Stances are powerful abilities. Let’s make that clear at the start. However, something that has bothered me since release is the lack of traits available for them.
Sure-Footed’s duration increase is great. But beyond that, the only trait that adds something to a Stance’s activation is Vigorous Focus. Who doesn’t love more Vigor, right? Especially with Reckless Dodge. #freedamage
For me, having Vigor attached to Stances has always felt out of place at best – it doesn’t really add an interesting wrinkle to Stance use. At worst, I find it counter intuitive.
We don’t want to be dodging around if we pop Defiant Stance – that defeats the purpose imo. Sure, there are scenarios where the Vigor is beneficial: having already emptied your endurance you pop Defiant Stance to eat an opponent’s burst, thus simultaneously healing and getting your dodges back. But that’s a little too specific an occurrence for me especially in the face of the regenerative power of Healing Signet.
What about Frenzy Stance? I think most Warriors use that when they know they won’t have to dodge away from something.
Balanced Stance and Endure Pain. Well, as with Defiant Stance, I can see specific scenarios where the Vigor is advantageous. Just because we’re immune to direct damage with Endure Pain does not mean we won’t want to be dodging away from CC or Condition loaded attacks. With Balanced Stance its the opposite: just because CC won’t disable us doesn’t mean we want to risk the damage in some cases so Vigor is useful for keeping us on our feet, so to speak. But what if you pop them both at the same time? You probably aren’t looking to dodge in that case.
With Berserker Stance I can see the synergy with Vigor. Condition immunity, a burst of Adrenaline, and then Vigor for some extra dodging. Great for both staying alive and pressing an opponent.
I guess what I’m saying is that the lack of Traits for Stances is disproportionate for how much Stances are featured in many Warrior meta builds. That says a lot about how useful they already are. However, with the recent changes to Adrenaline and the existence of some Adrenaline related traits that were already under used, I think there is an opportunity to add more Traits for Stances in future balance updates barring any dramatic changes in the meta. To wit:
Thrill of the Kill – never used it in my two years playing a Warrior; its effects are limited to group/mass/zerg combat now with the immediate Adrenaline loss on leaving combat and even then there are better Adept Traits in Discipline.
Furious – Didn’t make much sense prior to the latest patch so maybe now with the Adrenaline loss issues it might find a place in the meta but I doubt it. (Furious + Sharpened Axes = 4 strikes of Adrenaline on a critical)
Short Temper – Has potential in limited situations. I know in Hot Joins I’ve swapped it in for kicks and giggles when playing a team that was heavy on Guardians and Engineers, but otherwise under utilized.
Inspiring Shouts – I don’t know anyone that uses a Shout build anymore. It has some potential with the last patch like Furious to offset the new ways to lose Adrenaline (Trait into Discipline all the way to Burst Mastery -> whiff with your Burst Skill but keep 10 Adrenaline -> Pop a shout or two -> back to full Adrenaline) but I still think its use is limited.
So, what do we think? How could we re-work, re-imagine, or replace the above Traits to work for/with stances? I recognize that not every Ability group needs a huge list of associated traits, but I’d like to see some Stance love in the future.
Could we have a Trait that grants a boon on Stance use similar to how Ele’s can gain boons associated with their Attunement when they cast Glyphs?
Frenzy -> Might or Fury, Endure Pain -> Regeneration, Balanced Stance -> Protection or Vigor, Berserker Stance -> Retaliation, Defiant Stance -> Might or Fury.