Tried playing it today, and it just felt so …depressing. So much setup for mediocrity and very little interaction.
Not sure im a minority, but not a fan of it at all.
5 Likes
I like it. A little bit of gambling but 4+ million damage crits are huge. (And apparently it is getting buffed even higher)
I agree. With both specs.
The button does do things when you press it, so it’s nice, but compared to the competition it’s just not there.
It is visually so limp and boring.
My wish list:
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Revert the nerf on renewing blaze sharing, this is powerful external utility that only Aug cannot bring.
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Engulf enkindle boost feels like it should be a baseline node instead of a choice node. And it should refresh the durations. This fire mage ignite vibe I feel should really be the core of Flameshaper. Where you are fanning the flames and it ramps hotter and hotter. Old resto druid really captured this vibe with healing and prenerf flourish.
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enkindle based on essence spenders works for Dev but feels awful for Pres. Basing it off of empowerments might be odd and overlap with Chrono’s passives but it does make sense for fire breath to enkindle.
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Could be interesting to have Engulf be 3 charges and 20 second cooldown and nerf the numbers a bit, so it’s more rotational.
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Passive that competes with renewing blaze share has a pretty awful proc rate. I think it should have a proc rate based on the % health lost 1:1 but make it hot based like renewing blaze. At best you get a 30% reactive DR against the biggest hits but doesn’t protect you.
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Alternatively, instead of the passive reactive heal or blaze share. Let Engulf apply a 3-4s duration renewing blaze when used on an ally.
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Instead of flame breath spread engulf could spread enkindle. Would make sense as a choice node with Consume Flame AOE burst.
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Let the blind apply to cc immune targets, but not bosses. Another strong unique utility that non-augs could bring.
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For pres, I understand all the talents shouldn’t work with echo, but I think the flame breath/dream breath spread talent should echo. It does nothing when every target is affected anyway.
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This seems really obvious, but shouldn’t Living Flame also apply enkindle? Would make it less bad for Pres at least. Why is living flame for Chrono insane and bad for Flameshaper lol
In the end I feel like Flameshaper loop should be something like:
- Stoking the flames and ramping up
- Engulf to ignite it into a big fiery blaze with a spike in power and spreading it further
- Let it cook and simmer down and build it back up again.
- Engulf for another spike in power
And alternatively, dump all your engulfs for a huge spike in power. But reward us when we do the build up => engulf => simmer down a little => re-engulf so we get more DMG/healing overall. That way we do a long term cook or a short burn out with less overall throughput. Maybe even have Engulf speed up dots/enkindle to tick faster like flourish instead of boosting the dmg, and create some kind of proc based on enkindle ticks (perhaps essence burst instead of the other EB node)
Oh and finally, please make Engulf a big billowy fiery boom boom visually based on how many dots/hots please. Use the Firestorm cast animations with our wings too.
2 Likes
I’m not so sure how the playstyle actually feels myself— but from everything I’m hearing it’s not really even worth trying due to the poor tuning. I will be very interested to see how it feels to play compared to Scalecommander when the buffs come in!
It goes a bit beyond just poor tuning. The big problem with the tree is that it’s simply boring compared to the other two. Chronowarden and Scalecommander’s talents really make you feel more powerful and have a lot of visual punch to their abilities. The wild thing about Flameshaper is that even though it has a new ability, it doesn’t really feel like anything has changed beyond adding this new button.
For example, Chrono Flames replaces Living Flame and it looks great because it’s a huge fireball with bronze flying around it, and when it hits its target a little bronze glow emanates from the target. With Engulf it’s a little red spark and that’s it. Even when you combust a Fire Breath effect nothing happens. You see the numbers, but there’s not visual corresponding with it.
I dunno, it just seems lackluster compared to the other options. Even with the 30% buff, I’ll probably keep ignoring it in favor of the other two.
I played Chronowarden as Preservation (tried Aug as well with it) and I have to say you’re so right about those visuals being amazing. Living Flame packs such a punch as Chrono Flames. I can’t express how much I actually loved the Warp spell as a Mage main. Blink is second nature to me, so I felt right at home with it.
Definitely hoping for more out of Flameshaper in the next couple patches, visually or mechanically.
It has potential, but it’s incredibly un-immersive. There’s too much to be desired. Even with scalecommanders annoyances, im still gonna pick it over flameshaper.
I personally did not like Flameshaper when it was in beta. But since the game has gone live, I have since actually really enjoyed the playstyle of Flameshaper, at least in the dungeons where mobs are dying so fast that Scalecommander just seems to be wasted.
I will say that I agree with a lot of the changes you proposed, especially visually there seems to be a lack of effects with Flameshaper. I haven’t tried Flameshaper as Preservation yet, but that is mainly due to the fact that Chronowarden is so strong currently, and I personally just love having a Blink (Warp) with Chronowarden. It does feel odd that there is not CDR with engulf similar to how Causality functions in the Devastation tree. I feel like having to save my charges for a boss just feels weird or else it throws off my opener a little too much.
I do need to mess around with the Devastation tree a little bit, because there are some really strong talents on the left side that seem to never see any gameplay that may fit better with Flameshaper.
2 Likes
Yeah I want to explore more of it come tuesday buffs. Still wish it just had that flair and theme to enjoy though.
Wish we had a mobility thing comparable to Warp that was like fire mage/warlock fiery rush type thing
1 Like
It’s my opinion that they should just redesign the spec. Because it’s not much better for pres either.
It’s a lot of setup to even use the damn thing. It should be the other way around. It should be the thing modifying something else.
Imagine if it did flat damage or healing (still high) but it made your fire breath/dream breath tick harder for the next however many seconds (with overlapping stacks so you can still fire off both at once if you want). Or if it made your next couple enkindles ???% stronger. Focus the spec on making your dots/hots better instead of your dots making engulf better.
Also it could use a bigger raidus, pyre too a bit.
This would just make the spec way more flexible and enjoyble to play.
Right now i just can’t express my disappointmet enough with how both hero specs for dev ended up, despite all the feedback left in the beta. It makes me wish we had access to chronowarden.
1 Like
100% !!! There is no reason to add a layer of (boring) complexity to the spec. The spec is already fun enough on its own. It doesn’t need a half-baked DoT mechanic added to it.
Engulf is a separate button with 2 charges and a long CD… and visually, it’s so unnoticeable and boring. You don’t even get any payoff from casting it visually is my point. Very disappointing.
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Agreed. I thought id love flameshaper but its not really appealing and i dont want more buttons to press. Also scalecommander has better visuals so i play this
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That doesn’t make sense either. Flameshaper requires buildup to engulf, but by the time you built up, they are already practically dead.
I agree it needs a lot of reworking. IMO take devastation and make us a melee spec, give us more instants. We’ve seen a few fresh dracthyr in the cutscene wielding them fancy polearms. I’d be so happy to see that.
Oh no. No no no no no no lol. I adore Devastation as a caster. It feels like a Dragon Mage with healing on the side. Just give me 10 more yards on Devoker and I’ll be jumping for joy.
Save battle Mage for another class entirely. Like a Spellwarden or something.
Naw, dragons deserve melee and blizzard pretty much made evoker a dragonmancer. Maybe not take dev away, but at least give us another spec.
Blizz should have given Evoker a tank spec focused on black flight earth and magma magic. Maybe one day, but probably not until the distant future seeing as how they just got Augmentation as a new spec.
As far as Battle Mage being a whole separate class, I still hold firm to that. I’d love to see a magically enhanced sword and board wielder (we kind of have that with Shaman but I’m thinking a Dalaran style Arcane tank). I think that would be cool as hell.