rusttle wrote:
Is there any defense against the knockbacks in EoS?
There are a few options. Warlocks have the best of them, a ‘port to their demonic circle. Warriors can charge/intercept/intervene. Ferals can feral charge. Subtlety rogues can shadowstep. Mages have a small chance to save themselves with a blink, if they’re sailing over solid land.
But for any of these to work, you have to have enough situational awareness to see the elesham/boomkin/firemage moving in with that particular gleam in their eye, because you can’t be in the middle of a global cooldown when you get hit, or you could be out of range before you can save yourself. You also need low latency and darn good reflexes.
As a ranged class, against amateurs, you can often keep them from flanking you--make sure the straight line that connects you and them points to a solid landing, or that you have the flagpole at your back. This is largely impossible if you are melee, however. All the knockback powers are instants, so no interrupts, and you’d have to be psychic to throw up an immunity or self-root.
Also, a real pro will ***** you no matter what. I’ve a BG buddy who hexes people before launching them with a thunderstorm, if he thinks they’re likely to know a counter. Honestly, the best defense is probably preemptive knockback, if you’ve got it. I’ve seen some hilarious flag battles where both sides get launched into space, half a dozen or more people flying and the flag untouched.
Cataclysm promises to add some knockbacks (notably to warriors and a hunter pet) and remove others (fire mage). It also promises to add at least one new countermeasure, Leap of Faith.