Blizzcon: 2011

[Aiden]

I have the name Xpress reserved for my panda.  >:)

[Sel Nar]

Only thing I find interesting is that the Diablo III male barbarian is the D2 Barbarian, only 20 years older and with a beard.

[AllieCat]

I've already got the name "Saotome" saved for my Panda Monk.  ;D

"Genma" was sadly already taken.   :-\

Growf!

(you know, considering the other events of Blizzcon, it's too bad we'll never have an aquatransexual (not to mention the other Jusenkyo curses) :D

[Chris Brady]

Male Barbadian, named Korgoth! In honor of the one I had in D2!

He can be the same dood, as the Barbarian is the only character returning from D2

Only thing I find interesting is that the Diablo III male barbarian is the D2 Barbarian, only 20 years older and with a beard.

And grey haired.  Despite the fact he'd be about 38-44 years old.

Still getting it.

As for the Mist of Pandaria, I'm not keen on the idea of the talent changes, they're going to kill the Warrior AGAIN?  Fuck man, they've raped that class six ways through Sunday for the past seven years.  No other class has ever been that brutalized.

[LunarSage]

Growf!

(you know, considering the other events of Blizzcon, it's too bad we'll never have an aquatransexual (not to mention the other Jusenkyo curses) :D

;D

*Is so glad someone else got the reference*

[SinXAzgard21]

I've got three panda names already, and so does the wife.  I am signed up for the annual pass so I'll be playing D3 off and on along with WoW.

[Jacqueline]

He can be the same dood, as the Barbarian is the only character returning from D2
And grey haired.  Despite the fact he'd be about 38-44 years old.

Still getting it.

As for the Mist of Pandaria, I'm not keen on the idea of the talent changes, they're going to kill the Warrior AGAIN?  Fuck man, they've raped that class six ways through Sunday for the past seven years.  No other class has ever been that brutalized.

I didn't know that it was the same barbarian at all, good to know! I know someone that with only 30 years has half of his hair grey.

[Chris Brady]

Yes, but does his face match?  This guy looks OLD, when he shouldn't be looking like his 60s. He's a badass, badasses always look good no matter their age.

Still isn't stopping me from getting the collector's edition though.

[Jacqueline]

He had a tough life of totally annihilating demons. I guess that it makes sense that he looks old. Wiki says that it's the same individual from Diablo 2, that's pretty neat.

I'm not sure if I will buy the collector's edition, the problem is the price as usual. I love the wings.

[Aiden]

I'm used to Blizzard raping my warrior over, I don't bother to DPS anymore with them I just tank, life is so much easier that way.

As for the new changes, I look forward to them, I like the idea of what they are doing. It's not a nerf it's "game balance."  XD

[Jacqueline]

So funny, thanks for the picture Aiden.

By the way, I was thinking about the female barbarian a few hours ago, I kind of wished that they would make her like the old Tyris Flare character from Golden Axe. Okay, she was an amazon, but she could fit as a barbarian! A prettier one, besides you can always dress her appropiately for the game.

[Xanatos]

My precious paladin! -holds up fist and curses Blizz-

[Shjade]

Gee, I wonder what classes the maker of that picture plays.  ::)

[Callie Del Noire]

I'd say either hunter and/or Paladin.

[LunarSage]

I get all of them but the Warrior.  What's the joke with the gear shift lever?

[Jacqueline]

Gee, I wonder what classes the maker of that picture plays.  ::)

I'd vote for Paladin, although the shaman looks pretty... undecided. It made me giggle.

[Callie Del Noire]

I'd vote for Paladin, although the shaman looks pretty... undecided. It made me giggle.

I think it's a bit annoying given my favorite three are the ones with the wildest handles. Hunter, Pali and Shaman.. I can tank my pali but I suck at dps.. even with a 370+ gear average on my dps set. Hunter and Shaman are still meh.. but then I got blues and greens still.

My BIGGEST SCREAMING fit is the damn fact that it's hard to get epic shoulders. You can't buy them.. there is like.. 1 spot for any particular epic shoulders in the heroic troll instances.

[Saerrael]

I'm used to Blizzard raping my warrior over, I don't bother to DPS anymore with them I just tank, life is so much easier that way.

As for the new changes, I look forward to them, I like the idea of what they are doing. It's not a nerf it's "game balance."  XD

*laughs*

Priests do need serious amounts of aid, though. None of their trees actually work as intended. Disc doesn't work. You're meant to use AA, not ignore it like it is now. Holy has one stance left that actually works. Sort of. Maybe. Okay... It doesn't work, but it's pretty...? Shadow is much too RNG to be a reliable dps spec compared to other classes.
But still no one will be able to take away my priest from me. I happily AA in FL and play shiny-sparkly Holy in PuGs and take the crap with a grain of salt until things get fixed.

[Xanatos]

I used to be able to heal in tanking gear! Gone are the days when Paladins were amazing -sobs-. Gone are the days when I healed in tanking gear and stole aggro from a higher level warrior tank with purples while I wore only greens and blues -sobs-!

Who tanks now anyways? If Paladins got nerfed and if warriors still suck, who then? Shamans were never much of a tank. Druids just had hit points but not much else. Do they have Mage tanks now? Rogues just DPSing the crap outa anything that moves? DK? Meh, DK's were never as good as Paladins.

[Callie Del Noire]

My take on tanking is.. I can hold groups better than the warriors of the guild, but single targets I have to fight to keep it. Druids.. our last best druid tank left the guild some time back (we miss the french Canadian dude!) so I can't make a call on it. The DKs do okay.. but typically lose to me or the warriors.

[Shjade]

"Who tanks now," you ask? The same folks who always have: the good tanks.

The majority of each class's playerbase always bitches about being overnerfed all the time compared to all the other classes and blah blah blah. And then there are the players who get shit done regardless. ;p

Of the classes I've played, the only one that felt like it took way too hard a hit from the nerf bat was Warlocks in the transition from BC to LK, when affliction and destruction (specifically the wrecking ball that was 0/21/40) got completely beaten to shit. Pretty much stopped playing it after that - not that the class was unplayable, I just didn't like the new "style" of warlock with the bouncing Haunt dot-tide shenanigans or the chaos-fire silliness in deep destro, and I've never liked relying on a pet so Demo was never appealing. That was one nerf I could see as the cause for justified WTF's on the part of the playerbase. Most of the tears are shed over a few number changes here and there, though, which strikes me as silly. There's a difference between making something weaker and completely removing abilities (siphon life, demo-sac-destro bolts, etc.) from the game. The former is just something you adapt to; the latter tends to dramatically change how a class plays, which is sort of a big deal.

[Xanatos]

I really don't want to sound rude, but you need to read between the lines more. Of course the good players still tank. I know first hand as I was one of the best tanks on my small RP server. Regardless, class nerfs can and do dictate a lot. Skill can only go so far in a game where class powers/abilities determine so much. Its not like a FPS where skill alone determines success. I could be the best mage ever but I still couldn't tank simply because of how the class is set up. Where as in another style game, a space flight simulator game, I could be put up against superior opponents with inferior (to a point) tech and I can still win based on skill alone.

So what I was asking was sorta what Callie answered; what classes are tanking if Paladin has gotten nerfed to holy hell and back? The whole reason Pally's got nerfed was because of their tanking. Healing next, and dps last. They were good(ish) dps, and great healers. Tanks, they were gods.

When I was playing (BC/WotLK), Paladin ruled, everyone else sucked bad. Druid tanks were okay but lacked a lot. Everyone else I pretty much avoided. Paladins were the only ones who could hold aggro over an entire area full of mobs without some leaking out onto the rest of the team. I stole aggro from Warriors without even trying when I healed. It was stupid. I rarely saw a Shaman tank, so I honestly can't speculate too much but I can say they probably saw little usage most likely because they weren't great at it.

[Shjade]

Speaking of reading between the lines...

In BC/LK, I ran raids with a paladin tanking, with a druid tanking, with a warrior tanking, and tanking myself as a DK. The DK's seemed most prone to abruptly going squish on the big numbers fights, but aside from that they all got the job done pretty well with various advantages: druids doing massive damage (for tanks) in addition to holding threat, warriors being basically impossible to out-agro on a single target, etc.

Class nerfs dictate a lot...about how people think of the class. It's rarely the case that you actually "can't tank" with X class just because their shield got nerfed 2% in the last patch or whatever. People might like to act as though it's the end of the world, but that doesn't mean it is. My point was, if "paladins got nerfed and warriors still suck," paladins and warriors are still the ones tanking. They're just used for tanking by the players who aren't sucked up in the hyperbole of how much they got nerfed and suck forever now.

tl;dr - People exaggerate.

[Chris Brady]

I get all of them but the Warrior.  What's the joke with the gear shift lever?

There are about six levels of buffage and nerfing they do.  Each slightly bigger than the last.  Although I don't think they gave a 5th gear one since the huge crush the class got in Open Beta.  Also, 4th is a Nerf.

[LunarSage]

Thank you, Chris.