Mastery Revealed
Cataclysm’s new statistic, Mastery, got a bit of a reveal today. After teasing the new gameplay mechanic a few days ago, Blizzard has outlined some of the changes Cataclysm will bring to the game in greater detail.
"Here’s how the system works: As you spend points in a
given talent tree, you’ll receive three different passive bonuses
specific to that tree. The first bonus will increase your damage,
healing, or survivability, depending on the intended role of the tree.
The second bonus will be related to a stat commonly found on gear
desirable to you, such as Haste or Crit. The third bonus will be the
most interesting, as it will provide an effect completely unique to that
tree — meaning there will be 30 different bonuses of this nature in
the game. This third bonus is the one that will benefit from the Mastery
rating found on high-level (level 80 to 85) gear." Source
Blizzard had mentioned before that the goal of Mastery was to reward players for performing their class roles. Basically, this system means that the talent tree is now even more important as far as developing your character goes – staying on a certain path will net better bonuses, and going for a jack-of-all-trades build will hinder players as far as extra stats go.
The question is, will this promote diversity, or will it suck the fun out of character building? Hopefully the former. The trees are already wide enough that bonuses shouldn’t end up too rigid – this isn’t Borderlands, after all. Naturally, though, some are worried that this change will end up shoehorning players into the "best" tree for their class.
Another interesting tidbit – the Mastery bonus for gear that Blizzard mentioned last time? As in, promoting the use of your specific class gear? Currently, there are no plans to go back and work it into current level 80 gear. You’ll gain a bonus for wearing the right type of armor, but for now, it looks like the more advanced perks will be reserved for Cataclysm’s 80+ gear.
Mastery Revealed
Cataclysm’s new statistic, Mastery, got a bit of a reveal today. After teasing the new gameplay mechanic a few days ago, Blizzard has outlined some of the changes Cataclysm will bring to the game in greater detail.
"Here’s how the system works: As you spend points in a
given talent tree, you’ll receive three different passive bonuses
specific to that tree. The first bonus will increase your damage,
healing, or survivability, depending on the intended role of the tree.
The second bonus will be related to a stat commonly found on gear
desirable to you, such as Haste or Crit. The third bonus will be the
most interesting, as it will provide an effect completely unique to that
tree — meaning there will be 30 different bonuses of this nature in
the game. This third bonus is the one that will benefit from the Mastery
rating found on high-level (level 80 to 85) gear." Source
Blizzard had mentioned before that the goal of Mastery was to reward players for performing their class roles. Basically, this system means that the talent tree is now even more important as far as developing your character goes – staying on a certain path will net better bonuses, and going for a jack-of-all-trades build will hinder players as far as extra stats go.
The question is, will this promote diversity, or will it suck the fun out of character building? Hopefully the former. The trees are already wide enough that bonuses shouldn’t end up too rigid – this isn’t Borderlands, after all. Naturally, though, some are worried that this change will end up shoehorning players into the "best" tree for their class.
Another interesting tidbit – the Mastery bonus for gear that Blizzard mentioned last time? As in, promoting the use of your specific class gear? Currently, there are no plans to go back and work it into current level 80 gear. You’ll gain a bonus for wearing the right type of armor, but for now, it looks like the more advanced perks will be reserved for Cataclysm’s 80+ gear.
3.3.3 Still Wonky
Are you excited for 3.3.5’s Ruby Sanctum? Or perhaps just anxious to give 3.3.3’s UI and move updates a whirl? It’ll have to wait, sadly, because so far the PTR servers for 3.3.3 have been less than successful.
Well, alright, that’s a little harsh – better things go wonky on PTR servers than actual realms – but it definitely looks like we’ll be waiting a little bit longer for the next patch. So far, 3.3.3 has been undergoing numerous problems and changes on the test realms, with moves being added and removed, and UI tweaks causing issues for testers.
All should be sorted out soon; and hopefully these changes will make the transition to Cataclysm that much smoother. We’ll let you know when 3.3.3 is planned to go live – and if it’s sometime this week, we’ll be just as surprised as you.