Huge Progress on CoA
Heroes!
Conquest of Azeroth receives a HUGE Core Rework to drastically improve the feel, performance, and playability of EACH SPEC for all of CoA’s 21 Original Classes. It also targets the pacing of CoA’s early game, which could feel unpolished due to the sheer number of abilities that pulled you in different directions that each class had. With this Core Rework, classes will feel more focused to your desired specialization, and better to play.
- The Core CoA Rework goes live TOMORROW: 11/20 @ 11:00pm SERVER TIME
This is only the beginning of the CoA Core Rework, and it lays the groundwork for many more frequent updates to come. There’s been less frequent changes to CoA as a result of preparing for this update, and it ALL had to come together at once. From here, things will keep upgrading and iterating based on your feedback, and as always, everything in the alpha is open to change. Now is your chance to leap into CoA and help improve the game together!
Finally, this Core Rework is in preparation for the level 60 Phase of the Alpha: meaning it's almost time for you to dive into the end game of Conquest of Azeroth! Get excited to finally tackle end game Dungeons, Raids, Battlegrounds, Arenas, and more with all 21 original classes.
Here’s the basics of the rework:
- You now choose your Specialization at Level 10!
- This unlocks a specialization specific ‘core kit’, giving you control of your Hero by having skills tailored to support the playstyle you’ve chosen.
- Gives each spec a unique identity tailored to that fantasy
- Additionally, specs can now have cooler spells and abilities early on because there is no longer a worry about cross-spec interactions on core abilities for each spec
- Specialized roles such as healers and tanks will now have all the tools they need to perform in group content such as dungeons and battlegrounds as early as level 10
- Core Kits are Reworked
- Many required tools such as dispels, interrupts, resurrection spells, taunts and PvP defensives have been made baseline for all classes
- Tons of spells have been swapped in and out of core kits to make more cohesive and well-rounded foundations for each class.
- Many fundamental abilities that were pivotal for specs to reach their potential, and therefore felt bad to spend ability essence on, are now baseline
- Post-30 talent trees have been restructured to allow for a more balanced set of options that make more sense
- Some entirely new spells have been added to classes
- You can now only spec into a secondary tree once you have reached the end of your primary tree
- This allows for better balancing without subtracting fun tools from specs just because of broken interactions with other specs.
- Also the early tiers of each spec to have significant synergies with other specs to make hybridisation feel great
- Choosing a Specialization unlocks unique Passive Abilities, allowing each spec to feel unique and tailored to the role it performs.
- Each Specialization has its own unique passives
- Spells that all specs have access to can be adjusted via spec passives - for example, a healing spec may get a reduced cooldown on a powerful baseline healing ability
- Integral spec mechanics can be introduced early and focused on
- These passives allow for specific spec-by-spec adjustments to tweak specializations without affecting other ones.
- Makes each spec feel unique, and removes the sense of being pulled in too many directions
- Tooltip, VFX & SFX Improvements
- We’ve started the process of standardizing tooltips to allow for clarity and precision across CoA
- Added some new functionality to Tooltips to let you expand certain aspects to get more information, without bloating tooltip text.
- Helps show how abilities synergize, so you know how they interact
These changes to the way CoA Classes and Specializations work solve a few fundamental problems, resulting in clearer, easier to play Classes and Specializations that are tailored to the spec you’re actually playing.
First off, Heroes now choose a Class Specialization at level 10. This unlocks a ‘core kit’ unique to that spec, which provides each spec with a set of abilities specifically tailored to achieving its fantasy. Not only will specs feel clearer and better to play, but they’ll also get cooler, more iconic abilities early on! These core kits will solve the frustration of feeling like your class was being pulled in too many directions at once, giving each spec a clear, distinct role and feel.
Next, the early game experience and pacing has improved tremendously. A good portion of this CoA development cycle went into making the early game feel engaging and exciting for the new classes.
Finally, Heroes will notice improved Spell Visuals and SFX for all classes. There’s still a lot of work to do here, but the next direction should be clear.
Conquest of Azeroth Bundle 50% Off
To let as many Heroes as possible enjoy the new changes and help test the CoA Experience, the Conquest of Azeroth Travel Guide Bundle is on sale from now until 3rd of December. ‘
Prestige Bonus
During this time, a bonus Prestige Event will let all Heroes on CoA acquire BIG Extra Marks of Ascension! This gives you the chance to customize your CoA Hero, enjoy the Alpha, and prepare for what comes next…
What Comes Next
The next step after this is to prepare for Conquest of Azeroth to progress into the 60 phase of the Alpha! This raises the level cap to–you guessed it–level 60, granting you access to skills and the ability to further customize all 21 classes.
