1. #1

    Shadowlands - Hunter and Shaman Class Changes, Castle Nathria Raid Testing Schedule

    Shadowlands Feedback - Hunter Class Changes
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    This week’s Beta and PTR builds include some updates for Marksmanship Hunters, notably their generation and spending of Focus, and updates to some of the more problematic talents.

    In Battle for Azeroth, Rapid Fire’s focus generation and the Master Marksman talent increase the amount of available Focus you have a by a decent amount, which almost pushes Steady Shot’s Focus generation away from being necessary at all. Now:
    • Aimed Shot Focus Cost increased to 35 (was 30).
    • Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot Focus cost increased to 20 (was 15).
    • Rapid Fire duration lowered to 2 seconds (was 3 seconds). Total damage dealt by Rapid Fire should be unchanged.

    The above changes should cause you to spend a bit more Focus, and passively generate less from Rapid Fire.

    Several talent changes are also coming to both prop up some underused talents, and replace others:

    Level 15 Row:
    • Redesigned: Master Marksman (Passive) – Your critical shots cause your target to bleed for 15% of the damage dealt over 6 seconds.
    • Serpent Sting’s duration increased to 18 seconds (was 12 seconds).

    Level 25 Row:
    • Careful Aim has had the low health benefit removed as it felt redundant with Kill Shot returning. Additionally, the high health threshold has been lowered to 70% (was 80%).

    Level 35 Row:
    • Redesigned: Steady Focus – Casting Steady Shot twice in a row now increases your haste by 7% for 10 seconds.
    • Redesigned: Streamline (Passive) – Rapid Fire damage is increased by 15%, and Rapid Fire now also reduces the cast time of your next Aimed Shot by 30%.
    • Chimaera Shot now replaces Arcane Shot.
      • Chimaera Shot’s cooldown has been removed for Marksmanship Hunters. It has a Focus cost of 20.
      • Chimaera Shot should work with everything that Arcane Shot works with, such as Precise Shots, or any Torghast Power, or Legendary effect.
      • Chimera Shot no longer causes both the Frost and Nature attack to hit a single target. This is a bug fix.

    Level 45 Row
    • Lethal Shots proc chance has been increased to 30% (was 20%).

    Level 50 Row
    • Lock and Load’s proc chance has been increased to 8% (was 5%).

    The above talent changes should open up some diversity in talent choices, and Chimaera Shot replacing Arcane shot opens up some alternate 2-target cleave options without increasing your action bar bloat.

    Shadowlands Feedback - Shaman Class Changes
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    We have some significant updates in this week’s builds of the Beta and the PTR.

    Elemental Shaman
    The current version of Fulmination and Seismic Thunder in Shadowlands has a lot of different abilities generating a lot of different buffs, making things feel disjointed. In this Beta build, we’re removing Seismic Thunder entirely, and pushing more of the core abilities to interact with the Fulmination mechanic.
    • Chain Lightning (and overloads) that strike two or more targets now generate one stack of Fulmination.
    • Lava Burst (and overloads) now generate one stack of Fulmination.
    • Earthquake’s cast time is reduced by 20% per stack of Fulmination, up to a cap of 100% reduction (instant cast), and Earthquake’s damage is increased by 20% per stack of Fulmination, up to 160%. Earthquake now also consumes all stacks of Fulmination when cast.

    The recent Totem Mastery redesign hasn’t turned out as well as we hoped, so we’ve scrapped that talent entirely and shuffled some talents around for Elemental Shaman:
    • Elemental Blast has been moved to the level 25 row in place of Totem Mastery.
    • Aftershock now only works from Earth Shock casts and no longer has any interaction with Earthquake
    • Echoing Shock now only duplicates targeted damage or healing spells.

    To replace the empty spot left by Elemental Blast on the level 15 row, we have added a new talent, Static Discharge.
    • Static Discharge is an active ability with a 30 second cooldown that requires you to have Lightning Shield active. Using Static Discharge will cause some quick zaps of Nature damage to strike enemies over 3 seconds, prioritizing any target that is afflicted with your Flame Shock debuff.

    Enhancement Shaman
    We’re happy with the last big round of changes to Enhancement Shaman from a few weeks ago, but had a few talents that aren’t working out. Similar to Elemental, Totem Mastery has been replaced on the level 25 row, and the Cycle of the Elements talent has also been replaced on the level 35 row.

    New level 25 talent: Ice Strike – 15 second cooldown. Strike your target for Frost damage, snaring them by 50% for 6 seconds. Ice Strike will also reset the cooldown of your Flame and Frost Shock spells.

    New level 35 talent: Elemental Assault (passive) – Stormstrike deals 15% increased damage, and generates 1 stack of Maelstrom Weapon.

    Castle Nathria Raid Testing Schedule - August 13th - 17th
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    On Thursday, August 13th and Friday, August 14th, we will be continuing our raid tests in Castle Nathria.

    Once mythic testing has concluded on the 14th we will be opening the entire raid on normal difficulty for the remainder of the weekend.

    Thursday, August 13th

    Sun King’s Salvation - Mythic Castle Nathria
    13:00 PDT (16:00 EDT, 22:00 CEST)

    Sludgefist - Mythic Castle Nathria
    14:00 PDT (17:00 EDT, 23:00 CEST)

    Friday, August 14th

    Huntsman Altimor - Mythic Castle Nathria
    13:00 PDT (16:00 EDT, 22:00 CEST)

    The Council of Blood - Mythic Castle Nathria
    14:00 PDT (17:00 EDT, 23:00 CEST)

    Normal Castle Nathria Opens
    16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST)

    As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a test environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the bosses 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.

    To facilitate testing, players who have not committed themselves to a Covenant can speak with Acquirer Ta’est inside Castle Nathria to temporarily bind themselves to one of the four factions.

    Q: How do I get into the raid zone?
    A: In Oribos, Dalaran, Orgrimmar, or Stormwind, you may speak to Nexus-Lord Donjon Rade IV 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 60 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.

    We appreciate you taking the time to test our content and look forward to reading your feedback.

  2. #2
    Totem Mastery is finally gone. Is Shadowlands going to be good maybe? Oof

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Exkrementor View Post
    Totem Mastery is finally gone. Is Shadowlands going to be good maybe? Oof
    Yeah because why does shaman nead those pesky totems anyway just has been class fantasy since back in classic.

    Elemental is now almost exactly like it used to play during cataclysm now minus the totems ^^
    Last edited by skynet1990; 2020-08-11 at 11:01 PM.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by skynet1990 View Post
    Yeah because why does shaman nead those pesky totems anyway just has been class fantasy since back in classic.

    Elemental is now almost exactly like it used to play during cataclysm now minus the totems ^^
    Was really fun to press an almost useless button everytime you moved 2 meters for 2 addons.

    Also Legion ele > Cata ele > BFA ele > WoD ele

    Could be worse I guess.

  5. #5
    Regarding hunters, the improve on the talents are visible but the general gameplay of the class still rooted, in short it doesnt matter how big the dps could be if you are mostly F#$% if your dps is very low if you dont make the long anoying cast of aiming shot, if the class depends on casting that its one more expansion useless in mostly every scenario (raid, pvp, dungeons), so far the raid seems to be in heavy movement making the MM hunter useless, close to a "must kick if is a MM"

  6. #6
    Stood in the Fire Grimalkin of Old's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Exkrementor View Post
    Also Legion ele > Cata ele > BFA ele > WoD ele
    A bad case of sarcasm, I'm sure.

  7. #7
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    Arrow

    About Totem Mastery. Spell itself, of course, somewhat dumb in design, especially considering that in fact it replaces/interrupts all other active schools'elements/totems, but... as I said in one of disputes: if I see, that shaman actually ceases to be required to manage totems, moreover, active management of "communication with elements' spirits", then whatever they do is departure from basic fantasy. In fact, good shaman must have all 4 schools constantly active as totems, be it passive bonus from them or active one doesn't matter, but if player can spend even just 5-10 seconds not losing anything without totems, for me this design is considered unsuccessful/inadequate/losing fantasy basis (totems, shocks, shields, other middle/long range elemental spells', weapons enchantment) and this is if not touch on their separate functionality and "support" gameplay part.

    Simply put, totems management is basic mechanic of class and everything that goes not as bonus to this, but in cut, I see as wrong direction.

    *looking depressingly at hunters* only when they split current hunters back into correct specializations (if by analogy with shamans' fantasy basis above then ~ aspects, stings, pets, traps, thematic distance abilities and "melee zone weakness")... only then I'll really be interested in reading this section, you can't make silk purse from sow's ear. Stuff is currupted/improper at its base logic's level.
    Sharnie786
    The Touch of the Magi changes and the new talents are top notch. Baking Rune of Power and Charged up into 2 other cooldowns feels amazing. And giving Arcane displacement back with the Master of Time talent is a good idea. I actually don't mind that displacement has gone now.

    I also like the move to make Mirror Images a defensive. It makes sense thematically that it's there to confuse enemies to reduce the amount of damage you take. It feels great not having it as a DPS cooldown because we all know the GCD changes really screwed Arcane over and in early alpha it was beyond a joke.
    Yes, kind of that, by the way in addition, they could 1) introduce some "asynchrony" into functionality of illusions so that player doesn't stand out much against their background, and this includes (own) buffs and (others) controls/dispell; 2) reduce generated damage somewhat not by reducing absolute indicators (as they doing here in changes), but at expense of used additional (still incomplete/deficient, eg. "silenceless" interrupt) not/near dps spells by them = at least 2 additional spells with general short/out-of-sync internal CD, 1 of which is based on trigger/reaction to enemy actions.

    Although still don't recognize this spell "as talent", it was and have to be common mages' functionality (however, to understand this, we have to return to discussion of general classes' design as such and hierarchy, but not today), so still very glad they gave it back
    Last edited by Alkizon; 2020-09-27 at 06:38 AM.

  8. #8
    Arcane mage changes are welcomed massively. They work so well. Cuts down all the faffing with the opener.

    However, i have noticed there are "choices" to be made with soulbind conduits that reduce the cooldown of Arcane Power. Evocation retains it's 1.5 min cooldown and Arcane Power has been moved to 2 minutes now. This does not line up, and it kinda needs to or the burn/conserve aspects of Arcane are not there. It's clunky. The only option will be to choose the thing that reduces the cooldown of Arcane Power to 1.5mims. If something was added to increase the cooldown of evocation that would be somewhat okay but if both options are available the reduction on AP is a no brainer. So either that reduction option needs to go, because it's too mandatory, or line up the cooldowns in some other way.

    Does anyone else see this problem?

    The Touch of the Magi changes and the new talents are top notch. Baking Rune of Power and Charged up into 2 other cooldowns feels amazing. And giving Arcane displacement back with the Master of Time talent is a good idea. I actually don't mind that displacement has gone now.

    I also like the move to make Mirror Images a defensive. It makes sense thematically that it's there to confuse enemies to reduce the amount of damage you take. It feels great not having it as a DPS cooldown because we all know the GCD changes really screwed Arcane over and in early alpha it was beyond a joke.

    It's nice to see the relevant changes being made when there is a problem. I really hope numbers are in Arcane's favour now for Shadowlands so I can go back to maining an Arcane mage.
    Last edited by Sharnie786; 2020-08-12 at 06:35 AM.

  9. #9
    At a fast look at MM focus changes it seems that the overall damage output is nerfed. Probably BM would remain the most viable spec as it is now since long time. So much effort for so lousy result.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Grimalkin of Old View Post
    A bad case of sarcasm, I'm sure.
    sorry, just an opinion of a mythic raider who likes to have fun while he is progressing bosses.

  11. #11
    please switch discharge and elemental blast so i can duplicate EB again!!!

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by KajiSagara View Post
    Regarding hunters, the improve on the talents are visible but the general gameplay of the class still rooted, in short it doesnt matter how big the dps could be if you are mostly F#$% if your dps is very low if you dont make the long anoying cast of aiming shot, if the class depends on casting that its one more expansion useless in mostly every scenario (raid, pvp, dungeons), so far the raid seems to be in heavy movement making the MM hunter useless, close to a "must kick if is a MM"
    Why do they let people who have no idea what they are talking about post. You could have said what you did about any range class except BM. The fact is if MM is top damage that's what people will play.

    MM has almost always depended on Aimed Shot. It's the signature shot of MM since Vanilla. It would be an outrage if MM wasn't designed around it. Thinking the spec is broken because it's a cast is just ridiculous. Get over it. Aim shot during movement breaks the fantasy and ensures that better hunters get more out of it.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nizah View Post
    why so mad bro

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by KajiSagara View Post
    Regarding hunters, the improve on the talents are visible but the general gameplay of the class still rooted, in short it doesnt matter how big the dps could be if you are mostly F#$% if your dps is very low if you dont make the long anoying cast of aiming shot, if the class depends on casting that its one more expansion useless in mostly every scenario (raid, pvp, dungeons), so far the raid seems to be in heavy movement making the MM hunter useless, close to a "must kick if is a MM"
    Oh darn, you have to cast something as a ranged DPS. Welcome to... all other ranged DPS.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Exkrementor View Post
    Was really fun to press an almost useless button everytime you moved 2 meters for 2 addons.

    Also Legion ele > Cata ele > BFA ele > WoD ele

    Could be worse I guess.
    blows my mind how anyone could like legion ele,it was disgusting rng slot machine....sure it could pull rank 1 world dps,but i prefer the spec to be more averege and consistant and feel fun instead...bfa ele has felt leagues better

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by deenman View Post
    blows my mind how anyone could like legion ele,it was disgusting rng slot machine....sure it could pull rank 1 world dps,but i prefer the spec to be more averege and consistant and feel fun instead...bfa ele has felt leagues better
    When the best talent choices and legendary setup gets given the nickname "gambler" you just know that its RNG garbage. Personally the fact he didnt even mention MoP Ele hurts my soul.

  16. #16
    And no paladin changes LMAO

    A class with zero mobility, pvp talents that works around blessings that even exist anymore int the game, full of useless talents for ret pallys.. and no feedback or something

  17. #17
    Herald of the Titans Sluvs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ThiagoTorres View Post
    And no paladin changes LMAO

    A class with zero mobility, pvp talents that works around blessings that even exist anymore int the game, full of useless talents for ret pallys.. and no feedback or something
    Well, it has the horse.
    I don't want solutions. I want to be mad. - PoorlyDrawnlines

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Sluvs View Post
    Well, it has the horse.
    LMAO

    Meme horse coming from a fail diablo 3.. just snare or slow and thats it
    Quote Originally Posted by Overlordd View Post
    This race is an abomination and atrocity. This race doesn't belong in World of Warcraft at all.
    Quote Originally Posted by mysticx View Post
    Got ganked by a Vulpera, huh?

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