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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-19-2010 @ 11:07PM
Vogie said...
What Blizzard needs to do is make ALL talents PvP AND PvE viable. At first glance, that would be an insane undertaking, but a bit of logic, and a bit of elbow grease, it actually makes sense.
We already have a live talent that gives an idea: Deep Freeze. Originally useless in PvE, now it's a staple, although Frost mages have yet to be.
We also had a beta talent that gave a better idea: Holy Shield. Although not in the current one, Holy shield was still an activated talent... however, it also had three ranks in the tree. Not the typical setup for our trees, which is Activated Talent ===> Improved Activated Talent.
In the Current Wowhead Beta Build, there's also talents that are PvP/PvE Hybrids - Improved Shadowform is a wonderful example. Raiders take it for the Raid Crit, PvPers for the ability to transform "fade" into "escape artist"
But this got me thinking... what if the "pvp" passive abilities could also be turned into long-cooldown PvE abilities. Give those abilities the "no arena" cooldown, Ten-ish Minutes, and suddenly there are loads of options. Raiding Fire Mages could hit Blazing speed on that encounter where they need those dresses to fly. Abilities like Blood Craze/Second wind, Martyrdom, Nightfall/Backlash & Owlkin Frenzy can be used when NOT getting hit... just not very often.
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7-20-2010 @ 3:21AM
scherbaddie said...
This is a valid strategy and as you said, an insane undertaking.
The other option (what Blizz stated they were going to do with the new trees, but aren't quite there yet), is to have your core PvE/PvP talents in each tree, but create choke-points in the trees where you _get_ (not "have") to throw in a few floater points according to your personal style before moving onto the next tier.
The problem with this is most players see it as a penalty with statements like "having to choose something like improved health funnel just to get to tier 3 is annoying" being bandied about.
People have to remember that your spec's raid dps will be normalised based on all the +dps talents. If every talent tree had 31 solid +x% damage to y ability talents, every raider would take them and your tree's mastery/tuning knob would be adjusted to bring you in line with other classes damage output. If however, you have 25 +dps talents in each tree and six floater points (or Fabulous Opportunity Points™) you get to choose some extra bonuses WITHOUT penalising your dps.
The converse is true for PvPers, you choose your ~16 core survivability/control talents and can spend the extra 15 on damage increases to your more bursty abilities, without feeling penalised; because in an ideal world everyone is in the same boat - no one has 31 pure PvE or PvP talents to choose from.
It's not a nerf, it's an opportunity. We just need more floater points and more choices to spend them on.
7-20-2010 @ 6:28AM
Asaron said...
Yes Scherbaddie, that's my take on it. Baffles me when I see people saying "the arcane tree sucks, I have have to choose a talent like improved polymorph".
Those extra talents mean you can afford (and ideally "choose") some fun/stylish/gimmick talents, they don't mean you are missing out on x% DPS. If your DPS is not exactly where it should be the value of your "+arcane damage" passive will be adjusted, and you'll be right on track AND you'll have that funky mage armour knock back thing or whatever.
7-20-2010 @ 6:31AM
Asaron said...
Hmm I should probably have said "survival/utility/fun" talents as this is a PvP column.