Magma is super effective!

July 12 Patch 4.2 hotfixes

July 12

Dungeons & Raids
Firelands

• Majordomo Fandral Staghelm
  
  • Flame Scythe now properly hits pets.

source

Woe is me. Blizzard hotfixed Firelands in such a way that pets have an opportunity to take even more damage than they already do. There isn’t really much to complain about for this particular example, but I’ve spent the past two weeks summoning and resummoning my damn felhunter every pull because he gets exploded by scorpions, burned by magma when he’s sitting in it, and even when he’s not. I figured the massive amounts of environmental/AOE damage that pets were taking was a mistake with Avoidance that Blizz would almost immediately hotfix because it was so super important. I guess it’s just super important to me?

Hopefully, they fix it soon since right now it takes a lot of micromanaging just to keep Traathun alive, which isn’t normal. Until then, I will shed a tear every time his lifeless body flops over and his little demon soul flies back to the Twisting Nether only to get pulled back again into harsh Azeroth by a selfish warlock.

:*(

-Avia.

Drain Life Hotfix Prompts RP Worthy Debates

In a recent hotfix, Blizzard decided to implement the nerf to Drain Life that was originally slated for Patch 4.2 a bit earlier than the player base expected it. The warlock community was already up in arms when it saw the proposed change and not because it was an unwarranted decrease in overall DPS that would be detrimental to raid performance. Rather, the issue was the replacement of Drain Life in our rotation by Shadow Bolt, a decidedly less “Affliction-y” spell.

This has led to criticism by players who find the complaining ridiculous as the warlocks in question are arguing about what is basically a cosmetic issue, much like the numerous threads of petitioners for green fire that existed before Fel Flame appeared. As a warlock, I have a vested interest in the debates, but even as a general player, I find the arguments valid even outside of an RP immersion-ist context. There are many reasons that players choose the specs that they do. The major one for damage classes is maximizing DPS, and every raider and/or Recount whore has this priority in mind. Another is utility, i.e. PVE vs. PVP or situational advantages for certain abilities like Priests’ Archangel.

But another important factor in choosing specs is play style. No matter how strongly someone believes that spec is irrelevant as long as s/he is pumping out as much DPS as s/he possibly can on a boss, as soon as the raid leader wants a player to try something different, everyone gets defensive at least a little bit about their choices. Whether they use ElitistJerks to justify their talent points or cite special fight mechanics that make a certain spec superior to another, we all want to play how we like.

In such a highly visual game like WoW, cosmetics can play a role in whether or not we enjoy playing by affecting what we have to stare at for hours at a time. If something is bothering us about how we play, it can nag at the psyche like there’s a huge hunter pet’s ass in our field of vision that we wish we could do something about. It isn’t always about being overly resistant to change, though it definitely can be. Sometimes, we just want our characters to fit in with our ideas of our virtual world.

Ultimately, what fits in with the lore and mechanics of WoW are up to Blizzard. If they decide that Affliction locks should use Shadow Bolt as filler instead of Drain Life, it’s a subtle difference we have to accept until they deem our arguments valid. But it doesn’t stop us from putting our arguments out there. Every class has had issues like this, from some druids wanting perma-tree back to the validity of dwarf mages. Despite what all the trolls may think is a ridiculous waste of time, these debates are as serious as the game that we’re arguing about, and that differs for everyone.

-Avia rhymes with Moldavia.