Dwarven Shield Mastery

[Kaeldur]

A couple of weeks ago I had asked about Improved Shield Mastery, a while later Eladrin confirmed the changes to it. Now, since the Shield Mastery line has been changing, it doesn't quite make sense leaving Dwarven Shield Mastery the way it is. Will there be any changes to those enhancements or is it yet another dead line?

It was already tough to justify spending 6 AP, now it just has no synergy, 3 blocking DR in and of itself is worth nothing, it was okay when it stacked up with a bunch of other sources of blocking DR. But as is now those 3 points will add hardly anything... Could we expect anything similar to what the feats are?


PS.: I did post this before in some other thread, but I'm not sure if Eladrin (or any other dev) read it, I think it's an interesting point to discuss, even if the conclusion is there will be no changes.

[Alektronic]

1+2+3 = 6 AP total for 3 DR from the dwarven shield mastery line. Sounds alot nicer than 12AP, but yea, 3 DR [stacking] doesn't get you very far. But on a pure barbie:
11 DR (madstone shield) active
3 DR (dwarf enhancements) active
10DR (BAB 20 bonus) active
7 DR (barb 20) passive
2DR (barb enhancements) passive
---------------------------------------
33 blocking DR.

Haven't played with blocking DR much, is that right? 6AP for that last 3 DR doesn't sound so bad when you look at it like this. Coupled with a new % reduction feat; all looks swell to min. Think I'm gonna throw a shield on and play with some numbers later, but this's what I gots for now.

[Brannigan]

Just what is going on with blocking DR now , does it still exist , is it passive now ? or has it been replaced with the % miss change for Imp shield mastery?

[chodelord]

Just what is going on with blocking DR now , does it still exist , is it passive now ? or has it been replaced with the % miss change for Imp shield mastery?

Intim no longer has any "sticky" aggro

instead it provides a hate "buffer" based on your intim score

testing has shown the buffer to be nearly worthless so between that and the new 15 second cooldown on intim you can no longer block and hold aggro

with the change the devs removed intim/blocking as a useful tactic so instead of the dwarf shield enhancement line being mostly worthless it is now TOTALLY worthless, also they removed the number one reason people wear shields, so they can, you know, block stuff

but since nobody took those enhancements anyway it isn't really a big loss

post patch I suspect people will forget what the block button does except maybe low/mid level clerics whose party isn't paying attention and lets a mob wander past

[Ironforge_Clan]

Just what is going on with blocking DR now , does it still exist , is it passive now ? or has it been replaced with the % miss change for Imp shield mastery?

First off blocking DR still exists and no it is not passive.

It has not been replaced but we have a new mechanic in addition to blocking DR.

If you carry a shield, Shield Mastery will provide you with a percentage of passive damage reduction depending on the type (i.e. size) of shield you have. If you also take Improved Shield Mastery you will gain an additional 5% on top of what Shield Mastery gives you.

I've done some testing and the passive damage reduction works nicely and it taken off the based damage before your blocking DR is considered. It is very handy for damage mitigation. I just wish that there was more of an incentive to take the improved version because 5% seems paultry for an "improved" feat.

Edit - I agree with the above poster that under the new initimidate mechanic the addition of Dwarven Shield Mastery makes very little sense. Spending 6 APs for 3 DR is not very efficient or practical.

[Syerson]

I think it should add to the DR when blocking (3) and the percent damage mitigation when holding a shield. 6% extera, 2% from each enhancement tier, doesnt sound like it would be game breaking. Though I would like it more if it was doubled, say 12%. Plus it would give dwarves something to compete with the human sentinal dragonmark.

Devs get on this and show the dwarven nation a little love

[Kaeldur]

1+2+3 = 6 AP total for 3 DR from the dwarven shield mastery line. Sounds alot nicer than 12AP, but yea, 3 DR [stacking] doesn't get you very far.

Nice catch. I dunno what I was thinking, thanks for the correction there.

Either way, 3 blocking DR is worth, in U9, much less than what it was previously. For 2 reasons: you have less ways of increasing your blocking DR now (because of the change to the feats) and even if you do achieve decent blocking DR, it's pretty much useless with changes to intimidate, according to those who have tested it in Lammania (I haven't).

I suggest some reworking of the Dwarven Shield Mastery line, not sure what could be done though. Personally I wish each Dwarven Shield Mastery tier would give us a small increase to the physical damage absorption, something like 1 or 2% per tier... But due to the reluctance of increasing the physical damage absorption (only +5% for Improved Shield Mastery because, according to Eladrin, they weren't happy with the values obtained with +10%) I highly doubt we'll see an increased percentage.

What could be done, which is only marginally useful still, is push the percentages up for lower "tiers" of shields, eventually bringing Small Shield % to an equal value of Tower Shield, that way some builds could make use of the Dwarven Shield Mastery.

[lugoman]

They changed the shield mastery feats, it only makes sense for them to change the enhancements also.

[Syerson]

I feel that this should be addressed in some way. Like was previously stated, as is, its mostly a wast of 6 pts. It would be nice to know if a change to it is coming down the pipeline or if I should use those points in something els.

[chodelord]

It should be changed to something like "gives or add to existing DR when holding a shield 1/2/3"

[mournbladereigns]

having it add 1% Damage (in)vulnerability per tier when a shield is equipped would be nice, or alternately 2% when actively blocking would be cool.

[Syerson]

Just figured Id bump this to the first page again. Like to see if we can get a response on if this is going to become a useful enhancement and if its slated for sometime in the near future.

[Kaeldur]

Furthermore, a pass on the Defender prestiges would be nice. Since they're technically changing how tanking works, they inherently mess around with the Defenders by proxy. I strongly recommend a review of all enhancements that deal with shields, such as those previously stated in this thread.

[Drfirewater79]

A couple of weeks ago I had asked about Improved Shield Mastery, a while later Eladrin confirmed the changes to it. Now, since the Shield Mastery line has been changing, it doesn't quite make sense leaving Dwarven Shield Mastery the way it is. Will there be any changes to those enhancements or is it yet another dead line?

It was already tough to justify spending 6 AP, now it just has no synergy, 3 blocking DR in and of itself is worth nothing, it was okay when it stacked up with a bunch of other sources of blocking DR. But as is now those 3 points will add hardly anything... Could we expect anything similar to what the feats are?


PS.: I did post this before in some other thread, but I'm not sure if Eladrin (or any other dev) read it, I think it's an interesting point to discuss, even if the conclusion is there will be no changes.

/signed .. they should make it like they did healing amp and add a large precentage booster which stacks with the feats and shield bonuses.

Honestly they could make all same type DR bonuses stack and it would be a reason to take DR enhancements and feats .. right now DR is useless .. healers heal for twice as much hps as anyone could dream of getting and tend to over heal as is. Now that there damage spells are useless they will be more focused on healing making DR more useless.