Just something I noticed while leveling up some alt casters (Mage, Lock, Priest) - but I never really realized how terrible mobs were for caster classes, especially in the ‘cata’ zones.
For example and clarity, my Mage is a Gnome and I decided to take him through Dun to Loch Modan and he’s now in the Wetlands.
In Loch Modan and going into the Wetlands, I counted roughly Nine individual mob types that either:
A - Canceled line of sight to interrupt your spells
B - Had a gap closing mechanic to come up on you for damage before you nuke them down
C - Had a pull-type mechanic that canceled your casts and pulled you into melee range.
So many so that even using the Frostbolt opener or the Blast-then-Slow (my Mage is Arcane) mechanic to slow their approach was basically null and void.
So, I was just curious has the game always been so brutal towards caster characters or is it just a flaw of the old world?? I haven’t noticed it nearly as much on my Priest (who is a Panda in Pandaland).
Most of that traces back to Cataclysm. There were a few mobs in WotLK/Northrend that did funky things like that but they far and few between, but Cataclysm really leaned into it and that expansion revamped EK and Kalimdor, and so it’s now all over those zones.
Original EK+Kalimdor had nothing like that, and neither did Outland. If you level through Outland on retail the experience is pretty smooth for casters because the mobs don’t do any funny stuff… the worst you’ll encounter are interrupts and the occasional worm that bores into the dirt. If you play through original EK+Kalimdor on Classic, mobs are even more simple and only have kicks.
Outdoor play has been getting progressively worse for casters over the years, between mobs doing more caster-unfriendly things and core caster mechanics having remained practically unchanged since 2004 (the biggest changes we’ve seen are less knockback from being hit and a couple of weak spells that can be cast while moving). Meanwhile, these “special” mobs don’t bother melee at all and melee mechanics have improved so dramatically that modern melee classes are barely recognizable next to their 2004 selves.
That’s a bit of a problem when your class is squishy, as most casters are. Casters were built around the expectation that they need to kite so they kind of break when they can’t kite.
How dare you suggest such a nightmarish torment. lmao XD
Did we really need the snobbish attitude? When it isn’t everywhere in the game, it’s just more noticeable that some content is ‘rougher’ on casters than others. Really isn’t a need to be snobby about it.
This - and it becomes a little more noticeable with the level scaling when mobs suddenly jump up 3-4 levels before quests have decided to give you a gear upgrade (if you’re someone that plays without heirlooms because you actually like changing your gear out as you level)
Is it just me or does it sound kinda nuts to make a class that pretty much HAS to stand still, then force them to have to keep jumping around to stay alive?
Haha, yeah I’ve seen that it’s pretty rough for melee classes in late-content. I guess it’s a balance out for early-game being rough for casters sometimes XD
Eh I find Outland zenlike. It’s just you, the world, and a big ol pile of quests to mow through. No talking heads or need to talk to questgivers every 0.005 seconds.
And melee has things to deal with taking hits, like armor and heightened regen. Casters have very little of that, they have to kite. Our toilet paper shields are only good for covering for a few seconds when we flub up kiting.
Exactly. For me, I’ve always thought Mage shields were too weak for the amount of damage they take (because they don’t reduce incoming damage to really be effective); and all of the slows being 50% could really be upped to about 70% for most situations.
My poor undergeared mage had a heck of a time in Bastion while leveling.
I completely feel your pain.
It’s frustrating when I’d specifically put slows on mobs (for kiting) and they’d just use a gap-closer on me anyway. Then they’d cake in his face and show him their lovin’.
I’ll give you - Outlands isn’t terrible. For me, the issue is Blizzard’s “NO WE WILL NOT EDIT THIS STUFF - IT MUST BE PRESERVED” stance they took with TBC and WOTLK to not modify or streamline any of its content (and then turn around and make Classic servers, which basically could be taken to change retail versions to be much better but I digress).
It’s annoying to be enjoying your questing… and then get to Shadowmoon with like 5 Group quests in an entire expac with maybe 3 people online at any given time… lmao
Prior to Cataclysm mages had a frost talent called Frostbite that was excellent for world content that gave a 15% chance to freeze chilled targets for 5 seconds. Paired with Blizzard and Cone of Cold, even entire packs of mobs practically never touched skilled mages.
It currently exists as a PvP talent with duration nerfed to 4 seconds but as far as I know frost isn’t meta in PvP currently so it doesn’t get used.
When casters are designed around keeping mobs away to function, yeah it’s a problem. If mobs can’t be reliably kept off caster design should be changed to compensate.
