Random Dailies

“Strong as Brick!  Tough as Brick!  SMAAARRRT as Brick!” Probably one of the most basic classes for any RPG:  The Plate Wearing, Face Bashing, Door Breaking,  Brick!

(C) Blizzard Entertainment 2011

I once tried my hand at a Warrior in early BC, but couldn’t get him above level 24.  Part of it was the Male Draenei voice and animations, part was pure boredom.  But I recently rolled a Warrior for a short RP Scenario, and was pleasantly surprised by the streamlining Blizzard had done for Cataclysm.  I have since rolled a new warrior that is intended to be leveled, but at level 18 I’m starting to think about maybe pausing his progress and Twinking him for a bit.  I’ll probably just roll a new toon to twink with, but the option is still there for me.

But enough about my inability to make up my mind on things, you want Talents!  So Talents are what you shall have!

First Tier Talents

When I think of warriors in WoW, there are two moves I think of.  This is the second one…  “Charge!” Warriors, be they Tanks or DPS, they all LOVE to Charge their targets!  This tier gives you a little personal touch to your signature move:

Juggernaut – Will allow you to charge every 12 seconds, instead of 20.  More Charges, More Often!  (Kinda like my cell phone battery..>.> )

Double Time – Will let you charge TWICE before incurring the normal cooldown.  My only issue with this is what if I charge once, and then at 2 seconds past the normal cooldown, charge again?  Will that set the cooldown off?  Or does it give you two cooldown timers much like Deathknight Runes?  We’ll have to see.

Warbringer – Your Charge will Root your target for 5 seconds.  I see this a definite must in PVP, but there are certain times it is also good to have in PVE.

Second Tier Talents

The Second Tier is about your Self Heals:

Enraged Regeneration – Will regenerate 30% of your total health over 10 seconds.  Must be Enraged to use.  What it doesn’t say is if you use Rage the way Frenzied Regeneration does for Bear-tanks.  Hopefully Frenzied Regeneration gets tweaked to match. 3 Minute Cooldown.

Second Wind – This seems to be the Tank talent AND PVP Talent all Warriors will want: Generate rage and Health when struck by a stunning attack, AND anytime you take direct damage, have a 10% chance to generate 5% of your total health over 3 seconds!

Impending Victory – You can use your Victory Rush at anytime, but it will have a 30 second cooldown, and cost 20 Rage.  If it didn’t cost 1/5th of your Rage Bar, this would be a great ability to use on every cooldown.  But sometimes it’s hard to keep that “red mana bar” full…  >.>

Third Tier Talents

The Third Tier is about Crowd Control and Slows:

Throwdown – Knocks your target to the ground for 5 seconds. 45 second cooldown.

Piercing Howl – Dazes all enemies within 10 yards slowing their movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds.  No Cooldown Listed, but I’m sure that will change.

Cripple – When you hit with an Autoattack,or when your Rend Ticks, it will Maim your target, slowing them by 50% for 15 seconds.  If your Rend/Thunderclap combination still spreads your Rend in MoP, then this will be a HUGE  PVP talent!

Fourth Tier Talents

This Tier is about your Interrupts to spell casters:

Gag Order – Pummel and Heroic Throw will silence your target for 3 seconds.

Rude Interruption – Successfully interrupting with Pummel will also increase your damage by 5% for 30 seconds!  Where was this when fighting Shade of Aran?

Disrupting Shout – Interrupts all spells being cast within 10 yards and prevents all spells from that school from being cast for 4 seconds. Definitely a great PVP ability when standing in the middle of the enemy healers!

Fifth Tier Talents

This tier is all about your enrages and causing extra damage to your targets for short bursts:

Deadly Calm – You enter a Battle Trance that allows your next 3 Heroic strikes, or Cleaves to cost no rage.  Lasts for 15 seconds. 2 Minute Cooldown.

Death Wish – No, this isn’t an old Charles Bronson movie, but a 10 second Enrage that lets you generate more Rage from damage received.  However!  And this is a Big However, you will also receive 5% additional damage while in this state.  Not exactly what I’d want my tank to have during a Burn phase…>.>  3 minute Cooldown.

Bull Rush – your Charges and Intervenes will Enrage you for 6 seconds.

Sixth Tier Talents

And finally we come to the Sixth Tier!  This Tier brings with it some tough choices to make…

Bladestorm – no longer just the Arms Warrior’s talent, this is now open to all specs of warriors!  Who doesn’t like the idea of a Deadly spinning Top of Destruction?  1.5 minute Cooldown.

Shockwave – Damage and stun all enemies within a 10 yard Cone in front of you.  I imagine this coming in quite handy picking up Groups of trash mobs as a Tank.  OR using this on the casters grouped up on a Battle ground. 20 Second Cooldown.

Avatar – Transform into a Blue catlike… I mean… um…  Transform into an unstoppable Colossus for 10 seconds increasing your damage by 20% and rage that you generate!  You are also immune to Movement Impairing effects.  AND… it’s only got a 1 minute Cooldown!

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That’s it!  The End!  Finishe!  Finale! Stick a Fork in me, I’m DONE with the Talent Preview!  And to think it only took me 3 weeks to complete it…>.>

I have renewed respect for all the bloggers out there that do this on an almost daily basis.  It’s a lot harder to make the time to do this when it’s just for fun and RL decides it’s going to pop up on a daily basis.  But at least I stuck it out and got them done!  Hopefully I’ve helped someone out there see what is coming up and prepare for the inevitable changes that are coming to us all.

Let me know what you think in the comments, or on twitter.  (@netraven001)  Something besides the usual spam is ALWAYS greatly appreciated!

I do have more coming in the next few days (RL permitting) on some of my own personal updates, as well as the recent Dev Watercooler posted by Ghostcrawler on the great Item Squish of MoP.  I’ll include some Napkin Math(tm) and charts and my own analysis of what has happened throughout the game’s history, and hopefully come up with a suggestion of what to do about it!

Thank you again for coming!  And Keep up on those Dailies!  (They ain’t gonna do themselves’ ya know!)

~ Z/C

 Warlocks!  Masters of Demons and Hellspawn!  Loathed and untrusted almost as much as Rogues!  And for good reason! *cough*

(C) Blizzard Entertainment 2011

I’ve flirted with Warlocks throughout my WoW experience, but it wasn’t until Cataclysm that I levelled one to Level Cap.  Kyelle has been pretty fun to play with and was my second Raid ready character.  However, no one really needs her for anything, so she’s been relugated to my Alchemy Mule and I sometimes (although not often enough) provide mats for the Cauldons of Battle in my Main’s Raid.

However, I’ve seen her grow quite a bit and she is “On Call” as a Sub in another raid.  We’ll see if I can get my son done with his homework so I might be able to actually be available for that other raid sometime soon!

First Tier Talents

 Remember the days of Drain Tanking?  Yeah, it’s still broken, and that makes for some sad, sad Warlocks.  However, this First Tier of Talents help us with our Self Heals:

Dark Regeneration – Instantly restores 50% of our Max Health.  3 minute Cooldown.  Simple and to the point… “Want some Free Health?  HERE!”

Soul Leech - Another health generator, grants 25% of the damage dealt from your Shadowbolt, Incinerate and Malefic Grasp.  Looks to be passive so this would be constant health back to you!  The only question is “What’s Malefic Grasp?”  That wasn’t covered at Blizzcon so it’s bound to be something totally new!

Harvest of Life – Here’s an interesting effect…  It’s a Channelled spell, so you’ll have to sit there casting it for it’s duration.  Luckily it’s only a 3 second Duration.  BUT, if you recast it before it’s duration ends, you boost it’s duration by 3 seconds AND it can stack 5 times!  What does all this mean?  Well the spell, causes Shadow Damage (that I’m sure scales with level) to your target as well as EVERYOTHER Target within 20 yards.  But the real important part of this is that it will heal you for 2% of your total health per target each second!  I can see entire wings being pulled at once!  MUAHAHAHAHAHA..!!!

Howl of Terror - Pretty much the base Spell we have now.  Fear 5 enemies within 10 yards for 8 seconds.

Mortal Coil – This sounds like our Death Coil: causes target to run in fear for 3 seconds and heals us for 25% of our Maximum health.  The only difference is this does not cause damage to your target the way Death Coil does.  With any luck, we get to have BOTH!  Fear All The Things!  XD

Shadowfury - I’ve never played Destro, but the current version of this sounds pretty cool.  This version, takes away the damage it causes, however.  Maybe they will bring the damage back? /shrug.

Third Tier Talents

This Tier is about your Self Preservation abilities:

Hour of Twilight – When you take damage that would bring you below 20% of your maximum health, this will reduce your damage taken by 50% for 10 seconds.  Will not occur more than once every 90 seconds.

Soul Link – Pretty much the same as our current Soul Link.  Shares your damage and healing with your current Demon.

Sacrifical Pact - Instead of just letting you use the Voidwalker to sacrifice itself to protect you, ANY Demon that you are using can be sacrificed to protect you!  As it should be.

Fourth Tier Talents

More Self Preservation… What do you expect?  We’re Warlocks!

Bloodstone - Instantly restores 44% of the Warlock’s base health and increases healing by 50% for 10 seconds.  Let’s hope this doesn’t share a cooldown with our Fel-Cookies.

Spell Drain - The next single target spell focused on you will heal you for half the damage it was supposed to cause.  Lasts for 4 seconds.  This does not state that it must be cast upon a target like Dark Simulacrum does for DK’s, so this can be quite powerful, especially in PVP.  20 second cooldown means this will be cast quite often!

Nether Ward - Transforms your twilight ward nto a Nether Ward.  This will absorb damage over 30 seconds (30 second cooldown as well), and as it absorbs damage, will also reduce damage by that school of magic by 15% for 12 seconds.  Good for AOE heavy fights.

Fifth Tier Talents

What’s a Warlock without their Demons?  A wanna-be Shadow Priest without cool special effects, really…>.> 

This Tier is about the Demons!

Grimoire of Supremacy - Gives you STRONGER Demons that deal 10% additional damage and have more powerful abilities!  I want to see exactly what each Demon can do, but check out this list:  Fel Imp, Voidlord, Shivan, Beholder, Abyssal, Terrorguard.  Who wouldn’t want their own Beholder?  Or a Shivan?  (I think this is the big 6 armed demon chicks in Bikinis..? ) Don’t ask what for..  But I hear they make a KILLING in Goldshire… I mean…  *cough*  >.>

Grimoire of Service – Allows you to call out a second demon to fight for 30 seconds.  Great for burn phases!  2 minute Cooldown.

Grimoire of Sacrifice - I don’t think you can use this ability AND Sacrificial Pact at the same time.  So you can sacrifice your pet and get a protective shield from Sacrificial Pact, OR you can sacrifice them and gain extra damage and health!  I’m sure if Demons had a Union, they’d be getting ready to strike right about now…!  “We are Summoned beyond our will!  We are then forced to Fight for these Weenie Clothies and when they get in over their heads they KILL US To Save themselves! We Are the Demon 99%!  OCCUPY AZEROTH!”  

Sixth Tier Talents

This Tier was about making choices based on your favorite Demonic Villains! 

Archimonde’s Vengeance - Curse an enemy so that 25% of all damage you receive will also harm them for 15 seconds!  It’s a Reverse Beacon!  I see this being handy in PVP to cast on that pesky Druid or Pally Healer while their teammates are focusing their fire on you!  1 minute Cooldown.

Kil’jaeden’s Cunning - You can cast and Channel at the same time, but it will double the cast time or period of the spell.  My guess is this will also halve the damage you’d cause with a channelled spell so that the total damage comes out the same over the 2x length of time you are casting.

Illidan’s Guile - Shadowbolt, Incinerate, and Malefic Grasp deal splash Damage to all enemies within 10 yards of your target.  Lasts 30 seconds.  We thought you liked some AOE, so we gave you some AOE to go with your main attack so you could AOE when you wouldn’t normally get to AOE… or something to that effect…>.>  2 minute Cooldown.

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Well that’s it for the Warlocks!  Next up is Warriors!  Hopefully I can get it done before Raid tomorrow… or I’m looking at a Friday release for it.  And THEN I have thoughts on the Item Squish of MoP that Ghostcrawler has posted on the Dev Watercooler last week.

I honestly don’t see where you all get the time to keep up on this Blogging thing!  and Twitter!  And actually get time to play!  @_@

Oh well, keep on those dailies and I’ll try to get myself back on track here!  See you next time!

~ Z/C

Man I’m slow…  It’s been three weeks and I’m still trying to get these done!  3 more to go…

(C) Blizzard Entertainment 2011

So what we have next up are Shaman!  My experience with Shaman is quite limited.  I don’t think I even made level 20 on the one that I did start… but that was sometime during Wrath.  Since everything has been reworked, I’m going to have to try it again.  Will I get to it BEFORE MoP Hits?  Probably not, but it’s something else to add to my list of things to do!  In anycase, I’m not that familiar with the Current talents and abilities, so if I announce something like it’s new, and it’s been that way since vanilla… go easy on me…>.>

First Tier Talents

The First Tier seems to be about Crowd Control:

Frozen Power – Frost Shock will also Root the target in Ice for 5 seconds!

Earthgrab Totem – This will take the place of your Earthbind Totem.  The nifty thing here is that it will Root enemies for 5 seconds!  Recently Rooted enemeies will instead be slowed by 50%.

Repulsion Totem – Will summon an Air totem that will repel emeies.  Lasts for 15 seconds.  Does not have a Cooldown Listed, but I imagine that will change.

Nature’s Guardian – Increases your maximum health by 15% and reduces threat whenever a damaging attack brings you below 35% health.  Can only happen once every 30 seconds.  Very PVE oriented with the threat reduction, but the increased maximum health can be useful anytime!  Doesn’t increase the healing you receive however.  Just gives you a higher top end health level.

Stone Bulwark Totem – Summons a Totem that will give you a shield and refresh the shield every 5 seconds for 30 seconds!  It has a 1 minute cooldown, so once the effect falls off, you only have to wait another 30 seconds till it is ready again!  I can see this being quite useful in both PVE and PVP.

Astral Shift – This one lets you shift into the astral plane reducing all damage you take by 50%.  However, you also lose 50% Healing and Damage done.  2 Minute Cooldown.

Third Tier Talents

The Third tier has some quality of life immunity effects for you:

Improved Ghost Wolf - No, you don’t get instant cast ghost wolf from this.  No, they decided to give ALL Shaman Instant Ghostwolf!  Instead, this makes you immune to snares.  Guess those little furry dog legs of yours are too slippery!

Windwalk Totem – Grants immunity to movement impairing effects to all Raid members (Party too…?) within 30 yards.  Lasts for 6 seconds, and has a 1 minute cooldown.  Sounds PVP-ish to me, but I can see this coming in handy for certain fights.

Tranquil Mind Totem – Grants immunity to Silence and spell interrupting efects to all raid members (Party too…?) within 30 yards.  Also lasts for 6 seconds with a 1 minute cooldown.  Personally, I see teams of Shaman using this one and the Windwalk Totems in tandem. In PVP of course.

Fourth Tier Talents

The Fourth Tier has a Lot of Group Heals in it:

Healing Tide Totem – Gives Shaman a Wild Growth type ability.  This Totem will last for 10 seconds, healing 5 nearby allies.

Ancestral Guidance – Instant cast ability that lasts for 10 seconds.  Any healing or damage you do will also heal a nearby ally for 40% of the healing/damage you do.  Almost like an unguided Beacon, since it doesn’t say you can focus it on a particular target.

Fortifying Waters – Allies standing in your healing Rain take a 10% magic damage reduction.  Doesn’t sound like much, but I’m sure that will add up on AOE heavy fights.

Fifth Tier Talents

Casting Throughput seems to be the theme for the Fifth Tier:

Elemental Mastery – Pretty much the same as the current talent.  You gain an instant cast Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, or Lava Burst, and then gain extra damage for Fire, Frost, and Nature damage AND 20% Spell Haste for 15 seconds.  3 Minute Cooldown.

Nature’s Swiftness – In addition to making your next spell an instant cast, will also passively give you 5% Spell Haste.  Of special note, the Cooldown has been lowered from 2 Minutes to 1 Minute!

Echo of the Elements – When casting a Damage or Healing spell, you have a chance to “Echo” that effect, in essence casing it a second time on the same target!  What that chance is like, it does not say…>.>

Sixth Tier Talents

And finally, we come to the Sixth Tier.  This tier is all about your Totems:

Elemental Harmony – Will allow you to cast multipleTtotems of the same Element!

Totemic Restoration – If a Totem is Destroyed or replaced before it’s duration expires naturally, its cooldown is reduced accordingly.

Totemic Projection – You can relocate your Active Totems to another area, without having to pick them back up and then drop them again!

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So that’s all I have for the Shaman talents.  I’m sorry I don’t have much for Witty Commentary(tm) on them, but as I said before, I don’t have much experience as a Shaman. 

That and I’ve taken about a week to get this one out and still have two more to go, and it’s been three weeks since Blizzcon, so I’m kinda feeling the pressure to finish these up!  Hope you are keeping up on your dailies… ’cause I haven’t been able to lately!  ^_^;;

Until next time!

~ Z/C