На официальных форумах World of Warcraft: Cataclysm появилась информация об изменениях, которые произойдут с классом Магов в грядущем дополнении.
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World of Warcraft: Изменения Друидов в дополнении Cataclysm
На официальных форумах World of Warcraft: Cataclysm появилась информация об изменениях, которые произойдут с классом Друидов в грядущем дополнении.
Обзор изменений Мага в дополнении Катаклизм
На официальных русскоязычных форумах MMORPG World Of Warcraft сотрудница Blizzard Entertainment по работе с французским сообществом Thyvene разместила подробную информацию о том, как изменится механика игрового класса Маг в готовящемся к выходу дополнении Катаклизм.
«В дополнении World of Warcraft: Cataclysm будет внесено множество изменений в таланты и способности различных классов. И в данном обзоре вам предстоит ознакомиться с тем, что уготовлено судьбой магам, а именно, новые заклинания, способности, таланты и бонусы от искусности для разных специализаций».
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Новые заклинания магов
В дополнении не только появятся новые способности, но и изменятся некоторые старые. Этот список далеко не полон, но он позволит получить представление о будущей специфике веток талантов.
Тайная магия Лед
Надеемся, вам понравился этот предварительный обзор, и хотим услышать ваши первые впечатления и мысли насчет приведенной информации. Пожалуйста, помните, что эти сведения касаются проекта, находящегося в разработке. По мере приближения бета-тестирования дополнения Cataclysm эта информация будет меняться и дополняться на основе отзывов игроков и тестеров. |
Обзор изменений Друида в дополнении Катаклизм
На официальных русскоязычных форумах MMORPG World Of Warcraft сотрудница Blizzard Entertainment по работе с французским сообществом Thyvene разместила подробную информацию о том, как изменится механика игрового класса Друид в готовящемся к выходу дополнении Катаклизм.
«Дополнение World of Warcraft: Cataclysm внесет множество изменений в таланты и способности различных классов. Предлагаем вашему вниманию краткий обзор нововведений для друидов. Разумеется, это описание не будет исчерпывающим. Наш обзор лишь вкратце рассказывает об интересных изменениях, которые скоро произойдут. Итак, приступим!»
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Новые способности друида
Изменения в способностях и механике В дополнении не только появятся новые способности, но и изменятся некоторые старые. Этот список далеко не полон, но он позволит получить представление о будущей специфике веток талантов.
Искусность: пассивные бонусы специализаций Баланс Сила зверя (кошка) Сила зверя (медведь) Исцеление
Каждый раз, когда по танку наносится урон, «Отмщение» накладывает на него суммирующийся положительный эффект, увеличивающий силу атаки на 5% от полученного урона. Эффект суммируется и может достигать показателя, равного 10% здоровья персонажа, не находящегося под воздействием положительных эффектов. Мы рассчитываем, что во время боев с боссами танки будут постоянно находиться под воздействием эффекта, повышающего силу атаки на 10%. Пяти- и десятипроцентные бонусы даются при вложении 51 очка в ветку «Сила зверя» и накладываются на друида в облике медведя. На низких уровнях эти значения будут меньше. Учтите, что эти бонусы даются только друиду в облике медведя, вложившему большинство очков талантов в ветку «Сила зверя». Друиды, которые специализируются в других ветках или находятся в облике кошки, этого усиления не получат. «Отмщение» позволит нам придерживаться существующего направления в разработке брони для танка: характеристики брони будут в некоторой степени усиливать наносимый урон, но в основном будут влиять на выживаемость танка. Как правило, у друидов даже броня для танкования усилена неплохими характеристиками атаки, так что эффект «Отмщения» может быть не столь заметным. Общая же задача этого пассивного бонуса – уравнять урон, наносимый четырьмя танкующими классами. Надеемся, вам понравился этот предварительный обзор, и хотим услышать ваши первые впечатления и мысли насчет приведенной информации. Пожалуйста, помните, что эти сведения касаются проекта, находящегося в разработке. По мере приближения бета-тестирования дополнения Cataclysm эта информация будет меняться и дополняться в зависимости от результатов тестирования и отзывов. |
Cataclysm Class Preview: Mage
Cataclysm Class Preview: Mage (Mage Forum)
The last class getting a preview this week is the mage! Paladins will have to wait next friday for their preview (see this post for more information).
Keep in mind that this is the only the beginning, things will get pretty wild in the next days and weeks!
New Mage Spells
Flame Orb (available at level 81): Inspired by Prince Taldarams abilities in Ahn'kahet and Icecrown Citadel, this spell allows the mage to cast a flaming orb that travels in front in a straight line, sending beams that cause fire damage to passing targets. Once its cast, the mage is free to begin casting other spells as the Flame Orb travels. While the spell will be useful to any spec, Fire mages will have talents that improve it, possibly causing the Flame Orb to explode when it reaches its destination.
Time Warp (level 83): Grants a passive Haste effect much like Bloodlust or Heroism to party or raid members. It also temporarily increases the mage's own movement speed. Time Warp will be exclusive with Bloodlust and Heroism, meaning you cant benefit from both if youve got the Exhaustion debuff, though the movement-speed increase will still work even when under the effects of Exhaustion.
Wall of Fog (level 85): Creates a line of frost in front of the mage, 30 yards from end to end. Enemies who cross the line are snared and take damage. The mana cost will be designed to make Wall of Fog efficient against groups, not individuals. This spell is intended to give mages a way to help control the battlefield, whether the mage is damaging incoming enemies (Blizzard can be channeled on top of Wall of Fog) or protecting a flag in a Battleground. 10-second duration. 30-second cooldown.
Changes to Abilities and Mechanics
In addition to introducing new spells, we're planning to make changes to some of the other abilities and mechanics you're familiar with. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we intend for each spec.
- Arcane Missiles is being redesigned to become a proc-based spell. Whenever the mage does damage with any spell, there is a chance for Arcane Missiles to become available, similar to how the warriors Overpower works. The damage and mana cost of this spell will be reworked to make it very desirable to use when available. This change should make gameplay more dynamic for the mage, particularly at low levels.
- We are planning to remove spells that don't have a clear purpose. Amplify Magic, Dampen Magic, Fire Ward, and Frost Ward are being removed from the game, and we may remove more.
- The ability to conjure food and water will not become available until higher levels (likely around level 40), as we're making changes to ensure mages generally wont run out of mana at lower levels. Once mages learn how to conjure food and water, the conjured item will restore both health and mana.
- Scorch will provide a damage bonus to the mage's fire spells. Our goal is for Scorch to be part of the mage's rotation and a useful damage-dealing ability, even if someone else is supplying the group with the spell Critical Strike debuff. Scorch will provide the mage with more specific benefits, which can also be improved through talents.
New Talents and Talent Changes
- Arcane Focus will now return mana for each spell that fails to hit your target, including Arcane Missiles that fail to launch. We want Arcane mages to have several talents that play off of how much mana the character has and give the player enough tools to manage mana.
- The talent Playing with Fire will reduce the cooldown of Blast Wave when hit by a melee attack, instead of its current effect.
- Pyromaniac will grant Haste when three or more targets are getting damaged by the effects of your damage-over-time (DoT) fire spells.
- The Burnout talent will allow mages to cast spells using health when they run out of mana.
Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
Arcane
- Spell damage
- Spell Haste
- Mana Adept
Mana Adept: Arcane will deal damage based how much mana the mage has. For example, Arcane mages will do much more damage at 100% mana than at 50% mana. If they begin to get low on mana, they will likely want to use an ability or mechanic to bring their mana up to increase their damage.
Fire
- Spell damage
- Spell Crit
- Ignite
Ignite: All direct-damage fire spells will add a damage-over-time (DoT) component when cast. The flavor will be similar to how Fireball works; however, the DoT component will be much stronger.
Frost
- Spell damage
- Spell Crit damage
- Deathfrost
Deathfrost: Casting Frostbolt places a buff on the mage that increases the damage for all frost, fire, and arcane spells. The only damage spell that won't be affected by this buff is Frostbolt.
We hope you enjoyed this preview, and were looking forward to hearing your initial thoughts and feedback on these additions and changes. Please keep in mind that this information represents a work in progress and is subject to change as development on Cataclysm continues.
Cataclysm Class Preview: Druid
Cataclysm Class Preview: Druid (Druid Forum)
New Druid Abilities
Thrash (Level 81): Thrash deals damage and causes all targets within 10 yards to bleed every 2 seconds for 6 seconds. The intent here is to give bears another button to hit while tanking. Talents will affect the bleed, such as causing Swipe to deal more damage to bleeding targets. 5-second cooldown. 25 Rage.
Stampeding Roar (Level 83): The druid roars, increasing the movement of all allies within 10 yards by 40% for 8 seconds. Stampeding Roar can be used in cat or bear form, but bears might have a talent to drop the cooldown. The goal of this ability is to give both bears and cats a little more situational group utility. 3-minute cooldown. No cost.
Wild Mushroom (Level 85): Grows a magical mushroom at the target location. After 4 seconds the mushroom becomes invisible. Enemies who cross the mushroom detonate it, causing it to deal area-of-effect damage, though its damage component will remain very effective against single targets. The druid can also choose to detonate the mushroom ahead of time. This is primarily a tool for the Balance druid, and there will be talents that play off of it. No cooldown. 40-yard range. Instant cast.
Changes to Abilities and Mechanics
In addition to the new abilities listed above, we intend to make changes to some of the other abilities and mechanics with which youre already familiar. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of our goals for each spec.
- All heal-over-time spells (HoTs) will benefit from crit and haste innately in Cataclysm. Hasted HoTs do not reduce their duration, but instead add additional HoT ticks. Haste will also benefit Energy generation while in cat form.
- Unlike the other healers, Restoration druids will not be receiving any new spells. They have plenty to work with already, and our challenge instead is to make sure all of them have a well-defined niche. A druid should be able to tank-heal with stacks of Lifebloom, spot-heal a group with Nourish and Regrowth, and top off lightly wounded targets with Rejuvenation.
- We want to add tools to cat form and depth to bear form. If a Feral cat is going to fill a very similar niche to that of a rogue, warrior or Enhancement shaman, it needs a few more tools — primarily a reliable interrupt. Bears need to be pushing a few more buttons just so the contrast between tanking and damage-dealing is not so steep.
- Barkskin will be innately undispellable.
- We will be buffing the damage of Mangle (cat) significantly so that when cat druids cannot Shred, they are not at such a damage-dealing loss.
- Druids will lose Abolish Poison with the dispel mechanics change, but Restoration druids will gain Dispel Magic (on friendly targets) as a talent. All druids can still remove poisons with Cure Poison and remove curses with Remove Curse.
New Talents and Talent Changes
- Tree of Life is changing from a passive talent to a cooldown-based talent, similar to Metamorphosis. Mechanically, it feels unfair for a druid to have to give up so much offense and utility in order to be just as good at healing as the other classes who are not asked to make that trade. We are exploring the exact benefit the druid gets from Tree of Life. It could strictly be better healing, or it could be that each heal behaves slightly different. You also will not be able to be banished in Tree of Life form (this will probably be true of Metamorphosis as well). Additionally, we would like to update the Tree of Life model so that it feels more exciting when you do decide to go into that form. Our feeling is that druids rarely actually get to show off their armor, so it would be nice to have at least one spec that looked like a night elf or tauren (and soon troll or worgen) for most of the time.
- We want to make the Feral cat damage rotation slightly more forgiving. We do not want to remove what druids like about their gameplay, but we do want to make it less punishing to miss, say, a Savage Roar or Rake. The changes here will be on par with increasing the duration of Mangle like we did for patch 3.3.3.
- Balance druids will have a new talent ability called Natures Torrent, which strikes for either Nature or Arcane damage depending on which will do the most damage (or possibly both), and moves the Eclipse meter more (details below). The improved version of Natures Torrent also reduces the target's movement speed. 10-second cooldown.
- Restoration druids will have a new talent called Efflorescence, which causes a bed of healing flora to sprout beneath targets that are critically healed by Regrowth.
- We plan on giving Feral cats and bears a Kick/Pummel equivalent — an interrupt that is off the global cooldown and does no damage. We feel like they need this utility to be able to fill the melee role in a dungeon or raid group, and to give them more PvP utility.
- We want to make sure Feral and Balance druids feel like good options for an Arena team. They need the tools to where you might consider a Feral druid over an Arms warrior, or a Balance druid over a mage or warlock. Remember that the PvP landscape will probably look pretty different for Cataclysm with a focus on rated, competitive Battlegrounds.
Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
Balance
- Spell Damage
- Spell Haste
- Eclipse
Eclipse: We are moving Eclipse from a talent into a core mechanic of the class and making it less random. Balance druids will have a new UI element that shows a sun and a moon. Whenever they cast an Arcane spell, it will move the UI closer to the sun, and buff their Nature damage. Whenever they cast a Nature spell, it will move the UI closer to the moon, and buff their Arcane damage. The gameplay intention is to alternate Arcane and Nature spells (largely Starfire and Wrath) to maintain the balance.
Feral (Cat)
- Melee Damage
- Melee Critical Damage
- Bleed Damage
Feral (Bear)
- Damage Reduction
- Vengeance
- Savage Defense
Bleed Damage and Savage Defense: Feral druids will receive two sets of passive bonuses depending on whether the druid is in cat or bear form. Bleed Damage will be improved for cats. Savage Defense is the current bear mechanic for converting crits into damage absorption and will be improved for bears.
Vengeance: This is a mechanic to ensure that tank damage (and therefore threat) doesnt fall behind as damage-dealing classes improve their gear during the course of the expansion. All tanking specs will have Vengeance as their second talent tree passive bonus. Whenever a tank gets hit, Vengeance will give them a stacking attack power buff equal to 5% of the damage done, up to a maximum of 10% of the characters unbuffed health. For boss encounters we expect that tanks will always have the attack power bonus equal to 10% of their health. The 5% and 10% bonuses assume 51 talent points have been put into the Feral tree and the druid is in bear form — these values will be smaller at lower levels. Remember, you only get this bonus if you have spent the most talent points in the Feral tree and are in bear form, so you wont see Balance, Restoration, or Feral druids in cat form running around with it. Vengeance will let us continue to make tank gear more or less the way we do today — there will be some damage-dealing stats, but mostly survival-oriented stats. Druids typically have more damage-dealing stats even on their tanking gear, so the Vengeance benefit may be smaller, but overall the goal is that all four tanks do about the same damage when tanking.
Restoration
- Healing
- Meditation
- HoT Scale Healing
HoT Scale Healing: HoTs will do increased healing on more wounded targets. The mechanic is similar to that of the Restoration shaman, but with HoTs instead of direct heals. In Cataclysm, we anticipate druids using a greater variety of their spells so there is a distinction between healing and HoT healing.
We hope you enjoyed this preview, and ask that you provide your initial thoughts and feedback on what was presented here. Please keep in mind, what youve just reviewed is a work in progress and as we move closer to the Cataclysm beta, youll see these changes as well as others continue to develop in response to testing and feedback.
Has now completed [Cyanigosa kills (Heroic Violet Hold)] 20 times.
20 Cyanigosa kills (Heroic Violet Hold).
Обзор изменений Охотника в дополнении Катаклизм
На официальных русскоязычных форумах MMORPG World Of Warcraft компания Blizzard Entertainment продолжает знакомить пользователей с изменениями игровых классов в дополнении Катаклизм. Так, сегодня была размещена подробная информация о том, как изменится механика игрового класса Охотник.
«В дополнении World of Warcraft: Cataclysm таланты и способности различных классов претерпят существенные изменения. Предлагаем вашему вниманию краткий обзор нововведений для охотников, специализирующихся в стрельбе и обучении питомцев. Разумеется, это описание не будет исчерпывающим, но оно позволит получить представление об интересных изменениях, которые вскоре произойдут. Не разводя лишней суеты, давайте посмотрим, что ждет охотников в новом дополнении!»
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Новые способности охотника Бросок кобры (доступно с 81 уровня): Новый выстрел, наносящий урон от сил природы вместо обычного физического урона. Эта способность будет иметь общее время восстановления с «Верным выстрелом». «Бросок кобры» станет альтернативой «Верному выстрелу» для атаки целей в тяжелых доспехах. Мы внесем в ветку талантов «Повелитель зверей» изменения, которые будут поощрять использование этой способности и сделают «Бросок кобры» фирменным выстрелом «повелителя зверей». Метание ловушки (доступно с 83 уровня): Позволяет охотнику метнуть ловушку в любую точку в пределах 40 метров. Таким образом, основное свойство существующего сейчас заклинания «Замораживающая стрела» теперь будет распространяться на все виды ловушек. Как результат, сама «Замораживающая стрела» будет удалена из книги заклинаний. Маскировка (доступно с 85 уровня): Охотник переходит в скрытое состояние, предотвращающее получение урона от дальнего боя. Персонаж, тем не менее, все равно будет получать урон от ближнего боя и от атак массового поражения с определенным радиусом действия. Кроме того, нанесение или получение урона мгновенно выведет охотника из «Маскировки». Находясь в этом состоянии, охотник может свободно передвигаться и ставить ловушки, более того, атака, совершенная в состоянии «Маскировки», будет иметь бонус урона (но сразу после нее эффект маскировки пропадет).
Изменение системы ресурсов У охотников больше не будет показателя маны – вместо него появится показатель фокуса. Фокус будет постепенно набираться по принципу, сходному с набором энергии. Интеллект никак не будет на него влиять. Рейтинг скорости будет ускорять его генерацию. Охотники будут набирать около 6 пунктов фокуса в секунду, это немногим медленнее, чем генерация энергии у разбойников (около 10 пунктов в секунду). Ниже мы приводим несколько примеров расхода фокуса:
Изменения в способностях и механике Помимо изменения ресурса и появления новых способностей, описанных выше, мы собираемся внести ряд преобразований в те способности и механику, которые вам уже хорошо знакомы. Все это не является исчерпывающей информацией, однако эти данные должны дать некое представление о том, к чему мы стремимся с точки зрения механики игры каждой специализацией.
Ниже приведены несколько примеров того, что мы собираемся сделать:
Новые и измененные таланты
Искусность: пассивные бонусы специализаций Повелитель зверей Стрельба Выживание
Мы надеемся, что вам понравился наш предварительный обзор, и с нетерпением ждем ваших отзывов и впечатлений. Пожалуйста, примите к сведению, что этот обзор – рабочая информация, и по мере приближения выхода бета-версии дополнения Cataclysm эти нововведения могут быть введены в игру или изменены в зависимости от результатов тестирования и полученных отзывов. |
World of Warcraft: Изменения Охотников в Cataclysm
На официальных форумах Blizzard появилась информация о тех изменения, которые произойдут с персонажами класса Охотник в World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Cataclysm Class Preview: Hunter, X-53 Mount
Update – Added more information at the end of the hunter post.
Cataclysm Class Preview: Hunter (Hunter Forums)
New Hunter Abilities
Cobra Shot (level 81): A new shot that deals Nature damage instead of Physical damage. This ability will share a cooldown with Steady Shot. This will give hunters an alternative to Steady Shot on heavily-armored targets, and we will have talent incentives in the Beast Mastery tree to make this a signature shot.
Trap Launcher (level 83): When used, the next trap can be shot to a location within 40 yards. This provides the current Freezing Arrow treatment to all traps and, as a result, we will be removing the current ability Freezing Arrow. 1-minute cooldown. No global cooldown.
Camouflage (level 85): The hunter enters an obscured state that prevents him or her from taking ranged damage. The character would still be subject to melee or area-of-effect attacks, and dealing or taking damage will break the Camouflage effect. The hunter can move and set traps when under Camouflage, and will receive a damage bonus when attacking while under Camouflage (which will then break the effect).
Resource Mechanic Change
Here we come to the meat of the upcoming hunter changes.
- Hunters will no longer use mana; instead the class will use Focus. Focus generates much like Energy, by building up. It will not be affected by Intellect at all. Haste will improve its generation. Hunters will generate roughly 6 Focus per second, slightly less than rogues’ Energy generation rate of around 10 Energy per second. Below, we have listed some examples of how we intend Focus costs to operate:
- Steady Shot/Cobra Shot: No cost. Generates 9 Focus per shot (or 12 per second instead of 6).
- Arcane Shot/Chimera Shot /Explosive Shot: 45 Focus.
- Aimed Shot/Multi-Shot: 60 Focus.
- Concussive Shot/Tranquilizing Shot: 35 Focus.
- Rapid Fire/Masters Call/Disengage: 30 Focus.
Changes to Abilities and Mechanics
In addition to the resource change and new abilities listed above, we intend to make adjustments to some of the other abilities and mechanics you already know well. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what were going for with each spec.
- A major change coming for the hunter is the removal of ammunition. Guns, bows, and crossbows will now do damage without consuming ammunition at all. There will be no more ammo slot on the hunters character display. Any ammunition that a hunter has at the time of the change will become gray sellable items. Existing quivers will be converted into large bags — though each hunter can only have one and non-hunters will not benefit from this change — and we will not be making any additional quivers.
- Pet management will also change. Hunters will now have two types of attainable pets: active pets and stored pets. Hunters will be able to have up to three active pets (perhaps five for Beast Mastery specialized players) and will have the ability to switch among these pets any time they are out of combat, without going to town. They will also be able to have a large number of pets in storage at the stables. In order to swap a pet from active to passive, a hunter will still need to visit their local Stable Master. However, this should afford ample storage for the many Spirit Beasts wandering the lands of Azeroth.
- Additionally, hunters will now start with a race-appropriate pet at level 1 and will be able to tame a different pet at level 10. We are also changing many pet family abilities to provide important buffs and debuffs. The intention is to allow the hunter to be able to swap pets and fill a position if a certain role is missing from the group. The goal is to have all pets provide a damage increase that is very similar and no greater than any other pet. Some examples of the changes we are making to the pet families are listed below:
- Wind Serpents: Will provide a debuff that increases the amount of spell damage taken by an enemy (similar to a weaker version of the warlock ability Curse of Elements).
- Ravagers: Will provide a debuff that will increase an enemy’s Physical damage vulnerability (similar to a weaker version of the warrior ability Rampage).
- Hyenas: Will provide bleed damage (similar to a weaker version of the druid ability Mangle).
- Stings and other periodic effects will now benefit from haste and critical strike ratings. Hasted damage-over-time abilities do not lose duration, but instead add additional damage ticks.
- Viper Sting will now restore 9 Focus every 3 seconds.
- We are reinforcing hunters as a ranged class. To this end, the class will now start with ranged abilities at level 1, and we will be removing some melee abilities, such as Mongoose Bite.
New Talents and Talent Changes
- Beast Mastery hunters will have a new talent called Careful Aim, which increases the damage of the next Steady Shot or Cobra Shot, but also increases the cast time of these abilities. The intention is to make the combination of spells into a decent damage opener, especially in conjunction with the new ability Camouflage.
- Beast Mastery hunters will also have talents that make Cobra Shot superior to Steady Shot, such as Longevity reducing the cast time of Cobra Shot to 1.5 seconds.
- Rapid Recuperation will cause Rapid Fire to give 20/40/60 Focus immediately and will cause Rapid Killing to generate 3 Focus per second.
- Efficiency will reduce the Focus cost of Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot, and Arcane Shot.
- Thrill of the Hunt grants Focus when you land a critical strike.
- Hunter vs. Wild increases the hunters Focus generation when his or her pet is snared, stunned, or rooted.
Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
Beast Mastery
- Ranged Damage
- Haste
- Pet Damage
Pet Damage: Many of the passive benefits to pet damage will no longer be available in the Beast Mastery talent tree. However, these will be provided through the new Mastery mechanic.
Marksmanship
- Ranged Damage
- Armor Penetration
- Double Shot
Double Shot: The hunter will have a chance to launch a free attack off of the global cooldown for 50% damage.
Survival
- Ranged Damage
- Ranged Critical Damage
- Elemental Damage
Elemental Damage: Hunter abilities such as traps, Black Arrow, and Explosive Shot will do elemental damage of the following types: Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature, and Shadow.
We hope you enjoyed this preview, and ask that you provide your initial thoughts and feedback on what was presented here. Please keep in mind that what youve just reviewed is a work in progress and as we move closer to the Cataclysm beta, youll see these planned changes as well as others continue to develop in response to feedback and testing.
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A clarification of Camouflage and what becoming obscured actually means:
Camouflage is *not* stealth. Your enemies will never wonder where you are. We're trying to use the new Cataclysm water effect to put a shimmering PREDATORy visual on you. It's protection from ranged attacks and it gives you some combat bonuses, but it's not like Shadowmeld or rogue / druid stealth where players can't find you.
The idea with it is that Hunters are only vulnerable to melee attacks or ranged AEs while they are in the obscured state. If you target a camo hunter or a rogue using Smoke Bomb, you will get an error message saying something like "Target obscured." You can see them and target them, but can't use your attacks. Imagine they are behind a pillar or something. You can try and get off an AE near them or you can move to melee.
As most of you know, we tried Camo once before, but because it was true stealth it was very hard to balance, plus it felt like we were just handing out the same cool abilities to every class instead of coming with unique mechanics. Hunters were so overwhelmingly excited about the basic idea that we wanted to try it again, but not as stealth.
Regarding Cobra Shot sharing cooldown with Steady Shot:
At this point in time it's not actually a cooldown. Cobra Shot has a 2 sec cast time, but Beastmaster has a talent to reduce the cast time to 1.5 sec (as well as a few damage hooks). Both generate focus so there is no reason for BM to ever use Steady again.
Regarding focus and how much of it Hunters will have:
Hunters will get 100 focus
The focus costs mentioned in the preview are just examples, so it is a little too soon for you to try to min / max your rotations just yet. In general, the basic rotations of all three hunters work okay on live today. With focus you might hit moments where you don't need to Steady at all, and you'll never run dry again for long periods of time like you might with mana.
If the costs of some of the defensive cooldowns are too expensive or even need to be free that's certainly the kind of thing…