badges and epics that are topped w/ pvp gear.... no ty
- James -
Gareth Jan 27th 2009 10:46AM
So in short your enjoying the easy mode of Wrath, unfortunately for me there is no feeling of achievement reaching the end of an instance in Wrath, and the biggest thrill is getting the right loot to drop.
Shattered halls was a legend for me, doing it on heroic took some serious work (unless you were an overgeared paladin, in which case I pity you since you never got to enjoy the challenge, those last packs of 7 were tense affairs with little AoE threat).
Now though I'm finding that I'm no longer playing my warrior much, basically since I've gotten most that I want from heroics so there is nothing left to do in Wrath until the next content patch. Maybe if they want lol heroics they should have allowed them, and then add in a hard mode heroic that drops slightly better badges, kind of like 10 man and 25 man.
I don't really care much about 25 man badges being better then 10 man, just being slightly better gives the reason to do them though.
Melchior Jan 26th 2009 5:26PM
CC- Read: Great way to make an instance last twice as long! Now with more wipes! CCCentric dungeons are the absolute bane of fun.
Moonduh Jan 26th 2009 5:29PM
When they bring back CC, they will kill off the DPS Warrior and DK. Trash is trash; CCing it isn't an "art" or "science", it's time-consuming and unnecessary. Blizzard will stomp all over their "bring the player, not the class" motto, which they've basically based all the instances and raids in WotLK around, if they make CC a requirement.
But honestly, with the AOE threat tanks are all pushing out these days (yes, Mike Schramm, ALL tanks. I don't know why you keep trying to blame DKs for this, when really the leading reason for the death of CC on trash is the changes to AOE threat for ALL the tanking classes) and the AOE DPS the damage-dealing classes are doing, it's just going to boil down to Blizzard putting 7 or 8 mobs per pull that do insane amounts of damage. And I think we can all agree that will get old very fast.
Tryst Jan 26th 2009 8:52PM
No, thank you. I'll pass. No more sheeping, plzkthxbai.
James Riggs Jan 26th 2009 5:33PM
OMG dont bring back CC. We dont want to learn to play, we just want to run in and beat the crap out of stuff as if this were MMO Halo!
Idiots. Go back to your shooters.
Manatank Jan 26th 2009 5:44PM
You highly overestimate the skill required to CC. Not a challenge, just an annoyance.
Sahyuri Jan 26th 2009 6:01PM
Agree!
Do none of you remember the days of Everquest? The Enchanter class? It was a beautiful thing, a class solely built around Crowd Control.
With an Enchanter who knew how to play their class they could easily Mez 4 mobs in a line, quietly waiting for their turn to die. Granted EQ was all about the grind and definately WoW is not about that.
I think I would enjoy and appreciate a class based around complete crowd control. Spells to direct the mobs aggro, major dispell spells, essentially a class that can play tricks with the mind causing the mob to do what YOU need it to do.
Rilandune Jan 26th 2009 5:35PM
You fail to mention the Sap! We Rogues need love too you know, Mike. And frankly I'm just as much itching to sneak into certain death situations just to crack one mob over the head to knock him out temporarily as any Mage is to fire off a sheep!
Just thought I'd throw that in there ; )
On topic, I agree, I miss the control over the instance that CC brought and certainly the added challenge, particularly in bringing together a not so perfect (so-to-speak) PUG with limited CC ability and still making it through the instance being able to adapt to what was needed.
~Rilandune
Worcester Jan 26th 2009 5:54PM
/agree
And I'm quite sure that all the comments about "CC is not hard" are from the same idiots who pull before a Sap. It only works out of combat, people. Let your Rogues do their jobs once in a while.
Not everyone is an AoE damage dealer or a Tank, but you wouldn't guess that by looking at a majority of posts here.
Sysgoddess Jan 28th 2009 11:06AM
Some of us still prize our CCers and rely on them to keep even just a single mob at bay while we tank and spank the rest into dust.
Am I well geared and pro enough to tank 4 or more mobs at once? Sure. Is my healer l33t enough to heal me through the damage? You bet.
I try to use the unique skills of everyone in the party to our advantage, without adding significantly to our run time or otherwise gimping us, and if CCing a mob or two takes them out of play long enough to prevent a player death or wipe (corpse drags & added repair bills anyone?) then it's a win for everyone.