Monday, September 7, 2009

New mastery skills I would like to see in Cataclysm

For those of you who don't know, we will not be getting new talents with the next expansion pack. Instead, each tier will gain three "mastery skills," which will be passive buffs given once you have put enough points in a tree. Since my musings on new talents are now irrelevant, I figured I would muse on what we druids could get for mastery skills, since Blizzard has yet to reveal what we will get. I have worded each bonus the same way Blizzard has worded the ones for the other classes.

Balance:
+Spell Crit Damage 100%
This would replace the Vengeance talent. Although you may think this is too powerful of a bonus to put as the first mastery skill, Blizzard did put it in tier 4. Also, it isn't as useful at lower levels as it is at higher levels, since it takes fewer spells to kill an enemy when you are at low levels, so big crits aren't as important.

+Spell Hit 5%
This would replace the spell hit bonus of Balance of Power, a necessary talent considering that balance druids share much more gear with Resto druids than they used to. Since spellcasters only need 5% hit rating to be hit capped in PvP, this would eliminate the need for +hit on Balance PvP gear, allowing Boomkins and trees to share the same kind of gear. Although they would probably need different set bonuses on the 5-piece sets, it would mean they could share boots, belts, and gloves.

+Spell Damage 10%
This would replace Moonfury, and all Balance druids will benefit from it, be they leveling, raiding, or PVPing. I don't really need to explain this, do I? You know you want it.

I didn't included mana regeneration while casting because Blizzard has said they plan to make spirit a healer stat, so DPS won't need to worry about it. Although Boomkins will probably need to role healing armor, they'll probably be able to turn the spirit into something more useful with reforging.

Feral:
+Melee Crit Chance 5%
This would replace Sharpened Claws. I considered turning Ferocity into a mastery skill, but it dropped the idea for many reasons.
-Mastery skills are supposed to be boring but necessary, and although ferocity comes close to fitting that category, the fact that is directly lets you use your abilities more frequently means it makes your fights more interesting. Thus, it only fits the second criterion.
-I couldn't find a suitable replacement for its spot. I considered Furor, but its effect does not fit the above criteria, and moving Furor our of the resto tree would prevent ferals and boomkin from having a good talent to start investing in the resto tree.
-To be a true mastery skill, Furor would need to apply to all of our abilities. Could you imagine all of our abilities getting -5 energy/rage cost? That would be huge, especially for tanks. I'd call it OP.

+Stamina (Bear) or Attack Power (Cat) 10%
This would partially replace Heart of the Wild. I didn't include the intellect buff because I don't see it as completely necessary, although I do think it should be rolled into another talent, since some ferals, especially solo-ers and PvP'ers would certainly still want the increased mana pool. Perhaps Primal Tenacity? The increased mana pool benefits PvP feral druids the most, so it would make sense to put that bonus in a PvP talent.

+Melee Damage 10%
This would replace the melee portion of Naturalist, a talent all ferals need to take but usually end up taking after investing fully in the feral tree. This would probably turn Naturalist into a filler talent, unless Blizzard made it reduce the cast time of other spells, which I think would actually make it pretty cool. Anyways, become of its position in the resto tree, many ferals end up taking this at their level 65-69 talent, so I see it as the perfect final mastery talent for us.

Restoration:
+Spirit 15%
This would replace Living Spirit. Since spirit is on all trees' gear now, this would be useful to everyone, though more-so to raiding trees than PvE trees. Still, it's definitely a "necessary but boring talent," so I think it fits the bill.

+Mana Regen while Casting 50%
This would replace Intensity and put mana regen firmly in the ownership of trees. Why? Well, if this bonus is the second one, then balance druids couldn't get it by just investing a few points in resto (see my note at the end of the balance section). Like I said above, every tree has spirit now, which means that PvP trees need to get their mana from it as well.

+Healing 10%
This would replace Gift of Nature. Again, who wouldn't want this?

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