Not vibing Dark Ranger for BM at all, since it’s a such a niche class fantasy.
I do love the idea of Hero Talents letting us explore all these really specific archetypes, but not if your chosen spec only ever has two choices. That doesn’t feel like embodying class fantasy, that feels like railroading my character into a very narrow archetype.
Oh Grove Warden again “yay” and it still sounds super lame and unexciting which sucks as it’s 100% going to be the go to for raid…
While the concept of hero trees is interesting… What has been shown so far just seems really underwhelming and adding more complexity to talent trees that are already very… busy. Plus we all know theorycrafters are going to sim everything to death and there will still only be one “right” choice for raiding/ etc.
Feel like there are other ways and better ways to introduce the concept of developing the games classes into “hero” themes without using yet another talent tree that seems to revolve around 1-2 abilities and just a lot of passives.
It def should’ve been a mix a marksman and surv. sigh
^ Very good point, exactly this.
Overall I do really enjoy these being added to the game, expanding on the gameplay and possible class fantasies. The more race-specific hero specs kind of walk a fine line between being super awesome for some and alienating others, but I want to see the full hero spec list and talents since they could also open up grounds for unique character fantasies as well.
Gameplay wise I like the direction and find the addition of more support abilities interesting. We’ll see how everything feels to play once we can get our hands on it, as I suspect there will definitely need to be some adjustments in places. But I’m withholding final judgement until then.
I think you’re never going to please everyone, but it’s important to keep in mind that, if these go well, we’ll get more hero spec options in the future on top of what’s already there. To me, they just feel like additional subclass options, which I enjoy.
I’m optimistic so far, but we’ll see how things play out. I rather Blizzard try these new evergreen systems that are baked into our characters, rather than leaning too heavily on borrowed power again. Though, I’m sure there’s a nice middle-ground too.
As a D&D and general tabletop and rpg enjoyer, I like the idea of letting us explore class fantasies in new and unique ways, while also leaning on what’s already present and established.
If you’re borrowing/adding Hero Spec titles from and to the lore, then you have to be more precise.
Warriors getting a “Slayer” Hero Spec is contradicting with Demon Hunters’ Order Hall title. In lore, Demon Hunter is the Slayer and that means they are the leader of their Class Order. Why not use it for DH instead? Or not use Slayer title at all and use original naming for both?
Also, many people pointed this out, Dark Ranger being a spec for BM & MM is not fitting with the lore of the title. It should have been MM & SV and should give SV a dual-wield choice option talent from the get-go to be fitting.
Frostfire looks amazing so far! I’m an Arcane mage, but I’ll definitely be trying it out! Fingers crossed that they show Spellslinger next!
Forced AoE can be rough for arena, a lot of these seem entirely mythic aimed… also hoping the other tree is better for balance PvP
For Oracle, I like the concept of a tree modifying PI.
I don’t think the mini game managing the spell is the way to go. Giving main stat & healing received will likely feel better. Maybe a high dodge/avoidance to fit the theme of knowing the immediate future. PoM for disc might be cool but I wouldn’t want it to be Oracle specific. And I wouldn’t want it to be one sided (i.e. holy isn’t going to use shield).
High crit might be more fun for theme like you are seeing the weak points. Maybe the feather thing should be baseline. The low chance to have 4 people with buff at a time feels way too much power on rng. I think I would just want that part left out and maybe just give Premonition 2 charges for final tier(much easier to balance around I assume).
Weird idea, I feel like absorb fits the concept but I wouldn’t want a normal absorb. I think a kiss/curse thing would fit as in your target gets an absorb, but if after a duration the full absorb isn’t used, they target takes remaining damage in the same vein as Shadow Mend. So either way the Oracle is right that damage was taken so to speak. Doesn’t require a new ability, maybe just light absorbs from healing during Premonition window.
Premonition to me means I’m trying to guarantee that something will/won’t happen which feels like preventing damage or taking advantage of a situation so absorbs/priority damage is in the right place.
Thanks for reading my random musings to the tree after watching the interview. See you all in alpha/beta!
Forces of Nature is a talent people can opt not to choose - why is the entire hero tree based around having chosen a specific talent when no other hero trees (that I can notice), do?
I don’t like the idea of forcing people to choose a specific talent for an entire expansion if they want to be a specific hero talent set.
This is worse than when tier sets lock people into a talent for a single season, cause you always have the next season to look forward to having that choice again.
Now, if you’re making Forces of Nature one of the “Mandatory” talents in the early druid class tree, you can disregard this. But as it stands, I do not choose Forces of Nature, so I feel left out of an entire hero build.
You say this but then list
Anyone that wants these stats back, after having to balance gearing around certain amounts of hit and expertise, is crazy, more so if they think they reduces complexity.
I would rather keep jit and expertise gone, keep dodge/parry/block tied to the current stats (crit->parry, masteru->block for tank classes, agil->dodge). If any of those stats come back, make it spall/armor pen and only PvP.
My main concern is that balancing these cross-spec talents will be nightmare when were still dealing with problematic spec disparity and the significant number of talents in existing trees that are useless.
I might be the only one here thinking this but thought I’d add in.
I don’t want my main mm hunter to do dark ranger if it summons a beast. I’ve kept the whole Lone Wolf fantasy for years and have rolled as a “dark ranger” cosmetically for a while.
Could there be a way to make it make pets for BM do shadow damage and maybe for MM change some other spells damage type to shadow?
Keep in mind as a MM hunter you’ll also have the option of selecting from the MM/survival hero tree which is probably more direct damage and trap focused.
And we don’t even get a real interview where devs could explain their reasoning.
Combust forces comet storm to crit, we only actively cast meteor in combust = same effect for both specs if not even stronger for fire.
If you look at the tier 31 profiles, combust has a 56% uptime while winters chill has a 49% uptime. The flexibility of winters chill is definitely stronger than the condensed uptime of combust, but still.
Ice nova is a strong spell, and again fire will have a very high crit rate on it. The best spell to cast in your last gcd of combust if you cant press pyroblast, is ice nova right now.
Outside of frost using the extra ice nova to shatter GS in AOE, this effect will be stronger for fire because frost will likely never intentionally shatter it.
Frostfire bolt literally replaces fireball. Not at all like incanters flow.
Its an instant proc of fireball with a guaranteed crit. Pyroclasm took about 3 gcds to cast and was a hardcast of pyroblast rather than fireball as well as not a guaranteed crit. They arent comparable at all.
Excess Fire is definitely a lot weaker for fire than frost though.
Not to forget Black Arrow was always a Survival skill, and their reasoning was literally “It’s an arrow so we gave it to the 2 ranged specs” - All 3 specs can throw Chakrams. Survival can use Explosive Shot - which is an Arrow. Survival can use Serpent Sting, which is an arrow.
Not to mention Dark Chains fits thematically better with Survival, the spec of traps and snares, than Beast Mastery.
I mean stats and decisions like that are a staple for rpg / mmorpgs. I’m talking rather than my ability bar packed get rid of half and make classes unique again. Not every class needs a stun or fear or both, it’s Just a bunch of unnecessary bloat/filler. Actually having to pay attention to gear stats and brainstorm what makes your build best is great. That barely exists in retail.
That’s why Path of Exile is my favorite game.
I just want a tinker/engineer class