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Enhancement Shaman Artifact Intro
The latest Legion build finally enabled Shaman, allowing us to see how players obtain Doomhammer.



Shaman Class Hall
The Shaman class hall is located right outside of the Maelstrom.



Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Tank & Healer Ability Tuning
What about healer damage and how it feels to play a healer, it looks like, again, we are getting lots of stuff done for tanks but little for healers.
Healer damage is being raised substantially, but that's not related to the topic of this thread, so please start a new thread to discuss it. Thanks!

We agree that passive healing from healers (most prominently Beacon) is a huge contributor to the problem, and will be adjusted as well.

EDIT: Edited that into the original post as well.

A lot of great discussion here, and we share a lot of the concerns (even the cynical ones), and will be doing our best to actually meet the stated goals.

Tanks will indeed have much more health than DPS; apologies if that was unclear. It's just that their total effective health can safely be in the 5-15x of a DPS range, doesn't need to be 50x. 50x is kinda silly. Raid bosses will still 1-shot DPS, and that's fine.

Healers are being adjusted with tank healing in mind.

The comments about tanks spending less time waiting for their turn to tank isn't an indication that they'll be expected to run around more, just that they'll have more engaging encounter gameplay.

We especially look forward to more feedback based on playtesting; thanks for what you've given so far! This is going to be an iterative process, and we'll keep adjusting based on it. It surely isn't perfect yet, but we'll keep reading, responding, and tweaking! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

New Logging Feature: COMBATANT_INFO
Any permanent output increase buff from another player such as Mark of the Wild, Blessing of.., etc
Forgot to say that, but yes, that's planned as well. Edited that in to the above post. Thanks!

There are a lot of great questions being asked in here, but please put questions not about COMBATANT_INFO in new threads. Thanks!

With just the item IDs, enchant, and gems... you really can't recreate a person's gear. For the most part this gear data can only be used to do things like figure out which special trinket a person used, or if they have a set bonus active, which gear-related procs they have, etc. It would be awesome if we could have the full information needed to recreate a person's gear (basically what an item link in-game has):

- item ID
- bonus IDs
- suffix ID (only necessary on legacy items)
- upgrade ID
- gem IDs
- enchant ID

Regarding enchant ID... the format above mentions 3 enchant IDs... usually all that we need is the enchant ID as you would see it in the Armory (which I'm assuming is the permanent enchant ID). I'm more familiar with a static gear perspective... what kind of things are the other two enchants used for that are common?


The Item level is included in there as well, which shortcuts the bonus/upgrade (and suffix will continue to be inconsequential). You should have everything you need to reconstruct their gear. On Use enchants are for things like the Nitro Boost belt attachment from engineering. Temporary enchants are for things like Rogue Poisons.

Also, we would probably want to know which slot the items are equipped in. This isn't a huge deal with artifact weapons... but for a future-proof design, being able to consistently tell which weapon is in the main hand vs. off hand is important information. The slot could be implied by the order that the items are listed for brevity, but that would require a blank entry for a blank slot.
I don't believe we're currently including blanks, but the order would be consistent.

With the full gear data, the stats section becomes a bit redundant I think. You can calculate the stats from the state of the player. Also, I'm not sure how much value we'll get out of a snapshot of stats at fight start... stats will move around as buffs come and go during a fight. Having the full picture of the character's gear will go much further towards doing stat-related analysis of log data.
True, but the stats shortcut a ton of work for developers that don't already have (or want to build) that huge process. It also provides validation, of course.

If you look at that list... it actually includes most of the auras that a player would have on the pull. It almost seems like it would be easier and require far less maintenance to just include every aura.
Everything you listed, we would flag, and more (such as set bonuses, and legendary effects). Including all auras is not feasible; there are tons and tons and tons of aura, some visible, some not visible.

When I get to thinking about using those stats... I run into problems. If the snapshot happens with a pre-potion active, well now I need to adjust for that or it will seem like everyone has way too much of their primary stat. Or what if a person hits an on-use trinket just before the pull accidentally and jacks up a stat?
We're not currently planning for potions to be stat-based right now, but it's still a valid point due to Use trinkets, if nothing else. The trinket aura would be flagged as interesting, and you'd have to factor it out. Not ideal, I know, but that's a technical limitation at the moment. Those of you who are fully reconstructing the character can likely ignore the stats and use your reconstructed values. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Raid Testing Schedule - January 15
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
On Friday, January 15, we will begin our Legion Alpha raid testing with one Heroic encounter from the Emerald Nightmare.

Remember that Heroic difficulty scales for any group size between 10 and 30 players, so feel free to assemble and bring a group of any size within that range. Our general plan is to test every encounter on Heroic difficulty first, and then test sections of the raid on Normal and Raid Finder, alongside targeted Mythic tests.

As this is the very first raid test of this alpha cycle, one of the main purposes of this test is to stress our servers and the Legion codebase, so instability is not only possible, but almost a certainty. And yes, class design (let alone balance) is far from final, many specs are not available, artifacts will not be fully unlocked yet, and we'll certainly be revisiting this boss in the future for true tuning data. If you've read all of that and have a masochistic streak and still want to help us out with this first raid test, here are the details:

Friday, January 15

Ursoc - Heroic Emerald Nightmare
14:00 PST (17:00 EST, 23:00 CET)

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of an alpha environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the boss being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Q: How do I get into the raid zone?

A: In Dalaran, Orgrimmar, or Stormwind, you may speak to Nexus-Lord Donjon Rade Sr. in order to teleport into the raid zone while it is open for testing. (The option to teleport into a zone will not be available when the zone is not open for testing.)

Q: What character should I use to test the raid?

A: Whichever you prefer. We will be scaling players' effective level to 110 for raid testing, and their item level to an appropriate threshold for the encounter(s) being tested.

Q: How long does testing last?

A: The primary purpose of testing is to give us the information we need to balance the encounters, evaluate how mechanics are playing out in practice, and identify bugs. Once we're satisfied that we've received that information for a given boss, we'll be shutting down testing. Usually this takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, but there are no guarantees.

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
If you could start over from scratch on MMO endgame design, what would you change?
Off the top of my head, more paths to rewards instead of one path with multiple difficulty levels. (OccupyGStreet)



Legion Alpha - Obliterum
We found some interesting references to Obliterum in Legion conversations. Keep in mind that this is just a reference in an alpha build of Legion, not something final or officially announced. This forge was in Dalaran in a previous build, but is gone in the current build. Remember that Obliterum is created by destroying crafted items you don't want, allowing you to increase the power of your crafted items.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Simply brilliant, Ildine! How much obliterum did we get?

We'll need permission from the ruling council of Dalaran before we can build a forge big enough to create obliterum en masse.
You seem to be on good terms with Khadgar - maybe you should ask him, $n.

We've discovered an exciting new way to extract demonic essence from our crafted armor, but to do so, we need your permission to build a forge.

I agree. Our artisans lack the skills to build such a forge. The dangers of toying with demonic powers are simply too great.
I agree. You of all people should know that dealing with this type of power carries great danger, demon hunter. I cannot allow it in my city. (used if character is demon hunter class)
I'm sorry, but your request has been den--
Actually, Khadgar, I believe I may know someone that can build this forge. An expert.
Really? Who?
Perhaps better you didn't know, sir.
How mysterious. Very well! Archmage Karlain will assist you, $n.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Enhancement Artifact Intro, Shaman Class Hall, Upcoming Raid Testing, Obliterum started by chaud View original post
Comments 30 Comments
  1. ImEveryCliche's Avatar
    hi 10 chars
  1. moveth's Avatar
    My lack of Alpha access upsets me greatly.
  1. Fullmetal89's Avatar
    Why call this an Alpha build at this point......it's beta by all definitions.
  1. Aelanna's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Fullmetal89 View Post
    Why call this an Alpha build at this point......it's beta by all definitions.
    Considering that by most definitions a beta test is only done on feature-complete software to ensure that there are no lingering faults or bugs, I'm curious why you would say that. Legion is far from feature complete, not even all of the class specializations are playable yet.
  1. Triggered Fridgekin's Avatar
    We agree that passive healing from healers (most prominently Beacon) is a huge contributor to the problem, and will be adjusted as well.
    Healers are being adjusted with tank healing in mind.
    So they're going to likely gut Holy Paladin which have been the tank healer since the dawn of time for the sake of homogenization. Great. They sure as hell better be getting AOE buffs which do more than just tickle the players' balls for healing then.
  1. Drummerboy's Avatar
    Take away from Shaman Video:

    "From this map you may dispatch members of the Earthen Ring throughout the Broken Isles."

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
  1. Sierra85's Avatar
    so tanks are going to have a lot more health than DPS?

    i hope for once they balance this out properly (and make it stick throughout the entire expansion!). i have faith they can do it.
  1. LanceDH's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Aelanna View Post
    Considering that by most definitions a beta test is only done on feature-complete software to ensure that there are no lingering faults or bugs, I'm curious why you would say that. Legion is far from feature complete, not even all of the class specializations are playable yet.
    Didn't you know? On the internet everyone is an expert at everything, even after showing they aren't.
  1. smokii's Avatar
    much WoW, so news, very alpha
  1. Draziusk's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Aelanna View Post
    Considering that by most definitions a beta test is only done on feature-complete software to ensure that there are no lingering faults or bugs, I'm curious why you would say that. Legion is far from feature complete, not even all of the class specializations are playable yet.
    Blizzard has launched xpac betas without being feature complete before, I know I remember pet battles not being added until late in the mists beta. I know there are others as well just can't think of them.

    I am not saying this is a beta but aside from the unfinished/uplayable specs it has more zones available to play than most of their betas at the start.
  1. Exotath's Avatar
    news feels a bit sparse lately. I hope a big data mine comes soon.
  1. dookieffs's Avatar
    coolest class hall so far!
  1. grexly75's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Drummerboy View Post
    Take away from Shaman Video:

    "From this map you may dispatch members of the Earthen Ring throughout the Broken Isles."

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
    And yet you and everyone else has no idea what they will do, talk is that supposedly they scout areas that you send them to and they bring back with quests for you to do..
  1. aeuhe4yxzhds's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Brewskee View Post
    news feels a bit sparse lately. I hope a big data mine comes soon.
    Yeah, this whole one news post per day is really starting to suck. Nothing to read about
  1. grexly75's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dookieffs View Post
    coolest class hall so far!
    Yeah I like that we get to have the area around the maelstrom as our class hall..
  1. nakigara's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dookieffs View Post
    coolest class hall so far!
    I feel the opposite. Looks like they're shoving me into a big cave with a lava lamp to get me out of the way
  1. Thessik-Irontail's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dookieffs View Post
    coolest class hall so far!
    Druid one looks much better imho
  1. dookieffs's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Thessik-Irontail View Post
    Druid one looks much better imho
    Too much night elf influence for my taste

    Quote Originally Posted by nakigara View Post
    I feel the opposite. Looks like they're shoving me into a big cave with a lava lamp to get me out of the way
    Cave life Shaman style
  1. Heffladin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Triggered Fridgekin View Post
    So they're going to likely gut Holy Paladin which have been the tank healer since the dawn of time for the sake of homogenization. Great. They sure as hell better be getting AOE buffs which do more than just tickle the players' balls for healing then.
    well if you look at their abilities it looks like holy paladin will still be the no1 tank healer mate.
  1. S3vR's Avatar
    My thought on class halls is that yea shamans have a cool class hall, even warlocks have a decent class hall at first glance. However, when compared to some of the other class halls they just seem incomplete. Look at the druid, mage, monk, and hunter class halls...they have so much detail compared to the others. They have beds, bookcases, a place to sit etc all things that would make you feel like "yea, this is a place where I can hang out with my fellow druids" like a home away from home club house feel. So while yes I agree the shaman class hall is cool, like the lock class hall though it just lacks so much compared to more complete looking halls which clearly had more time and effort put into them.

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