Theorycraft - The End of Lines - Page 3

Maledict · 07/19/06, 10:56 AM

The solutions to raid totems have been offered so many times it's ludicrous, and Blizzards response about it making you "want less shaman to raid" is nonsense. Heck, just make each Shaman only be able to drop one raid wide totem them. You'd still want 4+ on raids.

• Bad Luck · 07/19/06, 10:57 AM

It really can't be implied from that screenshot though. There is a Human NPC in LHC with Hunter Dungeon 2 armor, does that mean Humans can be Hunters?

If it does happen, so rolling a male BE Paladin. HOT!

Falcon24 · 07/19/06, 11:07 AM

If that happens I would be a Paladin as my new main, except I'm pretty sure it won't happen. Besides I'm fairly sure I've seen Draenei in Paladin armor in some shots

Digo · 07/19/06, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Malan

Originally Posted by Valen

Didn't jeff kaplan hint in NY interview that they will never do such thing?

Not directly, this is what he said-

Originally Posted by Jeff Kaplan

I don't think that paladins and shamans are supposed to explicitly balance each other out. They are supposed to be different, and frankly at some perverse level I think it's good that there's this animosity. It adds to the immersiveness because the Horde are supposed to have a special hatred for paladins and the Alliance is supposed to really hate shamans. The paladin was always supposed to be this holy warrior in plate armor, very much a support class, though one that could tank in a pinch, and they most certainly can. The shaman is a more offensive caster who wears chain armor, centered around his totems. But when I play Horde I hate paladins. It's like I could never kill them and it seems so futile.

The bit about "hating paladins" leads me to believe they wouldn't implement this change.

Edit - full transcript available here:
http://www.wowcentral.com/modules.ph...=print&sid=344

High-concept is cool and fun to talk about, but at the end of the day, game balance is more important. When the distinction between your factions becomes so glaringly obvious and the discrepancy in class value gets worse and worse (Kings and Salvation are % buffs, which means they scale), then as a designer, I think you have to reconsider. Short or redesigning an entire class (shaman) or nerfing another one into oblivion (paladin), this is the best option.

Would this change surprise me? No. Would it piss off legions of drooling forum trolls? Who cares. I think it is better for the game.

Maledict · 07/19/06, 11:16 AM

Yeah _ Dranai have been confirmed as being Paladins. But again, that wouldn't affect balance - currently, 3 Horde races can be Shaman, (troll, orc & tauren), whilst only 2 alliance races can be paladins (humans & dwarves). Letting the Dranae be both Paladins and Shaman wouldn't affect the class balance - of course, it makes absolutely no sense in any way lore wise, in a way that makes the current re-writing look like a shakespeare masterpiece.

The Dranai pretty much embody the light. Re-writing that so they are, at the same time, also in touch enough with the natural world and the elements is going to be difficult, especially given their spaceships & lifepods history.

• frmorrison · 07/19/06, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Falcon24

Besides I'm fairly sure I've seen Draenei in Paladin armor in some shots

Certainly, Draeni are going to be able to be Paladins, since the Allaince only has 2 races that can be a Pally, while the horde has three that can be Shaman.

This change may break lore, but since the Alliance/Horde have worked together before to defeat the Burning Legion, it would make sense to do it again.

♦ Praetorian · 07/19/06, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Maledict

spaceships & lifepods history.

No no no it's not a spaceship. Don't say spaceship! It's an interdimensional ship. Totally different, you see.

Malan · 07/19/06, 11:18 AM

Kaplan really showed his ass when it came to knowing anything about shaman and horde during a couple of video interviews from E3. You can find them somewhere over at ui.worldofwar.net. He made references to "really cool totems like stoneclaw" and some other shit that nobody uses outside of level grinding. He didn't seem to have any idea what he was talking about if the question included the words "Shaman" or "Horde".

Digo · 07/19/06, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Praetorian

Originally Posted by Maledict

spaceships & lifepods history.

No no no it's not a spaceship. Don't say spaceship! It's an interdimensional ship. Totally different, you see.

Don't you Philistines read any comics or know anything about mythology? There are all kinds of ships that sail between the worlds in mythology! The Ngalfar was a ship in Norse mythology crafted from the fingernails of dead men that would carry the heroes of Valhalla to final battle of Ragnarok at the end of worlds. Hell, even Charon's skiff carried people over from the realm of the living to the afterlife. There are all kinds of mythological references.

This debate has me all huffy. I'm going to go update wikipedia entries now or something to burn off my nerdy angst.

Falcon24 · 07/19/06, 11:30 AM

I want a fingernail boat

Whion · 07/19/06, 11:36 AM

I'm Alliance so I only think this is a good idea, but I've wondered why they don't give Shamans a "Greater Totem". When this totem is dropped it cancels all their other totems and dropping another totem will cancel the Greater one. Make the Greater Totem affect the whole raid and give people a way to click off the buff. There, you've basically implemented Greater Blessings for the Horde. Its not quite as good as blessings since one Paladin can do Wisdom + Might but it still seems like a vast improvement to me.
I'm sure someone has suggested this before but I've never seen it.

Malan · 07/19/06, 11:39 AM

Believe me Whion you're not the first to suggest that particular solution. There was a compilation thread on the WoW shaman forum that had something like 50-60 different ideas for raid totem improvements at one point. After which we got told there would be no major changes to mechanics of totems till after the expansion.

Razzberry · 07/19/06, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by thaen

Ha, right, because you know, warring factions play Capture the Flag all the time.

Because it's the flag, man! You know... it's the... it's The Flag! It's blue, we're blue...

It's just important, okay? Trust me.

Kerulak · 07/19/06, 11:47 AM

Heh. Good stuff so far. I strongly believe it will alleviate a lot of issues and solve more problems than it creates. When I first heard of this I thought back to the days of playing Street Fighter II and then hearing that there was a "possibility" of being able to play Guile vs. Guile in the upcoming SF2: Champion Edition. The naysayers didn't think it would be "right" or "fair"...but sure enough, out came SF2:CE and people were dual Guile-ing until they were blue in the face.

I expect most will just embrace the change and play on. Us lore lovers might be upset a bit, but that's the exception rather than the norm; 75% of my guild members don't even know "who" or "what" Draenor is. O.o

• Bad Luck · 07/19/06, 11:48 AM