A few weeks ago, I posted my Random Battleground statistics, and offered common speculations as to why the Alliance performed so poorly. Later, in a second post, I explained my own theories on the issue.
Now, here is a third post, with more numbers, and confirmed theories.
New statistics
Here are my win ratios since the 1st post. I am only including matches in which I played after my original post.
Alterac Valley:
18 out of 58 (31%) games won.
Arathi Basin:
32 out of 46 (70%) games won.
Eye of the Storm:
38 out of 58 (66%) games won.
Strand of the Ancients:
21 out of 42 (50%) games won.
Warsong Gulch:
66 out of 87 (76%) games won.
Total:
124 out of 291 (60%) games won.
The numbers look a lot better than in my original post. In fact, now I am winning more battlegrounds than I am losing.
External changes
The theory in my 2nd post proposed that the issue behind the Alliance's poor performance was population. The general lower population of Alliance players on the realm meant that most battlegrounds started with an imbalance of players (particularly Alterac Valley). Furthermore, the bigger the battleground, the more difficult it is for one player to make a true difference.
What has changed?
Recently, the developers at Molten-WoW have written new scripts for the battleground system, providing much improved balance. Now, all random battlegrounds begin with a near-equal amount of players. This has greatly helped the Alliance, which suddenly doesn't find itself feeling like the 300 Spartans trying to fight off an army of Persians.
The developers also rewrote some of the script in order to lessen the frequency of Alterac Valley popups. Many players complained that they were invited to Alterac Valley matches twice more often than to any other battleground. This isn't the case anymore.
Personal changes
Additionally, my gear has much improved since then. I am now equipped with full Wrathful offset gear, a Wrathful weapon and offhand, Wrathful leggings, and 4 Relentless set items. I've almost 31k HP unbuffed, and have slightly over 1.3k resilience.
Now, I can defend Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm bases much more effectively. I have personally carried the WSG flag 115 times, at the time of writing this. These things make a difference, particularly in the small battlegrounds. Furthermore, I avoid Alterac Valley and Strand of the Ancients, my two least favorite battlegrounds. Alterac Valley used to be, by far, my most-played battleground, and also the one with the worst win/lose ratio. Playing it less and winning it more has also helped the statistics.
Conclusion
The Alliance isn't that bad. In fact, it looks as though we may be even with the Horde. Great!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
More on spec viability
First, let's define the word "viable." In the context I will be using the term, viable means having a reasonable chance of succeeding. In WoW, viability refers to a class or spec's potential to properly carry out some task. This task could be simple damage-dealing to a boss, or defeating a PvP opponent. To be PvP-viable, a spec needs to be able to successfully survive as well as control and damage opponents.
It isn't enough to simply be able to do something - it needs to be done successfully. For example, it isn't enough that Entangling Roots is on my action bar - if I cannot successfully use it (because of game mechanics), then it is a PvP-nonviable spell.
Revisiting what I said
Yesterday, I proposed that any spec should be viable if it is its class's only spec that fulfills its particular playing style. So, if a Shaman's Enhancement tree is the only tree that allows melee damage, it should be viable for the sake of those who want to be melee Shamans. Asking them to respec would not be fair, because Elemental and Restoration offer completely different playstyles.
But is that enough? What if a Mage really loves Fire, and does not want to spec Frost or Arcane for PvP? After all, even if the role of the spec is the same (dealing spell damage), the playing style isn't.
I think it is safe to say a lot of players play for their spec and not necessarily just for their class. Should Blizzard make every spec in the game both PvP and PvE viable? That would be very difficult to achieve. Today, the game is already faced with many balance issues, despite that Blizzard isn't even trying to make every spec viable. They are more concerned with class viability than with individual spec viability.
The state of things
To address the issues of balance and viability, Blizzard has, for the most part, ensured that specs are viable for at least one type of gameplay (PvP or PvE).
And this is where I begin talking about us Moonkins.
There are several specs out there who give up viability of one type in exchange for viability of another. Subtlety Rogues, for example, are almost never found in a raid setting, but are extremely PvP-viable. Elemental Shamans are very desired in 3v3 arena, but would not be wanted in raids if not for their totems and Heroism/Bloodlust. Fire Mages have some of the best PvE DPS in the game, but perform poorly in PvP.
I can only think of two specs that aren't viable for either PvP or PvE: Frost Death Knights and Balance Druids. Blood is the DK tanking spec, and Unholy easily surpasses Frost in both PvP and PvE. Balance Druids have terrible weaknesses in PvP, and suffer from a broken Eclipse mechanic in PvE.
Moonkin: effort =/= reward
I would think that in exchange for poor PvP-viability, Blizzard would have made my spec great for PvE (like Fire Mage). So is it normal that my DPS only becomes comparable in a purely standstill fight, even though I exert myself much more than the average raider to maximize my performance?
Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that it is not fair for Moonkins to have to go through so much trouble to do the same as anyone else. Mages, Warlocks, Shadow Priests, and perhaps even Elemental Shamans, are all more PvP viable, and are all capable of more raid DPS with a lot less effort (save for Demonology Warlocks, except that they are more adequately rewarded for their efforts).
Reward should be directly proportionate to effort, skill, and knowledge. On my Shadow Priest, I can be twice as successful as my Moonkin in PvP, with half the effort, skill, and knowledge. It's really saddening.
I spec Moonkin for the sake of it. I guess I find it fun to go around as a giant chicken causing eclipses and typhoons. I also get a twisted pleasure out of going against the grain. In fact, I don't like seeing other Moonkins, as they make me feel less unique. But if I were to play for the sake of viability - I would just go Restoration. There is really no reason to spec Moonkin, unless your guild needs one for the raid buffs.
Cataclysm..
In Cataclysm, Balance Druids find themselves a little better off in PvE. This is great - but Blizzard: why did it take 6 years?
It isn't enough to simply be able to do something - it needs to be done successfully. For example, it isn't enough that Entangling Roots is on my action bar - if I cannot successfully use it (because of game mechanics), then it is a PvP-nonviable spell.
Revisiting what I said
Yesterday, I proposed that any spec should be viable if it is its class's only spec that fulfills its particular playing style. So, if a Shaman's Enhancement tree is the only tree that allows melee damage, it should be viable for the sake of those who want to be melee Shamans. Asking them to respec would not be fair, because Elemental and Restoration offer completely different playstyles.
But is that enough? What if a Mage really loves Fire, and does not want to spec Frost or Arcane for PvP? After all, even if the role of the spec is the same (dealing spell damage), the playing style isn't.
I think it is safe to say a lot of players play for their spec and not necessarily just for their class. Should Blizzard make every spec in the game both PvP and PvE viable? That would be very difficult to achieve. Today, the game is already faced with many balance issues, despite that Blizzard isn't even trying to make every spec viable. They are more concerned with class viability than with individual spec viability.
The state of things
To address the issues of balance and viability, Blizzard has, for the most part, ensured that specs are viable for at least one type of gameplay (PvP or PvE).
And this is where I begin talking about us Moonkins.
There are several specs out there who give up viability of one type in exchange for viability of another. Subtlety Rogues, for example, are almost never found in a raid setting, but are extremely PvP-viable. Elemental Shamans are very desired in 3v3 arena, but would not be wanted in raids if not for their totems and Heroism/Bloodlust. Fire Mages have some of the best PvE DPS in the game, but perform poorly in PvP.
I can only think of two specs that aren't viable for either PvP or PvE: Frost Death Knights and Balance Druids. Blood is the DK tanking spec, and Unholy easily surpasses Frost in both PvP and PvE. Balance Druids have terrible weaknesses in PvP, and suffer from a broken Eclipse mechanic in PvE.
Moonkin: effort =/= reward
I would think that in exchange for poor PvP-viability, Blizzard would have made my spec great for PvE (like Fire Mage). So is it normal that my DPS only becomes comparable in a purely standstill fight, even though I exert myself much more than the average raider to maximize my performance?
Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that it is not fair for Moonkins to have to go through so much trouble to do the same as anyone else. Mages, Warlocks, Shadow Priests, and perhaps even Elemental Shamans, are all more PvP viable, and are all capable of more raid DPS with a lot less effort (save for Demonology Warlocks, except that they are more adequately rewarded for their efforts).
Reward should be directly proportionate to effort, skill, and knowledge. On my Shadow Priest, I can be twice as successful as my Moonkin in PvP, with half the effort, skill, and knowledge. It's really saddening.
I spec Moonkin for the sake of it. I guess I find it fun to go around as a giant chicken causing eclipses and typhoons. I also get a twisted pleasure out of going against the grain. In fact, I don't like seeing other Moonkins, as they make me feel less unique. But if I were to play for the sake of viability - I would just go Restoration. There is really no reason to spec Moonkin, unless your guild needs one for the raid buffs.
Cataclysm..
In Cataclysm, Balance Druids find themselves a little better off in PvE. This is great - but Blizzard: why did it take 6 years?
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Why Moonkin PvP should be viable
In patch 3.3.5, Moonkin PvP is at its most viable. Sadly, it's still not very viable anyways. Druids who want to seriously PvP as Balance have always been met with frustration at the spec's shortcomings. Some Druids have addressed our issues and made long threads about them, some QQed, and others blogged. Either way, the problems of Moonkin PvP are well-known.
However, it never seems as though Blizzard has any intention to bring us up to par. Cataclysm is well out now, and we received some new toys - like everyone else. Now we have a funky silence, funky mushrooms, and an awesome new nuke. But our survivability is still as bad as ever, and our burst damage relies on Shooting Stars procs. Our HoTs are weak and expensive, and the new Eclipse mechanic - though much improved for PvE - is even worse than the old mechanic for PvP.
Sometimes it feels as though Blizzard holds a grudge against Balance Druids. But ultimately, that is a silly notion. Blizzard is a multi-million dollar business, and it isn't in their interest to put down us lowly Moonkins. If they don't satisfy their customers, they might lose money - simple as that. So what is the reason Moonkin PvP has always been unviable?
Why we aren't better
The answer is actually simple. Ghostcrawler has repeated it several times - they do not feel that Moonkin PvP needs to be brought up to par, because Druids already have a strong PvP spec (Restoration). If a Druid wants to PvP, he can just respec or make good use of Dual Talent Specialization. Blizzard cares about class representation in arena - not spec-representation.
This logic has strengths and weaknesses, but it utterly fails with hybrid classes. If a Mage wants to PvP, he can just go Arcane or Frost. Like Balance, Fire is not PvP viable. The difference, however, is that no matter what tree a Mage chooses to specialize in, he will still be doing the same thing - casting damaging spells. A Rogue will always melee DPS, a Hunter will always do ranged damage, etc. Additionally, though Holy is not viable, Priests have another healing tree they can spec - and Discipline is perfectly fine for PvP. Every non-hybrid class in the game can do well in PvP no matter the role they choose within the possibilities of their class (with the exception of tanking specs, which are usually slightly weak).
It's not fair, Blizzard
If a Druid wants to cast damaging spells in PvP, his only choice is Balance. For that reason, I believe it should be viable. Asking us to respec Restoration is not fair - if we wanted to heal people, then that's what we'd do. Shamans have the same problem - though Elemental and Restoration are both arena-viable, Enhancement is not. Our other hybrid friend, however, is doing a little better. Retribution and Holy Paladins are great in PvP - Retribution has a few important flaws (very susceptible to snares), but it remains much more viable than Balance or Enhancement.
If the PvP role you want to play (healing, melee damage, ranged damage) is only offered by one spec within your class, that spec should be made viable.
However, it never seems as though Blizzard has any intention to bring us up to par. Cataclysm is well out now, and we received some new toys - like everyone else. Now we have a funky silence, funky mushrooms, and an awesome new nuke. But our survivability is still as bad as ever, and our burst damage relies on Shooting Stars procs. Our HoTs are weak and expensive, and the new Eclipse mechanic - though much improved for PvE - is even worse than the old mechanic for PvP.
Sometimes it feels as though Blizzard holds a grudge against Balance Druids. But ultimately, that is a silly notion. Blizzard is a multi-million dollar business, and it isn't in their interest to put down us lowly Moonkins. If they don't satisfy their customers, they might lose money - simple as that. So what is the reason Moonkin PvP has always been unviable?
Why we aren't better
The answer is actually simple. Ghostcrawler has repeated it several times - they do not feel that Moonkin PvP needs to be brought up to par, because Druids already have a strong PvP spec (Restoration). If a Druid wants to PvP, he can just respec or make good use of Dual Talent Specialization. Blizzard cares about class representation in arena - not spec-representation.
This logic has strengths and weaknesses, but it utterly fails with hybrid classes. If a Mage wants to PvP, he can just go Arcane or Frost. Like Balance, Fire is not PvP viable. The difference, however, is that no matter what tree a Mage chooses to specialize in, he will still be doing the same thing - casting damaging spells. A Rogue will always melee DPS, a Hunter will always do ranged damage, etc. Additionally, though Holy is not viable, Priests have another healing tree they can spec - and Discipline is perfectly fine for PvP. Every non-hybrid class in the game can do well in PvP no matter the role they choose within the possibilities of their class (with the exception of tanking specs, which are usually slightly weak).
It's not fair, Blizzard
If a Druid wants to cast damaging spells in PvP, his only choice is Balance. For that reason, I believe it should be viable. Asking us to respec Restoration is not fair - if we wanted to heal people, then that's what we'd do. Shamans have the same problem - though Elemental and Restoration are both arena-viable, Enhancement is not. Our other hybrid friend, however, is doing a little better. Retribution and Holy Paladins are great in PvP - Retribution has a few important flaws (very susceptible to snares), but it remains much more viable than Balance or Enhancement.
If the PvP role you want to play (healing, melee damage, ranged damage) is only offered by one spec within your class, that spec should be made viable.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Moonkin stats
Every so often, I realize that I don't know as much about Moonkins as I think I do. Yesterday, I realized I had misunderstood some things about our soft haste cap.
So, inspired, I decided to make a post about Moonkin stat priorities.
General stat priority
Hit rating, like for every DPS class, is the #1 damage stat until capped. It takes 26.23 hit rating to achieve 1% spell hit chance, and you have a base 17% chance to miss a ?? raid boss (+3 levels) with spells.
Balance of Power (4%) and Imp. Faerie Fire (3%) reduce your chance to miss to 10%. This means that the Moonkin hit rating cap is 10 * 26.23 = 263. With a Draenei in your group, it drops to 237.
For PvPers: you only have a 4% chance to miss equal-level players. This means that all of your hit needs are covered by Balance of Power. Some races/classes/specs have talents to reduce the chance they'll be missed, which is usually compensated for by the Ashen Verdict ring.
Spellpower
Spellpower is the bread and butter of all DPS caster classes, and will always be better than your other stats (unless not hit capped). Moonkins scale well with spellpower - get lots of it.
Haste
Haste is great and not-so-great at the same time. We don't scale very well with haste, because at 585 haste, Wrath will have a 1.00s cast time with Nature's Grace.
Any amount of haste that brings down Wrath's cast time below 1.00s is wasted, because the global cooldown cannot go below 1 second.
I used to think the soft haste cap was 401, but I was mistaken. Only yesterday did I learn that this calculation includes the Wrath of Air Totem (+5%) haste. I do not like assuming buffs other than my own, and I don't believe anyone should. So the soft cap is, in fact, 585.
Crit
Crit rating is never bad, and has a high cap. Once you have reached the soft haste cap, crit will give you more DPS than haste, point-for-point. Your soft crit cap is based on Starfire's chance to crit during a Lunar Eclipse. To calculate your soft crit cap, first add all of your buffs/talents that increases Starfire's crit chance.
Once you are over the soft crit cap, critical strike rating and haste rating have nearly the same value, with crit being slightly ahead.
Spirit
Spirit is not a terrible stat, but the other stats already mentioned easily outshine it. Imp. Moonkin Form converts 30% of our spirit into spellpower - however, this does not mean you should gear for it.
Take this example: would you rather have 100 spirit, or 100 crit rating? You can safely ignore the regen from spirit. You should choose the crit rating, because 100 of it will give you more damage than 30 spellpower.
Intellect
Some players believe intellect is the supreme Moonkin stat, because it increases our mana pool, our regen (2% of total mana back from crits), our critical strike chance, our spellpower (12% of intel converted into spellpower), and scales with Furor (+10% intel).
However, point-for-point, intellect is very weak. It buffs our stats, but only very slightly. 1 point of intellect only increases your crit chance by 0.006%, for example.
TL;DR
Get 263 hit rating and 585 haste rating, then get crit rating. And of course, never neglect spellpower.
So, inspired, I decided to make a post about Moonkin stat priorities.
General stat priority
- Hit rating (till cap)
- Spellpower
- Haste rating (till cap)
- Critical strike rating
- Spirit
- Intellect
Hit rating, like for every DPS class, is the #1 damage stat until capped. It takes 26.23 hit rating to achieve 1% spell hit chance, and you have a base 17% chance to miss a ?? raid boss (+3 levels) with spells.
Balance of Power (4%) and Imp. Faerie Fire (3%) reduce your chance to miss to 10%. This means that the Moonkin hit rating cap is 10 * 26.23 = 263. With a Draenei in your group, it drops to 237.
For PvPers: you only have a 4% chance to miss equal-level players. This means that all of your hit needs are covered by Balance of Power. Some races/classes/specs have talents to reduce the chance they'll be missed, which is usually compensated for by the Ashen Verdict ring.
Spellpower
Spellpower is the bread and butter of all DPS caster classes, and will always be better than your other stats (unless not hit capped). Moonkins scale well with spellpower - get lots of it.
Haste
Haste is great and not-so-great at the same time. We don't scale very well with haste, because at 585 haste, Wrath will have a 1.00s cast time with Nature's Grace.
Any amount of haste that brings down Wrath's cast time below 1.00s is wasted, because the global cooldown cannot go below 1 second.
I used to think the soft haste cap was 401, but I was mistaken. Only yesterday did I learn that this calculation includes the Wrath of Air Totem (+5%) haste. I do not like assuming buffs other than my own, and I don't believe anyone should. So the soft cap is, in fact, 585.
Crit
Crit rating is never bad, and has a high cap. Once you have reached the soft haste cap, crit will give you more DPS than haste, point-for-point. Your soft crit cap is based on Starfire's chance to crit during a Lunar Eclipse. To calculate your soft crit cap, first add all of your buffs/talents that increases Starfire's crit chance.
- Nature's Majesty: 4%
- Imp. Insect Swarm: 3%
- Imp. Faerie Fire: 3%
- Idol of Lunar Eclipse: 4.80%
- Lunar Eclipse: 40%
Once you are over the soft crit cap, critical strike rating and haste rating have nearly the same value, with crit being slightly ahead.
Spirit
Spirit is not a terrible stat, but the other stats already mentioned easily outshine it. Imp. Moonkin Form converts 30% of our spirit into spellpower - however, this does not mean you should gear for it.
Take this example: would you rather have 100 spirit, or 100 crit rating? You can safely ignore the regen from spirit. You should choose the crit rating, because 100 of it will give you more damage than 30 spellpower.
Intellect
Some players believe intellect is the supreme Moonkin stat, because it increases our mana pool, our regen (2% of total mana back from crits), our critical strike chance, our spellpower (12% of intel converted into spellpower), and scales with Furor (+10% intel).
However, point-for-point, intellect is very weak. It buffs our stats, but only very slightly. 1 point of intellect only increases your crit chance by 0.006%, for example.
TL;DR
Get 263 hit rating and 585 haste rating, then get crit rating. And of course, never neglect spellpower.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Casting mechanics & PvP itemization
Annnnd.. here comes another comparison post. Sorry. Can't help it. I'll be comparing some aspects of my Moonkin to my SPriest.
My Priest has been level 80 for a while now and I've been playing him as both Discipline and Shadow. As Shadow, there are some things that have come to my attention that I simply do not understand.
Casting mechanics
Any Moonkin knows that it's quasi-impossible to properly cast spells at a melee that is turning around you. Wrath, Starfire, and Moonfire cannot be cast at a target behind us. Insect Swarm, on the other hand, can. Heals can as well, whether cast or instant.
On the Priest, however, it's a different story. Vampiric Touch can still be cast at targets behind me despite having a cast time. Same goes with Imp. Devouring Plague, despite that it has exactly the same casting mechanic as Moonfire (instant damage + DoT damage). So let's see.. what can't I cast to a target behind me on a Priest? Mind Blast, and Mind Flay. That said, Mind Flay is channeled and will turn automatically with the target, so it isn't much of an issue.
As minor as these things may seem, they are actually quite important. Why are Moonkins getting penalized?
PvP itemization
Moonkin PvP itemization is pretty terrible:
Gear selection
On my Moonkin, I try to get as much haste as possible. Unfortunately, that doesn't add up to be a lot of haste, largely because there are no haste items to pick up. The entire set has crit, and all leather offset items make you choose between crit, spirit, and attack power. That means that the only haste items I can buy are the cloak and the necklace.
On the other hand, my Priest has plenty of haste items to pick up (and any other cloth-wearer). Though the set is still all crit, every single offset item gives you the choice between haste, crit, and spirit. That means I can pick up haste bracers, boots, and belt - something I cannot do on my Moonkin.
Again, why should Moonkins be so penalized? Does wearing leather mean we should have limited gearing options? All cloth-wearers are either healers or spell-damage dealers. All leather-wearers are either healers, spell-damage dealers, or melee-damage dealers. Shouldn't Blizzard be adding an itemization choice instead of replacing one?
Socket bonuses
Another thing I've noticed are the PvP socket bonuses. On my Druid, one is resilience, one is spellpower, and the others are spirit. Wait.. what? Spirit? Yep, spirit. Total, I receive +6 resilience, +7 spellpower, and +16 spirit.
On my Priest, however, the PvP bonuses look much better. One resilience, two spellpower, and two stamina, for a total of +8 resilience, +12 spellpower, +15 stamina.
Why are the bonuses even different? Why is my Moonkin getting spirit while my Priest is getting spellpower and stamina? Even when the bonuses give the same stat, the value of the stat is higher on the Priest. The Moonkin's chest piece is the one that gives resilience: +6. The Priest's helm is the one that gives it: +8. Why?
Set/glove bonuses
Finally, the set and glove bonuses are also poorly designed. The Moonkin bonus gives Wrath a chance to proc Wrath of Elune - which reduces your next Starfire's cast time by 1.5 seconds. Although this can be a very powerful proc, provided it can even be used, it makes Balance Druids the only spec in the game with a chance-based PvP set bonus. Combine this with the fact that we are also the only spec in the game without a silence or stun, and how our main damage buff (the one that puts our damage on par with the other players) is totally dependent on chance, there isn't much left to .. well .. I've talked enough about this stuff already.
Everyone else has a solid, secure bonus that isn't left up to chance - usually related to reducing the cooldown of an important ability or increasing the damage of another. Priests, for example, get -2s off of their Weakened Soul debuff, allowing the use of Power Word: Shield every 13s instead of 15s.
The Balance glove bonus is not too bad - it reduces the base cast time of Cyclone by 0.1s. Unfortunately, it does not reduce the cast time after haste but before it - slightly decreasing the benefit of haste for the spell (this means that depending on your haste, Cyclone true cast time will only be reduced by 0.08-0.09s). This bonus is situational, because 0.1s is a very short period of time. Furthermore, it affects a spell that has a cast time - one of Moonkin's many vulnerabilities. Whether Cyclone has a 1.5s or 1.4s base cast time does not truly matter, because I will be counterspelled at 0.5s anyways.
On the other hand, Priests get a much nicer bonus - Psychic Scream's cooldown is reduced by 3s. For Shadow Priests, this mean the cooldown is down from 30 seconds to 23, thanks to their Improved Psychic Scream talent.
All in all..
Is there any good reason to confine Moonkins to PvP crit gear and bad PvP bonuses - while on the other hand letting Priests suffer from neither of these things, and have overpowered casting mechanics?
Sometimes I want to join the Moonkin bandwagon and tell Blizzard that they are purposely keeping us underpowered - that they don't like Moonkins. Of course, that is a silly notion (I hope), but some of our issues are so obvious that it is hard to understand why they'd let us be so terrible for so long. And we're even worse in Cataclysm now (just go read around the Druid forums and you can see for yourself).
Sigh.
My Priest has been level 80 for a while now and I've been playing him as both Discipline and Shadow. As Shadow, there are some things that have come to my attention that I simply do not understand.
Casting mechanics
Any Moonkin knows that it's quasi-impossible to properly cast spells at a melee that is turning around you. Wrath, Starfire, and Moonfire cannot be cast at a target behind us. Insect Swarm, on the other hand, can. Heals can as well, whether cast or instant.
On the Priest, however, it's a different story. Vampiric Touch can still be cast at targets behind me despite having a cast time. Same goes with Imp. Devouring Plague, despite that it has exactly the same casting mechanic as Moonfire (instant damage + DoT damage). So let's see.. what can't I cast to a target behind me on a Priest? Mind Blast, and Mind Flay. That said, Mind Flay is channeled and will turn automatically with the target, so it isn't much of an issue.
As minor as these things may seem, they are actually quite important. Why are Moonkins getting penalized?
PvP itemization
Moonkin PvP itemization is pretty terrible:
Gear selection
On my Moonkin, I try to get as much haste as possible. Unfortunately, that doesn't add up to be a lot of haste, largely because there are no haste items to pick up. The entire set has crit, and all leather offset items make you choose between crit, spirit, and attack power. That means that the only haste items I can buy are the cloak and the necklace.
On the other hand, my Priest has plenty of haste items to pick up (and any other cloth-wearer). Though the set is still all crit, every single offset item gives you the choice between haste, crit, and spirit. That means I can pick up haste bracers, boots, and belt - something I cannot do on my Moonkin.
Again, why should Moonkins be so penalized? Does wearing leather mean we should have limited gearing options? All cloth-wearers are either healers or spell-damage dealers. All leather-wearers are either healers, spell-damage dealers, or melee-damage dealers. Shouldn't Blizzard be adding an itemization choice instead of replacing one?
Socket bonuses
Another thing I've noticed are the PvP socket bonuses. On my Druid, one is resilience, one is spellpower, and the others are spirit. Wait.. what? Spirit? Yep, spirit. Total, I receive +6 resilience, +7 spellpower, and +16 spirit.
On my Priest, however, the PvP bonuses look much better. One resilience, two spellpower, and two stamina, for a total of +8 resilience, +12 spellpower, +15 stamina.
Why are the bonuses even different? Why is my Moonkin getting spirit while my Priest is getting spellpower and stamina? Even when the bonuses give the same stat, the value of the stat is higher on the Priest. The Moonkin's chest piece is the one that gives resilience: +6. The Priest's helm is the one that gives it: +8. Why?
Set/glove bonuses
Finally, the set and glove bonuses are also poorly designed. The Moonkin bonus gives Wrath a chance to proc Wrath of Elune - which reduces your next Starfire's cast time by 1.5 seconds. Although this can be a very powerful proc, provided it can even be used, it makes Balance Druids the only spec in the game with a chance-based PvP set bonus. Combine this with the fact that we are also the only spec in the game without a silence or stun, and how our main damage buff (the one that puts our damage on par with the other players) is totally dependent on chance, there isn't much left to .. well .. I've talked enough about this stuff already.
Everyone else has a solid, secure bonus that isn't left up to chance - usually related to reducing the cooldown of an important ability or increasing the damage of another. Priests, for example, get -2s off of their Weakened Soul debuff, allowing the use of Power Word: Shield every 13s instead of 15s.
The Balance glove bonus is not too bad - it reduces the base cast time of Cyclone by 0.1s. Unfortunately, it does not reduce the cast time after haste but before it - slightly decreasing the benefit of haste for the spell (this means that depending on your haste, Cyclone true cast time will only be reduced by 0.08-0.09s). This bonus is situational, because 0.1s is a very short period of time. Furthermore, it affects a spell that has a cast time - one of Moonkin's many vulnerabilities. Whether Cyclone has a 1.5s or 1.4s base cast time does not truly matter, because I will be counterspelled at 0.5s anyways.
On the other hand, Priests get a much nicer bonus - Psychic Scream's cooldown is reduced by 3s. For Shadow Priests, this mean the cooldown is down from 30 seconds to 23, thanks to their Improved Psychic Scream talent.
All in all..
Is there any good reason to confine Moonkins to PvP crit gear and bad PvP bonuses - while on the other hand letting Priests suffer from neither of these things, and have overpowered casting mechanics?
Sometimes I want to join the Moonkin bandwagon and tell Blizzard that they are purposely keeping us underpowered - that they don't like Moonkins. Of course, that is a silly notion (I hope), but some of our issues are so obvious that it is hard to understand why they'd let us be so terrible for so long. And we're even worse in Cataclysm now (just go read around the Druid forums and you can see for yourself).
Sigh.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Moonkin / Mage / Priest
No, that isn't a 3v3 arena team. Though it could work decently, I guess. It'd be better if we got a Rogue or a Hunter to replace the.. um.. well, the Moonkin.
I've been working on leveling two of my least favorite classes to PvP against - a Frost Mage, and a Shadow Priest. So here are my current impressions:
Frost Mage
Frost Mages are gods of control. No one gets close to them, thanks to a permanent uptime of chills and the frequent freezes. What makes them quite overpowered, however, is not just the control - it's that controlling their target goes hand in hand with bursting them down, thanks to talents like Shatter and Fingers of Frost.
Survivability is also amazing. Blink, Ice Barrier, Ice Block, and Mana Shield guarantee that it will be a while before I die, so long as I have mana. My Mage is a Gnome, so I have extra mana, and a racial to make me even harder to catch.
Shadow Priest
Shadow Priests are a bit less about control, and more about melting faces. I kill mobs my level simply by applying DoTs and wanding, and there are still a few seconds to go on both SW:P and Devouring Plague when the mob dies. 1v1 PvP is ridiculously easy - keep PW:S up, apply DoTs, cast Psychic Scream, cast Mind Blast, spam Mind Flay. You dead yet? Yeah you are.
Mana was an issue at the lower levels - I'd have to drink every 1-2 pulls, despite Spirit Tap. Attacking two mobs at the same time meant almost certain OOM-induced death. Now, however, my mana is much better thanks to the Replenishment effect. Health is never an issue - Improved Vampiric Embrace is way overpowered.
Versus Moonkin
The gameplay is quite different, that's for sure. My Moonkin's PvE control is fine, mostly thanks to Typhoon and Entangling Roots. However, my PvP control with the Mage or Priest is much, much higher. It feels so good to Counterspell / Silence some poor fellow trying to heal.
That being said, it all does feel a bit awkward - mostly because I am so used to playing as a Moonkin. When my health is plummeting, my reflex is to shapeshift the hell out of there while spamming HoTs on myself. When I am getting close to dying on either of my alts, I feel a rising sense of panic - usually, I've no idea what the hell to do.
Not being able to heal on my Mage feels dangerous, as I haven't yet been accustomed to their way of surviving: controlling their opponent to death, mainly.
I can heal on the Priest, yet the style is different and also feels bizarre. If Psychic Scream and my bubble are gone and on cooldown, I feel at a loss. There is some strange force that makes me hate dropping out of Shadowform to Renew or Flash Heal - definitely not a problem I have on my Druid. But we will see how it turns out at end game, when I have more survivability talents and Dispersion.
All in all, I still stay true to what I've said before. Mages and Priests are overpowered. They might not be downright facerolling classes, but they are very, very complete classes. They have all of the tools they need to melt faces, and more.
I've been working on leveling two of my least favorite classes to PvP against - a Frost Mage, and a Shadow Priest. So here are my current impressions:
Frost Mage
Frost Mages are gods of control. No one gets close to them, thanks to a permanent uptime of chills and the frequent freezes. What makes them quite overpowered, however, is not just the control - it's that controlling their target goes hand in hand with bursting them down, thanks to talents like Shatter and Fingers of Frost.
Survivability is also amazing. Blink, Ice Barrier, Ice Block, and Mana Shield guarantee that it will be a while before I die, so long as I have mana. My Mage is a Gnome, so I have extra mana, and a racial to make me even harder to catch.
Shadow Priest
Shadow Priests are a bit less about control, and more about melting faces. I kill mobs my level simply by applying DoTs and wanding, and there are still a few seconds to go on both SW:P and Devouring Plague when the mob dies. 1v1 PvP is ridiculously easy - keep PW:S up, apply DoTs, cast Psychic Scream, cast Mind Blast, spam Mind Flay. You dead yet? Yeah you are.
Mana was an issue at the lower levels - I'd have to drink every 1-2 pulls, despite Spirit Tap. Attacking two mobs at the same time meant almost certain OOM-induced death. Now, however, my mana is much better thanks to the Replenishment effect. Health is never an issue - Improved Vampiric Embrace is way overpowered.
Versus Moonkin
The gameplay is quite different, that's for sure. My Moonkin's PvE control is fine, mostly thanks to Typhoon and Entangling Roots. However, my PvP control with the Mage or Priest is much, much higher. It feels so good to Counterspell / Silence some poor fellow trying to heal.
That being said, it all does feel a bit awkward - mostly because I am so used to playing as a Moonkin. When my health is plummeting, my reflex is to shapeshift the hell out of there while spamming HoTs on myself. When I am getting close to dying on either of my alts, I feel a rising sense of panic - usually, I've no idea what the hell to do.
Not being able to heal on my Mage feels dangerous, as I haven't yet been accustomed to their way of surviving: controlling their opponent to death, mainly.
I can heal on the Priest, yet the style is different and also feels bizarre. If Psychic Scream and my bubble are gone and on cooldown, I feel at a loss. There is some strange force that makes me hate dropping out of Shadowform to Renew or Flash Heal - definitely not a problem I have on my Druid. But we will see how it turns out at end game, when I have more survivability talents and Dispersion.
All in all, I still stay true to what I've said before. Mages and Priests are overpowered. They might not be downright facerolling classes, but they are very, very complete classes. They have all of the tools they need to melt faces, and more.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Alliance in battlegrounds, pt. 2
Part 1 is here.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the terrible state of Alliance PvP. I described it purely from the point of view of Random Battlegrounds - no premades included. The conclusion was that the Alliance performed dreadfully in RBGs. I explored some reasons as to why that might be, but arrived to no certain explanation.
But, as it turns out, there's a very simple reason.
Population outside the battleground
There are more Hordes on my server than Allies. In fact, it seems this may be true of most existing servers. This causes Hordes to have longer (sometimes much longer) queue times for RBGs. Getting into a battleground on the Alliance side is a matter of clicking the queue button - the invitation is almost always instant. My guildmate, on the other hand, tells me that he must sometimes wait 30 minutes to get into a battleground on his Horde alt.
This difference causes Hordes to perform better than Allies. If an Ally loses, he knows he can just re-queue and immediately try again. A Horde, on the other hand, has to make it count. They will try harder - simply because they don't get as many attempts. They've already waited 30 minutes to get into the damn battleground, so they're not about to let Allies win so easily.
Population inside the battleground
The population outside the battleground also affects the population inside it. More Hordes outside means more Hordes inside - there's always a full queue of Hordes ready to go, but not necessarily so for Allies. Furthermore, Allies are more prone to ignoring the battleground invite, seeing as they might have started something new and figure they'll just queue again in a few minutes. Hordes won't do this as much, because they are subject to the whims of the queue.
Population inside the battleground can mean different things, the first of which is total imbalance. Too bad I deleted my screenshot of an Alterac Valley with only 6 Alliance players versus 40 Hordes, because it would have been perfect here. Though that particular example might be a little extreme, other numbers such as 20 v. 40 are actually quite common on my realm. This sort of imbalance obviously impairs the Alliance side - by the time more players stream in, Hordes are already defending all our towers and camping us at our base.
On the other hand, this phenomenon only happens in high-population battlegrounds - namely, Alterac Valley. Although 10 v. 15 Arathi Basins or Eyes of the Storm might also occur from time to time, smaller battlegrounds are usually full, which puts Allies back on a more level ground.
Population inside the battleground implies something else, as well. This time, however, I am not talking about the total amount of players that happen to be in the group, but the maximum amount. More players mean that it is easy for the small amount of good players to get lost in the cacophony of the poorer players. In small BGs, however, it takes just 1 or 2 good players to turn the tide of the entire game. I consider myself a good player, and because lately I've taken the habit of queuing with a few other players (usually 1-3), we've ended up winning about 80% of every battleground that is not Alterac Valley.
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch
For three days, the Call to Arms battleground was WSG. During that period of time, I earned an insane amount of honor - everyone queued for WSG, including myself and friends, and we only lost maybe 1 match out of every 10 we played.
It didn't really matter whether the rest of our team was good - of course, it helped, but it wasn't as necessary as in bigger battlegrounds. I usually ran the flag - for all my talk about how Moonkin survivability is sh*t, I still like to carry the flag. I have 30.8k health unbuffed, 1300 resilience, and unless you put me against a Death Knight or a Frost Mage, I am very good at kiting/escaping (aren't all Druids?), so it works out alright - especially when I have a Disci Priest friend on my back and a MM Hunter keeping everyone off my back.
The only times we would lose was when a low-geared player would try to carry the Horde flag while the rest of our group would ignore our own flag being easily carried to the enemy base. (By the way, I have nothing against players with low-level gear, but if you're one of those players you should be playing support).
Conclusion
Anyways, all this to say that the main problem of Alliance battlegrounds is population. The players themselves aren't really that bad - not worse than Horde players, anyway. They just have the disadvantage of less people (or the advantage, whichever way you want to see it (faster queues)).
A few weeks ago I wrote about the terrible state of Alliance PvP. I described it purely from the point of view of Random Battlegrounds - no premades included. The conclusion was that the Alliance performed dreadfully in RBGs. I explored some reasons as to why that might be, but arrived to no certain explanation.
But, as it turns out, there's a very simple reason.
Population outside the battleground
There are more Hordes on my server than Allies. In fact, it seems this may be true of most existing servers. This causes Hordes to have longer (sometimes much longer) queue times for RBGs. Getting into a battleground on the Alliance side is a matter of clicking the queue button - the invitation is almost always instant. My guildmate, on the other hand, tells me that he must sometimes wait 30 minutes to get into a battleground on his Horde alt.
This difference causes Hordes to perform better than Allies. If an Ally loses, he knows he can just re-queue and immediately try again. A Horde, on the other hand, has to make it count. They will try harder - simply because they don't get as many attempts. They've already waited 30 minutes to get into the damn battleground, so they're not about to let Allies win so easily.
Population inside the battleground
The population outside the battleground also affects the population inside it. More Hordes outside means more Hordes inside - there's always a full queue of Hordes ready to go, but not necessarily so for Allies. Furthermore, Allies are more prone to ignoring the battleground invite, seeing as they might have started something new and figure they'll just queue again in a few minutes. Hordes won't do this as much, because they are subject to the whims of the queue.
Population inside the battleground can mean different things, the first of which is total imbalance. Too bad I deleted my screenshot of an Alterac Valley with only 6 Alliance players versus 40 Hordes, because it would have been perfect here. Though that particular example might be a little extreme, other numbers such as 20 v. 40 are actually quite common on my realm. This sort of imbalance obviously impairs the Alliance side - by the time more players stream in, Hordes are already defending all our towers and camping us at our base.
On the other hand, this phenomenon only happens in high-population battlegrounds - namely, Alterac Valley. Although 10 v. 15 Arathi Basins or Eyes of the Storm might also occur from time to time, smaller battlegrounds are usually full, which puts Allies back on a more level ground.
Population inside the battleground implies something else, as well. This time, however, I am not talking about the total amount of players that happen to be in the group, but the maximum amount. More players mean that it is easy for the small amount of good players to get lost in the cacophony of the poorer players. In small BGs, however, it takes just 1 or 2 good players to turn the tide of the entire game. I consider myself a good player, and because lately I've taken the habit of queuing with a few other players (usually 1-3), we've ended up winning about 80% of every battleground that is not Alterac Valley.
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch
For three days, the Call to Arms battleground was WSG. During that period of time, I earned an insane amount of honor - everyone queued for WSG, including myself and friends, and we only lost maybe 1 match out of every 10 we played.
It didn't really matter whether the rest of our team was good - of course, it helped, but it wasn't as necessary as in bigger battlegrounds. I usually ran the flag - for all my talk about how Moonkin survivability is sh*t, I still like to carry the flag. I have 30.8k health unbuffed, 1300 resilience, and unless you put me against a Death Knight or a Frost Mage, I am very good at kiting/escaping (aren't all Druids?), so it works out alright - especially when I have a Disci Priest friend on my back and a MM Hunter keeping everyone off my back.
The only times we would lose was when a low-geared player would try to carry the Horde flag while the rest of our group would ignore our own flag being easily carried to the enemy base. (By the way, I have nothing against players with low-level gear, but if you're one of those players you should be playing support).
Conclusion
Anyways, all this to say that the main problem of Alliance battlegrounds is population. The players themselves aren't really that bad - not worse than Horde players, anyway. They just have the disadvantage of less people (or the advantage, whichever way you want to see it (faster queues)).
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