(Immortal Feedback)
Tree:
- Having to choose between saber reflect and mad dash feels as terrible as it sounded when it was previewed.
That is to say, terrible (and this is surprising given that we haven't had mad dash for all that long).
I better choice, imo, would be to make saber reflect baseline and, if you have to force a choice between actives, make it between Mad Dash//Threatening Scream//Force Choke.
But not only does taking abilities away just feel bad (as I'm sure you've heard but seem determined to push out), it just isn't handled well by the game engine. Switching between active abilities (let alone switching between specs) puts abilities in the first available places. A better solution would have been to keep the icons there, just unavailable (e.g. red message saying "Ability not currently selected" or whatever). It wouldn't solve the issue of spec-changing, but it'd make the choose-between-active-skills path you guys are going down feel a tiny bit less painful.
For the rest of the tree:
15: Targeted Assault seems terrible. Not only does AA do little damage in the first place, but it's seems to encourage a weird pattern of chain taunting. Chain taunting is probably fine in PVP, likely encouraged even, but even then why wouldn't you just take Sith'ari Strike which gives the exact same bonus, without the "taunted targets" restriction, and more. Other than that, I don't mind choosing between more offensive and more defensive focused passives, and the fact all the options trigger off of AA shows that the new tree could provide some interesting decisions and promise, if only the rest were like this. 20:: Out of the three tanks, Juggs already have the hardest time with AoE threat generation when SR and CB aren't available. Sweeping Slash is probably going to be the only one PvE tanks will consider, but given the rest of the options on that tier that seems fine. PvP juggs will probably be the opposite -- also fine. 30: Again, a bizarre option with "taunted targets" but at least it's not strictly worse than any other one like 15. And again, I like the 3 options revolving around buffs on CB, the first two seem fine, the last one just seems weird (but potentially has some PvP burst opportunity). 35: This is a fine tier. War Machine makes Threating Rage (the new Enrage) even more interesting to play around with. Marked for Death started off sounding interesting to use as an off tank, but the "taunted targets" restriction makes that unlikely. Reckoning seems like the same as it is currently, a fine PvP talent. 50 & 60: These are just choices of currently existing passives. My only comment here would be that it'd be nice to swap one of the ones from 60 with one of the ones from 50. None of the passives in 50 are as interesting and impactful as the ones in 60, causing both the 50 and 60 decisions to feel bad. 50 feels bad because they're all kind of "meh", and 60 feels bad because they're all interesting. Swapping War Master to 50 (with any of the current 50 options) would make both choices more interesting. 70: Already covered. 80: Sort of underwhelming, but at least it's not negative progress like 70. Not only are we choosing between already-existing-at-75 utilities, but there's no real decision here. The majority of players (both PvP and PvE) will pick Through Passion unless you're doing some arena skank tank thing, in which case Pooled Hatred might be considered, but I'm pretty doubtful about that.
Rotation:
This feels almost unaffected (which is good).
A note about Threatening Rage
The "damages all taunted targets around you" line is an interesting addition to the previously vanilla Enrage. But it's kind of clunky to use in practice. Lets say you want to get the most value of the damage effect of it, so you have to use it within 4 GCDs of an AoE taunt. But really, I want to taunt after damage, not as a prerequisite.
If, instead of "taunted targets around you" it said "all engaged enemies" (like saber reflect), it'd make much more sense. Then, you could use it as an instant rage button like you would Enrage, with a new upside.
I guess it could be phrased the way it is because of some weird PVP focus? But it does so little damage I don't think the change would be all that impactful. And if it were, changing it to "damages all engaged nonplayer and taunted enemy players". (Sort of mixture between guard + saber reflect wording).
In any case, not a huge deal, just more of a missed opportunity. The 5k damage (per taunted enemy) you get out of it every 45 seconds is not enough to make anyone feel bad about losing that effect when using it outside of the 6s taunt window.
Things we've gained:
Utility to extend SR duration has now been worked into the baseline version of the skill for tanks. This is a great QoL change, as it was a mandatory utility for tanks.
Things we've lost:
Options for temporary slight speed boosts (e.g. Enraged Defense). (Tiny) bubble on AoE Taunt/Threatening Scream, though the option to get a similar effect on CB (which now also affects yourself, unlike the threatening scream utility) will probably make up for it, potentially for a net buff. Ability to slightly buff sweeping slash damage to help with AoE threat generation. Immunity to movement impairing effects currently/previously available in utilities. Will edit this as I find more stuff
Overall, I'm slightly disappointed in the changes, but I think there's promise there, even some glimpses of genius in the tree.
tl;dr:
Choosing between additional secondary/tertiary effects for core rotational abilities is interesting. Choosing between already existing utility or defensive abilities feels bad and I'd personally like to see some tweaks to them to make them more interesting but, outside of the tier 70 choice, it's reluctantly acceptable.
