Razzo

Hey there,

I play on EU realms and so the patch arrived yestesterday. I was eager to check out the Netherwing quests and so i did. I also wanted to check out how targets would break Fear while running arround with DOTs on them. I noticed no difference. The mobs I feared lasted the whole duration.
I didn't fear more than a few mobs. About 10 mobs but those I did fear there was no difference from before patch.
I haven't had the chance to fear PvP target so I dont know how they react to a Fear/DOT combination.
Any of you who have some experiences to share? Does the nerf have a huge og small impact on the way you play?

 

Sniddie

My friend plays a Warlock/Shadowpriest combination, they where at 2300 rating before patch.

Yesterday the played 4 games, lost them all. And according to them it was very rare for a dot to tick and NOT break the fear, so basically they could only dot one and fear the other, instead of dotting both.

I guess it could be randomly, but hes quite good player and usually doesn't whine at all, so i trust him in his judgement.

http://siggen.xembler.org.nyud.net:8...stats1udbP.jpg

 

Cel

It feels very strange that they patched the game and didn't start season 2. In my opinion, it's kinda like changing the rules in the middle of the game. People have figured out what works for them, and now have to completely rework their strategies... something that is better done at the beginning rather than the end of the season.

"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." - Bertrand Russell

Alpha is recruiting... go go.

 

Drully

Did some water elemental farming with my afflock twink. i did not feel a big diffrence, if at all they break fear a little earlier.

I guess this signature will remind me of...

 

CasT

Seems like the changes(nerf) only affect PvP then.

Do not matter how much you play, you will never get the carrot.

 

Corfius

The change is imo gamebreaking for some specs (shadow priests and affliction locks mainly). On one side I'm fairly happy because most spriest/lock teams would roll my 3v3. I did some BG and I never got feared for more than 5 or 6 seconds with a dot on me... usually fear will break on the 1st tick if I am fully dotted up.

 

Kink

Well to be quite honest, this was needed. I had a 2v2 matchup with my druid and a warrior against a warlock and some stealth class.

The warlock kept us feared for the maximum duration every time, stacked up all his dots and CoEx on us both and used the terrain to kite us both to <50% life before we dropped him and won the game (he was solo!).

Now we DID play a bit more conservatively because we didnt realise his partner had disconnected and we falsely assumed a druid or rogue to be about... but it was downright embarassing and we had so little options. He just controlled us both with ease. Between CoEx, heavy DoTs. Standing on a pillar, chain fearing us etc...

I can see this weakening 2v2 and 3v3 fear bomb teams, but thats about it. 5v5 will be not so badly affected. Fear was really a rediculously powerful CC.

However I do totally agree that in no way should it have been changed prior to the seasons end. Some people may evenm have rerolled with this tactic in mind and are now screwed in the first season.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.
The only problem is, it's often an incoming train.

 

• frmorrison

I had quite a few early Fear breaks while doing PvE (with DoTs on the mob). The change affects all Fears, not just on PvP targets.

If Warlocks want their Fears to last 12 seconds, they have to keep off the DoTs. This change was needed, Warlocks were too good in 2v2 Arenas and Battlegrounds.

 

Contero

Yeah a well needed nerf tbh.

 

Razzo

I see myself as a decent PvP'er. Not the best nor the worst. I've always used what I have and must admit that Fear was one of my greatest abilities. And one of the most used also tbh. I use different abilities on different classes but Fear you could use on most classes. I'm excited to see how I handle other players now. Will it be alot like pre patch or will i find whole new ways to defeat people. Maybe it's too early for you to say but have some of you a few hints or experiences on what new things you try to do in order to stay on top of your game?
I know I will see alot more Netherweave Nets and the PvP trinket will be well equipped in every BG/Arena.

 

Aphyrax

Having CC that does not break on damage is problematic in general. I remember when Blizz said that they didn't want players to lose control of their characters too much (then they added cyclone), so this nerf is consistent with their intent. Fact is, without my PvP trinket on I have died to warlocks without being able to perform a single action, which clearly was broken. That resilience does not help against dots doesn't make things better either.

To be honest, many of those warlock/shadow priest (or warlock/healer) combos that are now dropping in ratings were higher rated than their skill level justified. Now that fear was brought in line, maybe Blizz can look at warlock and shadow priest utility in 5v5 where they are somewhat lacking.

 

Viktus

I haven't done any pvp since the patch hit, how likely is fear to break off a single dot?

Fear + UA was a pretty legitimate tactic against dispellers and I'd hate to see that go.

 

tristantio

I've done around 40 arena games between my 2v2 and 3v3 since the new patch and notice a very minimal difference in the durations of fear, it is maybe breaking 2 or 3 seconds earlier but thats just eyeballing it.

I probably don't notice the change as much because I rarely fear the target that is being dpsed unless it is to interrupt a spell, typically I just use fear as a method of CC similar to a mage polymorph so that it actually does last close to the full duration.

 

yuri

That's one side to it. But then you have to keep the people in mind that got screwed by teams just relying on this. Maybe blizzard just felt that warlock/shadow priest teams were doing too well in arena? And also, mmorpgs are ever changing, having class changes only as new season starts would be quite against the idea of an game that you pay for to be updated regularly.

 

tristantio

I agree and I think with how infrequently they change over to new seasons it is unfeasible for them to wait for season resets to do class changes.

 

Akujin

Well i have done some 20+ games since the new patch and i havent found much of a difference. im still able to dot people up and fear them with fear lasting full duration.

 

◊ Kaubel

The first one to make an Onyxia reference gets banned for a month.

 

◊ Shadowed

So very tempting...

I haven't played any Shadow Priest/Warlock combos yet, but going up against Resto Shaman/UA Warlock I didn't really notice any difference, it's not breaking that often even with 4-5 DoTs on me while it lasts the full duration.

 

• Spankydoodle

Says the Shaman.

 

• Vissi

I have been farming a bit with my Shadow Priest the last couples days and the changed to Mind Flay and Fear have made me feel quite useless at farming. It's frustrating to not be able to use Mind Flay without a bubble on myself or someone holding hate on the mob. With SW:P, Mind Flay and VT all on the mob fear will almost always break early for me.

It's not game breaking for that it's just frustrating having to change my play style that I have been accustomed to the past few months. I am not a big PvP'er so that aspect (while unfortunate) isn't something I am really concerned with.

 

Xunwael

Haven't noticed this change at all, though I can't actually remember the last time a psychic scream lasted more than 3 seconds in PvP for me. As long as it gets the affected target out of melee range, giving me a uninterrupted cast, then I'm happy.

Also, this change was obviously very needed. I watched a warlock friend of mine gank two fullepic mage/gruul geared mages at the same time, while naked, without them getting a chance to fight back with even a PoM pyro.

Frankly, after 3 seconds of fear my priest will have applied 2k damage worth of dots, after 4.5 seconds (the target hasn't even taken damage yet, unless already doted) 5k damage worth of dots, and after 6 seconds it will have added 3 - 4.5k worth of burst damage to that, while channeling a mind flay. My warlock does even more damage, and with the power of dots nowadays I'm surprised fear doesn't break on any damage at all.

In my opinion, it should atelast have a chance of breaking every time the target takes damage, heartbreak resists, and a cap to how much damage you can take during one fear before it breaks. The fact that it's spammable cc that doesn't heal and gets people out of melee should be more than enough, form a PvP perspective, and for PVE seduce+recklessness makes up for the running around.

"You're treating a symphtom and the disease rages on - consumes the human race. The fish rots from the head, as they say - so my thinking is, why not cut off the head!"
"...of the human race?"
"It's... not a perfect metaphor."

 

Vazu

This is a nerf. No question about it. I don't even bother throwing DOTs at Paladins anymore. I just slap Tongues on and Fear. Any sort of DOT break and I start running into issues with diminishing returns. The change will impact Warlock/Priest 2v2s the most, IMO.

 

Keline

I think this is a pretty good change. Fear should now be treated as a CC, the way warlocks and priests took out their enemies while feared was hardly fair.

 

Bibdy

Hey, at least your trinket removes stuns and snares now. That's HUGE as a Warlock since those were the things that made our lives hell against classes like Rogues and Warriors.

There's always free cheese in the mouse traps, but the mice there ain't happy.

 

Keline

Yeah back when I played a warlock after release, I laughed pretty hard at a trinket that only removed effects my felhunter could dispell as well. What was it, Fear Charm Polymorph? And every stunlock rogue got the better of you