Cataclysm Class Changes

[Merusk]

It won't be Malygos.. it'll be Kedge Keep!   

[Lakov_Sanite]

It won't be Malygos.. it'll be Kedge Keep!   

You shut your whore mouth.

[Sheepherder]

Didn't they normalize all the weapon speeds on special attack calculations like an expansion ago?

AP is normalized for weapon speed, weapon DPS isn't, so slower weapons are still a DPS improvement due to the nature of instant attacks.  I've been drinking a little, and haven't looked it up since when I was trying to get H-Mr T runs, but the formula for the damage a give attack will do is:

[Weapon Damage] + [Attack Power / 14] * [Weapon Normalization Factor or Speed]

Where the weapon normalization factor is dependent upon the type and is used in place of speed for instant attacks, because people getting instagibbed by warriors wielding Arcanite Reapers pissed off almost the entire population of players.  Two-handers are 3.3, one-handers are 2.3, and daggers suck.  If you dig way back into 2005 official forum posts you will find a lot of melee DPS quoting the arbitrary 14 AP = 1 DPS rule, which is bullshit, they're retards.

Oh, and Slam and other weird edge cases might still be un-normalized, it was during TBC and thus hit like a motherfucking truck with a bed full of lesser trucks, made out of lead.

[El Gallo]

Any movement, especially in combat, that requires looking up is going to suck.  The whole game is designed around looking down at your character from an over-the-shoulder view.  That, imo, is what took Malygos and Occulus from "oh look, another shitty vehicle fight" to "fuck no, I am never going back to that place again ever."

[Paelos]

Any movement, especially in combat, that requires looking up is going to suck.  The whole game is designed around looking down at your character from an over-the-shoulder view.  That, imo, is what took Malygos and Occulus from "oh look, another shitty vehicle fight" to "fuck no, I am never going back to that place again ever."

From the raid leader perspective, I already have to shame people for not getting to a certain spot on the floor with the rest of the group. God help us if they have to group up on a certain point in invisible space.

[Typhon]

[...]

BTW, if you're going to do water, I want boats. I want more boat to boat combat. I want personal pvp boats with pirate hats and parrots.

Fucking A, yes I want this.  Unfortunately with the "you can fly anywhere" it probably makes it a little more difficult to code encounters that encourage you to get on the boat WITHOUT doing a "cold weather flying"-type cock block.

I think the way to do it is to add anti-aircraft to the game as a precursor to true aerial combat.

... Sorry, got distracted.  I also want pvp boats, pirates hats and parrots.  Badly.

Edit: quoting is hard!

[Merusk]

It won't be Malygos.. it'll be Kedge Keep!   

You shut your whore mouth.

I have seen the future.. and it's bleak.

Fuck, you can already aggro shit through the walls/ floors/ ceiling if you 'oopsie' an AOE.. I fully expect the same in an 'underwater' zone.

[Minvaren]

It won't be Malygos.. it'll be Kedge Keep!   

You shut your whore mouth.

I have seen the future.. and it's bleak.

Fuck, you can already aggro shit through the walls/ floors/ ceiling if you 'oopsie' an AOE.. I fully expect the same in an 'underwater' zone.

On the plus side, we'll be getting a lot more use out of the "/train" emote.

[Ingmar]

WITHOUT doing a "cold weather flying"-type cock block.

They're doing that, you won't fly til level 85.

[Typhon]

Oh for the love of GOD, fucking hated the cold weather flying crap.  HATE!

[Ingmar]

There are a lot of concerns here (some colored in past experiences elsewhere) that are coloring a few perceptions of what we intend to do with the underwater experience.

Underwater travel and combat mechanics” do NOT mean any of the following:

• Running out of breath and drowning.
• Moving very slowly.
• Getting disoriented in a 3D space.
• Having a naga hit you with a Frostbolt and having no idea where it is.

You will not be entering this area unprepared nor do we intend to make the experience tedious, confusing, disorienting, or frustrating. We want to give you a true under sea adventure. You may end up dying though due to playing tourist in the beautiful new environs though, but don't blame us for that!

Posted today.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I am hesitant about that.  Clearly they are going to do 'something' the question is...can blizzard do underwater right?

[Malakili]

There are a lot of concerns here (some colored in past experiences elsewhere) that are coloring a few perceptions of what we intend to do with the underwater experience.

Underwater travel and combat mechanics” do NOT mean any of the following:

• Running out of breath and drowning.
• Moving very slowly.
• Getting disoriented in a 3D space.
• Having a naga hit you with a Frostbolt and having no idea where it is.

You will not be entering this area unprepared nor do we intend to make the experience tedious, confusing, disorienting, or frustrating. We want to give you a true under sea adventure. You may end up dying though due to playing tourist in the beautiful new environs though, but don't blame us for that!

Posted today.

Oi.  Blizzard has a better chance of doing this well than anyone I guess, but underwater levels are generally terrible.   I mean, Cryptic addressed all the same things they mentioned there with Lemuria and the zone was still terrible.  Regardless of some of the bugs, zones that do this sort of thing rely too much on gimmicks in my opinion, and to my mind there is nothing worse than a game that works perfectly fine and then has a level or 2 with just some new exciting mechanics that just don't go well with the rest.  Its just too gimmicky in my opinion, and they saw what happened with vehicles.  

[Lakov_Sanite]

I think vehicles suffered from over implementation. They went a little crazy at first having everything be a vehicle but I actually thought flame leviathan was a fun fight.  In small doses and without a Z axis vehicles are just dandy.

[March]

I'm not especially worried now... as everyone (including Bliz) notes, it is the z axis that fucks it up.

As far as I can tell, this is just a way for them to give the artists something fun to do... basically instead of hellfire red we'll get vashj'ir aqua blue.

...and a new mount that goes down instead of up.

[Ingmar]

This discussion has gotten that Donovan "Atlantis" song stuck in my head.

[K9]

I think vehicles suffered from over implementation. They went a little crazy at first having everything be a vehicle but I actually thought flame leviathan was a fun fight.  In small doses and without a Z axis vehicles are just dandy.

nod

[Sjofn]

Oh for the love of GOD, fucking hated the cold weather flying crap.  HATE!

Preach it!

[Lakov_Sanite]

Q: Do you intend to have all 280% flying mounts scale to 310% when a 310% mount is earned, or will only purchased mounts do so?
A: Our current plan, is that in Cataclysm, you can learn a new rank of flying that lets all flying mounts move at 310% (even current 280% mounts). That will probably be as fast as mounts will ever get. We don’t like it that when you get a 310% mount that you stop using your old ones.

Q: If 310% speed is becoming trainable, does that mean we'll be able to fly in Azeroth from the get-go?
A: We have considered the concept of “Old Weather Flying.” Just kidding. More than likely, you’ll just be able to fly from the beginning.

[Ingmar]

Hm they changed their plan since the last time they answered that question.

[Rendakor]

Yea I hated that shit too. It's even worse because you know they'll put some stupid BoA thing in so you can fly at 80 after your first 85.  

Fakeedit: Wow, thank fucking god.

[Typhon]

Double joy here - no CWF and trainable 310%

 

[kildorn]

Unfortunately due to the really hot ground, you will need warm weather walking, and there will be a lot of AA turrets deployed in zones lower than 85.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Unfortunately due to the really hot ground, you will need warm weather walking, and there will be a lot of AA turrets deployed in zones lower than 85.

Honestly? I don't mind the idea of AA turrets at all, especially if they make avoiding them somehow strategic.

[Minvaren]

Unfortunately due to the really hot ground, you will need warm weather walking, and there will be a lot of AA turrets deployed in zones lower than 85.

Honestly? I don't mind the idea of AA turrets at all, especially if they make avoiding them somehow strategic.

Grinding for the Nether Ray mount was enough AA for me for at least an expansion or two.

[Ashamanchill]

I thought I'd post a slightly surreal update about how weirdly relevant WoW is, at least among military personnel anyways.

So for those that don't know, I'm currently fighting crime and cruising for chicks out in the desert in Afghanistan right now. Anyway, my troop had been outside the wire for basically the past 3 and a half months I've been here, only coming in a couple of times. My patrol mate tank's gunner heard from his little brother while we were out that Blizz released a bunch of new info on the expansion and shit, and that was basically all the Warcraft addicts in my troop talked about when we stopped. Drove everyone else nuts lol.

Well, last saturday (or sunday, the days get kinda wonky here), well rolled back in and the first thing all the boys do when we get off the vehicles is head straight for the comm hut. We were all sitting as a group, covered in dust and grease and fifth and shit, looking at the changes , with guys screaming shit about how their class was nerfed, or how great their new moves were going to be, or taunting our one druid healer cause of them taking tree lol.

It was a weird scene. Cheers!

P.S. 4 down, 4 to go! Booya!!