I Welcome Ability Pruning

[WhiteEagle888]

Let's face it: Blizzard is doing the right thing by removing, replacing and/or merging certain abilities from the game time to time.

Ability pruning serves the need to free up action bar space and make room for potential new abilities to be added in the future.
Many of you who are shouting at Blizz for an oversimplified game seem to forget that Blizzard is actually aiming to create 36 unique "classes" with specs just now in Legion.
The exact opposite to the 11 more or less streamlined classes we have now.
Are you aware that many removed spells will be available to you in the form of class- or maybe even spec specific tomes and toys which teach you the spell?
This is what an RPG should be about. Exploring and expanding your abilities and spellbooks - Blizzard is doing a fantastic job with this in Legion.

I am certain, that going forward into the next expansions, Legion serves to create the room in the action bars for more and more spec specific abilities which fit just the exact fantasy niche players are craving for.

TL;DR
This pruning is just the first step towards spec specific abilities in future expansions guys.

[Felpacino]

It's making the game boring

[Dezminion]

Let's face it: Blizzard is doing the right thing by removing, replacing and/or merging certain abilities from the game time to time.

Ability pruning serves the need to free up action bar space and make room for potential new abilities to be added in the future.
Many of you who are shouting at Blizz for an oversimplified game seem to forget that Blizzard is actually aiming to create 36 unique "classes" with specs just now in Legion.
The exact opposite to the 11 more or less streamlined classes we have now.
Are you aware that many removed spells will be available to you in the form of class- or maybe even spec specific tomes and toys which teach you the spell?
This is what an RPG should be about. Exploring and expanding your abilities and spellbooks - Blizzard is doing a fantastic job with this in Legion.

I am certain, that going forward into the next expansions, Legion serves to create the room in the action bars for more and more spec specific abilities which fit just the exact fantasy niche players are craving for.

TL;DR
This pruning is just the first step towards spec specific abilities in future expansions guys.

This prunning will be the first step towards specs being utterly boring where you mindlessly push 3 buttons and feel so f____ing immersed.... -_-

[Pull My Finger]

I like ability pruning. I love having a clear, intuitive, no-nonsense interface and hate shit cluttering up my screen estate. I'm also bored by dumb over-situational abilities that I practically NEVER need (except a handful of situations throughout a whole expansion), but still have to keep a slot for just in case. Basically the crap that some people call "flavor". It's just clutter. Either it's essential or it doesn't have a place in my life, I treat everything like that.

I also see pruning as an opportunity to free up the classes from all the stuff that piled up throughout the years; historically residual products of countless balancing iterations. At some point, you end up having a lot of inherited waste and legacy issues, and it's better to make a clean slate. Pruning is an element of strengthening class identity. You just gotta get rid of leftovers and historical dependencies. The pruning critics don't get that. They have a mundane view of things. They don't understand that the game is gaining something, they only focus on removing = "they're taking stuff away from us".

I'm hoping for effective playstyles that are engaging because of clever mechanics, swift pace and fun abilities, instead of having artificial "complexity" by memorizing a bunch of crap and playing the GUI instead of looking at what's actually happening. A lot of the "complexity" by numbers just annoys me and disrupts the flow, because it's unelegant.

[WhiteEagle888]

I'm hoping for effective playstyles that are engaging because of clever mechanics, swift pace and fun abilities, instead of having artificial "complexity" by memorizing a bunch of crap and playing the GUI instead of looking at what's actually happening. A lot of the "complexity" by numbers just annoys me and disrupts the flow, because it's unelegant.

Well said, I'd like to reinforce this part also -we need engaging fun abilities, not situational crap. There is a whole world before us on the screen, we shouldn't let the GUI and "rotation memory" take it away from us. Human beings need visual stimulation from the screen instead of memorizing buttons like robots.

[Mamut]

This prunning will be the first step towards specs being utterly boring where you mindlessly push 3 buttons and feel so f____ing immersed.... -_-

Theres 0 specs in alpha that push only 3 buttons. Stop exaggerating. Even if class have 10 buttons to push it can still be boring if the interactions are done wrong. I agree with OP here. We had way to many useless buttons anyway.

[Schmilblick]

We will be all Arms warriors by September.

[Mihalik]

sip

All your bla bla can be resumed as such.

I can't remember to do ...

1 2 3 4 4 1 3 1 2 3 4 4 1 6. That's "unelegant for you". Nor can I react to situations and occasionally hit a 7 or 8.

What you are talking about is 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 3. This is what many specs are turning into. It's not fun. And mechanically it isn't challenging either because it is removing everything related to situational awareness.

Not all pruning is bad. But Legion pruning in many cases is fucking terrible (looking at you Mage, especially Fire Mage), it reduces the spec to it no longer mattering what buttons you push as long as you push something.

[George Costanza]

OK.

Hang on I will make a Thread called I think warlords of Draenor Sucked.

And then another thread Called Mists of pandaria was good.

[WhiteEagle888]

All your bla bla can be resumed as such.

I can't remember to do ...

1 2 3 4 4 1 3 1 2 3 4 4 1 6. That's "unelegant for you". Nor can I react to situations and occasionally hit a 7 or 8.

What you are talking about is 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 3. This is what many specs are turning into. It's not fun. And mechanically it isn't challenging either because it is removing everything related to situational awareness.

Not all pruning is bad. But Legion pruning in many cases is fucking terrible (looking at you Mage, especially Fire Mage), it reduces the spec to it no longer mattering what buttons you push as long as you push something.

Are you stuck in the matrix or something? XD
We don't want to remember fucking numbers - that's the point - we need real abilities not situational numbers.

[Pull My Finger]

All your bla bla can be resumed as such.

I can't remember to do ...

1 2 3 4 4 1 3 1 2 3 4 4 1 6. That's "unelegant for you". Nor can I react to situations and occasionally hit a 7 or 8.

What you are talking about is 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 3.

Sure bub. You got it all figured out.

[Mihalik]

Are you stuck in the matrix or something? XD
We don't want to remember fucking numbers - that's the point - we need real abilities not situational numbers.

What is your idea of a real ability?

Auto attack/autoshoot/auto spell cast for 80% of the time and then every now and then press a single button?

Have you played Arms Warrior? Especially early WoD one? You realize how boring it is? Legion makes it exponentially more boring.

Many of the new "talents" of your artifact weapons are basically percentage increase things. Typically the choices are between actual effectiveness increase or some gimmicky addition of extra range or such, that you will never pick over effectiveness increase, that is if you actually intend to make your character better in its role.

- - - Updated - - -

Sure bub. You got it all figured out.

Well that is what you wrote. I mean, you talk in extremely vague "ideas" but didn't translate it into anything real.

When you translate Legion prunning into something real...it just means no buttons to push, no mechanical diversity to encounters and nothing to do.

You can have fun with few buttons, and Blizz knows how to do that (Diablo 3, Heroes of the Storm), but Legion prunning is not that. REMOTELY not that. It attempted to be that with WoD, but and occasionally it pulled it off, more often than not, it didn't.

But Legion prunning is just plain bad.

[Mlz]

Pruning is an element of strengthening class identity. You just gotta get rid of leftovers and historical dependencies. The pruning critics don't get that. They have a mundane view of things. They don't understand that the game is gaining something, they only focus on removing = "they're taking stuff away from us".

Oh piss off, WoD class "fantasy" or "design" or whatever you want to call it was the result of pruning and they have never felt as bad as they are now and its going to get worse. You can't have depth with 5 abilities in an MMO (don't even start comparing it to MOBAs where you have to aim your abilities and the gameplay is entirerly different), all you will get in WoW with the ability pruning is rng plus a bit rng on top of rng to make shit "interesting" and to make sure people won't all be pushing out the exact same dps because guess what - there's no gap between skills with 5 button gameplay no matter how much you dream of it.

[WhiteEagle888]

What is your idea of a real ability?

Auto attack/autoshoot/auto spell cast for 80% of the time and then every now and then press a single button?

Have you played Arms Warrior? Especially early WoD one? You realize how boring it is? Legion makes it exponentially more boring.

Many of the new "talents" of your artifact weapons are basically percentage increase things. Typically the choices are between actual effectiveness increase or some gimmicky addition of extra range or such, that you will never pick over effectiveness increase, that is if you actually intend to make your character better in its role.

A real ability should look, feel and act unique in every way. The talent choices which potentially add new abilities for players are good for those who want to split up abilities into different functions - For Arms, to remain at your example - Rend which will become a talent in Legion. Many people will still pick Fervor of Battle nonetheless.

On another note: the devs are actually trying to integrate auto-attack into demon hunter gameplay much like they tried to integrate auto-attack into monk gameplay. Auto-attack is not inherently as boring as you picture it if it's integrated well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziVqj1e0MJ8

[Deleted]

Are you stuck in the matrix or something? XD
We don't want to remember fucking numbers - that's the point - we need real abilities not situational numbers.

"Real abilities" are those abilities that you need to think about when to use and how to use them.
Learning how and when to use certain abilities to maximize your performance is what makes the game fun.

[WhiteEagle888]

"Real abilities" are those abilities that you need to think about when to use and how to use them.
Learning how and when to use certain abilities to maximize your performance is what makes the game fun.

It may be your idea of fun, but that does not mean it's everyone's.
My idea of fun is to use whatever abilities I feel like using at the moment and not having to care about specific numbers whatsoever.

[Deleted]

It may be your idea of fun, but that does not mean it's everyone's.
My idea of fun is to use whatever abilities I feel like using at the moment and not having to care about specific numbers whatsoever.

What is the fun of playing if you can't make any mistakes whatsoever and have no chance to improve your gameplay?
Why do you want to remove content instead of increasing it?

[Pull My Finger]

Well that is what you wrote. I mean, you talk in extremely vague "ideas" but didn't translate it into anything real.

Blah. Because I'm not the dude designing the game.

But Legion prunning is just plain bad.

I'm totally gonna take your word for that.

[Orangetai420]

It's making the game boring

You're entitled to your opinion but, there are some who find homogenization boring. It needs to be done with care. I feel that there is a perfect level of ability prune - just enough to make specs unique without compromising rotations and pvp. Hopefully Blizz can hit the mark.

[Noradin]

It makes the game boring because it leads either to simplistic encounter design, to "bring the class not the player", or to homogenisation of specs.
It is very hard to make unique abilities only one class/spec have meaningful in encounters without making that class/spec mandantory.
They have tried in the past, lately (that is in the last few expansions) they always failed. Horribly.