So, in case you've missed it, mages will get a heroism equivalence in Cataclysm, called Time Warp.
This raises some questions. Like: exactly how many tears will the shaman community shred over this? Will it exceed the mage outcry when they got their frog spell?
Another matter of discussion is what will the time warp spell sound like? I would vouch for some sort of "Swoosh!". But it could as well come with a "Bang!", like a starship taking off at warp speed. Who knows? The truth is out there.
The sound effects
To make a slightly (but only slightly) more serious take on this: regardless of what the sound turn out to be, I know I will learn to love it, the same way I love the cheering crowd that accompanies our heroism sessions.
It's not the sound in itself I enjoy so much of course - some people even argue that the bloodlust sound, which is supposed to be in the line of "gar-gar-gar" is way cooler. But I love what it represents. I suppose this is a perfect example of Pavlovian conditioning at work. When I hear it I don't exactly salivate, but not far from it. It's not only my toon that gets a boost from it - I do as well. It calls me out: "Focus! Action! Go for it! Just do it! Now!".
For you who aren't into raiding, and might not have experienced it, I'll try to describe the feeling of it. You see, the moment when the heroism is cast in a raid encounter is like the tipping point at the top of a roller coaster, at least if you're playing a dps class (I have no idea about if it's the same for a tank or healer.). The sudden acceleration, the huge damage increase, the short but sweet period where you know you have to squeeze everything you can out of your character and push it to the edge. The thrill is fantastic.
Actually I dare say that the psychological effect of it - triggered by the sound - probably is more important than the spell itself. Or as the blue poster Eyonix put it in a discussion on the forums about heroism a couple of months ago:
This raises some questions. Like: exactly how many tears will the shaman community shred over this? Will it exceed the mage outcry when they got their frog spell?
Another matter of discussion is what will the time warp spell sound like? I would vouch for some sort of "Swoosh!". But it could as well come with a "Bang!", like a starship taking off at warp speed. Who knows? The truth is out there.
The sound effects
To make a slightly (but only slightly) more serious take on this: regardless of what the sound turn out to be, I know I will learn to love it, the same way I love the cheering crowd that accompanies our heroism sessions.
It's not the sound in itself I enjoy so much of course - some people even argue that the bloodlust sound, which is supposed to be in the line of "gar-gar-gar" is way cooler. But I love what it represents. I suppose this is a perfect example of Pavlovian conditioning at work. When I hear it I don't exactly salivate, but not far from it. It's not only my toon that gets a boost from it - I do as well. It calls me out: "Focus! Action! Go for it! Just do it! Now!".
For you who aren't into raiding, and might not have experienced it, I'll try to describe the feeling of it. You see, the moment when the heroism is cast in a raid encounter is like the tipping point at the top of a roller coaster, at least if you're playing a dps class (I have no idea about if it's the same for a tank or healer.). The sudden acceleration, the huge damage increase, the short but sweet period where you know you have to squeeze everything you can out of your character and push it to the edge. The thrill is fantastic.
Actually I dare say that the psychological effect of it - triggered by the sound - probably is more important than the spell itself. Or as the blue poster Eyonix put it in a discussion on the forums about heroism a couple of months ago:
"It certainly feels like a big boost when it happens, but part of that is because so many groups use the Bloodlust/Heroism moment as the time to blow all their cooldowns and go all out. While it is unarguably a buff (though for some specs more than others), it’s role as “blow everything!” is significant too."
Mage power at last
And who wouldn't like to be the guy or girl who pulls the trigger? Until now it's been the privilege of the shamans, adding to them a certain aura of exclusiveness and power. But finally - FINALLY - the turn has come to the mages to shine. God knows we've been waiting long for this, almost as long as the gnomes have waited for their glorious retake of our capital.
When was the last time anyone really took any notice of us? Honestly? Has anyone ever asked for a mage or bothered about what we were doing standing in the back in our sissy robes since we tanked HM in Gruul? Don't think so. We weren't even wanted for the world first kill of LK heroic. (sniff)
But we're approaching a new era, my friends! As I'm casting my first Time Warp, I will pay a thought to the short statement at in the header of Euripedes blog that I've always admired so much, because it has Attitude:
I am important.
And then I'll proudly and loudly make the announcement - the obvious callout to make when you're about to enter a Time Warp.
"Engage!"
Then there will be a Swoosh! Or a Bang. Whatever.
And who wouldn't like to be the guy or girl who pulls the trigger? Until now it's been the privilege of the shamans, adding to them a certain aura of exclusiveness and power. But finally - FINALLY - the turn has come to the mages to shine. God knows we've been waiting long for this, almost as long as the gnomes have waited for their glorious retake of our capital.
When was the last time anyone really took any notice of us? Honestly? Has anyone ever asked for a mage or bothered about what we were doing standing in the back in our sissy robes since we tanked HM in Gruul? Don't think so. We weren't even wanted for the world first kill of LK heroic. (sniff)
But we're approaching a new era, my friends! As I'm casting my first Time Warp, I will pay a thought to the short statement at in the header of Euripedes blog that I've always admired so much, because it has Attitude:
I am important.
And then I'll proudly and loudly make the announcement - the obvious callout to make when you're about to enter a Time Warp.
"Engage!"
Then there will be a Swoosh! Or a Bang. Whatever.
Edit: I think I need to add a little disclaimer. Like some other community members (for instance TB) I DO have doubts about how wise it is to make all the classes more or less similar, - the same stuff in different shells. The Bring-the-player-not-the-class concept can easily lead to a pretty boring game in the long run. If I'm truly honest.
Nevertheless: speaking from my strictly selfish Mage perspective, I can't but smile thinking about my new incoming power buff that will put me in the captain's chair. Cheers! It was about time that we got a little bit of love. Then there's some other stuff going on with the mages that is less promising. But I'll leave that to another day.
Nevertheless: speaking from my strictly selfish Mage perspective, I can't but smile thinking about my new incoming power buff that will put me in the captain's chair. Cheers! It was about time that we got a little bit of love. Then there's some other stuff going on with the mages that is less promising. But I'll leave that to another day.
16 comments:
I want some time of translucent aura to go over the raid when it happens-- kind of like we are phasing in and out of time.
It will be cool!
*type of translucent aura
Hey Larìsa, hello again...
When I saw those changes I also tought about making a post about them, maybe it'll be the trigger for that change I told you about, who knows...
Well, of course when i saw time warp i loved it (and I'll probably have an /y macro that says something along the lines of captain James Tiberius Kirk when enterpirse is about to enter warp speed) but I'll probably focus more about the other mage announcements.
Having to watch your mana and being able to do more damage the more mana you have is gonna be cool, but the new pyromaniac just hit me like a bomb, it's so full of flavor, i mean, the more things i have burning the faster i can make other things burn... OMG!
Well, this wont be a wall of text this time, I Swear, just a fast comment to let you know I'm around.
Great Hug
Jabarj
It's a little off-topic, but anytime I hear someone refer to it as Heroism as opposed to Bloodlust or Heroism/Bloodlust, I weep a little inside.
It's funny that everyone here has Star Trek references for their Time Warp macros. My choice was obvious from the first goshdarn second.
"It's just a jump to the left, then a step to the right!"
Or:
"Leeet's do the Tiiiime Waaaarp agaaaain!"
I honestly hate the idea that mages get Heroism / Bloodlust. And yes, I play a Shaman. But a restoration one, so it does not endanger my raidspot.
However, under current situation, no shaman dps tree can compete with mages and the only reason they were taken into the raid were some totems and heroism.
Enhancement shaman raid utility is gone with 3.3.3 frost DKs, their totems are worthless even in 10M nowadays (most of the time anyways) and last time I checked, enhancement was lower on the simulated dps charts. Elementals are just this bit better, but nothing worldbreaking. Their ticket to raid spots nowadays is heroism, and they want to give it to class that secures their spot with important buff and debuff capability, with insane dps potency. And still keep hybrids lower on damage than pures.
I can only imagine the singing on vent when it's popped.
Rocky horror fans rejoice.
My own problem with heroism is precisely the way people react when it's popped. It's almost like an "omg turn off brain, must push buttonz faster" button. The number of times I've seen raids pop it and people die in fire just depresses me.
Hey Ski-Ace,
since you are happily flying on your time tunnel, I have something from the class previews you haven't read, to polish up your pride a bit.
As you have certainly read, you fireball slinger, Ice shard thrower and Arcane blaster are facing mana issues in the future.
While this might offset you in the first step, a look on the mana independent classes will tell you, that their "white" damage will play a minor role.
So when you invite everyone to step into your time warp train, you - as a mana junkie - will profit the most from it.
Or in other words, in short fight which require a high level of damage, clever mana juggler will be sought after in their sissy skirts.
Usiel
This is what I like to see from a blogpost, Larisa - none of that daft theorycrafting business... we need to know what sound it's going to make. Preferably accompanied with a cool motion-blur effect!
When I told a friend that she needs a "/y It's just a jump to the left!" macro, she was in hysterics and made me promise not to give that idea to anyone else.
I didn't have the heart to tell her...
I've listened to Time Warp from RHPS about six times in the last few days.
My macro will definitely be a line from it, but not the obvious ones. There's one about "entering the time slip" that might work. :D
Anyway, Larisa, I think you've hit the nail on the head. Sounds trigger emotion and moods so instinctually, that I've long reacted to 'lust just from the sound, not from any particular intellectual registration of what was happening. I hope time warp does have a distinctive and compelling sound effect, because the "pavlovian" response is almost as important to me as the buff is in the first place.
/cheers!
I would be unable to play while under the effect of the time warp...
"Leeet's do the Tiiiime Waaaarp agaaaain!"
Honestly, to all raiders, is there any more exciting sound (other than "Boss is down!" of course) than hearing a raid leader call for Blood Lust/Heroism in Vent? Talk about your instant-shot-of-triple-shot-expresso-praise-the-shammies-and-pass-the-peanuts moment!
Of course, you wicked, insidious mages (especially gnome) will now also have the great ignominy (like the gnome pun there?)of responding to the raid and raid leader, "Uhm, Time Warp on cooldown, thankyou,sosorry,k?gottago,bye."
Now, what would really be cool, and would shut down the shammies spigots of QQ would be if Time Warp and Blood Lust/Heroism were introduced on separate cooldowns, i.e., TWO massive pwnage moments for a boss fight. This actually would not be as OP as one would initially think given the different mana, focus, energy, rage requirements being introduced. Actually, now that I think about it a little more, this would require a certain discipline of your dps to get back to the lower baseline DPS with two (2) moments of extreme output. Hmmm, think I would kind of like that myself - requires a little more thought than just button pushing of the big abilities.
Spiritus
That heroism moment always reminds me of sitting in a plane when it gets final take off clearance, the throttles open, the launch down the runway begins, getting faster and faster and faster, pushed into your seat, holding your breath, until your stomach drops.... and you leave the ground.
:)
While I did a similar based post over at my site, and I enjoyed reading it, and could write another rant to it, only two things come by as 'comments'
First, my druid uses a 'chevron one; encoded' macro for the wormhole generator *cough*
Second....your cynical brit link is broken *hides*
@Azryu: yeah, the visuals! Mustn't forget about those!
@Jairo/Jabarj: can't wait for your blog to turn English so I can read it! At least parts of it. Don't brazilian players understand English? There's no reason to isolate yourself there. I'm underwhelmed by the mana management feature tbh. More about that tomorrow.
@Anonymous: hm.. I don't follow quite. Am I missing something due to noobishness?
@Anonymous: hm.. You're absolutely right about the correct references. Still: I'm a trekkie at heart so whenever I think about speeding up, in connection to the word "warp", it's ST that comes to mind for me.
@Blueberrytotem: well, mages have been a bit subpar now for a while aparently. At least they weren't included in Paragons raid, as I remarked. So to keep OUR radispots we needed a little something. Actually I don't think it makes any difference in guild runs - we had shamans before and ofc we'll have shamans in Cataclysm. It will make a difference in pugged 10 man raids though. It will probably become a little bit easier for a mage to get in, and you won't have to hang around waiting for ages for that miracle missing shaman to turn up.
@Echo: you're probably right. We might become a little bit too automized in our heroism frenzy.
@Usiel: hm... the mana juggling issue is kind of touchy for an arcane mage. We are a bit puzzled, even concerned. More about that tomorrow.
@Rachkalos: thanks, glad you appreciated it! About a good /y-macro, I suspect we'll see quite a few takes on this, including addon-created ones.
@Rhii: cheers!
@Spiritus: it would be easier to stay friendly with the shammies if we could both be allowed to pull the trigger. I wonder if this will be an issue of discussion, who should do it. Since mages get an extra speed buff I suppose we'll be pretty keen on being the ones to push the button.
@Chewy: oh yes, I agree about the airplane take of analogy. I was thinking about including this one as well, but there wasn't really any space for it - and kill your darlings, you know. Anyway, it's exactly how I feel.
@Holly: thanks for pointing that out, I've fixed it now.
My only fear is that this is a "They're not really the best DPS anymore compared to the other pure-DPS classes, so let's give them some utlity instead!" move by Blizzard.
- Ercles
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