Cataclysm dispel mechanics
by Adam Holisky 
Apr 5th 2010 at 9:07PM
In a nutshell:
- In Cataclysm, each healing class will be able to dispel 3 out of the 5 types of debuffs.
- Opportunity cost of dispelling will go up.
- Protection and retribution paladins will lose their ability to dispel magic.
- All shamans lose dispel disease and poison, resto shamans gain dispel magic.
- When possible, dispels will be combined into a single action (ie: on ability to dispel magic, poisons, and curses).
Zarhym We wanted to introduce some of the changes to dispel mechanics coming in Cataclysm. Our goals were to make dispelling a little less trivial to do in PvP, and to make sure there is more equity in dispel capabilities among healers in both PvP and PvE.
Within the system, there are currently five types of dispellable (or curable) buffs and debuffs: curse, disease, poison, defensive magic, and offensive magic. An example of defensive magic dispelling would be using a dispel to free a polymorphed ally, while offensive magic dispelling would be utilizing a dispel ability to strip away an enemy's buff or heal-over-time (HoT) spell. The main distinction between these two types is in whether or not you can target an enemy with your dispel.
In Cataclysm each healing class will be getting three out of the five types of dispels, with one of these always being a defensive dispel magic. This design makes sure that finding a healer with the ability to remove magic isn't restrictive in building teams for Arenas or rated Battlegrounds. It also allows the encounter designers to assume, when designing dungeon or raid fights, that every group can dispel magic.
In addition, we're making the opportunity cost (what the player could have accomplished with different actions) for dispelling a bit steeper. We think the cost is too low for three reasons: 1) The actual mana cost is low. 2) You never waste a dispel. If you try to dispel a debuff that isn't there then the dispel just won't go off. 3) We have spells that remove debuffs with minimal input on the part of the player. In Cataclysm we are raising the mana costs, making it possible to waste mana by casting a dispel when there is nothing to dispel, and removing Cleansing Totem, Abolish Disease, and Abolish Poison from the game. With these changes in mind, we are working to plan dungeon and raid encounters where dispels aren't in constant demand or spammed in order to be successful, though some need for dispels will still be a part of the design.
As previously mentioned, we are providing three dispel capabilities to all healing classes as follows:
There is some trade-off that is being made in making these changes and we wanted to expand on this further.
As with all of our Cataclysm previews, keep in mind that any of these decisions could change when we're in beta.
Within the system, there are currently five types of dispellable (or curable) buffs and debuffs: curse, disease, poison, defensive magic, and offensive magic. An example of defensive magic dispelling would be using a dispel to free a polymorphed ally, while offensive magic dispelling would be utilizing a dispel ability to strip away an enemy's buff or heal-over-time (HoT) spell. The main distinction between these two types is in whether or not you can target an enemy with your dispel.
In Cataclysm each healing class will be getting three out of the five types of dispels, with one of these always being a defensive dispel magic. This design makes sure that finding a healer with the ability to remove magic isn't restrictive in building teams for Arenas or rated Battlegrounds. It also allows the encounter designers to assume, when designing dungeon or raid fights, that every group can dispel magic.
In addition, we're making the opportunity cost (what the player could have accomplished with different actions) for dispelling a bit steeper. We think the cost is too low for three reasons: 1) The actual mana cost is low. 2) You never waste a dispel. If you try to dispel a debuff that isn't there then the dispel just won't go off. 3) We have spells that remove debuffs with minimal input on the part of the player. In Cataclysm we are raising the mana costs, making it possible to waste mana by casting a dispel when there is nothing to dispel, and removing Cleansing Totem, Abolish Disease, and Abolish Poison from the game. With these changes in mind, we are working to plan dungeon and raid encounters where dispels aren't in constant demand or spammed in order to be successful, though some need for dispels will still be a part of the design.
As previously mentioned, we are providing three dispel capabilities to all healing classes as follows:
- Druids will be able to dispel defensive magic, curses, and poison.
- Paladins will be able to dispel defensive magic, diseases, and poison.
- Priests will be able to dispel defensive magic, offensive magic, and disease.
- Shaman will be able to dispel defensive magic, offensive magic, and curses.
There is some trade-off that is being made in making these changes and we wanted to expand on this further.
- Protection and Retribution paladins will lose their current ability to dispel magic.
- All shaman will lose dispel disease and dispel poison in exchange for Restoration gaining dispel magic.
- Restoration shaman, Restoration druids, and Holy paladins will need to talent into their defensive magic dispels.
- Shadow priests won't be able to remove disease in Shadowform.
- Mage, hunter, and warlock will retain their current dispel mechanics.
- Body and Soul remains the same, and basically any dispel mechanic not mentioned above is currently planned to remain as it is.
- When possible, we'd like to combine dispels into a single action. For example, the druid ability to dispel curses and poisons might be a single spell with a Restoration talent that also allows it to dispel magic. This part of the design isn't finalized, however.
As with all of our Cataclysm previews, keep in mind that any of these decisions could change when we're in beta.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
Naraani Apr 5th 2010 9:12PM
"Shaman will be able to dispel defensive magic, offensive magic, and curses."
Oh sweet jesus
stickybones Apr 5th 2010 9:16PM
this
Nastian Apr 5th 2010 9:22PM
"All shaman will lose dispel disease and dispel poison in exchange for Restoration gaining dispel magic."
This
Elmouth Apr 5th 2010 10:46PM
Oh look shammies got screwed again, smells like another expansion's coming.
Yet more reasons to play a DK
Greeni Apr 6th 2010 8:18AM
so, how in the name of balancing is it a good idea to take away DoT-cleansing from a healing class? for all the QQing about how our dispels are "overpowered", i remind you this: shams are a relatively weak hybrid class, with our most important healing spell being Earth Shield (which isn't as good as a priest's PW: shield IMO). As for dispelling: i would be just fine with them taking away cleansing totem and purge. Being a resto sham, i don't find myself using them that much in PvE. i believe a sham's duties are less in having huge heal crits, and more in preventing the tank from taking too much damage from big spikes.
sorry if i'm all over the place and hard to understand
Kaven Apr 6th 2010 10:59AM
Interesting... Healing shamans (Resto) lose the ability to deal with Poisons and diseases. Good job guys. Makes about as much sense as a doctor losing the ability to diagnose.
Looks like it's a good thing from a lore perspective that Tauren are getting priests and paladins since their main healers for centuries (Druids were re-discovered recently) now are less effective.
It deserves to be repeated.... Good job, guys.
Edge Apr 6th 2010 1:06PM
This pretty much cements the fact that Blizzard absolutely hates Enhancement Shaman in PvP and wants them not playing ANY part in it.
The one thing that has changed my way of playing and has given me somewhat of an ability to survive BGs more than the 2 or 3 seconds it takes to kill me is my dispel. I considered myself a Priest killer, but even then it STILL took me minutes...not seconds...to kill one sometimes, and all the while he's too busy to heal others. The other place it helped was against druid healers, again not really to kill, mostly to disrupt. I was satisfied with this as it helped when we were in groups, I wasn't a killer but I provided deadly support. That will be gone, and my support role will be severely diminished. So exactly what other roll am I supposed to play if I don't play support? Oh yeah...I should just switch to healing like I'm supposed to right?
Yes Poison Cleansing totem was a fire and forget dispel, but it is a totem and with it comes all the caveats of using totems, including but not limited to, range, the need for other totems in its place, and the fact that the totem is easily destroyed. Smart people simply kept walking out of range of the totem or destroyed it. It's chaotic trying to do everything an enhancement shaman can do (we have at minimum 9 different spells in our priority rotation) and make sure you have the right totem down while trying your best to survive. The totem mechanic is enough to keep us in line.
Why is it not ok to have simple fire and forget dispels yet make it a cakewalk to put poisons and diseases on you and never worry about them again. Might as well just make DK diseases dispel immune in that case, I mean what's the difference...a healer has to spend time removing those several times over and watch them just be reapplied quickly over and over. Even with my cleansing totem I would almost always come out of a fight against a DK with some sort of disease on me no matter what i did.
Blizzard, most every day you rock but today you suck major a$$.
Pomma Apr 6th 2010 1:28PM
I understand the changes they are making and have some faith that mechanics will be properly tuned to account for this but the paladin and shaman tools seem like they should be reversed to me.
------------
Paladins will be able to dispel defensive magic, diseases, and poison.
Shaman will be able to dispel defensive magic, offensive magic, and curses.
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The shaman are supposed to be masters of nature - diseases and poisons are nature based. Paladins are holy warriors and removing offensive magic and curses would seem to make more sense. Curses seem to be the most demonic and the antithesis of what the paladin is about anyways.
At the same time it would also not hurt to give every healing class an interrupt so that there is a preventitive way to deal with incoming damage/effects that they would otherwise need to deal with through dispelling.
Edge Apr 6th 2010 1:59PM
Misunderstanding on my part about purge but the poison dispel crap is still pure and utter crap.
ray.stauffer Apr 5th 2010 9:15PM
Shaman got the shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaft.
Arete Apr 5th 2010 9:24PM
And then didn't even buy us dinner first.
curtisrutland Apr 5th 2010 9:35PM
Of course, shamans already had it AMAZINGLY GOOD, considering that they had a totem that, for nearly the same mana cost (8% base instead of 7%) would continuously cleanse the same thing as their single cast ability every three seconds, for five minutes, for all party members in range.
That's mindless, right there. Sure it takes the place of another water totem, but in effect being able to cast a 5 minute buff on all allies that keeps them free of poisons and diseases is something that nobody else even comes close to.
When you also add the fact that resto shammys could dispel curses, and all shammys could purge two magic buffs offensively at once, it becomes obvious that some balancing has to be done.
Duulket Apr 5th 2010 9:40PM
@curtisrutland
Yes some balancing had to be done but now we don't have anything. We are losing our abolish and our totem.
curtisrutland Apr 5th 2010 9:43PM
"but now we don't have anything"
Not so. You've lost diseases and poisons in favor of magic.
You've lost ground against hunters and DKs, and gained ground against locks, mages, other shammys, and anyone else that uses magic.
Assuming you are resto. If you're not, you're in the same boat as pallys, they're losing tools too. It's a balancing act.
Currently you have everything but magic. And everything but curse is available to all shammys. And disease and poison don't take any thought, just drop a cleansing totem. God forbid you actually have to think about your dispels.
Spikeles Apr 5th 2010 9:57PM
Rogues must be salivating, now they can pwn us even faster because we can't dispel their poisons.
Qot Apr 5th 2010 9:57PM
Take purge, leave my cleansing totem and cleanse spirit alone. For PvE, there are almost no instances when a healer would be responsible for offensive dispels. Shaman also can't passively deal with wide-spread poisons (shields + Prayer of Mending) or diseases (rolling HoTs on multiple targets) like the classes that can't dispel those things. The only solution will be chain heal spam, which is precisely the opposite of where shaman were supposed to be going.
It's like Blizz is slowly trying to turn resto shaman into Felhunters. In Wrath we got a spell lock that healers could use (since Wind Shear was off the GCD). Now in Cataclysm we'll get Devour Magic.
Fantastic.
Mandrill Apr 5th 2010 11:02PM
I've leveled as a resto (or holy) specced Druid, Shaman, and Priest and I must say this is a massive hit for shamans, especially we fools who level as healers. The broad ability to dispel damage causing effects (curse and poison) and high crit ratings are what balances their generally inferior healing spells (outside of Chain Heal). They've got no HoT until you hit minimum level 60 when you get Riptide (which blows next to, well, any other HoT), their single target heals are adequate at best (without that huge crit rating, they're awful), and good luck maximizing your leveling heal gear without wearing cloth.
I'll reserve judgement until I see what else they've got planned for shamans, but unless there are some big plusses, I think this may mark the end of the Resto Shaman. Each healing class has something that makes them stand out- for shamans, it's Chain Heal and broad cures. Druids & Priests both now have multi-target heals and, with this change, shamans have the weakest set of dispels. Without some big plus, I don't see the spec remaining competitive- and according to Armory Data Mining, Shamans are already the least popular healing class.
And one more thing- how do they see it as a good idea to both increase dispel mana costs AND make it possible to waste casts where no debuff exists? This really makes healing without addons much more difficult and needlessly complex. I certainly hope they plan to go back and reprogram EVERY SINGLE pre-Cataclysm dungeon. Think of how many boss (or even trash) encounters that exist now count on rapid fire dispels. You ever run Mara without poison dispels?
thebitterfig Apr 5th 2010 11:20PM
here is where this REALLY looks like it might suck, and not just for shamans. in 10m raiding, it is pretty common to use 2 healers for some content. it also isn't uncommon to get stuck with two healers of the same class. this means that in a lot of cases, you won't be able to cure at least one of curse, disease and poison.
if all that means is more damage you have to heal through, fine. healers can cope with that. however, if the curses work like the one on Lady Deathwhisper, where casting spells with the curse causes long cooldowns, that's a problem. if the curses must be dispelled or they heal the boss, that's another problem. if there is a poison which increase spell costs, or slows casting speed, that too is a problem. doing rotface or grob without the proper dispeller is also a major problem.
the previously stated goal of "bring the player not the class" won't work well if there are poisons, diseases, and curses which are critical raid mechanics. on the other hand, if all of these vital mechanics get changed to magic effects in order that ANY combination of healers can deal with them, and all it is that diseases, curses, and poisons do is add inconvenient damage, then this will work out fine for raiding. it can't just be future encounters, but they will have to go back and fix older ones, too.
i'll leave it to someone else to care about pvp, i'm sure they'll be more eloquent than i, sympathetic but without skin in the game.
Xaklo Apr 6th 2010 12:04AM
@Duulket "now we don't have anything. We are losing our abolish and our totem."
Awww, now you actually have to pay attention when dispelling :[ I'm sorry.
Oriflame Apr 5th 2010 11:54PM
@curtis Abolish disease had a similar effect, but I guess that's biting the dirt too. It would have been nice to have them at least post a nod in there to nerfing some of the things we're currently trying to dispel. The huge stacks of debuffs DPS classes can put out will almost certainly have to change with this proposal, but not evening mentioning that it is a plan makes this sound like "just give up on trying to fight DKs and Rogues and die already"