Monday, November 09, 2009

New to 3.3: More Sensible Nerfs, Slightly Better Mechanics.

Updated 17.11.09:

MMO-Champ are reporting that Divine Intervention has changed in the latest build. It may have, but in a logical (non-nerf) manner:

Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion or Sated from a target if the recipient is out of combat when the effect ends. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

(Source: Official PTR Notes 17.11.09)


MMO-Champ datamines tooltips but has no way to extract spell functionality directly. The tooltip has probably just been cleaned up to reflect this tweaked version, which is understandable, when you think about it.

--

The official patch notes have just changed again to reflect a few additions to the patch including a new iteration of LoH+Forbearance. Here are the latest:

Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion and Sated from the target. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Lay on Hands: This ability will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others.

Retribution:

* Repentance: This crowd control effect will no longer break early from the damage done by Righteous Vengeance. (Source)


The LoH change is by far the most sensible iteration thus far, though Protection Paladins won't be able to use it as a tanking cooldown. It's a compromise, though whether it's 'fair' or not depends on which side of the class line you stand ;). This is probably as close as were going to get to a fair non-trivial BG-PvP nerf without redesigning the ability from the ground up, but it's a shame that PvE-ing Paladins are affected. For the record I still hate Forbearance, and if there was one thing I'd like to remove in Cataclysm this would be it.

As an aside, it would be interesting to see LoH and AW continue to be usable back-to-back rather than including the 30-sec lock-out currently in operation for all other Forbearance-causing abilities.

The change to Divine Intervention (the Paladin Wipe Recovery, a.k.a save me a repair bill, tool) is really a quality of life change. As noted by Morrigan in her latest post Divine Intervention not removing the Bloodlust/Sated debuff can cause issues for the attempt after which you have recovered. You almost wonder if someone at Blizzard was reading her blog. Good change, if a little long in coming, and still doesn't really address the underling weakness of the ability

Finally, we come to Repentance. The change was originally floated back in the great nerf of 3.0.3, though at that time the value of Righteous Vengeance was far lower than it currently is. The reason why this is important is that RV is a passive ability over which a Ret Paladin has very little control (excepting the obvious), and this can leave Repentance as slightly redundant in PvP. Again, it simply makes Ret PvP mechanics a little less silly, and I doubt that it'll have wide-ranging impications for the next Arena Season. However, don't quote me on that if Modders start writing macro's to 'count up' the remaining RV damage and then using Repentance, allowing RV to tick unto the opponents death.

So, we've finally got to a stage where the Patch as advertised isn't totally bonkers from this Paladin's perspective. Surely it's can't be long before it's deployed to the live servers, perhaps even before the end of November?

7 comments:

Morrighan 10/11/2009, 12:28  

This makes LoH a little less powerful in PvP without nerfing its use in PvE. If I need to LoH and bubble in PvE that quickly, I'm doing it wrong. DSac paladins will need to pay careful attention to their Forbearance, but it'll do for a last major patch fix.

Its kinda sad that DI is pretty much a tool to save your repair bills these days. Its been a long time since it was applicable in a raid (Leo lock tank debuff removal could be done with DI for example). I don't know whether to hope that this change is just a tidy up or hope that DI will have a purpose in Icecrown. It'd be fun to make it usable again, but then I remember that I'm a paladin now and I'd have to die!

Now we just need to hope that Cataclysm sees the end of Forbearance. Maybe we need a petition?

micah 10/11/2009, 14:27  

I recently farmed MC for the mats for the legendary mace and after a few afk death moments I remember the glory that is DI.

That run from Thorium point was brutal with 40 people all trying to get back...

That said, most raids these days have GYs much closer to the portal and teleporters inside. Wipe recovery has become trivial.

I think DI should be changed to a battle rez that can be used in combat. There are times when if a raid had the ability to have a specific player back from the dead it could mean the difference between loot and wipe.

My vision for the ability is something like:

Divine Intervention: The casting paladin enters a meditative state that cannot be disturbed for 6 seconds. (think the current DI bubble of the target but it can't be clicked off) During this time of meditation, the Paladin focuses all his energy to bring a fallen comrade back from the dead.

This doesn't have the high mana costs of druid battle rez but it takes the paladin out of the fight for a lot longer than the druid is casting.

Will Armstrong IV 10/11/2009, 18:38  

As a Tankadin, DI is usually a non-option; I'm the first one in and the last one out, and when it hits the fan, I'm the last person who should be utilizing this tool.

I'd much rather see DI transform into an automatic ability similar to Spirit of Redemption. When you're killed, you become a "Martyred Guardian", holding any aggro you had when you were killed for 6 seconds, during which you can use your taunts, Heals, and DI.

- Lets you keep an ally alive in PVP.

- Lets you recover from a wipe with DI.

- Allows your off-tank (and raid) a smoother transition.

Will Armstrong IV 18/11/2009, 01:10  

/sigh...

Patch 3.3 - PTR Build 10835

* Divine Intervention no longer clears the effect of Exhaustion and Sated on target.

... so much for common sense?

Suicidal Zebra 18/11/2009, 01:26  

Fear not. From the latest PTR notes, updated today:

Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion or Sated from a target if the recipient is out of combat when the effect ends. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

We should remember that MMO-Champ datamines the tooltips, which may differ slightly from spell functionality. The bit about Bloodlust/Sated has probably been removed from the tooltip to cut down on the clutter, but remains in play.

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