9.0 General Discussion

[Murthag]

Anyone has a idea when the Alpha test will begin? Eager to see what they will do the current classes.

my personal hope is feb/march 2020

[razorpax]

They could have given us the choice of our racials or emotes on character creation as an additional option. That would be more customization like they are trying to sell us.
And armour could have been just a reward for unlocking the allied race at the same time as the mount.

so you want blizzard to not have as many reasons to not charge us for customization??

[ExiHext]

The only saving grace here would be if we got those sweet Val'kyr as a playable race during the expansion. But then again, we didn't get Sethrak either as they never give the players actual cool races to play.

That's just your personal preference. I don't like Sethrak or Naga nor do I want them playable neither do the people I play with. I don't need more allied races. At what count are we now? 6 base races per faction plus 5 AR plus pandaren? They should invest their design capacities in decent armor from now on since this part of the game is really lackluster.
I also already dread if those covenant races get playable and horde will again get the edgy (skeleton and vampire) race. As a horde only player: thanks, but no thanks. Rather no new races at all.

[NotTrihard]

That's just your personal preference. I don't like Sethrak or Naga nor do I want them playable neither do the people I play with. I don't need more allied races. At what count are we now? 6 base races per faction plus 5 AR plus pandaren? They should invest their design capacities in decent armor from now on since this part of the game is really lackluster.
I also already dread if those covenant races get playable and horde will again get the edgy (skeleton and vampire) race. As a horde only player: thanks, but no thanks. Rather no new races at all.

These would be neutral allied races, not faction specific considering they don't care for factions.

[Makabreska]

Man, this Bastion zone seems like a different game. Like it's from some Asian RPG, and I actually like this change of style. Bastion and that fae zone really have this strong "different world" vibe, more than Draenor ever had.

[Redzonetode]

That's just your personal preference. I don't like Sethrak or Naga nor do I want them playable neither do the people I play with. I don't need more allied races. At what count are we now? 6 base races per faction plus 5 AR plus pandaren? They should invest their design capacities in decent armor from now on since this part of the game is really lackluster.
I also already dread if those covenant races get playable and horde will again get the edgy (skeleton and vampire) race. As a horde only player: thanks, but no thanks. Rather no new races at all.

cool, you dont want new races at all. you're in the minority, but thanks for letting your opinion be known

[Caerule]

I think I may be the only one that was kinda pleased with the pruning. I really don't need 7 more buttons to press again. Am I the only one that feels that way?

[Makabreska]

I think I may be the only one that was kinda pleased with the pruning. I really don't need 7 more buttons to press again. Am I the only one that feels that way?

Same here, actually. My fire mage already has more buttons that I'm comfortable to use. But then again, there are specs that have little to press, like MM's.

[Sondrelk]

I think I may be the only one that was kinda pleased with the pruning. I really don't need 7 more buttons to press again. Am I the only one that feels that way?

Some of the abilities definitely deserved a return. Thinks like Shamans being able to put down totems outside very specific cooldowns, or hunters feeling Hunter's mark being relegated to a talent dilutes teh fantasy.

Some of the pruning Blizzard was completely correct on though. Why on the world should a mage specializing in the arcane ever feel like Fireball is an ability they should use. It is a choice that does not really make sense unless Blizzard intends to go back to a world more like Vanilla, where enemies could have specific weaknesses and you might need an ability outside the normal school.

Same with poisons for rogue. Sure it is kinda flavorful how a pirate puts poison on their weapon, but subtlety is specifically stated to use shadow magic, and pirates are underhanded sure, but not really to the point where you expect them to put poison on their weapons.


Will definitely be interesting to see what is going to happen going forward. Some of the unpruning reeks of Blizzard doing it simply to appease the whiners instead of doing it to serve class fantasy. I had this suspicion when they mentioned letting Survival hunters use a bow because they looked like they forgot. When the fantasy of a survival hunter is specifically eschewing a bow in favor of a spear, not to mention they use a crossbow in their rotation anyways if they use the poison sting talent.

[Makabreska]

Some of the abilities definitely deserved a return. Thinks like Shamans being able to put down totems outside very specific cooldowns, or hunters feeling Hunter's mark being relegated to a talent dilutes teh fantasy.

I always hated carrying sham totems everywhere. Was very happy when they made them CD only.

[Cosmic Janitor]

That's just your personal preference. I don't like Sethrak or Naga nor do I want them playable neither do the people I play with. I don't need more allied races. At what count are we now? 6 base races per faction plus 5 AR plus pandaren? They should invest their design capacities in decent armor from now on since this part of the game is really lackluster.
I also already dread if those covenant races get playable and horde will again get the edgy (skeleton and vampire) race. As a horde only player: thanks, but no thanks. Rather no new races at all.

Getting new AR from SL would be kinda weird. They would literally be able to leave the afterlive, which in turn would be quite lore breaking. If that were to be confirmed you can already guess how fucked up the ending of 9.x will be.


That being said.. an actual (upright) lich race would be kinda cool.

[Hyrja]

I wonder what role the dragons will play this expansion. They haven't mentioned anything about them this blizzcon.

[Polybius]

I always hated carrying sham totems everywhere. Was very happy when they made them CD only.

Do you also hate putting dots and refreshing them on mobs?

[Cosmic Janitor]

Some of the pruning Blizzard was completely correct on though. Why on the world should a mage specializing in the arcane ever feel like Fireball is an ability they should use. It is a choice that does not really make sense unless Blizzard intends to go back to a world more like Vanilla, where enemies could have specific weaknesses and you might need an ability outside the normal school.

Fireball is a bit of an odd one, that is true, mostly because it's gimmik is hyper specific - a little dot. They don't really need to add something like elemental resistances though, mechanics that can be countered by keeping a dot up aren't unheard of in the genre. Blizzard has just barely ever used them other than to unintentionally break CCs.
Frostbolt does have an obvious use and so does Arcane Explosion, obviously Fireball is just a weak filler for symmmetry reasons, but it's not like anyone will force you to use it and it doesn't really cost much to give it back to us.

[huth]

When the fantasy of a survival hunter is specifically eschewing a bow in favor of a spear, not to mention they use a crossbow in their rotation anyways if they use the poison sting talent.

AFAIK, weapon training is still class level. So Survival can use bows because all hunters can use bows. But it wouldn't be a good idea since none of their abilities work with bows.

[Makabreska]

Do you also hate putting dots and refreshing them on mobs?

Yes, that's why I play mage.

[Ophenia]

The only saving grace here would be if we got those sweet Val'kyr as a playable race during the expansion. But then again, we didn't get Sethrak either as they never give the players actual cool races to play.

*Wings available after completing Pathfinder part II

[Keltas]

Maybe it's just me, but is anyone else annoyed that we have to get covenant themed abilities, rather than new permanent class themed abilities?

They just feel uninspired as hell so far, a lot like essences. Just generic semi long cooldown crap that barely fits the class, or feels more maintenance-y than an awesome big moment to hit.

I was hoping for stuff like new shadow words, big new short term summons, archon form, y'know big moment or really cool class themed abilities. None of them sound like that so far at all.

Artifacts were at least a decent example of what I was hoping for, ability wise. Not all of them were good but most were at least pretty good thematically and felt good to press.

[Makabreska]

Maybe it's just me, but is anyone else annoyed that we have to get covenant themed abilities, rather than new permanent class themed abilities?

They just feel uninspired as hell so far, a lot like essences. Just generic semi long cooldown crap that barely fits the class, or feels more maintenance-y than an awesome big moment to hit.

I was hoping for stuff like new shadow words, big new short term summons, archon form, y'know big moment or really cool class themed abilities. None of them sound like that so far at all.

Artifacts were at least a decent example of what I was hoping for, ability wise. Not all of them were good but most were at least pretty good thematically and felt good to press.

Keep in mind, that with making many talent abilities baseline, we will get new abilities in their talent place.

[Prophet June Bug]

Man, this Bastion zone seems like a different game. Like it's from some Asian RPG, and I actually like this change of style. Bastion and that fae zone really have this strong "different world" vibe, more than Draenor ever had.

I think both zones are very meh. Ardenweald literally looks like Shadowmoon Valley 2.0. (or 3.0. technically) and Bastion's colour pallet is really boring.

Revendreth and Maldraxxus look way better imo.