I have ran a few keys today and all of them have had an augmentation evoker. I play desto warlock. I just want to point out some issues pertaining to the addition of this new support style spec.
One thing I noticed is having multiple super meta specs make it hard to find groups as a warlock ( and im sure other classes). Spriest is S+++ tier, and now with augmentation being here, those are two dps spots taken, the 3rd will be a melee most likely. It feels like boom, overnight, my opportunities to find a group diminished significantly.
A couple issues that arise during the m+ run are that I have no idea if my damage is high or low or if the aug evoker is playing well or bad. Before, I used to get a lot of info out of the details charts, but now, I can’t interpret anything from the charts. Its kinda sad feeling like the meters don’t matter anymore. I really like damage meters, it makes the game fun. It feels like over night a part of the game just died. And yes, seeing over 600k on pulls is fun, but it just doesnt have the same feeling when its aug buffed.
A third problem is the coordinated group disparity. I only pug, I have no friends that play this game and I’m on hawaii time zone so I cant raid. I can see how augmentation would be completely busted on groups that can coordinate their CDs. My only concern is balancing. I hope that aug evoker groups dont cause balancing issues where the lower io players/ puggers struggle due to a lack of good nerfs because aug evoker coordinated groups skew the metrics.
I dont really post on here but I just wanted to post this because it really feels like some core parts of the game just changed over night. E.G. - even harder to get into groups, dmg meters not being fun anymore, and not knowing if any of the players in my group are putting out good or bad numbers.
More to the game than your pretty numbers mate. Aug makes mythic a smoother esp when they play well. Even richer coming from a warlock which has been meta for 4 seasons in a row.
Also if you’re logging it will correct the dps for your group and show your true dps. So clearly you don’t know how to properly measure if your doing well or not, but you will need to upload the log onto Warcraft logs.
Its like me saying “theres more to the game than loot” to someone. I know theres a large group of people who dont like dps meters. Theres a reason final fantasy doesnt allow it. But this game has had meters forever. And its a big reason why I play. I know theres more to the game, but it feels like I lost something big. Almost bigger than the loot.
I feel like we’re playing different games. My guild leader rerolled Evoker the second Augment came out and built up his BiS gear beforehand and did PTR to get a feel for it. We went into keys and absolutely demolished them. Had a blast, we were freaking out over voice chat over how much of an impact the spec has. Augment has been super fun, you can do bigger pulls, the tank buff is nice and the shield/damage pop from Breath of Eons is absurd.
I did a few M+ runs with aug spec, it’s a double-edged sword. It will take a long while before more groups will normally accept them despite the dps will tank with a factor of 40% tradeoff for buff outputs.
Better damage is kinda meaningless if I can’t tell if I did it because I played it better or not. AoE for a lot of specs isn’t an exact science and even in higher keys people can still be trying different approaches to work out what’s most effective. It’s also incredibly hard right now to tell if the Evoker is actually doing what they’re supposed to because it relies on so many factors you can’t easily see.
A couple years ago when I was on the mainland I had a solid m+ team and guild. I’d be doing the same thing as you if I could. I’m sure its fun in your setting, and thats totally cool. I’m just sharing the side of someone who just pugs and how I didn’t realize it would change so much.
Or alternatively I know it well enough and I’m doing content high enough to where micro optimisations I need to gradually workshop for each key as the season goes on actually matter. It’s so much harder now to see if what you did differently in this 25 compared to the last one actually worked or not.
Aug is absolutely ludicrously overtuned, and it’s a lock in for every push key unless it gets absolutely nuked.
Yeah thats true, Im a tank playing warlock, im up at the +20lvl and started playing lock a few weeks ago. Im still working on my rotations and talent builds. Dmg meters were definitely a way for me to gauge how I was doing. Now I can only tell because i’ve spent so much time in these dungeons that I know when we are ahead or behind. But idk if IM the reason we are ahead or behind or someone else - which I would have known before.
Why are you testing out new builds for damage in M+??? Target dummies exist for a reason and you can use a meter for that purpose without worrying about external buffs.
Yeah, if you’re trying to make little changes to see what gets you more dps, hit the dummies and use your meters. But M+ is more about knowing when to do things rather than just pumping raw numbers.
One thing too is a lot of the time I know im playing very well, my rotations are all coming off clean and pack size is good. But some classes and other players can just pump, so even if im playing my class very well, I could see the relative difference of my class/spec to others. And that was helpful.
I mean if you’re just trying to compare yourself, the comparison to another DPS shouldn’t be off with an Aug. Aug buffs two DPS and since you run 3 DPS in a key and Aug is one of those, you’re both getting the same buffs and boosts from the Aug.
Oh dude, you cant decide based on target dummies, theres way more to it than that. Each dungeon has its own layout and desto warlock builds are all over the place. There fire and brimstone build, grand warlock design build with crushing chaos, a 3 minute build instead of 2 minute build. Dummies do zero for helping decide best build.
Blizzard always overtunes the shiny new thing. How else are they going to bribe everyone to play it, so they can show upper management how “popular” their new project was?