Cataclysm

[AutomaticZen]

Worgen pet is obviously the best.

The crab will see you in hell.

True. I can see a whole bunch of people making it through the new 1-58 stuff, walking through the Dark Portal then going "Yeah, sod this".

I'm rerolling my Shaman as goblin, but that's as far as I'll go.  And he's on second bench.  The Paladin is my main.

[Fordel]

I don't know what my Worgen/Goblin will be, I want to have one for the new leveling zone, but I don't actually want to level another alt at this point.



I'm hoping the new Cata talents and stuff will reinvigorate my alt desire or something.

[Lantyssa]

The Goblin population will dwindle down to gnome territory once people use up the new Cata leveling content.

Is that a short joke?

I think that's stretching it.

[Typhon]

The Goblin population will dwindle down to gnome territory once people use up the new Cata leveling content.

Is that a short joke?

I think that's stretching it.

you're reaching

[Simond]

I don't know what my Worgen/Goblin will be, I want to have one for the new leveling zone, but I don't actually want to level another alt at this point.



I'm hoping the new Cata talents and stuff will reinvigorate my alt desire or something.

By 'zone' you mean "every zone from 1 - 58", yes?

[Dren]

I plan on making a goblin warlock and that will be a very trying time for me.  It'll either make or break me playing the rest of the xpac.  I did make it through with a DK, TBC is easy though, WOTLK on the other hand, might break me.

My guess is that they will ripple faster exp gains back down through the older content.  1-60 will be even faster and perhaps have even more content to fill in the old gaps like they did with Mudsprocket, etc.  61-70 will be like 1-60 is now.  71-80 will be like 61-70 is now.  I'm predicting 80-85 will take as long as 71-80 did at WotLK release, which wasn't all that long IMO.

[Ironwood]

You're all killing me here.

[Polysorbate80]

The Goblin population will dwindle down to gnome territory once people use up the new Cata leveling content.

Is that a short joke?

I think that's stretching it.

you're reaching

Enough small talk; let's get down to business already.

[Dren]

The Goblin population will dwindle down to gnome territory once people use up the new Cata leveling content.

Is that a short joke?

I think that's stretching it.

you're reaching

Enough small talk; let's get down to business already.

Yes, enough belittling, this topic is important!

[Draegan]

You guys are being silly.  You must be high on something.

[Minvaren]

The Goblin population will dwindle down to gnome territory once people use up the new Cata leveling content.

Is that a short joke?

I think that's stretching it.

you're reaching

Enough small talk; let's get down to business already.

Yes, enough belittling, this topic is important!

And that's no understatement.

[Fordel]

Official talent previews at : http://www.mmo-champion.com/

Only Druid, Priest, Rogue, and Shaman.

[dd0029]

What happened to the getting away from talents that just increase things by percentages? 

[Fordel]

The Balance tree has most of those streamlined and removed, I'm not knowledgeable enough about the others really.

mmo-champ has an actual talent calc up for the new talents now as well, if anyone is having issues digesting the raw text.


-edit-

http://cata.wowhead.com/talent Wowhead has one too now, less buggy.

[Lakov_Sanite]

shadow tree is a joke, it's the same damned thing.  Again, what happened to having mostly 'fun' talents?

[caladein]

Improved Holy Nova!  YEAH !!!

Seriously though, the Discipline tree is also pretty much the same.  Some talents were moved around and they added some Smite-related stuff, but it's all basically the same.

Holy got some new stuff, but I'm not sure if any of its any good...

[Merusk]

shadow tree is a joke, it's the same damned thing.  Again, what happened to having mostly 'fun' talents?

'

It ran smack into the reality of "we still need to have 75 points worth of talents"  because they're not going to reduce the total pool point. 

[SurfD]

NOM NOM NOM!!!

 

[Shrike]

Theh shaman tree....man, that's some sucktastic shit right there. They'd better come up with something better than that crap for the so-called elemental expansion. Christ on a crutch. 

[Lantyssa]

I'm becoming less and less impressed with all the supposed 'changes'.  At this rate, I'll just go with Clone Wars, Guild Wars 2, and whatever else releases this fall then pick up Cataclysm when I'm bored.

[AutomaticZen]

Frozen Power under the Enhancement tree makes it all worth it.  I might be able to go back to Enhancement now.

[Selby]

Totemic Vigor?  Increase the health of your totems by 3% of your total health?  WTF kind of talent is that besides useless?

[caladein]

It goes up to 10% at max rank.  Having 2-3k health on your totems instead of them being wand fodder seems pretty nice for PvP.

The Feral tree has completely burst at the seams though, it's ridiculous.

[Fordel]

Frozen Power under the Enhancement tree makes it all worth it.  I might be able to go back to Enhancement now.

Umm... it's always been in the Enhancement tree?

[koro]

I'm pretty pumped about the Disc changes, myself. If healing has enough low-key moments in Cataclysm to make smiting a few times every so often then popping some empowered Penance on someone who needs healing something you just do over the normal course of things, then it looks pretty damn fun.

[Wolf]

shadow tree is a joke, it's the same damned thing.  Again, what happened to having mostly 'fun' talents?

Seriously? I thought I had opened a current calculator. Weren't we done with Shadow Weaving? Lost all utility to get a moonkin/elemental shaman aura? And wth did they do with twisted faith!? I thought spirit was a healer stat now? And it's so great they made dispersion more than a situational ability....  

Oh and can I add a WTF to the disc tree too, I can't get down below Inner Focus without taking some smite talents, or something equally useless. Seriously? Why is mental agility so deep? ARGH SO DISAPOINTED.

The more I look at it, the more I feel like I need to level that Hunter I abandoned :(

[Fordel]

Why do you hate on free smite awesomeness?

[ezrast]

Shaman resto has one of its "boring" talents swapped for something more interesting (incidentally, "interesting" is the only way to describe it); aside from a new PvP thing and a water shield nerf the rest of the tree is exactly the same. The new talent, assuming people use it at all, actually decreases our talent flexibility because it will also force us to spend a point in Shamanistic Focus. Cool.

[caladein]

I thought spirit was a healer stat now?

It is, but since Balance Druids and Elemental Shamans will use "Healer gear" (i.e. Spirit and no Hit) they get a Spirit -> Hit talent.  Their versions, Balance of Power and Elemental Precision, are 100% Spirit -> Hit.

Shadow Priests only get 20% Spirit -> Hit presumably because they have access to proper DPS gear.  I'd be interested to see if Mages and Warlocks get a 20% talent as well so they can get in on Spirit items should they need to or if it's just to help Disc/Holy Priests get some Hit in their off-specs.

Also, I'm pretty sure Archangel is an ability and not an Ebon Plague-style rename and so I'm kind of curious about the cooldown.  Unless we see a huge increase in Base Mana (or Smite's cost) relative to actual Mana pools, at very reasonable values of Max Mana casting five Smites and using Archangel would be a net mana gain (on top of a +15% Healing buff and on-the-move Penance for 18 seconds).

Assuming my understanding of the talents and math involved is all correct (which it probably isn't ), it probably isn't good enough to warrant taking a lot other of Smite-related talents, but it's certainly an interesting mechanic.

[koro]

I read Archangel as giving only 3% of your total mana back, while the bonus % to healing done is per stack of Evangelism. Getting back 15% of your total mana every 15 seconds (which is what MMO-Champion has the Archangel cooldown listed as) through casting Smites that will probably be sub-10% base mana per cast seems a wee bit much.

[Wolf]

That's all well and good but unless smite turns into a disc spell I can't use it in shadow form.

Even if it does, what's the niche for such a spell and how is it different from mindspike. I wouldn't be whining so much if it wasn't for thay 100% complete comment.

edit: It keeps on getting better. I just noticed we lost the threat reduction component of Shadow Form. I'm currently spec'd into shadow affinity (30% more) and I'm fighting with our fury warrior for first spot below the tanks on most fights.

On the bright side apparently our aura buff will be changing to 5% haste.

[Paelos]

What happened to the getting away from talents that just increase things by percentages? 

Come on, you know that was gonna be horseshit. Look at the feral tree, it's pretty much only percentages.

[Mattemeo]

They really don't know what to do with Shadow Priests, do they? They created this wonderful little monster and then set it out into the wild, neglected it for years and they have no idea what makes it work.

No Imp. Spirit Tap, which is vital for Mana control.
Mind Melt looks like it has been sabotaged.
Unless the Shadowform tool-tip is just missing half the information, it has been decimated.
Imp. Shadowform has been split into two talents now - you require 'Dark Thoughts' now to receive pushback protection, swapped out for a crit chance buff to party members - nice enough, but hardly anything to be excited about having a SPriest along to the raid.
Twisted Faith now boosts spell hit by 20% instead of spell power? wat?! Is this just me being confused by the simplification of the stats?

I still don't know how Shadow Orbs are going to play, and this 'Shadowy Apparition' dealy seems laughably underpowered for its cost (3 points for a 6% chance to do 15% of Mind Blast's damage?   the 'while moving' addendum makes it slightly more interesting, but it's still a farce)

The Disc tree has now become very problematic for Shadow Priests in that it is impossible to get to Mental Agility without wasting several points and even then, it's likely you won't have enough points left to max it out.


Not pleased right now.

[Ingmar]

Shadowy Apparition looks pretty good to me - a 6% chance on every SW:P tick will go off reasonably often, but it's the 20% chance to go off while you're moving that's nice.

EDIT: Also don't use current mana use/management as a basis to judge any of this, all that crap is changing enough in the expansion to make what we know about how it currently works essentially pointless.

[Malakili]

wat?! Is this just me being confused by the simplification of the stats?

If I remember correctly, there is no such thing as spell power in Cataclysm.