Breakfast Topic: What spell, skill, or talent do you miss?

Sometimes, the skills were worthless, and it's a good thing they went away (or at least, not a bad thing). Sometimes, though, we really did lose something special. For me, the talent that always makes me a little verklempt is Unholy Blight. Back in the early days of Wrath, Unholy Blight was an engine of destruction. For around half your runic power bar, it would summon a swarm of insects that would surround you, inflicting AOE damage to all enemies in melee range of you and infecting them with a disease that would make your strikes hit harder.
This, of course, was incredibly powerful. It made keeping threat as an unholy tank a breeze, and it made sure unholy DPS death knights topped the damage charts whenever there was an AOE fight. But what really made it awesome for me was the way it made me feel. I was a death knight, a walking tower of death, decay, and fear. My aura of malevolent power was so amazing that my enemies felt it gnawing at their very souls. That's why, whenever I look at the current talent and its silly little Death Coil damage boost, a single tear rolls down my cold, undead cheek.
What about you? Whether they've been removed or just nerfed beyond recognition, what old-school spells, talents, or skills do you miss?
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 8)
Jimson Aug 17th 2011 9:44AM
I wish I could uprate this so far that it appeared on the main page.
Shao Aug 17th 2011 10:46AM
Same here. That was what made Warlocks fun when I used to PvP. You may kill them, but if they had all their DoT's rolling when they died, they could kill you from beyond the grave.
Matthew Aug 17th 2011 1:03PM
so THIATS why an afflic warlock seemed to have like 5+ dots on me and now when I play one I say to myself 'where are all the dots I used to have on me???'
btsfstr Aug 17th 2011 8:14AM
Volley!
Cleansing Totem!
/lazy girl
epicboyz Aug 17th 2011 9:33AM
Oh god, how i miss VOLLEY!!!
Faar Aug 17th 2011 9:40AM
I never liked volley since you couldn't move while channeling it. It made the hunter feel so static, locked in place... I much prefer the new multishot, I think it's great.
What I do miss is pet happiness and loyalty though. Not that your pet would run away if it got too unhappy, and that happiness was tied to its damage output, but that it made the hunter and pet feel more like a team working together, that the pet is a living, breathing being rather than merely a throwaway mobile DoT.
They were nice roleplay elements just for myself, that made my hunter character more interesting. ...To me, anyway.
I also miss Night Elf priests' Starshards ability. It sucked throghout most of WoW while it was still in the game, but it had rather unique graphics and was pretty to look at, and in Burning Crusade after the priest ability re-make it was at least somewhat useful when its cooldown was greatly reduced, damage improved and cost no mana.
Maybe it can get resurrected as a level 90 balance druid ability! :D
Nouyou Aug 17th 2011 9:42AM
2nded for volley. At least we still have explosive shot :)
Gimmlette Aug 17th 2011 9:53AM
Another vote for volley. Yes, it was abused by lazy hunters, but so many times I'll be in a situation where "AOE the crap outta them" comes up and I stand there with multi-shot.
I also echo Faar and pet happiness. It was part of being a hunter. I carry food with me anyway for certain buffs while soloing. So I just gave the pet some of that. I can understand that it gets 'complicated' if you have 5 pets that eat different things. I have a raptor, a bear, a cat, a moth and a crab. I'd need fruit, meat and fish and those do take up bag space. To me, it makes the pet more of a pet than something conjured from the ether like a warlock's minion.
Drakkenfyre Aug 17th 2011 9:55AM
Hunter's original Volley.
Sentry Totem (let the unimaginitive complainers be damned, that was a great screenshot tool.)
Cleanse Poison Totem
The ability for classes to remove debuffs that made sense. (Shaman can't remove poisons unless talented. WTF?)
The original Ravage ability of Ravagers. A 2-second stun.
While not an ability or talent, Pet Happiness as well. It wasn't hard to keep up, but it made you feel like your pet wasn't simply an NPC. It was nice to see him get happy when you fed him something, or used Glyped Mend Pet on him.
airifox Aug 17th 2011 11:26AM
Ohhhh man, Volley. Loved it and missed it so much. Multishot is ok and all, but there's nothing like raining down a storm of arrows from the sky that come from seemingly no where to puncture enemies to death.
And while we're at it - Eyes of the Beast. Used to have so much fun hiding in various nooks and crannies and sending off my ghost saber to crash those crazy dance parties that used to happen on the old Org bank roof. I never ran into a situation where there was a practical use for it, I'm sure some existed, but it was a nice little flavor ability that fit right in with hunters....
Midnight Aug 17th 2011 1:53PM
Oh how I miss Volley SO much.
michael.garbellini Aug 17th 2011 8:14AM
Thorns was always a good one for tanking, and have to agree with tree form
MusedMoose Aug 17th 2011 8:15AM
I really, really miss the DK Blood DPS tree. Not only did it make my DK feel like she was an unstoppable juggernaut of self-healing and death-dealing, it was incredibly fun to play. There's nothing quite like barreling into a group of enemies, taking them all down, and walking out at full health. I understand why Blizzard had to redesign the DK talent trees, but I really do wish that Frost could have been the tanking one.
On the other hand, my ret paladin is able to get something of the same effect, as the class's abilities lend themselves well to "Kill everything while healing myself". So there's that. ^_^
Shorty Aug 17th 2011 8:15AM
You guys played Doom, right? Remember the Rocket Launcher? That lovely weapon that could pulverize any nasty goonie to a pile of goo. Remember what it sounded like when you aimed said awesome weapon at the barrel of green ooze right when a baddie was standing next to it? The wonderful squishy sound, the image of the goonie reduced to a pile of flesh.
THIS is what Corpse Explosion was for me. There was no greater thrill than seeing the tank gather a group together in Ungarde Keep, because you knew, you just knew that as soon as the first baddie went down you'd be popping that wonderful ability and that same, perfect blend of flying flesh would happen.
Rest in peace Corpse Explosion…
Natsumi Aug 17th 2011 9:00AM
I miss CE too :(
Nouyou Aug 17th 2011 9:47AM
I completely forgot about that one. Yeah that was fun :p
Quasimofo Aug 17th 2011 9:51AM
A thousand times this. I don't care if it didn't do much damage, I don't care if a point spent learning it was a 'wasted" point. Every single DK spec I ever made included corpse explosion, because it was just plain FUN. That rain of goo, the beautiful squick sound, I would spam it non-stop and gleefully wallow in the entrails of my fallen foes. I would also detonate the numbskull mage who unloaded before I had aggro, pulled threat, and died. Its absence is heartwrenching because it was so unnecessary. Bring it back Blizzard!
Schlansker Aug 17th 2011 8:17AM
I haven't played a rogue in a while, but I still miss my swirly ball.
WHY GOD, WHY DID YOU TAKE OUR SWIRLY BALL! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME! NOT SWIRLY BALL!
/tears
/therapy
Nyctalops Aug 17th 2011 8:18AM
I miss my hunter's Volley. I understand why it got sacrificed on the great altar of AOE nerfing, and arrows raining down from my gun was admittedly lame, but being able to gauge the area of damage pre-cast gave me a lot more precision than Multi-Shot's 'aim for the guy in the middle and pray that the mobs on either side are close enough' function.
Luotian Aug 17th 2011 8:33AM
Seconded. I spend so much time holding my breath when I multi-shot and praying that things don't go nuts when I don't hit something I'm supposed to-- or when I DO hit something I shouldn't as happens more than I'd like to admit. I want my volley back with all it's green circle mouse dragging glory.