All these changes to priest are exactly identical to the way I have been playing my healing priest. All my gear already focuses on intelligence first for power pool, Spirit and spell power second for bigger heals and better mana regen. I did notice that they are going to make a second heal availiable with less mana. I find this funny because I used to make use of the top three ranks of greater heal to minimize the power loss on heals, then they made them all the same power cost, ultimantly getting rid of that second heal with less power consumption. So they are bringing back what they got rid of over two years ago.
I used to always use bubble shield on tank when its hp got low and I knew the heal wouldnt land before tank died, so I'm really glad they are bringing in a even bigger shield to make saving tank at critical moments less stressful. I do not like the idea of getting rid of spirit buffs however, as it was challenging enough with great spirit and mana and trying to heal second rate tanks with power pool. But I'm sure its not too big of a differance, losing 80 or so spirit, atleast I hope. Well rounded and thought out change for holy healing priest, and I like it.
Edited, May 7th 2010 11:16am by pizzamike
Edited, May 7th 2010 11:17am by pizzamike
Cataclysm Class Changes: A Comprehensive Look
We go in and tell you what the blues have said about the new classes all in one easy to browse location..
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.
Soul Shard Overhaul
This major change regarding Soul Shards was previously announced at BlizzCon 2009. Soul Shards will no longer be inventory items, but instead a new UI resource mechanic. Warlocks will have 3 Soul Shards that can be used during a fight and will not be able to gain additional shards during combat. Soul Shards will not be required outside of combat. Soul Burn will consume a Soul Shard resource, thereby allowing you to use the secondary effects of some spells. Soul Burn has no mana or health costs and is off the global cooldown. Planned secondary effects are outlined here.
- Summon Demon + Soul Burn = summon the demon instantly.
- Drain Life + Soul Burn = Reduces cast speed by 60%.
- Demonic Circle + Soul Burn = Increases movement speed by 50% for 8 seconds after teleporting.
- Unstable Affliction + Soul Burn = Instantly deals damage equal to 30% of its effect.
- Soul Fire + Soul Burn = Instant cast.
- Healthstone + Soul Burn = Increases total health by 20% for 8 seconds.
- Searing Pain + Soul Burn = Increases the crit chance of Searing Pain by 100%, and subsequent Searing Pain spells by 50% for 6 seconds.
Next you will find a list of some of the warlock spell and talent changes for the release of Cataclysm. There will be further changes, but those revealed below should offer some insight into our goals.
Changes to Abilities and Mechanics
- All warlock damage-over-time (DoT) spells will benefit from crit and haste innately. Haste will no longer act to reduce the DoT's duration, but rather to add additional ticks. When reapplying a DoT, you can no longer "clip" the final tick. Instead, this will just add duration to the spell, similar to how Everlasting Affliction currently works.
- Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom will be converted into Bane of Agony and Bane of Doom. Bane spells are considered magic instead of curses. This means you will be able to cast one Bane (e.g. Bane of Agony) and one Curse (e.g. Curse of Elements) on a single target.
- Hellfire will no longer deal damage to the warlock.
- Imps will lose Fire Shield, but will gain a new ability, Burning Ember, which is a stacking DoT.
- The succubus melee range will be increased. The succubus will no longer have Soothing Kiss, but will instead have Whiplash, which knocks back all enemies within 8 yards.
- Voidwalker Torment will do increased damage and generate a lot of area-of-effect (AoE) threat. Suffering will become a single-target taunt.
New Talents and Talent Changes
- Pandemic will now cause Drain Soul to refresh Unstable Affliction and Bane of Agony on targets below 25% health.
- The ability Fel Domination will be removed (because Soul Burn accomplishes the same effect).
- Demonology will gain a new direct-damage spell, Demon Bolt. Demon Bolt will add a debuff that improves the damage done by the demon to the target.
- We plan to add a new talent, Impending Doom, which will give certain spells a chance to reduce the cooldown on Metamorphosis and Curse of Doom.
- Metamorphosis will no longer be subject to demonic crowd control. Furthermore, abilities available only while under the effects of Metamorphosis will be altered to put more emphasis on the warlock's own spells.
- Shadowburn will now do additional damage to targets below 25% health.
Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
Affliction
- Spell Damage
- Spell Crit
- Shadow DoTs
Shadow DoTs: The damage caused by Shadow damage-over-time spells is increased.
Demonology
- Spell Damage
- Spell Haste
- Demon Damage
Demon Damage: The damage caused by pets and Metamorphosis is increased.
Destruction
- Spell Damage
- Spell Critical Damage
- Fire Direct Damage
Fire Direct Damage: The damage caused by Fire direct damage spells is increased.
Next: Warrior