Windzarko
Well-Known Member
I know I have the other thread for what kind of stuff should be in the coming patches and suchlike, but here's a separate thread for information about talents, spells and other things, relevant to use while we're at 80 now and waiting for the expansion, and relevant to new characters we level up towars 80 now or 85 later.
Talents
First up are the new talent trees. For those of you who don't already know, the talent trees are changing from the current 51-point-long ones, and going back to 31-point ones that look more like the Vanilla trees. This doesn't mean we get to spec really deeply into two trees, however, as the way talent points work is changing.
At level 10, rather than just arbitrarily getting access to the talent window and being able to whack your first point in somewhere to nigh-unnoticeable effect, you're instead greeted by a "Choose you specialisation" option overlaying the talent trees. Choosing your spec will give you the ability to spend talents in that tree, but it also immediately gives you a spec-appropriate ability (eg Pyroblast for Fire Mages, Mangle for Feral Druids, Aimed Shot for Marksmanship Hunters, etc), and a number of passive bonuses relevant to the spec (including mana regen while casting for healers). You are then able to spend your first talent point, and it can only be spent in the spec tree you chose.
At level 11, and every odd-numbered level thereafter, you get another talent point you can spend in the chosen tree. You can't spend any points in another tree until you've spent 31 points in the chosen tree (and thus likely acquired your end-of-tree 31 point talent). Your first talent point that you can spend elsewhere is gained at level 71, and you can of course still just put more points into your primary tree. Note that spending points in one of the other two trees won't get you their spec-specific ability or passive bonuses.
So in short, the trees are shorter, but we only get talent points at level 10, then every odd-numbered level (and, in Cataclysm, levels 81-85). Thus, our last talent point for now will be at level 79. This would have just balanced out and been sort of equivalent to now as-is, if not for the fact that basically all talents are worth something now, and there are almost no worthless talents that you'd never ever consider, so there's going to be more thought and choice in spending your points, despite the shorter trees.
Spells / Abilities
Some classes will be starting off with one or two more abilities than they used to have at level 1 (for example, Paladins start with Crusader Strike). The levels you get new stuff at from 1-9 is a bit sporadic from what I can see, with some at odd levels and some at even levels. However, once you hit 10, you should only get new abilities at even-numbered levels (until 81+), and there will usually be something new each even-numbered level; some classes have more gaps without new abilities, some have almost none.
Many abilities have had their levels shifted and you get them far earlier than you would have done otherwise (for example, Lava Burst at 34 and Steady Shot 3); LX characters will certainly want to go to the trainer and see if anything's available that wasn't before.
All spells and abilities will now have only one rank; rather than going back to the trainer at certain levels to gain new ranks, your spells just naturally scale with your level. No more spellbook-clogging, and no more forking out gold regularly for a minor upgrade to something you already did (and no more ending up weaker because you forgot to go back to the trainer for a level or two to get the new rank). Also, your spellbook will list the spells and abilities you could have but haven't learned yet by having them greyed-out and marked as being available on the trainer.
Armour and Weapon Skills
Every class should now start off being able to use all the weapons they can ever use, right from the get-go. While we used to have to go to weapons trainers around the world to get some of the weapon skills, we now just flat-out start with them. You also never have to raise your weapon skills, they are always treated as maximum for your level (so no more going to hit something for an hour or two if you get a new weapon type you've never used!)
The armour skills haven't really changed much; everyone starts off being able to use what they start off with now, and Mail/Plate is trainable for certain classes. However, the level for Mail for Hunters/Shammies and Plate for Warriors/Paladins is now 50 rather than 40. Also, every class at level 50 can gain their "Armour Specialisation" (I believe it's purchased from the trainer as a passive skill). This is a passive bonus that increases your spec's primary stat if you are wearing the correct armour; for example, a hunter wearing only mail, or a warrior wearing only plate. The bonus is 5% of the stat, and is instantly lost if you equip an item of a lower armour class.
Mastery
You can train the passive ability "Mastery" at level 80 as any class. The effect of this passive is dictated by your chosen talent spec, but I don't yet know if it'll display the effect of your spec's Mastery until level 80, or if it'll do it as early as 10. Regardless, Mastery doesn't come into effect -at all- until level 80, when you can train the ability.
Mastery has a base effect, and then scales with Mastery Rating. Mastery Rating likely won't be on any of the gear we can currently get, and I believe the previous plans to be given a small Mastery bonus for wearing the correct gear for your class was scrapped in favour of the Armour Specialisation bonuses. Once Cataclysm hits and we can level up, though, we should start seeing it appearing on gear. It looks like rather a lot of Rating will be needed for each full point of Mastery, but the effects will be significant.
In the meantime, we still get the advantages of the base effects of Mastery on our current level 80s (such as Elemental Overload for Elemental Shammies, Shadow Orbs for Shadow Priests, Wild Quiver for Marksmanship Hunters, etc).
Other Stuff
Hunters start the game off with a racially-appropriate pet (eg Cat for Nelfs, Raptor for Trolls), and have Call/Raise Pet. They can't feed, heal or change their pet until level 10, when they have their class quests for it.
Some of the weapon skills look like they've been removed from some classes; for example, Hunters can't use Thrown weapons anymore, for example.
Trolls and Gnomes will still start off in the usual places until patch 4.0.3 and Cataclysm, since the world needs to change before they get their new starting experience.
In summary... we get ALL of the stuff above when 4.0.1 hits, it WILL affect our level 80s and our sub-80 characters significantly, and most of us will need to do either theorycrafting or raiding Elitist Jerks to keep up to scratch (although certain people should use this as their chance to learn how to stop sucking at the same time as everyone else is having to relearn...).
Oh, and by the way; patch is almost certainly this Wednesday.
Talents
First up are the new talent trees. For those of you who don't already know, the talent trees are changing from the current 51-point-long ones, and going back to 31-point ones that look more like the Vanilla trees. This doesn't mean we get to spec really deeply into two trees, however, as the way talent points work is changing.
At level 10, rather than just arbitrarily getting access to the talent window and being able to whack your first point in somewhere to nigh-unnoticeable effect, you're instead greeted by a "Choose you specialisation" option overlaying the talent trees. Choosing your spec will give you the ability to spend talents in that tree, but it also immediately gives you a spec-appropriate ability (eg Pyroblast for Fire Mages, Mangle for Feral Druids, Aimed Shot for Marksmanship Hunters, etc), and a number of passive bonuses relevant to the spec (including mana regen while casting for healers). You are then able to spend your first talent point, and it can only be spent in the spec tree you chose.
At level 11, and every odd-numbered level thereafter, you get another talent point you can spend in the chosen tree. You can't spend any points in another tree until you've spent 31 points in the chosen tree (and thus likely acquired your end-of-tree 31 point talent). Your first talent point that you can spend elsewhere is gained at level 71, and you can of course still just put more points into your primary tree. Note that spending points in one of the other two trees won't get you their spec-specific ability or passive bonuses.
So in short, the trees are shorter, but we only get talent points at level 10, then every odd-numbered level (and, in Cataclysm, levels 81-85). Thus, our last talent point for now will be at level 79. This would have just balanced out and been sort of equivalent to now as-is, if not for the fact that basically all talents are worth something now, and there are almost no worthless talents that you'd never ever consider, so there's going to be more thought and choice in spending your points, despite the shorter trees.
Spells / Abilities
Some classes will be starting off with one or two more abilities than they used to have at level 1 (for example, Paladins start with Crusader Strike). The levels you get new stuff at from 1-9 is a bit sporadic from what I can see, with some at odd levels and some at even levels. However, once you hit 10, you should only get new abilities at even-numbered levels (until 81+), and there will usually be something new each even-numbered level; some classes have more gaps without new abilities, some have almost none.
Many abilities have had their levels shifted and you get them far earlier than you would have done otherwise (for example, Lava Burst at 34 and Steady Shot 3); LX characters will certainly want to go to the trainer and see if anything's available that wasn't before.
All spells and abilities will now have only one rank; rather than going back to the trainer at certain levels to gain new ranks, your spells just naturally scale with your level. No more spellbook-clogging, and no more forking out gold regularly for a minor upgrade to something you already did (and no more ending up weaker because you forgot to go back to the trainer for a level or two to get the new rank). Also, your spellbook will list the spells and abilities you could have but haven't learned yet by having them greyed-out and marked as being available on the trainer.
Armour and Weapon Skills
Every class should now start off being able to use all the weapons they can ever use, right from the get-go. While we used to have to go to weapons trainers around the world to get some of the weapon skills, we now just flat-out start with them. You also never have to raise your weapon skills, they are always treated as maximum for your level (so no more going to hit something for an hour or two if you get a new weapon type you've never used!)
The armour skills haven't really changed much; everyone starts off being able to use what they start off with now, and Mail/Plate is trainable for certain classes. However, the level for Mail for Hunters/Shammies and Plate for Warriors/Paladins is now 50 rather than 40. Also, every class at level 50 can gain their "Armour Specialisation" (I believe it's purchased from the trainer as a passive skill). This is a passive bonus that increases your spec's primary stat if you are wearing the correct armour; for example, a hunter wearing only mail, or a warrior wearing only plate. The bonus is 5% of the stat, and is instantly lost if you equip an item of a lower armour class.
Mastery
You can train the passive ability "Mastery" at level 80 as any class. The effect of this passive is dictated by your chosen talent spec, but I don't yet know if it'll display the effect of your spec's Mastery until level 80, or if it'll do it as early as 10. Regardless, Mastery doesn't come into effect -at all- until level 80, when you can train the ability.
Mastery has a base effect, and then scales with Mastery Rating. Mastery Rating likely won't be on any of the gear we can currently get, and I believe the previous plans to be given a small Mastery bonus for wearing the correct gear for your class was scrapped in favour of the Armour Specialisation bonuses. Once Cataclysm hits and we can level up, though, we should start seeing it appearing on gear. It looks like rather a lot of Rating will be needed for each full point of Mastery, but the effects will be significant.
In the meantime, we still get the advantages of the base effects of Mastery on our current level 80s (such as Elemental Overload for Elemental Shammies, Shadow Orbs for Shadow Priests, Wild Quiver for Marksmanship Hunters, etc).
Other Stuff
Hunters start the game off with a racially-appropriate pet (eg Cat for Nelfs, Raptor for Trolls), and have Call/Raise Pet. They can't feed, heal or change their pet until level 10, when they have their class quests for it.
Some of the weapon skills look like they've been removed from some classes; for example, Hunters can't use Thrown weapons anymore, for example.
Trolls and Gnomes will still start off in the usual places until patch 4.0.3 and Cataclysm, since the world needs to change before they get their new starting experience.
In summary... we get ALL of the stuff above when 4.0.1 hits, it WILL affect our level 80s and our sub-80 characters significantly, and most of us will need to do either theorycrafting or raiding Elitist Jerks to keep up to scratch (although certain people should use this as their chance to learn how to stop sucking at the same time as everyone else is having to relearn...).
Oh, and by the way; patch is almost certainly this Wednesday.
