06-16-2004, 02:08 AM
I believe the reason they took the options away for the skills is because they want players to focus on talents as the "customizable" system for characters. They also didn't want players to be put into a position where they're forced to choose between buffing up their characters' stats vs. studying new tradeskills, especially early on when you have so few skill points at all.
Not that I'm defending the position; just saying I think that's what's going through their heads.
The item and currency wipe didn't surprise me; it was a subtle reminder to players that doing the Scarlet Monastery 100 times is *not* beta testing. Of course, it punishes everyone else, too. I had planned on starting over for this push anyway, but if you're the type of player who doesn't have the time to build up their chars, that has to be very frustrating, and I feel sorry for them - especially warrior players.
In the patch notes it reads "Channeled spells can now be interrupted." Not sure what that means, exactly - they always *could* be interrupted before by a monster attack that interrupts (stuns, silences, whatever). If this means that channeled spells can be interrupted simply by being hit, the Mage just got whomped with a gigantic nerf stick. Channeling spells' uninterruptibility is what made Arcane Missiles the Mage's saving grace when all else failed, so now the Mage has nothing to fall back on when fights get up close and personal. However, we'll (okay, I'll) have to see how that plays out.
Finally, I think that with the PvP server in, we'll start to see more wacky changes to the classes in general for the next few patches as Blizzard tries to figure out how to balance PvP alongside PvM. Chances are, things will get really unbalanced back and forth until they settle on something...
-Bolty
Not that I'm defending the position; just saying I think that's what's going through their heads.
The item and currency wipe didn't surprise me; it was a subtle reminder to players that doing the Scarlet Monastery 100 times is *not* beta testing. Of course, it punishes everyone else, too. I had planned on starting over for this push anyway, but if you're the type of player who doesn't have the time to build up their chars, that has to be very frustrating, and I feel sorry for them - especially warrior players.
In the patch notes it reads "Channeled spells can now be interrupted." Not sure what that means, exactly - they always *could* be interrupted before by a monster attack that interrupts (stuns, silences, whatever). If this means that channeled spells can be interrupted simply by being hit, the Mage just got whomped with a gigantic nerf stick. Channeling spells' uninterruptibility is what made Arcane Missiles the Mage's saving grace when all else failed, so now the Mage has nothing to fall back on when fights get up close and personal. However, we'll (okay, I'll) have to see how that plays out.
Finally, I think that with the PvP server in, we'll start to see more wacky changes to the classes in general for the next few patches as Blizzard tries to figure out how to balance PvP alongside PvM. Chances are, things will get really unbalanced back and forth until they settle on something...
-Bolty
Quote:Considering the mods here are generally liberals who seem to have a soft spot for fascism and white supremacy (despite them saying otherwise), me being perma-banned at some point is probably not out of the question.