What do you think blizzard will do with the spec?
hardest hero to zero ive ever seen in the game.
3 Likes
If I know Blizz, they’ll continue upscaling the damage until it’s mildly tempting on its own and make tier sets that make it even more like it used to be.
2 Likes
Were I betting, I’d put my money on the fact that they’re going to likely continue the direction they’re already (and have been) heading - which is to say continuing to pare back support aspects and continue to shore up DPS numbers. The end result is Evoker’ll probably end up with Aug as a standard DPS, just a different flavor than Dev.
Betting odds aside, my personal want is that Aug becomes the game’s first int-based tank. This would take a lot more work than converting it to a normal DPS though, so while I want it to be a tank, at the end of the day I don’t believe it will be.
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Based on past form (demonology warlocks) a gutting this bad is a prelude to a complete redesign and re-visioning of the spec. My money is on becoming another straight dps spec with shaman levels of team support at most.
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Honestly I think what you’ve said hit the nail on the head.
I think Aug will change a lot, most likely moving into Midnight, I think it will hold its core DPS abilities, BoE, Eruption, Upheavel, Fire Breath, Ebon Might and Prescience due to synergy with Hero Specs.
Although I feel like Ebon Might and Prescience will be drastically nerfed or even changed and more DPS put into Living Flame, Eruption, Upheavel and Fire Breath.
While Ebon Might and Prescience will just be more like slight “Filler buffs” to press in between that add little dps overall.
I think the right side of the tree will greatly change, Talents like Timlessness and even Bestow Wrynstone I feel likely be removed/replaced so would a lot of the supporting healing spells, Symbiotic Bloom etc.
I think as mentioned above Aug will become a DPS spec that would just be a different take on the class against Dev. 2 DPS just 2 different ways to dps.
Tank? Wishful thinking on my part to be fair.
3 Likes
VERY wishful thinking. You know they won’t since there’s already too many tank classes.
Based on track record I fully expect Ebon Might will just become a Main Stat buff that fills the gap of Arcane Int or Battle Shout as appropriate for your group (Int with no mages, Shout with no warriors, both if you somehow have neither).
While anything else that would be a Specific target buff will be entirely removed (prescience, blistering scales, etc).
Definitely not things I want to see happen, but knowing blizz it’s what I expect.
1 Like
Actually, I know they won’t because it’s way easier to just finish dropping the guillotine on their buffing ability and just make them a DPS. They’re already labeled DPS, it’s most of the way there as is.
Beyond that, I don’t think it has anything to do with the amount of potential tank classes there are. I mean, let’s be real - the problem was never that there were too many tanks. Bet your tank queue’s a hell of a lot faster than your DPS queue. Why d’you suppose that is? Having more options out there to choose to tank or heal with is a healthy thing for the game overall (provided balance is done reasonably), it’s just that people generally prefer not to have the responsibility of tanking/healing. They prefer to just zugzug or pewpew. I know I do, generally!
It’d be way cooler if it was to become a tank, but we all know that ain’t a thing.
Honestly I’d take anything right now from Blizzard to make Aug atleast playable/competitive rather then as it is currently…obsolete.
If having a support themed dps is to hard to balance for them, just make them a competitive dps.
Currently anything is better then the state they are in now.
But knowing Blizzard we will probably see changes moving into the next expansion.
Hope it gets some sort of big rework in midnight.
Depending on how much you’re min/maxing. The gameplay is either incredibly flat or incredibly hectic. Your choices for gameplay are “let it rip” and “spreadsheet”. Would like to see a little more depth in the gameplay without requiring microsoft excel.
My deepest secret hope is that it gets survivaled into a melee dps spec. (it could still be support themed but like, a melee spec would round out the class for me, personally)
2 Likes
hopefully they will remove the spec. Just delete it any let the crybaby aug mains go back to overwatch or marvel rivals
I doubt they’ll remove a spec… historically they’ll just completely revamp its identity.
Demonology Warlock and Survival Hunters are good examples, for better or worse is going to vary player to player.
Personally I loved old Demonology till the prepatch in WoD going into Legion 7.2.2 I think it was, gutted Demo for me… 
I think Augmentation will receive the same glow up or down.
But hopefully more sooner then later as having a spec completely obsolete does feel bad.
My bet is that Prescience gets deleted and Ebon Might and Shifting Sands get reworked from a force multiplier to instead be buffs that give allies a chance to proc damage based upon the Augvoker’s stats, like Scalecommander’s bombardments and Breath of Eons becoming something that only scales off that Augvoker’s damage and the procs they passed to allies. That way they can scale it like a normal DPS spec while maintaining the “support” flavor.
What would be cool, remove Ebon Might, make Prescience + Fate Mirror just be a self buff that has a % chance to duplicate all spells but visually make it cool.
Fate Mirror - A version of yourself enters your timeline and duplicates Eruption, Flame Breath or Upheavel and cast Living Flame at 60% before returning to their Time Line.
Augmentation takes on inspiration from the Black and Bronze flights, lean heavily into it.
In combat its gimmick is Augmentation has the chance to summon a version of itself to help dps. In a sense Augmentation never is alone as alternate Time Line versions are always assisting.
When Defy Fate procs an alternate version will spawn and die, as if it took the hit for you.
Put the focus back on self dps, but visually make it awesome while still respecting what Augmentation is about.
Chronowarden is about more leaning into the Prescience proc chance and stuff, while Scalecommander is the same.
I mean, that could just be the reworked version of their mastery, but if they remove the Ebon Might buff mechanic, Aug’s entire rotation would just become incredibly bland.
I understand and agree, but I was just spitballing an idea with Augmentation becoming a proper dps with a cool theme and style and personally I think would be visually awesome.
I completely agree more needs to be added to create a fluent and satisfying rotation and so forth especially if Blizzard begins removing the support abilities and focus on dps, but was just a broad vision of maybe the direction Aug could head.
Nailed it.
They will not remove any spec period full stop. It won’t happen. It never has, and mark my words, it never will. Your hopes in this will never come to pass. That’s your burden to bear, deal with it.
That being said, they just got another small percentile damage buff. I would be genuinely gobsmacked if they decided to go tank with it at this point. It’ll be a regular DPS, gentlemen. The spec’s already in the car, mapped out, and it’s halfway to DPS Town. That way folks like Zuglina here can dry their eyes and stop suggesting brain dead things like the removal of a spec (BECAUSE AGAIN IT’LL NEVER HAPPEN, LIVE WITH IT).
Bummer, I know, I want a tank too, but it is what it is.
easy now they remove buff to heals and tanks just up the buff a little more in five to get it more in line with the other dps spec