TLDR: There is a lot of defensive cd bloat in the game, primarily regarding DPS. Healers should remain powerful and feel powerful when healing but dps defensive cds need to be pruned in order for tuning to be better throughout the game. Its causing devs to constantly find ways to create threats in pve, and is a primary cause of the spiky damage taken profile we see throughout the game.
I know there are some dps players who probably won’t like this, but it really needs to happen. The amount of defensive bloat in the game now is insane, both for m+ and pvp. Dps are rotating through 3-4 cds on 1-2 minute cds (some are 3), on top of passives and everything the healer provides.
This is causing a couple major issues throughout the game imo:
-M+ dungeon tuning has been all over the place and participation has declined heavily. Blizzard tried to solve some of this with their changes to tanks in the last two weeks of TWW beta but all it did was cause an even worse tank shortage.
Having this much defensive bloat in the game is causing devs to have to increase damage by so much which is causing the massive spikiness we see in both m+ and pvp. Even more defensiveness got added to all classes in TWW, further extrapolating this issue. The more defensiveness we add, the less stable damage taken becomes because they have to invent new ways to create danger for players, ie the massive amount of interrupt mechanics+spiky damage.
-In pvp it causes a huge imbalance whenever healers are strong. Right now theres a few healers that are very powerful, and games can last up to 8+ minutes due to how strong they are combined with how strong dps defensives are. Leads to feeling like nothing can die. In order to not remove power from healers which would be unenjoyable for them, dps defensive CDs need to be looked at.
1 Like
I have like 2 CDs lol, what you talking about
7 Likes
Damage exists because that’s the gameplay. Defensives are a part of that. Choose the right time to slow your offense to bolster your defence. Because if you die your dps goes down significantly.
… since when are we powerful now?
No.
2 Likes
Where’s the myriad of defensive CDs for dps?
I like having more personal defensives, it allows me to strategically stand in the fire without putting too much strain on my healers.
1 Like
Tl;DR, I sell wheelchairs so we need to break some more knees.
Lets not cripple the majority of players just so you can feel better about yourself.
1 Like
What the people commenting are missing is that one of the biggest problems about having so many defensives is that not everyone has them lol. I know when I was playing mage last expansion, it was like playing piano blasting through a defensive rotation. It was nuts.
You would be hard pressed to find an above average player that does not see that defensives have become a problem. My concern is that the developers of this game simply cannot be trusted. They said they were going to make DMG profile less rippy, and they literally didn’t do anything, they just nerfed healing. If they prune defensives, they’ll do the same thing. They’ll say that’s why they’re doing it, but then never change incoming dmg
1 Like
I think I use like three as a pally tank. there’s a difference between using your cool downs for defensive and using every single cooldown.
healers are already powerful what are you talking about?
No there isn’t.
Have you thought about making better keybinds instead of complaining on the forums?
Yeah, DPS should do nothing other than DPS. And let’s ban DPS meters while we’re at it. No responsibilities! No accountability!
Well, they would have to change mechanics in PvE because I don’t think our healers could keep everyone up if there weren’t some defensives to pop. Sometimes you need to run across something on the floor or reduce the damage you take because the tank or someone else needs extra heals ATM because something else went OOPs . We have a hard enough time getting people to bring heals.
You’re never going to see this fixed. Blizzard has been obsessed with making arena into an e-sport since burning crusade. Almost every class/role design decision can be viewed through that lens for pretty solid explanation.
Low time to live pvp is anathema to that goal, which is why healing is also wildly overpowered in pvp as well. High throughput healing means the only deaths are from WhAt A pLaY coordinated combos that are bread and butter for the esports caster to highlight.
It would be pretty unpopular to remove defensive cool downs, but I do agree their proper and frequent use is a major differentiator between an easy smooth run and healing ping ponging health bars non-stop in mythic+.
Maybe that’s ok? I don’t know. But players not using them well (or not even knowing they aren’t using them well) is a larger factor in “spikey” damage.
i dont see the bloat. not that hard to run a dungeon once and figure out where the bursts are so you can rotate your 2-3 defensives in the fights where it matters.
what’s the issue?
I was about to say, I think my warrior has 2 and that’s including defensive stance which nerfs damage.
Having agency over my own ability to live mechanics is important for fun and skill expression.
It’s a gradual metamorphosis into homogenization where we will “discover,” which is happening now, we don’t necessarily need the “trinity” to do content, but the structure of it individually. Done fine with 4 and 5 man runs with no healer and no tank a few times. It’s in the early stages, but it seems to be happening, even if by ‘accident’