This is taken straight from the World of Warcraft official forums. So Lots of changes to expect obviously.
Last week, we gave you an early look at the changes we’re making to the stat system in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and explained how these changes will ultimately provide players with more interesting gear choices and make stats easier to understand. Today we’d like to go into more detail about a brand-new feature that’s an integral part of this overhaul: the Mastery system, a set of new game mechanics designed to allow players to become better at what makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. With this system, we want to accomplish three things: give players more freedom in how they allocate talent points, simplify some of the “kitchen sinky” talents that try to do too much at once, and add a new stat to high-level gear that makes you better at your chosen role.
Here’s how the system works: As you spend points in a given talent tree, you’ll receive three different passive bonuses specific to that tree. The first bonus will increase your damage, healing, or survivability, depending on the intended role of the tree. The second bonus will be related to a stat commonly found on gear desirable to you, such as Haste or Crit. The third bonus will be the most interesting, as it will provide an effect completely unique to that tree — meaning there will be 30 different bonuses of this nature in the game. This third bonus is the one that will benefit from the Mastery rating found on high-level (level 80 to 85) gear.
One of our primary goals with Mastery is to give players more flexibility to choose fun or utility-oriented talents rather than make them feel obligated to pick up “mandatory” but uninteresting talents, such as passive damage or healing. (For examples of the kinds of powerful but boring talents we’re talking about, take a look at the talent tier just above the 51-point talent in many of the existing trees.) In a sense, Mastery makes it so every talent in (just for example) a rogue tree essentially has an invisible additional bullet point that says “…and increases your damage by X%.” This way, if you choose a talent like Master of Deception (which reduces your chance to be detected while stealthed) or Fleet Footed (which affects movement), you won’t feel like you’re giving up damage in exchange for utility.
There will still be talents that boost damage, of course, but those talents will also affect the way you play. For example, you can still expect to see talents like Improved Frostbolt, which reduces the cast time of the Frostbolt spell; it increases DPS, but it also affects the mage’s rotation. Piercing Ice, however, is just “6% more damage” and is the kind of talent we’re trying to eliminate by implementing the Mastery system.
As we get closer to Cataclysm’s release, we’ll go into more detail about the changes coming for each class, including individual talent-tree adjustments and how Mastery will affect them. In the meantime, here are a few examples to demonstrate the three kinds of passive bonuses we described above. Please keep in mind that we’re still working on this system, and the handful of examples we’re providing here are, of course, subject to change.
Holy Priest
For each talent point spent in the Holy tree, the priest also gets:
Discipline Priest
For each talent point spent in the Discipline tree, the priest also gets:
Frost Death Knight
For each talent point spent in the Frost tree, the death knight also gets:
A couple other things to note: Currently, we’re not planning to retrofit the Mastery stat onto current level-80 gear when we roll out the stat-system changes prior to Cataclysm’s release. However, Mastery will begin appearing on select quest and dungeon items. You will also gain a small amount of Mastery by wearing gear of your intended armor type (such as plate for paladins). For players with dual specs, when you change between your two chosen specs, the Mastery bonuses and the benefit you receive from the Mastery stat on gear will adjust automatically based on your new spec.
We’ll have more details to share about these and other changes we’re making in Cataclysm in the future, and we’ll do our best to answer your questions about the Mastery system here on the forums. For information on many of the stat changes being made in Cataclysm, please check out our earlier update athttp://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=12730425011&sid=1.
WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Cataclysm, the upcoming expansion to World of Warcraft. If you’d like to keep everything a surprise, don’t read any further. If you’d like to know more about the upcoming content, read away!
Issue 212 of PC Gamer UK has hit the stands, and includes a fascinating six-page article with fifty reasons why lapsed subscribers should probably return to Azeroth. Forget the lapsed subscribers, there’s enough information in here for current subscribers to drool over with unbridled glee. For those of you on this side of the pond, some highlights from the article. We requested comment from PC Gamer as to whether this information came directly from Blizzard, but we haven’t yet received a response, so keep that in mind as we cover the highlights:
Reason number twelve: Cataclysm chooses fun over efficiency. The talent trees will be completely redone, something we’ve covered a little with previous posts on the new mastery system that will be made available. A quote from Tom Chilton states “I’d expect to see a further pruning of critical class buffs and debuffs, because it’s still a little more restrictive than what we’d like to see. A lot of what Mastery and the talent changes are about is making sure that the choices players make about their character are interesting. Hopefully that will add character depth without making the game more complex.”
Reason number twenty: It’s going to tell better stories. Through the use of phasing technology that was introduced in Wrath, zones will change according to the progress characters have made. For example, the goblin and worgen starting zones will make heavy use of this as you level towards the Cataclysm event itself. The article also states that the narrative of Cataclysm is going to be even more heavy embedded in the quest chains that it was in Wrath of the Lich King. “We don’t really approach any quest line or story with the idea that we need to use phasing here,” Chilton explains. “We approach it based off the needs of what it is that we’re trying to achieve. So if we’re talking about the Barrens, we’ll try to identify the most core thing to do with what’s going on with the story of the Barren and we’ll try to focus more on those than we ever did before. And if in the process of doing that we have an idea that’s awesome and will be supported really well by phasing, then we decide whether or not to use it.”
Reason number twenty seven: Thrall is off. According to the article, Warchief Thrall will leave Orgrimmar to take up a ‘meta-position’ as Guardian of Tirisfal, a position currently held in the comics by Med’an, the son of Garona Halforcen and the former Guardian Medivh. His replacement? Overseer Garrosh Hellscream, leader of the Horde expedition in Northrend.
Reason number thirty: The Horde are getting political. This is a given, if Hellscream is taking over, but the article has some shocking information — Garrosh is going to execute Cairne Bloodhoof for treason, and throw the forsaken and blood elf forces out of Orgrimmar. If this information is correct, it really won’t be the Alliance the Horde has to worry about so much as other branches of the Horde wanting to politely remove Garrosh Hellscream’s head and use it for a rousing game of kickball.
Reason number thirty-one: There’s a new emphasis on raiding. The reason the new level cap is only five levels is so that designers could concentrate on getting more endgame content ready for the launch. According to the article, there will be four new raid dungeons and eight heroics open from the start.
Reason number forty-two: You’ll be going to Egypt… ish. Remember Uldum? According to the article, it’s home to a lost Titan city and a race of ‘giant stone cats’, the Tol’vir. PC Gamer thinks that the final Uldum dungeon will be patched in as a later raid. The real question is, will Brann Bronzebeard be running around to angrily shriek at Uldum’s programming?
Reason number forty-three: You’ll be back at Blackrock. In Cataclysm, Deathwing’s return as the head of the Black Dragonflight will stir up more trouble under the mountain. According to the article, the new raid dungeon Blackwing Descent will see you face off against Nefarian, alongside a new five-man instance, Blackrock Caverns. Nefarian? Apparently that whole bit with his head on a pike was… merely a setback.
Reason number forty-six: Wintergrasp’s getting a sequel. The new world PvP zone in Cataclysm is the Isle of Tol’Barad, an off-shore prison policed by mages from Dalaran and Stormwind, but its main purpose is to host faction level battles between Alliance and Horde. When the battle for control of Tol’Barad is over, it will become a daily quest hub similar to the Isle of Quel’Danas, which the designers are hoping will encourage yet more fighting. “We thought that when the battle wasn’t going on in Wintergrasp, it would be a good environment for spontaneous world PvP,” Chilton explains, “But the way the Lich King economy developed players didn’t stay after the battles to farm for primals. What we’re trying to do is meld the idea of Wintergrasp with the Isle of Quel’Danas. That felt like that players were naturally there and had activities they wanted to do, and PvP spontaneously happened without us needing to force it.”
Soon you’ll have one great feature that any true World of Warcraft fan will enjoy. I have added Addon area, where you’ll be able to see addon’s from all major sites. The next step will be to have addon review, and that step is not that far away. Stay tuned.
The blog is live now. It is a first post and there is more to come! Hope you enjoy this wonderful site and awesome guides we offer here.
