Originally Posted by
Stormykitten
I don't think it took that advanced thinking to expect us to be where we are with classes the very day they announced the artifact system. It was never going to be a pretty thing at the end of Legion, when it was inevitable to feel like most classes lost mechanics one would come to expect or enjoy. So I hope Blizz can navigate clear from that with the azurite system and such, because right now it does look a bit messy, and somehow the revamped specs look most complete just because they saw a ground up re-evaluation after Legion.
I think Blizz has very talented class designers but i think they just give them too little time before the balancing period sets in, where things has to be locked in. To use Balance as an example, it's got a wonderful kit, it's truly great to play the spec... until you go into combat and fall asleep, just from the arti removal. It's so close, but it needs something more to be truly wonderful, in that combat rotation.
Also, don't get me wrong, it sounds like I hate the Artifacts. I don't, really, but I think it seems like there was too little plan when time would come to retire it; nobody likes to feel like their class got less dynamic and that has to happen if you surgically cut a system that integral to how the class plays. It has a chance to continue in the Azurite system, but it's been a giant question mark for so long that it just won't calm people. So I hope we get an in depth design blog on how that's going to work. If it's mostly boring passives, more like traits, etc. To what extent it will replace arti traits, essentially.