wow Massive 9.1 Torghast Changes: 5 Star Rating, Talent Tree and More

[Starym 3,800]

 

Torghast was one of the bigger topics of conversation in the Preach interview with Ion Hazzikostas, and they went over some major changes to the way it will work in patch 9.1.

First off there's a lot of changes coming in the next (presumably today's) 9.1 PTR build, and after the massive nerf to the Tower of the Damned in December (which was needed to solve the massive frustration the players were experiencing) Torghast felt like a chore, as you couldn't really fail it, so the new floors needed major changes in the way they worked. And so the intention is to make Torghast more challenging again, without being as punishing as it was pre-nerf. So what does that mean?

• Getting rid of the death counter.
• More granular scoring system - adding a new 5 star (or gem) overall rating for each individual run.
• A meter that measures your activity/hot streak (like in Guitar hero) - you get bonuses the more active you are, the more you're killing things etc.
• A balance of killing stuff fast, exploring and not dying all adds up to the overall rating.
• You'll always get the Soul Ash/new Soul Cinders currency at the end, but a specific "star/gem" rating will be required to move to the next floor.
• The new Soul Cinders currency will be used to upgrade legedaries to rank 5 and 6, to bring them up to date with the new item levels of 9.1.

• A 4 star/gem rating might be needed to progress to a high layer, while 5 stars/gems have additional rewards related to them like achievements and similar.
  • Plays to the differing spec and player strengths.
• It's not all about going fast - you can get a 5 star/gem rating by going quickly and racking up the hot streak bonuses OR you can be meticulous and clear everything safely and thoroughly.
• There is also a new Torghast talent tree progression system "Tower Knowledge" being the currency.
  • You will gain Tower Knowledge on "failed" runs as well aka low scoring ones, so you're constantly progressing through the talent tree.
  • Talents will be QoL stuff like auto looting everything around you and power upgrades similar to the Ve'nari stuff in 9.0.
• No actual gear coming to Torghast.
• There are more randomized modifiers/affixes coming in 9.1, some negative but also some positive perks called Blessings.

 

Those sound like some pretty good changes, and as someone who enjoyed Torghast at the start and thinks it's a really solid base for a great long-term system, I'm very curious as to how the 9.1 changes will turn out.

[Valhalen 1,484]

23 minutes ago, Starym said:

• A meter that measures your activity/hot streak (like in Guitar hero) - you get bonuses the more active you are, the more you're killing things etc.
• A balance of killing stuff fast, exploring and not dying all adds up to the overall rating.

This is great. Because one thing that annoys me very much is being paired with a group that wants to skip all the mobs.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Valhalen

[Prophet001 598]

Sounds great but people will cry anyway.

There was nothing wrong with only doing as much as you could with the gear you had and people complained until Blizz nerfed it.

Like there's 8 layers. You're not geared/good enough to do layer 8. Sorry. *shrug*

Edited April 27, 2021 by Prophet001

[Calorat 78]

43 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

This is great. Because one thing that annoys me very much is being paired with a group that wants to skip all the mobs.

This is what Mythic+ needs,  being required to kill everything there would fix so many balance issues

[Bobbis 208]

57 minutes ago, Calorat said:

This is what Mythic+ needs,  being required to kill everything there would fix so many balance issues

god no, the % and routes with a timer makes sense, that can stay out of M+ thanks. Having to pull everything would only inflate the need for non aoe capped classes that are thriving now...

 

2 hours ago, Starym said:

A 4 star/gem rating might be needed to progress to a high layer, while 5 stars/gems have additional rewards related to them like achievements and similar.

Will be interesting to see how this works, but as long as it's acc wide still, fine. 

 

Honestly, it's my least favourite part of the expac, and not a big fan of doing it. Pre nerf was fine imo, esp in groups, now it's just tedious. If they could make a way to get all the ash/cinders we need in one run, even if it's a 12 floor run, or TC layer I'd be happier since we can grow the powers rather than start again.

Otherwise it sounds like they're mashing guitar hero into horrific visions and arcade games and I am both intrigued and put off by the thought so time will tell.

[Migol 433]

• Quote

   

  • There is also a new Torghast talent tree progression system "Tower Knowledge" being the currency.
    • You will gain Tower Knowledge on "failed" runs as well aka low scoring ones, so you're constantly progressing through the talent tree.
    • Talents will be QoL stuff like auto looting everything around you and power upgrades similar to the Ve'nari stuff in 9.0.

   

Yes...just what we need, MOAR SYSTEMS.

• Quote

  No actual gear coming to Torghast.

This is actually the killer for me.   You set up this big new activity like Torghast, and then fail to create a compelling reason to keep running it past the obligatory weekly ash pickup.     Why not allow gear progression to also come from Torghast?    Why is Blizzard so crazy opposed to players gearing up at a reasonable pace this expansion?

(Cynical ancient reptile brain voice: "Because it's going to be an even longer wait till 9.2 and they need this to last.")

[Valhalen 1,484]

1 hour ago, Bobbis said:

god no, the % and routes with a timer makes sense, that can stay out of M+ thanks. Having to pull everything would only inflate the need for non aoe capped classes that are thriving now...

If anything I wish dungeons were smaller and with less trash to kill. It is not fun, it was never fun, it will never be fun.

[Bobbis 208]

47 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

If anything I wish dungeons were smaller and with less trash to kill. It is not fun, it was never fun, it will never be fun.

Agreed on that at least, I also hate it in raids, ToC was the best raid for trash!

I never get BoE's which makes them more annoying

[Valhalen 1,484]

44 minutes ago, Bobbis said:

Agreed on that at least, I also hate it in raids, ToC was the best raid for trash!

I never get BoE's which makes them more annoying

Trial of the Champion/Crusader and Vault of Archavon were the best dungeon/raids ever made. Just enter, kill the boss, get loot. Simple and effective. 

[vorlord 0]

23 hours ago, Prophet001 said:

Sounds great but people will cry anyway.

There was nothing wrong with only doing as much as you could with the gear you had and people complained until Blizz nerfed it.

Like there's 8 layers. You're not geared/good enough to do layer 8. Sorry. *shrug*

Real problem is huge class imbalance and uneven difficulty.  You could easily clear everything, then get wafflestomped by the boss.  So an hour and a half in, with no real indication you weren't ready, and you get nothing.

Switch to an alt with far less gear (*ahem resto shaman*) and waltz through everything, every time.  The anima powers were badly designed for some classes, not balanced at all.

[Chanchi 3]

18 hours ago, Valhalen said:

Trial of the Champion/Crusader and Vault of Archavon were the best dungeon/raids ever made. Just enter, kill the boss, get loot. Simple and effective. 

Trial of the Crusader... The exact raid when everyone complained about being trash...