I’d like to start by saying that I do like the new class design philosophy, and I love the fact that since TWW open world is getting more and more love with delves, and future Prey system (as well as experiments like heroic world tier in Legion Remix).
Changes announced for frost mages in Midnight are generally very promising - fewer damaging keybinds (with Glacial Spike baked into Frostbolt and Comet Storm baked into Blizzard) and simplified mechanics.
I’d like to quote some of the Midnight alpha development notes:
We’re taking a pass to reduce button and aura bloat in the Mage core tree. We’re also consolidating defensive power to simplify the landscape of Mage defensives and make them more approachable.
Frost Mage is receiving a gameplay overhaul in Midnight targeted at simplifying their rotation by removing competing spell priorities and giving each spell a much clearer place in Frost’s rotation. In Midnight, Frost Mage features building and spending debuff gameplay centered around two reimagined mechanics: Freezing and Shattering. Frostbolt and Flurry apply stacks of Freezing and Ice Lance consumes them to deal significant bonus damage. Alongside this core mechanical change, we’re doing an overhaul of Frost’s talent tree targeted at reducing button bloat, reinforcing rotational clarity and priorities, while also removing a significant number of auras. One such change is the removal of Icy Veins as Frost Mage’s burst cooldown, now being replaced with Ray of Frost. Our vision for Frost Mage in Midnight involves a consistent damage profile with smaller peaks relative to the burstier specializations of Arcane and Fire, but a higher consistent damage output. We feel that Frost Mage has historically been deemed as the more approachable of the 3 mage specs and we like that for Frost’s identity, Our goal for the rework is for that perception to continue while also offering new Mastery for those players who heavily invest in playing Frost.
(emphasis mine).
Now I’d like to point out that out of three mage specs frost was always considered the go to spec for open world – primarily due to its extensive control abilities – to slow and freeze opponents in place. This core identity of frost mage has been in wow since vanilla (with mage aoe farming being one of the best examples of that).
Unfortunately, this core identity of a frost mage, as a ranged spellcaster keeping his enemies at a distance is being severely undermined in current Midnight alpha:
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Glacial Spike had its root removed
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Frostbite talent no longer gives our spells a change to root enemies (that’s a talent with history dating back to vanilla, and probably the most significant reduction of our control abilities)
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Improved Ice Nova and Ice ward are now on a choice node
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Frigid Winds talent removed
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Ice Nova is now a choice node against Freezing Cold. Ice Nova now replaces Cone of Cold – meaning You can’t have both.
These are drastic changes to our control capabilities – removal of Frigid Winds means that the targets we slow will come to us quicker. Removal of Glacial Spike roots as well as Frostbire random roots amplifies that effect. Improved Ice Nova and Ice ward being now on a choice node limits our ability to escape once the mobs reach us.
For open world players like me this means the content we play will get significantly more difficult than it is now.
On top of that, frost mages lose virtually all self healing (Diverted Energy talent removed, Cryo-Freeze talent removed) which means that we have to use our defensives proactively, anticipating incoming damage. Once our health is lost, we can’t really recover.
With that being said, while our rotation in Midnight does seem more approachable, playing frost mage as a whole seems more daunting than it currently is.
Also, our class fantasy seems to have changed from keeping enemies at a distance and blasting them with spells, to getting smashed by mobs in melee, while trying to get a cast off – this is not how a mage is being advertised on a character creation screen.
This is especially concerning with the addition of new, harder content that can be tackled solo (delves) or that is designed specifically to be a solo-only challenge (prey).
If anyone from Blizzard reads this – please, take open world players into consideration while making class changes. Not everyone has a tank at his side while playing the game.