I used to be an ardent supporter of spell pushback when this game first came out and throughout most of pre-BC. It brought a new element to MMO PvP that previously had been neglected -- kiting. Those who claim WoW PvP is nothing more than using the right skills at the right time haven't played MMO's where features like /stick and /face dumbed down the game. Movement skills are a staple of any good PvP game, especially first person shooters, and WoW seemed to be the first MMO to understand that. Keyboard turners were at a clear disadvantage in WoW. Players who grew up in an FPS background quickly excelled. Even now, when you watch videos of the top druid healers, it becomes apparent that it's not their gear or their amazing ability to stack lifeblooms that impresses us -- it's their movement (coupled with quick reaction times and the ability to multi-task).

Fastforward to today and Blizzard has changed the scope of the game such that kiting even one melee has become a lesson in futility. Constrained arena maps, 15 second intercept, cloak of shadows/improved sprint/shadowstep/deadly throw, the inability to remove a spammable hamstring w/out a paladin's blessing, etc. Add another melee and even classes who excel at kiting (druids and mages) start running into trouble. What we're left with is a meta-game where a caster's damage is brought to a screeching halt when focused, while focusing melee does not have nearly the same effect (and in fact, the inverse is true for warriors). It's no surprise then that casters such as warlocks, druids, and priests who still have several instant-cast options can still somewhat compete in this melee oriented game. Paladins, Shaman, Mages, and Hunters on the other hand severely struggle in the lower brackets.

I propose a simple suggestion -- get rid of spell-pushback, or at least provide all spells with an innate 70% pushback resist (pushed to 100 with Concentration Aura or Earth Shield), and as a consolation to melee, take Pummel/Kick off the GCD. *edit* Or as suggested later in this thread, change it so only specials cause pushback, not white hits. Place more emphasis on quick reactions and faking casts than delaying a 1.5 second cast to 5 seconds with auto attacks alone.

Thoughts? Does spell pushback really have a place in PvP?

I love how you mention stick and face as an example of a game that doesn't have kiting. DAoC had as much or more kiting than WoW has or had.

Although I agree pushback is retarded, just removing pushback wouldn't be nearly enough to stop the current melee trends

I would argue that it's not Spell Pushback but rather Line of Sight pillar-humping that has resulted in a surge of melee dps and druid healing. Paladins are helpless in large part because they cannot heal while pillar-humping a pole, unlike a druid's lifebloom.

Perhaps what needs to be introduced instead is spells that you can cast while moving--even if they're far less efficient.

My fault, my reference to /stick and /face was not to kiting, but rather to how past MMO's would dumb down movement abilities. /stick and /face allowed a keyboard turner to concentrate less on movement, and more on using their specials.

Yet pillars have been around since S1. I'd argue it's simply the introduction of Armor Penetration that has established melee's dominance. And since druids are the only healer who can reliably escape from melee or CC melee off their teammates, they became more coveted in the lower brackets.

Also, the woes of paladin healing is really a separate issue (ie. LoS, no instant casts) to spell pushback, since pallies don't suffer from that.

Yeah, a blanket removal of pushback would seem to favour casters quite highly. Pillar humping IS a defense but you can't win by doing it, eventually your melee needs to expose itself. Even temporary pushback resist is incredibly dangerous, eg mage + ice barrier (and icy veins come 2.4), spriest + PWS, ele shaman + BoP when used in a co-ordinated burst. It's only very recently that I've stopped using 2T4 in 5s on my mage for frostbolt pushback resist. Most casters are already equipped with a variety of instants and escape mechanisms to deal with pushback from melee, and leaving a caster free to cast should always be a conscious decision whereby the team is prepared to deal with whatever that caster can then unleash (lightning bolt spam, mana burn, fears, etc).

Perhaps some changes to pet pushback to go hand in hand with increases to pet survivability, but otherwise I think pushback is ok as it is.

Pushback isn't really how you stop a caster from casting on you in 5v5... You use interrupts and CC to do that

Interrupts and CCs are a precious comodity, you use them to stop bursts, or make your bursts more successful, or to simply lock down the enemy team to the point where they get worn down faster than you.

Pushback is to mitigate damage that would potentially bring one of your team into range of a burst.

I dont really feel like casting anyway when there is a melee class on me. If they want to change anything just stop pets giving pushback to make it so easy to give every caster without pushback reduction talents a permanent CoT.

While my arena experience is nil I can safely say that pushback does have an effect, a dual wielder will more than double my cast times (except maybe fear with gloves). For channeled spells each pushback is 1/3 of its duration off and anything channeled will at most get 1 tick off with melee on. It's certainly not unnoticeable.

I do think that spell pushback (in addition to armor ignoring/reducing effects) are mechanics which absolutely need to be retuned, but not removed for arenas. Just removing pushback altogether would be a bad solution (hello mana burn spam) but as it currently stands there is a huge advantage melee classes (namely Hunters and Rogues) have against casters due to sub-1.0 attack speeds and virtual immunity to snares. I would think that capping added spell cast time due to pushback at +25% would be a more elegant solution.

Also regarding casters in general, it seems a bit lopsided that every class in the game now has some way to stop a spellcast but the only 1.5 classes can disarm a melee opponent.

I agree pushback isn't the best way to stop casters, but it is A way. Sitting a felguard on a mana burning priest, or a purged mage, etc is a pretty effective way to cut down their casting. Also what Sadris said about fast-attacking pets or classes.