Mage Times: The Current World and Beyond
There are a few up and coming changes that most players are excited about. The addition of some new raid content, putting back into use those Frozen orbs that have been sitting idle in your banks. Also, professions are getting their largest round of updates since Wrath’s release. That information is enough to make your average nerd spout a joy-gasm. However, just as with Wrath, there are going to be some huge changes to characters and playing.
I found these posts: Cataclysm Stat & System Changes Revealed and this extension post specfically for those of the mage inclination. Now, I linked both so that all players could see the changes, but I am going to focus more on the mage changes. There is a ton of great information to try and sift through in both posts, and in an attempt to try and make it as entertaining as possible, I’m going to summarize as best as I can.
We all know that some serious stat changes are coming. Blizzard did some stat condensing coming into Wrath, but healers and casters are both plauged with picking gear specifically made into thier class and it’s attributes. Here are some of the break downs.
- Stamina- The word is this is going to be alot higher on alot more gear. eventually, clothy mages should have just as much health as a plate wearer (I have to ask why?)
- Spirit- In a nutshell, mages will no long require this stat. It is being redesigned to work best for healers and will be used to identify healer gear more effeciently.
- Intellect- Possibly some of the biggest changes are here, int will no longer provide the massive amounts of mana that Mages have been enjoying, and instead will be adding more spellpower than previously.
- Spellpower- straight SP will no longer appear on the vast majority of gear, instead showing up on weapons to help distinguish them from melee weapons. (sorry, but I thought mages couldn’t use axes, hrmmmm)
- Haste – As the information points to, haste will still be a stat. it’s availability on gear is not currently posted.
- Crit Rating- Crit is still a stat, and it’s availability on gear is currently not posted.
- MP5- Not that Mages cared alot about MP5, but it will be removed.
- Spell Ranks- You will no longer train in new spells every level, instead the ranks have been removed and your spells will scale with your level. It is posted that the levels at which spells are learned (remember, now you only learn them once) may be adjusted to accomidate this drahstic change.
- Mastery - This is the new concept behind your talents. This is now a stat the affects your talents, and by stacking more of it, it increases the effectiveness of your spec. Details on this seem very loosely defined, but what i gather is that this is the thoery behind the stat.
Now, that we’ve gotten all of that out of the way. What does it all mean? To be honest, i can see some of the benefits of these stat changes. Honestly, I mean, some of them are going to leave a bonk on my head, but soon you’ll see what I mean.
Q: Why on earth would clothies (Mages, Priests, Warlock) want to have as much health as a tank?
A: Maybe because all of the Mages and Lock complaining about tanking blood princes? i mean i honestly don’t understand the reasoning behind this stat change. I see no reason as to why a cloth wearer needs that much health.
Q: No more spirit for mages! Did anyone ever use that Stat anyways?
A: Believe it or not, spirit is quite useful when used properly. Molten Armor’s Glyph used Spirit and converted it into Crit rating. regardless of your spec, this was always a great way to pickup spirit. I still say, don’t stack spirit, but if it comes on your gear, don’t complain. Now it won’t come on mage gear anymore. Makes me wonder how they’re going to change those mechanics for mages.
Q: Intellect is now going to give us more Spell Power and less mana, how is that any good?
A: With implementing the scalar quality into our spells (see Spell Ranks Above) their mana costs also become scalar. So, in theory, their costs have a range and should only vary so much as you level. Therefore, in theory, you won’t need so much mana. Thusly, having intellect provide more spell power is a move to increase your playability, not decrease it.
Q: Why is spell power only going to be on weapons now?
A: As i had already outlined above, it really does seem rather pointless to do this, as it might add to the confusion more than it’ll take away from it. All weapons will be viewed and should, in theory, be fairly distinguishable from other weapons. Clearly, if i find an axe with Spell Power on it (not very likely to happen, mind you) Then clearly, it won’t be for a mage. Things like that just make me go cross eyed thinking too hard about.
Q: What’s up with haste? Will it still work the same? Will it be like SP and be found only on weapons?
A: Not much information is given about haste. Haste is already a tricky stat to understand. For Casters, it speeds up your cast time by a certain percentage. For melee, it means you swing (attack) faster and recover quicker. In theory, i do imagine it’ll work the same. As for how we’ll get it (gems, gear availability) I am unsure as so little information was given on the stat.
Q: So, if we still have haste and Crit, i assume they’ll be similar in current usage and availability?
A: As i outlined for haste, crit work differently for both casters and melee. It’s gear availability is unknown at this time, but i speculate it’ll be similar to anything the use for haste, if either change at all.
Q: MP5, really?
A: Yes, really, it’s gone.
Q: Now that spell ranks are gone, will i save a few hundred gold as i level?
A: It’s possible, but this IS Blizzard. i sure wouldn’t put anything past them at this point.
Q: Mastery seems pretty interesting. How do you imagine it’ll work?
A: Mastery is pretty interesting. However, how it works would either take too long to explain or i’d be dead wrong for even guessing. In simple theory it sounds like it would scale your talents to higher stat gains or stronger spells the more Mastery you have. but beyond that, you got me.
Q: So, with all of these changes (Not to mention to race availability changes for mages) how is Cataclysm shaping up?
A: This is strictly my opinion, but it’s confusing as mess right now. I mean, I can kinda see how they’re trying to dumb some aspects of the game down while boosting others at the same time to try and increase the experience that players get. Some changes i don’t understand, because right now, in the primordial, Blizzard coding times, it’s all just a bunch of numbers and loose pixels. Until you see it all in action, in person, in the flesh, so to speak, alot of it won’t make sense. Granted, i feel they’re destroying their own story, and making life as much pain as possible for it’s characters, but still. We’ve taken a small liking to each and every little dumb (or, if you prefer, genius) move that Blizzard has done. Clearly, about 12 million (prolly more now) people playing the game and they get new subscribers constantly. They must be doing something right, so I say let them continue on with what and how they’re doing.
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[...] Q: What kind of changes can I expect to see in Cataclysm?A: A great deal of changes have already been announced, with many more still in the works. I have already discussed many of these changes, as well as elaborated on them in this post. [...]