Cataclysm Guide: Spells, Talents & Glyphs
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Cataclysm Guide
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Spells
Spell Ranks Removed
Spells no longer have ranks associated with them. Now, once you learn a spell at the available level, that spell will improve according to your level automatically. You will no longer be required to visit a trainer for new more potent versions of the same spell.
Improved Spellbook
The Spellbook has been improved to show more information. Now you can see clearly which spells/abilities are available to you and at what levels. You will also see a highlighted notification in your spell book if a new spell if available at a trainer.
Spell Training Alert at Leveling
As you level, whenever a new spell is availible for you to train, you will see a notification on your screen clearly showing you which ones. This will make it easier to see and decide if you should visit a trainer right away or wait.
Talents
The talent trees in Cataclysm look similar to what they did in original WoW because all talents for all classes have been consolidated.
The largest change in talents is now the final talent in each tree only requires 30 points spent to reach instead of the previous 50 in WotLK. Talent trees can now be maxed with 40 to 41 points total.
With the consolidation, talent ranks have been reduced allowing you to max out a talent in 2-3 points instead of 5. You will still be required to spend 5 points per tier of talents to advance down to the next tier though.
Unfortunately to compensate for this adjustment, players will now see less talent points throughout the leveling process. You will still receive your first talent point at level 10, however now instead of a talent point with each level, you will get 1 point every odd level till you reach level 81, at which point you will receive 1 point per level from 81-85.
Specialization
The selection of talents has now become a little different with Cataclysm. Blizzard has introduced Talent Specialization.
The reasons behind this change is to enable players to actually feel as though they are in the chosen role they selected in talents right from the start instead of many levels down the road.
When you reach level 10, you will be presented with the talent screen asking you to select a Specialization (Shown Left). Each tree will list the passive bonuses as well as the "main ability" for that tree. Once you make your selection, the main ability and passive abilities for that tree will become active immediately regardless of level making the play feel of the role begin as quickly as possible instead of later in the game play.
Once a Specialization has been chosen, you will be required to spend 31 points in that tree before you are able to place additional points into other talent trees.
The passive ability bonuses are a flat rate percentage and will remain unchanged as you level.
Mastery
Mastery is a new concept that compliments with your talent Specialization. Depending on the specialization you choose, your Mastery passive ability is tied to that talent tree. The idea of the Mastery passive ability is to provide an extra benefit to specializing in that chosen talent tree more than just the talent and ability bonus it provides and a way to actually improve on what makes your talent tree unique.
At around level 75 you can visit your class trainer to train your Specialization Mastery ability. The ability is passive so there is no need to add it to any type of rotation with your standard abilities.
The Mastery ability is affected by gear that bears Mastery increase stats.
For example, a level 82 player will get 1 Mastery point for every 93 Mastery Rating they have. This mastery point will increase the mastery bonus differently depending on the class, +1 Mastery Point doesn't necessarily mean a +1% increase to the bonus. (e.g. A Beast Mastery hunter with +2 Mastery gets +4% increased pet damage).
To view the Mastery bonuses for each class and spec, you can view the New Class Abilities section of this guide.
Glyph Changes
Originally Blizzard was going to implement a system they called Path of the Titans in Cataclysm to compliment the current glyph system in place. Blizzard announced that this would not be making its way into Cataclysm at this time but stated that the possibility exists it may resurface later.
Instead, they have focused on improving the standard glyph system more. There is now a 3 tier system to glyphs, Prime, Major and Minor.
First and foremost however, is glyphs are no longer consumables items. They work similarly to recipes in that after you learn them you can change them whenever you like. The Glyph panel will also show you all glyphs you have not yet learned as well.
You can have 3 of each type of Glyph active for your spec.
- Prime Glyphs are basically the main glyphs that will affect your primary combat abilities.
- Major Glyphs are glyphs that will affect your combat secondary abilities (improved stealth, increased ability range, etc).
- Minor Glyphs are the same as before, glyphs used to change cosmetics or add convenience.
Removing a Glyph from a specific slot to change it now requires using a new item: Dust of Disappearance. This item is sold by vendors or can be crafted by Inscription masters.