Metamorphosis: how will it work?

[demonik]

Nah, that sounds silly. If you fight Illidan, you'll notice he becomes a demon with meta for one of the phases. That's about what we're expecting, and it is pretty much what the devs mentioned.

Here's the two metas as they exist today:
http://venturebeat.com/wp-content/up...nter-specs.jpg

actually isn't Illidan always in "demon form"? He became a demon when he absorbed the powers in the skull of gul'dan so he is never seen out of his demon form.Which pretty much is the demon hunter's theme isn't it? infusing yourself with demonic energies till you pretty much become a demon.I know what you mean though with illidan entering a "demon form" During Black Temple,but he enters more of a empowered shadow(ish) form.I don't see how being in metamorphosis form most of the time would be "silly". That's kinda the aspect of a demon hunter, if you don't like that then demon hunter probably isn't for you.

[shade3891]

I hope it works like the worgen forms!

[demonik]

Prior to whatever lore they establish with the PC Demon Hunters (who are partially demons themselves) other demon hunters were normal looking Elves who took on demonic forms when they used metamorphosis.

However, either they are retconning all existing demon hunters to have demonic traits themselves, or the player Demon Hunters are more like Illidan than any other demon hunters we've seen; either way they can make the lore work for whatever duration of metamorphosis they want.

Personally I feel that metamorphosis is a Demon Hunters "final form", it's what they pop when they're going all-out. For it to be a toggle that's just always on in combat, it kind of takes away from the power of turning into a demon because there would be no point in ever not being one.

Don't Demon Hunters take on more demonic traits over time. Up until the point where they're pretty much very demonic or demon like? I keep reading different things that sometimes clash with each other lorewise. from what I've seen I thought they become more demonic looking over time, with being able to turn into a demon as the pinnacle of that change.

as for making metamorphosis a cooldown based ability or a toggled typed ability I feel like my preference is the opposite of yours. One of the most enticing parts of being a demon hunter would be to stay in metamorphosis for a longer duration and it be a more vital role in our gameplay rather than it just be a dps burst type ability with a long cooldown. I'd rather not see it as a "ultimate" type ability that we use for maximum power, but rather a basic part of our playstyle and it being one of the core abilities where we get our powers from.

[Skronk]

I really hope it isn't a cooldown ability.One of the Biggest aspects about a demon hunter is fighting for long periods of time in a demon form. So I'm hoping it's like boomkin or shadowform. That or maybe like the worgen form, where the demon hunter is normal while out of combat and then he/she transforms when they enter combat.

i'm curious as to why you think this is, as the only point of reference for demon hunters with meta i can think of is WC3 where it very much was just a cooldown ability. Did i miss something in game or one of the many novels i dont bother reading?

[Yarathir]

I really want both Metas to be permanent (if you so choose to play them like that), not like the current warlock meta or as a CD, basically just a transform like Shadowform or the Druid shapeshifts.

Though going by the gameplay we've seen so far, I dread that that will probably not be the case. Meh.

[XorMalice]

i'm curious as to why you think this is, as the only point of reference for demon hunters with meta i can think of is WC3 where it very much was just a cooldown ability. Did i miss something in game or one of the many novels i dont bother reading?

Meta is a cooldown in Warcraft III and Heroes of the Storm. In World of Warcraft, you can see Illidan assume demon form during one phase of his fight, and then revert to night elf form. Of the demon hunter NPCs in WoW, some of them also have metamorphosis, though not all do. Certainly it is a canon ability and not just restricted to Illidan, and it is presented in all cases as a temporary form that is more powerful than the base.

[Osiria]

I hope it's optional. There could be options in a tier dedicated to Meta.

- One makes it passive last all along.
- The other makes it more like a cooldown. Easy to pop but got wait a couple minutes to use again.
- Last could be just like Warlocks, resource based, a constant part of rotation.

[Yarathir]

I hope it's optional. There could be options in a tier dedicated to Meta.

- One makes it passive last all along.
- The other makes it more like a cooldown. Easy to pop but got wait a couple minutes to use again.
- Last could be just like Warlocks, resource based, a constant part of rotation.

I'd be okay with it being an option. Just so long as people (like me) who want it as a basic transform that can be permanent like Shadowform and Druid Shapeshifts can have that.

[Feali]

I really don't want to spend 5 hours on creating the perfect looking Demon Hunter just to fight in Metamorphosis all the time. It's the whole reason why I don't play Druid.

[Deleted]

Cooldown would be pretty boring.
I like the idea that you could use it as a cooldown and keep it up for the rest of the fight. I did loved to play Unholy as the Festerblight, keeping up thoses powerfull dots was pretty rewarding before they nerfed us to the ground.
The demonology warlock one is pretty good too, but if it's too similar it might end up being a bit boring.

[NDAbreakeryolo]

Going off how most of the other skills work they might follow suite and just copy what it does in HoTS which is you target metamorphosis at an area and drop down on it doing damage and going into meta form giving you damage and haste buff I think it is.

[Yarathir]

I really don't want to spend 5 hours on creating the perfect looking Demon Hunter just to fight in Metamorphosis all the time. It's the whole reason why I don't play Druid.

Then make it an option.

[Olrox]

I can see DH tanks fighting 24/7 in Metamorphosis for increased survivability and support.

Nah, that would be very, very dull.

Having the Havoc spec (presumably) work around a build-up, drain, re-build, repeat sort of thing would make having Vengeance's pattern be "press metamorphosis defensive stance button -> tank" be very dull, because Metamorphosis is clearly one of the big ticket thematic gimmicks of the class, I don't think it'd be an "all the time" thing like bear form.

My concern is that they're definitely billing the class at a basic level as very mobile - this is excellent for Havoc, but it sounds dodgy for Vengeance - melee DPS would be in deep trouble (as would stacked ranged and healer groups) if the tank is doing too many rapid movements that displace him and the boss, unless they radically depart in the encounter designs - which I can't see happening since the DH is one tank, there are still five others who are nowhere near as mobile.

I think metamorphosis in general will be a roller-coaster style for havoc (build up resource, go demon, either "dump" that resource, or it drains and you can try to get the most out of it in various ways - it either drains consistently over time, or you can choose how to dispense it via different costs for demon abilities, so if it's in the middle of a must-be-burst-down AOE pack, you'd use half or more to let out a huge fel wave or explosion, and if it's ST you can spend it rapidly in small spurts to buff yourself or do damage or what-have-you.)

I'm sure Blizzard will be at the drawing board for a while on this one, and I'm also going to guess that we will be spending and fighting in two moderately different ways between elf form and demon form.

It's exciting to once again speculate about a new class - though I'd argue that the sweeping spec changes invite similar guessing - melee hunter seems neat too.

[Saverem]

I'm thinking it'll be something like how Lock's meta works right now. From what I got from Blizzard, this won't just be a standard 2m CD 15s duration buff. It'll be a core playstyle for the DH. It also won't be a permanent buff like say, Prot stance or Blood Presence, it'll be an interactive ability.

[scrappybristol]

I just hope it isn't a copy/paste of demolock meta

[Osiria]

I really don't want to spend 5 hours on creating the perfect looking Demon Hunter just to fight in Metamorphosis all the time. It's the whole reason why I don't play Druid.

Which is why it's cool to have a talent tier based on Meta, to give this kind of option.

[Olrox]

Which is why it's cool to have a talent tier based on Meta, to give this kind of option.

Or they will just not engage in poor design by making metamorphosis into worgen form.

It shouldn't be like that - where your non-demonic form is just for walking around and your demon form is 100% in combat - that doesn't make sense, none of the demon hunters in WoW or WC3 do that - I mean sure, in Heroes of the Storm Illidan can get "permanent" demon form, but he can also die 20 times and keep coming back too - so I can't see them stepping into that whole mess; demon form for either spec is unlikely to be "battle stance" or "bear form" - they're better than that at this point in the game's life.

[Deleted]

it'll probably work like rage or demonic fury of warlocks

build up power -> burn it in demon form

switch in and out at will

[Kyzawolf]

In Warcraft 3/TFT, Illidan was blind and had demonic rune tattoos, but other than that was a normal night elf until he drank from the skull of gul'dan.
After absorbing the demons power, he grew wings and horns and his feet became hooves.
Our characters will be somewhere in between this. We've seen pictures of Havoc with hooves and without, and we've seen Vengeance with and without the "rocky" visuals.
Unfortunately, I think our Meta will be a cooldown that only slightly changes our characters visually.

[Deleted]

If they make Meta permanent there are a few options they could go for:
It could be a stance thing, where you'd only activate Meta for AoE, or as a tank activate it against physical damage but deactivate it for magical.
It could be play style altering, but not performance enhancing. You use a different rotation, but in the end your damage stays the same.
I really doubt it will be entirely cosmetic similar to worgen form.

One thing I'd like for Havoc is you'd activate Meta and then try to keep it running as long as possible, and once it expires the cooldown starts
I doubt that would work for Vengeance, although it would definitely differentiate demon hunters from other tanks

I just hope they do something interesting, and not go the easy route of making it a simple damage/def cooldown