Monday, August 15, 2016

Anduin Wrynn and the Fate of the Alliance

I'm trying not to be too spoileriffic in the titles, but very soon the new status quo is just going to have to be common knowledge. I figure we can hold off on this stuff until launch day, but not much longer than that.

So there you go: spoiler alert.


The Case for Windrunner '16

There's huge upheaval after the battle at the Broken Shore within both factions. The event has been out for a week now, and we've had a full weekend. At some point we're going to have to declare all this stuff no longer spoilers, but simply the state of the game. But in case you didn't get to play this past weekend or week, I'm going to give it one more spoiler cut just in case.


Sunday, August 14, 2016

The Re-Legitimization of LFR

One thing that I'm actually very excited about in Legion is a change, or rather a reversion of a Warlords change, to the gear obtained in LFR.

If you'll recall, from Dragon Soul through Siege of Orgrimmar, the gear in LFR raiding was the same as that in other difficulties, but with a lower item level and a different color scheme (just as normal, heroic, and mythic difficulties have different color schemes - though mythic also gets "enhanced" model designs.)

In Warlords, Blizzard decided that in order to get people to run higher difficulties through the raid finder and also prevent "serious" raiders from running LFR to complete set bonuses or pick up trinkets with powerful procs, they'd simplify the gear out of LFR and also give said gear much less interesting models.

In fact, I'd say that the LFR models in Warlords of Draenor were really barely fit to be used for green quest rewards (the exception being the HFC cloth set, which actually looked pretty cool on a Warlock.)

Here's the thing, though - LFR isn't perfect, but it's a difficulty that is actually designed for PUGs. Doing pick-up groups on higher difficulties is, in my experience, exponentially more of a pain in the ass than LFR. In LFR, yes, you'll sometimes get some really bad players. But they can't really bring a raid down on their own. And you don't have an all-powerful group leader whose whims you have to follow.

I like raiding with my guild because it's filled with friendly people, even if we don't get much progress at all done in raiding anymore (we got a few bosses in Highmaul and one or two in Blackrock Foundry.) But when it comes to really growing my character's power, I stick with LFR, generally.

Now in Legion, with World Quests and new dungeons getting added to go with Mythic+, it might be less of a pain to seek alternate gearing strategies. But I'm also very happy that LFR gear is not going to look like total crap - I'll be able to gear up my Demon Hunter in gear that actually looks demon-hunter-y (ok, bad example, as he's got some really class-appropriate transmog looks from his class starting experience.) I'm confident that I'll be able to pick up the Paladin tier set that looks like Lightbringer and Judgment had a baby.

The question then will be whether difficulty goes back up as well. One might not remember it, but in Mists of Pandaria LFR was actually pretty challenging - getting Garrosh or Lei Shen down required more coordination than Blackhand or Archimonde, as Mists' LFR was less forgiving.

Personally, I think that the presence of hard difficulties like Heroic and Mythic means that there's nothing wrong with making LFR easy. But we'll see how it turns out this time.

Anyway, as someone with a lot of alts (see the name of the blog,) and who doesn't even get to do all that much regular raiding on his main, I'm really glad that they're no longer going to be punishing people who can only realistically do LFR.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Legion Invasions and You, Live Edition

Well, with the release of Demon Hunters and the Broken Shore event on tuesday, we also got the release of demonic invasions of six familiar zones in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.

While most people will probably be doing these invasions at level 100, you can actually start them as early as level 10. Completing invasions at a lower level will give you a nice chunk of XP, so if you have any alts who are stuck in some level range that you're not really enjoying (or you just want to get them leveled up quickly and you've either used your 100 boost or they're close enough that you don't want to waste it) you can take them to these zones while they're under invasion.

Invasions persist for four hours in two zones on the map (I believe that as the weeks progress we'll see them in more zones, until the week before the launch, when all six zones will be under constant invasion.)

Upon entering a zone that is under invasion, you'll be put in a scenario that (hopefully) is near the beginning of it, in Stage 1. So don't worry about others completing the invasion before you get there - as long as you show up within the 4-hour window, you'll get to do it (and once that window ends, two other zones will be invaded.)

Invasion zones are Westfall, Dun Morogh, Hillsbrad Foothills, Azshara, Northern Barrens, and Tanaris.

Within the scenario, it doesn't matter if you're Alliance or Horde - your Tauren won't be slaughtered for trespassing in Kharanos and your Draenei won't be beaten to death by the guards in Crossroads. They're happy to get any help they can find. However, once the invasion is finished, you should try to get out of there relatively soon, as you'll soon exit the scenario and find that the other faction isn't all that grateful after all.

There are four stages to each invasion. Stage one doesn't reward anything - you simply kill demons as they show up in town (for Azshara the "town" is just the area outside the northern gates of Orgrimmar.)

Stage two has two or three big demonic lieutenants show up (you'll also get a few of the lesser demons popping up - they'll keep coming until the final boss shows up in stage four.) After they are killed, a commander arrives, acting as a kind of mini boss. Killing this one ends the stage and also rewards a lesser Legion cache.

The Lesser Legion Cache is guaranteed to come with 5 Nethershards - a currency that you can spend at Illidari vendors in each of these zones or in Stormwind/Orgrimmar if you've done the Broken Shore/Demon Hunter starting experience on that character, as well as one piece of armor of your armor type. At level 100, this armor is item level 700, so for most alts, this will be a pretty serious upgrade.

Caches have a relatively small chance to also give you a spec-appropriate item level 700 weapon or a Coalesced Fel. This latter item can be applied to one of these invasion weapons, raising its item level by 5 points, to a maximum of 725.

Stage three is the big one - Fel structures and demons will spawn all over the zone, and you'll have to go defeat them. Demons come in myriad varieties. There are minor, non-elites that can be found all over the place. There are also some elites that you'll want to be pretty well geared to take on solo. There are also full-on bosses, indicated by skulls on the map. Killing bosses will give you a few Nethershards - I've gotten anywhere from 1 to 15 from a single boss.

There are three kinds of structures that show up as well. Small outposts are typically surrounded by about ten demons and have a single Fel crystal inside that you can destroy to cause the building to explode (you'll be thrown clear with no damage from the explosion.)

Barracks are larger versions of the outposts. These have three Fel crystals surrounding them, keeping the door shut. Each is protected by a caster who should be killed before you break the crystal. These crystals will fight back, so you want to take them out quickly. When all three crystals are destroyed, the door will open and you'll be able to fight the barracks' elite boss and two adds. Killing the boss will destroy the barracks, giving you a couple Nethershards and again, throwing you clear.

Portals are the largest structures, and each will have multiple elite demons surrounding them as well as a boss-level demon (not independently indicated on the map, but still dropping Nethershards.) Portals have two powering fel crystals that are protected like the ones for the barracks. Shatter them and the portal will be destroyed.

During stage three you can often find helpful NPCs that you can rescue, often inspiring them to join you. You can also find siege vehicles to help attack the demons.

You'll see new buildings and demons pop up farther out after the first 30% or so of the progress meter in stage three. When the stage ends, everyone gets 10 Nethershards and you should start heading back to the main town (for Dun Morogh, we're counting Kharanos as the main town, as opposed to Ironforge.)

Stage four is a fight against the demons' boss. Like stage two, the actual boss demon is randomized, and some are definitely easier than others. Thankfully, the graveyard nearest the town (or the nearest friendly one - such as Southshore for Alliance players in Hillsbrad, which is where they'll spawn if they die in Tarren Mill) has a battleground-style auto-rez system, so you'll get full health and won't have to deal with the progressive death timer if you die a lot to the bosses.

Slaying the boss of the invasion will end the event and reward you with a Greater Legion Cache. The only real difference between this and the Lesser variety is that you'll get more Nethershards (I think 15.) If you have a greater chance at getting weapons or Colaesced Fel from these, I don't really know, and it doesn't seem to be the case.

With the invasion over, you'll be ready to spend those hard-earned Nethershards. There are Illidari camps in each of the invasion zones, and if you've done the Broken Shore event or you're a Demon Hunter, there will also be camps in Stormwind and Orgrimmar. The captive Wormtongue (a new type of demon) will act as a vendor.

You can buy a number of things here:

Fel Bat Pup pet: 150
Coalesced Fel: 150
Armor set Transmog Appearances: 200 - if you've had bad luck getting some piece of armor, like you keep getting mail shoulders but never the helmet, or you're just running these invasions on one character but still want the looks for future transmog, this will give you the full set of appearances, but not the gear itself.
Cloaks, Rings, Necklaces, and Trinkets: 50 - You'll see two options for rings and necklaces, which now use the Legion-era stat allotment, meaning stamina and two secondary stats, but no primary throughput stats (but lots of the secondary stats to make them worth your while.) The cloak likewise has Strength, Agility, and Intellect, making it similarly universal. There is then a Strength, Agility, and Intellect trinket
Blade of the Fallen: 200 - The only invasion weapon that can be purchased with Nethershards, this is Warglaive that is Bind on Account so that you can give it to your Demon Hunter if you're getting a physical copy of the expansion or for some other reason can't create your Demon Hunter character yet.

The quest chain that follows the aftermath of the Broken Shore will direct you to start fighting off these invasions, but while the event is active you'll be able to participate regardless of whether you've done that quest or not.

Vengeance Actual Tanking Impressions

While I'm gravitating a bit more toward making Havoc my main spec (again, we'll see about queue times,) I did take my Demon Hunter into a heroic, specifically Shadowmoon Burial Grounds.

Now, of course, given that Demon Hunters come out of their starting experience with 680 gear and with all the invasions I've managed to get up to over 700, one is already vastly overpowered for a dungeon that only even rewards 630 gear.

So surviving wasn't really much of a challenge.

The main thing that I noticed is that you're really going to be using Soul Cleave to burn off Pain, often if not most of the time absorbing less than the max 5 Lesser Soul Fragments. Demon Spikes should be your higher priority for active mitigation (unless your health has dropped low) but its cooldown is going to make it hard to use frequently enough to avoid capping Pain.

In terms of threat, I found that Infernal Strike was a fantastic way to pull - just hop in, pop Immolation Aura, and maybe a Sigil of Flame, and you're going to have your enemies' rapt attention.

You can use Throw Glaive (there's got to be a better name for this. Glaive Toss would have been better) for snap threat if you have something coming after a party member, and if you keep a charge of Infernal Strike at the ready, you can go rescue your healer pretty easily.

Nothing was damaging me enough to really warrant blowing major cooldowns, so no Metamorphosis. I'm still trying to figure out how frequently to use Fiery Brand, but I think with a 1-minute CD it's a "use liberally" kind of defensive ability. And the fire damage is not insignificant.

Overall, I think Vengeance has a ton of great threat tools, so until you're raiding and have to deal with other tanks, you're going to be pretty much set when it comes to that. Your significant self-healing will also make you slightly less reliant on your healer (something I really miss on my Paladin) but I don't think it's quite at Death Knight levels. But I definitely think that mobility is going to be a real strong suit for Demon Hunter tanks.

Friday, August 12, 2016

Broken Shore - Horde Perspective

So obviously the two factions were going to have different experiences hitting the Broken Shore. This is one of the most significant events to happen in World of Warcraft, with very important consequences moving forward. It's also spoileriffic as hell, so let's do a cut.


Thursday, August 11, 2016

Hunting Demons Across Azeroth

I've decided to go do each of the demonic invasion areas on my Demon Hunter first - a lot of my characters can use the gear, but I figure getting some practice on him isn't such a terrible notion, and also the idea that he'd be leading the charge in the fight against the Legion is pretty in-character (though my Death Knight, who has been fighting the Legion for 25,000 years, not to mention my Paladin, who kind of puts "fights evil" in his the "special skills" part of his resume - and is my main - are going to be hitting these up a lot as well.)

The invasions are not coming in as frequently as they will when we get closer to the expansion's proper launch (though I love that events like the Broken Shore and the unlocking of Demon Hunters have given Legion a kind of soft-opening. I approve, Blizzard!) But so far Illidari Veranos has defended Westfall, Dun Morogh, Hillsbrad, and Azshara. I've parked him in Northern Barrens to await the next invasion (it's also pretty centrally located for the other two invasion zones in Kalimdor.)

I managed to get a little too close to Crossroads when visiting the Illidari camp and got flagged for PvP (I like to think that he's still figuring out which races are Alliance and which are Horde - he'd gone to Outland before the Night Elves officially joined the Alliance.)

There's a new item that can be purchased for Nethershards that wasn't on the PTR, which is a new item level 700 Warglaive (I want to say it's called Blade of the Fallen.) Unfortunately, this is practically just the same model as the glaives you start off with, only without the glowy green effect. You do lose those glaives after Maiev captures you, but you retain the appearance for Transmog, and I've actually got those now (I like the big curved look more than the serrated thin ones you Maiev gives you when she frees you from your prison.)

This glaive is higher item level than the ones you finish the starting experience with, but the quest rewards (actually, cutscene rewards) also have a set bonus that increases your attack power when fighting demons by 500, so the 10 item levels might not actually be enough to compensate, given that from now until you get your artifacts, you're probably just going to be fighting demons, demons, and more demons.

I went with the Fel Bat pet first, but I imagine I'll put together a fairly complete equipment set. I've already gotten almost all of the leather armor pieces from the invasions (plus an axe that has the same item level and also lack of set bonus as the purchasable glaive.) Right now my Demon Hunter is wearing chest armor that covers up his sweet tatts, which probably means I'll need to go transmog that away.

It does look like there's another glaive model that can be unlocked for transmog once the expansion starts and we can get our actual class hall, but I think their focus has been more on artifact variations. I just hope that when the next expansion comes out we keep getting new warglaives, because I really feel like having a Demon Hunter use axes or swords (other than Wargliaves of Azzinoth of course) would just be wrong.