Upcoming Cataclysm Class Changes

[Oninuva]

Blizzard will be releasing various class changes that will come with Cataclysm with this month so I'll be updating this thread with all the latest updates!

"Blood to tank as Blood in Cataclysm"

The Death Knight tanking tree will see some major changes as we enter Cataclysm to have blood be the premiere tanking tree. While having three trees viable for tanking, there’s a lot of work involved and players will feel they are missing out on things that could be picked up if they instead had a focused tree such as the Paladin or Warrior Protection tree. With Cataclysm, Blizzard will condense tanking talents into blood to allow tanks to have more tools to choose from instead of weaving through DPS talents that were designed for DPS’ers playing the same tree. These changes are most likely one of the many changes that will come with Cataclysm such as Frost being the “Dual-Wield” spec and Unholy being the PvP or Twohander Spec.

"Cataclysm Class Preview: Shamans"

In this preview, you’ll get an early look at some of the changes in store for the shaman class, including a rundown of some of the new spells, abilities, and talents, and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with the different talent specs.

"Cataclysm Class Preview: Warlocks"

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, warlocks will receive changes to their class talents and abilities. Outlined below are some of these changes. Keep in mind that this is an early preview and that these modifications are still under development, so you may see further adjustments to the listed changes as we get closer to launch. That said, here is a first look at these new warlock spells and abilities!

"Cataclysm Class Preview: Priests"

A lot of interesting changes will be made to priests with Cataclysm. There are a some interesting spells that are in store such as a new centralized “heal” spell to use instead of Flash Heal or Greater Heal. Other changes include a new shadow spell “Mind Spike” which will be used as a quick nuke for times when you need to swap targets fast such as for downing bones spikes on marrowgar. Situations such as those, you don’t have time to apply full dots or run a full rotation, spamming Mind Spike will deal as much damage as a Mind Flay with Shadow Word: Pain applied.

"Cataclysm Class Preview: Warriors"

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will bring with it several changes to class talents and abilities. Here you will get a glimpse into some of the changes we have in store for the warrior. The information you’re about to read is not complete, and is only meant to act as a preview for some of the exciting new things to come.

New Warrior Abilities

Inner Rage (Level 81): Whenever the character reaches a full 100 Rage, he or she will gain a buff that causes attacks to consume 50% more Rage and do 15% more damage for a short amount of time. This is a passive ability so it won’t need to be activated by the player. The goal for this ability is to provide a benefit for hitting max Rage instead of it feeling like a penalty. However, we also don’t want warriors to feel like they’re supposed to pool Rage and do nothing until they hit 100, so we’ll be closely monitoring how this plays out during the beta testing, and making adjustments as needed.

Mortal Strikes and Cataclysm

Currently there’s a couple classes with mortal strike effects that reduce healing done by 50% while some reduce healing by 20% such as Permafrost and Mind Blast. With cataclysm, the plans are to equalize everything across the board and have all of those similar effects only reduce healing done by 20%. It’s also being considered that all of those debuffs be changed into one called “Mortal Wounds” which would be non-dispellable which is currently not the case with effects such as Wound Poison.

"Cataclysm Class Changes: death Knights"

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will bring with it several changes to class talents and abilities. In this preview, you’ll get a glimpse at some of the new abilities, spells, and talents in store for the death knight class, along with an early look at some improvements we plan to make to the rune resource system.

New Death Knight Abilities

Outbreak (level 81): Outbreak infects the target with both Frost Fever and Blood Plague at no rune cost. This ability allows death knights to apply diseases quickly when they are switching targets or when their diseases have been dispelled.

Cataclysm Class Changes: Rogues

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we’ll be making several changes to class talents and abilities across the board. Here, you’ll get a glimpse at what’s in store for the rogue class, including a look the new high-level abilities and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with the rogue’s different talent specs.

New Rogue Abilities

Redirect (available at level 81): Rogues will be getting a new ability to help them deal with changing targets. Redirect will transfer any active combo points to the rogue’s current target, helping to ensure combo points aren’t wasted when swapping targets or when targets die. In addition, self-buff abilities like Slice and Dice will no longer require a target, so rogues can spend extra combo points on those types of abilities (more on this below). Redirect will have a 1-minute cooldown and no other costs.

Mekkatorque Wants You: Operation Gnomeregan!

A new bulletin was released fresh on the press today saying that Operation Gnomeregan is imminent. The High Tinker of Gnomeregan, Mekkatorque wants you to join him in his conquest to recapture the beloved city of Gnomeregan!

“The road to success will be paved by you, and you’ll be rewarded as such with a commendation of Gnomeregan Pride, allowing you to temporarily don the uniform of the elite Gnomeregan Infantry.”

“As great citizens of Azeroth and proud members of the Alliance, High Tinker Mekkatorque shall call upon you to serve his gnomes in exile. After all, the best offense is a good… offense! Whether you’re a hero of your people and slayer of the most dreadful Burning Legion and Scourge creatures, or an up-and-coming adventurer, you can start by motivating your gnome brethren to unite behind the Gnomeregan banner.”

There was a nice poster with this but it's too big for the post :s

"Cataclysm Class Changes: Hunters"

With the upcoming World of Warcraft: Cataclysm many game elements will be changing, and each class will be receiving a number of tweaks. Here, we will explore the changes that are being made to the gun-wielding, pet-training hunter. The information you’re about to read is certainly not complete, and is only meant to act as a preview of some of the exciting new things to come. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the new hunter abilities!

New Hunter Abilities

Cobra Shot (level 81): A new shot that deals Nature damage instead of Physical damage. This ability will share a cooldown with Steady Shot. This will give hunters an alternative to Steady Shot on heavily-armored targets, and we will have talent incentives in the Beast Mastery tree to make this a signature shot.

More to come as the days pass by :thup:

 

[UndeadDragon]

These changes are most likely one of the many changes that will come with Cataclysm such as Frost being the “Dual-Wield” spec...

I thought Frost was already the dual wield spec

 

[Flare]

I thought Frost was already the dual wield spec

I suppose they're just throwing it out there, for good measure - considering the amount of changes that we are hearing about, who knows what could happen (or, in this case, could have happened) to the general role of each talent tree.

I wonder if Blood will retain it's awesome lack of downtime for levelling...

 

[Oninuva]

Well Frost is THE dual wield spec but it wasn't used to be, I used to 2H tank in Frost on release.

 

[Oninuva]

Updated with shamans.

 

[Oninuva]

Updated with warlocks.

 

[Dakho]

wtb priest update

 

[Flare]

Shaman stuff sounds pretty cool (not-so-Heroic Throw ftw?), haven't gotten to checking out the Warlock stuff...

Now, to wait for the Warrior update...

EDIT: Oh, this looks interesting...

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.

I hope it applies to more than all classes with DoT's

 

[Oninuva]

Updated with priests

 

[Prometheus]

Priests are looking sexy. I can't wait!

 

[Oninuva]

Yea, specially shadow priests

 

[Flare]

Warrior stuff is up on MMO Champion (link), but I haven't checked Planet Raid :3

We will keep the Sword Specialization talent, but it will be changed to a talent that applies to all types of weapons.

They wait until Cataclysm to do this? >:C

Although, aside from that, the warrior stuff sounds quite interesting... I can't wait to see it in action

 

[Oninuva]

Updated with warriors!

 

[Prometheus]

Hoping the DK changes are soon. I wanna see what sexy stuff they've come up with.

 

[Oninuva]

Updated with DK changes.

 

[Prometheus]

I was hoping there'd be more on DKs...

 

[Dakho]

Though both necrotic strike and dark simulacrum sound interesting.

Also, warriors and shaman, the classes I play, are looking to be sick. Mostly shaman though, with that unleashed weapon thing.

 

[Oninuva]

The Death Knight changes are kinda upsetting lol, nothin cool.

 

[Prometheus]

The rune idea looks intresting though.

 

[Oninuva]

updated with upcoming world event