When they announced Legion, they somewhat sneakily mentioned that the Survival Hunter artifact weapon would be a spear. Later, they would confirm that Survival was going to become a melee spec. This met with some controversy, as a lot of people really loved the old Survival and this suggested that the spec they knew would be no more.
Now, in practice, all of the Hunter specs wound up with rather radical redesigns, but Survival practically looked like as new a spec as Havoc or Vengeance.
And it has been, anecdotally, not very popular.
Legion's version of Survival has a lot of different things going on. You've got traps to throw, focus to manage between Flanking Strike and Raptor Strike, and then Mongoose Bite, which is at the center of the rotation and yet feels mostly disconnected from the other elements (well, except Flanking Strike, thanks to your Mastery.)
Additionally there's not a ton of real flavor to the spec. I suppose you could argue it's a little like you're a crazed madman (or madwoman) who comes out of the woods swinging a spear around and furiously carving up your enemies, but the rotation is far more complex than the others - more of a Mists-era Hunter than its Legion contemporaries.
Anyway, in Battle for Azeroth, Survival is getting far more focused, and it's also getting something of an identity as the hybrid ranged/melee spec. You'll still want to be in melee range for auto attacks and Raptor Strike, but all your other abilities have a 40-yard range, and Aspect of the Eagle, your main couple-minute cooldown, turns Raptor Strike into a ranged attack as well.
So the big caveat here: this is practically the first build of the Alpha, meaning this is all subject to change - a lot of change. It's going to get tweaked and adjusted a lot. That being said, those changes will be partially based on feedback (partially though - so don't expect them to change something just because you don't like it) so it's good to look at this stuff early.
First off, Mongoose Bite has been turned into a talent - one that replaces Raptor Strike, which is your main focus spender. MB also spends Focus now, so it's actually at the same table as the other abilities.
So let's go through them:
Raptor Strike is what you're going to be spending most of your focus on, and is a simple damaging strike.
Kill Command actually generates focus for Survival. It also has a chance on hit to not trigger its cooldown, allowing you to get two of these in a row (I believe there's also a talent that makes you attack along with your pet, like Flanking Strike.)
Serpent Sting is back, and actually has you draw a little hand-crossbow out with your left hand a little like an Outlaw Rogue's Pistol Shot. This is a DOT that you should maintain on your target. There's a talent that makes this hit three targets, but I don't know if you can maintain it on more.
Wildfire Bomb is a bit like the current Dragonfire Grenade talent, except that it's baseline. This hits a target and burns them, dealing high fire damage over time to them and then I believe half as much to anyone standing nearby. Aside from multi-dotting with Serpent Sting (if that's possible,) this looks like it will be a core AoE ability.
So, those four abilities will be the core of the rotation, but you'll still have Harpoon and Disengage, and in fact there's a talent that encourages you to do a lot of hopping in and out of the battlefield. There are also many talents that add new abilities, like Butchery or Glaive Toss (both similar to what they are/were) if you don't feel like there's enough going on.
I'm actually pretty excited for this. I like the idea of a Melee Hunter, and while I played a little around with Survival in early Legion, it never really clicked with me on a deep level. Still, that being said, I'm tempted to either try going Survival on my Nightborne or dust off my old Goblin and get back into the swing of it.
Friday, February 9, 2018
Monday, February 5, 2018
The Disparity of Preparedness for Low-Level Characters
Allied race characters start at level 20. It is, perhaps, an somewhat arbitrary level to start at, though I think the main reasoning behind it is that, traditionally, races have had two zones that really "start them off," with the actual starting zone (usually with a capital city) and then one more that's heavily themed on that race (think Westfall, Silverpine, or Bloodmyst Isle.)
Allied races don't get new zones - one of the major ways they're allowed to be quick and dirty (and easy to add to the game) is that beyond a reasonably short quest chain, altered versions of existing race models (some more elaborate changes than others - Nightborne and Zandalari Trolls seem the most different from their source races,) new voice lines, new racial abilities, new mounts and one set of cool transmog gear, there's nothing else really required. The only Allied Race added this week that has a truly new zone (not counting the swamp area in the Lightforged scenario) are the Void Elves, and this was clearly cobbled together from Legion assets of the various Fel-blasted worlds like Niskara, only now with lighting and skyboxes themed on the Void rather than Fel.
Anyway, thing about starting at 20 is that some classes and specs feel fairly put-together at that point. For instance, my Nightborne, who is a Marksmanship Hunter, had all of her core abilities the moment I finished the little "new character" cinematic. She had Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot, Marked Shot, and Multishot. While there are tweaks to come over time, she's got everything she needs to feel like a complete MM Hunter.
Meanwhile, a Subtlety Rogue (my Void Elf) has to wait until level 40 to get Shadow Dance, 50 for the Relentless Strikes passive, and doesn't get Shuriken Storm until level 63. That means that you basically can't AoE until you are out of the Old World.
Now, I do appreciate that they've spread abilities out such that you typically get one every two levels, slowing a bit in the 40s and 50s. They've also broken some abilities up - for instance, you get Shadowstrike, with its two combo points and high damage, some time before level 20, but you get the short-range teleport aspect of it later on (at 42.) Abilities have ranks again, though the ranks are real, qualitative changes rather than pure numbers like they were way back when (except for a few exceptions, like Fury's Execute, which gets a 50% damage buff later on.) It's a good way to give players enough buttons to make the spec feel like a real spec and not just two buttons, even if the complexity has not really reached its ultimate state.
Still, I wouldn't mind seeing Blizzard take another pass at evening things out. For instance, giving Subtlety a Rank 1 Shuriken Storm that is more about the damage it deals than the combo points it generates (maybe letting you get just one point regardless of how many targets you hit) would be a good way to give players a sense of what abilities they'll be using without bogging them down in complexity.
To be clear, the level scaling is great, and they've taken a lot of great steps in the right direction. It could just use another polish.
Allied races don't get new zones - one of the major ways they're allowed to be quick and dirty (and easy to add to the game) is that beyond a reasonably short quest chain, altered versions of existing race models (some more elaborate changes than others - Nightborne and Zandalari Trolls seem the most different from their source races,) new voice lines, new racial abilities, new mounts and one set of cool transmog gear, there's nothing else really required. The only Allied Race added this week that has a truly new zone (not counting the swamp area in the Lightforged scenario) are the Void Elves, and this was clearly cobbled together from Legion assets of the various Fel-blasted worlds like Niskara, only now with lighting and skyboxes themed on the Void rather than Fel.
Anyway, thing about starting at 20 is that some classes and specs feel fairly put-together at that point. For instance, my Nightborne, who is a Marksmanship Hunter, had all of her core abilities the moment I finished the little "new character" cinematic. She had Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot, Marked Shot, and Multishot. While there are tweaks to come over time, she's got everything she needs to feel like a complete MM Hunter.
Meanwhile, a Subtlety Rogue (my Void Elf) has to wait until level 40 to get Shadow Dance, 50 for the Relentless Strikes passive, and doesn't get Shuriken Storm until level 63. That means that you basically can't AoE until you are out of the Old World.
Now, I do appreciate that they've spread abilities out such that you typically get one every two levels, slowing a bit in the 40s and 50s. They've also broken some abilities up - for instance, you get Shadowstrike, with its two combo points and high damage, some time before level 20, but you get the short-range teleport aspect of it later on (at 42.) Abilities have ranks again, though the ranks are real, qualitative changes rather than pure numbers like they were way back when (except for a few exceptions, like Fury's Execute, which gets a 50% damage buff later on.) It's a good way to give players enough buttons to make the spec feel like a real spec and not just two buttons, even if the complexity has not really reached its ultimate state.
Still, I wouldn't mind seeing Blizzard take another pass at evening things out. For instance, giving Subtlety a Rank 1 Shuriken Storm that is more about the damage it deals than the combo points it generates (maybe letting you get just one point regardless of how many targets you hit) would be a good way to give players a sense of what abilities they'll be using without bogging them down in complexity.
To be clear, the level scaling is great, and they've taken a lot of great steps in the right direction. It could just use another polish.
Friday, February 2, 2018
Fleshing Out the Void Elves
Generally, when Blizzard has released a new playable race, they tend to play a big role in the events of the expansion. Sure, some have been better-served than others (Blood Elves had a ton to do in Burning Crusade while Worgen were nearly unseen in the high-level Cataclysm zones,) but at the very least, there was always a starting zone.
The Allied Races are, of course, only quasi-new races. Each of them uses the model skeleton of an existing race (same dances and general animations) and they're meant to be quick-and-dirty, which is why we just got four with two more guaranteed on the way once the expansion proper launches (and possibly more given that we're getting four new character slots per server instead of just three, assuming you play different factions on different servers.)
Three of the Allied Races got plenty of backstory in Legion - while your new characters don't spend much time there, Highmountain, Suramar, and Argus all function somewhat like starting zones for their respective races.
Void Elves are different. Telogrus Rift, their technical starting zone, was only introduced in the scenario that unlocks the Void Elves. Now, that's not to say there isn't interesting lore for Telogrus. It's heavily implied that Telogrus was the deeply corrupted planet that Sargeras destroyed, meaning that there's a dead World Soul there and also that Void Elves could have a connection to the Nathrezim.
But while the three other current Allied Races don't need much exposure in Battle for Azeroth (though I hope we'll see NPCs scattered among the questgivers and randomly generated folks among the factions,) Void Elves could stand to be explored a bit more.
Obviously, the basics are there: these are High Elves turned Blood Elves turned Void Elves. They're from Quel'thalas and they speak Thalassian (I like that they're relaxing some of the restrictions on cross-faction communication where it makes sense) and their history is identical to those of the Blood Elves up until Umbric started experimenting with the Void.
But I wouldn't mind getting some clarifications:
1. How big a population are we talking about? Was this some large movement among the Blood Elves or a small group of researchers? When did Umbric start doing his experiments? I think the Void Elves could easily call out the Blood Elves for hypocrisy given that they had been experimenting with the Fel for years (though granted I think those days ended after the Sunwell was reignited.)
2. How does being a Void Elf differ from being a Blood Elf Shadow Priest (asking for an alt?) My Priest is Shadow-specced, so how do you explain why he has been allowed to practice freely in Silvermoon while Umbric and his followers have been banished?
3. What do the Ren'dorei think about joining the Alliance once again? The Blood Elves, of course, had been part of the Alliance, and there's a small faction of High Elves led by Vereesa that have always stayed true. Even Lor'themar was considering re-joining the Alliance while Garrosh was in charge, though the actions of Aethas and Jaina in Dalaran kind of scuttled that. But have there always been some Blood Elves who wished they could join team blue again, and are the Void Elves generally among those people? Also, how is the racial tolerance of the Alliance these days? Obviously in Garrithos' time, elves were something of a scapegoated minority, but with the Night Elves well-established and other people like Draenei and Worgen and Pandaren, surely elves are cool now? On the other hand, being all Void-y is probably not going to be a great look for most of... well, everyone.
4. How are the Lightforged Draenei and Void Elves getting along? I mean, they're both allies now, but they're literally polar opposites, having made utterly primordial, opposed forces essential to their existence. The Void Elves I would imagine are fairly tolerant (especially given that the Void is all about variety - to a cosmos-shattering, utterly chaotic extreme) but I could imagine that the Lightforged might be really, really freaked out to discover their new allies just brought these guys on board (on the other hand, Lightforged Draenei can be Priests and thus Shadow Priests so who knows?)
5. Speaking of, how are the Void Elves getting on with the High Elves? Obviously Alleria has become their main connection to the Alliance and kind of their leader (along with Umbric) but while I'm sure the High Elves are happy to have some more of their brethren on their side once again, I have to imagine it might be off-putting to see said brethren saturated with Void Energy.
I doubt we're going to see a ton of stuff for any of the Allied races in BFA other than the Zandalari, but I do hope we get a little more on the Void Elves, as they're the only really brand-new element brought in with this recent patch.
The Allied Races are, of course, only quasi-new races. Each of them uses the model skeleton of an existing race (same dances and general animations) and they're meant to be quick-and-dirty, which is why we just got four with two more guaranteed on the way once the expansion proper launches (and possibly more given that we're getting four new character slots per server instead of just three, assuming you play different factions on different servers.)
Three of the Allied Races got plenty of backstory in Legion - while your new characters don't spend much time there, Highmountain, Suramar, and Argus all function somewhat like starting zones for their respective races.
Void Elves are different. Telogrus Rift, their technical starting zone, was only introduced in the scenario that unlocks the Void Elves. Now, that's not to say there isn't interesting lore for Telogrus. It's heavily implied that Telogrus was the deeply corrupted planet that Sargeras destroyed, meaning that there's a dead World Soul there and also that Void Elves could have a connection to the Nathrezim.
But while the three other current Allied Races don't need much exposure in Battle for Azeroth (though I hope we'll see NPCs scattered among the questgivers and randomly generated folks among the factions,) Void Elves could stand to be explored a bit more.
Obviously, the basics are there: these are High Elves turned Blood Elves turned Void Elves. They're from Quel'thalas and they speak Thalassian (I like that they're relaxing some of the restrictions on cross-faction communication where it makes sense) and their history is identical to those of the Blood Elves up until Umbric started experimenting with the Void.
But I wouldn't mind getting some clarifications:
1. How big a population are we talking about? Was this some large movement among the Blood Elves or a small group of researchers? When did Umbric start doing his experiments? I think the Void Elves could easily call out the Blood Elves for hypocrisy given that they had been experimenting with the Fel for years (though granted I think those days ended after the Sunwell was reignited.)
2. How does being a Void Elf differ from being a Blood Elf Shadow Priest (asking for an alt?) My Priest is Shadow-specced, so how do you explain why he has been allowed to practice freely in Silvermoon while Umbric and his followers have been banished?
3. What do the Ren'dorei think about joining the Alliance once again? The Blood Elves, of course, had been part of the Alliance, and there's a small faction of High Elves led by Vereesa that have always stayed true. Even Lor'themar was considering re-joining the Alliance while Garrosh was in charge, though the actions of Aethas and Jaina in Dalaran kind of scuttled that. But have there always been some Blood Elves who wished they could join team blue again, and are the Void Elves generally among those people? Also, how is the racial tolerance of the Alliance these days? Obviously in Garrithos' time, elves were something of a scapegoated minority, but with the Night Elves well-established and other people like Draenei and Worgen and Pandaren, surely elves are cool now? On the other hand, being all Void-y is probably not going to be a great look for most of... well, everyone.
4. How are the Lightforged Draenei and Void Elves getting along? I mean, they're both allies now, but they're literally polar opposites, having made utterly primordial, opposed forces essential to their existence. The Void Elves I would imagine are fairly tolerant (especially given that the Void is all about variety - to a cosmos-shattering, utterly chaotic extreme) but I could imagine that the Lightforged might be really, really freaked out to discover their new allies just brought these guys on board (on the other hand, Lightforged Draenei can be Priests and thus Shadow Priests so who knows?)
5. Speaking of, how are the Void Elves getting on with the High Elves? Obviously Alleria has become their main connection to the Alliance and kind of their leader (along with Umbric) but while I'm sure the High Elves are happy to have some more of their brethren on their side once again, I have to imagine it might be off-putting to see said brethren saturated with Void Energy.
I doubt we're going to see a ton of stuff for any of the Allied races in BFA other than the Zandalari, but I do hope we get a little more on the Void Elves, as they're the only really brand-new element brought in with this recent patch.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Allied Races Unlocked! Now to Wait for Character Slots...
I've now unlocked all four available Allied Races (Dark Irons and Zandalari are coming later, presumably with the expansion.) Each race has a quest chain that takes roughly an hour (probably a little less) and explains to a degree how they are brought into their respective factions. I will say that the Alliance ones are a bit more convenient, as they tend to be accessible via teleporters, while the Horde ones will have you flying around a bit.
A bit like the artifact weapons, you need to choose one or the other to do first, and completing the quests will allow you to immediately move on to the next one.
Unlocking the race will also immediately give you their racial mount. Lightforged Draenei get a Felcrusher Elekk (similar to the ones you get from the Exalted+ caches from Army of the Light.) Void Elves get a Void-themed Hawkstrider (my Blood Elf Shadow Priest is jealous.) Nightborne get a Runesaber, somewhat similar to the Arcanist's Runesaber you get from the 7.1 Suramar quests. Highmountain Tauren get a Moose with various totemic adornments (not as fancy as the Grove Warden, but a little more interesting than the generic Moose mounts.)
The characters begin with a very brief introduction - you start off in your home territory (the Vindicaar for LDs, the broken world where you do the quests for Void Elves, Suramar, and Thunder Totem) but you basically just get a quest saying "go to Stormwind/Orgrimmar and talk to the ambassador at the embassy." You get a tabard for your race and are sent off to the Hero's Call/Warchief's Command boards to go and start questing.
Supposedly, everyone's getting four new character slots per server some time this week, so while I started up temporary versions of my new characters on other servers, I'm going to hold off on really working on them much until that happens.
Current plans are:
Lightforged Draenei: Paladin
Void Elf: Rogue
Highmountain Tauren: Warrior
Nightborne: Hunter
A bit like the artifact weapons, you need to choose one or the other to do first, and completing the quests will allow you to immediately move on to the next one.
Unlocking the race will also immediately give you their racial mount. Lightforged Draenei get a Felcrusher Elekk (similar to the ones you get from the Exalted+ caches from Army of the Light.) Void Elves get a Void-themed Hawkstrider (my Blood Elf Shadow Priest is jealous.) Nightborne get a Runesaber, somewhat similar to the Arcanist's Runesaber you get from the 7.1 Suramar quests. Highmountain Tauren get a Moose with various totemic adornments (not as fancy as the Grove Warden, but a little more interesting than the generic Moose mounts.)
The characters begin with a very brief introduction - you start off in your home territory (the Vindicaar for LDs, the broken world where you do the quests for Void Elves, Suramar, and Thunder Totem) but you basically just get a quest saying "go to Stormwind/Orgrimmar and talk to the ambassador at the embassy." You get a tabard for your race and are sent off to the Hero's Call/Warchief's Command boards to go and start questing.
Supposedly, everyone's getting four new character slots per server some time this week, so while I started up temporary versions of my new characters on other servers, I'm going to hold off on really working on them much until that happens.
Current plans are:
Lightforged Draenei: Paladin
Void Elf: Rogue
Highmountain Tauren: Warrior
Nightborne: Hunter
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.
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.
Battle for Azeroth Pre-Order Available, Estimated Release Date of September 21st
Well, with Argus defeated and Sargeras imprisoned, Blizzard's attention has turned to what's coming next: Battle for Azeroth.
As we've seen, there's a ton of BFA (I've decided "Battle" is too generic to work as the shortened version of the expansion name) stuff in the 7.3.5 patch, particularly Allied Races. It looks like Allied Races are going to be made available to anyone who pre-purchases the expansion, though it's unclear if that means they're unlocked immediately or if the first four (Void Elves, Highmountain Tauren, Lightforged Draenei, and Nightborne) are going to be brought out gradually.
The other big news is that with this announcement, they've also put forth September 21st as the likely release date. This is subject to change, of course, and the 21st is the beginning of Fall, so they might simply mean "Summer 2018." Still, good to have at least an estimate.
While I'm fairly satisfied with what I've gotten out of Legion, I'm also not that sad to have another eight months or so to work on Mage Tower artifact appearances (I'll be happy if I just get the Protection Paladin one.)
EDIT: Allied races (the first 4) are available immediately! Well, or at least until you finish the queue at the online store. (So a few hours.)
As we've seen, there's a ton of BFA (I've decided "Battle" is too generic to work as the shortened version of the expansion name) stuff in the 7.3.5 patch, particularly Allied Races. It looks like Allied Races are going to be made available to anyone who pre-purchases the expansion, though it's unclear if that means they're unlocked immediately or if the first four (Void Elves, Highmountain Tauren, Lightforged Draenei, and Nightborne) are going to be brought out gradually.
The other big news is that with this announcement, they've also put forth September 21st as the likely release date. This is subject to change, of course, and the 21st is the beginning of Fall, so they might simply mean "Summer 2018." Still, good to have at least an estimate.
While I'm fairly satisfied with what I've gotten out of Legion, I'm also not that sad to have another eight months or so to work on Mage Tower artifact appearances (I'll be happy if I just get the Protection Paladin one.)
EDIT: Allied races (the first 4) are available immediately! Well, or at least until you finish the queue at the online store. (So a few hours.)
Thursday, January 25, 2018
BFA Alpha: Profession Rework?
There's a lot of datamining stuff going on, with new models, achievements, ability changes (which are sure to change by far the most from this stage to launch,) maps, and broadcast text that can give away some story.
One of the most unexpected is apparent changes to professions. It appears that the whole 800-level grind is going to be squished down to 100. That being said, we can really only speculate on how the new systems will work. It appears you'll still train different levels of professions for each expansion's content, but each suggest you'll only need to level to 100. My two interpretations are that you'll either get a "new 100" each time you train, and simply be able to make everything from expansions you've passed, or perhaps they're going to kind of ween us off of professional skill levels the same way they did with weapon skills back in... was it Cataclysm or Mists? Having quest- or at least task-based recipe gathering (like vendors with recipes that take some special currency or trade good) opens the possibility of simply doing away with profession skill level as a game mechanic (which is practically true in Legion.)
Anyway, a few more specific highlights:
Tailors will apparently be able to make a Hot Air Balloon
Leatherworkers will be able to make a Scuba suit.
Blacksmiths will be able to craft a Khaz'gorian hammer that causes some of your creations to be indestructible.
Engineers will be able to make a Goblin Hovercraft (I wonder if there's a Gnomish equivalent that perhaps Alliance would get) as well as a portable Stable and a portable Transmog pad (I already have the Yak, so I'm good.)
I do think professions are in need of reexamination as to their role in the game. I think Legion's steps, including the Obliterum Forge, were good steps, but they can still improve a lot.
But hey, my main's an Engineer, which means I'm just there for the fun toys anyway (and looking badass in a pair of steampunk goggles.)
One of the most unexpected is apparent changes to professions. It appears that the whole 800-level grind is going to be squished down to 100. That being said, we can really only speculate on how the new systems will work. It appears you'll still train different levels of professions for each expansion's content, but each suggest you'll only need to level to 100. My two interpretations are that you'll either get a "new 100" each time you train, and simply be able to make everything from expansions you've passed, or perhaps they're going to kind of ween us off of professional skill levels the same way they did with weapon skills back in... was it Cataclysm or Mists? Having quest- or at least task-based recipe gathering (like vendors with recipes that take some special currency or trade good) opens the possibility of simply doing away with profession skill level as a game mechanic (which is practically true in Legion.)
Anyway, a few more specific highlights:
Tailors will apparently be able to make a Hot Air Balloon
Leatherworkers will be able to make a Scuba suit.
Blacksmiths will be able to craft a Khaz'gorian hammer that causes some of your creations to be indestructible.
Engineers will be able to make a Goblin Hovercraft (I wonder if there's a Gnomish equivalent that perhaps Alliance would get) as well as a portable Stable and a portable Transmog pad (I already have the Yak, so I'm good.)
I do think professions are in need of reexamination as to their role in the game. I think Legion's steps, including the Obliterum Forge, were good steps, but they can still improve a lot.
But hey, my main's an Engineer, which means I'm just there for the fun toys anyway (and looking badass in a pair of steampunk goggles.)
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