While the devs were presenting the druid changes on MrLlama’s stream, they discussed the new ability to cast buffs in shapeshift form which led to the question whether Teleport would work in shapeshift form. I was excited to hear they weren’t sure --not an immediate no! Therefore, going into PTR I was most excited to see if Teleport in shapeshift form functioned. Alas, not yet.
However, it’s apparent the devs are listening to the community so I want to shoot my shot: allowing Teleport in shapeshift form is a simple change with big, positive impact to the overall game.
Shapeshifting as is needs love and this change would be a great way to do just that. It opens up exciting new gameplay and build options in general. Although, the most notable improvement is in the PvP scene. Melee is already at a disadvantage in PvP with today’s current meta but what helps level the playing field is the ability to telestomp. Unfortunately, without this ability shapeshift builds are further handicapped and mostly removed from the PvP scene from what I have seen.
Beyond just the druid, this change would improve the viability of builds such as Bear Sorc and Wolf Barb. Personally, I play a Bear Sorc which is the source of my bias. The reason why it’s such an exciting prospective change to me is because it would greatly improve the quality of life while playing this character. Although as is its gameplay is quite clunky largely due to the need to uncast shapeshift to Teleport.
I get why there’s hesitation: the shapeshift buff shouldn’t be too powerful. If Teleport is allowed then where is the line drawn for casted spells? And personally, I think there’s a case to be made for allowing all spells in shapeshift form although in that scenario, I’d advocate for revised/slower faster cast rate breakpoints in shapeshift form. From a fantastical and game balance perspective, that makes the most sense to me. For the fantastical point of view, casting spells on top of another spell (shapeshift) would likely be more draining and as a result casting is slower. For the gameplay perspective, casting in shapeshift isn’t as powerful in human form, sacrificing speed for survivability essentially. However, I get that is opening up a can of worms and a more hefty revision to the game’s current meta. Instead, I suggest adding Teleport as just one more skill to the new set of skills able to be cast in shapeshift form. This change would result in the most positive impact for the least effort and disruption to the game’s existing mechanics.
Let the dogs out Blizz. Werebear and Werewolf need some love in the form of Teleport.
pls
. People (and content creators) keep saying they want it over and over, without thinking about or discussing the wider rammifications…
These changes would lead to a much better and more interesting outcome than adding WW/WB build to the long list of character builds who BiS Armour is Enigma…