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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsZarhym: Soulstone combat resurrections in the works
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Mar 8th 2011 at 3:00PM
Since combat rezzes appear to be considered mandatory by many raid groups, says Zarhym, Blizzard wanted to make the ability available to more classes. Certainly, this would fit with the modus operandi it's long had of granting abilities to multiple classes to allow for more flexibility in raid makeup. Zarhym also answered concerns that spreading battle rezzes would contribute to class homogeneity by noting that he's never felt like his warlock plays exactly like a druid, and giving warlocks a combat resurrection shouldn't change that. In fact, one of the reasons Blizzard gave battle rez to some non-healer classes was to avoid the threat of class homogeny.
While Zarhym says Blizzard hopes to have the change in for patch 4.1, it is still trying to get the code straightened out. Regardless, it looks it's only a matter of time now. As soon as Blizzard works out the kinks, we can expect to see yet another class with the ability to give raids one more chance to down the boss.
WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you. From previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new Valor point mechanics to the new Archaeology items.
Filed under: Warlock, News items, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Khirsah Mar 8th 2011 3:56PM
I do realize that. I was refering to the qq of many druids complaining that rogue stealth is superior to kitty stealth, especially with the changes proposed for 4.1.
My point is that this is how it should be. Rogues should have the better stealth, and druid self-heals should be better than recuperate.
The classes should be unique, and we are losing some of that, one ability at a time.
Mr. Crow Mar 8th 2011 4:04PM
Giving a combat rez to warlocks (a pure DPS class) and to death knights (a DPS/tank hybrid) isn't the same as giving the ability to all classes. There is no single ability that all classes have aside from auto-attack.
Also consider that when you pick a class, you are selecting the two or three roles that class is able to fulfill, with the particular style that class has. You're not picking the class that's best at melee DPS, or the class that's best at AoE, or the class that does the best healing. Being the best at something on a meter is a temporary state: the theorycrafters might show that warlocks are on average beating out hunters, but that could change in a patch, or in another tier of raiding.
So players should be choosing Mage because "hey, I dig throwing fireballs while my three mirror images do the same thing" or "hey, I dig having a water elemental and freezing fools." Players should be choosing Hunter because they like collecting pets or enjoy being someone who doesn't depend on magic to do what they need to do.
If it were just a matter of who did the job best, everyone would just bring hunters for Ranged DPS and Paladins for everything else. You never see that comp because it's BORING, and it would take forever to gear up.
Conversely, you can't say "make the classes more unique" because then you get Shadow Priests and shaman-stacking from Burning Crusade. Raids are built around fulfilling the needs of the composition instead of bringing the crew of people you want to raid with. This wasn't a good design, which is where "Bring the Player, Not the Class" came from. People were sidelining good players because shamans, even played badly, were overpowered in Sunwell.
For me personally? Given the choice of rolling into a 10-man with nine dickheads in a perfect raid composition of unique classes, vs. rolling into a 10-man with my friends and still being able to cover all the critical tools, I'll pick the latter.
Sterb Mar 8th 2011 4:25PM
"My point is that this is how it should be. Rogues should have the better stealth, and druid self-heals should be better than recuperate."
Ok, so when are they going to make non-resto self heals better than Recup?
Khirsah Mar 8th 2011 4:46PM
@ Sterb... How in the world would I know? But I will not complain when they do. That would be as it should be.
DarkWalker Mar 8th 2011 5:49PM
This is what has almost convinced me to, in case I ever decide to return to WoW, first try Rifts and Guild Wars 2.
Each and every class able to fill all needed roles in groups? Either enough specs to be ready to fill any spot, or free out of combat respecs? Count me in :)
Hih Mar 8th 2011 3:42PM
Without a http://www.wowhead.com/item=40909 type glyph for Warlocks and DKs, you're still going to want a Druid to cast the spell before anyone else. I can't count how many times I've rezzed someone only to have them die *immediately* to some fight mechanic because they got rezzed at 30% health and got one shot.
Daedalus Mar 8th 2011 4:02PM
It already exists (somewhat): http://www.wowhead.com/item=42470
Now it might actually be worth using.
Revynn Mar 8th 2011 9:08PM
@ Daedalus - If I'm not mistaken (which may be the case, I've never looked into it but the wording leads me to believe that I'm not) that glyph only applies when YOU rez via YOUR soulstone, making it primarily a soloing glyph.
Chucky Mar 8th 2011 3:47PM
And to add to my previous note, I personally think RIFT is fairly dull, but everyone in my guild loves it. I just think that there's more interest in this game than we're willing to admit and time will tell if they stay gone. In a way, it's good to have fewer people around, more raid slots for the rest of us!
Chucky Mar 8th 2011 4:03PM
The first of many little things Blizzard will suddenly be doing as subscriber counts drop due to RIFT. It doesn't mean RIFT is going to take all their players and end WoW, but 500k+ subscriptions lost might not seem like much when you (claim to) have 12mil (which is probably a highly inflated number), but that's still over 7 million a month that's no longer there.
Guessing that RIFT will hover around the 2 million subscriber mark until late summer, and a lot of them will be former WoW players...so guessing we're looking at 25-30 million drop in monthly revenue.
So expect many, many more "wow, really, they're gonna do that?" from Blizz to keep us all chasing that carrot. (Probably too little too late for many however...)
Mr. Crow Mar 8th 2011 4:20PM
This would be a worthwhile assertion if there were only 12 million people in the world who play MMOs.
It's not as binary as that. Some people are going to buy Rift, pay for the subscription, and when they realize Rift is for them, will let their subscriptions to WoW expire.
A LOT of people are going to pay for both, simultaneously, even if they're not playing both consistently, for a lot of reasons. Some people buy the subscription in lump time-frames instead of month-to-month. Some are on pre-paid cards. Some parents pay for their kids' accounts, and don't care what they're playing.
I paid for a subscription to Final Fantasy XI for three years, but after the first nine months I was the only cat in my group of friends still playing it. I just never got around to canceling it for a long time, because the cost per month wasn't really urgent.
The big point: RIFT will thrive and attract a playerbase if it lives up to the hype and provides a good experience. As long as WoW continues being fun to play for millions of people, millions of people are going to keep playing it. Some people are going to leave one for the other, and maybe one will die, or maybe both will coexist, with people choosing their flavor.
It really isn't as binary as "RIFT sucks, I'll keep playing WoW" or "WoW sucks, I'm going to Rift"; not for the entire set of People Who Play MMOs.
DarkWalker Mar 8th 2011 6:07PM
@Mr. Crow:
IMHO, WoW really needs to have a good competitor, one that can realistically assume the role of the bogeyman that will usurp WoW's first place if Blizzard ever lets the ball drop. So, I really want Rifts to be a big success, and steal a couple million subscribers from WoW on a more or less permanent basis.
Of course, I also want Rifts to thrive enough to show naysayers some design choices it made - such as quad specs, extremely flexible classes, auto grouping, etc - are not only viable, but actually serve to draw players to the game.
Daedalus Mar 8th 2011 4:04PM
Well, as a warlock, I'm generally opposed to helping anybody out, but I can definitely see potential here. So, take it one step further Blizz: let me use it on enemies in PvP so I can kill them a second time; that's a soulstone that appeals to the warlock heart.
Kylenne Mar 8th 2011 4:09PM
The real question is, how the hell are we supposed to rely on warlocks to brez when all they do is mope around Hot Topic all day? Lure them out with a trail of cheap drugstore eyeliner and Linkin Park CDs?
Hob Mar 8th 2011 8:36PM
"That's it! No soulstone for you! Come back, one year!"
Anchor Mar 8th 2011 4:15PM
I doubt this has anything to do with RIFT, it's a change for raid balance because if they designed an encounter around not having a brez, groups with druids would have a better chance of success on an encounter. So now every reasonable group should be able to have all the tools they need.
Greg Mar 8th 2011 4:24PM
I think alot of people would then ask why even bother bringing a feral druid anymore at this point? Someone else can rez and better dps, whats the point in bringing the utility right? Unless they plan on helping ferals out in dps or giving us something unique again to bring to the table. But for the most part, anything unique to the class seems to be going away. Just kinda frustrating right now. Why play a toon if every single other class can do something it can? That just takes the fun away from it a little I think.
DeathPaladin Mar 8th 2011 4:24PM
What I consider the greatest thing about this is if you take a step back and see who is providing the rez.
For the ordinary rezzes, you get the standard Light and Nature magic users returning their comrades from the dead with the power of peace, love, and fluffy bunny angels.
As for battle rezzes, currently it is covered by one of the nature magic people. Come next patch you can also get a battle rez from a spellcaster of the cackling Emperor Palpatine-type, flinging decay and corruption everywhere while screaming "UNLIMITED POWER!!!". They return you to life by capturing a piece of your soul and shoving it back into your dead body. You'll also get battle rezzes from more Vader-esque armored undead horrors who bring you back to life by welding your spirit back to your body with the same dark energy that keeps them moving.
The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be...unnatural.
Carune Mar 8th 2011 4:39PM
But we got cookies.
Luotian Mar 8th 2011 4:40PM
I don't know about every one else, but for me and the guild I run with, spreading out abilities is endlessly useful.
We're a group of about...maybe 10 on a good day...with many many alts. Most of rerolling the same class multiple times, because that's what we love.
The other day we downed the Lich King. With 6 paladins, a death knight, a druid, a priest, and me, a MM hunter. Because so many in our guild love to play Paladins, that is always a huge base of every dungeon and every raid.
If you spread out the utility just a little, then we at least have a chance of having something we might need for a fight. Or, in our case, giving everything to a Paladin.