Priest and Shaman Bugs in 1.6

[MongoJerry]

Fear Ward apparently does not get removed once the person is feared. So, it's a full 10 minute immunity to fear. Basically, it's GG for horde priests or warlocks if you're playing any kind of organized alliance CTF group that exploits this.

Shaman grounding totems similarly don't get destroyed by any non-damage spell. However, as they are clunkier to use and anyway do get destroyed when they absorb a damage spell, it's not as big of a deal. (Although it should be fixed, of course).

[lfd]

Did you always used to lose holy buffs when you shifted into Shadowform?

I am pretty sure that in the past I've cast renew on myself and shifted into shadowform before engaging enemies, but as of 1.6 the renew is instantly cancelled when I turn SF on.

Edit: a trawl of the official forums (urgh) reveals that It Isn't Just Me:

http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.asp...mp=1#post391650

Of potential concern is that fear ward counts as a holy spell, so a priest going into shadowform currently loses any fear ward on him/herself. Stealth nerf, I suspect, or maybe just rushed carelessness.

[Treesh]

Fear Ward apparently does not get removed once the person is feared.  So, it's a full 10 minute immunity to fear.  Basically, it's GG for horde priests or warlocks if you're playing any kind of organized alliance CTF group that exploits this.
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Yep. It doesn't. It was still on the tanks last night after the Beast feared people. I didn't think people had the right to call fear ward overpowered before, but with this bug, you bet it is. Poor horde. :(

[Elegantly]

Yep.  It doesn't.  It was still on the tanks last night after the Beast feared people.  I didn't think people had the right to call fear ward overpowered before, but with this bug, you bet it is.  Poor horde.  :(
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The funny thing is that the same patch nerfed WotF's anti-fear effectiveness.

[oldmandennis]

The shaman thing is WAI, and has been for some time. The fear ward thing just sucks. Man, how easy is Onyxia now for alliance?

[KiloVictor]

The shaman thing is WAI, and has been for some time.  The fear ward thing just sucks.  Man, how easy is Onyxia now for alliance?
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Hmmm, I guess it might be easier, but I don't know that fear ward is that much of an advantage. Might even be a disadvantage in some cases.

I just participated in my first successful Ony kill on the weekend. One of the things that surprised me was the briefing before the raid: max out your fire resist, minimize your shadow resist, and don't wear the Mark of Resolution that you've been wearing up 'til now. You don't want to resist the fear in phase 3, you just want to resist the fire damage from the lava.

The logic for this is that it makes tanking her easier (possible?) in the third phase. Because the fear causes an aggro wipe for any feared player, the raid strategy was to let everybody but the MT get feared. I've seen it in previous runs on Ony where a resist of the fear usually meant that she'd turn and blast fire in my direction, but hadn't really figured it out. Slow learner I guess. :)

Anyhow, it worked just fine. She went after our tank like a starving Rottweiler on a bone, and died as per plan. :D

But if you're playing on the alliance side, and you have players carrying Fear Ward that don't get feared in phase 3, they're missing out on a "free" aggro wipe. It could conceivably make it harder for them to avoid pulling aggro off the MT, so the fear ward for the majority of the raid may not be that much of a help. No doubt it's a benefit to the MT, but tanks have other fear immunities anyhow.

Just a thought.

Kv

[oldmandennis]

Well, protecting the MT from fear in phase 3 seems like a HUGE advantage. Don't really know cause I'm not alliance and haven't downed the beast. I'd try to ward the tank and the whole healing corps, because there can be a couple of iffy seconds when no heals are coming in, but thats just a theory.

Following up on the Grounding Totem thing... the fact that it absorbs nondamaging spells without dying is definatly WAI. The fact that damaging spells destroy it is a bit iffy, especially if you read the description of the spell and its talent.

Grounding totem: Summons a Grounding Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster that absorbs one harmful spell every 10 seconds for each nearby party member.

Improved Grounding Totem: Increases the frequency your grounding totem will absorb a spell by 4 seconds

If nondamaging spells destroyed the totem, then the text of the spell would make little sense, and the talent would have no concievable use. As it is, the devs are aware that as long as damaging spells destroy the totem, IGT has so little use it can be considered broken. They want to fix it, but since shamans are WAI for the most part it is way down their list of priorities.