Cataclysm Class Changes

[WindupAtheist]

Do you still have to carry totems in your inventory? That shit is inexcusable.

[Sheepherder]

They fixed that in TBC by making a totem relic count as all four.  AFAIK in Wrath they added a white version you get at level 30 or 40.

[Rasix]

Haste will no longer act to reduce the DoT's duration, but rather to add additional ticks. When reapplying a DoT, you can no longer "clip" the final tick. Instead, this will just add duration to the spell, similar to how Everlasting Affliction currently works.

Man, I hate this. I'm guessing it's across the board. Bye, bye newfound awesomeness :( And not being able to clip dots takes away a considerable ammount of what's fun about playing a dot class.  

They better deliver on the utility side of that new nuke for shadowpriests! If it's x cast time, does y dmg I'll be very disappointed :(

Well, with the changes to how haste works for DoTs, they really had to make them non-clippable.  Yep, it makes them a bit retard proof, but it saves haste from being less effective at certain levels for certain DoTs.  Someone on EJ just cried as I typed that.  Ohh, the charts they could have made!

[Wolf]

Haste will no longer act to reduce the DoT's duration, but rather to add additional ticks. When reapplying a DoT, you can no longer "clip" the final tick. Instead, this will just add duration to the spell, similar to how Everlasting Affliction currently works.

Man, I hate this. I'm guessing it's across the board. Bye, bye newfound awesomeness :( And not being able to clip dots takes away a considerable ammount of what's fun about playing a dot class.  

They better deliver on the utility side of that new nuke for shadowpriests! If it's x cast time, does y dmg I'll be very disappointed :(

An hour later:

SHADOWPRIETS THE TRUE DOT CLASS FU LOCKS.

Even the lame new nuke can't ruin my day now :)

[Zetor]

Priests get life grip? Srsly?!

It's SO not going to make it past beta. Even if they tack restrictions onto it (group/raid only, have to opt-in to be a possible life grip target) it is going to be ridiculous...

edit: although... Recall Friend in COH isn't so bad

[Wolf]

Healor spell, don't care. I'll be too busy looking cool with shadow orbs flying around me to save fools.

Nah but seriously, after the initial moment of excitment I think all DoTs work the same across the board. Why they didn't bother to have consistent wording across overlaping mechanics is well... blizzardish. The new nuke is super lame, hope they do cool things with the orbs, they have tons of potential.

Also lost couple of our raid wide buffs, hope they get replaced with something useful.

[K9]

Priests get life grip? Srsly?!

It's SO not going to make it past beta. Even if they tack restrictions onto it (group/raid only, have to opt-in to be a possible life grip target) it is going to be ridiculous...

edit: although... Recall Friend in COH isn't so bad

I can't see how it would be useful in it's current form. It seems like an ability where if you need to use it, you probably won't be competent enough to use it. Perhaps in PvP, but even then I see a lot of potential for griefing. People hate loosing control of their character, and this is basically giving people the ability to CC their own side; cue rage.

In PvE I can't see where it's useful other than for saving bads, but really that's not a responsibility I'd like extended. I don't want people thinking they can ignore stuff because a priest will get them out of the fire/void zone/poison puddle/whatever. Also as a healer i generally prefer to be in space and away from people, and I can heal at range, I can't think of a situation where I would actively want someone to be closer to me who is already in range. Not to mention that this would completely screw with melee DPS.

It looks like an ability that will be fun for griefing, but otherwise completely useless for the majority of players.

Inner will and Heal on the other hand are great changes. Inner will in particular is a fascinating buff that has a ton of uses in both PvE and PvP. I'm also really glad they are adding PW:Barrier to the disc arsenal.

[caladein]

I think the PvP uses are pretty obvious.

In PvE I can see it useful in the same way that Intervene is (or Nitro Boots).  Also, like Intervene with Warbringer, it should let you get people out of inopportune CCs (like getting feared into fire).  More advanced uses would be letting one of your awesome-o melee DPS stay in for a few extra seconds and then snatching them out of an AOE.  It's not revolutionary, but I think I will find a use for it every few boss fights.

If anything, I'm glad it's not a long-cooldown panic button like Divine Hymn/Hymn of Hope and more a situationally awesome spell like Mass Dispel.

[Sjofn]

My only problem with Life Grip is that I want it on my paladin. 

[Wolf]

I actually think I'll be casting it on cooldown. That one rogue will be having troubles beating me at Saurfang :D

[caladein]

I think the griefing aspect is being overblown.  Hunters, Rogues, and Paladins can all screw with people's threat for catastrophic effect, but for the most part don't.

Yeah, sometimes the guild idiot decides to Divine Intervention the tank, but then everyone has a good laugh and he gets flogged.

[Mattemeo]

'Life Grip', or 'How Cat accidentally clawed his way to the top of the DPS chart in 45 second increments'. You have been warned.

Otherwise, a few interesting little ideas.

I definitely like the Shadow Orb mechanic (I'm basically imagining something along the lines of Shaman Orbs, only little Dispersion fluffy discoballs o' doom). Shadow Priests are tough to play up to 40, not just because they lack the necessary oomph that Shadow Form provides, but because they have very little to identify them - much like Enhance vs Elemental Shaman.

No Misery? While it's easy enough to reach the hit-cap through gear, I wonder if stripping all powers along these lines is a good idea. Not everyone hits level cap with maxed out gear - Misery's an undergear buffer.

I require more clarification on Mind Spike. It's charge cast... so we're still left with mobility problems and spamming Devouring Plague on the move. Either way, I shall be very thankful for something to use besides Mind Sear on trash, considering how much of a nerfing that got recently. I'm sure EJ number crunchers will find a means of inserting it into Shadow DPS rotation. Being able to cast it out of school lockout is the biggest bonus, here.

Inner Fire/Inner Will mechanic looks good - chiefly because Inner Fire will no longer have charges (such a retarded idea in the first place). I can't really see the instant spell mana-cost reduction being of much use as a Shadow Priest, but I shall enjoy my +12% runspeed out of combat.

The 'Chakra' system seems like a pretty clever idea, truth told. I still need serious convincing/incentives to actually want to play my priest as either type of healer, but we'll see.

[Sheepherder]

The Mind Spike debuff applying to the target rather than the priest makes no fucking sense in the context of what they are trying to do, every time the mob keels over the buff will reset and drop the priest's DPS.  Unless they're going the other way and having Mind Spike hit insanely hard the first cast, and then drop in damage for each subsequent cast on the target.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Leap of Faith (level 85): Pull a party or raid member to your location. Leap of Faith (or "Life Grip") is intended to give priests a tool to help rescue fellow players who have pulled aggro, are being focused on in PvP, or just can't seem to get out of the fire in time. Instant. 30-yard range. 45-second cooldown.

As a priest, I am going to tell you right now I will abuse the holy fuck out of this spell.

[Lantyssa]

That isn't really true anymore, they changed the regen rates under level 15. You pretty much can't OOM in the first 10 levels at all.

I was able to empty it just fine on Hrimfaxi in those levels.  Keep in mind she didn't have the advantage of Heirlooms.

[Typhon]

If the shards simple appear between combats then Warlock regen techniques are going to be hilarious.  I hope they're accounting for it.

It will also make never-ending streams of adds very frustrating.

These were my concerns as well. 

Do they really want Warlocks running away from combat?  But if the regen out of combat is so slow... didn't they already learn their lesson with "oh shit" abilities that no one actually ever uses?

[AutomaticZen]

*shrug*

There was a video out there of five or so Death Knights using Death Grip in tandem to pull a flag runner way back.  Life Grip can probably be used in the reverse.  Sure it's griefable, but I think once people get over the newness of it, you'll be fine.

[K9]

I think the PvP uses are pretty obvious.

In PvE I can see it useful in the same way that Intervene is (or Nitro Boots).  Also, like Intervene with Warbringer, it should let you get people out of inopportune CCs (like getting feared into fire).  More advanced uses would be letting one of your awesome-o melee DPS stay in for a few extra seconds and then snatching them out of an AOE.  It's not revolutionary, but I think I will find a use for it every few boss fights.

If anything, I'm glad it's not a long-cooldown panic button like Divine Hymn/Hymn of Hope and more a situationally awesome spell like Mass Dispel.

PvP I can see a ton of good uses for it. PvE I'm really struggling to see where it would be that make or break. It seems like an ability that could have uses, but most of the time isn't worth the effort. It's not something I'd like to see priests balanced around; inopportune CCs should be healable anyway, and I can only think of four bosses in the game with PBAOE attacks, and even there the benefit is limited.

I guess it's a wait and see thing. Overall I'm happy with the way priests are going, and I don't hate new abilities. I'm just slightly underwhelmed by this one.

[proudft]

I eagerly await standing near a tall cliff, casting levitate on myself, jumping off, and life-gripping some hapless party member to their doom.
 

[Nonentity]

Warrior and Priest changes posted.

I am SUPER impressed with the warrior changes.

Giving us the option to use one-handers again is AWESOME, and giving incentive to use both pummel and sunder (rage and damage) is awesome.

The biggest thing of all, though:

WHIRLWIND NO LONGER HAS A TARGET CAP. Capped at 50% damage, sure, but STILL FUCKING WORTH IT.

[Minvaren]

Slightly underwhelmed by the prot warrior changes.  Critical block is a nice sparkly, and no rage for shouts is kinda neat.  But it looks at first glance like they are really focusing on DPS Warriors/OT stuff.

[Typhon]

I'm actually delighted that they aren't fucking up prot warriors, I recently dual-spec'd into prot and find it tremendously fun as is.  I'm glad they seem to be taking a "if it aint broke" attitude toward some of the classes.

Having been playing the Fury spec, I'm equally delighted that they seem to be trying to make it more fun as I think it's lacking.

[Ingmar]

Warrior changes are kind of boring honestly. And really who gives a shit about fury stuff anyway!  

I do like the shout changes, maybe I'll remember to put them up for stuff other than the first 2 minutes of boss fights now.

[Arinon]

They also mentioned all the healing debuffs were going to 20%.  This is good news.

Didn't I read awhile back some blue name talking about not wanting to change (read: buff) warriors at all anymore because despite the buffs to the other tanking classes warriors were still really well represented in the population?  I'd love to get back on my warrior, as I like the rage mechanic, but they've seemed to be second string ever since the first attempt at rage normalization.

[Nonentity]

Fury warriors are important! I play one, therefore they are important!

Also, remember that prot warriors get that stacking Vengeance buff now. That is their solution to prot not being able to keep up with other classes, and that is a pretty neat solution.

[Ingmar]

Well, we're all getting Vengeance regardless of class. It also doesn't do anything to solve the 'we need 2 tanks for every fight in this raid except this one, have fun doing no damage 2nd tank' issue.

That said I do think it will help a ton, and probably give me a way to shame some of our dpsers. 

[Ironwood]

Posted WHERE ?

I'm clearly missing something.

[Shrike]

Yeah, there was a lot of excitement in the enhancement community with haste and flame shock's DoT component. Our other guild enh-shaman was going all gah-gah over switching to engineering to exploit this. I restrained my enthusiasm. Too good to last, apparently.

Also, I have two other grandmaster engineers and I"m not going through that crap again. Worst profession to level ever. Well, second worst. Life is too short to even look at enchanting.

Edit: Just saw the vengeance thing. Heh. A trend I've been seeing this last week is tanks dragging pulls/bosses all over instance to "go really fast!" Damned annoying as dps, and especially so as a shaman. Totems, hinthinthit. Yeah, the tank's dps looks awfully good when he's the only one in melee range for 75% of the fight. I've already made it a policy to only autoattack until the crap quits moving. I'll frost shock one mob, which the rest of us fall upon like blood-maddened sharks, but I'm tired of wasting mana and cooldowns on totems we outrun every 10 seconds.

[Ingmar]

Posted WHERE ?

I'm clearly missing something.

The Cataclysm forum. Just use http://blue.mmo-champion.com/ to find stuff, it's much easier.

[Ironwood]

Cheers.

[Nonentity]

Posted the warrior clarifications.

[Nevermore]

That Life Grip will be so abused it isn't even funny.  Someone mentioned CoH's Recall Friend.  That power was used to grief so much that the Devs finally put in the option of having a confirmation window come up so players could decline 'friendly' teleports.

[caladein]

Couple of notes added to the Priest thread:

We've seen some confusion about Mind Spike. The intention is that you can’t always get your full DoTs up on a target in time before it’s dead. Shadow priests sometimes aren’t sure what to do on, for example, a fight where a boss suddenly spawns an add that you’re supposed to quickly burn down and then go back to the main boss. Mind Spike is what you do to that add. As a rule of thumb, if it’s going to die in under 15 seconds, then go with Mind Spike. Otherwise get your DoTs up and go into your longer rotation.

The movement speed from Inner Will stacks with the boot speed bonus. It won’t stack with some movement buffs like say Body and Soul.

We know a lot of people are looking for answers about Lightwell. We're reviewing the talent and spell functionality, but do not have any details to share as of yet regarding its future.

[koro]

The loss of some Priest utility (Divine Spirit going away, Misery gone, Replenishment being nerfed) really bugs me - especially Divine Spirit in an expansion where Spirit is going to be pretty handy.

And "We want to improve Discipline's single-target healing capacity. One key is to make sure shielding isn't always a more attractive option than healing." reads an awful lot like "We're going to make Power Word: Shield cost a fuckload of mana and still not scale properly."

[K9]

The reasoning behind removing divine spirit is pretty wonky. As a raid-wide buff it's already useless to 3/4 or more of most raids. The argument that it makes it too hard to balance mana regen between solo, group and raid play is retarded, since I don't see how 80 spirit makes or breaks anything. I don't see any changes to Fel Intel either so...

Just some more of GC's half-baked logic I guess.