RSS Class forum changes, Blue posts

Official Forum Changes You probably know that official forums <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=23956.0" target="_blank">are getting changed</a> this week. We've got a few more updates about that. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>First, it seems that old forums will stay along with the new role-based forums (see blue post below)</li><li>Also, the <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/" target="_blank">Blue Tracker</a> was updated and now tracks these new categories.</li></ul> I didn't have the time to add the categories to the page yet, but you can reach them through the following links : <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>Damage Dealing - <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/index.html" target="_blank">http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/index.html</a> (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/feed.rss" target="_blank">RSS</a>)</li><li>Healing - <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/27/index.html" target="_blank">http://blue.mmo-champion.com/27/index.html</a> (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/27/feed.rss" target="_blank">RSS</a>)</li><li>Tanking - <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/26/index.html" target="_blank">http://blue.mmo-champion.com/26/index.html</a> (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/26/feed.rss" target="_blank">RSS</a>)</li></ul> <div class="blizzquotewrap"><div class="blizzquoteinner"><div class="blizzquoteheader">Quote from Blizzard staff</div><div class="blizzquote">Class forums staying along with new forums We have decided that the class forums will stay along with the new role-based forums. To be clear, the primary purpose of the class forums will be for players to present information to other players. The developers will not have a large presence there except to moderate. If you want to discuss class balance, this is the place. If you want to discuss optimal dps rotations, try and decide on a talent spec, or ask someone what gear you should be using at level 70, class forums work great for that. If you start a long thread in the class forums about how your class is the weakest on in the game or how you can't beat mages in PvP, those threads will probably get locked or deleted. Those discussions belong here where you will have to contend with other players who just might disagree (as well as the blues). (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/12065200512-i-hate-this-new-forum-format.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) Reasons behind the changes to forums We're still evaluating what we like and don't like about the new structure. We did think it was time to change the forums though. It was becoming clear even players didn't hold the content on them in high regard. There is definitely a benefit in having players communicate with each other, particularly on broad topics and particularly on issues of class balance. We had way, way too many (even on the beta forums) threads that turned into pity parties about who was the worst class. I don't think uninformed players of other classes will need to chime in on topics of no interest or concern to them (such as how to maximize warlock dps) any more than they do now. On the other hand, players do stand to learn something about other classes. We don't think there was anything magical about the way the forums were structured before. There are dozens of other ways you could set them up. It's the quality of the individual threads that ultimately matters. WoW is several years old and just as with the game itself, we don't want the forums to stagnate. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/1/12065380032-gc-the-class-forum-change-was-your-idea.html" target="_blank">Source</a>)</div></div></div> Blue posts <div class="blizzquotewrap"><div class="blizzquoteinner"><div class="blizzquoteheader">Quote from Blizzard staff</div><div class="blizzquote">Healer Boredom One of the things we hear a lot from disaffected healers is they felt like they were playing the UI and not the game. Healers are notorious for standing in fires or whatever because they aren't even looking at the battlefield much of the time. Here are some random thoughts on the issue: If everyone threw larger heals more rarely (and damage input matched) you could look away from the UI more often. We can't just increase healing range without also increasing the range at which the boss can hit you. Nameplates (if refined) could have a lot of potential for combining UI with the game wold more effectively. Integrating things into the base WoW UI such as out-of-range indicators, better debuff indicators, or heals from other about to land on a target might make healers be less dependent on mobs. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/27/12065380712-healer-boredom-a-ui-issue.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) Tanking too easy in its current state I do agree that everything is easier right now at 70. But keep in mind these 3 things coming up at 80: -- Bosses have more armor. That is going to affect the threat generation, particularly of warriors and bears. -- A lot of groups are AE tanking and burning down groups. It's fun, but at higher levels the risk you're going to take is that those groups kill you. -- Threat is easy to manage now, and not too bad in Naxx. Naxx was designed to be more of an introduction to raiding. It won't stay that easy. I wouldn't expect a lot of Void Walker-style competitions to stay on top of threat meters compared to other tanks, but you might have to worry about the dps'rs catching up to you at some point. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/26/12197380125-i-kind-of-wish-tanking-wasnt-so-easy-now.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) DPS Balance in PvE Pure classes should be able to out dps hybrid classes by a small margin. However, hybrid classes should be able to be a lot closer than they were in BC, and depending on the skill, gear and encounter involved, will sometimes beat the pure dps classes. For purposes of this discussion, pure = mage, warlock, hunter, rogue. These are the classes that cannot spec into healing or tanking roles. I don't want to get too far down into what that margin should be, because then players return with a WWS parse saying "See, the mage beat me. You said we would be competitive." I'm not saying the difference is only 1%, but even if it was, just look at how many players get freaked out about something that could increase or decrease their sustained dps by 1%. If your group doesn't notice a difference when it runs with all hybrids, then chances are you have e.g. awesome shamans and really cruddy mages. That's cool. If you can still kill the boss, you're golden. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/12065190196-balancing-classes.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) Post expansion PvP balance I'm not going to promise that we will automatically buff any class that can't obtain X arena rating in the first season. That takes all of the onus off of the community and makes the assumption that strategies and tactics never evolve, which they do. But we will make balance changes for PvP purposes after LK ships. Absolutely. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/12065200734-will-future-pvp-balances-come-after-lk-ships.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) The logic behind the revamp of Hybrid classes Our logic worked out like this: 1) Buffs are breaking the game. There are many examples you could insert here, but here are a few: -- Ret paladins can't get into the melee group because of all the buffers in there. -- Stacking shamans for Bloodlust rotations. -- Stacking Shadow Priests so mana conservation would be irrelevant. -- Mages getting shut out of raids, in part because it was better to bring yet another lock to benefit from Curse of Shadows. 2) We decided to consolidate buffs such that similar ones would not stack, but we extended the effects to raid wide. 3) Thus, in a 25-player raid, you need far fewer than 25 players to get the buffs you need, allowing you to fill those remaining slots with who you want. 4) Without the benefits of those buffs, those remaining slots would most likely just go to pure dps classes. Shamans, for example, might go from 5 per raid to 1 (or 1 death knight instead). 5) So we buffed hybrid dps a lot. 6) But we knew at the other extreme that pure dps classes risked getting shut out of raids if hybrids could do their damage. 7) So we made sure the pure classes could still do superior dps given similar skill and gear. We wanted you to risk having lower dps if you brought all hybrids. We don't go into a lot of detail about how much higher or lower certain classes should be, because we noticed that players respond to this by posting WWS parses that shows their class in the #10 spot and get all bent out of shape about it (and totally ignoring the bit about equal gear or skill). The net result is that hybrid dps is much higher, but not as high as pure classes. If you are an awesome hybrid player, then you will sometimes top the damage meters depending on your gear, skill and the specific encounter. But you probably won't do it as much as a rogue, mage, warlock or hunter (again depending on their skill). I know the edge here sometimes seems fuzzy. It is. WoW's combat system is pretty complicated and hard and fast rules can only get you so far. But that is the basic model in very simple terms. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/12065200684-gc--why-hybrid--pure.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) Armory Maintenance We are currently performing a maintenance on the Armory and due to this the detailed character profiles will be unavailable for the next 2 days. Thank you for your patience as we continue to make the Armory a great feature for all of our players to use. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/1/12065200369-armory-maintenance.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) <img src="http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/icons/24x24/druid.jpg" alt="" border="0" /> Druid (<a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=700" target="_blank">Skills List</a> / <a href="http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?druid" target="_blank">T...</a></div></div></div>

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