Oracle Priest Interview with Taliesin and Warcraft Priests - Holy & Discipline Hero Talent Tree

Live Опубликовано 07.02.2024 в 13:11 Archimtiros

TaliesinSmallpriestClandonInterview with Combat Designer Rodney Pare and Producer George VelevClass Fantasy

Oracle is envisioned as fulfilling the fantasy of receiving visions of the future, using them to take care of those around you. Mechanically, it adds new gameplay mechanics through Premonition and powers up preemptive spells like Power Word: Shield and Pain Suppression.

Peering into the future and using that knowledge to bolster your allies feels like a really cool and unique spin that hasn't been done before, delivering on that idea came in the form of Premonition.

One of the more ambitious hero talent concepts that is likely to elicit some immediate reactions, they're interested to see how players react to it. Ultimately, if it feels too complicated or divisive, they will iterate on that feedback. That said, Premonition as we see it today is just one variant that the designers are exploring for Oracle, and there are a few others in mind.

The intent is to add special animations and visual effects to make Oracle look unique and visually interesting. The team is currently discussing with their VFX artists to see what they can do to make these spells super obvious when they're active, though it will depend on what the final versions look like.

Not a Support Spec

The developers wouldn't go so far as to call Oracle a support spec; these talents don't fundamentally change Holy or Discipline's role and Premonition isn't the only button in their kit. The team felt like offering a little bit of support flavor to healers didn't feel unheard of - fundamentally they're still healers, just with a little bit of support seasoning.

As for "why Priest," it's the only class that has two healing specs and they wanted to try something a little bit new with hero talents. Healers are already in something of a supportive role, so adding a bit of support to their kit felt worth exploring.

Premonition Cycle

The current design is a combination of randomness and predictability. The first time Premonition is cast, the spell on your bars will change to one of the three sub-spells at random, changing to the next sub-spell every second after in a predetermined order. Casting a second time will activate that particular buff on the targeted player.

For example, pressing Premonition the first time might turn it into Solace, which you can then cast on someone or wait for it to rotation, from Solace -> Insight -> Glory -> Solace. Pressing the button a second time will cast whichever sub-spell is currently active, allowing players to choose which buff they want to give out.

Currently, the one-minute cooldown starts with the first cast of Premonition, even if you wait to activate a buff, and the spell cycles for 12 seconds, giving players a bit of leeway to decide which buff to use and when. It's also off-GCD and the buffs can be cast on the Priest, but the hero talent also works with Близнецы жрицы Солнца (specifics are still being worked out, but the intent is that Twins will always grant the Priest a valuable buff like Insight, rather than duplicating the melee Glory buff).

Initial feedback notes that Insight's increased magic damage does more for Discipline than Holy. The team isn't married to the idea of magic damage or physical damage increasing buffs, just the general concept of what Premonition is meant to do.

Low Proc Rate RNG

The Clairvoyance hero talent enhances Premonition with a low chance of of granting the target and two nearby allies all three effects of Premonition, though the team is still iterating on proc rate. They're happy with the design and want it to feel great when it does proc, but recognize there can be issues with it feeling too impactful if it happens at the right time or meaningless if a rare procs are wasted at an inopportune time. Ultimately, it shouldn't be a big part of the Oracle kit, just one of many talents.

Versatile Divinations

Versatile Divinations adds another two buffs to the cycle, increasing haste and restoring mana. These many seem like exactly equal value, but while throughput is very important to players clutch mana regen can also be a cool moment - the idea is for players to pick which they want to use to fit the situation.

Adding combat hooks similar to Augmentation Evoker is something the team would like to do for throughput buffs like Glory or Insight, but the specifics will depend on their final design.

Increasing the knowledge requirement for players is a concern. Premonition has more headspace requirements than Power Infusion, but it's still a direction they want to explore, and they're happy to tweak parts that don't land well. Another variant of Premonition that they've been exploring gives primary stat (Str/Agi/Int) instead of physical or magic damage.

More Rotational Spells

With the left side of the tree, the team is considering adding Молитва восстановления to the Discipline rotation when using these Oracle talents. Conversely, Слово силы: Щит is not intended to be a regular part of the Holy rotation, just a bonus to help trigger Grand Reveal. The team is still open to feedback based on how this feels and they have tools to adjust this per specialization so that Discipline doesn't get more out of Holy or vice versa.

Self-Serving Feathers

The intent of Divine Feathers is to create a bit more interaction between players, but the team recognizes that Priests are one of the least mobile classes who need that speed buff the most and they don't want Priests to miss out on their own buff because a player mistakenly sidestepped it.

Oracle Priest Talent Tree

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