Cataclysm Interface Changes - Part 1
Cataclysm is still in early beta but a lot of interface changes are already implemented in the game. This post is the first of a 3-part preview of the interface changes in Cataclysm, today I will just stick to the general interface.

Spellbook
The Spellbook has been fully revamped, it looks nicer and has a couple of extra features.
  • Professions now have their own tab.
  • All spells and their training level are now displayed in the book.
  • Spells that you can train immediately are now highlighted.


Character Panel
The character panel now display all your stats on the right side, you can minimize tabs that you never use and check all your relevant stats quickly.


Talent Frame
The talent frame has been updated, all 3 trees are now on the same pages and masteries are now supported.


Trainers
Class and Profession trainers have a new interface, I'm not really sure it's more useful than the old one but it's nicer.


PvP Panel
The PvP Panel is still in early beta, it looks slightly nicer and the first signs of rated battlegrounds support are here.


Professions - Filters
Professions finally have built-in filters, nothing fancy but you will finally have a way to sort your huge list of recipes.


Minimap / Multi-tracking
Last but not least, the Minimap now allow you to track multiple things at once! Hurray!



PrintWarcraft - Original Art Posters Now Available
[blizzquote author=Blizzard source=http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml]PrintWarcraft.com now offers a variety of World of Warcraft artwork as high-quality poster prints. You can choose from favorites including art from past content updates, a Cataclysm piece featuring Deathwing, and more. Also available will be two brand-new posters never before seen --Troll Propaganda and Operation: Gnomeregan. These full size 24” x 36” posters are available at $19.95 and can be ordered now at PrintWarcraft.com[/blizzquote]


Blue posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Next wave of Beta invitations
We hope to distribute additional invites to the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta sometime this week, possibly as soon as late Tuesday or Wednesday. This is only an estimate, though, so the schedule may change and, as a result, invites could be distributed earlier or later than anticipated. Either way, we'll work to keep you as updated as possible. (Source)

World changes in Cataclysm - "Old" zones lost forever
If there's one lesson I've been struggling with a lot recently, it's that rejecting the nature of change can be damaging. Granted, the trials to which I'm referring aren't related to video games, though they still apply universally. Sure, places will change, new questlines will replace many old ones, and Azeroth will never look quite the same again. There are, however, new places of beauty, new adventures to be had, and new struggles to overcome in the wake of change. A brand new player joining us in Cataclysm won't know quite what it was like to level prior to Deathwing's return, but they'll get to experience all of the new wonders of the world, not to mention a design that's become more definitive and polished over the years.

[...] Trust me, I understand the sentiment. We have no current plans though for preserving elsewhere the areas being changed. The story is evolving. To complement this, so is Azeroth as we know it. For current players, there will still be a good sense of familiarity in so many places within the old world. (Source)

Classes
Block Chance
Your block chance won't be 5%. That's too low. It will probably be something like 30%, but we haven't figured out yet where to provide that 30%. It is likely to be a warrior / paladin only thing or even a Prot / Prot passive. (Source)

Max out the Mastery Bonus
Furthermore, there should be no way to max out mastery. It's only just possible to max out things like crit and haste today because of A) overly generous talents, and B) ratings that were never designed for current item levels. We've already built the theoretical Deathwing gear, so we can make sure the numbers are more appropriate. (Source)

Hybrid/Multi-Tree Specs
Whenever a popular hybrid spec comes up, it's usually because of some sneaky build that is broken for PvP by snaking down to pick up key talents in two trees. It's not because the player really wants to play as say two specs -- they are just cherry picking the talents. Since those builds almost always feel broken (as in breaking the rules) we don't want to design around them. (Source)

Abilities in new Talent Trees
They aren't all abilities. Most of the trees have say 4 or so active abilities in addition to the one at level 10. This is pretty consistent with live (an 11, 21, 31, 41 and 51 "clicky" ability).

The first couple of tiers have mostly simple talents. This is because you just don't have a lot of abilities at level 10, rotations are simple, stuff tends to die fast, and we don't want to overwhelm new players (including experienced players trying a new class). We also have to provide a lot of sub-spec potential in these trees.

Beyond that, things start to get more interesting and you see the talents that do procs or mechanic changes. There are more 1 point talents now, typically those that give raid buffs. (Source)

GCD Locked
We consider being GCD locked a bad thing. It doesn't give you any room in your rotation to say click a potion or respond to a proc or do something out of the ordinary. It leads to tunnel vision. (Source)

Druid (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator)
Regrowth
We want Regrowth to feel like the flash heal. It will need to change a little to fit in that model (more up front and less hot perhaps) but it doesn't also need to feel exactly like Flash Heal to do the job. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator)
Holy Paladins in Cataclysm
Holy paladins are changing in Cataclysm probably more than you realize. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator)
Mortal Strike as Fury/Protection
Correct. It is impossible for Fury or Protection to ever have Mortal Strike. (Source)

Dual-Wield
Only Fury warriors will dual-wield in Cataclysm. The Arms tree is completely built around using a two-handed weapon and the Prot tree is completely built around using a shield. There is no reason to dual-wield in those trees. (Source)

Critical Block
We haven't done much with Critical Block as mastery yet because the level cap on the beta is so low and raid content isn't available to publicly test yet. As we get closer we'll put some better numbers on it. (Source)

Fan Art
A new fan art has been added to the official fan art gallery..

This article was originally published in forum thread: Cataclysm Interface Part 1, Blue Posts started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 151 Comments
  1. Fcdwn777's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by wildi View Post
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    Hybrid/Multi-Tree Specs
    Whenever a popular hybrid spec comes up, it's usually because of some sneaky build that is broken for PvP by snaking down to pick up key talents in two trees.
    your solution is horrible. Forcing everyone to put 31 points into the same tree is stupid, killing hybrid builds because someone someday may come up with something unique is stupid. Multi tree spec are fine.
    You're an asshat who has obviously done no research on what changes they are making to the trees and why.
  1. Crash's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Fcdwn777 View Post
    You're an asshat who has obviously done no research on what changes they are making to the trees and why.
    My thoughts exactly, although I was kinda shy to write it out.
    People complaining about hybrid trees don't even try to understand why this is done.
  1. Zaerix's Avatar
    Yay for a new round of beta invites! That also means more info and changes.

    I'm glad Holy Paladins are changing more than we realize, all it seems they did was alter our heals a bit to fit in Divine Light and make Beacon only work with HL and HS.

    PS:
    Does anyone know if you need an active account to get a beta invite?

    I've been wondering this for a while because I want to know if I have to unfreeze mine to get into the beta or if I can just wait. I don't really feel like playing anymore before Cata.
  1. Envojus's Avatar
    Am i the only one that noticed is that the Jewelcrafting tab dosen't have Prospecting?


    Also, damn that the new beta invites are coming. My Prepaid ended a few days ago and i wont refill like in a week (late salary :/). Anybody know if you account is inactive is it still possible to get the invite?
  1. Vasz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zaerix View Post
    Does anyone know if you need an active account to get a beta invite?
    Yes, you do.
  1. theniffrig's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Vasz View Post
    I hope it gets rid of the "hybrid classes shouldn't do as much dps true dps classes" vision they have.
    Yeah I agree. If your going to be forced to be say a Ret pala, then you should do just as much dps as a mage/lock/hunter/rogue. It should help them to balance things abit more by locking people into 1 tree essentially.
  1. cburja's Avatar
    I thought we only had 31pt trees now, that seems weird looking at we getting 41 and 51 clicky talents. This might just be a misinformation
  1. starkilleralfa's Avatar
    Looks good but I wana see what they have maded of the 31 talent trees
  1. Ansgar's Avatar
    About time they changed the way talent trees are showed, makes it easier and less mistakes when actually setting your points

    Gotta love the new interface changes, and the fact that you can track multiple things at a time... Mining / Herbing here I come!
  1. Icex's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Vasz View Post
    Yes, you do.
    No u dont need to have... -.-


    btw. giev Guild UI and lvl cap to 83 i want to test new pala aoe heal
  1. wolfphyre87's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by cburja View Post
    I thought we only had 31pt trees now, that seems weird looking at we getting 41 and 51 clicky talents. This might just be a misinformation
    i think hes is just comparing the changes to how the trees are now on live, like ret pallys getting crusader strike at 41 and divine storm at 51
  1. Naoto's Avatar
    "We want Regrowth to feel like the flash heal. It will need to change a little to fit in that model (more up front and less hot perhaps) but it doesn't also need to feel exactly like Flash Heal to do the job."

    What the hell, isn't that what Nourish is for? love the UI changes though. I'd rather they kept Regrowth as is, a heal that applies a hot and as I said we have Nourish we don't need a 2nd "instant heal".
  1. ItachiZaku's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tanthalus View Post
    so they want rgrowth and nourish to do the same job - they allready have a flash heal in teh resto tree , so why add another? regrowth was allright as it was , slightly slower but has the 21 second hot.
    Exactly what I was thinking.

    Also, fail boomkin is fail.
  1. Alraml's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Vasz View Post
    Loving the multi tracking option.... HELLLO Mining/Herbalism



    You are saying that all the time

    At least your class isn't broken as Hunters are. I have heard nothing about DKs either.
    Yeah I realised, but you're right. I don't think i've heard anything at all about DK's
  1. Pumps's Avatar
    Old zones lost? That's silly!
    All the data for the zones, the way they look now, is on our harddrives taking up a lot of space, that won't disappear. They should allow people to enter through caverns of time and see the world as it was.
  1. Resistence's Avatar
    So uhh, reading the arena tab, it says
    "To create an Arena Team click on a blank flag above and customize you new team's name and flag."
    Does this mean we no longer have to pay for a team?
  1. Aunor's Avatar
    Very nice Job , go go Blizzard!
  1. skyesfury's Avatar
    I can finally have Low Level Quests turned on all the time and still be able to see herbs and minerals! HURRAY!

    Looking forward to seeing the other UI changes. /eager
  1. Nesingwary-Eliada's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Durendal View Post
    This just in, the final boss to Cataclysm is Deathwing, alert the presses.

    /eyeroll
    Well considering the massive Old God undertones, and recent lore developments revealing their influence OVER Deathwing, Azshara, etc; I think it's pretty fair to say that thinking one of them would be the end boss, or involved in the grand finale, is completely understandable.

    /eyeroll

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