Thursday 3 November 2011

Blog change over and why I hate Runic Empowerment

So previously my blog was over at DK diaries and anyone reading may have realised that I never update ever! There were a few reasons for this the major one being spare time being a bit of a luxury thanks to my failure to adapt to full time work (sorted now). The second reason is that since 4.3 was announced whenever I did sit down to post I was overcome with despair about my topic: Death Knight tanking.

Quite simply I find it boring.

Don't get me wrong I LOVE my Death Knight; I love the darker aspect of them, I love the abilities, I love the toolbox, I love the lore. If I could get into melee DPS I would probably really enjoy it as a Death Knight. But the tanking is just dull at the moment, and it's only getting worse in 4.3. To clarify I do NOT think that Death Knight tanks are in a bad place competitively (though there are issues) just a boring place for me personally.

So what are the problems that's making my blood DK boring? These points are all based on raiding where the majority of your time is spent on a single target.

1) Deathstrike, Deathstike and MOAR Deathstrike.

Everything that a blood DK is about is wrapped into this one ability; The self healing, mastery and our damage are all tied to it. When your rotation is basically one ability with cooldowns and Rune Strike thrown in occasionally (like it will be in 4.3) it gets old pretty fast. Having most of our damage and almost all of our survivability tied to one ability is VERY irritating: on the one hand you want to save your runes to death strike after a big hit for maximum healing and a big blood shield but you ALSO have to use it to deal damage or your just sitting there doing nothing for periods of time. Doing nothing is not fun.

2) Blood runes are the least important runes for BLOOD death knights.

At the moment clever use of blood runes is required in order for us to keep our damage reduction from blade barrier up (and with the spike damage we take even that 6% is essential). In 4.3 that's going away as blade barrier becomes a passive ability. With the way runic empowerment works (see point 3) this means that essentially the only use of blood runes is to hit rune tap every 30 seconds for some healing and hit blood tap to get an extra death rune when you need it. The rest of the time you can just stare at the active blood runes on your rune interface.

3) Runic Empowerment is a shit mechanic..

In point 2 I said 'clever' use of your blood runes was required to keep blade barrier up, what I actually meant was minimal use, all because of runic empowerment. Runic empowerment gives you a 45% chance to activate a currently depleted rune every time you hit with rune strike (or any of the other runic power dumps but that's irrelevant for blood DK's). Because we have such a large focus on Death Strike you want those runes that are reactivating to be Frost or Unholy runes as much as possible. Ideally every time you hit rune strike both your Blood runes will be active (this is impossible to actually achieve every time so your often risking activating a useless blood rune) so the proc won't be wasted on them, it's all about MOAR death strikes.

This leads to what's known as rune Tetris in DK circles. Your trying to keep blade barrier up, use rune strike as little as possible when your blood runes are recharging without letting runic power go to waste, get as many death strikes through as possible AND have death strike ready for big hits.

It's a lot to take in especially when your trying to not stand in the fire. I'm not saying other tanks don't have to be aware of a lot of things too but none of them spend the amount of time staring at their resource bars as we do.

Rune Tetris is not fun IMO.

And yet I'm complaining that Blizzard are making it less of a nightmare in 4.3 by making blade barrier passive. Rune Tetris is not fun but neither is pressing a single button over and over again for a 6 minute fight. I have been levelling a paladin tank as a potential replacement for 4.3 and I am having a blast! I get to press so many buttons you've got avengers shield for pure dps, you have CHOICES about how to use your holy power (do I heal or dps? Unlike deathstikre you have options in both these catagories not tied to holy power), crusader strike for basic damage and building up holy power, your judging to keep your mana up. It's a lot to rotate through but it's INTERESTING and that's not even taking into account all the utility you have available.

THAT'S the reason for the blog change. I started a DK blog because it was what I was playing at the time but that was only the case because my guild needed a tank. I'm not someone massively attached to a single character, I don't hunt achievements, mounts or pets. I play what my guild needs and I have come to the realisation that THAT is one of my big strengths as a player. I've been a gamer all my life and it's made me quick to learn and highly adaptable, my blog should represent the fact that I can and do chop and change what I'm playing.

Thus I went from DK diaries to Should've Rolled Horde.

But why is the blog called 'Should've rolled Horde"? It's simple: I want to play a damn Blood Elf (yes I know the Internet has made it cool to hate Belfs but meh)! In any fantasy setting I've always liked elves but the hippie Night Elves just don't do it for me, now the ruined society of magic addicted elves? THAT'S some interesting stuff right there. Unfortunately when I started playing I joined 2 friends who had already rolled Night Elves so I was alliance destined. My revenge has been throwing the 10% quicker rep from all the humans I've rolled in their faces for 2 years.

Welcome to "Should've Rolled Horde" and thanks for stopping by (More updates this time around, I promise).

No comments:

Post a Comment