GCD, Covenant Utility, Castle Nathria - Shadowlands Interview with Morgan Day and Preach

Shadowlands Posted 2020/05/12 at 2:51 PM by Squishei

Watch Interview with Morgan Day of Blizzard from Preachlfw on www.twitch.tvShadowlands System GuidesHighlights

Based on community feedback, they're now consider a mode to infinitely play Torghast for Prestige Rewards.

The next build will (hopefully) have all Covenant abilities testable in Torghast. The Covenant will rotate on a daily basis.

Portions of the Covenant system are still not online -- Soulbinds, Conduits, Legendaries. Conduits can be made to fill in gaps between Covenants

They agree that multiple buttons in a row is a problem, but don't necessarily agree that removing them from the GCD is the solution. They're looking for feedback on the worst offenders of the GCD issues.

Nothing currently to announce about Shadow Priest, but they know it's an issue.

LiveblogBlackwater Behemoth

They set out to design an underwater boss and as long as people didn't completely hate it, it's considered a success!

Leveling Alts to play Torghast

The main goal of Torghast is to create a piece of content or game mode that hasn't been seen in WoW before.

The possibilities are endless and lots of developers are playing rogue-like games themselves.

They knew early on that the Jailer and the Tower was part of Shadowlands and some people wanted to climb it.

What Will Live Torghast Look Like?

Torghast is still evolving and something they're still talking about.

This is a piece of content that can scale from playing solo to a party of 5. They learned a lot from Horrific Visions and the tuning.

Based on community feedback, they are considering revisiting the idea of playing Torghast infinitely that could have cosmetic rewards.

This infinite mode was compared to the Mage Tower and the prestige rewards but there will also be the "regular" mode that will require keys that will drop Legendary components.

Class Fantasy in Torghast

The focus in Torghast is class fantasy, not necessarily spec fantasy

While all druid specs can use Growl, a Guardian Druid may value this slightly differently than the other specs.

Class Testing in Torghast

They didn't think of testing class changes in Torghast.

There are a lot of Anima Powers and its possible that some Anima Powers may actually make it as Legendary Powers!

Dungeon Length

Dungeon length being shorter isn't necessarily a goal.

Halls of Atonement and Necrotic Wake are level up dungeons, so they probably aren't as long as some of the max-level dungeons seen in the past like Arcway or Siege of Boralus.

This is Alpha, and the dungeons could also be undertuned.

The next dungeon on Alpha, Mists of Tirna Scithe, is also the only 3 boss dungeon and it has a unique Trash section with a Trickster.

Affixes and Dungeon Design

They want to avoid feelings of "this dungeon is dead" like Waycrest and Sanguine.

If a dungeon is slightly harder or easier in a week because of affixes, that's fine. The issue is when the delta between weeks is massive.

They're considering turning on Mythic+ early on the testing cycle, compared to BFA beta, to smooth out some of the rough edges early even if the Seasonal affix isn't ready yet.

Castle Nathria and Environmental Mechanics

There are quite a few environment-based bosses in Castle Nathria

They want it to feel unique, so they only want to use it when it makes sense.

On the Denathrius encounter, you'll be falling to a new floor and it'll be a multiple-floor fight.

It was also hinted that Sire Denathrius could also have an interesting past.

Mythic Only Phases

They are really really cool, and Mythic phases like Cho'gall made sense when there's an interesting story hook.

When they do a Mythic phase, they want to make sure it's exciting and not a routing standard.

Covenant Swapping Update

They're not done making stuff yet -- Soulbinds, Conduits and Legendaries are still coming online.

They want to get these out as soon as possible, so that they get more time for feedback.

They've identified Conduits would be a great tuning knob for unique benefits. If they identify that Kyrian Warlock is very single target, they can create an AoE conduit.

If there's something that appears to be way out of line, they're working on changing those -- for example changing the Paladin Covenant ability Ashen Hollow.

Character Progress on Raid Release

At max level, you'll get to choose a Covenant which gives you a Covenant Signature and Class Ability.

You'll also get to Soulbind to a member of your Covenant, and as you continue to play you'll unlock more tiers of your Soulbind.

Paul Kubit mentioned that Torghast will be available right on launch.

New Covenant Abilities in Next Build

The next Alpha build will include all the Class Covenant and Signature abilities available in Torghast.

Each day will rotate between the Covenants and you'll be able to test each Covenant ability!

Many of the Covenant abilities (except for Paladin and Rogue) are ready for testing, even if the zone isn't!

Covenant Utility and Raid Encounters

They talk this often because it can cause a lot of balance concerns.

As a combat designer, it is their job to make players have unique tools.

As a encounter designer, it is their job to make puzzles that players can solve, taking into account the player's tools, including Covenant abilities.

The problem comes up when there isn't enough variety in the puzzles during an encounter and that leads to severe class stacking.

e.g. Ragnaros Phase 2 required Burst AoE, but Phase 3 required something else.

Covenant Ability Hybrids

Covenant abilities and Shadowlands are focused around the class and that's why classes with multiple specs have hybrid damage and healing abilities.

Because of this, there are some additional design constraints on hybrid classes like Druids because they need to work across multiple roles.

Removal of Expansion Systems and Classes

"Legion Syndrome" is real, which is the removal of expansion systems and the class feeling like you're missing something. e.g. At the end of Legion, the loss of the Artifact and those systems wasn't filled in by the Azerite Armor system.

Legion and Battle for Azeroth had systems on top of systems but the idea of Shadowlands is to have legendaires, soulbinds, conduits and more systems to fill in the void immediately.

Shadow Priests?

No updates today but on the radar.

Unpruning and the GCD

Ion in Sloot's interview said to give feedback on specific problems.

They agree that a problem is pressing multiple buttons in a row that are just cooldowns.

However, they disagree on removing them from the GCD is the solution. It was mentioned that maybe Mirror Images should be made a talent instead.

They have more work to do here and could use the communities' help in identifying the worst offenders. They added initial healing to Ascendance as an example from this expansion.

Some abilities could be redesigned as utility versus DPS.

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Comment by gbunkzimagine thinking waycrest manor is a dead week on sanguine

https://i.imgur.com/KcCJdLN.png (you can check this yourself on bestkeystone.com)

When its one of the most successful keys every single week.

These guys have no clue what they are talking about, good grief.Comment by m2geekDidn't these idiots just take Mirror Images OFF the talent tree and back to baseline, and now they want to Undo it because they've made the mage GCD situation even worse, but refuse to take things like Arcane Power (which should never have been ON the GCD) off the GCD to compensate?

The whole spec/systems team needs firing and get the MoP people back.Comment by MrXtrmI don't understand why Blizzard is so set on the GCD change. Spells that just "buff damage by X" and do nothing to impact your class mechanics have no reason to be limited by a delay.

There HAS to be a reason they haven't given us as to why the GCD change happened because the reasons given so far make no sense. If it was to remove strain on the servers like people theorized, just come out and say it.Comment by SnichyJust load up the MoP version of Shadow Priest, add Void Form as a dps cooldown, problem solved.Comment by EphinIn terms of specific examples of abilities needing to be off a GCD, Blood Boil definitely is up there. It removes the necessity of needing to take every cooldown of a Blood DK off the GCD. Additionally, it combos very well with talents such as Hemostasis. The Blood DK is in a really right spot in terms of GCD usage, while it doesn't affect complexity, it makes the means to the end very clunky having every ability be on the GCD. This feeling is multiplied when you take into account that it is a reactionary based spec as well.

Note - I haven't seen Alpha, mabye things have changed. :DComment by EthandrialFor me the GCD changes are what is killing my enjoyment. In Legion I loved fire and outlaw. Now I can't stand em.Comment by Zergot They're looking for feedback on the worst offenders of the GCD issues.Comment by Grigory432Why can't they just go to HELL with their moronic position on GCD? Why do they even collect our feedback at this point? If they don't care they can just do their own thing without bothering us, and watch their game fail.BURN ITMASSIVEQuick fix: ALL abilities without cast time that don't instantly cause damage/healing/absorb off GCD. This means most of offensive and defensive cooldowns off GCD.How about make a separate GCD just for your throughput CDs? Two separate GCDs. That way, you cannot instantly apply lots of these CDs, but they don't interrupt your ability to follow your rotation. So instead of having to cast Avatar and then Charge and then Demo Shout *and then* begin your rotation, you just charge in and use them one after the other as you start Shield Slamming and Thunder Clapping while you're also using your off-GCD defensives (Shield Block and Ignore Pain). They're looking for feedback on the worst offenders of the GCD issues.actually played the gamebadlySo here's simple idea to fix systems on top of systems: MAKE THEM BASELINE. ALL OF THEMComment by 1412075This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by docseuzzIf they give us an infinitely repeatable rogue-like with nothing but cosmetic rewards I will flip, it's the type of game I play outside of WoW and would be so excited.Comment by 1412075This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by FaerondilHaving DPS cooldowns on the GCD just feels bad.. especially when the cooldown is relatively short. Also having shapeshift on cooldown for a druid really defeats the hybrid feel for things that you need to shift out of form to cast.Comment by MesmClass Testing in Torghast
They didn't think of testing class changes in Torghast.Comment by MesmIs Twitch taking a dump right now? The video player keeps having major issues, network errors, freezing, I've had to reload it like 4 times.Comment by MesmWHY. ARE. THEY. BEING. SO. ARROGANT. ABOUT. THE. GCD.
90% of the playerbase hate it.Comment by MesmWHY. ARE. THEY. BEING. SO. ARROGANT. ABOUT. THE. GCD.
90% of the playerbase hate it.Comment by serangelTorghast is stolen from final fantasy and with blizz want to make it a speed run place its going to be a bad copy, we have to many systems on top of class design so were now gonig to have 5? convants are about fantasy you want to play but we are going to put huge parts of your characters play style and progression in them so you have to choose a certain one per class making it pointless...Blizz mgiht be listening but the current team doesn't know how to make a game so we are still doomedComment by Ivashkov92If they give us an infinitely repeatable rogue-like with nothing but cosmetic rewards I will flip, it's the type of game I play outside of WoW and would be so excited.Comment by NintheloraShadowlands seems great so far, also listening to community feedback seems better than ever. Although they really should look into the GCD issue. I feel like the whole communicty is screaming for GCD changes, because some classes feel so bad with openers having 4 to 6 seconds of GCD time before even doing damage. I hope they are going to listen and this could be a wonderfull expansion.Comment by ZeroEdgeir
I have read all 3 pages comment and you are the only one who doesn't mind about GCD. That's why he said 90% players, so rather SPEAK FOR YOUR than like what you are saying is right lol.
That is a BfA problem too returing abilities have nothing to do with it.

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