The Heroic Class dilemma, Part II

In my previous post, I discussed what I believe WoW's heroic classes should be, and how the Death Knight measured up. Today, I'd like to share my ideas about how the classes can be designed to meet these criteria, and changes to the DK that can bring the class into line with what it should be.

Lore and Play mechanics

The first two points are not difficult to succeed, and the second point has little effect on game play. Blizzard has done an excellent job introducing new mechanics to the game and revamping old ones to keep the game fresh and interesting to play, and the DK's runic power and runes were no different. However, the sheer number of cooldowns the DK can spam in a few seconds, especially with the help of a macro may be a bit OP. In addition, Blizzard has an EXCELLENT creative/lore team, and their games have always FELT as if lore is their primary focus. The back stories are deep and rich, their characters are well developed and typically act as would be expected.

You gotta "pay" to play

There needs to be an in game cost to play a Death Knight or other heroic class. I'm sorry, but there REALLY needs to be a better way to gate the number of hero classes being played. Blizzard needs to reverse their policy of being granted a heroic class of equivalent level as the level required to unlock the class. This means you would have to be some level greater than 55 to get a level 55 DK. Personally, i believe it should be AT LEAST a 10-15 level cost, e.g. you are required to have a level 65-70 to earn a level 55 (really 58) DK. Under this system, the the number of heroic classes per account across all servers should be limited by the number of characters that have reached or surpassed the "unlock" level. The purpose of these gates are obvious: If there is no cost to play the classes, everyone will create them, flooding the realms with heroic toons, and defeating the purpose of the heroic toons

Power Balance

A heroic class' power, while solo (this is important as you'll see below) should be balanced to be equivalent to a vanilla class of equivalent level, or equivalent level + 1. If the equivalent level +1 is used, it should only persist until max level, at which point the class should be as powerful as a max level vanilla class, e.g. If a level 75 DK is as be balanced to equivalent level of a 76 vanilla class (e.g. warlock), then at max level a DK should have equivalent an equivalent power level to a max level warlock, or hunter, whatever.

If instituted, this would mean an overall nerf to the DK class since they currently out power other classes (except, potentially, the Paladin) of equivalent level by a level or two. They will, however, recieve a different kind of buff, discussed below.

Powering up as part of a group

Leadership bonuses are my idea for a new mechanic for making a heroic class feel heroic, and feel like leaders again, instead of just OP Mary-sue solo classes.

Heroic classes will have the ability to gain bonuses when they are the leader of a group, and grant bonuses to the other group members. This system goes directly back to how the hero units in WCIII worked: they were leaders that led groups of regular units. Here, the hero classes will lead groups of play controlled units. They will finally feel like leaders.

There are a variety of ways to implement this plan: There could just be a toggle (DK's a group leader, so they get a static bonus to some attribute), or the bonus could scale with party size (the DK group leader gets a 1% bonus in a group of 2, 2% bonus in a group of 3, etc). The hero class bonus could be different based on the characters build (Blood DK's get a regen, Frost DK's get an armor bonus, unholy DK's get a damage bonus). Not only would the hero class gain bonuses from being in a group, the group would also gain a small static bonus for having the hero class as a group leader (e.g. a small increase in dodge, damage, armor, threat reduction, etc). ALL classes should derive some benefit from these bonuses, e.g. a bonus to block would be a poor choice since the bonus would be useless to any non-shield using classes.

NOW look at how you feel about that guy playing hero class. When you get him or her in your party, hey, we get a boon. We WANT you in our party, and we WANT the hero class to be the leader, cause EVERYONE gets something. If the frost DK is the party leader, and the tank, the bonuses to the DK should help him tank better. Forcing the DK to group to get his hero bonuses would hopefully help encourage more responsible game play by the hero classes, because if they act like asshats in a group, the other party members will not want to group with the DK/other hero class anymore, and if they don't get to group, they don't get the bonuses, and then you're just another class.

However, this system should NOT be taken to an extreme. It should of minor benefit to the group and more pronounced benefit to the Hero class; Something that's nice to have, but not necessary. A situation should not develop in which a raid boss can't be beaten w/o a certain hero-class at the helm.

Blizzard is making a lot of changes to the system, including giving rewards to group leaders. Granting bonuses to group based on who your leader is shouldn't be much of a jump and I think will help (and I have more ideas on expanding this system to other classes, and RACES, and will blog more on that in the future). This system would solve the issue of hero classes being woefully unbalanced in solo play, but still let them stand out in the leader role that we would expect them to play. Adding the cost to their play (requiring the repeat of several levels) will hopefully discourage power-gamers from taking these classes and encourage REAL leaders to take the classes and bring the benefit to everyone else.

The Heroic Class dilemma, Part I

So when I said the announcement of a hero class was omitted in one of my previous posts, it got me thinking about what I expect from a hero class. The concept of the hero class in WoW comes directly from the hero units in WCIII, e.g. Human Paladin, Night Elf Priestess of the Moon, and the Undead Lich. Hero classes were very powerful units which were limited in quantity, expensive, leveled up with experience and "led" other groups of less powerful/valuable units into combat. The heroes also often granted bonuses to the units under their command. Since the first announcements about WoW (this is hear-say now, i wasn't interested in WoW at this point), the concept of the hero class was planned for the game, but wasn't included in launch. The concept of what they would be remained nebulous until the second expansion.

One of the most anticipated features of the Wrath expansion was addition of the WoW's first hero class, the Death Knight (DK). In my mind, there have been several versions of Death Knights in lore, but our PC class DK is based on the most recent version: the corrupted hero. Our prototypical hero here is Arthas, after his fall from the light in Northrend (If you're curious, the other prototype would be Teron Gorefiend, the soul of a shadow council orc warlock in a decaying human knight's body). A whole spectrum of feelings about DK's as a class exist, so saying "Everyone either loves them or hates them" is an oversimplification. But despite my feelings on them, I feel that Blizzard straight up FAILED when they released these DK's as a hero class.

Oh, if anyone was wondering what MY feelings on the DK are, then I'll state this for transparency: I hate them. I. Fucking. Hate. Death. Knights. But that's not to say I don't think that the class can't be salvaged and that's not what this post is about.

After some thought about what I would expect a hero class to be in WoW, I came up with the following list:

1. Most importantly, their play style and abilities should be unique and they should bring new mechanics to the game.
2. They should be appealing to the players and add new chapters and concepts to lore and improve game immersion.
3. They should be powerful, however the power differential should NOT unbalance the game play for OTHER players who choose not to play hero classes.
4. As with all power, there should be a COST to playing a heroic class. In WCIII, the units were expensive, but you got your first one free.
5. Hero classes should feel like group leaders, or bring buffs and/or abilities to their group, much in the same way the WCIII hero classes did, and THIS should be primary reason they are sought after in a group, instead of raw power.

Meeting all these criteria is a difficult chore. Points 1 and 2 aren't that difficult to accomplish, and not surprising, a good job was done here for the DKs. The rune/runic power system was brand new to the game, and the story line concerning the Ebon Hold is fairly well done (I don't think its Blizz's best story line, but it seems to be popular in the community as a whole).

However, the OTHER 3 points are where Blizzard failed the DK.

Addressing point #3: This is possibly the most difficult point to balance. The WCIII Heroic Units were MUCH more powerful than the non-heroic counterparts they led. This system works very well in an RTS, when one player controls all of these minions, but becomes VERY problematic in an MMO, when every unit is controlled by a player. In WoW, and EVERY MMO for that matter, everyone is playing to feel heroic. Should the original 9 classes now feel NON-heroic, because they're not playing DK's? No, of course not. But I feel this is exactly what happened with the DK: they're so powerful, the question becomes not "Do I want to play this?" but "Why would I want to play anything else?". However, a heroic class SHOULD feel more potent than a base class, because players need to feel that the cost they pay (see addressing point 4 Below) should be worth it. I believe that the solution to this shortcoming is found it point #5.

Addressing point #4: There is virtually no cost or sacrifice required to play a DK, or other heroic class. Currently You must have a toon of one of the base classes to level 55 to unlock the DK, at which point you can create as many DK's as you like on other servers, with a limit of 1 DK per server. This was changed from launch when you could only have a DK on THE SAME SERVER as your 55+ toon. In addition to having as many DK's as you like amongst the servers, you start the DK at level 55, and then are almost GRANTED the next 3 levels to get to Outland, where you level VERY quickly.

Addressing point #5: I think this is where Blizzard really dropped the ball. Based on the hero unit paradigm, the hero classes should be leaders. They should be strong buffing classes and even derive bonuses from being a member of a group or leading a group. Currently, the DK doesn't feel like a leader in the group, nor does it feel like the DK brings substantial buffs to the group (Horn of the North is too short lived, and Path of Frost is a gimmick). Instead, the DK just feels like an overpowered melee Tank/DPS class with a bunch of other tools that it doesn't need.

In my next post, I'll discuss some ideas I have for fixing the DK to make it a truly heroic class, and maybe pave the way for future heroic classes.

Dealing with the Plate-wearing Elephants in the room

For starters, I'm NOT talking about you warriors out there. You guys are fine the way you are.

And EVERYONE who's played WoW, especially players on the PvP servers, should know what I'm talking about.

Since the release of the 3.0.2, 2 classes have ABSOLUTELY DOMINATED the servers: DK's and Ret Pallys. Look at the server censes (Censuses? Censii?) and you should see an OBVIOUS trend, ~30-40% of players are DK's or Paladins (Numbers supported by various census sites). Anecdotally, I don't think i've been in a 5-man dungeon that hasn't had at least one paladin and one DK in it. I even ran ramparts once with my mage, a priest and 3 DK's. The VAST majority of these Paladins are Retribution build. I think its also the reason we see so very very many Horde players popping out BE's these days. I haven't started a Horde toon in over a year, but I'm betting a stroll around Org would show a LOT of BE's. On the plus side, the players who are sitting behind the screens on these toons are good role-players: The BE's in lore have a strong proclivity for douche-baggery, and these players are no different.

The Paladin problem showed up when they "Fixed" the retribution tree in 3.0.2. I don't know why they did this, I've never played a Paladin past level 15, so I have no idea what the talents there were like. I suppose they wanted to make a leveling build, maybe? Whatever the reason for the "Fix", this is half the reason that the PvP AND PvE environment has been such a pain in the ass. Ret Pallies are so powerful, no one wants to play anything else.

The Death Knight problem I think is a little more complex. Again, my experience PLAYING the class is very limited: I have one DK, she's level 58, and barely leaves SW and IF. To me, shes a mule and a blacksmith. That's it, and I'm okay with it. I personally HATE The way the class plays, but lots of people love it. The way the class plays is not what this post is about, the sheer NUMBER of DK's is.

The DK is a hero class. My next post has a set of guidelines about what that should mean. I won't enumerate them here, but The DK succeeds on counts 1, 2, and the first half of three, and fails on the later points. See more about my ideas for the heroic classes in the next post.

Like I'll mention, I think its okay for these characters to be marginally more powerful at levels except level 80. I can understand that, it makes the Hero class FEEL heroic at those levels. Also, I can even understand making them MUCH more powerful for a set time (e.g. a few weeks or months), at ALL levels, THEN giving them a planned nerf. This would get players to roll DK's initially, then rope things in later and let the classes normalize themselves again. If this was the plan, it hasn't happened. They remain OP'd almost 9 months following the release of the patch.

The problems DK's and Ret Pallys cause is that it has become very difficult to put a group together. DK's can tank, and Pally's can tank and heal. There are HORRID shortages of players playing these roles. If these DPS build weren't so popular due to being so damned OP, some of these players may play tanking builds, or maybe even healing builds. Hey, i know its a longshot, but every little bit helps. The players behind these screens may not give a shit about healing well, but they may make at least passable meat-shields to park in front of my DPS.

Essentially, this post is doing what the community of Non-plate wearers has been clamoring for months: NERF RET PALLYS. DO IT NOW! They're the single biggest problem here. I don't care how, just fucking DO IT.

As for DK's, I have a set of possible solutions, but they should be balanced to the rest of the classes, maybe a level above, but thats ALL!!

The developers know about these problems, the developers joked about these problems at Blizzcon. I just pray they get to it soon.

More to come soon.

-FrozenVoodoo

What's Missing from the cataclysm announcement

So with all the announcements at BlizzCon and the great questions asked by the participants, I find that there were a small omissions, but one that was FREAKING HUGE:

Where's the Hero class?

Uh, did you just forget to add one? Are you holding back on the announcement? Is it yet to be decided? Or did Blizzard FINALLY realize (and oh god I hope so*) that DK's were such a disaster that we're DONE with hero classes?

I'm actually more shocked that none of the Blizzcon attendees asked this question. Maybe it wasn't in the streamed video, but I haven't seen any discussion about a heroic class. I haven't even seen any discussion about the omission of a heroic class.

Other interesting omissions:

The Emerald Dream: I was hoping to see the Emerald Dream/Nightmare in the new expansion. The entire male half of the night elf race spent around 10,000 years here, and now Malfurion's back... but where the hell has he been.

PS WHere the hell has Malfurion's BODY been for the past few years?

Alas, the other omissions have currently fallen out of my head. I'll edit or post more later, but these are the ones that have been on my mind. Stay tuned for more thoughts on my thoughts on Azeroth, I've got some stuff simmering.

-Tris

*PS I'm not really opposed to the concept of hero classes. Just what they've DONE with this one hero class has seriously wrecked the play environment IMO. More to come on this soon.

Where we are and where we're going

So Blizzcon has come and gone, and we've got a lot to look forward to in the coming few months/years. And I for one am looking forward to it. As a preview:

After a long war in Northrend, we're coming home, and the world isn't the same as it was when we left. As the producers put it "maybe we left a little bit of ourselves up there in Northrend". After all the war, we're heading back to Azeroth, the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. The cataclysm will occur when we get back, and Deathwing has returned, sundering parts of world in his wake. Even though the world has changed, I am glad we're coming home, and it sounds like that's the way it going to feel.

And we FINALLY get to visit Kezan, Gilneas, and Hyjal.

Other new bits we can expect:

First, Goblins and Worgen:

Not sure where to begin here, so I'll start with the admission, I was wrong.

I CERTAINLY did not beleive that these would be the new playable races. And certainly wasn't willing to base the prediction on the inclusion of the masks included for the Halloween holiday.

A horde goblin faction is an obvious choice. They were Horde allies in WCII, and still operate their zepplins. They're nice little green guys that will fit the Horde lineup well. The rocket belt set of abilities seem a little forced, but other than that, they're right on target.

My feelings on Worgen are mixed. I'm not sure what other race would have worked, and they've cleanly worked it into the lore it sounds like. Their abilities sounds pretty cool and the styling of Gilneas with its gothic style should be spot on.

More tomorrow about things that I found suspiciously UNmentioned.

-Frozen Voodoo

Sunken Temple, BlizzCon and Grunty

So this is one of those times I realize that I'm not nearly as young as I used to be. I was up late running Sunken Temple, and damn, now I'm feeing it.  I've become such a freaking sucker for healing instances, its just so EASY to get into a group. Not only that, my regular guildies and PUG members seem to think I'm getting pretty good at it. So After running Uldaman and Zul'Farak with my other two primary guildies and a couple DPS pick-ups, I was ready to log. The ZF group was by far the best run I've had in a very long time, the group knew all the fights, except for our newbie, and he caught on really fast. I'm very proud of him. When i was just getting ready to log, I got an invite to Sunken Temple. Now, I love Sunken Temple, I think it was a great example of vanilla instancing with a lot of flavor. I had just run a friend through on my 80 Hunter a few days ago, and had a refresher on all the fights, but I hadn't run Sunken on a level appropriate toon in about 8 months. At first I said no, but then we were able to get our Pally tank in and my resto druid. And down we went into temple...

The roster:
48 Resto Druid (me)
48 Prot Pally (Guildie)
46 Prot Pally (original tank, but went DPS)
47 Mage, I think fire
55 Elemental Shaman

Then I found out I was the only one with any experience in ST

"Crap", was first thought.

Luckily, my second was "Well, lets suck it up and see how it goes..." Thank god I rethought it, beacause it went really well. We had great DPS from the Shaman, which made life vastly easier with her chain lightning and the mage's blizzard. After a few little tweaks to playing style, we were golden. Basement was cake, and then the upstairs was smooth, just one wipe when we pulled way more aggro than we could handle with the mobs in the Prophet's chambers. It was fun getting to say "Okay, now it gets hard" when we got to the top floor when the shield was down. It was a great run, and I feel like I was able to educate some good players how to to get through it. Its a massive headache if you don't know what order to do things in. I got some nice Feral gear, and everyone came out ahead in gear, which is the best kind of run.

So I'm finding that I really like healing, and its a good place I think to lead a group from, because I HAVE to watch everyone. I look forward to more runs.


In other news, I'm looking foward to Blizzcon launching.  Even though I won't be in attendance, I will be streaming it online and I'll still consider it to be my first BlizzCon.  It will be nice to get the story about whats gonna happen in the coming months to years and see the progress that Blizz has made on their other projects (StarCraft, Diablo, Unannounced future MMO).


I admit, the Murloc pet will be cool too...

-FV

Date My Avatar

Holy BALLS!!! If you haven't seen this, check it out. The song is great and peformed by the cast of The Guild, which is writen by talented and beautiful Felicia Day. Its a great little tune, and get the video if you can (just couldn't find the link for the video).

Welcome to the Jungle... again!

Hey readers,
This will be my World of Warcraft Blog. As a history, I've been playing Blizzard games since WC, and i've beaten the crap out of WCII, Beyond the Dark Portal, WCIII, Diablo, Diablo II and StarCraft. I love Blizzards games, and I am currently up to my eyeballs in WoW. I think its amazing being able to get immersed in this amazing world.

Anyway, Intro's done, expect more soon.

-FrozenVoodoo