Heya guys!!  I had not intended to delve to greatly into this, however I’ve seen a great deal of outrage (both here and on other forums) about the intended nerfs for DW DK specs and Summon Gargoyle.  So lets talk about this for a minute.

Summon Gargoyle

This is a 21 point Unholy talent.  So the selling point here is that any spec can get this talent easily while still dropping 50 points into their main tree.  In addition to that, it is very easily accessible to any Hybrid spec.  So the end result is that every top end dps PvE spec in the game at the moment includes Summon Gargoyle as part of their build.

Now before you say, “But my spec doesn’t have Gargoyle!!”  Read what I said, “So the end result is that every top end dps PvE spec in the game at the moment includes Summon Gargoyle as part of their build.”  That is not to say other specs currently suck, but that the highest performing dps specs in game at the moment all include Gargoyle.  Whether it be Blood, Frost, Unholy, or a Hybrid build.

Now lets step back a minute and look at all of the other classes in WoW as if we did not currently play any specific class.  Try to gain some objectivity.  What class out there has one 21 point talent that is so valuable and OP that every single top end PvE spec goes out of their way to include it if they want to break meters and be “ZOMG DAS UBER!!!”  There is not one.  None.

That fact alone should be ringing alarm bells.

Now the side bar perspective here is that if Summon Gargoyle was to be seen as an “Unholy” pet then this would be more of an acceptable talent.  Even though it can easily produce 15% of your dps, were it a tree specific advantage it would not be as much of an issue.  Similar to how only Frost Mages have Water Elementals.  Were Blizzard to move Summon Gargoyle deeper into the Unholy tree and only marginally reduce it’s dps, then any issue would be moot.  Unholy is the Pet tree.

As things stand however our lil Gargoyle is entirely out of whack as it is.

Dual Wield – How it should be…

Blizzard and many posters are trying to say how the big problem at the moment with DW is that Killing Machine is too OP with 2 fast weapons.  *shrug*  The fact is that it is only part of the problem.  And to make matters worse Blizzard is compounding the problem with the removal of the 6 sec CD on Howling Blast with the 3.0.8 patch.

Three major factors cause DW specs to be problematic.  Howling Blast, Summon Gargoyle, and Killing Machine.  HB and SG are very very powerful talents to begin with, especially with Howling Blast comboing off of Rime.  Add in an obscene proc rate from KM when you have two very fast weapons, and all of the other stacking spell damage talents from Frost and Unholy…it gets nightmarish.  Too many different things all stacking and multiplying upon themselves.  It adds up.

The easiest fix would be to simply move both HB and SG deeper into their respective trees.  Shaman recently saw something similar.  The Enhancement talent Mental Quickness had to be moved deeper into the Enhancement tree because the Elemental shaman were specing deeply into Enhancement just to get the bonus spell power from it, which was increasing their dps more than any talent combination in the Elemental tree.

A similar change to Unholy and Frost would alleviate the “min/maxed” builds coming out from Hybrid DW specs which currently outperform all 2H specs.  Were these talents both moved into the 41 Tier, combo issues would be null and void.

As to KM, they currently seek to make a change moving this to a PPM, or Proc Per Minute, effect which would be awful.  I hate to go back to Shaman again, but yet again a similar answer lies right there.  Back in the day, the Windfury weapon imbue was so ungodly powerful for DW, they they had to put an internal cooldown on the proc rate.  Basically if your MH procs a WF proc, then neither your MH or your OH can proc WF again for 3 seconds.  Applying a similar effect to KM solves the issue of KM becoming too powerful with super fast weapons.  Give KM an internal cooldown, and viola!!  /win

So…wtf explain why nerf again?!!?

OK…

Lore is controlled by Blizzard.  But the fact is, they only like to cause upheaval in their Lore when either it makes sense, or in their “infinite wisdom” it becomes a good move.  Read: “Space Alien Gypsies”.  Don’t get me wrong…I like the Draenei.  But space ships…REALLY!?!?  REALLY!?!?!?  WTF!?!?  /sigh

Blizzard has stated emphatically, in several different ways on more than one occasion, that they do not want Death Knights to be a Dual Wield class.  That isn’t to say they don’t want the option to be available to them.  But they don’t want to see every single DK DW in PvE content because it’s so much more OP than 2H builds.

Basically this comes down to a design flaw that does not meet the expectation of the designer.  If you make something that is supposed to be awesome with x and good with y, but suddenly you find out it’s better with y than x…well then you have a problem.  X is 2h, and Y is DW.  They wanted DK’s to be able to DW if they wanted to and to be good at it.  But not to the point where it beats every conceivable 2H build available.  Hence, you have a design flaw.

While I think their designers make a lot of obvious mistakes because they are too far removed from the game itself, this is one you have to really back them up on.  It’s not supposed to be this way, so I see nothing wrong with their adjustment of it.  In the end it is fair to expect DW to be brought to a point where it is within a 5-10% dps loss from 2H builds, because that is the design.  This isn’t a surpise or new to anyone who has read up on DK’s.  We’re not supposed to be primarily DW.  People shouldn’t act like it’s something they deserve.  Blizz said up front DK’s are 2H’er guys.

And the Gargoyle nerf should be readily apparent at this point.

I hope this makes everything make more sense for some of you guys.  I am behind the concept that changes need to be made (read: “nerf”) to both SG and DW; however, I am not 100% that the path Blizzard is choosing is the correct one.  That means you guys need to carry out the good word and make sure people and especially Blizzard know to make the right changes and why.

Be prepared.  Knowledge is Power.  Nothing will ever change if you don’t speak your mind.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters.

Tags: PTR