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[Ferrio]

I joke around with others how a heroic lvl80 BRD would drive current players to madness.

If Ragnaros IS coming back for Cataclysm, I hope his payroll is severely reduced so if we have to go back to the Molten Core we don't have to wade through hundreds of trash mobs to get to the bosses. Large maps is one thing, clearing the maps of trash is another.

Ulduar had a big map but not nearly as much trash (unless you count all the mobs you ran over during the vehicle section) and teleporters. Oh man AQ40 would have been a lot more tolerable with just a few teleporters. (just a few so you could still use those awesome mounts)

Molten core is done with. We're going to be messing with Ragnaros on the elemental planes. His home turf.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I joke around with others how a heroic lvl80 BRD would drive current players to madness.

If Ragnaros IS coming back for Cataclysm, I hope his payroll is severely reduced so if we have to go back to the Molten Core we don't have to wade through hundreds of trash mobs to get to the bosses. Large maps is one thing, clearing the maps of trash is another.

Ulduar had a big map but not nearly as much trash (unless you count all the mobs you ran over during the vehicle section) and teleporters. Oh man AQ40 would have been a lot more tolerable with just a few teleporters. (just a few so you could still use those awesome mounts)

He won't be in Molten Core.

 

[speedpop]

My guild has devised a way to make the achievement runs of the old instances a little more fun.

- Everyone goes in wearing nothing but clothes with no armor attached to it as a stat.
- Whatever drops inside is able to be worn, sometimes it is best to have a party that is a bit diverse so gear isn't squabbled over.
- Potions and cloth (bandages) are allowed as long as they drop within the instance.

We did a full run of old Stratholme yesterday that was rather interesting. It really makes you appreciate the value of your lvl 80 gear.

 

[Ferrio]

My guild has devised a way to make the achievement runs of the old instances a little more fun.

- Everyone goes in wearing nothing but clothes with no armor attached to it as a stat.
- Whatever drops inside is able to be worn, sometimes it is best to have a party that is a bit diverse so gear isn't squabbled over.
- Potions and cloth (bandages) are allowed as long as they drop within the instance.

We did a full run of old Stratholme yesterday that was rather interesting. It really makes you appreciate the value of your lvl 80 gear.

What about weapons?

 

[speedpop]

Weapons as they drop.

I think it took just up till Balnazzar's unveiling where our Warrior finally got a grey shield to use his defensive abilities :lol

 

[Retro]

My guild has devised a way to make the achievement runs of the old instances a little more fun.

- Everyone goes in wearing nothing but clothes with no armor attached to it as a stat.
- Whatever drops inside is able to be worn, sometimes it is best to have a party that is a bit diverse so gear isn't squabbled over.
- Potions and cloth (bandages) are allowed as long as they drop within the instance.

We did a full run of old Stratholme yesterday that was rather interesting. It really makes you appreciate the value of your lvl 80 gear.

Can I join? :lol

Seriously though, that's a great idea, and pretty close to what I was talking about with PSO (except, of course, levels are reduced to 1 and you don't have any skills.. but PSO doesn't have assign skills like WoW does anyways).

I have a set of costume gear I wear for running my friends and family's alts through stuff, just because it makes it more fun. It's all of the plate from the Undead Invasion event just before WotLK... the blue judgment set. Looks fucking sweet.

Been playing Lord of the Rings Online lately, just to kill time and they had a sweet subscription deal... Blizzard needs to re-appropriate their costume tabs ASAP.

 

[Duki]

Last time I played this game, which was a while back, I went into BRD at lvl 50ish with my mage through the dungeon finder tool, and it was probably the most fun I've had in a WoW dungeon, since I only started playing at the tail end of TBC.

I don't think the actual size of the dungeon is the problem, because we ran through it with the tank leading the way (since he knew the layout), because bosses appear so often and so quickly in between one another that it stays fun at low levels. The problem comes in when you're at the level cap, and only some gear from the dungeon or whatever would improve you, so everything apart from that single boss is superfluous to you. But with the new badge system, they've gotten rid of that problem anyway, since you want to kill as many bosses as you can. I think dungeons the size of BRD would receive a lot less bitching nowadays with the new badge system, since yeah it would take longer, but there's so many bosses to kill that it doesn't matter, since you're swimming in badges.

 

[WyndhamPrice]

My problem with BRD (+ Dungeon Finder) is that nobody gets that fucking key anymore so if you're in a random group and nobody has the shadowforge key you can't actually finish the dungeon. Spent many a night grinding trash and bosses as far as I could go until I remembered how to get the key (which is actually pretty easy).

 

[keeblerdrow]

The instance is split up into two (maybe three) separate "dungeons" in the LFG Dungeon Finder tool. If you are starting at the very beginning, all you need to do is kill the jailer lady. If you're doing the latter half of BRD, I believe it just sets you inside the instance past any of the gate BS.

 

[Swag]

Can anyone help me out with warrior tanking, I've been raiding ICC and having a lot of threat problems compared to other tanks. I'm doing my rotation and casting heroic strike constantly but it just doesn't seem like I can keep up with the dps despite my gear improving.

I currently have 22 expertise and 182 hit rating.

This is my Armory

 

[Dina]

Thinking of starting again. Does anyone here has any experience with Recruit a Friend? I've been told that RaF-ing through various low lvl azeroth instances with some 80 boosting you works best.

 

[Bisnic]

The instance is split up into two (maybe three) separate "dungeons" in the LFG Dungeon Finder tool. If you are starting at the very beginning, all you need to do is kill the jailer lady. If you're doing the latter half of BRD, I believe it just sets you inside the instance past any of the gate BS.

No, BRD is separated into 2 in the dungeon finder, but you start at the beginning with both of them. 1 part where you've got to kill the first boss... and the other part you've got to kill the last boss. I have no idea why they did this... makes no sense.

As far as i know, only Maraudon is separated into 3 and teleport you in the middle of the instance with the 3rd part.

 

[Retro]

Paladin preview has apparently been bumped up to tomorrow instead of Friday, at least according to the EU forums. Anybody want to get a pool going of which abilities we'll see? So far I've heard people asking for a version of Bloodlust, Battle Rez, and of course there are Ret Pallies whining for carbon copies of charge or deathgrip...

I dunno what to hope for... I just want Protection to remain competitive with the other tanking classes instead of getting over-nerfed by the AOE tanking change they've been flirting with. Beyond that, I really don't know.

 

[moojito]

Can anyone help me out with warrior tanking, I've been raiding ICC and having a lot of threat problems compared to other tanks. I'm doing my rotation and casting heroic strike constantly but it just doesn't seem like I can keep up with the dps despite my gear improving.

I currently have 22 expertise and 182 hit rating.

This is my Armory

Maybe that's the problem, it should be a priority list, not a rotation:
Shield slam
Revenge
Shockwave
Devastate

Is pretty much it. If you don't already, you should macro heroic strike to all of these so you're never missing one. When shield slam, shockwave and revenge are on cooldown, you pretty much just spam devastate to fish for a sword n' board proc so you can shield slam again.

Your gear seems fine, you shouldn't be having any threat issues unless you're being rage starved or not using heroic strike enough.

 

[Bisnic]

Yeah, but his expertise & hit rating are kinda low which probably hurt his threat. My draenei who have 1% hit racial and 202 Hit rating is still below the 8% cap. I'm not so sure about expertise, but something around 30 is recommend right?

 

[Jrmint]

No, BRD is separated into 2 in the dungeon finder, but you start at the beginning with both of them. 1 part where you've got to kill the first boss... and the other part you've got to kill the last boss. I have no idea why they did this... makes no sense.

It does make sense. If you are leveling up and you just want to complete the random for your bonus gold, experience and loot bag you do not want to have to be there for 2 hours killing 19 bosses.

Every time I have done the first part of BRD in the dungeon finder I always ask the group if they want to keep going for a little while and they usually do, so you could just ask if they want to kill more stuff.

By the way, what is a good level to do the second BRD section they give you? You said it puts you right at the end boss?

 

[Bisnic]

It does make sense. If you are leveling up and you just want to complete the random for your bonus gold, experience and loot bag you do not want to have to be there for 2 hours killing 19 bosses.

Every time I have done the first part of BRD in the dungeon finder I always ask the group if they want to keep going for a little while and they usually do, so you could just ask if they want to kill more stuff.

By the way, what is a good level to do the second BRD section they give you? You said it puts you right at the end boss?

No.. the 2nd BRD in the dungeon finder puts you at the beginning of BRD and you have to kill the last boss for the bag. You have to do the whole thing. That's why i'm saying the 1st BRD is useless, it's the same damn thing as the 2nd, except you get the bag by killing the 1st boss instead of the last one.

1st part of BRD should have been something like starting at beginning of BRD and killing a boss inside the inn for the bag, while the 2nd one would start you right after the inn and kill the last boss.

 

[Azwethinkweiz]

Yeah, but his expertise & hit rating are kinda low which probably hurt his threat. My draenei who have 1% hit racial and 202 Hit rating is still below the 8% cap. I'm not so sure about expertise, but something around 30 is recommend right?

The soft cap for dodge is 26. You're never going to get enough expertise to cap it for parry.

 

[CAW]

I've been leveling an older druid alt with a few friends. I've been feral tank (dungeons)/dps most of the time but wanted to check out restoration but was always afraid of how it would be for leveling when not doing dungeons.

I decided to spec into restoration and try some PvP instead. I about 10 AV battlegrounds last night. Had a BLAST PvP tree healing! It's such a nice change from leveling and just doing those 10 AV brought me from level 53-55. Pretty damn cool! I'm used to AV because I leveled a Paladin and Hunter months ago (before the first AV nerf) doing that method but not healing. PvP healing is new for me and I'm loving it so far.

Looking forward to getting some classic PvP gear at 60!

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Fizzcrank&cn=Scartooth

 

[mclem]

I think what I'd like to see is something halfway between BRD and the ICC instances; a long instance with natural checkpoints in it, with the individual 'stages' being the Dungeon Finder possibilities.

No.. the 2nd BRD in the dungeon finder puts you at the beginning of BRD and you have to kill the last boss for the bag. You have to do the whole thing.

There's no actual bosses between the start and the inn, though, although I'll concede there's a fair bit of trash; you certainly don't have to do the whole thing, you miss out the entire prison wing, the Incendius/Vault section, and can skip all the optional stuff on the way. The first boss you have to fight is either Phalanx if you can't get through the inn peacefully, or Ambassador Flamelash if you can.

 

[Ferrio]

Can anyone help me out with warrior tanking, I've been raiding ICC and having a lot of threat problems compared to other tanks. I'm doing my rotation and casting heroic strike constantly but it just doesn't seem like I can keep up with the dps despite my gear improving.

I currently have 22 expertise and 182 hit rating.

This is my Armory

General
-First of all get improved revenge NOW. The recent patch has made it a *must* for tanks. Booming voice is pretty useless so you should toss that for it.
-Make sure you're vigiliancing the highest dps/threat generator in the raid. You should prioritize melee over range when you do if they're equal. I'm sure you know this already, just checking.
-In boss fights that require swapping, it's really helpful to vigilance the other tank. This practically gives you a taunt with no cooldown, so you don't have worry about misses or wrongly timed taunts. Also it'll give a tiny bit of protection for the other tank.


What are you exactly having trouble on? Trash? Bosses?

If it's trash, you can pick up glyph of cleaving, it helps quite a bit on trash while your tabbing through everything. Keep in mind tanking trash when there's a DK or paladin in the party you'll feel a little worthless. It's kinda a catch 22, to get aggro you need rage.... yet they snag everything easily so you don't get rage... so you can't get aggro. Best thing to do is just taunt a few off and get solid aggro on them then tab/hit cleave around.

If your curious here's mine
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Frostmane&cn=Bellare

I just started tanking this character like a couple months ago, so I'm not a veteran to tanking but i'm doing pretty well.

Thinking of starting again. Does anyone here has any experience with Recruit a Friend? I've been told that RaF-ing through various low lvl azeroth instances with some 80 boosting you works best.

That's how I got this char to 80. I'd only had a rogue for the whole time I played vanilla and BC. I really wanted to tank, so my friend and me tried RAF. Only cost like 10 bucks, but took 12 hours to go from 1-60.

All we did was have one of the characters /follow one of us, while the other gets on his 80 and clears dungeon. It was boring but very very quick.

 

[notworksafe]

There's no actual bosses between the start and the inn, though, although I'll concede there's a fair bit of trash; you certainly don't have to do the whole thing, you miss out the entire prison wing, the Incendius/Vault section, and can skip all the optional stuff on the way. The first boss you have to fight is either Phalanx if you can't get through the inn peacefully, or Ambassador Flamelash if you can.

Isn't there a boss right before the inn? A gnome that makes robots or something like that? There's the Ring as well and the guy you have to kill to get the Shadowforge Key quest done. Or do those not count as real bosses?

 

[WyndhamPrice]

I think what I'd like to see is something halfway between BRD and the ICC instances; a long instance with natural checkpoints in it, with the individual 'stages' being the Dungeon Finder possibilities.



There's no actual bosses between the start and the inn, though, although I'll concede there's a fair bit of trash; you certainly don't have to do the whole thing, you miss out the entire prison wing, the Incendius/Vault section, and can skip all the optional stuff on the way. The first boss you have to fight is either Phalanx if you can't get through the inn peacefully, or Ambassador Flamelash if you can.

What we mean by the whole thing is that unless you have someone with the Shadowforge key in your party (which is rare these days) you cannot physically continue to Thaurissan as there is a specific lock you have to open to get to the second half of the instance, and you start from the beginning no matter what version of BRD you pick.

It's dumb and Blizzard should just get rid of the key.

 

[mclem]

I think I know where I'm wrong, I was thinking that the big Shadowforge Lock mechanism (controlling that huge door/bridge) had been changed to no longer require the key; sounds like that might not be the case after all.

I'm pretty sure the gnome immediately before the inn is skippable, though. I also hadn't taken into account the fact that the route I normally take into the shadowforge lock room also requires the shadowforge key, so that'd force you into the Ring of Law.

 

[notworksafe]

I think I know where I'm wrong, I was thinking that the big Shadowforge Lock mechanism (controlling that huge door/bridge) had been changed to no longer require the key; sounds like that might not be the case after all.

I'm pretty sure the gnome immediately before the inn is skippable, though. I also hadn't taken into account the fact that the route I normally take into the shadowforge lock room also requires the shadowforge key, so that'd force you into the Ring of Law.

Yeah in that place it's hard to tell what's a boss and what just has a name.

EDIT: There's an optional boss in the bar if you break the caskets as well. He drops damn good loot for the level.

 

[Dina]

That's how I got this char to 80. I'd only had a rogue for the whole time I played vanilla and BC. I really wanted to tank, so my friend and me tried RAF. Only cost like 10 bucks, but took 12 hours to go from 1-60.

All we did was have one of the characters /follow one of us, while the other gets on his 80 and clears dungeon. It was boring but very very quick.

Yeah that's what I'm planning as well. We got a friendly lvl 80 retridin, so we should be good.

 

[Ferrio]

Blue post on Heroic Leap. Makes it sound better as it's not a replacement for charge/thunder. Preview made it sound such so. With a 3 minute CD though it better hit like a truck. Sounds way more like a pvp ability. Though wish they could of come up with something more unique than a more powerful charge and rend.

Imagine Heroic Leap can be used in any stance, in or out of combat, hits for very serious AE damage and applies the Thunder Clap debuff. We keep it under control with a 2-3 min cooldown. This means warriors will sometimes be zipping in and out of melee, but that's kind of the warrior thing, and again the cooldown can help balance it.

I don't think these concerns are hard to address. We screwed up in the preview, I think, by making it sound like Heroic Leap was supposed to be a replacement for a Charge / Tclap macro. That wasn't the intention.

 

[sykoex]

Blue post on Heroic Leap. Makes it sound better as it's not a replacement for charge/thunder. Preview made it sound such so. With a 3 minute CD though it better hit like a truck. Sounds way more like a pvp ability. Though wish they could of come up with something more unique than a more powerful charge and rend.

I was actually kinda hoping it'd be a Charge replacement, as a level 45 prot warrior I already feel like I have a ton of buttons, cooldowns, and procs to keep track of.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Blue post on Heroic Leap. Makes it sound better as it's not a replacement for charge/thunder. Preview made it sound such so. With a 3 minute CD though it better hit like a truck. Sounds way more like a pvp ability. Though wish they could of come up with something more unique than a more powerful charge and rend.

Heroic Leap does not sound interesting at all. I couldn't care less about any ability with a cooldown longer than 30 seconds (unless it's something that totally kills you in one go like Bladestorm, and I wouldn't care about that if it weren't for PvP)

 

[Ferrio]

I was actually kinda hoping it'd be a Charge replacement, as a level 45 prot warrior I already feel like I have a ton of buttons, cooldowns, and procs to keep track of.

We already have 2 offensive, 1 defensive charge. Another straight up charge attack is wrong.

 

[Flib]

Can we talk about how awesome this sounds:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/features/hyjal.html

Mount Hyjal: In Defense of Nordrassil

For years, Mount Hyjal and the wounded World Tree, Nordrassil, have remained cut off from the rest of Azeroth. Sealed away within a protective field of dense foliage by Malfurion Stormrage, Nordrassil has been slowly recovering from the devastation of the Third War, when Malfurion called upon the tree's power to destroy the archdemon Archimonde and repel the forces of the Burning Legion and Scourge. Now, with the impending cataclysm, the World Tree's well-being is threatened once more. From the Firelands within the Elemental Plane, Ragnaros and his minions prepare to burst into Hyjal and set Nordrassil ablaze -- and the conflagration would endanger all life on Azeroth.

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, players will have the opportunity to explore the newly reopened Mount Hyjal as Azeroth's heroes, with the help of Ysera, Malfurion Stormrage and Hamuul Runetotem, are called upon to push back the armies of the Firelord, banish Ragnaros to the Elemental Plane and lay waste to the twilight dragon stronghold in nearby Darkwhisper Gorge. This all-new level 78-82 zone will feature multiple quest hubs, phased terrain and quest lines, portals to micro-zones within the Firelands, an all-new raid dungeon, and much more.

The World Tree
Players will be able to enter Hyjal by way of Moonglade, to take on a series of high-stakes quests in a historic location alongside some of Azeroth's most renowned heroes. With a longstanding rivalry among the night elf leadership threatening to undermine the campaign against Deathwing, players will quickly discover the task of defending Nordrassil is more daunting than they had anticipated. In order to succeed, they must seek out the help of extremely powerful allies: the Ancients.

The Ancients
To protect Nordrassil and heal the devastation the invading fire elementals are causing across Mount Hyjal, players must first recapture the shrine of the wolf god Goldrinn. The ogres surrounding the shrine will not leave peacefully, but seizing the shrine will allow players their first opportunity to infiltrate the Firelands and shut down a key Twilight portal, slowing the advance of the nearby Twilight's Hammer in Hyjal.

With the first portal dismantled, players will soon be sought by the wilderness spirit Aessina to assist in cleansing and healing the nearby forest, ultimately returning the land to its former splendor. This small victory, however, isn't enough to deter the Twilight Remnants from attempting to scorch the forest once more. As you struggle to keep these foes at bay, you'll also need to help the Guardians of Hyjal -- a new neutral faction of druids and worshippers of the Ancients -- repopulate the forest with animal life. It's even rumored that Malorne has been spotted in the wilderness. Perhaps further investigation is necessary....

Amid the chaos, the Druids of the Talon will need players' assistance to resurrect the goddess of winged creatures. Players begin the process by helping to slay a group of black dragons and closing a second Firelands portal from within. Just when you think things might be heating up, you'll need to fight through a burning night elf town to shut down the third and final portal with the assistance of the turtle god Tortollus.

Darkwhisper Gorge
Your successes in Hyjal will ultimately lead you to the assembly of the Ancients, who have set a plan in motion to bring a powerful ally and demigod back into this realm. Before that can happen, however, you will need to infiltrate Darkwhisper Gorge disguised as a follower of the Twilight's Hammer, acting quickly to sow discord within the entrenched faction, weakening it for the coming struggle. Only time will tell if the Ancients' plan is a success -- but you'll need to do your part if there's any hope of saving Mount Hyjal from the twilight dragons, Ragnaros, and his minions of the Elemental Plane.

Firelands
More information on this all-new level-85 raid dungeon is coming soon.

 

[arhra]

Welp, LK down. I've officially beat the game (on normal 10m mode, at least; i don't do 25s, so just hard mode left).

Probably could have killed him at least a week or two ago if we hadn't had such bad tank availability issues (we've had maybe one night a week to hit ICC at full strength lately, with any other raids being filled with alts/socials/offspecs). Still, we managed to land within the world top100 for 10m strict, so i'm pretty happy.

 

[vitaminwateryum]

Account ran out of time and the Battle.net is down. Time to find something else to do

 

[mclem]

Can we talk about how awesome this sounds:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/features/hyjal.html

So I'm curious what exactly a 'micro-zone' is. I think I've got a vague idea (Small localised areas giving a 'flavour' of a larger zone?), but it'd be nice to see it confirmed.

 

[Retro]

I'm gonna be an obnoxious prick (like I'm not already) and share these, since I just re-read them and they're honestly not half bad... and I usually hate my own work.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-discussions/reinvention-stratholme/

http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-discussions/reinvention-north-lordaeron/

 

[notworksafe]

So I'm curious what exactly a 'micro-zone' is. I think I've got a vague idea (Small localised areas giving a 'flavour' of a larger zone?), but it'd be nice to see it confirmed.

Or instanced versions of zones? Something like the retaking of Undercity.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Can we talk about how awesome this sounds:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/features/hyjal.html

Finally some more information about the world.

Or instanced versions of zones? Something like the retaking of Undercity.

From reading it over and over again it sounds like specific areas of the Firelands without having to create an entire zone.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Double post.

 

[mclem]

I'm thinking solo or small-group content giving a feel of the raid instance, but I'm also curious if it'll be instanced or separated from the world some other way. After all, I presume one does not simply walk into Mord... uh, Firelands.

 

[Swag]

What are you exactly having trouble on? Trash? Bosses?

If it's trash, you can pick up glyph of cleaving, it helps quite a bit on trash while your tabbing through everything. Keep in mind tanking trash when there's a DK or paladin in the party you'll feel a little worthless. It's kinda a catch 22, to get aggro you need rage.... yet they snag everything easily so you don't get rage... so you can't get aggro. Best thing to do is just taunt a few off and get solid aggro on them then tab/hit cleave around.

If your curious here's mine
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Frostmane&cn=Bellare

I just started tanking this character like a couple months ago, so I'm not a veteran to tanking but i'm doing pretty well.

I'm having trouble on Boss encounters, and trash. I don't even bother trying to tank trash because I know I'm not going to be any better then the DK or Paladin that can get AoE threat.

On Bosses it can be a real problem because regardless of if I'm on point with my skills / heroic strike I will still not be able to hold aggro unless I get a MD / Tricks. It's extremely annoying. I copied your spec and doing ICC 25 so hopefully it'll improve. But currently even lesser geared tanks have better TPS then me and I can't figure out why.

 

[GhostRidah]

anyone one have the name of this ui?

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6472/wowscrnshot040710001315.jpg

 

[speedpop]

Can we talk about how awesome this sounds:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/features/hyjal.html

I think my RP-gasm just hit an all time high. This is going to be awesome for my Druid.

I'm gonna be an obnoxious prick (like I'm not already) and share these, since I just re-read them and they're honestly not half bad... and I usually hate my own work.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-discussions/reinvention-stratholme/

http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-discussions/reinvention-north-lordaeron/

Great stuff. I'd love to see both of these things somehow make it into the game, or at least give Blizzard the notion that people want to see things like this.

 

[Aeris130]

anyone one have the name of this ui?

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6472/wowscrnshot040710001315.jpg

You mean the bottom panel? SpartanUI. Doesn't leave a whole lot of free space at the bottom if you're running 1024x768 or less.

 

[yacobod]

Maybe that's the problem, it should be a priority list, not a rotation:
Shield slam
Revenge
Shockwave
Devastate

basically spam the shit out of dev, when revenge or shield slam are on cooldown

glyph for dev if you are having threat issues as well

vigilance the highest dps, idk how u r having a hard time holding threat, its so easy now

 

[Retro]

Great stuff. I'd love to see both of these things somehow make it into the game, or at least give Blizzard the notion that people want to see things like this.

Thanks. If strath is still on fire come Cataclysm, I will be seriously disappointed. It didn't even make sense for it to still be burning in Vanilla if you figure WoW picks up at the end of The Frozen Throne.:lol

 

[Retro]

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm we’ll be making several changes to class talents and abilities across the board. While this list only outlines some of our plans for the paladin class, we want to give you a look at the new high-level abilities and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with each talent spec.

New Paladin Spells

Blinding Shield (level 81): Causes damage and blinds all nearby targets. This effect might end up only damaging those facing the paladin’s shield, in a manner similar to Eadric the Pure's ability Radiance in Trial of the Champion. The Holy tree will have a talent to increase the damage and critical strike chance, while the Protection tree will have a talent to make this spell instant cast. 2-second base cast time. Requires a shield.

Healing Hands (level 83): Healing Hands is a new healing spell. The paladin radiates heals from him or herself, almost like a Healing Stream Totem. It has a short range, but a long enough duration that the paladin can cast other heals while Healing Hands remains active. 15-second cooldown. 6-second duration.

Guardian of Ancient Kings (level 85): Summons a temporary guardian that looks like a winged creature of light armed with a sword. The visual is similar to that of the Resurrection spell used by the paladin in Warcraft III. The guardian has a different effect depending on the talent spec of the paladin. For Holy paladins, the guardian heals the most wounded ally in the area. For Protection paladins, the guardian absorbs some incoming damage. For Retribution paladins, it damages an enemy, similar to the death knight Gargoyle or the Nibelung staff. 3-minute cooldown. 30-second duration (this might vary depending on which guardian appears).

Next you will find a list of some of the paladin spell and ability changes, followed by our intentions for improving each talent tree for the release of Cataclysm. There will be further changes, but those revealed below should offer some insight into our goals.

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

• Crusader Strike will be a core ability for all paladins, gained at level 1. We think the paladin leveling experience is hurt by not having an instant attack. Retribution will be getting a new talent in its place that either modifies Crusader Strike or replaces it completely.

• Cleanse is being rebalanced to work with the new dispel system. It will dispel defensive magic (debuffs on friendly targets), diseases, and poisons.

• Blessing of Might will provide the benefit of Wisdom as well. If you have two paladins in your group, one will do Kings on everyone and the other will do Might on everyone. There should be much less need, and ideally no need, to provide specific buffs to specific classes.

• Holy Shock will be a core healing spell available to all paladins.

New Talents and Talent Changes

• We want to ease off the defensive capabilities of Retribution and Holy paladins slightly. We think the powerful paladin defenses have been one of the things holding Retribution paladins back, especially in Arenas. One change we’re considering is lowering Divine Shield’s duration by a couple of seconds. Having said that, Retribution does pretty well in Battlegrounds, and Battlegrounds will be a much bigger focus in Cataclysm since they can provide the best PvP rewards. Furthermore, the healing environment of Cataclysm is going to be different such that a paladin may not be able to fully heal themselves during the duration of Divine Shield to begin with, so this may not be a problem.

• We feel Retribution paladins need one more mechanic which involves some risk of the player pushing the wrong button, making the rotation a bit less forgiving. In addition, we want to add to this spec more PvP utility. Right now the successes of the Retribution paladin in PvP seem to be reduced to either doing decent burst damage, or just being good at staying alive.

• We want to increase the duration of Sacred Shield to 30 minutes and keep the limit to one target. The intention is that the paladin can use it on their main healing target. That said, we would like to improve the Holy paladin toolbox and niche so that they don’t feel quite like the obvious choice for tank healing while perceived as a weak group healer.

• We want to add to the Holy tree a nice big heal to correspond with Greater Heal. Flash of Light remains the expensive, fast heal and Holy Light is the go-to heal that has average efficiency and throughput. Beacon of Light will be changed to work with Flash of Light. We like the ability, but want paladins to use it intelligently and not be constantly healing for twice as much.

• Holy paladins will use spirit as their mana regeneration stat.

• Protection paladins need a different rotation between single-target and multi-target tanking. Likewise, we're looking to add the necessity to use an additional cooldown in each rotation.

• Holy Shield will no longer have charges. It will be designed to improve block chance while active, and will continue to provide a small amount of damage and threat.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Holy
Healing
Meditation
Critical Healing Effect

Protection
Damage Reduction
Vengeance
Block Amount

Retribution
Melee Damage
Melee Critical Damage
Holy Damage

Meditation: This is the spirit-to-mana conversion that the priest, druid, and shaman healers also share.

Vengeance: This is the damage-received-to-attack-power conversion that all tanks share.

Critical Healing Effect: When the paladin gets a crit on a heal, it will heal for more.

Block Amount: We want to keep the kit of the paladin as a tank who blocks a lot. So by contrast, the warrior tank will sometimes get critical blocks, but the paladin will absorb more damage with normal blocks.

Holy Damage: Any attack that does Holy damage will have its damage increased.

This concludes this Cataclysm preview for the paladin class. The development of these changes will continue to evolve in the coming months. Please be sure to provide any feedback and thoughts you might have on what was covered here.
(Source)

 

[Interfectum]

ok, im rolling a paladin. :lol

 

[Rapstah]

Guardian of Ancient Kings (level 85): Summons a temporary guardian that looks like a winged creature of light armed with a sword.

So why not "Summons a temporary guardian of light armed with a sword"? Is it Hogger in disguise or something?

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm we’ll be making several changes to class talents and abilities across the board. While this list only outlines some of our plans for the paladin class, we want to give you a look at the new high-level abilities and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with each talent spec.

New Paladin Spells

Blinding Shield (level 81): Causes damage and blinds all nearby targets. This effect might end up only damaging those facing the paladin’s shield, in a manner similar to Eadric the Pure's ability Radiance in Trial of the Champion. The Holy tree will have a talent to increase the damage and critical strike chance, while the Protection tree will have a talent to make this spell instant cast. 2-second base cast time. Requires a shield.

Healing Hands (level 83): Healing Hands is a new healing spell. The paladin radiates heals from him or herself, almost like a Healing Stream Totem. It has a short range, but a long enough duration that the paladin can cast other heals while Healing Hands remains active. 15-second cooldown. 6-second duration.

Guardian of Ancient Kings (level 85): Summons a temporary guardian that looks like a winged creature of light armed with a sword. The visual is similar to that of the Resurrection spell used by the paladin in Warcraft III. The guardian has a different effect depending on the talent spec of the paladin. For Holy paladins, the guardian heals the most wounded ally in the area. For Protection paladins, the guardian absorbs some incoming damage. For Retribution paladins, it damages an enemy, similar to the death knight Gargoyle or the Nibelung staff. 3-minute cooldown. 30-second duration (this might vary depending on which guardian appears).

Next you will find a list of some of the paladin spell and ability changes, followed by our intentions for improving each talent tree for the release of Cataclysm. There will be further changes, but those revealed below should offer some insight into our goals.

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

• Crusader Strike will be a core ability for all paladins, gained at level 1. We think the paladin leveling experience is hurt by not having an instant attack. Retribution will be getting a new talent in its place that either modifies Crusader Strike or replaces it completely.

• Cleanse is being rebalanced to work with the new dispel system. It will dispel defensive magic (debuffs on friendly targets), diseases, and poisons.

• Blessing of Might will provide the benefit of Wisdom as well. If you have two paladins in your group, one will do Kings on everyone and the other will do Might on everyone. There should be much less need, and ideally no need, to provide specific buffs to specific classes.

• Holy Shock will be a core healing spell available to all paladins.

New Talents and Talent Changes

• We want to ease off the defensive capabilities of Retribution and Holy paladins slightly. We think the powerful paladin defenses have been one of the things holding Retribution paladins back, especially in Arenas. One change we’re considering is lowering Divine Shield’s duration by a couple of seconds. Having said that, Retribution does pretty well in Battlegrounds, and Battlegrounds will be a much bigger focus in Cataclysm since they can provide the best PvP rewards. Furthermore, the healing environment of Cataclysm is going to be different such that a paladin may not be able to fully heal themselves during the duration of Divine Shield to begin with, so this may not be a problem.

• We feel Retribution paladins need one more mechanic which involves some risk of the player pushing the wrong button, making the rotation a bit less forgiving. In addition, we want to add to this spec more PvP utility. Right now the successes of the Retribution paladin in PvP seem to be reduced to either doing decent burst damage, or just being good at staying alive.

• We want to increase the duration of Sacred Shield to 30 minutes and keep the limit to one target. The intention is that the paladin can use it on their main healing target. That said, we would like to improve the Holy paladin toolbox and niche so that they don’t feel quite like the obvious choice for tank healing while perceived as a weak group healer.

• We want to add to the Holy tree a nice big heal to correspond with Greater Heal. Flash of Light remains the expensive, fast heal and Holy Light is the go-to heal that has average efficiency and throughput. Beacon of Light will be changed to work with Flash of Light. We like the ability, but want paladins to use it intelligently and not be constantly healing for twice as much.

• Holy paladins will use spirit as their mana regeneration stat.

• Protection paladins need a different rotation between single-target and multi-target tanking. Likewise, we're looking to add the necessity to use an additional cooldown in each rotation.

• Holy Shield will no longer have charges. It will be designed to improve block chance while active, and will continue to provide a small amount of damage and threat.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Holy
Healing
Meditation
Critical Healing Effect

Protection
Damage Reduction
Vengeance
Block Amount

Retribution
Melee Damage
Melee Critical Damage
Holy Damage

Meditation: This is the spirit-to-mana conversion that the priest, druid, and shaman healers also share.

Vengeance: This is the damage-received-to-attack-power conversion that all tanks share.

Critical Healing Effect: When the paladin gets a crit on a heal, it will heal for more.

Block Amount: We want to keep the kit of the paladin as a tank who blocks a lot. So by contrast, the warrior tank will sometimes get critical blocks, but the paladin will absorb more damage with normal blocks.

Holy Damage: Any attack that does Holy damage will have its damage increased.

This concludes this Cataclysm preview for the paladin class. The development of these changes will continue to evolve in the coming months. Please be sure to provide any feedback and thoughts you might have on what was covered here.
(Source)

Didn't Block go away?

 

[explodet]

One change we’re considering is lowering Divine Shield’s duration by a couple of seconds.

And the bubblehearthers wailed and gnashed their teeth.