Cataclysm Class Change Expectations, Part 2

Welcome to the second part of the Cataclysm Class Change Expectations. Catchy title, I know! This time around we’ll be taking a look at the classes that I missed last time. If you haven’t read the first part, then I suggest going and reading it now.

We’ll start with the Shaman. I enjoy healing with mine, and throwing on an Elemental spec and hurling balls of lightning and lava at people is just downright awesome as well, but I’ve always felt there’s something lacking about the class. Levelling is a pain, due to a confusing mix of ranged and melee range attacks, although downtime isn’t too bad now we have the increased health and mana regen at lower levels. I think my issue with the Shaman is that feeling of being nailed to the floor. You place your totems, and… well, you usually end up anchored to them. The lack of mobility and repetitive rotations make for a good, just not exciting playing experience.

I’m expecting big things of the Shaman come Cataclysm however. A melee attack gained at level 3 will push Enhancement to better performance at lower levels. A new heal at level 4 will keep the martyrs healers interested and give some extra survivability to those hellish points where you pull 3 mobs too many. Really though, the goodies start rolling in when enter the early 80s. Unleash Weapon (level 81): Unleashes the power of your weapon enchants for additional effects. The nature of the spell changes with the enchant, making it viable for every spec. It’s instant cast, with a shortish cooldown of 15 seconds… Shamans just got a new attack/heal to play with! There’s Healing Rain, which is pretty self explanatory. It rains, and people it rains on get healed. What more do you want? At 85 though, you get possibly the coolest spell Shamans could ask for: Spiritwalker’s Grace. For 10 seconds, you can move while casting. Let me repeat that again, just in case you missed it. You can move while casting. That there is going to be good. Really good. Really, really good. I said I was expecting big things of the Shaman. I suspect I will not be disappointed.

Priests! Without wanting to sound like I do nothing else with my life, I have an Undead Priest at 80, currently dual specced for Shadow and Discipline. I prefer Discipline (I liked it before it was cool, I’ll have you know), but you can’t go wrong melting some faces. I’m of the rare (and probably wrong) opinion that there’s not much you can do with Priests really. Every spec I’ve tried has been absolutely fine, but then I’m not ripping through ICC25 Heroic.

So far, we know that Priests are getting a basic nuke for those occasions where DoTs just aren’t going to cut it. That’s… alright I guess. Nothing special is it? An instant cast spell, on a caster class? Big whoop. Shadow gets a few more interesting abilities, such as Shadow Orbs, but overall I wasn’t expecting a lot of changes to that spec, and it seems we won’t be getting many either. Holy gets a neat little ability that increases the healing from a spell the more you use it, which is a good idea in theory. How well it will pan out is anyone’s guess, but provided it’s balanced right it should give some interesting results. An alternative to Inner Fire will apparently be available… and it’s sounds rubbish. Increased movement speed and 10% mana cost reduction on instant cast spells. As opposed to more armour and spellpower. Yeah… best leave that alone, for the moment. Finally, the big 85 ability will Leap of Faith, which is Death Grip in reverse. The potential for abuse of this spell is off the scale. It’s beyond the scale. It’s so far away from the scale that the scale is nothing more than a dot on the horizon. I can’t wait to see how long it lasts.

Oh yeah, and Discipline is getting Power Word: Barrier. Nearly forgot about that.*

*Best news of the expansion. Ever. EVER.

Finally, we’ll finish this segment off with the Rogue. Last time I played mine in Burning Crusade, stabbing people was the order of the day, and as far as I know that’s not changed. The Rogue only really does 2 things: Hit people, and hit people hard to make them wander around in a daze. They have a neat toolbox of little tricks, like lockpicking and disctracting mobs, but really it boils down to “Where is that guys spine and how do I stick something in it?”.

To that end, Rogues are getting the ability to move their combo points from one target to another on the fly, which should be good. They’re also getting a stacking damage reduction ability, which they need. My Hunter’s Hyena has more armour than a Rogue. They get killed far too easily if you get the jump on them. Finally, they get Smoke Bomb, which is kind of like Anti-Magic Zone, only unbelievably awesome. Throw down the smoke, and anything outside it’s area of effect loses it’s target on you, and cannot hit you with single target abilities. I see one major issue with this, however. I doubt Smoke Bomb will be a subtle ability. I suspect everyone will know when it’s happened, and the area it occupies will suddenly be the target of every AOE capable class in the game, all of them laying down the hurt.

Next time, Hunters, Mages and Warlocks. Tune in for Part 3 later in the week!