Today we continue our series of interviews about the classes with Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street and the development team. We'll take a look at each of them and answer the top questions from their respective communities. This time we present the interview about the magician, in which we will get more information about his design philosophy, the expectations of the class and a fragment of the plans for the future.
Community Team: Today we are joined by Ghostcrawler, World of Warcraft Lead Systems Designer, and various members of the class design team to answer, as precisely as possible, some of the questions posed by the community.
We would like to begin the interview by exploring expectations about the role of magicians. The class has changed a lot since that time when the description "glass cannon" was valid.
What place do magicians occupy in the current scheme of things and how will they develop in the future?
Ghostcrawler: the wizard is the iconic caster, a class that needs to stay at a distance in order to deal damage effectively. He has spells of damage to individual targets, area effect damage, and crowd control at his disposal, however, most of these abilities have a cast time. Many of the aspects of the game that are related to the improvement of your character seek to minimize the limitations of said time (either through talents or weapons) and to move away from the enemy so that you have the opportunity to cast a spell or use an ability that prevents its instant launch. Magicians are reliable, powerful, and flexible; a valuable addition to any group.
While all three mage talent trees serve the same purpose - dealing damage - we're pleased with the differences between the Fire, Frost, and Arcane specs. It is even possible to say that there is a fourth style of play, which focuses on the use of the Firefire Bolt. We know that these style differences work because there are Frost Mages who love their specialization and want it to be viable in the player versus environment (PvE) aspect as well, as well as Fire Mages who want viability in the player versus player aspect (PvP ). In general, the players of the class do not change their specialization even though there is a more effective one within a particular aspect of the game. While this is somewhat frustrating, it is also an indicator of classroom design success.
We used to say that the mage was the lord and master of area damage, but decided that that niche was not very relevant to anyone. Classes with these types of abilities seem to be a requirement in situations where there are a large number of enemies, however, when everyone else is maximizing their damage against an individual target, a boss for example, the area damage specialist gets bored . We now try to make all specializations have area damage tools, however we will always strive so that mages do not lack anything in that department.
Players sometimes wonder why wizards have had fewer changes than other classes during Wrath of the Lich King. We consider this to be because, on the whole, the magician possesses all the tools necessary to live up to the reputation that precedes him.
What makes magicians unique compared to other classes?
Ghostcrawler: all class specializations (the Arcane tree to a lesser extent) focus on the use of a spell, such as Fireball. At first glance, particularly for those who have never played a wizard, the class may seem too simple. However, there is always something that requires attention, since there are abilities that activate the moment the spells hit the target, "procs" such as Hot Streak and Ignition Accelerator. In addition, they have tools like Presence of Mind and Arcane Power, which allow them to increase their damage at will. Frost mages, particularly in the PvP aspect, require great refinement to use the Water Elemental's Frost Nova at the right time and combine it with Shred. Regardless, wizards are fragile (just ask a healer), so they need to use all their tools to stay alive. Most of their damage can come from a single spell, however, they have to pay attention to many factors and the difference in damage per second that there is between a skilled magician and another that is not so skilled (even if they have the same weaponry) it can be very pronounced.
Wizards are still a glass cannon when compared to priests and warlocks. All three classes have armor spells, however, wizards also have escape mechanisms such as Polymorph, Frost Nova, Ice Block and Translation, so they should never be considered as "tanks" in the environment of PvP. There is a high risk of homogenization between the sorcerer and the magician, but we consider that the latter is in a good position and it is the sorcerer that we must differentiate the most. We'll talk about warlocks soon, but the mechanics of their demons and soul shards still require work.
In addition to everything, the class still retains some unique abilities, such as portals to different cities and (ahem…) food and beverage service. His crowd control ability remains one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, in the entire game.
Community Team: Many of the questions and concerns we initially received from wizards around the world related to the power of weaponry.
Many of the new items for magicians, and casters in general, in both PvE and PvP, seem to favor Fire and Arcane specialization (although the latter to a lesser extent). Do you think mages are being forced to place a premium on critical strike rating (crit) over haste, spell power, and intellect; Which are most beneficial to Frost Mages?
Ghostcrawler: As designers we don't want Frost mages to require different stats than Fire mages. In a world where we have to add a large number of items to the game with each new Arena raid tier or season, we don't want to delve too deeply into "this piece is attractive to the Fire mage but not the Frost mage." We find the value of various stats to be too disparate between the different specs in each class. It will never be perceived as appropriate that one statistic has twice the value, or more, than any other. We're doing a major overhaul of all talent trees and item stats to narrow the gap for everyone. In an ideal situation, you will compare two pieces of cloth armor and have to decide whether you find haste or critical strike rating more valuable, rather than trash anything that lacks haste. To answer succinctly, yes, magicians nowadays have to focus too much on certain stats.
We also understand that there are some items in Naxxramas that are superior to those in Ulduar. This is not ideal and is a partial sequel to the decision not to allow Ulduar's final boss to drop higher quality loot than the rest of the instance; a design change from the previous tier. We are doing a case-by-case analysis of the objects as we get more information. While our goal is not to ensure that every dropped item is automatically an upgrade, trying to get you and your party back to old content because there you will find more upgrades for your character is not either.
Community Team: there are several pieces of fabric leg armor in strangely striking designs, which you cannot see if the character is wearing a toga instead of a shirt.
Will there be more gowns in the future, or at least the option to choose gowns instead of shirts?
Ghostcrawler: to be completely honest, this is not a priority for now. There is some level of appearance customization in World of Warcraft, but giving players a wide range of options to achieve such an effect is not within our design vision. One of the distinctive visual qualities of cloth armors is that they are typically long, flowing robes, which is consistent with the iconic image of wizards in fantasy stories. Our players would certainly like to change the appearance of their weapons, or enchantments, if it were possible to do so without having any effect on the mechanics of the game. This point is somewhat complex for us, however, we will take the suggestions into account.
Community Team: The following questions are related to the problem that magicians reiterate in the forums lately: mana efficiency. Mana Gems do not restore enough mana and should not share the same cooldown as Warlock Health Stones; while the Evocation ability has a very long cooldown and is generally not a reliable means of regaining mana during boss fighting.
What vision do you have on these mechanics? Is there any intention to upgrade the mana recovery capacity of mages in the future?
Ghostcrawler: Our general philosophy, in the broadest sense of the word, is that healers run the risk of running out of mana if they're not careful or are in serious trouble. However, classes that deal damage usually have enough mana to play their role properly. This does not mean that you will never have to use a gem or Evocation, but rather that if you use your abilities reasonably, you will have enough mana, except perhaps in very long or unusual battles. Maybe we're lowering the mana cost of the main spells: Arcane Blast, Fireball, Frostbolt, and Frostfire Bolt.
Community Team: Compared to their damage-dealing counterparts, mages feel that their area effect damage is less reliable and much more expensive.
Do the designers consider the cost of the area effect spells to be adequate?
Ghostcrawler: is near. We don't want the use of the Blizzard spell to be attractive against a single target or a pair of creatures. Casting this spell multiple times can be draining on your mana bar, but it doesn't feel inappropriate when you consider the amount of damage it deals during that time. Its efficiency is good against various targets and that is what is intended. Now certain spells could use an upgrade to be as competitive as Blizzard (the spell) in terms of usability, damage, or efficiency.
It is clear that we want to ensure that a spell called "Blizzard" is pure excellence.
Community Team: The Steal Spell ability is very expensive, particularly when resisted, can accidentally steal useless buffs, and stolen buff can be dispelled.
Are there plans to re-evaluate the mana cost and functionality of this spell?
Ghostcrawler: We consider the core of the problem to be that the spell, which was designed to allow players to steal interesting perks, is used as if it were Dispel. Instead of reducing its cost, we may change it so that it only steals useful benefits for the magician, which would be an advantage in some respects and a disadvantage in others; therefore it is not something we are going to do lightly. We have also considered that this spell steals two perks simultaneously.
Community Team: Let's look at some questions about specific specializations.
First of all, the Arcane tree is considered to be very inflated. It appears that, over time, the talent trees of all classes have evolved to provide endless options with fewer five-point talents, allowing for a higher degree of specialization. There are several interesting talents in the Arcane tree (ex: Student of the Mind, Magic Dampening, Magic Harmonization, Enchantress Absorption, etc.) but many players feel that they cannot spend points on those talents because most of those are necessary. they require five points to deal damage.
What do you think about conducting an Arcane Tree overhaul to reduce some of its talents by five points?
Ghostcrawler: Arcane is somewhat inflated. If you take all the damage and mana recovery talents, there aren't many points left to spend on fun and interesting talents. We understand that it is difficult, for example, to have an Arcane specialization that can work in both PvE and PvP, which is a problem that not only plagues the Arcane tree. If you take a look at the Warrior's Protection tree or the Paladin's Retribution tree, both are a model that we would like to apply to all talent trees in the future. This way, there will be fewer talents and players will have more points to assign to fun and interesting options, instead of having to distribute all their points to talents that are essential for their specialization to work. Also keep in mind that when we fix some of the mage's mana issues, some of the mana talents may no longer be needed.
Community Team: To elaborate a bit on the previous question, the Torture the Weak talent is used in several of the more popular mage specs, for both PvE and PvP. However, the Arcane tree talents that are required to obtain it are not very useful for Frost and Fire mages (although to a lesser extent for the latter).
Are you worried that mages, regardless of their specialization, consider Torturing the Weak to be such an important talent that they have to spend 18 points on Arcane in order to reap its full benefits?
Ghostcrawler: We don't think this is an imperative talent for the Frostfire specialization, and we also don't find it unusual for Frost or Fire to have points in Arcane, which will be much more beneficial to them than, say, a Frost mage with points in the Fire tree.
Are there future plans to improve the representation of Fire mages in PvP?
Ghostcrawler: It is something we would like to do, but we consider it more important to fix classes that lack viable specializations than to give options to those that already have a reasonable presence in the Arenas. Right now we are more concerned with improving the representation of warlocks and hunters than giving the Fire tree a role in PvP. Dragon's Breath is a talent that we could improve for PvP and if we reduce its cooldown it could be similar to Scatter Shot. Fire specialization isn't bad in PvP, however, Frost has a lot more tools.
Is the Threat Generation of Fire Mages a concern considering that their damage comes from critical hits and procs from their talents?
Ghostcrawler: yes, it is something that worries us and we would like to correct it through the invisibility spell. We have always been careful to ensure that it does not become too powerful, however we feel there is wide room for improvement. In PvE, for example, taking damage that prevents threat removal from working is quasi-random. It should also be noted that Exact Reflection is quite useful as a spell to reduce the level of threat, since it will be divided between the images while it is active. Sometimes it is worth using it at the beginning of the battle and sometimes when you receive a benefit or have the possibility to activate abilities that allow you to do a lot of damage for a few seconds.
Do developers consider improving Frost damage for PvE as one of their goals?
Ghostcrawler: yes, but the challenge is, as always not to make it too powerful in PvP. While it would be ideal for all specs to be viable in PvP and PvE, the need to use different specs for each domain allows them not to fall into disuse, which is better than a tree that is good at everything. That said, we wanted to buff the Frost damage through the Glyph of Ice Spear, however, it turns out that the damage increase must have been 6x, or something ridiculous.
Community Team: finally, this would not be an interview about the magician without asking a question about Translation. As has been commented in the past, the problem comes from the field and not from the faculty itself.
Although magicians understand the problem, have plans been outlined to work on Translation and make it more intuitive? That is, it has the ability to recognize that the attempt failed, consuming only a global cooldown instead of the mana cost, and triggering the cooldown of the spell.
Ghostcrawler: Translation is a movement spell and can be somewhat uncertain in a client-server type game like World of Warcraft. This is not a justification for your malfunctions but a brief explanation of the problem. In patch 3.1 we made some technical adjustments to the way the spell interacts with slopes. I remember that it was missing a lot in the Dalaran portal area, but that has been largely corrected. One of the places where this ability seems to cause the most trouble is in the Warsong Gulch battlefield tunnel where, ironically, it also comes in handy. Any place where there is a change in the terrain, such as when you enter a building, can cause problems. We're still working on it so if you have a problem with Translate, the best thing you can do is specify the exact location where the spell failed via our bug reporting forum. This will help our engineers find solutions.
Source: Wow Europe