Legion Thoughts

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Ishiner
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Legion Thoughts

Unread post by Ishiner »

I was lucky enough to get a beta invite and I wanted to share some of my thoughts:

Death Knight:
There are fewer active attacks, but all of our cooldowns have a shorter duration.
Speccing into Murderous efficiency, obliteration, and gathering storm is great for leveling.

Ice in Your Veins (artifact trait) is an absolute must in PVP. You should be able to get this before max level.
Mirror Ball (artifact trait) is also a must for PVP.

PVP:
Initial levels are going to be fast. Getting to level 2 takes one BG win as of right now. I got to level 3 with one win and one loss. For my loss, I got one strongbox, an item that gave me 5 artifact power, and 100 honor. For my win, I got three strongboxes, an item that gave me 50 artifact power, 300 honor, and a PVP item. The strongboxes have contained gold, potions usable in BG's, and crafting reagents.

Here were my secondary stats as a frost DK with blue PVP gear

12% haste
16% crit
29% mastery
10% versitility

30% more hp than a priest (I was on the upper end of the HP pool.)

Daemon hunters are already really annoying in PVP. I had one jump into combat with three of us, stun us, do some damage, and then jump out of combat by the time the stun wore off.

This is probably from lack of organization and heals, but PVP feels faster. I suspect survival is going to be based (more so than live) around proper cooldown management.

Artifact:
There are items that increase your artifact power to level up your weapon. It doesn't happen until you use the item because it works on your equipped weapon, so if you need to switch weapon you can make sure the power goes where you want. These items come from everywhere: random drops, quests, PVP, and (I assume) dungeons and raids.

There are also items similar to gems that you can socket into your artifact. These increase the ilvl and can increase the level of certain abilities when equipped. I don't know if they can increase beyond max level.

I will add more as I play more, but I need to sleep.
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Ishiner
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Re: Legion Thoughts

Unread post by Ishiner »

The 100 and 300 honor was bonus honor in addition to the honor from the BG.

There are way more prestige levels than had originally though. I can't imagine farming honor for your first set of pvp talents would take too terribly long.
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Ishiner
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Re: Legion Thoughts

Unread post by Ishiner »

DK Changes:
Runes are all the same type. Three can be recharging at any time, and spending runic power has a chance to reset spent runes.

Killing machine is only consumed by obliterate (or frostscythe if you take the talent). The rotation feels mostly the same. I try keep three runes recharging at all times and follow the procs of Killing Machine and Rime.

Obliteration is useful in two ways: you can alternate back and forth with frost strike to get a series of crits in a row, or repeatedly use obliterate to generate a massive amount of runic power. If you are using Murderous Efficiency and using frost strike to proc killing machine then with three crits: you have a 1/8 chance of spending 3 total runes, 3/8 of spending 2 total runes, 3/8 of spending 1 total rune, and 1/8 of spending 0 runes. If you start with 35 runic power you should have enough for all of your frost strikes and you should end with 20 runic power. Combined together, these mean that even after your burst ability is over you are still likely going to have enough runes and runic power to continue sustaining dps. This combined with our other cooldowns make me feel like single target burst DPS has improved significantly.

Howling blast only does about 40% of damage as compared to live, but Rime increases damage by 300%. After your opener, you are only going to use Howling Blast when Rime procs.

Death strike heals based off of how much damage you have taken and now uses runic power instead of runes. Overall our self healing took a massive hit. Using death strike at the appropriate time is something I haven't quite worked out, but is going to be key to staying alive in PVP. The times I have used this correctly have been times where I seem to stay alive over incredible odds.

Empower Rune Weapon has its cooldown reduced to 3 min instead of 5. One of the talents makes the effect take place over time meaning you are less likely to have wasted runes/runic power.

Chains of ice now generates runic power. With runes all being the same type, you are less likely to lock yourself out of being able to use obliterate. Use this instead of howling blast to generate runic power outside of melee range (at least for PVP)
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Ishiner
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Re: Legion Thoughts

Unread post by Ishiner »

Demon Hunters (take 2, since the forums ate my first post...)

This class feel like playing a rogue, minus the stealth, plus even more mobility.

Survivability seems to come from locking down casters and moving fast enough to selectively engage other melee. Expect DH's to kite you a lot.

If you can lock them down with roots or stuns, they with die fast.

Metamorphosis is their big DPS cooldown. Visually, it is extremely obvious. It is going to be very easy to know when to switch targets to either focus them or CC.

Eye Beam is an aoe ability that hits everything in a straight line. It also roots the DH in place for the duration (3-4.5 seconds depending on talents) Smart PVPers aren't generally going to use this, but we don't always play against smart people. Just like Metamorphosis, it is visually distinct. When it ends, throw on another root or stun to really put the hurt on a DH.

Soul fragments can heal a DH for 25% of their HP and are generated when they kill something. They can also spawn about 15 yards away and will need to move to get them.

Glide is essential a free slow fall. Keep an eye on the sky in maps like AB.
Leyujin
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Re: Legion Thoughts

Unread post by Leyujin »

This is great info, thanks Raukon. As I'm leveling up a DK right now, this is a big help.

What're your thoughts on the other classes you've been fighting in PvP?
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Ishiner
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Re: Legion Thoughts

Unread post by Ishiner »

Playing on the PVP server is a bit bias. You start with full artifact and PVP talents. As a result, most people are just finding out how their class functions. The majority of the people in the BG's don't care about winning or losing, so most people just fight in the roads.

Also, it feels like 1 in 3 people is playing a Demon Hunter in BG's.

I will update as my thoughts coalesce.
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