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Dual-Spec system

• The dual-spec system will be introduced in a content patch. The goal is to let you switch specs very easily in raid, even between fights ! However it won't be possible to switch specs in the middle of an arena match.
• With dual-spec introduced in the game, there are also discussions about an Itemrack-like mod being introduced to the default UI

Group Flexibility

• There are 30 specs but only 25 spots in a raid. The class choice should be very flexible and the buff/debuff system overhaul was done to help with that. Cancelling a buff because a class wasn't available (like Shamans for Bloodlust) was not desirable.
• Most buffs now affect the whole raid and multiple classes can give them, however none of them will stack. You should get more types of buffs by bringing a fewer number of players and will be able to optimize them by bringing the right spec but it definitely won't be as necessary as it was in TBC.

Tanking

• All the tanking classes are now suitable as a main tank and their threat has been greatly increased to make fights more fun, fights are now more about skills than dying because of a random aggro.

Death Knight

• The original idea behind the rune system was a totally customizable rune pool (like, 6 Unholy runes) but "it sucked". They changed it to what is it today (2 Runes of each type)
• Death Knights shouldn't be played like a metronome and is intended to be an interactive and reactive class.
• As a death knight, your talent trees are a good way to define "your style, but not your role". Devs want to bring this philosophy to other classes.

Druid

• Balance druids have been greatly improved and you shouldn't see a lot of OOMkins anymore. Their DPS is now on par with other DPS classes.
• Balance DPS looks pretty good now but developpers are keeping an eye on the survavibility
• Entangling roots was allowed indoor to give druids more crowd control ability in instances.
• Restoration were stuck in the HoT niche and were very limited in 5-mans or raids. Nourish is new flash heal-like spell added to solve this problem on single targets and Wild Growth was added to give them an AOE Heal.
• Druids were also given an OOC resurrection spell.
• Feral druids were decent at tanking and DPSing, but couldn't master any of these fields. In WotLK you can take all the bear talents to become a very good main tank, or all the cat talents to have a very high DPS.
• Feral mana is a known issue, and developpers don't want intellect on feral gear. This is being looked at

Hunter

• The hunter pet system was overhauled because it was "clumsy for new players".
• The shot rataion has been cleaned to make things easier for hunters and make them less reliant on mods or macros.
• Freezing shot was introduced to make pulls faster without having to deploy your traps on the ground each time.

Mage

• Frostfire Bolt is a way to achieve an elemental tree with mages, they should be able to deal both fire and frost damage
• Mage DPS looks pretty good now, there are still a few mana issues getting fixed very soon
• Living Bomb base damage will most likely be increased and the spell mechanics might be modified slightly. Overall, the 51-points talent weren't meant to be spammed and developpers want them to be situational
• Frost and Fire looks pretty balanced now, but Arcane needs a few more tweaks. Arcane needs to be more "mobile"

Paladin

• Paladins were decent off-tanks but not great main tanks, this is fixed in WotLK. Paladins should focus on protection gear instead of spell power.
• Holy Paladins were good healers but couldn't do much in encounters where players are required to move a lot, however they definitely don't want them as a HoT class.
• Retribution paladins are supposed to deal a decent amount of DPS without running out of mana.
• Retributions paladins have to be in control of their damage and shouldn't have to rely on lucky critical strikes to deal most of their damage

Priest

• The goal with Shadowpriest is to make them a DPS class, not just a mana battery.
• Discipline priests should be viable raid healer.
• Mind sear was introduced to give priests another viable DPS ability.
• Class-specific racial abilities were cool, but the idea became got "old" with time. That's why racials have been revamped

Rogue

• AoE DPS was really needed and Fan of Knives was added to the game.
• Purchasable poisons and the buff of the dagger spec should help "reintroducing" them to the game.
• The goal is to have end-boss less immune to poisons and rogues less dependant of Windfury

Shaman

• Totems are now physical and harder to dispell, have more life and last longer.
• Hex was added to give Shamans more crowd control ability, Riptide to improve their healing, and Lava Burst their spell DPS.

Warlock

• Warlocks pets have been made more useful.
• The warlock rotation shouldn't be restricted to a shadowbolt spam, that's why Chaos Bolt was added.
• Affliction Tree is still too complicated and developpers are working on it. Developers definitely want it back as a raiding spec
• Pets should be easier to summon/switch and use.

Warrior

• Protection spec has been revamped to make it cooler to play, mitigation talents now take a lot less points and will let you invest in a few other nice tools.
• In TBC, Arms was PvP and Fury the PvE spec, this will change in WotLK : Battle Stance, Overpower, and Rend have been improved. New fun abilities have been introduced like Bladestorm and Sudden Death, Fury obviously have Titan's Grip.

The dual-spec system will interface with the UI.

• Action bars will flip when you switch your spec so you don't have to re-do all your keys.
• It will likely also tie into Glyphs so you don't have to re-do Glyphs whenever you switch specs.

Q: Ghostcrawler, do you plan to be as active on the live forums after Beta is over?
A: That is his plan. He'll have to see how crazy things get.

Q: Thanks for the new Hunter Pet system. Any new info on the Hunter 45-point survival talent?
A: They want Trap Mastery to be useful. It could be a lot sexier than it is now. It's not a change they can make right away.

Q: Any feedback on the current state of Elemental Shaman?
A: Class balance is so reactive. Each class type reacts to changes of other classes differently. Elemental Shamans, like Hunters, fight the GCD quite a bit, and Devs have tried to give them some help in that regard. Changing totems to the physical school may help. They have to wait and see how it all plays out.

Q: Hunters. How do you maintain a balance between Arena and Raid DPS?
A: Hunters have always been top sustained Raid DPS. That has continued in Wrath. They are keeping an eye on the PvP balance of it.

Q: Rogue Combat tree. Daggers and poisons were fixed, but will Combat Raid utility be improved?
A: The buff/debuff system has been entirely overhauled, ands that effects poisons and other Rogue abilities. Devs definitely want to get Combat up equal to other DPS specs. There have eben a lot of recent big changes to Combat in particular.

Q: DKs starting at level 55 is great. Will any other classes ever start at higher levels? (Lots of applause.)
A: They currently have no plans to change other classes. They did things like Refer a Friend bonuses to help leveling, but they want players to experience low level content. However, they know old content is not of the same quality as the new stuff.

Q: Devs have said they want more Raid utility for Discipline priests, but that's not obvious in beta. Penance is good but using Greater Heal, you still have mana issues.
A: That's good feedback. People always ask for more mana in feedback and it's hard for devs to know when they really need it. They want to play up distinctive healing styles, but large, slow heals will never go away.

Q: Shadow Priests and Warlocks. Will DoTs ever tag a mob for kill credit?
A: That is on the list of things to do, for sure. It's just a question of when.

Q: Amplify Curses was completely changed to a haste increase for curses. How is this useful and will it be changed?
A: When the talent was designed, it was meant for for PvP and Arenas where you have to reapply curses more often than in PvE.

Q: Endgame 10-man raiding is great, but it also means if you lose a player or two it can be difficult since less people are in the party. Could another class perhaps get a Battle Rez?
A: What class did you have in mind? (Audience jeering and yelling out suggestions.) Death Knights have a self Battle Rez!

Q: Death Knight tanking. Devs have said that Rune Strike was redesigned to help give back threat that is lost to parries and dodges. With recent change to Rune cooldowns when parries and dodges happen, will all that extra threat still be necessary?
A: In an ideal world, you would get more threat from overall damage than one single ability. They are monitoring it.

Q: Will there be resistance-based fights in Wrath?
A: Devs always have trouble deciding. Resistance fights bring a lot of flavor, but is it worth it? (Corwd shouts "No!") A lot of mobs and bosses get affected by diseases and poisons now, and that's something they need to keep an eye on.

Q: Class homogenization issues, especially Paladins. Pally tanking skills keep being given to other classes.
A: It's a big concern for Devs to make sure all classes have the tools they need without having them all be the same. Do Paladins have to have a single-target taunt? Do all classes have to have a Battle Rez, or is it good for just Druids? They don't want Paladins to be the only tanks people take. They are still trying to balance this.

Q: Tanks in PvP. Any ideas for "defender" type abilities in PvP?
A: Protection Warriors have a lot more PvP utility. Devs do not know if they will ever add in something like a PvP taunt, but they would love to make tanking specs more PvP viable whenever they can. The respec thing is a band-aid for this as well, but they want to do more to help those specs.

Q: Will Elemental Shamans ever get a Talent that boost spell power with spirit like other casters have?
A: If they need it. Devs are to the point where spirit is no longer the mana regen stat, it's more of a boost for spell power. They don't feel everyone needs a Talent like this, but if it's needed, it will be added.

Q: Do you forsee Battle stance being more viable in PvP?
A: Devs are keeping an eye on Battle Stance skills. Devs think Stance dancing isn't that hard. They may make more changes to Stances in the future.

Q: Why is Stoneclaw the protective totem for PvP when it prevents the use of other Earth PvP totems? Any plans for a flat totem health increase?
A: We will double it! (Laughter.) No, we felt Stoneclaw was the right totem to use. It felt right. Players should have to make a choice between the snare, the fear warding, and the totem strengthening.

Q: There is a Glyph that lets Excorcism have a spell interupt. Will this spell be usable on non-Undead targets to make it more useful in PvP?
A: It's an idea! Maybe.

Q: Shadow Priest's Dispersion is lackluster. Any chance for some buffs?
A: Probably not. The Devs are happy with the way it is. It's a partial shield that does not root you. Yeah it's not terribly useful for high-end PvE, but it is beneficial in other way and 51-Point talents are often very situational.

Quote from PVE Panel »

5 Man Dungeons
Halls of Lightning

• Just like all the dungeons built by the Titans the Halls of Lightning had to feel huge while restricting the gameplay space to make sure that players don't have to run around too much.
• Players aren't really able to fight titans because they're obviously way too big and way too powerful to be fought, that's why designers had to come up with new ideas of creatures to let people experience this part of the lore.
• The first boss roams between multiple platforms and you can decide where you will fight him, the 2nd boss is visible as soon as you enter the first room and is located on a platform above to make players want to go up here and figure out who this guy is.
• There are plenty of Titan themed arts like statues shaped as constellations, astral maps, etc ...
• The 3rd boss is an air elemental with a custom model, developers want to use more of that to make bosses feel more "unique" and would like to stop using so many "trash" models for bosses.
• The last boss, Loken, is a messenger of the titan and his fight also feature a fairly long storyline.

Ahn'kahet

• Ahn'kahet is the 2nd part of the Azjol-nerub dungeon, as you go deeper into the ground more influence from the Old Gods can be seen. (Temples, etc ...)
• This is also the first time you will encounter Faceless Ones in World of Warcraft.
• New technology has been added to make this underground dungeon feels like a very huge cavern, it actually mix up outdoor and indoor elements to achieve this.
• Ahn'kahet looks pretty big when you enter the instance, but you only get to travel through a very small part of it. (As most of the elements are here to make the cave feel bigger and nicer)
• There are plenty of new unique abilities used by the bosses here, and the instance uses a bunch of a new mechanics to make the fights funnier.
• The last boss is a Faceless One and rely heavily on the new phasing technology. Each player is phased into a world where his own teammates will attack him, once he managed to defeat them he will be switched back to the normal world to help his teammates.

Raid & Dungeons
Obsidian Sanctum

• The Obsidian Sanctum was made with scalability in mind. TBC entry raids (Magtheridon) were far too difficult at the release.
• Players here will fight Sartharion and 3 adds, they can choose to kills these adds before killing Sartharion or keep them alive instead to get more items.
• As the fight get more difficult, the players are rewarded with better rewards in case of success, the best reward being the Reins of the Black Drake for the 10 man version and the Reins of the Twilight Drake for the 25 man version)

In it's current state on beta servers, the encounter goes as follow :

• 1 Add alive (10 Players) : Extra ilvl 200 Item
• 2 Adds alive (10 Players) : Extra ilvl 213 item
• 3 Adds alive (10 Players) : Reins of the Black Drake

Pretty much the same with 25 players, but with slightly better gear.

• 1 Add alive (25 Players) : Extra ilvl 213 item
• 2 Adds alive (25 Players) : Extra ilvl 226 item
• 3 Adds alive (25 Players) : Reins of the Twilight Drake

The Eye of Eternity

• Malygos is a huge lore figure and this dungeon had to feel special. As you enter it you will just see a floating platform and the script relies a lot on scripting to make it as interesting as possible.
• To enter this dungeon at least one player in your party needs the key to start the encounter, you will have to kill Sapphiron in Naxxramas to complete this questline.
• This dungeon also features the Red Dragonflight, as developpers didn't want such a strong lore figure to be killable by players alone.

Quote from "Jugzor" »

Was there any major or surprising announcements or new info at Blizzcon about wow? Or was it mostly known?

Quote from PVP Pannel »

Future of PvP / New Announcements

• Strand of the Ancients is getting changed from 10vs10 to 15vs15. The amount of Vehicles is also being doubled.
• They also want players to be able to level up in battlegrounds through XP rewards in addition of honor. Daily quests will also be added.
• In the future, players will be able to queue in Arenas and Battlegrounds from anywhere in the world.
• They want to bring back competition into Battlegrounds, they're working on a new rating system to help with that and are also working on a way to let guilds compete in battlegrounds.

Ring of Valor - Orgrimmar Arena

• This arena has always been in Orgrimmar but just wasn't used. They like to keep the Arenas in the "real world" instead of having a portal just like a regular instance.
• The main features of this instance are the animated platforms moving up and down at non-random intervals. (Developpers don't want anything random in Arenas)
• There are also walls of fires going on and off periodically, going through them will give you a 10% damage DoT. Getting crowd controlled in the fire won't get you killed, the fire DoT effect will be restricted to 3 ticks in this case.
• The other important point with this Arena is the starting location, teams start very close to each other and enter the Arena through elevators slowly going up before the match begins.

Dalaran Sewers Arena

• The main feature of the Sewers is a huge pillar of water at the center of the main platform of the arena. The water is activated periodically and will knockback anyone in its way. As long as it's on you will be able to fight very close to it but you will get knockbacked again as soon as you touch it.
• Players starts in pipes above the level of the room, to prevent people from staying in these pipes without being reachable there is a mechanic pushing them out of the pipes at the beginning of the match.

Strand of the Ancients Battleground

• Strand of the Ancients was created to provide players with an attack/defend PvP map. Developers also wanted to take advantage of the new destructible buildings technology.
• When your team is attacking, the time required to take the enemy's fort will be the time given to the defending team on the next round to capture your fort. Attacking faster will make it harder for the other team to win the round once they're on the attacking side.
• Currently, Strand of the Ancients is a 10vs10 battleground. In a few days it will be changed to a 15vs15 battleground and the amount of vehicle available here will be doubled.

Lake Wintergrasp

• Lake Wintergrasp was created with the goal to have a popular non-instanced PvP Zone, developers want hundred of players fighting here and a lot of work was done to make sure that zones won't crash when it happens.
• Just like SOTA, Wintergrasp will feature an attack/defend gameplay where the attacking team attacks and capture a fort at the north of the zone by breaking fortifications with siege weapons.
• You will have to gain ranks to be able to use siege vehicles from factories (also capturable) in the zone, these ranks are earned by killing enemy players and they were added to make sure that all players are participating in the match. Right now it only takes 2 kills to get the first rank.
• The current timer for Lake Wintergrasp is 2 hours 30 minutes between matches and a match shouldn't last more than 30 or 40 minutes.
• The faction controlling the fort will get a free portal to teleport to Dalaran (and also one in Dalaran to teleport to Wintergrasp), an access to The Vault of Archevon featuring a new raid boss dropping both PvE and PvP gear (1 day reset timer), and all bosses in instances will drop spirit shards used to buy rewards from vendors in the fort. (Mounts, patterns, etc ..)

Quote from "mahamoti" »

Firstly let me respectfully please ask Zoltrix to stop compulsively shutting down any thread mentioning the Wizard and ask them to post it here. There are many different aspects that people may be discussing and it is no more correct to force everyone to discuss on a single thread anything vaguely relating to the wizard than it is to suggest that all threads related to Diablo 3 should be discussed under the same topic.