Leviathon

It's just the Black Dragonflights Dragonshrine so I wouldn't look too into that caves name.

 

Scorned

While I like the idea of procs which require you to switch up a standard rotation, Sword and Board isn't quite as powerful as a lot of people seem to think it is. I've spoken to tanks who think it's a 40% boost to Shield Slam TPS, as if each time it procs it makes your next shield slam twice as effective.

What they don't realize is that the talent's effectiveness will vary wildly based on when it procs in your cycle. If it procs on the Devastate you used just before your S.Slam cooldown came up, then the proc essentially provided no TPS benefit. Even in a best-case scenario where it actually procs on your initial S.Slam, you'll still have to wait one GCD, so it would actually only remove 4.5 seconds off of the S.Slam cooldown -- never 6.

Averaging out the two extremes, it means that each proc will shave an average of 2.25 seconds off of your S.Slam. Four procs per minute equals 9 seconds of free S.Slam time, so you end up being able to S.Slam 15% more often.

Of course, that assumes that you're using every GCD on either S.Slam or Devastate. If you throw in Revenge, T.Clap, Conc Blow, Shockwave and Bloodbath, then S&B's effectiveness steadily declines.

One thing that is nice about the talent is its rage efficiency. Even a badly-timed proc results in a zero-cost S.Slam, so you will always end up saving 68 rage per minute -- although again, that's assuming you're only using abilities which can proc the talent.

e: typo

 

Tacitus

I don't think this has been posted yet:

Brotherhood, Peace, Unity

Welcome back, Comrade

 

Zaphid

Looks like a warlock version of Moonkin form, i hope they add different abilitites based on the demon you have active, even if it's stupid blood pact/+5%dmg aura/suffering

 

sadistic

Im curious to see how the cleave ability progresses through the ranks. Due to the ilvl "cost" of wpndps it would have to scale decently hard due to 0 ap and bad meleedmg on the weapon. Though main problem as always will prolly be avoidance

 

Tacitus

Hopefully they'll do something to Felguards hit chance while they're working on that cleave.

Brotherhood, Peace, Unity

Welcome back, Comrade

 

PsyBomb

Are those numbers for cast times base? It looks an awful lot like the user is wearing about 30 haste rating (perhaps from a piece or two of badge gear or a [Blade of Twisted Visions]). No biggie though, the true times are easy enough to see if that's the case.

No Cripple, curse it! (yes, pun was intended)

To teach and to learn, to laugh and make others laugh. This is my purpose, and any day in which I don't wasn't worth the time it took to get through.

 

moowalk

Looks like an example of haste affecting DoTs. Which is new

 

Incoherence

Nope. Note that Immolation is channeled.

 

Tacitus

I snagged them off NeoGAF so I have no idea who took them and how. But I think too that he's wearing some haste, since 14,48 seconds isn't that common in cast times.

Brotherhood, Peace, Unity

Welcome back, Comrade

 

Northerner

Note however that both the tick time and the total duration are affected by the (small) amount of haste. Anything that can take tick times below 1s is rather interesting indeed.

 

Ja7us

Doesn't haste already do this with arcane missines?

 

Cranberry

You know, it occurs to me that if this leak was intentional and intended to get a different perspective on their design, this thread might be special in that respect. Random idiots from the WoW forums presumably read MMO-champ, WoR and the like, and would cry endlessly on the forums about released info (look at what happened while that info was briefly up on them). Here, they can get some condensed and potentially useful feedback instead of endless QQ. So cheers to EJ on that.

Getting back to the topic at hand, Immolation is a channel. Channels have been affected by spell haste and had tick times go under 1s on channeled DoTs or damage spells (see Drain Life, Arcane Missiles) for some time.

EDIT: Also, the Icecrown Glacier video on the wiki is one of the most imposing things I have ever seen in WoW. That's up there with the first time I ran into a Fel Reaver.

EDIT2: Beaten to it by the posted above

 

• frmorrison

I believe when the Warlock turns into a Demon it will be similar to Druids, in that you have some Weapon already. Avoidance and mitigation may be an issue, but hey you are a cloth wearer.

DK - Ashbane Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.

 

Cranberry

Moonkin, at least, uses your normal weapon unless I'm very much mistaken (Moonkin Form - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft), they just get an AP boost.

 

• Playered

Why are people getting confused over the Metamorph Immolate, it looks just Hellfire sans the health loss.

Not being able to check personally on that specific AoE, but im near 99% sure that Hurricanes' duration and tick speed is effected by haste and as a result will display so - it's not new mechanic.

 

Tyrian

From all the leaked videos ive seen - Im most impressed with Ice Crown Glacier so far. The LOTR fan in me is going wild - it looks like a mix of Helm's Deep, the Black Gate and Mordor set to a blue/green hue - and it looks fantastic.

 

sadistic

b10

 

Prinsesa

I was checking on new spell rank values and I found something ... strange, to say the least:

Holy Light rank rank 11 (max on Live) - heals for 2196 to 2446 (average 2321)
Holy Light rank rank 12 (WOTLK) - heals for 3264 to 3636 (average 3450, 48.65% increase)

Power Word: Shield rank 12 - shields for 1265 damage
Power Word: Shield rank 13 (WOTLK) - shields for 1920 damage (51.78% increase)

Flash Heal rank 9 - heals for 1101 to 1279
Flash Heal rank 10 (WOTLK) - heals for 1684 to 1956 (52.94% increase)

Binding Heal rank 1 - heals target and caster for 1042 to 1338
Binding Heal rank 2 (WOTLK) - heals target and caster for 1619 to 2081 (55.46% increase)

Prayer of Healing rank 6 - heals for 1246 to 1316
Prayer of Healing rank 7 (WOTLK) - heals for 2091 to 2209 (67.84% increase)

Health Funnel rank 8 - transfers 188 HP per second
Health Funnel rank 9 (WOTLK) - transfers 520 HP per second (176.60% increase)

Look at the massive scaling of some healing spells, as compared to:

Mind Flay rank 7 - 528 damage over 3 seconds
Mind Flay rank 8 (WOTLK) - 576 damage over 3 seconds (9.09% increase)

Shadow Bolt rank 11 - 541 to 603 damage (572 average)
Shadow Bolt rank 12 (WOTLK) - 596 to 664 damage (630 average, 10.14% increase)

Fireball rank 14 - 717 to 913 damage, plus 84 DOT (899 average)
Fireball rank 15 (WOTLK) - 783 to 997 damage, plus 100 DOT (990 average, 10.12% increase)

What could precipitate such a large change in healing spells, as compared to "average" scaling of DPS spells? We aren't expecting as much mudflation as the TBC's STA change, and it doesn't seem like healers are having scaling issues with their spells as of now, even at the extreme high end, so I'm thoroughly baffled.

EDIT [additional info]: Holy Light got a huge boost, but Flash of Light only went up 13.68% on its next rank. It could mean a change in Holy Paladin functionality/healing style depending on what new talents and abilities we get.

Circle of Healing went up from 430 average to 620 average, or a 44.19% increase. At first I wanted to attribute this to the 8 second cooldown, but nearly every other healing spell got the same boost as well.

Health Funnel's large buff seems to be aimed towards a pet-using playstyle, whether Empowered Imp, Lovestruck or good ol' Felguard, given the new Demonology talents, but is the pause in DPS worth it?

"We do want Sanctuary to be the tanking seal"

- Ghostcrawler

 

Malleus

The answer is in your question. There won't be the same leap in stats between 70 and 80 as there was between 60 and 70. How, then, do Blizzard prevent current high-end guilds from romping through the lvl80 content in their existing lvl70 gear which won't be that far off the pace? If the 10% increase in the damage spells is any indicator of how much boss health will be increasing to fit a 6/10 minute enrage timer, they might even be able to complete the lvl80 content at lvl70.

Unless Blizzard want to make every boss fight in WOTLK a minimaxing cockblock where you have to have farmed each tier for weeks before you can attempt the next, the only real solution I can see is drastically increasing the amount of boss damage dealt by spike abilities.

It's interesting to note that you didn't list the increases for Flash (at first) or Greater Heal. If Greater Heal also matches the damage spells, then that's close to confirmation of a cementing in the relative healing roles of Paladins and Priests. Priests will have group healing and also the spells that fill in the cracks, making them raid healers; Paladins, meanwhile, will have huge burst heals that no other class could match, making them ideal as tank healers.

 

Ja7us

What an excellent idea. The biggest impediments to this, in fact, would be that 1) the trash will be level 80-82 and a huge pain to clear, and 2) the instances probably won't let you zone in until 75ish if they're anything like current raids/5-mans. It would, however, be completely hilarious to clear Naxxramas with a raid 10 levels below intended.

 

Cranberry

Spike damage relative to health can't go up much more or people get one-shotted. Perhaps MS effects.

 

Stapler

Except that casters would require 93% spell hit to cap out against a target of level 80. I imagine something similar would affect the melee also. When the pre-tbc patch was implemented that put the mobs around karazhan, it was pretty much only the hunters who could touch them at level 60. I'm fairly sure any trash clearing attempts would result in respawns on your head, and any bosses with non-bosslevel adds would be impossible.

 

sadistic

Could possibly be avoided by ss-suicides+kiting&summons :p

 

Malleus

There's nothing stopping someone clearing the trash with the lvl80s then sending in lvl70 alts to kill the bosses for comedy value, though. (Apart from the aforementioned lower-level bound, but you're just spoiling the fun by bringing that up.)

Cranberry - when you say spike damage can't rise much further, are you accounting for the tanks having around an extra 5k health? All I'm talking about is abilities like Gruul's Hurtful Strike or Illidan's Shear. If the tank is kept at full health, which I expect to be 25k-ish for Warriors and Paladins and 30-32k for Druids, then abilities that suddenly knock off 12-15k won't be fatal but will need big heals. HL9 and Flash 8 might continue to suffice as the default heals for Paladins, with HL11 being for periods of high damage and HL12 being an "Oh shit!" button to compensate for sudden spikes.

I'd really like to know if they plan to adjust the bonus effectivity bands, and if there's going to be more than one new spell rank available. That'd give us a better idea of where they plan to go with encounter design.