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BluetrackerSolving the salvage of Salvation
If you've ever gone to the Raids and Dungeons forum recently you've started to see probably dozen of threads regarding one of our most interesting Paladin blessings, Blessing of Salvation. I'd have to say that along with Blessing of Freedom and Cleanse, it's one of our best spells. Very powerful. Very useful. Casters love it.
It is it's power that's ticking Horde players off. They're claiming it gives Alliance a really unfair advantage in Blackwing Lair. An example is this rant by Gurgthock on the Mal'ganis server. He makes some good points.
No developer response on the issue, until recently...
Kindly brought to my attention by an email from Jennifer, Tigole -- the head of dungeon design (if you don't know who he is, there's an interesting interview with him here), made an official statement on the issue:
Here is where the underlying problem is: Blessing of Salvation was probably never intended to be used for situations like this. It was most likely a blessing designed to enhance our tanking ability by reducing the threat generated by the party. The way the Paladin "tank" is designed is interesting since our Protection tree makes us function as a tank in such a different way compared to Warriors or Druids in bear form (and it fails to that in many aspects also, but that's for another time).
...and that is ultimately it's doom. Take it as no surprise if Blessing of Salvation either is toned down or removed when our class is up for reevaluation. Toned down if we get minor changes, or removed if we get sweeping changes to the class to function more like a regular tank. I'm not too optimistic.
It is it's power that's ticking Horde players off. They're claiming it gives Alliance a really unfair advantage in Blackwing Lair. An example is this rant by Gurgthock on the Mal'ganis server. He makes some good points.
No developer response on the issue, until recently...
Kindly brought to my attention by an email from Jennifer, Tigole -- the head of dungeon design (if you don't know who he is, there's an interesting interview with him here), made an official statement on the issue:
....we are analyzing Blessing of Salvation's overall impact on the Raid Game. At this point, the raid and dungeon designers are consulting directly with the Class Spells & Abilities team to determine what the next step will be. We will evaluate if BoS is too powerful or too weak. We will evaluate if the Horde has adequate aggro management solutions to match that of the Alliance. But it will take some time before any change is made. I will keep you informed of any developments that arise.This statement will keep Horde players rubbing their hands, hoping Blessing of Salvation will be beaten with the nerf stick.
Here is where the underlying problem is: Blessing of Salvation was probably never intended to be used for situations like this. It was most likely a blessing designed to enhance our tanking ability by reducing the threat generated by the party. The way the Paladin "tank" is designed is interesting since our Protection tree makes us function as a tank in such a different way compared to Warriors or Druids in bear form (and it fails to that in many aspects also, but that's for another time).
...and that is ultimately it's doom. Take it as no surprise if Blessing of Salvation either is toned down or removed when our class is up for reevaluation. Toned down if we get minor changes, or removed if we get sweeping changes to the class to function more like a regular tank. I'm not too optimistic.
posted by Mastgrr at 1:37:00 AM
2 Comments:
I don't know what to say... do they really have to kick us while we're down? If it's anything like you say the blessing will probably increase threat generated by holy damage. 30% less threat is the same as the threat generated from defensive stance (30%). The relative difference probably is trying to emulate this. But if you have a warrior in defensive stance with everyone else with salvation the relative threat generated is 60% which is like defensive stance times two. They took away our ability to use our defining ability in WSG (why are we the only class barred from using our abilties?) and now they want to take away something we do well in raids? We have very little as it is. Taking away so much yet giving so little. The paladin "revamp" better be worth all this BS.
I posted this on our forums:
Upon further consideration, I understand what the CM is trying to say, but Blizzard has painted itself into a corner with the Paladin class.
The BoSalv problem cuts to the core problem of the Paladin class.
I never played the beta-Paladin, but as I understand it, the beta-Paladin was pretty powerful with an attack power equal to Warriors, heals, and "Strikes" (with the Scarlet Crusaders still have, but that's another story). Right before release, the Paladin class was revamped so that Warriors would still be seen as the main tanking class. One key item was that the the Paladin's attack power was substantially reduced.
However, reducing the Paladins attack power (thereby reducing the amount of damage a Paladin did), significantly reduced the Paladin's ability to keep aggro because his threat abilities were reduced. As a class that's supposed to be a tank, the Paladin need something to increase their threat generation.
Seal (and Judgement) of Fury increased the threat generation, but they couldn't increase it so much as to take away the Warrior's ability to keep aggro (They didn't want a situation where, if a Warrior and Paladin were fighting side by side, the Paladin poping SoF would pull all of the mobs to him). So, BoSalv was introduced to reduce the threat generation of it's target, allowing the Paladin to tank but didn't increase the Paladin's threat generation above a Warrior's so the Warrior still tanks better than the Paladin.
The problem is that if you have a Warrior and a Paladin working together (in a larger group), the Paladin uses BoSalv to reduce the threat generation of the rest of the group (or raid) while the Warrior uses his threat generation ability to keep the mob. Then, most of the group can still operate at maximum or nearly maximum with less concern.
If Blizzard nerfs BoSalv, however, the Paladin will lose a sigificant tanking too and I doubt that the Paladin could be an effective tank without it. OTOH, if Blizzard wants to give the spell to the Horde, who would they give it to? The most likely suspect is the Shaman. However, I do not think Blizzard's intent was to make the Shaman a main tank. With BoSalv, the Shaman would be able to become a main tank.
I'm not sure what the solution is. IMHO, I would prefer a significant buff to the Paladin class so it tank without BoSalv. However, we all know the Warriors will whine (like they did when HoWrath was introduced).
Those are my observations.
Oh, and nerf Shaman.
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