Last night some
Ravens ran the horrors of Blackrock Depths (I think that's what it's called, BRD
anyway). The party was Edina (hunter), Eldanar (Paladin), Andromanche (Mage) and
Strobmoli (Mage). As you can see we were shy of a healer and only a four person
group, but on the other hand we were pretty "gunned up" for this instance. The
main objective of the run was to test Eldanar's new tanking Paladin build, but
an important secondary concern was to try and make a bit of dosh as the last
Dire Maul run left everyone with quite substantial repair bills, and leveling 60
is an expensive business.
We were successful,
I came out over 20G up on the night and we picked up three usable blues on the
way as well (one for Eld, me and Andro). We got wiped once.
Now, there had been some debate on guild chat earlier about the sheeping nerf in
1.9, and Blayse had said he had seen it and understood why it was now being
called "suicide" rather than "polymorph." At the time I said that I couldn't see
a difference, but lo, right at the moment that we really needed it not to happen
it became clear what Blizzard have done and what the consequences are.
Basically, I think
they've fixed a bug in the way that sheep move. In the past they kind of jerked
about on the spot in a silly fashion. Now, they amble about in a quite lifelike
way, which is nice, especially in PVP where being sheeped will be less
disorientating for the sheeped (of course, now that everyone has those "break
polymorph" trinkets this isn't much of a worry anymore). Unfortunately though,
for people who play PVE at any rate, sheeped mobs now wander large distances,
especially when in corridors. What this means is that if they unsheep it's quite
likely they'll be amongst friends. Anticipate the following scene:
Evil Thug 1: "look
a sheep!"
Evil Thug 2: "Ha ha, what's that doing here?"
Evil Thug 3:
"dunno.. oh!"
(Munster appears -
he was the sheep all along!)
Munster : "Hello
chaps"
<all chorus>
"Hello Munster"
Munster : "That
Mage fellow, Strobmoli, is down there, and he's invited all of us to a
party!"
<all chorus>
"Let's go!"
(all draw weapons,
bang them together like the three musketeers and gather themselves before
charging off)
(Off stage : the
sound of cloth shod feet making like a thing that's running as hard as it
can on short little legs)
What are the
consequences of this:
- Mages are going
to be harder to level. In the past one could reliably handle three mobs at once
using a poly, blink and frost nova to keep them at bay until only one was left.
Now, a lapse while soloing may result in a crowd scene in which the mage is both
a star, and a prop.
- Mages are going
to be less useful on runs. In quite a lot of places I can think of (especially
the courtyards in Stratholme) poly once ruled as a crowd control option, but now
will be a positive liability.
- Group play with
mages will be less mechanical. The familiar pattern of "sheep left, wait, tank
gets agro, cone of cold, frost nova, blizzard, cone of cold" will give way to
much more encounter specific tactics because each group with elites will have to
be considered in context and thoughtfully - or disaster will ensue.
- Mages are now
very definitely all about damage at a distance. This means that survivability
and damage become more important than ever.
Well, that's what I
think, but some collegiate discussion would be helpful.
I also tried the
"Ice Block" tactic quite a few times last night, sadly it doesn't break agro, so
please remember to come and get little mages that are frozen into large icebergs
before the mobs do!
