Post-patch acclimatization process initializing.

So I’m slowly spending some time reacquainting myself with the different classes.

Summary for the tl;dr folks:

1. Thingie lives on, long live Charge
2. Majig got deleted because of bad totem feelings
3. Arcane mage/protection paladink feel the same to me as they did before
4. I need Shadowstep back, but level 60 seems so far away
5. OMGWTF I HATE HATE HATE abilities that are under 15 seconds especially if you have to keep them up
6. “Choice” is crap, there’s still a set of talents that “should” be chosen
7. Where’s the Shadow talent choice at level 90 add one soon plzkthx
8. Screw the standard Shadow talent build, I want my Shadowsquid

The Good Parts:

Caliverne nearly had a heart attack when I told him I was considering deleting a fellow warrior, but thanks to the patch, Thingie survived The Purging of the Alts.  Warriors got Titan’s Grip at a super low level and now rage regeneration feels easier (once I was reminded that I should probably use a Stance and all).  I also remembered that I really like Charge-ing into things, even though I do sometimes get a little Charge happy and Charge into the wrong mobs across the room.

Centina’s now up to 70.  Prior to the patch, people kept on complaining that now Arcane mages will have to hit a grand total of three buttons OMFG.  Maybe I’ve been a screwup as a mage, as I was always hitting three buttons or more.  In any case, it mostly seems the same as before, except I can’t tell what the hell causes Arcane Missiles to pop (sometimes I can just keep on smashing Arcane Blast forever la la la), and sometimes I get two shots of Arcane Missiles for no apparent reason.  This, however, is not something I feel mad about.  FIRE ZE MISSILES!*

Niremere has no idea how lowbie protection tanking is different now.  For her, it’s exactly like it was before.  Run in, smash things in face with a shield, smash more things and Judgementize them, yell at the huntard/priest/mage who insists on shooting the next mob before you pull the mob yourself, rinse, repeat.  Also, how many bad euphemisms/puns was Blizzard knowingly making when they created that glyph where you get a buff if you mount up?

The Iffy Part:
I’ve been leveling Bombelina because OMFG BOXES HELP ME BOXES EVERYWHERE I couldn’t unlock the boxes I was picking up, and that was the whole damn point of this rogue business.  My favorite thing ever, Shadowstep, is now a talent that I can’t get back until level 60.  I liked that skill an awful lot because I suck at positioning (hence why I often like ranged damage, because my position is simply “far away from the thing that hurts”).  On the other hand, because I have played her more recently, I seem to be getting less sucky at rogue-ing in general.  I just spend the whole pug pickpocketing anyway.

The Bad Parts:
Why the mother trucking @#$% bleeping bleepity bleep bleep bleep are there now so damned many bleeping @#%# skills under thirty seconds, some of which you’re supposed to “keep up at all times”?  If it isn’t obvious by now, I hate it when things that are Generally Useful and/or Need to Be Kept Up are also really stupid short.  Short is okay when it’s a “Save My Ass” skill or talent, but if it’s something you’re using all the damn time?  Annoying as @^#$.

Take shamans, for example.  Once upon a time, shaman totems lasted a grand total of thirty seconds to however many minutes.  It was possible to glyph them so they lasted longer, and you damn well better believe that I did.  My only issue was that although you got four “sets” that you could set up and summon, you couldn’t label those sets, which in turn made it somewhat difficult to remember which same-looking icon was which bunch of totems.

Blizzard decided to solve this totem complexity issue by making totems into mostly non-buffs that last fifteen seconds or so.  They have specific situational uses, that is, pray to God your situation lasts fifteen seconds or less (or that you’re not fighting in the same spot for more than fifteen seconds).  Fightin’!  Lemme throw down this totem.  Fightin’!  Oh wait.  Gotta do it again.  Fightin’!  Wait.  Totem time!  I’d rather just not use totems at that rate, but the reason I made a goblin shaman in the first place was because I really liked the way goblin totems looked.  Also, /sadface in that you only toss down one totem or two, because I liked having all the awesome looking totems around me.  Yeah, I deleted Majig.

I’m also feeling pissy about similar timing changes made to shadow priest skills.  For example:

Shadow Word: Pain lasts 18 seconds.
Vampiric Touch lasts 15 seconds.
Devouring Plague lasts 6 seconds.

You’re supposed to keep Pain and Vampiric Touch up all the time.  (In addition, Mind Flay no longer resets Shadow Word: Pain.)  #$% my life.

The new setup to “provide players with the flexibility to choose certain talents without backlash” is a bunch of pretentious game designer bullsheeyit; it sounds nice when you say it and nice when you plan it, but it isn’t actually true in practice.  DPS bean counters and number aficionados have, of course, already figured out The New Standard, and there is, of course, only one New Standard (unlike the one and a half there was before when there were ninety million talents).  Are you really free to choose any talent?  Yeah, right, since you need to choose certain ones for your DPS – your reason for existing.  (Also, why is there no Shadow variant for the level 90 tier?  FAIL!)

You know what Ailabeth says?  Eff it.  Eff it all.  She is keeping her Mindbender Shadowsquid.  It’s not like I was ever top DPS in the first place or even anywhere close.  I’ll take my “Passive Aggressive Mana Management” scheme and just make it a “Passive Aggressive Low Damage Justification Because I Want My Shadowsquid Dammit” scheme.

*(But I am le tired!)