The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Comes The Cataclysm
by Matthew Rossi 
Aug 28th 2009 at 7:00PM
So yeah, we learned a lot last week. We learned that we'll have two new races to play (both of which can be warriors), with new racial abilities to consider. We learned that Blood Elves will finally remember how to pick up something pointy and jam the aforementioned pointy end into someone without first siphoning the Holy Light from a rock candy alien, putting poison on it, or dying first. Heck, they might even decide to use two really big pointy things! (They can also settle for crushy or choppy things.) We also learned that our gear is going to be radically changing (and frankly, anything that makes me less likely to have to fire up a freaking spreadsheet... and yes, I use the spreadsheet, you know we all do... to figure out my gear options makes me happy) and streamlining.
We also learned that a really big (no, bigger than that... seriously, he's huge) dragon with an extreme hate-on for everything that lives is going to rampage across the surface of Azeroth. Frankly, though, speaking as a warrior they don't pay me to understand the motives and reasoning of giant scaly things. My purpose is to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield until pointy/blunt/choppy things have been introduced repeatedly to said giant scaly things.
It's a good system, and I don't see any reason to stop now. So now, without further ado, let's dance with the Cataclysm.
Blood Elves and Worgen and Goblins, oh my
We saw discussion of Blood Elf warriors here and I stand by what I said there. When they were first released, everyone thought that the Blood Elf racials were so good that if Warriors got them, they'd be unstoppable anti-caster weapons on the PvP battleground. (Then again, everyone always thinks of Warriors that way - be it Vanilla WoW with the cries of "Nerf Mortal Strike" or modern WoW with cries of "Nerf Bladestorm and Juggernaut" it doesn't matter how strong or weak the class is in PvP, really.) But now that we've had BE's since the launch of Burning Crusade, we've had time to get used to them and to see that in the current state their racial ability (Arcane Torrent) probably won't be all that unbalancing.
Likewise, we've got DK's now, so BE's no longer are forced to play a Paladin to tank. Combine this with the fact that there will now be two races able to play Paladins Horde side (Blood Elves and Tauren) and the reason for the restriction is effectively gone.
As interesting as the idea of Blood Elf Warriors is (Spellbreakers yay) I won't pretend that I'm all that interested in playing one myself. And with Worgen and Goblins coming into the game, how can you blame me? You can't!
I've always liked the mercenary archetype (I'm a big fan of Glen Cook) and man, Goblin Warriors are like the absolute distillation of that. Their racial abilities are both lore-perfect and ridiculously good, to the point where it's hard to look at those and wonder what all the fuss was about Arcane Torrent. Between the RP aspects (finally, a character it makes complete and total sense would go from fight to fight purely for monetary reward) and the racials I'd already be interested, but the fact that Goblins are also ridiculously insane means that I can finally level an engineer and play up the mad demolitionist aspect. (I will be amazed if Goblin and Worgen racials don't ultimately end up as models of how other races are going to be developed in Cataclysm.)
However, I won't be coy. My Goblin will be a side project to play with some friends I have Horde side. My main is going to be a Worgen.
Now, the Goblin racials are very cool, and might even be (taken as a whole) more potent than the Worgen ones. However, the Worgen 1% bonus damage and racial sprint are nothing to sneer at. Furthermore, I want to play a giant freaking werebeast. I have a minotaur Horde side that I plan to keep (I might even race change my BE pally to a Tauren) and by all that's dark and wolfy I'm going to have a freaking werewolf Alliance side. The best part is, with the rumored race change feature I could theoretically switch my human warrior over to Worgen (although there is some discussion of limiting that option and quite honestly, if they did, I might very well level a Worgen Warrior anyway).
Honestly, the reason I'm most excited about all these new racial options is that they also mean a return of Warriors as a class any race in the game can play. Up until BC launched, Warriors were seen as a default class because while not all races were masters of arcane or divine magic or suited to stealth, pretty much anybody (even a Gnome) could pick up a weapon and start hitting people with it. Frankly, this has always made the most sense to me. Warriors are an everyman class. No magic, no natural affinity, no divine power, no tricks of stealth and subtlety, no elementals harnessed or coaxed to your will, and certainly no pulling a bunch of dead things from the ground. Putting living things into the ground via good old fashioned brute force, however, that we're pretty comfortable with.
Gear and Stat Simplification
This in particular is a long time coming. I'm well known for sometimes disagreeing with Ghostcrawler on game issues (I'll never agree that Titan's Grip needed the savage nerfing it received) but I'm on board this time.I'm quite frankly a little tired of having to balance hit, crit, armor pen, expertise, haste, defense, etc etc on my gear. i started to feel leery of the sheer amount of stats I was expected to understand in order to play a video game with my friends when the armor penetration formulas were listed a few months back.
I in no way want the game to become easy mode. I enjoy hard modes like Firefighter or I Love The Smell Of Saronite In The Morning as much as anyone (and frankly, I'm one of the players most relied upon to be on time with my interrupts, to the point where people argue over having me in their interrupt group because they know I will not miss a Pummel) but I like my challenges in game to come from, say, overcoming and defeating a monster of some kind and not from deciding which pair of pants I should wear while I do it. Seriously, I recently spent twenty minutes completely revamping my outfit to balance my stats because I got a new set of bracers and suddenly I had way too much expertise. That's kind of ludicrous. Anything that does away with that kind of ridiculous fiddling is a good idea.
We already discussed how tanking is going to change this weekend, although we certainly don't have all the details yet. In general, the idea of block as a scaling damage reduction stat and the removal of the current Block Rating/Block Value divide seems like a good idea to me. I assume that we'll gain threat from Shield Slam/Damage Shield through a more direct method than the currently circuitous means of converting Block Value: a straightforward conversion of Strength to raw damage in both cases would seem fairly easily accomplished.
Finally, there's Mastery to consider. The complete redesign of the talent system promises to be very interesting, as does the idea of a stat on your gear that makes you better at what you've spent points to be good at. I'd love to see thinks like Mortal Strike and Titan's Grip removed from the talent trees and made into Mastery bonuses for spending points in their respective trees, allowing Warriors more flexibility when picking talents. Perhaps a tanking build based around 2h weapons? With Mastery on gear simultaneously increasing the benefits you get from specializing in certain talent trees as well as providing other bonuses, we're looking at the dawning of an age where a stat on gear can have entirely different effects depending on how you imagine your character and spend your points.
Further Customization Options
Reforging and Path of the Titans are still very much 'on the drawing board' but they'll certainly affect Warriors as much as any other class. Path of the Titans in particular is a brand new concept in WoW (not saying it hasn't been done in other games) of character development once you reach max level that is unlockable over time.
- The feature is much more robust than this, but at a very conceptual level imagine that at level 85 you got a new talent point every week just for logging in. The rewards are slower than during the leveling period, but they are rewards that exist independent of gear. However on the other hand, you don't feel the need to race through them (in fact you can't) if you are focused on getting to max level and they don't bloat your spellbook with as many abilities as gaining actual whole levels (though they will add a few). Over time, the actual discussions about how to build a character will likely change and evolve in interesting ways. The new point might give you a reason to log in on non-raid nights or even if you've gotten a little burned out on raiding.
I especially love this for Warriors because man, we already have to suffer that whole "My gear is crap" phenomenon where we start out weaker than anyone else. Another grindy means to get stronger would just penalize us. The idea of your Dwarf Warrior identifying with Golganneth while my Worgen goes more for Agrammar the Avenger appeals to me as well. It's a way to have two max level Warriors, perhaps even of the same talent spec, different in more than a cosmetic way.
Basically a lot of this takes the sophistication that we were seeing on gear and puts it back into talent and character choices. We'll have to see how it all shakes out, but man, the possibility of Warriors being able to be more than just another cookie-cutter DPS or tanking spec has me giddy.
Next week, well, I have no idea. I have been tanking a lot lately, so I may be in a coma. Maybe I'll talk about Trial of the Crusader now that the final encounter will have unlocked.
Check out more strategies, tips and leveling guides for Warriors in Matthew Rossi's weekly class column: The Care and Feeding of Warriors.Filed under: Horde, Worgen, Cataclysm, Wrath of the Lich King, (Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors, Lore, The Burning Crusade, Blood Elves, Expansions, News items, Odds and ends, Analysis / Opinion, Warrior, Alliance, Goblin
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jooohn Aug 28th 2009 7:10PM
I cannot wait to play a Worgen warrior! I'm so freaking excited! My only fear is a release date for Cataclysm will be announced, then repeatedly pushed back. But knowing the reasons for said push backs will be to make the expansion that much better!
*giggles like a little girl*
Rabidgun Aug 28th 2009 7:14PM
Goblin warriors are going to be kick ass. Small + TG + green = Awesome
Zarzuur Aug 28th 2009 7:16PM
More Worgen mock-ups in various gear please, WOW Insider!!! including levelling armor .. (I thinking of being a Worgen warrior in Cata)
MusedMoose Aug 28th 2009 7:18PM
I agree with pretty much everything in this column, but most of all, I'm right there with you on the stat simplification. I know I don't speak for everyone, but I think that if you have to use a spreadsheet, then it's ceased to be a game and has become a math problem, which isn't something I want to pay $15 a month for. *grin* I'm looking forward to everything in Cataclysm, but this was one of the best pieces of news about the whole thing.
And I wholly aree with this: "Frankly, though, speaking as a warrior they don't pay me to understand the motives and reasoning of giant scaly things. My purpose is to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield until pointy/blunt/choppy things have been introduced repeatedly to said giant scaly things.
It's a good system, and I don't see any reason to stop now."
Awesome.
Heilig Aug 28th 2009 10:20PM
The only problem sit hat they have said repeatedly that they DON'T want gear decisions to be brain dead. What they DON'T want is someone to automatically equip something because it's higher item level, which is exactly the direction they now say they are going. Let's be honest: Pushing buttons at the right time is something a trained monkey can do. making intelligent decisions about gearing and talents adds an element of skill that mere button pressing can't match. I agree, things like armor pen and expertise were going to far, but removing AP, SP, Mp5, and Defense and replacing them with just more strength, agility, intellect, or spirit is pretty brain dead. At this rate, the only non-primary stats to be found will be hit, crit, dodge, and parry. That doesn't leave a whole lot of decision making available on the gear end.
MusedMoose Aug 28th 2009 11:20PM
@Heilig:
You do have a point, and I agree, there should be more than just the iLevel or "higher stat = better item" to consider. However, I think that it's gone too far. Whether Blizzard is cutting it back too much remains to be seen, but I am glad that they realize that there is such a thing as too many stats to keep track of.
As for whether gear choice is a matter of skill, I don't know if I agree with that or not. With the concept of "best in slots," anyone can look up what gear they should have for what purpose. I would say that knowing what buttons to press at the right time is a better measure of the player's skill than their gear, or at least I think it should be. No matter how good their gear is, if someone doesn't know their class and their abilities, or how to use said abilities in battle, I wouldn't call them very skilled.
Of course, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Heilig Aug 29th 2009 1:21AM
"With the concept of "best in slots," anyone can look up what gear they should have for what purpose"
The only problem with this is that "best in slot" compilations only apply to that gear SET. If you don't have EVERY piece of that best in slot set, it's not best in slot anymore. For example, if you have everything best in slot but the chest piece and the chest piece you DO have is chock full of expertise that puts you over the cap, then "best in slot" changes. You may need to change your belt and gloves to compensate for the extra expertise and be able to squeeze some extra crit and haste out instead until you actually get the best in slot chest you need. That is what makes gearing an intelligent process. I agree, there are too many stats right now, but they are oversimplifying. They want things to be more intuitive. OK. How does having a stat called ATTACK POWER make it difficult to understand what will make your ATTACKs more POWERful? They should be removing armor pen, expertise, spell penetration, etc, not basic, easy to understand stats like attack power and spell power.
theRaptor Aug 29th 2009 1:46AM
@Heilig
What intelligent decisions? You download a spreadsheet or sim from EJ and just do what it tells you to do. It is currently so complicated that only savants and maths geeks actually sit down and do it manually.
A great example is the enhancement shaman which is acknowledged to be impossible to gear "perfectly" without simming because the value of stats and your rotation depends on your stats and rotation.
Heilig Aug 29th 2009 4:59AM
Well, one could argue that reading a site like EJ is an intelligent decision that MANY players don't make. And note I never said things didn't need to be simplified, I simply said I feel they are taking it too far. There is nothing wrong with needing to know a hit cap. You know why? Your DPS will be fine even if you never have any hit, or if you have way too much. It won't be as good as the guy who really knows his shit, but that's kind of the point. Simplifying gear to the point that you don't need to know what any of the stats actually do is bad for the game as a whole. There will end up being nothing separating the good players from the great players. The only time you will be able to differentiate player calibre BEFORE you get saved to your heroic is when you see DK's in mail or whatnot.
bigjonno Aug 29th 2009 5:13AM
There's a world of difference between making intelligent gear decisions and the current level of stat-juggling required.
For starters, things like hit, def, and expertise caps can only be worked out through extensive theorycrafting. This is bad. If you can't work something out purely in the game, it shouldn't be in the game. Running numbers to find the optimal gear set and the like is fine; some people love that, but you shouldn't be forced to consult outside sources to make sense of it all.
In my opinion, good gear decision making is something like "these gauntlets are better overall than my current ones, but they don't have any armour pen. Which pair should I use?" Bad decision making would be the 20 minutes of gear swapping that Matthew described in the article.
Matthew Rossi Aug 29th 2009 12:19PM
Helig,
They're not removing Attack Power, just AP on gear. For those of us who wear plate, they already made this change, remember? Our AP comes from STR, you'll never see AP on plate DPS gear. So too now for Mail and Leather. It's going to come purely from Agility for Agi classes and Str for Str classes (much as it does for str classes now anyway) and as a result, there won't be five stat leather/mail gear anymore. And as a result of that, warriors, paladins and DK's will finally not want leather or mail gear anymore, since it won't be itemized with stats they'll want. Agi/AP gear usually has enough AP on it to make up for the loss of strength and while the Agi is kind of a dump stat it means that we'll take it because the leather/mail usually also has crit, and combined with the agi we get a significant melee crit boost by using it in certain cases.
With the AP removed, it'll be junk. The crit we get from it won't justify all the AP we won't. Agi classes will still want it, and we won't.
As things stand right now they've announced the AP/SP/MP5 simplication (Agi or Str for AP, Int for SP, Spirit for MP5), the removal of defense and armor pen, and the introduction of Mastery. That means we'll stil have Mastery, Hit and Expertise to work with for theorycrafters, and at present we don't really know all of what Mastery will do. I'm not too worried that they're oversimplifying by much.
Avrador Aug 28th 2009 7:29PM
"I'd love to see thinks like Mortal Strike and Titan's Grip removed from the talent trees and made into Mastery bonuses for spending points in their respective trees"
I don't think they've given any indication that mastery will unlock any new talents or moves. From what I understood it's there to replace boring talents and to simplify itemization. Mortal Strike and Titan's Grip seems like the kind of things they'd most want to keep in the trees.
Saelorn Aug 28th 2009 8:35PM
This. Mastery will probably improve hit chance and melee damage when you put things in the Fury tree, or melee damage and crit when you put things in the arms tree (with prot probably increasing stamina and block chance).
There have been no indications that Mastery is going to improve anything other than the flat numbers of abilities you already have anyway. Hypothesizing otherwise can be fun, but is entirely without basis.
bigjonno Aug 29th 2009 5:16AM
That's exactly what I thought. My impression was that they were scrapping essential-but-boring talents like "+5% crit" and "increases damage by 3%" in favour of ones that actually let you do new stuff. Both Titan's Grip and Mortal Strike, while essential for their respective specs, are fun talents that give you new abilities.
Cyanea Aug 28th 2009 7:34PM
I'm not a warrior, but I read this article because the introduction was absolutely hilarious. The line quoted above by MusedMoose was absolutely priceless as well.
toogreedyblackwolf Aug 28th 2009 7:42PM
I'll have to say you make a good point about the new stat system that I hadn't thought about yet. I just hope it doesn't become *too* simple; gearing needs to imply some sort of challenge, not just "More of a stat = Upgrade".
About Worgens, I'm definitely creating one too, but not Warrior, because I already got a Dwarf :)
Agath Aug 28th 2009 8:01PM
Worgen in Dreadnaught... how would that look?
Naithin Aug 28th 2009 8:38PM
My main question still is, as it has been since I began reading about the Mastery changes is.. What on earth are they going to replace all those 'boring' talents WITH in the trees? Are we going to end up spending 5/5 to get Titan's Grip to reduce penalty as per early betas? I just don't know how they're going to fill out the trees sufficiently without them, unless they're willing to introduce a *lot* more 'fun' abilities to spread our points across.
Other than this query (not quite outright concern yet), I'm pretty danged psyched about the mastery change and stat.
I'm less in love with gaining uncrittability through talent rather than gearing, and some of the other itemisation simplifications, but I'm sure that in practice it won't really alter my level of enjoyment at all, and I'm also quite sure that mastery stat and talent interaction will create a whole new avenue for theory crafters to investigate, so all is not lost there either. :)
Rhabella Aug 29th 2009 11:00AM
THANK YOU!
I was wondering this myself and just inferred that I had missed something on from Blizzcon.
Blizzard is already, by their own admission, running the risk of homogenizing classes as it is. Can you really offer more fun talents and not be stealing from the other classes?
I hope they are able to pull it off, it would be nice if you had more options for abilities, but not so many that you don't have the GCD's to use them.
@Rossi and the worgen lovers,
I am beginning to think I am only person alive who isn't wetting myself with glee over the worgen. They look cool and all, but as an Alliance only (but never a human) player, I am more excited about the tauren paladin than anything else. Hell, if it weren't for that damn dorf shammy and gnome priest, I might abandon the Alliance completely for the Horde.
What am I missing with all the worgen excitement?
jimonaxe Aug 28th 2009 8:45PM
I suppose for many people, the simplification of stats would be preferable.
However, gearing a raiding dps character reminds me of tuning a race engine. Maximising output by tweaking certain aspects, it's one of my favourite things in the game. Any idiot can stick BiS or highest ilevel onto their character - this doesn't necessarily produce the best output. Mixing some inferior or wrongly itemized gear (leather) to itemise your stats perfectly is fun and challenging and will be sorely missed.
I disagree with many things blizz do to change the game, altho they somehow manage to pull it off, and i change my mind. I hope i'm wrong about this too.