The first big update for the World of Warcraft: Legion alpha client has gone off just last night, but the forums are already aflame with the bits and pieces of upcoming expansion datamined or tried out in the latest build.
The thing that was promised in Legion is the change to all and each one of available specializations not only to make them different from other classes', but distinct from the other options within the same class as well, thus fulfilling the so called 'class fantasy'.
Blizzard felt that certain specialization required next to complete revamp (such as, for example, Survival Hunter and Demonology Warlock) to strengthen the feeling of ‘core’ fantasy while certain ones needed only general changes such as tweaking of talents and abilities. The ‘enhanced’ passive abilities, received in Warlords of Draenor, will not be present in the Legion, however, between the perks provided by the artifacts and world-drop legendaries players will be more than made up for the loss.
This overview is focused on one of three specializations of Hunter class: Beast Mastery. You can read Bill Murphy’s preview of totally revamped Survival spec which is to go melee in Legion. To sum it up, the hunter specializations would be diversified in the following way: Survival is to become melee class with a pet, Marksmanship will be turned into pet-less ranged DPS (although one of the talents, called Dark Ranger, allows to summon a ‘dark minion’ to tank for yourself for certain amount of time) and Beast Mastery will get an even greater focus on pets - both permanent and summonable. Some abilities were revamped: Deterrence was replaced with Aspect of the Turtle, Dire Beast is no longer a talent, but a part of core rotation of any Beast Mastery hunter and a prime focus generator, Cobra Shot no longer generates focus, but is a quick and relatively weak shot that consumes it, etc. Let’s take a quick look at the talents, which was possible thanks to the WoWHead Talent Calculator. Take note that Blizzard did not want a perfect cookie cutter builds to exist thus requiring you to choose certain talents to min max your DPS output and wanted the choice to be difficult or even plain suffering as the new tier for level 90 goes:
)
)
Click each for a larger image
Above you can see talent trees the way it is currently presented in Warlords of Draenor and what it will change to in the Legion. Let’s check it out. Brand new or changed talents will be marked with *.
Level 15: in Warlords of Draenor tier 1 had talents affecting movement through changes to Disengage (and Deterrence in case of [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimaera]). Let’s see what are the Legion choices in the same tier:
One with the Pack* - The chance for Wild Call to reset the cooldown of Dire Beast is increased by 10%. (The base amount given by Wild Call passive is 30% chance to reset cooldown on Dire Beast on critical strike)
Way of the Cobra* - For every pet or guardian you have active, Cobra Shot deals an additional 5% damage.
Dire Stable* - Dire Beasts generate 4 extra focus when they attack.
Level 30: Current tier in the Warlords of Draenor offers choices affecting crowd control, while level 30 tier of the Legion will repeat the tier 1 of Warlords of Draenor with the exception of the talent called Farstrider.
Posthaste - Disengage also frees you from all movement impairing effects and increases your movement speed by 60% for 8 sec.
Farstrider* - Disengage now has 2 charges.
Narrow Escape - Disengage also activates a web trap which immobilizes all targets within 8 yards for 8 sec.
)
Level 45: Tier 3 in Warlords of Draenor directly influences the hunter’s survival, while Tier 3 of Legion fully repeats Tier 2 of WoD, affecting Crowd Control. There are no brand new talents and existing ones do not receive a tweak in Legion.
Binding Shot - Fires a magical projectile, tethering the enemy and any other enemies within 5 yards for 10 sec, stunning them for 5 sec if they move more than 5 yards from the arrow, 45 sec. cooldown.
Wyvern Sting - A stinging shot that puts the target to sleep, incapacitating them for 30 sec. Any damage will cancel the effect. Usable while moving. 45 sec. cooldown.
Intimidation - Command your pet to intimidate the target, stunning it for 3 sec. 1 min cooldown.
Head to page 2 for Tier 60, 75, 90 and 100 along with a brief look at Legendaries.
