Wow. Just, wow. Not long after I finish my post on the changes incoming to Silence and Interrupts, I do a search for recent Blue posts and find a thread by Eyonix retracting the diminishing returns tweak altogether. Apparently all the complaints coming from certain classes paid off (not certainly, but definitely likely). Either that, or Kalgan has a Shaman alt we don't know about.
Eyonix did say that the issue will be addressed in the future, however. Why they are putting it off considering that it makes complete sense from a game-mechanics standpoint is beyond me though. From what I experienced, the changes had a very minimal effect at best in most situations, and in 5v5 Arena, it actually forced people to be more careful and play better. Was that too much of Blizzard to ask? Was it too difficult for players to put up with?
Apparently so on both counts. Very sad indeed.
5 comments:
I highly doubt that Blizzard actually bends over to whiners. Just because there's an uproar, doesn't mean that's why a change was reverted. I think the uproar was completely justified, I think the majority of the feedback from the WoW community in general to this change was negative.
Perhaps negative feedback to a change can influence decisions, but don't act like Blizzard constantly bends to crying. If that were true, you'd see Locks nerfed into the ground among other uncalled for changes.
Having interrupts on DR is stupid. It would have turned arenas into a giant healfest, and taken a large portion of skill out of the game. Yes, chaining interrupts takes skill. Yes, chaining silence lockouts, CCs, etc is a skill-factor in arena. If interrupts were on a diminishing return, you'd see healers free to go willy-nilly with heals after the DR kicked in. Sorry, but waiting for a DR to kick in and then standing there spamming FOL for 15 seconds isn't skill by any means. It would be an absolutely crushing change to certain team make ups, especially gib teams. On 4 DPS 5v5, train silencing/interrupting is a huge part of the strategy, and if interrupts were on a DR it would completely destroy this comp.
Having interrupts in the game makes things more skill based, not less.
Putting interrupts and silence on diminishing returns wouldn't ruin Arena play or PvP - it would EMPHASIZE CC rotations, greater planning, mana conservation and longevity -- everything Blizzard intended to be distinguishing variables in the Arena, and which have always been staples in successful PvP.
The change would take the current state of Arena, and move it even further into organized play.
If you have 4 DPS on a 5 man arena team, you deserve to lose.
Managing interrupts is just as skill based as managing CC and mana.
Do you know how retarded arenas would be if all healers had to do was wait for the interrupt DR?
I am constantly having to tab back to healers in order to kick heals like holy light, greater heal, regrowth etc that if I DIDN'T interrupt would lose us the game. I ALSO need to be interrupting spells like fear, cyclone, and poly that are just as devastating if I were to let them land.
Giving healers a 15 second window of FREE REIGN TO CAST is absolutely ridiculous. There is NO SKILL involved in waiting for a 15 second window of LOLOL UNINTERRUPTED CASTING.
Do you know how much more incredibly difficult it would make things for players that already coordinate well if interrupts were on a DR?
It would effectively make mixing your own interrupts with your teammate's interrupts a form of sabotaging the length of their own lockouts.
An example:
Mage CS lasts 8 seconds. ES lasts 2.
0:00 -- Healer begins to cast a heal
0:01 -- Shaman Earth Shocks (2sec lockout)
0:03 -- Lockout ends. Healer can cast again, begins to cast another heal
0:04 -- Mage Counterspells (4sec lockout due to DR)
0:08 -- Lockout ends. Healer can cast again
The DR cuts the mage CS IN HALF. Simply because the shaman interrupted FIRST in the sequence, it effectively reduces the value of the mage's CS substantially.
So a team should basically be punished because someone with a shorter silence/interrupt (ie, kick, ES) reaches a target before someone with a heftier silence does?
There was never a problem with healing and casting getting locked out before, except perhaps with paladins. Paladins probably get hit the worst with silences and interrupts, because they only have one school. And yet, Paladins are still one of THE MOST abundant healers in every bracket of arena play. Obviously, silences were not that devastating. Pure DPS teams that focus on lockouts are much less common than DPS/healer teams. This was just another incident of Blizzard trying to fix something that wasn't broken.
@ Anonymous: lol. Try actually knowing what you're talking about next time you post. It may help.(:
I think we're kind of on the same page, Ary, but only differ in now far the complications should be taken. I personally believe that forcing interrupting classes to pick and choose when to interrupt is a good thing, and really, with the amount of coordination that is already required in high-lvl 5v5, adapting to such a change wouldn't be a huge endeavor.
@ Anon, there are very successful 4-DPS 5v5 teams. But I think you hit on something -- does Blizzard have a problem with that and want it to change? Do they want to define 5v5 success as a team of variety rather than of one focus?
The sad thing is, I don't even think they know, so we're stuck at an impass I guess.
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