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Yet more BC talent updates
They just don't stop, do they? Today's changes make me wonder why I ever stopped playing my warlock (they keep getting better and better!) and also provide a number of interesting rogue changes. I've included the main part of the changes below, but edited out some minor details about updated graphics and the like, so check Nethaera's post if you want every last bit of possible information.Warlock Improved Firestone - Renamed "Master Conjuror". Now "Increases the bonus Fire damage from Firestones and the Firestone effect by 15/30% and increases the spell critical strike rating bonus of your Spellstone by 15/30%." Improved Spellstone - Removed, replaced with "Demonic Knowledge". (NEW) Demonic Knowledge - 3 ranks. "Increases your spell damage by an amount equal to 5/10/15% of the total of your active demon's Stamina plus Intellect." Demonic Resilience - Now "Reduces the chance you'll be critically hit by melee and spells by 1/2/3% and reduces all damage your summoned demon takes by 5/10/15%." Fel Intellect - Now "Increases the Intellect of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Felhunter and Felguard by 5/10/15% and increases your maximum mana by 1/2/3%." Fel Stamina - Now "Increases the Stamina of your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Felhunter and Felguard by 5/10/15% and increases your maximum health by 1/2/3%." Demonic Sacrifice - Added effect for Felguard: "Felguard: Increases your Shadow damage by 10% and restores 2% of total mana every 4 sec." Master Demonologist - Added effect for Felguard: "Felguard - Increases all damage caused by 5% and all resistances by .1/.2/.3/.4/.5 per level." Rogue Disembowel - Removed. (NEW) Envenom - Replaces Disembowel. Two ranks and is available at level 62. "Finishing move that consumes your Deadly Poison doses on the target and deals instant poison damage. One dose is consumed for each combo point." Vitality - Now "Increases your total Stamina by 2/4% and your total Agility by 1/2%." Surprise Attacks - Changed to 8% from 5%. Cheat Death - Now 3 ranks for 10/20/30% chance. Sinister Calling - Now "Increases your total Agility by 3/6/9/12/15%." Cloak of Shadows - Now "Instantly removes all existing harmful spell effects and increases your chance to resist all spells by 90% for 5 sec." Warrior Endless Rage - Description changed: "You generate 25% more rage from damage dealt." Blood Frenzy - Description changed: "Your Rend and Deep Wounds abilities also increase all melee damage caused to that target by 2/4%." Hunter Combat Experience - Now "Increases your total Agility by 1/2% and your total Intellect by 3/6%."
Official hunter talents released!
You heard correctly -- we have official news on hunter talents and spells. (I'm linking them via the European site, because the US site seems to be swamped right now.) These talents seem very similar to what we saw leaked last week, even including the odd "snake trap" ability. (Let the "snakes on a..." jokes begin!) And, before you ask -- yes, that is a legitimate screenshot from the website.
Another set of possible hunter talents
We're getting close to the end of these Burning Crusade talent rumors -- as all sources are predicting official hunter talents out soon. However, they're not out yet, and that means just one thing: more hunter talent rumors! I am tempted to put some faith in this set of rumors, which come from poster Anders on the Curse Gaming forums, as we've gotten interesting information from him before that's later proven accurate. The talents are interesting and some rather odd (threat reduction? increased RAP by 25% of intellect), but with some of the talents I've seen previewed thus far for other classes, these would not surprise me. And if they're wrong? Well, we'll see in the next few days. Read on for the full text of the possible talents.
Burning Crusade Spells & Talents Updated
No, no -- still no hunter abilities. The main body of these changes seems to be extensive revisions to the priest abilities, making them a lot more interesting (and actually tempting me to spec higher than 31 points in any tree -- crazy!). However, there are also some tweaks for paladins, warlocks, and warriors. Check them out on the forums, or read on for the details.
Official BC Druid talents announced!
Been waiting? Wait no longer -- the druid's talent preview is up and running on the European website! See new skills here and talent trees here. Interesting highlights include a flight form for flying transport around the Outlands, a new CC spell called Cyclone that has no limitations on enemy type or an indoor/outdoor restriction (but does require level 70), the ubiquitous pet-summon at 41-points balance, and increased HoT spell domination with new healing spell Lifebloom and the 41-point restoration ability Tree of Restoration -- which only allows a druid to cast HoTs.
Breakfast Topic: Favorite Expansion Build
You've seen the expansion talents for most classes, so now's the time to ask - what do you think? (And if you haven't seen them, you can check them out at the official site or on Wowhead.) Do you already have a talent build all planned out or are you having trouble deciding? Since the priest changes haven't yet been announced yet, I have been busy drooling over the talent trees of other healing classes and plotting out my paladin-to-be. (I think at least 42 points in holy is called for!) So, have you got the perfect talent build yet? Tell us all about it!
Wait No Longer: Official Talent Information!
It's not so long since I put up a post about more Burning Crusade rumors - but now there's no more waiting to determine what's fake and what's not (unless you were waiting for druid, hunter, or priest news). Blizzard has announced the official talent and spell changes for six classes! (Though they do not that the information shown is not final and still subject to change.) The new information comes complete with talent calculator, so you can go right ahead and plot your new build. These changes confirm some things we've seen rumored, and deny others. And all in all, these changes only make me more curious about what Blizzard has planned for the three classes they've not yet done announcements for.
Possible Expansion Rogue Talent Trees
Whether this is legitimate or no, we may not know until there's an official announcement. However, this image has made its way out onto the net, displaying all three rogue trees and the tooltips for new talents. The talents don't look terribly unreasonable, and they contain some interesting things (and by "interesting" I mean "things I've never seen players discuss or ask for") that we've seen in other rumors - specifically the talent that increases the effect of healing on the player. But you'll have to decide for yourself if you think these are for real. A list of talents shown in the screenshot continues below.
Breakfast Topic: Class Reviews
With patch 1.12, we will have seen talent reviews for every class in the game. Every class has seen changes - both small and large - since the game's launch, and Blizzard has stated that there won't be any more large-scale reviews of this nature in the future. With that in mind, which class do you think has come out on top after this review process? I cannot, personally, think of a clear winner for PvE or PvP, as there is still much to be said for a player's specific build and skill, regardless of class. However, do any of you see a particular class winning out above all the rest?
My Secret Life as a Rogue: Of Talents and Talent Builds
It's been some time since I wrote about my initial attempts at playing the rogue class. And, no, I haven't given it up yet! I've only reached the fairly puny level of 33, but the rogue changes coming in the next patch have me excited about continued leveling - after all, there's little joy in having half of a talent build. However, my recent efforts have been divided between my own rogue on the live realms and a pre-made level 60 rogue on the test realms. After some initial goofing off - it is, after all, a bit disorienting to jump from a low-30s character in mostly greens to a level 60 character with dual crusader enchants - I set to work trying different talent builds. Of course I've read all of the discussion on possible builds, but sometimes there's just no substitute for experience - and the test realms provide an ideal opportunity to see just what the class is capable of, with all possible talent permutations. And, perhaps, some experimentation could teach me something about how to play my own, lesser rogue a bit better...
Patch 1.12 PTRs Online!
Well, at least the US public test realms are sort of online... in my experience I get a few seconds of connectivity before getting kicked off and needing to log on again. And of the two pre-made characters I attempted to copy over, one wound up on the PVE test realm and another on the RP-PvP test realm. But, usual technical problems aside, the realms are online. Of special note is the fact that the two world PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands are not yet up on the PTR, though Blizzard explains they will be patched in later for testing. So what is there to test? Well, you can check out the rogue changes, the cross-realm battlegrounds, and anything else that didn't make it into the patch notes. Head over to the PTR site to download the client and copy a character. Head over to the PTR site to download the client and copy a character.
Patch 1.12: Rogue Review Revisited
CM Drysc has updated us with additional news of the rogue review - including some substantial changes. The talent calculator has been updated to reflect these new changes, and presents rogues with some interesting new opportunities in the subtlety tree. The changes are as follows: Murder has been changed to increase damage caused against Humanoid, Giant, Beast, and Dragonkin by 1%/2%. Remorseless Attacks has been reduced to 2 ranks, with the new effectiveness being 20% and 40%. Endurance has been changed to reduce the cooldown of your Sprint and Evasion abilities by 45 sec/1.5 min. It no longer increases the duration of Evasion. Weapon Expertise will now increases your skill with Fist, Dagger, and Sword weapons. It will no longer affect Maces. Mace Specialization will now also add 1-5 weapon skill with Maces, in addition to the stun effect the talent already provides. Adrenaline Rush now has a reduced cooldown of 5 min. Elusiveness has been reduced to a 2 point talent and now reduces the cooldown of Vanish and Blind by 45 sec/1.5 min. It no longer reduces the cooldown for Evasion. Opportunity is being moved to a tier 1 talent, swapping places with Camouflage. Ghostly Strike has been reverted back to the previous 125% weapon damage, but retains its new Energy cost of 40. Setup will now also provide combo points if you fully resist an attackers spell. Improved Rupture, Improved Cheap Shot, and Improved Garrote have been removed. New talent 'Serrated Blades' is a tier 4 talent in the Subtlety tree, causes your attacks to ignore X of your targets Armor, and increases the damage dealt by your Rupture ability. The amount of Armor reduced increases with your level. At level 60, the ranks will reduce target Armor by 100/200/300 respectively. New talent 'Dirty Deeds' replaces the Improved Cheap Shot talent, reducing the Energy cost of both the Cheap Shot and Garrote abilities by 10/20. Garrote, Eviscerate, and Rupture now all scale with Attack Power. (For the druids in the audience, Drysc has confirmed that the druid's cat form abilities ferocious bite and rip will also scale in this way come patch day.)
Patch 1.12: Rogue Talent Calculator Live
A new talent calculator showcasing the rogue changes went online today. With it, of course, comes plenty of speculation about possible new talent combinations and viable builds. I don't think the combat build I've been putting together with my own rogue has changed much, there are more viable options in the assassination and subtlety trees to pair with it. Decisions, decisions....
Life as a Shadow Priest: Day One
When I first rolled my priest, I planned to do more PvP with it than I had with my other characters. And as I leveled up, I'd usually spend an evening or two a week running through Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and eventually Alterac Valley. But after hitting 60, I found myself wanting to PvP less and less. I've talked a bit about struggling with healing in PvP, and while it's certainly possible, I can always tend to think up more entertaining things to do than venture into the battlegrounds these days.Yesterday, when a friend asked me if I wanted to go to Alterac Valley with him, I replied immediately: "No - all I do there is die over and over. I'm no shadow priest!" My friend had a quick comeback: "Why not respec?" I didn't have any response to that. I'd leveled up with a holy/discipline build that had served me well, but in the past few days respeced several times in an attempt to make solo and PvP a little more fun, without gimping my healing abilities. I hadn't been entirely happy with any of the results, so perhaps this was the time to consider more serious measures. I headed straight for the priest trainer and, after some hesitation, paid the fee to unlearn my talents.I put 20 points in discipline and remaining 31 in shadow. I was now, officially, a shadow priest.
New Talent Calculators Online
Everyone seemed to complain that the talent calculators on the official web site were slow and difficult to use. The talent calculators on Wowhead seemed to be favored by nearly everyone I encountered, with their slick design and layout. Blizzard has taken note of this when redesigning their own talent calculators, which are now online. I find Blizzard's borrowing from community projects interesting (note also there are several features that are awfully similar to CTRaid Assist coming in patch 1.11) - any other opinions?
Additional Mage Tweaks
Two additional changes have been made to the upcoming mage review. The talent calculator isn't updated with these yet, but should be soon. So for patch 1.11, expect the following additional changes:Winter's Chill: Will now increase crit chance by 1% (lowered from 2%), but will stack up to 10 times (from 5).Improved Scorch: The fire vulnerability effect has been increased to 30 seconds (from 15).
What to Expect in Patch 1.12?
No, patch 1.11 isn't even live on the test server, but there is already information coming out about patch 1.12. It seems to be fairly well-known that rogues will be getting reviewed in this patch, and World of Warcraft Vault's E3 wrap-up notes that we should expect some kind of PvP revamp. This morning Tseric chimed in saying it was also possible that Warriors and Warlocks may be looked into as well. Anyone out there have great expectations for this future patch?[Fan art by Astrid Hansen]
Mage & Shaman Talent Calculators
Official talent calculators have been released for the recently reviewed mage and shaman talent trees. These provide a clearer picture of the mage and shaman revisions than the already available text-based descriptions for the classes. To those dissatisfied with these changes, I can only encourage you to wait until we see how they play out on the test realms.
Shaman Review Revealed
Eyonix has posted notes on the Shaman changes planned for patch 1.11. Expect a talent calculator in the next few days, but for now you can see them summarized in text. Other than a single dark note - windfury attack power reduced (to bring it in line with other weapon enchantments) - the review sounds like a good one. What do the shaman players in the audience think?
Patch 1.11: Mage Changes Announced!
Blizzard has released an official look at the mage improvements. It does, as expected, include Arcane Explosion as an instant-cast spell by default and Evocation as a trainable skill at level 20. As to the rest of the changes? Well, I may not have played a mage far enough to make a judgment call, but none of them seem overwhelming. Any opinions out there?[Thanks, Silvertusk]
