From a fantasy/lore perspective, I would say yeah, i’m not a fan of this change.
The Brewmaster is supposed to be the one in a party who drinks the most and takes multiple beatings to the face every time. That’s what makes them fun to play when you think about how much you’re drinking, and how you just shrug off any punch in the face like it’s nothing because you’re so winded from all the brew chugging. Unlike other tanks, BM monks bring a unique flavor to a group.
Drinking a Celestial Brew that just gives you a shield, and every 25 seconds? How boring… And that ruins what BM monks were designed to be. BM monks aren’t tanky because they have shields; they’re tanky because they can take a beating that would otherwise be a TKO.
If Blizzard wanted to make Celestial Brew cool from a fantasy perspective, they should’ve made it where drinking it turns your entire playermodel into celestial stars, similar to how during the Elegon fight in Mogu’shan Vaults, when you walk onto the platform, your whole playermodel morphs into a human celestial. That would’ve been cool.
From a gameplay perspective, I find it weird.
The Ironskin/Purifying gameplay is what makes playing a BM monk interesting because both brews are on one cooldown, and you have to be alert at all times to how much brew you have, how much Stagger you have, how long Ironskin is up, when to use Ironskin Brew, and when to use Purifying Brew. It’s that constant management that makes playing a BM monk fun and hectic, especially when you’re so close to death and your Stagger meter is red.
Now, with the Celestial Brew being added with Shadowlands, it does make playing a BM monk less stressful with the removal of the Ironskin/Purifying management. If I could just pop a Celestial Brew and BAM, I’m taking more hits, that’s convenient. But by removing Ironskin and Purifying Brews, playing BM monk would no longer be fast-paced, which made it fun.
I don’t know why both Ironskin and Purifying couldn’t be kept in, and Celestial Brew be added along with them, as an extra, unique brew that gives the same shield, but instead of being based on Stagger, it gives a shield based on missing health. Granted, that’s going to be broken in PVP, but for Mythic runs, it’s probably going to make BMs a more viable choice for a team.
And besides, BMs only have 3 brews, 4 if you count the Healing Elixir. We need more brews, not less of them.