Blizzard
I can’t speak to any plans for the patch, but I do know that we’re planning to make some tuning adjustments sometime in the next few weeks which should include some defensive buffs for Protection Warriors.
Just curious but why can't you speak to any plans for the patch? You explained the tooltips for the proposed ele shaman changes, but can't speak about warriors? Or is it that there is nothing changing in the patch for warriors?Hate to say it (and hate to nail it to you Lore) but class imbalance is very very bad right now. I think most of us don't want classes that are OP or overtuned-- but we would like to see them fluid enough and competitive enough that we can feel comfortable that our individual investment will ensure us a spot and a chance at current WoW content.
Blizzard
Couple things:
We agree that the trait imbalance is a real problem right now. We made a bunch of tuning adjustments last week, and have more planned for the very near future (primarily focused on buffing underperforming traits). We see this as the source of most of the frustrations with the system; if the delta between your best and worst traits wasn't so big, it'd be less frustrating when a piece of Azerite armor doesn't have your best trait on it.
We also agree that the Mythic+ Azerite Armor situation isn't ideal. However, we need to be careful with how we award Azerite Armor through M+. Right now, easier access to Azerite Armor is one of the main advantages that raiding has over gearing exclusively through Mythic+, and we want to keep some additional benefit there as compensation for the extra effort and coordination needed to organize a raid team. That's is why we're hesitant to do something like add a guaranteed piece of Azerite Armor to the weekly chest - it'd be too lucrative.
But like I said, we do agree that the current setup can be frustrating. We're looking for better options.