Well, it appears I’m a bit behind the curve on this, but more balance changes have been added to the upcoming patch. Warlocks initially received a gigantic kick in the teeth that took the form of a huge Lifetap nerf, but according to Hortus on the PTR forums that change is not going to go through, and Lifetap will instead be nerfed in some nebulous other way. Something else I missed out on in the earlier round of nerfs and buffs, Demonic Knowledge is being nerfed down from 15% to 12% at the full 3 point value, further pushing Demonology Warlocks into an “outlast” playstyle.
Feral Druids are getting a mediocre buff with Nurturing Instincts adding 20% extra healing while in cat form. While it is a nice addition, it still won’t make Feral Druids worth taking into the arena over a Rogue, since Druids lack the amount of interrupts and general utility that a Rogue provides. Cyclone is great, but it won’t really make up for an on-demand snare and healing reduction, and Feral Druids are just too easy to instantly blow up in 3s and 5s. Ferals either need more mitigation, more utility, or better offhealing ability to make them worth a slot in the arena.
The nerfed incarnation of Power Infusion received a slight buff, now reducing mana costs by 20% in addition to increasing spell haste by 20%, and Mana Burn has apparently been changed from a “drain” into a “destroy” as far as the mana removal aspect is concerned. This may mean that Priests will have the only mana denial skill that isn’t affected by resilience, which will make them absolutely essential to drain teams, which means we might see Hunter / Lock / Druid turn into Priest / Lock / Druid, or even Priest / Hunter / Druid depending on how badly the Lifetap nerf affects Warlocks.
Ice Lance is getting a much needed range boost as of 2.4 with it being added to the list of spells affected by Arctic Reach, which, in conjunction with the preexisting list of buffs for Mages this patch, is leading to cries for Lead Class Developer Tom “Kalgan” Chilton’s head. It is widely known that since his Warrior became the target of spam tells and constant accusations, he has switched to playing a Mage on Tichondrius, name withheld, and people are beginning to notice a trend with where the buffs and nerfs go in correlation with where Senor Kalgan goes. In case you’re not up to speed, the current buff list for Mages looks a little something like this:
- Arcane Fortitude increased to boost armor by 100% instead of 50%
- Blink mana cost reduced, Imp. Blink changed to give a buff to the Mage after blinking that reduces their chance to be hit by all spells and attacks by 25% for 4 seconds (go-go mini-Evasion for Mages on a 20 sec cooldown)
- Icy Veins buffed to prevent spell push-back from damage for it’s duration
- Ice Block given as a trainable spell as of 2.3
Given the previous untouchable state of Warriors and the barrage of nerfs that Mages received during that lengthy period, the theory that Kalgan nerfs the counter class of whatever he plays was established. I initially espoused this theory, thinking that it was nothing more than the general populace of the game jumping at shadows. However, with Kalgan’s recent switch to Mage, and the subsequent nerfing of Warlocks (for those of you who are new here, Warlocks are the Anti-Mage) I am starting to question whether or not his bias is showing. Now granted, it could be coincidental, but given that there were blue posts in about every 1000th “NERF LOCKS ZOMG” thread stating that the class was considered to be balanced by the devs, this is definitely questionable. In any case, I think it’s best to let the rest of the patch drama play out before we demand anyone’s head, and I’ll be updating regularly with any new notes that pique my interest, as well as any further dev drama.
In other Casual WoW news, I am going to be starting a podcast fairly soon. The initial series will focus on how to take any character of any level on any server from 1g to 1000g+ just by playing the Auction House and once that is done I’ll most likely do two installments per week, with one being dedicated to the fine art of making bank, and the other discussing game news, issues, and anything else I find interesting. On that note, if you have any suggestions for themed podcasts or a series, please feel free to leave a comment here or email me at stray.casualwowATgmail.com. Thanks!
- Stray
