Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsCataclysm: Stat and system changes for spirit and MP5
by Matt Low 
Mar 1st 2010 at 5:00PM
Say again?
Yes, you heard right. MP5 is being removed. It will be gone. Fist pumps and high fives all around!
In any case, when the next expansion comes around, everyone will need to relearn the entire mana regeneration mechanic. Thankfully, it should be much easier this time around. Spirit is the main stat which will contribute to mana regeneration since intellect provides spell \power. It is too early to provide any advice or guides since we can't actually see the changes in action just yet, but the basic idea is that healers will be stacking a combination of intellect and spirit to increase healing throughput as well as mana regeneration.
Lastly, for the druids and shamans:
EyonixIf you are a Balance druid or Elemental shaman:
- You will still share gear with Restoration druids and shaman.
- Your gear will have Spirit on it. It won't have Hit on it.
- You will have a talent that converts Spirit to Hit. We will adjust talents accordingly so that you want about as much Spirit as, say, a warlock wants Hit.
- Hit on rings and other such gear will still benefit you.
- Raid buffs will no longer boost Spirit, so you shouldn't find yourself unexpectedly over the Hit cap because of buffs.
I wonder if this means Prayer of Spirit will be removed. All in all, I'm very excited about the regeneration changes. It'll make things much easier for players to understand (like me)!
Anyway, the line of thinking here regarding the removal of raid spirit buffs is this: Since spirit will be providing elemental shamans and Balance druids with hit due to a talent conversion, any raid buffs which boost spirit will presumable bump their hit and put them over the hit cap which isn't a good thing since any surplus points will be considered wasted.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Stephen Mar 1st 2010 6:50PM
I hear you about gear, but I'm a dual spec Disc/Holy and I still carry several extra pieces of gear to swap for each spec. If I'm farming dailies I have to bring a set of +hit gear too.
I think they are just trying to limit the number of different sets of gear each class needs to be balanced around. Paladins will still probably need 3 gear sets, but Druids are going from 4 to 2 and Shaman from 3 to 2.
So here is the end result for healer gear:
Spirit cloth: Disc Priests, Holy Priests
Spirit leather: Balance Druids, Resto Druids
Spirit mail: Ele Shaman, Resto Shaman
Spirit plate: Holy Paladins.
From what GC was posting, mastery will be their way to incentivize using your classes' gear type.
Avan Mar 1st 2010 5:51PM
@Hyacinthe:
I don't buy it because of how things work NOW. If you're a warlock or an elem shaman and you've geared yourself without planning for Misery or Imp. Faerie Fire, then you'll be over the hit cap by 3% when a boomkin or spriest is in your party/raid/PUG.
@Doc:
That makes no sense in regards to my comment. The spirit-to-hit change is for elem shamans and balance druids, as they'll be sharing gear with resto shaman/druid, which will not have hit rating but instead have spirit; No mention of spriests, mages, or warlocks, as hit rating is not going away (read the other Cata stat changes!). Now, my comment tackles the issue of how spriests and boomkins currently provide 3% extra hit, and not gearing yourself around (say, if your raid doesn't have one of those classes!) that will result in wasted itemization.
What's the difference between wasted itemization now and after Cataclysm?
Mike Mar 1st 2010 6:36PM
Nothing will be wasted. The caps will be relatively higher so you won't be able to reach them with great difficulty. Choosing between hit and crit now is more along the lines of "Hm, this piece of gear has a nice bit of crit on it, but I'll lose some hit and put me under the cap!", whereas in Cataclysm it'll be more like "Do I want to hit harder or more accurately?" This is what'll make gear choices in Cataclysm into... well, choices. Someone who chooses to focus solely on crit will probably be just as effective as someone who focuses on hit, or someone who takes a mixture of both, etc.
Avan Mar 1st 2010 9:04PM
As an aside, I'm going to point out that steeper ratings are to be expected. From 60 to 70, more rating was needed to cap. From 70 to 80, more rating was needed to cap. This is just the way it works. Now, onto my response:
We had to make choices about hit and crit back when Naxx was the thing to do. We don't have those kinds of easy choices any more in ICC because of poor planning on itemization, resulting in having to radically change your gear just to fit one new piece in. As such, I don't see the logic holding.
Basically, Blizzard just plain screwed up on itemization. They can blame Sartharion and the hard modes allllll they want, but it's all bologna. Chill of the Throne, or reduced dodge chance to compensate for tank gear having too much dodge rating, is not the result of poor planning of hard mode loot on the outset of WotLK. If this were true, how do you explain Sunwell Radiance? TBC had no hard modes to blame. It's all due to Blizzard's mindset for "better gear" is "gear with higher numbers EVERYWHERE," resulting in itemization and inflated values.
This is how itemization should work (on one piece of example gear).
t11.10: 60 hit/crit/dodge/haste/etc, 150 stam/int/str/etc
t11.25: 60 hit/crit/dodge/etc, 165 stam/int/etc
t12.10: 70 hit/etc, 170 stam/etc
t12.25: 70 hit/etc, 185 stam/etc
Staggering gains like that would have prevented Chill of the Throne, and Blizzard didn't do that. I know Blizz isn't going to do this for Cataclysm, because then they wouldn't need to make ratings "much harder to cap."
Here's how ratings are going to play out (again, on one piece of example gear):
t11.10: 65 rating, 155 stats
t11.25: 70 rating, 162 stats
t12.10: 73 rating, 163 stats
t12.25: 78 rating, 174 stats
They're going to just increase EVERYTHING, as they have always done. We'll be going into Deathwing's Lair (or wherever he makes himself home) with a 35% reduction to dodge chance.
Also, reforging is going to aid in the capping of stats. Take away all your newfound stamina and put it into your ratings. Casters (and melee DPS) should not need tank-levels of health for raiding; All that stamina exists for the sole purpose of reforging it into combat ratings.
I'm calling it now, we'll be capped on hit before 4.1 comes out, and the itemization inflation will start all over again.
Matthew Mar 1st 2010 6:22PM
I guess when Cat rolls around I'll be in t10 full gear. But I use moonkin t10 for healing in. This might be a problem, since when the change happens I'll have lots of hit (that wont convert to spirit) and won't be able to heal in it. Whereas if I start collecting t10 tree gear (with gobs of spirit) then that will be useful for moonkin gear.
I guess my question may go like this: "will hit -> spirit for caster leather (and caster mail for our similarly affected elemental shaman brothers and sisters)?"
If not, I'm kinda screwed huh?
Comments encouraged BUT Please do not say "you shouldn't be healing in moonkin gear" cuz I heal icc10 quite well this way. Thas a conversation for another thread.
Pyromelter Mar 1st 2010 6:30PM
no need to bust on you, priests in my guild tell me the best in slot for healing priests is the t10 shadow piece. Regarding your gear specifically, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you will be replacing your t10 rapidly once you hit level 85. The toughest things to replace are usually things like weapons and trinkets, and assuming those are appropriate for a healer, you should be just fine.
mindboggle Mar 1st 2010 6:36PM
"If not, I'm kinda screwed huh?"
Uhm no, because you will be replacing all your fancy-schmancy ICC gear with iLvL 300 greens anyway shortly after Cata rolls around.
Besides, if you're in ICC epics you will way overgear the levelling content of the level 80-84, just like anyone in BT/Sunwell epics was facerolling through Howling Fjord/Borean Tundra.
So, stop worry, you're not screwed. More likely you will be complaining how easy levelling is :)
Mike Mar 1st 2010 6:42PM
As they said (twice actually, if I recall), Balance will share gear with Resto. Thus if you're wearing Balance gear now, the Hit on it will be replaced by Spirit when 4.0 drops. The only people who will ever have to really worry about the changes are Cloth DPS using undoubtably healing gear and Plate DPS using leather/mail.
Stephen Mar 1st 2010 6:59PM
"If not, I'm kinda screwed huh? "
Not if you just save some of your Triumph badge Resto gear. Or you could just roll on a few resto drops when you're raiding instead of sharding them. It's not that complicated.
Stephen Mar 1st 2010 7:21PM
Actually, now that I think about it, your current boomkin gear might be re-itemized when 4.0 comes out.
It sounds like there really won't be any +hit Intellect (spellpower) leather or mail in game after the expansion. I bet your existing +hit gets re-itemized to spirit.
Matthew Mar 1st 2010 8:55PM
Thanks everyone! based on your help, i will continue to collect t10 boomkin. I was never in a position to get t6, but t4 did make leveling alot better. I guess most people (read, most people reading this) will have t9 or better by the time cat comes around, unless they are very new to the game.
Now for triple spec! Muahahah