Nethaera hit the forums this morning, asking for feedback from tanks around the globe. Ghostcrawler has been having
a lively discussion with tanks (most specifically protection warriors) recently, and now they seem to be formalizing the discussion for the wider audience.
Nethaera
We're currently working on the tanking cooldowns for tanks in Cataclysm. We're interested in feedback from the community on what makes cooldowns fun and useful. For example, what is the sweet spot in cooldown duration between an ability with such a short cooldown that you must mash it constantly versus an ability with such a long cooldown? Which current abilities are fun? Putting aside any rose-colored glasses, were there cooldowns in Burning Crusade or classic WoW that you miss in Lich King? What, in your minds, should the role be for talents and glyphs. For example, if glyphs shouldn't reduce cooldowns, what can they do?
Nethaera goes on to remind people that this thread isn't the place for balance discussions necessarily, and certainly not a place to debate who's overpowered. This feedback also won't dictate exactly what the developers will do, it will simply help them make the right decisions. Do you have an opinion? Then head on over to the forums and make it known! Politely, of course.
Tags: cataclysm-game, cataclysm-guide, cataclysm-news, cooldowns, expanion, expansion-three, forums, nethaera, next-xpac, tanking, tanking-cooldowns, tanks, third-expansion, world-of-warcraft-cataclysm, wow-4.0, wow-4.0.2, wow-cataclysm, wow-expansion, wow-guide, wow-third-expansion
Filed under: Blizzard, Cataclysm
Mar 19th 2010 at 2:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mugutu Mar 19th 2010 2:06PM
I think the DK cooldowns are a decent example of how long it should last compared to the CD timer. 2 minute cooldown for a decent damage reduction, say 30-40% for 15 seconds or so.
Glyphs should increase the effect/duration if they aren't going to lower the cooldown. Thought that'd be obvious.
Cor Mar 19th 2010 4:17PM
Agreed. 2 minutes is long enough that it needs some thought before using it, but it's not so long that you will hold off "just in case." Any cool down that is ment to be used regularly shouldn't have a CD longer the 3 minutes.
"Flavor" CDs, one that have a fairly minor effect but can still make a difference it used well, should be on a one minute CD. Maybe a combo effect of boosting defences a little while causing some threat.
A poke in the eye - Lowers the mobs ability to hit you by 1% for 5 seconds. This move really annoys them.
Daniel Mar 19th 2010 4:57PM
I disagree. One of my big issues with CD is that they are too raider-centric. I do agree that CDs that last 1/2 an hour are bad, mostly because I forget they even exist. But CDs of two minutes from something like Last Stand makes questing trivial. I already think it's too short at three minutes.
What I would like to see is a system where CDs are designed for questing PvE and Glyphs are the used to modify those talents. Such glyphs would then only be active in instances.
jbodar Mar 19th 2010 8:03PM
"What I would like to see is a system where CDs are designed for questing PvE and Glyphs are the used to modify those talents. Such glyphs would then only be active in instances."
Any system that prioritizes balancing questing PVE sounds pretty broken to me. If the glyphs are only active in instances, what's the point? Unless I've misunderstood here, all tanks would basically be forced to use a glyph slot on them just because CD-use is so vital to their role, even in Heroic 5-mans -- for fear of "wasting" a CD on trash because you may need it on the upcoming boss. There needs to be MORE viable PVE glyph choices, not less.
busuan Mar 19th 2010 2:16PM
I want all CDs reset automatically at death/rez.
The sole except is hearth stone.
Not only for tanks, but all others.
Chozo Mar 19th 2010 2:22PM
suppose a system similar to potions? a short CD with a once per encounter limit?
Kakistocracy Mar 19th 2010 2:24PM
Even reincarnate?
Jewbanks Mar 19th 2010 2:26PM
while thatd be nice sometimes chozo I really like how wed have to cycle both tank and healer cooldowns and theyd get to use them repeatedly in battle. I liked that we had to be strategic about the length of the cooldowns and which one was used first so that itd be back up in time to use a second time. I dont know id be sad to see them pushed to once per encounter.
Lathana Mar 19th 2010 2:29PM
a druid battle rez should not be able to reset CD's. CD's that are reset after a death or more typical rez would be nice.
I think certain abilities on a once/twice/or thrice per encounter could be a cool mechanic. Yes there would times when a chain pull would really mess things up. Everyone might just need to be exert a little more situational awarenss
Magma Mar 19th 2010 2:35PM
That would be a mess for PvP. I'm sure it would be fine for PvE, mostly. But regardless, since no matter what they're going to continue balancing both around each other, it won't happen. Even if they shouldn't be balanced as one.
Vitos Mar 19th 2010 2:53PM
perhaps when you release your spirit while in a raid they get reset?
That way you avoid the druid/shaman infinite lives problem and the PvP 'brokenness' problem
Aaron Mar 19th 2010 3:18PM
@Magma Every CD resets in Arenas. :-D
I would love to have my bubble reset in a BG after death. x-D
PodPeople Mar 19th 2010 6:46PM
I think the idea of having the CDs reset when you release spirit, but i would amend it with when you hit the 'Release Spirit' or 'Accept' a rez button, it starts a count down of 1 min, after 1min all CDs are are reset. this could include B-rez and reincarnation, simply because even with a few people in a raid getting CDs reset after 1min is not going to be hugely game breaking, nor trivialize encounters. if they maintain the exhaustion/sated debuff, the shaman might get to use heroism/BL again, but they would be the only ones effected and would thus be more-or-less pointless. people might argue that then raids would stack druids for the B-rez CD reset. but i really doubt that raids would have lots of people purposely dying just to get a B-rez and a CD reset. the DPS (or what have you) you would gain from resetting those CDs would more than likely not replace that which you lost from being dead and waiting for a B-rez. the only CDs not effected by this would be professions, hearth stone, and the B-rez and reincarnation, possibly even divine intervention. i would also like to see exhaustion/sated only last 3min or until out of combat (if in combat for more than 3min). 10min is ridiculously long for a short buff. I know they want it to be us only once per fight, but 10min is definitely long enough that you could be locked out of using it for your next fight. then you're left with the choice of sitting on your @ss and waiting it out or giving an attempt on the next fight without it. at the very least it could be 5min or until out of combat, since that's the CD on heroism/BL anyway.
paul Mar 19th 2010 7:29PM
I think this would be great in raids or World PvP, Grinding etc however I think this could be a bit too overpowered in Battlegrounds.
Especialy since different classes rely on Cooldowns differently, for instance part of the rogue class is knowing when it is the right time to use sprint, evasion or if it might be better used on the next person trying to take your flag. If cooldowns like this reset everytime you died, then they would have a much larger uptime on these abilities, and it would perhaps lower the skill required to know when to use cooldowns at the right time.
Basically, Cooldowns are Cooldowns because they are meant to be timed for maximum effectiveness, if they were meant to be used often in every fight in a battlegound, then they wouldnt be cooldowns in the first place.
Zheo Mar 19th 2010 2:28PM
Reset all long cooldowns on death, similar to the Sated/Exhausted effect being erased upon death (yeah yeah it makes sense given you've died and all) but shouldn't dying refresh your ableness to use your long cooldowns?
I mean why can't I hit LoH after I've died or Shield Wall or Bloodlust? I've died; thus all cooldowns should be reset. How can something still be cooling down after my corpse has cooled off?
divinite Mar 19th 2010 2:39PM
Best guess is we'd start seeing strategic deaths from certain people, if you can SS a shaman (or brez, or all of the above), you'd see groups with a suicidal shaman very fast for chaining bloodlust/heroism. Unless they made it so cooldowns only reset if you released your spirit, I don't see it happening (although that would be a way around that and a great thing if it worked!).
Joakim Mar 19th 2010 2:46PM
What you are saying is that abilities are a strictly physical thing, ie that mental abilities depend on the status of your body. Untrue (if we go with the soul and body-argument).
Apart from certain physical abilities there are a lot of mental abilities as well, some depending on prayers, on fortitude, on connection with demons ...
The "non reset" of abilities, I imagine in my overanalytical sense, reflects this.
In other words, after death and newly returned to your body you are extremely confused and can't sort out your thoughts until three minutes later, even if you just used the certain ability.
We could give pallys and shamans and others in tune with the spirit an ability to reset mental cooldowns, but then we wouldn't have any warriors ... and then we're in a world of hurt, a world where priests start to tank.
Then again, maybe I'm thinking about to WoW too often :)
Alexander Mar 19th 2010 3:32PM
@ Joakim-
"We could give pallys and shamans and others in tune with the spirit an ability to reset mental cooldowns,"
^ this ^
I think this is a fantastic idea, giving a few classes the ability to buff other classes by erasing their CD's would bring a whole new aspect to the idea of a "buff" class.
maybe this would be an idea for a new class altogether, one that focuses on purely buffing other classes and cc- like a (i hate to say this) bard of sorts...
it would be really useful and there definitely has to be a way to make sure that the removal of cd's or debuffs like sated/exhausted didn't become crazy OP...
Thomas Prescott Mar 19th 2010 4:57PM
Have CDs reset ONLY when you resurrect "normally." Normally means you were resurrected out of combat by either running into the instances or having another person resurrect you using an out of combat spell.
paul Mar 19th 2010 8:23PM
"similar to the Sated/Exhausted effect being erased upon death (yeah yeah it makes sense given you've died and all)"
Maybe Im understanding this wrong. Are you saying that dying isnt exhausting? Compared to magically hitting things 40% faster, death is a walk in the park, eh?