Shaman, Warlock – Cataclysm Class Preview
As we mentioned yesterday, the schedule of Cataclysm class information has been published on World of Warcraft official forum. And today is the time of the previews of two class Shaman, Warlock in Wow Cataclysm.
Details of Shaman and Warlock in Wow CTM
World of Warcraft Warlock Class
In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, warlocks will receive changes to their class talents and abilities. Outlined below are some of these changes. Keep in mind that this is an early preview and that these modifications are still under development, so you may see further adjustments to the listed changes as we get closer to launch. That said, here is a first look at these new warlock spells and abilities!
New Warlock Spells-
- Fel Flame (level 81): Quick-hitting spell dealing Shadowfire damage. This is similar to the mage ability Frostfire Bolt, in that the lower of the two resistances (in this case shadow and fire) on your target will be used for calculating its damage. Additionally, Fel Flame refreshes the duration of Immolate and Unstable Affliction. Our goal for Fel Flame is to provide a spell that’s good for mobility and for use by Destruction and Demonology specs. Also, did we mention it uses green fire? Yep. Instant cast.
- Dark Intent (level 83): Increases the target’s chance for a critical effect with periodic damage or healing spells by 3%. When the target lands a crit, you get a buff to your damage for 10 seconds. This effect stacks up to three times.
- Demon Soul (level 85): Fuses the warlock’s soul with his or her demon. This provides warlocks with a self-burst cooldown to use. The specific effects granted by Demon Soul depend on the demon chosen. Demon Soul lasts for a certain number of charges or until it expires (around 20 seconds), depending on the demon used. 2-minute cooldown.
In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we’ll be making lots of changes and additions to class talents and abilities across the board. In this preview, you’ll get an early look at some of the changes in store for the shaman class, including a rundown of some of the new spells, abilities, and talents, and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with the different talent specs.
New Shaman Spells
Primal Strike (available at level 3): Primal Strike is a new weapon-based attack that every shaman will learn very early in the game. Our goal with this ability is to make leveling as Enhancement rather than as Elemental more viable, since many key Enhancement talents become available at fairly high levels.
Healing Wave (level 4): While the shaman already has an ability called Healing Wave, we’re adding another spell to the class’s direct-healing arsenal and giving it a familiar name. The current Healing Wave will be renamed Greater Healing Wave, and the intent is for the ‘new” Healing Wave to be the shaman’s go-to heal. Lesser Healing Wave and Greater Healing Wave will be used on a more situational basis.
Unleash Weapon (level 81): Unleashes the power of your weapon enchants for additional effects (see below). A dual-wielding Enhancement shaman will activate the effects of both of their weapon enchants. Instant cast. 30-yard range. 15-second cooldown. Undispellable.
Here are a few examples of effects we’re considering for this ability:
- Windfury Weapon – Hurls a spectral version of your weapon at a target, dealing 50% weapon damage and increasing the shaman’s Haste for the next five swings.
- Flametongue Weapon – Deals instant Fire damage and buffs the shaman’s next Fire attack by 20%.
- Earthliving Weapon – Heals the target slightly and buffs the shaman’s next healing spell by 20%.Healing Rain (level 83): An area-effect heal-over-time (HoT) spell that calls down rain in a selected area, healing all players within it. There is no limit to the number of players who can potentially be affected; however, there are diminishing returns when healing a large number of targets, much like the diminishing returns associated with AoE damage spells. This should give Restoration shaman another healing tool that improves their group-healing and heal-over-time capabilities. 2-second cast time. 30-yard range. 10-second duration. 10-second cooldown.
How does people think about
Warlock and Shaman in Cataclysm
Bosako, a Troll Shaman on realm Sen’jin said:
As an Elemental Shaman who primarily raids, I wouldn’t feel right posting without mentioning and saluting the Totem of Wrath paragraph. Thank you.
I love the idea of Spiritwalker’s Grace and that it’s something that improves the spell casting of all three shaman specs. The possibilities in pvp and pve for all specs are pretty fantastic — although from an Elemental perspective in pve, it seems like this is yet another ability that works best in melee range (which is something that upsets some players). Nonetheless, it’s a fantastic idea. The positives are amazing.
I’m also just excited by the prospect of simply having another cooldown. It should make for interesting glyph, set bonus, and talent possibilities. Adding more damage, healing, or damage on the move will be hot.
I’m curious though, on the subject of mobilitiy, will there be any changes to our other mobility button, Ghost Wolf? Can we expect to see Ghost Wolf gain any dispel protection, use indoors (even restricted), become instant for all, etc?
Ghost Wolf is one of those tools that’s underutilized in pve, and I was wondering if anything was going to happen with it. I like the attention that it got in this expansion in pvp, but in pve it’s sad to see completely non-existent — especially when I see other casters with Blink and Teleport. Then again, we are getting another tool to use on the move in Unleash Weapon.
I like that the hybrid feel, and especially a connection to the weaponry as well as casting, is coming into play for all three varieties of Shaman. It looks fun, and Spiritwalker’s Grace and Unleashed Weapon give Elemental and Resto in particular another button to push while on the move. Thanks for making the weapon buffs, a formerly boring chore of an old holdover ability, more interactive, and even more useful for all specs. Taking that road a little further, can Elemental Shamans expect to see Lightning or Water Shield become more interesting Cataclysm? Right now we have no talents to support either one.
Sticking with Elemental for just a moment, how will Earthquake work? Will Earthquake work alongside our existing aoe, similar to how Healing Rains appears to work alongside existing Resto Shaman tools, or will it work in place of them?
With the adjustments to health and mana pools, the Spirit Link and Healing Rains news should fit right in. Combined with the Unleash Weapon effect and the new Healing Wave and it appears that Resto is finally getting some buttons to push.
It’s a tossup right now between Spiritwalker’s Grace the new Fire Totem system as to what I’m more excited about. I’m disappointed by the dispel changes, but there are plenty of solid, creative, logical, and exciting positives coming our way too to ease the pain of losing poison and disease dispels.
You guys and gals hit pretty much all of the stuff on my list.
Lesath, a Human Warlock said: Hooray.
EDIT:
Opinions –
Fel Flame certainly looks interesting, and might be useful in setting up some on demand burst that Affliction needs (and gives it the mobility it lost with WotLK). Personally, I’m not particularly fond of pressing this one button at the beginning of an encounter (like Corruption right now), and pretty much ignoring it for the rest of the fight. It’s nothing alt-macros won’t take care of, but you might want to consider if that’s the direction you want to head in.
Dark Intent appears to be Focus Magic that we toss to S. Priests, Afflocks, and healers. To me, it appears that the spell merely acts as a catch-all alternative to Focus Magic, which typically go to the other DPS, likely another mage. I’m glad for the buff, but I’m not so keen on the idea that the purpose of this spell is to fill in the holes Focus Magic leaves.
Demon Soul gives Warlocks a much-needed DPS cooldown, and for that I am glad. Without any additional details, I don’t think I can say much else.
The Soul Shard system is interesting, and they appear to give the Warlock a lot of options on the PvP front, from what I see. There isn’t anything particularly of note for PvE, but the a SB’d UA might provide for decent burst.
The Curse change was much long-awaited, and extremely welcomed.
Hellfire currently exists as a method to avoid repair bills. Taking away the self damage is fine, but the niches of AoE are already taken by RoF and SoC. The question yet remains: what does Hellfire offer?
Finally, the change for DoT clipping certainly takes care of the biggest source of error when it comes to Afflock DPS, but I think it robs the spec of its challenge.
Overall, very nice changes.
Summary
Althoug both shaman and warlock aren’t my favriote class in World of Warcraft. However, the most responses are positive. World of Warcraft win the players’ heart one more time:) We should learn those spirits from Blizzards. The spirits that always try to get and rollup as many as response from the users by enough communicates. And keep on time to improve for subscribers. Well done!
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April 16th, 2010 at 6:21 am
good collection. we will all enjoy the CATACLYSM:)
and always enjoy to buy wow gold here:)