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[MetroidPrimeRib]

At least its not First Aid. I don't think that's been useful since Vanilla or BC. OTOH Archaeology is about as useful, save for some mounts, toys and battle pets - you dig shit up an make them into restored crates so you can...do that again 10,000 times.

If you're actively doing archaeology, then you're swimming in tokens. Turn a few in for a reset map.

I totally forgot about those. Thanks.

 

[Tenebrous]

Of all the things they could've made Bonus Armor, they make it Versatility? I mean, sure, it makes sense, but damnit...

 

[Shahadan]

Windwalker has an awful lot less buttons but somehow it's more fun and I spend less time not doing anything....so improvement I guess!

 

[Tenebrous]

Just finished doing some PTR dungeons on my prot warr.

The spec is absolute fucking garbage. I said it on the beta when my gear was limited, and I'm saying it again now with 742 equipped gear on the PTR. In NO way is Protection Warrior more/as fun as the Guardian Druid. Whoever designed Legion Protection needs to be shot in the knees.

 

[ZenaxPure]

Windwalker has an awful lot less buttons but somehow it's more fun and I spend less time not doing anything....so improvement I guess!

That's just about every spec really (the less button thing). Core rotation is about the same amount of buttons for windwalker i'm pretty sure, assuming you spec into more active abilities (and once you get your artifact since one of your core abilities is tied to it).

Oh and something I learned today on the beta is that chi wave (and presumably chi burst but I didn't test it) count as attacks for your mastery, really smooths out some of the downtime I was having with the spec. Had no idea cause I didn't bother with either of those talents haha, was just using the passive thing to be lazy but I'm sold on using one of the active abilities instead now.

 

[Tarazet]

Of all the things they could've made Bonus Armor, they make it Versatility? I mean, sure, it makes sense, but damnit...

Anything that makes it useful to non-tank characters is fine by me. Maybe not optimal for DPS, but the hive mind has always scoffed at survivability even when it was sorely needed.

 

[Rösti]

is dynamic cam working on ptR?

Do you mean the Action Camera? Yes, all the new console variables, including ActionCam, work on the PTR.

 

[Entropia]

Two months-ish until the prepatch drops live? I'm a bit behind on legion news since I basically stopped playing last december.

Probably 4-6 weeks.

It just went up on the PTR.

Current rumoured date is July 19.

Fixed.

 

[Tenebrous]

Current rumoured date is July 15.

July 15th would be a weird one... When's the last time a major patch didn't land on a Tuesday (US)/Wednesday (EU)?

 

[TheYanger]

Well yeah. I'm mostly concerned cause that's like 3-5 mounts worth of kills we're gonna have to do with fucked up specs. Maybe they'll nerf HFC like they did SoO. Just an example, but Xhul/Manno without Gorefiend's would be very difficult if everything else remained the same.

It'll be easier anyway, it always is. Even if ti wasn't, you don't NEED gorefiends for either of those things, we did without on very early kills of both bosses. single grips will totally suffice.

 

[Anoregon]

July 15th would be a weird one... When's the last time a major patch didn't land on a Tuesday (US)/Wednesday (EU)?

I think literally never, or at least not in multiple xpacs worth of years. The patch will be on a Tuesday.

 

[Entropia]

July 15th would be a weird one... When's the last time a major patch didn't land on a Tuesday (US)/Wednesday (EU)?

Woops, I didn't actually look at the calendar and was going by memory... should be the 19th!

 

[Data West]

Windwalker feels a lot faster and more fluid though there's a couple changes to it that really throw you off because they're similar but different.

Spinning Crane Kick being a chi spender, Touch of Death being a damage cooldown that you want to hit at the start which is the complete opposite of what you expect, Tiger power and jab being merged together, SEF being a cooldown with a charge, no stun on Fists of Fury but being able to move in it while channeling being baked in. One of the 100 talents requires you to have it and Rising Sun kick on cooldown to use.

Seems fun but yeah I imagine its like Fury where it's just different enough but similar that it really throws off long time players of that spec at the start

 

[Anoregon]

Messed around with a few specs on target dummies on PTR last night. Most of them feel pretty simple at 100 without artifacts, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Demo lock is fun, but unless I'm playing it wrong (very likely!) soul shard generation seems a lot faster than spending. Hand of Gul'Dan and summon Dreadstalkers are pretty much all you need to spend them on, and one of those has a 15 second CD. I was using a few talents that made Soul shard generation easier, so that made it even more noticeable. It almost feels like the demon buff spell (empower) should cost a soul shard. The spec executes its theme really well, though. Felguard, Dreadstalkers, and a gaggle of wild imps up at most times is a lot of fun, and they get a brief buff visual when you cast empowerment that is satisfying.

Surv hunter seems really fun but I had no idea what I was doing, lol. Really like the new melee animations. Troll with a spear and a dinosaur pet is only a hair below Troll with throwing axes as maximum potential WoW coolness, so I am very happy about it in general.

Enhance shaman I am still sort of torn on. Talent choices change up the flow of the rotation pretty significantly (Lightning Bolt or no Lightning Bolt, spammy rockbiter or charge-based Boulderfist) so I'm not sure which style feels best. I do think it's overall better designed than it has been in recent expansions, though. I also like how auto attacks/WF procs and Storm Strike are your only sources of physical damage, everything else is elemental. It really makes you feel like a shaman and not just a warrior or rogue with a different coat of paint.

Unholy DK has permanent abom pets that you can transform into festergut/rotface so it is automatically amazing. Rotation seems simple in theory but a little more complicated in practice, with juggling rune usage on either generating more pustules with Festering strike or popping them with scourge strike. I'm sure there's a sweet spot there that someone better than me has already figured out. I really like that they left the Shadow Infusion mechanic in as a talent as well, as building up RP to spam deathcoils and thus transform your ghoul (or abom) faster became an iconic part of the spec for me.

 

[strafer]

So how is that new Summon Inquisitor for warlocks?

 

[Nere]

After playing the beta I am 100 times more excited for legion. I had my fears that blizz would break demo after the revamp but holy shit is this spec good, love it.

 

[Anoregon]

So how is that new Summon Inquisitor for warlocks?

Doesn't exist. Was replaced with Darkglare, the new beholder thing. I actually didn't try that talent yet, I was seeing how new Demonbolt works.

After playing the beta I am 100 times more excited for legion. I had my fears that blizz would break demo after the revamp but holy shit is this spec good, love it.

That's one thing I was not worried about. Demo became such a clunky piece of shit with it being centered around lining up procs/CD's for meta spurts. Never liked that direction and I was very happy to see they were changing the focus of the spec to being a demon zoo.

 

[strafer]

Doesn't exist. Was replaced with Darkglare, the new beholder thing. I actually didn't try that talent yet, I was seeing how new Demonbolt works.

Oh man, that's disappointing. Kinda dug the look of that thing.

 

[Interfectum]

How's feral druid and frost DK in the beta?

 

[Entropia]

Windwalker feels a lot faster and more fluid though there's a couple changes to it that really throw you off because they're similar but different.

Spinning Crane Kick being a chi spender, Touch of Death being a damage cooldown that you want to hit at the start which is the complete opposite of what you expect, Tiger power and jab being merged together, SEF being a cooldown with a charge, no stun on Fists of Fury but being able to move in it while channeling being baked in. One of the 100 talents requires you to have it and Rising Sun kick on cooldown to use.

Seems fun but yeah I imagine its like Fury where it's just different enough but similar that it really throws off long time players of that spec at the start

Curious to try it out. I absolutely hate playing WW on live.

 

[Data West]

How's feral druid and frost DK in the beta?

Feral is extremely similar to its live counterpart

 

[iirate]

Feral is extremely similar to its live counterpart

My only concern is that even though Savage Roar is a talent now, it's an incredibly potent one, and harder to keep up than it has been(no glyphs, shorter duration). I haven't gotten to try the spec yet, but I'm wary.

 

[Data West]

Surpised at how much damage Unholy does. So far in 5 mans on the PTR I've seen a lot of Enh shaman stomping most DPS classes, but I was stomping the Enh pretty bad on my Unholy DK

My only concern is that even though Savage Roar is a talent now, it's an incredibly potent one, and harder to keep up than it has been(no glyphs, shorter duration). I haven't gotten to try the spec yet, but I'm wary.

They've definitely done a good job of designing the talent trees around preferred playstyle, but it's going to definitely be curious to say if that sticks when 2 piece, 4 pieces and trinkets come into play.I'm not a huge fan of Roar, but I took it just because I like it more than the others in that tree.

At its core, talent choices are a lot more fun and interesting than they've ever been right now though.

 

[ZenaxPure]

My only concern is that even though Savage Roar is a talent now, it's an incredibly potent one, and harder to keep up than it has been(no glyphs, shorter duration). I haven't gotten to try the spec yet, but I'm wary.

With moment of clarity (clearcasting effects your next 3 attacks) I found nothing was really hard to keep up with feral. No bloodtalons that way sadly but you generate combo points so much faster.

Didn't mess with savage roar for long though as I hate the ability. Actually decided to go with a really dumb setup and picked the talent that more or less removes Rip along with no roar. You just spend entire fights using nothing but bite after that initial Rip which is as dumb as it sounds. Actually kinda preferred it for soloing though.

 

[Robin64]

 

[Entropia]

RIP?

 

[Tenebrous]

No. NO. NOOOO!!!!

 

[Data West]

Not surprising.

Expect Cata 25H gold nerfs next

 

[iirate]

With moment of clarity (clearcasting effects your next 3 attacks) I found nothing was really hard to keep up with feral. No bloodtalons that way sadly but you generate combo points so much faster.

Didn't mess with savage roar for long though as I hate the ability. Actually decided to go with a really dumb setup and picked the talent that more or less removes Rip along with no roar. You just spend entire fights using nothing but bite after that initial Rip which is as dumb as it sounds. Actually kinda preferred it for soloing though.

That's good to hear, and highlights one thing about the talent revamp that has me really excited. As someone who focuses on only a handful of specs but plays just about everything(well, except tank specs), having a simpler base rotation + passive options on every talent tier is great for classes/specs that you play super casually.

 

[ZenaxPure]

That's good to hear, and highlights one thing about the talent revamp that has me really excited. As someone who focuses on only a handful of specs but plays just about everything(well, except tank specs), having a simpler base rotation + passive options on every talent tier is great for classes/specs that you play super casually.

Yeah I wasn't really expecting much from the talent changes but it's been one of my favorite things on the beta, choices just feel way more impactful now since most talent rows effect your core rotation in one way or another. There is still a few stinkers in there (like for example feral druid still has a row dedicated to CC) but overall I am digging it.

 

[Anoregon]

Is it weird that I'm actually kind of looking forward to the new PvP system? I haven't really given a shit about PvP since maybe Cataclysm, if not earlier, but the new progression system combined with a more level playing field might make it actually fun again.

Unfortunately I hear that it's currently a totally unbalanced mess in beta, though. At least they specifically designed it to be easy to tweak specific specs up and down without influencing PvE strength.

 

[ZenaxPure]

Is it weird that I'm actually kind of looking forward to the new PvP system? I haven't really given a shit about PvP since maybe Cataclysm, if not earlier, but the new progression system combined with a more level playing field might make it actually fun again.

Unfortunately I hear that it's currently a totally unbalanced mess in beta, though. At least they specifically designed it to be easy to tweak specific specs up and down without influencing PvE strength.

I'm with you, getting rid of gear (mostly) and just putting in a new progression system has me really excited for some casual pvp. The pvp talents are nice too.

They've been getting the balance better over the past few builds, I can't 2 shot people as a prot paladin anymore for example. Still a ways to go though.

 

[ampere]

eek

lol

Voice chat portrayed as a major feature

Cata launch and prepatch split in three major features. Pre-expansion content patches are given their own block except for WoD

I mean WoD didn't have enough content and was a pretty bad expansion overall, but this image is stupid.

Is it weird that I'm actually kind of looking forward to the new PvP system? I haven't really given a shit about PvP since maybe Cataclysm, if not earlier, but the new progression system combined with a more level playing field might make it actually fun again.

Unfortunately I hear that it's currently a totally unbalanced mess in beta, though. At least they specifically designed it to be easy to tweak specific specs up and down without influencing PvE strength.

I dunno what to think of it yet. I'll probably do some pvp casually with friends as I work to finish Battlemaster/Khan, but it annoys me that I'll need different bar setups for PvE and PvP (yes I know high end PvP has always been this way with macros, etc)

 

[cdyhybrid]

Surpised at how much damage Unholy does. So far in 5 mans on the PTR I've seen a lot of Enh shaman stomping most DPS classes, but I was stomping the Enh pretty bad on my Unholy DK


They've definitely done a good job of designing the talent trees around preferred playstyle, but it's going to definitely be curious to say if that sticks when 2 piece, 4 pieces and trinkets come into play.I'm not a huge fan of Roar, but I took it just because I like it more than the others in that tree.

At its core, talent choices are a lot more fun and interesting than they've ever been right now though.

I wouldn't worry about damage too much. Tuning isn't done on beta and they're balancing around Artifacts.

 

[Jag]

Looks like follower upgrades are going to be worth a few copper instead of a few gold from vendoring come pre-patch. So may want to dump much of what you have.

Also JC daily is converting to resources from gold. All from /r/woweconomy.

 

[Data West]

Retribution getting a damage buff when someone else dies is the most interested Ret has ever made me

 

[Entropia]

lol

Voice chat portrayed as a major feature

Cata launch and prepatch split in three major features. Pre-expansion content patches are given their own block except for WoD

I mean WoD didn't have enough content and was a pretty bad expansion overall, but this image is stupid.

If you called out every major patch, WoD is missing the infamous "Garrison Updates" patch :lol

 

[ZenaxPure]

I mean WoD didn't have enough content and was a pretty bad expansion overall, but this image is stupid.

Reminds me of the similarly used bar graph image that shows how many patches an expansion had and how long they lasted. Both are shitty images that don't give the full story or context. This image is especially bad considering 6.1 was a far bigger patch then the voice chat patch and it didn't even get mentioned. Would be incredibly easy and just as deceiving to go into that image and add a spot for 6.1 and the BRF launch (since they were separate) and pad that out like they padded out previous expansions.

Only pre-xpac patch even worth putting on an image like that is the Cata one since it gave access to the new race/class combos and the entire reworked old world to quest in, on top of the other events that happened.

 

[Data West]

I played a selection of dungeons and messed with builds and dummies on every spec I was remotely interested in and I've come away with these preferred rankings top to bottom

Fury Warrior & Enhancement Shaman
Shadow Priest
Elemental Shaman & Balance Druid
Frost Mage
Frost DK
Retribution Paladin
Discipline Priest
Arms Warrior
Unholy DK
Survival Hunter
Fire Mage
Feral Druid
Windwalker Monk
Demonology Warlock
Beast Mastery Hunter & Marksmanship Hunter

 

[Dog Problems]

What did you like about shadow priest? The common opinion seems to be that they're going to be in a really bad spot come Legion. I tried it out for myself and didn't find it to be as much fun as it currently is. I didn't seem to put out as much damage as I do on live, although that could be because of the gear, and my survivability didn't feel as good.

 

[ZenaxPure]

"I don't think yearly expansions would be the best experience for players"

Those are words Hazzikostas actually just said. Is the end of the world coming? Is Blizzard okay? What is going on!?!

 

[Strimei]

For anyone curious, Ion has confirmed that Thal'dranath, the southern-most (or south-eastern-most I guess?) zone that could be seen initially on concept maps for the Isles has been cut.

They were worried about Night Elf fatigue after the Isles, so patch content will go elsewhere, they have a real cool idea apparently.

 

[Tarazet]

Any rumblings about DH becoming playable on beta? I'm itching to get some practice time in. Double Jump alone makes it the class I want to play most, ever since I played Wildstar I've been jonesing for a double jump.

 

[Strimei]

Any rumblings about DH becoming playable on beta? I'm itching to get some practice time in. Double Jump alone makes it the class I want to play most, ever since I played Wildstar I've been jonesing for a double jump.

I assume you mean PTR? Because they're certainly playable on beta.

I doubt you'll be able to test them on the PTR. The PTR is essentially what you'd be getting if you didn't buy Legion. DHs require a Legion purchase.

 

[Data West]

What did you like about shadow priest? The common opinion seems to be that they're going to be in a really bad spot come Legion. I tried it out for myself and didn't find it to be as much fun as it currently is. I didn't seem to put out as much damage as I do on live, although that could be because of the gear, and my survivability didn't feel as good.

Well

Spoiler

Shadow Priests and Elemental Shaman tend to have the biggest victim complex of any specs in WoW and I say that as someone who's played a ton of both

so it's hard to take people seriously when they talk doom and gloom for the spec. Boy who cried nerf and all that. Their artifact ability is supposed to be one of the stronger abilities in the game, combine it with their Surrender to Madness usage and I think they'll be pretty much necessary for raid groups based on execution phases alone.


The only real issue I have is I think Surrender to Madness should be baseline and something new should be in the 100 talent tree. Because it seems too situational and useful for those situations.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

For anyone curious, Ion has confirmed that Thal'dranath, the southern-most (or south-eastern-most I guess?) zone that could be seen initially on concept maps for the Isles has been cut.

They were worried about Night Elf fatigue after the Isles, so patch content will go elsewhere, they have a real cool idea apparently.

What a surprise.

 

[Data West]

What a surprise.

but dont worry theyre totally going to patch in those dungeons and have 3 tiers

 

[Babalu.]

so how do you get on the PTR. do you have to be invited like beta? There wasnt an option in the battle.net launcher under wow. Only my 1 account.

 

[Anoregon]

For anyone curious, Ion has confirmed that Thal'dranath, the southern-most (or south-eastern-most I guess?) zone that could be seen initially on concept maps for the Isles has been cut.

They were worried about Night Elf fatigue after the Isles, so patch content will go elsewhere, they have a real cool idea apparently.

That's a shame. Even if their reasoning does turn out to be true, it's pretty terrible optics after the Farahon situation and definitely feeds into the whole "wow devs are terrible/have to cut shit because they take too long to do anything" feelings. I feel like this might be a rare case of them taking the WoD criticisms a little too seriously (orc fatigue) and being hyper-reactionary. Broken Isles already seems to be designed to be diverse and prevent any specific race fatigue. Although I guess I can see how going from the first end-game zone (suramar) to a similar zone in the first content patch isn't the best.

Like, unless 7.2 (or whatever patch) adds some totally different, new landmass, it's going to feel like a cop out. Doesn't matter if it has new dungeons or features or whatever. People are/were expecting a new island or similar area to run around in.

Then again, I think we all know it's going to be Zandalar anyway and I'm ok with that.

In other news:

They have realized taking expansions takes longer than expected. Yearly expansions aren't the best thing for players. Longer expansions give players time to explore the world and story and the team time to create a polished expansion.

I agree with that 100%. People never wanted yearly expansions, they just wanted the time between one expansion's last patch and the launch of the next one reduced.

 

[ZenaxPure]

Like, unless 7.2 (or whatever patch) adds some totally different, new landmass, it's going to feel like a cop out.

He specifically said they replaced it with something else instead. So it's not just cut content in the sense that "welp now we have less to look forward to." they came up with a different zone instead (wouldn't say what it was though).

Playing on the beta I can totally see where he is coming from, 3 of the zones have the whole destroyed night elf thing going on to varying degrees.