I thought the art teams decision to have all five schools of magic showing before settling on the actual effect was REALLY neat! I like the idea of them being able to combine different aspect magic to enhance the spells. Hero classes always release very “OP” so I hope they balance this one decently hah
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Very excited about this! And I’m thrilled it is a ranged/healer class. We absolutely needed a new ranged spec, and as someone who likes to play ranged dps and healers this is right up my alley. I’m also glad that it’s a mail class, as our raids tend to be heavy on leather wearers, and people wearing cloth, plate, or mail tend to lose out on gear trading opportunities.
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I was thinking about it, I would have maybe liked to see an attempt to give us a truly neutral race. Seeing as there is no big faction War anymore, it would have been kinda neat to have these peeps as the first truly neutral race (well…excluding the starting zone Pandas).
Sure there are some technical issues, such as pvp, but I would have thought for those aspects have it so only for those you have to pick a side. I suppose there may be some issues around chat channels. I just thought what with cross faction being a thing for the other races that this would have been a great set off point for a neutral race to be introduced
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This is a super cool idea! If we are slowly moving toward a factionless WoW this would be a perfect story component to lead the horde and alliance out of their fractious partisanship!
Combined with a theme of the healing of the world… I really hope that this includes the healing and general repair of all the busted up areas of the world - I’m lookin at you Vale of Eternal Blossoms. All the damage done from past expansions that were never put back to a normal state and are still in whatever mangled state that particular xpack left them in.
All of these themes leading organically to an explainable factionless WoW.
Also, I really think the whole dual mode Worgen type race is a bit of a rehash. I can’t say I’m super excited. You may need to go back to the drawing board on this a bit … Isn’t a ranged casting DPS/healer called a priest? OK, a priest in mail? I’m not sold.
The flying dragon aerial combat stuff is friggin amazing though!! Aerial PvP!!!
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Slightly sad that the Dracthyr may not play other classes (though I’m fine with Evokers only being playable by them, makes sense), but I’m mostly disappointed by the fact that there’s no tanking spec available, tied to the Black Dragonflight.
As a hunter main, really glad that we’ll finally have more friends, other than shamans, to share loot with.
I think the press & hold abilities may turn out to be really cool if implemented well, can’t wait to try it out. Maybe it’s something other classes can see in the future?
Really wondering a lot on their appearances. Are they going to be fully moggable in dragon form? Or is it going to be a Mechagnome-type thing? Still unsure about what their humanoid form is meant to be too, as we seen a blood elf skin and a human one. I’m also not really sold on the current animations.
Still excited about the whole new thing, but missing a lot of details still.
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If it’s of any consolation, it’s definitely not just a you problem - the cap seems kind of arbitrary and unnecessarily restrictive. I have a couple of slots left still, but I’m honestly dreading the moment when we get something new and I’d have to delete one of my characters just to make room.
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The Dracthyr announcement is probably the most underwhelming part of the expansion reveal for me.
There are already so many interesting races in the game that the players have been asking for as playable races for years. Dropping a dragon race (that isn’t even one of the variants we’ve already seen, like the Drakonids) on us just feels completely contrived.
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I know it’s probably code limitations, but I too believe it would’ve been nice to have the Dracthyr be a truly neutral race - able to change faction at will.
The fact cross faction is in 9.2.5 would just help cement this. And if for some reason they decide to go with a faction war expansion again in the future (which hopefully they’ve heard the feedback people don’t want that) - then just make evokers choose a faction for war mode and make switching have a long cooldown.
And yes, this would make guilds a difficult thing if they did. But I’m sure they could figure something out.
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My thoughts on why Dracthyr are not specifically neutral or why they have not made more cross faction announcements is that they want to make sure the 9.2.5 Cross Faction changes work well without any game breaking bugs.
I think adding it the way they did is a technically safe way to implement such a huge change first.Once all the kink are worked on and bug fixes are in, then we can hopefully see more truly cross faction stuff come in like Cross Faction guilds, and of course Neutral Dracthyr.
What i’d love the most is that this will be the first ranged hero class, I am waiting for this for so long.
I like the appearances and the look so far. And i can see why evokers only can be Dracthyr, these dragon skills would look silly on other races. But as a druid player for years now i have to add that it feels sometimes very bad to be limited on less choices just because of your class.
As someone earlier said it is a little bit weird that a dragon class can’t tank? Go new ways, try something and make it the first ever range tank. In m+ and other small group content there are permanently tanks or heals lacking so why not and it would probably feel better for a hybrid class then having 2 dps specs.
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My theory is that it will be a little like druids are. Dragon form is pretty set, but humanoid form is fully moggable. Maybe we’ll get a glyph to stay in humanoid form like the druid’s Glyph of Stars.
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Looks like it might be annoying to play - with charging abilities and abilities such as the “breath” where you go in a straight line throwing out fire. I guess cancelaura macros exists for such but hopefully you can still move your character well during such abilities as you’re otherwise very likely to die in encounters.
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I am pretty excited for the new class; I just wish there was a melee option attached to it - either tank or DPS.
Otherwise, I really like the theme, the abilities look really cool, and I’m interested to eventually be able to try one out. It doesn’t resonate as a ‘main’ character for me, but definitely a potential alt!
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I’m sorry but I just don’t agree with these takes - and I don’t mean to single out Tsujigirl or Xhelann, I’ve seen the same two opinions everywhere, these are just convenient to quote.
Lore wise, it makes perfect sense. No other race would have any idea or the ability to be an evoker. Just like the Dracthyr have been hidden away for 10,000 years, they would have their own schools of magic and abilities that are very different from the other denizens of Azeroth.
On the note of the tank spec, I understand wanting a black dragonflight tank spec, but every new class that has ever been added to the game has a tank spec (DK, Monk, DH), and none of those have a ranged spec, so I really feel like a ranged/healer class is a perfect fit. I understand the fantasy of being a big bad dragon face tanking a dozen enemies and bathing them in a torrent of fire breath. I thought we were going to get a “Dragon Warrior” type class which would be exactly that - but after the reveal I think this is better.
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Warcraft lore is immensely malleable, nothing is set in stone. Monks were not limited solely to Pandaren upon release, despite the fact their magic and ways were not a style known to any of the current Azerothian denizens. Pandaren monks trained willing people in their arts and an Evoker class could simply be no different.
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I think there’s a major difference between monk training (punching, kicking, mistweaving and drinking) and effectively being a dragon (breath fire, claws, etc.)
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Hello, the new race/class is the announcements with the less hype for me. I find there apparence not appropriete for WoW. I thought they will be more beautifull without wings and an more humanoid apparence : they will merge more into the other races in that way.
And the idea of they are race and class at the same time doesn’t hype me. Why a dragon cannot be mage, or monk, warrior… ?
Wait and see for me…
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Hi all! We wanted to share some thoughts on a few of the questions we’ve been hearing here and in other feedback. Thank you for the thoughtful feedback and interest!
The team had many discussions about which specializations to pursue for the class. Ranged DPS was locked in fairly early, as it offered the best opportunities to embrace well-known dragon themes: Soaring over the battlefield raining destruction, unleashing a beam of energy from your mouth, or scorching everything in front of you with a massive breath of fire.
For the second specialization, we were really excited to explore themes more unique to World of Warcraft. The Green dragonflight’s connection to Azeroth and the Emerald Dream, the mind-bending time magic of the Bronze, and a bit of the Red’s duality of life and death, are ingrained in the rich history of Warcraft but haven’t been wieldable by players until now (with the slight exception of Green magic, which Druids certainly pull from with their connection to the Dream).
Additionally, reflecting on the previous classes added to the game, we’ve added just one Healer, and never a Ranged DPS! We’re thrilled to be able to offer fresh, new playstyles in those roles.
When Neltharion created the Dracthyr thousands of years ago, he had an express purpose in mind for them. They were trained to embrace the awesome power of the dragonflights that he had gifted them and become Evokers, which Neltharion saw as a superior combatant. As they reawaken in the modern age, leaving their home to explore a wider world that is entirely unknown to them, they are clinging to what they know in order to survive. As they integrate with the Alliance and Horde over time, could they learn to pick up an axe and be a great warrior? Quite possibly, but that’s not where their story is starting in Dragonflight.
Evokers have a few spells that were shown in the deep dive video that we’d like to provide more details on.
The first are empower spells, an entirely new type of cast that can be “charged up” to increase some effects of the spell. We know that holding down a key isn’t a great form of input for everyone, so players will be able to choose whether empower spells use a “Press, hold, and release” style of input or a “Press once to start, press again to release” style. We’ve been keeping accessibility in mind throughout the design process, and have been playtesting with both forms of input since the beginning of development.
Empower spells get stronger in some manner the longer they are charged (up to a limit), such as hitting more targets or causing longer-lasting effects, and there will be situations where releasing them early is advantageous or more efficient. For example, the current design of the empower spell Fire Breath is that it does instant damage in a cone in front of you, and then additional damage over time. Empowering Fire Breath for longer increases the duration of the damage over time effect, while the instant damage is unchanged. Depending on the health of the enemy you’re fighting, spending less time charging Fire Breath could be better than fully charging it! Being able to release a spell early when you’re in danger, or using that casting time more efficiently if the later stages of the spell aren’t necessary, are new avenues for players to express mastery in varying combat situations.
The ‘bombing run’ type ability shown in the deep dive is Deep Breath, which is not an empower spell. The Evoker chooses a destination (like with movement abilities such as Heroic Leap or Door of Shadows), and then instantly lifts off and flies to that location while spewing flame beneath them, dealing massive damage to enemies in their path.
Evokers should be able to go back and complete the majority of questlines and content from previous expansions, such as the zone storylines, but we don’t currently have plans to create bespoke class content for them in those areas. Our development focus is on making Dragonflight as awesome as possible, and ensuring Evokers will enjoy the Dragon Isles alongside the rest of their allies!
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This worries me as someone who played survival in legion with 3 targeting circles in my rotation.
Are there any plans to allow us to use @target conditionals in macros? Things like a druid effloresence, a sham healing rain, a warlock rain of fire, etc could also really benefit from it.
We already have @player which is fine most melee targeting circles, but the majority are ranged now.
@target would never be optimal as you know, compared to closing where it goes, but it would still be a nice way for those who don’t like them or those who can’t use them to still enjoy the spec.
I understand the idea behind not having it, but you guys keep throwing targeting circles into baseline rotations of classes, and for people who have issues aiming things (for instance, there’s someone in one of the discord servers I’m in who outright can’t use targeting circles at all as they have hand tremors), which is needlessly complicating rotations or making them outright unviable as a spec for people with those issues.
I was hoping the strafing run was going to work like a dk’ s frostwyrm - you just fly forward in front of you. To hear it’s a targeting circle takes away a lot of the interest I had already.
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While I understand the accessibility issues you’re mentioning, I think this is much better than the DK frostwyrm, because the effect also moves your character.
I would assume, based on these descriptions - and maybe Sunders can confirm this - that this also allows for the ability to not be casted at max range. One of the pain points with frostwrym - specifically in dungeons and open world is that the range often pulls additional mobs if it is not carefully aimed to avoid them.
Having it be a target circle, like Heroic Leap and Door of Shadows seems like the best possible implementation to me.
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