Snares and Slows
8:07 AM
Posted by Reygahnci on Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Blizzard does not play druids; this is a given. Rather, they may play druids, but not as feral or balance, and certainly not in pvp. One of the key "bugs" concerning druids is the ever-present range bug which has plagued druids since the beginning of time in Azeroth. Essentially, the "bug" can be explained a couple different ways, but the end result is reasonably simple to understand: your avatar looks to be in range of your target, but the game responds that you are out of range for all attacks. What makes this bug more pungent is the fact that white swings are continuing to land while the message "Out of range" spams across the top of the screen while mashing shred/mangle/whatever.
One argument for why the range bug exists relies on the box model for cat form. The crux of the argument is that because the cat form is much longer than any other avatar, where the actual hit-box resides and where a user perceives it to be are not one in the same. The hit box of the cat form extends as far as the back of the druid's head, rather than the front. Yes, that's right, so your cat form's head has to be touching (or more usually, IN) your opponent before you are considered in range to attack. What is more annoying with this bug is the way that white swings are "forgiven" for moving in and out of range so minimally. That is, while attacking, even if one cannot use mangle because of range issues, white swings will continue to land because they were/are/were/are/were in range for a bit, and the game assumes they will be again soon.
My problem with this argument has always been "this is simply a modeling problem, if the model is changed to an upright model, it will go away." Blizzard will not change the model, but there are hacks out there that will allow a user to change it... I am too scared of getting banned to do it. In pvp, if I go against a paladin or priest (or something without a snare) I can stay on top of it just fine and avoid the "range bug" entirely. I am faster than these classes, so keeping in range (as awkward as it looks on screen) is rather straight forward. No, my main problem is with classes who can deal damage, run endlessly to stay out of my range, and snare me.
Warlocks and mages, mainly, are my mortal enemies (if played right). Obviously, warlocks are everyone's mortal enemies... they are the hardest class for most to go against one on one. However, I can kill a warlock if all he's going to do is dot, fear, and dance... again: bad players are easy to kill, regardless of class. The warlocks who play conservatively are the hardest to kill, they dot me up, fear, and then spam Curse of Exhaustion on my shapeshifts while running straight away and only being hit by 1/3 of my attacks. The same is true of mages, they use their Ice Shield and Ice Lance abilities only, and keep me shapeshifting back and forth to stay on them, which effectively reduces my damage output by 66% AND causes me to go OoM faster than him, at which point he roots me, and frostbolt spams me to death.
I feel that I should get to the point. The point is this: it does not matter if I am faster than everyone else, if I cannot stay on an opponent when I become snared, then my mobility is worse than theirs. It is just that simple. Long story short: I think that removing the speed bonuses from feral druids, and replacing them with a snare would be the best way to combat the "range bug" and also give ferals a place in pvp worth mentioning. Phasing out the speed bonuses would be difficult for many feral pvpers to accept, but I think that it becomes an effective solution to the range bug, which would increase their dps, their utility, and ability to stay on a target (or slow an off-target) in pvp, which is more than agreeable. I used to be a purest, I used to think "wow, feral is faster than everything else, that's neat!" It was neat, but fundamental game mechanics make it impractical in implementation. Between the game mechanics favoring melee classes with slows/snares because of the latency model, and the fact that the increased speed means nothing once a slow/snare is applied to you, pvp as feral is impossible.
"But every class needs a counter-class" - the argument
This may be true, and mages and warlocks and everyone with a snare would still have an edge over feral druids, but the snare would make it a fight, as opposed to a free killing blow for the opposition. Standing toe-to-toe is fun, even when you lose. Trying in vein to bring something unkillable down is just maddeningly frustrating at best.
Here would be an example of the talent tree I propose. It's straight forward, just replaces the movement buff, with a snare.