World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Feats of Strength!

• WoW's 6th Anniversary - Logged in during WoW's 6th Anniversary.

Raids & Dungeons

• Heroic: Nefarian - Defeat Nefarian in Blackwing Descent on Heroic difficulty. Title Reward: Blackwing's Bane
• Heroic: Sinestra - Defeat Sinestra in the Bastion of Twilight on Heroic difficulty. Title Reward: Dragonslayer
• Heroic: Al'Akir - Defeat Al'Akir in the Throne of the Four Winds on Heroic difficulty. Title Reward: Of the Four Winds
• Defender of a Shattered World - Complete the raids and Heroic dungeons listed below. Title Reward: Defender of a Shattered World
• Pardon Denied - Defeat Baron Ashbury in heroic Shadowfang Keep before he casts Stay of Execution.
• To the Ground! - Defeat Commander Springvale in heroic Shadowfang Keep before he becomes empowered with Unholy Power.
• Bullet Time - Defeat 12 Bloodthirsty Ghouls with Pistol Barrage and then defeat Lord Godfrey in heroic Shadowfang Keep.

Racials

• Gemcutting (Draenei) now increases Jewelcrafting skill by 10, up from 5.

Companion Pets

• Guild Herald now has a 4 hours cooldown.
• Guild Page now has a 8 hours cooldown.

Death Knight (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
No changes, sorry.

Druid (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Balance

• Nature's Torment is now named Nature's Grace and now resets the cooldown of Nature's Grace instead of Nature's Torment.

Feral

• Thrash affects all targets within 8 yards. (Tooltip clarification)
• Tiger's Fury now increases physical damage done by 88.8% for 6 sec. (This one is weird, might want to wait before theorycrafting)
• Pulverize base additional damage increased by 66%.
• Stampede now affects your next Ravage. (Tooltip clarification)
• Fury Swipes - When you auto-attack while in Cat form or Bear form, you have a 5/10/15% chance to cause a Fury Swipe dealing 200% weapon damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every 3 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant

Restoration

• Lifebloom can now be cast on an unlimited amount of targets while under the effect of Tree of Life.
• Omen of Clarity (Passive) - If specialized as a Feral Druid, Omen of Clarity will also have a chance to occur from your auto-attacks. (Tooltip clarification)
• Tree of Life now lasts 30 sec, down from 45 sec. Costs 6% of base mana, down from 13% of base mana.
• Efflorescence no longer procs from Regrowth critical heals, now procs when you heal with your Swiftmend spell. Now heals all nearby friendly targets within 8 yards (up from 4 yards) for 10% of the amount healed by your Swiftmend over 7 sec.
• Blessing of the Grove no longer increases the damage done by your Claw and Shred.

Hunter (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Marksmanship

• Marked for Death no longer applies Hunter's Mark to the target, now applies the Marked for Death effect. Marked for Death is the same as Hunter's Mark, but undispellable, does not restrict stealth or invisibility and lasts 15 sec.

Survival

• Scatter Shot no longer has a 5 yards minimum range. (Beta-only bug, but at least you're sure it's gone now)
• Noxious Stings now increases damage done on targets afflicted by your Serpent Sting by 10%, up from 5%.

Pet Abilities

• Smack / Bite / Claw now scales from 8% of your Ranged AP, up from 7%.
• Froststorm Breath now scales from 9.6% of your Ranged AP, up from 8.4%.

Mage (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arcane

• Portal: Stonard is now trained at level 52, up from 42.

Fire

• Frostfire Bolt base damage increased by 2%.
• Combustion now creates a new periodic fire effect on the target, lasting 10 sec and dealing the same damage per time as all your existing periodic fire effects.

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Holy
Spiritual Focus no longer gives you hit based on your Spirit. Renamed to Paragon of Virtue - Reduces the cooldown of your Divine Protection by 10/20 sec and the cooldown of your Avenging Wrath by 30/60 sec.

• Enlightened Judgements now also grants hit rating equal to 50/100% of any Spirit gained from items or effects.

Protection

• Divine Shield's Forbearance effect no longer affects Divine Protection.
• Hand of Protection's Forbearance effect no longer affects Divine Protection.
• Vindication now has a 50/100% reduces damage done by your target by 10% for 30 sec, up from 5% for 10 sec.
• Divine Guardian is now a Tier 5 talent, up from Tier 4.
• Hammer of the Righteous now costs 12% of base mana, up from 6% of base mana.
• Seals of the Pure is now a 2 Ranks talent, down from 3 Ranks. Seals of the Pure - Increases the damage done by your Seal of Righeousness, Seal of Truth and Seal of Justice by 6/12%. (Down from 5/10/15%)

Retribution

• Crusader Strike now costs 10% of base mana, up from 5% of base mana.
• Templar's Verdict now deals 90% Weapon Damage when used with 2 Holy Power, down from 110%.

Priest (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Discipline

• Power Word: Barrier now costs 30% of base mana, down from 65% of base mana.
• Train of Thought now causes your Smite to reduce the cooldown of Penance by 0.5 sec, down from 1 sec.
• Rapture can now occur once every 6 sec, down from 12 sec.
• Soul Warding is now a Tier 2 talent, down from Tier 4.
• Atonement now heals a nearby low health friendly party or raid target within 8 yards from the enemy target equal to 60/120/120% of the damage dealt. (3rd Rank is still there but I guess they're changing the talent to 2 Ranks)
• Archangel Evangelism effect now has a 30 sec cooldown, up from 15 sec.
• Borrowed Time is now a 2 Ranks talent, down from 3 Ranks. Moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4. Now grants 7/14% Spell haste after casting Power: Word Shield. (Old - 5/10/15%)

Holy

• Spiritual Healing (Passive) now increases healing by 15%, down from 25%.
• Divine Hymn now costs 36% of base mana, down from 40% of base mana.
• Greater Heal now costs 27% of base mana, down from 29% of base mana.
• Blessed Resilience is now a Tier 5 talent, down from Tier 6.

Shadow

• Sin and Punishment now reduces the cooldown of your Shadowfiend by 3/10 sec when Mind Flay critically hits, down from 10/20 sec.

Rogue (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Combat

• Fan of Knives now costs 35 Energy, down from 50 Energy. Now deals 80% of thrown weapon damage.
• Ambidexterity (Passive) now increases damage done by your off hand by 75%, up from 50%. Now increases damage done by your thrown weapons by 75% as well.

Subtlety

• Slaughter from the Shadows now also reduces the energy cost of Fan of Knives by 2/4/6.

Shaman (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Enhancement

• Mental Quickness now reduces the mana cost of your instant spells by 75% instead of reducing the cost of shock spells by 60%.

Warlock (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Demonology

• Summon Infernal is now under the command of the warlock for 45 sec, down from 1 min.
• Decimation now affects targets at or below 25% health, down from 35%.
• Impending Doom now reduces the cooldown of your Demon Form by 15 sec, up from 6 sec.

Destruction

• Backlash now has a 8/16% chance to proc, down from 13/26%.

Warrior (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arms

• Wrecking Crew is now a 2 Ranks talent, down from 3 Ranks. Wrecking Crew - Your Mortal Strike critical hits have a 50/100% chance to Enrage you, increasing all damage caused by 5/10% for 12 sec.

Fury

• Heroic Leap now has a 1 min cooldown, down from 2 min.
• Skirmisher now reduces the cooldown of Heroic Leap by 10/20 sec, down from 15/30 sec.

Protection

• Intervene no longer has a 8 yards minimum range.

We are planning to do a focused playtest on Tol Barad on Monday the 27th at 4pm PST. We would like to get as many players out there on the beta to help us as possible. You must be level 85 to join the battle. We will speed up the game timer so we can play multiple games during the test.

I will make a new feedback post after we finish the test for everyone to post in. Feedback is very important for us at this point so please take your time and try to be as concise as possible with your findings.

Thanks for the help!

Guild Leveling
25-Man Raids Achievements
We just made a change to all of the old 25 player raids that allows guild achievements to be completed as if they were a 10 player raid. This means you will only need 8/10 instead of 20/25.

Get hyped. =) (Source)

Raids & Dungeons
Dungeon Finder average iLVL
The built-in Blizzard number is an average of the best piece of gear in every slot. It counts equipped gear as well as your bags and banks. It is meant as a general measurement of whether you're capable of handling a dungeon or not, and shouldn't be taken too seriously as a measurement of awesomeness. (Source)

GCD Locked
This is a good start, but there are other reasons we don't like being GCD locked. It means you can never take even a moment to look around and notice the battlefield, notice who is in trouble, maybe shout something out on Vent. If you have a situational utility ability, or even are asked to do something unusual on a boss fight, you're reluctant because you need those GCDs for more dps!!!!

(Usually when I say that, the response is "I can multitask!" But the reality doesn't always match that boast. What we see instead if players complaining about e.g. movement fights because that means they can't always get to step 6 of a 6 step damage rotation.)

Even more importantly, we also want design space for ourselves. When your spec is GCD locked, you have to start ignoring things like procs or free resources, because you can't spend them without screwing up your rotation.

That said, we know that being GCD locked is a really subjective issue. Some players like hitting a button every 1.5 (or 1.0) seconds and feel like they are waiting around when that doesn't happen. Fury warriors and the dps paladins who can't necessarily hit a button every 1.5 sec now have found their Cataclysm versions of the classes to feel almost foreign... though we still think it will feel better in the long run. I worry a little about the overall health of our game if going 1.5 seconds without hitting a button bores you to tears. Overall, I think everyone would have more fun if they focused more on beating the boss as a team and less on their individual contribution to that effort.

We also know that some players are just really intolerant of randomness. They make the logical leap from understanding that dealing with randomness is a challenge they need to overcome to campaigning for us to remove the randomness altogether. This is particularly true in PvP, which some players want to be more like a button masher fighting game and less like an RPG. Suffice to say that we think randomness is healthy and necessary as long as it doesn't get out of control. Even though you may claim it's the easiest thing in the world to hit that Pyroblast button when Hot Streak procs, we also know that dps can vary enormously even between relatively skilled and fantastically skilled players, and a great deal of that is using the right abilities at the right time. (Source)

Death Knight (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
GCD Locked
Now with regard to DKs specifically, we think what is happening is that players are transfering characters in at 80 and ending up with 40% haste or whatever because of the way gear was converted on their character (no mastery, no armor pen). Once you get closer to 85, you won't have that much haste. You may be GCD locked for short periods of time when the stars align and you get a bunch of procs at once, but you'll also go streaks without those procs. This is still a world of difference from the DK on live, whose rotation collapses if they fail to get off a Plague Strike, or who can't even take advantage of free runes or procs, or who just have to reroll if they experience the unfortunate but also inevitable lag that comes with playing an online game.

Now, if you're one of those players who just hates gaps, then go ahead and stack a bunch of haste. You'll have to go out of your way to do that though, and sacrifice some other stats to get there. For the DK that balances gear out, you shouldn't be GCD locked for long periods of time. (Source)

Druid (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Stampede change
You have 10 sec to use Ravage once, not as many Ravages as you can manage in 10 sec. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Protection and Holy Power
If we give Protection ways to generate more Holy Power, then that opens the door for getting both Inquisition and Shield of the Righteous going at the same time. As soon as that's possible, you're going to assume you have to do both to be competitive, and whenever you can't keep both up, you're going to be frustrated. (Source)

Retribution in WotLK
Ret was broken. If you don't see eye to eye with us on that, then it's understandable why the degree of change might be surprising to you. We tried to advertise that change was coming for a long time because we didn't want anyone to be surprised when it happened. Many players, including many Ret players, were just not happy with the mechanics of the spec in Lich King. I can understand if you just happened to love your character the way he or she was, but unfortunately, that doesn't give us much room to maneuver in attempting to implement a design that we will be happy with, and ultimately many players (though it will never be all) will be as well. (Source)

Priest (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Quality of life
Power Word: Fortitude no longer requires candles. Poor candle vendors.

Power Word: Shield does not require the target to be in your party or raid today on Live. We made this change in 3.3 IIRC.

We still want Shadowform to be a little bit of a tradeoff. If you have all the utility of a healer and can do competitive damage with any caster, then why would players want to be anything else?

We agree that the number of self buffs feels high. We'll try and think of a way to address that. (Source)

Discipline Priest
There is an optional Discipline build where you take Atonement/Archangel and you can use Smite on the tanked target, and have higher HPS than if you just chain Heal the tank. This isn’t always optimal, as Atonement heals the lowest health target (which could be a Rogue standing in a fire), but that’s not always such a bad thing in Cataclysm’s environment where the MT doesn’t have to be spam healed. That said, we think it is interesting gameplay unique to the Disc priest.

In an upcoming build, when you critically hit with Smite your Atonement will critically heal (and cause Divine Aegis).

We’ve also optimized some of the talents, and pruned some of the 3-pointers down to 2-pointers and also reduced the mana cost of Power Word: Barrier throughout the tree.

We’re toning Spiritual Guidance down to bring the healing mount between Discipline and Holy closer together, Holy’s “talent tree passive” is currently stronger than intended than Discipline’s.

We want Disc to be able to do any raid job, but we are also trying not to just have every healer use the same retinue of spells. If the situation arises, they should be able to Prayer of Heal, Holy Nova, Prayer of Mending for comparable healing throughput / efficiency as Holy can to raid heal. The only difference is Holy can be in a Chakra state which increases the healing done, but then again Disc can heal for 30%+ (depending on Mastery) with Divine Aegis and can also cast free Prayer of Healing with Inner Focus. (Source)

Rogue (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Combat DPS
Yep. I can tell you right now that Combat's dps is a little low. This is a known issue. (Source)

Feats of Strength

• Zul'Gurub is now a Feat of Strength.
• Deadliest Catch is now a Feat of Strength.
• Hero of the Zandalar Tribe is now a Feat of Strength.

Professions

• The Limnologist now requires 48 different freshwater fish. (Down from 50)
• The Oceanographer now requires 33 different saltwater fish. (Down from 34)
• Accomplished Angler no longer requires Deadliest Catch.

Racials

• Undead - Will of the Forsaken now shares a 30 sec cooldown with similar effects, down from 45 sec.
• Dwarves - Explorer *New* - Archaeology skill increased by 15 and you survey faster than normal archaeologists. (Yes, that's from the previous build, forgot to news it)

Alchemy

• Transmute: Ametrine, Transmute: Cardinal Ruby, Transmute: Dreadstone, Transmute: Eye of Zul, Transmute: King's Amber, Transmute: Majestic Zircon had their cooldown removed, you might want to assume that this will be the case when 4.0.1 goes live.

Death Knight (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Unholy

• Unholy Presence now reduces the GCD on your abilities by 0.5 sec.

Frost

• Improved Icy Talons now increases the melee and ranged attack speed of all party and raid members within 100 yards by 10%. (Down from 20%)

Druid (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Balance

• Wild Mushroom now affects targets within 3 yards, down from 10 yards.
• Entangling Roots now lasts 30 sec, up from 27 sec.

Feral

• According to the tooltips, Swift Flight Form, Flight Form, Aquatic Form, Travel Form, Bear Form, Cat Form no longer make you immune to Polymorph.
• Swift Flight Form now costs 8% of base mana, down from 13% of base mana.
• Skull Bash now has a 13 yards range, up from 8 yards.
• Pulverize now increases your melee critical strike chance by 3%, up from 2%.
• Endless Carnage now increases the duration of Savage Roar and Pulverize by 4/8 sec, up from 3/6 sec.
• Stampede now makes Ravage not require stealth for 10 sec (up from 3 sec), it will also cost 50/100% less energy.
• Predatory Strikes now affects targets at or above 80% health, down from 90%.

Restoration

• Rebirth no longer costs mana.
• Rejuvenation now costs 20% of base mana, down from 25%.
• Mastery: Symbiosis (Revamped) - Increases the potency of your healing spells by 10% on targets already affected by one of your heal over time spells. Each point of Mastery increases heal potency by an additional 1.25%.

Hunter (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Beast Mastery

• Kill Command now scales from 63% of RAP, up from 21%.
• Animal Handler (Passive) now increases your Attack Power by 15%, down from 25%.

Marksmanship

• Aimed Shot now scales from 26% of RAP, down from 40%.
• Arcane Shot now scales from 4% of RAP, down from 19%.

Survival

• Hunting Party now increases your total Agility by an additional 10% (down from 20%) and increases the Ranged and Melee Attack Speed of all party and raid members by 10%. (Down from 20%)

Pets

• Bite / Claw / Smack now scales from 7% of RAP, down from 14% of RAP.
• Spirit Mend (Spirit Beast) now costs 5 Focus

Mage (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arcane

• Ritual of Refreshment now costs 27% of base mana, down from 80% of base mana.
• Arcane Explosion now costs 18% of base mana, down from 22% of base mana.
• Arcane Blast base damage increased by 17%, now costs 8% of base mana, up from 7% of base mana.
• Arcane Barrage base damage increased by 17%.
• Arcane Missiles base damage increased by 17%.

Fire

• Frostfire Bolt base damage increased by 20%.
• Living Bomb base damage increased by 12%.
• Pyroblast base damage increased by 12%.
• Fireball base damage increased by 12%.

Frost

• Curtain of Frost is now named Ring of Frost and has been revamped - Summons a Ring of Frost, taking 3 sec to coalesce. Enemies entering the fully-formed ring will become frozen for 10 sec. Lasts 12 sec. 10 yd radius. 7% of base mana, 30 yd range, Channeled, 3 min cooldown
• Ice Lance base damage increased by 20%.
• Frostbolt base damage increased by 20%.
• Deep Freeze base damage increased by 20%.
• Early Frost now reduces the cast time of Frostbolt by 0.35/0.7 secs, up from 0.25/0.5 secs.

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Holy

• Enlightened Judgements now also Increases the range of your Judgement by 5/10 yards.
• Divinity is gone, moved to Protection
• Protector of the Innocent is now a Tier 1 Holy Talent and has been revamped - Casting a targeted heal on any target, including yourself, also heals you for 1240.83 to 1427.62. (Multi ranks, but currently all with the same value)

Protection

• Divinity is now a Tier 1 Protection talent.
• Protector of the Innocent is gone, moved to Holy.
• Guarded by the Light additional effect - In addition, your Word of Glory will also cause Holy Shield.
• Judgements of the Just now also reduces ranged attack speed.

Retribution

• Crusader Strike now causes 120% weapon damage, up from 100%.
• Selfless Healer now increases the effectiveness of Word of Glory's heal by 25/50% when used on others.
• The Art of War now causes 100% additional damage, up from 30%.

Priest (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Discipline

• Inner Fire no longer has a mana cost.
• Borrowed Time is now a Tier 2 talent, down from Tier 4.
• Soul Warding is now a Tier 4 talent, up from Tier 2.
• Train of Thought (Tier 5) *New* - You have a 50/100% chance when heal with Greater Heal to reduce the cooldown of your Inner Focus by 5 sec. You have a 50/100% chance when you Smite to reduce the cooldown of your Penance by 1 sec.

Holy

• Greater Heal now costs 29% of base mana, down from 32% of base mana.
• Revelations - Holy Word: Sanctuary (Prayer of Healing) effect now lasts 18 sec, up from 15 sec.
• Blessed Resilience is now a Tier 6 talent, up from Tier 5.
• Surge of Light is now a Tier 2 talent, down from Tier 3.
• Trinity is gone.
• Tome of Light (Tier 4) *New* - Reduces the cooldown of your Holy Word spells by 15/30%.

Rogue (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Nothing, sorry.

Shaman (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Elemental

• Stoneclaw Totem now has 6186 health, up from 797. Shields your totems for up to 4143 damage, up from 664.
• Earth Shock now also reduces ranged attack speed.

Enhancement

• Dual Wield now also allows you to parry frontal melee attacks.
• Windfury Totem now increases the melee and ranged attack speed of all party and raid members within 40 yards by 10%. (Down from 20%)
• Feral Spirit now lasts 30 sec, down from 45 sec. Cooldown changed to 2 min, down from 3 min.

Restoration

• Mana Tide Totem now has a 3 min cooldown, down from 5 min.

Warlock (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Affliction

• Bane of Doom now deals damage every 15 sec, down from 30 sec. Now has a 20% chance to summon a Demon guardian, down from 25%. Only one target can have Bane of Doom at a time, only one Bane per Warlock can be active on any one target.
• Drain Life now restores 2% total health, down from 5%.
• Everlasting Affliction now increases the critical effect chance of your Corruption, Seed of Corruption and Unstable Affliction by 10%. (Up from 2%)
• Soul Swap now costs 18% of base mana, up from 6% of base mana.

Demonology

• Ritual of Souls now costs 27% of base mana, down from 80% of base mana.
• Hand of Gul'dan now has a 2 sec cast time, down from 3 sec.
• Impending Doom no longer reduces the cooldown of the Bane of Doom damage effect, now Increases the chance for your Bane of Doom to summon a demon by 10/20/30% when it deals damage.

Destruction

• Shadowfury base damage has been increased by 235%. (Don't get too excited, it wasn't scaled to Cataclysm yet)
• Burning Embers - The Burning Ember effect deals up to [ 0.071%/0.143% of Spell Power + 23.921 ] fire damage every 1 sec for 7 sec.
• Soul Leech now restores 2/4% of your total health and mana, down from 5/10%.

Pets

• Devour Magic now scales from 15% of Spell Power.

Warrior (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arms

• Thunder Clap base damage has been increased by 50%.

Fury

• Pummel is now usable in Battle and Berserker Stance. (Old - Just Berserker)
• Enrage now has a 3/6/9% chance to proc, down from 4/8/12%.
• Battle Trance now affects your next special attack that costs more than 5 rage.

Protection

• Defensive Stance now increases threat generated by 100%, up from 45%.
• Thunderstruck now also increases the damage of Rend.
• Incite - These guaranteed criticals cannot re-trigger the Incite effect. (Tooltip clarification)