In order to use the new real-money auction house system all players are required to set up a battle.net authenticator on their account and sign up the new Mobile Alerts SMS authentication service, which will occasionally send you a text to verify your identity. The Battle.net authenticator can be set up by either a physical authenticator, a mobile app, or for the U.S. only a dial-in authenticator where you can call in toll free from a specific phone to log in.

Based on your IP address Blizzard will determine the most region specific auction house for you.  There will be The Americas that accepts;

U.S. Dollar (USD), Mexican Peso (MXN), Brazilian Real (BRL), Argentine Peso (ARS), Chilean Peso (CLP), Australian Dollar (AUD),
European; British Pound Sterling (GBP), Euro (EUR), Russian Ruble (RUB), and currently Asia will not have a real-money auction house upon release. Upon logging into Diablo 3 at the character selection screen you will be able to access the Auction house. From there you can buy and sell items from your character’s collective stash to other players.

Like in World of Warcraft there will be a transaction fee applied to all finalized auctions, this includes the real-money auction house option. When selling equipment there will be a 15% transaction fee of gold based on the final price, or a $1 transaction fee for the real-money auction house. When selling Commodities (gems, materials, dyes, etc), both the gold and real-money auction house transaction fees will be 15% of the final sale price, (note: commodities will only have a buy-out option, there will be no bidding). When transfering money from your Blizzard battle.net balance to your Paypal or other authorized service provider there will be a 15% transaction fee deducted by Blizzard for that service.

Diablo 3 offers a new “Smart Search” in the Auction House which you can select a character that you are looking to upgrade and the auction house will do an automatic search of itself and display all of the best items that are currently available to upgrade your character. You can also narrow your search down by choosing only specific slots or price ranges, including displaying either the real-money auction house or the gold auction house.

The hardcore-only auction house will include the “Smart Search” feature however all items are strictly traded for gold for in hardcore mode the rare item drop rate is increased significantly.

Given the popularity of selling items over Ebay with Diablo 2, this is the most logical choice for blizzard when creating the new auction house system. They still benefit from each transaction while allowing their player base to enjoy a different payment method to customize and gear their character. I’m very excited to be able to pay my Blizzard fees by playing the game and not having to worry about the monthly payment, and maybe earning a couple extra bucks on the side.

Jon

mogs.com

Tera is the game that fighting and action game enthusiasts have been clamoring for ever since the advent of the MMORPG.  Rather than following a preset attack rotation like a traditional MMO, your attacks need to actually physically connect in Tera.  You are not able to just cycle through your cooldowns to defeat foes, your attacks require precise timing and precision.  The end result is engaging combat that requires your vigilance to excel.  Tera also has a higher difficulty level than your average MMO.  Enemies are able to deal a lot of damage to you, so you must study their attack patterns and develop a strategy to deal with them.

The unique racial talents in Tera seem to be suited for PVP.  Humans are able to limit the impact of crowd control effects, and reduce the damage they take when their health is critically low.  The horned Castanic receive an attack bonus when attacking from behind, and are proficient at making weapons.  High Elves have a very useful instant mana refill, and can gather certain crafting materials quickly.  The Aman are the most tank like class, able to nullify certain crowd control abilities, as well as limit their damage taken when low on health, and from damage over time abilities.  The Popori can run through packs of enemies without drawing aggro, and cover large amounts of ground quickly when not in combat.  Lastly, the Baraka have an instant heal, and can also diminish the effects of crowd control abilities.

Once you have picked a race, you have eight classes to choose from.  The melee classes are Lancer, Slayer, Warrior, and Berserker.  If you prefer to play a ranged character, a Priest, Mystic, Archer, or Sorcerer would be more your style.

Each of the Melee classes uses a specific weapon unique to the class.  This differentiates each classes offensive and defensive abilities from one another.  These weapons also feel like they have weight behind them when you connect, and this makes combat feel fresh and rewarding.  The Lancer’s combat revolves around their ability to block attacks.  Many of the Lancer’s attacks result in you or the mob you are fighting to change positions.  You can create spacing between you and your enemy, or close that same distance, when you utilize different lance attacks.  All the while, you are absorbing most of the damage you would be taking by blocking.  Lancers attacks have a long range, but hit a small pinpointed area, so you must use this to your advantage.   To master Lancer combat you must attack aggressively when you have an opening, know when to block, and be one step ahead of the enemy in your positioning.

Slayers excel at combos, and their long chain of attacks will connect with most nearby enemies.  The majority of a Slayers attacks will combo into other moves, by pushing space.  They have a varied move set, with some attacks hitting multiple enemies, while others are devastating focused attacks.  This combo system allows for a lot of improvisation in combat, since you are able to adjust your strategy on the fly.  You can attack, then decide if its worthwhile to finish the combo, or start another chain of attacks.

The Warrior class dual wields two swords.  Their specialty is striking multiple mobs in a single attack.  The Warriors swords cut in wide sweeping motions, drawing all nearby enemies into the melee.  To avoid damage, the Warrior’s defensive game centers around their evasive roll.  It can be used defensively to avoid damage in a tight spot, or offensively to gain a positional advantage over an opponent.  The Warrior can also tank at level 10.  Tanking has always been a difficult job in MMO’s and it’s no different in Tera.  To tank as a Warrior demands very precise planing, timing, and execution in combat to be successful.  It is often more demanding than the other class roles.

The last Melee class that Tera offers is the Berserker.  The name of this class evokes the idea of an unstoppable juggernaut, where you can just spam moves to overwhelm the opponent.  Well not in Tera.  In fact, this might be the most difficult of the melee classes to play.  You have to charge your attacks up to maximize your damage, so this class takes a lot of practice to master.  You have to learn your attack timing, as well as your opponents timing, to properly utilize this classes powerful move set.  The Berserker’s moves are slow, but powerful.  Most of their attacks only hit a single target, so you will be punished for frequent misses.  As you level, your new moves will require chunks of health to use them.  Also, you are able to use your weapon as a shield to block.

Next, we have the ranged classes.  You have to manually aim the majority of their attacks using cross-hairs, and stay in the correct range for the attack as well..  The Priest is the best healer, with a mix of offensive spells to throw in the mix as well.  The Priest has a multitude of healing spells, which includes a heal over time spell, and an area of effect heal.  The Priest has no quick escape in combat early in the game, and is usually forced to heal through damage.

The Mystic can also heal, and buffs other classes through the Thralls it summons.  These Thralls can step in to different group roles, and fill in when needed.  Moreover, the Mystic has excellent crowd control abilities to help keep enemies at bay.  The Mystic, like the Priest, also can’t dodge early in the game.  They must either heal through the damage, or use crowd control abilities to escape.

Furthermore, the Archer uses traps in their repertoire of moves.  They can also fire arrows extremely fast, which will reward those who can be precise in their targeting.  The more precise, the more hits, and the more damage.  The Archer seems to be a class that will reward the twitch FPS players who have refined their aim and speed over the years.

The Sorcerer has a move that can lock onto and hit multiple enemies at once.  Even with this lock on system, you still have to manually tag each mob in your cross-hairs to use this move.  Their defensive move is Backstep, which pulls you back out of the melee.  To further help you escape, this can be used with Ice Needle for a slowing a effect on your enemies, or Magma Bomb, which is a projectile that hits where you were just standing after Backstep.  The Sorcerer can output a high amount of damage, but is fragile.

In summation, the 8 classes in Tera each seem unique when compared to classes in most MMO’s.  The melee classes all specialize in a different weapons, so their attack animations, timings, and battle strategies are all exclusive to the class.  The ranged classes do not feature the auto spell lock on of every other MMO, and you are required to manually aim and time your spells to take down enemies. It will be interesting to see how the game, classes, and abilities all develop throughout the first few months after Tera launches.

Jake@mogs.com

Tera’s release date draws closer hour by hour, day by day, and we are approx 48 hours away from the release of this new MMO that is aiming to win the attention of MMO gamer’s everywhere. With it’s twitch-based combat and beautiful graphics it has been on our radar for a couple of months now. But any game with a great combat system, beautiful graphics, solid social networking, and customizable characters can still fall short with the end game content. So what does Tera have to offer once you finally cap your character at level 60?

Like many of it’s MMO predecessors Tera will have large scale boss fights that will require only small groups of 3 to 5 people to complete. Once you manage to conquer an instance and gear out you can then begin attempting the game’s six beginning “Hard-mode” dungeons. Which are the end game dungeons but each with a different twist from the normal dungeon crawl. One Hard-mode released is the Temple of Temerity; which has your group working on surviving and protecting a relic while mobs of enemies storm out of gates near the artifact. Every 4-6 waves a boss will spawn with additional boss rooms opening as you progress through the 20 minute slaughter of enemies. In addition to being able to choose your instances at level 60, you can choose to queue up for the Nexus, a large scale server instance where you are grouped up with gamers that are of similar gear. You are set up to protect against invasions, complete quests, kill large monsters or collect items to help close the Nexus. Upon completing these tasks the group as a whole receives awards and achievements. Upon completing quests and dungeons you also build up reputation with different factions that give you access to reputation specific gear and quests.

In the PvP aspects currently there is only open world PvP, set deathmatches, and large scale deathmatches that are guild vs. guild in scale. After level 11, on a PvP server, you can flag yourself for PvP where you are eligible to go into combat with anyone else who is flagged for combat. If you have a group of 5 or 10 and feel like duking it out you can set up a deathmatch of a 5v5, 10v10, or 5v1 match in open grounds. Tera is allowing players to put their money with their mouth is by letting you wager bets on your character on kills or damage during the deathmatch. In the large scale pvp Tera offers guild vs guild deathmatches which cost 30k gold to declare war and last 24 hours. Ending either when the time runs out, a guild scores a set amount of points, or a guild leader forfeit’s. A guild can be in war with up to 3 other guilds at a time. Winning a war nets, gold, items, bragging rights, and achievements, and is a very exciting new aspect I can’t wait to participate in.

Finally, Tera offers a new unique political aspect after you hit level 50, you have the ability to run for office and can be elected to run a province for the Valkyon Federation. First you must become a guild leader, then receive enough signatures across the server to reach the status of a Vanarch. Once at the vanarch status of a province you can set and collect taxes on transactions taken place on your province, add or remove features and services in your province, and enjoy perks that only vanarchs receive (yet to be announced). On top of all of this those in the vanarch’s guild receives perks in the forms of quests and province specific mounts.

This is just the beginning for Tera’s end-game. Like the many MMO’s before it new end-game content will be added as patches and server population demands for more content. More than likely battlegrounds will be the first addition to add variation to the pvp experience, followed by more expansive dungeons and of course new epic boss fights. Tera is definitely a game to keep your eye on for this next upcoming month and is on the course to be the next big contending MMO.

-Jon

Mogs.com

Hello again everyone!! So SWtOR has been out now for 4.5 months and I have to say it’s been really fun, though somewhat empty. The server I’m on usually doesn’t  have many people on it playing or doing anything. 40-50 people is around what it tops out at on the fleet during peak hours. It’s turned into a stand around and wait for a warzone to pop so we can get our weekly and dailies done. From what I’ve been able to gather it’s like this on most servers and people are leaving to re-roll on the populated ones.

I decided to make a toon  on The Fatman, the most populated server as far as I can tell, and the difference is AMAZING! There are 280 people on the Republic fleet and there are 3 instances of Coruscant. Tython had a solid 150 people all day long, the old server had 5-10. Sometimes I would have to wait 15-20 min to get into a Huttball match, on The Fatman the longest I waited was 6 minutes. I hope that Bioware decides to do some sort of server merge. Bioware had too many servers to start with and it seems that their formula for matching servers evenly with Imperials and Rebels was a failure.

I said before that this game wont last and I still think that. Unless something drastic changes. Jake posted a nice blog about patch 1.2 that’s coming up but I’m not sure that’s enough. Bioware needs to get more people on less servers for it to work.

I still miss my SWG and i have heard about the EMU getting better but thats for another blog……

Mark@mogs.com

The game currently is in it’s Beta testing and is four patches deep.  They are continuing to work on balancing the beginning questing experience. This also includes balancing the world PvP. Those griefing will be marked with an Outlaw marking (Infamy points that deteriate over time) which notifies other players to engage in PvP with them. Tera also has the unique guild vs guild pvp setting where you can wage a 24 hour war against another guild for rankings and riches (it costs 30,000g to declare war to begin with).

Tera looks like a fresh faced paced MMO that will be a nice change of pace for those looking for a new style of combat. While still maintaining core PvE group experiences and extending that into large scale balanced PvP scenarios. My only concern is while briefly looking over the race specific bonuses they seem to be very inconsistant and almost to specific to either PvE or PvP to be balanced. For example the Aman receive “Stranger to Pain”: When under 30% HP, all damage taken is reduced by 10%. Along with “Blood of Dragons”: Resistance to DoT effects is increased by 10. Which is overall, amazing. While the Elin race only can swim faster and gather plants faster than other races. Then there are the races that have almost too specific bonuses such as the humans who take less PvP damage when under 30% HP (which everyone who pvps will take either Aman or Humans). And Barakas who’s Stamina does not fall below 20% while adventuring (assuming PvE). Hopefully these are rebalanced before launch, otherwise it will be more of a race war when it comes to specific activities. We will see if this is addressed, otherwise we will still have a solid MMO in the wake of WoW, Eve, SwTor, and soon to be D3.

-Jon

mogs.com

Patch 1.2 is on the Horizon for SWTOR, set to be released sometime in April.  The patch is going to make some major overhauls, including ranked PVP.  There will also be a new warzone, called Novare Coast.  In this warzone, you will need to control 2 out of 3 capture points to drain the enemies point total.  Control the 3rd point, and the amount of  points drained doubles.  This unique scoring system allows for the underdog team to position themselves for a comeback, even in the most dire of situations.

Moreover, 18 new objective PVP medals will be added in patch 1.2.  The quicker you win the match, the more medals you will get.  This is to help discourage players from dragging matches out.  Medal rewards will be capped to prevent medal farming.  Also, you will be able to vote to kick inactive players from warzones.  You can queue into cross-server ranked warzones where you will receive special commendations to purchase a new tier of PVP armor named War Hero.  Continuing with the PVP changes, there will be a group queue for up to 8 players, new PVP daily’s, and new PVP crafting.

For PVE, there will be a new operation called Explosive Conflict.  This raid instance will include a new tier of raid armor, surpassing what can be gained in Eternity Vault and Karagga’s Palace.  There will be an 8 man and 16 man version of this instance.  Lost Land is the new flashpoint that is being added in this patch.  Lastly, a group finder will be included for flashpoints and heroic quests.

Guild banks will be added as well in patch 1.2.  Social rank unlocks will allow you to have a ship repair droid to repair and buy/sell gear from your ship, a ship mailbox, and unique orange items, just to name a few.  The legacy feature will add a family tree, that allows you to unlock other class buffs, heroic abilities, and  hman species alts to give you extra prescence, among other benefits.

In terms of the economy and crew skills, the developers are working to cut down on repair costs, which are currency seen as too high.  Armstech and armortech will be able to produce different types of augments, slicing will give you augment materials, cybertech grenade cooldowns will be reduced, and new schematics will be available.  In addition, there are going to be incentives for players to be crafters by offering exclusive benefits.  These benefits will be things  such as quicker credit gains and better gear aesthetics and performance.

The last major change in patch 1.2 will be to the user interface.  In Edit mode, you can move and scale most elements of your UI.  There will be a target of target feature added, which is important to PVP as well as PVE encounters.  You will be able to flip the map axis, move secondary windows to any place on your screen, and save your UI configuration so that you can share it with other players.

In summation, patch 1.2 is shaping up to add some major content to SWTOR.  It will provide the biggest change to SWTOR since the game has launched, and also many tweaks and fixes.  Lastly, I wanted to mention that SWTOR is offering a free trial period from March 15th to March 19th.  So, if you are on the fence about giving the game a try, now is a perfect time!

Jake@mogs.com

We recently discovered that unauthorized intruders gained access to a Trion Worlds account database. The database in question contained information including user names, encrypted passwords, dates of birth, email addresses, billing addresses, and the first and last four digits and expiration dates of customer credit cards.

There is no evidence, and we have no reason to believe, that full credit card information was accessed or compromised in any way. We have already taken further action to strengthen our systems, even as we, with external security experts, continue to research the extent of the unauthorized access.

You will notice on your next log in to our website that you will be required to change your password, and existing Mobile Authenticator users will also need to reconnect their Authenticator. When you log in, you will be prompted to provide a new password, security questions and answers, and be given the option to connect your account to our Mobile Authenticator to enhance your account’s security.

If you have used your username and password for other accounts, especially financial accounts or accounts with personal information, we suggest you change your passwords on those accounts as well. We recommend that you carefully review your statements, account activity, and credit reports to help protect the security of those accounts. If you need information on how to obtain your credit report or believe any such accounts have been breached, please visit www.trionworlds.com/AccountNotification for more information.

You should have continued, uninterrupted access to RIFT, and we do not anticipate any disruptions to your playing time.

Nevertheless, if you own the RIFT game, you will be granted three (3) days of complimentary RIFT game time once you update your password and security questions.

Additionally, once you update your account and set a new password, your account will be granted a Moneybags’ Purse, which increases your looted coin by 10%, even if you have not yet purchased RIFT.

Please log in to https://rift.trionworlds.com (and we recommend that you copy and paste this link into your browser to access the site) to update your password, security questions and Authenticator.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have further questions, please visit our website, www.trionworlds.com/AccountNotificationFAQ.

– The Trion Worlds Team

SWToR Datacron locations

Datacrons are a must in SWToR, the locations are usually in hard to get to places or “off that path” spots. Here is a list of where you can find them.

If you are not sure of what Datacrons are let me give a quick over view.  Basically they are elements that are found across different planets in hard to find locations.  These elements then give an extra bonus to your base stats once you activate them. The are fairly easy to find due to the glow they give off and a sound the make. The issue is getting to them.. but nothing is impossible. Use this list of MOgs exclusive videos to locate  the different Datacrons.

Different colors raise a specific stat:

Orange – cunning
Red – strength
Purple – Willpower
White – Aim
Yellow – Presence
Blue unlock lore achievements

Alderaan Datacrons -
SWTOR Datacron Locations – Alderaan Presence +3

Coruscant Datacrons -
SWToR Datacron Locations – Coruscant Presence+2

SWToR Datacron Creation – Coruscant Matrix Relic Creation

SWToR Datacron Locations – Coruscant Cunning+2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Coruscant Yellow Matrix Shard

SWToR Datacron Locations – Coruscant Strength +2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Coruscant Endurance +2

Hutta Datacrons -
SWToR Datacron Locations – Hutta Aim +2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Hutta Blue Matrix Shard

SWToR Datacron Locations – Hutta Presence +2

Narshaddaa Datacrons -
SWToR Datacron Locations – Narshaddaa Presence +3

SWToR Datacron Locations – Narshaddaa Aim +2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Narshaddaa Strength +3

Ordmantell Datacrons –
SWToR Datacron Locations – Ordmantell Aim +2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Ordmantell Red Matrix Shard

SWToR Datacron Locations – Ordmantell Presence +2

Taris Datacrons -
SWToR Datacron Locations – Taris Aim +2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Taris Cunning +2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Taris Strength +2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Taris Willpower +2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Taris Green Matrix Shard

Tatooine -
SWToR Datacron Locations – Tatooine Cunning +3

Tython Datacrons -
SWToR Datacron Locations – Tython Willpower +2″

SWToR Datacron Locations – Tython Endurance +2

SWToR Datacron Locations – Tython Blue Matrix Shard

Relic creation and deconstruction using the Matrix’s -
SWToR Datacron Locations – Republic Relic Creation!

We will continue to add more videos as they are finished over the next few days. Enjoy!

Howdy folks!! SWTOR is going live right around the corner, Dec. 20th. Everyone that’s pre-ordered has been waiting for December 15th to get here because that’s when we’ve been told the early access will start. Well guess what, they moved it up to the 13th, WOOO HOOOO!! Here is the official announcement.

Early Game Access* for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is only a few days away! Starting December 13, 2011, The Old Republic will begin emailing invitations to start your Early Game Access. Invitations will be sent throughout the Early Game Access period offering rolling access to the game in the order in which you redeemed your Pre-Order Code, so be sure to check your email inbox!

I’ll be checking everything out on Monday it’s gonna be fun. They made a few changes that I’ve read about and I’ll be looking for you in game!!

With the advent of patch 4.3, a multitude of new dungeons have been added.  We have End Time, which is a 5 player heroic dungeon that gives you a look at the future of Azeroth should you fail to stop Deathwing.  The Well of Eternity, another 5 player heroic, takes you back 10,000 years to retrieve the Dragon Soul.  Hour of Twilight is the last 5 man, where you must escort Thrall and the Dragon Soul to Wyrmrest Temple to begin the assault on Deathwing.  The 10 and 25 man raid dungeon is Hour of Twilight.  Here, you must help Thrall and the Dragon Aspects bring an end to the Black Dragonflight.  You take on Deathwing in one of three different difficulty settings.

Some of the new features that have been added are the Raid finder, Transmogrification, and Void Storage.  The Raid finder helps you find a pick-up raid for a certain difficulty setting of end game content, such as one of the three levels for Deathwing.  Transmogrification lets you change the appearance of one piece of armor into another.  Lastly, Void Storage lets you store items so that you can free up space in your bank.

Each class has had a number of important changes as well.  I will go over the most important tweaks.  In general, holding agro while tanking has been made easier.  Threat generated while in tanking mode has been increased to 500% damage done, up from 300%.  Also, all of the 10% increased attack power buffs have doubled to provide 20% more melee AP, while ranged AP buff stays at 10%.

For Death Knights, Death Strike will now always heal, even if the attack misses, or is dodged/parried.  This is great, and will alleviate some PVP frustration when you are really counting on that heal landing.  The armor bonus from Blood presence is now 55%, up from 30%.  The DK’s pets will now inherit their master’s crit and spell penetration stats, which will buff the ghoul and gargoyle in the already powerful unholy tree.

Feral Druids have had their swipe in Cat form reduced to 340% weapon damage, down from 415%.  Not surprising given the amount of damage feral druids can output so quickly.  In Bear form, you now have a Stamina bonus of 20%, up from 10%.  This, is coupled with 55% armor bonus for Druids under 40, will help them tank lower level instances.  Cyclone and Entangling Roots now suffer from reduced spell pushback.

One of the biggest changes for Hunters is that Widow Venom now reduces the target’s healing received by 25%, up from 10%.  This will make Hunters more powerful in PVP, increasing their utility and importance to an Arena team.  The Beast Mastery tree received some buffs, for example now Animal Handler increases Attack Power by 30%, up from 25%, and Burrow Attack now does approximately 20% more damage.  Lastly, Explosive Shot damage has been increased by 15%.  I will include Rogues here, since their only notable change is that Wound Poison now reduces the target’s healing received by 25%, up from 10%.  This will make it easier for Rogues to get kills in PVP, and increase the effectiveness of their surprise attacks.

Mages have had the biggest changes to their fire tree.  Fireball damage has been increased by 17%.  Also, Pyroblast’s direct damage has been increased by 26%, and its damage over time has been increased by 100%.  Moreover, Living Bombs damage over time has been increased by 10%, and explosion damage has been increased by 120%.  Combustion’s DOT’s can now crit.  All of these changes are great, and will increase the raw power of fire in PVP and PVE.

For Paladins, Holy Radiance now has a 3.0-second cast time, no cooldown, and requires a player target.  Group members within 10 yards of the target are healed instantly, and also receive a HOT that ticks every 1 second for 3 seconds.  The holy tree received a number of alterations, most of which are buffs.  Judgements of the Pure now increases mana regeneration from Spirit by 10/20/30% for 60 seconds, which helps Paladins mana management in long fights.  Ret has had Sanctified Retribution nerfed, it now increases the critical hit chance of Hammer of Wrath by 2/4/6%, down from 20/40/60%.

Priest’s Divine Hymn will now heal 5 targets up from 3.  Also Heavenly Voice is a new talent that increases the healing done by Divine Hymn by 50/100%, and reduces the cooldown of Divine Hymn by 2.5/5 minutes.  These changes makes this spell much more useful to save your party with when things go awry.  Also, Spirit of Redemption has been rebuilt to address a few functionality issues and responsiveness.

Shamans have had Wind Shear’s base cooldown increased to 15 seconds, up from 6 seconds.  This is a big nerf for Shamans in PVP, who have gotten use to have an on demand spell interrupt every 6 seconds.  The Reverberation talent in the elemental tree now reduces the cooldown of Wind Shear by 5/10 seconds to compensate for this.  Another talent in this tree, Elemental Fury, now removes the cooldown from Chain Lightning.  Being able to spam Chain Lighting in PVP and PVE will be amazing in those situations where you have multiple targets grouped together.  For Enhancement Shamans, Mental Quickness now causes spells to behave as though the Shaman has spell power equal to 55% of attack power.  Finally, Restoration sees Ancestral Healing causing the shaman’s heals to increase the target’s maximum health by 5/10% of the amount healed, up to a maximum of 10% of the target’s maximum health, for 15 seconds.

Warlocks received a buff to Soul Fire, it now scales with 72.6% of spell power, up from 62.5%.  The Destruction tree has had the most changes, most of which are buffs.  Fire and Brimstone increases the damage of Incinerate and Chaos Bolt on Immolated targets by 5/10/15%, up from 2/4/6%.  Moreover, Burning Embers now deals damage equal to 25/50% of Soul Fire and Imp’s Firebolt, up from 15/30%.  These changes should help Destruction have some more burst damage on demand, for when they need to kill a target quickly and can’t wait for their DOT’s to tick.

The most exciting change for warriors is that Charge (and related abilities) should now correctly path to a target even if the target moves during the Charge. This change should decrease the likelihood of the warrior Charging to a different location than the target.  Coming from someone who has played a warrior, there is nothing more annoying then charging into someone and landing in a spot they were at a few seconds ago.  This happened all to often, and made the move counter-intuitive.  Akin to Rogues and Hunters, Mortal Strike and Furious Attacks now reduces the target’s healing received by 25%, up from 10%.  Warriors often have trouble landing the killing blow due to being kited, so this should ameliorate the situation.

Lots of new changes!  These talent adjustments make me excited for the huge Talent overhaul coming with Mists of Pandaria.  The result should be everyone having very unique hybrid classes.  There will be hundreds of ways to spec toons, and the old cookie cutter builds of being either a Fire, Frost, or Arcane Mage will be gone.  Instead, you can select the talents most suited to your play style from each tree.

Jake@mogs.com