Breakfast Topic: Which class will change the most?
by Gregg Reece 
Apr 7th 2010 at 8:00AM
While I'm sure that the class you're waiting to hear info on the most is your own class, I've got a little bit of a different question for you: Which class do you think is going to be changing the most in Cataclysm?
Will it be warriors, due to the impending rage normalization? How about death knights, since blood will be the only tanking spec after the expansion hits? Will it be hunters with their mana changing to a focus system or warlocks with their complete revamp of Soul Shards? Let us know what you think.
| Death Knight | |
|---|---|
| Druid | |
| Hunter | |
| Mage | |
| Paladin | |
| Priest | |
| Rogue | |
| Shaman | |
| Warlock | |
| Warrior |
Filed under: Druid, Death Knight, Breakfast Topics, Warrior, Warlock, Shaman, Rogue, Priest, Paladin, Mage, Hunter, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Ozmodius Apr 7th 2010 8:02AM
Warlocks! Shard system go bye-bye!
EaterOfBirds Apr 7th 2010 8:32AM
about time too ^ ^ some burst cooldowns outside of trinkets or metamorphosis is way overdue.
Faar Apr 7th 2010 8:54AM
Focus for hunters instead of mana is a much MUCH bigger change than no shards for warlocks, especially since warlocks will still have shards - they will just act more like dethknigget runes instead of being an item in your bags.
Warlocks only ever used shards for a handful of skills anyway (and only 2 attacks), hunters use mana for pretty much everything except aspects (and I think those cost mana to change also back in early-mid classic WoW, ugh)
Banic Rhys Apr 7th 2010 9:25AM
Hunter spells cost X focus rather than Y mana, REALLY big change there, I just don't know how hunters will adapt to this most massive of changes.
kabshiel Apr 7th 2010 10:10AM
I think hunters are going to see a huge change. Moving from a cooldown-limited playstyle to a resource-limited one is pretty major.
Lugh Apr 7th 2010 10:36AM
The soul shard change for warlocks is a pretty big change. I play demonology and sometimes decimation goes away just before the soulfire goes out and yadda yadda, a few wipes and your soul shards get perilously low. It can be inconvenient, but that's not a huge thing. Finally having the same amount of bag space available as every other class will be nice, too. However, this is a small part of what will change for warlocks.
Removal of spell power is the bigger change. Warlocks really don't care about anything else. Spell power pretty much trumps all; haste, crit, and spirit are just tiebreakers. Warlocks used to stack stamina and be the hearty casters who could take a beating in a pinch. That went away in Wrath. Now to get spell power, we'll need to stack intellect - a stat we've never needed much thanks to Life Tap. Also, with spirit as a healer stat, Life Tap glyphs and Fel Armor will need an overhaul. How will Blizzard preserve the warlock identity when we're no longer forcibly removing the souls of our enemies and we itemize like that OTHER magic casting pure class? I suspect the important changes will be regarding this.
Suzaku Apr 7th 2010 11:01AM
I'm gonna say warlocks are definitely one of the bigger changes. Far bigger than hunters.
The basic gameplay for hunters will likely not change very much. Their abilities will probably be mostly unchanged. The difference will be that instead of having a slowly regenerating mana bar, they'll have a quickly regenerating focus bar.
Playing warlocks, on the other hand, will be a totally different experience from the ground up, with an entirely new mechanic designed to be used in every single fight, to boost the power of any number of abilities. This means not only that one of our oldest mechanics is changing dramatically, but that many warlock abilities will now have a secondary special effect to use in conjunction with Soul Burn. Throw on top of this major changes to itemization and the hinted possibility of an entirely new pet, and, well, I'm sure you can see how things might be a bit of a bigger change for us.
Death Knights are also pretty major, as this means the playstyle for one spec will become focused and very different from how it is now, and also means that lots of talents will be shuffled out of other trees, making the options for each tree very different.
Doberbane Apr 7th 2010 10:56AM
My first character I rolled was an orc warlock on a trail account. I loved the idea of ripping the souls from my enemies as they died :) So much so, that about a year later when I finally got my own account I rolled a warlock as my current main. I hope that the soul shard mechanic changes keep the essence true to what it has been and what I love about it, but the implementation is kinda lame. I carry 5 SS around with and pretty much only use them when I die or when my spellstone runs out of charges.
Grizzleton Apr 7th 2010 11:16AM
I had a tossup between Locks and DKs... But I think lock wins. My main has been a lock since Vanilla, and there's been a lot of changes (can't believe you can BUY a dreadsteed), but this next iteration will be a whole new game. Just hoping we don't become indistinguishable from mages.
And if you only carry around 5 stones... I'm amazed. I'm still not comfortable with being limited to 32!
Suzaku Apr 7th 2010 11:51AM
"Just hoping we don't become indistinguishable from mages."
Adding a whole new resource system under our mana bar pretty much ensures that we'll become even more different from mages. Instead of a simple reagent used to summon pets and use a handful of abilities, soul shards will now be a vital component in every fight.
Cyanea Apr 7th 2010 12:01PM
Nooooo....Death Knights. Look at them throughout Wrath. Every major patch changed the class so that you had to re-learn how to play. A new expansion worth of changes and they're suddenly going to be ranged casters with a healing tree.
Jamie Sawyer Apr 7th 2010 8:05AM
Surely it has to be Warlocks with the shard system change, although the reveal that DKs are down to 1 tanking tree could well give them a kick in the proverbial (alongside the haste effect changes for all melee)... I'll vote Warlock, but I'd say it's probably between the two...
Xino Apr 7th 2010 8:06AM
Thought it was going to be hunters since they are losing mana but after today I would say DK's.
Dameblanche Apr 7th 2010 8:07AM
The fact that they take an extra week before paladin-revelations makes me a bit worried about what they are up to with the class.
Josin Apr 7th 2010 8:09AM
Rage changes, stance changes, shout changes, on-next swing ability changes.... I foresee massive changes for the Warrior class.
Banic Rhys Apr 7th 2010 9:21AM
They're probably trying to word "we're removing Ardent Defender so nyeh" more delicately.
Methuus Apr 7th 2010 9:23AM
Yeah, I was surprised by the Pally delay. From what I've read about Cataclysm so far, I didn't think pallies were getting changed much.
Sure, lots of changes to individual spells and talents, but every class is getting those. But I didn't think there were any planned changes to any of the paladin basic class mechanics. Or did I miss an announcement on that?
Angus Apr 7th 2010 9:55AM
Ret is going to need to be changed so haste helps them regen mana somehow (other melée us getting that with rage and energy so it makes sense) and tankadins are going to need to have their mana regen in combat get tweaked to be similar to rage. Add to that holydins somehow being in here while not taking advantage of these tweaks to be infinite healing machines is a delicate move.
I'm thinking they are going to address AE superiority by lowering that damage and boosting single target DPS. It should be interesting.
hahke Apr 7th 2010 10:06AM
Uh, no. The biggest changes are probably coming to Retribution and Holy Paladins. Holy Paladins in particular.
Most of the healing classes and specs have gotten revamps over the years and Holy Paladins have not had a complete overhaul along the lines of what Shamans have gotten. Holy Paladins are definitely going to be looked at so that they can finally be more than stationary healers and have more then three heals. I believe they said something about that a few weeks ago on a blue post, but I don't have the exact quote.
Anyways, I think out of the three specs Holy will get changed the most. It's time for it to happen anyways, the healing techniques they have are outdated and boring.
(I've played holy paladins since release. Don't know what's wrong with me.)
Suzaku Apr 7th 2010 11:01AM
Minor note, but they outright stated that they're taking an extra week with paladin because that's the class they're working on *right now*. They want to wait until their changes are more concrete before they give an overview.
The other classes have likely already had their changes made, or only have planned changes, explaining why some class previews are going to have more content than others. Paladins are on the fence, due to being in development at this very moment, so they're going to hold off a week and give more information rather than less.