Tuesday, January 30, 2018

What Specs Need Fixing?

Every expansion brings fairly big changes to the way classes work, though some changes are bigger than others. Warlords did see an ability pruning, but Legion saw really extensive re-designs of many specs.

In many cases, I think the Legion incarnations are pretty ideal, but there are definitely some specs that need work.

I'll put this caveat out there to say that I might be less familiar with some of these specs than others. As usual, I can't say much about healers. Additionally, some specs need a tweak here and there while others need some real soul-searching. This post is going to focus more on the latter.

Demonology:

Demo got a huge re-work to overlap less with Demon Hunters. Personally I really liked the Mists/Warlords version of Demo, which focused on your Metamorphosis form, but that's really the realm of DHs now, and the idea of summoning hordes of demons to fight for you is pretty cool. If there's one culprit here it's Demonic Empowerment. I'd much rather spend my time generating resources to summon demons and then summoning those demons than having a third step where I need to empower them. Cut this ability and adjust the strength of the demons to compensate, and you could practically call it a day (maybe throw an interesting proc in there - you could even just make Demonic Calling baseline.)

Survival:

Like Havoc and Vengeance, Survival was essentially a brand new spec in Legion. If they're committed to its being a melee spec (and I am in favor of this: it's always seemed weird to me that none of the pure DPS classes can choose between ranged and melee - it would also make sense to make a ranged Rogue spec) I think you can take some of the ideas here but make them into something that feels a little more cohesive. Mongoose Bite is clearly meant to be the centerpiece of the spec, so why not make Survival about spending all your focus on MB and then trying to regenerate as much as possible before the window closes? Having bleeds and traps to maintain along with the bites makes the spec feel a little busy. I'd pare it down some.

Retribution:

The Judgment window feels pretty similar to Colossus Smash for Arms, but it's unclear whether you're supposed to keep it up at all times or if it's a bonus. Frankly, if you made Holy Power generation a little less predictable (like an early-Cataclysm version of Divine Purpose, which granted individual Holy Power units but more frequently,) you could just make the spec about maximizing Templar's Verdict swings. Also, I know there's Divine Hammer and Zeal as talent options, but there really ought to be some quick, on-demand AoE baseline for the spec.

Brewmaster:

I like that Stagger seems to be more relevant at low-damage levels (previously I basically only used Purifying Brew while in LFR) and making Breath of Fire actually worth using is fantastic. Much like Protection Paladins (who need only tweaks,) I'd like some better UI indication of Brews - more like a resource bar, and perhaps some better pulling options (though long-range Keg Smash is not bad.)

Subtlety:

Though I love it in its current form, Subtlety needs to be able to work outside of the Death from Above/Symbols of Death/Shadow Dance burst. This might be more about tweaking things, but while Sub is and should be about big blasts of damage from stealth, I think a somewhat more sustained damage option should be viable (though those 12m damage hits are pretty freaking cool when they happen.)

I'm sure there are others than might need some serious reworks, but that don't come to mind as easily. And obviously this is all opinion. But I'm curious to see what kinds of changes we'll be seeing in Battle for Azeroth. Obviously the lack of artifacts will have a pretty huge effect on every spec, but I imagine we'll see some compensation.

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