Blizzard clarifies combat resurrections for Cataclysm
by Sarah Nichol 
Nov 5th 2010 at 1:00PM
- These limitations affect raid content only.
- One combat resurrection is allowed per boss attempt in 10-man raids (Rebirth or Soulstone).
- Three combat resurrections are allowed per boss attempt in 25-man raids (any combination of Rebirth and Soulstone).
- Accepting a combat resurrection is what counts towards the total accrued, not the cast.
- Create Soulstone has a 15-minute cooldown.
- Rebirth has a 10-minute cooldown.
The full blue posts are after the jump.
Zarhym -- Combat resurrection clarificationsThe design for combat resurrection effects has changed a good deal for Cataclysm, and we want to make sure players are clear on how spells like Rebirth and Create Soulstone now function. Rebirth has a 10-minute cooldown and Create Soulstone has a 15-minute cooldown. On raid boss encounters, you can only use one of these combat resurrection spells (so one Rebirth or one Soulstone) per attempt for 10-player raids. For 25-player raids you can use three forms of combat resurrection per raid boss attempt (so three of any combination of Rebirth and Soulstone). The count is incremented as soon as a player accepts a resurrection, so one can always choose not to accept if he or she wants someone else to get the resurrection instead. There is no equivalent of the Sated debuff (which tracks Bloodlust/Heroism usage), but you will get an error message if you try to resurrect too many players, and we might add tracking to our raid interface if there is demand for it. Outside of raid content, you can use as many battle resurrections as you have available.
For those of you currently participating in the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test, please note that this functionality may not be fully implemented as of yet. If you notice combat resurrections are not currently functioning as explained here, this is just a heads-up about the updated design intent behind them.
For those of you currently participating in the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test, please note that this functionality may not be fully implemented as of yet. If you notice combat resurrections are not currently functioning as explained here, this is just a heads-up about the updated design intent behind them.
Zarhym -- Soulstone developmentQuote:
Unless Soulstone is being changed, why does the harder to use combat rez (that being Soulstone, since you have to predict ahead of time who to Soulstone) have the longer cooldown?
Unless Soulstone is being changed, why does the harder to use combat rez (that being Soulstone, since you have to predict ahead of time who to Soulstone) have the longer cooldown?
One thing we're considering with Soulstone is making it possible, in addition to its current functionality, to be cast on a dead player to give them the option of joining the living again.
Zarhym -- Reincarnate functionalityQuote:
Any word on whether this also applies to ankh, Zarhym? Or is it just rebirth and soulstone?
Any word on whether this also applies to ankh, Zarhym? Or is it just rebirth and soulstone?
I'll... get back to you on that.
*Backs out of thread slowly*
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 5)
Muse Nov 5th 2010 2:05PM
Seems like a good balance between having a battle res available on every attempt vs making dying not matter. Before it was solved by making the res timer longer so that it couldn't be used as often, with the unfortunate side-effect that sometimes the entire raid had to wait for soulstone/rebirth to be available again before the next attempt. (Hero/bloodlust's cooldown and debuff were swapped in duration for the same reason)
Mihn Nov 5th 2010 2:06PM
90% of the time in my experience has Brez or a soulstone caused my raid to succeed where the simple mechanic of not dying has usually reulted in a 100% success rate. This change is really not that harsh.
Maccabeus Nov 5th 2010 2:07PM
Yay for more stressful decisions for my raid leader! Oh well, since we aren't running with three druids anymore, it isn't that big of a deal.
Rob Nov 5th 2010 2:25PM
I think this really harms those classes. Now raid leader will be counting and saying 'gee we already have a druid (or 3), we don't need any more'. Any move like this makes me very cautious. It could kill the concept of 'bring the player'. Or do they mean 'bring the player, not the class; unless its a druid, in that case only one per 10 man'?
GerardthePriest Nov 5th 2010 2:48PM
Yes, it would be a tragedy if druids found themselves in the same position as every other class. With current functioning as the only class with a targeted brez, druids are STILL the only class that is the sole provider of a critical raid ability. My guild has said, "we could really use a druid for a brez and innervate" but we have never said that about any other class, especially post 4.0.1 buff homogenization. Every raid buff/debuff is provided by multiple classes at this time, but a targeted brez is still druid-only.
Rob Nov 5th 2010 3:18PM
Shamans have a self-brez, locks have a soulstone. However, I get your point about the casted brez, and that may be a good thing to have for something like a shaman. It'd be pretty odd for a warlock to have a brez though (doesn't fit with the class). That would make the 'only bring one druid' thing a bit less, since nobody is going to say 'well we already have a shaman, we don't need a druid', or visa versa.
Also for the last 5 years it's been "We can't do this without a shaman". I heard that so much that if I had a nickel for each time, i'd have a buck fifty. But i've never seen "we can't do this without a druid".
perderedeus Nov 5th 2010 2:31PM
Seems a little janky, to impose these sorts of limitations based on what type of content you're doing. The spell works this way in this place, but this way in this situation. All these little "invisible rules" that are in no way apparent in the game... and here I thought GC and the crew were striving to get rid of that sort of stuff.
And what's more, many players gripe about the notion of abilities functioning differently in PVE and PVP... but this sort of stuff is fine.
Mayah Nov 5th 2010 3:02PM
It makes me sad to see yet another class specific ability being given to someone else.
druids can misdirect, hunters will be able to stealth, mages and hunters can blood lust, now locks might be able to battle rez... it's just silly.
why don't they just make every class do the exact same DPS and then players just pick the skin they want.
Firestyle Nov 5th 2010 3:13PM
I had this fear coming for a while. We experienced homogenization 1.0 in Wrath so that sufficient buffs were there for 25 man raids. Now we're experiencing homogenization 2.0 in Cata so all those same buffs are there for 10 man raids.
Instead of bring the player not the class, it's bring the player and pick your skin - the classes are all the same.
HeroJéz Nov 5th 2010 3:54PM
I think they've hit a nice spot with this... raids will -probably- have a Druid or a Warlock or a Shaman in them and if they can push the abilities SLIGHTLY closer together (post-death Soul Stone) and even Friendly-Target Reincarnation then it'll be good for the game.
My view is give Warlocks, Shaman and Druids the ability to resurrect in battle. Avoid any confusion or any stacking. Warlocks give them a soul (maybe their demons, if they have one) and druids use Revive. Shaman use Reincarnate which is now a usable ability on the action bar that can be used on self when dead or others when dead or alive.
If the ability is limited (and won't make a difference while levelling) then is there a problem?
Now we just need to give more classes Mass Dispel.... or GET RID OF IT.
thebitterfig Nov 5th 2010 3:57PM
I have to say: I don't really agree with anyone saying this means the classes are all too alike. To my experience, they just about all feel different in their playstyle, and so long as that's the case, it goes far beyond appearance or anything. Shadow Priests and Affliction Warlocks are both DoT-based damage dealers, but they really don't feel the same in how they are played. Rogues and Hunters both use a similar resource system with energy/focus, but don't feel at all alike, nor do rogues and paladins, who both share what's basically a combo points system. I don't really care if buffs are homogenized so long as classes feel different in how they play.
As to the new combat rez system, I don't really care much if it's limited by number or by cooldown. In fact, I think I'd rather have short cooldowns and have it number-limited. Seems more reliable to plan around in that case, particularly when pushing progression. Consider a 10m raid with a Lock, druid healer, and druid tank, but put each battle rez on a 30m cooldown. Let's say you're pushing progression and getting one attempt in every 10 minutes. I'd rather have one brez every attempt than 3 brez's on the first attempt and none for the next two. Of course, there will be some particular attempts where I'll think "damn, I wish we had an extra brez" but it really sucks when rebirth is on cooldown and you can't get anyone up.
To address the "one druid and done" fear, the solution is simple: Bliz just needs to make druids competitive in their roles. They didn't quite get this right with shaman damage throughout most of Wrath, so we'll have to keep on top of Bliz for this through Cataclysm. I'm pretty much fine with some small hybrid tax on damage in PvP terms - that you can pop a heal now and again is a pretty big situational advantage for healy-hybrids - but for PvE that distinction ought to be irrelevant and we need for the damage done by any class to be roughly in balance. Sure, it's fine if someone is up one raid tier, down some the next, but it ought not get too far out of order.
ShammyD Nov 5th 2010 4:01PM
They make the game easier...and players complain.
They make it harder....and players complain.
I prefer to spend my time enjoying the game for its merits, rather than complaining about its faults.
Ben Smith Nov 5th 2010 4:30PM
The cooldown adjustment doesn't really change anything for warlocks, since you already can only use the stone every 15 (or 30, can't remember if they changed it back). Limiting the amount that can be use certainly sucks though, but it would be nice if we were able to use it as a true b-rez.
Huga Nov 5th 2010 4:33PM
I think a point many people are missing here is that rebirth is a druid's big cooldown. I always like to think of it as a guardian spirit ability - except more useful on raid members and less useful on tanks. With it being effectively removed with this change, what big cooldown do druids get to replace it? Or to stay competitive with other healing classes?
Furthermore, if they're going this far with the change, why not go the whole way and let ANY res work in combat, with the same restriction of one per attempt? That would seem to be more inline with the "all classes are the same" philosophy that Blizz has.
Firestyle Nov 5th 2010 4:44PM
Druids get the same big healer cooldown as resto shamans >.< cwutididthr?
Lotice Nov 5th 2010 4:48PM
I personally like this, and even more so if they change soulstones to be usable on the dead.
I've been wanting that for a while now.
Fizzlle Nov 5th 2010 5:52PM
blah, blah, blah, still beta, blah, blah, blah.
I'm calling bull$417. With 4.0.1 the classes have all started to blend together into slight variations of the same class. Where is the distinction between classes? Now we are going to get one/three rez for raid bosses despite the class makeup of the raid?! Ok. Can we find more ways to make every class the same flavor? Anhk, count as rez. SS, count as rez. Rebirth, count as rez. Argent Defender, next in line?
*hits nerdrage macro*
styopa Nov 5th 2010 6:09PM
Seems stupid, arbitrary, and counterintuitive.
So what if a raid leader wants to try stacking more battle rezzes, in lieu of dps or off tanks? Sorry, blizzard has decided that's not an 'accepted' strategy.
It used to be that WoW had classes that were roughly equivalent, but not identical. Druids used to lack any sort of burst heal, but brought the powerful ability to battle rez in combat. Now...what?
This seems like a tacit admission that their own system has grown too complicated for Blizzard to understand and balance, thus the required simplification for the poor befuddled developers.
Sad, really.
squig_masta Nov 5th 2010 7:25PM
I'm kinda glad that blizzard doesn't accept stacking druids so you can die as much as you want as an accepted stratagy...
alpha5099 Nov 5th 2010 6:57PM
Fingers crossed this doesn't affect Reincarnation. I'm fine with them screwing up everyone else toys, as long as they stay away from mine!