Soul Shard system

[Deleted]

The new soul shard system looks great but has some flaws.
For example in arena, the only thing the opponents need to do is to kill the pet 3 times then I'll have no shards left, so I came up with an idea.
All your offensive spells have a chance to give you a soul shard, up to a maximum of 3 shards.
And empowering spells requires a shard to work, for example: Instant Summon=1 shard, Instant Soul Fire=3 shards, Instant Fear=1 shard, 3 Searing Pain crits=2 shards.
This is just an idea I came up with and I want to hear what your opinion is about it.

Sorry for my English, it isn't my native languaqe.

[zephurwitch]

If the opposing team has time to kill your pet 3 times...maybe you should consider killing them with your shards instead of summoning a new pet

Keep in mind...health pools will be larger...most likely for pets too

[Calsong]

I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your criticism. Development so far has suggested a few means (potentially) for minimal combat regaining of shards, but it isn't meant to work like that.

The new shard system is about "exciting moments" in any combat. Getting a pet back for free is cool, so is a soulfire. Right now, by your standards, an opposing team wins by killing your pet twice (once, fel dom, a second time). While this MIGHT be true, it isn't realistic. Having to kill a pet two more times would make this an unrealistic goal for PvP.

[ComputerNerd]

But having our "oh s***!" button limited to a finite number, and not simply a cooldown is a unique and very poor design.
Everyone else can simply wait things out, we have to make the decision to use a cooldown or not because we may not get the chance again or will even prevent the use of another.

[Goatonlb]

I wouldn't think of it as our "Oh, shit!" button though. Why would you think that, because we can bring out a pet with it? If it was never intended to allow us 3 insta-pets and this does, then it seems like a positive bonus compared to the way things are now. It's 3x Fel Doms instead of 1, OR, it's a risky burst scenario to lose some of that utility. It's supposed to be fun and helpful, but not game breaking.

Now I agree, it does end up being a CD that we'll end up leaning on in longer Arena matches, and in those longer matches, our CD's run out, while others just have to wait for it to come back. In a lot of matches if the Pally bubbles at the wrong time it can lead to a loss, but there still is the option for a second bubble if time allows it. We'll be limited in that if we drag out matches to last long enough to burn through three shards, we'll be left with fewer outs in the long run.

For short matches, it's awesome, for 40 minute matches, it hurts.

[Slashley]

The shards come back over time like DK runes. plus you will have some sort of ability like drain soul thats adds shards quickly.

[Goatonlb]

The shards come back over time like DK runes. plus you will have some sort of ability like drain soul thats adds shards quickly.

Out of combat. The ability like DS to regen them in combat is still unconfirmed, unless you're speaking from under the NDA and know more than we do. It's just something they said they might add if they feel the need, afaik.

[Verazh]

Out of combat. The ability like DS to regen them in combat is still unconfirmed, unless you're speaking from under the NDA and know more than we do. It's just something they said they might add if they feel the need, afaik.

Yep, and I think they will. The cata shards are not meant as a balancing factor in raids, but they will in pvp, and having a resource that cant be regenerated in any way seems bizzare.
I guess you could regain them by going out of combat, hiding LoSing, like rogues when they go for a restealth, but I dont see that happening unless they regain OOC really fast.

[Struggle]

I can see them having very verrrrry slow in-combat regen timers, or a way to do so. The main thing (PvE wise, anyways) are that some fights are 5 minutes, other can last up to 20. Hard to determine to save a shard, use it, save it for a pet...etc.

[gherkin]

There's a post by GC stating that the current plan is to not allow in-combat regeneration of shards.

[remix]

Looks like it will be interesting. Giving more flexibility and options is generally a good thing.

[nazrakin]

From what I've read, none of our spells (including pet summons) will cost shards anymore. Using a soul shard in cataclysm will simply make the summon instant.

[ComputerNerd]

Nazrakin, basically Soul Burn, which "should" be the only ability to require a soul shard will allow empowering of the next supported spell cast with an enhanced or alternative ability.
The next summon of a demon would become instant in the form of fel domination yes as an example.

My concern is that they are simply replacing one "flavour" mechanism that was originally intended to give the warlock class something unique and admittedly a very badly implemented one with another.
No other class has to earn back their cooldowns, which for all but a very small minority are based only on a period of time before they can be used again. Not a mechanism where we are limited to a finite number and have to rely on getting out of combat or some unannounced (if at all) mechanim to regain them during combat.
We have to do something very specific to earn them back, everyone else can simply wait. And that to me sounds like a very clumsy idea.

Good concept at first, but "unique" is not always a good principle to follow.

[Mudvein]

i think the new soul shard system will be an exciting upgrade to a boring and aggravating game mechanic. and to everyone complaining about being limited to 3 shards in each combat session and it not being a cd instead of a resource. why would you ask for everything to be the same? things need to be balanced but not the same. whats the point of a warlock class if we want it to be all cd based like other classes? i think being limited to three shards will be a fun mechanic and put some strategy in pve and pvp for the warlock and opponent.

[Greyarea]

People seem to dwell too much in PvP for this sort of crap. Who really cares if it doesn't regen in an arena match? Or only does if out of combat? It's just a new skill you have to get used to. Also remember fel dom is going away too come cata talent trees so if you want an instant summon you have to burn a shard.

The one thing I can see as being an issue is yes, long fights will be a pain in the ass. Short fights like say festergut or saurfang 3 shards may be fine, but say LK normal or hard lasts for 2-3 times longer than those 2 other fights and your stuck with only 3 shards with no way of regenning them in combat. As has been said no other class has got an ability that is limited in uses per encounter. Sure some have long CD's but if the fight goes on for longer than the CD, hey look...it's up again!

For a lock however, if they burn their 3 shards in the first 5 minutes, say during blood lust popped early to force a faster phase 1 or whatever of an encounter, they are now totally out of bust cards to pull. A pally can pop their wings again, a shaman can pop lust a second tiem if the fight is long enough, can pop their fire elemental again etc. All the burst moves can come back for many uses in a fight but witht his a lock is boned if they use all the shards earlier. One solution I can see if just getting killed, brez and have 3 back again, but that would hardly be optimal.

[Dethh]

People seem to dwell too much in PvP for this sort of crap. Who really cares if it doesn't regen in an arena match? Or only does if out of combat? It's just a new skill you have to get used to. Also remember fel dom is going away too come cata talent trees so if you want an instant summon you have to burn a shard.

The one thing I can see as being an issue is yes, long fights will be a pain in the ass. Short fights like say festergut or saurfang 3 shards may be fine, but say LK normal or hard lasts for 2-3 times longer than those 2 other fights and your stuck with only 3 shards with no way of regenning them in combat. As has been said no other class has got an ability that is limited in uses per encounter. Sure some have long CD's but if the fight goes on for longer than the CD, hey look...it's up again!

For a lock however, if they burn their 3 shards in the first 5 minutes, say during blood lust popped early to force a faster phase 1 or whatever of an encounter, they are now totally out of bust cards to pull. A pally can pop their wings again, a shaman can pop lust a second tiem if the fight is long enough, can pop their fire elemental again etc. All the burst moves can come back for many uses in a fight but witht his a lock is boned if they use all the shards earlier. One solution I can see if just getting killed, brez and have 3 back again, but that would hardly be optimal.

If fel dom will require a shard dying will yield only 2 and a dps loss.

[Greyarea]

like i said, hardly optimal. if you also think about buffs lost, it was just a random musing, not a serious option :P

[ComputerNerd]

This is not just dwelling from a pvp perspective, though that is most certainly where blizzard are placing their emphasis on the class overhaul.
Our current cooldowns are mostly defensive and few serve a serious purpose in a pve encounter.
As you stated there are long enough fights where other classes can pop their big cooldowns again due to the duration of the cooldown.
We are getting a total of one big cooldown outside of meta in the form of demon soul, with everything else being on a very limited, finite, and shared number.
Anyone else can blow two if not three cooldowns for burst when appropriate knowing full well they will have time to use them again.
We will not have that option.

[frester]

well, in pve i wouldn't worry too much as 3xinsta SF is not much of a dmg bust anyway, and you still have meta/demon sould depending on spec so not bad at all.
and i think in pvp you will have to do it rogue style and try to go ooc for few sec to get your shards back, and complaining about that all the opposing team has to do is to kill 3 (should be 4) pets is just well....

[Kaesebrezen]

So you're crying about being able to instant cast your Pet 3 times instead of 1 time?