I have been meaning to weigh in on the couple changes announced in the producer letter.
The first is the armor graphic choices. While I don’t know exactly how this will be implemented, I have for a long time been suggesting that they should allow people to set the look of the armor pieces from items they have unlocked in their tome. Allowing players to have a unique look. For almost everyone, stats reign supreme and looks are always secondary. You pick your gear based on how well it will let you win your battles, not how amazing it looks. In a lot of cases these choices would be very different if you wanted your character to look how you would like. While this obviously isn’t game changing, it is a very cool nice to have thing for the game.
Now, Zealots:
It has been mentioned that the harbinger mechanic of the zealot will be changed to a toggle, toggling magic and healing. I could make assumptions about the specifics on how this will be implemented, but instead I will generalize on how the intention will affect it.
Zealots at the moment are either healing or dps. They are decent healers, but not a first or even second choice really for healing classes. I assume most groups would still aim for dok/shammy if they had a choice and skill was equal. For DPS, no group is going to try to seriously compete with a zealot DPS. There is just too many alternatives for dps that can actually spike damage better. Hybrid zealots tend to fail at both. They bring some utility, but they end up taking up a group spot that could be better filled by someone who fills a role to its full potential.
My expectation is that changes aiming at making a zealot a better hybrid class will make the Zealot more well rounded, complete and more enjoyable to play. At the same time, in my opinion, it will add very little effectiveness to the class. Healing focused zealots will still be dedicated to healing tasks in competitive battles until the tides turn, then they could switch to damage and have some fun, but really, the outcome was already decided before they switched. Who knows what any potential cast time, cooldown time etc.. on switching might be. I would assume you could not switch back and forth instantly, or why have a toggle at all, just have your stats share full time so you dont have to macro things.
The biggest problem from my perspective is, I want the class to be top healing class. In line with WP/Dok/AM/Sham and a in a lot ways, RP in terms of healing and survivability. However, in this case I am 100% wrong, Mythic has always wanted the zealot to be a true hybrid class and they are now getting around to to turning it into the class they envisioned. It really isn’t their fault I want it to be something else.
My hope is, in some sort of spell/skill swapping, zealots end up with Ancestors Echo and a reduced cooldown on our AE detaunt. RPs can have anything they like, I would pay money to give transference to Rune Priests, then start a count down until Order realizes that Rune Priests running around specced for transference is actually a nerf to order as a realm.
The information may not be as plentiful as I would like, but one thing is certain. I really like that Carrie and the communications team is sticking with the monthly producer letters. I can’t wait to find out more about what may be coming to Warhammer Online.