So. This right here will probably be a bit of a longer post, but after testing out Arms in the PTR with the finalized(?) class design/talent tree, I think I have fair grounds on which to review the changes.
(If some of these are off due to changes in the Beta, let me know)
I realized that the talent tree, while overall more cleaned, still has certain rows which are just dead due to a blatantly obvious Pick, so I thought I’d make a bit of a longer list to highlight these changes and what I’d like to see…
I’ll add an explanation to why these decisions would make “sense” if you will.
Arms talents idea:
15: [Double Time] [Juggernaut] [Bounding Stride]
25: [Stormbolt] [Shockwave] [Throwdown]
30: [Massacre] [Crushing Assault*] [Rend]
35: [Second Wind*] [Ignore Pain Heal*] [Soul of the Slaughter*]
40: [Collateral Damage] [Warbreaker] [One Against Many*]
45: [In For The Kill] [Avatar] [Deadly Calm]
50: [Shattered Defenses*] [Dreadnaught] [Ravager]
Tier 15 explanation:
This is the first tier of talents and in my opinion would be fitting as a flat out mobility tier. Right now Double Time is competing with the only stun Arms has in its toolkit, which means its a dead talent tier.
Bounding Stride is competing with Defensive Stance, which is another dead row.
Tier 25 explanation:
Having a baseline stun is almost necessary in PvP and PvE. 2v2, 3v3, RBGs, Mythic+, Raiding… etc, etc, etc. It’s a mandatory pick, thus, why not make a tier where you can decide what form of cc you want. It’s still a skill based decision to make, to go for an AoE stun, projectile ranged stun, or a melee stun.
Tier 30 explanation:
Massacre and Rend are overall good talents, one for PvE, one for PvP. But the addition of Crushing Assault in the place of Fervor of Battle which has been an universally despised talent since Legion would: a.) take away fervor, which no one likes. b.) give arms a spike-ish in damage which it currently lacks, I feel.
Tier 35 explanation:
This tier in my opinion in the PTR & Retail is the most pointless once because the obvious choice for every given situation will be Defensive Stance. You’re never going to pick Second Wind because it is flat out useless, and Bounding Stride, while nice, offers very little in comparison to Defensive Stance. Especially now with Ignore Pain and Shield Block. MAKE DEFENSIVE STANCE BASELINE.
Second Wind*: revert it to what it was in CATACLYSM, where when you’re struck in a CC chain, you heal for a proportion of your health.
Ignore Pain Heal*: This means every time you press Ignore Pain, you heal for 4-5% of your max HP. Less/More based on how strong or weak it is.
Soul of the Slaughter: Legion Arms Artifact Trait 1.00% chance per rage spent to heal you for [x] amount.
Tier 40 explanation:
Overall the tier 40 talents are well designed in terms of AoE, though I would take Cleave from the talents and make it baseline, and give the talent row a Whirlwind Cleave multiplier.
Tier 45 explanation:
Tier 45 talents are in my opinion pretty well designed as well. Albeit Deadly Calm is the weaker option in PvP or PvE in comparison to a solid root breaker + haste buff.
Tier 50 explanation:
This is another dead tier pretty much, seeing as the reduced main ability CD based on rage spent is an obvious pick. I would remove Anger Management or make it a legendary/conduit option, and replace it with Shattered Defenses, which would give us a guaranteed Mortal Strike/Execute crit whenever we use Colossus Smash / Overpower.
Overall, the current Arms design for Shadowlands is looking pretty solid. I wouldn’t change -too- much, seeing as it is pretty well thought out as it is. But the talent tree has been very weird since Warlords of Draenor, and I feel like this would make it a bit more PLAYER FRIENDLY.
Nobody likes a row of talents which is pretty much dead due to a broken pick.
