5.0 WAR is a disappointment

[Hierro]

SB 4.0 war was definitely not fun. But ShB is not fun either. I thought War was pretty complete by the end of SB, and it should have just stayed that way. NF, IC/CS/New Infuriate Mechanic, is terrible and I would much rather get old Inner Beast/Steel Cyclone back. If SE wanted war to have more burst outside IR window, they should have buffed Upheaval, instead of adding IC. And I hate the idea of not using the most powerful attack inside the IR window. Thematically it feels off to me. And NF having a party target requirement when SB war could just pop into tank stance any time for IB or Steel Cyclone heals is really a sucky change.

How can you honestly say 4.2 WAR was complete? It lacked a way to support off-tanks, and that was addressed with NF. It lacked a way to take advantage of buffs that came up every 1 minute interval, that was addressed with IC. The infuriate mechanic is something that keeps WAR interesting without becoming a burden. I can't recall a situation where I couldn't IR on cooldown because I'd overcap on infuriate's cooldown, because I have the sense to use infuriate when needed!

Buffing upheaval would have the effect of making WAR more punishing to play since it has a natural tendency to drift over time, eventually resulting in falling off your IR window or forgoing a use to remedy the drift. IC has the inherent benefit of being on a charged system. You go onto praise inner beast, but you have to keep in mind that in practice it was seldom used outside of prog, and that even then you're talking about a defensive buff that was tied to a GCD. Neither applies to NF, thankfully!

WAR was supposed to be complex

It was never complex.