WoW Forever Podcast Episode 2: The Developers on Every Class

The episode

Blizzard posted episode 2, “Speed Running Classes”, on October 1. It runs 78 minutes: host Josh Corbett and streamer Sodapoppin put community questions to Principal Designer Kris Zierhut, Senior Game Designers Aidan Moon and Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield. Next week’s episode is about dungeons and raids.

This is what they said, class by class, read from the episode’s captions. Plans said on a podcast aren’t patch notes: we mark what is planned and what is only being discussed, and the class pages link here.

The rules every class is built on

• Three or four core buttons. Zierhut wants the abilities you press every few seconds to be three or four, with cooldowns spread over 15 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute and two minutes, and room left to use utility or react between them.
• Every buff costs something. Boss fights should last as long as they did in 2004–2005, so each class has a damage budget: when one spell gets stronger, something else is cut. After the first tuning pass every spec was doing too much damage and all were brought down.
• Hybrids do about 5% less damage. Anyone who can fill more than one role pays it, which is every class but Hunters, Mages, Rogues and Warlocks; Warriors too, because they can tank. Hybrid DPS specs are kept weak at healing so groups still need a healer.
• Casters gear up like everyone else. Spell power appears on gear from level 10, with spell power weapons at every level, so the base damage of every damage spell was lowered to match what typical questing greens give.
• Different classes want different stats. Enhancement Shamans should care about spell power, Feral Druids about Intellect again.

Class by class

• Druid: powershifting is gone because it was hard to understand and filled every global cooldown. Its replacement is Shifting Power: Cat Form’s mana cost turned into 40 Energy on a 16-second cooldown (8 with Improved Shifting Power), which makes Intellect and Innervate matter for Ferals again. Wrath’s 50% buff adds about 2% damage at level 60, so Druids will lose a little elsewhere. Ferals get no extra healing power.
• Warrior: Rage from taking damage is lower than intended because of a bug, and a fix is being worked on. Crits give more Rage again. Warriors are meant to be the best at cleave and multi-target damage. Recklessness stays on a 30-minute cooldown: it is the strongest personal cooldown in the game, and short cooldowns on it, Shield Wall and Retaliation pushed Warrior damage far too high. Slam became a cooldown so it needs no swing timer, and Moon isn’t happy with it yet.
• Paladin: Lay on Hands is down to 20 minutes from an hour, and it still costs all your mana. Twist of Light keeps two seals without timing tricks; a bonus for twisting at the right moment was floated but not promised, and a Holy Shock build is meant as the other Retribution option. Champion of the Light was cut because Holy Paladins would have taken it.
• Rogue: Rogues are meant to do the highest single-target damage in the game, so energy won’t be raised. Subtlety’s 31-point talent will be replaced by Death Mark: mark a target, store the damage you deal to it, and it bursts after 6 seconds.
• Hunter: more stable slots, and ways to unlock them, are planned for all the new pet abilities. Auto Shot timers are bugged, including the wind-up, and a fix is coming. Survival can stay in melee or weave in from range. The dead zone stays. The pet families are on our Hunter pets list.
• Shaman: totem twisting is gone, since it was never intended and would force cuts elsewhere. Enhancement keeps Maelstrom Weapon for Lightning Bolt only, so it uses spell power without healing or cleaving. Making Leader of the Pack and Moonkin Aura raid-wide, so raids don’t need four Shamans and four Druids, is an idea being discussed.
• Warlock: Destruction is meant to mix fire and shadow spells. The affliction range talent leaving out Fear was an oversight. A new talent gives your pet mana when you Life Tap. Master Demonologist’s buffs are now the opposite of Demonic Sacrifice’s, and the 31-point Demonology talent lets you sacrifice one demon and summon another to have both.
• Mage: Ice Block won’t be baseline for now. Blizzard and Cone of Cold were cut to stop Frost Mages kiting whole dungeons, the method gold bots use. More buttons for Mages are being looked at for the next few weeks.
• Priest: Shadow brings damage first and some utility. The tier sets were designed months ago and will be revisited before the beta ends. A shorter Holy Fire cast is possible. Discipline’s shields are stronger and suit tanks; Holy heals groups; Power Word: Shield no longer stops a Warrior’s rage from damage.

Fixes and plans they named

Greenfield also said the team is discussing feedback on Skyborne character models and Druid forms, with nothing to announce yet.

What this means for you

• Don’t expect big numbers. A talent point is meant to be worth about 1% damage, and every buff is paid for somewhere.
• Hybrids are close, not equal. About 5% behind the pure damage classes, in exchange for a second role.
• Warriors and Hunters: some of what feels wrong is a bug. Rage from damage and Auto Shot timing are both being fixed.
• It’s a beta. Plans said on a podcast can change before launch on November 4.

Related WoW Forever guides

• Class Changes