Nightborne racial abilities

Community General Discussion
1

Magical Affinity: Increases magical damage dealt by 1%.

This output racial barely does anything for a lot of playable nightborne classes which feels bad. It is the only race in the game with this problem. Every other race’s damage racial works the same for every available class. Output racials are barely noticeable bonuses but still, I think this could easily be fixed to make Nightborne players happier.

Suggestion: The Nightborne drew their magic from the Nightwell which was powered by a relic coming from the Titan of time Aman’thul. Maybe something time related would make sense. A haste proc could work for any class!

Arcane Pulse: Deals (Attack power * 0.5) Arcane damage to nearby enemies and reduces their movement speed by 50%. Lasts 12 sec. 3 minutes cooldown

This ability is very underwhelming and is probably the main reason Nightborne is unappealing. It is very hard to find any use to it. The problem is that powerful and spammable slows are already available to almost every class, making the ability redundant.
Even with a lower cooldown it would not be useful. I think it should be reworked to do something else. It needs to have, just like the other racials in the game, something useful and/or unique.

Let’s just compare with the active combat racials that we have currently:

Human:
Break out of stuns effects

Dwarf / Dark iron dwarf :
Remove harmful effects and get a bonus (10% damage reduction / main stat boost)

Night Elf :
Shadowmeld. Drops combat, can dodge abilities with the right timing, stealth.

Gnome:
Remove a slow/root effect, short cooldown.

Draenei:
Heal for 20% of the caster’s health, can be used on any ally.

Worgen:
40% sprint. 2min cd

Pandaren:
4sec incapacitate, can be used to quickly interrupt a cast

Void Elf:
Send a rift forward on which you can teleport by reactivating. Situational but has its uses in PvP and PvE

Lightforged Draenei:
Deal massive holy damage in an area around the target

Kul’tiran:
Knockback (pretty far) and stun an enemy for 3s

Orc:
Main stat boost for 15s

Undead:
Remove fear/sleep/charm effects from yourself

Tauren:
AoE 2s stun

Troll:
10% haste boost for 12s

Blood elf:
AoE dispel and resource generator

Goblin:
Jump forward a short distance. Very useful in many situations (prevent fall damage, gap closer, escape, counter a knockback etc…) Short cooldown too!

Highmountain tauren:
Rush forward and knockdown enemies for 1.5s. Has its uses for mobility and crowd control

Mag’har orc:
Secondary stat boost for 12s (This race could use some love too)

Zandalari troll:
Regenerate your whole healthbar over 6s, interrupted by damage. Situational but useful at times. Good when you can rid yourself of dots

Vulpera:
Throw a thingie at your target, damaging enemies or healing allies

Mechagnome:
Create mirror images to confuse foes (pretty bad one too). They do compensate with useful passive racials.

Nightborne:
AoE 50% slow for 12s. 3min cooldown

It seems to me that all these active abilities have uses in many situations, except for the Nightborne’s.
You can see that some of the racials listed above are always useful, while some other are situational. My point is that Arcane Pulse is never useful. It is meant to provide utility but it falls short compared to every others because slows are very common and a melee, aoe slow, doesn’t offer anything unique.

I really did try to find a use for it on my Nightborne characters but it’s just not good enough and deserves a change.

Suggestions:

  • Arcane Pulse knocks back targets around the caster. Could be used as a pseudo interrupt or to create distance. Knockbacks are not that common and it would benefit every class.
  • Arcane Pulse roots the enemies in place for x seconds

–Or remove Arcane Pulse and give Nightborne something else:

  • A time stop that renders you immune but unable to act for 1-2s so that you can avoid big damage (Would not work against one shot mechanics just like other immunities)
  • Something similar to mage’s alter time
  • A magic seal that silences an enemy briefly

I would be interested to hear your opinion about this.
In what way would you change Nightborne racials? Do you think they are ok as they are?
Are there other racial abilities that you would like to see updated?

14 Likes
2

Nightborne should get a passive rather than doing 1% more magic damage, all of their damage will deal an additional 1% damage as arcane or nature damage (this damage proc will not activate any secondary effects that activate on hit).

5 Likes
3

Agreed! Anything to make the bonus apply equally to every spec instead of being limited.
I would argue that this solution might be a bit too spammy on the damage meters and addons that display a scrolling combat text but it would work.

I would personnaly like to see a minor haste proc, similar to void elves’ Entropic Embrace because it creates more interaction with the racial.

For reference:
-Entropic Embrace: Your abilities have a chance to empower you with the essence of the Void, causing your damage and healing effects to deal an additional 5% as Shadowfrost for 12 sec.

1 Like
4

You can have a useful racial when mechagnomes can have pants. :stuck_out_tongue:

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5

Vulpera have the worst racial.

6

It is certainly not the most powerful.
At least the cooldown is low enough and extra damage / healing can always come in handy! How is the scaling on it?

1 Like
7

vulpera racial costs a gcd last I checked, so it’s basically never used.

1 Like
8

Wait, we have racials?

The +magic dps does zero for me as WW monk. Arcane Pulse was just fun to macro “Who go there?!” too, and even then I barely used it (toy is better now anyway). I’ve used my mailbox book probably less than ten times since Nightborne came out. I just forget we even have it and summon Katy instead.

3 Likes
9

I do like that Mechagnomes are their own crafting table.
There are several racials that could be redone for the betterment.

2 Likes
11

I don’t usually care much for racials when making my characters

But Nightborne are just especially bad, made even worse when you consider the effort and time investment spent unlocking them in the first place

Hell, even on the classes their racials are specially tailored to suit they still aren’t the best choice!

6 Likes
12

They truly are in a sad state.
The good thing is that they can only get better. I only wish it would be sooner rather than late. They already have good aesthetic and lore so minor tweaks to the racials would do the trick. (Although the male model animations are a bit stiff in my opinion)

The idea is not making them stand out or be overpowered. I just want them to be somewhat useful like their counterpart.

The only would-be-useful racial we currently have is the mailbox, but there are already two toys that do it and mailboxes are everywhere.

3 Likes
13

I feel this racial should work in a similar way to how the Void Elf Entropic Embrace does. Instead of increasing magical damage by 1% (which as you pointed out does not benefit every class-e.g. Warrior), Magical Affinity should passively add 1% more damage as arcane to all of a Nightborne’s attacks. This would make it more equitable in value to all classes than it currently is.

4 Likes
14

You’d think so, but over time blood elves, for example, have had their racials nerfed and one just completely taken away with nothing to replace it.

2 Likes
15

Nightborne racial should be a passive arcane dot that procs randomly from your damage for the same percentage as entropic only arcane rather than shadow. But I love the mailbox and the inscription. I’m a scribe that’s helpful. And two mobile mailboxes with Katy!

3 Likes
16

that would also make it superior to other racials. (The plain stat boosts.)

1 Like
17

I doubt it. Even on a class that currently fully utilize the 1% magical damage (like mage), it’s still not the best available. Some specs will prefer 1% haste, 1% crit, 2% crit damage or main stat bonuses. Some specs will work better with on use “trinket racials” like orc and troll.

But that’s beside the point I’m trying to make with this post. Output racials are very minimal bonuses and are largely ignorable.
I’m more concerned with the combat-utility racial, Arcane Pulse, which is never useful. It needs to do something else than a slow.

1 Like
18

I want this one.

Mixologist: Add a drop of arcwine to enhance every drink consumed and increase their duration by x%

This would be on theme with Nightborne. But it would work like Panda’s racial where they have increased food buff. So why not allow Nightborne to make their potions/flasks last longer while also feeding their alcohol addiction? :grin:

4 Likes
19

Not really. Entropic Embraces averages out to a 1% increase in damage. My suggestion would result in the same thing for Nightborne only theirs wouldn’t be an average, just a flat 1% more damage.

1 Like
20

I’d rather better customization options over racials

They look horrible

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21

But that’s beside the point I’m trying to make with this post. Output racials are very minimal bonuses and are largely ignorable.

Then it shouldn’t matter if it’s just 1% magic damage.

I’m more concerned with the combat-utility racial, Arcane Pulse , which is never useful. It needs to do something else than a slow.

What more does it need to do and remain fair vs other racials?

2 Likes