Patch 7.1.5 Legion Developer Classes Q&A

Posted 2016/12/07 at 11:54 AM by Wowhead

Watch live video from on www.twitch.tvSummary of Class PointsDeath Knight

Blizzard is aware of RNG issues caused by Festering Wound in conjunction with ; one potential solution is to cap the amount of Festering Wound consumed to 4, and have each grant 2 ghouls.

Demon Hunter

Working on making viable DPS builds for Havoc that do not rely on Fel Rush or Vengeful Retreat as rotational abilities with Exergy, through changes to Fel Barrage and examining other synergies.

Hunter

Mostly happy with the state of Marksmanship Hunters.

Monk

Storm, Earth, and Fire has mechanical issues that will either be fixed for 7.1.5 or buffed to account for the bug.

is also either getting bugfixes or some buffs.

Mage

Rune of Power is a controversial talent that should be situational but instead has widespread use. In the short term, other talent row options like Mirror Image will be buffed, but Rune of Power may need design changes in the future.

Paladin

Holy Paladins playstyle is strong single-target; unlikely more AoE or HoTs on the way.

is not in a good place and Blizzard is working on a replacement.

Priest

The goal of the talent row is to have robust alternatives but Blizzard is not there yet. The goal is to have a tipping point in longer fights where other talents are better.

Rogue

Roll the Bones RNG is fine in its current state and signature to Outlaw. Slice and Dice is meant to be an alternate but doesn't feel compelling right now.

Warlock

Affliction has many changes in 7.1.5 and Blizzard is listening to feedback about Soul Effigy and strengthening other talents in the row.

Demonic Empowerment feels slow to get started and is a large problem that requires iteration.

For Destruction Warlocks, Blizzard misses the granularity of Embers. Working on making Destruction Soul Shards behave like old Embers, where your abilities generate parts of Embers/reskinned Soul Shards.

Items

In the latest PTR build, the Warrior tier helm now has haste/mastery.

The Emerald Dreamcatcher will be nerfed but also designed in a different direction; your throughput should be unchanged if you have it, but you'll be less-behind if you don't have it.

Expect more tuning for legendaries to tone down the universally useful ones.

The droprate of legendaries will continue to increase, as more are added to the game.

Tanks will have more armor and stamina on their items to make item level upgrades appealing over choosing the best secondary stat.

The secondary stat changes were not messaged properly at first and the main goal was to improve the desirability of higher item level items. In the recent build, the item budget has been increased to compensate for changed ratings.

Re: Class QuestionsSecondary Stat Changes in 7.1.5Q: Is the secondary stat "squish" going to affect some classes more than others?Q: Secondary changes and Jewelry changes encourage stat stacking even more?Q: What is being done to ensure tanks want ilvl upgrades since primary stats matter less to them?Mechanical Changes in 7.1.5Q: What is the reason for the large mechanical changes slated for 7.1.5? Why is it similar to expansion sized change?Warlock SpecsQ: Long term plans for warlocks? None of the specs feel fun to play.

Affliction is getting lots of changes in 7.1.5 and we're listening to the feedback about the awkwardness of the interactive talent Soul Effigy. We wanted single target fights to feel fun as a multidotting fights. Changes coming to tabbing with this as well. Other talents in that row should be strengthened here as well.

Demo: Demonic Empowerment feels slow to get started and a lot of juggling things. A lot of the fun can get lost in the mess here. This is a large problem that requires iteration, not just a numbers fix. We are testing this and looking for feedback. We do want to get patches out, and some things get tabled. For the class team, that means they have to make choices about what gets focused on. The lock issues are something we want to fix during the expansion but we didn't feel like we could fit them into this dev cycle. We get that you want improvements and that you want them now. The reality is there are 36 specs.

Destro: The goal of Legion was to consolidate resources, but we miss the granularity of Embers (eg get partial embers for Incinerate ticks). The answer here will require some redesign and design support for UI. Destruction Soul Shards ideally will behave like Embers where you generate parts of Embers; this is better for the rotation flow. This will basically be Soul Shards reskinned as embers. It COULD work with chunky soul shards but this would be a very different spec; we liked embers and want to go back to that.

Havoc DPS and ExergyQ: Can Havoc has a viable DPS build that doesn't use Fel Rush or Vengeful Retreat as core abilities?Fel BarrageExergyBalance Druid LegendaryQ: The The Emerald Dreamcatcher nerf only helps lessen the pain between balance druids but also nerfs us in single target to make up for this nerf?The Emerald DreamcatcherWarrior T19 ItemizationQ: Why is there no piece for warriors with haste/mastery in T19?Warhelm of the Obsidian AspectUnholy Death Knight and RNGQ: Unholy DKs rely on RNG and to some degree on the right legendary to do competitive dps. Any improvements to UHDK systems?The Instructor's Fourth LessonThe Emerald DreamcatcherRunic CorruptionSudden DoomFestering WoundFestering WoundRogues and Roll the BonesQ: Any plans on Roll the Bones RNG?Slice and DiceRoll the BonesSlice and DiceRet Paladins and Q: Why is a thing? Rets dislike this.Shadow Priests and Q: changes?Windwalker Monk Bug FixesQ: Any word on Storm, Earth, and Fire changes for WW monks?Mages and Rune of PowerQ: Can you once and for all remove Rune of Power? It's a burden and mandatory for raiding.Rune of PowerMirror ImageHoly PaladinsQ: Is there a possibility for Holy Paladins to have more AOE or Hots?Marksmanship HuntersQ: Marksman is seen as the top raiding spec for hunters. Many of us don't like the mechanic and standing still for Aimed Shot.Aimed ShotArtifact Power and Knowledge in 7.1.5Q: Any plans to stop us from hoarding AP before 7.1.5?Q: Why isn't AK account wide?Research compendiumsAccount Wide IntentionsQ: Any plans for making more things account wide? Compendiums for reputation for example?Load Screen FixesQ: When can we expect a fix for the load screen problem?LegendariesQ: Legendary usability - some require a specific situation to be useful and otherwise feel like they aren't there at all?Sephuz's SecretQ: Why are QOL boosts done by legendaries? Like the BM Hunter shouldersQ: Any plan for a catch up mechanic for first 2 legendaries for alts?Closing Thoughts

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Comment by arthasbgLike the Havoc plans. I kinda got tried of jumping/dashing around to have maximum damage output.Comment by Rilgon"Q: Why is there no piece for warriors with haste/mastery in T19?
A: We just changed a bunch of stuff so there should be a haste/mastery tier piece for warriors now."

One usable piece out of six. Oohhhhhh boy.

Meanwhile Warlocks have zero optimum (Haste/Crit) pieces and only one decent (Haste/Versatility) piece. Neat %^&*.Comment by linkmastr001"Q: Why is there no piece for warriors with haste/mastery in T19?
A: We just changed a bunch of stuff so there should be a haste/mastery tier piece for warriors now."

One usable piece out of six. Oohhhhhh boy.

Meanwhile Warlocks have zero optimum (Haste/Crit) pieces and only one decent (Haste/Versatility) piece. Neat %^&*.Cloak of Azj'AqirClutch of Azj'AqirEyes of Azj'AqirComment by tazeelThey still didn't understand that legacy of the void and mind spike are dps loss regardless of the situation. One l'opera the "big damage " phase of the spec, the other make it fell like a bad demonology warlock- that is the most boring spec in the game right now.

And marksmanship... "yeah the spec is boring we're happy with that"Comment by linkmastr001"Q: Why is there no piece for warriors with haste/mastery in T19?
A: We just changed a bunch of stuff so there should be a haste/mastery tier piece for warriors now."

One usable piece out of six. Oohhhhhh boy.

Meanwhile Warlocks have zero optimum (Haste/Crit) pieces and only one decent (Haste/Versatility) piece. Neat %^&*.Cloak of Azj'AqirClutch of Azj'AqirEyes of Azj'Aqir Meanwhile Warlocks have zero optimum (Haste/Crit) pieces and only one decent (Haste/Versatility) piece. Neat %^&*.Comment by RilgonActually, the PTR versions for these are what you want... (is there a way to link specifically to PTR versions?)
Haste/Crit
*Cloak of Azj'Aqir

Haste/Vers
*Clutch of Azj'Aqir
*Eyes of Azj'AqirComment by JaceDraccusAnd marksmanship... "yeah the spec is boring we're happy with that"Comment by DarkAviatorThat's it? Pretty disappointing.
They seem to not understand that if they mention some specs specifically, that the players can see this as everything else being okay in Blizzards eyes. Which I hope isn't true.

Also, no info on Hati :(Comment by ShelassaThis Q&A has all but cemented my decision to leave WoW until a later point. There are currently too many things I do not like in the game, and sadly too many of them are too deeply intertwined with core systems of this particular expansion.

Not like I won't return, I definetely would want to check out 7.3, but it's still bitterly ironic that I didn't leave during Warlords only to unsub in Legion :D

BM Hunter, crippled by the "class fantasy".Comment by darkelemental1Legion is all about fixing the problems they made while letting players deal with their bad designs. Every single class is getting reworked in some fashion. WoD was about lack of content, Legion is about broken gameplay. Across 2 xpac I've lost all trust in the Ion dev team.Comment by ladilock"Next Q&A should be first couple weeks of January! Probably around 7.1.5 release (which will be after the holidays)."

So there is your answer peeps. No 7.1.5 until after the New Year. What a crappy boring Christmas break it's going to be this year....

Legion seemed like an Awesome expansion, at least the idea behind it has been. It is a shame they have such good ideas like WQ and the Artifacts, yet they are still revamping classes 3 months into the xpac. IMO they were completely unprepared for Legion and were most likely given a deadline even though they weren't ready to go live. Sort of ironic if you think about it. The xpac is based around Illidan, and his most famous line is "YOU ARE NOT PREPARED."Comment by VynallanWindwalker Monk Bug Fixes
Q: Any word on Storm Earth Fire changes for WW monks?
A: Yes there are mechanical issues we're working on getting fixed for 7.1.5. If we don't make that fix in time, the numbers will be tuned around those bugs. We're also looking at cooldown interactions on Serenity. Some issues in reducing cooldowns but ti wasn't behaving symmetrically so we put a fix in. We are looking into bug fixes or buffing serenity. The relative weighting in that row needs tuning.

It* small mistake.Comment by 1628359Wait... 7.1.5 is dropping in JAN 2017? Seriously? Arrg...Comment by RendexStormrageLiterally zero talk about warrior problems except saying that our T19 has ONE piece with the stats we need. What the hell.. We have been ignored and nerfed this expansion.Comment by TheOldBearAm I the only person who likes Greater Blessing of Might?Comment by darquisI'm a bit disappointed in the response on Marksman - they nerfed some of their AOE (and the buff to blasting shot only helps much if you're using the legendary), and they monkeyed w/Patient Sniper a bit, but did almost nothing to resolve the last tier being mandatory sidewinders, and they made the class more focus starved. Not sure how that's fine where it is..Comment by EnticeWait... 7.1.5 is dropping in JAN 2017? Seriously? Arrg...Comment by MaudenHere's the problem I have. Fire does not need more Int to recover from the secondary squish, because Crit will always > Int. Similar to Boomkins being Haste > Int.

The squish is a nerf to fire, and a nerf to boomkins. Possibly other classes as well, but those are the two I know the weights for off-hand.Comment by jjanchanOne usable piece out of six. Oohhhhhh boy.

Meanwhile Warlocks have zero optimum (Haste/Crit) pieces and only one decent (Haste/Versatility) piece. Neat %^&*.Legion is all about fixing the problems they made while letting players deal with their bad designs. Every single class is getting reworked in some fashion. WoD was about lack of content, Legion is about broken gameplay. Across 2 xpac I've lost all trust in the Ion dev team.Here's the problem I have. Fire does not need more Int to recover from the secondary squish, because Crit will always > Int. Similar to Boomkins being Haste > Int.

The squish is a nerf to fire, and a nerf to boomkins. Possibly other classes as well, but those are the two I know the weights for off-hand.Comment by chindokInterview starts at 5:31

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