Further Homogenization?

Blizzard's new approach to raid composition has been met with mixed feelings across the board. The unique class-specific buffs and abilities brought to a raid by certain talent specs are now shared by more than a few classes. Tanking abilities have been leveled out to allow for a main tank of any flavor. The list goes on and on.

By and large, I haven't had an issue with any of this. In fact, the tanking change is one of the best features to the expansion in my eyes, as it allows me to switch from playing a class I find little to no enjoyment out of in a main tank role, to a class I absolutely adore in the very same role.

The latest change by the powers-that-be, however has left me....irrate.

With the upcoming release of Wrath of the Lich King and the many changes the expansion brings to classes and mechanics, we have decided to rearrange our forums to make it easier for players to hold constructive discussions. To that end, we have created three role-based forums -- Tanking, Damage Dealing, and Healing -- in place of the class forums. Why?

Common ground for common roles. The new structure provides central places for players of diverse classes and specs to discuss their common roles. Until now, there was no one obvious forum for a holy paladin to discuss Arena healing tactics with a restoration shaman, or for a protection warrior to talk tanking mechanics with a feral druid. This often led to splintered, fractured, and redundant discussions. In addition, the original class forum structure never properly took the impact of talents into account, lumping together a shadow priest and a holy priest (for example) when that didn’t necessarily make sense.

Celebrate diversity! While a tank tanks and a healer heals, the specific ways each class and talent build go about these roles are very distinct -- and the addition of new abilities in Wrath of the Lich King will continue to add even more ways to play. The new forum structure will still be a place for a frost mage (for example) to discuss tricks of the trade with other frost mages, while at the same time facilitating an understanding of the unique tools that rogues or other damage-dealers have to perform similar functions.

Help us help you. The new forums will also allow the community team and developers to follow discussions and gather feedback more effectively as the game continues to evolve -- which, ultimately, translates to a better World of Warcraft for you.

The current individual class forums will be active until Thursday, November 6. On that date, we will be removing the individual class forums. You can begin using the new forums immediately at the links below:

Tanking- http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=13395580&sid=1

Healing- http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=13395582&sid=1

Damage Dealing- http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=13395581&sid=1

Allowing all of the classes and talent specs to function, at least in some capacity, competently in a raid setting is one thing. Attempting to remove any kind of class-specific forum to explore the differences between the various classes is something entirely different. Joking mostly, but hell, let's just condense the current lineup of classes into the tank, healer, and damage dealer. Give them each other's buffs, and be done.

Ah well, good thing no one takes the class forums seriously to begin with. :)

Deathknight.info Community Mod Project

In spite of the countless man-hours spent by Blizzard on the design of the stock Deathknight rune interface, it's very lackluster. In case you haven't been keeping watch, the stock rune interface has gone through more than a few changes since WotLK alpha testing. Some are a bit more utilitarian than others, however by and large, every version but the latest version has been something unique and possessing a distinctly "Death Knight" feel.





The uninspired current incarnation of the unit frame has, however, caused extensive player modification to spring up in order to develop a more efficient rune ui. I've been keeping my eye on a user interface project being worked on over at Deathknight.info, which is a community project. That is, the author of the addon has been receiving requests from the forum goers and is in the final stages of releasing a finished product.

DKIRunes takes many of the elements from various other rune interface addons (RuneHero, RuneWatch, etc) and combines them into a seamless, incredibly customizable package that is independant of other PlayerFrame modifications.

If interested, head on over to the Deathknight.info thread for DKIRunes. A finalized version of the addon is expected by the time WotLK hits the shelves.