World of Warcraft's new Delves system is, in my humble opinion, a net plus to the game—it's nice to have something I can solo (or hop in with a buddy or two) that gives me gear. But that's not to say it hasn't had its own teething problems. Balance issues and damage bugs have pockmarked them since release, though I've still had plenty of fun with them on the whole.
Well, say hello to the next Delve discourse: As part of the game's latest patch, Undermine(d), Brann—who is a companion that accompanies you during delves—received a tank role. This was pretty significant, seeing as before he was only able to deal damage or heal.
"Over the first few days of Season 2, we’ve noted that Brann’s tank specialization has been the best choice for completing Delves by a lot," writes community manager Kaivax in a forum post. "While we’re excited to support a true healing-focused playstyle in Delves for players who prefer that gameplay, Brann’s new Tank specialization has simply proven to be too powerful when players hang back and just focus on healing him."
The list of nerfs include broad damage debuffs to his kit, though the most noticeable nerfs are a 60% increase in incoming damage and a 20% nerf to his health pool. Oof. "As always, our aim is to provide a more-balanced experience that allows for greater diversity in playstyles and choices. We will be closely following players’ Delve experiences in the coming days and will make offsetting balance changes if needed."
This has, as you might imagine, caused some players to accuse Blizzard of sweeping in and being the fun police. "In other words, FUN DETECTED," cries Wårio the Pandaren. "So no more running Delves as a healer, got it," says another player, all but throwing up their hands.
I say this with love and appreciation for the WoW community at large—it will be the first to claim the sky is falling at the first sign of trouble. It's basically tradition at this point. I do, however, think the naysayers here aren't entirely wrong. As another player points out, "it feels like they saw he was really tanky with solo healers, so they nerfed him without giving a second thought to how [useless] he's going to be for solo DPS players."
Solo DPSing in delves with healer Brann is a bit of a stressful experience—more akin to playing a tank. You're using your limited suite of defensives, hoping that Brann's AI will save you from an untimely demise. Solo DPSing with tank Brann let me focus on what I like doing—dealing damage—while introducing an equally interesting minigame called 'can I kill this thing before it kills Brann?'. The mad scramble to revive him was also engaging, too.
I hopped in and tried a couple of delves out myself, and while tank Brann is still a decent option for the lower tiers as a DPS, he was noticeably squishier than anticipated—I can only imagine he'll fold like a pile of wet cardboard the higher you go.
I hate to say it, because it's a massive design headache, but I feel like having different versions of Brann for each role might be the solution here. Maybe tank Brann takes a bit more damage (and deals more) if you're a healer—conversely, if you're a DPS, maybe he's a touch sturdier, but he's nowhere near as good at dishing out punishment. That's more work for Blizzard's already beleaguered balance team, though, who already have the unenviable task of plucking solid feedback from all the complaining.
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