Blizzcon Day 2: Warcraft Roundup
So Day 2 is mostly done and dusted, and we had the final half of our televised WoW panels.
First up was the Game Systems panel, and here we learnt quite a bit, including some massive news for transmog junkies!
No cross faction chatter in Class Halls
This is a big one. And an amazingly dumb decision to boot. The fantasy is that you're the leader of your entire class, the head honcho, the boss, the guvnor. A leader of considerable power and repute, fresh from commanding a successful force on Draenor.
But you can't talk to those guys over there. Yeah, those guys, the other faction. They have cooties. Eww.
Despite, in lore, both factions being able to communicate freely with each other (see any cutscene featuring Horde & Alliance such as the end cinematic for Siege of Orgrimmar), you, as the leader of your entire class, can't.
Yep, that's right, you won't be able to communicate with 50% of the class you're meant to be leading.
Demon Hunters will rule them all
Demon Hunter mobility, if it wasn't already ridiculous enough, seems to have gotten even more OP. Not only can you double jump, but you can glide in mid-air and shoot yourself forward mid-air at will. If you thought DK's were overplayed in Wrath, man you ain't seen nothing yet...
Class Changes
Some good ones here for me.
First up, DK runes are being changed to all the same type of rune. No more death vs frost vs blood vs unholy runes. Nope, they're all going to be the same rune type, thereby simplifying the DK playstyle considerably and making cooldown usage a lot easier. This for me is a great change, because the current rune system is something I've never really gelled all that well with tbh. How will current DK players will react? Probably negatively, as I'm sure that complexity is something they've come to appreciate over the years since Wrath.
Arcane Mages now have Arcane Charges as a secondary resource in addition to mana.
Shadow Priests are changing quite a lot. They no longer use mana, and instead their new resource is Insanity. The story is that their power comes from the old gods IIRC, and the more they use their power, the more insane they go. The more insane they go, the more powerful their attacks become, and when they hit full insanity they go all hentai and sprout tentacles. This only lasts a short time before wearing off however, so Japanese schoolgirls the world over can breath a sigh of relief.
Disc Priests are also seeing a change in their play-style, albeit one they'll already be familiar with. In Legion Disc is going balls deep back into Atonement. They're going full on smite mode, and this is going to be their play-style going forwards, and considerably less waving of their bubble wands.
Demo Locks are going to be all about demon summoning, getting back to the classic vision of Demonology Warlocks. No more Lock tanks.
Guardian Druids, big and bulky as they are, somehow became about dodging incoming damage? Doesn't fit with common sense, so they'll be the tanks with high health as they are now, but a lot more armour and straight up soaking damage.
Subtlety Rogues are becoming fucking ninjas bitches. Zip, zip, zip STABBY STABBY STAB....zip. Rinse & Repeat.
The big change though, it gets its own section...
NO MORE RESPEC! TRI-SPEC! QUAD-SPEC!
Yes! Finally, after years of pleading and begging, having to make a choice of specs and having to re-spec at the trainer if you wanted to go from Resto/Guardian to Resto/Boomkin, no more! You'll be able to use any spec available to your class at any time. For most classes that will mean tri-spec, and for druids it means quad-spec...
Professions get *some* love. Finally.
While there was no news on improving the levelling of professions in a similar manner to that seen in Engineering during Warlords (see my 1-700 Engineering guide in under 6½ minutes here), what is there at the moment is going to see some improvement.
Recipes won't all be learnt from your profession trainer, but will instead be picked up out and about in the world. These recipes themselves will have 3 levels, and the higher a level you are in making something, the more efficient you are at making it.
Each profession will also have a tab with all the unlearned recipes you're missing. This tab will also have information against each as-yet unlearned recipe about where and how to get it. Nice, and excellent for completionists.
Engineering helms btw? Oh yeah. And as a bonus? THEY FIRE FUCKING MIND BULLETS GAIS! Seriously, they have an on-use effect that fires a bullet at your target.
Major glyphs are GONE. DEAD. NO MORE. Instead it'll all be minor glyphs. However, you're not limited to 3 glyphs any longer. Instead, you'll apply the glyph directly to the spell slot for the ability it amends. Without limit. Awesome.
Itemisation
So, it looks like orange is not the new black, it's the new purple. Well, to a degree.
Legendaries will drop in the over-world, and these will be items with awesome effects. Like HoT/DoT effects doing their remaining damage all at once? Yeah, ok, so big deal right?
Well when you have that big chunk of damage/healing tick, it'll tick again, and again, and again on each further tick, for the full duration of the effect. Like I said, awesome. Nerf durids OP.
Duplicate personal loot can be traded. If it's the same ilevel or worse than what you've got or had in the past (yes they track that, and that's going to be mega-important later in this post, I'll come back to it), then you'll be able to trade it to anyone else that was in on the kill. Any reason to keep using Master Looter? Nope! \o/
Transmog
Ok, this is the big one. This is what absolutely sold me on this expansion. Even if the raiding's shit. Even if the 5 mans are wank, I'll still be buying and playing Legion. Why exactly am I so excited?
Ok, first up, the Wardrobe is definitely IN and working. Once an item is soulbound to you, it will be unlocked in the Wardrobe.
ACCOUNT WIDE!
Yep, if you unlock a piece of mail on your hunter, you can use that look on your shaman. Unlock the sweet DK helm in Heart of Fear on your Paladin? You'll be able to use that on your Warrior. Or DK if you must.
You'll also be able to save a set of trans-mogged gear as an outfit as well. Per spec! So you can have different looks on each spec!
They're going to take everything in your current void storage & banks and automatically unlock those as well.
The kicker? The thing that had the crowd go absolutely fucking nuts?
Blizzard are going to go back through all the quest items you've ever had, and they're going to unlock those and put them into your wardrobe too!
EVEN THE ONES YOU DIDN'T FUCKING CHOOSE!
Seriously. That is one mega-sized shit-ton of work. Every quest you've ever done. On every character you've ever had. Unlocking every quest reward you've ever had and never had.
Whoah.
Q&A Panel Info
So after the awesomeness that was the transmog junkies wet dream above, we were straight into the Q&A panel. Let's bullet point this mother:
- Flight will be unlocked later in the expansion, not unlockable at launch. However Hunters get some awesome class-specific flight paths no other classes get.
- The one reality-transcending Legion vs one Legion per-reality will be addressed in Legion.
- No updates for the TBC races' starting zones.
- Running into Alleria and Turalyon will change the way we view WoW...?
- Class Quests are pretty much the Artifact quest system this expansion.
- Dalaran has some big secret protecting it from the Legion.
- Artifacts will have catch-up mechanics for secondary/tertiary specs.
- Karazhan may become a new 5 man dungeon at some point in Legion?
- We will be running into the expansion-end boss throughout the expansion, similarly to Arthas in WotLK.
- Bolvar will be making a cameo appearance.
- Jaina is a dreadlord. They said she wasn't, but we all know they're lying.
So that was Day 2, and I'm finishing this Blizzcon a bit happier than I was going in, but I'll process my thoughts and do a final thoughts blog post in a day or two.