Mastery and inconsistencies
In our class preview last month we were told that our third mastery would mean that “the paladin will absorb more damage with normal blocks.” The assumption among many quarters was this meant we’d have a higher-than-normal damage absorption rate from blocks. That is, a warrior would block for 30% and sometimes 60% (if critting) while we would block for, say, a steady 40%.
Turns out that was not the case. According to the datamined Alpha Mastery values, our third mastery definitively increases our block chance. This corroborates what was datamined by MMO-Champ, which I mentioned in my last post on the subject.
The Mastery values are pretty interesting. It appears that with 51 points in a tree we’ll be gaining 8.01% damage reduction, the Vengeance effect, and a 16% additional base block chance. Putting aside that Mastery and Block Rating is the same stat for us right now, 16% is a pretty major number when each block is a straight percentage of damage reduction.
Overall though, it’s interesting to see a disconnect between what Blizz said they would do in our class preview and what reality has so far turned out to be. I wonder if anything else from the preview is… off.
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The preview was definitely a little confusing in terms of how this mastery stuff would work out in regards to prot warriors and paladins. They did say that they wanted to keep warriors as the class that blocks more of each hit while paladins are the ones that block more hits in general.
With that in mind, I think that is what they are doing with our mastery. With Holy Shield, 5% base and now this, we have a pretty decent chance of reducing a lot of incoming hits by 30%.
I believe you misinterpreted the text.
“Block Amount: We want to keep the kit of the paladin as a tank who blocks a lot. So by contrast, the warrior tank will sometimes get critical blocks, but the paladin will absorb more damage with normal blocks.”
It sounds like what they meant to say, and implemented in the alpha, is that paladin tanks block more often (“a lot”) while warrior tanks block more per block. The key appears to be those last 3 words: “with normal blocks.”
@Rhidach
14 May 2010 at 1:00 pm #
Yeah the wording was clumsy, to say the least.
I had thought the same thing you did originally, but they also said there would be talents to improve the amount of damage blocked. Things like reboubt are likely to stay, and in the case of redoubt, likely to be much improved even if they don’t change the talent.
Look at the warrior mastery preview…
Critical Block Chance: As we mentioned in the stat changes preview, block rating is changing to a chance to block 30% of a melee swing’s damage. Protection warriors have a chance that the block will be a critical block and block for 60% of a melee swing’s damage instead. There will likely be talents available to push the amount blocked even higher.
Pushing the amount blocked higher through talents and improving our block rating (chance) through mastery makes some sense if that is the warrior model. It would be unlikely for us not to see similar block amount increasing talents. It would also be much easier to balance the warrior and pally toolkit if the amount of damage blocked should be about the same because one is blocking for more and the other is blocking for often.
With that said, if we are going to be driven closer to warriors than we are now, where is my holy charge?
@Rhidach
14 May 2010 at 3:05 pm #
Yes! Where is it, indeed.
Closer?
Given the differences in enhanced block style I have no doubt there will be many arguments for paladins to be the Add/AoE tank of choice. Warriors will, supposedly, be the more effective tank for big bosses with slow swing timers.
Which is not horribly different from the way things have always been and we’ll hear no end to the QQ from the many corners of the internet.
@Rhidach
14 May 2010 at 4:05 pm #
Yeah nothing will ever stop the QQ until both classes are carbon copies of each other. Even a .1% difference would be the end of the world.
@Orthien
14 May 2010 at 11:37 pm #
I really am hopeing this is a mistake the double dipping of stats is really strange and I liked the idea of larger block amounts much more.
@Rilgon
15 May 2010 at 11:27 am #
At least your mastery seems useful.
Ours is a dramatically weaker version of a talent we already have. *sigh*
Rilgon Arcsinh’s last blog ..Ready, Steady, Go!
I don’t know if it is so horrid. Just means for us that we can hunt other protection stats more. There might not even be block on gear given that:
1. Paladins have the mastery for more blocks.
2. 50% of tanking classes can’t block.
3. Warriors critically blocking too much could make them a little op.