Prot Warrior 11.1 feedback. Don't nerf an aleady unrepresented tank

In Development Undermine(d) PTR Discussion
1

I want to make my voice heard regard for incoming Prot War nerfs in 11.1. This might be a “wall of text” but bare with me. Do not make an unrepresented tank more unfun.

Ultimately all of the changes made to prot feel bad. Anger management is a very fun playstyle and messing with any part of our rage generation means it has a spiraling effect on both our rage gen as a pull goes on and our defensiveness. As it stands right now all of the changes made to prot should be reverted and not go live. The changes feel quite out of touch as anyone who has played colossus prot in M+ will tell you we have a fine amount or are slightly behind what we should be in regards to rage gen. You could “argue” Thane has too much rage gen but the whole loop of warrior is generating and dumping rage. Because generating rage directly feeds into generating more rage hitting any part of the pipeline can have drastic effects. These changes lock us into a hero talent we are already locked into and even make playing Thane not fun.

With that being said, I don’t want to throw out every change you’ve made as I feel that is disingenuous. The damage overall buff you give is welcome, BUT that DOES NOT make up to the following changes:

-Devastate & Strategist: There’s no getting around this, it has to go back to 30% for both. It’s already somewhat common to SS → Clap → Revenge and not get a SS reset. SS is our best button and since almost all our rage gen is tied to that one skill, pressing it less is terrible throughput-wise but more importantly, it feels horrible to play.

-Champion’s Bulwark: Not sure why we are making a tier set around a skill and then nerfing that skill? It should go back up to generating the current amount of rage that it does or also give us a free cast of Ignore Pain.

-Violent Outburst: It already feels horrible to spend VO on a Thunder Clap and it feels even more awful now. You build up a big “outburst” and get 2/3 extra if you use it on Clap which sometimes you have to because you can’t delay your rotation for too long. Once again this adversely effects Colossus more than Thane since Colossus doesn’t get Thunder Blasts. If going back to 100% rage gen is not an option, I think VO making your next SS or TC generate 30 rage is better or they generate an additional ‘X’ rage.

-Impenetrable Wall: I have the feeling this was a change targeted at raid but this “choice node” is completely dead in M+ now. We are already taking Defender’s Aegis (which already had more CD reduction) so there is literally no reason ever to take IW. If we can’t make it generate more rage at least double the CD reduction it gives or something.

The overall damage buff you give does not make up to changes I’ve mention above. It is about the playstyle. You said you wanted to reduce the APM but the current APM is what make Prot War engaging! I have been around tough times, for example I played Prot War at the start of BFA and to have Ignore Pain on GCD made me not to log my Warrior at all until that was fixed.

Worst here is you planning to make Strategist talent from 30% to 20% is a dangerous step in the wrong direction.

Thanks.

2 Likes
2

Very much agree with what Zta have said. These changes are just a move in the wrong direction. They need either more work. Or to simply be reverted back to before you touched the spec. Currently PTR Prot just feels horrible to play.

1 Like
3

Good to see a response Rahtae!

I have had in everday recent dungeon had both SS + TC on CD waiting for a SS reset from Strategist. I cannot think what a disaster a nerf from 30% to 20% will do our game play.

Blizzard hear us out - If you want player to play lower APM they have Colossus hero talent tree choise. But let us have high APM + rage gain in Thane hero talent tree.

4

I cannot believe…, it totally blows my mind, that they are destroying a spec because current gameplay does not align with ‘vision’ of some delusional developer.

Feedback from players is crystal clear - all the changes need to be reverted. But Blizzard won’t budge, their stubbornness and condescending pride does not allow them to admit that they made a mistake.

What makes it worse, when they started doing their nerfs to rage regen, they simply ignored Colossus hero tree, as if it never existed, assuming that Mountain Thane is the only valid option. With nerfs they did Colossus is completely unplayable now on PTR, and gameplay with either of the hero trees is awful.

After so much feedback from players they are still refusing to make improvements. (looks recent blue post on US forums) It’s just sad and pathetic, considering how they constantly tell that they want, and listen to our feedback.
No Blizzard, you do not listen and do not act on feedback, you listen only after ~6 months when most people stopped playing. (Take changes to m+ for example, finally they admitted defeat).

I really hope that those horrible changes will be reverted, maybe not all, but most of them.
I agree that spamming Ignore Pain should be addressed, but perhaps better idea is to give it cooldown, and buff IP accordingly.

20% on strategist is way too low, it makes spec feel clunky, perhaps it can be changed to 25%, and Collossus could have some bonus chance to reset on Revenge, and Mountain Thane bonus on Thunder Clap.
Shield Slam is critical ability to both Colossus and Mountain Thane, spec cannot function with such low reset rate.

I would like to see some changes that would make both hero spec trees more balanced when it comes to rage regen. I guess Thane is fine (assuming horrible changes are reverted), but Colossus needs some attention.
Removing rage cost from Frothing Berserker is very surprising, but very welcomed change. I was expecting something like this to be instead bakes into Colossus tree, as it focuses on Revenge more.

2 Likes
5

This shortage of tanks people talk about are going to be worse. I have a hard time to see these nerfs will encourage more Warrior to spec tank. Im afraid Ill throw my sword and shield on the shelf if these patch notes go live, specially the Strategist nerf.