Cataclysm Paladin Preview

The last class preview had finally been made public. For the majority of the paladin community the sky is not falling...yet. I myself find the changes to blessings a god-send. Here are some highlights:

•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).

•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.

• 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.

For a full list of the paladin changes click HERE.

And for Raivis (since I would never hear the end of it) here is a male paladin:

Healing in Cataclysm

By now most of you know that in Cataclysm everything will be, for the most part, different. Healing is no exception. The basic fact is: the way we know healing today will be completely different. From what I've read it's going to be a major adjustment. I found a post by Ghostcrawler today that I though was important enough to share.

In Cataclysm it going to be more of a strategy when it comes to healing. You will have to use a variety of healing spells in order to heal effectively. Healing rotations and healing based on your global cooldowns will be out the window. Each healer will have to set a priority list of who to heal, when to heal, and what spell to use. If you don't do this correctly (say spam you biggest heal over and over) you will run oom.

I would be lying if I said it wasn't somewhat intimidating.

It is my belief that we as healers should start examining these changes and prepare ourselves now for whats to come. I like the post by Ghostcrawler because it shows the thinking and the motivation behind the changes. To read what Ghostcrawler has to say and join in on a healing focused discussion click HERE.

Paladin Class Preview Moved Up

Those poor paladins.... left out in the cold when it came to their class preview. Lucky for all of you light wielding crusaders Blizzard had moved your preview date from the 16th to tomorrow the 14th!

I, myself, am very curious to see what Blizz has in store for it's most popular class.

Cataclysm Mage Preview

Behold! The all-mighty mage!! :) Here is some highlights of what's in store for you mighty flame-ball throwers.

• Flame Orb (available at level 81): Inspired by Prince Taldaram's abilities in Ahn'kahet and Icecrown Citadel, this spell allows the mage to cast a flaming orb that travels in front in a straight line, sending beams that cause fire damage to passing targets. Once it's cast, the mage is free to begin casting other spells as the Flame Orb travels. While the spell will be useful to any spec, Fire mages will have talents that improve it, possibly causing the Flame Orb to explode when it reaches its destination.
• Time Warp (level 83): Grants a passive Haste effect much like Bloodlust or Heroism to party or raid members. It also temporarily increases the mage's own movement speed. Time Warp will be exclusive with Bloodlust and Heroism, meaning you can't benefit from both if you've got the Exhaustion debuff, though the movement-speed increase will still work even when under the effects of Exhaustion.
• Wall of Fog (level 85): Creates a line of frost in front of the mage, 30 yards from end to end. Enemies who cross the line are snared and take damage. The mana cost will be designed to make Wall of Fog efficient against groups, not individuals. This spell is intended to give mages a way to help control the battlefield, whether the mage is damaging incoming enemies (Blizzard can be channeled on top of Wall of Fog) or protecting a flag in a Battleground. 10-second duration. 30-second cooldown.
• Arcane Missiles is being redesigned to become a proc-based spell. Whenever the mage does damage with any spell, there is a chance for Arcane Missiles to become available, similar to how the warrior's Overpower works.
• We are planning to remove spells that don't have a clear purpose. Amplify Magic, Dampen Magic, Fire Ward, and Frost Ward are being removed from the game, and we may remove more.

For the juicy details on what Blizzard has in store for you blizzards click HERE.

Cataclysm Druid Preview

First off, I do apologize to our druids for this delay in posting your class preview. I found this picture of a driud and I just felt so bad for him. Poor guy looks like he hasn't eaten in weeks.

Here is a brief highlight of the changes:

· Thrash (Level 81): Thrash deals damage and causes all targets within 10 yards to bleed every 2 seconds for 6 seconds. The intent here is to give bears another button to hit while tanking. Talents will affect the bleed, such as causing Swipe to deal more damage to bleeding targets. 5-second cooldown. 25 Rage.

· Stampeding Roar (Level 83): The druid roars, increasing the movement of all allies within 10 yards by 40% for 8 seconds. Stampeding Roar can be used in cat or bear form, but bears might have a talent to drop the cooldown.

· Wild Mushroom (Level 85): Grows a magical mushroom at the target location. After 4 seconds the mushroom becomes invisible. Enemies who cross the mushroom detonate it, causing it to deal area-of-effect damage, though its damage component will remain very effective against single targets. The druid can also choose to detonate the mushroom ahead of time. This is primarily a tool for the Balance druid, and there will be talents that play off of it. No cooldown. 40-yard range. Instant cast.

· Unlike the other healers, Restoration druids will not be receiving any new spells.

· Restoration druids will have a new talent called Efflorescence, which causes a bed of healing flora to sprout beneath targets that are critically healed by Regrowth.

· Tree of Life is changing from a passive talent to a cooldown-based talent, similar to Metamorphosis.

For the full preview of the Druid class click HERE.

Cataclysm Hunter Preview

For our animal loving friends comes some much anticipated changes. Here is a highlight of what Blizz has in store for hunter:

• Cobra Shot (level 81): A new shot that deals Nature damage instead of Physical damage. This ability will share a cooldown with Steady Shot. This will give hunters an alternative to Steady Shot on heavily-armored targets, and we will have talent incentives in the Beast Mastery tree to make this a signature shot.
• Trap Launcher (level 83): When used, the next trap can be shot to a location within 40 yards. This provides the current Freezing Arrow treatment to all traps and, as a result, we will be removing the current ability Freezing Arrow.
• Camouflage (level 85): The hunter enters an obscured state that prevents him or her from taking ranged damage.
• Hunters will no longer use mana; instead the class will use Focus. A solid look at focus is after the break.
  
• Ammo removed.
• Pet storage changed, 3 pets you can carry around and use (only one out) -- many more able to be stored.

For full details on the Hunter Class Preview please click HERE.

Cataclysm Rogue Preview

Now for our sneaky little friends we have the Rogue Class Preview. As a side note, isn't this picture awesome?

Here are some highlights:

• Redirect (available at level 81): Rogues will be getting a new ability to help them deal with changing targets. Redirect will transfer any active combo points to the rogue's current target, helping to ensure combo points aren't wasted when swapping targets or when targets die.
• Combat Readiness (level 83): Combat Readiness is a new ability that we intend rogues to trigger defensively. While this ability is active, whenever the rogue is struck by a melee or ranged attack, he or she will gain a stacking buff called Combat Insight that results in a 10% reduction in damage taken.
• Smoke Bomb (level 85): The rogue drops a Smoke Bomb, creating a cloud that interferes with enemy targeting. Enemies who are outside the cloud will find themselves unable to target units inside the cloud with single-target abilities. Enemies can move inside the cloud to attack, or they can use area-of-effect (AoE) abilities at any time to attack opponents in a cloud. In PvP, this will open up new dimensions of tactical positional gameplay, as the ability offers a variety of offensive and defensive uses. In PvE, Smoke Cloud can serve to shield your group from hostile ranged attacks, while also drawing enemies closer without the need to rely on conventional line-of-sight obstructions. Smoke Cloud lasts 10 seconds and has a 3-minute cooldown.
• Weapon specializations are gone.

For the full recap of all things rogue please click HERE.