[Elemental] Cataclysm changes collected (updated: 10/08/22) - Page 2

Rouncer · 07/16/10, 4:28 PM

Just checked for you, Horac.

With 0 mastery rating I had no overloads over about 30 casts. When I put on 495 mastery rating, which is 5.32 mastery, I had a mastery proc within 7-8 casts. Someone will need to do more concrete testing to determine the mastery to overload proc rate. I wasn't able to get a Lava Burst one before the server restarted. I'll try again when it comes back up again.

Edit - ok, that was funny. Server came back up and the very first lava burst I cast overloaded.

Edit 2 - I'm a masochist so did 100 LBs with the 5.32 mastery and had 15 overloads. Didn't have any overloads proccing from overloads, as expected.

Horac · 07/16/10, 11:03 PM

Twitter Q&A Link

Masteries
Q: Can you provide some clarity on the 3rd Mastery that is affected item stats?
A. We recognized the earlier implementation of Mastery in the beta was confusing. Mastery is no longer directly associated with a talent tree, but is instead a passive effect learned from a trainer at a later level. That passive effect will now grant the third Mastery bonus you formerly saw in the talent tree pane. The passive effect will have a base value, and then Mastery rating will increase that effect further. The other two Mastery bonuses previously listed at the top of the talent tree pane have been removed, but, in some cases, have been reimplemented as passive specialization bonuses. Currently, in the beta, you cannot see any of the Masteries, as they need to be reimplemented after the talent tree redesign.

Elemental specific
Q. With the new implemented Lava Surge, will Chain Lightning become useful for multiple mobs only?
A. It always has had, and will continue to have, some niche use as a gap-filler against single targets when Lava Burst has around a second left on its cooldown. Lava Surge won’t always proc, but it’s likely to be more of a multi-target ability, yes.

Totems
Q. Are there any plans of making totems utility only (e.g. Earthbind, Grounding) and turning buff totems into auras or cast buffs?
A. Not at this time. We’re aware of the concerns regarding the use of buff totems among some shaman, but the positional aspect is something that we consider inherent to the nature of totems. By increasing totem durations, consolidating some buff totems, and introducing the multi-drop totem spells in Wrath of the Lich King, we’ve attempted to mitigate as much of the inconvenience as possible, while preserving the core gameplay of paying attention to where totems are being dropped.

So there will be a base amount of mastery granted to each spec meaning that elemental overload wont be a wasted training for 3 levels which is good to hear. From Rouncer's testing it looks like the mastery scaling is working so far but the base amounts haven't been coded in yet.

Not a lot of clarity on Lava Surge and it looks like Chain Lightning will slide into its familiar place as a rotation tightener and a small group aoe spell.

I am pretty disappointed in the response on totems. I don't see why the developers still seem to think that the totem mechanics make for "fun and exciting" game play or why we should be required to do so much maintenance of the buffs we bring. The design limits us in pve and pvp since the buff totems and utility totems conflict with each other. On top of that it sounds as though they want us to continue redropping totems all the time which I am pretty sure no one has found fun for some time now. No comments on range limitations or plans to remedy them.

♦ quiddity · 07/16/10, 11:30 PM

Originally Posted by Horac

Twitter Q&A Link

So there will be a base amount of mastery granted to each spec meaning that elemental overload wont be a wasted training for 3 levels which is good to hear. From Rouncer's testing it looks like the mastery scaling is working so far but the base amounts haven't been coded in yet.

Not a lot of clarity on Lava Surge and it looks like Chain Lightning will slide into its familiar place as a rotation tightener and a small group aoe spell.

I am pretty disappointed in the response on totems. I don't see why the developers still seem to think that the totem mechanics make for "fun and exciting" game play or why we should be required to do so much maintenance of the buffs we bring. The design limits us in pve and pvp since the buff totems and utility totems conflict with each other. On top of that it sounds as though they want us to continue redropping totems all the time which I am pretty sure no one has found fun for some time now. No comments on range limitations or plans to remedy them.

I don't want to read too much into their response on totems, but they don't seem to indicate anything about the ability to "throw" totems. I wonder if that means those plans were scrapped like Spirit Link.

Divis0R · 07/19/10, 5:44 AM

Originally Posted by Vanathar

I am unfamiliar with the EotS being applied twice. I assume this is a bug?

When you transferred your character onto the beta server, how much haste did you preserve? I know the Devs have stated their intention to reduce the amount of haste and crit you can get by level 85, but is there any appreciable decline in those stats at or near level 80 due to the conversion, or do those reductions occur over the transition to level 85?

I am curious, because at the moment, playing an elemental shaman is a very fast casting, quick-paced rotation. If haste as an overall stat is lowered significantly or made less effective than it currently is, or if Mastery is considered a higher value stat at 85 than haste or crit, then I can see our rotations slowing down. I'm just curious how much slower they will be.

First question: Yes, it's a bug. It will be fixed, definitely.
Second question: I preserved all the haste I have on my current lv 80 Shaman (check armory link in profile). The current 1080 haste is converted into 42.82% haste, on the Live servers. In Beta, 1081 haste (small gear changes on Live) + the 220 haste from Bizuri's relic = 1301 rating turns into 39.68% haste. Proof. I am sure some math-guy can convert the ratings and percentages to find the decay value. I had level 80 when I did the dummy tests. I can provide the new values, at level 81, as soon as I get home (no WoW@work).

At the moment, with the buggy EotS, Elemental is in a fast forward effect. All spells are GCD capped. Can't make any serious assumption based on this. Also, it's quite early to make this kind of estimates, since we're allowed to level only to 82. As soon as we'll be allowed to hit 85 on PTR, we can delve into maths a bit deeper. For now, I am testing quests and areas, reporting bugs in 1-ton packs.

• Jessamy · 07/19/10, 8:56 AM

Originally Posted by Divis0R

I am sure some math-guy can convert the ratings and percentages to find the decay value.

This is the best information I could find, but these numbers are more than 2 months old. If anyone has information from a more current build to disprove this, please do.

Originally Posted by Whitetooth

Some numbers from the 4.0 client

4.0.0.11927

	60	70	80	81	82	83	84	85
melee hit	10	15.769	32.79	46.696	66.499	94.701	134.862	192.056
spell hit	8	12.615	26.232	37.357	53.199	75.76	107.89	153.645
crit	14	22.077	45.906	65.374	93.099	132.581	188.807	268.878
haste	10	15.769	32.79	46.696	66.499	94.701	134.862	192.056

Rouncer · 07/19/10, 9:42 AM

I confirmed the values at level 82 yesterday. Now my beta shaman is 83 and I can confirm all the values on that table at 83 as well. They are a little off when you get to the hundredths but close enough to be rounding discrepancies.

Lucitron · 07/21/10, 2:15 AM

New beta-patch and new talents. However, by all appearance there is nothing new under the sun for Elemental (Enhancement got Frozen Power back). The biggest change is that Elemental Devestation was finally moved to Enhancement, and in return Elemental got Ancestral Knowledge. In the end we are talking about the same cookie cutter build as before (32/7/2), except from having 3 points in Ancestral Knowledge, you will now have 3 points in Improved Shield.

Addendum #2:
Actually, the biggest change is that Ancestral Swiftness is gone. Temporarily or for good? Who knows. However, this means that the new cookie cutter build is either 34/2/5 to maximize survivability, or 37/2/2 to boost your mana regeneration.

EDIT:
Ancestral Swiftness is not gone.

tufy · 07/21/10, 3:34 AM

It might be a bug or it might be something else. Namely, the talent was so powerful that it was pretty much a must-have for all specs, forcing everyone 7 points into enhancement. If it's removed (which could mean that Ghost Wolf might end up instant by default), that gives us more freedom in specs.

In fact, I went at the talent trees with assumption that it was indeed removed and ended up with a 37/2/2 build - I could even see people going 39/2/0.

Lucitron · 07/21/10, 4:29 AM

It might be a bug or it might be something else. Namely, the talent was so powerful that it was pretty much a must-have for all specs, forcing everyone 7 points into enhancement.

Ancestral Swiftness is good, but I doubt it could be called a must-have. I would rather say that it is the combination of Elemental Weapons + Ancestral Swiftness that wins in comparison to what further points in Elemental or Restoration would offer.

Now, if Ancestral Swiftness is removed then it would actually open up for slightly more combinations. You mention 37/2/2, while personally I would say that 34/2/5 looks quite tempting. If we don't have any problems with mana, then you would maximize your survivability through getting Elemental Warding, Ancestral Resolve and Spark of Life.

tufy · 07/21/10, 7:28 AM

Yes, Elemental Weapons are a strong reason we went in there, but Ancestral Swiftness basically provided double the movement speed increase of the feet enchant, plus 40% speed increase for long runs (ghost wolf indoors = + movement in raid). I'd call that pretty much a must-have :p

I totally forgot about Spark of Life, though, thanks for reminding me.

♦ masanbol · 07/21/10, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by Lucitron

Ancestral Swiftness is good, but I doubt it could be called a must-have. I would rather say that it is the combination of Elemental Weapons + Ancestral Swiftness that wins in comparison to what further points in Elemental or Restoration would offer.

Now, if Ancestral Swiftness is removed then it would actually open up for slightly more combinations. You mention 37/2/2, while personally I would say that 34/2/5 looks quite tempting. If we don't have any problems with mana, then you would maximize your survivability through getting Elemental Warding, Ancestral Resolve and Spark of Life.

It's somewhat hard to quantify, but a movement speed increase along the lines of Ancestral Swiftness is definitely a DPS increase when put in the context of current fight mechanics (and presumably fight mechanics in Cataclysm). Any amount of time spent moving is time not DPSing, and while 15% increased speed doesn't seem like much for a single moment of movement, it adds up over the course of a fight or an instance.

Given our issues with movement and DPS, I hope it returns (or becomes baseline).

Lucitron · 07/22/10, 12:51 AM

Originally Posted by Hakagan

Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler

Ancestral Swiftness was not removed. Sorry for any confusion. It is still in the second tier of Enhancement, available to all.

Source: World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> [GHOSTWOLF] What happened to my instant???

Conclusion: 32/7/2-build should be once again the cookie-cutter.

draconis0101 · 07/23/10, 12:02 AM

Just thought to post this, they changed the 6th tier talent into Feedback. 3 points will get you 3 seconds knocked off of elemental mastery after every lightning bolt or chain lightning.

• frmorrison · 07/23/10, 12:18 AM

# Feedback - Your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells reduce the remaining cooldown on your Elemental Mastery talent by 1/2/3 sec.(Tier 6) This replacing Shamanism (now that is base)

# Elemental Mastery - No longer shares a cooldown with Nature's Swiftness. When activated, your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning or Lava Burst spell becomes an instant cast spell. In addition, your Fire, Frost, and Nature damage is increased by 15% and you gain 20% spell haste for 15 sec.

This is similar to the Tier 10 bonus, so helps the rotation becomes more interesting.

Bonosaur · 07/23/10, 12:42 PM

Has anyone looked into the way we're supposed to do AoE dmg in Cataclysm?

If you take into account that Earthquake can only be channeled for 10seconds, while it has a 15second cooldown, we'll have a 5second window to fill with other spells.
Does this mean we'll still be using Magma Totem and Fire Nova? Or is there still something to come that will encourage us into Chain Lightnings and (FS) Lava Bursts? The final option is that a glyph will be realsed to remove the CD (and quite possibly knockdown) of Earthquake.

I'm worried that we'll still be expected to be using Magma Totem. As this would mean that in alot of cases the 35yd range on Earthquake would be pointless. Since we'll need to go drop Magma totem (+ Fire nova) before casting our Earthquake.

Edit: Personally I feel that Blizzard has chosen a very wierd moment to add Earthquake. The community has nagged about it since Vanilla and at the point where we least need it (thanks to the changes to Magma Totem and Fire Nova) its suddenly thrown in our lap. I would've been much happier with a new spell being added to our rotation (or new spell to be used while moving).