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Hey guys and gals! For the vets out there, you may remember me as the resident creative corner poster. For those who aren't familiar with me, go ahead and check out my stories in the Machinima, Creative Writing and Lore board. Now I'm a content writer for the site! As a rule of thumb you can all expect tanking articles from me and some machinima and creative writing spotlights. This time around, I will give a quick perspective on the differences (or similarities) between the tanking classes.
Generally speaking, my tank articles will be pointed towards 10-mans, because that is what I am doing mostly now, but the principles can be applied to 25-man version.
The Tank
As most raiders know, being the tank is one of the three most stressful jobs in raiding. It requires preparation, patience and above all, teamwork. Having three amazing tanks doesn't do you much good if they don't talk at all and don't coordinate their movements. What is least understood about tanks by the general raid community is the strengths and weaknesses of having two or three class combinations for your tanks.
For this article, think of the Death Knight and Paladin as the "Spell Tank", considering the fact that a major portion of their threat is dealt by spell damage. Warriors and Druids fall into the "Physical Tank" category.
Generally speaking, in a raid setting, your tank setup does not matter (like Auriaya, Thorim, Twin Valkyr, and Gunship Battle). However, for certain fights, using a certain tank class (for fights such as General Vezax, Lord Jaraxxus, and Lady Deathwhisper (10)) can cause wipes for what seems to be no reason at all. In truth, these wipes are generally caused by Tank Synergy issues.
Synergy
"Professor? What is Tank Synergy?!"
Good question. As the name implies, Tank synergy is how, on the base level, certain tank classes work together, or are affected by boss mechanics. Tank synergy factors in the Tanks in question's gear, talent choice, proficiency in tanking using that class, and obviously, the class' abilities. Sometimes on certain boss encounters, using a certain combination can be fatal. In 10-mans, using a warrior+paladin setup or a druid+DK setup would be the ideal. (See chart below) But the ideal does not always happen. Sometimes you are stuck with Warrior+DK, DK+DK, Druid+Druid, etc. Each class has their strengths and weaknesses, displayed in the chart below.
For those unaware, there is a difference between a fixate and a taunt. I purposefully made the distinction. A fixate is any "taunt" that contains the words "forces the target to attack you" in it's tooltip. This means that you need to build threat on it manually.
As you can see, each tank has at least one line of symmetry or is the polar opposite of another. Learning what each player who plays a tank can do is nearly as important as learning what their class can do. More often than not, each class can transcend their base, for lack of a better term, designation with the abilities and practice of the player.
That concludes the first issue of Tank Talk with Zuelu. Next time around, I will talk about the stat changes in Cataclysm and how they affect tanks!
Generally speaking, my tank articles will be pointed towards 10-mans, because that is what I am doing mostly now, but the principles can be applied to 25-man version.
The Tank
As most raiders know, being the tank is one of the three most stressful jobs in raiding. It requires preparation, patience and above all, teamwork. Having three amazing tanks doesn't do you much good if they don't talk at all and don't coordinate their movements. What is least understood about tanks by the general raid community is the strengths and weaknesses of having two or three class combinations for your tanks.
For this article, think of the Death Knight and Paladin as the "Spell Tank", considering the fact that a major portion of their threat is dealt by spell damage. Warriors and Druids fall into the "Physical Tank" category.
Generally speaking, in a raid setting, your tank setup does not matter (like Auriaya, Thorim, Twin Valkyr, and Gunship Battle). However, for certain fights, using a certain tank class (for fights such as General Vezax, Lord Jaraxxus, and Lady Deathwhisper (10)) can cause wipes for what seems to be no reason at all. In truth, these wipes are generally caused by Tank Synergy issues.
Synergy
"Professor? What is Tank Synergy?!"
Good question. As the name implies, Tank synergy is how, on the base level, certain tank classes work together, or are affected by boss mechanics. Tank synergy factors in the Tanks in question's gear, talent choice, proficiency in tanking using that class, and obviously, the class' abilities. Sometimes on certain boss encounters, using a certain combination can be fatal. In 10-mans, using a warrior+paladin setup or a druid+DK setup would be the ideal. (See chart below) But the ideal does not always happen. Sometimes you are stuck with Warrior+DK, DK+DK, Druid+Druid, etc. Each class has their strengths and weaknesses, displayed in the chart below.
Strengths |
Weaknesses |
|
|---|---|---|
| Death Knight |
able to tank with any talent tree (ideally)
many well meshed, powerful survival cooldowns abnormally strong against casters able to switch to dps quickly and easily good AoE threat many ways to heal self large visible health pool |
unique and clunky resource system tagged by community as weak tanks raid buff severely time limited, but quickly refreshable unable to block two single target taunts (AoD takes a bit of time to cast, and is not considered)
|
| Druid |
abnormally large visible health pool able to switch to other forms (utility) able to heal self and others(although sparingly) powerful raid buff curse removal (while not being hit) battle resurrection capability (while not being hit) Fear Removal Tool |
race limited (now and Cataclysm) fewer survivablity cooldowns unable to block or parry(Savage Defense is considered a "block") weak(er) against casters one single target taunt and one long cooldown AoE fixate |
| Paladin |
diverse raid buffs
short CD multi-target and single target taunts able to heal self multiple survival cooldowns debuff removal solid AoE Threat |
some survival cooldowns are not chain-able
weak against large groups of casters low(er) visible health pool race restricted on Horde (PRE-CATACLYSM) |
| Warrior |
benefits significantly from block value vs pallys large visible health pool many utility abilities
powerful and chain-able survival cooldowns race-selection non-issue fear removal from self strong against casters |
controlling resources requires discipline
weak(er) AoE Threat buffs are severely time limited long cooldown heal self ability one fixate, one single target taunt and long cooldown AoE fixate |
For those unaware, there is a difference between a fixate and a taunt. I purposefully made the distinction. A fixate is any "taunt" that contains the words "forces the target to attack you" in it's tooltip. This means that you need to build threat on it manually.
As you can see, each tank has at least one line of symmetry or is the polar opposite of another. Learning what each player who plays a tank can do is nearly as important as learning what their class can do. More often than not, each class can transcend their base, for lack of a better term, designation with the abilities and practice of the player.
That concludes the first issue of Tank Talk with Zuelu. Next time around, I will talk about the stat changes in Cataclysm and how they affect tanks!
The PTR notes have been updated again today. There were no new models or textures and the size of the build was for music that will be used in Ruby Sanctum and the Echo Isles event.
Quote
Classes
Glyphs
- Hunter
- Pet Talents
- Heart of the Phoenix: Cooldown reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
- Warrior
- Thunderclap: This ability now counts as a ranged attack, granting it double damage on critical strikes instead of 150% and ranged miss chance, and still cannot be dodged or parried.
- Talents
- Arms
- Bladestorm: Warriors can now be Disarmed while under the effects of this ability.
Glyphs
- Druid
- Glyph of Focus: Now increases the damage done by Starfall by 10%, down from 20%.
"We started using discipline priests in Ulduar. The discipline fight was Freya hard mode where Power Word: Shield would provide an effective health increase versus Ground Tremor. Before that, I can't even remember a discipline priest in a raid that wasn't someone who was too lazy to change from their PvP spec," says Nokaru, guild master of the US guild Deus Vox.
Discipline used to be the PvP spec for priests, a spec with no real place in PvE. That has changed. Somewhere in between tough Ulduar encounters, a Circle of Healing cooldown and the Soul Warding talent, discipline priests have become a staple of 25-man end game raiding, even threatening the holy hegemony.
Insane coefficient
Deus Vox has one full-time discipline priest, and one priest that alternates between disc and holy depending on the fight. So does the US guild Premonition. "We have two players who can swing holy or disc, and basically use both in almost every encounter. I think Vezax is when we started using discipline priests. Now, the hardest encounter in the game requires them," says Xav, officer and warrior in the guild.
The strength and niche of the discipline priest is their damage prevention. Power Word: Shield is spammable and scales extremely well. By shielding the raid, discipline priests increase the effective health of each player. A well-geared disc priest is able to pump out shields that absorb 9000 damage or more. Needless to say, this is particularly strong in fights with heavy, predictable burst damage.
"Power Word: Shield has an insane coefficient," says Lawliepop of the US guild Blood Legion. Playing a holy priest with a shadow offspec, the guild officer has two additional priests in her ranks, one full time discipline and one holy/discipline. About a month ago, they tested the Power Word: Shield coefficient. Their result was that the effective coefficient was 1,512803004. For those not into theorycrafting, this means that for every point of spellpower a discipline priest has, Power Word: Shield will gain 1,51 damage absorption.
WoW's best kept secret
Blood Legion has been using discipline priests for quite some time. While doing Sartharion with three drakes up, they had a discipline priest as tank healer. At the beginning of Ulduar, they got a full time disc priest. "I think having only one holy paladin sparked it. Honestly, I kind of had a something of a negative view on them. My previous experience with disc was mostly in the Wrath of the Lich King Beta at very low gear levels," Lawliepop explains.
Even as a holy priest, she recognises discipline as a very strong spec. "The priests in Blood Legion like to constantly joke about how disc is WoW's best kept secret, and we are scared that they are going to be nerfed. What they do is to stabilise the raid in a way no other class can. In 95 percent of the fights, you want at least one dedicated disc."
Because of the strength of discipline priests, it is fairly common for main spec holy priests to have a discipline offspec. Ensidia priest Poptisse used to play holy more or less exclusively. That has changed. She now has a discipline dual spec that she has to use quite frequently. "You are a fool if you don't use a disc priest. In fights where we only use one priest, it is a disc one rather than a holy. The burst damage in Icecrown Citadel can be so insane that people having 9000 more hit points is more important than getting a 4000 heal from Circle of Healing. It sucks, because holy is by far the most fun spec to play. But a disc priest brings something no one else can, and I think that is why they are the 'Flavour of the Instance'," she says.
Ensidia currently has two priests that can play both disc and holy. They started using discipline in Ulduar on encounters like Freya, but with Icecrown Citadel, it became a staple in their raids. "I like their utility, but whenever we use a disc priest it is for the sole purpose of spamming shields or getting the crit buff on tanks. It gets really boring to play. I only need one keybind and it makes me want to fall asleep rather than keep me awake. I hated having to play it, and I still do!" she reveals.
Required for Lich King
Right now, a lot of top guilds are working towards the last fight in the game that hasn't been done yet: The 25-man Lich King hard mode. Interestingly enough, this fight apparently requires multiple discipline priests in the raid. With Infest hitting for around 15 000 damage, shields seem to be the way most guilds choose to handle it. "I don't like the fact that this completely negates the 'Bring the player, not the class.' No one can do LK 25 hard mode without shields," Poptisse says.
With the strength of discipline discovered by more and more players, holy priests seem to be less desirable in raids. Until now, it is holy that has been nerfed, first with the cooldown added to Circle of Healing, then the effectiveness of Prayer of Healing took a hit. The question is if discipline will suffer the same fate. Poptisse doesn't think so.
"I don't think disc needs a nerf, I think holy needs a little boost - something that is not Lightwell or a 3 minute Guardian Spirit that never procs anyway. We need some kind of powerful tool to boost burst HPS a bit more, or maybe they could remove the cooldown on Circle of Healing! But really, Prayer of Healing is way too annoying. Circle of Healing has a cooldown. Renew can't even compare to Rejuvenation, and haste stacking shamans are laughing at holy priests at the moment. Even paladins do."
Discipline used to be the PvP spec for priests, a spec with no real place in PvE. That has changed. Somewhere in between tough Ulduar encounters, a Circle of Healing cooldown and the Soul Warding talent, discipline priests have become a staple of 25-man end game raiding, even threatening the holy hegemony.
Insane coefficient
Deus Vox has one full-time discipline priest, and one priest that alternates between disc and holy depending on the fight. So does the US guild Premonition. "We have two players who can swing holy or disc, and basically use both in almost every encounter. I think Vezax is when we started using discipline priests. Now, the hardest encounter in the game requires them," says Xav, officer and warrior in the guild.
The strength and niche of the discipline priest is their damage prevention. Power Word: Shield is spammable and scales extremely well. By shielding the raid, discipline priests increase the effective health of each player. A well-geared disc priest is able to pump out shields that absorb 9000 damage or more. Needless to say, this is particularly strong in fights with heavy, predictable burst damage.
"Power Word: Shield has an insane coefficient," says Lawliepop of the US guild Blood Legion. Playing a holy priest with a shadow offspec, the guild officer has two additional priests in her ranks, one full time discipline and one holy/discipline. About a month ago, they tested the Power Word: Shield coefficient. Their result was that the effective coefficient was 1,512803004. For those not into theorycrafting, this means that for every point of spellpower a discipline priest has, Power Word: Shield will gain 1,51 damage absorption.
WoW's best kept secret
Blood Legion has been using discipline priests for quite some time. While doing Sartharion with three drakes up, they had a discipline priest as tank healer. At the beginning of Ulduar, they got a full time disc priest. "I think having only one holy paladin sparked it. Honestly, I kind of had a something of a negative view on them. My previous experience with disc was mostly in the Wrath of the Lich King Beta at very low gear levels," Lawliepop explains.
Even as a holy priest, she recognises discipline as a very strong spec. "The priests in Blood Legion like to constantly joke about how disc is WoW's best kept secret, and we are scared that they are going to be nerfed. What they do is to stabilise the raid in a way no other class can. In 95 percent of the fights, you want at least one dedicated disc."
Because of the strength of discipline priests, it is fairly common for main spec holy priests to have a discipline offspec. Ensidia priest Poptisse used to play holy more or less exclusively. That has changed. She now has a discipline dual spec that she has to use quite frequently. "You are a fool if you don't use a disc priest. In fights where we only use one priest, it is a disc one rather than a holy. The burst damage in Icecrown Citadel can be so insane that people having 9000 more hit points is more important than getting a 4000 heal from Circle of Healing. It sucks, because holy is by far the most fun spec to play. But a disc priest brings something no one else can, and I think that is why they are the 'Flavour of the Instance'," she says.
Ensidia currently has two priests that can play both disc and holy. They started using discipline in Ulduar on encounters like Freya, but with Icecrown Citadel, it became a staple in their raids. "I like their utility, but whenever we use a disc priest it is for the sole purpose of spamming shields or getting the crit buff on tanks. It gets really boring to play. I only need one keybind and it makes me want to fall asleep rather than keep me awake. I hated having to play it, and I still do!" she reveals.
Required for Lich King
Right now, a lot of top guilds are working towards the last fight in the game that hasn't been done yet: The 25-man Lich King hard mode. Interestingly enough, this fight apparently requires multiple discipline priests in the raid. With Infest hitting for around 15 000 damage, shields seem to be the way most guilds choose to handle it. "I don't like the fact that this completely negates the 'Bring the player, not the class.' No one can do LK 25 hard mode without shields," Poptisse says.
With the strength of discipline discovered by more and more players, holy priests seem to be less desirable in raids. Until now, it is holy that has been nerfed, first with the cooldown added to Circle of Healing, then the effectiveness of Prayer of Healing took a hit. The question is if discipline will suffer the same fate. Poptisse doesn't think so.
"I don't think disc needs a nerf, I think holy needs a little boost - something that is not Lightwell or a 3 minute Guardian Spirit that never procs anyway. We need some kind of powerful tool to boost burst HPS a bit more, or maybe they could remove the cooldown on Circle of Healing! But really, Prayer of Healing is way too annoying. Circle of Healing has a cooldown. Renew can't even compare to Rejuvenation, and haste stacking shamans are laughing at holy priests at the moment. Even paladins do."
Anniversary Captions, Argent Tournament Failure, StarCraft II Protoss
03-10-10 12:03 |
Kody 
View Thread (5 Comments)
I wanted to put together something to highlight cool things from around the community today before heading off to GDC. Expect more great stuff from the content team today, and don't forget to check out Leviathonlx's coverage of the mastery system, which was the first full coverage of Eyonix and Ghostcrawler responding to community questions.
Anniversary Captions
Cameron kicked this thread off with his caption, and it quickly turned into a masterpiece with Chimina's excellent Wowroll. A creative combination of the WoW Anniversary wallpaper and the YouTube classic, the Rickroll!
Think you can come up with a great caption for the anniversary wallpaper? Upload it to the image gallery and then post it here!
Argent Tournament Failure
Ahh, the WoW forums. You never know what you're going to get when you visit them, but this sure turned out to be a gem! I took notice of it when it appeared on the blue tracker, and it's definitely worth a read. Check it out in full here.
Starcraft II -- Wings of Liberty Protoss Units
A great video from Lore at TankSpot highlighting the Protoss units in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. If you're in the beta and looking to play with others from WoR, stop by the StarCraft II thread!
And in closing, I wanted to congratulate katuka for reaching prestige rank 10 in Modern Warfare 2. While it's not something that takes a lot of skill, it's one hell of a grind when done legitimately, so congrats!
Anniversary Captions
Cameron kicked this thread off with his caption, and it quickly turned into a masterpiece with Chimina's excellent Wowroll. A creative combination of the WoW Anniversary wallpaper and the YouTube classic, the Rickroll!
Think you can come up with a great caption for the anniversary wallpaper? Upload it to the image gallery and then post it here!
Argent Tournament Failure
Ahh, the WoW forums. You never know what you're going to get when you visit them, but this sure turned out to be a gem! I took notice of it when it appeared on the blue tracker, and it's definitely worth a read. Check it out in full here.
Quote
ARGENT TOURNAMENT - A GRAND, COLOSSAL FAILURE
ICE CROWN - A shocking report from a whistleblower within the Argent Crusade has revealed disturbing facts about the much-vaunted "Argent Tournament" and its major attraction the "Trial of the Crusader".
AN INTENTIONAL DEATH TRAP
"The place is a death-trap..." Our source (who wishes to remain anonymous) reports, "...And Tirion Fordring knows it."
Since the inception of the Argent Tournament, thousands of would-be heroes striving to fight against the Lich King have crossed beneath its banners, hoping to gain glory, prestige, and many of the powerful artifacts retained by the Argent Crusade and given as rewards to those who successfully overcome the Tournament's many challenges, including the much-renowned 'Trial of the Crusader' and 'Trial of the Grand Crusader'.
The designers of the Tournament and its Trials - including Tirion Fordring and his Argent Crusade - crafted the Tournament with the intent of producing the best of the best. By equipping the best heroes of Azeroth with the best tools, the Tournament was expected to create the best army capable of fighting against the forces of the Lich King.
However, according to this whistleblower, the entire endeavor may be for naught, as numerous problems with the concept and implementation of the tournament have arisen. Our source cites real, practical dangers in the policies enforced on the Argent Tournament grounds.
RATIONAL SECURITY DISASTER AREA
"Security is so bad that the Lich King himself could likely walk into the place, alone, unopposed, and break the entire facility - by himself!" Our source declares. "Furthermore, there have been documented instances where rogue demon-summoning, scourge incursions, and out-of-control beasts have caused serious injury and death to both Crusade and non-Crusade members." In many cases, the tournament staff is incapable of containing these breaches. "Most of the time, it is up to the participants themselves to accommodate for the Tournament keepers' gross negligence."
The dangers do not end there. Our source reports "Applicants to the Tournament are just as likely to be eaten, crushed, impaled, or slain by the Argent Crusade's own devices as they are to be eaten, crushed, impaled, or slain by the Scourge." Victims of the Tournament are reported to rival those of the actual Scourge. "We're losing good people, and they're dying by our own doing."
ICE CROWN - A shocking report from a whistleblower within the Argent Crusade has revealed disturbing facts about the much-vaunted "Argent Tournament" and its major attraction the "Trial of the Crusader".
AN INTENTIONAL DEATH TRAP
"The place is a death-trap..." Our source (who wishes to remain anonymous) reports, "...And Tirion Fordring knows it."
Since the inception of the Argent Tournament, thousands of would-be heroes striving to fight against the Lich King have crossed beneath its banners, hoping to gain glory, prestige, and many of the powerful artifacts retained by the Argent Crusade and given as rewards to those who successfully overcome the Tournament's many challenges, including the much-renowned 'Trial of the Crusader' and 'Trial of the Grand Crusader'.
The designers of the Tournament and its Trials - including Tirion Fordring and his Argent Crusade - crafted the Tournament with the intent of producing the best of the best. By equipping the best heroes of Azeroth with the best tools, the Tournament was expected to create the best army capable of fighting against the forces of the Lich King.
However, according to this whistleblower, the entire endeavor may be for naught, as numerous problems with the concept and implementation of the tournament have arisen. Our source cites real, practical dangers in the policies enforced on the Argent Tournament grounds.
RATIONAL SECURITY DISASTER AREA
"Security is so bad that the Lich King himself could likely walk into the place, alone, unopposed, and break the entire facility - by himself!" Our source declares. "Furthermore, there have been documented instances where rogue demon-summoning, scourge incursions, and out-of-control beasts have caused serious injury and death to both Crusade and non-Crusade members." In many cases, the tournament staff is incapable of containing these breaches. "Most of the time, it is up to the participants themselves to accommodate for the Tournament keepers' gross negligence."
The dangers do not end there. Our source reports "Applicants to the Tournament are just as likely to be eaten, crushed, impaled, or slain by the Argent Crusade's own devices as they are to be eaten, crushed, impaled, or slain by the Scourge." Victims of the Tournament are reported to rival those of the actual Scourge. "We're losing good people, and they're dying by our own doing."
Starcraft II -- Wings of Liberty Protoss Units
A great video from Lore at TankSpot highlighting the Protoss units in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. If you're in the beta and looking to play with others from WoR, stop by the StarCraft II thread!
And in closing, I wanted to congratulate katuka for reaching prestige rank 10 in Modern Warfare 2. While it's not something that takes a lot of skill, it's one hell of a grind when done legitimately, so congrats!
More on Mastery System, Blue Posts, The Raid - Lady Raiders
03-09-10 16:18 |
Leviathonlx
View Thread (10 Comments)
3.3.3 Background Downloader
The background downloader for 3.3.3 has started which means the release of 3.3.3 is getting close.
Mastery System
Ghostcrawler and Eyonix clarified a few points on the mastery system after it was posted last night. His posts are below.
Blue Posts
There were a few interesting Blue posts today also.
The Raid - Lady Raiders
Thanks to Jer for the tip on this latest interview short from the folks at The Raid.
The background downloader for 3.3.3 has started which means the release of 3.3.3 is getting close.
Mastery System
Ghostcrawler and Eyonix clarified a few points on the mastery system after it was posted last night. His posts are below.
Quote
How the points will work (Source)
It's possible you will only get the benefit of the tree in which you've spent the most points, or will only get the benefit from say 50 points maximum with the bonus chosen from the tree with the most points in it. We'll have to see when the talent trees are more finalized and we start to figure out build strategies.
Overall, the goal is to spend points as you want, and not feel penalized for spending into another tree or feel like you have to game things by spending more points than you want in your tree. Remember these passive bonuses are designed to give you flexibility, not lock you into anything.
Reasoning against Hybridization (Source)
Imagine you spend 55 points in Retribution, so you get the maximum passive talent tree bonuses from that tree. Your remaining points you can spend where you want, in Retribution, Protection or Holy. It does discourage some kind of true hybrid build where you go partway down multiple trees, but we aren't really trying to support those, and they aren't very popular today.
The flexibility comes (hopefully) in having more discretionary points that you can spend on talents you like, rather than sacrificing raw damage, healing or tanking to do so.
When Mastery will show up (Source)
It's designed partially with new players in mind. It will be much harder to have a truly terrible talent spec because you won't be able to help but be reasonably good at your chosen role.
The mastery stat itself won't show up until high level, and even when it does, you should have more confidence that it's a stat you want instead of say trying to figure out the percent of your damage that is physical damage to calculate if armor pen is good for you or not.
I admit that adding passive bonuses at all to talent trees complicates the talent feature slightly. We hope to make up for that by there being less paranoia about picking "the wrong" spec. The wrong spec might only be a slight loss instead of a tragic loss. As a point of comparison, dual-spec complicates talents a little, but overall we think it was good for the game.
Mastery stat won't be on level 80 gear (Source)
Sorry we didn't make this more clear -- what this means is -- all level 80 gear of this expansion will not not include the mastery stat on gear. However, once you enter the new end-game zones, you will slowly find this stat on select gear.
Does mastery on gear affect both highest trees or give no benefit at all? (Source)
Mastery on gear gives you one bonus. That bonus is the third passive (the unique one) in the tree in which you’ve spent the most points. In the examples we gave, those are Absorption, Radiance and Runic Power generation.
How will Feral Druids and DK tanks work (Source)
Ferals will have passive bonuses that say Cat: melee damage done, Bear: damage reduction. For death knights we have a different plan in mind that we’re not quite ready to discuss. DKs are undergoing some slight changes so they aren’t so GCD constrained and are less limited by rune cooldowns.
How are the non-pure classes going to be balanced against those with a full 76 point passive benefit? (Source)
Assume you only get the passive bonuses for the tree in which you’ve spent the most points, and there is a ceiling per tree (which could be something like 51-55 talent points). If you spend more points than that in a tree you still get the benefits of the talent. If you spend points in another tree, you are benefiting from those talents instead. Unless you try to make say a 40 / 36 / 0 build, you shouldn’t be losing passive bonuses.
If you turn level 10 and spend 1 point in Discipline, you are now a Disc priest. You receive the Disc talent tree passive bonuses and mastery rating on gear benefits your Disc passive bonus (Absorption). If you reach level 85 and have 70 points in Disc and 6 in Holy, you are still a Disc priest and the same rules apply. If you change your build to 51 Disc / 20 Holy / 5 Shadow, you are still a Disc priest.
Hybrids non spec spells will be weak. (Source)
They are weak now and the intent is to keep them that way. We aren’t trying to nerf them any more than they are today. If we want to make sure Resto shaman can do big Lava Bursts, we’ll give them a talent or something to make that happen. We don’t want Resto shaman to Lava Burst anywhere on the scale of an Elemental shaman. Again, how they perform today is pretty much the target for where we want to end up.
DK Rune Mechanics (Source)
I know it's hard to get a feel for the design when you can't see the complete picture, but talent trees are changing for Cataclysm. As Eyonix referenced above, we are changing the DK rune mechanic a little so that you aren't so GCD constrained. This in turn will give us a chance to rebalance how much runic power Frost gets. Remember that in many cases we are pulling talents out of the trees and giving them to you as passive bonuses. In general if you see a passive talent tree bonus and think to yourself "Hmm, that doesn't sound very good for me," then it's probably because we haven't revealed the changes that lead to that being attractive to you.
By all means mention concerns though. That's one of the reasons we like to announce changes like this early.
No mastery points for sub-spec (Source)
It's hard to set stuff like this in stone until we explore what kinds of builds will be popular, but assume that you don't get anything for the sub spec (except for the actual talents, which are presumably still valuable or you wouldn't be sub-speccing).
It's possible you will only get the benefit of the tree in which you've spent the most points, or will only get the benefit from say 50 points maximum with the bonus chosen from the tree with the most points in it. We'll have to see when the talent trees are more finalized and we start to figure out build strategies.
Overall, the goal is to spend points as you want, and not feel penalized for spending into another tree or feel like you have to game things by spending more points than you want in your tree. Remember these passive bonuses are designed to give you flexibility, not lock you into anything.
Reasoning against Hybridization (Source)
Imagine you spend 55 points in Retribution, so you get the maximum passive talent tree bonuses from that tree. Your remaining points you can spend where you want, in Retribution, Protection or Holy. It does discourage some kind of true hybrid build where you go partway down multiple trees, but we aren't really trying to support those, and they aren't very popular today.
The flexibility comes (hopefully) in having more discretionary points that you can spend on talents you like, rather than sacrificing raw damage, healing or tanking to do so.
When Mastery will show up (Source)
It's designed partially with new players in mind. It will be much harder to have a truly terrible talent spec because you won't be able to help but be reasonably good at your chosen role.
The mastery stat itself won't show up until high level, and even when it does, you should have more confidence that it's a stat you want instead of say trying to figure out the percent of your damage that is physical damage to calculate if armor pen is good for you or not.
I admit that adding passive bonuses at all to talent trees complicates the talent feature slightly. We hope to make up for that by there being less paranoia about picking "the wrong" spec. The wrong spec might only be a slight loss instead of a tragic loss. As a point of comparison, dual-spec complicates talents a little, but overall we think it was good for the game.
Mastery stat won't be on level 80 gear (Source)
Sorry we didn't make this more clear -- what this means is -- all level 80 gear of this expansion will not not include the mastery stat on gear. However, once you enter the new end-game zones, you will slowly find this stat on select gear.
Does mastery on gear affect both highest trees or give no benefit at all? (Source)
Mastery on gear gives you one bonus. That bonus is the third passive (the unique one) in the tree in which you’ve spent the most points. In the examples we gave, those are Absorption, Radiance and Runic Power generation.
How will Feral Druids and DK tanks work (Source)
Ferals will have passive bonuses that say Cat: melee damage done, Bear: damage reduction. For death knights we have a different plan in mind that we’re not quite ready to discuss. DKs are undergoing some slight changes so they aren’t so GCD constrained and are less limited by rune cooldowns.
How are the non-pure classes going to be balanced against those with a full 76 point passive benefit? (Source)
Assume you only get the passive bonuses for the tree in which you’ve spent the most points, and there is a ceiling per tree (which could be something like 51-55 talent points). If you spend more points than that in a tree you still get the benefits of the talent. If you spend points in another tree, you are benefiting from those talents instead. Unless you try to make say a 40 / 36 / 0 build, you shouldn’t be losing passive bonuses.
If you turn level 10 and spend 1 point in Discipline, you are now a Disc priest. You receive the Disc talent tree passive bonuses and mastery rating on gear benefits your Disc passive bonus (Absorption). If you reach level 85 and have 70 points in Disc and 6 in Holy, you are still a Disc priest and the same rules apply. If you change your build to 51 Disc / 20 Holy / 5 Shadow, you are still a Disc priest.
Hybrids non spec spells will be weak. (Source)
They are weak now and the intent is to keep them that way. We aren’t trying to nerf them any more than they are today. If we want to make sure Resto shaman can do big Lava Bursts, we’ll give them a talent or something to make that happen. We don’t want Resto shaman to Lava Burst anywhere on the scale of an Elemental shaman. Again, how they perform today is pretty much the target for where we want to end up.
DK Rune Mechanics (Source)
I know it's hard to get a feel for the design when you can't see the complete picture, but talent trees are changing for Cataclysm. As Eyonix referenced above, we are changing the DK rune mechanic a little so that you aren't so GCD constrained. This in turn will give us a chance to rebalance how much runic power Frost gets. Remember that in many cases we are pulling talents out of the trees and giving them to you as passive bonuses. In general if you see a passive talent tree bonus and think to yourself "Hmm, that doesn't sound very good for me," then it's probably because we haven't revealed the changes that lead to that being attractive to you.
By all means mention concerns though. That's one of the reasons we like to announce changes like this early.
No mastery points for sub-spec (Source)
It's hard to set stuff like this in stone until we explore what kinds of builds will be popular, but assume that you don't get anything for the sub spec (except for the actual talents, which are presumably still valuable or you wouldn't be sub-speccing).
Blue Posts
There were a few interesting Blue posts today also.
Quote
Warrior
Difference between Shockwave and Thunder Clap (Source)
Shockwave is technically a ranged attack, like a hunter shot. This means it's treated like an attack (and not a spell) for purposes of what you want but can't be dodged or parried. (I believe ranged attacks can be blocked, but I can't honestly remember off the top of my head.) The Shockwave treatment might be the right way to go for Thunder Clap. Thunder Clap is currently a spell that hits for physical damage and can't be dispelled. The distinction among spell, melee and ranged attack (or persistent auras like Consecrate) is a largely technical one that doesn't always encompass unusual abilities well.
Thunder Clap changing to a ranged spell (Source)
I think we're likely to make Thunder Clap a ranged attack (like Shockwave) for 3.3.3. This will let it get 200% crits among other things.
Standard no promises, in case there ends up being a problem with that implementation
Difference between Shockwave and Thunder Clap (Source)
Shockwave is technically a ranged attack, like a hunter shot. This means it's treated like an attack (and not a spell) for purposes of what you want but can't be dodged or parried. (I believe ranged attacks can be blocked, but I can't honestly remember off the top of my head.) The Shockwave treatment might be the right way to go for Thunder Clap. Thunder Clap is currently a spell that hits for physical damage and can't be dispelled. The distinction among spell, melee and ranged attack (or persistent auras like Consecrate) is a largely technical one that doesn't always encompass unusual abilities well.
Thunder Clap changing to a ranged spell (Source)
I think we're likely to make Thunder Clap a ranged attack (like Shockwave) for 3.3.3. This will let it get 200% crits among other things.
Standard no promises, in case there ends up being a problem with that implementation
The Raid - Lady Raiders
Thanks to Jer for the tip on this latest interview short from the folks at The Raid.
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