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. Jokerjesus'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.
    IMO it should be an instant cast like riptide but with a bigger HOT that heals like wild growth, more at the start and less at the end.
  1. ProphetFlume's Avatar
    What's new about built in filters for professions?
  1. mmoc7d0ef109c7's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by frunken View Post
    What's new about built in filters for professions?
    There was no filter option before, atleast not in the way they implemented it now, therefore it's new.

    You get the concept of "that which wasn't there before shall be called new"?
  1. NathSB's Avatar
    First off, the UI changes are awesome!

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeDaSpike View Post
    Yes you can (among other things), if hunters keep the tracking system: OMG MINIMAP SPAM. I wonder how they'll handle that.
    Just a little FYI, bots don't need the minimap. They already know where the mine is when it's loaded.
    Hunters will probably still only track one type of enemy at the time, but yeah, it's still going to get crowded. Might be that they change the node dots to icons representing herbs/deposits, though.
  1. mmocd061d7bab8's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kanaru View Post
    Just to add, weapon skills are no longer needed to be trained nor leveled.

    So if you're a mage or something, you won't need to mindlessly whack at enemies for hours anymore.

    You level up weapon skill faster if you have more intellect
  1. Daedius's Avatar
    Multi track with your minimap ? Like... finding Ores AND Herbs at the same time?!

    AMAGAD :O
  1. Ikkatsu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by bizzy View Post
    You level up weapon skill faster if you have more intellect
    That was way back in 2005. Not anymore.
  1. Sycobob's Avatar
    So all this UI love and they still haven't revamped the profession window? I feel like it could use a major overhaul. Maybe I'm in the minority or there's still something planned.
  1. Cyberzombie's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nesingwary-Eliada View Post
    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
    Hey, so real quick...who was the end boss for BC? How about for WotLK?

    ...Yeah. Your argument is completely invalid. The main antagonist revealed from the get-go of the expansions is going to be the end boss for that expansion.
  1. Rhigo's Avatar
    Wow loving the new Interface changes
  1. wildi'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.
    I understand exactly what they are trying to do. Once you grow up you will understand what I was talking about.
  1. Kworal's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberzombie View Post
    Hey, so real quick...who was the end boss for BC? How about for WotLK?

    ...Yeah. Your argument is completely invalid. The main antagonist revealed from the get-go of the expansions is going to be the end boss for that expansion.
    You are correct. But wouldn't it be great if, right after beating Deathwing, a voice echoed through the room, a door opened and you had to kill yet another Old God? Ofc, to have an impact, this would have to be hidden until live... But, damn, that would feel epic!
  1. Ikkatsu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyberzombie View Post
    Hey, so real quick...who was the end boss for BC? How about for WotLK?

    ...Yeah. Your argument is completely invalid. The main antagonist revealed from the get-go of the expansions is going to be the end boss for that expansion.
    Srsly?

    You gotta be trolling or are not aware of the irony.

    In BC, Illidan was the main antagonist... but turned out that Kil'jaeden was the last boss.

    In Wotlk, Arthas was the main antagonist... but turned out that Hallion was the last boss (even if it is filler, its still last boss).
  1. Karot's Avatar
    Very nice updates to the UI! This really is starting to look like a new and fresh game! =)
  1. BagOfChips's Avatar
    I like how you can see what spells are available at what level.
  1. skylla05's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ikkatsu View Post
    Srsly?

    You gotta be trolling or are not aware of the irony.

    In BC, Illidan was the main antagonist... but turned out that Kil'jaeden was the last boss.

    In Wotlk, Arthas was the main antagonist... but turned out that Hallion was the last boss (even if it is filler, its still last boss).
    You don't know what irony is because this isn't ironic.
  1. whisperingsage's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by xtki View Post
    I'm guessing you probably won't see any of the spec specific spells in your spell book until you get to 10 and choose a spec. Then it shows you all the spells you can get for that sepc.
    Well, it is possible they could have every spell under one tab until level 10, as you don't usually have too much till then, but I don't think they'll do that.

    Why not just keep it like now? The only spells that are affected is the three talents that are exclusive to the trees. Choosing your spec doesn't block you out of every non-spec skill. Just the one that's exclusive to the other tree. After choosing Fury, you'd still be able to use Hamstring.
  1. Ikkatsu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by skylla05 View Post
    You don't know what irony is because this isn't ironic.
    The irony was that he was telling the other guy that he was wrong... when actually, it was infact he who is wrong.

    So yes, i do know what irony is.

    Maybe if you read the context in what my post was aimed at, you would be able to put together a picture before getting your dick out?
  1. ProphetFlume's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Scyo View Post
    There was no filter option before, atleast not in the way they implemented it now, therefore it's new.

    You get the concept of "that which wasn't there before shall be called new"?
    the exact options shown have been in for a while, since 3.0 or some time early in wotlk at least.

    you do understand the concept of "just because you didn't know it was there doesn't mean its new" right?
  1. fangless's Avatar
    There are deeper filter options than there are now, that's what is new.

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