I’ve been playing San’layn since start of TWW as a blood DK.
I think it is a great theme, squandered by developers who keep making bad decisions. Alpha release notes sadly only confirmed them going into the wrong direction.
Here is what I think is wrong with these Hero Talents:
- Too much focus on Infliction of Sorrow. In season 3 you gutted Blood Beast (the real fun talent!) into oblivion by 80+% nerf and introduction of the worst tier bonuses, that are centered around infliction of sorrow.
In Midnight alpha you’re doubling down on this terrible decision, by adding this aweful tier set as San’layne talents.
- Infliction of sorrow doesn’t quite fit vampiric theme of San’layn.
- Infliction of sorrow’s damage is very difficult to analyze even for theory crafters, let alone normal players.
- Infliction of sorrow simply doesn’t feel exciting or satisfying to play around.
1.1. Playing around Blood Beast & Pact of San’layn was one of the most fun & satisfying experiences I ever had in WoW. Make San’layn focus around Blood Beast, not infliction of sorrow or at least make it a choice node.
- Fake utility talents, that either need rework of significant tuning.
2.1. Vampiric Aura: giving 4% leech to 4 party members within 12 yards for 12 seconds, when using Leechborne. This talent needs at least 300-500% buff to begin to feel even slightly impactful.
To show you how terrible this talent is, I will compare it to paladin’s lightsmith “tempered in battle” talent:
- 100% of overhealing paladin receives goes to their ally with holy bulwark buff.
- whenever an ally, wielding sacred weapon, drops below 40% health, portion of paladin’s health is immediately given to that ally to save him or her (also works in vice versa directiion).
2.2. Bloody Fortitude: damage reduction from IBB increased by additional 20% depending on missing health, Killing an enemy that yields experience or honor reduces CD of IBB by 3 sec.
- You need to deliver a killing blow to an enemy personally for this 3 seconds effect to trigger. Obviously most of the mobs in m+ will be finished by your DPS classes, making this talent both unreliable and very weak.
- Speaking of damage reduction element, IBB has a short duration of 8 sec and long cooldown of 2 minutes, the additional 20% DR is very niche and often not needed, because IBB on its own is strong enough. Blood DK’s staple defense is Vampiric Blood, why couldn’t you make this talent about empowering vampiric blood and not IBB??
2.3. Vampiric Speed: increases Death Advance’s & Wraith Walk speed is increased by 10%. Activating those abilities increases 4 nearby allies speed by 20% for 5 sec.
- almost any other spec has much better movement abilities than DK, 20% speed 20% speed increase for 5 for party is both redundant and just way too weak.
- so instead of 35% speed increase I will have 45% increase, while Rider’s talent “Death Charge” increases speed from 35% to 100%.
Are you seriously telling me these talents provide “equal” utility??? This is ridiculous, Rider’s talent is literally 5 or 6 times better than this pathetic “vampiric speed”.
2.4. Blood Soaked Ground - standing in DnD gives you 5% physical damage reduction. Not the worst talent, but compare it to Deathbringer “Rune Carved Plates”, that gives 7.5% both physical & magical reduction.
So San’layn has 5% physical damage reduction vs Deathbringer 7.5% physical & magical damage reduction. Did you guys at dev department do even the most primitive comparitive analysis 12+ months after hero talents introduction?
- San’layn has 0 interraction with Vampiric Blood or Blood Shield.
And again I know the reason for this: it’s because you also gave these talents to Unholy and as TWW showed, you give priority to DPS specs only, despite San’layn theme SCREAMING that it should involve Vampiric Blood and possibly also Blood Shield.