Random Cataclysm discussion

[Melena]

I know arp gems got changed to crit for rogues, did they do the same to warriors and hunters?

[Tymon]

I know arp gems got changed to crit for rogues, did they do the same to warriors and hunters?

Yeah.

[Norellicus]

It refreshes serpent sting, but not the venoms; it just has an added effect depending on which venom is applied.

[Katlan]

I know arp gems got changed to crit for rogues, did they do the same to warriors and hunters?

its so gay I mean its fun having 94% crit, but yeah... druid's would prefer agi > crit rating.. So i feel like I should just prepare a bunch of agi gems for right before cata lol

[Melena]

Crit capping nullifies having it so high though since your white hits are missing potential crits. Agi or AP would have been so much better. Just going to have a stack of cardinal's on me as well as dragon eye's to redo my arp gems day of cata.

[Treciont]

so if armpen got changed to crit... is DBW flat crit now with the 3 different procs?

[Katlan]

so if armpen got changed to crit... is DBW flat crit now with the 3 different procs?

yep, its only crit rating and then the proc. They really failed w/changing arpen to crit. Its too easy to crit cap and they just pushed everyone over who has a arpen build, making most of those gems pointless (even for ret's, ect...)

[Melena]

I think they would have been better changing them to your classes base stat. So Rogue/Hunter would be Agi, War would be strength. DK's/Rets/Shamans who try to push for the arp cap now deserve to be crit capped in cata for failing...

[Gulkeeva]

yep, its only crit rating and then the proc. They really failed w/changing arpen to crit. Its too easy to crit cap and they just pushed everyone over who has a arpen build, making most of those gems pointless (even for ret's, ect...)

crit cap at 80 maybe.. your crit takes a shit as you level.. like hardcore

I have like 55% crit on live.. I'm not even 30% with "all agi gems + jc agi gems" at Lv 82

at the rate its dropping I'll be like 10-15% crit at lv85 if even that


55%ish crit all arp gems Live Lv80
28%ish crit all agi gems beta Lv 82

[Katlan]

^ holy shit thats a huge dive, thats more significant then woltk (i think). But still, for cat druid's Id assume it will go back to stacking agi since it gives u ap/crit

[Itsnoriss]

My expertise in my ret gear went from 30 at 80 to 15 at 82.

[Melena]

Even more reason to not gem for the crit. Agi/Str and even to a lesser extent AP are all going to scale better with gear then crit rating. In fact the only time I even cut a gem with crit in it is if it's a str/crit or agi/crit orange gem for a yellow socket.

[Krye]

I was wrecking fools left and right, even taking on multiple horde at once.

And then...

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...mas/Shield.png

I don't even want to think about what lava bursts, chaos bolts, etc. are hitting for.

[Correction]

On threat, one of the changes we're considering trying out is to have threat decay pretty rapidly. The idea is that a tank should never be able to get so far ahead on threat that they can AFK for the rest of the fight. It might sound like a nerf, but really the intent is to make sure that the tank's job is never done -- that what you do will remain important.

Well that sounds fucking familiar

[Gulkeeva]

I was wrecking fools left and right, even taking on multiple horde at once.

And then...

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...mas/Shield.png

I don't even want to think about what lava bursts, chaos bolts, etc. are hitting for.

yeah they boosted damage on a few classes (think I mentioned)

my aimed shot crits.. ALOT harder then that >.>
30-33K (89% crit chance on target over 90%HP)
2.4sec cast time for me though ;/

although my arcane shot (with no talents boosting its damage) does 10-13K crits


we all kinda need it though, healing is pretty ridiculous... like.. I can take a 40K hp target down to 10K or less in approximately 3 seconds (if both crit) BUT.. a disc priest can heal him back to 100% before I have the focus to shoot anything over 4-5K again. (auto shots/steady 2secish+ casting so he's healed 20K by time anything i fire hits)

[Yurai]

All the polygons look like they were stuffed in his forearms o_O


I wish they would stop remodeling key characters and not fixing the player character models >_<

I hear you. I'd love to see all the races get new and polygonpimped models :/

[Pendas]

Looks like Blizz is completely re hauling the Talent Point System.

Spoiler: show

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.

tl;dr version:

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.

[Correction]

Druids gonna be pissed

[Norellicus]

I'm holding cautious optimism that the talents they'll leave in and the passive bonuses they'll provide will come out to mean we once again have a single feral tree that can both tank and dps really well...would let me free up my 2nd spec for resto again :3

[Man0warr]

This was needed for a long time, talent trees had so many %damage/crit filler that can just be moved to the passive bonuses.