World of Warcraft: Legion (7.3.5 edition)

So, hanging out in the Enhancement Shaman discord the last two days, looks like the new build for my enhancement shaman will be...

Hot Hands (cool, have the bracers for that anyway)
Overcharge (...so Lightning Bolt needs to be moved to a more accessible spot on my bars, greaaaaaaaaat)
Ancestral Swiftness (well, that fixes the LB issue... wait, even with the bracers? Yup, crap... so my bracers are still a stat stick)
Fury of Air (...soooooo, ignore Crash Lightning? Yes? Oh... wow, it's not like a legendary and 2 big weapon perks rely on that ability or anything... oh wait...)

So weird. Gonna take some getting used to.

Is anyone happy with the 7.1.5 changes yet? Blizzard has been trying to get MM hunters back to the way they worked in 7.1 with the new talent changes, but it still looks underwhelming.

I'll be happy with the changes on on condition... that my next legendary is NOT the chest that requires Crash Lightning to function. If I get the next "nerfed ability" legendary, I will probably cry.

Some build diversity (the above is the "best", but it's only the best by like 4% damage, so if I hate it, I can switch back) though is definitely good for Enhancement.

Are there any active GWJ guilds right now. I am looking to get back in and was curious if people all join a GWJ guild or is everyone spread out.

Ratbelly wrote:

Are there any active GWJ guilds right now. I am looking to get back in and was curious if people all join a GWJ guild or is everyone spread out.

Answered!

Cow level makes me smile!

Oh boy... 7.1.5 will be live in four days...

Tuesday's raid's going to be fun... Especially since I can't find any material on how to optimize my class with the changes.

So I got my DH up to 110 and 828 iLevel. I'd like to start raiding asap on Blackhand so what is the quickest way to get geared?

I got up to i850 in two specs by getting gear from World Quests and finishing my Order Hall quest to unlock the third artifact slot. A few lucky drops (a legendary and some insta-upgrades) didn't hurt.

This is a way. There's probably a faster way, though.

Sydhart wrote:

So I got my DH up to 110 and 828 iLevel. I'd like to start raiding asap on Blackhand so what is the quickest way to get geared?

If you have an active guild, Mythic and Mythic+ dungeons are the fastest. Especially M+ because you aren't capped every week. Other than that, emissary cashes from world quests and random heroics will net you legendary chances and AP for your relic. Also, for the most part Raid Finder can be a cluster, but also a decent way to gear up.

Edit: English is hard.

Definitely keep an eye on the world quests (I suggest getting one of the summary addons if you haven't already) since those can give you a guaranteed instant upgrade.

Depending on how much gold you have check the AH periodically - prices for direct upgrades can be all over the place. It may be worthwhile to get some crafted gear and upgrade with obliterum - about 2k gold per 5 ilvls on my server but YMMV.

Even if your guild is on the quieter side Mythic and Mythic+ will be the best way to gear up overall, you'll just need a higher ilvl (and a bit more patience) to PUG them.

...still no patch notes for 7.1.5?

What the heck is Blizzard's dev team doing right now? Like, I feel so sorry for their community team now.

There's a video talking about what's coming and it tells you to check the patch notes for more info... and the link in the description of that video goes nowhere.

Meanwhile, tonight's the last night I get to enjoy my favorite playstyle with Enhancement. Will have to see how the new Hot Hands, Overcharge, Fury of Air build goes.

Demosthenes wrote:

...still no patch notes for 7.1.5?

What the heck is Blizzard's dev team doing right now? Like, I feel so sorry for their community team now.

There's a video talking about what's coming and it tells you to check the patch notes for more info... and the link in the description of that video goes nowhere.

Meanwhile, tonight's the last night I get to enjoy my favorite playstyle with Enhancement. Will have to see how the new Hot Hands, Overcharge, Fury of Air build goes.

I'm not sure if they have ever released official patch notes before the patch goes live. MMO-C seems to always have the datamined versions up early, but those have been largely incomplete probably because there are so many changes that were rolled out over the course of multiple updates.

Gaine wrote:
Sydhart wrote:

So I got my DH up to 110 and 828 iLevel. I'd like to start raiding asap on Blackhand so what is the quickest way to get geared?

If you have an active guild, Mythic and Mythic+ dungeons are the fastest. Especially M+ because you aren't capped every week. Other than that, emissary cashes from world quests and random heroics will net you legendary chances and AP for your relic. Also, for the most part Raid Finder can be a cluster, but also a decent way to gear up.

Edit: English is hard.

I am in the GWJ Guild on Blackhand but I don't think there are that many active players at the moment unless I've just been missing people. Is there a particular night that people are doing doing Mythics or Raiding?

Raids are Tuesday and Thursday nights (I think); check with Carg if you're interested. I think the GWJ guild is raiding with another guild on Blackhand.

If anyone's interested in mythics, you might want to just see if anyone who's one wants to run them. Better, try to organize a regular night or two. I suspect attendance will pick up when 7.1.5 comes out Tuesday, but right now we're in a post-expansion/pre-patch lull that's been pretty common for a while now.

Demosthenes wrote:

I'll be happy with the changes on on condition... that my next legendary is NOT the chest that requires Crash Lightning to function. If I get the next "nerfed ability" legendary, I will probably cry.

Some build diversity (the above is the "best", but it's only the best by like 4% damage, so if I hate it, I can switch back) though is definitely good for Enhancement.

I have that chest on my shamman, who I have been running as elemental in anticipation of 7.1.5

If you do have the time to commit to raiding, now would be the time. Most guilds have a lot of content on farm and the pre-Nighthold lull means you can more easily get geared before it comes out.

Garrcia wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:

I'll be happy with the changes on on condition... that my next legendary is NOT the chest that requires Crash Lightning to function. If I get the next "nerfed ability" legendary, I will probably cry.

Some build diversity (the above is the "best", but it's only the best by like 4% damage, so if I hate it, I can switch back) though is definitely good for Enhancement.

I have that chest on my shamman, who I have been running as elemental in anticipation of 7.1.5

It looks like the biggest changes for Enhancement are largely going to be reacting to Hot Hands procs and Overcharge... neither of which bothers me all that much... especially with Hailstorm out of the picture... and, in theory, Lightning Shield is close enough to Overcharge (at 0 tier pieces for both talent choices) that you could basically move from managing Frostbrand/Hailstorm to managing an extra proc with Hot Hand/Lava Lash. It'll be interesting to see, but if I hate it, then my Elemental Weapon is 2 off paragoning, so that'll be something at least.

Demosthenes wrote:
Garrcia wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:

I'll be happy with the changes on on condition... that my next legendary is NOT the chest that requires Crash Lightning to function. If I get the next "nerfed ability" legendary, I will probably cry.

Some build diversity (the above is the "best", but it's only the best by like 4% damage, so if I hate it, I can switch back) though is definitely good for Enhancement.

I have that chest on my shamman, who I have been running as elemental in anticipation of 7.1.5

It looks like the biggest changes for Enhancement are largely going to be reacting to Hot Hands procs and Overcharge... neither of which bothers me all that much... especially with Hailstorm out of the picture... and, in theory, Lightning Shield is close enough to Overcharge (at 0 tier pieces for both talent choices) that you could basically move from managing Frostbrand/Hailstorm to managing an extra proc with Hot Hand/Lava Lash. It'll be interesting to see, but if I hate it, then my Elemental Weapon is 2 off paragoning, so that'll be something at least.

The new Icefury should pack a punch and without much loss be timed for when you have to be more mobile.

Patch Notes for 7.1.5

I was going to Spoiler tag the full list, but wow those are preeeeeeetty extensive.

Demosthenes wrote:

Patch Notes for 7.1.5

I was going to Spoiler tag the full list, but wow those are preeeeeeetty extensive.

Some highlights (from the perspective of a filthy casual)

* Brawler's Guild is back, but everyone needs a new invite to take part even if you were a member before

* Alt-friendly help for both Class Hall research (it's quicker to complete) and AP (the Artifact Researcher will sell BOA items for order resources to give AP boosts to your alts).

* There's a new engineering shoulder enchant, four new engineering goggles and a rechargable Reeves battery; maybe now I'll get engineering to 800 and it will suck less

* My damn Holy Shock has been nerfed, but Ret has been buffed

* When the Kirin Tor emissary quest is up, there will always be at least four Kirin Tor quests up.

* Lastly, and this probably doesn't affect a lot of you, but there's been a lot of class balancing relative to PvP. PvP balancing used to be all about gear and resilience; now Blizzard is looking at PvP like it's another spec for your character. All the details are at the end of the patch notes.

Big one for PVP, though, that seems to have snuck in at the last moment (as I assume I would have seen a metric sh*tton of... well... sh*t flying on the forums for is that the traits beyond 35 on your weapon (so the % damage increase ones after you fill out everything else) will now work in PVP, so it's not JUST item level that ups your percentage of damage, but also your paragon points on your weapon).

Demosthenes wrote:

Big one for PVP, though, that seems to have snuck in at the last moment (as I assume I would have seen a metric sh*tton of... well... sh*t flying on the forums for is that the traits beyond 35 on your weapon (so the % damage increase ones after you fill out everything else) will now work in PVP, so it's not JUST item level that ups your percentage of damage, but also your paragon points on your weapon).

I dunno how I feel about this. On the one hand Blizzard never made the statement that PVP would be entirely skill based with the modicum of power that you accrue from having higher iLevel. However, you DO get 5% from the first post 35 trait. Then again, I thought that that was pretty severe just for PVE.

Gaine wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:

Big one for PVP, though, that seems to have snuck in at the last moment (as I assume I would have seen a metric sh*tton of... well... sh*t flying on the forums for is that the traits beyond 35 on your weapon (so the % damage increase ones after you fill out everything else) will now work in PVP, so it's not JUST item level that ups your percentage of damage, but also your paragon points on your weapon).

I dunno how I feel about this. On the one hand Blizzard never made the statement that PVP would be entirely skill based with the modicum of power that you accrue from having higher iLevel. However, you DO get 5% from the first post 35 trait. Then again, I thought that that was pretty severe just for PVE.

I mean, if I understand the %ages correct... 5% damage for the first trait is the equivalent of 50 item levels. That's a gap you can't even make up for with gear right now in PVP without some ridiculous titanforging across all gear.

Second, there's no time to correct this for PVPers who may have been working on two specs concurrently. That first paragon trait is not cheap and it'll be in effect tomorrow.

If you're playing in any sort of competitive context (PVP or PVE) your Artifact Knowledge should mean you're getting some pretty insane Artifact Power levels. I'll get 100k from raid bosses, and 125k from my Order Hall missions at max Artifact Knowledge. It should be pretty common to see people with first trait unlocked at this point.

Still, it does suck for those that are behind on AP. That seems to be one of the themes of this expansion...

Gaine wrote:

If you're playing in any sort of competitive context (PVP or PVE) your Artifact Knowledge should mean you're getting some pretty insane Artifact Power levels. I'll get 100k from raid bosses, and 125k from my Order Hall missions at max Artifact Knowledge. It should be pretty common to see people with first trait unlocked at this point.

Still, it does suck for those that are behind on AP. That seems to be one of the themes of this expansion...

Odds are pretty high that those who are behind on AP are not playing in any sort of competitive context.

ranalin wrote:
Gaine wrote:

If you're playing in any sort of competitive context (PVP or PVE) your Artifact Knowledge should mean you're getting some pretty insane Artifact Power levels. I'll get 100k from raid bosses, and 125k from my Order Hall missions at max Artifact Knowledge. It should be pretty common to see people with first trait unlocked at this point.

Still, it does suck for those that are behind on AP. That seems to be one of the themes of this expansion...

Odds are pretty high that those who are behind on AP are not playing in any sort of competitive context.

From what I'm seeing, part of it also comes down to those who are behind on AP are also folks who've been leveling their other weapons because nothing past 34 counted anyway in PVP.

Amusingly, it's led to a whole new group in the AP refund request thread... a big chunk of PVPers who want all the AP they spent on their 2nd and 3rd weapons sent to their first because, again, Blizzard stated a thing that would be true for the expansion, then swung a 180, but with far less notice than others got with the PTR and class changes.

I'm not sure how you'd be behind on AP at this point in the expansion if you're playing regularly. I'm doubling ret/holy, and I'm at 34-and-a-half on Ashbringer and 20-something on The Silver Hand. I'd have maxxed my ret artifact if I'd put all my points into it instead of splitting it. My gear, OTOH, isn't great. I'm just doing quests, WQs and the occasional dungeon.

Players who play regularly and at high levels are always going to do more damage and heals than players who don't. That's been true since the beginning. It's true today.

Enix wrote:

I'm not sure how you'd be behind on AP at this point in the expansion if you're playing regularly. I'm doubling ret/holy, and I'm at 34-and-a-half on Ashbringer and 20-something on The Silver Hand. I'd have maxxed my ret artifact if I'd put all my points into it instead of splitting it. My gear, OTOH, isn't great. I'm just doing quests, WQs and the occasional dungeon.

Players who play regularly and at high levels are always going to do more damage and heals than players who don't. That's been true since the beginning. It's true today.

Ironically, it might not be true today. The PVP forums I occasionally bounce around in (trying to learn to better grind honor for my first Prestige weapon because it's sooooooooo pretty) are all kind of freaking out today because none of them bothered to level beyond 34 on anything. They could have and likely would have been at least 8 or 9 ranks higher on their main weapon today had they known. But, since the PVP lead specifically told everyone back in September that 35+ wouldn't count for PVP because it caused too much of a non-skill gap in player experience, it would be disabled for PVP.

To me, it's just fascinating, I'm not that big of a PVPer and I likely never will be. But seeing a decision this big basically come out as "SURPRISE!" in the patch notes is totally bizarre and weird and fascinating to watch at the same time.

Also, BTW I'm pretty sure all of Icy Veins has been updated for 7.1.5. As someone who always runs the flavor-of-the-month talent and spec choices, this was very useful for me.