It's about god damn time

[Das Thug]

Going Away Completely

MP5 - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Holy paladins and Restoration shaman will be redesigned to benefit from Spirit.

Defense - Defense is being removed from the game entirely. Tanking classes should expect to become uncrittable versus creatures just by shifting into Defensive Stance, Frost Presence, Bear Form, or by using Righteous Fury.

Spell Ranks - Spell ranks will cease to exist. All spells will have one rank and will scale appropriately with level. The levels at which you can learn certain spells are being changed in order to fill in some of the gaps, and we will be introducing some new spells to learn along the way as well.

Weapon Skill - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Classes will start with all the weapon skills they need to know and will not need to improve them.


Weapon skill has been completely onerous and unnecessary for just about as long as the game exists, and it's stupid that it's taken them this long to do anything about it.


ps, onerous.

edit: I forgot the "un" in "unnecessary"

[nut]

i agree with everything in which i see at which the post herein.

[xvim]

Getting rid of all the 'calculated' shit and replacing it with raw stats, Spell Power included. All items will just have the basic stats on them so no weapons with AP, SP, ArP etc. Complete overhaul eventually.

[Das Thug]

that shits all well and good, but the removal of weapon skill is the one thing that really caught my attention.

[N.U.]

well that sucks. I've been working my ass off to keep my unarmed skills up. Looks like some achievements will be unachievable as a result.

[Das Thug]

id gladly lose some token achievements if it also meant losing an awful game mechanic.

[xvim]

well that sucks. I've been working my ass off to keep my unarmed skills up. Looks like some achievements will be unachievable as a result.

That will be true of many achievements, like all of the Lore ones for completing quests since most of the quests will be redone and the Lore Master quests for the old world stuff will be reset if you don't already have them done. And you have several months at least to get your weapon skills up. No biggie.

[Mercutio]

Remember being a shaman and being able to eventually learn axes and then losing that and going back to zero when you respecced? Or something like that? Goddamit, all I know is it drove me nutty.

[Das Thug]

2handed weapons, yeah. any time you respec you lose whatever skill you had in 2H axe and 2H mace from the old 10 point enhance talent. totally efficient and fun.

[Mercutio]

That element factored heavily into me quitting WoW. They patched it (I think) a few months afterwards. I had a 50-something shaman and respecced. Then I tried to melee a mob even with me and hit it twice over the course of two minutes. Then I died. Then I realized what happened. Then I cancelled my subscription because WHAT THE FUCK WEAPON SKILLS WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU I DON'T EVEN

[Sheep]

That's the thing I don't like about a lot of games. It's like wanting to learn how to ride a motorcycle. Sure, go ahead, but you cannot remember how to drive a car at all.

[Mercutio]

Final Fantasy XII stands out in my mind as a really superior title because it took everything that was wrong with the RPG genre's gameplay and (mostly) fixed it. WoW was initially spun as an MMORPG that was doing the same sort of thing. It's an improvement, sure...but Jesus Christ, it has taken a while.

[neios]

i would pay cash monies in order to raid solo with 29 other players set to gambits.

MOVE OUT OF THE FUCKING GLOWY GROUND DOUCHEBAG

[N.U.]

It's still an issue using hirelings in DDO. They will stand in the fiery pit of lava and spend all their time healing themselves.

Reason #7 that I made a Cleric.

[Mojo]

Getting rid of all the 'calculated' shit and replacing it with raw stats, Spell Power included. All items will just have the basic stats on them so no weapons with AP, SP, ArP etc. Complete overhaul eventually.

If anything, this should make the ridiculous amounts of min-maxing that go on easier for everybody to understand. Certain items are better for you depending on if you're capped on certain stats and it means that certain calculated stats like expertise and ArP are absolutely necessary and if you're not capped on those you're a complete failure.

It should also help streamline the entire gearing process by making items more universal.