Small Fixes Make a BIG Difference, Interview With Complexity's Sodah

Lately I have been thinking about some small changes that would make a huge difference with the Warlock Class... and how small changes would really be the best way to improve or balance classes further to improve the game without throwing anything off with major changes.  I'm sure that almost every player can think of small little bugs and problems with their class that fixes could easily be implemented for to greatly improve them without completely adding some new ability or changing a talent.  When Blizzard changes a huge talent or massively nerfs or buffs an ability it can really throw PvP balance out of whack because it's very hard to change something just the right amount and not end up making something over or underpowered.  It's pretty common, and happens almost nearly every major patch where a class or spec suddenly skyrockets to the top of arena representations or is completely dismantled by a change which leaves them with no viable comps at all.

Speaking along those lines, there are a a few things that stand out as simple changes which would make a massive difference for Warlocks.  For starters, Unstable Affliction should not have dispel resistance, it is completely backwards logic and defeats the purpose of the ability - to punish anyone who dispels it.  It can be frustrating to see fear, deathcoil, etc dispelled off a target you need to control by a priest who is continually avoiding the damage / silence from UA because of the dispel resistance talent including it.  I recently had a game against Vrty (the priest on my 5s team) where he was able to dispel all 3 fears in a row plus the deathcoil off his rogue while they trained our Shaman without getting UA once.  It goes without being said that it can easily change the course of the match and I honestly don't think Blizzard intended it to be that way.  The talent in question is http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=30064, and it would be an extremely simple fix to just remove UA from that talent or even as a more extreme option make it so that Contagion is not a pre-requisite to getting Unstable Affliction so that when you're playing dispel teams you'd be able to skip it.

Another thing which is a pretty obvious one is not being able to conflagrate before immolate is dispelled.  Many people feel that the ability is only balanced because of how that works,  but with the upcoming conflagrate nerf that may no longer be the case.  I am not really sure how this could be fixed, but I'm sure Blizzard could simply give a 0.5s dispel immunity or something along those lines to Immolate so people could conflag right away as long as they were spamming the ability before it got dispelled.  Even if you're able to get the conflagrate right away, dispelling it is still a massive difference simply because if you can't get a chaos bolt -> conflag with immolate up it's huge burst, and if you're forced to conflag right away, and then chaosbolt without immolate up it really breaks up the damage and changes it to something which is extremely manageable to heal.  If you land a chaosbolt / conflag at the same time with elements and immolate you're looking at ~11,000 non-crit instantly, whereas a conflag -> chaosbolt is more like 9500 damage over ~2.5 seconds.

The other major culprit here for me is pet AI, which is much more difficult to fix.  It's pretty common for your pet to be unable to Spell Lock for various reasons due to poor AI, and it can be really frustrating to watch a full Divine Hymn, or Holy Light channel with your Spell Lock up simply because your pet won't use the ability.  When someone is on a pillar, if your pet isn't in line of sight instead of running to the healer it will try to Spell Lock through the pillar and tell you that it's out of line of sight.  Along the same lines even if your pet is meleeing the healer it's often inside the pillar and consequently will give you the line of sight message even though it's meleeing them and will not Spell Lock.  There's obviously many of the same issues with Devouring, as it's pretty common for someone to get Sheeped and path out of line of sight and your pet will not run to them to Devour, so instead you either simply cannot get it off or you have to put your pet on follow and bring it to them or tell it to attack something by the sheep.

Just changing those three things would really improve the Warlock class, and there are tons of other things with other classes that're basically the same thing.  Stoneclaw totems absorb not working instantly is one small example, as it's not uncommon for a Shaman to die with it down and not having absorbed anything yet.  That's just one non-warlock example, and I really feel like Blizzard should be focusing on these sorts of fixes instead of trying to add new abilities or make other massive changes.  If you can think of other examples like this with your class post them up in the comments and maybe we can get some sort of a list going for Blizzard to work on.




So I figured I'd do something different this week... as I haven't yet done an interview, and Sodah is someone who mostly keeps to himself but is a fantastic player and a good friend.  I figured he'd be a good choice for this so I hope you all enjoy it and are able to get some insight into him as a player and person.  Without any further delay, here's the interview!



Azael - So, how about you start off by introducing yourself?

Sodah - I am Sodah, priest of Blackrock, also known as Alex, poli sci major at UCSB. I play RMP almost exclusively, as its the funnest comp, and I play with Reckful and Venruki as team complexity. I also like puppies and CRPGS.

Azael - You were able to take third place at MLG Dallas, and you were also the highest placing RMP in a tournament with five of them.  Many people were impressed not only with your team, but in particular with your very offensive playstyle.  What can we expect from you going into MLG Anaheim, should we look for more of the same or are you planning on taking home the Firebirds this time around?

Sodah - I think we're going to totally whoop ass at Anaheim, specifically in the round robin. We've been getting our games in and we have no doubts we will be able to dominate almost all of the mirrors, your team / yog's team, and the shadowcleaves. Beastcleave is another story, so we've been practicing our BM hunter, paladin, shaman setup to mirror them. I'm not worried about them finding out our strategy to mirror them, because its not like you can change how you play and somehow overcome our opponent. You just dps the lowest armor target. But all joking aside, I'm expecting it to be extremely stressful. Playing game after game against top mages is not easy for the priest. You can never ever let your guard down or lose your focus or you will eat sheeps and be humiliated. It's going to be tough getting trained all day and sheeped constantly, but I still look forward to the tournament because at least RMP and RLS games are fun.

Azael - Do you really think that Beastcleave is so easy to play that you'll be able to beat Check6 in a mirror?

Sodah - I think that we have a better chance as a mirror than on RMP. It has so little to do with coordination, positioning, timing, and analysis that it simply comes down to : who bops CCs faster, who crits more, and who doesn't manage to fatfinger the wrong button. Playing against them on live is one of the most depressing things I've ever experienced, as they've decided to start focusing me instead of my mage. They target me, I pain suppression, desperate prayer, shield, and die before my PS ends. I'm not exaggerating or kidding, and it's disgusting. Maybe we could play differently and change the outcome, but when a team can do that sort of thing using no CC coordination at all, there's something inherently wrong. Flexx tells me it's because of live gear, which is definitely the case. Hunter ranged weapons were buffed in S6 and on S5 gear for tournaments its much easier to deal with the damage. So maybe it actually will be easier on MLG realm, but I still think we have a better shot as a mirror.

Azael - Since swapping over from Druid where you originally became a known player, you've made quite a name for yourself on Priest and are definitely considered one of the top Priests not only in North America but in the world.  Speaking from personal experience there's no priest I hate playing against more as Destruction as it feels almost impossible to get Conflagrates off before you dispel the immolate.  Besides quick dispels, what do you think sets you apart from the competition, and more specifically other Priests?

Sodah - I think that I've massively improved throughout this year as a priest, and because I have a fresh perspective on the priest class in Wrath it helps me keep up with the other vanilla priests like Numberone, Toez, and Realz. I ignore mana efficiency (which I've always done on my druid anyway,) and focus on being able to utilize my abilties to free up my DPS to do what they want. A healer shouldn't cripple his dps and make them help him, he should be helping them. Maybe this is a different perspective than level 70. I'm also perhaps the most determined. Proving yourself when you reroll to a new class, especially with a comp like RMP, is not easy. Your team does not trust you and you get constant tells asking why you aren't playing Druid anymore, and you get no pats on the back for your improvements as a priest. However, I've always been an insanely offensive druid, which is why DMR worked back then, and I've rolled over that ideology for Priest. If you're looking for specifics, its really about awareness about when your rogue needs dispels, shields for vanishes, and extra burst. Those are so important and really are the only things you need to be super successful.

Azael - Do you see yourself continuing to play for the next year competitively?  What goals do you want to be able to accomplish before you quit WoW?  Would you like to win a tournament or get to Blizzcon before you do, or are you happy with what you accomplished and feel like you could leave anytime satisfied?

Sodah - I don't know if I'm going to be playing next year competitively. However, I have yet to get 1st place at a tournament and that is just downright depressing. It's been snatched from me when I was one round away from winning at Philadelphia, and I don't plan on giving up until I win a major event, like Blizzcon. However, despite this competitive attitude, I always find myself just playing with people I like, and playing compositions which are fun. I never really expected to get championships as druid mage rogue, I just liked getting recognition of being crazy good at my class. I will continue to play for the enjoyment, and I think as long as arenas still give me satisfaction I will still play. How's that for a mixed answer.

Azael - Works for me, haha.  So, there has been a lot of talk about the current state of World of Ming & it's most recent bloggers, what's your opinion on it all?

Sodah - I like how Ming has brought on a variety of writers, but I still love Ming's own blogs the most. His unique style is really what brought him success, and he should be careful of who he chooses to pass on the torch. As a side note on Ming's style and generally what bloggers talk about, I notice that DPS classes are glorified while healers are given vague compliments. Sometimes healers can be the backbone of a team, calling targets, and can against many setups have the most difficult job. The healer has the broadest view of the match, and is constantly keeping in mind everyone's mana and knows what needs to be done to turn the tide of cooldowns and mana. Druids in TBC and Priests in general have this aspect of being able to change the fight moreso than Shamans and especially Paladins. I think this is largely ignored by the gameriot community, but hopefully Zilea can show how everyone how healers are the ******* bomb. Now that I think about it, every healer class has this ability to be more important than the DPSers, I just haven't played Shaman and Paladin enough to comment on the extent of this.

Azael - Yeah... you were supposed to tell everyone how much you liked my blogs with that question.... that's pretty awkward. Didn't even mention me man, that's cold as ice.  Well that's probably a good note to end on, so any shout outs or anything else to add before we call it quits?

Sodah - I read your blogs, Ming's blogs, and Pookz' blogs. Yours are good! I want to thank Creative, G8, XFX graphics, Puretrak, and Nationvoice for sponsoring compLexity. Cool interview, bro. Now let's go play borderlands.


That's it for this week!