Ghostcrawler explains the DK aura changes
by Amanda Miller 
Feb 26th 2009 at 11:00AM
When the first set of 3.1 patch notes popped up, many Death Knights were surprised to see that their auras were being reworked into something that, well, just isn't an aura at all.Instead, the effects are being rolled into talents so that, if talented, the Death Knight herself still gains the benefit, but does not extend it to party or raid members.
Although they will now be called, for example, Improved Blood Presence, the benefits will be applied regardless of the presence assumed by the character.
I have to admit that my first reaction to the change was a negative one. It feels weird to me switching from a Holy Paladin to a character that simply does not have a comparable range of buffs and auras to offer.
That's when my roomie and addict of WoW forums and websites, piped in with the why. Today, Ghostcrawler gives an official explanation.
Unholy Aura, which grants a 15% movement speed increase, was slowly "becoming mandatory as a raid buff." The ability is not only handy for long corpse runs, as well as fights where movement speed and reaction time are critical, but it seriously impacts the overall damage done by the meleeing crowd.
Melee characters spend an annoying amount of time backing out of range because of AoE or ground effects, running around the mobs to always stay behind them, following after a mobile tank, and the like. This disrupts their damage, and because this has always been the case, classes and encounters are balanced assuming that this is still going on.Ghostcrawler also mentions that Blizzard "considered giving it to other classes" but, as you can imagine, that "would just be accepting all players moving faster all the time." If that were the case, many boot enchants would have to be reworked, and in fact, it would likely just be easier to increase everyone's base speed and call it a day.
So why not simply change Unholy Aura? Frost Aura was, to quote GC, "kind of lame", and I'd have to agree. Overall, "the [dk aura] mechanic was just a little awkward and hard to explain."
After all, it is a unique aura system. Paladins can toss up any aura, regardless of spec, while a raid would have to insist on an Unholy Death Knight for the speed boost benefit. Allowing this to continue would be contrary to the direction that Blizz has been taking raiding. They don't want any class and spec combo to get an automatic, necessitated, raid invitation.
Considering that Blizzard is also working to make Blood and Frost specs more appealing to entice more of the Death Knight population to let go of their Unholy ways, this change will not only be fairer to every class that wants a shot at a raid spot, it will also allow Death Knights to be accepted regardless of spec.
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Talents, Death Knight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Xonate Feb 26th 2009 11:07AM
"They don't want any class and spec combo to get an automatic, necessitated, raid invitation. "
Except priests, apparently.
Robert M Feb 26th 2009 11:12AM
What buff is that?
Wyred Feb 26th 2009 11:13AM
I'm assuming you mean 25 man Razuvious, in which case make it shadow priests for the +hit. Just plain weird, what was wrong with the 10 man version?
Kyr Feb 26th 2009 11:14AM
Until some uber tank manages to tank Razuvious alone again, yes. Indeed.
Xonate Feb 26th 2009 11:16AM
25-man Razuvious, and to a less extent, Grand Widow. Obviously this is because the fights are based on the old 40-man fight, where not having priests would have been ridiculous, but at the same time, they say "bring the player, not the class" (which is really getting them into trouble, it seems) and then force you to take at least two priests. They really should have just used the orbs for both normal and heroic versions.
Kassu Feb 26th 2009 11:16AM
To Robert M:
"Prayer word ASD" ?
Razmuss Feb 26th 2009 11:24AM
Didn't they admit they F'ed up with the Priest requirement in naxx and that it was not going to happen again in T8 raiding?
Xonate Feb 26th 2009 11:26AM
I haven't seen them admitting that, but it's possible. Last time I looked at the forums about it a couple weeks ago, Ghostcrawler was in the forums defending their decision by saying that priests want to tank sometimes and should be able to.
Yamsy Feb 26th 2009 11:45AM
@Wyred:
Spriest not required! I'm holy and I tank Razuvious every time my guild comes across him. Granted, I do throw on my ghetto Shadow set for the +hit. But considering you don't need to be hit capped (only need 6% hit) to prevent MC breaks... any priest would be able to manage it with some food/pots and maybe one piece of hit gear.
Also, not even two are required. I lost my Spriest partner on the pull once and continued to do the fight with just one understudy MC'd. Our Druid tank would take Razuvious' hits for the few seconds it would take for me to re-MC the mob whenever it broke. Not ideal, but it works.
It's getting to a point where players are finding ways to make this fight work for their raid make-up... rather than setting up their raid around the fight.
Wyred Feb 26th 2009 12:14PM
"by saying that priests want to tank sometimes and should be able to"
Rofl, he really said that? damn do I feel stupid for rolling a prot warrior alt.
@Yamsy: point taken about the +hit, and props to my holy brethren (looking forward to 3.1 as much as I am?) on working around the mechanics. But as yet there is no way to get out of needing at *least* one priest, so for the most part, the point still stands.
kabshiel Feb 26th 2009 12:20PM
They admitted that Razuvious was teetering on the edge of being a problem. I think they decided that future 25-man encounters would expect that at least one of each class is present, but that expecting two of any class would be pushing it.
Burnt Toast Feb 26th 2009 3:14PM
LOL. I love the way how people are so hard up for the +hit. I'm a disc priest with like no +hit (well, I do now from Icewalker but it's a piddly +12) and I can MC both Grand Widow's adds and the students just fine.
Just need to position yourself correctly since MC has a small range.
fauxgt4 Feb 26th 2009 4:59PM
@Burnt:
Why are you laughing? +hit just means you're less likely to miss the MC attempt, or have it break early.
Which, considering you're a clothie, having a mad understudy beating on you can be a bad thing.
Can it be done without +hit? Yes... but, you're more likely miss the target or have the MC break at an inopportune time. Which, if they whack you too many times is pretty much a wipe for the raid.
So you're point is... ? You're underprepared for your role, but so far you've gotten lucky? Uhm... lol at that too I guess...
mike Feb 27th 2009 6:56AM
oh come on, not only can this be done by any priest (we use 2 holies in hit gear), it's also not stretching credibility that every raid has 2. You should have at least 1 shadow priest and almost certainly nave a holy or a disc. It's not like your need 4 anymore, and if you're doing it this way, your tanks need a workout. Priests have enough issues at the moment, give them a break that there's one fight in the whole of the game where mind control is useful.
vexis58 Feb 28th 2009 12:18AM
Not even shadowpriests any more, now that there's going to be a glyph to give +17% hit to Mind Control.
Fenrix Feb 28th 2009 12:35AM
What 25-man raid can't scrounge up a single priest? You'd want one for fortitude if nothing else.
Krakish Feb 26th 2009 11:12AM
"Considering that Blizzard is also working to make Blood and Frost specs more appealing ..."
Remind me how frost is more appealing? Weaker HB or something like that?
omenscourge Feb 26th 2009 11:17AM
It's more appealing for players that want to be challenged by constantly fighting to maintain aggro over the DPS.
The first two builds clearly are driving more DK's into Unholy which is the opposite of what was intended. I suspect that will change sometime in the next 4-6 weeks before 3.1 goes live.
http://omenscourge.blogspot.com
Zerokku Feb 26th 2009 11:15AM
While a little lame, It makes sense.
Addfwyn Feb 26th 2009 11:18AM
They are making Blood/Frost more appealing than Unholy by...
nerfing blood, frost, diseaseless blood (understandable on this one), and DW and buffing Unholy?
EVERY DK is going to be speccing Unholy after 3.1, with the large Unholy buffs and the nerfs to every other spec.
I don't see how this is supposed to encourage offspecs. I've almost always been a Frost Knight, but after 3.1 I am going to have to respec Unholy just like everyone else, just because I want to stay viable.