Cataclysm brings more major changes

Blizzard managed to get the World of Warcraft community more excited again by their announcement of the next expansion, Cataclysm. But it looks like it’s not only Azeroth that gets blown up by the Cataclysm. Blizzcon ‘09 announced some major changes that will make you ask “Mommy, what happened to Soul Shards, Hunter mana and the gear stats?” Well in a sense they got blown up!

soul shards

New Soul Shard System

Just the other day Gjhostcrawler made a comment that the new soul shard system they’re working on will be cool and interesting. Shards will be a core mechanic of the Warlock class and thus will be used more often. It will provide a combat boost but will not necessarily be a dps boost. That was a bit vague and confusing a few days ago but with the announcement of exactly how this works, it’s pretty clear now.

Turns out that soul shards will be a resource instead of an inventory item. This means that the soul shard bar will appear below your health and mana bar. This should also mean warlocks finally get a bag space free. A new spell called Soul Burn will be the only spell that costs a shard and will change the way many spells behave when used. For example, using Soul Burn with Fear will make it instant cast and using it with death Coil will add more healing and increased horror effects. Since soul shards will be a resource, it can regenerate out of combat and using Drain Soul will act like an “Evocate” to make it regenerate faster.

Hunter Focus and Ammunition Change

I expected the removal of consumable ammunition since this was announced a long time ago. So like the change to soul shards mentioned above, this change will free up a bag slot for hunters. As mentioned before, the haste effect that the ammo pouch/quiver gives will be made up some other way.

I never expected the change that relieved hunters from their mana dependence. Starting the next expansion, hunters will no longer be considered “casters” since they won’t use mana. The hunter npc in the Trial of the Champion sort was a clue but I never noticed. They will instead be like their pets, using focus instead of mana.

Focus works a little like the Energy resource that rogues and kitty druids use. Hunters will also have 100 focus and will generate at a rate of 6 focus per second while Energy usually regenerates at 10 energy per second. Steady Shot will be able to make this rate go faster, at about 12 focus per second. Shots will cost 30 or 60 focus (I guess depending on the shot you’re using).

Simplification of Stats

In one of the class Q&A’s, Ghostcrawler talked about eventually merging Spirit and mp5. Apparently that’s not just the only kind of stats simplification they had in mind for our gear. Below is the list of stats that are getting changed.

MP5 – It will be removed and replaced with Spirit. Healers will have an ability like meditation, allowing more mana regen while casting.

Spell power and Attack power removed – Intellect will now give spell power and mana. Does this mean that Enhancement shammies will get a spell power bonus from their spells like shocks based on their Int? Leather and mail wearers will get an attack power bonus based on their agility while plate wearers will get their AP bonus from Strength.

Haste – Will also increase the regeneration rate of energy, focus and runes. Enhancement shammies and Ret pallies will have a talent that makes use of this mechanic.

Armor penetration – It’s just too confusing and will be removed from the game. It will be replaced with Mastery, making you better at what you do.

Stamina – Since all these other stats will be removed from gear, players will see more stamina!

Defense – it will also be removed from gear. A;; tanks will be defense capped from talents.

Reforging

Reforging is a new feature that some professions will be able to use when the expansion comes out. Basically Blacksmiths, Tailors, Leatherworkers, Engineers and Jewelcrafters will be able to customize anybody’s gear (including their own). This is done by reducing a single statistic on applicable items (I’m guessing that since J/C is part of this, this applies to gems too) and converting them into stats not on the item yet. I can see how this is useful. Maybe you’re a healer and you have enough mana regen already. You can use this feature to convert some of that spirit on that new piece of gear into intellect for more mana and spell power!