10.0 Predictions/Discussion

[Eleannor]

Good god, I missed that. Would you point me to the right place again to find that in the interview? While I admit I'm going speculation crazy this week, saying that they might "add" Cataclysm is HUGE [...]

It is as @Chops said. In an interview (too lazy to find it), they said all expansions will be available to level from 10 to 60. That might mean the 80-85 content added in Cataclysm (Ex.: Uldum zone, Stonecore Dungeon etc.) will be available.

In fact, I believe Cataclysm Chromie Time requires level30 is because Blizzard wants you to get a Flying Mount before questing there (which should not be a thing, since they have added pseudo-flying mounts for questing before).

You can get some of my reasoning in this Forum Post (which you guys can repply for more exposition).

 

[Dragpz]

Found this tidbit about Interrupts being baked into the talent tree rather than being baseline. Mass healer meta inc in SL??? Death to hunter meta after 10+ years???!?

https://www.wowhead.com/news/wow-dr...-faq-blizzard-answers-player-questions-326796

"What about some abilities that are super important for gameplay, such as interrupt abilities, that you don’t gain from the starting experience?"

- We are currently trying to focus as many combat-altering abilities as possible into the new talent trees. This can include things such as movement abilities, interrupts, dispels, hybrid healing options, defensive abilities, etc. Our goal is to set up the trees and paths so that there opportunities to choose between different types of utility, but not to, for example, abandon all utility choices entirely in order to maximize your DPS. If you choose not to have an interrupt, it is likely because you traded it out for some other type of utility or CC that you believed would be more useful in the situation. The inverse is also true—specializations that do not have a certain capability in Shadowlands (such as an interrupt) may be able to obtain it by giving up something they currently do have.

 

[Nutsmite]

Found this tidbit about Interrupts being baked into the talent tree rather than being baseline. Mass healer meta inc in SL??? Death to hunter meta after 10+ years???!?

https://www.wowhead.com/news/wow-dr...-faq-blizzard-answers-player-questions-326796

"What about some abilities that are super important for gameplay, such as interrupt abilities, that you don’t gain from the starting experience?"

- We are currently trying to focus as many combat-altering abilities as possible into the new talent trees. This can include things such as movement abilities, interrupts, dispels, hybrid healing options, defensive abilities, etc. Our goal is to set up the trees and paths so that there opportunities to choose between different types of utility, but not to, for example, abandon all utility choices entirely in order to maximize your DPS. If you choose not to have an interrupt, it is likely because you traded it out for some other type of utility or CC that you believed would be more useful in the situation. The inverse is also true—specializations that do not have a certain capability in Shadowlands (such as an interrupt) may be able to obtain it by giving up something they currently do have.

Is this the era of casters? No longer do I need to fake cast for 4s just to be stunned at the end of the day?

 

[Bakedaflol]

Is this the era of casters? No longer do I need to fake cast for 4s just to be stunned at the end of the day?

Can't find the original comment.
I've heard what he's mentioning in the developer interviews... And I'm fairly sure that they were just explaining how the current talent-system forces you to make a choice between something like a Stun or interupt with something else, with no other choices.
And how this talent system lets you make and keep more choices.

In short, I think that was just anectodal explaination. I wouldn't worry about it

 

[Bop]

Found this tidbit about Interrupts being baked into the talent tree rather than being baseline. Mass healer meta inc in SL??? Death to hunter meta after 10+ years???!?

https://www.wowhead.com/news/wow-dr...-faq-blizzard-answers-player-questions-326796

"What about some abilities that are super important for gameplay, such as interrupt abilities, that you don’t gain from the starting experience?"

- We are currently trying to focus as many combat-altering abilities as possible into the new talent trees. This can include things such as movement abilities, interrupts, dispels, hybrid healing options, defensive abilities, etc. Our goal is to set up the trees and paths so that there opportunities to choose between different types of utility, but not to, for example, abandon all utility choices entirely in order to maximize your DPS. If you choose not to have an interrupt, it is likely because you traded it out for some other type of utility or CC that you believed would be more useful in the situation. The inverse is also true—specializations that do not have a certain capability in Shadowlands (such as an interrupt) may be able to obtain it by giving up something they currently do have.

I mean practically every class that can interrupt will take interrupt. If anything, this will make things more interrupt focused.

It's starting to sound like this system either (1) offers us more selections / hybridization options [restokin, as an example]; or (2) allows us to take a forced path to access a higher level ability [21-39, roughly] that we could not access before.

Personally, I think that's a great system for us.

You get to make decisions like whether you want your Rdruid to spec moonkin for dots (hypothetically: best option in general) or spec into kitty for skull bash (niche option). I like it.

 

[Chops]

I mean practically every class that can interrupt will take interrupt. If anything, this will make things more interrupt focused.

It's starting to sound like this system either (1) offers us more selections / hybridization options [restokin, as an example]; or (2) allows us to take a forced path to access a higher level ability [21-39, roughly] that we could not access before.

Personally, I think that's a great system for us.

You get to make decisions like whether you want your Rdruid to spec moonkin for dots (hypothetically: best option in general) or spec into kitty for skull bash (niche option). I like it.

I took it to mean (in context with the rest of the discussion) that utility stuff like kicks, stuns, disarms, etc will be in the "class tree" while damage abilities and increasers will be in the "spec" tree.

Though the outcome is the same as you noted. We could see a return of legitimate Spellhance shaman, bleed warriors, Shockadins... all very exciting.

Though I think its a bit more likely that we end up with a toolkit selection more in line with BFA than SL. I'd bet a hefty chunk of change that the vast majority of specs end up with less buttons to push in DF than they currently have.

 

[toskosa]

Not a huge fan of the diea of dispels and kickes being talents but I would also like to see some alpha/beta version of these trees before I start qqing.

 

[Lateraldrop]

a return of legitimate Spellhance shaman.

Rude.

 

[Grimzee]

I hope the talent tree isnt a way to prune abilities for controller support

 

[rockworldofwarcraft]

I'd love to see some more options for spell-hance... but, just being able to put some points into something does not really change it from the way it is right now. What we are going to get is a hybrid of now and the point system... not classic wow.

The three things that made spell-hance even a thing was being able to go deep into 2 trees, windfury was a 2-hander nuke and not what it is now, and using the best gear with piece bonuses on it. We won't have any of those (outside of just desolation crit), we will just be able to maybe put 10 points into making frost shock better or something like that.

I hope they can do something to make it feel like classic, but I serious doubt it.... the main thing being windfury is not what it was when spell-hance was even a thing... and we won't be able to go deep into really utilizing the things that made spell-hance even an option.

 

[Kirise]

I hope the talent tree isnt a way to prune abilities for controller support

That's a really good question. I imagine it is indeed, but I don't think we'll see a major impact on the PC side. Ground target spells e.g. placement totems, spells like Healing Rain, and engineering grenades/bombs pose the greatest problems for controllers. If the spell is a staple to gameplay (like Healing Rain for PvE), I can see Blizzard changing that. They'll let the rest go.

 

[Chops]

I cannot imagine the masochism involved in making a variety of builds on a complex talent tree with a controller. Just kill me.

 

[glancealot]

I hope the talent tree isnt a way to prune abilities for controller support

they will dumb everything down and make PVP as complex as diablo 3.

 

[Kirise]

I cannot imagine the masochism involved in making a variety of builds on a complex talent tree with a controller. Just kill me.

Figure out how to make 10 buttons, two analog sticks and a digital 4-way crossbar into a serviceable interface? Yes please! I'm that masochist. Off the top of my head:

Left stick for movement, right stick for camera, left and right upper triggers for tab targeting, lower left trigger for the new empower spell mechanic, lower right trigger as a modifier button, and the other 8 buttons (4 buttons + 4-way directional pad) provide 16 options for various spells and abilities. Masochistic players will map the lower left trigger to a second modifier, to bring the number of available abilities to 32 instead of using what inevitably will be something like an instant 8-way on-screen menu when hitting a button.

And since we're on a fast path to crazy town, consider this: once Blizzard develops a halfway decent controller scheme, they resolve the major non-technical hurdle standing in the way of bringing WoW to VR.

 

[rockworldofwarcraft]

Figure out how to make 10 buttons, two analog sticks and a digital 4-way crossbar into a serviceable interface? Yes please! I'm that masochist. Off the top of my head:

Left stick for movement, right stick for camera, left and right upper triggers for tab targeting, lower left trigger for the new empower spell mechanic, lower right trigger as a modifier button, and the other 8 buttons (4 buttons + 4-way directional pad) provide 16 options for various spells and abilities. Masochistic players will map the lower left trigger to a second modifier, to bring the number of available abilities to 32 instead of using what inevitably will be something like an instant 8-way on-screen menu when hitting a button.

And since we're on a fast path to crazy town, consider this: once Blizzard develops a halfway decent controller scheme, they resolve the major non-technical hurdle standing in the way of bringing WoW to VR.

I'd just take out the Gran Turismo steering wheel and aimed shot people with the peddles.

 

[orcgazmatron]

I hope the talent tree isnt a way to prune abilities for controller support

As cool as I think a WoW port to the console decks would be, I don't ever see it happening; with the heavy reliance on add-ons that modern ( & Classic ) has. It would mean a complete re-organization & re-thinking of the complexity of years worth of Raid encounters.

My concern is that the Talent Tree is just a glossy re-gifting of our talent selection screen, & that after all, it will do very little for our own customization; serving only to foment interest in a game that's shit in the souls of it's loyal player-base for 3 years straight.

 

[glancealot]

with the interface changes, it is clear that they are planning to port WoW over to xbox (Microsoft is buying WoW after all).

PvP will be less complex for most specs at 20.

 

[Chops]

My concern is that the Talent Tree is just a glossy re-gifting of our talent selection screen, & that after all, it will do very little for our own customization

I had this thought too. Oh, you get a talent tree! But wait, it takes 5 points in my spec tree to get Sudden Death and 5 points in my class tree to snag pummel. So... ok, nothing changed. At level 20 I'm choosing between Skullsplitter and Sudden Death still.

But then they talked about how the class tree would get "starter points" for free and I think that opened up the realm of interesting talent choices for us. So I'm remaining optimistic here. It's also worth remembering that they arent designing these trees with us in mind. So whether or not they work out for 20, its still a really good move for end game.

 

[Nutsmite]

they will dumb everything down and make PVP as complex as diablo 3.

So like... Twinking?

 

[Dragpz]

As cool as I think a WoW port to the console decks would be, I don't ever see it happening; with the heavy reliance on add-ons that modern ( & Classic ) has. It would mean a complete re-organization & re-thinking of the complexity of years worth of Raid encounters.

My concern is that the Talent Tree is just a glossy re-gifting of our talent selection screen, & that after all, it will do very little for our own customization; serving only to foment interest in a game that's shit in the souls of it's loyal player-base for 3 years straight.

I'm also cautiously optimistic about this new talent tree. With the announcement of Diablo Immortal being available on PC in addition to the expansion being a year out, things are gonna change for sure and I'm sure they'll at least give community feedback some consideration