After looking at the alpha notes and some of the feedback here and from a few other sources. I think the changes look ok but havoc is still lacking and the rng that plagues us now is still present. (Just not as badly.) I have thrown around some ideas from a pvper and pvers pov. I am curious what people think and am posting them here since I lack alpha access to post to blizz directly.
For starters, I like the chaos strike change but think it is still prone to the same badluck we could have now. I propose adding a sort of bad luck protection mechanic like they currently have in Legion for Legendary system. Basically, every time you chaos strike and do not get the refund, you get a 20 or even 30% chance to get it on your next chaos strike. This will ofc stack to 100% and consume on the proc. This should help tone back the random nature to the spec while keeping some flavor and making it somewhat unpredictable.
Second I would reduce the cd of meta to 3 minutes, idk but I feel like 4 minutes is quite hefty for what is no doubt a powerful tool but not enough to warrant that kind of lengthy cooldown.
Now for talents, I am going to start in the last row than move from the top downward.
Demonic and momentum I think overall are fine but nemesis needs scrapped in place for chaos blades. Simple and done.
Now from the top. I think both fel blade and blind fury are fine. Although change fel blade to chaos damage ffs. Both provide a nice bonus and can be good in multiple situations and help to add a different playstyle depending on the talent you choose. Now for demonic appetite, overall its fine but imo is a dead talent. I propose adding the bad luck protection to the proc for fragments and also taking the bonus from the radon legendary and incorporating it into this talent. This could easily make this talent work taking and even “funner” for those who enjoy that play style, while offering the ability to reset eyebeam with ease.
The one hundred row I would leave the same, with the exception of immolation aura. I would make that deal chaos damage. I am not a massive fan of demonblades but I feel it can fit and work and a large portion of the player bases enjoys the playstyle.
In the 102 row I would swap Trail of Ruin around with First Blood. And maybe add something to increase the potency of Fel Mastery but aside from the first idea this row seems pretty alright. I do think adding First Blood adds a nice single target option and adds another ability in the rotation for different builds.
For 104 I would make the passive leech on soul rend 15% and another 15% while meta is active. The other two choices are fine although I do wish Netherwalk had another effect like a debuff removal or a minor heal of some sort.
106 is where things get interesting and my ideas all sort of mesh. Here me out. For starters I think Dark slash should remain, it could add another way to play the spec and an option for those who enjoy the colossal smash style gameplay. Although it might need watched when paired with chaos blades and meta in instanced pvp. ( pvp balancing is still miles away but food for thought.) Trail of ruin I believe should be in this row and kept the same for the most part, just with a slight modification that it applies the debuff during the last slash to ALL targets hit by it. This would make this talent a nice choice for aoe and add another option to our talents and playstyles. Now for the big one, Cycle of hatred. I like this talent But i think it needs modified. For starters make it proc for every X amount of fury you spend (50 imo seems fair.) the reduction should be enough to make it so with relatively average fury return from chaos strikes you will see meta basically be a 2 minute cd and line up very well with chaos blades if the you have selected that talent. It would ofc work relatively well with momentum and just give you more metas. But if demonic is selected, I think it should no longer reduce cd on meta but on eyebeam instead. This would allow the current demonic build that a portion of the playerbase enjoys to work but not be plagued by the constant soul fragment and crit rng while also trying to not overcap fury and move to pickup fragments. It would also allow us to see much more use of one of two most iconic abilities, eyebeam and meta form. I personally think being able to eyebeam every 10-20 sec on average depending on your build would be perfect and really fit the theme and class fantasy of dh. It would also not have us mirroring the spriest who remains in void from until they can no longer maintain resources. It would be our own sort of unique but fun playstyle.
Ofc this is a very rough set of ideas and tuning would surely need done but I think havoc would be in alot better looking state in alpha with these ideas.
Also this was posted from my phone so apologies on any grammar or spelling errors.