So, to recap what keys will look like next season:
Aspects do not drop until +9
+10 and up are fortified + tyrannical
Deaths now cost 300% more timer than before
For thirty-five minutes straight, your head needs to be on a swivel so you can absorb orbs, else trash and bosses get bloodlusted. (Note this is somehow an improvement over explosive orbs, and still ‘reduces cognitive load’.)
double-bloodlust, +40% haste to trash at 30% HP (which will always be fortified). Unlike raging, cannot be dispelled. (Note this is somehow an improvement over raging.)
Leech and avoidance are being slashed in half, and classes with leech talents are getting them slashed eg 10% leech → 6% leech
What is important to note is that they still have a goal in mind for how long we spend in a dungeon. The extra hp is irrelevant. We’ll be in the dungeon for however long they want us to be.
The extra damage only meaningfully affects tanks and occasional heal cd. It also increases the value of stops and stuns. The haste allows for smoother tank damage intake too, so hopefully less spikes on tanks when gearing up. You still pop defensives at the same time as a dps. Avoidable damage has a slightly higher impact.
Death penalty increase is whatever. It’ll help cement IO as a more legitimate barometer of capability if they get the timers right. Again, this goes back to a time metric they’re shifting for.
The aspects shifting to 9 is appropriate. Heroic raiders do need a way to chase character power if they can’t form a static 20 for mythic though. This should be about the right level to pose a challenge to that crowd. This also doesn’t spit in the face if the mythic raid crowd entirely. They can pug to crest cap if they need to stay up to date for the core team.
+2 Xal’atath’s Bargain affixes appear on a weekly rotation.
+4 Fortified or Tyrannical is active, alternating on a weekly rotation.
+7 Challenger’s Peril is active on all keystones.
+10 Tyrannical or Fortified is active, alternating on a weekly rotation.
+12 Xal’atath’s Guile replaces the weekly Xal’atath’s Bargain affix.
Xal’atath’s Bargain are both better than Sanguine, Bolstering, Raging, Bursting which they replace. And they benefit everyone instead of being damage type based like the ones previously tested and complained about. They still require “your head to be on a swivel” like those did but it rewards good play instead of always being punishing.
For example Frenzied looks to be replacing Raging and while its still a damage buff to low health enemies you can still CC them and you get a damage buff meaning you can use CD’s/burst on low health mobs for extra dps or get a bonus to execution style skills.
Ascendant is another haste increase but you can steal the bloodlust. As most incoming damage is going to be at a tank they can probably pop a CD and outlive it if there is a mess up in lower keys. And we need to remember its only a single orb spawns (at least as written) not the +10 orbs spawning on large pulls. We also have no idea how to disrupt it, this could mean interrupt, CC, single target damage, or just standing under it. Either way it sounds much easier as its something that can be quickly communicated in coms or give assignment to at the start of a run.
Challenger’s Peril which increases the death timer penalty to 15 seconds is a great affix. If you play well its like it doesn’t even exist, if you fail it punishes you a bit more harshly in higher keys and in higher keys you should be playing better anyway.
So at a +9 to get max gear you will need to run a fortified or tyrannical key with a single kiss/curse affix and a harsher death timer penalty. Compared to previous expansions this is a breeze. Portals requiring you to run with both tyrannical and fortitude however may mean a lot of people might start having difficulty getting portals.
I don’t push past portals but removing the kiss/curse affixes and replacing them with a straight 20% health and damage buff to enemies seems like it might prevent players from pushing as high as they have been able to in DF. I’ll let them speak about it though as I won’t be touching that.
I don’t really mind this particular nerf. It may mean not really caring if my vault rolls items with leech.
You missed pretty much all the reasoning, testing, and with some random tertiary tacked on to the end you also missed staying on topic.
For keys below +12, it is as follows:
+2 and up, you have affixes which are either new, or modified versions of old affixes that incorporate a kiss/curse effect like we had in the seasonals from BfA S4 Awakened to DF S1 Thundering. They rotate weekly and vary in effect, like the current affixes.
+4 Tyrannical/Fortified.
+7, it becomes harder to push if you are under geared or skilled and are dying a ton. Harder key becomes a bit harder.
+10, other mob buff, keeps things very consistent for higher pushing.
+12 and up removes the rotating affixes, allowing for consistency between weeks when pushing at the high end.
So, we get affixes that impact the run and are not wholly negative in low-mid key range as a lot of people wanted, high-end keys get comsistency as a lot of people wanted at those levels due to how much “push week” dominated scores.
