Level Up Your Talents in Midnight
With the release of Midnight, a new adventure path opens up, raising the level cap to ninety. Along with these additional levels, we’re expanding talent trees with exciting new abilities and introducing what we call Apex talents.
Expanding Talent Trees for Levels 81-90
In Midnight we’re expanding our talent trees with exciting new additions to Hero Talents and specialization trees with the introduction of Apex Talents. A total of ten new talent points will be disseminated amongst our trees during the level up experience with class talents gaining three new points, Hero Talents gaining three new points, and specialization talents gaining four new points. Let’s take a closer look at the details of these updates!
Specialization Trees and Apex Talents
For our specialization trees, we’re expanding them in a particularly unique way by introducing Apex Talents. These Apex Talents are intended to be the pinnacle of our specialization trees and provide a deeper fantasy and excitement than the average talent. Unlike Hero Talents which were focused on previously unexplored themes for classes, Apex Talents are focused on the core fantasy of each specialization and hone into core gameplay mechanics in new, powerful ways.
Apex Talents first unlock after reaching level 81 and are available beneath the (currently) final section of the specialization tree. They will cost a total of four specialization talent points. The first point is spent on an initial keystone that provides a large boost in power and introduces new gameplay. The next two-point node emphasizes the Apex Talent or a few core abilities for the specialization. The final point applies to a capstone that brings the Apex Talent into a complete and cohesive package.
More With Hero Talents
Hero Talents are also expanded in Midnight with three new talent points and nodes being allocated to each tree. These points will be added via an additional column, and once reaching maximum level the entire Hero Talent tree will be filled out. None of these new Hero Talent nodes will enhance utility or defensiveness.
Growing the Class Tree
We’re introducing an additional three talent points to the base class tree to be spent within the first two nodes. This means that the point requirement to unlock the final node will be increasing from twenty to twenty-three, but this will not come into effect until the Midnight expansion release and will not change during the pre-expansion content update.
Playtesting & Feedback
Many Apex Talents will be available for playtesting on the Midnight alpha immediately and may be selected using specialization tree points in the final specialization tree node. The current User interface (UI) is temporary for playtesting purposes and will be replaced with a final UI later in development. As with any test cycle, we will be adding more Apex Talents to the test over time and not all will be available with the start of the alpha test.
It’s also worth noting that players will be able to apply their four new Apex Talents as they wish and won’t be locked into where the points get applied. We will be carefully observing how this plays out throughout Midnight’s development to ensure our tuning goals for Apex Talents are being met on a specialization-by-specialization basis.
Here are some questions we are hoping to have answered by players when it comes to Apex Talents and the 81-90 level up experience during the alpha test:
- How gameplay-impacting, exciting, and fantasy forward is your Apex Talent to you?
- Are your Apex Talents and new Hero Talents meeting the approachability goals laid out in our Combat for Everyone in Midnight article?
- Are there cases you would consider not selecting your Apex talent?
- Does the Apex talent disproportionally favor a particular talent build or Hero Talent tree?
We've shared a few examples of the new Apex Talents that will be first available in the initial alpha test below. Make sure to head over to the alpha test forums for the full list.
Death Knight: Blood
- Apex Talents: Dance of Midnight
- While Dancing Rune Weapon is active, when you parry you have a chance to make your next Heart Strike free and deal 150% increased damage.
- For each Dancing Rune Weapon active your damage is increased by 4/8% and your damage taken is reduced by 2/4%.
- When you consume a Rune you have a chance to call a Dancing Rune Weapon to your aid for 6 seconds.
Druid: Restoration
- Apex Talents: Everbloom
- Lifebloom stacks every 5 seconds, up to 3 times.
- 30% of Lifebloom's healing splashes to 2 allies within 30 yards.
- Lifebloom bursts into a Blooming Frenzy when you consume Soul of the Forest, causing it to bloom 8 times in rapid succession.
Mage: Arcane
- Apex Talents: Touch of the Archmage
- Touch of the Magi accumulates an additional 5% damage and has 1 additional charge.
- Arcane Charges further increase the damage of Arcane Blast, Arcane Pulse, and Arcane Barrage by 15/30%.
- When Touch of the Magi explodes, it leaves behind a pulsing rune at its targets location, dealing 25% of its damage over 6 sec to nearby enemies. Damage is increased by 100% on your initial Touch of the Magi target.
We look forward to your feedback and look forward to you joining us in Midnight!
