OMG so good!
Portable Telogrus!
1 Like
Meh, I’m not impressed. Pretty bland and disappointing tbh.
Can’t say I’m surprised.
But I figured Voidweaver would have a better chance compared to Archon for creativity that introduces some cool features for Shadow at the very least.
But from what I’ve seen, now I’m ever more concerned with Archon for Shadow.
As far as I can see, Archon talents are still not shown anywhere… unless I missed it?
2 Likes
Archon hasn’t been implemented yet. Overall I’m happy with voidweaver, thematic window dressing that doesn’t over complicate things and leaves time to fix issues with the tree itself.
Weak defensive points is my only real concern.
Sunfury shows once again how hero talents were designed for mages first and everyone else is an afterthought.
5 Likes
While I understand that some class/spec Hero Talent trees are bland and boring, typically the class/spec has all the tools it needs and plays well to not make it much of a big deal.
Then you have some Hero Talent trees that are not only interesting but incredibly game changing on top of being paired with a well rounded spec.
But I see Voidweaver for Shadow as adding nothing interesting and game changing while Shadows issues are still left unresolved.
If as you say they address those issues in the class/spec talent trees then okay, fair enough. But that is a lot of assumption to occur where we at least know they will be adding the hero talent trees.
So unless I hear something about them adjusting the class/spec trees specifically for Shadow to some level as they did for Warrior, I can’t and won’t consider that as a path to shore up Shadow and Priest in general issues.
Guess I’m just pessimistic at this point, though I think rightfully so given our history on the matter.
7 Likes
It’s not like it would have been a good idea to attempt to fix core spec problems with an optional talent tree anyway.
Yup, totally agreed.
But again, until I hear something specifically… I won’t hold my breath either.
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In that case what could a hero talent tree you were happy with even look like if we’re in agreement that hero talents weren’t the place to solve core problems?
As far as I’m concerned this is about as unintrusive as it gets, which given what we’d like to see happen in future is the best outcome possible.
Thoughts:
OVERALL
Looks like we are getting a “black hole” like ability via the No Escape hero talent, which is great. It’s one of the things I’ve advocated for, although I would trade burst gap-opening mobility for it (like Door of Shadows). Glad to see more options for tankiness.
PVP-wise, Embrace Shadow (3% magic DR, 3% shadow dmg absorb) looks strong vs Sub rogues, Afflocks, and other Spriests. Devour Matter (300% SW: Death dmg vs absorbs) looks great vs all Mages (their Barrier spells), all Locks (Dark Pact), Mistweavers (Life Cocoon), and Shadow/Disc Priests.
DISC
So the TLDR for Disc looks like throughput is being redistributed more into ~30 second Mind Blast windows, since that triggers Entropic Rift and the cascade of buffs that precipitate from that (+ dmg, + atonement healing). Which will work great for M+ and perhaps PVP. Less so for raids, likely.
Depth of Shadows summoning extra Fiends via SW: Death may pair particularly well with Essence Devourer. Again, great for M+ where mobs are often low-health.
Disc will get more AOE damage in M+ due to Collapsing Void. Disc is looking pretty strong for M+ with these changes.
SHADOW
I’m always up for more damage going into dots, so 20% more damage into our main dots via Inner Quietus is good. Void Torrent castable while moving via Dark Energy is…ok I guess. At least it means we won’t have to cancel it as often. The 20% speed bonus sounds better.
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It’s not just about core problems, the fact that nothing interesting added is just a sign that they really have no idea what direction they want to take Shadow in let alone Priest in general is the concerning bit.
With Voidweaver for Shadow, I see it a lot like Spellslinger for Mage where it just does more passive crap. But your gameplay doesn’t get changed up at all.
So nothing interesting to look forward too.
Unlike FrostFire where you do get a lot of gameplay changing enhancements while not really changing up what you do. You have interesting interactions.
Then you get things like Death Knight Rider of the Apocalypse having the ability to be more mobile in being mounted in combat alongside other cool and interesting features.
Then you got Warrior with very solid and different gameplay changing effects but then with Slayer, it’s still good while really only focusing on a single ability in Execute but it still changes up the gameplay.
With Shadow Voidweaver, I don’t see anything game changing or interesting.
I mean that’s fine if Archon provides a more interesting and game changing experience, but I have my reservations on that front, made more so after seeing what they did with Voidweaver.
I obviously have my own ideas on what they can do. Personally I would like Archon to focus on Shadow Word: Death mainly similar to how Slayer focuses on Execute in making it a more priority spell for burst damage.
So I’m not really expecting things to get fixed from a class/spec level with hero talents. Just wish they would go in a specific direction.
With Voidweaver, I find it odd that Shadow uses Void Torrent while Discipline uses Mind Blast for the primary talent activation. Then you just got a lot of talents that don’t really interact at all with the primary talent. It’s just random crap spread throughout. So it’s not interesting. It’s just more stuff to fill up space.
Edit:
So just looking at Voidweaver again, you have to take a moment and think that you don’t have many talents that interact with the primary talent for starters. Then the ones that do, they do nothing to enhance or change up your gameplay. They just make it last longer or the area of effect is bigger or you can cast while moving etc. Then finally you can only get your talents to do anything when you cast Void Torrent which has a cooldown. So the rest of the time, your talents are just dead in the water doing absolutely nothing.
I mean if they made Mind Blast the trigger and it triggered a temporary Fiend and you can then change that fiend to cast mini Void Torrents or Mind Flays similar to C’Thun tentacles that each can trigger your primary talent effect, then you can at least have a constant game changing interaction experience.
Only issue then would be that it appears Voidweaver is now a pet based hero talent like some of the others.
It just seems haphazardly put together. That is my biggest gripe.
3 Likes
Where are the trees available for viewing? I haven’t been able to find anything aside from destructoid articles that I don’t trust from first looks.
Eh. On paper it sounds cool.
Im kinda on the positive side of things.
Gotta admit that i was hoping for void priest spec and dark archangel shadow priest spec separation. Now that this hope is gone lets see what they do with holy.
But so far, i would love to see how the rift looks work how big fast it is etc, other than that the hero talents looks good.
Edit: for shadow. I have no idea what impact it will have or how good it is for disc.
I am using this…
2 Likes
Here’s a list of all trees revealed.
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They seem datamined rather than formally released by blizzard. Oracle has not yet implimented talents in it and some of the shadow tooltips read placeholderish.
I, for one, am thrilled to have a chance to summon a shadowfiend for 5 seconds.
Because getting a chance for two free attacks from the worst dps cooldown in the game sounds like a worthwhile use of design space.
2 Likes
These are coming from alpha testers since alpha was made available within the past 24 hours.
Well, atleast its something releases with “shadow priest” stample that isnt immediately - omg scrap that and start over, imho.
I do like that this is mostly passive interactions instead of adding more buttons. The last thing we need is even more buttons to push in our already jam-packed rotation. This compliments our kit pretty well and adds a much needed source of constant uncapped AOE.
Don’t worry - it won’t stay that way. Blizzard’s design goal for priest over the last six years is that priest does nothing unique and should be worse than at least 2-3 other classes at everything it does well.
I guarantee that the rift’s damage will either be irrelevant and serve as a visual signifier for the associated buffs or, if it does do decent damage, it will come directly from nerfs to every other source of damage that triggers off Mind Blast so that shadow’s AoE isn’t buffed.
3 Likes
…what?