Unfortunately, people seem to think that everyone at Blizzard is knowledgeable and responsible for every public-facing change made to the game. No, the Lead Encounter Designer is very likely not going to be the person to ask Class Design questions to, but that’s not going to stop the community despite the fact that the answer probably isn’t going to be satisfying.
Because, again, you’re asking an Encounter Designer Class-specific questions. It’s like asking the Lead Artist how certain spell abilities are programmed.
While I don’t want to see the return of mind spike (would rather see devouring plague instead) I agree with everything else the OP has said. Please Blizzard, read this feedback on shadow priests. From a PvP perspective waiting to ramp up damage with void form is not good imo. While I do admit having lots of chorus of insanity stacks is satisfying, it is frustrating that this is the only way for you to do good damage.
Shadow Priests are heavily reliant on the azerite traits: Spiteful Apparitions and Deathroes, especially in PvP. The only other option is chorus. The first two traits need to be built in passively for shadow or they are going to suffer greatly, and if void form remains how it is from BFA then priests are also going to need chorus of insanity built in for the same reasons
I think people have their hopes too high, but I would be disappointed if a question about classes, specifically in this case shadow was not raised. To expect a detailed answer from an encounter designer is, as you’ve said, a pretty poor place to put your faith.
However, I think putting it on the record in a face to face interview the current state of SL shadow is not something the players are happy with, and have them not give a satisfactory and complete answer, but at least have to say something, is a good thing. Even if over the course of a 1 hour interview, that takes up maybe 10 seconds, which is the likely outcome.
I would rather that question be posed to someone actually involved in the class-making process. The only thing you’re getting now is an immediate response. A response that, as previously stated, is likely to be underwhelming at best. I would rather have the right response than just to placate my impatience.
Not only that, but should every single spec be called out in the interview, then? I wouldn’t know how ‘loud’ Shadow is in comparison to other specs, but if we’re going to go down this rabbit hole, why not get an Encounter Designers thoughts on every spec that the community deems needs help?
I doubt many see themselves as impatient, they’ve been waiting 2-3 years.
Certainly, but since It’s the one I’m interested in, it’s the one I mentioned. Like I said, I don’t think we can expect a satisfying answer, but I do feel like there is a disconnect between where the devs think and maybe know they are, and where the players feel like they are, and given how BFA went I don’t think they’re wrong to feel the way they do.
Anything that tries to shrink that disconnect is going to be good.
I disagree. We’ve had plenty of updates and changes with regards to Shadow. Not liking the changes made isn’t the same as not having communication, just in general. Everyone here knew going into BFA that Shadow wasn’t changing its voidform mechanic, no one was blindsided or otherwise caught unaware.
You (In general) can argue for Shadow’s design all day, but it’s a misstep to say that Shadow’s changes come out of the dark.
Void Bolt rank 2’s existence is a magnificent demonstration of the lack of forethought that has gone into SL shadow’s current incarnation. It’s not that I specifically don’t like the changes, It’s that as someone who understands the spec they make absolutely no sense regardless of what direction you’re trying to take it.
I will take the base BFA alpha shadow, over the base SL shadow as it is. And that alone is enough to make me question what Blizzard are doing or trying to do.
I may dislike voidform, but I’m equally not one of the ones surprised its still here, and while I do want orbs I am also capable of feedback much more within the bounds of reason. I’ve been scratching my head for weeks trying to work out what the changes made in SL are even attempting to do, they dont fix anything, I can reel off multiple problems with all of them (And have done in pointed responses). They smack of someone pushing food around their plate to make it look like they’ve eaten it, and if they want people to stop thinking that they’re going to have to say something.
Even if someone wanted voidform to stay, they don’t want this.
I understand the want for reasons as to the peculiars of Shadow’s current decisions, but getting an unsatisfying response from someone not even involved in class design is no better than just silence.
I have no doubts that Blizzard (in general) will respond to Shadow’s design. And again, this is an Alpha. I know the current conspiracy theory says that (evidently) Alphas are pointless and Blizzard made subforums and very specifically pointed out that everything is in flux, including returning abilities, for seemingly no reason other than to troll the community, but I guarantee you that they are well aware of what’s happening.
I’m going to spend this last bit seeing what my Trust level is by trying to post this link as to how the Priest community evidently feels about Shadow Priest:
Ask Encounter Designer a question he likely doesn’t have a good answer to --> Encounter Designer will return to the Blizzard Hivemind and telepathically let everyone know that Shadow Priest is in trouble --> Encounter Designer gets two Blizzard Food rations before returning to the Blizzard Slave pens.
Edit: Oh. Is there a way to see your Trust level? Because I honestly have no idea what level I’m at.
No, clearly not, but I do appreciate the humour. Anyone expecting a shadow focused inquisition is obviously going to be disappointed, but I still think there’s value to the words coming out of someone’s mouth and going into someone’s ear.
Proof’s in the pudding at this point. After how BFA rolled out I’m committed to being critical early, often, and consistently.
I don’t know how to respond to just a portion of your post, but in regards to the last piece:
As you should; I don’t think anyone will be opposed to that. Everyone just wants the best for WoW in the end. As a software developer in a not-quite-Blizzard-large company, I don’t buy the notion that Blizzard just flies by the seat of their pants, though.
Realistically, I would be more concerned about the state of Shadow Priests once you’re partway through Beta and/or a pre-patch announcement.
The reason stated was because they were behind in general, as was made apparent through major expansion feature(s) not being testable until the very end of Beta. Not for lack of caring.
Sucks to be sure, I’ve been in my fair share of catch-ups and crunches, but deadlines are deadlines and something’s got to give. In Blizzard’s case, it wasn’t about having everything perfect, it was getting it out the door in a stable state and working on it later.
Of course, that doesn’t excuse it, no one really knows why they were behind, however.
Thing is, this isn’t an easy fix. It’s arguable that it’s easier than making voidform’s current mechanics work, but it’s not easy in the slightest. Both would take a massive amount of work.
There are many previous iterations of shadow that work. To be frank, Blizzard just hates going “back” instead of making up new nonsense in the name of progress.
I don’t think there are, honestly. I think if you snap reverted shadow to any of its previous states it’d still be plagued with many of the problems it currently is. It’d be a lot more fluid and enjoyable in PvP for sure, but it wouldn’t bring the damage or utility toolkit for dungeons, It’d be worse at movement encounters than it is now, and open world would still largely be a chore.
I’d ask questions around: “How do you design encounters so that classes with very different damage profiles are successful?”
That question leads pretty quickly to describing the different damage profiles, which includes singling out Shadow as having no cooldowns and long ramps. Then it’s just the elephant in the room, hard to ignore.
That may have been his previous Job, but he is currently in a Management Role. He is 100% the person to mention this to because he is the person who could go to the Shadow team and say “Hey, we got this feedback from an influencer who knows this class much better than me. This should probably be addressed.”
Yeah, he might not be the one to fix it, but he is the one who will delegate the task and give the Shadow designers the work time needed to actually do something positive.
Given all the layoffs, the rushed releases of BFA, and now co-vid 19, they are probably spread extremely thin, and allowing time to be allotted to Shadow is literally our best hope right now.
