Class Balance Update, Honor Talents and Prestige, Sept 14 Hotfixes, Mythic+ Preview

Since the expansion launched, aside from fixing bugs, our class and systems teams have been keeping an eye on qualitative class feedback, looking for things that can be addressed via hotfix. We recently increased the default number of Warlock Soul Shards to 3 to decrease their ramp-up time; we also reduced the base cooldown of Arms Warrior Colossus Smash to 30 seconds, to mitigate the worst-case scenario when Tactician failed to reset its cooldown.

In the Developer Q&A last week, we touched on the general topic of class balance so far in Legion, and suggested that we were looking at making tuning changes via hotfix towards the end of this week. However, after further consideration of available data and the current state of the game, we feel that it’s still premature for a broad tuning pass.

World of Warcraft’s endgame consists of a range of activities, including varied raid encounters at different difficulty levels, random matchmade dungeons, Mythic dungeons (both baseline and Keystone-modified), outdoor questing, and of course arenas and battlegrounds (though I’ll be focusing on other gameplay modes in this post, since we can now handle PvP tuning separately). That’s the game that was available in beta, and it’s what our classes are designed and balanced around. But right now, everyone at max level is playing a very narrow slice of that diverse endgame: we are running dungeons, and we’re specifically running them with a focus on efficiency rather than success. Many players have learned the various dungeon encounters, and now zone in with their Heroic or Mythic groups not wondering whether they’ll be able to prevail over the challenges within, but rather how quickly. Unsurprisingly, that places an inordinate value on sustained AoE/cleave damage, and especially on-demand burst against the groups of four or five targets that comprise most enemy packs in dungeons, and so those specs that excel in those areas seem elevated above the rest.

But in a couple of weeks, when we talk about balance, major considerations will include things like meeting the single-target DPS check on Ursoc or handling the spread-out tentacles of Il’gynoth in the Emerald Nightmare, or making sure that your group can reliably interrupt Odyn’s Stormforged Obliterator in Halls of Valor, while running away from Radiant Tempest, so that he doesn’t derail your Mythic Keystone run entirely. Until we can see data from the endgame in its entirety, we can’t make informed decisions about which numbers need adjusting, and by how much. Therefore, at this point we’re aiming to hold off on a broad pass of tuning hotfixes until the end of the first week of raiding and Mythic Keystone dungeons.

In the meantime, we are looking at a couple of targeted changes to address some clear outliers: in the near future, we’re planning on deploying hotfixes that reduce tank damage output across the board (tanks should be very sturdy and effective at killing things, but too often their damage output rivals that of pure damage dealers), as well as reducing the AoE burst damage capabilities of Windwalker monks (mainly Strike of the Windlord’s area component) and Havoc Demon Hunters (mainly Fel Barrage). Those specializations will still excel in that area, but will not be so clearly dominant over their peers.

In the long run, our tuning goal is simply for everyone to feel that they can play the class and specialization they prefer. There will of course be areas of strength and weakness, and some specs will thrive in certain situations while lagging behind in others, but those gaps should not preclude viability. We’ll continue to look at available data and player feedback and make adjustments until that is the case, but that process will not begin until next week. Thank you for your patience.

I'm very happy with this change, but now there is no downside to resetting your Honor level. What's the point in the Prestige system now? To make you manually reset your level upon hitting 50 every time?
The original vision for the Prestige system was to create an extended progression system with a high cost that was purely optional and felt special. We wanted you to see someone with a Prestige badge and think, "Wow, that guy or gal did a crazy difficult grind to get that badge." To make that progression feel good, we added a lot of rewards along the way including artifact power, artifact appearances, mounts, toys, titles, etc. We did receive feedback, both internally and externally, that losing your honor talents didn't feel good and would be a significant impediment to particpating in Prestige. We were willing to live with that downside in order for Prestige to feel more exclusive and special. We try to get everyone honor talents quickly so they can feel competitive. But this also means you can work through the honor system quickly, arriving at level 50 with no where to go. So, we realize that more people will have more fun if they can continue to get rewards from PvP, even if Prestige loses a bit of its luster.

Thank you all for your feedback on this issue. We hope you continue to enjoy Legion and PvP!

Classes

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Hati will now reset appearance to the default blue wolf form the first time summoned.
  
  • Developers’ Notes: Due to a bug, some hunters had Hati transform with the Essence Swapper into appearances that are unintended. A fix has been made for this to prevent future issues, but to get rid of any unintended appearances that players may already have, Hati’s appearance will be reverted to the default blue wolf when first summoned, and should retain any appearance changes thereafter. The Essence Swapper will continue to allow you to change Hati’s appearance to match that of your currently active hunter pet.
    

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Judgment's damage on secondary targets should correctly match its damage on the primary target.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Clarity of Will's maximum shield size will be correctly increased by Versatility.

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• (Enhancement) Feral Lunge will no longer threaten enemies when cast. Feral Lunge now only causes threat when it lands and deals damage.

Class Halls

• The amount of follower experience granted by missions has been increased.
  
• Lower-level followers should have access to more missions, even when the player has very high level followers active.
  
• Players who failed to be rewarded Hymdall during the resolution of the quest "Jorhuttam" are properly granted him as a follower after entering their class hall.

Dungeons

• Players should no longer be able to apply for Premade Group Finder parties for Arcway or Court of Stars if they have not gained access to those dungeons.
  
• Eye of Azsharah
  
  • For the quest “Cleansing the Dreamway”, Rarefied Water should now drop from every boss. Other enemies no longer drop the item for the quest.
    

Items

• Level 110 legendary rings and amulets, which all previously had no sockets, should now have 1 Prismatic socket per item.

NPCs

• Blingtron 6000 should no longer transport some players underneath the world.

Professions

• The alchemy spell Transmute: Fish to Gems should now take Cursed Queenfish, not Ghostly Queenfish.

Quests

• Operation Murloc Freedom now only rewards Timeworn Artifacts while the World Quest is active.
  
• The Nightbourne Loupe for the quest "A Personal Touch" is now carried by both male and female nightborne.
  
• The quest object "The Black Tome" for the quest "The Black Tome" now spawns in a location that is accessible without having to jump onto the altar.
  
• On “Cry Thunder!”, players can no longer interact with Vethir to start the bombing run if they’re in a raid group.
  
• Elothir should consistently offer "Reading the Leaves" and "Given to Corruption" when a player is eligible for the quests.
  
• Adjustments to spawn rate and credit for the Fishing World Quest “Buoy Fishing” have been made to streamline the quest.

Zones

• Players should no longer experience phasing issues when re-visiting Dalaran over Karazhan for the Legion pre-launch quests.

A new level of difficulty and rewards is coming soon to Legion’s dungeons, and we’ve got a quick primer for you.

As in Warlords of Draenor, Legion dungeons come in three primary levels of difficulty and rewards: Normal, Heroic, and Mythic. Both Heroic and Mythic difficulties are only available to players at level 110, and you aren’t able to queue for Mythic difficulty via the Dungeon Finder.

Keys of Stone
Starting on September 20, the first time you complete a Mythic dungeon each week, you’ll be rewarded with a Mythic Keystone for a specific dungeon, chosen randomly from among all Mythic dungeons to which you have access. Your very first Keystone will enable access to Mythic Level 2, offering both increased difficulty and rewards.

We Move Swiftly
To activate your Mythic Keystone, assemble a team of five stalwart heroes, venture to the specified Mythic dungeon, and place the Keystone into the Font of Power just inside. If you don’t interact with the Font, the dungeon will operate in its default Mythic state.

When players activate a Mythic Keystone, a timer begins counting down, and the group has a fixed amount of time to defeat the dungeon’s bosses and a majority of the other enemy forces within the dungeon. Players who are familiar with Challenge Mode dungeons will find that this timer is quite forgiving—its purpose is not to encourage speed runs, but rather to provide a gauge for a well-executed run. Whether or not you beat the time, a chest containing a couple of pieces of loot awaits you at the end of your run.

If you successfully beat the time, your Keystone will be upgraded to a higher level and attuned to a new random dungeon. If you don’t beat the time, your Mythic Keystone is “depleted.” A depleted Keystone can be used to try to beat the timer in the hopes of getting a fresh upgraded Keystone, but runs started with a depleted Keystone will not award loot.

Increasing Challenges
With each increasing level of Mythic difficulty, the health and damage of enemies will increase. In addition, at Levels 4, 7, and 10, new modifiers are introduced that will require players to adapt and evolve to succeed.

Example Keystone modifiers include:

• Raging—Non-boss enemies enrage at 30% health remaining, dealing 100% increased damage until defeated.
  
• Bolstering—When any non-boss enemy dies, its death cry empowers nearby allies, increasing their maximum health and damage by 20%.
  
• Skittish—Enemies pay far less attention to threat generated by tanks.
  
• Volcanic—While in combat, enemies periodically cause gouts of flame to erupt beneath the feet of distant players.

These modifiers are visible on each Mythic Keystone, and all Keystones of the appropriate level will have the same modifiers during a given week.

Mythic Keystone Rewards
While creatures do not drop loot normally during a Mythic Keystone run, upon completion of the run, players will find a chest containing two high-quality items for the party. The base item level of these rewards starts at item level 845 for Mythic Level 2, and goes all the way up to item level 865 for a Mythic Level 10.

Please note: the end-of-dungeon reward quality will be capped at a base item level of 850 during the first week of the feature’s availability, with the full range of rewards unlocking once Mythic raids have opened the following week.

Like most end-game loot in Legion, these items also have a chance to be Warforged or Titanforged, allowing them to potentially scale all the way up to item level 895.

After completing any Mythic Keystone dungeon within the time limit (whether using your own Keystone or someone else’s), a reward chest will be available in your Class Hall the following week. That chest contains a guaranteed piece of gear with a power level reflecting the highest Mythic level you completed during the prior week, up to a maximum of item level 880 for a successful Mythic Level 10 clear. It will also contain a new Mythic Keystone for you, which allows you to jump right back into your weekly Mythic dungeon adventures.

Get Ready
Mythic Keystones will start dropping on September 20. Are you prepared?