We think mages are still having mana problems and don't want to reduce Evocation's cooldown anymore. Nor do we want to buff mage armor too much more or using e.g. molten armor seems pointless.

Instead, we reduced the mana cost on Fireball, Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt, Arcane Blast, Arcane Missiles, and Arcane Explosion.

Arena testing and bug exploits
As to Arenas, yes we are getting much more testing now. Unfortunately it doesn't take much to derail that testing, such as the Typhoon bug, or the POM Pyro bug, or the current weapon multiplier bug. That's the kind of thing that happens in a beta, but it has a much harsher effect when players are trying to beat other players than it does when players are questing or doing raids. (Source)

Pet balancing and GCD
I would like to try a pet model at some point where the pets were sturdy and easily healed, but contributed much less of the total dps (like 15-25% instead of 30-40%).

The GCD, as I've said, is a good deal trickier. If anything, we regret a little pulling some abilities off of the GCD because that opened the barn door for other requests to remove things from it. (Source)

Glyphs pass soon
The glyphs weren't finalized until late, and we had already done a lot of testing and balancing then. They are also a little tricky to adjust because the intent is that they do change what you do slightly, instead of just buffing the buttons you'd already push.

But we plan on doing a pass on them soon. (Source)

Sorting mounts under the "Mounts" tab
We'll try to get some improvements in over time. It's not our highest priority UI feature, however. (Source)

Class balance and WotLK release deadline
The numbers aren't done. We changed an awful lot of combat mechanics and we're still adjusting things to get them right. Unholy death knights (I assume that's the spec you are talking about) have some nerfs coming (and I've already posted about them).

Don't feel like Lich King is a deadline. If anything, it's only a beginning. Even if we had everything absolutely 100% perfectly balanced to our liking, some smart player would figure out that if you combine this talent spec, with this elixir and this trinket and use this set bonus, then bam, your dps goes up by 200 points. That sort of thing is going to happen, and we're just going to have to adjust when it does. Balance is a work in progress, not a destination. (Source)

Raid diversity in WotLK
I undestand your concern here. It's totally valid. But it's actually the "OMG we need X" mentality that we're trying to get away from. Even a 25-player raid stacked with healers is going to have ~15 slots for dps. Not every raid will have a rogue in one of those spots, but some will, and some will have 3 or 4. We want to restore flexibility back to the group. Our experience is that a lot of guilds are groups of friends, and it sucks when those groups have to sit out mage 3 and 4 just because "full on mages." If you have a group with exceptional rogues, great. Bring them. You shouldn't be punished for having too many good players.

Now maybe you're worried that battle rez or battle shout or whatever is still too good and stacks so well that every guild is going to switch to stacking, oh I don't know, 10 Ret pallies for their dps. If that happens, and we're convinced it's really an issue not just players experimenting, then we'll squash it. Because the goal is you bring ~15 dps, not that you bring 10 ret pallies. That violates the "OMG we need X" situation. (Source)

Cleaves in PvE in WotLK
Assuming you are talking about PvE, a big part of that in BC was the boss cleaves that were so deadly to melee and the necessity for crowd control that could pretty much only be done by a mage or priest. That did suck and it wasn't fair and we changed it. You shouldn't be walking into that situation again. Now you can argue that your dps isn't up to par, which is a valid concern (in the sense that I understand why you'd be worried about it, not in the sense that we think it's true). But it is also a concern voiced by probably every class at the moment. (Source)

Death Knight (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9014))
Black Ice and damage increase spells effects
The Black Ice tooltip may very well still be wrong. Sometimes text doesn't get updated at the same time. But the spell effect should be that Black Ice only buffs Frost. Frost got some other buffs and Unholy got some other nerfs too. These might not all be in the build. I am also going off of memory here, so I may be mistaken.

Tundra Stalker buffs Obliterate and Howling Blast. Adds double expertise.
Acclimation buffs Rune Strike (in addition to its normal effects).
Crypt Fever down to 10/20/30%.
And the big one... when you miss, your runes activate in 1 sec instead of 2. This makes misses, dodges and parries a lot less painful.

We are also getting reports of Tundra Stalker not causing extra damage as it should. I can't verify that, but keep it in mind. (Source)

Druid (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9014))
Feral abilities
With regard to abilities, we have been torn between giving bears (and cats) more unique abilities versus giving them tanking abilities that many players considered "core." We could have certainly come up with something more original than Last Stand for bears, but at the time, a lot of bears were comparing laundry lists of buttons and said bears wouln't be invited to raids because they didn't have an oh snap button like Last Stand. We put that functionality in Berserk, then later backed off of that so that we could make Berserk a more fun button to push as bear. (Source)

Typhoon
I'm not aware of any changes to Typhoon's damage. If you're just talking about Rank 5, we had to just temporarily yank it to make sure it was becoming untrained -- despite the last hotfix, druids were still ending up with it when we added the rank back in. We should be able to add it back next patch.

Also understand that if it hadn't been abused so much that we wouldn't have had to yank it. It's not terribly fair or helpful to complain about not having access to the ability when it was being used to overpower bosses and other players to such extremes. While the bug was ours (mine in all likelihood), we're not going to be able to get back all of those busted battles, yanno? (Source)

Predatory Instincts reducing AoE Damage by 30% instead of 15%
Predatory Instincts is a huge nerf. You just haven't seen it yet. It only works in cat form.

I hinted that this might happen before, but as it was, a druid was going to be the only tank people took for dragons like Malygos. That would have been particularly true for any encounter that was supposed to be a resist fight, because the druid could skip a lot of the resist gear. Your health pool should still make sure you handle those fights sufficiently. (Source)

Treants
The Treant health appears to be too low. They aren't updating correctly from your Stamina or level or something. We'll get it fixed. (Source)

Hunter (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9014))
Hunters in Arenas
Arenas were not kind to hunters. We do get that. We talk about it all the time. Did we buff hunters too much now for Arenas? I have no doubt you'll disagree, but it is a concern. We need to actually see a lot more arenas (with fewer broken classes in them) to know how things stand. We are trying to make it better, but it's also possible to overdo it. Good for you I guess, but bad for everyone else. (Source)

Multi-shot and AOE Damage
I can understand not caring about AE damage if you spend most of you time in PvP, but why would you not want to do AE damage in PvE? People wipe on trash all the time. Even if trash is trivial for you, clearing it faster just means more boss attempts. And even on the bosses, it's getting rare these days to have an encounter that's just a boss without some kind of minions or adds.

Maybe you're just saying that the AE isn't important enough to go super deep in Marks? (Source)

Paladin (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9014))
Blessing of Sanctuary
We like Blessing of Sanctuary as a buff you can put on anyone. However, we might do something like let it benefit the paladin more than other targets. (Self buffing gives a better result than buffing someone else.) Or we might just add more paladin mitigation somewhere else in the tree. That all assumes you are deficient. If 2-5% makes a big difference for you (I don't think it will make that much of a difference, but for sake of argument), then buffing paladins 2-5% when they didn't need it could also make the other tanks non-starters. We'll keep testing it. (Source)

Shield of the Templar
Okay, here is one change you don't have. Shield of the Templar now also reduces all damage taken by 1/2/3%. (Source)

Critical Block

Critical Block is something we're still keeping our eye on. I'm not going to promise a paladin version, but it's totally something we'll consider if paladin blocking starts to fall behind.

Whoever said it, yes it's absolutely going to be a challenge trying to get parity among 4 classes with totally different mechanics, and in some sense the warrior to paladin comparison is the easy one. But we don't like having only one MT class, and we don't like giving everyone very similar gear, talents and abilities to tank, and we don't like the situation where you need a different tank for every fight because they all excell at certain types of encounters and suck at others. So the option we're left with is to have 4 who are different but relatively equal. (Source)

Retribution paladins
I can't imagine too many people think that DKs (Unholy I presume) and Ret Pallys are balanced. We won't leave things like that. (Source)

Shaman (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9014))
Riptide and Restoration tree
Riptide probably isn't going to be a crazy awesome raiding tool *unless* you're in a fight with a lot of movement, in which case it does its job very well. It is situational, but we actually made a lot of the new spells situational because almost every class already had bread and butter abilities well before LK.

Now, I think it does shine in 5-player dungeons, PvP or in 10-player raids, depending on how many hot-based healers you have. The initial heal could probably be a bit larger. That is something we may change after some more testing.

I know Resto hasn't gotten as much attention as other shaman specs in this forum, but honeslty we think it's because you work pretty well. Players have gotten made when I've said that before, but particularly in raids, everyone knows what they're going to get from a Resto (CH and Earth Shield) and I don't think that is going away. (Source)

Spirit Wolves
We might have to lower the healing per damage if the damage goes up a lot with the AP changes. In other words, you might not see a buff to healing and damage. (Source)

Spirit Wolves scaling with AP in NEXT build
I said Strength at one point, but they never did scale off of Strength. In fact they never scaled off of anything. They were the same no matter what your level or gear. We fixed that though, and they should scale very well (using AP, not Str). Let us know if that isn't happening. [...] Then you're going to love them next build. (Source)

Warlock (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9014))
Eradication might need a few changes
Thanks. We'll take a look at it. (Source)

Demonic Circle recast
If you cast a new one, it should just cast a new one. We'll look into it. (Source)
Demonic Circle isn't intended to be a pew pew spell. Not every ability has to be. (Source)

Shadowflame
Shadowflame is something we're looking at. (Source)

Death Knight (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Blood

• Blade Barrier now increase your parry chance by 2/4/6/8/10% for 10 seconds whenever your Blood Runes are on cooldown. (Old - Only worked whenever you had no runes active)
• Heart Strike damage has been increased. (From 50% Weapon Damage plus 184 and 92 damage per disease to 60% Weapon Damage plus 220 and 110 damage per disease)
• Dark Command's range has been increased to 20 yards. (Up from 5 yards)

Frost

• Frost Presence -  The death knight takes on the presence of frost, increasing total health by 10%, armor contribution from items by 60% (Up from 45%), and reducing spell damage taken by 5%. Increases threat generated.
• Black Ice now Increases your Frost and Shadow damage by 6/12/18/24/30%. (Up from 3/6/9/12/15%) (Note : Doesn't affect shadow anymore, (Source))
• Frost Strike can't be dodged, blocked, or parried anymore.
• Tundra Stalker now increases the damage of Icy Touch by 5/10/15/20/25%. (Down from 20/40/60/80/100%)
• Rune Strike has been changed to Strike the target for 200% weapon damage plus [ 20% of AP ]. Only usable after an attack is dodged or parried. Can't be dodged, blocked, or parried. (Old - Instantly strike the target for 65% weapon damage. Only usable after the Death Knight performs a critical hit with an ability that causes a disease.)

Unholy

• Blood-Caked Blade now gives Your auto attacks have a 10/20/30% (Up from 5/10/15%) chance to cause a Blood-Caked Strike, which hits for 25% weapon damage plus 12.5% for each of your diseases on the target.
• Scourge Strike damage has been lowered. (From 60% Weapon Damage plus 226 and 113 damage per disease to 60% Weapon Damage plus 190 and 95 damage per disease)

Druid (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Feral

• Predatory instinct now reduces the damage taken from area of effect attacks by 10/20/30%. (Up from 5/10/15%)

• Dire Bear Form armor contribution from items has been lowered from 400% to 370%
• Growl range has been increased from 5 yards to 20 yards

Restoration

• Wild Growth healing value has been greatly increased. (Up from 350 to 686 for Rank 1, 469 to 861 for Rank 2, 805 to 1239 for Rank 3, 1085 to 1442 for Rank 4)

Balance

• Moonkin Form - Armor Contribution from items has been lowered from 400% to 370%.

Hunter (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Marksmanship

• Marked for Death now Increases your damage done by your shots and the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 1/2/3% (down from 2/4/6%) on marked targets, and increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Aimed Shot, Steady Shot, Kill Shot or Chimera Shot by 2/4/6%.

Mage (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Arcane

• Torment the Weak doesn't affect all damage anymore, damage increased. Your Frostbolt, Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Arcane Missiles, and Arcane Barrage abilities deal 4/8/12% more damage to Snared targets. (Old - All damage you cause to Snared targets is increased by 2/4/6%)
• Missile Barrage proc chance has been increased to 4/8/12/16%. (Up from 3/6/9/12%)

Paladin (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Holy

• Divine Plea - You gain 25% of your total mana over 15 sec, but the amount healed by your spells is reduced by 20%. (Down from 100%)

Glyphs

• Glyph of Flash of Light - Your Flash of Light heals for 50% less initially, but also heals for 140% of its inital effect over 12 sec. (Down from 15 seconds)
• Glyph of Holy Light - Your Holy Light grants 10% of its heal amount to up to 5 friendly targets within 100 yds (up from 5 yds) of the initial target.

Priest (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Discipline

• Improved Power Word: Fortitude has been moved to tier 2.
• Improved Power Word: Shield has been moved to tier 3.

Rogue (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Combat

• Blade Twisting (Rank 2) now has a chance to daze the target for 8 sec. (Up from 4 sec)

Subtlety

• Enveloping Shadows now reduces the damage taken by area of effect attacks by 10/20/30%. (Up from 5/10/15%)

Shaman (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Elemental

• Improved Fire Nova Totem doesn't have a chance to stun targets anymore and will reduce their movement speed instead.

Enhancement

• Flurry attack speed increase has been modified to 10/15/20/25/30%. (Up from 5/10/15/20/25%)
• Dual Wield Specialization now increases your chance to hit while dual wielding by 2/4/6%. (Up from 1/2/3%)
• Maelstrom Weapon now has a 100% chance to reduce the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Burst, Lesser Healing Wave, Chain Heal or Healing Wave spell by 20%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec. (Up from 3/6/9/12/15% chance)

Glyphs

• Glyph of Earth Elemental Totem - Reduces the cooldown of your Earth Elemental Totem by 4 min. (Up from 3 min)
• Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem - Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Elemental Totem by 4 min. (Up from 3 min)

Warlock (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Destruction

• Molten Core duration has been increased. Your Shadow spells and damage over time effects have a 5/10/15% chance to increase the damage of your Fire spells by 10% for 12 sec. (Up from 6 sec)

Affliction

• Improved Corruption now Increases the damage done by your Corruption by 6/8/10% (Down from 12/16/20%), and increases the critical strike chance of your Seed of Corruption by 5%

Warrior (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Arms

• Strength of Arms now Increases your total Strength and Stamina by 2/4% and your Expertise by 2/4. (Old - Increases your total Strength and total health by 2/4%.)
• Sudden Death now let you keep 3/7/10 rage after using Execute.

Fury

• Unending Fury has been revamped and doesn't reduce rage cost of abilities anymore. Now Increases the damage done by your Slam, Whirlwind and Bloodthirst abilities by 2/4/6/8/10%.
• Execute base damage has been slightly increased (1266 to 1456 for max rank) , additional damage from Attack Power stays at 20%.

Protection

• Taunt's range has been increased to 20 yards. (Up from 5 yards)

We will be taking down the Beta realms at 3:00PM Pacific time today October 3rd 2008 to update to the latest build.

We expect this process to take from five to seven hours.

Thank you for your patience!

I'll do what I can to explain what our philosophy has been on the topic, for better or for worse. ;]

To address the point of not having access to any pvp gear before attempting to start arenas, I don't actually feel that's accurate. We've made a point to include easily craftable pvp gear of dungeon quality to give players a chance to get their feet in the door before moving along the upgrade path.

The Savage Gladiator set is actually of item level 200s (superior), equivalent to the item level of a heroic instance. So, in much the same way that you might expect a player to first gear up in normal mode instances and get a handful of ilevel 187s items before proceeding to the heroics, the philosophy is that in the pvp case players will get the 187s crafted pvp items before attempting endgame pvp activity.

In addition, players have access to ilevel 200e (epics) for the boots, belt, bracers, ring, neck, trinket, cape exclusively through honor (equivalent item level to end-boss heroic instances, nax 10, or items from the Emblem of Heroism vendor). These items, combined with the crafted items, provide a pretty good base of items from which a player might make an entry into the arenas.

At that stage, the number of arena points required for a player to get a piece of Savage Gladiator equipment is tuned to be pretty generous. Even at a significantly sub-1500 rating, a player can generally get about a piece of the Savage Gladiator set with the points from one week (10 games), which is generally about a time investment of less than an hour of arena play per week. This seems to stack up very competitively with how long it might take running heroic instances to get a piece of gear for your character.

As far as the question as to why the