Blizzard
As we mentioned before, the next PTR build will have a fairly substantial number of new class changes. We wanted to provide some insight into our goals and strategy with these changes, particularly for the specs that have seen the most change. Note that one of our overarching goals with Patch 7.1.5 is to increase talent diversity by making some of the less popular talents more attractive, which may open up new styles of play and new ways to approach different situations for all specializations, not just those we've listed here.
Protection 战士:While Protection's performance is still solid, we want to provide
复仇 a clearer role in the live rotation, and eliminate the need for an off-GCD ability (
怒火聚焦) to deal damage. To address both of these problems,
复仇 is made into a higher-damage ability, which is used rotationally with its usual activation proc, but can also be used outside of that proc by spending Rage. This eliminates the need for
怒火聚焦.
雷霆一击 will fill the role of a second Rage generator, and be used regularly while tanking. Also of note is a new talent that allows you to adopt a more open playstyle if you prefer, by making your auto attacks trigger
盾牌猛击s automatically, rather than fitting it into open spaces in your rotation.
Survival 猎人:Survival's most notable addition is some new gameplay for traps. As all Hunters will once again have traps in 7.1.5, we want to make sure that Survival still feels like the master of traps. In particular, we want to restore the concept of baiting enemies into traps, as opposed to merely dropping them at their feet for an immediate effect. A new Survival passive will grant all your traps an added effect if an enemy is led into the trap after it is placed, encouraging you to anticipate the movement of an enemy, or coordinate with your tank in group content. Talents further enhance this, allowing you to increase the bonus in situations where you can reliably make use of it, or to use a new effect on Steel Trap to singlehandedly eliminate enemies who walk into it of their own accord.
Marksmanship 猎人:We agree with players that
射击 currently relies far too much on
not only to do good damage, but also to make the rotation feel fun and rewarding. As such, we're changing baseline Vulnerability to essentially bake in
, and adding a new
talent in its place. We are also adjusting some talents to allow for more diversity within talent rows and reflect the change to the base rotation. In particular, the Level 100 row: while
响尾蛇 was commonly used in all situations for its effects on the rotation, we'd rather the base rotation felt fluid on its own, and
响尾蛇 was a talent focused on the wide-area cleave that is its most clear purpose. Among other changes to help with this,
no longer requires the targets to have Vulnerable to do strong damage, so builds without
响尾蛇 will be able to use it more effectively.
Shadow 牧师:Shadow's overall pacing is being adjusted so that the highest peak is at the end of
虚空形态, rather than just before the start of the next one. As a part of this,
is removed, but overall
狂乱 generation (and therefore
虚空形态 uptime) is increased. Additionally, Mind Sear is replaced with a new passive effect that allows Mind Flay to fulfill the same purpose. Shadow already has significant multi-target gameplay from the desire to maintain two damage-over-time effects on each target (a process which being is made smoother by allowing Void Bolt to extend DoTs on multiple targets at once). Finally, we are continuing to tweak the
狂乱 decay rate in
虚空形态, and the strength of
, to better balance the Level 100 row. We want to preserve the purpose and strengths of
for players who enjoy it, without it being quite so ubiquitous as it is currently.
Arcane 法师:Arcane is receiving several significant talent changes, to increase talent diversity and move away from some of the more problematic gameplay centered around
加速. In addition to a new Arcane-specific shield to replace
寒冰护体, there are few utility updates not yet on the PTR: Presence of Mind will be baseline for all Arcane Mages, and a new talent will be added that allows Arcane Missiles to be channeled while moving.
Fire 法师:While Fire was mostly in a good place, we're looking at two related issues in 7.1.5; the degree to which critical strike dominates other stats, and the overly high amount of damage concentrated into
燃烧. Focusing on critical strike's very strong contribution to the damage of
燃烧, as well as that of
炽烈之咒, addresses both of these. We'll be adjusting the damage of Fire's core spells to leave its total damage similar to what it was before these changes. We're also giving Fire its own element-themed shield, as with Arcane.
