Monday, September 29, 2008

WAAGH um, wow

So I've been playing WAR all afternoon and one thing right off the bat I noticed is how much more of a resource hog the WAR client is compared with the WoW client. In fact it's on the order of twice as large as the WoW client, which I found very surprising. Especially since my poor HP Pavillion DV9000T (Windows Vista Premium Home edition 32 bit, 3GB ram) kept popping up memory allocation warning errors almost the entire time I was running WAR. I ended up shutting a lot of things down and turning off my side bar. That relieved the problem somewhat, but would still occasionally get the allocation error messages. My laptop actually has 4GB ram installed, but since I'm running the 32 bit version of Vista, I can't tap that extra GB. I'd hate to have to upgrade an operating system I really don't like all that much just to get to that extra GB of ram to play a game. Especially since I love WoW and it runs quite well on my laptop.

So anyway, I played all afternoon and hit level 5 before parking in whatever the name of the town is that starts chapter 2. I like the fact that most of the game controls are the same as in WoW, and generally like the other things I've seen in WAR that aren't in WoW yet. But there are a couple things right off that I'd like to see improved. Like reporting gold sellers that were spamming general chat the entire time I played. In WoW you simply right click on the individuals name, report the spam and it then throws that account on ignore. Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see anything of the like in WAR and so I sat annoyed at the two or three accounts spamming their gold sales all day. The jury is still out on the chat channel and chat system. It seems remarkedly similar to WoW, yet different enough that I'm not sure if I liked it or not. I'll have to play around with it a bit more before I make up my mind.

Since I'm only level 5 and have only played one class thus far I certainly can't make any opinions about class balance, and about the game as a whole. I do sort of like the Swordmaster combat techniques though. Certain skills are only usable in succession to lower level skills through what the class terms "balances". Leads to a very linear form of combat whereas in WoW everything is more or less non-linear.

So day 1 down. I've much yet to learn and much left to write about.

WAAAGH

So I broke down and joined the bandwagon after all. Actually my son has been thinking about playing and I told him I'd play with him. So I'm not really a bandwagon fan. No, rather, I'm a dutiful father spending quality gaming time with his son. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

So anyway, I just loaded up WAR and I'm waiting on my son to create his character and finish logging in. I've been doing some reading this morning and WAR looks like it could be quite the fun game. So here is to a fun time! If you happen to be on the Ironclaw server and feel so inclined, stop by and say hello.

Friday, September 26, 2008

So what are you doing in WoW right now?

With the WotLK expansion looming in the not so distant future, and most bloggers (and a lot of players) playing WAR these days, I was curious what those of you still playing WoW were doing lately? You can really tell that things are in that pre-expansion lull lately. The game has that same feeling it did prior to the Burning Crusade, though there are still quite a few guilds (at least on my realm) charging hard to complete the Black Temple prior to WotLK. I see people attempting to sell a lot of their excess inventory on the AH, and I know I personally am levelling two alts. One of which hit 60 last night, and the other hit 60 the night before. So that's largely what I'm doing right now.

Actually I'm enjoying the time levelling my alts. I ended up creating a guild for my bank toon, and all my lowbies and alts who were un-guilded. So it's been relatively quite lately. No guild drama and no auto-invites by every guild officer who happens to walk by my toons.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Mechwarrior Online

Though I'm an avid WoW fan and player, my first love in video games is and always has been Battletech/Mechwarrior. I first started playing Battletech with pen and paper back in the late 80's and very quickly bought every Mechwarrior game that came out, spending hours and hours playing. Even the old clunky Mechwarrior 1.

Since I graduated to playing MMOs I've been impatiently awaiting someone--anyone--to make a Mechwarrior Online MMO. I'd be so there! And I'm absolutely sure that hundreds of thousands of others would be also. I've written about this subject at least twice before on blogs long since deleted (don't ask). While I don't have those previous posts to link back to, I've never really stopped thinking about the game I want to play above all others. So let me use this humble blog in an attempt to chide WizKids to kick it in gear, and describe how I would construct it.

First and foremost my MechWarrior online would favor PVP, though there would also be a very strong PVE end game. Set in the decade just prior to the clan invasion (classic time frame), Mechwarrior Online would be centered firmly in the intra-family wars that had been ongoing in the Mechwarrior universe for decades. PVP would primarily take place in the border regions, though that PVP could spill over into deeper zones. In fact that would be encouraged. A key component of the game would be taking and holding enemy territory and would bestow benefit to the outfits and faction taking territory. All of Mechwarrior Online would be built upon a strong player created economy, though strong central anti-inflationary measures would be built in. After all, taxes are as fundamental to life as death is.

Instead of static class systems that we see in games like WoW and other MMOs, I would instead create a system that starts with a small selection of core classes that each character would be able to choose from. Each of those core classes would have sub-specialties that players would gain access to as they advance in "level". And instead of "levels", characters would have ranks and steps. Ranks would open up technologies, assignments, and capabilities to the players, and steps would be loosely analogous to levels in current MMOs. With steps would come talent points, stat point increases, and minor abilities. There could be 10 Major ranks and each rank could have 10 steps (level 1 - 100) as an example.

Core classes could be something like Soldier, Scientist, and Tradesman. With each class enabling a vibrant career path to the player. In a PVP centric game, the obvious draw would be the soldier class, though there would be strong enticement to players to play a Scientist or Tradesman as well. The Tradesman class would be the basis for the economy, and Scientists would be fundamental assets to those tradesman by bringing new technologies and production efficiencies to the game space. I envision mercenary groups and factions keenly vieing for the services of tradesman and scientists.

As an example of how I would envision the rank/step system working, I offer the diagram below. As a new character is created you must choose one of the three core classes. If you choose Soldier, you would then be asked to choose a faction, or become a mercenary free to start your own mercenary group or become a member of an existing group. Either way you will be tied to a rank system that offers more and more to you as you rise through it.

As a basic soldier you would rise through the lower ranks until you attain an arbitrary rank, at which time you would become an infantryman, or some other sub-class. In infantry, you would continue to rise through the ranks until you again attain an arbitrary rank, at which time you could specialize in Armor, Anti-Armor/Mech, or Mechwarrior. Because Mechwarrior would obviously be the big draw here, there would have to be strong inducements to follow the Armor and Anti-Armor career paths. Those specialties would have to offer key capabilities that would be sought after in PVP.

The game would feature a strong factional system that would discourage faction/guild hopping. At character creation you enlist in one of the major factions, or become a mercenary. Mercenary groups are not tied to any one specific faction, though they're reputations are effected with the various factions depending on the contracts they take. Following that out to its logical conclusion, they could of course become de facto factional groups in this manner, though not tied directly to it.

PVE end game would closely parallel PVP end game. PVP end game is about intra-factional warfare, and the taking and holding of enemy territory. While that is envisioned as the primary goal of the game, players would not be tied to it if they did not wish to participate. For PVE players instanced battles of up to epic proportions would be created. All instanced and accessible to any faction. The faces and names of planets would obviously change depending on which faction you were, but the battles themselves would be the same.

I envision PVP being a little more on the brutal side. A la EVE online style. Destruction of a Mech means exactly that--destruction. There is a chance at salvage depending on battle conditions, but if you are on the losing side of a battle, which is run from the field salvage would most likely go to the victor. Mercenary groups and factional units would be able to recoup some of their losses through the PVE endgame however. As well as through the fees they will earn doing them. The higher stakes in PVP would encourage strategic thinking, and battle conditions more akin to reality than we normally see in video games. There are consequences to decision making after all.

As I said, I would start Mechwarrior Online in the decade prior to the clan invasion and would like to see expansions every 12-18 months. The first expansion would see the very beginning of the clan invasion and would grow from there. Each bringing new technologies and capabilities to the game. Including aero and space combat. Notice how I included Anti-Air in class graph above?

Of all the MMOs I've played and heard about, nothing rises to the level that Mechwarrior could. I'm almost positive that I am not the only person to have ever thought of this, so I can only surmise there are some legal impediments standing in the way somewhere. Whatever the real reasons might be that have apparently stopped something like this from even being thought about, I hope they are worked out sooner rather than later.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

MMOs and NDAs

If you've been playing MMOs for even a short period of time, and haven't heard the term "Non-Disclosure Agreement", then you've probably been living under a particularly large rock. And so the topic of NDAs in general has been raised in my mind again this morning. And I'm sure will again in the not so distant future as we start to look forward to the release of Star Trek Online, Knights of the Old Republic Online, and others.

Generally I'm against NDAs because they stifle the free flow of information. In a game setting, they stifle valuable information that other gamers are keen to gain. I understand all the reasons why companies use them. At first NDAs are used to stop the release of information that could potentially damage opinion about a game. Especially in the very early stages when it is particularly buggy, un-balanced, and there is limited content and scope. I personally never bought that argument, because as most NDAs stipulate, the game is a BETA and blah, blah, blah. I think most players understand that specifics about balanced game-play, end-game, and everything in between can't really be gleaned from early betas. But there are also other nebulous reasons NDAs are used. They're also tools used to shape expectation and create desire in the player base to learn more. By withholding information, you stoke the fire in the gaming populace to learn more about your game.

Whichever side of the fence you may fall on in the debate, there are very real consequences to gamers who release information prior to the NDA being lifted later in the beta process. If you are a well known blogger your postings will garner greater attention than others and anything you say will most likely be attributable to you as a specific player by the company. That may get you kicked from the beta. And it also could lead to you not receiving beta invites in other games if if were to become known that you break NDAs. So generally bloggers follow the rules, or they blog about their experiences anonymously somewhere. I can think of at least one very well known blogger who has been doing exactly that in WoW since the inception of the game. He always seems to have the most up to date information, which leads to some interesting questions about the individual in the first place. But for the purposes of this discussion illustrates my point.

In the end NDAs have another effect. They stop people like me who might otherwise be giving glowing press to a game that is at a stage when it could really capitalize on it, from getting it.

Stargate Worlds pre-beta stress test to begin soon

There has been a lot of talk on certain MMO blogs lately regarding the upcoming Stargate Worlds Online MMO. And since I'm an avid Stargate fan who fell in love with the story when the original Stargate movie was released and spent 10 years watching the original Stargate SG-1 show, and now 4+ years watching Stagate Atlantis, I am overjoyed by the prospect. Low and behold I wake up this morning to an email from the fine folks at SWO inviting me to the pre-beta stress test, which will begin on the 24th.

Stress testing is about putting load on the servers to see how they stand up to the rigourous pounding they'll take when a few hundred or more people are doing their thing on them. In the email I received this morning they ask me to log in twice a week during the load testing and quest, fight, or what ever I feel like. And I will certainly oblige by doing so. Personally I can not wait to make my Asgardian!

While the email doesn't state any privacy or non-disclosure requirements, when you then log into the beta site to download the client you are greeted with a confidentiality agreement. So unfortunately this will probably be the last I post about this for a while. I'm generally not a big fan of hiding details about MMOs from fans.

Anyway, for those who also got the invite, see you in SWO!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Vanilla WoW and the quest hole from 50 to 55

I really wish Blizzard would put some of their developers to work redoing aspects of vanilla WoW. In addition to the quest hole between 40-45, there's another hole from 50-53 which I'm just not nearing the end of on my Shaman. While there are some quests that fit into that small bracket--particularly in Ungoro crater, I detest that place with a passion. Nearly all of the quests there are collection quests, and the drop rates on it all seem to be vert low. For the longest time I would only do the first slate of quests available there, and now I can't stand to set foot in the place let alone run through the quests. My wife and I attempted to last night and promptly dropped everything and decided to bounce between Burning Steppes, Felwood, and Western Plaguelands. There's a considerable amount of travel involved, as you might imagine, but it's either that or spend hours upon hours in Ungoro. Sorry Blizzard, that's simply not my idea of fun.

In all honesty, while the quest hole from 40-45 is very wide and apparent, the hole from 50-53 is more self-imposed. Which of course by saying, would be seized upon by Blizzard in rebuttle of my contention. To that I say they'd have a point. But only to an extent. In all the quest brackets, with the exception of the 40-45 bracket, and the 50-53 bracket there is a wide assortment of quests. Even if you have to travel around a bit, you can generally run them as green because of it. You flow easily from one quest to another, and from one zone to the next.

Yet in these two particular brackets you seemingly have to travel much more than in other brackets, and don't generally run into green quests. Everything is yellow or even orange. The quests are your level or slightly above, meaning you will generally run through them a little slower than you otherwise would. And you will generally have more downtime in between fights.

In the 50-53 bracket It's Ungoro crater which I think causes the majority of the problems. If Blizzard would take a good long look at the zone, and redo some of the quests, and fix the drop rates on several of the quests the zone might be much more enjoyable and would go a long way in filling in that hole I see. Ideally I'd like Ungoro to fill the zone people generally go to from 50-52, with a couple quests added to Felwood between those levels to break up the crowds. And from 52 upward people could flow right into the lower level quests available in Western Plaguelands, Burning Steppes, or stay in Felwood.

The quests from 55-60 all seem to gel quite nicely--not that anyone stays in old Azeroth past 58 any more. So you really only worry about 55-58 at this point. And quite frankly, there are tons of quests in that bracket. So much so that you won't get to them all before you part ways with Azeroth and head through the portal.

Blizzard, if you're listening, Ungoro could use some of your attention. Sooner, rather than later would be best for all involved.

WAR expects 1 Mil subs in year / 3 mil at peak


Some times you really have to smile when game producers say things. But Paul Barnett is on a slightly higher pedestal than others are. And when he says he expects upwards of 3 Million subscribers at some point in WAR, many people will listen and believe. He's careful coaching that figure, and doesn't indicate a time frame as far as I can tell. But he does say he believes WAR will have 1 Million subscribers within the year. Now that I can believe. Massively recently announced that Mythic had shipped 1.5 million copies of WAR. Which doesn't necessarily mean that many will sell, but there is a lot of pent up anticipation for WAR right now.

I myself have been tempted to try WAR out, but I wasn't very happy with the requirement to order WAR to try it out. So I've sat on my desire. And frankly, I'm glad I did because reports from various bloggers are beginning to circulate that WAR is really so-so. That it doesn't have the massive appeal most expected afterall, and based on that I expect any WoW players that try it out will be back in mid-November when the Wrath of the Lich King ships. In fact I expect in the week or two prior to the WotLK release, that we'll simply stop hearing about WAR all together.

Lets be honest here. What have we heard about WAR that we haven't heard about every other MMO that's debuted in the past two years? Nothing, really. The last one, Age of Conan, has been such a dismal failure that it's lead developer has recently "resigned". Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Conan fan. Read all the books growing up; have both the movies; and would have loved to have played Conan. But I was put off by the system requirements, and the utter lack of content outside the starter zone. And that's sort of the feeling I'm getting from WAR writers as well.

WoW offers a vibrant end-game. In fact, more than one. Raiding is a huge part of the end game. But it's not the only portion of it. Players can ignore PVE raiding all together and can simply PVP instead, in the form of battle grounds and arenas. If anything people gripe about the amount of time between expansion, instead of what's in them. Players are generally happy with raiding or PVPing, but the most hard core of raiding guilds move through the content entirely too fast. What does WAR offer? I'm still kind of confused about it myself.

WAR appears to be a PVP oriented game. However that PVP has been labled as "care-bear" (and here). Which doesn't speak well for those hard core players that otherwise would have been most interested in WAR.

I'm happy that EA/Mythic is releasing WAR. But I don't think it'll rise to the level that Paul hopes it does.

Upcoming beta changes will reverse some of the recent nerfs

This isn't a very unusual experience in a beta, so why post about it? Of course there will continue to be changes as the beta winds down. But with the date for the expansion now officially announced (Nov 13th), and patch 3.0.2 already on the PTR I think Blizzard will focus more on tweaks than on major changes to anything from this point forward. So what we see right now, and discussed in the two posts I'll be quoting shortly are more or less what we should expect to go live.

I am extremely happy with what I read this morning regarding Death Knights. There are now very few gripes left unanswered by the beta Death Knight community.

DPS changes

-- Death Coil, Frost Strike, Death and Decay damage increased.
-- Strikes that scale with diseases changed so that the weapon damage, not just the flat damage, scales with the disease.
-- Double rune abilities damage increased: Obliterate, Howling Blast, Scourge Strike, Death Strike.
-- Unholy Blight no longer causes Blood Plague, but had its cooldown removed.
-- Several attack power coefficients increased.
-- Bloody Strikes and Scent of Blood swapped places.
-- Bladed Armor now turns armor into Strength (which then is turned into Parry).
-- Master of Ghouls' Ghoul now lasts until killed or similarly dismissed.
-- Ravenous Dead no longer affects Ghoul duration, but grants your rotting little buddy 60% more of your Str and Sta. (Stam goes from 30% of yours to ~50% of yours. Strength goes from 100% to 160%.)

Tanking changes

-- Frost Presence now grants 10% total health in addition to its current bonuses.
-- Blood Gorged, Rage of Rivendare and Tundra Stalker all grant 1/2/3/4/5 expertise.
-- Veteran of the Third War increased to 6/6/6 Str / Sta / Exp to match warriors.
-- Will of the Necropolis no longer grants expertise and now lowers Anti-Magic Shell cooldown.
-- Pestilence has no target limit. (It still has a radius limit.) Pesilence glyph now increases area.
-- Death and Decay no longer has a cower component, but a glyph can add that back.
-- Frigid Dreadplate now has a 100% chance for 2/4/6% miss but only on the DK.

Rewards for the selfless buffer

-- Abom's Might now grants 2% Strength at all times.
-- Improved Icy Talons now grants 2% haste at all times.
-- Ebon Plaguebringer now grants 3% crit at all times.

Runeforge changes

-- Lichbane now does 2% weapon damage as Fire, and double damage to undead.
-- Swordbreaking and Swordshattering add disarm duration reduction.
-- Spellbreaking and Spellshattering add silence duration reduction.
-- Cinderglacier reduced to 2 charges.

No doubt many awesome small tweaks I am forgetting.

AWESOME SMALL TWEAKS.
Yes, truly awesome tweaks all.

On the Druid side of the house, GhostCrawler reported yesterday that on there own internal build (obviously with changes not on live beta yet):
We looked at tank mitigation in Naxx this morning, and guess what? Druid armor was approximately 10k higher than warrior armor and health was perhaps 7k higher. (I say "perhaps" because bear has such a big multiplier on stamina that your exact buff situation can swing this amount a lot.) Warrior avoidance is higher (if you count block as avoidance), but flat damage reduction was about the same, except for the extra 6% spell reduction warriors get from Imp Defensive Stance (druids were a little higher on the physical side). Expertise and crit were much higher for the bear. The warrior had to spend a lot of gems to reach 540 defense, while the druid could stack all health. This was in all blue and purple PvE gear -- nothing from PvP or BC content. All in all, the relationship was much closer to BC than I at least predicted.

Now these are just numbers. It's possible we'll discover something different when we do more tests where the tanks are actually getting beat on. We also didn't look at dps or threat at all.

Furthermore, I also toally buy the argument that you can be a good tank but not have fun doing it. Different problem, but not an invalid one.

I am less worried about the bears having mitigation scaling problems at higher level content, though that armor cap that originally seemed so far away is a little closer now. :)

FWIW, Paladins were very close to warriors -- tied in almost every stat. Death knight health and perhaps armor were a little low. It's possible their numerous cooldowns can make up the difference and it's also possible we'll have to buff them a little.
There isn't a great deal any feral could take issue with over that statement. Obviously it's been the topic of considerable debate for the past several weeks. However, these changes in no way address the issue that I, and many others have been frothing over these past several weeks as well. Creation of a virtual fourth talent tree, that separates DPS and tanking talents. As I said in opening, this is basically what we'll see go live, so there is virtually no chance of rolling back the virtual tree at this point. Much to my chagrin. So let us move on.

It is more important now than ever, that Feral tanks match Warriors in tanking ability. It appears we'll continue to have a single line of mitigation (Dodge), so extra armor and health to absorb the extra damage we'll continue to take over Warriors will continue to be as important in WotLK as it was in BC. And Blizzard has about six weeks left to make sure that they get it right.

Monday, September 15, 2008

WotLK Expansion Date Official

It's official! Blizzard announced on their official site today that the WotLK expansion will be released on November 13th. That's 10 days later than other sites like GameStop, Best Buy, and Circuit City had been advertising though.

So now we know, and we have a definitive time frame to finish preparations for the expansion.

Also, Blizzard has finally announced what will be included in their Collector's edition (CE). Looks to be exactly the same as the Burning Crusade CE. Unlike the first expansion, I personally do not plan on ordering the CE.

Public Test Realm virtually unplayable

I was finally able to get into the PTR last night. However, as it turned out, that was only the beginning of the problems. I have no idea how many people were logged into the PTR, but it was so laggy that it literally was taking a minute or more at times to select single talent points. Likewise, there was simply no way to test new abilities or mechanics. On my Warlock for instance, I flew up to the Barrier Hills to test Demon Form out on the unsuspecting Ogres there. Cast Demon Form, which lasts only 45 seconds, and experienced about 42 seconds of lag. By the time I could actually do anything I found myself looking at myself again.

Needless to say I wasn't on the PTR for very long after all that. I'll head back on tonight, or perhaps in a day or two after the crowds have petered out somewhat. However, I was up there long enough to see a not so well geared (mostly blues) Ret Paladin named Dar demolish one of the Level 70 Elite Ogres that walk around up there. It literally was like watching him slap around a poor level 40 or 50 character. Dar walked away from the short contest at about 90% health. His mana situation was even more incredible because it didn't look like he used any.

Folks, I'm sorry but after reading reports and seeing a few other Rets in action yesterday I'm absolutely convinced they're in for a nerf. A quick scan through the official test realm forum, and Paladin board shows its a subject of a lot of conversation. There seems to be universal support for the buffs from the Paladin corp of course. And near universal condemnation from everyone else. If Blizzard follows it's previous play book they'll nerf Paladins to hell and back based on the whining alone.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

WoW Patch 3.0.2 - Patch Notes


I was finally able to complete downloading, and patching the new PTR client. Turns out there was an additional 150+ MB patch behind the 900 MB patch. And now I sit at the "Retrieving Character List" screen. I've closed the client and restarted, but can get no further. Yet I'm determined to log in and test as much as I can.

Stay tuned fans!

General

  • All players will have their talent points reimbursed and will have access to new talents throughout their trees; this includes the 51-point talents. Several new spells and abilities have been added for all classes. Players will need to visit their class trainer to learn new spells.
  • The Kirin Tor have made their move and so has Dalaran.Please watch your step around the crater that has been left behind!
  • The Barber Shop has been implemented and you can now visit one of the Barber Shops in the major cities to change your appearance. Be sure to get your Shave and a Haircut!
  • The all new Achievement System has been implemented and the Achievement panel can be accessed via the interface. While many achievements are not retroactive, we have done our best to credit as many as possible. Gamemasters will not be able to grant achievements for past accomplishements.
  • Stormwind Harbor is now open for business.
  • New towers have been added outside Of Orgrimmar and in Tirisfal Glades. Crews are currently at work to establish a new Zeppelin route to Northrend for your travel pleasure. Please no /spit off of the towers.
  • A new entrance is now viewable in the Caverns of Time.
  • Hit Rating, Critical Strike Rating, and Haste Rating now modify both melee attacks and spells.
  • Spell casting and spell channeling pushback has been changed to the following:
    • When casting a spell:
      • The first and second hit will add .5 secs each to the cast time.
      • All hits after the second will have no effect.
    • When channeling a spell:
      • The first and second hit reduces current duration by 25% of total duration each.
      • All hits after the second will have no effect.[/u][/b]
    • Spellpower:
      • All items and effects which grant bonuses to spell damage and spell healing are being consolidated into a single stat, Spellpower. This stat will appear with the same values found on items which grant “increased spell damage and healing” such as on typical Mage and Warlock itemization.
        • For classes which do not heal, they should see no change in the character sheet other than new tooltip wording.
      • Healing characters will see their bonus healing numbers on the character sheet decrease, however, all healing spells have been modified to receive more benefit from spellpower than they received from bonus healing, with a net effect of no change to the amount healed by their spells. Some talents have had to be rebalanced to accommodate this change, but the amount healed will remain roughly the same. In addition, some talents will provide only healing spell power.

    Known Issues

    • The current patch notes are incomplete, but will be progressively more comprehensive in each patch.
    • All classes are currently undergoing a balancing pass of all talent trees.
    • Inscription is not fully implemented and still has non-functioning glyphs.

    Druids

    • Brambles (Balance): Now increases the damage done by your Treants, and also damage caused from your Treants and Barkskin has a 5/10/15% chance to Daze the target for 3 sec.
    • Celestial Focus (Balance): The stun proc now works with Starfall. This talent no longer has Wrath pushback protection, but instead increases your total spell haste by 1/2/3%.
    • Challenging Roar now has a 3 minute cooldown, reduced from 10 minutes.
    • Control of Nature (Balance) has been removed.
    • Entangling Roots: Can now be used indoors.
    • Faerie Fire (Feral): Now an 11-point talent, down from being a 21-point talent.
    • Feral Charge (Feral) is now a 21-point talent, up from being a 11-point talent.
    • Feral Charge (Feral): Can now be used in Cat form.
    • Feral Instinct (Feral) no longer increases threat generated in Bear form, but now increases damage done by your Swipe ability by 5/10/15%.
    • Feral Swiftness: The movement speed buff can now be used indoors.
    • Focused Starlight (Balance)is now Nature's Majesty (Balance): Increases the critical strike chance of your Wrath, Starfire, Starfall, Nourish, and Healing Touch spells by 2/4/6%.
    • Force of Nature (Balance): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3.
    • Furor (Restoration): Now increases your total Intellect while in Moonkin form by 2/4/6/8/10%.
    • Hurricane: No longer has a cooldown (was 1 minute).
    • Improved Faerie Fire (Feral): Now also works with spell hit, in addition to ranged and melee hit %.
    • Improved Mark of the Wild (Restoration): Now a 2-point talent, down from a 5-point talent.
    • Improved Tranquility (Restoration): Now also reduces the cooldown of your Tranquility spell by 25/50%.
    • Mangle (Feral): Now increases the damage done by Maul in addition to Shred.
    • Moonglow (Balance): Now also works with Starfall. Moved to tier 2, up from tier 5.
    • Moonkin Form (Balance) no longer increases your attack power or causes you to regenerate mana off melee attacks, but now has a chance to cause you to instantly regenerate 2% of your total mana every time you critically hit with a spell.
    • Nature's Focus (Restoration): Now a 3 point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 1, up from Tier 2. Now also includes Nourish, Entangling Roots, Wrath, and Cyclone.
    • Nature's Grace (Balance): Now also reduces the global cooldown of your Wrath spell by 50% while in effect.
    • Nature's Grasp (Balance): Can now be used and can proc indoors. This is now a base ability at level 11 and has a 100% chance to proc.
    • Nature's Reach (Balance): Now also reduces threat generated by Balance spells by 15/30%.
    • New Spell: Revive - Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. (Ranks 1-7 added)
    • New Talent - Genesis (Balance): Increases the damage and healing done by your periodic spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • New Talent - Improved Insect Swarm (Balance): Increases your damage done by your Wrath spell to targets afflicted by your Insect Swarm by 1/2/3%, and increases the critical strike chance of your Starfire spell by 1/2/3% on targets afflicted by your Moonfire spell.
    • New Talent - Mother Bear (Feral): Increases the bonus attack power for Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by an additional 20/40/60%, and for each friendly player in your party, damage you take is reduced while in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 1/2/3%.
    • New Talent - Natural Reaction (Feral): Increases your dodge chance while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form by 2/4/6%, and you regenerate 1/2/3 rage everytime you dodge while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form.
    • New Talent - Nature's Splendor (Balance): Increases the duration of your Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom and Flourish spells by 10/20/30%.
    • Omen of Clarity (Restoration): Now a passive spell. Now also works for spells (healing and damage). Proc rate is roughly 6% with a 10 second internal cooldown.
    • Primal Tenacity (Feral) now reduces damage while stunned by 5/10/15%, and reduces the duration of fear effects by 5/10/15%.
    • Remove Curse can now be used in Tree of Life form.
    • Soothe Animal can now be used on Dragonkin as well as Beasts.
    • Soothe Animal is now instant cast.
    • Subtlety (Restoration): Now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 2, up from Tier 3. Also now only reduced threat for Restoration spells, and reduces the chance that your healing over time spells (Lifebloom, Regrowth and Rejuvenation) will be dispelled, rather than all Druid spells. Threat management for Balance can now be found in the Balance tree, within Nature's Reach.
    • Survival of the Fittest (Feral): Increased to 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%.
    • The mana regeneration penalty when in Bear Form, Dire Bear Form and Cat Form has been removed.
    • Tranquil Spirit (Restoration) now also includes Nourish.
    • Tree of Life (Restoration): 30% snare penalty has been removed.
    • Tree of Life (Restoration): Can now cast Dispel Curse.
    • Tree of Life (Restoration): You can now cast all Restoration spells (Healing Touch) in the form, but Tree of Life now only reduces the mana cost of your healing over time spells (Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, Regrowth and Flourish) by 20%.
    • Vengeance (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.

    Hunters

    • All aspects now have a 1 second global cooldown, down from a 1.5 global cooldown.
    • All pet families now have one unique ability. New abilities have been added for families such as bears and sporebats.
    • Stablemasters can now accommodate two additional pets.
    • Pets now have their own trees. These can be accessed via the talent panel.
    • Animal Handler (Beast Mastery): No longer increases speed while mounted, but now reduces the cooldown of your Master's Call ability by 5/10 sec.
    • Arcane Shot: No longer dispels magic effects.
    • Aspects now no longer cost mana.
    • Aspect of the Beast: Now increases melee attack power by 10% for the hunter and the hunter’s pet.
    • Aspect of the Viper - The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, instantly regenerating mana equal to 100% of the damage done by any ranged attack or ability, but reduces your total damage done by 50%. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
    • Avoidance, Dash / Dive and Cobra Reflexes are now pet talents instead of pet skills.
    • Bestial Swiftness is now a pet talent tree talent, and has been removed from the Beast Mastery Hunter tree.
    • Bite now has no cooldown, does the same damage and costs the same Focus as Claw, so works as a Focus dump.
    • Clever Traps (Survival) has been renamed "Trap Mastery."
    • Combat Experience (Marksmanship): Now grants 3/6% Agility, up from 1/2%.
    • Concussive Barrage (Marksmanship): Can now proc from Volley and Multi-shot attacks.
    • Counterattack: Damage increased by 20%, and now also scales with your Ranged Attack Power.
    • Deterrence (Survival): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, and now also increases your chance to resist spells by 60%. Now has a new spell effect.
    • Disengage: This ability has been re-designed. Now leaps the Hunter backwards up to 13 yards. 30 second cooldown. Disengage now also only has one rank (rank 1).
    • Distracting Shot: This shot now "taunts" the target onto the Hunter. The taunt effect will last 6 seconds. Distracting Shot now only has one rank (rank 1).
    • Every hunter pet can learn Growl, Cower and either Bite or Claw (never both).
    • Focused Fire (Beast Mastery): Now increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Command by 10/20/30% while Kill Command is active. This effect can stack up to 3 times, but diminishes for each charge of Kill Command.
    • Hunter pets can now learn talents in one of three trees depending on family. Pets gain talent points starting at level 20 and earn an extra talent point every 4 levels.
    • If a hunter tames a pet that is more than five levels beneath their own level, the pet will then have their level increased to five levels beneath the hunter’s own level.
    • Improved Arcane Shot (Marksmanship): Now increases the damage done by your Arcane Shot by 5/10/15%.
    • Improved Feign Death (Survival): This talent has been replaced with Survival Tactics.
    • Improved Hunter's Mark (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, and now increases the amount of attack power granted by your Hunter's Mark ability by 10/20/30% and reduces the mana cost of your Hunter's Mark ability by 33/66/100%.
    • Improved Stings (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, down from 5-points.
    • Kill Command: This ability now increases the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 60%. Each attack will reduce the damage bonus by 20%. 1 minute cooldown.
    • Loyalty, Training Points and the hunter Beast Training button no longer exist. Hunter pets can now learn all skills at their level. They will get new ranks automatically as they gain levels.
    • Master Tactician (Survival): Chance to proc increased to 10%, up from 6%.
    • Mongoose Bite: No longer requires you to dodge in order to use this ability.
    • Monster Slaying (Survival) and Humanoid Slaying (Survival) has been combined into "Improved Tracking".
    • New Talent - Aspect Mastery (Beast Mastery)
    • New Talent - Hunter vs. Wild (Survival): Increases you and your pet's attack power and ranged attack power equal to 10/20/30% of your total Stamina.
    • New Talent - Improved Tracking (Survival): Increases all damage done to targets that are being tracked 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • New Talent - Lock and Load (Survival): You have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target and a 10/20/30% chance when you sting a target to cause your next 3 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo.
    • New Talent - Survival Tactics (Survival): Reduces the chance your Feign Death ability and all trap spells will be resisted by 2/4%, and reduces the cooldown of your Disengage ability by 2/4 sec.
    • New Talent - T.N.T. (Survival): Your Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Explosive Shot have a 5/10/15% to stun targets for 2 sec when they deal damage, and increases the critical strike chance of your Explosive Shot and Explosive Trap by 5/10/15%.
    • Pathfinding (Beast Mastery): Now also increases the movement speed while mounted by 5/10%.
    • Rapid Killing (Marksmanship): This will now proc off Chimera Shot, but no longer works with auto-shot.
    • Readiness (Survival): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes.
    • Savage Strikes (Survival): Now includes Counterattack.
    • Silencing Shot (Marksmanship): This spell will now interrupt the current spell being cast on the target and lock out that school for 3 sec if the target is immune to silence effects.
    • Spirit Bond (Beast Mastery): Also increases healing done to you and your pet by 5/10%.
    • Steady Shot now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use.
    • Steady Shot: Now has a 2.0 cast time, up from 1.5.
    • Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 16/25/50% (instead of resist % chance).
    • Survival Instincts (Survival): This has been moved to tier-2, up from tier 6.
    • Survivalist (Survival): Now increases your total Stamina, instead of your total Health.
    • The arming time has been reduced to 1 second, from 2 seconds for all traps.
    • Tranquilizing Shot: Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds (down from 20), and now dispels Enrage and Magic effects.
    • Trap Mastery (Survival) is now an 11-point talent.
    • Trueshot Aura - This aura is now raid-wide and now increases all ranged and melee attack power by 10%. In addition, this spell now only has one rank. All other ranks have been removed.
    • Wingclip: No longer does damage.

    Mages

    • Arcane Blast effect duration reduced to 3 seconds, and now increases damage by 25/50/75% instead of reducing cast time.
    • Arcane Focus (Arcane) is now 3 ranks and increases chance to hit and reduces mana cost of Arcane spells by 1/2/3%.
    • Arcane Fortitude moved to tier 2, increased to 3 ranks, now increases armor equal to 50/100/150% of Intellect.
    • Arcane Impact renamed Spell Impact and now affects Blast Wave, Fire Blast, Cone of Cold, and Ice Lance.
    • Arcane Potency now applies when Presence of Mind is active, talent prerequisite changed to Presence of Mind.
    • Arcane Subtlety now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 15/35%, and no longer reduces the resistance of targets.
    • Arctic Reach now also affects Deep Freeze.
    • Blast Wave now knocks all affected targets back.
    • Conjured mana gems no longer disappear from your backpack after being logged out for more than 15 minutes. Higher ranks of Conjure Mana Gem will recharge an existing mana gem to maximum charges.
    • Counterspell now costs 9% of base mana.
    • Elemental Precision moved to tier 2.
    • Empowered Arcane Missiles renamed Arcane Empowerment and no longer increases mana cost. It now also increases damage caused by Arcane Blast.
    • Empowered Fireball reduced to 3 ranks, now increases damage by 5/10/15% of spell power.
    • Empowered Frostbolt reduced to 2 ranks, increases damage by 5/10% of spell power and increases critical hit chance by 2/4%.
    • Flame Throwing moved to tier 3.
    • Frost Armor, Ice Armor, Mage Armor and Molten Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled.
    • Frost Channeling now reduces mana cost of all spells by 4/7/10%.
    • Frost Warding now increases armor and resistances of Frost/Ice Armor by 25/50%, now gives Frost Ward and Fire Ward a 15/30/5 chance to negate damage caused and restore mana equal to damage caused by the warded spell.
    • Ice Floes renamed Cold as Ice, now reduces cooldown of Cold Snap, Ice Barrier, Summon Water Elemental, and Deep Freeze by 10/20%.
    • Impact moved to tier 3, reduced to 3 ranks for 4/7/10% chance to trigger, now triggers from any damaging spell (Fire, Frost or Arcane).
    • Improved Blink now also reduces mana cost by 25/50%.
    • Improved Counterspell now always silences the target for 2/4 seconds.
    • Improved Fire Blast moved to tier 1, reduced to 2 ranks, reduces the cooldown by 1/2 seconds.
    • Improved Flamestrike moved to tier 2, renamed World in Flames, now increases the critical hit chance of Flamestrike, Blast Wave, Dragon’s Breath, Living Bomb, Blizzard, and Arcane Explosion by 2/4/6%.
    • Improved Frost Nova renamed Ice Floes, moved to tier 1, increased to 3 ranks, now reduces cooldown of Frost Nova, Cone of Cold, Ice Block, and Icy Veins by 7/14/20%.
    • Improved Mana Shield has been renamed to Arcane Shielding, reduces mana lost per damage absorbed by 17/33%,and now also increases resistances granted by Mage Armor by 25/50%.
    • Improved Scorch now increases Fire, Frost, and Arcane damage done to the target by 2/4/6/8/10%.
    • Incineration moved to tier 1, increases the critical hit chance of Fire Blast, Scorch, Arcane Blast, and Cone of Cold by 2/4/6%.
    • Invisibility now makes the caster invisible after 3 seconds, reduced from 5 seconds.
    • Magic Absorption reduced to 2 ranks, increases resistances by .5/1 point per level, and restores 1/3% of total mana on a resist.
    • Magic Attunement (Arcane) now also increases the range of your Arcane spells by 3/6 yards.
    • Mana Shield now drains 1.5 mana per damage absorbed.
    • Master of Elements now affects all spell criticals.
    • Mind Mastery reduced to 3/6/9/12/15%.
    • Molten Shields now gives Fire Ward and Frost Ward spells a 15/30% chance to reflect the warded spell.
    • Polymorph now costs 12% of base mana.
    • Portal spells now cost 18% of base mana.
    • Prismatic Cloak (Arcane) increased to 3 ranks for 1/2/3% and now also reduces the fade time of Invisibility by 1/2/3 seconds.
    • Pyroblast cast time has been reduced to 5 seconds.
    • Remove Lesser Curse has been renamed to Remove Curse.
    • Shatter no longer has a prerequisite.
    • Slow Fall now costs 6% of base mana.
    • Slow mana cost reduced.
    • Summoned Water Elemental's Waterbolt range increased, mana cost reduced, Freeze range increased, mana cost increased.
    • Teleport spells now cost 9% of base mana.
    • Winter's Chill reduced to 3 ranks, Frost damage spells have a 33/66/100% chance to trigger the effect and the effect increases chance to crit with Arcane, Fire and Frost spells.

    Paladins

    • Attack Power and Spell Power scaling on all Seals and Judgements other than Command and Blood has been reduced.
    • All Auras now affect all party and raid members within the area of effect.
    • Anticipation (Protection) moved to tier 1, now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • Avenger's Shield (Protection) cast time reduced to .5 seconds, duration increased to 10 seconds.
    • Avenging Wrath no longer causes Forbearance, damage increase reduced to 20%, now increases healing done by 20%.
    • Blessing of Freedom renamed Hand of Freedom. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
    • Blessing of Light and Greater Blessing of Light removed. Their effects have been folded into all relevant abilities.
    • Blessing of Protection renamed Hand of Protection. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. All ranks now cost 6% of base mana.
    • Blessing of Sacrifice renamed Hand of Sacrifice, is now only 1 rank and transfers 20% of the damage taken to the caster, duration reduced to 12 seconds, cooldown increased to 2 minutes. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
    • Blessing of Salvation renamed Hand of Salvation, now reduces total threat on the target by 2% per second for 10 seconds while also reducing all damage and healing done by 10%. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
    • Blessing of Sanctuary reduced to 1 rank, now reduces all damage taken by 3% and generates rage, mana or runic power when a parry/dodge/block occurs.
    • Consecration now scales with attack power and spell power.
    • Conviction (Retribution) now increases critical chance with all spells and melee attacks.
    • Divine Intellect (Holy) moved to tier 2, increases total Intellect by 3/6/9/12/15%.
    • Divine Intervention cooldown reduced to 20 minutes.
    • Divine Protection and Divine Shield now cost 3% of base mana.
    • Divine Protection now reduces all damage taken by 50% and increases time between attacks by 100%.
    • Divine Purpose (Retribution) now reduces chance to be hit by spells and ranged attacks by 1/2/3%.
    • Divine Strength (Holy) moved to tier 1 in the Protection tree.
    • Exorcism mana cost reduced and now scales with attack power and spell power.
    • Eye for an Eye now reflects 10/20% damage from all critical hits.
    • Fanaticism now increases chance to critically hit by 5/10/15/20/25%.
    • Forbearance duration increased to 3 minutes.
    • Greater Blessing of Salvation removed.
    • Hammer of Justice now costs 3% of base mana.
    • Hammer of Wrath is now considered a Retribution spell, moved from Holy, mana cost reduced, now instant cast, global cooldown increased to 1.5, missile speed increased, now usable on targets below 35% health and now scales with attack power and spell power.
    • Healing Light (Holy) moved to tier 2.
    • Holy Shield (Protection) cooldown reduced to 8 seconds.
    • Holy Shock (Holy) range changed to 20/40 yards when used on enemies/friends respectively, cooldown reduced to 6 seconds.
    • Holy Wrath is now instant cast, causes a 3 second stun, cooldown reduced to 30 seconds, radius reduced to 10 yards.
    • Illumination (Holy) moved to tier 3.
    • Improved Blessing of Might increased to 10/20/30/40/50%.
    • Improved Concentration Aura (Protection) moved to the Holy tree.
    • Improved Concentration Aura moved from the Protection tree to tier 4 in the Holy tree.
    • Improved Devotion Aura (Protection) moved to tier 4, reduced to 3 ranks, now increases armor of Devotion Aura by 17/34/50% and increases all healing done to units affected by Devotion Aura by 1/2/3%.
    • Improved Hammer of Justice (Protection) now reduces cooldown by 10/20/30 secs.
    • Improved Righteous Fury (Protection) threat bonus folded into base spell, talent still reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
    • Improved Sanctity Aura (Retribution) renamed Sanctified Retribution, now causes all units affected by Retribution Aura to cause 2% more damage.
    • Improved Seal of Righteousness (Holy) moved to tier 1, renamed Seals of the Pure, now affects Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Vengeance and Seal of Corruption.
    • Improved Seal of the Crusader (Retribution) renamed Heart of the Crusader and the effects now apply to all Judgement spells.
    • Judgement has been replaced with 3 new spells; Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom, and Judgement of Justice. All Judgement spells are considered ranged attacks for purposes of how they hit and how they critically hit. All cause damage based on attack power and spell power.
      • Judgement of Light now heals based on the Paladin’s attack power and spell power, the effect can not trigger more than once ever 4 seconds.
      • Judgement of Justice will no longer prevent Fear effects, but will only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health).
      • Judgement of Wisdom now restores mana based on the Paladin’s attack power and spell power, the effect can not trigger more than once every 4 seconds.
    • Lay on Hands no longer drains all mana, cooldown reduced to 20 minutes.
    • Precision has been removed.
    • Pure of Heart (Holy) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces duration of Curse and Disease effects by 25/50%.
    • Pursuit of Justice reduced to 2 ranks for 8/15% movement increase and 1/2% less chance to be hit by spells.
    • Redoubt (Protection) moved to tier 2.
    • Repentance (Retribution) mana cost changed to 9% of base, duration increased to 1 minute (10 second PvP duration), now usable against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead.
    • Retribution Aura damage increased and now gains damage based on Holy spell power.
    • Righteous Defense no longer costs mana and the global cooldown has been removed.
    • Righteous Fury now increases threat caused by Holy damage by 90%.
    • Sacred Duty now also reduces the cooldown of Divine Protection.
    • Sanctified Light (Holy) now also increases the critical chance of Holy Shock.
    • Sanctity Aura (Retribution) removed.
    • All Seals have been reduced to 1 rank and now cost 14% of base mana. The duration has been increased to 2 minutes and are no longer consumed when a Judgement spell is cast. The effects can be triggered from all weapon based special abilities.
      • Seal of Blood now increases Judgement damage by 45% of weapon damage.
      • Seal of Command now increases Judgement damage by 30% of weapon damage, 60% on stunned targets.
      • Seal of the Crusader has been removed. The effects of Judgement of the Crusader have been folded into all relevant abilities.
      • Seal of Righteousness deals damage based on weapon speed plus an amount based on attack power and spell power, increases Judgement damage by 25%.
      • Seal of Vengeance now applies its effect on every swing, causes damage based on attack power and spell power, increases Judgement damage by 10% per stack of the damage over time effect.
    • Spiritual Focus (Holy) moved to tier 1.
    • Stoicism (Protection) moved to tier 2, now reduces duration of Stun effects by 10/20/30% and reduces chance your spells will be resisted by 10/20/30%.
    • Summon Warhorse and Summon Charger mana cost removed and no longer causes a global cooldown.
    • Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3 , now also reduces the duration of movement slowing effects by 10/20/30/40/50%.
    • Turn Undead (ranks 1 and 2) removed. Turn Evil now granted at level 24, mana cost changed to 9% of base.
    • Unyielding Faith (Holy) moved to tier 2.
    • Vengeance (Retribution) now stacks up to 2 times, reduced from 3.
    • Vindication reduced to 2 ranks for 10/20% attribute reduction.

    Priests

    • Absolution: This talent has swapped positions in the talent tree with Improved Inner Fire.
    • Circle of Healing (Holy): Now works on any targets in the caster's raid, and is now a "smart" heal and chooses the lowest health targets to heal first within its range. Also now has a 6 second cooldown. Also no longer will heal summoned Snakes from Hunter's Snake Trap.
    • Enlightenment: Increases your total Stamina, Spirit and Spell haste by 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • Focused Will (Discipline): Now increases healing effects on you by 3/4/5%, down from 4/7/10%.
    • Force of Will (Discipline): This talent now increases your spell damage by a flat amount, rather than increasing your spells by a %. (Now increases school %, rather than selected spells damage %). In other words, your spell damage gained from this talent is now reflected on your character sheet, rather than the skill tool-tips.
    • Focused Power: Increases your total spell damage and healing done by 2/4%, but no longer increases your chance to hit with Mind Blast, and Mass Dispel.
    • Holy Fire: Cast time reduced to to 2 seconds, down from 3.5. Damage increased roughly 60%. Duration for the damage over time effect reduced to 7 seconds, down from 10. Holy Fire now has a 10 second cooldown.
    • Improved Inner Fire (Discipline) - Now also increases the effect of Inner Fire spell by 20/40/60% (Includes the +spell power on higher ranks, as well as total number of charges).
    • Improved Shadow Word: Pain (Shadow) - Now increases damage done by your Shadow Word: Pain by 5/10%, but no longer increases the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain.
    • Levitate now costs 3% of base mana.
    • Lightwell (Holy): Cast time reduced to .5 sec, down from 1.5 sec. Charges increased to 10, up from 5. Now breaks from any attack that hits you for 30% or more of your total health. Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5.
    • Mind Control now has only one rank and costs 12% of base mana.
    • Mind Soothe now has only one rank, costs 6% of base mana and has no max target level.
    • Mind Vision now costs 3% of base mana.
    • New Talent: Improved Spirit Tap (Shadow) - Gives you a 50/100% chance to gain a 50% bonus to your Spirit after gaining a critical effect chance from your Mind Blast or Shadow Word: Death spells. For the duration, your mana will regenerate at a 25% rate while casting. Lasts 8 sec.
    • New Talent: Twin Faiths (Discipline) - Increases your damage and healing by 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • Pain Suppression (Discipline): Cooldown increased to 3 minutes, up from 2.
    • Power Infusion (Discipline): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3.
    • Prayer of Mending - This spell can now critically hit.
    • Psychic Scream now costs 15% of base mana.
    • Searing Light (Holy): Now also increases the damage of your Holy Nova and Penance spells.
    • Shackle Undead now costs 9% of base mana.
    • Shadow Focus (Shadow): Now a 3 point talent, down from 5. Now also reduces the mana cost of your Shadow spells by 2/4/6%.
    • Shadow Resilience (Shadow): Now reduces physical damage taken by 2/4%, but no longer reduces the chance to be critically hit by spells.
    • Shadowform (Shadow): Now has an innate 30% threat reduction. Now has a shapeshift UI.
    • Silence (Shadow) global cooldown removed.
    • Silent Resolve (Discipline): Now a 3 point talent, down from 5 points.
    • Spirit Tap (Shadow) - Talent reduced to 3 points, down from 5. Now also leads into "Improved Spirit Tap"
    • Wand Specialization (Discipline) has been removed.

    Rogues

    • Anesthetic Poison now also dispels one Enrage effect on the target.
    • Blade Twisting (Combat) now cause all damaging melee attacks to have a 10% chance to daze for 4/8 seconds movement speed reduced by 70%.
    • Camouflage (Subtlety) reduced to 3 ranks for 5/10/15% speed and 2/4/6 secs off the cooldown of Stealth.
    • Cloak of Shadows cooldown increased to 1.5 min.
    • Crippling Poison reduced to 1 rank, slowing movement by 70%.
    • Dagger Specialization (Combat) renamed Close Quarters Combat, moved to tier 3, now increases critical strike chance with Daggers and Fist Weapons by 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • Damaging poisons now scale with attack power.
    • Deadened Nerves (Assassination) reduced to 3 ranks, now reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
    • Deflection (Combat) reduced to 3 ranks, increasing parry by 2/4/6%.
    • Disarm Trap range increased to 20 yards, cast time reduced, now requires stealth.
    • Dual Wield Specialization (Combat) moved to tier 1.
    • Elusiveness (Subtlety) moved to Tier 3, now reduces cooldown of Vanish and Blind by 30/60 sec and Cloak of Shadows by 15/30 sec.
    • Energy regeneration should now be smoother.
    • Endurance (Combat) now reduces cooldown of Evasion and Sprint by 30/60 secs.
    • Envenom now also increases your chance to apply poisons by 25% for 2-6 seconds (based on combo points).
    • Evasion, Sprint and Vanish cooldowns reduced to 3 min.
    • Find Weakness (Assassination) is now a passive talent, reduced to 3 ranks, increases damage of offensive abilities by 3/6/9%.
    • Fist Weapon Specialization (Combat) removed.
    • Fleet Footed (Assassination) now reduces duration of movement impairing effects by 25/50% rather than increasing resist chance.
    • Gouge is now only 1 rank and causes damage based on attack power.
    • Improved Ambush (Subtlety) moved to Tier 4, reduced to 2 ranks for 25/50%.
    • Improved Eviscerate (Assassination) now increases damage by 7/14/20%.
    • Improved Expose Armor (Assassination) now reduces the energy cost by 5/10, no longer increases duration.
    • Improved Poisons (Assassination) now increases chance to apply poisons by 5/10/15/20/25%.
    • Improved Slice and Dice (Combat) reduced to 2 ranks, increases duration by 25/50%.
    • Improved Sprint (Combat) moved to Tier 4.
    • Initiative (Subtlety) moved to Tier 4, increased to 33/66/100% chance.
    • Kick is now only 1 rank and no longer causes damage.
    • Lethality (Assassination) now also affects Riposte.
    • Lightning Reflexes (Combat) moved to tier 4.
    • Mace Specialization (Combat) no longer stuns enemiesnow ignores 3/6/9/12/15% of target's armor.
    • Master of Deception (Subtlety) reduced to 3 ranks.
    • Mind-Numbing Poison reduced to 1 rank, slowing casting speed by 60%.
    • Murder (Assassination) moved to tier 6, increases damage by 2/4%.
    • Mutilate (Assassination) no longer requires you be behind the target.
    • Nerves of Steel (Combat) now reduces damage taken while Stunned or Feared by 15/30%.
    • Opportunity (Subtlety) reduced to 2 ranks for 10/20%.
    • Pick Lock and Disarm Trap no longer require Thieve's Tools.
    • Poisons skill removed. All finished poisons are available on vendors rather than created by the rogue.
    • Precision (Combat) now also increases chance to hit with poison attacks by 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • Premeditation (Subtlety) duration increased to 20 seconds, cooldown reduced to 20 seconds.
    • Preparation (Subtlety) no longer refreshes the cooldown of Premeditation.
    • Relentless Strikes (Assassination) moved to Tier 1 Subtlety, made 5 ranks for 4/8/12/16/20% chance.
    • Riposte (Combat) now slows the target's melee attacks by 20% instead of disarming them, awards one combo point.
    • Serrated Blades (Subtlety) moved to Tier 3.
    • Setup (Subtlety) chance to gain a combo point increased to 33/66/100%.
    • Shadowstep (Subtlety) is no longer usable while rooted.
    • Surprise Attacks (Combat) now also increases Hemorrhage damage.
    • Vanish no longer requires the reagent Flash Powder.
    • Vigor (Assassination) moved to Tier 3.
    • Vile Poisons (Assassination) reduced to 3 ranks, now increases damage of poisons and Envenom by 7/14/20% and increases dispel resistance by 10/20/30%.
    • Wounding Poison no longer stacks, reduces healing by 50%.

    Shaman

    • All totems are now considered on the "Physical" school, and no longer magical spells.
    • Anticipation (Enhancement): Now is a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent and now reduces the duration of disarm effects on you by 16/25/50%.
    • Ancestral Knowledge (Enhancement): Now increases your Intellect by 2/4/6%, instead of increasing your total Mana by 2/4/6/8/10%.
    • Call of Flame (Elemental): Now also increases the damage of your Lava Burst spell by 2/4/6%.
    • Call of Thunder (Elemental) now also increases the critical strike chance of your Thunder spell.
    • Concussion (Elemental) now increases the damage of your Thunder and Lava Burst spells.
    • Convection (Elemental) is now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Now lowers the mana cost of Thunder and Lava Burst.
    • Earth's Grasp (Elemental) is now a tier-1 talent, up from tier-2.
    • Elemental Devastation (Elemental) is now a tier-2 talent, up from tier-4.
    • Elemental Focus (Elemental): Now also can proc off Lesser Healing Wave and Healing Wave, and can be used on all healing spells.
    • Elemental Fury (Elemental) now requires Elemental Focus as a pre-requisite
    • Elemental Precision (Elemental): Chance to hit reduced to 1/2/3% from 2/4/6%, but threat reduction increased to 10/20/30% up from 4/7/10%.
    • Enhancing (Enhancement) Totems is now a Tier 1 talent, up from Tier-2.
    • Flametongue Totem is now a flat spell damage totem. All ranks have been modified.
    • Flametongue Weapon: Now has a passive spell damage.
    • Frostbrand's snare effect has been increased to 50%, up from 25%.
    • Ghost Wolf's mana cost is now 13% base.
    • Grace of Air Totem has been removed. (Agility has been rolled over into Strength of Earth Totem)
    • Healing Grace (Restoration): Healing Way and Ancestral Fortitude are now affected by the dispel resistance portion of this talent.
    • Improved Fire Totems (Elemental) is now (again) Improved Fire Nova Totem. It now has a 50/100% chance to stun all targets for 2 sec.
    • Improved Lightning Shield (Enhancement) is now Improved Shields, and is in Tier-2.
    • Nature’s Blessing no longer increases spell damage from Intellect, and the effect has been reduced to 5/10/15% from 10/20/30%. This is in result of the new spell power system. Players should notice little to no change in the power of the spell relevant to healing spells.
    • New ranks have been added of Water Shield, starting at level 20. (Level 20, 27, 34, 41, 48, 55, 62, 69)
    • New Spell: Earthliving Weapon - Imbue the Shaman's weapon with earthen life. Increases healing done by x and each heal has a 20% chance to proc Earthliving on the target, healing an additionaly over 12 sec. Lasts 30 minutes.
    • New Talent: Cleanse Spirit (Restoration) - Cleanse the spirit of a friendly target, removing 1 poison effect, 1 disease effect, and 1 curse effect.
    • New Talent: Elemental Shields (Enhancement): Increases the damage done by your Lightning Shield orbs by 5/10/15%, increases the amount of mana gained from your Mana Shield orbs by 5/10/15% and increases the amount of healing done by your Earth Shield orbs by 5/10/15%.
    • New Talent: Mental Dexterity (Enhancement) - Increases your Attack Power by 33/66/100% of your Intellect.
    • New Talent: Tidal Force(Restoration): Increases the critical effect chance of your Healing Wave, Lesser Healing Wave and Chain Heal by 60%. Each critical heal reduces the chance by 20% and lasts 20 seconds.
    • Rockbiter ranks 5 through 9 have been removed. Windfury Weapon is intended to replace Rockbiter at level 30.
    • Shapeshifting will no longer cancel Water Walking.
    • Stoneclaw Totem: Health of the Stoneclaw totem is increased by 5% of the Shaman’s total health.
    • Stoneskin Totem now increases armor instead of reducing physical damage.
    • Storm Reach (Elemental): Now also increases the radius of your Thunder spell by 10/20%.
    • Strength of Earth Totem now also increases agility.
    • The range of all “friendly totems” has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.
    • Tidal Focus (Restoration): Now works with Earth Shield.
    • Totemic Mastery talent removed and replaced with “Tidal Force”.
    • Tranquil Air Totem has been removed. (Threat is being addressed by modifications to the base threat of players and/or "baked" into tanking abilities.)
    • Unleashed Rage is now raid wide.
    • Windfury Totem is now a flat 20% melee haste totem. All ranks have been modified.
    • Windwall Totem has been removed.
    • Wrath of Air is now a flat 10% spell haste totem.

    Warlock

    • Aftermath (Destruction) - Now a 2-point talent, down from 5.
    • All demon abilities and spells will automatically be learned as pets gain levels. Demon Master trainers will be removed.
    • Avoidance (Felguard): Now reduces damage taken from area of effect attacks by an additional 80% and is automatically learned for the Succubus, Imp, Voidwalker, and Felhunter at level 10.
    • Bane now reduces the cast time of your Haunt spell.
    • Blood Pact now works raid-wide (not just in party).
    • Cataclysm (Destruction) - Now also increases your chance to hit with Destruction spells by 1% per point.
    • Consume Shadows (Voidwalker): Duration reduced to 6 seconds, and effect increased 66%. Now also greatly increases all nearby allies’ stealth detection while channeled.
    • Curse of Recklessness will no longer prevent Fear effects, only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health).
    • Dark Pact: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects and now restores 200% mana leeched from your summoned Demon, up from 100%.
    • Demon Armor - Now increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%, but no longer has in-combat health regeneration.
    • Demon Skin, Demon Armor and Fel Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled.
    • Demonic Sacrifice: Succubus effect reduced to 10% increased shadow damage, down from 15%. Imp effect reduced to 10% increased fire damage, down from 15%. Felguard effect now increases Fire and Shadow damage, instead of just Shadow.
    • Doomguard: Health increased 20%, mana increased 24%.
    • Emberstorm now reduces the cast time of your incinerate by 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 seconds.
    • Fel Armor - Now increases your spell damage equal to 30% of your total Spirit, but no longer increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%.
    • Felguard: Health increased by 10%.
    • Felhunter: Paranoia and Tainted Blood have been replaced with Fel Intelligence and Shadow Bite.
    • Fel Intelligence (Felhunter): Increases total Intellect and Spirit of party and raid members by 3%. Lasts until cancelled.
    • Fel Stamina (Demonology) has been merged with Fel Intellect into Fel Vitality.
    • Howl of Terror now costs 15% of base mana.
    • Infernal: Cooldown reduced to 15 minutes, down from 1 hour. Duration reduced to 1 minute, down from 5 minutes+. Health increased by 30%, damage increased by 60%, and armor increased by 30%.
    • Imp: Health increased by 20% , Armor increased 16%, mana regeneration increased 200%.
    • Improved Curse of Weakness (Affliction) is now "Frailty" - Increases the amount of attack power reduced by your Curse of Weakness spell by 10/20%, and increases the amount of armor reduced by your Curse of Recklessness by 10/20%.
    • Improved Enslave Demon (Demonology) is now a Tier 5 talent, up from Tier 4.
    • Improved Lash of Pain (Destruction) and Improved Firebolt (Destruction) have been merged into one talent, Demonic Power.
    • Improved Shadow Bolt (Destruction) - Now increases damage by your next Shadow damage spells by 3/6/9/12/15%, down from 4/8/12/16/20%.
    • Mana Feed: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects.
    • Master Demonologist (Demonology) - Most effects have been altered.
      • Master Demonologist – Felguard (Demonology) - Now increases all damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and reduces all damage done to you by 1/2/3/4/5%.
      • Master Demonologist – Imp (Demonology) - Now increases Fire damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Fire spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
      • Master Demonologist – Succubus (Demonology) - Now increases Shadow damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Shadow spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • Nether Protection has been reworked. It now has a 10/20/30% chance when you’re hit with a spell to reduce all damage by that spell school by 60% for 10 seconds.
    • New Talent: Demonic Empowerment (Demonology) - Grants your Summoned Demon power for a short time.
    • New Talent: Eradication (Affliction) - Your Corruption, Siphon Life and Curse of Agony ticks have a 5/10/15% chance to increase your spell haste by 20% for 8 sec. This effect has a 10 second cooldown.
    • New Talent: Improved Felhunter (Affliction): Your Felhunter gains mana equal to 50/100% of the damage done by its Shadow Bite ability, and increases the effect of your Felhunter’s Fel Intelligence by 1/2%.
    • New Talent: Molten Core (Destruction) - 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 6 sec.
    • Pyroclasm (Destruction) - Now also includes Conflagrate.
    • Rain of Fire (Doomguard): A bug has been fixed which caused each tick of Rain of Fire to consume its mana cost.
    • Ritual of Souls: Charges increased to 25, up from 10.
    • Shadow Bite (Felhunter): Deals Shadow damage plus an additional 5% Shadow damage over time effect on the target. 6 second cooldown.
    • Shadowfury (Destruction) - Can now be cast while moving. Stun duration increased to 3 seconds, up from 2.
    • Soul Link (Demonology) is now an 11-point talent (used to be a 31-point talent), but the 5% bonus damage from this talent has been removed. In addition, the damage absorbed by Soul Link is now 15%, down from 20%.
    • Soul Siphon (Affliction): Now also increases the damage of your Drain Soul.
    • Soulstone now generates a log entry indicating who casted and received a soulstone.
    • Spell Lock (Felhunter) global cooldown removed.
    • Succubus: Health increased by 20%, armor increased 22%.
    • Summon Dreadsteed/Felsteed: Mana cost removed, global cooldown removed.
    • Suppression (Affliction) is now a 3-point talent, down from 5. Now increases your chance to hit with Affliction spells by 1/2/3%, down from 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • Unstable Affliction (Affliction): Silence effect reduced to 3 seconds, down from 5.
    • Voidwalker: Health increased by 20%, Damage increased by 16%. The amount of attack power the Voidwalker gains from its master’s spell damage has been increased by 45%.

    Warrior

    • Anticipation (Protection) now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%, moved to tier 2.
    • Blood Craze (Fury) now regenerates 2/4/6% of total health over 6 seconds.
    • Blood Frenzy (Arms) moved to Tier 9, now increases physical damage caused by 1/2%.
    • Bloodthirst (Fury) now restores health based on a % of total health.
    • Challenging Shout cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.
    • Concussion Blow (Protection) now causes damage based on attack power.
    • Death Wish (Fury) no longer makes you immune to Fear effects.
    • Death Wish and Sweeping Strikes have swapped locations in their respective talent trees.
    • Deep Wounds (Arms) now requires Impale, causes 16/32/48% of weapon damage over 6 seconds.
    • Defensive Stance now increases threat by 45%.
    • Defiance (Protection) removed, replaced by Incite and moved to a new location on tier 2.
    • Disarm rage cost reduced to 15.
    • Enrage (Fury) now increases damage done by 3/6/9/12/15%, limitation on number of attacks removed.
    • Hamstring now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.
    • Impale (Arms) moved to Tier 3, no longer requires Deep Wounds.
    • Improved Berserker Rage (Fury) now generates 10/20 rage.
    • Improved Bloodrage (Protection) now increases rage generation of both the instant and over-time effects by 25/50%.
    • Improved Charge (Arms) now generates 5/10 rage.
    • Improved Defensive Stance (Protection) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces spell damage taken by 3/6% and any block/parry/dodge has a 50/100% chance to enrage the warrior causing 5/10% more damage for 12 sec.
    • Improved Disarm (Protection) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces the cooldown of Disarm by 10/20 sec and increases damage taken by disarmed targets by 5/10%.
    • Improved Disciplines (Arms) removed.
    • Improved Mortal Strike (Arms) now increases damage by 2/4/6/8/10%, no longer reduces cooldown.
    • Improved Rend (Arms) reduced to 2 ranks for 25/50%.
    • Improved Revenge (Protection) now increases damage Revenge causes by 10/20% and gives a 25/50% chance to stun.
    • Improved Shield Bash (Protection) now also increases the damage of your Shield Slam ability by 5/10%.
    • Improved Shield Block (Protection) now has 2 ranks and reduces cooldown of Shield Block by 5/10 secs. It no longer increases the number of blocks.
    • Improved Shield Wall will now increases the damage reduction by an additional 5/10% and reduces cooldown by 30/60 seconds.
    • Improved Slam (Fury) moved to Arms.
    • Improved Sunder Armor (Protection) renamed Puncture ,reduced to 2 ranks for 1/2 rage cost reduction.
    • Improved Taunt (Protection) removed, effect made baseline.
    • Improved Whirlwind (Fury) now increases damage of Whirlwind by 10/20%, no longer reduces cooldown.
    • Iron Will (Arms) now has only 3 ranks, reducing the duration of Stun and Charm effects by 10/20/30%.
    • Last Stand (Protection) cooldown reduced to 6 minutes.
    • Mace Specialization (Arms) now ignores 3/6/9/12/15% of target's armor.
    • Mocking Blow now only has one rank and causes weapon damage, cooldown reduced to 1 min and can now be used in Defensive Stance.
    • Overpower now only has one rank and no longer causes any bonus damage (i.e. weapon damage only).
    • Poleaxe Specialization (Arms) now also increases critical damage done by Axes and Polearms by 1/2/3/4/5%.
    • Precision (Fury) moved to Tier 5.
    • Pummel now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.
    • Rampage now causes all party and raid members within 20 yards of the Warrior to go on a rampage, increasing melee critical hit chance by 5% for 10 seconds when the warrior scores a melee critical.
    • Recklessness now increases the critical hit chance of the next 3 special ability attacks by 100%, lasts 12 seconds, cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
    • Retaliation duration reduced to 12 seconds, charges reduced to 12, cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
    • Shield Bash now only has one rank and will cause damage based on a % of AP.
    • Shield Block now increases chance to block and amount blocked by 100% for 10 seconds. Cooldown increased to 60 seconds, rage cost reduced.
    • Shield Slam is now available to all warriors, starting at level 40.
    • Shield Specialization (Protection) moved to Tier 1, now increases rage by 2 on a successful block.
    • Shield Wall now reduces all damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds, cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
    • Sword Specialization (Arms) can no longer trigger more than once per 6 seconds.
    • Taunt cooldown reduced to 8 sec.
    • Thunder Clap damage increased, cooldown increased.
    • Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3 now also reduces the duration of movement slowing effects by 10/20/30/40/50%.

    PvP

    • Arenas
      • Buffs that have 30 seconds or less remaining will be removed once the game starts. However, the mage spell “Invisibility” is not affected by this change.

    Professions

    • New Profession: Inscription is available to train up to 375.

    User Interface

    • New Calendar feature: Players will be able to access the new Calendar feature by clicking on the new icon located in the top right corner of their mini map. The calendar will track in game events, allow raid scheduling, and more.
    • New Vanity Pet and Mount changes: Players will now be able to access their non-combat pets and mounts by clicking on the pets tab in the Character Info panel. These pets and mounts will be now learnable much like spells or abilities. Once a vanity pet or mount is learned, the icon will disappear from within a player’s inventory andreappear in the appropriate tab under the pet tab under Character Info. Say goodbye to your vanity pets and mounts taking up bag and bank slots!
      • Lost pets and mounts (one time quest rewards) can be recovered by visiting a stablemaster.
    • A new Agro Warning is now available and currently functioning in dungeons.
    • Focus Frame is now available. Players will be able to right click on any unit frame and select “Set Focus”. The focus frame will only display when the focus is set. Players may also set a “Focus Cast Key” in the options/combat panel that can be bound to shift, alt, or ctrl. When holding the focus cast key and triggering an action, the action will be performed on your focus and not on your target.
    • Lost tabards (one time quest rewards) may now be restored by visiting a tabard vendor.
    • Lost keys (one time quest rewards) may now be restored by visiting a blacksmith.
    • Error messages should play less frequently.
    • Tradeskills can now be linked by shift-clicking the tradeskill icon.
    • Quests can be shared with party members at any distance.
    • Quests can be shared with party members by linking the quest into party chat.
    • Quests can be shared in raids but not battlegrounds.
    • Randomized Daily quests may now be shared, but only on the same day as the quest is given.
    • A 5 minute timer will appear over the player’s unit frame showing the countdown until your PvP flag is cleared.
    • The /cower emote now has an animation.
    • Macros and key bindings are now saved server-side so there is no longer a need to reconfigure them when logging in using another computer.
    • Shift-clicking to loot mail: You can now hold Shift and click on mail in your inbox to automatically loot any items and gold without opening the mail. This default behavior can be changed via Auto Loot Mail in the Interface Options (Controls).
    • Combat Log Changes:
      • The combat log now differentiates between a spell failure due to resistance and spell failure due to missing the target. Where once both events reported as a resist; a spell missing the target is now reported as a miss.
      • Overhealing is now reported in the combat log.
      • When a source of damage is entirely prevented (by a shield block, a full resist, or a damage shield like Power Word:Shield, the prevented amount will now be displayed.

    Items

    • Druids and Shaman can now use items while shapeshifted.
    • The Abyss Shard has been changed to grant a passive 15 stamina bonus, but no longer removes the soul shard requirement from casting a voidwalker.
    • Devilsaur Eye now increases your pet’s attack power for a short duration instead of increasing its critical strike chance. It also provides a small amount of passive Agility.

WoW Patch 3.0.2

If you haven't heard, Patch 3.0.2 is now on the PTR. It's the harbinger of all things WotLK, and could be taken as another indicator that the November 3rd date that has been floating around recently is accurate. Most WoW players will recall Blizzard did the same thing prior to the Burning Crusade. They released a pre-expansion patch that included the new talent trees and spells.

My download is still ongoing unfortunately. I had started a download last night, but it turns out the link to the patch on the Blizzard PTR download page was actually to a previous patch, as of about 7pm EST last night. I woke up this morning to a friendly note letting me know the patch wasn't needed because my system is already patched. So I had to restart my download this morning and it's currently a little more than half done.

Frankly I'm not sure what to expect when I eventually do load into the PTR. I've been following as much as the Beta news that I can find, and there are several things I am really not happy with. In fact you could say I'm downright upset about some of them. Particularly this awful virtual fourth talent tree that Blizzard is instituting in the Feral tree. But there are other aspects of the patch that I'm excited for and looking forward to test.

I won't belabor my misgivings about the Druid changes here. After all, I'm sure my ire will be peaked later and I'll recount it all here then. For now though I'll simply leave you with a comment I gave to my wife this morning. I remember well the elation I felt prior to the Burning Crusade with the release of patch 1.8. The Druid changes that were made for the BC were something I think all Druids gave resounding cheers to. What a complete turn around it is now. I feel nothing of the elation and excitement for WotLK in regard to Druids that I felt prior to the BC. What a complete and utter let down.