World of Warcraft: Hunter, mage, druid get the preview treatment

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NEWS

By Michael 'Zechs' Radford

Apr 10, 2010 17:45

Three more classes had their Cataclysm previews released last night.

The latest class to undergo a Cataclysm preview was the mage, which is set to receive one of the more ambitious new abilities. From the blue post:

"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."

This is one of the first class-based signs of the new battleground focus in Cataclysm - a spell that seems to be designed solely with them in mind. But the fun doesn't stop there. Mages will also get their own version of Bloodlust, named Time Warp. They will also get one of the most fun-sounding spells so far in the shape of Flame Orb. This is an almost exact copy of the spell from Prince Taldaram in Ahn'kahet. However, one of the more bemusing announcements was that Flame Ward and Frost Ward will be removed from the game altogether, due to being "spells that don't have a clear purpose." This is already proving to be an unpopular decision with arena players.

Earlier in the day druids got their time in the sun. Or is it the moonlight? Eclipse will become an important mechanic for druids in the expansion, forming a massive part of the Moonkin's rotation:

"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."

Continuing the Balance theme, druids will receive a gimmicky but potentialy useful spell at level 85 called Wild Mushroom. Currently this sounds something like a fantasy version of land mine which will explode on player contact but can also be triggered deliberately by the druid.

Hunters also got their preview yesterday, including some of the finder details of the new resource system, Focus. Effectively, it seems similar to Energy except that certain abilities can regenerate it faster than its base rate. One of those abilities will be the new "signature shot" for Beast Mastery, Cobra Shot. Trap Launcher is also set for a return after only semi-surviving the WoTLK beta.

But the most exciting hunter change comes at level 85 with the Camouflage ability. From the blue post:

"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)."

You can find all the previews in full on MMO-Champion