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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast 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, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, Breakfast Topics, Death Knight, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 6)
h3lladvocate Apr 7th 2010 9:37AM
Actually, blizzard mentioned nothing about the paladin changes being at all extensive, they just said that it was currently deep in development, which doesn't tell us anything really. There could only be a handful of changes, but they've only currently finished, say, the holy tree. Wouldn't it look bad on their part if instead of waiting a week to finish off the basic concept, they just came out today and said, here's the holy changes, prot and ret are under construction, see you at beta =)
Kyrro Apr 7th 2010 9:50AM
I think they will finally implement the bard. All paladins sacrifice themselves in favor for theese bards.
No more unhappy paladins!
Suzaku Apr 7th 2010 11:03AM
"Blizzard said themselves that they are putting up the paladin changes after all the other changes because of how extensive they are..."
Uh, no, they most certainly did not.
"The paladin is still deep in development. Instead of giving a preview that would be potentially less comprehensive than the other classes we made the decision to post it when it's ready, in order to properly honor the paladin class and those that play them."
What they said was, since they're currently working on the class right now, they're going to wait a while so they can post more actual changes instead of just proposed ones, like they're doing with some classes that they haven't really started working on yet.
agnoster Apr 7th 2010 8:16AM
My opinion seems to be in the majority at the moment - Paladins! True, we don't know exactly *how* they're changing yet, but with the announcement that "The paladin is still deep in development" it seems quite likely that they are getting a substantial overhaul. In practice, Hunter gameplay shouldn't be changed much by the shift to focus (though itemization and talents will) and the new shard system for warlocks (while cool) amounts to little more than extra cooldowns and lifting some obnoxious requirements - a nice quality-of-life change, but hardly a huge overhaul. My guess is that if they pull off rage normalization correctly, it will similarly be a quality-of-life improvement without changing bears and warriors too drastically. And the DK changes... well, so only one spec will tank, that could be significant, and if leveling blood (currently a joy due to the high self-healing) gets nerfed, it will be a shame. But the Paladin changes... that could be anything! It could even be a boat! Disregarding the unknown of paladins, I'd rank (based on what we know so far) from most to least affected: Death Knights, Warriors, Hunters, Warlocks, Druids (only one half of one spec will be affected by rage normalization).
Joka Apr 7th 2010 8:17AM
Hunters.
Considering that they not only will remove the mana, but also remove alot of the short ability cooldowns (since the focus system will provide some sort of "cooldowns" anyway)... Hunters will become some sort of ranged-rogue ;) Which is awesome and far more logical imo.
Also adding the ability to regen focus faster by using steady shot is promising for some fairly interesting rotations :S
jealouspirate Apr 7th 2010 8:18AM
I'd have to say warlocks, because one of their core mechanics is getting completely redone. Sure, Paladins will likely have a ton of changes - but I don't think they will be on the same level as a warlock. Paladins will be rebalanced, Warlocks are getting a change at the fundamental level. At the foundation of the class.
Kurick Apr 7th 2010 9:10AM
The very foundation? They changing Life Tap now?
Danks Apr 7th 2010 8:22AM
ofc hunters, focus will make them like new class
Adrian Apr 7th 2010 8:19AM
Its odd that lots of people voted Paladin but no one has commented about them. Holy will likely see changes to account for all that stat changes (and because they are particular culprits of the infinite mana issue), prot to change things up and take away some of their (admittedly rather absurd) AoE threat, and ret because it is quite frankly a lot less interesting than many other specs to play. Plus Blizzard specifically said their mechanics are still under consideration, which certainly implies major changes.
clundgren Apr 7th 2010 11:48AM
For the record, I'm not so sure about ret being "less interesting to play" these days. Sure, we're not rogues, but then we're not arcane mages, either.
Then again, they are nerfing our cleanse. which is going to really limit some of our utility in raids and pvp.
dcisko Apr 7th 2010 8:22AM
Paladins will change a lot, though I hope it's not too extreme. Prot pallies will probably change the most, as Bliz has already said that their multi-mob tanking capabilities are too high. 3 of the 5 spells in the normal tanking rotation are multi-mob spells, so I expect that to change. Holy is probably also due for an update (ie more spells) based on the healing tactics Bliz wants to encourage. Hopefully Ret at least can remain fairly stable.
But while pallies will see significant changes to spells/talents, hunters and warlocks are getting wholly new mechanics, so I think they're going to see the biggest changes. My vote went to Hunters, but I think it's a tossup between the two.
I wouldn't read too much into the paladin delay. Bliz has probably been working on hunters/warlocks for months now, and started the Paladin changes later because they're not as dramatic. I hope.
Sel Apr 7th 2010 8:22AM
Seems to me with the changes from mana use to focus use, hunters are going to need a large overhaul. I'm rather excited to see how they're going to make it work.
Others would be Warlocks with the shard changes and seems like Paladins get an overhaul every expansion, even though it doesn't seem like they need it this time.
DannyGoss Apr 7th 2010 8:50AM
I thro it was hunter to because the lose mana prty fast
Galilyse Apr 7th 2010 8:31AM
I voted Priest, not because that class is my main...but because we've heard nothing about them. And all I know is that there will be no spirit on dps gear, and I play a shadow priest...so this doesn't look good for us. Looks like Holy FTW so far in Cataclysm :/
And heheh @ Adrian. My alt is a Holy Paladin and I never run out of mana. It's awesome, but I am expecting to be smacked by the nerf bat for it :P
Kalmah Apr 7th 2010 8:32AM
Rogues are the least represented, as usual.
I still voted rogue because I forsee a major change in the Sub tree, following what they have already done, which is much needed and overdue. If they can balance the 3 trees, for PvE at least, I'm sure the rogue community (and maybe the WoW community in general because maybe if we perform well enough we'll stop ganking your lvl 20 characters.... just joking, we'll still do it) will be pleased not to be confined to play only the Fotm spec to perform in raids. I am extremely impatient to see our cataclysm class preview!
PS: Fix vanish :)
Fletcher Apr 7th 2010 8:38AM
I think a lot of the balancing between the rogue trees will be achieved by mastery and the removal of passive damage talents. A Sub rogue will be able to get as much added damage as a Mut rogue, but the utility talents and attacks (and it'll all be utility and attacks, from what I understand) will be different for each.
Killik Apr 7th 2010 11:48AM
Unless Subtlety is becoming 'the tanking tree', I doubt rogues are seeing as much change as DKs ;)
Fletcher Apr 7th 2010 8:31AM
"Paladins are deep in development" is ominous - but it might just mean that they did everything else first, and paladin announcements are delayed because there's only so many hours in the day. Or they're trying to figure out how to balance the blazing harbingers of the Light with other, lesser classes. My point is that the delay does not necessarily mean that paladins are getting the nerf bat heavier than anyone else.
Remember that so far we know that at least one class is getting a complete reorganization of its talent trees (death knights), one is getting a major resource system overhaul (hunters), one is getting an I-don't-know-how-major-a-deal-this-is resource system overhaul (warlocks), and two are getting middling resource system overhauls (bear tanks, warriors). I think it's fair to say that paladin trees will still be Holy, Protection and Retribution, and that they will all still use mana the same way. Given that, I think putting them highest on the change meter is unwarranted.
Ghostcrawler has said that the pally AOE tanking is probably too good, so I expect a lot of effort is going into trying to fix that; it's probably a more complex issue than just adjusting the threat generation downwards - otherwise ret pallies would become AOE death gods. More than they already are, that is. Off the top of my head, the thing I'd do to make pally tanking harder would be to remove Consecration entirely; make prot pallies tank with hammer of the righteous, avenger's shield, and holy wrath. Although that'd land them into warrior pain territory, unless they picked up Seal of Command ... actually, SoC could become a dedicated tank seal. I hardly ever use it in ret spec for fear of pulling aggro off of the tank. It's of more use in tanking to be honest ...
Kurick Apr 7th 2010 9:11AM
"the delay does not necessarily mean that paladins are getting the nerf bat heavier than anyone else"
True but as you also commented, GC has identified as prot IS getting a aoe nurf, Holy IS getting a mana regen nurf, and Ret is considered OP by so many forum 'commenters' (read QQ'ers), that is is unlightly to survive in its current face rolling glory. So what other class has already been identified as having nurfs over ALL its specs? Others are being overhauled yes, but no other class has been identified as going to meet the nurf hammer in all specs. At least with an overhaul you will expect good and bad, however blizzard have not got a good track record with Pally changes - 'stealth' nurfs and 'to the ground' nurfs seem to have a higher representation when applied to pallys.
As to changes to tanking for them, rather than remove a 'hallmark' ability, id prefer them to remove SoC from tanking specs - much simpler and breaks the aoe synergy.
Grovinofdarkhour Apr 7th 2010 10:50AM
The extra time before unveiling the paladin is because they're hoping all the bruises will have faded by then.