03-01-2007, 10:59 PM
Quote:Sigh... I'm not getting back into this.
Ok, I lied.
Warriors offer NO other utility in a raid besides tanking. Druids and Pallies do. I think Druids and Pallies specced for tanking should be close, but not equal to, a Prot specced Warrior. Druids/Paladins should be fully able to tank raid bosses, just not as well as a Prot Warrior. Thus, Prot Warriors will be wanted but not required.
Warriors offer other utilities--commanding shout, demoralizing shout, battle shout, thunderclap, limitless DPS, execute and the ability to take a few hits are all things warriors can offer. Fights like Vael and Murmur are even designed with DPS warriors in mind--The boss' lower starting HP allows them to execute sooner.
However, it's difficult to quantify the comparative value of non-tanking abilities. For example--a warrior can still perform shouts and (soon) thunderclap while tanking but a Druid who is tanking will not be able to innervate anyone--does that mean thunderclap is worth more than innervate? There are clearly more variables involved.
Stepping back a bit, let's break down raid tanking. There are many components (magic or bleed immune bosses, fights against multiple targets, etc.), but let's use these three basic ones for discussion:
1. Active Mitigation
2. Passive Mitigation
3. Threat Per Time
Should a Protection Warrior be the best in each category? In my opinion it's reasonable and even important in Active Mitigation because that rewards the skill of the Warrior. But the maximum available Passive Mitigation and Threat Per Time with appropriate talents should be comparable across all tanking classes. That's important because Threat per Time more directly influences the success or failure of a fight (especially one with a time limit) than the other two--30% less threat lowers the DPS ceiling by 30% across the entire raid and discourages the use of the 'lesser' tanking class significantly.
I suspect that Blizzard's intended change was motivated by Arena PvP more than the PvE tanking ability of druids. Certainly Druids might have been shining in PvE, but given the proximity of the Arena season and the PoM nerf's seeming PvP motivation, I suspect they didn't like Dire Bears criting for large amounts in PvP. If the developers really feel strongly about these heavy nerfs to Bear DPS, they should make up for it by giving Mangle and other abilities a comparable boost to threat.
However, I still maintain that their "internal testing*" should never have let druids in the live environment get to this level of DPS if it was going to be a problem requiring such a harsh nerf. If players can write spreadsheets to calculate damage based on itemization, then Blizzard definitely can. Combined with the unbelievable PoM nerf ("Spamming it isn't what we intended when we gave it no cooldown,"), it sets my Monkey-sense tingling: Did Blizzard give these as temporary buffs to motivate disillusioned priests and druids into leveling their healers to 70 instead of their DPS class alts? Were they just waiting for a sufficient base population of level-70 healers?
*Or maybe "internal testing" is a code phrase for something else. Let's try some out:
1. "Our [Losing Arena Record] has shown that PoM needs a cooldown, Druids need a DPS nerf, and Warriors need a Rage Buff,"
2. "Our [Sadistic Need to Hear the Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth by Healers] has shown that PoM needs a cooldown, Druids need a DPS nerf, and Warriors need a Rage Buff,"
3. "Our [6-Beer Lunch] has shown that PoM needs a cooldown, Druids need a DPS nerf, Warriors need a Rage Buff, and Buffalo Wings are AWESOME...wait don't put that last part in the patch notes,"