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Category: Legion

Legion Class Preview Series: Paladin

Quote from: Blizzard
Legion Class Preview Series: Paladin

Welcome to our World of Warcraft: Legion class preview series. In this entry, we’re exploring the Paladin—to find out what’s in store for a different class, check out the overview.

We continue our early look at class and specialization design with the Paladin. In these blogs, we’ll be exploring class identity, discussing Legion’s new designs, and presenting core combat abilities for each specialization—laying out the foundation upon which talents and Artifacts will build further. With that in mind, let’s delve into what it means to be a Paladin in World of Warcraft.

Paladins have deep roots in Warcraft lore as holy knights, protectors of the people, and dispensers of justice. Where a Holy Priest serves as voice of the Light, preaching to the downtrodden and disillusioned, the Paladin serves as hand of the Light, defending the faithful and enforcing divine law like a righteous hammer.

The niche of the plate-wearing holy crusader is well established in Paladin gameplay, with one key exception. Whether Paladins are mitigating enemy attacks, aiding their ailing allies, or delivering punitive justice, it’s in their nature to serve in the thick of the battle. But while Holy Paladins possess the heavy armor and strong defensive ability themes, in practice they spend most of their time behind the frontlines with the more fragile healers. In addition to shoring up the identities of Protection and Retribution Paladins, we’re adjusting Holy Paladin gameplay to bring them closer to the front, where they belong.

Holy

Like priests who serve the Light, holy paladins are devout in their faith. After spending much of their lives in hallowed halls studying divine doctrine, those who pledge themselves to a holy order become beacons of the Light for their allies in conflict, taking up the heavy armor and weaponry of justice. Holding the unwavering belief that any battle waged to eradicate evil in the world is righteous, these paladins stands on the frontlines in service to all others dedicated to the cause. The truth and virtue of the Light imbues these sacred knights with the power to revitalize their comrades. If necessary, they even lay down their own lives to serve as martyr for the greater good.

“The truth and virtue of the Light imbues these sacred knights with the power to revitalize their comrades”

Gameplay

We love the unique identity of the Paladin healer and are modifying the gameplay to better support it. Single-target healing from Beacon of Light remains their marquee ability, but other abilities and talents have been adjusted to encourage Holy Paladins to be near the people they want to heal—including melee characters, when necessary. This is incentivized by Lightbringer, a new Mastery, which increases healing on allies near you. This is further reinforced by the addition of a row of Aura talents that provide a variety of localized beneficial effects, and refinements to some spells, such as Light of Dawn returning to being a cone.

Talents will also provide players with options to incorporate offensive capabilities while healing. When allies are in need, Light of the Martyr allows the Holy Paladin to rapidly heal them by sacrificing personal health. Finally, we’re addressing gameplay restrictions caused by Holy Power—in which players often feel forced to use abilities in specific orders or ratios—by removing it in favor of making Mana the primary resource.

To give you an idea of the Holy Paladin in action, here’s a basic look at their core combat abilities:

  • Holy Light
    • 2.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 2.5 sec cast
    • A slow but efficient spell, healing a friendly target for a moderate amount.
  • Flash of Light
    • 4.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
    • A quick but expensive spell, healing a friendly target for a moderate amount.
  • Light of the Martyr
    • 2.5% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant
    • Sacrifices a moderate amount of your own health to instantly heal an ally for a moderate amount.
    • Cannot be cast on yourself.
  • Light of Dawn
    • 4.0% Mana, 1.5 sec cast, 12 sec cooldown
    • Unleash a wave of healing energy before you, healing up to 5 injured allies within a 15 yd frontal cone for a moderate amount.
  • Holy Shock
    • 1.5% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown
    • Instantly trigger a burst of Light on the target, dealing moderate Holy damage to an enemy, or moderate healing to an ally.
    • Holy Shock has double the normal critical strike chance.
  • Infusion of Light
    • Passive
    • Your Holy Shock criticals reduce the cast time of your next Holy Light by 1.5 sec or increase the healing of your next Flash of Light by 50%.
  • Beacon of Light
    • 0.5% Mana, 60 yd range, Instant, 3 sec cooldown
    • Place a Beacon of Light on a friendly target.
    • Your heals on other party or raid members will also heal the Beacon of Light target for up to 50% of the amount healed. Your Flash of Light and Holy Light on the Beacon of Light target will also refund 40% of their Mana cost.
  • Mastery: Lightbringer
    • Proximity to your target causes your spells to heal for up to 30% (with Mastery from typical gear) more.

Additionally, to provide a glimpse at how some talents may build upon this, here’s one example of a Holy-specific talent:

  • Beacon of the Lightbringer
    • Passive
    • The maximum bonus from Mastery: Lightbringer is increased by 24%, and it now increases your healing based on the target’s proximity to either you or your Beacon of Light, whichever is closer.

Protection

The paladin’s tools of war lay bare their motivations. Clenched in one hand is the weapon, a deadly device for exacting righteous judgment. Locked in the other hand is the shield, a symbolic and literal barrier protecting good from evil. Stalwart and steadfast, these protectors are ardent defenders of the Light and all that it touches, and are rejuvenated by its radiance in return. So dedicated they are to their cause that they consecrate the very ground upon which they battle corruption.

“Stalwart and steadfast, these protectors are ardent defenders of the Light”

Gameplay

The Protection Paladin arsenal is already closely aligned with its theme. The primary change is the removal of Holy Power, which didn’t have a lot of depth and mostly amounted to limiting use of only a couple of abilities. Instead, these abilities now have cooldowns to allow for better interaction with other abilities.

We’re also addressing an awkward control issue with Crusader Strike and Hammer of the Righteous. To improve control and depth, instead of two functionally identical (apart from the AoE) abilities, we’ve switched to one that conditionally triggers the AoE while standing in Consecration. Judgment is a good example of an ability that is staying simple—baseline—so as to provide a strong platform for talents and other effects to build upon. For defensive buttons, we’ve replaced Word of Glory with a self-focused spell, Light of the Protector, allowing it to be much more interesting and impactful.

To give you an idea of the Protection Paladin in action, here’s a basic look at their core combat abilities:

  • Defensive
    • Shield of the Righteous
      • Melee Range, Instant, 12 sec recharge, 3 charges
      • Instantly slam the target with your shield, causing huge Holy damage, and reducing damage you take by 25% for 4.5 sec.
    • Light of the Protector
      • Instant, 15 sec cooldown
      • Calls down the Light to heal yourself for 50% of your missing health.
    • Redoubt
      • Passive
      • Your autoattack critical strikes cause you to gain a charge of Shield of the Righteous or Light of the Protector.
    • Mastery: Divine Bulwark
      • Increases the damage reduction of your Shield of the Righteous by 10% (with Mastery from typical gear), and increases your chance to block melee attacks by 20% (with Mastery from typical gear).
      • Also increases your attack power by 20% (with Mastery from typical gear).
  • Offensive
    • Avenger’s Shield
      • 30 yd range, Instant, 15 sec cooldown
      • Hurls your shield at an enemy target, dealing strong Holy damage, interrupting and silencing the target for 3 sec, and then jumping to 2 additional nearby enemies.
      • Also increases the effects of your next Shield of the Righteous or Light of the Protector by 20%.
    • Hammer of the Righteous
      • Melee Range, Instant, 3 sec recharge, 2 charges
      • Hammer the current target for moderate Physical damage.
      • If you are standing in your Consecration, Hammer of the Righteous also causes a wave of light that hits all other targets within 8 yds for minor Holy damage.
    • Grand Crusader
      • Passive
      • When you avoid a melee attack or use Hammer of the Righteous, you have a 15% chance of refreshing the cooldown on Avenger’s Shield
    • Judgment
      • 30 yd range, Instant, 6 sec cooldown
      • Judge an enemy, dealing strong Holy damage.
    • Consecration
      • Instant, 9 sec cooldown
      • Consecrates the land beneath you, causing strong Holy damage over 9 sec to enemies who enter the area.

Additionally, to provide a glimpse at how some talents may build upon this, here’s one example of a Protection-specific talent:

  • Blessed Hammer
    • Instant, 3 sec recharge, 2 charges
    • Throw a divine hammer that spirals outward from the Paladin, dealing moderate Holy damage to enemies it passes through.
    • Replaces Hammer of the Righteous

Retribution

To serve as instrument of the Light is to hold an unshakable faith. Oftentimes the most dedicated paladins become fanatical in their devotion, instruments of retribution against those who dare defy the laws of the divine. These paladins are vengeful guardians of the weak—crusaders judging and punishing the wicked. Their resolute conviction in the divine order of all things assures them that victory is inevitable—but they will fight to the end to ensure that the Light prevails. 

“Oftentimes the most dedicated paladins become fanatical in their devotion”

Gameplay

We’re making several tweaks to Retribution to amplify their character. In particular, we’re refocusing most of their core abilities on short-range combat. So many of the Retribution Paladin’s abilities were ranged spells that they started to feel more like a caster than a melee crusader. A new ability, Blade of Justice (along with several new talents) will impact gameplay significantly, bolstering the inherent Retribution themes. Separating them from the other types of Paladins, Retribution Paladins continue to use Holy Power, serving as a strong mechanic for building interesting gameplay.

To give you an idea of the Retribution Paladin in action, here’s a basic look at their core combat abilities:

  • Crusader Strike
    • Melee Range, Instant, 4.5 sec cooldown
    • An instant strike that causes moderate Physical damage and grants 1 Holy Power
  • Blade of Justice
    • 12 yd range, Instant, 12 sec cooldown
    • Strikes an enemy with the Blade of Justice, dealing strong Holy damage and generating 2 Holy Power
  • Judgment
    • 30 yd range, Instant, 12 sec cooldown
    • Judge an enemy, dealing moderate Holy damage and causing the target to take 30% increased damage from your Holy Power generators and consumers for 6 sec.
  • Templar’s Verdict
    • 3 Holy Power, Melee Range, Instant
    • A powerful weapon strike that deals massive Holy damage.
  • Divine Storm
    • 3 Holy Power, Instant
    • A whirl of divine energy, dealing strong Holy damage to all enemies within 8 yds.
  • Conviction
    • Passive
    • Your Crusader Strike and Blade of Justice have a 20% chance to generate 1 additional Holy Power.
  • Mastery: Hand of Light
    • Your Crusader Strike, Blade of Justice, Divine Storm, and Templar’s Verdict deal 45% (with Mastery from typical gear) additional Holy damage.

Additionally, to provide a glimpse at how some talents may build upon this, here’s one example of a Retribution-specific talent:

  • Lothar’s Might
    • 30 yd range, Instant, 30 sec cooldown
    • Flings a blade of holy light to the target location. Reactivating will teleport the Paladin to the blade and strike nearby enemies for moderate Holy damage.
    • Replaces Hand of Hindrance.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this early preview of our approach to Paladin class and specialization design in World of Warcraft: Legion. We’ll continue our review tomorrow with a look at Warlocks, Death Knights, and Shaman.

Legion Class Preview Series: Priest and Mage

Legion Class Preview Series: Priest

Quote from: Blizzard
Legion Class Preview Series: Priest

Welcome to our World of Warcraft: Legion class preview series. In this entry, we’re exploring the Priest—to find out what’s in store for a different class, check out the overview.

We continue our early look at class and specialization design with the Priest. In these blogs, we’ll be exploring class identity, discussing Legion’s new designs, and presenting core combat abilities for each specialization—laying out the foundation upon which talents and Artifacts will build further. With that in mind, let’s delve into what it means to be a Priest in World of Warcraft.

Priests have a strong identity as spiritual practitioners who harness divine power to inspire and protect allies, heal the injured, and cure the ailed. But while this clearly holds true for Holy Priests, these ideas are less fundamental to Discipline Priests—and the ideals and beliefs of Shadow Priests are antithetical to those of Holy Priests.

Despite these differences, Priests of any spec share one key thing in common: unwavering faith in something from which they draw great power. What delineates specializations is the source of that power. In Legion, we’re going to explore that dichotomy in greater depth than ever through the gameplay for each specialization.

Holy

After spending much of their lives in temples studying ancient doctrine, preaching the tenets of their faith, and pledging their full devotion to the divine powers they follow, the most adept priests leave their houses of worship to serve on the battlefield, as shepherd to flock. There, they use their holy powers to bless allies and mend wounds. And while most stay behind the frontlines to aid their comrades, these holy champions are also capable of smiting foes and carrying out sacred justice. They’re also morally opposed to the use of Shadow and Void magic—rather, they are exemplars of the incredible grace and power of the divine and the Light, and even death cannot fully stop their healing capabilities.

“The most adept priests leave their houses of worship to serve on the battlefield, as shepherd to flock”

Gameplay

Given the innate purity of the spec, we want to ensure that Holy Priests continue to have a large repertoire of compelling healing spells. The Chakra system was cumbersome, requiring additional setup to optimally use most spells and restricting how much you could fluidly shift between healing methods. We have removed it in favor of a more dynamic play style focused around Holy Words. New Holy Word spells are designed to feel absolutely miraculous, having huge effects balanced with long base cooldowns. The new passive effect of Serendipity allows those long base cooldowns to be reduced, letting you use them more frequently. Finally, in keeping with the resolute beliefs of the Holy Priest, they can make no use of Shadow spells. Smite, Holy Fire, and Holy Word: Chastise are the instruments used by Holy Priests to inflict damage upon their enemies.

Here’s a basic look at the core combat healing abilities for Holy Priests:

  • Heal
    • 2.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 2.5 sec cast
    • A slow but efficient spell that heals an ally for a moderate amount.
  • Flash Heal
    • 3.5% Mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
    • A fast but expensive spell that heals an ally for a moderate amount.
  • Holy Word: Serenity
    • 4.0% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown
    • Perform a miracle, healing an ally for an absolutely massive amount.
  • Prayer of Healing
    • 8.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 2.5 sec cast
    • A powerful prayer that heals up to 5 injured allies within 15 yards of the target for a strong amount.
  • Prayer of Mending
    • 2.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast, 10 sec cooldown
    • Places a spell on a party or raid member that heals them for a moderate amount the next time they take damage. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to another party or raid member within 20 yds. Jumps up to 5 times and lasts 30 sec. after each jump.
  • Holy Word: Sanctify
    • 5% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant, 1 min. cooldown
    • Release miraculous light into a target location, healing up to 6 allies within 10 yards for a huge amount.
  • Renew
    • 2.5% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant
    • Fill the target with faith in the Light, healing them instantly for a minor amount and then a large amount over 15 sec.
  • Serendipity
    • Passive
    • When you cast Flash Heal or Heal, the cooldown of Holy Word: Serenity is reduced by 6 sec.
    • When you cast Prayer of Healing or Prayer of Mending, the cooldown of Holy Word: Sanctify is reduced by 6 sec.
    • When you cast Smite or Holy Fire, the cooldown of Holy Word: Chastise is reduced by 6 sec.
  • Mastery: Echo of Light
    • Your direct healing spells heal for an additional 25% (with Mastery from typical gear) over 6 sec.

Additionally, to give you an idea of how some talents may build upon this, here’s an example of one of their Holy-specific talents:

  • Apotheosis
    • Instant, 3 min cooldown
    • Enter a pure Holy form for 30 sec, increasing the effects of Serendipity by 200%.

Shadow

The Light in which many priests bathe is brilliant and effervescent, granting them immense divine power. But the brightest light casts the darkest shadow—and from within this blackness, a rival power dwells. Shadow priests fully embrace this opposing polarity, their faith equally resolute as their holy counterparts—but focused on shadowy magics and mental manipulation. Like all priests, they dedicate much of their lives to worship—but they derive their power from the Void, straying dangerously close to the domain of the Old Gods. To truly understand such ancient, corruptive influence is to be driven mad. This is the state in which these dark priests thrive, embracing insanity and feeding off of the minds of their opponents to reach terrifying new limits.

“These dark priests thrive, embracing insanity and feeding off of the minds of their opponents to reach terrifying new limits”

Gameplay

We’ve long alluded to the Old God influences of Shadow Priests in their spells and abilities, and we’re making that more distinct in Legion.

A new resource, Insanity, provides a better fit for Shadow, having more granularity and gameplay that emphasizes the immense but fleeting power that the Void offers. Mind Blast, Shadow Word: Pain, and Vampiric Touch will build Insanity. Reaching maximum Insanity will transform Shadowform into Voidform, giving the Shadow Priest access to stronger Void magic, but it is unable to be maintained indefinitely. This should make for interesting gameplay as Shadow Priests try to maintain the height of their Insanity as long as possible to prey on the minds of their enemies.

While not under the effects of Insanity, Shadow Priests continue to rely heavily on abilities that inflict sustained damage over time. Finally, having turned away from the Light, Shadow Priests eschew such spells as Heal, Flash Heal, and Prayer of Mending. Power Word: Shield and Shadow Mend are their primary healing tools.

  • Voidform
    • Passive
    • When you reach 100 Insanity, you enter Voidform, transforming your Mind spells into Void spells, and increasing your Shadow damage by 30%.
    • While in Voidform, you gain 2% Haste every 1 sec. This Haste will also persist for 20 sec after Voidform ends.
    • Voidform causes your Insanity to constantly drain, faster and faster, until completely drained, and Voidform ends.
  • Mind Flay
    • 40 yd range, Channeled
    • Assault the target’s mind with Shadow energy, causing minor Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%.
    • While in Voidform, transforms into Void Flay, which also extends Shadow Word: Pain by 3 sec.
  • Mind Blast
    • 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast, 9 sec cooldown
    • Blasts the target’s mind for strong Shadow damage.
    • Generates 15 Insanity.
    • While in Voidform, transforms into Void Blast, which has a 4.5 sec cooldown, and also extends Vampiric Touch by 3 sec.
  • Vampiric Touch
    • 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
    • A touch of darkness that causes huge Shadow damage over 24 sec, and heals the Priest for each point of damage dealt.
    • If Vampiric Touch is dispelled, the dispeller flees in Horror for 3 sec.
    • Each time Vampiric Touch deals damage, it generates 3 Insanity.
  • Shadow Word: Pain
    • 40 yd range, Instant
    • A word of darkness that causes minor Shadow damage instantly, and an additional huge amount of damage over 18 sec.
    • Each time Shadow Word: Pain deals damage, it generates 3 Insanity, and has a 10% chance to reset the cooldown of Mind Blast.
  • Mastery: Madness
    • Increases the damage and Insanity generation of your Mind Blast, Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch, and Shadow Word: Death by 20% (with Mastery from typical gear).

Additionally, to give you an idea of how some talents may build upon this, here’s an example of one of their Shadow-specific talents:

  • Oblivion
    • Instant, 2 min cooldown
    • Let the power of the void flow through you, instantly generating 100 Insanity.

Discipline

Some priests pride themselves on pragmatism. They understand that light casts a shadow, that darkness is defined by light, and that true discipline stems from one’s ability to balance these opposing powers in services of a greater cause. While these priests possess many holy virtues to aid their allies, they also dabble in the dark arts to debilitate their enemies—always exercising immense discipline to keep themselves away from the brink of insanity. Many would say the ends justify the means; scriptures both virtuous and vile should be studied and understood to protect the congregation.

“True discipline stems from one’s ability to balance opposing powers in services of a greater cause”

Gameplay

The power of absorption mechanics has created a gameplay issue for healers that we’re looking to address in Legion. Discipline Priests have been so effective in their role of preventing damage that it has sometimes left other healers yearning for an opportune time to throw out a clutch heal. To alleviate that issue, we’re tempering Discipline’s emphasis on shields in lieu of a reimaged Atonement mechanic.

Discipline Priests are now more clearly defined by their use of both Holy and Shadow magic, and that extends to how they function in combat. Sacrificing a portion of healing ability and having a reduced focus on absorption spells, they gain a significant contribution in damage. Still filling a healer role in group content, they aim to strike a balance between healing allies and damaging enemies in a unique gameplay style. Discipline Priests have strong cooldowns with Power Word: Barrier and Pain Suppression, along with Rapture, a new cooldown that temporarily removes the cooldown of Power Word: Shield.

Here’s a basic look at the core defensive and offensive combat abilities for Discipline Priests:

  • Atonement
    • Passive
    • Plea, Power Word: Shield, and Shadow Mend also apply Atonement to your target for 15 sec.
    • When you deal spell damage, you instantly heal all targets affected by Atonement for 50% of the damage done.
    • Developer comment: Healing is not split between Atonements—the more allies you have Atonement on, the more total healing that a damage spell will cause.
  • Mastery: Absolution
    • Increases the healing transferred through Atonement by 28% (with Mastery from typical gear).
  • Defensive
    • Plea
      • 1.2% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant
      • A quick, efficient plea to heal an ally for a minor amount.
    • Shadow Mend
      • 3.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
      • Wrap an ally in shadows which heal them for a large amount, but at a price.
      • The ally will take minor damage every 1 sec, until they have taken half that amount of total damage from all sources, or leave combat.
    • Power Word: Shield
      • 3.5% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant, 6 sec cooldown
      • Shield an ally, absorbing a large amount of damage. Lasts 15 sec.
      • While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be delayed by damage.
    • Power Word: Radiance
      • 7.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 2.5 sec cast
      • A burst of light heals a friendly target and their 5 nearest allies for a moderate amount, and applies Atonement for 50% of its normal duration.
  • Offensive
    • Smite
      • 0.75% Mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
      • Smite an enemy for moderate Holy damage.
    • Mind Blast
      • 3.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
      • Blast the target’s mind for strong Shadow damage.
    • Penance
      • 2.5% Mana, 40 yd range, Channeled, 9 sec cooldown
      • Launches a volley of holy light at the target, causing huge Holy damage over 2 sec.
      • Channelable while moving.
    • Revelation
      • Passive
      • Your Smite and Mind Blast casts have a 30% chance to reset the cooldown on Penance.
    • Shadow Word: Pain
      • 2.0% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant
      • A word of darkness that causes minor Shadow damage instantly, and an additional huge amount of Shadow damage over 18 sec.

Additionally, to give you an idea of how some talents may build upon this, here’s an example of one of their Discipline-specific talents:

  • Grace
    • Passive
    • Increases your non-Atonement healing and absorption by 30% on targets with Atonement.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this early preview of our approach to Priest class and specialization design in World of Warcraft: Legion. We’ll continue our review later today with a look at Mages.

Legion Class Preview Series: Mage

Quote from: Blizzard
Legion Class Preview Series: Mage

Welcome to our World of Warcraft: Legion class preview series. In this entry, we’re exploring the Mage—to find out what’s in store for a different class, check out the overview.

We continue our early look at class and specialization design with the Mage. In these blogs, we’ll be exploring class identity, discussing Legion’s new designs, and presenting core combat abilities for each specialization—laying out the foundation upon which talents and Artifacts will build further. With that in mind, let’s delve into what it means to be a Mage in World of Warcraft.

In terms of spec definition and overall design changes, Mages lay in contrast to the classes we’ve talked about so far in this series. Mages are in a very strong place compared to most classes, both thematically and mechanically. There’s a lot of distinction among Arcane, Fire, and Frost Mages, with each type of caster specializing heavily in a single school of magic, and each of the three schools having strong themes and consistent properties. Arcane magic warps time and space, and controls the flow of mana; Fire magic unleashes destructive force that spreads chaotically; and Frost slows and controls, setting foes up for devastating strikes.

The changes we’re making are more to prop up existing gameplay for all skill levels and provide some quality-of-life improvements. As a simple example, Summon Refreshment now automatically provides you with a stack of food if you’re adventuring out on your own, or a table of refreshments when in a party or raid.

Arcane

Mages of the arcane are diviners of secrets, balancing the ebb and flow of incredible mystic energies. Unparalleled skill is required to manipulate the volatile forces of the universe. These practitioners push their magical knowledge to its very limits—often to the brink of their own exhaustion, and at great risk to the world around them. Those who master this craft are capable of releasing a barrage of unrelenting power upon their enemies, drawing upon replenishing energies to maintain their assault for as long as the battle demands.

“Mages of the arcane are diviners of secrets, balancing the ebb and flow of incredible mystic energies”

Gameplay

Arcane Mage abilities and gameplay already deliver on the spec’s fantasy quite well, so most changes are in the vein of polishing what’s already there. First, for added mechanical clarity, Arcane Charges are now an actual resource located underneath your Mana bar instead of a stacking debuff. The functionality is still very much the same, but this change should make their accumulation and use more distinct. The one significant gameplay change is that Arcane has a new Mastery, which increases your maximum Mana by a percentage, and increases the damage bonus from Arcane Charges. This should make the Mastery feel a bit more interesting by allowing more aggressive Mana usage as your Mastery improves, and feel more empowering, ultimately giving you much more control over your rotation.

Here’s a basic look at the core combat abilities for Arcane Mages:

  • Arcane Blast
    • 5% Mana, 40 yd range, 2.25 sec cast
    • Blasts the target with energy, dealing moderate Arcane damage and generating an Arcane Charge.
    • Arcane Blast’s damage is increased by 50% per Arcane Charge, and its Mana cost is increased by 100% per Arcane Charge.
  • Arcane Missiles
    • 40 yd range, Channeled
    • Launches five waves of Arcane Missiles at the enemy over 2 sec, causing minor Arcane damage per wave. Generates an Arcane Charge.
    • Arcane Missiles’ damage is increased by 50% per Arcane Charge.
    • Arcane Missiles has a chance to be activated after each of your damaging spell casts. Limit 3 charges.
  • Arcane Barrage
    • 0.5% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant, 3 sec cooldown
    • Launches bolts of arcane energy at the enemy target, causing strong Arcane damage. Consumes all Arcane Charges.
    • Arcane Barrage’s damage is increased by 50% per Arcane Charge, and it hits 1 additional nearby target per Arcane Charge for 50% damage.
  • Evocation
    • Channeled, 1.5 min cooldown
    • Gain 25% of your total Mana instantly, and another 75% of your total mana over 6 sec.
  • Mastery: Savant
    • Increases your Mana regeneration rate and maximum Mana by 20% (with Mastery from typical gear).
    • Arcane Charges increase the damage of affected spells by an additional 10% (with Mastery from typical gear).
  • Displacement
    • Instant, 1.5 min cooldown
    • For the next 4 sec, casting Blink will not trigger its cooldown

Additionally, to give you an idea of how some talents may build upon this, here’s an example of one of their Arcane-specific talents:

  • Quickening
    • Passive
    • Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles also grant 2% Haste for 6 sec, stacking.
    • This effect is cleared when you cast Arcane Barrage.

Fire

While any worthy mage is an unparalleled expert in the use of magic and heavily dedicated to their craft, those who master the forces of fire tend to be a little more audacious than their peers. If a threat stands before them, the answer is always to neutralize it in a glorious blaze. A lifetime dedicated to the study of fiery forces only fuels their pyromania, and these mages take pride—even pleasure—in igniting their enemies in wild bursts of flame. Mistake their affinity for watching things burn as a lack of self-control at your own peril.

“These mages take pride—even pleasure—in igniting their enemies in wild bursts of flame”

Gameplay

Similar to Arcane, Fire already exudes its core identity, so our changes are focused on gameplay adjustments. Ultimately, you will have more freedom in what buttons you press and more control over the Heating Up mechanic, which is core to Fire Mages. In particular, the Inferno Blast ability was trying to fill two roles: spreading Ignite, and forcing a Hot Streak from a Heating Up. We’ve opted to move the spreading to an innate property of Ignite and have taken Inferno Blast off the global cooldown so that you can more freely and intuitively use it to trigger a Hot Streak.

Another major change is the redesign of Combustion. It’s an incredibly complex skill, hard to understand for most people, and has the potential for either ridiculous success or critical failure, with the odds being extremely random and very hard to gauge much of the time. We’re redesigning it into something that fits into the Fire rotation in a clear and consistent way.

Here’s a basic look at the core combat abilities for Fire Mages:

  • Fireball
    • 4% Mana, 40 yd range, 2.25 sec cast
    • Throw a fiery ball that causes moderate Fire damage.
  • Hot Streak
    • Passive
    • Getting 2 direct-damage critical strikes in a row will make your next Pyroblast or Flamestrike spell instant cast, and cause double the normal Ignite damage.
    • Developer Comment:
      • You may not start a new streak (aka, gain Heating Up), while a Hot Streak is already active
      • It was never our intention for players to sit with a Hot Streak active, then keep fishing for another Heating Up before throwing instant Pyro out—in general, we don’t like the game telling you to press a button when you shouldn’t
  • Inferno Blast
    • 2% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant, 12 sec recharge, 2 charges
    • Blasts the enemy for moderate Fire damage. This damage is always a critical strike.
    • Inferno Blast is not on the global cooldown, and can be cast while casting other spells.
  • Pyroblast
    • 5% Mana, 40 yd range, 4.5 sec cast
    • Hurl an immense fiery boulder that causes massive Fire damage.
  • Combustion
    • 10% Mana, Instant, 2 min
    • Engulf yourself in flames, increasing your critical strike chance by 100% for 10 sec.
    • Also grants you Mastery equal to your Critical Strike stat.
  • Mastery: Ignite
    • Your target burns for an additional 30% (with Mastery from typical gear) over 9 sec of the total direct damage caused by your Fireball, Inferno Blast, Scorch, Pyroblast, and Flamestrike. If this effect is reapplied, any remaining damage will be added to the new Ignite.
    • Every 2 sec, your Ignites may spread to another nearby enemy.

Additionally, to give you an idea of how some talents may build upon this, here’s an example of one of their Fire-specific talents:

  • Cinderstorm
    • 1% Mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast, 8 sec cooldown
    • Throw a spread of 6 cinders that travel in an arc, and each deal minor Fire damage to enemies they hit.

Frost

Frost mages stand apart from their colleagues, in that their chosen school of magic focuses on maintaining supreme control over the capabilities of their enemies. Mages who command frost perform chilling displays on the battlefield, rendering foes immobile as they bombard them with ice. Often, the blade never reaches the caster before the bitter cold takes hold. The frost mage exudes frigid power as icicles form around them, foreshadowing the wintry demise of those who stand opposed on the field of battle.

“Mages who command frost perform chilling displays on the battlefield, rendering foes immobile”

Gameplay

Frost Mages are very effective casters, and there’s already a lot to like about this spec. Frost’s defining traits and abilities are cohesive, the mechanics are understandable, and there are plenty of opportunities for players to explore unique gameplay at a variety of skill levels. Rather than making any dramatic changes to how a Frost Mage plays, we’ve focused more on fixing one particular outlier in their Spellbook: Frostfire Bolt. After removing the fire portion of the spell, it began to feel like just another Frostbolt, and we started to wonder how a spell supposedly combining frost and fire wasn’t just producing a puddle of water at the feet of the enemy. We’ve removed Frostfire Bolt and made Frozen Orb part of the core spell kit in its place, which better lends itself to the identity of the Frost Mage.

Here’s a basic look at the core combat abilities for Frost Mages:

  • Frost Bolt
    • 4% Mana, 40 yd range, 2 sec cast
    • Launches a bolt of frost at the enemy, causing moderate Frost damage and slowing movement speed by 30% for 15 sec.
  • Frozen Orb
    • 10% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown
    • Launches an orb of swirling ice forward, dealing minor Frost damage every 1 sec to all nearby enemy targets for 10 sec. Grants the Mage 1 charge of Fingers of Frost when it first reaches a target.
    • Targets damaged by the Frost Orb are slowed by 30% for 2 sec.
  • Ice Lance
    • 1% Mana, 40 yd range, Instant.
    • Quickly fling a shard of ice at the target, dealing minor Frost damage.
    • Ice Lance damage is doubled against frozen targets.
  • Brain Freeze
    • Passive
    • Your Frostbolts have a 10% chance to reset the cooldown of Frozen Orb.
  • Fingers of Frost
    • Passive
    • Your successful Frostbolt hits have a 15% chance, and your Blizzard and Frozen Orb ticks have a 5% chance to grant you the Fingers of Frost effect.
    • The Fingers of Frost effect causes your next Ice Lance to act as if your target were frozen, and deal 140% increased damage.
  • Shatter
    • Passive
    • Multiplies the critical strike chance of your spells against Frozen targets by 1.5, and adds an additional 50% chance.
  • Mastery: Icicles
    • When you damage enemies with Frostbolt, 45% (with Mastery from typical gear) of the damage done is stored as an Icicle with you, for 30 sec. Also increases the damage that your Water Elemental deals by 45% (with Mastery from typical gear).
    • Up to 5 Icicles can be stored at once. Excess Icicles that are generated will be automatically launched. Casting Ice Lance causes any Icicles to begin launching at the target.

Additionally, to give you an idea of how some talents may build upon this, here’s an example of one of their Frost-specific talents:

  • Glacial Spike
    • 1% Mana, 40 yd range, 3 sec cast
    • Conjure a massive spike of ice, and merge your current Icicles into it. It impales your target, dealing massive damage, plus the damage stored in your Icicles.
    • Requires 5 Icicles to cast.
    • Also freezes the target in place for up to 4 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect.
    • Passive: Ice Lance no longer launches Icicles.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this early preview of our approach to Mage class and specialization design in World of Warcraft: Legion. We’ll continue our series next with a look at Paladins.

Podcast Episode 67: Post-Blizzcon 2015,Legion Class Preview Series: Hunter, Hunter Feedback on Reddit

Podcast Episode 67: Post-Blizzcon 2015

The podcast is back for a post-blizzcon session! We go over pretty much everything that’s been covered for Legion.

Legion Class Preview Series: Hunter

Quote from: Blizzard
Legion Class Preview Series: Hunter

Welcome to our World of Warcraft: Legion class preview series. In this entry, we’re exploring the Hunter—to find out what’s in store for a different class, check out the overview.

We begin our early look at class and specialization design with the Hunter. In these blogs, we’ll be exploring class identity, discussing Legion’s new designs, and presenting core combat abilities for each specialization—laying out a foundation upon which talents and Artifacts will build further. With that in mind, let’s delve into what it means to be a Hunter in World of Warcraft.

In many ways, Hunter design in Legion embodies our key philosophies for class change. Hunters have a strong “core fantasy”: they’re masters of tracking prey, experts at sniping enemies with bows and guns from a distance, tamers of wild beasts, and trappers of unsuspecting foes. The challenge with the Hunter class in WoW is that, for the most part, while all three specs deliver that basic fantasy, the distinction between them is fairly minimal. In Legion, we’re focused on better differentiating these specializations to deliver more dynamic and varied experiences.

Beast Mastery

Among the most gifted hunters, there are those who have from birth felt a profound bond with the creatures of the wild. These beast masters are drawn to the perilous primal world, invigorated by its dangerous and untamed nature. Primitive landscape becomes home. Ferocious predator becomes kin. Whether in the thrill of the hunt or the heat of battle, beast masters call forth a litany of vicious animals to overwhelm prey and gnaw at their enemies’ will.

“Beast masters are drawn to the perilous primal world, invigorated by its dangerous and untamed nature“

Gameplay

Beast Masters were already in a good place overall, but we’ve refined existing abilities and talents to better differentiate them from other Hunters. Previously, Cobra Shot filled all of your free moments in combat, leaving no time for managing your pet, which should be a defining characteristic of Beast Masters. To this end, and to aid in Focus accumulation, Dire Beast is now core to Beast Mastery, allowing you to repeatedly summon wild beasts that generate additional Focus for you through their every attack.

To give you an idea of the Beast Master Hunter in action, here’s a basic look at their core combat abilities:

  • Cobra Shot
    • 30 Focus, 40 yd range, Instant
    • A quick shot that causes moderate Physical damage.
  • Dire Beast
    • 40 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown
    • Summons a powerful wild beast to attack your target for 8 sec. Each time the beast deals damage, you will gain 4 Focus.
    • Summoning a beast reduces the remaining cooldown of Bestial Wrath by 15 sec.
  • Kill Command
    • 20 Focus, 25 yd range (from pet), Instant, 6 sec cooldown
    • Give the command to kill, causing your pet to instantly inflict strong damage to its target.
  • Wild Call
    • Passive
    • Your critical strikes have a 30% chance to reset the cooldown of Dire Beast.
  • Mastery: Master of Beasts
    • Increases the damage done by your pets by 45% (with Mastery from typical gear).

Additionally, to provide a glimpse at how some talents may build upon this, here’s one example of a Beast Mastery–specific talent:

  • Way of the Cobra
    • Passive
    • For every pet or guardian you have active, Cobra Shot deals an additional 5% damage.

Survival

While all hunters feel a calling to the wild, some serve as a reflection of its brutality. To them, the hunt is defined by unrelenting ferocity, where survival means facing one’s enemy eye-to-eye… and is always accompanied by merciless bloodshed. Weapons of great range are abandoned for instruments of close-quarters combat. Survival hunters are instinctive and crafty on the prowl, employing loyal beasts and laying deceptive traps to see their enemies undone. For these hunters know that to truly understand what it means to survive, one must first become familiar with the cruel face of death.

“The hunt is defined by unrelenting ferocity, where survival means facing one’s enemy eye-to-eye”

Gameplay

Not only do Survival Hunters use melee weapons instead of ranged weapons, they’re also now the only Hunters that make use of traps—other specs will receive forms of crowd control and AoE damage suited to their distinct characteristics. Survival Hunters will snare and bleed their enemies, fighting them in close quarters with their trustworthy companion to maximize the brutality of the hunt. They have no direct control over Focus regeneration, but instead pool it up during successive Mongoose Bites to further amplify the damage they inflict.

Here’s a basic look at the core combat abilities for Survival Hunters:

  • Harpoon
    • 5-40 yd range, Instant, 15 sec cooldown
    • Hurl a harpoon at your target and pull yourself toward them, rooting them in place for 3 sec.
  • Raptor Strike
    • 20 Focus, Melee Range, Instant.
    • A vicious slash, dealing moderate Physical damage.
  • Laceration
    • 35 Focus, Melee Range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown
    • Tear a wound in the target, dealing heavy damage over 12 sec.
    • Developer Comment: We promise it will do good damage!
  • Mongoose Bite
    • Melee Range, Instant, 10 sec recharge, 3 charges
    • A brutal attack, attempting to sever the enemy’s limbs, dealing strong Physical damage.
    • Each consecutive Mongoose Bite dealt within 3.5 sec of the last will deal 50% increased damage, stacking up to 6 times.
  • Flanking Strike
    • 20 Focus, 25 yd range (from pet), Instant, 6 sec cooldown
    • Give the command to kill, causing your pet to instantly inflict strong damage to its target.
  • Wing Clip
    • 30 Focus, Instant
    • Maims the target, reducing their movement speed by 50% for 15 sec.
  • Mastery: Hunting Companion
    • Your pet’s attacks have a 20% (with Mastery from typical gear) chance to grant you an additional charge of Mongoose Bite.

Additionally, to provide a glimpse at how some talents may build upon this, here’s an example of one of their Survival-specific talents:

  • Snake Hunter
    • Instant, 1 min cooldown
    • Instantly grants you 3 charges of Mongoose Bite.

Marksmanship

Marksmen, too, shroud themselves in the perils of the untamed wilds, perfecting the use of weapons that are deadliest from great range. They’ve maintained little interest, however, in gaining the loyalty of the many beasts inhabiting these crude landscapes. Instead, the marksman blends into the surrounding environment, surveying behavior of all manner of predator and gleaning deadly methods for stalking their own prey. A sniper in hiding, the marksman unleashes arrows and bullets with deadly precision, exposing the weakness in whoever—or whatever—passes through their crosshairs.

“A sniper in hiding, the marksman unleashes arrows and bullets with deadly precision”

Gameplay

The Lone Wolf gameplay introduced in Warlords of Draenor proved extremely popular with Hunters, and that play style fit perfectly with our vision of Marksmanship Hunters as master archers and snipers, relying on their skill and precision with weapons rather than animal companions. All Marksmanship Hunters now gain Lone Wolf by default, ranging through the wilds without a pet beside them. On the resource front, the Marksman now gains Focus from the use of Arcane Shot. And, as a note for those who enjoyed the previous version of Survival gameplay, we have moved certain abilities, such as Black Arrow and Lock and Load, to Marksmanship-specific talents.

Here’s a basic look at the core combat abilities for Marksmanship:

  • Arcane Shot
    • 40 yd range, Instant
    • A quick shot that causes moderate Arcane damage, and generates 5 Focus.
  • Seek Vulnerabilities
    • Passive
    • Targets hit by your Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot have a chance to be marked with Hunter’s Mark for 6 sec.
  • Marked Shot
    • 30 Focus, 40 yd range, Channeled
    • Rapidly fires a shot at up to 3 targets affected by Hunter’s Mark, dealing strong Physical damage. Usable while moving.
    • Also exposes vulnerability in the target, snaring them by 15%, and increasing Aimed Shot damage done to the target by 25%. Lasts 10 sec, and stacks up to 3 times.
  • Aimed Shot
    • 50 Focus, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
    • A powerful aimed shot that deals strong Physical damage.
  • Mastery: Sniper Training
    • Critical strike damage and range of all shots is increased by 12.5% (with Mastery from typical gear).

Additionally, to give you an idea of how some talents may build upon this, here’s an example of one of their Marksmanship-specific talents:

  • Lock and Load
    • Passive
    • Attach an explosive charge to Aimed Shot, dealing strong additional Fire damage to the target and all enemies within 4 yds.
    • Your ranged auto attacks have a 5% chance to trigger Lock and Load, causing your next 2 Aimed Shots to cost no Focus and be instant.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this early preview of the Hunter class in World of Warcraft: Legion. This first look should give you a good sense of what you can expect from this series, though not every class is undergoing this level of change; some are receiving updates that will be more subtle—a sharpening of rough edges—rather than the broad reimagining of the fantasy as we’ve demonstrated with Hunters.

Tomorrow, the series continues with previews of Priests, Mages, and Paladins. Stay tuned!

Hunter Feedback on Reddit

Feedback started pouring in on Reddit about the new hunter changes and one of the class designers Andrew Chambers used some of his time on sunday to respond! You should check out all the responses on his profile.

Legion Class Preview Series – Overview

Quote from: Blizzard
Legion Class Preview Series – Overview

Welcome to the first of several blogs focused on classes in the upcoming Legion expansion!

Our first big step when we begin working on classes for any new expansion is to decide on our high-level goals. New expansions, which send players to whole new lands and often transform entire game systems, give us a chance to explore extensive changes that we think will have a significant positive, lasting impact on the game.

In Mists of Pandaria, for example, our primary aim was to revamp the talent system to give players more meaningful choices. For Warlords of Draenor, we turned our attention to the 100 levels worth of accumulated spells and abilities, full of redundancies and crowding out players’ action bars, and focused our efforts on pruning and consolidating abilities to make each class’s kit leaner and meaner—while still leaving room for future additions.

Going into Legion, our guiding purpose is to strengthen the distinctive identity of each of our 12 classes and their specializations. The scope of these efforts includes making cosmetic improvements, enhancing existing abilities, adding new abilities, replacing too-generic abilities with more iconic ones, adjusting rotations to better reflect spec identity, and even completely redesigning some specs to carve out a strong identity where previously there was none.

In the coming days, we’ll be sharing more details about the direction of each class in Legion, discussing their updated designs and sharing a look at their core combat abilities. It’s important to note that the base spells of a specialization represent a foundation upon which talents and Artifact traits will be built. Talents in particular will add a tremendous amount of depth—in Legion we’re quadrupling the number of spec-specific talents, which reinforce the distinction between specializations giving players interesting ways to customize their characters to suit their play styles.

We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback and discussing these changes with everyone in the weeks ahead, and we’re excited to get this information out before our broader beta phase to make sure we have as much time as possible to iterate and carry on the conversation.

Here’s the schedule for our class preview series:

Later Today

  • Hunter

Monday

  • Priest
  • Mage
  • Paladin

Tuesday

  • Warlock
  • Death Knight
  • Shaman

Wednesday

  • Warrior
  • Monk
  • Druid

Thursday

  • Rogue

Blizzcon Legion Q&A Liveblog

We’ll be liveblogging the new information from the Legion Q&A here:

  • When we discover Alleria and Turalyon you will change the way you view WoW
  • Subraces for the models is something they will do, but there’s no ETA as it presents difficulties
  • The traditional guild is something they’re going to look at, due to the way group finder has made realms less important it’s something they’ll look at.
  • The achievement to fully unlock flying will not be fully unlockable at launch.
  • We’ll see Bolvar Fordragon somewhere. Beyond this expansion.. absolutely.. we’ll see
  • Stuff like green fire for warlocks for other quests is something they’ll have to see.. they are focussing on class content
  • They’re looking at changing tapping mobs. E.g. when someone taps a mob, you could still attack it as well to get experience and quest credit.
  • They still have the goal of expansions more quickly, but the emphasis is on quality. The team is bigger, expansions could come out faster. Not necesarily once per year.
  • The tomb of sargeras is a monument. That may change.
  • Something they’d like to do for guilds is have someone be able to be in multiple guilds at the same time.
  • There will be no new battleground in Legion. They are focussing on the new pvp system.
  • There are no plans to update zones such as the draenei starting area.
  • The burning legion will invade different zones.
  • All keystones will have the same affixes (e.g. enrage) for the same week.
  • Titan’s grip for Fury warrios is “alive and well”.
  • 1 Burning Legion transcending reality:
    • Legion is going to answer the questions
    • On Archimonde: “we’re working on some kinks there”
  • Scenario’s as something in Mists of Pandaria to queue up for will not come back
    • They will be used for quests
  • There will be a lot of catch up mechanics for the 2nd and 3rd artifact weapons.
  • Relics are like the standard weapon drops.. you will have to choose which artifact it goes in. Much like you need to loot different weapons for different specs.
  • In Legion you will have Tri-spec! For druids all 4, for demon hunters 2!

Blizzcon Legion Game Systems Live Blog

We’ll be liveblogging the Game Systems Panel here:

  • They’re going to talk about items, professions, classes, demon hunters
  • Artifacts and Class Halls:
    • The Deadwind Harvester, a Scythe created by Sargeras. For the affliction Warlock.
      • You’re going to open a gateway to a demon world.
      • You’ll go into the catacombs of Karazhan and follow the steps of the dark riders.
      • Every time you kill something you steal a soul, the artifact will light up and increase your spell damage.
    • You will use Artifact Power to power up your artifact.
      • Earn it from:
        • Quest bosses
        • Rare spawns
        • Rare drops
        • Dungeon/Raid Bosses
        • Winning Arena/Battleground
      • You will use it to unlock Artifact Traits. (similar to talents)
        • Editor’s note: some of them are similar to the very old talent system that was used up to cataclysm
        • You will be able to unlock all of the traits eventually
    • You can loot relics to socket into your artifact to increase it’s power.
      • They also give you bonus ranks to traits. E.g. if 1 trait has 3 ranks it could get a 4th rank!
      • They’ll allow you to customize your character. Do you want to focus on burst damage? for example
      • They have different types. For example the Scythe has 2 different slot types. Meaning you can put 2 relics in your artifact.
    • At level 110 you can upgrade your artifact through a quest chain and dungeons.
      • This will also unlock a new model.
    • As previously announced, you’ll be able to unlock different colors for the same model.
  • Class Halls:
    • They’ll be at a location that strongly represents the class
    • The druid class hall will be shown today
      • They should be surrounded by nature
      • It’s called The Dreamgrove
      • The influence of the Emerald Dream can be felt there
    • You’ll be able to empower your Artifact in the class hall
    • You’ll encounter Class Champions, which are different from garrison followers
    • You’ll have a Scouting Map, which will expose new content to you over time
    • There will be mini quests like demon hunting and pick pocketing
    • There will be special class features
      • Hunters: Eagles that will give them access to a special flight network that noone else has
      • Druids: Dream portals to travel around
      • Warriors: An arena
    • Every class will have their own spell like death gate to quickly get to the class hall
      • Hunters will be picked up by eagles