Can we please remove the weapon restrictions on spells. I don’t see the need for a spell to require “Two handed Melee” or “One handed melee” the animations on each spell are relatively basic and each animation is proven to work well with most other movements.
I believe this would allow players to at least enjoy a broader amount of aesthetics.
Having the ability/spell to a particular type of weapon requirement feels really outdated and limiting.
It’s to prevent obscene damage output from certain mechanics.
Most notably a 2H enhance shaman, wind fury being instant death for anything unlucky enough to be targeted.
Those numbers and weapon damage mechanics were a thing of the past, and a lot of the items now are most notably off hand and two hand related.
You don’t gain anything from a fury warrior having a single 2H and still able to use Raging blow, in fact the fury warrior would lose out on some damage, Rampage does not require 2-Two handers, what it does is only calculates the single weapon in the absence of both, but the animation and what damage does apply still works.
Enhancement shaman and windfury or any of their abilities that require 2-one handed weapons would only benefit from half that (albeit a slightly higher MH damage if they were to use 2H weapon) but the animation and damage would still go through.
Some would argue “why would you want to gimp yourself that way”
again to give the freedom to those who want to play for example 2H enhancement the ability to do so while not limiting their abilities they can use.
I beg to differ a bit, going against what is required is understood that it will not have idealistic conditions, the problem wouldn’t be “oh im using the wrong weapons I need to be able to do equal damage” the problem currently is “im using the wrong weapons, and I cant use half of my abilities” huge difference between losing some damage and losing half-all damage.
This isn’t a balancing issue, this is more of an aesthetic issue.
Would like to edit this and include that I am grateful to all who respond, I really feel that small steps to give the players back a sense of customization to suit their aesthetic or playstyle is healthy for the game. We have a lot of restrictions and this one shouldn’t be included in that (in my opinion) please understand that your responses will absolutely be taken with weight!
Have you seen what people complain about?
You have far more faith in GD/the playerbase than I ever will. They will complain about anything and everything possible.
If 2h enhance isn’t putting out damage equal to DW enhance, even if its 0.5% lower…people will complain that they are being “forced” into DW because Blizzard is a “small indie company” that can’t/won’t properly balance 2h.
I have seen what we all complain about 100% I understand and agree there is always that potential. However, I do believe that not being able to use the ability is far worse than using the ability and losing some damage.
While we will complain about everything under the sun, its less of an impact if we just allow people to use the ability vs deny them that.
I believe someone on a game dev team once said “if you give the community a hat that will give them everything they ever wanted, they will complain about the hat’s color” It’s inevitable perhaps but small steps like this can really move benefit the community as a whole. Keep people interested or aiming to find new and interesting ways to play.
But who’s to say it will lose some damage? It could very well break things in the opposite direction.
So this means they have to constantly balance both weapon types. And as we’ve seen. They run out of times for entire classes/specs already.
currently if you play fury warrior and select to only use 1-two handed weapon, use rampage and you will see that it only deals damage from the main hand, same with execute and whirlwind as well as seigebreaker. the damage is essentially cut in half because you do not have that extra weapon.
As for balancing, I really dont see that as an issue as, like mentioned before, it would be about losing some damage, vs losing the entire ability.
Would it be idealistic for end game meta combat? no, could you enjoy different flavors of the spec we already have? yeah absolutely.
You are unable to utilize Raging Blow due to not having a second two hander. The odd part comes with raging blow not being an off hand only ability, the animation and damage calculates both weapons when you add the second two-hander, so why the restriction? why not just apply the same concept from rampage to raging blow?
I wouldn’t mention things we already have examples for, or I would at least try not to, you can test it out yourself.
I am saying there may be some situations where you don’t lose damage, you gain way too much. Therefor, they will always be having to do additional work to make sure this doesn’t happen. That is extra time, when they clearly haven’t been shown to budget things right already.
I’d rather them show they can hit an expansion without completely ignoring an entire classes/specs first, before we try to add things to the plate.
I respect your thoughts on it, though to be honest I cant tell a situation where that could happen if they just follow what they did with fury warrior, if the item requires 2H weapons and you give them 1h weapons, the damage will be less, its not like the old days where single minded fury was there and scaled its own way, what they have now is a flat system with specific weapons in mind.
Lets give it a small test:
Weapon requires 2-one handed weapons, and you decide to use a single 2H weapon, the ability calculates both weapons separately so you would immediately lose the second strike immediately losing damage, you would gain a small amount from the first strike since you are using a 2H weapon placed in the mainhand slot.
lets turn that around. you use a 1H weapon when it clearly asks for 2H, you immediately lose damage since the weapon is meant to be a 2H weapon.
lets go with an ability where you only use a single 1h weapon but you can equip a 2H weapon for example Holy paladin, mage, warlock, priest, etc. Then you just base it off of that system.
Anyway it is pushed there is a current checks and balance system that would likely counter the possibility of a spell being put so out of balance that it would require the attention of the Devs to make immediate corrections. Though I will not deny you the potential of a random figure.
Wow is in a bad state, we all know this, balance is very rough right now but I dont see the devs quitting and I see people all the time when I play the game so, its not nearly as bad as people want to say, and with the systems and lessons learned in prior expansions, I believe the idea of a radical issue would arise in respect to this one doesn’t seem too likely.
I just wish I could transmog my weapons to those 10 and 20 pound catfishes I keep in my bank.
That would make me so happy.
That would be, though I do think they have a tmogable floppy fish. Hilarious.
The only reason they run out of time is because they insist on reinventing every class each expansion now. If they stop pruning and reinventing classes; and return to giving each class some cool new abilities then they will have plenty of time to finish balancing everyone again.
But thats sorta what I am getting at. We don’t know what situations could make the different weapon types better. So they’d have to constantly be testing/balance to ensure things dont take a wonky turn of events.
They can’t just say BAM. Everyone can use whatever 2h/1h weapons they want. We aren’t going to make sure there are no broken combinations.
I feel like “pruning” is a buzzword that doesn’t actually hold weight if you look at total abilities used, and compare it to previous time periods.
I have nearly 30 keybinds, and I use a solid 15-20 abilities regularly in a dungeon.
If classes remained the same, people would get bored and quit. If they only added abilities, it would create a balancing nightmare with a bloated spell book.
Look, I can’t very well Thwack you with a sharp and pointy thing.
Anymore so than you could pewpew me with a large smashy stick
You want to change mechanics for personal reasons involving aesthetics?
Just walk around with a staff as a Prot Pally. Heck if I care.
You can have your aesthetics, right now, but I’ll be darned if shieldless tanks start to be the defacto standard because of some crazy daggers with a proc down the line. . .
While I would normally agree with that, I really dont see how that could be the issue considering we already have examples of each of those right this moment.
your main concern is time taken, and what ive been able to provide was examples how thats not an issue considering they have these methods already in place.
@Whitecrow you make a solid point when it comes to ranged weapons vs melee weapons. though a finely loose one. Ranged weapons (non magical) come in 3 flavors, Bows, Guns, Crossbows. and those who can use these weapons can already interchange them even though the weapons themselves contain separate animations I.E Guns vs bow animations but can now be used on the same spell.
Fist weapons and swords can now be used on the same spell.
As for a the fear that tanks (namely warrior/paladin and prot, considering DH, DK, Monk tanks do not use shields) I would have to agree, shields should remain shields, because they provide a function like block, but in relation to another poster, those categories would remain. Ranged weapons for ranged weapons, Shield would be shield (since nothing else falls in line, But the rest, really doesnt add up too well.
We would also still have to abide by the weapon restrictions each class inherently has on their weapon list.
None of which is what I am suggesting. What I am suggesting is the ability to get rid of the weapon restrictions that prevent the ability/spell to be used.
Paladins cannot use daggers nor can they dual wield so they aren’t much of a big example, but lets say a warrior (prot) decides they dont want their shield, and they want a dagger, well…the aren’t entirely able to because they dont have access to the dual wield ability.
So you shouldn’t have an issue there.
So a few examples means it can’t ever happen, and as new abilities/weapons come out, it never has to be checked. Ever?
There has been no new weapon category in wow since launch with the exception of DH glaives, however that is specific to one class and even then they dont restrict the weapon system, if you have one weapon you can use all your abilities, and DH’s cannot utilize 2H weapons from their weapon list nor can they use range weapons or magical weapons, mind you this does not negate the potential of one in the distant or near future.
The few examples are more than enough to prove evidence that the methods they have in place can work and have worked.
naturally things would have to be checked, even our own current weapons are tested in PTR and maintenance, however to suggest that it would take so much time to check a system that is already working doesnt make much sense from my perspective.
I never said a new weapon type. But new abilities (that you get every expansion via baseline or talents), or new weapons. Like how they are experimenting with things in Crucible of the Storm to give different abilities to weapons. Or factor in azerite traits meshing with weapons.
The system is already working. You want to change the system. The system you want is not working because it does not exist.