I actually tested it in PTR just a few moments ago… And found it “incredibly lame” and “disoriented”.
Seems their main idea was to “make the damage rotation simpler”. But seems, now we have nothing to do damage with ! Shadow covenant gone (combined in shadowfiend), Schism gone, Thrust gone, Light’s Wrath gone, Mind Blast has no more 2 stacks and has a 24 sec CD. Furthoremore even worse, “Harsh discipline” was not “fun” to stack and “hold” for a ramp. But it was “reliable” none the less. Now it’s a “i hope it procs after this radiance” thing ! Seems we will spam smite and pray it works.
There is a new talent “ultimate penitence”. A very “cool” spell to use but functioning realy “unreliable”. That unreliability aside, has a 4 min CD which doesn’t fit our Rapture ramps. Not even “every 2nd” rapture ramp, not even if you are “reduce CD” talented.
So… Ok… Making it “simpler” to play is an ideal goal. BUT it must not mean that you take everything we have to press and give NOTHING instead ?!
So eventually, I sadly found “Ultimate Penitance” both “very strange” with that unreliable way of operation and even worse with that 4 min CD. It doesn’t fit to our Rupture ramps. “light’s wrath” was “very bad” but we had that it on every ramp. Harsh discipline was not “fun” but it was reliably there on the ramp. and so on… and so on…
So ok… They have made it “simpler” with our damage rotation. BUT NOW THERE IS NOTHING TO HIT WITH ON THE RAMP !
That beside, ATONEMENT IS NERFED %20 !
I can’t believe blizz is ruining something worse than it is now… I don’t know why they hate discipline so much…
I think they should have at least tied “Harsh discipline” to smite instead of holy radiance or make it a 100% chance to proc… I just tested it myself and it doesn’t proc that often hopefully they will change it
Its still early days i don’t imagine they will release this in its current state so don’t worry!
I really dont like the sound of all these new changes. I like having buttons to press. How the hell will twilight equilibrium work now? We need buttons like schism and solace.
Weaving between the shadow and holy spells to set up a big dark reprimand and actually do some decent damge will now all be by chance.
They could have at least bound Shadow Covenant on Schism and let Mind Blast and Schism stay the way they are so we could still get Mindbender if we want or not if we dont.
+
Harsh discipline had to be bound on Mind Blast and Smite or something else. Anything but not Radiance. And more… Not an RNG in the first place.
I just wish for castable spells while moving (just like penance) otherwise it doesnt make any sense to even attempt a rework. The game puts focus on dynamics but some classes are limited to do the job right while moving. Radiance definitely should be or even smite now.
So Blizzard think of that too please…not just talents!!!
We might have more smite spamming but they’ll make it actually worth our time with procs and set bonuses.
Currently the only issue I have is with Harsh Discpline, it used to be skill-based and now it’s RNG-based, which sucks.
All the other stuff are a really welcomed change for me, but I believe they should remove that one.
Honestly, I would even like if they get rid of Shadowfiend now and put Boon as our 3 mins CD now. They could still slap mana return on final nova (I think it was in SL? or maybe in Torghast only?) and make it shadow spell. Shadowfiend is probably the worst 3 mins CD already, so I would not miss it.
I don’t mind getting Ultimate Penance, but I definitely have few concerns about the spell:
Initial cast time + channel: I don’t understand why it has to have 1,5 sec cast and then 6 sec channel. It is quite clunky to have both.
If this is meant to be BIG penance, it should have similar traits- being able to move while channel, spreading Purge the Wicked. I understand why it does not benefit PotDS or Shadow Covenant, which would turn already pretty overtuned spell to extreme levels, but the former benefits could be added I think.
Being shielded for 50% for our HP and being immune to knockback to CC and knockbacks is nice, but I am still afraid it will leave us a bit vulnerable to kicks in PvP. I am not sure if we will be out of melee range while up, that would at least protect us from melee kicks, but there are still ranger interrupts. We should at least get some PvP talent which protects us from kicks while channeling.
Recent update let UP follow your target to launch either offensive or defensive penance bolts, which is good start.
Overall, I am not super mad with our changes. What I does not like is change to Harsh Discipline. Now that we will spam Smites more often, it would be in pretty great spot. I like that most of our spells now works together in reducing CDs to something else… Smite reduces CD to Penance and Mindbender, which reduce CD to UP, you also reduce your Shadowfiend and Mindbender along the way. It is different playstyle than TE maintanence, but I like it better.
Also, Smite should still be buffed a bit. It is still pretty weak button.
