What happened to CC?

Topic this week for bloggers about: What happened to Crowd Control. This topic was slightly spurred by a blue post about faction champions apparently. Somehow I feel the need to throw in my thoughts of the day:

Back in Vanilla WoW there was crowd control. I think. I can’t properly remember – it’s been a long time, but I think my rogue was made to sap something – and got really worried, because I didn’t have the talent that allowed me to stay in stealth. Sap meant engaging four elite mobs all by my lonesome, then sprinting back to the group and hope the tank got it right and the mage sheeped one off me.

Burning Crusade was the game I played most. Crowd control was required. Fullstop. Shattered Halls were not really possible without at least two of the orcs being taken out of commission before the pull – and I’m sure that was not only my gear level – that probably applied to pretty much everyone.
All the single role classes (rogue, warlock, mage, and hunter) had some form of crowd control – the hybrids were a bit f…the hybrids did not get a reliable form of crown control in all cases. As a warrior tank, controlling the remaining mobs was a little bit of art. Macroes that sundered a mouseover targets armour and shieldslammed the focus target were pretty much standard for my day. The focus of a groups’ composition was on the play between DPS classes and tank – both from a CC perspective and a threat-race perspective.

That focus has shifted quite a lot in Wrath. It seemed for a long while that tanks could hold aggro on pretty much anything – even warriors on trash packs. Occasionally there are fights where the tank gets challenged for threat – but those are rare (like Hodir, for instance). Healers are much more challenged now – more continuously, it seems to me.

The days of “bored bored bored – oh crap, CC broke on the paladin and he cleansed the hunter and now the mage and the rogue are taking damage and we’re all going to d… oh we’re dead” have shifted to a steady “oh god oh god oh god the tank is dying, dying, dying – hey .. we pulled through” (with the occasional DPS frying in a fiery fire).

Personally, I don’t like the new game quite as much now and then. It feels a bit too hectic at times – and then I feel like I’m getting old and such. On the other hand, the new expansion has already been announced. And as long as I don’t have to use crosshairs, I’m quite looking forward to it. I’m quite willing to see what comes next.