Can we trade Temporal Shield for Alter Time?
I think an active ability adds much more depth than a “cast and forget” ability.
Temporal Shield also has the downside of allowing you to die even when it’s active. It encourages people to tunnel even harder when you use this defensive, rather than encouraging them to switch targets. Having a defensive that people can just power through is pretty lackluster.
Now I’m not saying Temporal Shield is weak, it’s good ability, but it has weaknesses that I feel other classes defensives do not have.
When you see a mage use temporal shield, the thought isn’t “Oh, he used a defensive, let’s swap.” The response is “Dps harder and kill him before his temp shield kicks in”
Alter Time was better because if the enemy decided to train you even harder, you could time jump early to keep yourself alive. There was thought and choice behind it. Advantages and drawbacks for activating it early.
There was also the option of using it offensively. Sure, you can use it to double you FoF procs in your burst window, but when that DK decides to train you, you’re going to die unless you block.
And let’s be honest, Arcane and Frost could use some help in PvP. Arcane has burst, but nothing else. Frost has control, and lul status burst. Fire I think would be too much with alter Time, but they could do something interesting like put it on a shared CD with cauterize.
All in all I feel Alter Time added depth and choice. It gave you an ability that could be used creatively to get the upper hand, or keep yourself alive.
TL;DR Alter Time was better than Temporal Shield, and it would be nice to have it back 