Poster: Jove at 1/4/2006 1:15:29 AM PST
Subject: Blizz: Explain Concept: Infernal & Doomguard |
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Ok...so...patch 1.9 has finally come along. I am completely bewildered at what you intend us to do with our end-game pets now. I've been playing nearly since the game came out, and I've been highly disappointed with the Infernal and Doomguard ever since I could summon them. Recently, I thought I saw a glimmer of hope, a light at the end of the tunnel, I had a dream.
First, the talent improved enslave demon got a slight buff to its chance of not breaking if people invested points in it deep in the demonology tree.
Second, patch 1.8 brings demonology locks a soul link that persists as an aura. The damage split was reduced to 30%, but the slight damage bonus and the fact that it lasted more than 30 sec was a good trade off.
Third, halfway through 1.8 we hear news that the end game pets are getting a damage and armor buff next patch.
Fourth, diminishing returns mysteriously disappears from enslave demon halfway through 1.8. Perhaps this was a bug, perhaps it was done by blizzard for test purposes.
Suddenly end-game pets became mildly useful, and I repeat only mildly. Warlocks could consistently manage a demon during a raid situation for more than 10 mins (mostly just to utilize cripple). Infernals and Doomguards got some marginal use in battle grounds and farming situations.
The infernal has never been much use. He has no special abilities outside his initial stun. His AoE aura does very weak damage, and breaks many forms of crowd control (terrible under most circumstances). He hits only a little bit harder than our imp or succubus. His only truly useful applications were Soul Linking him (on account of his high HP and armor), or droping him on enemies trying to cap a flag in battle grounds. That was it.
The Doomguard has never been much better. His abilities are semi-useful. Cripple is a wonderful ability to have in a raid situation, but the trouble involved in summoning one and mantaining it was terrible. Only until recently has my guild even considered using a doomguard in any raid situation.
And so Patch 1.9 comes. This patch has destroyed the Infernal and Doomguard once again. Here are the changes associated with the end-game pets:
1) 30% damage increase 10% armor increase
2) Soul Link no longer works with enslaved demons (whether this is intended or not is still up in the air, the test realm forum had this as a known bug)
3) Diminishing Returns returns on Enslave Demon allowing for a maximum of maybe 15 mins with an enslaved demon and an effective time of maybe 10 mins
4) The nemesis set 3 piece bonus that reduced the casting time on enslave demon by 2 secs has been replaced with spell damage.
So...Blizzard...let me get this straight,
you have removed a set bonus that helped us reliably re-enslave a demon,
brought back diminishing returns for an effective usage time of about 10 mins,
prevented Demonologist warlocks the use of their 31 point talent and every other pet talent in the demonology tree (with the exception of demonic sacrifice) while enslaving a demon. A demonologist warlock controling an enslaved demon is now incredibly weak compared to any other type of warlock build controling an enslaved demon.
and buffed their damage so that when they DO break they will kill us faster or be a greater danger to our group or raid.
...I have to ask the question then: What do you intend these pets to be used for? What is their purpose? Are they meant to be more than eyecandy? Because once again they are unusable. As things stand now, I see no reason to ever summon one again.
I would like to know what the heck you want us to do with these useless pets. That is all.
Additional posts by the original poster clarifying his argument or providing additional arguments can be found in posts #22 #83 #88[ post edited by Jove ]
| | | http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-warlock&t=784865&p=#post784865 | | | Poster: Tseric at 2/8/2006 7:43:39 PM PST
Subject: Re: Blizz: Explain Concept: Infernal & Doomgu |
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Well, it's not that I don't understand your situation. I actually have not even summoned the Doomguard once, but hey, there is a first time for everything ;)
Really, what we are looking at here is reliability. More reliability would make the enslaved pets more dependable. Unfortunately, this has always been contrary to the devs notions for these pets. The permanent pets have a utility and distinct function that does well to balance the class. Additional permanent pets would only be worthwhile if they provided significant function to compare to the others and, as it stands, do warlocks really need another permanent pet?
The changes that have occurred for the warlock class in the past few patches has brought the class to a good place. For those that have been here since beta, consider the path of the warlock. I wouldn't go so far as to say the class has reached the promised land, but its the first thing to come to mind.
I know we all want to get more out of the enslaved pets, but to what end? What situations are going to be served that aren't already with the permanent pets?
Part of this can be attributed to the idea that we want these pets to be a natural progression to the pets that have come before them. This isn't really the case. The permanent pets are what the class has been balanced around and the inclusion of these pets with any more permanance or reliability will skew that.
To be totally honest, yes, the original concept of these pets has changed. Rather than remove the pets completely, they have been tinkered with to try to make them more appealing, yet remain as secondary, not primary pets. To develop these pets in a way that is distinct, yet balanced has been a long-standing challenge, as I am sure most of you are aware. It is something that is considered on a recurring basis. However, we don't want to make a change that we would then have to retract, as that would probably cause more frustration.
I wish I had better answers for you, but really the situation is a bit of a design pickle. Sort of like giving mages back invisibility. How do you do it without making it over-powered?
At the least, this issue is regularly addressed and I will continue to submit your feedback regarding the enslaved pets.[ post edited by Tseric ]
Golden crispy! Bad guys are history!
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