Power Word: Barrier may not be coming
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 10th 2009 at 8:00PM
Unfortunately, Power Word: Barrier has yet to make an appearance on the PTR, and it turns out that we may not see it at all. It's still a possibility, but that's the extent of it. I can sort of see why they would hold off on it, or even change their mind about it. Discipline has gone through a lot of changes in patch 3.1, most of it a really big numbers game. Discipline is a great tree, and while most players might not 'get' the damage mitigation/prevention thing, it's a really powerful mechanic and probably one they need to be careful with.
The combat effect of too much absorption is important to consider of course, but, I can see how it would even have a psychological effect on players. If a Discipline Priest's absorption became too powerful and it seemed like nobody was really taking damage, wouldn't things seem really, really easy? Even if the Discipline Priest was working their tails off? Malygos's Vortex is certainly not dangerous anymore once the raid has enough HP to live through it, but what if a Priest just popped Power Word: Barrier during it? You wouldn't take any damage at all.
There's something to be said about the psychological side of raiding, and I think that plays a role here. If someone sees they didn't take any damage, they're going to think things are too easy. If they're taking massive amounts of damage and someone is healing them through it, they'll be impressed. That was a lot of damage, and that Healer was on top of things! The Discipline Priest could do the same thing via absorption, but people wouldn't be as impressed. Their health bar wouldn't be bouncing wildly, they just wouldn't be getting hurt at all.
I certainly hope that we see the spell in patch 3.1, but I don't think I would be heart broken if we didn't. It would be nice to have an answer to the Holy Priest's Circle of Healing, but that in itself is a whole new can of worms. If we have Circle of Absorption, does that have a negative impact of Circle of Healing? We'll see how this all plays out eventually, I suppose.
Filed under: Priest, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Joel Mar 10th 2009 11:50PM
What if it was a PW:S similar to Prayer of Mending, a shield spell that hopped around when the target took damage, absorbed some, then hopped to someone else?
Kaile Mar 10th 2009 8:05PM
...my life is an abyss... I was so looking forward to this. D:
Jennifer Mar 10th 2009 11:50PM
Me too, though I had the feeling from the general description that we'd be terrible OP if we got something like that.
I'm happy enough with self-castable Penance, though. But massive aoe bubbles would've been hilariously fun.
Kinje Mar 10th 2009 8:06PM
If we have Circle of Absorption, does that have a negative impact of Circle of Healing?
No, not terribly. In much the same way that PW: Shield doesn't impact the worth of a holy priest's Flash Heal. A combination of Weakened Soul and a presumably longer cooldown would keep CoH from becoming obsolete.
Bod Mar 10th 2009 8:18PM
" If they're taking massive amounts of damage and someone is healing them through it, they'll be impressed. That was a lot of damage, and that Healer was on top of things! "
TBH disc priests already suffer from this problem - when their output is compared on heal meters...you have to assume 30% or more healing 'contribution' on top of what you see.
Kakistocracy Mar 10th 2009 9:11PM
I love the idea of the psychological side of things. If a spell that is balanced number wise might need to be weakened because it also boosts confidence, couldn't the same apply in reverse? I'd love for my mage to do way more damage, but look like he's on fire and scream "We're all going to die!" as the screen flashes red every time he casts. By the reasoning for Barrier being troublesome, that should balance out, right?
Angus Mar 11th 2009 12:51AM
My wife keeps complaining about her HPS.
I point out that the glyph of PWS did X amount and it is only 20% of what the shield absorbs, so you have to multiply it by 6 to see what the shield is doing. The numbers get crazy at that point. And then we have to figure out what the average crit is so we figure out the average soap bubble shield...
Yea, she thinks her HPS dropped a good 500 from holy, I think it is probably slightly higher.
And PW:B would not be OP if the thing had a longish CD and would not work on someone with weakened soul.
David Mar 10th 2009 8:26PM
If you were to keep a tank alive via a shield that would kinda defeat the purpose of a tank spec. I could start tanking on my mage and my low armor would mean a thing since it would all be absorbed!
Feeniks Mar 11th 2009 3:01AM
Might not want to forget that damage taken by the shield is absorbed AFTER armor is calculated into the equation.
JustSomeGuy Mar 10th 2009 8:53PM
You guys are overanalysing again.
The blue post clearly said they aren't abandoning it, they are delaying it due to having to focus on the many other changes. Yes, lord knows the priest class sucks and desperately needs something to pull people back into playing the worst class in the game... but as we know, the QQ of warriors is far more powerful than anything else in the game, and getting their pally bubble/ice block killing skill working tip-top is of utmost importance.
So chin up- priest may get better by the time World of Starcraft is release. Perhaps it will be about as horrible as their "To The Ground, Baby!" nerfed paladins by that time, meaning the "worst class" spot could finally be contested.
MisterMoose Mar 10th 2009 10:36PM
A Power Word: Barrier too long delayed is a Power Word: Barrier denied.
Delays like this are often fatal to a proposed ability, especially since the reason is "we are doing so much other stuff with the tree that is bigger than we thought" which often means the tree is going in a different direction.
Andrew Mar 10th 2009 9:11PM
Absorption mechanics need a serious looking-at. They don ' t show up properly in combat logs, they can ' t be properly tracked, until recently the tanking classes got annoyed when they were shielded (paladins still are to an extent). First honest step would be to fix the combat log issue so that they can be theorycrafted along with everyone else and lose their black sheep status.
Wyred Mar 11th 2009 6:07AM
Andrew, you're being very inconsiderate to Elitist Jerks. As it stands all the WWS parsing and extrapolation is going to keep them busy till the next expansion. They love this stuff, don't take away their toy!
Steven Mar 10th 2009 9:06PM
Instead of having PW:B create individual shields on people, what about a shared shield that would drop from everyone after a certain damage limit was met?
(Unless that was the way it is supposed to be in the firstplace, and I just did not understand, then disregard :P)
obarthelemy Mar 10th 2009 9:25PM
It would be very cool, and fun, if it were a shield dome, popping up somewhere, where people had to go to, kinda like the Malygos fight.
Fat chance...
belligerent Mar 10th 2009 11:49PM
This is alread in the game. It's called anti-magic zone.
Ilya Mar 11th 2009 12:57AM
The thing with Anti-Magic Zone is that it only absorbs magic damage. In that sense, it balances out, and the fact that it either expires after so much time or after absorbing enough magic damage balances it too.
Tossing in one that blocks physical damage would just make fights too easy, in my opinion.
Arashikou Mar 10th 2009 9:31PM
Cool. I had just assumed by this point that PW:B wasn't coming, and the change to Renewed Hope (to reduce damage done to your entire party or raid whenever you cast PW:S) was the replacement for it. Nice to know they're still considering it after all.
Grakaron Mar 10th 2009 10:12PM
Considering the changes happening to sacred shield, unless they are lying to paladins and other classes that midigation is too high, this spell should never see the light of live realms.
hagu Mar 11th 2009 8:39PM
That is certainly my opinion