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face="Times New Roman" size="3">If you played World
of Warcraft
in the good
ol’ beta years, you know all about how broken it was at one
point, especially in PvP.  Thousands of mages were rolled
simply because...

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face="Times New Roman" size="3">If you played World
of Warcraft
in the good
ol’ beta years, you know all about how broken it was at one
point, especially in PvP.  Thousands of mages were rolled
simply because Polymorph lasted a minute on players, and could be
refreshed no problem.   It was a time of terror, and
many fled to the hills and protected settlements to avoid wandering
around as a sheep for hours on end if the mage felt like it. 
It was time for a new mechanic to be introduced.  Welcome to
Diminishing Returns, the term for repeated applications of an ability
type that has a shorter duration when applied consecutively. 

face="Times New Roman" size="3">What
does it apply to?
 

face="Times New Roman" size="3">Diminishing
Returns in general applies to anything that makes you lose control over
your character.  So here's a brief list of examples that will
grow weaker if slammed into someone repeatedly, be it monster or
opposing player. 



Stuns
- Kidney
Shot, Cheap Shot, Deep Freeze, Concussive Blow, Intercept 

Uncontrolled
Stun (On Proc)
- Impact

Roots
- Entangling Roots, Frost
Nova 

Disables
- Sap, Polymorph, Gouge,
Repentance 

Fears
- Psychic Scream, Howl of Terror, Blind, Intimidating Shout
 

Stealth Nonsense
- Pounce, Cheap Shot 

Disarms
- Chimera Shot, Dismantle, old Riposte, Disarm
 

Silences
- Silence, Improved
Counterspell, Improved Kick
 

Physical Avoidance
- Dodge, Parry 

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face="Times New Roman" size="3">Diminishing
returns in action.  This poor bastard will be incapacitated
for less and less time with each sap.  If I was to do it
again, he would be completely unaffected.  Chances are he's
quite angry about the first three too...

face="Times New Roman" size="3"> 

Note that this does not apply to anything that is a debuff
otherwise.  You can be frostbolt slowed into oblivion as a
warrior or rogue, and the only way you'll ever get it off you is by
killing them, more or less.  Any debuff that lowers your stats
or increases your vulnerability has no diminishing returns as well, so
don't expect to become immune to Curse of the Elements or Vindication
with multiple applications.  Your only option to deal with
these types is to have them dispelled if that is an option. 
If you are the user of these skills, keep well in mind that the
diminishing returns window is only 15 seconds.  If you go 15
seconds without using that skill, it will have full effect. 
So if you're against a paladin in PvP as a rogue, for instance, after a
divine shield is used and he heals to full, likely by the time he's
vulnerable again you can open up with another 4 second stun or solid 6
second kidney shot.  Monitoring diminishing returns is a key
aspect of Arena combat, so you can get the most of your spells and
devastate your opponents with a healer fully disabled. 

face="Times New Roman" size="3">Why
is it here?

Besides
the above example, there are other reasons diminishing returns was
added.  Some players simply have too many disables at their
disposal to be balanced in PvP, namely Protection Warriors and
Rogues.  Some have a disable with no cooldown other than the
global, such as Polymorph and Fear.   Others just
have such potency that they have been introduced with the global
cooldown well in mind, like the Druid's Cyclone in PvP.  From
a PvE aspect, if the target is vulnerable to stuns, even in 10 man
groups it would be entirely possible to lock a target down for good
with well coordinated stuns.  When you have such powerful toys
available to each class, it's unfortunately necessary to limit their
potency on a single target.  It's also necessary to, well,
preserve the fun of the game.  No one likes being totally
taken out of a fight until they are dead.  Even the old
stunlock of the Rogue is pretty much over with the addition of the PvP
freedom trinkets.    There is one thing to
note in that even with diminishing returns, every piece of tanking gear
will always enhance at least one of those two stats through Defense, or
the stat directly.  So embrace your precious purple legs, and
may your dice roll well for parrying that Kidney Shot or Hateful
Strike.  Like it or not, diminishing returns is an aspect of
World of Warcraft that will not be going anywhere for the near
future. 


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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