What 3.1 means for PvP part II
Mage
Not too many changes have been announced for Mages yet, although one key point was Blizzard's intention to raise Fire Mages' survivability in PvP. Despite the nerf to Spirit across the board, they're also looking at making Spirit more appealing to Mages. We'll have to wait for more announcements to see how Mages, already dominant in PvP as Arcane burst is still ridiculously high, will shape up in Patch 3.1.
Paladin
Oh boy. Where do we start? Blessing of Kings is going to be baseline, which is a phenomenal change as it's the single best raid buff in the game. It's also the best Paladin buff for Arenas, although the changes to mana regeneration in Patch 3.1 might push Blessing of Wisdom's utility much higher. Exorcism being castable on all targets is a DPS buff, but more notably, it's a 30 yard direct damage spell usable against enemy players, expanding a (Retribution) Paladin's PvP options.
The real winner, however, is Protection. All the changes are excellent for PvE and solve a lot of caster mob problems, but the buff to Judgements of the Just will make Protection Paladins true stunlocking gods in PvP. Even subject to diminishing returns, Protection will now have access to a 10-second spell interrupt and Seal of Justice will become the seal of choice for Protection Paladins in PvP. Furthermore the Shield of the Templar change, which confers a 3-second silence effect to Avenger's Shield and Shield of Righteousness, makes Protection Paladins the most frightening anti-caster class in the game. That's right, even more frightening than a Death Knight. This is right in line with what Ghostcrawler described as making Protection viable for PvP. Because if a stunlocking, cast-interrupting, silencing class with bubble isn't viable in PvP, I don't know what is.
Priest
Divine Spirit being turned into a baseline spell isn't such big news for PvP, seeing as how Spirit's going to get nerfed, anyway. What sounds awesome, however, is the talent that's slated to replace it -- Power Word: Barrier, which is a Power Word: Shield for the entire raid. Discipline Priests have always been the kings of mitigation, and this new spell looks like it's going to be phenomenal in a PvP setting. What's even better for Discipline Priests is the change to Penance, allowing Priests to target themselves with the spell. If you thought Discipline Priests were tough to kill then, they'll be even more frustrating to try and take down after Patch 3.1.
In other news, Dispersion will now remove snares and Shadowform will also mitigate spell damage. Both changes will help make Shadow Priests more viable in PvP, something that Blizzard hoped for but didn't achieve in 3.0. Discipline Priests make up an overwhelming majority of the top rated Priests in Arenas, so expect Blizzard should do a lot more than make tweaks to Dispersion and Shadowform.
By the same token, they've expressed an intent to make Holy more viable for PvP. Whether this means more utility or survivability -- ideally both -- we'll have to find out when they announce the rest of the changes. The buff to Serendipity works both in a PvE and PvP setting, where faster cast big heals are the order of the day. Overall, it looks like they're moving in the right direction.
Not too many changes have been announced for Mages yet, although one key point was Blizzard's intention to raise Fire Mages' survivability in PvP. Despite the nerf to Spirit across the board, they're also looking at making Spirit more appealing to Mages. We'll have to wait for more announcements to see how Mages, already dominant in PvP as Arcane burst is still ridiculously high, will shape up in Patch 3.1.
Paladin
Oh boy. Where do we start? Blessing of Kings is going to be baseline, which is a phenomenal change as it's the single best raid buff in the game. It's also the best Paladin buff for Arenas, although the changes to mana regeneration in Patch 3.1 might push Blessing of Wisdom's utility much higher. Exorcism being castable on all targets is a DPS buff, but more notably, it's a 30 yard direct damage spell usable against enemy players, expanding a (Retribution) Paladin's PvP options.
The real winner, however, is Protection. All the changes are excellent for PvE and solve a lot of caster mob problems, but the buff to Judgements of the Just will make Protection Paladins true stunlocking gods in PvP. Even subject to diminishing returns, Protection will now have access to a 10-second spell interrupt and Seal of Justice will become the seal of choice for Protection Paladins in PvP. Furthermore the Shield of the Templar change, which confers a 3-second silence effect to Avenger's Shield and Shield of Righteousness, makes Protection Paladins the most frightening anti-caster class in the game. That's right, even more frightening than a Death Knight. This is right in line with what Ghostcrawler described as making Protection viable for PvP. Because if a stunlocking, cast-interrupting, silencing class with bubble isn't viable in PvP, I don't know what is.
Priest
Divine Spirit being turned into a baseline spell isn't such big news for PvP, seeing as how Spirit's going to get nerfed, anyway. What sounds awesome, however, is the talent that's slated to replace it -- Power Word: Barrier, which is a Power Word: Shield for the entire raid. Discipline Priests have always been the kings of mitigation, and this new spell looks like it's going to be phenomenal in a PvP setting. What's even better for Discipline Priests is the change to Penance, allowing Priests to target themselves with the spell. If you thought Discipline Priests were tough to kill then, they'll be even more frustrating to try and take down after Patch 3.1.
In other news, Dispersion will now remove snares and Shadowform will also mitigate spell damage. Both changes will help make Shadow Priests more viable in PvP, something that Blizzard hoped for but didn't achieve in 3.0. Discipline Priests make up an overwhelming majority of the top rated Priests in Arenas, so expect Blizzard should do a lot more than make tweaks to Dispersion and Shadowform.
By the same token, they've expressed an intent to make Holy more viable for PvP. Whether this means more utility or survivability -- ideally both -- we'll have to find out when they announce the rest of the changes. The buff to Serendipity works both in a PvE and PvP setting, where faster cast big heals are the order of the day. Overall, it looks like they're moving in the right direction.







Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
adam Feb 6th 2009 5:17PM
Awesome I can finally PvP
Azhariel Feb 6th 2009 2:04PM
Paladins:
Blizzard's Plate Ranged Class. If only I knew I could get a shield when I rolled my hunter..
Taladan Feb 6th 2009 3:00PM
I'm a paladin and I still don't believe we are going "to the ground, baby."
I mean, I completely agree with the comment about prots in PvP. They are going to be a real pain to kill: Massive mitigation, lots of spell interrupt... Almost makes me want to respec from Holy to Prot (or use the dual spec thing.)
But fear not! The nerf bat always swings towards paladins. Hot fixes for all those will appear one week after the patch ;)
ninjasuperspy Feb 6th 2009 2:07PM
So, how quickly do you think the 2 second interrupt on the Glyph of Exorcism will get "Hotfixed" after we can suddenly start Exorcising players?
I'm guessing sometime before 3.1 even hits the PTR.
Hal Feb 6th 2009 2:18PM
This is good news to my Prot Pally. My few PvP run-ins with casters left me hoping they didn't have a way to break out of HoJ. Otherwise, you just sit there letting them wail on you at a distance. Can't catch'em, you're too slow. Can't hit 'em at range you only have one reliable ranged attack.
This is good. I can only hope this is viable when it leaves the PTR.
Elogahmas Feb 6th 2009 6:51PM
OMG_ what do we need to do to get some real upgrades for the Spriests out there????
Remove snares on Dispersion and improved shadow form to reduce damage on spells.... big freaking woop! The few remaining Spriests out there are suffering in pvp, Owned by every Melle class, DOTS are easily removed, and the our DPS isnt that great to begin with in pvp.
I'm calling for not just some improvements in DPS and survivability, BUT A FULL SCALE "OP" UPGRADE!!! ITS OUR TURN TO SHINE. (not sorry about caps)
Thanks,
~ELO
my2cents Feb 6th 2009 7:37PM
Woah there Emogahmas ;)
This is not a full list of changes for 3.1, only a small "preview." Take a deep breath and relax. It'll be ok...
Heilig Feb 6th 2009 7:36PM
I have a sneaking suspicion that the paladin changes were not explained properly.
JotJ dropping HoJ's cooldown by 20 seconds sounds amazing for prot. In fact, when combined with Imp. HoJ, it gives Prot Pallies a 6 second stun every ten seconds......
Yeah. That ain't happening. They're going to remove Imp. HoJ or make it increase the range and make it so the only way to get a shortened HoJ cooldown is to be Prot. Imp. HoJ is already an issue in arenas when Ret can stun every 30 seconds. They're pulling that out and giving it just to Prot. They're going to make up for that by making Exorcism castable on anyone, so you can glyph it for an interrupt every 15 seconds (THANK GOD FINALLY).
They will also most likely make Divine Plea function off of base mana instead of total, that way it isn't stupid OP for Holy.
All in all, very nice and needed changes. Ret gets their interrupt at the cost of some stun time, Prot gets LOTS of interrupts at the cost of, well, being completely useless in PvP, and Holy gets the mana efficiency nerf that any honest person will admit is necessary in arena. Combine all that with Kings going baseline and 3.1 is looking to be one of the best pally patches yet.
Spoonman Feb 7th 2009 12:56AM
How is Seal of Justice changing? I don't remember reading any changes to it, did I miss something?
Conan Feb 7th 2009 1:29AM
Is it just me or are people saying that Prot Pallys, the only tanking class that sux ass against spell-dmg mobs is finaly getting some kinda spell interupt like spell-reflect from warriors? Why is this now suddenly OP?
A tank is a tank theyll barely damage anything or catch anything in the first place, a mage will just blink out of any stun (if pally is even in mele range to stun) and run (cuz we got no charge like warrior does) and after this amazing waste of time running, the prot pally will get fucking melted by the mages arcane blasts. People need to be realistic, its nothing special and if anything is a pvp nerf and pve buff (Thank god...try tanking a full mob of casters)
Manaxe Feb 7th 2009 3:20AM
"I got a fever.. and the only prescription.. is more paladin buffs".
That's right. Some dude is standing in the Blizzard offices with tinted aviator glasses and a brown leather jacket continuously repeating this. I don't know where to start on how awful a PvP change the exorcism buff is.
Seriously, find this Christopher Walken lookalike and eject him from the building. Enough is enough already.