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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBlizzCon 2009: Class panel #2, the good parts version
by Eliah Hecht 
Aug 22nd 2009 at 8:30PM
The second and final class, item, and profession panel has concluded. Disappointingly, the presentation part of the panel was mainly a re-run of yesterday's, but the Q&A, of course, was all-new. There were even a few new tidbits in the presentation. Here are some parts of the presentation that are not repeats from yesterday:
- They didn't give any new classes to Draenei because there are too many of the space goats already.
- There's a chance that Hunter Aspects will go away entirely.
- New tidbit on Archaeology: putting pieces of artifacts together sends you to "face some sort of challenge" out in the world.
- They like the way fishing works in Animal Crossing, and might look to that for inspiration on how to rework the process.
And here are the good parts from the Q&A:
- Troll and Worgen Druids will get new Moonkin forms.
- They like the idea of hunters being able to tame their own mounts.
- There might be an epic travel form for Cataclysm.
- Block Value is being removed, but there will still be a stat on gear that increases your block chance.
- On the topic of Titan's Grip, it might be more optional in the future - it might be possible to make a competitive Fury build without TG, if you want to "be the guy that wields dual-handed weapons or wields two one-handed weapons."
- Bloodlust isn't going anywhere - "if you're going to do hard modes, it's not too much to bring at least one Shaman with you." (It seems he's not thinking about 10-man raids.) They might however introduce a consumable that brings a weaker version of the buff, like Scroll of Stamina as opposed to Priest Power Word: Fortitude.
- There are going to be more fun potions for Alchemists, as well as more being done with transmutation.
- Combustion is "on the list" for patch 3.3, but no details yet.
- They want to take another look at Shadow Priest single-target DPS.
- The revamp of Azeroth is "a great opportunity" to do more class-based quests: "teach more about how each class plays before they hit level 40. Maybe a big ability pairs up with a big quest, so you can learn how to use it." This is a very interesting answer.
- Professions specializations (like Armorsmithing) are being changed so that you don't choose just one, but you build up all of them for your tradeskill.
That's it! I hope they do come up with some really interesting class-based quests. Of course, then I'll have to go back and do them with my high-level characters, but that's alright. Or maybe I'll just reroll them all as Worgen.
BlizzCon 2009 is here! WoW.com has continuing coverage, bringing you the latest in Cataclysm news, live blogs, galleries, and reports right from the convention floor. Check out WoW.com's Guide to BlizzCon for the latest!Filed under: Fishing, Draenei, Classes, BlizzCon, Cataclysm, Archaeology
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Chuck Aug 22nd 2009 10:04PM
As someone who has played Animal Crossing since it's release in 2002, and fished to pay off his debts in all games, I approve of this fishing change... And am sure that I will be an awesome fisherman.
nieboh Aug 23rd 2009 2:37AM
As someone who has never seen or heard of Animal Crossing, I am very confused. Could you explain how fishing works in that game and how it would be different from what we do now? Thank you.
Draelan Aug 23rd 2009 4:44AM
Animal Crossing features a more active fishing mechanic than WoW. In Animal Crossing, you walk along the water, and will see shadows of fish underneath the surface of the water. You then cast your line in front of the fish to catch its attention. The fish will nibble at the lure a random number of times before biting down (and pulling the bobber under the water). Each type of fish will latch on for a short time and will escape if you don't tap the button to reel it in. Rare fish will latch on for an incredibly short period of time (a fraction of a second) and common fish will latch on for longer periods. (Though, still no longer than a second or two.) However, if you tap the button to reel in the fish in that time period, then you've essentially caught it. (It won't escape at that point.)
I wonder how much of the mechanic they would implement... It could be an interesting change, although I'd personally hope they wouldn't force you to walk up and down the coast searching for the shadows of fish. It's one of the more annoying aspects, in my opinion at least. (Especially waiting for those shadows to respawn. It wasn't bad in previous games, but I swear, they REALLY cut down on their spawn rates in the Wii version.)
This has nothing to do with AC's fishing, but I'd also find it hilarious and interesting in WoW if there was a small chance for the "fish" to yank you into the water and attack you instead. (such as if you accidentally hooked a shark that's too large to reel in.) Not like they don't have the mechanic in game for a mob to yank you over to them. haha.
Tzivya Aug 22nd 2009 10:14PM
I think Vos has it right, the impression I got from the first class panel and the various Q&As wasn't 'too many people playing Draenei', it was 'There's only a tiny amount classes they can't be as it is, that ought to be plenty.' Which I think is a fair point; unless you move to anyone can be anything, it's fair to let the other races play catchup a little.
poisndweepings Aug 22nd 2009 10:58PM
maybe by "too many space-goats" they mean the fact that the draenei are supposed to be a refugee race. the remnants of ONE ship that crashed on Azeroth. There shouldnt been tons and tons of them. The Exodar was only so big, ya know? Seems like a valid lore reason, IMHO
Anaughtybear Aug 22nd 2009 10:47PM
That makes sense to me, and as a Horde player, I think there are waaaaay too many belfs around. Aren't they kind of refugees as well? You can't use the mailbox without someone flipping near you, or hearing their uber smug laughter. It's too bad you can't enable same-faction PvP to weed out some of these kids. Play real Horde next time. Most non-belfs would trade them for anything, or just give them away and be outnumbered.
Hubuly Aug 22nd 2009 10:49PM
yeah but then again there shouldnt be too many gnomes or trolls either then and both of them got a new class i can see the troll population skyrocket from this
trolls there shouldnt be many of because thrall saved them as he passed their island on his way to kalimdor and there werent a ton of boats
gnomes becasue theyre the escapes from gnomeregon which was irratiated and attacked by troggs so not so many made it
Hubuly Aug 22nd 2009 10:51PM
hell now that i think about it really only dwarves, and nelfs should be out there in big numbers
Slog Aug 22nd 2009 11:14PM
I think its safe to say both the belfs and space goats reproduce waaaaaaay too much. Someone should introduce birth control into their societies, worked wonders for us orc's.
Alja Aug 22nd 2009 11:32PM
gnomes breed - that's why there are so many of us... not sure about the trolls though.
Alja Aug 22nd 2009 11:33PM
@slog - ugly orc women is all the birth control the orcs needed, I mean Thrall doesn't even go after orc women
slythwolf Aug 23rd 2009 12:58AM
The male orcs aren't anything to write home about either.
Eddy Aug 23rd 2009 2:16AM
I don't know, I think with some of the new haircuts, the orc girls are kind of cute.
Marita Aug 23rd 2009 3:06AM
speaking of cute, one of the female goblins in the trailer looks just like a nice girl :)
maybe she needs freckles to round the impression.
Marita Aug 23rd 2009 3:04AM
I would love to experience all of this new things with a helpless worgen :P maybe I'll roll it in a different server, to avoid temptation, maybe not
:D and it will be a healer, oh hell yeah!
sylectris Aug 23rd 2009 3:39AM
hunters taming their own mounts?
LFG for TK straight pheonix only :)
lol
Draelan Aug 23rd 2009 4:53AM
Awesome thought, but I have a feeling there would be quite a number of limitations on it. Probably something along the lines of "Hunters can only tame one mount, must be a beast, cannot be X, Y, or Z.... etc." Because you KNOW everyone would be flipping out if we could tame A'lar. We can dream, though. =)
Deadlock Aug 23rd 2009 4:03PM
I want to tame an enemy druid and use them as a mount.
Orisi Aug 23rd 2009 4:45AM
Must admit, ill be pretty pissed as a druid if cataclysm doesnt bring with it epic aquatic form. We can do nothing in that form at all apart from move, and in combat its pointless cos most things swim faster than us anyway. Give people water mounts and it just makes the form a completely useless tool. Travel form i find is still pretty useful in the right places, aquatic? i've wasted a glyph on it while levelling just to see if it makes me any happier. it doesnt.
Draelan Aug 23rd 2009 4:55AM
Now, now. Don't be TOO hard on Aquatic form. It has its uses.
For example, you can print out a picture of it and use it to scare and confuse small children.