Warning for Vorsgald: 9. Do not sign your posts.

• Vykromond · 03/12/09, 4:45 PM

Post: Finalizing the Prot Warrior design
User: Vorsgald
Infraction: 9. Do not sign your posts.
Points: 0

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Original Post:

What I would really like to see (which may also be in line with the original design of Blizzard) is for warriors to be the LEAST sponge-like tank, at greater risk of dying to burst. The reason that we have a lower stamina pool than other classes (most likely) is that our Block is supposed to make up for the difference with mitigation. If I'm not mistaken, though, the armor bonuses from DKs/Druids far outpace the block values a warrior can currently reach even itemizing for block value and consistency over stamina. Remember that the % mitigation from armor is based on the total hit, so once enemies start hitting for over 9k (after armor mitigation), warriors are actually taking MORE damage per hit, AND possessing a lower stamina pool, making us a strictly worse tank.

Ideally I would like the difference between classes to be like so;
Assume a boss hitting for 10k after mitigation, and assume equivalent armor for all classes (a huge false assumption, but this is for the purpose of making a point) and also assuming equal avoidance (which is a more reasonable assumption, at least after 3.1 hits).

Druid/DK, 40k health: Hit for 10k, Hit for 10k, Hit for 10k, Hit for 10k, Dead
Warrior/Paladin, 32k health: Hit for 8k (2k blocked), hit for 8k (2k blocked), hit for 8k (2k blocked), hit for 8k (2k blocked), Dead
All tanks die in 4 hits, but the warrior/paladin took less damage.

BUT, since warriors cannot achieve 100% "uncrush," they are more likely to suffer a bad-luck streak and get gibbed through non-blocks (note that it shouldn't cause an INSTANT DEATH, but it should make it harder on healers in a worst-case scenario, and easier in a best-case scenario.)
Paladins can achieve 100% "uncrush," so they are more consistent tanks, however they don't have critical block or shield block, so while the worst-case scenario can't happen, the best-case scenario can't either.
I personally feel that paladins also shouldn't be 100% "uncrushable," at least at this point in WotLK, but they should have a higher consistency than warriors and a lower block value. But this is the warrior forum, so summing up my late-night stream of consciousness on warriors is in order.

The "feel" of warriors is great for me right now - if I wanted to put a ton of stamina gems in my gear I'd have rolled a druid or a DK. I like the option to gear in various ways for various scenarios, but I feel that both paladins and warriors will have the raw end of the bargain vs. the higher armored DK/Druid as bosses hit harder and block value wanes in comparison.

I'm not really offering any suggestions here, just warning to not homogenize too much. Upping the stats on vitality might be a solution to fix some scaling issues, but it is a start down a potentially dark path.

--Vorsgald