Since when did something being “used in reaction to something” bar it from being a utility? If offers a reaction to a problem that may or may not arise that not all classes may be able to do, therefore i’d define that as “utility” of some form.
Mass dispel is used in response to mob buffs, therefore it is no longer a priest utility, same story for purge? So what, priests have…power word fortitude and shackle as their only utility?
If we’re going to define utility as literally “someone no other/few classes can do, that is not a reaction to a situation, and is not part of the core rotation of the class” then you leave utility defined as stuff like combat resses, shroud and buffs. I would disagree with this definition as it completely ignores very viable tools like Feign Death, BoP, Ring of Peace etc which you use reactively, but none the less have an impact and can have a planned use.
I agree that Paladins do not have strong utility in line with their previous class theme, or the suggestion they’re a “supporting class” as their kit is nowhere near potent enough for that to be true. I’m merely disputing the claim they do not have a fair bit of utility, because they do, even if it’s not the strongest. There are plenty of classes that offer less utility.
I think the issue is utility in wow is massively botched. SOme classes have one or two tools, but those tools are mile ahead of others in terms of usefulness. Because M+ is ultimatley a timed game, stuff like “u can stealth ur party” is always going to make even a cadre of somewhat decent “band aid” spells to cover mistakes look poor, because the stealth one offers a simple speed increase that doesn’t need to be navigated. The rogue’s utility works as well for a skilled group as an unskilled group, whereas the paladin utility won’t be as useful if the group is on their game - that’s the difference. It doesn’t change the utility the paladin has however.
Blessings should be like it looks like they’re attempting with Seasons in SL, shorter duration buffs that pack a punch, not this “regen 1% health every 5 sec” nonsense. I won’t disqualify it from being considered utility, but my goodness is it poor.
Teeny heads-up, Death Knights get Wraith Walk that frees them from roots. Mages can Shimmer while rooted - so they will shift to a new spot while restrained.
Kinda nonsens. If you spread buffs all over the classes and specs then you will never have situation where if you dont have mage you dont have int wich means you might also just remove those buffs. Buffs what you will alwats have regardless of your raid comp are useless waste of button.
Can these classes cast their movement freeing effect on other targets that also grants immunity to said effects for a duration?
I’m well aware suppressing movement impairments on oneself isn’t a unique class gesture. The closest is tigers lust which is a monk talent which isn’t always taken, so I’ll change that to “extremely rare” utility
I have to say, I don’t like the class at expense of spec thing, because that would deny some specs to shine. Here are some examples :
-Why would a raid team bring a WW monk if it alread has a Brewmaster monk as main tank ? WW brings nothing extra.
-What’s the point of ret paladin, since holy outclass ret in terms of utility ?
Also, I don’t like this kind of balance :
-Warrior is mandatory, because he brings AP bonus and a raid wide cooldown.
->Let’s compare to other plate wearer :
*Death knight has no bonus and only brings in Shadowlands anti-magic zone. Grip is not always usefull. His battle rez is consistent.
*Paladin bring auras, which are just some passive and a lot of single target and cheese abilities. BoP, LoH and cleanse are not as consistent as raid wide CD and BRez.
I’m trying to illustrate that utility balance is not well done and I really don’t like the fact that a given spec can’t bring different utility.
As regarding 5 man, it won’t be a big deal, since it was not the case in BFA.
However, for raiding, I’m quite worried about under dog spec in BFA (Ret paladin, Feral druid, WW monk, Enh shaman) that are being gutted more because their class has good utility, but those other specs are better for providing them, more especially their healing spec.
I do also think that 3 specs being able to bring the same bonus was fine.
And I don’t like the fact that DH is still mandatory, even if it’s already a top dog class (At least for havoc)
I mean disc did received tons of changes and buffs
Legendary that allows for Shadow Word Death damage to pass through Attonment
Mindsear is good because I think disc needed some AoE damage that can be cast in a relatively safe range
Holy nova got small buffs
They moved absorption from smite to MB and I think they made it bigger, plus I like the addition of those spells, make rotation a little bit more engaging which is fun ^^’
Power Infusion is a nice addition and I definitely welcome it back
Spirit Shell reintroduced for Disc
Shadow Covenant rework
I only mentioned few changes but yeah : Disc received a lot of changes and tons of love IMO (same with Shadow priest)
Holy did get some QoL improvements (Refreshing Holy Words CD with Apostheosis, Rank 2 of PoM making it an instant cast) but still Holy definitely need more love and I hope it will get it in the future).
We’ll see what happens. Tuning is far from over and I believe more changes will come in the future.
It won’t. I stuck around with holy priests for a while but playing it through BFA and seeing what’s in SL, I’d advise against anyone playing a holy priest unless you’re only going to raid.
They have needed fixes for a long time but they’re not doing anything about it. Why would they suddenly decide to do something now? The spec is pretty much dead outside of raiding.
It would be too strong 