1.6 Leaked Patch Notes

[lemekim]

Gargoyles in Stratholme, raid group.  Would take 5 minutes to buff everyone with Fear Ward.  Say 2 minutes for the people that should actually be close to the gargoyle.  In one fell stroke, the gargoyle removes all those Fear Wards.  Oh goody, more wait time!

Well, okay, practically you see most groups just skim over the Fear Wards, minus the MT, to save time.  Then someone gets feared into adds.

Fear Ward is a great skill, but don't underestimate it's one-time use only and 30 second cooldown parts.
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5 minutes? Can be done while approaching the Gargoyles. As you said, you only need to buff the melee anyway really for that part. That's what? 5 people? So one fear wiped your Fear Ward, but none of you even moved. Next pull, a minute later, a gargoyle fears again. By this time you probably got the fear ward back on tank and another person, but the rest of the melee will get feared and will need a dispel, but at least you will need to dispel only 3 people.

Now a Horde raid. Lets be generous and assume 5 people will have WotF (contrary to popular belief, only about 1/3 horde are undead). So when the fear hits, some of the (usually melee) will get feared anyway and have a chance to bring some friends. Lets be even more generous and assume that all those within range of fear are undead. When the fear hits, they will get feared, but probably will use WotF before they get too far and not draw any aggro. They go back to mob. A new pull a minute later, a gargoyle fears again. WotF is down, all 5 people run around scattered, and a priest has to dispel all of them.

I suppose the real difference is preparation and laziness. WotF is always available, while one must actually spend time to keep Fear Ward on.