Dev Watercooler: Pruning the Garden of War

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Dev Watercooler: Pruning the Garden of War Twitter Q&A
Celestalon and Holinka answered some questions on Twitter that arose from the Watercooler posted earlier tonight.
Originally Posted by Blizzard
Future Blog Posts
You're better off making a blue post about racials/class abilities rather than tweets. Info overload! future watercooler?
Working on it, just wasn't ready in time, and didn't want to delay the blog post. (Source)

To those /sadpanding at the blog, you're not after the philosophy. You're after the patch notes which still aren't available yet. (Rygarius)

Alliance Racials
Humans lose the Mace/Sword racials. The Human Spirit becomes +X to two secondary stats of your choice. (Source)
Change to Human Spirit seems really cool. Can you talk about the interface for choosing which secondary stats it'll give you?
Still designing it. Probably a flyout button of some sort (like Rogue Poisons, Mage Portals, etc) (Source)
The idea is interesting, but are you worried it will be too strong since it's customizable? Or just needs proper tuning
The downside is that it's split between two. If haste is your best stat, 1% haste is better than 0.5%haste + 0.5% crit. (Source)

Weapon Specialization racials are removed because Hit/Exp are removed. (Source)

Draenei's Heroic Presence is now +X to your primary stat. Gift of the Naaru heals for the same amount but over 5sec. (Source)

Night Elves' Quickness also increases movement speed by 2% passively. They also got a new passive which is quite unique... (Remember, no more haste breakpoints!) Touch of Elune, a new passive which grants 1% Haste at night, 1% Crit during the day. (Source)
Might annoy some specs that benefit from one stat but not another (e.g. feral druids benefit from crit, but not haste)
We're making sure that everyone benefits from them. (Source)
Shadowmeld is unchanged. (Source)

Gnomes' Escape Artist dropped to a 1min CD (from 1.5min), and Shortblade Specialization became Nimble Fingers, 1% Haste. Also a tweak to Expansive Mind. Was +5% max Mana. Now +5% Max Mana, Energy, Rage, or Runic Power. (Source)

Darkflight is staying unchanged. (Source)

Dwarves lost Crack Shot and Mace Specialization. Gained Might of the Mountain, a passive which adds 2% Crit Damage and Healing. Also a change to Stoneform: Also removes Magic/Curse. HOWEVER, it still cannot be used while CC'd. (It is still NOT a CC-break) (Source)

Horde Racials
Undead are seeing relatively few changes. Tweaks to the scaling rate of Touch of the Grave, and WotF to 3min CD (up from 2). (Source)

Blood Elves gain Arcane Acuity, a 1% crit passive. Arcane Torrent now restores 20RunicPower, or 1HoPo, or 3% Mana. (Also, Rage and Chi) (Source)

Orcs were one of the outliers we brought down. Lost the Axe Specialization, and Hardiness is 10% Stun reduction (down from 15%). (Source)
Blood Fury is unchanged. Every Man For Himself, we're still evaluating. Itemization changes may mean no nerf needed. (Source)

Tauren's Endurance becomes +X Stamina. Brawn is a new passive which increases Crit Damage/Healing by 2%. (Source)

Can you tell us what exactly will be changing with the Troll racial Berserking?
Reduced to 15% Haste (down from 20%). (Source)

Will there be any changes to Worgen and Goblin racials?
Not much. They were about at baseline. Time is Money becomes real 1% Haste, not just attack speed / cast speed. Subtle diff. (Source)

Squish
Re the squish, simple yes/no question-- will noninstanced world bosses like Oondasta be soloable at level 100?
I'd be surprised if really skilled players didn't solo him at 100. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if a couple are close already. (Source)

Any idea what enchants & set bonuses that currently reduce disarm duration will turn into?
We'll change the set bonuses but the weapon chains won't be relevant anymore. (Source)

PvP
PvP trinkets now grant immunity to reapplication of an effect from the same spell= bad idea, everything else good.
You actually want to trinket a Solar Beam, and have it instantly reapply to you? (Source)

"Long fears are now shorter in PvP due to the added benefit of a fear changing the players position." How short?
6sec instead of 8sec. (Source)

Is paralyze dispellable? Like cyclone is going to be.
It's a physical effect, like gouge, so it can't be dispelled.
Cyclone is not a physical effect?
No it's magic
Magic in WoD, you mean? It's always been Physical CC.
It's more of a "behind the curtain" thing here. It's actually magic, it just isn't dispellable. (Source)

Can we expect more relative damage in WoD with the reduced amount of cc?
We're reducing crit damage done to players by 25% (i.e. crits do 150% damage against players). Damage will be more consistent. (Source)

The blog doesn't mention abilities that break CC, which is significantly more powerful (Lichborne, Fear Ward, TT, BRage..)
In a world where we have too much CC and we're trying to tip the balance away, I can't see going after breaks as aggressively. (Source)
What about mechanics like subterfuge/dematerialize? Those are really bad mechanics..
Subterfuge no longer leaves the rogue in stealth but provides the rogue access to stealth abilities. (Source)
Will there be changes to all the root breaks that melee have now that they all share a DR and we have less instants?
Certainly concerned about all the root breaks. We haven't arrived at exactly what we want there yet.
What about interrupts? Skull bash/rebuke staying?
Interrupts are staying. We think their gameplay is more interesting than blanket silences. (Source)
If interrupts dont have globalCD & casters dont cast a lot,then I disagree.Its just random, no-skill
Our other changes will mean a lot more casting, fewer instants. (Source)
Will Interrupts remain off the GCD?
Yes, that's just a gameplay feel issue. (Source)

Confused about "Removed Silence effects from interrupts." No more 3s lockout on kick?
No more silence on counterspell, spear hand strike, silencing shot, etc. Things that added a silence to an interrupt. But a spell that is specifically a silence, like, well Silence, isn't going away. (Source)
So no more blanket silence as a CC unless Spriest?
There are others like Strangulate. (Source)
Short silence, or wait for a cast for a longer interrupt. how is that not a choice?
Disagree. It feels like people more often use it to silence and the lock out ends up as a bonus. (Source)
What about the "Spell locks"? Will Wind Shear still have a 2 sec lockout and will CS keep it's X secs?
Yeah, interrupts still lockout the interrupted spell school for X sec. (Source)

Are you going to do some kind of pass with the goal of equalizing CC is some way? IE: Each class has like 1-2 CC spells?
Some classes will have more control than others. (Source)

Are PvP set bonuses going to be reworked? I think it would be cool if they were really interesting like PvE bonuses.
Probably. Some classes rely on their set bonuses more than others. (Source)

With the stat squish, number retuning, and CC changes are you looking to make PVP fights overall longer or shorter?
We'd like to see people rotting and healers having to triage more. No one likes 100-0 gameplay.
So overall it would take longer to die/kill someone, but it is also much harder to heal someone back to full?
That would be the goal (Source)

Classes
Regarding removing CDs, which is likely gonna be cut for Ferals Berserk or Tiger Fury or both?
Both of those are staying. Tiger's Fury is on the border between feeling like a DPS cooldown and a rotational button. Keeping it because it has significant impact on your rotation; good gameplay. (Source)

So the 197 of CJL's damage (6 * (197 + 1[1.2] * Attack power * 0.386) is going away?
Correct, no more base damage on spells. (Source)

Does "One type of ability that we focused on removing is temporary power buffs (aka "cooldowns")" mean hero/lust/windfury/etc?
We're keeping Bloodlust/Heroism as the only raid-wide throughput cooldown. No more Stormlash/SkullBanner. Time Warp, Ancient Hysteria stay. We count those all as the same thing, just different sources of the same buff.(Source)
When are we getting those changed from Haste to Amp? Makes much better sense as raid cooldown
Based on our experiments with the SoO trinkets, we're holding off on doing Amp and Cleave as stats, at least for now. (Source)
Plans for a different new secondary to take its place then? DPS could use more options. (I know readiness+multistrike)
Crit/Haste/Mastery/Readiness/Multistrike. We think 5 is enough for now. Will make sure none are terrible. (Source)

What of the Raid Wide CDs, other than Bloodlust, like devotion aura?
Defensive cooldowns stay. May tweak them of course, but as a concept they stay. Only offensive one will be Bloodlust (etc). (Source)
Wait, the ONLY offensive cooldown will be Hero/BL/etc? Every other one is gone?
No, only *raid-wide* offensive cooldown is Bloodlust. I'm referring to removing Stormlash and Skull Banner. (Source)

I'm worried that class flavour spells are going to vanish. Things that don't take up keybind space, like Enslave Demon/Undead.
We're less concerned about removing those (Source)

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Death Knights' runeforges. Anything new there, yet?
Couple tweaks, but nothing ready to announce yet. Not an overhaul. (Source)

DKs don't fit in a world with fewer CCs.They r essentially gonna become immune CC.(other than slow/root)
Then root them? (Source)

Druid (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Can you still NS healing abilities? or is NS just going completely?
You can NS all other spells. (Source)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
What about Silence/Counter Shot for Hunters. How will you go about changing these?
Counter Shot stays, Silencing Shot goes (Source)

NS Clone/PoM poly gone is a good change. Wyvern Sting gone as well I presume?
Wyvern is still available. Hunters have had other changes to their CC (Silencing Shot gone for example). (Source)

With all incap sharing DR will scatter and trap now DR w/ each other? How will hunters land traps?
Scatter Shot is gone. Traps arm and activate instantly. (Source)
"arms and active instantly"? Does that mean it can be fired at a person directly to be trapped? No luncher
No, it has to be placed and has a travel time. (Source)

Mage (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
How will combustion work in relation to the new "dynamic" dots? Popping CDs just to have them be meaningless after
Combustion is based on the damage of the Ignite, so will not dynamically change. (Source)

Re pet-cast CC: Freeze going away? If so, room for a non-CC replacement?
Water Elemental Freeze is staying. However, there is a minor talent that teaches Squirt a new spell that shares a cooldown with it (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Divine favor is gone right?
Healadins had a whole bunch of cooldowns. Merged some of them together. (Source)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
For example, are Combat Rogues going to See AR and Shadow Blades combined?
Killing Spree and Adrenaline Rush for Combat, Vendetta for Assassination, Shadow Dance for Subtlety. Plus talents. (Source)

Shadow blades gone? I'd love that.
Yes, Shadow Blades lost the roll of which Rogue cooldown to cut. (Source)

Is preparation considered bloat? I think it's good having the choice, I hate abilities with 2 charges it promotes tunelling
We're exploring an idea where Preparation becomes a passive. Details still being worked out. (Source)

Removing tricks damage modifier as well, yes please?
Yes, Tricks of the Trade no longer increases damage. Yay! (Source)
Is it going to be free, then?
Oh, yes. Tricks is free. (Source)
Awesome, now it's pure utility! It's not as needed anymore with threat buffs it's still an old fav
Indeed. We expect it to be used for helping pick up new adds, that sort of thing. (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Regarding pet-cast CC, will Seduction still be in the game as it currently exists?
A nerfed version. We don't like so much CC coming from the pets. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
The blog post implies that Charge is going to be changed to a root after all?
Yes Charge will become a root. Our stance was we liked that change, but 5.4.7 wasn't the right time to do it. (Source)
Will Warbringer still add a stun? That will be the only choice for PVP, jumping charges with Freedom/druid shifting/windwalk totem
Yes, Warbringer will be a short stun off DR. Players will be able to get the same behavior with a talent.
Warbringer stun off of DR seems counter to the idea that all stuns share a DR.
There are a number things with very short duration that do not share DR. (Source)
Clarify very short? Heard warbringer will be a 3 second stun. Also presume they DR with themselves? (warbringer rotations in RBGs)
Basically baseline charge, 1.5 seconds. (Source)
Charge should remain as is change the talents instead!
We like the added mobility that the talents give, but charge stun every 12 seconds is too much. (Source)
This article was originally published in forum thread: Dev Watercooler: Pruning the Garden of War Twitter Q&A started by chaud View original post
Comments 47 Comments
  1. Syenite's Avatar
    Lovely, finally an in-depth coverage of priest changes!
  1. hideyuke's Avatar
    My gnome monk is happy now
  1. OPLIX's Avatar
    the end of warriors
  1. Alanar's Avatar
    Awesome priest stuff cant wait!!
  1. mmoce648f9179e's Avatar
    Lol if these racials go live, Dwarf will be the clear MASTER RACE for PvP.
    It's miles ahead with on-par dps racials and a ridiculous stoneform that now removes poison/curse/disease/magic/bleeds + less dmg taken???!!
  1. mmoc08f8e652d4's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sainur View Post
    Dem dwarf racials.

    Dwarf master race.
    Dwarves have always been the master race!

    Keep yer feet on the ground!

    Now I can make my warlock a Dwarf! \o/
  1. mmoc3c02903358's Avatar
    The tweeks to racials didn't really fix the problem.. Horde still got better racials, BY FAR
  1. mmocfd64d1063e's Avatar
    So let me get this straight, WoF only does certain CC's yet is deemed OP and nerfed, EMFH does everything but apparently Humans needed buffs? I dont know how the games gonna be in WoD but currently the rank 1 multi glads on streams with Ally + Horde toons have stated many a time that its easier to climb as human purely because of the damage the extra trinket gives. Yeah they tried to nerf it in Cata, and that didnt work. But try again. It's absolutely broken now in PvE and PvP yet they keep it the same, infact they buff humans. The nerf in cata didnt work, but thats no excuse to keep it as it is. Something has to be done here...
  1. mmoc14d4663a90's Avatar
    Horde is really dead now, it's almost funny, there's no way this will go live though

    Good thing I was planning on switching to dwarf anyway
  1. meathead's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tuzantar View Post
    Lol if these racials go live, Dwarf will be the clear MASTER RACE for PvP.
    It's miles ahead with on-par dps racials and a ridiculous stoneform that now removes poison/curse/disease/magic/bleeds + less dmg taken???!!

    was thinking the same thing,dawfs and cows seen to have th best racials in game now.+2crit damage and stam "cows" is really really good.humans on the other hand seemed to get the short end of the stick.add to that the fact that every man for himself might be removed and it looks bad.


    also it looks like warriors are getting get hard with the removal of abilities and weapon damage +'s.


    i think the devs are duming down the game to much,no hit no exp,come on.they normalized Armour back on wrath,now they change it again,wtf.
  1. mykro9's Avatar
    "Night Elves' Quickness also increases movement speed by 2% passively. They also got a new passive which is quite unique... (Remember, no more haste breakpoints!) Touch of Elune, a new passive which grants 1% Haste at night, 1% Crit during the day.

    Did this slip under everybodies radar? I know it is only 2%, but doesn't that put NE's at all flags in AB EVERY time? NE DK with all their speed boosts and this sounds like early capping glory for alliance and horde getting screwed big time.
  1. mmoca914917702's Avatar
    Orcs were one of the outliers we brought down. Blood Fury is unchanged
    If orcs were one of the outliers then why is blood fury unchanged? They were an outlier in PvE not PvP... so dumb.

    I wish they would just remove the god damn racials already.
  1. Zathrendar's Avatar
    Removing a core element of an RPG is just lazy.

    Think the BE racial needs a bit more work, 1% passive crit is a little dull. The change to AT is good, however I hope it will affect soulshards/embers for Warlocks, which matter far more than mana. Then they will be a competitive option for warlocks.

    I can't see how the dwarf racial will go live, it's OTT. Also find it funny that EMFH is being debated but they've no hesitation to nerf WOTF. Wut?

    They'd best think the Succubus changes through carefully. Her primary role is CC. She isn't ranged and brings precious little else to the mix. I guess the knockback ability is ok but nothing that would make me prefer her over the other pets.
  1. mmocb68422e420's Avatar
    Blood Fury from orcs stil a set value and not a percentage% ?????? wtf, why are you not using proper KNOWLEDGE!!! everything has a percentage and humans have EMFHS wich is just nice when a new pvp season releases and they get a new season trinket, yet orcs are stil stuck to a set value from racial.....
  1. Joycey's Avatar
    ''Darkflight Unchanged'' best News since hitler died!
  1. Vasaru's Avatar
    Horde cloak on Arthas? Dafuq?!
  1. Toppy's Avatar
    Berserking is over powered because it stacks so well CD's and trinkets.

    So they pretty much keep it as it was and say its balanced now.

    Meanwhile, Pandaren racial still can't be used in PvP.
  1. Kededia's Avatar
    We like the added mobility that the talents give, but charge stun every 12 seconds is too much. (Source)

    Wtf im constantly stunned and CCed in arena as it is atm. I cant even charge so wth is this bull with this source?
  1. Gnu's Avatar
    So Every man for himself is fine but Will of the forsaken needs to be nerfed?!? WTF Blizzard seriously!
  1. Nerraw's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gnu View Post
    So Every man for himself is fine but Will of the forsaken needs to be nerfed?!? WTF Blizzard seriously!
    WotF only shares a 30 second cooldown with similar abilities and trinkets. EMFH shares the whole cooldown. WotF is an additional CC-breaker, EMFH is a replacement.

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