The further along we get in the alpha we start to see what class changes are happening. In my opinion, they are not fixing classes that have fundamental flaws. They did the “Great Unpruning” which in reality looks like a bust in most cases. Then with the Unpruning, then ended up re-pruning some abilities, because they didnt fit. (Flametounge totem Im looking at you.)
As more info comes out, it looks like Soulbinds will be the new azerite armor. They will use soulbinds to make a class playable. Then they will over tune a soulbind, make a class OP, then Nerf it to the ground. It will be the same cycle of BfA, where it is patch after patch of bandaids and systems to correct systems.
If this ends up being the case some specs, will need certain souldbinds from a specific covenant to play not just optimal, but to function in a fun way.
These are concerns I have for Shadowlands. One of my main problems with BfA is that some classes and specs, just are not fun to play. They either have a gimmick with gear and azerite traits (Fire Mage), or need 3 specific traits to work (Implosion, Demo Lock). A lot of specs just rely on their burst window, then its is just doing a mundane rotation till you can dps again.
Content wise, I am excited by what they are bringing to the table. The zones, 5mans, and torghast all look great. I would like covenant abilities to be a talent row, but in the end I am picking covenant on the aesthetic I like for my character. I just worry that with covenants and soulbinds its going to be a never ending seesaw of balancing patch to patch.
I know plenty of people are tired of classes being revamped, but I feel like the problems are so fundamental right now that the only way to properly fix them is to do another revamp(if the dev team is up to the task is another question, but I think it’s needed).
A moderate unpruning followed by an almost immediate re-pruning isn’t going to fix anything.
I’m shocked they haven’t done anything to fix Shadow Priest.
They said last expansion they knew it was in a bad place but ran out of time to do anything about it (how amazing is that statement from a company like this?) but here we are heading into the NEXT expansion and they STILL haven’t done squat to fix it. Really?
I agree with everything you’ve said, except Torghast looking great. Looks like another piece of content that anyone good will be bored of in a few weeks, just like visions.
From all that i’ve read so far, most fundamental spec problems are not being fixed, with the potential exception of Outlaw, Blood and Enhancement. Not sold on the Outlaw ones either. 2 or 3 isn’t a great hit rate.
Covenants are 100% going to fail and take them 6mths to a year to admit and make them openly changeable. That’s after torturing us all while trying to balance it over that period. I’d bet money on it. Azerite/Essences 2.0 guaranteed.
Shadowlands so far looks dead on arrival (pun fully intended).
Hunter is in a pretty sorry state right now. BM is pretty easily the strongest spec but is incredibly boring to play (it has a bit more nuance than most tend to give it credit for, but is definitely not particularly complex). Marksman is conceptually okay I think but definitely needs to be re-tuned as it is in a bad spot. Survival probably just needs to be reevaluated as a whole. It’s the best PvP spec from what I understand, but it still isn’t very good and the fantasy is a weird blend of BM and “I throw bombs!” The problem is, Blizzard seems scared to make any major changes and the minor changes they make feel pointless.
Traditionally, spec reworks happen in alpha, as they otherwise don’t have time to refine everything.
Beta will start soon, and we’ll get the same old thing where there’s no longer time to make major changes. They’ll also be stubborn and reluctant to listen to feedback as they’ll think they’re right as always, despite having a garbage track record on such things. Covenant system being the current perfect example, they simply aren’t listening.
By beta when more people get access and give feedback on the shadowlands forums, it’ll also be too late to fix anything.
Most specs are in a terrible place where multiple bandaids are required to make them function. Blizz calls this us “not having the whole picture”. The community calls this poor class design which needs borrowed power bandaids to fix.
I’m a bit bored IRL, so I was looking at returning for SL after refusing to play BFA after what I saw in the Beta because it looked like an absolute cash grab ($70 + sub fee for essentially a Legion patch where not only no new spells/skills were added, but we lost skills?)
However, after looking into SL it appears classes haven’t changed? I mean all the talents we had when Legion dropped 4 years ago… they’re still exactly the same? =/
There was mention of un-pruning and PvP vendors though, which I like.
You work for Blizzard? Got that inside scoop on a release date? The likelihood of it being ANY time before mid-November is incredibly low which puts us at closer to 5 months (my bad).
Also, opinion. Don’t try to state things as facts when they aren’t.
It’s weird that the devs are doubling down on rental powers and external sources of power progression when they even admitted that “your class is the lense in which you perceive the world”. If the base class/specs don’t feel good to play without external knobs, what’s the point? It’s even weirder when they stated that there weren’t going to be huge class revamps in Shadowlands even when some classes/spec desperately needed them.
Kinda silly they’re ‘fixing’ DH and giving them attention rather than just a few nerfs when stuff like Ret gets left to fester. Really gets the noggin joggin.
Yes, it is your bad. It’s not going to be as fun as everyone thinks it is and the system will undoubtedly get in the way yet again, just like azerite did for BFA and artifact stuff did for legion. They need to literally stop this borrowed power design philosophy bs that they keep trying to push forth and just instead design raids, gear, dungeons and do a much better job at class design. Let’s face it, most if not all of BFA class/spec design sucked. Legion sucked too, it just sucked way less because at least it was a completed disaster for every spec except for Affliction, Frost Mage/DK. They fixed Affliction’s artifact weapon around Nighthold raid, but before then it was literally broke just before the expansion launched.
They just need to revamp every spec and do it all at once. Take an entire expansion where we have raids, dungeons and class design. That’s it. And they need to make class design changes much more frequently. I know they’re scared of doing it during the expansions, but they honestly need to stop this waiting until next expansion bs and do it then and there.
I’m not saying there isn’t 6 months until release. They’ve announced 4th quarter. I’d be surprised if it was before December to be honest.
I’m pointing out that there is nothing like 6 months left to make substantial changes. More like 1-2 going off past history - MAXIMUM. In reality, we’re mostly going to be stuck with the state classes are in right now, as most of the last few months gets spent on raids, dungeons, world content and borrowed power systems.
The classes are the first dial they mess with. It’s mostly done at this point, with the rest being tuned around them.
J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment, during the company’s Q1 2020 earnings call revealed the release date for the brand new expansion. Brack mentioned that the eighth expansion, Shadowlands will debut in November 2020.
So, November is the month it is coming out in, but the day itself has not been confirmed yet or released. However, that being said we have at most 5 months left including this month of July before Shadowlands comes out.
