You know what really grinds my gears?
Engineering nerfs.
Last night they hotfixed my precious Cardboard Assassin to no longer be able to taunt raid bosses. Thus effectively neutering it. Goddammit.
The Assassin was the only “safe” tanking belt tinker, but now that’s gone. Last night I tinkered the Grounded Plasma Shield onto my belt, but I don’t think I can bring myself to ever use it. The risk:reward ratio is way too unbalanced, no matter how low the fail chance is. I’m the guy that’s obsessed with the worst case scenario, and the idea of opening myself up to one stun, crit chance debuff, or AOE taunt is… unconscionable.
Maybe I’ll bring back the Nitro Boosts. That can be handy in some circumstances, I guess (when paired with a parachute for emergencies). And being shot up in the air isn’t insta-death like some of the shield’s backfires.
I really don’t get the philosophy behind the belt tinkers. What are they supposed to be used for? They don’t work in rated BGs or arena, correct? And the backfires make them irresponsible for raiding. Are they purely for soloing or group play when used by the not-so-faint of heart?
Eh, it’s not worth the energy to bitch. Eventually the wheel will turn again and engineering will be as amazing for tanking as it was at the tail end of Wrath. So, I’ll hunker down for now and for the foreseeable future.
On a happier note, the new Big Daddy bomb is pretty cool. Stuns enemies for 5 seconds in an AOE circle. Perfect for Maloriak add kiting. You better believe I made good use of this once I had six adds and was attempting to kite them.
18 Comments to “You know what really grinds my gears?”
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I’ve actually been using the Mind Amplification Dish. I rarely ever need to move faster, thanks to Pursuit of Justice or Speed of Light (depending on spec), nor do I want to be shot up in the air, especially on heals. The plasma shield, as much as I’d like to use it, is just a death waiting to happen, and the cardboard assassin just plain sucks now.
But being able to grab a mob and mind control it or stun it? So far, very worthwhile. I’ve seen it backfire very, very rarely, and most of the time it just gives me a cosmetic debuff. (I did get counter-mind-controlled once, but it seems to be rare.)
Still, I’m starting to think I won’t bother putting them on further new belts until, as you said, the wheel turns again.
@Rhidach
16 February 2011 at 1:29 pm #
How’s the MC work? (I’ve never used it, or played a priest.) Does the mob immediately turn and fight for you, or do you assume control of it?
It works like a hunter pet, you don’t directly control it but you can make it move to an area by clicking where you want it to go, you can also activate the abilities it has.
You can make it passive/defensive or aggressive and make it attack one target.
You have to admit it makes sense though. It was essentially a backup cheat death that you had to profession into. No other profession has something like that. Our 10m raid has 5 or 6 engineers in it – and we could rotate the taunts to extend out a boss kill. Def not working as intended.
@Rhidach
16 February 2011 at 1:26 pm #
True, but there are ways around that, like a boss getting a debuff that prevents further CA taunts for a minute, or something. I know this is SOP at this point, but for some reason the wound always feels fresh when they neuter something completely because it’s being used in a way they didn’t originally conceive.
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@hazmacewillraid
16 February 2011 at 1:53 pm #
For all its failings, or rather chance-to-failings, I love my Nitro Boosts. Last night on Chimaeron I hit my belt when it looked like I was next on his dinner plate, but rather than let me kite the boss, it shot me up in the air and dropped my threat completely. Wahoo!
Nitro Boosts threat hotfix INCOMING!!!!!!!
Current belt tinkers are really feeling lame because the backfires are really, really bad. Being launched in the air or pulling aggro on a random trash mob aren’t really so bad when compared to aggro on everything, eating crits, or locking your toon down for 5 seconds. Plus none of the new belt tinkers offer much to a non-tank.
Boosts can be really clutch, but they can still be used a lot of times when a backfire won’t lead to a wipe. That is probably more valuable in a boss fight than MC on a trash mob.
use it on a boss pull. if it works, great, free shield to ease the initial positioning and heal aggro. if it fails, well there shouldnt be any mobs around to taunt (generally) or you wait out the stun/debuff
not ideal, but better than nothing
Did they really just give Goblin Engineers a Cata profession perk without giving one to Gnomish Engineers?
Really?
I think I need to take a trip to the forums.
My mistake – Wowhead search just wasn’t coming up with the Gnomish Gravity Well as a Gnomish Engineering spell.
@Rhidach
17 February 2011 at 9:06 am #
Damn and I had just finished polishing my pitchforks. Oh well, next revolution. :P
I’m actually a little surprised at the QQ about this engineering nerf. The reason that blizz wants belt tinkers to be useless in raiding situations is because, quite frankly, if they weren’t it would make Engineering from a theorycrafting standpoint the strongest profession in the game.
Currently, the average profession provides 80 “stat points” in one way or another. BS for example, allows for 2 extra gems, totaling 80 stat points. Same with most other professions.
Right now, the equivalent “raid buff” that Engineering provides are the glove tinkers. These come in the form of providing 480 stat points for 10 seconds every minute. 480/6 = 80 stat points. This means that the glove enchant, like most other professions, provides a net increase of 80 stat points.
If the belt provided some sort of tangible raid bonus, this would actually make Engineering better than the rest of the professions for raiding.
So we as engineers get the typical 80 stat point buff, but also get Jeeves, Mailbox and used to get AH in Dalaran. Can’t complain.
@Rhidach
17 February 2011 at 9:13 am #
it would make Engineering from a theorycrafting standpoint the strongest profession in the game
You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing!
Um, but seriously, you raise an excellent point. Color me chastened.
I’m definitely dropping JC for Engineering on my pally now that he’s Prot instead of Holy. I don’t even care about raid perks or whatever. It’s just way too cool ;)
@Rhidach
17 February 2011 at 9:08 am #
Well this was the opposite reaction of what I was expecting.
You really have no sense of fun. So what if you cause a spectacular wipe now and then? It’s a hell of a lot better than the boring wipes we get when people right click Chimmy like, four times in a row. Engineering backfires just add some flavor to the horrifying deaths!
As for the nerfs, well, whaddaya do? Blizz can’t exactly have people cheesing encounters just because they chose a painful profession that was useless for more than half of WoW’s lifespan. :-P
everyone and their alt now must be a leatherworker!!