Hello. I know that BDK was not adressed in the current version of PTR. Following the Blood Death Knight rework in Midnight, I am providing feedback compiled from several members of the BDK community.
While the rework has been generally well-received by non-specialists or those with limited testing time, the specialization currently exhibits significant structural design flaws. These issues are independent of numerical tuning; rather, they pertain to mechanical inconsistencies that will likely cause the spec to oscillate between extremes of power without a stable baseline.
Design Issue 1: Talent Tree Fluidity and Engagement
The current talent tree architecture is suboptimal. While certain additions, specifically Death Strike Cleave and Boiling Point, are mechanically engaging, several nodes remain underwhelming.
Plague Infusion is a primary concern. It currently functions as a pathing tax or obstacle to reach subsequent nodes. Positioned in the final tier of the tree, where nodes are typically high-value and transformative, it feels significantly out of place. I suggest its removal or replacement with a more impactful one.
Another problem is the Dancing Rune Weapon (DRW) dependency. The current design focuses heavily on DRW. With the significant increase in its cooldown, players are effectively playing without 5–6 talent synergies for approximately 87% of an encounter (Being 13% the uptime of DRW). This creates an unhealthy pressure for players to execute the cooldown perfectly, or lose the value of those talent points. I suggest adding choice nodes to further reduce DRW’s cooldown. For instance, a choice node competing with Everlasting Bond that reduces the base cooldown by an additional 30 seconds instead of granting a second weapon, Blood Mist could be tied to Vampiric Blood or other proc to decrease DRW importance and give a healthy goal to players so they have a secondary rotation objective while outside DRW.
Design Issue 2: Resource Management and Consumption
The reception of the Consumption rework has been largely negative. The previous iteration offered better approachability by allowing players to correct resource management errors. The current version is unforgiving; if a rune spending error occurs, the player is forced into a state of total inactivity, relying solely on auto-attacks. I recommend reverting this skill to its prior mechanical state.
Design Issue 3: Tree Internal Logic
The right side of the talent tree lacks a cohesive objective. While there is an apparent intent to synergize with Crimson Scourge procs, the node placement appears arbitrary and lacks a logical progression path.
Design Issue 4: The apex talent is weird, because it forces players to min max rune spending since (Now I feel punished to press Marrowend since is too costly), wich was not a concern for more casuals players in the previous seasons, I suggest to it being changed, but I don’t expect that it will be done.
Conclusion
These concerns are shared by a broad spectrum of the players. The transition from the gameplay state in TWW Season 3 to the current iteration has significantly diminished the my engagement factor of the spec. I hope this technical analysis proves useful for future adjustments.
Thank you for your time and reading that text wall.