Shifting Perspectives: Symbiosis, druids, and you
by Allison Robert 
Feb 28th 2012 at 4:00PM
SCENE: A 25-man raid of Lord KillMeIHaveCandy in Mists of Pandaria. The raid is buffing before the pull while class officers discuss strategy. Allie opens the bidding war.
Allie: Alllll right. Who gets Symbiosis? Let me think.
Paladin: Me!
Allie: Last time I gave it to you, you blew my Rebirth cooldown on the guy who dies every fight. You are now my mortal enemy, and I will remind you of this on your deathbed.
Death knight: I could use it.
Allie: I don't know what I get from you yet. Bug off.
Warrior: Me me me!
Allie: Oh, come on. Enrage isn't that great.
Monk: I could use it.
Allie: You roll on my gear and want a favor from me. You're funny.
Priest: Oh, look! I accidentally tripped over 5,000 gold on the ground for which I have no earthly use. Would you like it?
Allie: Let's talk.
Kaivax
Here are some examples of spells gained through Symbiosis. The spells shared focus on utility, cooldowns, and survival. (Adding Fireball to a Moonkin's rotation sounds cool on paper, but wouldn't actually be fun in the long run.)
Balance: Chains of Ice, Mirror Image, Mass Dispel
Feral: Feign Death (Play Dead!), Frost Nova, Soul Swap
Guardian: Ice Trap, Fear Ward, Consecration
Restoration: Ice Block, Hand of Sacrifice, Leap of Faith
Hunter: Dash
Warlock: Rejuvenation
Holy Paladin: Rebirth
Arms/Fury Warrior: Enrage
Enhancement/Elemental Shaman: Solar Beam
Balance: Chains of Ice, Mirror Image, Mass Dispel
Feral: Feign Death (Play Dead!), Frost Nova, Soul Swap
Guardian: Ice Trap, Fear Ward, Consecration
Restoration: Ice Block, Hand of Sacrifice, Leap of Faith
Hunter: Dash
Warlock: Rejuvenation
Holy Paladin: Rebirth
Arms/Fury Warrior: Enrage
Enhancement/Elemental Shaman: Solar Beam
When Blizzard clarified the mechanics behind Symbiosis in a recent forum post, it answered a lot of questions but raised others. Here's what we know, plus a few guesses as to how the skill will work once it's introduced to the game.
Not a Focus Magic or Dark Intent lookalike
Symbiosis is not a Focus Magic or Dark Intent doppelganger. This had actually been my greatest fear when we first heard about the spell at BlizzCon 2011. While the buffs are similar in the sense that you'll almost certainly be casting them before combat and retaining them for the length of the fight, there's still a pretty big ideological distinction between the two. Focus Magic and Dark Intent are pretty baldly intended as DPS increases, whereas Symbiosis is just as baldly intended for utility.
While Blizzard still seems to be ironing out the specifics of how Symbiosis will work vis-à-vis specific classes and specs, one pattern is very clear: Whatever skill you're going to get (or give), you won't be using it as part of a DPS rotation, and nobody else has the right to expect a damage increase out of the deal either.
To me, that makes Symbiosis a lot more interesting while simultaneously allowing it to bypass the fights that FM/DI have historically attracted over which class/spec will get the most out of it. For the bears and trees among us, this is a pretty good deal. We don't really care about damage as long as the players charged with doing it stay alive, and it's easy to think of a concrete use for all of the abilities cited here (e.g., Ice Trap, Hand of Sacrifice).
Having said that, that doesn't make Symbiosis trouble-free (see below), but it does remove a major game balance concern. Giving and taking utility spells means that their use will depend entirely on the skill of both players concerned and how they anticipate handling a fight. That seems consistent with how Blizzard is approaching class design in Mists.
More active concern for raid balance
Let's face it: While it might be a little overambitious to say that 25-man raiding is going the way of the dinosaur, it's not an attractive model to most raiding guilds these days. A 25-man raiding guild is harder to run, more time-consuming and stressful to administrate, and the barrier to entry is much higher. While raid balance won't be a problem if you raid solely through the Raid Finder, it will definitely be one if you're otherwise restricted to 10-mans.
With the addition of the monk, it will be impossible in Mists and beyond for a 10-man raid to field one player of each class, and I've been wondering how that'll work out for the inevitably unlucky player who wants or needs to Symbiosis a skill that his/her raid can't possibly provide. "Needs" is perhaps a strong word for this, but my personal nightmare is tanking a fight in which I could really use a Symbiosis'd Fear Ward and knowing that ain't gonna happen.
(Sudden thought: Does the presence of Fear Ward in the list of Symbiosis skills imply that the guardian druid won't be getting a Fear break? Not that Fear's played a massive role in raids lately, but nobody liked seeing Berserk nerfed just because cats stopped sucking in Arena for a few minutes.)
Any time Blizzard introduces a new talent or skill, it's useful to consider it within the context of the following: You will be balanced around its use. We do not get this stuff simply because developers like us and want us to be happy, although that would be reason enough (for me). We magically got new cooldowns in the beginning of Wrath of the Lich King, only to find that a host of raid bosses would now kill us if we didn't use them. But Symbiosis' rather complicated nature makes me wonder how -- or if -- Blizzard is approaching raid content with its presence in the raid in mind.
Babysitting the raid
My now-greatest fear is that Symbiosis is going to be used as a crutch in situations that the druid is otherwise poorly designed to handle or -- more likely -- that we'll be spending the length of a fight casting and recasting it on the players who could get the most use from it in a particular moment. I can see a Kael-style fight where different players would inarguably be getting the most use from Symbiosis depending on fight conditions (e.g., a warlock "tanking" the phase 1 caster wants Rejuvenation, a hunter getting focused by Lord Thaladred needs Dash). This places a high skill cap on how druids can prioritize and use Symbiosis, but it also raises the ugly specter of having to babysit the raid, which I don't think anybody wants.
Then again, would that be worse than having a cooldown on Symbiosis, the likeliest answer to such a problem?
Shifting Perspectives: Bear and Resto Edition takes a peek at healer balance in Dragon Soul, discovers why bears and PvP gear are a pretty good mix, lends advice on gearing up to hit the Raid Finder, and helps you level a druid in the Cataclysm era.Filed under: Druid, Analysis / Opinion, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jonblaze81 Feb 28th 2012 4:08PM
@Allison Robert:
I litterally LOL'ed at the outset scenario you presented! Your Internet Humor Skill increased +1.
evoxpisces Feb 28th 2012 4:38PM
I totally agree! I don't even play a druid but still found this a fun read! :)
Revynn Feb 28th 2012 6:37PM
Allison's Internet Humor skill has been maxed for quite some time.
Seriously, I've never successfully tanked or healed an instance on my druid, but I still read her posts almost every time. Her, Fox and Frostheim are by far the most entertaining authors on the site.
Ragen Feb 29th 2012 8:24PM
I'd like to note that in the same thread:
"Symbiosis cannot be cast in combat"
goldeneye Mar 7th 2012 1:04PM
Let's not forget Archmage Pants
Saf Feb 28th 2012 4:15PM
Last I saw, the spell already had a 'this effect persists through death' clause. So, in order to prevent the situation that you forsee where a Druid would constantly be switching Symbiosis targets as the fight progresses, why not just add a 'this spell can not be cast in combat' clause?
It would be the easiest fix, and would help lower confusion on the other classes who would have to be really aware on whether their Symbiosis button can actually do anything at a given moment in a fight.
Also, less micro-managing of the buff mid-fight would always be better, as it means that you would have to plan ahead on each pull, rather than worry about changing it on the fly.
Allison Robert Feb 28th 2012 4:29PM
I do wonder if the "un-castable while in combat" stipulation might help this, but I think it's ultimately an unhappy solution at best. I would *very* much like to be able to change Symbiosis targets to respond to changing raid situations, which I think could be a really fun way to play. At the same time, it wouldn't be unusual for hardcore guilds to exploit this to the hilt, and that expectation has a way of trickling down to the rest of us. The question is whether the odds of that happening outweigh the inconvenience of a potential cooldown.
It's kind of Blizzard's biggest design problem en miniature: Program something really cool, then spend ages trying to make sure that people don't abuse it. But I'm hopeful.
Finnicks Feb 28th 2012 4:28PM
From the same blue post that gave the examples Allison quoted:
The Druid will select a raid or party member and cast Symbiosis on them.
The target cannot be another Druid.
The target gains a buff that tells them what spell they have temporarily learned, and that spell temporarily appears in their spellbook, and they can drag it to an action bar.
The Druid’s Symbiosis button will become the ability they gained from the target class.
The Symbiosis link is cancelled if: the Druid clicks off the Symbiosis buff, or the Druid or the target changes continents or enters or exits an instance, or the Druid or the target changes talent specializations.
Symbiosis fails to cast if Symbiosis is already active on that target.
Symbiosis cannot be cast in combat.
For the non-Druid target, the icon will revert to a placeholder (uncastable) Symbiosis icon when Symbiosis ends, but will become the Symbiosis-granted ability again the next time Symbiosis is cast on that target.
The ability gained from Symbiosis is always something chosen to match the Druid’s specialization and the target’s combat role.
The target always gets the same spell unless they change combat roles. A Druid of a given specialization always gets the same spell from each different class. If there is a change of specs, there is a change of spell.
****
In other words, you get 1 Symbiosis per fight. No per-phase switching, or switching if your hapless symbiote gets themselves killed.
Lissanna Feb 28th 2012 5:44PM
You can't swap symbiosis targets within a fight, but you will probably end up swapping symbiosis between fights. I will also have to re-cast symbiosis when I change specs between resto & moonkin, and for as often as I forget to swap gear, I'm going to spend a lot of my time frustrated about missing symbiosis, lol
mannyg222 Feb 28th 2012 4:29PM
Its stated in that same blue post by Kaivax that "Symbiosis cannot be cast in combat" so no casting it on different targets during the duration of a fight thus no babysitting.
mannyg222 Feb 28th 2012 4:34PM
It was stated in the same blue post by Kaivax that "Symbiosis cannot be cast in combat" so no casting on different targets throughout the duration of a fight thus no babysitting.
araquen Feb 28th 2012 4:44PM
No gold needed. Leap of Faith FTW...
...only because of the mischief I could get into with that spell.
One of my tanks threatened to pull, go kitty, cower and have our Hunter MD on to me if I tried to LOF him.
Ajkcc07 Feb 28th 2012 5:16PM
Cower is a miserable threat drop. Hope he doesn't realize it, then laugh as he gets wrecked anyway.
Twill Feb 28th 2012 10:35PM
you could totally force a tank to pull. you get leap of faith, pull boss to tank, (or tank to boss), then vanish with displacer beast the level 15 talent.
Noah Feb 29th 2012 4:32AM
Agreed. Cower is completely and utterly useless. It does nothing to drop threat (watch the meter, the only threat drop you'll get is from not using a damage ability during the GCD) and it certainly doesn't drop your aggro.
Neirin Feb 28th 2012 4:58PM
I think the biggest issue with symbiosis will be figuring out an easy way to tell people what sort of abilities are available. For those of us who read WoWInsider, it's no big thing to read a list on WoWHead or maybe a blue post or two, but a large fraction of WoW players are pretty casual. Or what about people coming to the game with the release of Mists? I worry that Symbiosis will just have so many different permutations that many people can't be bothered to really learn it and thus it'll get scrapped some time during the beta.
Lissanna Feb 28th 2012 5:48PM
I expect that people like Allison and I will be making huge spreadsheets to manage this for people and that people will just google search "symbiosis" and find all of our blogs that list out the combinations.
I'm also going to get a post sticked on the official druid forums that has the Symbiosis combinations for every druid spec once we actually know what they are.
Revynn Feb 28th 2012 6:34PM
Yes and no.
I agree that the current design is allowing for a fairly monstrous list of possible combinations. If I'm reading it right, it's not Druid + Paladin but Resto Druid + Prot Paladin or Resto Druid + Ret Paladin or Feral Druid + Holy Paladin . . . and that can lead to a very long list. I doubt anyone (or at least very few people) will ever memorize every single possible combination and it will be left to AddOn makers to keep that sort of information available to the average druid. My suggestion to Blizzard (if they read this) would be to place that information in the tooltip when you mouse over someone, much like the way Soulburn's effects are in the tooltip of any ability it effects for a warlock. Mouse over the Arcane Mage in your group and see "Symbiosis: Mirror Images" or something like that. That way we don't have to keep spreadsheets handy.
However, I think that the really game changing uses for the ability will only occur in the heroic raiding and competitive PvP scenes. It will be -nice- if Joe-Schmoe bear tank knows that putting Symbi (I'm putting that up for consideration as the official short version of the name, it's just fun to say . . . symbi symbi symbi symbi) on the hunter in his random dungeon will give him access to Ice Trap for when said hunter is too inept at using it himself, but I doubt we'll ever see a situation in casual content that not having it will result in a wipe.
I also don't think the ability will be scrapped anytime soon unless it proves to be way, way over powered (unlikely since it's a utility spell) and they just can't find a way to balance it properly. Even if the average druid doesn't bother to figure out all it's uses (and let's be honest, the average player doesn't bother to figure out -most- of their abilities), there will still be enough videos, articles and theorycrafting going on with it's possibilities to generate enough hype to keep it in the game. We saw the same thing with Dark Sim and Leap of Faith in the Cata Beta.
Lissanna Feb 28th 2012 7:07PM
It looks like (in the above example), hunters would always get dash, regardless of what spec the druid was.
The resto druid is always going to get ice block from mages regardless of what spec the mage is.
So, it won't be super complicated. Just 5 lists (one for each druid spec & one for what the other person gets).
Snuzzle Feb 28th 2012 7:38PM
I predict there will be an app for that.