Legion looks to be a fantastic expansion. All the "why does this matter" questions about Warlords of Draenor are entirely absent - this is the highest-stakes expansion we've ever had, and almost every feature they announced really does seem designed specifically to address player concerns in a clever and interesting way. There will certainly be detractors, as you can't please everyone, but I think most people will agree that this is the most exciting prospect for an expansion in several years.
We got a lot of information yesterday - more than I think most expected. What I think most people did expect was an announcement on-par with that of Mists of Pandaria - which introduced core concepts (Pandaria, Pandaren, Monks) but didn't say much beyond that. Instead, we got almost a Blizzcon-level of detail.
Things did not go specifically into classes, but there were definitely some hints that one could make inferences from that suggest that a few specializations are in for big, big changes.
Demonology Warlocks:
Demo has had Metamorphosis since Wrath, I think (I think the big shiny feature of BC was the Felguard.) It served mainly as just a very powerful cooldown until Mists of Pandaria, which was when the Grand Warlock Redesign happened, and Meta was made into a core part of the Demonology rotation.
Demonology is a tricky rotation to pull off, especially when dealing with groups of enemies. The trickiest aspect is the fact that Corruption and Doom share a button, meaning you have to duck in and out of demon form in order to make sure that both DOTs are up and running on all your targets.
But given that Demon Hunters will be using Metamorphosis as a central class mechanic, it's plausible to imagine that Demonology will lose it, despite the way that it has become a core, if not the core mechanic of the spec.
Still, there's other themes that they could shift focus to. Currently Demo Locks get a little swarm of Imps that follow them around once they've been in combat for a little bit, and I could imagine them shifting the spec's focus onto the idea of a demonic menagerie, perhaps making the pet and the imps more interactive, and maybe throwing in other demonic summons.
Survival Hunters:
When they introduced the Eagle Spear, I figured it would be a weapon for Feral or Guardian Druids. But this was not so: that new artifact is for Survival Hunters.
Hunters have not had a reason to use melee weapons except for RP purposes since the beginning of Mists of Pandaria. Now, it's possible that they'll somehow make this into a throwing spear, but I think the far more likely explanation for this is that Survival is going to become a melee spec.
I've often thought more classes should have ranged and melee options, and it's clear that in Vanilla they had toyed with the idea of a melee hunter. But that idea pretty much disappeared a good while ago. But now it looks like it's coming back.
I don't know exactly how popular the spec is, but I imagine there are a ton of Survival hunters who are going to be upset about this change. This is a very fine line to tread - making existing specs into wildly different ones - though beyond making a fourth spec, this is how Blizzard has to do it.
Frost Death Knights:
This one's the nearest and dearest to me. One of the main examples of artifact weapons they talked about was the pair of swords Icebringer and Soulrender - forged from the shards of Frostmourne to serve as the Frost Death Knight artifact.
My response is "so... can we just reforge the shards of Frostmourne into... Frostmourne?" Way back I used to play Blood DPS when that was a thing. I switched to Frost because I prefer the rhythm to it and I don't really like sharing my DK's damage with a pet. I also just like the aesthetic of a two-handed weapon far more than dual-wielding.
But honestly, I think they're just going to make Frost the dual-wielding spec for Death Knights. It's always been tricky to balance the two styles of Frost (though they could have made it easier on themselves by simply making both styles prefer Obliterate or both styles prefer Frost Strike.) By making this declaration, they confine Frost to a single spec that can be nerfed or buffed uniformly.
So I figure I'll have to try out dual-wielding. I don't want to switch specs if it's what's left of Frostmourne that I'll be able to wield.
Fury Warriors:
Fury's the only other physical spec that can equip itself with very different weapon loadouts. That said, the difference between single-handed and two-handed weapons with Fury is much less profound than that choice is for Frost DKs. Fury still uses the same abilities and the same basic priority (though I could be wrong about this. My DK's way higher on my alt priority list than my Warrior, especially after they destroyed Arms.)
Anyway, Blizzard will have to officially endorse either the passive formerly known as Titan's Grip or the passive formerly known as Single-Minded Fury.
Havok Demon Hunters:
Big changes. The biggest is that they'll exist.
Vengeance Demon Hunters:
I'm actually really curious to see how the Demon Hunter tanking style will work. Havok I'm sure will put a big emphasis on movement, having you bound around at your enemies with charges and leaps. Tanking, however, requires you to sometimes be able to plant your feet. There's little more frustrating than a tank who drags the boss around for no reason (especially as melee,) so I can't imagine that Vengeance will be built around leaping away from attacks or anything like that.
The Vengeance Metamorphosis form does look very tough and almost rocky. We also already have an avoidance-style tank in the form of the Brewmaster. I really can't say what I expect Vengeance's mechanics to be, but I suspect I'll try them out (and with only two specs, everyone can dual-spec as a tank.)
No comments:
Post a Comment