We've now had 9.0 for a few weeks, and we've got less than a week before we head off into the Shadowlands expansion proper. While I was lucky enough to get bags on my three primary Alliance characters I've now killed Bronjahm on my Shaman like 5 times (on separate days) and have had no luck, so, poo.
But I thought I'd talk about class changes and how I feel about them. This isn't going to get into the super-nitty-gritty, but mostly just talk about the changes I've noticed and my feelings about them.
Paladins:
Retribution is nearly unchanged, so there's not a ton to report here except that having Consecration as a filler and a target-less AoE ability is actually pretty nice. Now, Protection, which is my main spec (though I did so little group content in BFA that I probably played more as Ret) did get some massive changes, particularly with the reintroduction of Holy Power as a resource. I remember feeling that the move away from HoPo in Legion was an odd choice, albeit one that I got used to. The main thing is that timing of your Shield of the Righteous is now going to automatically be staggered a bit. I do feel like our damage output has gotten better, such that I could actually see soloing as Prot. But most of the same tools are there. One thing that is rather odd about Paladins is that they moved the level at which Avenging Wrath grants the ability to use Hammer of Wrath regardless of enemy health to the 50-60 range, which means that we briefly lose that functionality in this pre-patch, despite this having been a thing for many expansions. Oh well.
Death Knights:
Two-handed frost. It's back, thank... well, not the Light. Thank Death? Anyway, I'm really hoping that 2H Frost becomes viable, and preferably in a way that lets me never have to use Breath of Sindragosa again! Most of the abilities are still around and work the same way, but Frost now has Death and Decay again, as well as Raise Dead, which gives us another cooldown and some more AoE options. We also have some new runeforge options, though I don't know if they'll ever wind up as good as the old Fallen Crusader.
Demon Hunters:
Nearly unchanged. Havoc now has Immolation Aura, which again gives them a filler AoE option (notice a pattern here?) But this looks like another "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" situation.
Shamans:
Hoo boy, here we have a real change. While Elemental looks like it was reverted to be pretty similar to its Legion/BFA model, Enhancement has sort of reverted to its Warlords incarnation but retained some of the simplicity of its Legion incarnation - you're definitely going to have some empty GCDs (which is actually not terrible for such a utility class) but after working on getting comfortable keybinds and figuring out the most important abilities, it's actually not too bad, and also pretty fun. But the big thing is: no more Maelstrom as a resource (though Maelstrom Weapon is back as a proc, thankfully stacking to 10 now but only consuming up to 5 at a time, so you have some wiggle-room if you don't get the cast off before you get more procs,) and most things have cooldowns. But you also have a totem you'll want to put down all the time, which brings back a hint of that old-school Shaman gameplay.
Rogues:
Subtlety is my primary Rogue experience, so I'll mostly comment from there: Rotationally, the big change is that Slice and Dice is back. This is actually my main gripe, as I always kind of hated Slice and Dice, finding things like Nightblade (which is now just Rupture again, but more or less the same) more active. So there's a bit more of a maintenance aspect to the spec now, though the underlying rotation is otherwise mostly the same, and I seem to be doing more damage with it (compared to other specs) than I was, so I'll chalk that up as a win.
Mage:
The Frost Mage is, I believe, almost entirely unchanged, which is right and correct as Frost Mages are already magnificent.
Warlock:
Demonology - we have Corruption back, but according to Icy-Veins, we don't actually use it, so great! I think the most noticeable thing is the return of Curses, a bunch of situationally useful debuffs that you can apply to foes. Takes up a lot of action bar spots, but also potentially useful, so cool!
Warrior:
Arms has been feeling pretty solid for the past couple expansions (I remember it feeling like a train wreck in Warlords, when I just gave up and went Fury) and while there are a couple subtle changes, it's still built around using Overpower to buff Mortal Strike. You can also have both Sweeping Strikes and Cleave, the latter of which (a talent) no longer costs Rage, so you can use it opening up on a group if you don't have Bladestorm off cooldown.
Priest:
Shadow is very different now. Void Form is more of a traditional cooldown now, and you'll be spending your Insanity on Devouring Plague. Most of the other abilities remain, but the change to Void Form is going to vastly change the way that the spec feels, rotationally.
Hunter:
Beast Mastery is, I believe, also fairly unchanged, except for the return of Kill Shot as an execute ability. Hunter's Mark is also back, but no longer buffs damage, and so is more for flavor or if you're fighting enemies that can stealth (so, mostly for PvP.)
I don't know that I can comment all that much of Druids or Monks.
Overall, with a couple of exceptions, they really don't seem to be reinventing the wheel like they did with class changes in Mists of Pandaria or Legion. But I think most classes and specs are in pretty decent places, so I admire the restraint.
Remember that everyone's getting some new abilities or changes to abilities as we level up to 60 (for instance, Subtlety Rogues get a new AoE finisher) so there are certainly ways that rotations might feel different once we actually get up to level 60. It also means that some specs that are underperforming now might become a lot stronger - for instance, Frost Death Knights' Killing Machine-empowered Obliterates will start doing all their damage as frost damage, which ought to be a major buff (not only ignoring armor, but also getting buffed by mastery.)
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