On one hand I like that you’re adding old things back but somehow it still feels you’re not adding too much or it just lacks something… I can’t explain it yet what it is.
Several things that are passive are making on certain classes, you’re on the same ship to make the same mistakes with class design… there’s NO SIGN of you REMOVING THE GCD CHANGE I can’t stress this enough, remove it… it’s not good design to be staring at your screen waiting for your cd’s in any situation.
Stop adding a bunch of passives and call it “unprunning” there’s several things you could add to make class more interesting and not just druids/shamans.
i was planning on going back to ally/my first main. but if they think i’m gonna play all expansion with that trash ruining the entire class they’re mistaken.
“Mastery- Ride the Currents: The cast times of Chain Heal, Healing Wave, and Healing Surge abilities are reduced based on the target’s missing health %, becoming instant cast when the target is at (0 + (amount based on Mastery rating))% health. The cooldown of those abilities is increased by the same amount.”
There. Now you have emergency heals. Just watch out for your mana.
A lot of these changes seem pretty good, especially the flavour ones like 2H FDK and 2H WW Monk.
A little bit concerned about Warlock and Ret Paladin specifically (there was a lot to take in so some is overlooked).
Warlock
Baseline Warlock gets some of it’s curses back which is great, but a few key things unmentioned are abilities like demo circle and mortal coil being baseline, currently not only are both these talents, but they also compete on the same row forcing you out of at least one of these iconic options.
Having at least one baseline would open up the option to take the other on the talent line or potentially a new talent that took it’s place.
Howl of Terror, Ritual of Doom* (wrote summoning by accident lol), and Summon Infernal (for non-destro) are all also very iconic spells which do not see a return.
Paladin
As for Retribution Paladin, the feel is still gone (to me as a Paladin main since TBC upto Legion).
Right now Ret is the roulette spec, and what does that have to do with holy vengeance?
Aside from the nice return of Blessing of Sacrifice to all Paladins and some auras returning there isn’t really an iconic feel being brought back to the class.
Empyrean Power returns from BfA further enforcing a potential roulette build, and Wake of Ashes which is hardly iconic to Paladins who played prior to Legion.
Blade of Justice still feels more hammered in then abilities like Exorcism which can perform a similar role but feel more iconic and Paladin like, Holy Wrath also felt like a more iconic AoE Holy damage stun compared to Wake of Ashes (which lets face it is based off a weapon not the paladin identity)
Base Blessings aren’t returned to other specs and still limited only 2 types and one use of each leaving Paladins still the lowest utility class outside of miche situations with BoP and Freedom, a far cry from when we used to be THE buff class.
Rotation wise I would have liked to have seen a return to a more stable rotation potentially with Inquisition being made baseline to take the focus away from these RNG aspects.
Seals too whilst I agree are a quite outdated concept in their intial form I believe still could be a great and thematic ability to return but in a different manner.
What if seals for example provided buffs to how your damage was deal based on which seal you used?
Seal of Blood for example could make your abilities put a stacking DoT on the target, Seal of Zeal could keep it’s AoE characteristics and make your Crusader Strike and Templar’s Verdict cleave, Seal of the Crusader could reduce the cd of the spell you hit with it to speed up your rotation,Light could restore health, maybe even mana could be more a utility one and assist your casters by restoring their mana when you use an ability with it.
The could also interact with Judgement as well in some way.
I just know that I, and I’m sure a lot of other people don’t want our beloved spec to remain as the RNG whack-a-mole roulette spec that it currently is which is driven primarily by hitting buttons when they light up and the difference betweem 40k dps and 70k dps is entirely in the hands of the goss.
If you don’t like that players just macro all their buff CD’s together, simply create a mechanic with a shared cooldown. Then you can have a bunch of different CD’s on each spec and its up to the player to decide which one is correct in the situation!
Putting them on the GCD just means casting all 3 at once takes 3 seconds, because stacking them is STILL the best option!
Literally every spec I play has a 1 sentence statement about blanket damage buffs. Going to unsub until some real patch notes come out I guess. Getting sick of no attention due to lack of representation. Fix your classes and people would play them more.
I have to say there are some awesome pleasant surprises to see on this list! I was legitimately curious if “depruning” would also include things like weapon choice (IE: Two Handed vs Dual Wield) for a lot of classes and specs. It was really refreshing to see this honestly.
With that said, I have some feedback I would like to give. I also wish to start by stating that I understand these are not fully encompassing lists of what changes are coming and instead are more of “highlights” of key features returning to help build excitement for the de-pruning and general class changes. I understand there are things we still don’t know about but this is the feedback I wish to give just off of what we know so far.
Warrior
Titan’s Grip vs Single Minded Fury
Starting with Warrior I am kind surprised that Fury is not seeing a return of a choice between Single Minded Fury*(SMF)* or Titans Grip*(TG)*. We are seeing the options of Two-Handed vs Dual Wield return for so many specs but not that? I have personally seen, in the Warrior forums and elsewhere, that there is a group that really enjoyed the choice between SMF and TG and would prefer SMF. I am really curious what went into the decision not to bring back SMF as it creates choice like with Two-Handed vs Dual Wield.
Personally I have always favored Titans Grip because… I mean, come on, its two freaking massive Two-Handed weapons! How cool is that? Still, I am surprised this choice did not make a return and honestly kinda hope it does.
Gladiator Stance
I am also kinda surprised that we didn’t see Gladiator Stance make a return. From my understanding the biggest problem with Gladiator Stance Warriors was that they were taking loot from Tanks and Healers as a DPS spec which created a bit of friction among people. Now, however, we are in an era of Personal Loot where loot is generated in a player by player scenario. I always thought the class fantasy of an aggressive sword and board style of warrior was very interesting and was kind of bummer not to see it return.
I feel like this comes back to the whole idea of “Weapon Choice” that I personally really appreciate but also feel a bit saddened it does not go as far as I would have hoped. Personally I would really like to see Gladiator Stance make a comeback as I feel there is a very strong and unique fantasy around that play style that no other DPS really has! Now that we are a purely Personal Loot game I feel like this is the best time for such a spec to flourish and would really love to see it make a return!
Shaman
So, I want to start this off by saying that I was an Enhancement Shaman Main at the end of Vanilla and through till the end of TBC! I don’t say that in an attempt to validate what I am about to say, I just want to express how much I had enjoyed Shaman back in the day. When Vulpera came out and couldn’t be Paladins I was presented with the ultimatum of picking a new class or not getting to play the race I wanted to play. Remembering my love of Enhancement from back in the day, after having been a Paladin main for YEARS, I decided to give Shaman another try. Needless to say I have given quite a bit of feedback on Shaman in various other places but they did not live up to what I remembered.
So, with that said, I am beyond pleasantly pleased with what I am seeing so far … However, I still have some feedback I wish to make.
Totems: Totem Bar and Totemic Recall?
I am really glad to see Totems making a major return. I know that in the Shaman Community Totems have a love hate relationship as shown in a lot of the threads over at the Shaman Forums. However, I am personally pleased to see them make a return. With that said, as it wasn’t really mentioned, I am a bit anxious about totem deployment and recovery. The lack of mention of a Totem Bar, the ability to place each totem type down with a single button, and the lack of mention of Totemic Recall is worrisome.
Totems, to me, are fantastic and provide a really cool and unique fantasy to them! However, the Totem Bar that was introduced in Wrath of the Lich King was a godsend at the time in terms of totem management. While I am pleased totems are making a return in a big way I am also worried that too much is being taken from classic and that Totem Management advancements from WotLK are not returning. I would really love to know if we can expect the Totem Bar and Totemic Recall ability to make a return as we know that multiple schools of totems are confirmed to be making a return.
So it would be great to know the extent of how totems are returning and if Totem Bars and Totemic Recall will also be making a return or if its going to be needed. Admittedly, the scope at which Totems are returning is still shrouded in a bit of mystery so who knows if it will even be needed.
Enhancement Weapon Choice
Okay, so for me this is the big one! I knew it was a long shot and the chances of it happening were VERY slim but I remained hopeful and still remain hopeful.
Please, please, please, PLEASE give me the choice of using a Two-Handed weapon or Dual Wielding!
Two-Handed Enhancement was one of my absolute favorite play styles of Enhancement Shaman! The thrill of those big, slow, attacks and getting that beefy Windfury Proc are so iconic and so absolutely satisfying! Like Totems, I know this has been highly debated on the Enhancement Shaman Forums but there have been plenty of threads going over a desire to see this play style make a return!
I genuinely just enjoyed it. While Dual Wield was super cool when it came out, heck even I was excited over it, I really do miss the feel of Two-Handed Enhancement. It just was satisfying for me and I know this is more gushing than anything but I would really, really, REALLY be happy if that choice could be given to Enhancement Shamans. I know that when Dual Wield was added as a talent back in the day it kinda felt “mandatory”, especially with the introduction of things like Laval Lash but please… Please, please, please, PLEASE let me choose Two-Handed over Dual Wield.
I would be beyond a happy camper if this could become a reality and I know I am not alone in this!
And all of these are literally just the tip of the iceberg! There have been literal YEARS of posts on this topic of Two-Handed Enhancement Shaman! I hate trying to speak for others and its not my intent, and I certainly don’t want to paint it as if there are not people who prefer Dual Wield, however there is legitimately a HUGE community of Enhancement Shaman players who really want to see Two-Handers return as an option! This feels like it could be our best chance, possibly only chance, to see that happen in modern WoW.
So please, PLEEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEEEE! Please, consider letting Enhancement having that choice of Two-Handed weapons as well. I am personally begging you here, I would really love to see that play style become a reality once again.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of fantastic changes that were announced, heck I didn’t even touch on Paladins because honestly everything I have seen looks amazing! Things like Auras making a return, Wake of Ashes becoming baseline, etc. are all fantastic! I am very excited and happy for the changes coming and really just wanted to bring up my biggest points of criticism/feedback.
Thank you for taking the time to read through my post and I really appreciate it.
PLEASE, consider bringing back exorcism for retribution as some sort of casting aesthetic to blade of wrath if bringing it back officially is going to impact class design. And remove the silly Divine Steed, it looks so bad for it to just pop out of nowhere. Consider Long Arm of the Law and Pursuit of Justice as replacements. Pally mobility has been butchered in Legion and BFA, this is the time to make it right!
We aren’t warriors, we are Paladins, let us be different and get rid of the Judgement damage window once and for all.
Wary about the mention of eclipse. Was not a fan of WOTLK’s version of it, and MoP’s was not wildly enjoyable either. There was mention of the astral power ‘spender’ thing we have going now, so maybe I’m just being a bit paranoid.
I have two questions regarding Feral’s Bloodtalons change.
The new Bloodtalons applies only to Rip, and no other bleeds. Does the dev team still intend that correct “snapshotting” remains a foremost concern for good Feral gameplay in general?
I greatly enjoy the added layer of complexity that comes from using Predatory Swiftness to heal the raid whenever combat conditions/mental bandwidth allow for it. I picked up this habit thanks to the incentive to use those procs provided by Bloodtalons. Will the new Feral spec include any such extrinsic motivation to heal?
Solar Wrath and Lunar Strike. These names are more intuitive sounding, they reflect the fantasy of the spec (just because you want to add some class unity to the specs, doesn’t mean you should completely throw out the spec fantasies, just try to harmonize them all). Do not go changing names arbitrarily, it doesn’t add anything to your intended goal. At all. I’d also rather stick to empowerments (which are just eclipses, ‘solar eclipse’ is just lunar empowerment, but this also raises issues of not being intuitive). The current design is perfect, and any sort of regression to pre-Legion would be seriously undermining.
Starsurge will extend the current Eclipse to continue focusing power into either Wrath or Starfire
Unless empowerments and eclipses can exist alongside each other. Could Eclipse not be something closer to Voidform? A sort of ‘super empowerment’ rather than a replacement mechanic? I feel that would be a better idea than your current plans, which seem far too radical and unnecessary (and don’t do anything towards creating class unity among specs).
Starfall will also return to its previous design
Don’t you friggin dare. That previous design was a buggy, nearly unusuable pile of crap that was barely practical due to it continuously aggroing everything nearby, regardless of whether they’d been pulled by the current tank. It was a nightmare of an ability, and the change you made in Legion has been a blessing and a half. Don’t you dare un-fix it. That also doesn’t contribute to creating class unity between specs, so just leave it alone.
… However, I still have some feedback I wish to make.