World of Warcraft

[Soapy]

Yeah some of the Death Knight changes are pretty cool.

I wish they didn't nerf the Shaman's ability to dispel so much. And it's kind of a bummer that Blizzard gave Mages a Bloodlust spell. Aside from that though, I'm pretty happy about the changes to Shaman.

[Drz]

Here's a really cool art showing Deathwing vs. Alexstrasza:
http://i42.tinypic.com/2uhsuxe.jpg

Pretty awesome if you ask me. :)

[Soapy]

It's especially cool if you've seen the picture that shows how big Deathwing is compared to a human.

[Captain America]

Here's a really cool art showing Deathwing vs. Alexstrasza:
http://i42.tinypic.com/2uhsuxe.jpg

Pretty awesome if you ask me. :)

Stunning :wow:

Priest
My main is a priest, just about everything in there sounds AWESOME, but I doubt the "Leap of Faith" will make it to launch, sounds a little to tricky and not very useful

[Soapy]

Paladin

New Paladin Spells

Blinding Shield (level 81): Causes damage and blinds all nearby targets. This effect might end up only damaging those facing the paladin’s shield, in a manner similar to Eadric the Pure's ability Radiance in Trial of the Champion. The Holy tree will have a talent to increase the damage and critical strike chance, while the Protection tree will have a talent to make this spell instant cast. 2-second base cast time. Requires a shield.

Healing Hands (level 83): Healing Hands is a new healing spell. The paladin radiates heals from him or herself, almost like a Healing Stream Totem. It has a short range, but a long enough duration that the paladin can cast other heals while Healing Hands remains active. 15-second cooldown. 6-second duration.

Guardian of Ancient Kings (level 85): Summons a temporary guardian that looks like a winged creature of light armed with a sword. The visual is similar to that of the Resurrection spell used by the paladin in Warcraft III. The guardian has a different effect depending on the talent spec of the paladin. For Holy paladins, the guardian heals the most wounded ally in the area. For Protection paladins, the guardian absorbs some incoming damage. For Retribution paladins, it damages an enemy, similar to the death knight Gargoyle or the Nibelung staff. 3-minute cooldown. 30-second duration (this might vary depending on which guardian appears).

Next you will find a list of some of the paladin spell and ability changes, followed by our intentions for improving each talent tree for the release of Cataclysm. There will be further changes, but those revealed below should offer some insight into our goals.

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics


Crusader Strike will be a core ability for all paladins, gained at level 1. We think the paladin leveling experience is hurt by not having an instant attack. Retribution will be getting a new talent in its place that either modifies Crusader Strike or replaces it completely.
Cleanse is being rebalanced to work with the new dispel system. It will dispel defensive magic (debuffs on friendly targets), diseases, and poisons.
Blessing of Might will provide the benefit of Wisdom as well. If you have two paladins in your group, one will do Kings on everyone and the other will do Might on everyone. There should be much less need, and ideally no need, to provide specific buffs to specific classes.
Holy Shock will be a core healing spell available to all paladins.
New Talents and Talent Changes
We want to ease off the defensive capabilities of Retribution and Holy paladins slightly. We think the powerful paladin defenses have been one of the things holding Retribution paladins back, especially in Arenas. One change we’re considering is lowering Divine Shield’s duration by a couple of seconds. Having said that, Retribution does pretty well in Battlegrounds, and Battlegrounds will be a much bigger focus in Cataclysm since they can provide the best PvP rewards. Furthermore, the healing environment of Cataclysm is going to be different such that a paladin may not be able to fully heal themselves during the duration of Divine Shield to begin with, so this may not be a problem.
We feel Retribution paladins need one more mechanic which involves some risk of the player pushing the wrong button, making the rotation a bit less forgiving. In addition, we want to add to this spec more PvP utility. Right now the successes of the Retribution paladin in PvP seem to be reduced to either doing decent burst damage, or just being good at staying alive.
We want to increase the duration of Sacred Shield to 30 minutes and keep the limit to one target. The intention is that the paladin can use it on their main healing target. That said, we would like to improve the Holy paladin toolbox and niche so that they don’t feel quite like the obvious choice for tank healing while perceived as a weak group healer.
We want to add to the Holy tree a nice big heal to correspond with Greater Heal. Flash of Light remains a fast heal, but will be more expensive to justify the cast speed. Holy Light will be the go-to heal that has average efficiency and throughput. Beacon of Light needs to be changed so that its benefit is letting the paladin heal two targets at once, not letting the paladin get two heals for the mana cost of one. It’s intended to save GCDs and targeting time, not mana.
Holy paladins will use spirit as their mana regeneration stat.
Protection paladins need a different rotation between single-target and multi-target tanking. Likewise, we're looking to add the necessity to use an additional cooldown in each rotation.
Holy Shield will no longer have charges. It will be designed to improve block chance while active, and will continue to provide a small amount of damage and threat.


Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Holy
Healing
Meditation
Critical Healing Effect

Protection
Damage Reduction
Vengeance
Block Amount

Retribution
Melee Damage
Melee Critical Damage
Holy Damage

Meditation: This is the spirit-to-mana conversion that the priest, druid, and shaman healers also share.

Vengeance: This is the damage-received-to-attack-power conversion that all tanks share.

Critical Healing Effect: When the paladin gets a crit on a heal, it will heal for more.

Block Amount: We want to keep the kit of the paladin as a tank who blocks a lot. So by contrast, the warrior tank will sometimes get critical blocks, but the paladin will absorb more damage with normal blocks.

Holy Damage: Any attack that does Holy damage will have its damage increased.

[Soapy]

Screenshots of the new Troll city that will be located in the Echo Isles. :woot:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss30.jpg

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss31.jpg

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss34.jpg

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss33.jpg

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss32.jpg

Yay!!:applaud

[Cunning Stunts]

So I'm picking WoW back up just in time to get pumped for Cataclysm. I'm totally recruiting a friend of mine for the rocket mount. Won't we be able to fly on the two mainlands now?

[Soapy]

Yep. Once Cataclysm comes out you'll be able to fly over Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Of course I'm sure you'll have to pay a hefty fee in gold to do so.

[Cunning Stunts]

Yeah that sucks. I have like 231 gold right now. Isn't learning to fly like 500 or so?

[Cunning Stunts]

Yeah that sucks. I have like 231 gold right now. Isn't learning to fly like 500 or so?

[Soapy]

Add another zero and you would be right. :dry:

[Cunning Stunts]

Even just basic flying? I'm looking at WoWWiki.com right now, and it's saying Expert Riding (for a Regular Flying Mount) is actually 250 gold. I hope that's the actual case, and it's not just misinformation.

[Soapy]

Oh, I was talking about Artisan Flying.

PS - What realm are you on?

[Cunning Stunts]

Demon Soul. A friend of mine who wanted me to begin playing WoW got me to play there. I'm pretty pissed, because now it's got a really low population, and I'm all about the big parties and doing the raids. I'm only level 55 right now, but I'm working my way up almost solely so I can do the raids.

I'm getting back into it now, and my goal is to power-level my ass off until I make it to 60... As soon as school's over.

[Superboy-Prime]

I bought a "NVIDIA GeFORCE 8400GS 512 MB PCI-EXPRESS- NEW 8400" off Ebay so I could start playing WOW, but apparently this video card is not very good for WOW, does anyone know if this is true or not?

[LouFerignoDemon]

Demon Soul, eh?

The Scryers, here. Also a small populated server, but I'm currently serving with a pretty sharp guild, myself, which raids often.

For flying, it isn't that expensive to get the regular flying mount, and then it's like 5k for artisan flying, then another 1k for cold weather flying. Or it's 1k for artisan, and 5k for cold weather. I'm pretty sure I was right the first time.

Or you can be like my mage, who has all these mounts she can use at artisan, but doesn't have artisan flying. (You can summon me to ICC. >=( You know, if you can see each other. Otherwise, bring a warlock. >=( )

I'm loving some of the mage changes, and how the team is not FORCED to bring shamans (which we never really were forced to, but it's nice to have some options.) Healing rain is looking good, as well as a heal while you run talent. But again on mages, we're finally gettin' some love (cause we apparently weren't before >.>) with mage lust (time warp) and that fire sphere from Prince T. I'm sorta off about the mastery with arcane mages, since as of now, arcane mages are notorious for just BURNING mana in comparison to other mage specs (like FFB spec, and it's endless mana. @_@). I'm just not sure how giving a damage boost for the amount of mana we have is a strong idea. Especially if there's a PvP arcane mage. Their burst would be incredibly OP. x.x

Also, I'm gonna miss being able to go from the bottom of healing meters to 2k over the top healer on the fly with Cata. ;-; Boohoo... No more HL spams with BoL?! They must hate paladins! >=O /typical overreacting nerdrage.

Actually though, it's understandable. Pallies sort of have a nerf coming their way. Even with a GS 200 over mine, one of the resto shamans in my guild couldn't outheal me if he HAD to and I didn't even bother to pop cd's. (Our overhealing is probably much higher than effective healing when we compete. =D)

Also, I'm gonna miss frost tanking. ;-; Howling Blast, how I will miss thee.

Priest Grip is gonna be the bane of Priest's existances. "The priest should've pulled me out of the fire, cause I couldn't get out in time." Sure, the player will probably not be a great one, but you know it's gonna happen.

[Superboy-Prime]

I will be playing WOW for the first time tomorrow, I am a long time Morrowind player, anything I should know before I noob it up?

[Soapy]

1. First off, Morrowind is awesome and probably my favorite game ever, so congratulations on having excellent taste.

2. http://www.wowwiki.com/ (http://www.wowwiki.com/) and http://www.wowhead.com/ (http://www.wowhead.com/) should become your best friends.

3. If you're on a PvP server prepare to be ganked hard and often. Especially if you're with the Horde.

4. Learn a gathering and crafting profession as early as possible. You can make yourself better gear than what you can buy or get from quests and you can also earn a good chunk of gold selling your creations in the auction house.

5. Don't worry about picking a race based on their stats or racial traits, just go for whatever looks cool to you. In my opinion traits are kind of trivial in the grand scheme of things.

6. It can take a long time to really get an accurate feel for how a class plays, so don't get discouraged if you take your character to level 15 or 20 or even higher and suddenly find out you actually don't like that class. I personally played as a Warrior(26), Hunter(31), and a Rogue(19) before I started my Shaman which I love.

6. Join the Horde.

That should be enough for the early going. Come back if you have more questions. :)

[Diamanthus]

Actually, you make more gold if you take two gathering professions rather than a crafting and gathering one. Since with the crafting one you'll spend some coin in materials that your gathering profession won't cover. Also, it's best to work on your crafting profession once you reach 80 since it'll be easier to level. You'll have easier acess to gold through dailies which you could use to buy what you need from the auction house rather than farming it yourself or if you still want to, you could and save the gold.

Also, if you have a friend that plays WoW or is interested in playing, try Recruit-A-Friend (RAF). It'll make leveling through the 1-60 go pretty quickly.

[Soapy]

True, I have two gathering professions, but wouldn't it be more beneficial to a new player to be able to make some good gear?

[Diamanthus]

Crafting gear is meh to okay during the first two parts of the games, Azeroth and BC, its turns better once they get to Northrend. Also, leveling through those two parts it abit faster than it used to be since they lowered the required exp during BC for Azeroth. And it'll be even faster if they have access to RAF. They'll be leveling soo quickly that they might have to spend a day leveling the crafting profession to obtain gear their level that is good. And its get worse once they venture into Outlands, since any previous gear, will be upgraded with quest items. Even the hard to craft items from late Azeroth, which require some rare materials, will be easily upgraded in Outland.

Also, leak alpha model of Deathwing (http://i43.tinypic.com/14skshw.jpg).

[Superboy-Prime]

1. First off, Morrowind is awesome and probably my favorite game ever, so congratulations on having excellent taste.

2. http://www.wowwiki.com/ (http://www.wowwiki.com/) and http://www.wowhead.com/ (http://www.wowhead.com/) should become your best friends.

3. If you're on a PvP server prepare to be ganked hard and often. Especially if you're with the Horde.

4. Learn a gathering and crafting profession as early as possible. You can make yourself better gear than what you can buy or get from quests and you can also earn a good chunk of gold selling your creations in the auction house.

5. Don't worry about picking a race based on their stats or racial traits, just go for whatever looks cool to you. In my opinion traits are kind of trivial in the grand scheme of things.

6. It can take a long time to really get an accurate feel for how a class plays, so don't get discouraged if you take your character to level 15 or 20 or even higher and suddenly find out you actually don't like that class. I personally played as a Warrior(26), Hunter(31), and a Rogue(19) before I started my Shaman which I love.

6. Join the Horde.

That should be enough for the early going. Come back if you have more questions. :)

Thanks for the advice and tips, I was going to be Horde anyway lol

is it better to level up with combat and skilling or through questing?

[LouFerignoDemon]

5. Don't worry about picking a race based on their stats or racial traits, just go for whatever looks cool to you. In my opinion traits are kind of trivial in the grand scheme of things.

6. It can take a long time to really get an accurate feel for how a class plays, so don't get discouraged if you take your character to level 15 or 20 or even higher and suddenly find out you actually don't like that class. I personally played as a Warrior(26), Hunter(31), and a Rogue(19) before I started my Shaman which I love.

6. Join the Horde.

That should be enough for the early going. Come back if you have more questions. :)

Race doesn't matter? Tell that to paladins concerning Belf Paladins, or priests concerning Undead shadow priests. :oldrazz:

However, the guy is right. Sometimes, it takes a while to figure out you don't exactly love the class you're playing, and don't feel like you're too far in the game to start over. Lessee... I got my lock to 70, didn't really care for it, so I got a warrior to 70, decided I really wanted a mage, who I got to 70, then WoTLK came out. So then I got my DK to 80 to tank spam, then got my mage to 80 for dps and pvp fun, then got my paladin to 80 to healz it out. And for now, my healadin and mage are my two favourite toons. Sorta leaning towards getting my warlock from 72 to 80 again.

Also, yes. Horde. LOK'TAR OGAR!! FOR THE HORDE!! Also, join The Scryers if you do, so me and Diamanthus have someone else from the Hype to play with.

Actually, you make more gold if you take two gathering professions rather than a crafting and gathering one. Since with the crafting one you'll spend some coin in materials that your gathering profession won't cover. Also, it's best to work on your crafting profession once you reach 80 since it'll be easier to level. You'll have easier acess to gold through dailies which you could use to buy what you need from the auction house rather than farming it yourself or if you still want to, you could and save the gold.

Also, if you have a friend that plays WoW or is interested in playing, try Recruit-A-Friend (RAF). It'll make leveling through the 1-60 go pretty quickly.

We still need to do that RAF. >.> Next week maybe? We shoulda done it this week with all the Children's Week going down.

True, I have two gathering professions, but wouldn't it be more beneficial to a new player to be able to make some good gear?

Gear that early in the game (and pretty much till the END of the levelling process) is cheap and easy. And with the new random system, it doesn't even matter anymore. Gathering professions would allow him to collect mats to trade to those with the crafting professions to give him better gear the moment he hits 80.

[Soapy]

Also, leak alpha model of Deathwing (http://i43.tinypic.com/14skshw.jpg).

:wow:


is it better to level up with combat and skilling or through questing?

When you say combat do you mean grinding? As in just killing monsters over and over again?

[Diamanthus]

Thanks for the advice and tips, I was going to be Horde anyway lol

is it better to level up with combat and skilling or through questing?

Questing. When they lower the required experience from level 1-60, they also increase the experience reward from quest. Also, you can chain quest together, picking out an effective path to one quest to the other to reduce travel time, and then just turn them all at once. You could search the internet for some free leveling guides.

We still need to do that RAF. >.> Next week maybe? We shoulda done it this week with all the Children's Week going down.

Yeah, next week.

[LouFerignoDemon]

I also heard randoming into PvP while doing quests was great, too.

[Soapy]

MASSIVE dump of screenshots!

http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/cataclysm-zones-screenshots-npc-models/

:wow:

[Drz]

http://i40.tinypic.com/zwyw47.jpg

[Cunning Stunts]

Dude. I just want my Pandaren Brewmaster. I'm hoping at Blizzcon they'll announce, "Oh yeah, and we're gonna be bringing in a hero class too..."

They should totally bring in Pandaren. There's such a huge outcry from the community to bring them in, and I can't understand stand why Blizzard is ignoring it so vehemently. The best idea I can really think of is bringing in Pandaren as a neutral race, starting in Pandaria (obviously). At the end of your starting zone missions, you'll get a quest chain to become contracted to either the Horde or the Alliance.

The Pandaren already have racial abilities listed on WoWWiki (I don't know where this information comes from, but I guess it's a good starting point):


Nature Resistance Increase Nature Resistance by 10.

All Fours Click to increase speed (http://www.wowwiki.com/Attributes#Speed) by 60%. 30 Second cooldown, lasts 50 seconds. Requires empty weapon slots. You drop down onto all fours, greatly increasing your speed.

Elusive 15% bonus to faction (http://www.wowwiki.com/Faction) point gain.

Heavy Sword Specialization Increase Two-Handed Sword (http://www.wowwiki.com/Sword) skill by 5. This makes your skill as though you were one level higher than you are.

I do think "All Fours" should be weakened, as that seems like much too big of a buff to start out. I'd say MAYBE give them a 20% or 30% increase, and only for like 6 or 7 seconds (kind of similar to the Worgen's racial ability). However, I do think the "Heavy Sword Specialization" plays right into my idea I have for the Brewmaster-esque hero class...

Now, as far as bringing in the Brewmasters, I say create a leather-/mail-wearing hero class called "Monk", based largely on Asian martial arts in both design and history, and combine Brewmasters with the Orc Blademasters from WarCraft III.

The three talent trees could likely be:

Blademastery- Obviously, a master of blades. A DPS-heavy spec tree that concentrates on overwhelming small groups of opponents by confusing them with Windwalk and Mirror Image. I guess to separate them from Ret Paladins and Rogues (who hit fast and hard), you could concentrate on their use of swords, and emphasize a "damage over time" role- in other words, you hack a few people really quickly with bleeding-type attacks, draining your opponents' hit points while you move from opponent to opponent. That kind of system could be cumbersome, but I'm sure Blizz could manage something (this would kind of be similar to the Druid's healing abilities compared to the Priest's, where Druids have great Heal Over Time spells, while Priests are better for healing on the spot, quickly and efficiently). This could allow the Blademaster's effect to be felt even after his/her death.

Brewmastery- A crowd-control spec that emphasizes the alcohol element of the Brewmasters' lore. Best I could think of is using the alcohol to slow and weaken groups of enemies (with spells like Drunken Haze), and toughening or "berserking" your allies and yourself (with spells like Drunken Brawler), and perhaps using some AOE spells (like Breath of Fire, and my personal favorite, Storm, Earth, and Fire). Storm, Earth, and Fire could be hard to do (especially while keeping it balanced).

Acupressure- A healing spec tree, as there has apparently been a cry for a healer hero recently, and (correct me if I'm wrong) I want to say I remember hearing word that Blizzard would want to go in that direction with the next hero class. This one could be hard to separate from other classes like the Priest, Druid, and Shaman, but the best I could think of (as this is a hero class, instead of a regular class), is the ability to not only heal, but perhaps buff up attributes for small amounts of time, like Strength, Intellect, Spirit, etc., and perhaps even giving big boosts to Hit Points or Mana for the durations of battles.

All three of which are based on martial arts principles (or even martial arts themselves), as Blademastery = Samurai reference, Brewmasters = Drunken Fist reference, and Acupressure = ... Well, acupressure, which is commonly practiced (alongside acupuncture) in a great deal of martial arts. Although, I've read from some places that the reason Pandaren are being ignored is because of the combination of Japanese principles with a Chinese animal is offensive to both nations. As to the extent of the truth to this statement, I don't know.

Just a thought, overall. Obviously, Blizzard can/would put in the time to make it more balanced than I can, but I'm dying to have my favorite WarCraft III hero make an entrance into the game.

[Soapy]

The Pandaren would be a welcome addition to World of Warcraft, but I wouldn't count on it in this expansion. Cataclysm is going into open beta soon and I'm pretty sure it will be out before Blizzcon. Maybe in the 2012 expansion though.

[Cunning Stunts]

Well, I'm not sure when we'll get Cataclysm, but I'm almost positive that we'll get another expansion much sooner than 2012. As far as I've heard, there's plans for at least two or three more before the next WarCraft game's release (rumored to be 2013, but there's no official word that I've seen).

[Soapy]

Well, I just say 2012 because Blizzard seems to work on a two year cycle when it comes to Warcraft.

2002: Warcraft III
2004: World of Warcraft
2006: The Burning Crusade
2008: Wrath of the Lich King
2010: Cataclysm
2012: ???

[Cunning Stunts]

Good point. I dunno, with the "end" of WarCraft coming within around three years (again, supposedly, I've not seen official word on this), I'd have a hard time believing we'll get just one more expansion in two years from Cataclysm, especially if they want to pump out another hero class any time soon.

Maybe they'll release a hero pack?

[Soapy]

World of Warcraft will end when it stops being profitable. Which will be a looong time from now. The original Everquest is still going strong, and even Ultima Online still has many active users. Seeing as how WoW is more successful than both those games combined and then some, it wouldn't surprise me if WoW was still online twenty years from now.

[Cunning Stunts]

World of Warcraft will end when it stops being profitable. Which will be a looong time from now. The original Everquest is still going strong, and even Ultima Online still has many active users. Seeing as how WoW is more successful than both those games combined and then some, it wouldn't surprise me if WoW was still online twenty years from now.

Yeah, it'll still get server support and maintenance ten years from now... But will it keep releasing expansions? No, probably not. Releasing unneeded expansions that violate the lore (which seems to be an even bigger deal with this fanbase than normal), that'll probably dip profits even quicker than just an end to the story.

[Soapy]

Blizzard talks about talent tree changes.

When we first announced our design goals for class talent trees back at BlizzCon 2009, one of our major stated focuses was to remove some of the boring and "mandatory" passive talents. We mentioned that we wanted talent choices to feel more flavorful and fun, yet more meaningful at the same time. Recently, we had our fansites release information on work-in-progress talent tree previews for druids, priests, shaman, and rogues. From those previews and via alpha test feedback, a primary response we heard was that these trees didn’t incorporate the original design goals discussed at BlizzCon. This response echoes something we have been feeling internally for some time, namely that the talent tree system has not aged well since we first increased the level cap beyond level 60. In an upcoming beta build, we will unveil bold overhauls of all 30 talent trees.

Talent Tree Vision

One of the basic tenets of Blizzard game design is that of “concentrated coolness.” We’d rather have a simpler design with a lot of depth, than a complicated but shallow design. The goal for Cataclysm remains to remove a lot of the passive (or lame) talents, but we don’t think that’s possible with the current tree size. To resolve this, we're reducing each tree to 31-point talents. With this reduction in tree size we need to make sure they're being purchased along a similar leveling curve, and therefore will also be reducing the number of total talent points and the speed at which they're awarded during the leveling process.

As a result, we can keep the unique talents in each tree, particularly those which provide new spells, abilities or mechanics. We’ll still have room for extra flavorful talents and room for player customization, but we can trim a great deal of fat from each tree. The idea isn’t to give players fewer choices, but to make those choices feel more meaningful. Your rotations won’t change and you won’t lose any cool talents. What will change are all of the filler talents you had to pick up to get to the next fun talent, as well as most talents that required 5 of your hard-earned points.

We are also taking a hard look at many of the mandatory PvP talents, such as spell pushback or mechanic duration reductions. While there will always be PvP vs. PvE builds, we’d like for the difference to be less extreme, so that players don’t feel like they necessarily need to spend their second talent specialization on a PvP build.

The Rise of Specialization

We want to focus the talent trees towards your chosen style of gameplay right away. That first point you spend in a tree should be very meaningful. If you choose Enhancement, we want you to feel like an Enhancement shaman right away, not thirty talent points later. When talent trees are unlocked at level 10, you will be asked to choose your specialization (e.g. whether you want to be an Arms, Fury or Protection warrior) before spending that first point. Making this choice comes with certain benefits, including whatever passive bonuses you need to be effective in that role, and a signature ability that used to be buried deeper in the talent trees. These abilities and bonuses are only available by specializing in a specific tree. Each tree awards its own unique active ability and passives when chosen. The passive bonuses range from flat percentage increases, like a 20% increase to Fire damage for Fire mages or spell range increases for casters, to more interesting passives such as the passive rage regeneration of the former Anger Management talent for Arms warriors, Dual-Wield Specialization for Fury warriors and Combat rogues, or the ability to dual-wield itself for Enhancement shaman.

The initial talent tree selection unlocks active abilities that are core to the chosen role. Our goal is to choose abilities that let the specializations come into their own much earlier than was possible when a specialization-defining talent had to be buried deep enough that other talent trees couldn’t access them. For example, having Lava Lash and Dual-Wield right away lets an Enhancement shaman feel like an Enhancement shaman. Other role-defining examples of abilities players can now get for free at level 10 include Mortal Strike, Bloodthirst, Shield Slam, Mutilate, Shadow Step, Thunderstorm, Earth Shield, Water Elemental, and Penance.

Getting Down to the Grit

Talent trees will have around 20 unique talents instead of today's (roughly) 30 talents, and aesthetically will look a bit more like the original World of Warcraft talent trees. The 31-point talents will generally be the same as the 51-point talents we already had planned for Cataclysm. A lot of the boring or extremely specialized talents have been removed, but we don't want to remove anything that’s going to affect spell/ability rotations. We want to keep overall damage, healing, and survivability roughly the same while providing a lot of the passive bonuses for free based on your specialization choice.

While leveling, you will get 1 talent point about every 2 levels (41 points total at level 85). Our goal is to alternate between gaining a new class spell or ability and gaining a talent point with each level. As another significant change, you will not be able to put points into a different talent tree until you have dedicated 31 talent points to your primary specialization. While leveling, this will be possible at 70. Picking a talent specialization should feel important. To that end, we want to make sure new players understand the significance of reaching the bottom of their specialization tree before gaining the option of spending points in the other trees. We intend to make sure dual-specialization and re-talenting function exactly as they do today so players do not feel locked into their specialization choice.

A True Mastery

The original passive Mastery bonuses players were to receive according to how they spent points in each tree are being replaced by the automatic passive bonuses earned when a tree specialization is chosen. These passives are flat percentages and we no longer intend for them to scale with the number of talent points spent. The Mastery bonus that was unique to each tree will now be derived from the Mastery stat, found on high-level items, and Mastery will be a passive skill learned from class trainers around level 75. In most cases, the Mastery stats will be the same as the tree-unique bonuses we announced earlier this year. These stats can be improved by stacking Mastery Rating found on high-level items.

To Recap

When players reach level 10, they are presented with basic information on the three specializations within their class and are asked to choose one. Then they spend their talent point. The other trees darken and are unavailable until 31 points are spent in the chosen tree. The character is awarded an active ability, and one or more passive bonuses unique to the tree they've chosen. As they gain levels, they'll alternate between receiving a talent point and gaining new skills. They'll have a 31-point tree to work down, with each talent being more integral and exciting than they have been in the past. Once they spend their 31'st point in the final talent (at level 70), the other trees open up and become available to allocate points into from then on. As characters move into the level 78+ areas in Cataclysm, they'll begin seeing items with a new stat, Mastery. Once they learn the Mastery skill from their class trainer they'll receive bonuses from the stat based on the tree they've specialized in.

We understand that these are significant changes and we still have details to solidify. We feel, however, that these changes better fulfill our original class design goals for Cataclysm, and we're confident that they will make for a better gameplay experience. Your constructive feedback is welcomed and appreciated.

tl;dr - Fewer talents, but each one will be more special. And they want each class spec to feel unique from the first talent point you spend.

Which I think is a fantastic idea. When I first started my Shaman I went with Enhancement, but it took me until like...level 40 or something to get the gist of what Enhancement Shaman are all about and consequently it took me that long to realize that I didn't like the enhancement playstyle. So anything that makes the different specs feel different early on is alright by me.

[Drz]

It's a smart decision, and something i definatly approve.

[IBRAH08]

Is it true that Blizz is considering a MMORPG to replace WoW?

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

It's been known for a while they were working on a (non) wow MMO.
Replace it? Doubtful.

[Soapy]

Yeah, not only is it a non-Warcraft game, but it's an entirely new IP. And I don't think anything is going to replace World of Warcraft, it's going to be around for a long, long time.

Anyway, Cataclysm beta coverage Part 1 (http://www.giantbomb.com/rorcraft-wow-cataclysm-beta-part-01/17-2902/) and Part 2 (http://www.giantbomb.com/rorcraft-wow-cataclysm-beta-part-02/17-2989/).

[Soapy]

Preview of the new Southern Barrens! (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/features/southernbarrens.html)

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss67.jpg

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss65.jpg

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss64.jpg

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss66.jpg

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/screenshots/ss68.jpg

[Soapy]

Cataclysm Collector's Edition revealed! (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/features/collector.html)

Includes: The game, DVD, artbook, mousepad, exclusive pet, soundtrack, and 60 cards for the TCG. All for $80.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/_images/features/collector/backplate_large.jpg

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1/19507/1469191-cat_ce_3d_na_ltsm_super.jpg

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1/19507/1469192-cat_ce_na_2dsm_2_super.jpg

[Soapy]

The Troll (http://www.wowwiki.com/Zalazane's_Fall)and Gnome (http://www.wowwiki.com/Operation:_Gnomeregan) pre-Cataclysm events are now live.

[Cunning Stunts]

It's been known for a while they were working on a (non) wow MMO.
Replace it? Doubtful.

I'm pretty sure it's going to wind up being a Diablo MMO. There were a lot of rumors going around a few years ago that Diablo III was actually going to be an MMO set in a battle between Heaven and Hell, where your actions and decisions would determine which side you would ultimately join.

That's just speculation, but who knows. The game isn't supposed to be released until 2014 or so anyway. ****, it'll prolly wind up being Galaxy of StarCraft of something.

[Cunning Stunts]

Oh and btw, Alliance sucks.

[Soapy]

I'm pretty sure it's going to wind up being a Diablo MMO.

Nah, Blizzard said specifically that their new MMO is a brand new IP.

There were a lot of rumors going around a few years ago that Diablo III was actually going to be an MMO set in a battle between Heaven and Hell, where your actions and decisions would determine which side you would ultimately join.

Blizzard is making a Diablo III, but it's definitely not an MMO.

[Grommers]

When wc3 was around I was on semi-pro teams and through this met a lot of the blizzard employees.

(Grom was my favourite wc hero)

It will be a new world for the MMORPG.

Diablo was never going to be a MMORPG as they felt it would be a re-hash of WoW. There two very seperate games.

It'll be interesting the new universe they come out with, my guess is it will be something more like hell gate london.

[Soapy]

Cataclysm intro cinematic.

Wq4Y7ztznKc

Not as great as the previous ones in my opinion.

[Cunning Stunts]

I think that was better than BC's AND WOTLK's, personally.

And I really can't wait for the day when games WoW's size can actually look like that.

[Cunning Stunts]

Nah, Blizzard said specifically that their new MMO is a brand new IP.



Blizzard is making a Diablo III, but it's definitely not an MMO.

Did you read the last sentence of my post, or did you choose to ignore that part?

[Drz]

I liked the trailer, it showed how powerful Deathwing is pretty much.

[Soapy]

Did you read the last sentence of my post, or did you choose to ignore that part?

No. I read it, and I didn't ignore it. You said Blizzard's next MMO will probably be based on Starcraft or Diablo. I replied that Blizzard has said that the MMO they're working on is a brand new IP.

[Speedball]

So my account was suspended for 3 hours for:
"In-Game Chat Policy Violation - Advertisement and Spamming

This suspension happened because one or more characters on the account were identified exchanging, or contributing to the exchange of, in-game property (items or gold) for ""real-world"" currency. This exchange process negatively impacts the World of Warcraft game environment by detracting from the value of the in-game economy."

I'm a little pissed because of this because I have never done this and the last time I logged in was three days ago. I don't even know HOW to do this (tho I'm sure I could figure it out).
I've changed my passed word, and I'm waiting the three hours to end still... but I'm shocked...

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Don't blizzard have a support team or forum that you can inquire about?

[Speedball]

Don't blizzard have a support team or forum that you can inquire about?

I emailed support... nothing back.
You're not allowed to talk about bannings or suspensions on forums... :dry::dry::dry:
and when you're banned or suspended from the game, same goes for the forums.

[Soapy]

You could have made a new character and talked to a GM about it. Probably a little quicker.

[Speedball]

You could have made a new character and talked to a GM about it. Probably a little quicker.

I don't even know which character it was. I have many characters I've started over the years. but the two main ones, i see nothing wrong with them.

[johnnyrunner]

Game is so addicting (so I've heard). There's a guy who recently played for 149 hours straight in the first week of the new Cataclysm launch.

Story here: http://blog.raptr.com/2010/12/17/raptr-world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-report/

[Benstamania]

I was told that it has become less time consuming to play WoW. I remember several years ago when I was playing and I HAD to play for hours every day. Has that really changed? I would only really have time to play after 11 PM... so...

[Soapy]

Yes, the game doesn't require a huge time commitment.

[lukifier]

If you like character building RolePlaying games, like Everquest, this is the best game out there.

Wonderful.

I have been playing it since it came out, really is a great game.

definitly one of the best
even if lot of good game like DC or diablo, star war old rep are coming
even GW2
btw i put news on those game on my page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gamerslootnet/148760525160091
see u thereee

[Benstamania]

Yes, the game doesn't require a huge time commitment.

Interesting. Glad they changed that up.

[Soapy]

Well, I'm not sure that it ever did. I mean, no one is holding a gun to anyone's head.

[Benstamania]

Yes... it did... If you were in a guild and you wanted to keep up you pretty much had to grind constantly or fall behind.

No one puts a gun to your head for anything, but if everyone else in your guild is 80 or whatever and your 70...or lower... you miss out on a lot. If you're a "serious" WoW player, you grind... or at least you used to.

I liked the game, but simply didn't want to be at the PC all day and or night.

[TheZink]

Yes... it did... If you were in a guild and you wanted to keep up you pretty much had to grind constantly or fall behind.

No one puts a gun to your head for anything, but if everyone else in your guild is 80 or whatever and your 70...or lower... you miss out on a lot. If you're a "serious" WoW player, you grind... or at least you used to.

I liked the game, but simply didn't want to be at the PC all day and or night.

Grinding to 85 is a joke. I leveled a dwarf shaman from 1 to 85 with less than 5 days total play time. Getting from 80 to 85 took me less than a week playing 3-4 hours a day.

Heroics are actually hard now, like back in Burning Crusade. Crowd Control and focusing on targets are actually needed to survive trash pulls.

That all being said, I'm having a blast. I am slowly gathering gear from heroics so that maybe in a couple of weeks I can get in on the raids that my guild has just started to form. The level of commitment now is purely on the player.

[LOBO3315a]

Yeah, there are rewards for those that aren't full time players. Some items that are player crafted, rather than relying on drops in a particular dungeon.

I've played for 2 years now. I think Cataclysm got it right. You have to have skill if you are going to be successful in this expansion.

BTW I'm Sixee on the Velen server.

[Cunning Stunts]

Yeah, there are rewards for those that aren't full time players. Some items that are player crafted, rather than relying on drops in a particular dungeon.

I've played for 2 years now. I think Cataclysm got it right. You have to have skill if you are going to be successful in this expansion.

BTW I'm Sixee on the Velen server.

I agree. People were *****ing about how easy the game had gotten since Burning Crusade began (and especially once Wrath of the Lich King went live), now they're angry at it being too hard.

I don't think it's too hard, I just think you have to do a little more, for lack of a better word, "studying" on your rotations, glyphs, gear, talent trees, etc. before you can walk into an ICC-type raid and just steamroll the place.

That said, the main issue I do have with the difficulty of Heroics is that it's because so hard that, when a more casual (or less nerdy) player gets into a Heroic pickup group and screws up a fight with a mob, or isn't doing the insane damage I've seen some do lately, the insults start flying. Anywhere from, "Bads like you need to quit," or, "You &*$##$ &#(@(% you weren't supposed to do that!" (all without explaining the fight beforehand and assuming everyone spends every waking hour on it like they do). My girlfriend quit doing Heroics for a while because people were just straight up *******s to her for not doing 15K DPS (she doesn't waste her time reading into how to maximize DPS like I do, she just likes having fun). Those jack-offs need to learn not to say online what they wouldn't say to someone's face (since 99.99% of them really wouldn't), and realize it's just a video game and that failing a Heroic boss fight means: resurrect, inform the person who caused the downturn on how not to let it happen again, and give it another shot.

[LOBO3315a]

Yeah, I got kicked out of a Heroic for not freeze trap pulling fast enough....when 5 minutes prior I was told not to do it till the tank said to go for it....so which is it?

This expansion has brought out all the douches. I'm just waiting for someone to call me a n00b. I mean the expansion hasn't been out 2 months, how can you possibly call someone a noob?

[Cervol]

Sadly one of the best games ;) Just takes alot of your time, I have played it 3 different times, but never an high lvl char :(..But an really awesome game !!

[Zanham]

I've played enough of World of Warcraft and am one of the most honest people you'll ever meet(at least I think so) so if you've never played and really want to know the pro's and con's of the whole thing, here it goes...

PRO'S
1. There truly are countless things to do in building and creating a character.
2. Tons of places to explore and venture into in the world of Azeroth.
3. You get to see a side of people that few rarely do.
4. It offers a great sense of achievement.
5. If nothing more, the opening cinematic trailers are near perfect.

CON'S
1. There are countless things that must be done to finish one's character.
2. In scale, Azeroth is only about the size of any major city.
3. You have to put up with a side of people that few rarely do.
4. It offers a great sense of achievement without really achieving anything.
5. Sadly, the opening cinematic trailers may be the most enjoyable part of the whole thing.

Of course the game sounds great, the only people you rarely hear from are people trying to sell it. The truth is, The concept is a good one and the execution of that concept even sounds and looks good. In the end, I think the sole contributing factor to the downfall and demise of this fantastic idea will be the one thing the designers and programmers did not prepare for... the players.

Just yesterday, at least two people told me to kill myself while I wished immediate death upon a female player who was simply picking flowers in the shallow marshes of Tol' Barad. I also wished a similar fate upon a few larger groups of people as well. This stern advocation of eradicating certain groups of people from society is usually a weekly occurrence for me. I am not alone in that either, and THEN we meet the counter points to my and others arguments which only adds fuel to the fire.

Is it warcraft? Yes, in a sense it seems that it is indeed setting battlelines for a war.

Is it what you thought it would be? HELL NO! The violence is there but there are still far too many people holding hands and skipping through the battlefields like war is some type of damn joke. War is not joke and people should start taking this game a little more seriously or their going to end up a casualty of one.

[Thread Manager]

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