Cataclysm class skills previewed in Icecrown Citadel
by Alex Ziebart 
Apr 9th 2010 at 11:00PM
What are we talking about? In Icecrown Citadel, there's a mob in the Upper Spire region of the raid zone called Val'kyr Heralds. They summon other mobs called Severed Essences, which are clones of members of your raid. They don't use all of your exact spells, but they fit each class. With the exception of one (Focused Attacks), each of the unique spells Severed Essences possess have ended up being a new spell for their class in Cataclysm.
- Heroic Leap appeared in the warrior preview.
- Necrotic Strike appeared in the death knight preview.
- Replenishing Rains appeared in the shaman preview.
- While it isn't the exact spell warlocks are receiving, Rain of Chaos was the herald of green fire.
Unfortunately, the Severed Essences didn't hold any hints for today's hunter preview, and they don't have much to say about druids or mages either. We'll have to wait and see if Radiance Aura finds its way into the paladin preview.
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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
caelwynn Apr 9th 2010 11:05PM
wtb http://www.wowhead.com/spell=71965. that is all
curtisrutland Apr 10th 2010 12:29AM
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=47820
Just turned green?
kia Apr 10th 2010 2:25AM
I think Rain of Chaos would just be the better spell. If it was like Chaos bolt and ignored resistances & absorption... mmmmmmm yummy
Heilig Apr 9th 2010 11:09PM
Paladins had a similar aura in the original Beta, along with one that would steadily replenish mana. Both were removed because they were either ridiculously OP or completely useless. It was almost impossible to find a middle ground that worked for either aura. Healing enough to be useful at high level made the paladin completely unkillable at lower levels, and balancing it to not be OP at lower levels made it worthless for 60's. Granted, this was when the game was entirley focused on the leveling process and there really was no end-game experience to speak of. Hopefully they can make that sort of thing work now, although I highly doubt any heal that heals a percentage rather thana raw number can ever be balanced. The percentage woudl get tweaked in every major content patch.
Teo Apr 10th 2010 5:23AM
That sounds weird...shamans have always had mana/health spring totems...but then again, i played only in a small portion in vanilla...
BoomingEchoes Apr 10th 2010 12:02PM
Its not similar, its either exactly the same or so similar it mine as well be as the beta ability was..
The problem with it is (and was) never really about the balancing act itself, the passive healing component would always make Paladins "too good" for healing no matter what level they were (and mind you they were already just about the strongest healers in Vanilla without this) .. Blizzard doesn't (and never did) want people to just get something without clicking a button, which this essentially allows without even the slightest mana cost.. Blizzard doesn't design the game that way and caught themselves before they did..
And While I'm sure Teo will bring up the Healing Stream totem again I call back to what I said about the need to click a button: Even if its one button press you still need to put an action in to get the healing,You have to put the totem down to get the effect, not just leave an aura up.. It was the click component that kept those 2 totems, paladins got BoW and completely any sort of passive healing factor outside of Judgment of Light (which requires a click and mana to activate)... Aside from that Healing Stream is PARTY WIDE, not RAID WIDE, Auras being raid wide makes even a small % of heal from an aura just that much more overpowered..
Also Mana spring and BoW don't stack (as of Wrath), I'd doubt they'd go the same way with this aura if it were available -2 healing streams can still stack but they don't count on 2 Shamans wanting to put down the same totems that often- the passive healing potential of even a 5man group having both the aura and a totem going at the same time is enough to break several encounters in the game right now, I doubt they'd be smart enough to code around that in the future, they'd sooner just take the ability away to make it easier on themselves rather then keep it and make it easier on us.... And mix this with aura mastery (if its kept) and I can see every other healer disappear from the game..
I'll gladly eat my words if I'm wrong but when GC answered a pally question a month or 2 back with "I hear Paladins need more heals" I don't believe this wasn't what he meant and I cant see this popping up in the Paladin changes post.. not unless they break paladins to the point where aura's are only party wide.
Maxilimus Apr 9th 2010 11:10PM
Yay, I sent in the information about the severed essence spells
(cutaia) Apr 9th 2010 11:11PM
Those sneaky bastards! Hiding things in plain sight. :D
relmatos Apr 10th 2010 7:35AM
Ya. just like the DKs anti-magic zone that appeared in Magisters Terrace and I kept saying how I'd love to have an ability like that :P
Triforceelf Apr 9th 2010 11:12PM
WTB Sparkly paladin aura, PST.
ToyChristopher Apr 9th 2010 11:31PM
Yes! MOAR SPARKLES!
My holy paladin does not have enough sparkles!!!!
Jamie Apr 10th 2010 12:16AM
Wait... I thought Shadow Priests were the vampires?!!?!??! I'm a paladin first and foremost but surely Vampires sparkle right...? right...?
Eternauta Apr 10th 2010 2:18AM
You read way too much Twilight.
Triforceelf Apr 11th 2010 10:56AM
If by "Non at all" you mean to much, then yes. I think I read the back of one of the books once.
Martin Apr 9th 2010 11:16PM
They need to hurry up and post the mage changes. I'm dying here.
Bvannas Apr 9th 2010 11:19PM
Dont stand in the fire then.
Blackone Apr 9th 2010 11:21PM
At least you don't have to wait till next week like a certain class.
Zalvi24 Apr 9th 2010 11:23PM
you'll see the mage cata upgrades at 2:55 am
osprey0024 Apr 9th 2010 11:30PM
It's ok, just have a priest "life grip" you...
brian Apr 9th 2010 11:31PM
They seem to be releasing each preview at 9AM, for Pacific, Hong Kong, and Europe respectively. The first group's Hong Kong preview got released a little early (almost 5 hours early), but so far the other two seem to be following that cycle, while the last preview has been released at 9AM Median time consistently.