Quote:I don't really think they are. Back when everyone was first screaming about how "weak" warlocks were, Blizzard was nerfing fear. I think it's that the population tends to the classes that are stronger and easier.
Warriors were only relatively popular because of their archetype and the fact that they're easy. They became incredibly popular once people realized just how powerful they were.
I'm not sure which nerf you're referring to. I seem to remember at one time they introduced diminishing returns which was quite a nerf. But it was a nerf because some little monster could Fear another player forever or at least until they powered their PC off or control F4ed
That's not a balance nerf, it's a fix to something which is working in a way they don't like
I think the developers attitude and the players attitude are wildly at variance because they look at different things. To the developers seeing Naxx raids load up on dps warriors and leave the hunters at home was clearly an issue. I think what they've striven for in TBC is to make as many classes and specs fully raid-viable and they're not particularly concerned with any transitional pains it may have on the servers' current populations (such as servers where 15% of the level 60s are dps warriors in a game where now more than one dps warrior in a 25 man raid is pushing it). In the past, seeing end-game guilds all insist on Warriors because they're 5% better than the next best tanking class was an issue because it meant that classes that had been designed to tank couldn't
To the players however the game is about change and fashion. Warriors have been adjusted from a position of being probably the best overall class to being a fairly average one. Other average classes are respected and popular (like Shaman) but the Warrior class is shunned because it used to be better
So how can we explain this dps adjustment to the Warlock?
1) my theory that they like to get numbers up
2) Warlocks needed some help in pvp (I think we can dismiss this one out of hand)
3) That someone rather clueless was told to "sort warlock pets out" and did this thinking it was what was wanted (unlikely but not impossible in the world of programming)
4) that Warlocks needed a viable alternative solo grinding spec to Affliction. There may be something in this, this is the first post I recall seeing since WoW started where someone states he has a spec that grinds as well as Affliction
5) that Warlocks needed a raid boost. Again this is possible, with guilds downsizing Warlocks are one of the more expendable dpsers especially if not only are you getting rid of 15 people but you're ditching a few extra dpsers to make room for hybrids in dps specs
Now reason 4) doesn't ring true to me since the issue is not that Warlocks can grind poorly compared to the other classes but that they have an imba grinding spec in Affliction that just got buffed through the roof. Giving them another imba grinding spec so they don't have to spec affliction to optimise levelling is hardly a logical fix
Reason 5) doesn't ring particularly true as I expect people will still look for 2 of each in a 25 man raid. Warlocks are decent dps, get buffed sensationally by the raid's shadow priest which is likely to be a level 70 raid given spot, and offer a lot of utility. I think the squeeze on raid dps slots will hit over-populated classes like Rogues more than underpopulated ones like Warlocks
So I'm left scratching my head to see why they would have done this if not for reason 1), that they simply want more people to play them
Quark, can you point me to any examples where a weak and underplayed class received something that is clearly a balance nerf rather than a game mechanic fix which is an incidental nerf?