Blizz Responds to Cataclysm Stat Change Confusion

2010-03-09 20:24:48

In several posts, Eyonix reiterated that the upcoming changes will encourage players to wear the type of gear they're supposed to, and the simplification of the itemization process. After receiving dozens of questions asking "Does this mean X class won't have any reason to roll on Y gear anymore?, Ghostcrawler finally stepped up and offered the following summary:

DPS cloth: Int, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (mage, warlock, Shadow priest)

Healing cloth: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Holy and Disc priest)

Melee leather: Agi, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery, Expertise (rogue, Feral druid)

Spellpower leather: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Resto, Balance druid)

Physical mail: Agi, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery, Expertise (hunter, Enhancement shaman)

Spellpower mail: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Resto, Elemental shaman)

DPS Plate: Str, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery, Expertise (Fury, Arms, Retribution, dps DKs)

Tanking plate: Str, Sta, Hit, Armor, Dodge, Block, Parry, Mastery, Expertise (Prot, Prot and tanking DKs)

Healing plate: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Holy paladins)

Ghostcrawler mentioned that there will be some exceptions, such as "some spellpower cloth with no hit or Spirit that healers and nukers may want," or "Elemental tier sets with no Spirit." He also said that jewelry and cloaks will be "more class agnostic" than actual armor gear. Echoing Blizzard's desire for classes to wear the type of gear that's intended for them, he reminded players that they will receive a "small mastery bonus" for wearing the heaviest armor they can; Hunters wearing mail armor instead of leather will receive the bonus, for example.

In another post, Ghostcrawler explained the benefit of receiving the Mastery bonus for wearing class-appropriate gear; "So a Balance druid who takes cloth will be essentially giving up free stats," he said. "Sometimes that may be worth it to them (just as sometimes it's worth it for a Resto druid to take that piece of +hit gear), but often times it won't be worth it especially if it's an upgrade for you."

Another new Cataclysm mechanic that players are asking about is Reforging, which allows players to "convert one stat to 50 percent of another stat". Not every conversion will be allowed (like Stamina to Strength), but it's meant to add another layer of customization to gear. In response to several questions about mechanics of Reforging items for more-appealing stats, Ghostcrawler finally revealed some important details.

"Think of reforging like enchants," he said. "It's not that you take a piece of gear and turn it into whatever you want. You pick up specific scrolls with specific conversions." He continued to explain that not every type of stat conversion will be available. "Rest assured that we're not going to promote a system where Prot paladins want dps plate for tanking more than tanking plate," he said. "Part of all of these changes is to discourage behavior like that. We don't want to recreate it immediately in a different form."

In last week's announcement, we also learned that it will be tougher to max-out combat ratings—like Crit and Hit—in Cataclysm. Players are still trying to figure out how the new system will affect a player's ability to hit higher-level enemies—and apparently, Blizzard isn't sure yet. "We’re not sure yet how bosses will 'level up' in subsequent tiers," Eyonix said in this post. "The general idea is that currently you need a specific amount of hit and after that hit becomes worthless even though more hit goes onto higher level gear. Furthermore it creates odd balance problems when you are critting and avoiding the most powerful bosses by more than you did the earliest bosses (because your gear keeps getting better while they just get more health and damage)."

Blizzard fielded several other "one-off" questions regarding specific classes, abilities or game mechanics. On the European forums, Blizzard poster Wryxian replied to "What happens to the weapon skill achievements?" by saying that achievements like Did Somebody Order a Knuckle Sandwich? "may well become candidates for Feats of Strength," but we won't know for sure until later. Mages are wondering if they'll still be able to create food and water for their lowbie friends when their spell ranks are removed, but Eyonix still doesn’t know how buffing and handing out food/water to lower-level players will work.

Warlocks are a little curious about Spirit changing to a pure-healer stat; what happens to the damage increase that Spirit provided via Fel Armor and other benefits, such as Life Tap? Eyonix confirms that Warlocks won't rely on it in Cataclysm because of the stat redesign. In another post, he tries to clear up similar questions by summarizing the issue; "I would remind players who are focusing on individual talents and abilities to remember that we're going to be doing a major redesign on all talent trees," he said. "So fear not, these changes are meant to work in conjunction with the design of each class come Cataclysm."

There are big plans for World of Warcraft just over the horizon, so it's no surprise that players are anxious to learn the details. When the developers announce fundamental changes to a game that many fans have played for half a decade, apprehension is only natural. About halfway through a couple thousand replies, Eyonix tried to put things into perspective.

"We're announcing these changes now to pave the way for other information to come," he said. "It's important that people don't freak out. We're not going to break your class—though there will be many changes to the game—ones we believe are positive changes. For now we ask that you just digest the information, try and absorb it, and wait for more specific class information to release before you scream that the sky is falling.

Source: zam.com

• 2012-03-19 - World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Previews: The Zones & Tone of Pandaria

• 2012-03-19 - Mists of Pandaria 2012 Press Reveal

• 2011-11-16 - 5 reasons you should love Wrath of the Lich King

• 2011-11-16 - Patch 4.3: New UI improvements

• 2011-11-11 - World of Warcraft down 800k Subscribers in Q3

Join 3zoom Affiliate Program

We Guarantee 30 Minutes Delivery