Hello everyone,
Hope you’re all doing well.
This is just another whine post in regards to the current state of arena PvP in 2021 and lack of changes.
As we all know, changes are coming in slowly, mostly nerfs to some classes to a certain degree - however, most of them aren’t actually enough.
Still, most of the classes are being ignored and either left unchecked or simply unchanged.
So i’ve compiled a bit of a short list, of the things that should PROBABLY be changed.
First and of the utmost importance - The speed of which the changes are being done, a.k.a. hotfixes. 1 hotfix weekly having 2 PvP changes total isn’t enough to fix the current state by probably most likely 2024. (And no, i’m not counting bug fixes to a certain item as PvP tuning. i.e. Dark Titan’s Lesson fix couple days back)
And now, to drill down to what actually needs to be fixed.
First of all, the thing that’s currently most hurting the game are warriors.
Especially looking at the Venthyr Warriors and Condemn. I don’t see a reason why such a strong ability would exist on a short cooldown. It does shadow damage, it’s almost singlehandedly the most damaging spell in the game. And no, that wasn’t enough. It also lowers the damage taken by warrior from the target it was used on. THIS paired with Ignore Pain makes them almost unkillable.
Ignore pains either needs a higher cooldown in PvP, or reduced the amount of damage warrior can absorb. (Or even reduce the % of the incoming damage by a certain point, as 50% would seem too much)
Another thing, there’s a already long standing bug with Bladestorm, where you can break all kinds of CC if you time it right. I.e. you can a hex, warrior bladestorms at .1 seconds before the hex ends, warrior gets into Hex and is broken out by Bladestorm on its own, which from that point on, leaves the Diminishing Returns charge already spent.
Next on, intervene. 30 seconds cooldown which acts like Blessing of Sacrifice without the DoT for the next 6 seconds. How is that not broken? Paired with the things from above, they can redirect the damage to themselves and take almost no damage.
Mentioning the holy paladins, their damage output is over the top. Even after the nerfs to mana and sacrifice, paladin is still the most played healer in both 2s and 3s. This is the part where the “more weekly tuning” would come in handy real nice.
Following the holy paladins, onto the rest of them now.
Retribution and Protection paladin healing is over the top. In no sane world, should a protecton paladin, EVER be able to outsustain an actual healer.
You nerfed the Word of Glory, however, it was not Word of Glory that was the issue (keep with me), it was the Hand of the Protector AND Healing Hands.
Those things paired with Avenging Wrath can still top a player from 1% hp to a 100%.
Aside from healing, the next thing in retribution paladins that needs to be changed/tuned is Divine Toll. Oneshotting people that have a defensive up from a seriously high health is not okay. This does not promote healthy PvP.
On top of that, the AoE blind from paladins. Oh yes, don’t i love being charged in by 2 paladins, slapping 2 AoE blinds in a row, not breaking them due to holy damage, if i trinket one of them, i get blinded by the other, or god forbid, get HoJ’d. Even pre-walling, there’s no counterplay to this. If a warrior intervenes this with full defensives up, he will still die.
Now, onto the next point playerbase loves to complain about (and where the playerbase is actually right)
Windwalker Monks. Damage is way off the charts. Most of the games i played WW monk just tops the meters no matter what. I’m not sure what is the exact cause of the damage, whether is it that they have 2x storm earth and fire available (keep in mind, no other class has 2 charges of their offensive cooldown), Kyrian Weapons of Order or Xuen.
Now, onto druids.
Yes. Convoke. There is a play around. There is a pillar. There is a kick. But sometimes, if he plays with a heavy CC setup, there’s no actual possibility to stop the convoke. Or if you play a wrong setup, he just can receive BoP and Aura Mastery from the paladin and it’s game over.
Convoke either needs some sort of a ramp-up mechanic (so he doesn’t start shooting 3x starsurges in a row in 0.75 seconds - yes, yes, i know it’s rare, but it can still happen.) Also there needs to be a tuning done on the damage from the spells of convoke and tuning of the Conduit Conflux of Elements. (The one that increases damage from the convoke spells)
Restoration druids just need buffs. I know there are some upcoming in PTR (Rejuvenation, Necrolord Swarm), but it might not be good enough to make them viable. On top of that, feral affinity damage in PvP is undertuned. It comes nowhere near to Disc/Holy Priest/Holy Paladin, and you risk more than they do with picking up feral affinity instead of guardian.
Next on: Covenants.
Specifically Night Fae and Niya’s mastery buff. This is the thing that makes Druid go full mental with damage, among other classes. I do not see why this trait has not been nerfed in PvP situation as the Kyrian one has been. (For those who don’t know/play Kyrian, one of the soulbinds had it’s mastery reduced by 50% and duration increased by the same amount)
Which leads to the rogues, and rogue damage.
Long story short, subtlety rogue burst damage is way too high, however, their sustain damage is way too low. This is one of the rare classes in arena that can have their melee hits be #1 damage dealer. This needs to be properly tuned.
Rogue conduit that gives shield in stealth needs to be heavily nerfed in PvP environment. Having a million reopeners with the 100% crit legendary (which also could use some tuning) is not fun. It takes around 10 seconds of Rip, Rake and Moonfire to break a rogue out of stealth with that shield.
I am not sure about the assassination rogues and how their spot is currently in, although i’m certain that people will pick up assassination once it either becomes viable, or either subtlety gets nerfed.
In regards to outlaw, i have never seen this spec in arena. (or might have had 1 match in total - can’t recall the end result). This spec either needs some serious tuning to be seen in arena, or you just need to nerf hard enough both sub and assassin (this is a joke, please don’t do that)
Next on, the class i currently main - shaman.
Forced into Necrolord covenant, which is getting buffed, and with no intention to swapping to any other. Kyrian Vesper totem is just garbage. Almost no shamans are playing it in PvE or PvP. But, since we have other viable options, just leave it in the dirt.
Elemental shamans and their burst needs to be toned down a bit. Either tone it down, or just reduce the casino that comes out after casting Primordial Wave and Echoing Shock in conjunction. Followed by a 2x Stormkeeper hits is a kill secured in most situations.
Enhancement shamans - Same as the sub rogues, their melee basic is doing most of the heavy lifting. Again, Casino with Windfury procs. This spec needs it’s damage tuned down a bit, especially looking at Venthyr Chain Harvest. Even thought this is a “high” cooldown spell, it deals way too much damage, and shamans are capable of healing the entire team after casting this.
Imho, enha needs dmg tuned down + additional utility, something like an instant stun (perhaps a PvP talent, that would make cap totem an instant stun with no charge up time - idk, this is something worth exploring)
Restoration shamans mana is currently one of the best, and i would argue it goes toe to toe with Holy Priests. There needs to be a tuning done between instant heals (riptide and earth shield) and actual hardcasted heals. Hard casts need to do more healing that instants. It is mega annoying to go against a healer that doesn’t cast anything but instants. Those things aside, if the aforementioned classes get tuned, i’m pretty sure shamans will stay in an okay spot.
Next point of discussion, disc priests.
Yes, love them or hate them. Their mana regen is mega weak. Their defensive cooldowns are mega strong. Their damage is off the charts, paralleling with holy paladins.
Thing that needs tuning - of course, you all guessed it, Mind Games.
Speaking of clothies, onto the affliction warlocks.
On PTR, they’re getting nerfed, at least Malefic Grasp is. And it is not a small nerf.
However, the thing that NEEDS to be adjusted is Unstable Affliction dispell backlash. This thing just does way too much damage.
If a paladin dispells 2 UA at the same time, there’s a high chance that he’ll flop on the floor from 100% hp.
Now, destruction warlocks. There was of course, once again, an unneeded PvE buff that clipped PvP. I know that chaos bolts should hit hard, but again, 2 shotting people through full cooldowns from 100 to 0 is not fun to anyone who’s not playing a warlock.
Demonology warlocks, BM Hunters and Unholy DK’s.
Those specs are non existent in arenas. We will see how they will be after the pet versatility change is done.
Now, hunters.
Feign Death legendary is just way too much. Their damage could take a tiny buff (Beast mastery/Survival) in order to make them worth, but Feign Death legendary needs a nerf. 15 seconds cooldown to remove almost all debuffs is way too much. This, paired with Mending Bandage, and i’m pretty sure Assassination/Ferals facing a survival are on a verge of ragequitting the match.
In a game where you have a competitive ladder, there should be no hard counters like the one above.
Now, a joke.
Fire mage walks in to the bar. 15 years later, there’s still no counter.
With the recent nerfs to combustion AND conduits, fire mages are still most played spec in arenas. This is due their kit and damage, some of which needs to go away.
Dragons Breath on 18 seconds cooldown? Guaranteed poly afterwards with Shimmer? Yes this is too much. It’s not fun playing against a class where you can’t avoid CC. DB needs to share DR with Polymorph. Or DB needs to share DR with Ring of Frost. Pick one.
Now, onto the mage healing. “Healing” - Meaning shields (Triune is still most picked legendary), Alter Time and conduit that heals in Ice Block.
In order to get a Fire Mage down, you need to kill him about 4 times. Cauterize, Iceblock, Podtender. Thing that irks me the most is the Iceblock heal.
Onto the last class I didn’t mention properly.
Death Knights. If there is a DR in PvP for Knockbacks, why is there no DR for pulls? As seen in AWC, frost is mega strong at the moment. Chillstreak still does a ton of damage, however, there are ways of countering it (stepping away).
The damage of chillstreak could use some tuning in order for the range to be increased.
I guess we will see how it goes with 9.0.5 and the changes to versatility and pets for Unholy, and i have high hopes for them.
IMHO, All healers should be given a proper DPS rotation, and should be properly tuned for PvP combat. All hybrid classes should have their Healing tuned down.
TL:DR - Provide us with more hotfixes containing PvP tuning more often; Tune some classes, Tune hybrid healing, Tune burst, Tune healer damage.
If I forgot anything that’s making arena annoying, please don’t hesitate to add.
Kind Regards,
A very frustrated subscriber who plays mostly arena.
