Classes, class changes and status values for Cataclysm

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will not introduce a new class, but there are more race-class combinations to choose from than ever before. In addition, all existing classes are fundamentally revised.

  The following new class combinations are available with Cataclysm:

Alliance:

• Dwarf shaman
• Dwarf magician
• Human hunter
• Night elf magician
• Gnome priest

Horde:

• Troll druid
• Tauren priest
• Tauren Paladin
• Orc magician
• Undead hunter
• Blood elf warrior

Troll and Worgen druids will get new, unique bear and cat shape models. Although these will differ slightly from those of the previous druids, they will largely retain their appearance so that they can continue to identify accordingly.

With Cataclysm, all talent trees of all classes are fundamentally revised. Passive talents are completely removed from the game, replaced by the mastery system, which grants passive bonuses. The changes are very extensive, which is why we have summarized them on an extra page on the talent and mastery system .

All talent trees of all classes are revised with World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The goal is to remove all passive talents and also to subject the trees to a radical cure and shorten them accordingly. The new mastery system replaces passive talent system.

Attack Power: With the exception of some procs, this value will no longer be present on most items as a blanket value. Strength and dexterity, both of which will be present on the items, will provide the appropriate amount of attack power (generally 2 attack power applies to each point in strength or dexterity), depending on the value favouring the class. Agility may provide less critical chance than before.

Magic power: Spell Power is another value that you won't see on most items. Instead, you will get your magic power over intelligence. Intelligence will also generate less mana than it currently does. The exception here are weapons for magic classes - they will continue to have magic power. This allows us to make weapons for magic classes proportionally stronger in the same way that they are for melee classes.

Haste Rating: Haste rating will become more attractive to melee classes because it will allow you to restore resources such as energy and runes more quickly. We intend to let you "do things" more often with speed rating. Due to the way we will assign strength, agility and intelligence, players who do not wear plate armor will end up with more stamina than before. The amount of health between plate carriers and other classes will come very close to each other.MP5 (Mana value every 5 seconds) - This value is completely removed from the game. Holy Paladins and Restoration Shamans will now benefit from willpower.

Spell Power: With Cataclysm this value should only be found on equipment for healers. Classes that don't heal will be able to regenerate their mana in a different way. We are also working on a special solution for the Elemental Shamans and Balance Druids who often share their gear with the healers (more on this below). Raid buffs that currently improve willpower (such as "Blessing of Kings") will only strengthen primary stats such as stamina, strength, agility and intelligence. We will also likely change the five-second rule and other idiosyncrasies of the current regeneration system.

Defense rating: The defense rating is completely removed from the game. Tank classes can expect creatures to no longer be able to critically hit them simply by switching to defensive stance, frost presence, bear form, or by using Wrath of Justice. However, as a tank, you should take into account that the values of parrying, blocking or evading could also decrease somewhat, as up to now vert.

Block rating: The block rating is redesigned so that it scales better. Blocked attacks will simply do 30% less damage. The block rating will increase your chance to block, but overall the block chances will be lower than they are now. Warriors have the advantage that they can critically block with their mastery. the double amount is blocked.

Shield Block Value: This value will no longer be on items because the amount that is blocked is proportional to the damage done. However, talents and other effects may continue to change the 30% damage reduction.

Parry rating: Parry will no longer provide 100% avoidance rating and faster attacks. Instead, if an attack is parried, it will hit for 50% damage (assuming they hit everyone). In other words, dodging is a chance to avoid 100% damage from one attack, parry 50% of damage from two attacks, and block 30% from one.

Mastery: This is a new value that will allow players to improve on what makes the chosen talent tree cool or unique. He is tied directly to the talent. So what you get when you increase this value depends entirely on your class and the chosen talent specialization.

Spell Ranks: The different levels of spells will cease to exist. All spells will be limited to a rank that will scale with your character level. The levels at which you can learn the different spells will be changed to fill various gaps and we will also introduce some new spells that will also be learnable.

Weapon Skill: This value is completely removed from the game. The classes will start with all weapon skills they need and it will not be necessary to improve them further.

Armor penetration rating: This value will no longer be found on items. Armor penetration rating will continue to exist in talents and abilities.

Armor: The way armor mitigates damage should not change, but the armor value has been adjusted to reflect changes that come with Cataclysm in the armor curve. As a result, overall bonus armor will be a little lower. We will also make changes to the difference that exists between the weakening of different armament classes. Plate will not offer much more protection than chain, leather and fabric.

Resilience: Resilience will only affect damage and critical damage done by players. It will not affect the chance of a critical hit, mana drain, or similar effects.

Combat stats: It will be much more difficult to reach the limit of these values with the maximum item levels. Values will increase more steeply with Cataclysm and creatures in the higher content levels will not be as easy to hit (critically), much as a level 83 opponent is harder (critically) than one at level 80.

Reforging: While these changes are a big step in making a variety of stats more attractive, we also understand that sometimes you just don't want to have more hit rating on your gear or more haste rating than critical hit rating. With Cataclysm, we plan to give you the opportunity to replace values on your equipment using the existing professional system. Pi times thumb you can say that you can convert a value into 40% of another value. While some conversions will not be allowed (e.g. converting stamina to strength), we generally want to give you more freedom to customize your equipment.

Gemstones: Due to the above changes, we will change the gem colors of some values. For example, it is likely that the critical hit rating will be blue instead of yellow. We will tell you more details in the future.

For the most part, the equipment you are currently using will still be good for you, but there will be some exceptions. For example, for warriors who use leather and chain armor. If you're playing a tank (other than druids), you should expect the following:

• No more defense rating on equipment. Existing defense rating becomes evasive, parry, and block rating.
• No more block value on equipment. Existing block value becomes block evaluation.
• You will have at least as much stamina as before, usually it will be a little more. Compared to a DPS plate of the same level, you will find that there is less stamina. That's because we subtract the gemstone budget from the most desirable value.
• You should get more damage again, since the armor rating drops, so the damage reduction is also reduced.

If you play a melee, druid tank or hunter, you should expect the following:

• A lot more stamina. As a result, bears will scale worse with endurance.
• Strength for plate pieces and mobility for chain and leather armor.
• Existing attack power becomes agility and endurance.
• Armor penetration rating becomes haste rating or critical hit rating.
• No intelligence on melee equipment. Hunters no longer need intelligence because they will no longer use mana. Shamans and Retribution Paladins will gain mana and spell damage in other ways.

If you are a magic class, you should expect the following:

• A lot more stamina.
• Spell power becomes intelligence and endurance.
• No willpower. You won't miss the value because you won't need it to do damage or mana regeneration.

If you are a healer, you should expect the following:

• A lot more stamina.
• Spell power becomes intelligence and endurance.
• Willpower instead of MP5. You will most likely be very happy with willpower because mana regeneration will be more important than it is right now. Holy Paladins and Restoration Shamans will benefit more from willpower than they do now.

If you are an equilibrium druid or elemental shaman, you should expect the following:

• You will continue to share equipment with recovery druids and shamans.
• Your equipment will have willpower but no hit rating.
• You will have a talent that willpower turns into hit rating. We'll adjust the talents accordingly so you want as much willpower as a warlock hit rating, for example.
• Hit rating on rings and other gear will still be useful to you.
• Buffs will no longer increase willpower. So you shouldn't accidentally exceed the hitcap.

Many low-level items with nonsensical combinations of different values, such as agility and willpower, are modified. Quest rewards, crafting professions, and lootable items are also updated to provide a better selection of items for different talent distributions that were previously unrepresented or rarely played before The Burning Crusade, such as balance druids. We are aware that this is a lot of information in one fell swoop, but it is only a small part of the big picture, and many of these changes require the integration of other systems that we have not yet discussed in detail. In the coming weeks and months we will tell you more about these changes, along with all the new and exciting content we have planned for Cataclysm.

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