Weinercast Wednesday! November 26, 2008

The Weinercast is go! This week: News, Roguecraft, Heroic Ajzol-Nerub, and a special moment.

As always, the Weinercast is available on

Please leave us a review or a comment/question, and we’ll address it on air next week!

A non-iTunes link if you need it.

Advertisement

“To The Ground, Baby!” October 30, 2008

From Araan:

First they came for the Paladins, and you said nothing, because you were not a Paladin…

The Nerf bat is coming, friends. Check out this recent Blizz blue post Q&A:

 

Q: Are we going to nerf Ret?

A: TO THE GROUND BABY. Okay, not really, but sometimes I can’t resist. We’ll see how much that quote comes back to haunt me. We will probably be making some changes soon, perhaps even hotfixes. We want to be very surgical about what we do. We don’t want to overdo it, and we don’t want to hurt their sustained PvE damage. When we’ve decided, I’ll make sure you all know. (Ghostcrawler)

“Surgical”, eh? Well, let’s look at the announced changes:

Paladin (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9095))
Skills
Holy
Seal of Wisdom now deal [ 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 1 ] holy damage when unleashed. (Down from [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 1 ] Holy damage)
Seal of Light now has a chance to heal for [ 15% of AP + 15% of Spell Power ]. (Down from [ 28% of AP + 28% of Spell Power ])
Seal of Light now deals [ 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 1 ] (down from [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 1 ]) holy damage when unleashed.
Seal of Righteousness now grants each melee attack [ 2.2% of Melee Weapon Speed * AP + 4.4% of Melee Weapon Speed * Spell Power ] additional Holy damage. (Down from [ 2.8% of Melee Weapon Speed * AP + 5.5% of Melee Weapon Speed * Spell Power ])

Protection
Seal of Justice now deals [ 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 1 ] holy damage when unleashed. (Down from [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 1 ])

Retribution
Judgement of Command Holy damage reduced from 56% to 45%.
Blessing of Might (Rank 8 ) and Greater Blessing of Might (Rank 3) now increase AP by 306. (Up from 305)
Seal of Corruption now deals [ 15% of AP + 8.8% of Spell Power ] additional holy damage over 15 seconds. (Down from [ 19.2% of AP + 9.6% of Spell Power ])
Seal of Corruption now deals [ 14% of AP + 22% of Spell Power + 1 ] Holy damage. (Down from [ 17.5% of AP + 28% of Spell Power + 1 ])
Seal of the Martyr now makes all your melee attacks deal [ 22% of mw ] to [ 22% of MW ]. (Down from [ 28% of mw ] to [ 28% of MW ])
Seal of the Martyr now deals [ 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 36% of mw ] to [ 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 36% of MW ] Holy Damage when unleashed. (Old – [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of mw ] to [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of MW ] Holy damage)
Seal of Blood now makes all your melee attacks deal [ 22% of mw ] to [ 22% of MW ]. (Down from [ 28% of mw ] to [ 28% of MW ])
Seal of Blood now deals [ 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 36% of mw ] to [ 16% of AP + 25% of Spell Power + 36% of MW ] Holy Damage when unleashed. (Old – [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of mw ] to [ 20% of AP + 32% of Spell Power + 25% of MW ] Holy damage)
Seal of Vengeance now deals [ 15% of AP + 8.8% of Spell Power ] additional Holy damage over 15 sec. (Down from [ 19.2% of AP + 9.6% of Spell Power ])
Seal of Vengeance now deals [ 14% of AP + 22% of Spell Power + 1 ] Holy damage. (Down from [ 17.5% of AP + 28% of Spell Power + 1 ])
Judgement of Wisdom now restores 1% of the attacker’s maximum mana. (Down from 2%)
Judgement of Light now has a chance to heal the attacker for [ 10% of AP + 10% of Spell Power ]. (Down from [ 18% of AP + 18% of Spell Power ])

… So, does anyone think that those changes above are in any way “surgical”, or that they won’t affect PvE damage? And no one said nerfing Holy and Protection damage was part of the deal, either. Nerfing all seals affects Holy soloing and Protection tanking. A targeted seal nerf would have touched Command and Blood/Martyr only. Of course, it’s not a total nerf. You do get one extra point of attack power from Blessing of Might . . .

Review: Fable II October 28, 2008

From Araan:

 

This is NOT a stereotype. No.

You’ve seen a lot about Fable II on this site. Actually, I should say you’ve seen a lot about Peter Molyneux, Fable’s creator, who has Chronic Foot-In-Mouth Disease. You may have seen an article or listened to a Weinercast here and there in which his penchant for over-promising and under-delivering has been discussed.

 

I’m a fan of the original Fable and was ready to give Fable II a fair shake. I eagerly slipped the disc into the Xbox 360 and waited impatiently through the Microsoft and Lionhead bumpers for the actual Start screen to show.

 

Starting the game allows you to choose between playing a male or female Hero — a choice unavailable in the original — and is followed by a beautifully rendered cutscene that drops you into the middle of the action into the town of Bowerstone from the first game. It’s hundreds of years after the time of Fable, though, and the world has changed greatly. You’ll find early on, for instance, that no one really believes in Will (magic) anymore, and that firearms are now commonplace. Fable II represents a more rational, almost Renaissance-like world compared to the more fairytale-like medieval world of the original Fable.

 

Many of the elements of the new edition of the land of Albion will seem familiar. Yep, there are still Demon Doors that lead to treasure once you’ve figured out what’s needed to open them. Chests containing goods abound. The chief difference is that the Hero’s Guild is no more; it was destroyed in the time between the two games, and there are no heroes anymore until you come along. (It’s implied throughout the game that you are a descendant of the character from the first Fable, who is referred to as the Hero of Oakvale.)

 

Fable II is a game that I would say appeals to both “passengers and sailors”. That is, it’s very easy for even the most casual gamer to enjoy, while also offering rewards for those who wish to play deeper inside of it. Let’s take two cases to illustrate: the Dog and making money. A lot has been said about the Dog, and I find the concept and the implementation both innovative and refreshing. Honestly, what hero runs around with a minimap in his head? The dog is a much more natural way of finding your way around. There’s also a trail of “reverse breadcrumbs” wherever you go — you’ll find that following a golden, glowing trail will lead you to your quest destinations.

 

There’s so much going on in Fable II that it’s tempting to delay pursuing the story while interacting with the rest of the world, much as I did. You’ll find that the story itself is well-plotted and full of unexpected twists and a couple of breathless, I-can’t-believe-that-just-happened moments.

Take A! And B! And A again!

 

And then there’s money — it’s ridiculously easy to come by. A number of jobs have been implemented in the game. These are essentially minigames that you’re paid to play. They have different “skins” as it were, but the play is more or less the same whether you’re a blacksmith or a woodcutter. You mash the A button at the right time, you make gold. That’s it. You can rack up a few thousand gold coins in a short time. If you’re eager to upgrade your gear it’s an easy way to make some money; if you’re looking at a longer-term investment you can put your cash into real estate by buying a house or business. Your rental fees accumulate even while you’re not playing, so it can be a big moneymaker over time to invest for the long term.

 

The game shipped with some problems. Audio sometimes goes out of sync with the rest of the game, causing stuttering and other annoying effects. I also have to fault Lionhead, again, for releasing the game without the promised — and still MIA at the time of this writing — online multiplayer feature that so many were looking forward to.

 

For being worth your $60 despite Molyneux’s best attempts to the contrary, Fable II gets 4 weiners out of 5.

Preview: Star Wars: The Old Republic October 25, 2008

From Araan:

This week Bioware finally let out some details about the worst-kept secret in PC video games: that their secret MMORPG project is related to their hit title, Knights of the Old Republic.

 

Welcome to SWTOR, or “Swatter”, as we shall pronounce it.

 

The new game, is set 3,500 years before the rise of Darth Vader, and 300 years after your adventures as Revan in the original KOTOR. Players will be thrust into a world where the real Sith Empire has finally emerged from hiding on the fringes of the galaxy and delivered a major defeat to the Republic. While the two sides are technically at peace, it’s clear that a new war between the Republic and the Empire is in the offing.

 

The Galactic Republic stood for generations as a bastion of peace in a galaxy of warring star systems. Protected by its stalwart Jedi guardians, the Republic held the greatest hope for the progress of civilization and galactic unity.

 

Deep in unknown space, however, a mighty Sith Empire was forged, led by dark Sith Lords who dreamt of galactic domination and vengeance against their ancient Jedi enemies. After centuries of preparation, the time came for the Sith to make their return.

 

Bioware’s official website is sparse on details, without even an expect ship timeframe or base system requirements. All we can do at the moment is oogle at the pretty concept pictures hosted at the site.

Mage & Hunter nerfs incoming; Paladins say “we told you so” October 22, 2008

From Araan:

Mages are also bursting with burstiness, according to Blizzard. Ghostcrawler has the nerf bat prepared for you: 

We have concerns about how bursty dps has become in PvP. On the other hand, we’re pretty happy with mage dps in PvE so we want to take care not to hurt it.For example, we discussed shifting some of Arcane’s damage between Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage, but that actually does hurt one of Arcane’s PvE advantages over Fire — namely to be able to move around while doing some instant spells.   

In the case of Frost, however, we have become concerned that it’s too easy to blow opponents up too quickly. Two of the culprits here are instant, uninterruptible Fireballs and Deep Freeze.

We are changing Brain Freeze to only proc off of Frost spells that can chill. Specifically, this limits the tactic of trying to fish for procs with Ice Lance. Ice Lance gets used a lot more in PvP, so we don’t think this will hurt Frost as much in PvE.

Secondly, Cold as Ice no longer reduces the cooldown on Deep Freeze. Deep Freeze is an (ahem) cool spell and we don’t want to nerf it too much, but you must admit that the poor frozen shmuck can endure a lot of damage while he is locked up.
 

I’ve maintained from the beginning that if they nerfed Retribution they’d come for other classes, too. Next on the list: Hunters.

As I have suggested a few times, we are concerned that hunters of all 3 specs are doing damage that is clearly superior to other classes.[…]

Ranged attacks no longer benefit from the haste effects of Windfury Totem and Improved Icy Talons. This is a nerf to hunter white damage.

There you have it. “First they came for the Retribution Paladins, and I said nothing”…

WoW Paladin Changes October 21, 2008

From Araan:

Are WoW Paladins really overpowered? Not so, says Blizzard. Though they implemented a hotfix to tone down Paladins some, and there are some changes on the way, blue posts say that Paladin damage is right on target. They only thing they want to change is to make it less “bursty”, which I can get behind since uncontrollable crit strings are bad to having low threat.

Also, I’m eagerly awaiting my copy of Fable 2 from GameFly and will give you my fair and balanced opinion of it as soon as I’ve had a day or two to come to grips with it.

Weinercast Wednesday October 15, 2008

The Weinercast is go! This week Araan and I discuss BlizzCon, World of Warcraft Patch 3.02, new Apple laptops, and more. Featuring special guest Simbelmyne!

As always, the Weinercast is available on

Please leave us a review or a comment/question, and we’ll address it on air next week!

And a non-iTunes link if you need it.

WoW 3.02 Patch notes! October 14, 2008

It is a great day for geeks.  A major WoW patch and something new from Apple.  Thanks be to Araan, here are some patch notes for you.

 

Araan rides again.

General

 

• All players will have their talent points reimbursed and will have access to new talents throughout their trees; this includes the 51-point talents. Several new spells and abilities have been added for all classes. Players will need to visit their class trainer to learn new spells.
• The Kirin Tor have made their move and so has Dalaran.Please watch your step around the crater that has been left behind!
• The Barber Shop has been implemented and you can now visit one of the Barber Shops in the major cities to change your appearance. Be sure to get your Shave and a Haircut!
• The all new Achievement System has been implemented and the Achievement panel can be accessed via the interface. While many achievements are not retroactive, we have done our best to credit as many as possible. Gamemasters will not be able to grant achievements for past accomplishements.
• Stormwind Harbor is now open for business.
• New towers have been added outside Of Orgrimmar and in Tirisfal Glades. Crews are currently at work to establish a new Zeppelin route to Northrend for your travel pleasure. Please no /spit off of the towers.
• A new entrance is now viewable in the Caverns of Time.
• Hit Rating, Critical Strike Rating, and Haste Rating now modify both melee attacks and spells.
• Spell casting and spell channeling pushback has been changed to the following:
  • When casting a spell:
    • The first and second hit will add .5 secs each to the cast time.
    • All hits after the second will have no effect.
  • When channeling a spell:
    • The first and second hit reduces current duration by 25% of total duration each.
    • All hits after the second will have no effect.[/u][/b]
  • Spellpower:
    • All items and effects which grant bonuses to spell damage and spell healing are being consolidated into a single stat, Spellpower. This stat will appear with the same values found on items which grant “increased spell damage and healing” such as on typical Mage and Warlock itemization.
      • For classes which do not heal, they should see no change in the character sheet other than new tooltip wording. 
    • Healing characters will see their bonus healing numbers on the character sheet decrease, however, all healing spells have been modified to receive more benefit from spellpower than they received from bonus healing, with a net effect of no change to the amount healed by their spells. Some talents have had to be rebalanced to accommodate this change, but the amount healed will remain roughly the same. In addition, some talents will provide only healing spell power. 

  Druids

  • Brambles (Balance): Now increases the damage done by your Treants, and also damage caused from your Treants and Barkskin has a 5/10/15% chance to Daze the target for 3 sec. 
  • Celestial Focus (Balance): The stun proc now works with Starfall. This talent no longer has Wrath pushback protection, but instead increases your total spell haste by 1/2/3%.
  • Challenging Roar now has a 3 minute cooldown, reduced from 10 minutes.
  • Control of Nature (Balance) has been removed.
  • Entangling Roots: Can now be used indoors. 
  • Faerie Fire (Feral): Now an 11-point talent, down from being a 21-point talent. 
  • Feral Charge (Feral) is now a 21-point talent, up from being a 11-point talent. 
  • Feral Charge (Feral): Can now be used in Cat form. 
  • Feral Instinct (Feral) no longer increases threat generated in Bear form, but now increases damage done by your Swipe ability by 5/10/15%. 
  • Feral Swiftness: The movement speed buff can now be used indoors.
  • Focused Starlight (Balance)is now Nature’s Majesty (Balance): Increases the critical strike chance of your Wrath, Starfire, Starfall, Nourish, and Healing Touch spells by 2/4/6%. 
  • Force of Nature (Balance): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3. 
  • Furor (Restoration): Now increases your total Intellect while in Moonkin form by 2/4/6/8/10%.
  • Hurricane: No longer has a cooldown (was 1 minute). 
  • Improved Faerie Fire (Feral): Now also works with spell hit, in addition to ranged and melee hit %. 
  • Improved Mark of the Wild (Restoration): Now a 2-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. 
  • Improved Tranquility (Restoration): Now also reduces the cooldown of your Tranquility spell by 25/50%. 
  • Mangle (Feral): Now increases the damage done by Maul in addition to Shred. 
  • Moonglow (Balance): Now also works with Starfall. Moved to tier 2, up from tier 5.
  • Moonkin Form (Balance) no longer increases your attack power or causes you to regenerate mana off melee attacks, but now has a chance to cause you to instantly regenerate 2% of your total mana every time you critically hit with a spell. 
  • Nature’s Focus (Restoration): Now a 3 point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 1, up from Tier 2. Now also includes Nourish, Entangling Roots, Wrath, and Cyclone.
  • Nature’s Grace (Balance): Now also reduces the global cooldown of your Wrath spell by 50% while in effect. 
  • Nature’s Grasp (Balance): Can now be used and can proc indoors. This is now a base ability at level 11 and has a 100% chance to proc.
  • New Talent- Protector of the Pack (Feral): Increases the bonus attack power for Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by an additional 20/40/60% for each friendly player in your party, damage taken is reduced while in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 1/2/3%.
  • Nature’s Reach (Balance): Now also reduces threat generated by Balance spells by 15/30%. 
  • Nature’s Splendor now increases the duration of Lifebloow by 2 secs, (down from 3.)
  • New Spell: Revive – Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. (Ranks 1-7 added) 
  • New Talent – Genesis (Balance): Increases the damage and healing done by your periodic spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • New Talent – Improved Insect Swarm (Balance): Increases your damage done by your Wrath spell to targets afflicted by your Insect Swarm by 1/2/3%, and increases the critical strike chance of your Starfire spell by 1/2/3% on targets afflicted by your Moonfire spell.
  • New Talent – Mother Bear (Feral): Increases the bonus attack power for Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by an additional 20/40/60%, and for each friendly player in your party, damage you take is reduced while in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 1/2/3%.
  • New Talent – Natural Reaction (Feral): Increases your dodge chance while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form by 2/4/6%, and you regenerate 1/2/3 rage everytime you dodge while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form.
  • New Talent – Nature’s Splendor (Balance): Increases the duration of your Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom and Flourish spells by 10/20/30%.
  • Omen of Clarity (Restoration): Now a passive spell. Now also works for spells (healing and damage). Proc rate is roughly 6% with a 10 second internal cooldown. 
  • Primal Tenacity (Feral) now reduces damage while stunned by 5/10/15%, and reduces the duration of fear effects by 5/10/15%. 
  • Rake: The damage for this ability has been increased.
  • Remove Curse can now be used in Tree of Life form. 
  • Soothe Animal can now be used on Dragonkin as well as Beasts. 
  • Soothe Animal is now instant cast. 
  • Subtlety (Restoration): Now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 2, up from Tier 3. Also now only reduced threat for Restoration spells, and reduces the chance that your healing over time spells (Lifebloom, Regrowth and Rejuvenation) will be dispelled, rather than all Druid spells. Threat management for Balance can now be found in the Balance tree, within Nature’s Reach. 
  • Survival of the Fittest (Feral): Increased to 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%. 
  • Swipe now affects targets within a range.
  • The mana regeneration penalty when in Bear Form, Dire Bear Form and Cat Form has been removed. 
  • Tranquil Spirit (Restoration) now also includes Nourish. 
  • Tree of Life (Restoration): 30% snare penalty has been removed. 
  • Tree of Life (Restoration): Can now cast Dispel Curse. 
  • Tree of Life (Restoration): You can now cast all Restoration spells (Healing Touch) in the form, but Tree of Life now only reduces the mana cost of your healing over time spells (Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, Regrowth and Flourish) by 20%. 
  • Vengeance (Balance): Now also works with Starfall. 

  Hunters

  • All aspects now have a 1 second global cooldown, down from a 1.5 global cooldown.
  • All pet families now have one unique ability. New abilities have been added for families such as bears and sporebats. 
  • Stablemasters can now accommodate two additional pets. 
  • Pets now have their own trees. These can be accessed via the talent panel.
  • Aimed shot mana cost has been reduced from 11% of base mana to 8%, casting time reduced from 2.5 sec to instant. Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 10 seconds and damage reduced.
  • Animal Handler (Beast Mastery): No longer increases speed while mounted, but now reduces the cooldown of your Master’s Call ability by 5/10 sec.
  • Arcane Shot: No longer dispels magic effects.
  • Aspects now no longer cost mana. 
  • Aspect of the Beast: Now increases melee attack power by 10% for the hunter and the hunter’s pet.The hunter can’t be tracked while using this Aspect. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
  • Aspect of the Viper – The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing total damage done by 50%. Mana is gained based on ranged weapons speed. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
  • Aspect of the Wild (Rank 4) now increases Nature resistence by 130, (up from 70.)
  • Avoidance, Dash / Dive and Cobra Reflexes are now pet talents instead of pet skills. 
  • Bestial Swiftness is now a pet talent tree talent, and has been removed from the Beast Mastery Hunter tree.
  • Bite now has no cooldown, does the same damage and costs the same Focus as Claw, so works as a Focus dump. 
  • Clever Traps (Survival) has been renamed “Trap Mastery.”
  • Combat Experience (Marksmanship): Now grants 3/6% Agility, up from 1/2%. 
  • Concussive Barrage (Marksmanship): Can now proc from Volley and Multi-shot attacks. 
  • Counterattack: Damage increased by 20%, and now also scales with your Ranged Attack Power.
  • Deterrence (Survival): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, and now also increases your chance to resist spells by 60%. Now has a new spell effect.
  • Disengage: This ability has been re-designed. Now leaps the Hunter backwards up to 13 yards. 30 second cooldown. Disengage now also only has one rank (rank 1).
  • Distracting Shot: This shot now “taunts” the target onto the Hunter. The taunt effect will last 6 seconds. Distracting Shot now only has one rank (rank 1).
  • Every hunter pet can learn Growl, Cower and either Bite or Claw (never both). 
  • Focused Aim no longer affects Aimed Shot and now increases chance to hit by 1/2/3 %.
  • Focused Fire (Beast Mastery): Now increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Command by 10/20/30% while Kill Command is active. This effect can stack up to 3 times, but diminishes for each charge of Kill Command.
  • Freezing Arrow now breaks on damage.
  • Freezing Trap now breaks on damage.
  • Hunter pets can now learn talents in one of three trees depending on family. Pets gain talent points starting at level 20 and earn an extra talent point every 4 levels. 
  • If a hunter tames a pet that is more than five levels beneath their own level, the pet will then have their level increased to five levels beneath the hunter’s own level.
  • Improved Arcane Shot (Marksmanship): Now increases the damage done by your Arcane Shot by 5/10/15%.
  • Improved Feign Death (Survival): This talent has been replaced with Survival Tactics.
  • Improved Hunter’s Mark (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, and now increases the amount of attack power granted by your Hunter’s Mark ability by 10/20/30% and reduces the mana cost of your Hunter’s Mark ability by 33/66/100%.
  • Improved Stings (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, down from 5-points.
  • Kill Command: This ability now increases the damage done by your pet’s special abilities by 60%. Each attack will reduce the damage bonus by 20%. 1 minute cooldown. 
  • Kill Shot damage slightly reduced.
  • Kindred Spirits will no longer stack with other movement enhancing buffs.
  • Lock and Load now has a chance to proc periodic damage by 2/4/6% (down from 5/10/15%.)
  • Loyalty, Training Points and the hunter Beast Training button no longer exist. Hunter pets can now learn all skills at their level. They will get new ranks automatically as they gain levels.
  • Marked for Death now increases damage done by ranged and by pets special abilities by 4% on marked targets (down from 8%.)
  • Master Tactician (Survival): Chance to proc increased to 10%, up from 6%.
  • Mongoose Bite: No longer requires you to dodge in order to use this ability. 
  • Monster Slaying (Survival) and Humanoid Slaying (Survival) has been combined into “Improved Tracking”. 
  • Multi-shot mana cost has been increased slightly to 9% base mana (up from 8%.)
  • New Talent – Aspect Mastery (Beast Mastery)
  • New Talent – Hunter vs. Wild (Survival): Increases you and your pet’s attack power and ranged attack power equal to 10/20/30% of your total Stamina.
  • New Talent – Improved Tracking (Survival): Increases all damage done to targets that are being tracked 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • New Talent – Lock and Load (Survival): You have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target and a 10/20/30% chance when you sting a target to cause your next 3 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo.
  • New Talent – Survival Tactics (Survival): Reduces the chance your Feign Death ability and all trap spells will be resisted by 2/4%, and reduces the cooldown of your Disengage ability by 2/4 sec.
  • New Talent – T.N.T. (Survival): Your Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Explosive Shot have a 5/10/15% to stun targets for 2 sec when they deal damage, and increases the critical strike chance of your Explosive Shot and Explosive Trap by 5/10/15%.
  • Pathfinding (Beast Mastery): Now also increases the movement speed while mounted by 5/10%.
  • Point of No Escape reduced to a 2 point talent and now affects Freezing Arrow. The critical strike chance has increased to 3/6% (up from 2/4/6%.)
  • Rapid Killing (Marksmanship): This will now proc off Chimera Shot, but no longer works with auto-shot.
  • Readiness (Marksmanship): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes, and has been moved to Tier 5 of the Marksmanship Tree from the Survival Tree.
  • Savage Strikes (Survival): Now includes Counterattack.
  • Scattershot has been moved from the Marksmanship Tree to Tier 3 of the Survival Tree.
  • Silencing Shot (Marksmanship): This spell will now interrupt the current spell being cast on the target and lock out that school for 3 sec if the target is immune to silence effects. 
  • Spirit Bond (Beast Mastery): Also increases healing done to you and your pet by 5/10%.
  • Steady Shot now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use. 
  • Steady Shot: Now has a 2.0 cast time, up from 1.5.
  • Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 16/25/50% (instead of resist % chance). Moved from tier 4 to tier 2 and no longer increases hit chance.
  • Survival Instincts (Survival): This has been moved to tier-2, up from tier 6.
  • Survivalist (Survival): Now increases your total Stamina, instead of your total Health.
  • The arming time has been reduced to 1 second, from 2 seconds for all traps.
  • T.N.T. has been moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4.
  • Tranquilizing Shot: Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds (down from 20), and now dispels Enrage and Magic effects.
  • Trap Mastery (Survival) is now an 11-point talenttalent and has been moved from tier 3 to tier 9 and increases the duration by 30% fo both Freezing Trap and Frost Trap. 
  • Trueshot Aura – This aura is now raid-wide and now increases all ranged and melee attack power by 10%. In addition, this spell now only has one rank. All other ranks have been removed.
  • Wingclip: No longer does damage.

  Mages

  • Arcane Blast effect duration reduced to 3 seconds, and now increases damage by 25/50/75% instead of reducing cast time.
  • Arcane Focus (Arcane) is now 3 ranks and increases chance to hit and reduces mana cost of Arcane spells by 1/2/3%. 
  • Arcane Fortitude moved to tier 2, increased to 3 ranks, now increases armor equal to 50/100/150% of Intellect.
  • Arcane Impact renamed Spell Impact and now affects Blast Wave, Fire Blast, Cone of Cold, and Ice Lance.
  • Arcane Potency now applies when Presence of Mind is active, talent prerequisite changed to Presence of Mind.
  • Arcane Subtlety now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 15/35%, and no longer reduces the resistance of targets.
  • Arctic Reach now also affects Deep Freeze.
  • Blast Wave now knocks all affected targets back.
  • Conjured mana gems no longer disappear from your backpack after being logged out for more than 15 minutes. Higher ranks of Conjure Mana Gem will recharge an existing mana gem to maximum charges.
  • Counterspell now costs 9% of base mana.
  • Deep Freeze will no longer do damage, and will now stun the target for 5 seconds. 
  • Elemental Precision moved to tier 2.
  • Empowered Arcane Missiles renamed Arcane Empowerment and no longer increases mana cost. It now also increases damage caused by Arcane Blast.
  • Empowered Fireball renamed to Empower Fire, reduced to 3 ranks, now increases damage by 5/10/15% of spell powerand now affects Frostfire Bolt.
  • Empowered Frostbolt reduced to 2 ranks, increases damage by 5/10% of spell power and increases critical hit chance by 2/4%.
  • Evocation has had its cooldown reduced from 8 minutes to 5 minutes.
  • Flame Throwing moved to tier 3.
  • Frost Armor, Ice Armor, Mage Armor and Molten Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled. 
  • Frostbite relocated from Tier 2 to Tier 1.
  • Frost Channeling now reduces mana cost of all spells by 4/7/10%.
  • Frost Warding now increases armor and resistances of Frost/Ice Armor by 25/50%, now gives Frost Ward and Fire Ward a 15/30/5 chance to negate damage caused and restore mana equal to damage caused by the warded spell.
  • Hot Streak will now also affect Fire Blast.
  • Ice Floes renamed Cold as Ice, now reduces cooldown of Cold Snap, Ice Barrier, Summon Water Elemental, and Deep Freeze by 10/20%.
  • Impact moved to tier 3, reduced to 3 ranks for 4/7/10% chance to trigger, now triggers from any damaging spell (Fire, Frost or Arcane).
  • Improved Blink now also reduces mana cost by 25/50%.
  • Improved Counterspell now always silences the target for 2/4 seconds.
  • Improved Fire Blast moved to tier 1, reduced to 2 ranks, reduces the cooldown by 1/2 seconds.
  • Improved Flamestrike moved to tier 2, renamed World in Flames, now increases the critical hit chance of Flamestrike, Blast Wave, Dragon’s Breath, Living Bomb, Blizzard, and Arcane Explosion by 2/4/6%.
  • Improved Frost Nova renamed Ice Floes, moved to tier 1, increased to 3 ranks, now reduces cooldown of Frost Nova, Cone of Cold, Ice Block, and Icy Veins by 7/14/20%. 
  • Improved Mana Shield has been renamed to Arcane Shielding, reduces mana lost per damage absorbed by 17/33%,and now also increases resistances granted by Mage Armor by 25/50%.
  • Improved Scorch now increases Fire, Frost, and Arcane damage done to the target by 2/4/6/8/10%.
  • Incineration moved to tier 1, increases the critical hit chance of Fire Blast, Scorch, Arcane Blast, and Cone of Cold by 2/4/6%.
  • Invisibility now makes the caster invisible after 3 seconds, reduced from 5 seconds. 
  • Living Bomb will no longer knock all targets into the air.
  • Magic Absorption reduced to 2 ranks, increases resistances by .5/1 point per level, and restores 1/3% of total mana on a resist.
  • Magic Attunement (Arcane) now also increases the range of your Arcane spells by 3/6 yards. 
  • Mana Shield now drains 1.5 mana per damage absorbed.
  • Master of Elements now affects all spell criticals.
  • Mind Mastery reduced to 3/6/9/12/15%.
  • Missile Barrage will now affect Arcane Barrage and the (R5) proc chance has been adjusted from 12% to 20%.
  • Molten Shields now gives Fire Ward and Frost Ward spells a 15/30% chance to reflect the warded spell.
  • Polymorph now costs 12% of base mana. 
  • Portal spells now cost 18% of base mana. 
  • Prismatic Cloak (Arcane) increased to 3 ranks for 1/2/3% and now also reduces the fade time of Invisibility by 1/2/3 seconds.
  • Pyroblast cast time has been reduced to 5 seconds.
  • Remove Lesser Curse has been renamed to Remove Curse.
  • Shatter no longer has a prerequisite.
  • Slow Fall now costs 6% of base mana. 
  • Slow mana cost reduced.
  • Summoned Water Elemental’s Waterbolt range increased, mana cost reduced, Freeze range increased, mana cost increased.
  • Teleport spells now cost 9% of base mana. 
  • Winter’s Chill reduced to 3 ranks, Frost damage spells have a 33/66/100% chance to trigger the effect and the effect increases chance to crit with Arcane, Fire and Frost spells.

  Paladins

  • Attack Power and Spell Power scaling on all Seals and Judgements other than Command and Blood has been reduced.
  • All Auras now affect all party and raid members within the area of effect. 
  • Anticipation (Protection) moved to tier 1, now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%. 
  • Avenger’s Shield (Protection) cast time reduced to .5 seconds, duration increased to 10 seconds. 
  • Avenging Wrath no longer causes Forbearance, damage increase reduced to 20%, now increases healing done by 20%. 
  • Blessing of Freedom renamed Hand of Freedom. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana. 
  • Blessing of Light and Greater Blessing of Light removed. Their effects have been folded into all relevant abilities. 
  • Blessing of Protection renamed Hand of Protection. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. All ranks now cost 6% of base mana. 
  • Blessing of Sacrifice renamed Hand of Sacrifice, is now only 1 rank and transfers 20% of the damage taken to the caster, duration reduced to 12 seconds, cooldown increased to 2 minutes. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana. 
  • Blessing of Salvation renamed Hand of Salvation, now reduces total threat on the target by 2% per second for 10 seconds while also reducing all damage and healing done by 10%. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana. 
  • Blessing of Sanctuary reduced to 1 rank, now reduces all damage taken by 3% and generates rage, mana or runic power when a parry/dodge/block occurs.
  • Consecration now scales with attack power and spell power.
  • Conviction (Retribution) now increases critical chance with all spells and melee attacks. 
  • Divine Intellect (Holy) moved to tier 2, increases total Intellect by 3/6/9/12/15%. 
  • Divine Intervention cooldown reduced to 20 minutes. 
  • Divine Plea will now fall within the school of Magic and reduces healing output by 20% (from 100%.)
  • Divine Protection and Divine Shield now cost 3% of base mana. 
  • Divine Protection now reduces all damage taken by 50% and increases time between attacks by 100%.
  • Divine Purpose (Retribution) now reduces chance to be hit by spells and ranged attacks by 1/2/3%. 
  • Divine Strength (Holy) moved to tier 1 in the Protection tree. 
  • Exorcism mana cost reduced and now scales with attack power and spell power.
  • Eye for an Eye now reflects 10/20% damage from all critical hits.
  • Fanaticism now increases chance to critically hit by 5/10/15/20/25%.
  • Forbearance duration increased to 3 minutes.
  • Greater Blessing of Salvation removed. 
  • Hammer of Justice now costs 3% of base mana. 
  • Hammer of Wrath is now considered a Retribution spell, moved from Holy, mana cost reduced, now instant cast, global cooldown increased to 1.5, missile speed increased, now usable on targets below 35% health and now scales with attack power and spell power. 
  • Healing Light (Holy) moved to tier 2. 
  • Holy Shield (Protection) cooldown reduced to 8 seconds, charges increased to 8. 
  • Holy Shock (Holy) range changed to 20/40 yards when used on enemies/friends respectively, cooldown reduced to 6 seconds. 
  • Holy Wrath is now instant cast, causes a 3 second stun, cooldown reduced to 30 seconds, radius reduced to 10 yards. 
  • Illumination (Holy) moved to tier 3. 
  • Improved Blessing of Might increased to 10/20/30/40/50%.
  • Improved Concentration Aura (Protection) moved to the Holy tree. 
  • Improved Concentration Aura moved from the Protection tree to tier 4 in the Holy tree. 
  • Improved Devotion Aura (Protection) moved to tier 4, reduced to 3 ranks, now increases armor of Devotion Aura by 17/34/50% and increases all healing done to units affected by Devotion Aura by 1/2/3%. 
  • Improved Hammer of Justice (Protection) now reduces cooldown by 10/20/30 secs. 
  • Improved Holy Shield removed.
  • Improved Righteous Fury (Protection) threat bonus folded into base spell, talent still reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%. 
  • Improved Sanctity Aura (Retribution) renamed Sanctified Retribution, now causes all units affected by Retribution Aura to cause 2% more damage. 
  • Improved Seal of Righteousness (Holy) moved to tier 1, renamed Seals of the Pure, now affects Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Vengeance and Seal of Corruption. 
  • Improved Seal of the Crusader (Retribution) renamed Heart of the Crusader and the effects now apply to all Judgement spells. 
  • Infusion of Light now reduces the cast time of Holy Light by .5 second/1 second (instead of 1.2.5 second /2.5 seconds.)
  • Judgement has been replaced with 3 new spells; Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom, and Judgement of Justice. All Judgement spells are considered ranged attacks for purposes of how they hit and how they critically hit. All cause damage based on attack power and spell power.
    • Judgement of Light now heals based on the Paladin’s attack power and spell power, the effect can not trigger more than once ever 4 seconds.
    • Judgement of Justice will no longer prevent Fear effects, but will only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health). 
    • Judgement of Wisdom now restores mana based on the Paladin’s attack power and spell power, the effect can not trigger more than once every 4 seconds.
  • Judgements of the Pure will now last for 1 minute (up from 30 seconds.)
  • Judgements of the Wise will now grant 33% of base mana instead of 20% of maximum mana.
  • Lay on Hands no longer drains all mana, cooldown reduced to 20 minutes. 
  • One-Handed Weapon Specialization now increases damage by 2/4/6/8/10%.
  • Precision has been removed.
  • Pure of Heart (Holy) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces duration of Curse and Disease effects by 25/50%. 
  • Pursuit of Justice reduced to 2 ranks for 8/15% movement increase and 1/2% less chance to be hit by spells.
  • Redoubt (Protection) moved to tier 2, reduced to 3 ranks, increases block chance by 10/20/30%, now also increases block value by 10/20/30% at all times. 
  • Repentance (Retribution) mana cost changed to 9% of base, duration increased to 1 minute (10 second PvP duration), now usable against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead. 
  • Retribution Aura damage increased and now gains damage based on Holy spell power. 
  • Righteous Defense no longer costs mana and the global cooldown has been removed, cooldown reduced to 10 seconds.
  • Righteous Fury now increases threat caused by Holy damage by 90%. 
  • Sacred Duty now also reduces the cooldown of Divine Protection.
  • Sanctified Light (Holy) now also increases the critical chance of Holy Shock.
  • Sanctity Aura (Retribution) removed. 
  • All Seals have been reduced to 1 rank and now cost 14% of base mana. The duration has been increased to 2 minutes and are no longer consumed when a Judgement spell is cast. The effects can be triggered from all weapon based special abilities.
    • Seal of Blood now increases Judgement damage by 45% of weapon damage.
    • Seal of Command now increases Judgement damage by 30% of weapon damage, 60% on stunned targets.
    • Seal of the Crusader has been removed. The effects of Judgement of the Crusader have been folded into all relevant abilities. 
    • Seal of Righteousness deals damage based on weapon speed plus an amount based on attack power and spell power, increases Judgement damage by 25%.
    • Seal of Vengeance now applies its effect on every swing, causes damage based on attack power and spell power, increases Judgement damage by 10% per stack of the damage over time effect.
  • Shield Specialization removed, effects merged with Redoubt.
  • Spiritual Focus (Holy) moved to tier 1. 
  • Stoicism (Protection) moved to tier 2, now reduces duration of Stun effects by 10/20/30% and reduces chance your spells will be resisted by 10/20/30%. 
  • Summon Warhorse and Summon Charger mana cost removed and no longer causes a global cooldown.
  • Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3 , now also reduces the duration of movement slowing effects by 10/20/30/40/50%. 
  • Turn Undead (ranks 1 and 2) removed. Turn Evil now granted at level 24, mana cost changed to 9% of base. 
  • Unyielding Faith (Holy) moved to tier 2. 
  • Vengeance (Retribution) now stacks up to 2 times, reduced from 3.
  • Vindication reduced to 2 ranks for 10/20% attribute reduction.

  Priests

  • Absolution: This talent has swapped positions in the talent tree with Improved Inner Fire.
  • Circle of Healing (Holy): Now works on any targets in the caster’s raid, and is now a “smart” heal and chooses the lowest health targets to heal first within its range. Also now has a 6 second cooldown. Also no longer will heal summoned Snakes from Hunter’s Snake Trap. 
  • Enlightenment: Increases your total Stamina, Spirit and Spell haste by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • Focused Will (Discipline): Now increases healing effects on you by 3/4/5%, down from 4/7/10%. 
  • Force of Will (Discipline): This talent now increases your spell damage by a flat amount, rather than increasing your spells by a %. (Now increases school %, rather than selected spells damage %). In other words, your spell damage gained from this talent is now reflected on your character sheet, rather than the skill tool-tips. 
  • Focused Power: Increases your total spell damage and healing done by 2/4%, but no longer increases your chance to hit with Mind Blast, and Mass Dispel.
  • Guardian Spirit will now heal the target 50% of their maximum health.
  • Holy Fire: Cast time reduced to to 2 seconds, down from 3.5. Damage increased roughly 60%. Duration for the damage over time effect reduced to 7 seconds, down from 10. Holy Fire now has a 10 second cooldown. 
  • Holy Nova mana cost reduced.
  • Improved Inner Fire (Discipline) – Now also increases the effect of Inner Fire spell by 20/40/60% (Includes the +spell power on higher ranks, as well as total number of charges).Moved from tier 3 to tier 2. 
  • Improved Power Word: Fortitude moved from tier 3 to tier 2.
  • Improved Shadow Word: Pain (Shadow) – Now increases damage done by your Shadow Word: Pain by 5/10%, but no longer increases the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain. 
  • Levitate now costs 3% of base mana. 
  • Lightwell (Holy): Cast time reduced to .5 sec, down from 1.5 sec. Charges increased to 10, up from 5. Now breaks from any attack that hits you for 30% or more of your total health. Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5. 
  • Mind Control now has only one rank and costs 12% of base mana. 
  • Mind Flay can now periodically critcally hit. The spell coefficient has been increased approximately 30%.
  • Mind Soothe now has only one rank, costs 6% of base mana and has no max target level. 
  • Mind Vision now costs 3% of base mana. 
  • New Talent: Improved Spirit Tap (Shadow) – Gives you a 50/100% chance to gain a 50% bonus to your Spirit after gaining a critical effect chance from your Mind Blast or Shadow Word: Death spells. For the duration, your mana will regenerate at a 25% rate while casting. Lasts 8 sec. 
  • New Talent: Twin Faiths (Discipline) – Increases your damage and healing by 1/2/3/4/5%. 
  • Pain Suppression (Discipline): Cooldown increased to 3 minutes, up from 2.
  • Power Infusion (Discipline): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3. 
  • Prayer of Mending – This spell can now critically hit.
  • Psychic Scream now costs 15% of base mana. 
  • Searing Light (Holy): Now also increases the damage of your Holy Nova and Penance spells. 
  • Shackle Undead now costs 9% of base mana. 
  • Shadow Focus (Shadow): Now a 3 point talent, down from 5. Now also reduces the mana cost of your Shadow spells by 2/4/6%. 
  • Shadow Resilience (Shadow): Now reduces physical damage taken by 2/4%, but no longer reduces the chance to be critically hit by spells. 
  • Shadowform (Shadow): Now has an innate 30% threat reduction. Now has a shapeshift UI.
  • Silence (Shadow) global cooldown removed.
  • Silent Resolve (Discipline): Now a 3 point talent, down from 5 points. 
  • Spirit Tap (Shadow) – Talent reduced to 3 points, down from 5. Now also leads into “Improved Spirit Tap” 
  • Twisted Faith will now work when the target is afflicted by Shadow Word: Pain (instead of Mind Flay.)
  • Wand Specialization (Discipline) has been removed. 

  Rogues

  • Aggression has been moved up 1 tier and now adds 3/6/9/12/15% damage to Sinister Strike, Backstab, and Eviscerate.
  • Anesthetic Poison now also dispels one Enrage effect on the target.
  • Blade Twisting (Combat) now cause all damaging melee attacks to have a 10% chance to daze for 4/8 seconds movement speed reduced by 70%, also adds 5/15% dmg to Sinister Strike and Backstab. 
  • Camouflage (Subtlety) reduced to 3 ranks for 5/10/15% speed and 2/4/6 secs off the cooldown of Stealth.
  • Cloak of Shadows cooldown increased to 1.5 min.
  • Crippling Poison reduced to 1 rank, slowing movement by 70%.
  • Dagger Specialization (Combat) renamed Close Quarters Combat, moved to tier 3, now increases critical strike chance with Daggers and Fist Weapons by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • Damaging poisons now scale with attack power.
  • Deadened Nerves (Assassination) reduced to 3 ranks, now reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
  • Deflection (Combat) reduced to 3 ranks, increasing parry by 2/4/6%.
  • Disarm Trap range increased to 20 yards, cast time reduced, now requires stealth.
  • Dual Wield Specialization (Combat) moved to tier 1.
  • Elusiveness (Subtlety) moved to Tier 3, now reduces cooldown of Vanish and Blind by 30/60 sec and Cloak of Shadows by 15/30 sec. 
  • Energy regeneration should now be smoother.
  • Endurance (Combat) now reduces cooldown of Evasion and Sprint by 30/60 secs.
  • Envenom now also increases your chance to apply poisons by 25% for 2-6 seconds (based on combo points).
  • Evasion, Sprint and Vanish cooldowns reduced to 3 min.
  • Find Weakness (Assassination) is now a passive talent, reduced to 3 ranks, increases damage of offensive abilities by 3/6/9%.
  • Fist Weapon Specialization (Combat) removed.
  • Fleet Footed (Assassination) now reduces duration of movement impairing effects by 25/50% rather than increasing resist chance. 
  • Focused Attacks now gives 2 energy regardless of rank.
  • Gouge is now only 1 rank and causes damage based on attack power. 
  • Improved Ambush (Subtlety) moved to Tier 4, reduced to 2 ranks for 25/50%.
  • Improved Eviscerate (Assassination) now increases damage by 7/14/20%.
  • Improved Expose Armor (Assassination) now reduces the energy cost by 5/10, no longer increases duration.
  • Improved Poisons (Assassination) now increases chance to apply poisons by 5/10/15/20/25%.
  • Improved Slice and Dice (Combat) reduced to 2 ranks, increases duration by 25/50%.
  • Improved Sprint (Combat) moved to Tier 4.
  • Initiative (Subtlety) moved to Tier 4, increased to 33/66/100% chance.
  • Kick is now only 1 rank and no longer causes damage. 
  • Lethality (Assassination) now also affects Riposte.
  • Lightning Reflexes (Combat) moved to tier 4.
  • Mace Specialization (Combat) no longer stuns enemiesnow ignores 3/6/9/12/15% of target’s armor.
  • Master of Deception (Subtlety) reduced to 3 ranks.
  • Mind-Numbing Poison reduced to 1 rank, slowing casting speed by 60%.
  • Murder (Assassination) moved to tier 6, increases damage by 2/4%.
  • Mutilate (Assassination) no longer requires you be behind the target.
  • Nerves of Steel (Combat) now reduces damage taken while Stunned or Feared by 15/30%.
  • Opportunity (Subtlety) reduced to 2 ranks for 10/20%.
  • Pick Lock and Disarm Trap no longer require Thieve’s Tools. 
  • Poisons skill removed. All finished poisons are available on vendors rather than created by the rogue. 
  • Precision (Combat) now also increases chance to hit with poison attacks by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • Premeditation (Subtlety) duration increased to 20 seconds, cooldown reduced to 20 seconds.
  • Preparation (Subtlety) no longer refreshes the cooldown of Premeditation.
  • Relentless Strikes (Assassination) moved to Tier 1 Subtlety, made 5 ranks for 4/8/12/16/20% chance. 
  • Riposte (Combat) now slows the target’s melee attacks by 20% instead of disarming them, awards one combo point.
  • Serrated Blades (Subtlety) moved to Tier 3.
  • Setup (Subtlety) chance to gain a combo point increased to 33/66/100%. 
  • Shadowstep (Subtlety) is no longer usable while rooted.
  • Surprise Attacks (Combat) now also increases Hemorrhage damage.
  • Vanish no longer requires the reagent Flash Powder. 
  • Vigor (Assassination) moved to Tier 3.
  • Vile Poisons (Assassination) reduced to 3 ranks, now increases damage of poisons and Envenom by 7/14/20% and increases dispel resistance by 10/20/30%. 
  • Vitality now regenerates 8/16/25% energy.
  • Wounding Poison no longer stacks, reduces healing by 50%. 

  Shaman

  • All totems are now considered on the “Physical” school, and no longer magical spells.
  • Anticipation (Enhancement): Now is a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent and now reduces the duration of disarm effects on you by 16/25/50%. 
  • Ancestral Awakening and Improved Water Shield will now affect Riptide.
  • Ancestral Knowledge (Enhancement): Now increases your Intellect by 2/4/6%, instead of increasing your total Mana by 2/4/6/8/10%. 
  • Call of Flame (Elemental): Now also increases the damage of your Lava Burst spell by 2/4/6%. 
  • Call of Thunder (Elemental) now also increases the critical strike chance of your Thunder spell. 
  • Concussion (Elemental) now increases the damage of your Thunder and Lava Burst spells. 
  • Convection (Elemental) is now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Now lowers the mana cost of Thunder and Lava Burst. 
  • Dual Wield Specialization will now increase the chance to hit while dual wielding by an additional 1/2/3%.
  • Earth’s Grasp (Elemental) is now a tier-1 talent, up from tier-2. 
  • Elemental Devastation (Elemental) is now a tier-2 talent, up from tier-4. 
  • Elemental Focus (Elemental): Now also can proc off Lesser Healing Wave and Healing Wave, and can be used on all healing spells. 
  • Elemental Fury (Elemental) now requires Elemental Focus as a pre-requisite
  • Elemental Precision (Elemental): Chance to hit reduced to 1/2/3% from 2/4/6%, but threat reduction increased to 10/20/30% up from 4/7/10%. 
  • Enhancing (Enhancement) Totems is now a Tier 1 talent, up from Tier-2. 
  • Fire Resistance Totem will now increase fire resistance by 130 and lasts for 5 minutes.
  • Flametongue Totem is now a flat spell damage totem. All ranks have been modified. 
  • Flametongue Weapon: Now has a passive spell damage.
  • Flurry now increases attack speed by 5/10/15/20/25% for your next 3 swings after dealing a critical strike.
  • Frostbrand’s snare effect has been increased to 50%, up from 25%. 
  • Ghost Wolf’s mana cost is now 13% base. 
  • Grace of Air Totem has been removed. (Agility has been rolled over into Strength of Earth Totem) 
  • Healing Grace (Restoration): Healing Way and Ancestral Fortitude are now affected by the dispel resistance portion of this talent.
  • Maelstrom Weapon proc chance reduced to 3/6/9/12/15% on critical hit when you deal damage with a melee weapon. Now affects chain heal.
  • Improved Fire Totems (Elemental) is now (again) Improved Fire Nova Totem. It now has a 50/100% chance to stun all targets for 2 sec. 
  • Improved Lightning Shield (Enhancement) is now Improved Shields, and is in Tier-2. 
  • Nature’s Blessing no longer increases spell damage from Intellect, and the effect has been reduced to 5/10/15% from 10/20/30%. This is in result of the new spell power system. Players should notice little to no change in the power of the spell relevant to healing spells.
  • New ranks have been added of Water Shield, starting at level 20. (Level 20, 27, 34, 41, 48, 55, 62, 69) 
  • New Spell: Earthliving Weapon – Imbue the Shaman’s weapon with earthen life. Increases healing done by x and each heal has a 20% chance to proc Earthliving on the target, healing an additionaly over 12 sec. Lasts 30 minutes. 
  • New Talent: Cleanse Spirit (Restoration) – Cleanse the spirit of a friendly target, removing 1 poison effect, 1 disease effect, and 1 curse effect. 
  • New Talent: Elemental Shields (Enhancement): Increases the damage done by your Lightning Shield orbs by 5/10/15%, increases the amount of mana gained from your Mana Shield orbs by 5/10/15% and increases the amount of healing done by your Earth Shield orbs by 5/10/15%. 
  • New Talent: Mental Dexterity (Enhancement) – Increases your Attack Power by 33/66/100% of your Intellect. 
  • New Talent: Tidal Force(Restoration): Increases the critical effect chance of your Healing Wave, Lesser Healing Wave and Chain Heal by 60%. Each critical heal reduces the chance by 20% and lasts 20 seconds.
  • Rockbiter ranks 5 through 9 have been removed. Windfury Weapon is intended to replace Rockbiter at level 30. 
  • Shapeshifting will no longer cancel Water Walking. 
  • Stoneclaw Totem: Health of the Stoneclaw totem is increased by 5% of the Shaman’s total health.
  • Stoneskin Totem now increases armor instead of reducing physical damage. 
  • Storm Reach (Elemental): Now also increases the radius of your Thunder spell by 10/20%. 
  • Stormstrike will no longer affect Fire or Frost damage.
  • Strength of Earth Totem now also increases agility. 
  • The range of all “friendly totems” has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.
  • Tidal Focus (Restoration): Now works with Earth Shield.
  • Totemic Mastery talent removed and replaced with “Tidal Force”.
  • Totem of Wrath will now last 5 minutes.
  • Tranquil Air Totem has been removed. (Threat is being addressed by modifications to the base threat of players and/or “baked” into tanking abilities.) 
  • Unleashed Rage is now raid wide and increases melee and ranged attack power within 45 yards.
  • Windfury Totem is now a flat 20% melee haste totem. All ranks have been modified. 
  • Windwall Totem has been removed. 
  • Wrath of Air is now a flat 10% spell haste totem. 

  Warlock

  • Aftermath (Destruction) – Now a 2-point talent, down from 5. 
  • All demon abilities and spells will automatically be learned as pets gain levels. Demon Master trainers will be removed. 
  • Avoidance (Felguard): Now reduces damage taken from area of effect attacks by an additional 80% and is automatically learned for the Succubus, Imp, Voidwalker, and Felhunter at level 10.
  • Bane now reduces the cast time of your Haunt spell.
  • Blood Pact now works raid-wide (not just in party). 
  • Cataclysm (Destruction) – Now also increases your chance to hit with Destruction spells by 1% per point. 
  • Chaos Bolt now does Fire damage instead of Chaos damage.
  • Conflagrate can now only be cast on targets afflicted by Shadowflame.
  • Consume Shadows (Voidwalker): Duration reduced to 6 seconds, and effect increased 66%. Now also greatly increases all nearby allies’ stealth detection while channeled.
  • Curse of Doom will now only summon a Doomguard if the target yields experience or honor.
  • Curse of Recklessness will no longer prevent Fear effects, only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health). 
  • Dark Pact: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects and now restores 200% mana leeched from your summoned Demon, up from 100%.
  • Demon Armor – Now increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%, but no longer has in-combat health regeneration. 
  • Demonic Circle now lasts for 6 mins.
  • Demonic Pact will no longer work on enslaved demons.
  • Demon Skin, Demon Armor and Fel Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled. 
  • Demonic Sacrifice: Succubus effect reduced to 10% increased shadow damage, down from 15%. Imp effect reduced to 10% increased fire damage, down from 15%. Felguard effect now increases Fire and Shadow damage, instead of just Shadow.
  • Doomguard: Health increased 20%, mana increased 24%.
  • Drain Soul will now cause four times the damage if the target is at or below 25% health.
  • Everlasting Affliction will no longer affect Shadow Bolt and affects Haunt instead.
  • Emberstorm now reduces the cast time of your incinerate by 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 seconds.
  • Fel Armor – Now increases your spell damage equal to 30% of your total Spirit, but no longer increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%. 
  • Felguard: Health increased by 10%.
  • Felhunter: Paranoia and Tainted Blood have been replaced with Fel Intelligence and Shadow Bite.
  • Fel Intelligence (Felhunter): Increases total Intellect and Spirit of party and raid members by 3%. Lasts until cancelled.
  • Fel Stamina (Demonology) has been merged with Fel Intellect into Fel Vitality. 
  • Haunt will now heal for 100%.
  • Howl of Terror now costs 15% of base mana. 
  • Infernal: Cooldown reduced to 15 minutes, down from 1 hour. Duration reduced to 1 minute, down from 5 minutes+. Health increased by 30%, damage increased by 60%, and armor increased by 30%.
  • Inferno now summons an Infernal which lasts for 1 minute.
  • Imp: Health increased by 20% , Armor increased 16%, mana regeneration increased 200%.
  • Improved Curse of Weakness (Affliction) is now “Frailty” – Increases the amount of attack power reduced by your Curse of Weakness spell by 10/20%, and increases the amount of armor reduced by your Curse of Recklessness by 10/20%. 
  • Improved Enslave Demon (Demonology) is now a Tier 5 talent, up from Tier 4. 
  • Improved Lash of Pain (Destruction) and Improved Firebolt (Destruction) have been merged into one talent, Demonic Power. 
  • Improved Shadow Bolt (Destruction) – Now increases damage by your next Shadow damage spells by 3/6/9/12/15%, down from 4/8/12/16/20%. 
  • Mana Feed: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects. 
  • Master Demonologist (Demonology) – Most effects have been altered. 
    • Master Demonologist – Felguard (Demonology) – Now increases all damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and reduces all damage done to you by 1/2/3/4/5%. 
    • Master Demonologist – Imp (Demonology) – Now increases Fire damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Fire spells by 1/2/3/4/5%. 
    • Master Demonologist – Succubus (Demonology) – Now increases Shadow damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Shadow spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • Nether Protection has been reworked. It now has a 10/20/30% chance when you’re hit with a spell to reduce all damage by that spell school by 60% for 10 seconds. 
  • New Talent: Demonic Empowerment (Demonology) – Grants your Summoned Demon power for a short time. 
  • New Talent: Eradication (Affliction) – Your Corruption, Siphon Life and Curse of Agony ticks have a 5/10/15% chance to increase your spell haste by 20% for 8 sec. This effect has a 10 second cooldown. 
  • New Talent: Improved Felhunter (Affliction): Your Felhunter gains mana equal to 50/100% of the damage done by its Shadow Bite ability, and increases the effect of your Felhunter’s Fel Intelligence by 1/2%.
  • New Talent: Molten Core (Destruction) – Your Shadow spells and damage over time effects have a 5/10/15% chance to increase the damage of your Fire spells by 10% for 6 sec. 
  • Pyroclasm (Destruction) – Now also includes Conflagrate. 
  • Rain of Fire (Doomguard): A bug has been fixed which caused each tick of Rain of Fire to consume its mana cost.
  • Ritual of Souls: Charges increased to 25, up from 10.
  • Shadow Bite (Felhunter): Deals Shadow damage plus an additional 5% Shadow damage over time effect on the target. 6 second cooldown.
  • Shadowfury (Destruction) – Can now be cast while moving. Stun duration increased to 3 seconds, up from 2. 
  • Soul Link (Demonology) is now an 11-point talent (used to be a 31-point talent), but the 5% bonus damage from this talent has been removed. In addition, the damage absorbed by Soul Link is now 15%, down from 20%. 
  • Soul Siphon (Affliction): Now also increases the damage of your Drain Soul.
  • Soulstone now generates a log entry indicating who casted and received a soulstone.
  • Spell Lock (Felhunter) global cooldown removed.
  • Succubus: Health increased by 20%, armor increased 22%.
  • Summon Dreadsteed/Felsteed: Mana cost removed, global cooldown removed.
  • Suppression (Affliction) is now a 3-point talent, down from 5. Now increases your chance to hit with Affliction spells by 1/2/3%, down from 1/2/3/4/5%. 
  • Unstable Affliction (Affliction): Silence effect reduced to 3 seconds, down from 5. 
  • Voidwalker: Health increased by 20%, Damage increased by 16%. The amount of attack power the Voidwalker gains from its master’s spell damage has been increased by 45%.

  Warrior

  • Armored to the Teeth now increases attack power by 3 for every 180 Armor value.
  • Anticipation (Protection) now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%, moved to tier 2. 
  • Battle Shout attack power has been slightly decreased.
  • Berserker Rage is now usable in all stances.
  • Blood Craze (Fury) now regenerates 2/4/6% of total health over 6 seconds.
  • Blood Frenzy (Arms) moved to Tier 9, now increases physical damage caused by 1/2%.
  • Bloodthirst (Fury) now restores health based on a % of total health.
  • Challenging Shout cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.
  • Concussion Blow (Protection) now causes damage based on attack power. 
  • Death Wish (Fury) no longer makes you immune to Fear effects. 
  • Death Wish and Sweeping Strikes have swapped locations in their respective talent trees. 
  • Deep Wounds (Arms) now requires Impale, causes 16/32/48% of weapon damage over 6 seconds.
  • Defensive Stance now increases threat by 45%. 
  • Defiance (Protection) removed, replaced by Incite and moved to a new location on tier 2.
  • Disarm rage cost reduced to 15. 
  • Enrage (Fury) now increases damage done by 3/6/9/12/15%, limitation on number of attacks removed.
  • Hamstring now only has one rank and no longer causes damage. 
  • Impale (Arms) moved to Tier 3, no longer requires Deep Wounds.
  • Improved Berserker Rage (Fury) now generates 10/20 rage. 
  • Improved Bloodrage (Protection) now increases rage generation of both the instant and over-time effects by 25/50%. 
  • Improved Charge (Arms) now generates 5/10 rage.
  • Improved Defensive Stance (Protection) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces spell damage taken by 3/6% and any block/parry/dodge has a 50/100% chance to enrage the warrior causing 5/10% more damage for 12 sec.
  • Improved Disarm (Protection) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces the cooldown of Disarm by 10/20 sec and increases damage taken by disarmed targets by 5/10%.
  • Improved Disciplines (Arms) removed.
  • Improved Mortal Strike (Arms) now increases damage by 2/4/6/8/10%, no longer reduces cooldown.
  • Improved Rend (Arms) reduced to 2 ranks for 25/50%.
  • Improved Revenge (Protection) now increases damage Revenge causes by 10/20% and gives a 25/50% chance to stun.
  • Improved Shield Bash (Protection) now also increases the damage of your Shield Slam ability by 5/10%.
  • Improved Shield Block (Protection) now has 2 ranks and reduces cooldown of Shield Block by 5/10 secs. It no longer increases the number of blocks. 
  • Improved Shield Wall will now increases the damage reduction by an additional 5/10% and reduces cooldown by 30/60 seconds.
  • Improved Slam (Fury) moved to Arms.
  • Improved Sunder Armor (Protection) renamed Puncture ,reduced to 2 ranks for 1/2 rage cost reduction.
  • Improved Taunt (Protection) removed, effect made baseline.
  • Improved Whirlwind (Fury) now increases damage of Whirlwind by 10/20%, no longer reduces cooldown.
  • Iron Will (Arms) now has only 3 ranks, reducing the duration of Stun and Charm effects by 10/20/30%. 
  • Last Stand (Protection) cooldown reduced to 5 minutes. 
  • Mace Specialization (Arms) now ignores 3/6/9/12/15% of target’s armor.
  • Mocking Blow now only has one rank and causes weapon damage, cooldown reduced to 1 min and can now be used in Defensive Stance. 
  • Overpower now only has one rank and no longer causes any bonus damage (i.e. weapon damage only). 
  • Poleaxe Specialization (Arms) now also increases critical damage done by Axes and Polearms by 1/2/3/4/5%. 
  • Precision (Fury) moved to Tier 5.
  • Pummel now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.
  • Rampage now causes all party and raid members within 20 yards of the Warrior to go on a rampage, increasing melee critical hit chance by 5% for 10 seconds when the warrior scores a melee critical.
  • Recklessness now increases the critical hit chance of the next 3 special ability attacks by 100%, lasts 12 seconds, cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
  • Retaliation duration reduced to 12 seconds, charges reduced to 12, cooldown reduced to 5 minutes. 
  • Revenge damage increased.
  • Shield Bash now only has one rank and will cause damage based on a % of AP. 
  • Shield Block now increases chance to block and amount blocked by 100% for 10 seconds. Cooldown increased to 60 seconds, rage cost reduced. 
  • Shield Slam is now available to all warriors, starting at level 40 and damage slightly increased. 
  • Shield Specialization (Protection) moved to Tier 1, now increases rage by 2 on a successful block.
  • Shield Wall now reduces all damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds, cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
  • Slam now suspends the weapon swing timer rather than resetting it.
  • Sword and Board now has a chance to proc from Revenge.
  • Sword Specialization (Arms) can no longer trigger more than once per 6 seconds.
  • Taunt cooldown reduced to 8 sec.
  • Thunder Clap damage increased, cooldown increased, will now affect all targets within a range..
  • Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3 now also reduces the duration of movement slowing effects by 10/20/30/40/50%. 
  • Vigilance now transfers 10% of target threat to the warrior.

  PvP

  • Many new items are available for purchase from the honor vendors.
  • Arenas
    • Two new Arenas have been added; the Ogrimmar Arena and the Dalaran Arena can now be accessed.
    • Buffs that have 30 seconds or less remaining will be removed once the game starts. However, the mage spell “Invisibility” is not affected by this change.

  Professions

  • New Profession: Inscription is available to train up to 375.
  • Enchantment
    • The Surefooted enchantment now provides additional critical strike rating instead of root and snare resistance.

  Dungeons and Raids

  • The Sunwell Plateau, Black Temple, and Serpentshrine Cavern Raid dungeons have all had their mobs and bosses adjusted and now have less health points.
  • Ahn’Qiraj
    • Mounting is now permitted in Ahn’Qiraj
    • The Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal is now a normal mount.

    User Interface

    • New Calendar feature: Players will be able to access the new Calendar feature by clicking on the new icon located in the top right corner of their mini map. The calendar will track in game events, allow raid scheduling, and more.
    • New Vanity Pet and Mount changes: Players will now be able to access their non-combat pets and mounts by clicking on the pets tab in the Character Info panel. These pets and mounts will be now learnable much like spells or abilities. Once a vanity pet or mount is learned, the icon will disappear from within a player’s inventory and reappear in the appropriate tab under the pet tab under Character Info. Say goodbye to your vanity pets and mounts taking up bag and bank slots!
      • Lost pets and mounts (one time quest rewards) can be recovered by visiting a stablemaster.
    • A new Agro Warning is now available and currently functioning in dungeons.
    • Focus Frame is now available. Players will be able to right click on any unit frame and select “Set Focus”. The focus frame will only display when the focus is set. Players may also set a “Focus Cast Key” in the options/combat panel that can be bound to shift, alt, or ctrl. When holding the focus cast key and triggering an action, the action will be performed on your focus and not on your target.
    • Lost tabards (one time quest rewards) may now be restored by visiting a tabard vendor.
    • Lost keys (one time quest rewards) may now be restored by visiting a blacksmith.
    • Error messages should play less frequently.
    • Tradeskills can now be linked by shift-clicking the tradeskill icon.
    • Quests can be shared with party members at any distance.
    • Quests can be shared with party members by linking the quest into party chat.
    • Quests can be shared in raids but not battlegrounds.
    • Randomized Daily quests may now be shared, but only on the same day as the quest is given.
    • A 5 minute timer will appear over the player’s unit frame showing the countdown until your PvP flag is cleared.
    • The /cower emote now has an animation.
    • Macros and key bindings are now saved server-side so there is no longer a need to reconfigure them when logging in using another computer.
    • Shift-clicking to loot mail: You can now hold Shift and click on mail in your inbox to automatically loot any items and gold without opening the mail. This default behavior can be changed via Auto Loot Mail in the Interface Options (Controls).
    • Combat Log Changes:
      • The combat log now differentiates between a spell failure due to resistance and spell failure due to missing the target. Where once both events reported as a resist; a spell missing the target is now reported as a miss.
      • Overhealing is now reported in the combat log.
      • When a source of damage is entirely prevented (by a shield block, a full resist, or a damage shield like Power Word:Shield, the prevented amount will now be displayed.
    • V-key color is now available. Classes will now be identified with the appropriate color while the V-key option is engaged.
    • For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

    Items

    • Druids and Shaman can now use items while shapeshifted.
    • The Abyss Shard has been changed to grant a passive 15 stamina bonus, but no longer removes the soul shard requirement from casting a voidwalker.
    • Devilsaur Eye now increases your pet’s attack power for a short duration instead of increasing its critical strike chance. It also provides a small amount of passive Agility.

Preview: Wrath of the Lich King Content Patch Plans October 10, 2008

Blizz blue posters Tigole and Kalgan sat down with the legitimate WoW press on Thursday evening and let slip some details about what to expect — but not when — from content patches for Wrath of the Lich King.

 

Patch 3.1 will include the 10/25 man raid of Ulduar, which is set in the Storm Peaks of northern Northrend. I wouldn’t look for this patch to go Live under well into 2009 since there will be plenty keeping folks busy in the Naxxramas / Obsidian Sanctum / Malygos progression. Unless you’re Nihilum or Death & Taxes, you’ll probably have your hands full. I would expect the final boss to of the Ulduar raid to be Loken, a sort of “fallen” Titan or servant of the Titans.

 

Patch 3.2 will include a new raid instance that is currently a mystery. A mystery, eh Blizzard? Well, what area doesn’t feature a raid and can be tied into the lore of Northrend? Remember Warcraft III, The Frozen Throne, when Arthas had to harrow the lowest depths of the Azjol-Nerub to get to Icecrown? During his journey he was beset the the hideous Faceless Ones, servants of a vile creature who was unseen. I believe this entity is Yogg-Saron, an Old God alluded to in quests in the Grizzly Hills and Storm Peaks, and that this monstrosity will be the final encounter of this unannounced raid instance.

 

Patch 3.3 will reportedly bring Icecrown Citadel and “resolve” the Ashbringer storyline. Frankly, I really, really want to have an Ashbringer in my inventory. I’m a Retribution Paladin, and nothing could be more fitting. As to when you might expect to look forward to this patch, my guess would be sometime in the first half of 2010, judging by Blizzard’s past history in delivering content patches.

 

Also coming soon to a content patch near you: the dance studio, a feature announced at BlizzCon last year but presently missing from the beta. Blizzard’s goal with the dance studio is not just to add new dances, but rather to allow players to piece dance moves together to create their own unique dances. That sounds like a lot of work — don’t hold your breath for a release in 2008.

 

You know how I feel about Blizzard charging us 950g to learn how to fly all over again. Well, Blizzard claims they’ll have a way wherein players who don’t train (or re-train, if you will) flying at 77 when it’s available will be able to borrow a “temporary” mount to get from point A to point B. No idea how this works yet, since it’s not in Beta to my knowledge, but I guess it’ll be seen at Blizzcon this weekend.

Welcome Araan!

Frequent Weinercaster Araan joins us today as a Contributing Writer. Welcome and write on!