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Legion Class Preview: Monk

Hi everybody and welcome to the next post for the Legion Class Preview Series that Blizzard will be bringing us over the next few days.

Today we’re getting a preview into the Monk class and how it will play in the upcoming Expansion, World of Warcraft: Legion

We’ll bring you the full post as it appears on the official Warcraft website, and we also hope to analyse each and every Healing Class Preview, so be sure to check back at a later stage as we dissect the latest information.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Source / Blue Posts)

Welcome to our World of Warcraft: Legion class preview series. In this entry, we’re exploring the Monk—to find out what’s in store for a different class, check out the overview.

We continue our early look at class and specialization design with the Monk. In these blogs, we’ll be exploring class identity, discussing Legion’s new designs, and presenting core combat abilities for each specialization—laying out the foundation upon which talents and Artifacts will build further. With that in mind, let’s delve into what it means to be a Monk in World of Warcraft.

Monks were introduced in Mists of Pandaria, and their story is woven directly into the expansion’s rich and vibrant lore. Monks bring a unique martial arts style to any fight, and harness an exotic form of magical energy that’s unfamiliar to those who practice other arcane arts. They seek spiritual balance in life and in combat, and as dangerous as Monks can be on the battlefield, they’re rarely looking to pick a fight without just cause. They view the world through a different lens, finding power through serenity and inner peace—then expressing it through artful combat techniques and powers that mend life. Perhaps most surprisingly, Monks are also adept at producing powerful brews they consume to aid them in battle.

In Legion, we’re focusing on making sure Monk abilities and gameplay better match the class’s vivid backstory. We’re also looking at abilities that already lend themselves well to the Monk’s character, but whose mechanics are in need of polish.

 Mistweaver

Mistweavers are unique among those who heal. The energies they channel are mysterious, oftentimes misunderstood by commoners—who rarely travel beyond the borders of their homelands—as some form of folk medicine. But those who weave the mists wield the power of life’s essence, using a mixture of preventative and restorative spells to mend their allies’ wounds. The inner tranquility that guides mistweavers allows them to sustain their healing for long periods of time, and gives them the strength to care for multiple injured allies.

“…those who weave the mists wield the power of life’s essence, using a mixture of preventative and restorative spells to mend their allies’ wounds.”

Gameplay

Our goal with Mistweaver Monks is to accentuate the existing characteristics that define them, and resolve some core gameplay issues. In simple terms, this means we’ve redesigned their abilities so that you can directly use the spells you want rather than having to set up an excessive amount of other abilities first.

The most prominent example of this was Renewing Mist, which served primarily as a setup for Uplift; we’ve reworked Renewing Mist to stand on its own, and replaced Uplift with a couple of new spells: Vivify and Essence Font. In addition, a new passive Soothing Mist mechanic gives Mistweavers a unique healing style with variable efficiency, over which you have more direct control.

We’re also focusing Mistweavers solely on healing, rather than supporting a type of mixed attack-healing gameplay that felt awkward and ultimately didn’t live up to our goals for the spec—it was unintuitive, and chiefly useful as a mana management tool. Lastly, Mistweavers will now use Mana, not Chi, as a resource, since it reduced choices and restricted gameplay in many situations.

Here’s a basic look at the core combat healing abilities for Mistweaver Monks:

  • Mastery: Gust of Mists
    • Your targeted heals also cause a gust of healing mists, instantly healing the target for a minor amount (increasing with Mastery from gear).
  • Soothing Mist
    • Passive
    • Your Effuse, Enveloping Mist, and Vivify also trigger Soothing Mist.
    • After casting these spells, you continue to channel healing mists into the target, healing them for a minor amount every 0.5 sec, until you take any other action.
    • Developer Comments
      • Need efficient healing? Cast any heal and let Soothing Mist continue to provide free healing as long as you feel comfortable!
      • Need high-throughput healing? Cast any heal and move onto the next target in need of healing, without spending time on Soothing Mist.
      • For Mistweavers, it’s OK to have open global cooldowns between heals—Soothing Mist fills these gaps.
  • Effuse
    • 1.8% Mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
    • A fast and efficient spell, healing the target for a minor amount.
  • Enveloping Mist
    • 6.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 2 sec cast
    • Wrap the target in healing mists, healing them for a huge amount over 6 sec, and increasing healing received from your spells by 30%.
  • Renewing Mist
    • 3.5% Mana, Instant, 6 sec cooldown
    • You surround the target with healing mists, restoring a huge amount of health over 20 sec.
    • If Renewing Mist causes any overhealing, it will travel to the most injured ally within 20 yds.
    • When Renewing Mist heals, it has a 4% chance to increase the healing of your next Vivify by 50%.
  • Essence Font
    • 8.0% Mana, 40 yd range, Channeled
    • Unleash a rapid twirl of healing bolts at up to 6 allies within 25 yds, every 1 sec for 3 sec.
    • Each bolt heals the target for a moderate amount, plus an additional moderate amount over 8 sec.
  • Vivify
    • 5.0% Mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
    • Cause a surge of invigorating mists around the target, healing them and their 2 nearest injured allies for a moderate amount.

Additionally, to give you an idea of how some talents may build upon this, here’s an example of one of their Mistweaver-specific talents:

  • Mistwalk
    • 40 yd range, Instant, 20 sec recharge, 2 charges
    • Instantly dash to an ally, and heal them for a large amount.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this early preview of our approach to Monk class and specialization design in World of Warcraft: Legion. We’ll continue our series later today with a look at Druids.

Originally published on November 12th, 2015 by on HealingWoW.com, Last modified: in the Legion, Mistweaver Monk, News category/s.

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