Since it was introduced it became almost mandatory for the most of specs in PvP (not to mention PvP bonus) because it just improves damage/healing by certain % and lowers damage taken. For PvE players it’s in most cases not desired one and for these that use it as bis in PvE it’s just plain boring.
I’d like to see it removed and replaced with new secondary stats like: power (spell and attack power to just improve damage like versatility does but not lower damage taken), cooldown reduction (but not as powerful as that corruption), physical damage reduction and magic damage reduction.
Why? Simple it will give more choice and options in gearing. For most of the tanks Versatility/Mastery are go to stats for maximum tankiness while some might value Haste more due to some CD reduction like Prot Paladin. Adding Physical/Magic damage reduction might help tanks adjust their weakness and some specs in PvP too. Good example are Frost/Unholy DKs. Specs that deal good damage that are extremely good vs Magic Damage but they are absolutely demolished by physical one. They could sacrifice some stats into improving in this aspect to make them viable.
Cooldown reduction in the name of sacrificing other stats might improve certain specs that basically have long cooldowns and Power might be just an alternative for specs whose mastery isn’t as good to improve damage of their spells. This would add a lot of depth and possibilities into creating new interesting builds.
i do think vers is really boring and doesn’t really feel like a stat. haste speeds things up, critting is fun and mastery varies but probably does something noticeable most of the time. when you have a lot of one of those stats, you can tell. it changes how your character feels in a meaningful way.
vers makes everything hit harder in the same way agility does, but it doesn’t change anything between them at all, so is kind of invisible. if i stack a ton of mastery, my finishers will be huge while everything else stays the same. if i stack a ton of vers, everything will hit slightly harder in a way i don’t feel.
weirdly, the most interesting part of vers is the defensive benefit, but that’s that same thing that pushes the stat to be so prioritised in pvp (at least soon as the set bonus is changing next season).
if i could have my way, i’d want to stack crit and mastery because critting and hitting big finishers is fun to me. instead, i end up stacking crit (and vers) in pve and mastery (and vers) in pvp. in both cases it feels like i have one stat (crit or mastery) and the points that go into vers are barely noticeable in terms of fun and gameplay.
Except S15 - last season of MoP was the most balanced season in history of WoW - literally every spec got rank 1 back then. Right now we have have clear winners and losers. There is only 1 Warlock getting rank 1 in EU and no DK players.
Except WoW is not balanced around PVP… WoW is balanced around PVE, because it’s a PVE MMORPG… basically PVP balance just got lucky in the last season of MoP.
Is this all because Shamans’ most effective PVP spec is currently listed 13th on the Meta list?
I wouldn’t say WoW is balanced. Look at M+ and raids. There are spec that literally have almost no representation.
Because Enhancement Shamans are weak. https://www.xunamate.com/ show clearly which Healing spec are currently most played. Holy Priests play with Jungle, RMP and sometimes Arms/Ret while R Shamans play with Havoc/Boomy and some meelecleaves (they work in Arms/Ret too though R Druids here are the best option). Representation is more complex than just class representation and according to recent activity Shaman is 4th most played class. There are more reasons behind it. A lot of players who got their mains to ratings they want play Havoc/Boomy/R Shaman as it’s a new best comp. My last session at 2200 MMR was facing this comp 5 times in a row.
PvP is about playing multiple specs and trying new things. Someone who mains Rogue may try DH right now to have fun on something else. Queues at high rating are way longer and when you are already in rank 1 spot or you got glad and don’t want to push rank 1 you may just make an alt. That’s also a reason why top players have multiple chars of the same class. If they got main high and they still want to play but not tank their rating they log on 2nd Shaman for example and play there with someone else.
https://check-pvp.fr/eu/Outland/Swapxy - good example. Swapxy 3x Blizzcon Winner - most titled PvP player in WoW history. Just look at his all alts and ratings he achieved.
I have mentioned Meta slavery…if there is a Meta list, someone is at the top and someone else is at the bottom, the invites go out accordingly.
Now the interesting thing, is when someone discovers something about a class/spec everyone else missed while making the list… of course as soon as that new Meta is discovered it gets plastered all over the interwebz, and everyone changes the invites accordingly.
Bottom line you are indeed asking the Devs to balance the game around PVP because the PVP Metas get boring and you want to experiment, but then you get no invites.
I ask them for bringing back solutions from the past that made the game more balanced. If it didn’t happen I wouldn’t ask for it but since I know it is possible with proper amount of effort I’ll keep asking for it.
I don’t want to balance whole thing around PvP but design it so two things can coexist and be more balanced than they are right now in each dimension. Good example is H Paladin being one of the worst PvP healers due to borrowed power while being objectively one of the best in PvE due to Ashen Hollow.
It can be done but not in the current iteration of the game. In fact neither end benefits from borrowed power and Versatility.
If the balance in PVP had to be sacrificed to prune the number of stats/shorten development time in PVE, that is what was always going to happen in a PVE MMORPG.
Dev’s can’t freeze the game in the final season of MoP, forever…just because some PVP players liked where their fav class/specs were, at that time
‘Time is money, friend’.
Well you do, as evidenced by the example you have just given.
If it was easy to balance every single Class/spec, for both PVE and PVP content, in ever Xpac, then the Devs would do it, straightaway…but there would still be a list and peeps would still chase the Meta at the top.
Of course they don’t but that’s what spec/talent redesign is for. Instead of constant addition and removal of borrowed powers you can just fix underperforming specs and rework/adjust talents that are never used. As Shaman main I can point few that are never taken in any circumstance:
Static Discharge and Unlimited Power. You can just rework or adjust them and give more options. Instead of adding another layer of borrowed power that is shared among classes and specs where for spec A it’s absolutely busted when for spec B it’s just mandatory to be viable. Good example is Destruction Warlock in BFA and corruptions. It was absolutely broken through almost whole expansion since 8.1 but never was adjusted because devs were busy fixing corruptions.
Well they can do it if they change their agenda, philisophy and fixation over borrowed power.
Also how is it possible that in 9.1.5 they could implement things we wanted but in 9.2 they go back to their 9.1 track? Basically it’s intentional. Their goal isn’t making good game but profitable. For example 278 conduits are locked behind KM, Raid clear, Gladiator. Which of these is the easiest? KM. So people will just buy boosts for KM to get conduits. Boosts = tokens and that’s how current Blizzard works. I have hopes for Microsoft change but we will see.
The idea behind new stats is that they also improve some specs in M+. For example if you have long strong CDs you could sacrifice some stats into cooldown reduction to have less damage but CDs more freequent for certain pulls. This is just theory but imo it has potential.
Is an interwebz slogan…stop spending so much time on Reddit.
I don’t care what powers up my gear, as long as it gets powered up over the duration of the Xpac…and I fully expect to grind out a new power, next Xpac…it’s a PVE MMORPG, grinding is what we do… borrowed power grinding story arcs are more interesting to me, than chopping down a bazillion trees to craft the Club of a Thousand Truths on my lvl 9001 Carpenter, so I can teach the Defias Pig Rustler of Elwynn Forest, the error of his ways…Anyone would think there wasn’t a local Garrison…the slackers!
I also grind honor, conquest and rating so I do grinding which is part of an MMO.
Except you don’t you still wear 235 legendary and you don’t have gems farmed. I do. So apparently you don’t enjoy grinding it that much as you’d have these things.
Most cases means that for majority of specs. Some specs need versatility but most of them prefer other stats. Haste/Versa if I’m not mistaken is also bis for Ele in Raids while Crit/Haste is bis for M+.
Because I’m not a slave to the Meta and I do not need Cutting Edge to enjoy the game.
I play the game at my own pace for my own enjoyment…I don’t expect the Devs to design/balance the whole game around what I want and a single aspect of the game.
Grinding is a lot easier when you allow catchup mechanics to kick in part way through.
Or basically you don’t care and you are not getting serious into PvE. Not trying to offend you but you just clear LFR. You don’t even need the gear you have to do that. If you’d be at least raiding heroic you point of view might be much different and you might not like borrowed power that much. Just saying.
It always looks different depending on POV.
I have friends who push 20+ and above keys and they aren’t fans of borrowed powers becuse to perform they have to drop certain pieces from raids and certain sockets. They had to farm all conduits and gems.