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[firex]

That "caster weapons give additional spell power in addition to intellect" thing confuses me, because I thought it was going away as a green stat, period.

 

[Retro]

More info, including the same question twice. There's actually two Blue Posters making updates, i guess they overlapped...

Q. Concerning Marksmanship hunters, why is the PvP talent Resistance is Futile a prerequisite for PvE talent Marked for Death?
A. In an upcoming build it won’t be a prerequisite, and we want to change it to proc a free Kill Command instead of an instant critical.

Q. What's the deal with Typhoon? Is it going back into talents or will it be a standard druid spell?
A. Typhoon is now back in the tree. Sorry about that.

Q. Druids now get Swiftmend at level 10 for being Restoration, but it is a talent in the tree. What is the plan there?
A. This was a data error and has been corrected.

Q: Can you provide some clarity on the 3rd Mastery that is affected item stats?
A. We recognized the earlier implementation of Mastery in the beta was confusing. Mastery is no longer directly associated with a talent tree, but is instead a passive effect learned from a trainer at a later level. That passive effect will now grant the third Mastery bonus you formerly saw in the talent tree pane. The passive effect will have a base value, and then Mastery rating will increase that effect further. The other two Mastery bonuses previously listed at the top of the talent tree pane have been removed, but, in some cases, have been reimplemented as passive specialization bonuses. Currently, in the beta, you cannot see any of the Masteries, as they need to be reimplemented after the talent tree redesign.

Q: Any word on that cosmetic Tree of Life Form glyph? Some players are sad to lose Tree of Life Form completely.
A. The only new glyph we are ready to announce right now is the Glyph of Divine Shield, which reduces the cast time of your Hearthstone whenever Divine Shield is active.

Q: So, Worgen get top hats, and that's awesome. Are there any plans to give Goblins something cool? Maybe those sunglasses?
A. Quadruple pigtails maybe?

Again with the Worgen-related cosplay questions... Just ask if they can get a cosmetic strap-on already and go back to jerking it to Rescue Rangers... damn furries.

 

[notworksafe]

I think they said that just caster weps will have it. Seems the conversion of Int to SP gives them less overall SP so the weapons just pick up the slack by giving straight SP. I'm sure caster weps will end up being interchangeable between DPS and Heals as well so they wanted to give SP without having to give more mana and run into the "too much mana" thing for Healers again.

 

[Retro]

And another duplicate question cut out, that's been three so far. This is comment number 29 now...

Q. Will we see these talent changes in Wrath of the Lich King, before the release of Cataclysm, like we did with the last expansion?
A. Yes.

Q. Druids were always a "jack of all trades, but master of none" and usually mocked when specializing. Will new talents change this?
A. In my own raids, I find druids of all 3 specializations that excel at their chosen specialization. So, I don’t understand your question.

Q. Will WoW ever get a new weapon type?
A. Doubtful.

Q. Why does fury have two 31-point talents? Wouldn't it be simpler to merge them so one doesn't have to re-specialize when new weapons drop?
A. We feel the decision on which of these two talents to choose is based on play style (two fast weapons, or two slow two-handed weapons), not based on which weapons most recently dropped (like the former Arms weapon specialization talents which have been cut).

We expect the player to decide which type of dual wielder they are and collect weapons and gear that fit that type.

Q. How will brand new players know what a good leveling specialization is? Are they expected to know what site to visit and read up?
A. We believe that the new talent tree design will make it much easier for a neophyte player to pick a talent specialization and navigate its talent tree successfully with a viable specialization.

Q. Why was the Feral druid's mana reduction cost removed from King of the Jungle? And what happened to two combo points on critical strikes?
A. These are data errors that will be corrected. Neither is intended to be cut.

Q. Skull Bash has a 1-minute cooldown. Is it supposed to be that way, or can we expect it to be lowered to the likes of Shield Bash?
A. The base cooldown is 60 seconds to keep the ability from being used by Balance and Restoration druids to layer too much crowd control. A Feral tree talent reduces the cooldown to 10 seconds, putting it in line with Kick and other similar interrupt abilities.

Merged 31 into 30 since it was the Skull Bash question and then another duplicate. Here's #32:

Q: Hi, it's me Rend! I'm sort of terrible, but if tanks are having to use me in Cataclysm, may I be a good ability now?!
A. Get back to the back of the bus, Rend.

In all seriousness, though, we don’t want Rend to be the answer to Protection warrior threat. It isn’t going to keep mobs glued to you. We do think we have room to boost its damage though, even for warriors with a DPS specialization. One change we’ve made is letting it do a tick of damage immediately, so that you see and feel damage right on the application instead of waiting for the first tick.

Q: Is your goal to not have players have a separate talent specialization solely for PvP? If so, please elaborate on how you plan to accomplish that?
A. We are removing many of the PvP talents, as well as trying to make some of the PvP talents a little more useful for PvE (for example, a talent that currently procs on taking critical damage could instead proc on taking any damage, including AoE damage, as well). While we recognize that very competitive players might still want unique talent builds for PvP vs. PvE, the hope is that more players might be able to use the same specialization more often for multiple aspects of the game.

Q: With the new 31-point tree system, how will players use dual-specialization? Do we get to choose a new tree when we first use our secondary specialization (off-spec)?
A. You can use dual-specialization for a different specialization in beta, if you choose, much as you can today. We are going to lower the level at which you can use dual-specialization, as well as the cost for purchasing it, because we recognize that using Dungeon Finder while leveling is likely to be popular.

Q: Will WoW ever get a new weapon type?
A. Tauren will be able to dual-wield gnomes on a stick.

Good news on lowering the cost and level requirement on Dual Specs...

 

[Alex]

Paladins sound less boring, there will be rage on the forums for sure from the fat, lazy people who actually protested paladin interactivity during the LK beta.

 

[Retro]

Paladins sound less boring, there will be rage on the forums for sure from the fat, lazy people who actually protested paladin interactivity during the LK beta.

there will be rage on the forums for sure from the fat, lazy people who actually protested paladin interactivity during the LK beta.

there will be rage on the forums from the fat, lazy people

There we go... that's all you really needed to say :lol

Q: Moonkin: What are your plans for Eclipse, and why does it infect so many of our talents? What are your plans to make Moonkin fun?
A. The model we are trying now lets Solar and Lunar Eclipse procs last for about 45 seconds, and each spell of the appropriate type that you cast moves the bar back closer to the middle again. The buff is canceled by reaching the middle. This should let Moonkin "hold" the buff for short periods of time when they need to move or get out of the fire.

Q: It was said that players would be allowed to choose based on their play style. Do you believe fewer talents will accomplish this?
A. The talents that we are pruning are typically things like extra strength or coefficient boosts to spells. It’s hard to have a different play style based on talents like that. We are trying to keep the talents that really change gameplay. A Retribution paladin that feels like he can help out healing on 5-player dungeon runs might take the two-point talent to improve healing. A Protection warrior who tanks a lot of 5-player dungeons might want talents that help with AoE pulls, while one that is a raid off-tank might want, say, Safeguard and Vigilance instead.


Q: Are the improved aura talents going away? They were still present in beta.
A. If you mean talents like Improved Devotion Aura, then those are gone. We still have talents that, say, increase healing on targets of your auras. Improved Concentration Aura still exists. In genera, though, you shouldn’t have to worry about having raid buffs of different power competing with each other.

Q: How will a brand new players know what a good leveling specialization is? Are they expected to know what site to visit and read up?
A. We hope that most talent builds are decent for leveling. Giving players a good ability at level 10 definitely helps with this. We are trying to avoid the traps of bad talents by just removing them altogether (Unbridled Wrath, RIP).

Q: What do you think warriors will be more unique for in PvP now that Mortal Strike is available to other classes and reduced to 20%?
A. We don’t think warriors need a unique ability that is so awesome that you just have to have a warrior on your Arena team. That is bad mojo for all the other classes. We do want warriors to be useful in PvP, however. One ability we are trying out for Arms is "Throwdown," which lets them knock an opponent to the ground for five seconds. Since it’s usable in Battle Stance, they can also use it as a Pummel in a pinch.

Q: You mentioned "Disarming Glare isn't likely to make it. Could you expand on this a bit?
A. We cut it in exchange for the Throwdown talent above.

Q: What are your thoughts on there being guild housing as a possible guild leveling reward?
A. Our design dilemma with guild housing is what you do in a guild house. If you generally hang out there, and have vendors and banks and Auction House access, then you stay there all the time and it makes the cities feel pretty dead. In a game with instanced dungeons and now phases, we are reluctant to provide more reasons for players to not see other players. It’s a social game! If we can come up with a good role for guild houses then we’ll definitely do them in the future.

Q: What size shoes does Ghostcrawler wear?
A. I generally go barefoot on the yacht. Around on the office, I am often carried on gnome palanquin, so shoes are not required.


We have finished compiling all of the answers. We'd like to thank our class design team for taking the time to supply this information, as well as those of you who submitted questions!

Alright, I'm done spamming :lol

 

[Weenerz]

http://www.xfire.com/live_video/theweenerz/

Streaming my leveling in Vash'ir for all that are interested.

 

[firex]

That throwdown talent sounds fun, and totally fits arms' playstyle.

However...

Q: Any plan to make "Crit Immunity" passive from choosing a tank tree instead of spending talents on it?
A. No, and you can blame the druids.

Damn you, druids! Damn you all to hell!

 

[Door2Dawn]

So Paladins won't use mana anymore?

 

[keeblerdrow]

Where did you get that idea from?

 

[Xabora]

So Paladins won't use mana anymore?

Reverse Runic Power System.
You use mana to build Holy Combo Points, to use your abilities.

 

[Door2Dawn]

Reverse Runic Power System.
You use mana to build Holy Combo Points, to use your abilities.

Ah I see. Sounds interesting!

 

[Evlar]

Q: How is Heroic Leap working so far? Is it progressing better than your last attempt at putting it in-game?
A. We’re pretty happy with it so far. The version we have right now lets the warrior target where they want to leap, so they can use it as an escape tool as well. We all know paladins would never retreat from a battle, but warriors have been known to do so.

:lol

 

[Angry Grimace]

Ah I see. Sounds interesting!

If by interesting, you mean derivative.

 

[Door2Dawn]

If by interesting, you mean derivative.

Nope i mean interesting,which is why I typed it.

 

[Weenerz]

Leveling a troll druid through the troll starting area, watch if you wish.

 

[McNei1y]

Leveling a troll druid through the troll starting area, watch if you wish.

Ah crap! This is what I plan on rolling!

 

[UnblessedSoul]

So excited for the paladins new mechanic! maybe in cata all the face rollers who rolled one in wrath will go back to their mains

 

[Xabora]

Leveling a troll druid through the troll starting area, watch if you wish.

That troll is a worgen.
FIRE FIRE FIRE!

 

[Weenerz]

Hit a bugged quest in the troll area and it halted my progress.

 

[CassSept]

Loremaster isn't so bad. Although i did it with a mage, so i might be biased. It was ridiculous before they nerfed it though. Having to do AQ pre-quests or some shitty Dire Maul quests just to get the Kalimdor achievement was fucking hell.

Kalimdor is still hell. I was done with Outland within a few days. Same with Northrend, when I've finished exploring new content. Eastern Kingdoms was ok.
But Kalimdor, My God. 1,5 years later and I still can't get around to finishing it once and for all. Other parts are easy, but this one sucks. Hard.

 

[Tacitus_]

Throwdown is going to be FUN in PvP :3

 

[SiegfriedFM]

I still want some kind of knockback with warriors. Of course, there are potential problems but it would be awesome to charge at someone and throw them off a cliff.

How does the shaman and mage versions work? If you knock a mob off a platform in an instance, will it run back to you training every single mob?

 

[witness]

Holy shit the pally rebuild sounds awesome. Urge to come back for cataclysm rising.......

 

[Tamanon]

I still want some kind of knockback with warriors. Of course, there are potential problems but it would be awesome to charge at someone and throw them off a cliff.

How does the shaman and mage versions work? If you knock a mob off a platform in an instance, will it run back to you training every single mob?

In an instance? Yes it will. Outside, generally it won't.

 

[Narag]

Kalimdor is still hell. I was done with Outland within a few days. Same with Northrend, when I've finished exploring new content. Eastern Kingdoms was ok.
But Kalimdor, My God. 1,5 years later and I still can't get around to finishing it once and for all. Other parts are easy, but this one sucks. Hard.

I started my loremaster actively with Kalimdor and have 50 quests to go. I want to cut myself. :lol Thankfully I'd done a bunch of off the wall stuff previously so hopefully it'll wrap up easily after I do EK and all the associated Kalimdor turn-ins.

 

[funkmastergeneral]

The problem with loremaster is so many quest chains have you running from one side of the world to the other.

"Oh hi I'm an NPC in Un'goro crater, please go turn in this quest in FUCKING WINTERSPRING"

 

[Cipherr]

Q: Any word on that cosmetic Tree of Life Form glyph? Some players are sad to lose Tree of Life Form completely.
A. The only new glyph we are ready to announce right now is the Glyph of Divine Shield, which reduces the cast time of your Hearthstone whenever Divine Shield is active.

:lol :lol :lol :lol Oh god.

 

[mclem]

Since no-one's mentioned it in among all the *other* paladin-related awesome: A *cone* heal? Very interesting indeed.

 

[Retro]

Yeah, it sounds to me like Holy Paladins might be getting set up to be more like Frontline healers. Healing Hands is an AOE heal centered on the Paladin, and this Light of Dawn spell seems like you'd want to get as close as possible to use it.

Something else to consider; Holy Power is generated by Holy Shock and Crusader Strike, so a Healadin who wants to stockpile Holy Power for Word of Glory (the instant cast mana-free heal) would want to be up the boss's ass using Crusader Strike to increase how much Holy Power they're getting.

It also sounds like certain spells will scale up based on how much Holy Power you have stockpiled (The duration of Holy Shield and the damage of Divine Storm were mentioned), if any Holy spells (like this new Light of Dawn, maybe?) follow suit, that's another reason to be in there spamming Crusader Strikes.

Just the idea that Paladins will actually have a mechanic they can form strategies around is amazing.

 

[mclem]

It's probably worth mentioning that they suggest there are more mechanics by which you can gain holy power, so there may be some that lend themselves to the long-range healer too. I always liked the paladin-as-healer-in-melee approach right through since Vanilla (when I thought that was what was intended because if you were meleeing, you could keep Judgement of Light up on a given enemy), it's something I do hope they follow through with.

 

[Retro]

It's probably worth mentioning that they suggest there are more mechanics by which you can gain holy power, so there may be some that lend themselves to the long-range healer too. I always liked the paladin-as-healer-in-melee approach right through since Vanilla (when I thought that was what was intended because if you were meleeing, you could keep Judgement of Light up on a given enemy), it's something I do hope they follow through with.

Right, I've always wanted to see that done too; provide talents that allow holy to be either a long-range healer/caster (Shockadin + Current Healadin) or a front line combative healer. If I had to pick one though, I'd go with the front line healer. Paladins in the lore just don't seem like the kind of class that would ever stand safely away from anything.

Making Holy Paladins the "in the fray" healer would certainly be giving them a proper niche, since it sounds like their instant heals are all going to be cones and self-AoEs, making all of their mobile healing options stuff you have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your DPS and Tanks to use best.

And Retro likes the sound of that. I hate healing, but that sounds badass enough to get me to at least consider it.

 

[notworksafe]

:lol :lol :lol :lol Oh god.

Well to be fair Bubble is getting it's time reduced as well. Guess they didn't want to us to lose our iconic chickenshit move. :lol

 

[Retro]

Well to be fair Bubble is getting it's time reduced as well. Guess they didn't want to us to lose our iconic chickenshit move. :lol

...but what about Blizzard saying "We all know paladins would never retreat from a battle?"

Oh... waaaaait a minute... oh, you guys are dicks... :lol

 

[notworksafe]

We'll never RUN from a battle, but we'll always be happy to retreat!

 

[DarkAngelYuna]

Ugh.. woke up seeing a beta invite in my email from blizzard. I was all omg B=====D~~ but then I noticed it was for SC2 and I changed all to =[ =[ =[

 

[Nolimit_SS]

With bubble+hs nerf they just destroyed everything, whole wow universe and core of the game.
Time for all paladins to quit, no reason to play anymore.


Ok but seriously, it does suck

 

[Angelus Errare]

They should just get of the bubble period.

 

[ShallNoiseUpon]

Ugh.. woke up seeing a beta invite in my email from blizzard. I was all omg B=====D~~ but then I noticed it was for SC2 and I changed all to =[ =[ =[

Happens to me. Every. Single. Day.

 

[FLEABttn]

Killed Halion in guild last night on our 4th try. We didn't bring two of the three people who love the laser and we told the third how to stop sucking ass. Worked well. Very, very easy fight when people are doing what they're supposed to.

 

[Bisnic]

Kalimdor is still hell. I was done with Outland within a few days. Same with Northrend, when I've finished exploring new content. Eastern Kingdoms was ok.
But Kalimdor, My God. 1,5 years later and I still can't get around to finishing it once and for all. Other parts are easy, but this one sucks. Hard.

You do know some quests you get in Eastern Kingdoms counts for Kalimdor too right?

 

[JesseZao]

With bubble+hs nerf they just destroyed everything, whole wow universe and core of the game.
Time for all paladins to quit, no reason to play anymore.


Ok but seriously, it does suck

There is a bubble hearth glyph if you still want to do it.

 

[mclem]

There is a bubble hearth glyph if you still want to do it.

I *thought* that was a joke... but then, with Blizzard, who can be sure? That glyph could be the WoW Jarate.

 

[ampere]

I *thought* that was a joke... but then, with Blizzard, who can be sure? That glyph could be the WoW Jarate.

Medium Glyphs are supposedly going to offer features such as this, being totally optional and not affecting raids. I could see that one happening.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Medium Glyphs are supposedly going to offer features such as this, being totally optional and not affecting raids. I could see that one happening.

I think it has to be a joke. Just look at that smiley at the end.

 

[Weenerz]

http://www.xfire.com/live_video/theweenerz/

Gonna be leveling dudes up and stuff.

 

[Metroidvania]

Personally, the new pally system seems almost rogue-esque to me, moreso than inverse-DKish, unless I'm missing something, which is entirely probable.

Not really a problem, (well, I can't judge that personally, since I've never gotten past 30 or so on a rogue, because spamming sinister strike and waiting for energy gets old fast) I suppose, but it certainly will change things up.

 

[Retro]

Personally, the new pally system seems almost rogue-esque to me, moreso than inverse-DKish, unless I'm missing something, which is entirely probable.

It's definitely closer to Combo points than Runes, except it sounds like Holy Power will be applied on the Paladin rather than the target. The whole "Use x abilities to get resource" mechanic is the same, but it sounds like Paladins will also have certain spells that get stronger based on how much Holy Power you have saved up. They mentioned Divine Storm getting stronger and Holy Shield getting a longer duration based on how much Holy Power you have when you cast them.

So it isn't just a matter of building up points and then using a finisher like a Rogue would; you have to actually decide if it's worth burning your Holy Power or saving it.

And that sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than Holy Light Spam / 969 / FCFS.

 

[notworksafe]

http://www.xfire.com/live_video/theweenerz/

Gonna be leveling dudes up and stuff.

Xfire just hates Macbooks. Even in Windows 7 I can't get video on that site.

 

[Sciz]

So it isn't just a matter of building up points and then using a finisher like a Rogue would; you have to actually decide if it's worth burning your Holy Power or saving it.

The better comparison would be that it's a combo point mechanic that's consumed like the new soul shards.