New Rune System

[Tro]

While we're satisfied with the way the rune system works overall, we're making a few major changes to the mechanics that will ultimately help death knight players feel less constrained. Here's the rationale behind the changes, followed by an explanation of how the new system will work.

* In the current rune system, any time a rune is sitting idle, death knights are losing out on potential damage output. By comparison, rogues spend most of their time at low energy levels, and if they're unable to use their skills for a few seconds, that energy builds up and can be spent later, minimizing the net loss from the interruption.
* A death knight's runes, on the other hand, cannot be used until they are fully active. If a death knight ever goes more than a few seconds without spending an available rune, that resource is essentially wasted. Because the death knight is pushing buttons constantly, it can be difficult to add new mechanics to the class because the player doesn't have any free global cooldowns to use them. We can't grant extra resources or reduced cost, because there is no time to spend them. Missing an attack is devastating, and it's impossible to save resources for when they're most useful.
* Additionally, each individual death knight ability has a fairly low impact on its own, making it feel like most of the death knight's attacks are weak. The death knight's rotations are also more easily affected by latency or a player's timing being just a little off. At times, it feels like death knights aren't able to take advantage of their unique resource mechanic, which can diminish the fun.
* The new rune system will change how runes regenerate, from filling simultaneously to filling sequentially. For example, if you use two Blood runes, then the first rune will fill up before the second one starts to fill up. Essentially, you have three sets of runes filling every 10 seconds instead of six individual runes filling every 10 seconds. (Haste will cause runes to fill faster.) Another way to think of this is having three runes that go up to 200% each (allowing extra "storage"), rather than six runes that go up to 100% each.
* As this is a major change to the death knight's mechanics, it will of course require us to retune many of the class's current abilities. For example, each ability needs to hit harder or otherwise be more meaningful since the death knight is getting fewer resources per unit of time. Some abilities will need to have their costs reduced as a result.

Iam confused. How does this help us? Wouldnt this be slower then the current way?

[Claym]

That's actually the entire point. It IS slower to wait on runes. They feel that DKs are too penalized by not having free GCDs because runes are constantly popping up forcing us to hit something else. Since the runes will regen slower, they are buffing our attacks to compensate (this also makes rune attacks much more meaningful).

The way I'm reading what they're saying, they want our rune attacks to be meaningful, not this frantic mentality of "if I don't hit this button right now my entire rotation is fucked and my damage is going to tank". Instead, the rune's being staggered creates windows where we can use our power dumps and actually take advantage of all of our power as a DK.

I'll try to word what Blizzard is saying more simply:

1) DKs frantically mash buttons to use runes immediately.
2) Runes are constantly regenerating so they constantly MUST hit these buttons.
3) These buttons don't feel meaningful as individual attacks.
4) We want DKs to actually build up resources and their rune attacks to be more meaningful
5) We want DKs to be able to have some free GCDs so they can reliably dump RP and use other abilities that aren't core to their rotation.

Under the new system:

1) DKs will still hit runes as they come up, but they are more staggered.
2) DKs runes come back sequentially, slowing down the panicked button mashing.
3) These attacks will feel more meaningful as their damage will be buffed since you can't throw as many out as fast.
4) DKs will constantly be building toward something instead of constantly swinging wildly.
5) While the runes regen sequentially there will be free GCDs interspersed that will give them time to dump RP more reliably, and give them some breathing room if they can't continue their rotation right away.

[Haven]

It really depends on what the new rune regen speed will be. They said something like "imagine you'll have 3 runes, but with 200% speed each".

We're going to be kind of like rogues with tri-colored energy bar, divided into six segments. All of our abilities will cost 16.6/33.3/50 energy. If we assume rune regen period as 5 sec, that gives us 3.33 energy/sec... Well, and I liked mad button-mashing...

It's going to change our UIs, too, since the order of using runes will matter much more and it will be more important to know which rune refreshes next. This brings the risk of being more rune-constrained than we are now, because right now the period between two abilities of different rune types depends on how you used them in your previous rotation and is often 1.5-3 sec. In Cata, this period will be equal to full rune regen period.

Also, it makes me wonder how bursty we will be, given that:
- our rune regen will be most likely slowed in this unusual manner
- we'll dump much more than a rogue can in an opener, if we still are going to have 6 runes
which brings up the question, if we're going to still have 6 runes and weren't blizzard saying 3 as literally our new number of runes.

[Astray]

I like the idea very much. To me it sounds like we will have almost always a rune up our sleeves. No more "oh, that guy pulled another group, too bad my runes are not finished"

[Seregon]

While I'm not sure if completely understood it, here's what I took from it...


Here's the current rune setup:


Runes of the same type can regenerate simultaneously.


New rune setup (kinda):


The new system where rune types have twice the usability but regenerate as one rune.

As I said, I'm not sure if this is what Blizzard was trying to say, but this is how I understood it. So if I'm wrong, someone please help me understand it

[Haven]

New rune setup (kinda):


The new system where rune types have twice the usability but regenerate as one rune.

As I said, I'm not sure if this is what Blizzard was trying to say, but this is how I understood it. So if I'm wrong, someone please help me understand it

Almost, but it's going to be 1 bar insead of 3 (which also changes colors of its segments according to the order that you use abilities).

[Claym]

While I'm not sure if completely understood it, here's what I took from it...


Here's the current rune setup:


Runes of the same type can regenerate simultaneously.


New rune setup (kinda):


The new system where rune types have twice the usability but regenerate as one rune.

As I said, I'm not sure if this is what Blizzard was trying to say, but this is how I understood it. So if I'm wrong, someone please help me understand it

That's a good image to show people. That is exactly the picture I got.

It really depends on what the new rune regen speed will be. They said something like "imagine you'll have 3 runes, but with 200% speed each".

We're going to be kind of like rogues with tri-colored energy bar, divided into six segments. All of our abilities will cost 16.6/33.3/50 energy. If we assume rune regen period as 5 sec, that gives us 3.33 energy/sec... Well, and I liked mad button-mashing...

It's going to change our UIs, too, since the order of using runes will matter much more and it will be more important to know which rune refreshes next. This brings the risk of being more rune-constrained than we are now, because right now the period between two abilities of different rune types depends on how you used them in your previous rotation and is often 1.5-3 sec. In Cata, this period will be equal to full rune regen period.

Also, it makes me wonder how bursty we will be, given that:
- our rune regen will be most likely slowed in this unusual manner
- we'll dump much more than a rogue can in an opener, if we still are going to have 6 runes
which brings up the question, if we're going to still have 6 runes and weren't blizzard saying 3 as literally our new number of runes.

They said imagine you have three runes with 200% charge each. That's very different from speed. The reason they said this is since you can't start to regen B2 while B1 is down, it's like when you regen a rune it's 2 runes, but you can use "half" runes on strikes. We will still have 6 runes from what I'm seeing, they'll just behave like 3 runes that have 2 charges.

Your energy analogy isn't too far off either. Imagine you had Blood Energy, UH Energy, and Frost Energy (each going to 100). A blood strike is 50 Blood Energy, a Scourge Strike is 50 Frost Energy and 50 UH energy. Now you gain 10 Energy a second in this model. It'd be the same effect.

But since all our abilities are 50 of this type and 50 of that (there's nothing that costs only part of a rune), they just use runes to make the numbers more readily understood. We do this by saying a rune is equal to 50 energy of its type. You still get 100 of each type, so you get 2 runes of each type. But they regen sequentially just like if it were the energy bars I described above. Since they said a set regens in 10 seconds, the 10 energy per second analogy means you get 20% of a rune back every second. But since we can't use that, we have to wait 5 seconds for a rune to be meaningful.

[Deleted]

Its like recharging batteries and you can only fit 1 into a slot at once.

You start and all your runes go on CD. After a few seconds, 1 blood, frost and unholy is back up and usable, but the other 3 are still recharging.
So instead of now, where we got "if i dont whack this button now its a waste", we get mroe time to plan what we are going to do, free GCDs to do other, more useful abilities, and harder hitting actual attacks (which to me, sounds more bursty)

[Claym]

I don't understand the new rune system either.

I read it like this -

- Blood Strike (first blood rune starts refreshing, takes 10 seconds)
- Blood Strike (second blood rune starts refreshing after the first one is filled up, takes 10 seconds)

Current System =
2 blood runes taking 11.5 seconds to completely refill (gcd taken into consideration)

New System =
2 blood runes taking 21.5 seconds to completely refill (gcd taken into consideration)


I know this must be wrong, but i don't seem to be able to read it any other way. All that seems to happen is we get another 10 seconds to wait before we can use our second rune.

Then again i just woke up and my head is all fuzzy duddy...................

Anyone can explain better?

They said a SET of runes regenerates in 10 seconds instead of 6 runes individually taking 10 seconds. This would mean 1 blood rune comes back in 5, with both back in 10. I think my explanation of the "imagine it as energy" model may help.

[seam]

Iam confused. How does this help us? Wouldnt this be slower then the current way?

More GCDs to do stuff.


All attacks are going to do more damage to even it out.

[Haven]

I read it like this -

- Blood Strike (first blood rune starts refreshing, takes 10 seconds)
- Blood Strike (second blood rune starts refreshing after the first one is filled up, takes 10 seconds)

Almost, but I doubt that will be 10 seconds, in this case 1 rotation will take a whole minute. 5sec runes with 30sec rotation instead of current 10sec "simultaneous-rune" rotation looks like fine.

Example:
PS (U grays out, starts its 5sec), 1.5sec GCD
(BBFFUU)
IT (F grays out and moves next in queue after U), 1.5sec GCD
(BBFUUF)
BS (B grays out and moves next in queque after F), 1.5sec GCD
(BFUUFB)
BS (B grays out and moves next in queque after B, U is by now refreshed, F starts refreshing), 1.5sec GCD
(FUUFBB)
Obliterate (FU gray out and move), 1.5sec GCD
(UFBBFU)
Death Coil, 1.5sec GCD
Death Coil, 1.5sec GCD (F refreshes, B comes next)
(FUBBFU)

Keep in mind that I built it assuming 5sec rune cooldown.

[Mestofiles]

These changes sounds very interesting to me. It will have a large impact on the way we currently mask our buttons and will change our gameplay. I'm looking forward to trying this

[Haven]

Your energy analogy isn't too far off either. Imagine you had Blood Energy, UH Energy, and Frost Energy (each going to 100). A blood strike is 50 Blood Energy, a Scourge Strike is 50 Frost Energy and 50 UH energy. Now you gain 10 Energy a second in this model. It'd be the same effect.

This depends on whether only runes of the same type charge consequently or all runes do. Needs blue clarification.

Anyway, simply making 3 runes with 200% charge but still refreshing simultaneously doesn't sound different from current model.

[enoesiw]

Its like recharging batteries and you can only fit 1 into a slot at once.

You start and all your runes go on CD. After a few seconds, 1 blood, frost and unholy is back up and usable, but the other 3 are still recharging.
So instead of now, where we got "if i dont whack this button now its a waste", we get mroe time to plan what we are going to do, free GCDs to do other, more useful abilities, and harder hitting actual attacks (which to me, sounds more bursty)

To elaborate on the battery simile, it's like having a pair of duracell 9v, energizer 6v, and rayovak 1.5v batteries each with their own single charger. Each must be charged using their specific charger or they blow up (dramatic, i know). You can only recharge one of each at a time (in this case 10 seconds) but that's still 3 batteries charging at the same time and once the first one charges, you can start charging the second one and use the first one whenever you want.

[Lopiak]

While it sounds good, does this mean we will be playing like rogues: ie having to wait before casting something? I liked the dynamics of my Enhancement Shaman and my Frost DK because your never not doing something.

[Leetbeartank]

Pretty much... Your rotations and what-not will be basically the same.

A good example is this... When a frost DK is dpsing, a Killing Machine procced Frost Strike does more damage than an Obliterate (because it has a 100% chance to crit), so when a DK does Frost Strike when the correct runes up for an Obliterate are up, the DK essentially adds 1.5 seconds to the cool down of those two runes that will be used to Obliterate. In the new system, those runes will continue to fill while the DK uses a different ability, because each rune color is basically changed into a energy bar, where each ability costs 50% of the total rune bar.

If you pretend that each rune bar has 200 points (100 per rune) to its value, if you apply the situation above, after using that frost strike, you will have 115 points. In the system now, you would have just the one rune, amounting to 100 points... So you would have essentially wasted those 15 points in the way the system works now, but not in the new system.

This is a nice overhaul for DKs.

[Naus]

Y'all are forgetting that haste will effect how fast our runes will recharge come cata(I dont know how to quote blues, so I cant). I personally like the change, I've been generating RP far to fast to lose without a couple of runes just sitting there begging to be used.

[Lopiak]

In a way its similar to FF13's attack system, but instead of howeer many its 2. And you have 3 seperate bars.

[vkei]

ooopss
they are making rune not comming back b4 the 1st rune of the same type is refreshed .....but not refresh the rune faster if both are CD? that means we have less runes to use ........but

than they buff the damage of DK's attack ..........good, getting nerf to the hell because ppl. die in a matter of sec to those DK who pool 6 runes with that buffed attacks

damn stupid idea , most of the class hitting a button once every 2 sec or less , caster with haste get thier GCD even lower than 1.5 and still hitting thier button every GCD ,FoL pally spam thier heal every singal sec, should they make all spell like 8sec cast and do 4x the damage because of that ?

i can feel this new rune system ruins DK more....and will not be balanced between PvE and PvP

[kumduh]

Here is a guide I made with a visible breakdown of how (I think) they will work. If people can figure it out easily enough I suppose I could be talked into making one that includes all the runes, but I figured it would be easiest to understand with just 1 set of runes. I have no idea how death runes would effect this...



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