EDIT: Posted here:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=10043249809&postId=100422171781&sid=2000
Warriors block more effectively than Paladins
After seeing no changes to address this concern in the last few builds, I'm making this post to show that, through block scaling, Warriors often find themselves blocking more damage than Paladins given the same gear, and actually benefit more from the Paladin Tier armor than Paladins do.
Abilties
Paladin
Holy Shield
Versus single targets, this skill offers the highest uptime. Increases chance to block by 30%.
Redoubt
Versus single targets, this skill generally only accounts for 3.5%-4.5% block, making it worse than Shield Specialization, a passive 5% block available to all Warriors. However, it is a unique flavor distinction and scales with multiple attackers. It has its benefits and downside.
Shield Specialization / New Redoubt
Increases block value by 30%.
Warrior
Shield Block
Increases chance to block by 100% and block value by 100% for ten out of every 40 seconds. It's a powerful skill, but it's worth noting that it's not the same as doubling your block value, as percentage-based block value modifiers don't work that way.
Critical Block
Gives a 30% chance to block for double. This is applied after all block modifiers.
Shield Specialization
Increases chance to block by 5% flat.
Improved Shield Block
Increases block value by 30%.
The Problem
The problem is that Warrior blocks scale better. With a 30% chance to block for double, and 100% increased block value and guaranteed blocks 25% of the time, they're just scaling too well. The strength of the Paladin blocking mechanic is more, smaller blocks. However, that leads to several issues:
Redoubt doesn't apply as well
If the Paladin's strength lies in having a 100% uptime 30% block chance, and Redoubt procs offer another 30%, you're guaranteed to be wasting some block chance. There's never a time with single targets that you can use 60% extra block. This isn't a huge deal, but it means that as your gear improves and you fill more of the attack table, Redoubt gets less and less effective to the point that it becomes useless when you fill the attack table.
Redoubt makes block rating on gear less valuable
With 40% avoidance and 10% block being the minimum avoidance values (just enough defense to be uncrittable by raid bosses and nothing else), Redoubt will always offer more than enough applicable block chance versus single targets. This means that any time Redoubt procs while tanking a single target, any block rating you have on your gear serves no purpose. This is a big deal, since Redoubt lasts ten seconds and has a 10% chance to proc on every hit.
As avoidance increases, Holy Shield becomes less valuable
The Paladin's advantage, as stated, is that he blocks more often for less damage. However, what happens when avoidance and block from gear and buffs starts to fill the attack table to the point that Holy Shield offers less than 30% effective chance to block? The Warrior continues to get blocks with 100% increased block value, and occasionally block for double, but the Paladin just blocks fewer and fewer times. Holy Shield scales inversely with gear as soon as the tank reaches 70% avoidance and block when fully buffed without it.
Shield Block is more effective
The 100% increased chance to block helps much more at lower gear levels, but the 100% increased block value gets better at higher gear levels. As gear improves, the warrior will likely be gaining block value, and that block value will always be increased by 100% for every ten out of 40 seconds. Holy Shield will also block for more with more block value, but as gear gets better, so do passive avoidance and block levels, which makes Holy Shield worse and worse.
Critical Block has excellent scaling
Firstly, Critical Block doesn't affect the attack table (like Holy Shield and Redoubt do), so while it does scale with more blocks and block value, its increases will (versus hard hitters) never be wasted. It also scales on the modifiers Warriors have. It doesn't just double the block value, it also doubles the block value gained from Shield Mastery and even the block value gained from Shield Block. This is a huge advantage! Each and every time a Paladin blocks, he blocks for 1.3x his block value (30% block value from talents), because he has no other block value modifying abilities. 30% of the time when Shield Block isn't up, a Warrior blocks for 2.6x his block value, and when a Warrior blocks critically during Shield Block, he blocks for 4.6x his block value! That's over 3 1/2 blocks from a Paladin! From this, it's clear that a Warrior doesn't have to block nearly as many times as a Paladin to mitigate as much or more damage.
Block rating and value benefit Warriors more than Paladins
This is why the Paladin tier gear seems to benefit Warriors more than Paladins. Firstly, any time Redoubt procs, all extra block rating is useless versus single targets. Second, the only scaling Paladins have on their blocks is mirrored by Warriors through talents (30%). Warriors also have Shield Block's modifier and Critical Blocks, which get more out of the same block value from gear. Last, the Paladin's advantage is that he's filling more of the attack table over the fight. One percent chance to block for a Paladin is a one percent chance to block for 1.3x his block value. For a Warrior, it's 0.7% chance to block for 1.3x his block value, and 0.3% chance to block for 2.6x his block value. So, not only is block rating more valuable to a Warrior, but it also applies 75% of the time regardless of gear level, while block rating only applies to Paladins while Redoubt isn't up at most gear levels, and not at all once Holy Shield fills the attack table.
Glyph of Blocking
This may be nothing, but a glyph has been datamined for Warriors that effectively increases block value by 10% and no equivalent has been found for Paladins. Since it hasn't actually been implemented yet, there's no real reason to flip over this, though.
Versus Multiple Mobs, Warriors Still Block Well
This is a big change over live. Since Holy Shield has limited charges and a cooldown, and Shield Block, Critical Block, and an increased 5% block chance don't, Warrior mitigation even versus multiple mobs now rivals that of Paladins. Redoubt helps some, but the gap is much much closer currently in Beta.
Why This is a Problem
Paladins are not equal but different
I recently read a quote from one of the CMs stating that we're within 1-2% of Warriors in most areas, but there are still several factors to address. While this thread pertains specifically to blocking, there's also the difference in stats between a libram and ranged weapon, the health disparity now that Paladin stamina scaling was nerfed, the lack of gimmick tools (thanks for the interrupt, but Spell Reflect, Disarm, a Fear break, tanking through silences), the difference in flat DR from RF and DS, the problems with Ardent Defender, and the higher avoidance on tier gear. The superior Warrior blocking mechanic hasn't been discussed too deeply otherwise, but I wanted to make it clear that it is not the case that Paladins are clearly superior at blocking, so that it's not mentioned as such during class balancing.
This was the Paladin flavor difference / niche
Niches might not be the right word, but judging by the stats on our tier gear, it seems clear that Warriors are supposed to be the "avoidance tank," while Paladins are supposed to be the "block tank." Obviously if this is the case, it shouldn't even be questionable that Warriors block as much as Paladins, especially considering that avoidance reduces damage much more. We're effectively in the situation now that Warriors have more health, have more avoidance, block for the same or more, and Paladin tools scale inversely with gear. That's why this is a big issue.
Favorable Changes
Reverse Redoubt
When MMOChampion first reported the recent change to Redoubt, it was reported as "Damaging melee and ranged attacks have a 10/20/30% chance to increase block chance by 10%". It ends up this was a mistake and it was just a merge of Redoubt and Shield Specialization (a good change), but this would be a helpful change. This would mean Redoubt would have a higher uptime but increase block chance by a less. It would still scale inversely, and it wouldn't fix everything, but it would be a favorable change. It would be a nerf to multi-mob tanking, though, so this would be a good spot for a Glyph, if it's not going to take the place of something more useful.
Redoubt should increase Block Value
As mentioned above, one of the reasons Critical Block is so powerful is that it doesn't affect the attack table, so it can never be wasted (versus hard hitters). It would still be in the flavor of Paladins to keep Redoubt as a "reactive" ability, but increase block value instead of block chance. This might also be a good spot for a glyph.
Paladins should have Critical Block, not Warriors
Meh, you probably don't want to nerf one of their good skills, but it'd be an easy fix. It's also reactive, so it wouldn't be a stretch flavor-wise. In order to not anger too many Warriors, perhaps buff Shield Block to increase block value by 200%. This would also fit with the "mini Shield Wall" idea.
Run Your Own Simulations
It's not written in the best language and isn't terribly fast, but you can run different simulations based on current beta mechanics here:
http://www.bennlinger.com/tanksimulator
It sums up how many blocks Redoubt is worth given different gear values, and sums up Effective Blocks. If you toggle "Show Effective Blocks," it'll show how much each block is worth in relation to your block value and sums up, on average, how many "effective blocks" the tank gets for each damaging swing. You can report any issues with it here:
http://www.failsafedesign.com/maintankadin/viewtopic.php?t=12032
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PLEASE HELP ME TEST THIS: PHP WoW Tanking Simulator
