User:Timgurto/Crushings in Wrath

Originally posted 8/12/08

Currently there is an innate chance on the hit table against mobs 3+ lvls higher than you, to be crushed, which can be pushed off by avoidance and block chance (including Shield Block for warriors and Holy Shield for paladins). The intention of this was to prevent players from easily being able to fight mobs significantly higher in level than themselves. The obvious example is lvl 73 mobs (i.e. bosses), who have a 15% chance to crush a lvl 70.

The change in WotLK
The change in WotLK is simple, yet powerful: The necessary level difference is being raised from 3 to 4. This means that low-lvl characters will still suffer a similar restriction, while raiders no longer need to think about crushings (with the exception of level 84 gimmick bosses which will inevitably appear).

Repercussions?

 * Druids will become very viable tanks for hard-hitting fights
 * Block rating will not be as prominent a stat as it is now
 * Warriors will find themselves with a little more rage to play with against bosses
 * Tanks who no longer value uncrushability (and thus unhitability) will find themselves generally taking a little more damage than they are now, but it will be fairly consistent compared to what crushings offered
 * Passive uncrushability will become even more obscure than it is today. It'll be interesting to see if passive-uncrushability will even be possible with WotLK gearing.
 * Deathknights will not fall into the same category as druids, in that they generally take more damage due to their crushability. Since DKs are destined to tank with a 2H dripping with parry rating, perhaps protecting their interests in raids was the main reason for this change?
 * Shields may become optional in more fights than they are now. This is more likely for paladins than it is for warriors, since we need our shields for continuous threat.
 * Druid gearing will likely slow down so that it isn't quite as overpowered as it was in TBC, since crushings are no longer a concern for them and their benefactors over at Blizzard.
 * It's possible that gimmick shields with on-block effects (like and ) will reappear with more powerful procs, since block chances will be so significantly lower. For people with high block sets, this would be very interesting.