02/04/10 10:38:04 PM
Patch 3.3.2
Crygil |
We are making some adjustments to tank
survivability based on what we're seeing in Icecrown Citadel. We
feel this is particularly important in preparation for upcoming
Heroic attempts. This is tricky and occasionally subjective, so we
might very well make more adjustments as we get even more
data.
Paladin:
• Sacred Duty now provides 2 / 4% Stamina, down from 4 / 8%
Stamina. The cooldown advantages of the talent remain
unchanged.
Death Knight:
• Frost Presence now provides 8% Stamina, up from 6%
Stamina.
• Icebound Fortitude now provides 30% base damage reduction, up
from 20% damage reduction. For a geared tank with high defense,
this translates to 50% damage reduction, up from 40%.
It's important to note that we aren't trying to single out paladins
here. We like the tank balance of warriors and druids at the
moment, and we have a larger sample size of warrior tanks that we
can compare. Another solution would have been to buff warriors,
death knights and druids and then increase boss damage accordingly.
Obviously, that would have been a much larger change with greater
risks and a longer delay.
Though Ardent Defender is always a possible target for changes, we
like that this talent provides such a distinction between warriors
and paladins. Rather than have all the tanks have the same health,
armor, avoidance and cooldowns, we'd rather have four unique
tanking classes rather than just superficial or artistic
differences. Yes, that design is harder to balance, but we think
class distinction is ultimately more interesting, which is better
for the long term health of the game. The goal remains to have all
four tanks be viable for any encounter, assuming sufficient gear
and skill, and any differences in performance on individual
encounters to be minor. "Minor" is obviously a subjective
term.
Please note that the death knight change will result in a small
survivability increase in PvP, which we think is appropriate. We
chose it partially with that in mind.
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