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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPower 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 2 of 2)
Lemons Mar 10th 2009 10:55PM
Power Word: Barrier? wtf? don't you priests already have enough goddamn shields/damage mitigation spells?
Why don't they just make a Power Word: Invincibility and get it over with.
my2cents Mar 10th 2009 11:00PM
Because Paladins already have that...
Grakaron Mar 10th 2009 11:07PM
Nah, you see paladins have a spell called Immune to stuff except warriors and priests.
tulu Frostmourne Mar 10th 2009 11:10PM
Have the Absorption Barrier kick in a 35% health.
That way the tank sees his Hit points bouncing around but when it slams down to 35% he knows the Barrier saved his butt.
Arivia Mar 11th 2009 12:34AM
That already exists: it's called Ardent Defender, and it's a protection paladin skill.
Angus Mar 11th 2009 12:59AM
You know, sometimes as a Tankadin I hit my bubble wall when I am below 35% health. I often see blocked hits doing 2 digits total. 50% DR from bubble + 35% from Ardent Defender + 9% from talents +armor+shield BV = almost no damage.
Having that shield show up when below 35% would make me the best clutch tank in the game. They don't want that, they are nerfing the snot out of DKs for their CDs.
I'd still like to see that thing show up. They derailed paladins being able to raid heal effectively with the stupid Sacred Shield nerf.
Smoky Mar 11th 2009 12:44AM
We already have something similar, it's called targetable Prayer of Healing + Divine Aegis. We have so much crit now, when we use PoH a lot of the time DA will proc. This would kinda make Power Word: Barrier redundant almost.
Landmark Mar 11th 2009 12:55AM
As a raiding discipline priest, I already have that problem now. Some players don't understand and some just won't believe that lower numbers on the healing meters don't necessarily mean less healing.
As Andrew commented before me, absorption mechanics need to tracked in logs so that they can be better measured, compared and analyzed.
edward Mar 11th 2009 4:47AM
How come holy/disc trees don't have any hit rating talents?
It doesn't need to be purely hit rating talent, just a btw, this talent also grants hit rating for holy spells.
Blizzard not aware that healers level as disc or holy??
Bod Mar 11th 2009 7:32AM
I imagine they are aware, but it's a small population and after 3.1 mana nerf it will be even smaller. It's just a lot harder going, and if you're speaking about yourself and have never tried shadow to level, you really should...just for your own sanity.
However, regarding hit - well you don't need hit for levelling, it's only useful for raiding, and holy and disc really are not balanced as raiding dps classes....
Jon Do Mar 11th 2009 8:38AM
Speaking of psychological effect...
What is it with Blizzard dropping hints about a new, powerful ability then pulling back?
Or going live with under-tested, un-balanced, overpowered abilities - then nerfing to the ground?
Dual specs are another example. They have been talked about for months and finally are probably (?) going in patch 3.1. Unless they are deferred, again. GL with PW:Barrier.
It all gets to be so much noise, like a blizzard of late-night TV ads.
Ian Mar 11th 2009 8:48AM
Damage Protection (assuming blizz brings in the right duds) will be just fine! It'll work well in both the arenas and the raids, I think.
Not trying to bring up the discussion of WoW vs. GW, but GW has had this "Protection" mechanic for a long time now and has been a staple in PvP and PvE alike. Maybe blizzard thought it would be a good idea to give some extra options to the healers, but didn't wanna give them too much (hence not including PW: Barrier)
Leicester Mar 11th 2009 9:39AM
PW:S is on a shorter CD and costs less mana with 3.1. I was under the assumption that this is what theyre doing instead of PW:B. Wouldn't make much sense to lower the CD of PW:S unless you were planning on bubbling more than one target.
Fogel Mar 11th 2009 9:40AM
Well with resilience kick-in in
Obviously this spell isnt needed anymore and would make Disc Priest goddamn OP in pvp,
They are already a pain to kill with LoS(need good coordination )
DarkWalker Mar 11th 2009 10:44AM
If perception and the psychological effect is hindering this healing style, they should just expose on the default UI the temporary HP added by the shields. Think of the way Protoss shields are presented on the Starcraft UI. That way, for example, the tank could see his "blue HP" bar going up and down during the fight, even if his HP never decreases.
BTW, other effects that offer temporary absorption limited to some amount, even if it's partial absorption, might use the same interface. Paladin's Hand of Sacrifice, with it's new upper limit on total damage transfered, comes to mind.
Fogel Mar 11th 2009 12:31PM
You got a very good idea for an addon :)
rakah Mar 17th 2009 8:07AM
i wish they would have some sort of indicator for shield status like have it vary between it's initial colour to a deep red or something depending on how much more damage it can take before failing
msteggo Mar 17th 2009 1:12PM
What's worse than a disc priest's efforts going largely unnoticed? When blizzard decides to 'mitigate' the growth of the core mechanic of said spec due to an arguably phantom psychological effect on the group/raid. I don't mind being the 'behind-the-scenes' guy; i've gotten used to it. But if my effectiveness is shackled by the seeming danger of people thinking something is too easy, it might be time to move on. In any specific encounter, how often is a disc priest even around to cause this 'too easy' mind-set? We're likely the least played healer, so I don't think there are enough 'mitigators' to cause such a mass delusion. I don't mind not having pw:b, since pw:s is getting boosted. But I'm hoping this crazy idea of 'too easy' doesn't cause too much unnecessary damage to a really fun spec.