border said:
DKs don't indicate a problem with having Hero Classes. They just indicate a problem with DK design. They gave them the best parts of almost every single class, and that was a poor way to go about it.
Right; I didn't say DKs specificly were the problem, merely that the last time Blizz added a new class, it was a complete fiasco. They could have added a Purple People-Eater class and it would have been the same terrible mess. Not picking specifically on DKs, lord knows that gets done often enough. Just saying that the fallout from their arrival was... unpleasant.
border said:
Only for Soul Burn? I kinda thought they'd at least introduce some new spells that require shards....maybe for tanking buffs (since the 3x Crit on Searing Pain seems to indicate that they want to have warlocks do a bit of specialized tanking or kiting at the very least).
Well, this is what I think is happening; Warlocks are getting an entirely new mechanic to separate them further from Mages. Management of your shards and choosing which spells to empower with Soul Burn will become the new norm for the class. Rather than ramp up their DPS by carefully planning their rotation (forgive me if this is wrong, I haven't played a mage.), I'm thinking Warlocks get three shards to play with, allowing them to pick for higher DPS / utility based on what their current needs are.
The best warlocks would be those that can quick assess combat and use their empowered spells (and thus, their limited supply of shards) wisely. If I'm right (and so far, I see no indication that I wouldn't be), you'd have three shards to power up any of your spells, and probably quite a few abilities or talents that affect how you regenerate / obtain them.
I am hoping we'll see more about this later today, but... like I said, from the sound of things, it sounds like Locks basically have an entirely new class mechanic; like Rogues with combo points, DKs with rune management, and now Hunters with Focus, locks may be getting a Shard system.
Hopefully Blizzard has realized that the best way to differentiate classes is not different colored versions of the same spells, and every class is getting a 'core mechanic' revamp like this, so that playing each is a completely different experience rather than different colored buttons and different colored icons to push in order.
From Blizzard:
Soul Shards are no longer in your bags. The goal is to make them fun, not a hassle.
Soul Shards will be integrated to the user interface. (Just like Death Knight runes)
You get three shards per fight, they will regen very quickly out of combat.
It will be possible to get more for long fights or mistakes through Drain Soul.
They are only used in combat, summons or demons won't use your shards.
So shards are not something you have to grab 20 of before going into a fight and keep a careful eye on; they regenerate on their own out of combat, but you have abilities that allow you to gain more in combat should you need them (though at the cost of DPS).
Soul Burn (New Spell) : Cost 1 Shard, 30 sec cooldown, off the GCD. Empowers your next spell, many (not all spells) behave differently when empowered.
* Empowered Searing Pain : Next 3 Searing Pains crit
* Empowered Summon Demon : Instant Cast
* Empowered Soulfire : Instant Cast
* Empowered Fear : Instant Cast
* Empowered Death Coil : Longer Horror, more healing received.
It sounds like most of the lock's spells will have empowered versions; while a lot of them have instant casts, there's the potential for new, interesting mechanics here; on-demand Ssearing Pain crits, for example. Empowering a spell could do any number of Really Cool Things, and hopefully Instant Casts are the least interesting thing they'll do... if done correctly, it would give every spell in your arsenal a souped-up version.
Could be very interesting, if you ask me.
