Now that I’m on the subject of shocks anyway… this is from the PTR 2.3 patch notes.
Frost Shock is no longer subject to diminishing returns.
It embarrasses me to admit it but I had no idea what they meant. Luckily, there’s always WoWWiki to help us out.
[Frost Shock] is affected by diminishing returns, the first snare lasts 8 sec, on second cast 4 sec, third 2 sec then the target is immune to it for 15 seconds after expiration of the last snare.
Honestly, I had no idea. I learn something new every day.
As I understand it, removing the diminishing returns means that (in theory at least) we can kite enemies ad infinitum, until they die or until we’re out of mana.
This of course raises a question: how does Frost Shock compare to the snare abilities of other classes?
- instant cast
- range of 20 yards
- lasts for 8 seconds
- cooldown of 6 seconds
- can be active on multiple targets at the time
- no specific talent build required
No matter how I look at it… after patch 2.3 Frost Shock will be, hands down, the best snare ability in the game. Is this maybe Blizzard’s response to all the shamans that were begging for crowd control?
I don’t play a Shammie (too many totems!), and I don’t PvP, but I can already hear the “nerf” cries, because, in fact, it’s now the single most OP snare ability, especially PvP wise where pretty much everything under the sun has diminishing returns…
True, it’s a lot of totems, but only four at the same time
Blizzard’s constant tweaking and tinkering are no doubt making a lot of people unhappy at some point. Even I think it would be silly to first nerf, then buff, and then nerf Frost Shock again, but then again, you never know…