Does Barkskin Suck or What?Follow

I was psyched to get Barkskin at 44, but have been dissapointed. It says (paraphrased) "Reduces damage by 20%, and damage causing attacks will not interrupt spellcasting."

Not "will reduce likelihood of damage causing attacks interrupting spellcasting," mind you, but "will not interrupt." I call BS.

When I'm solo and need an emergency heal I'll pop to caster form, hit barkskin and try to heal myself. I'd THOUGHT this was what it'd be awesome for, but I find my heal casts getting interrupted anyway...doesn't seem any better than WITHOUT it.

I always thought it sounded too good to be true, and now the old adage about that seems to be true once again. Does the description just oversell it? Does anybody know how much it REALLY reduces the likelihood of being interrupted? Or have I found a way to misuse a simple spell? : )


MAJOR EDIT SEVERAL DAYS LATER:
Never mind. I'm dumb. First time or two I tried to use it I was getting hit with regular melee attacks AND a true "interrupt" but didn't know it so thought the resistance to disruption by melee attack was only partial. I have now discovered the true wonderfulness of barkskin and its 100% protection against delays of melee hits. It is indeed the lifesaver I had hoped it would be based on the description. Thanks all for helping me see the light.

BARKSKIN RULES!!!

Edited, Apr 8th 2007 12:53am by JeeBar

I was gonna say something then I noticed the description changed...



damaging attacks will not cause spellcasting delays

So it won't prevent interrupts, just like it never used to, but instead attacks against you or spells cast on you will not cause your casting time to take longer.

I know Barkskin used to make your spells take 1s longer to cast, but it seems they changed that... Can't believe I didn't notice before they had changed Barkskin... wow... T_T

Edited, Apr 4th 2007 2:23pm by Selverein

agreed, it works well with both. Try barkskin+hurricane in SM arm after you kill herod and the disciples come down. It is funny.

The issue came from the fact that the phrase spellcasting interrupt was used to refer to both what is frequently referred to as 'pushback', your cast bar being pushed back when you take melee hits, and was also used to refer to actual interrupts like kick, earth shock, and counterspell.

Barkskin did exactly what it said, it prevented your spells from being interrupted by melee damage. Your misinterpretation of what the spell meant due to poor phrasing on Blizzard's part is not the fault of the spell.

Bonus question on the subject of poor phrasing: If I have 100 mana per tick gained outside the 5 second rule, from spirit, and 15 gained inside the 5 second rule (the 100 includes the 15), how much do I gain when innervated:

a) outside the 5 second rule
b) while casting

Innervate: Increases the target's mana regeneration by 400% and allows 100% of the target's mana regeneration to continue while casting.

yeh seems everyone knows how.
moonkin, barksin and hurricane is great.

Don't know why u said it wos disapointing skill i use this so much.
if in tough fight use it to heal even so ur 4sec heal wont get interupted.
this spell is great,
i hav never used it to get the 20% armor only for the uninteruption which is legendary