World of Warcraft Cataclysm Professions Preview
Check out the new bits of news about upcoming changes to professions in Cataclysm! While the Cataclysm updates to many of the professions are still deep in development, we wanted to share some of the work that’s been going on, as well as a high-level look at any lessons learned or changes to their underlying philosophies during the design process. Please be aware that not all professions have the same extent of information available right now, but each is receiving the same love and attention as the next. Take heed of these teasers as you look forward to your new rank of Illustrious Grand Master! Please enjoy!
Cataclysm Stat & System Changes
As many of you know from panels at last year’s BlizzCon and posts here on the forums since then, Cataclysm will bring about major changes to familiar character stats such as Intellect, Armor Penetration, Defense, and others, ultimately designed to make the effects of stats more easily understandable and make gear choices more interesting. As these changes will have a significant impact on how stats work and relate to one another, today we wanted to offer you a closer look at exactly what’s in store and explain some of the rationale before Cataclysm arrives. The most obvious question these changes raise is “Why are stats being changed, and why now?” As the game has matured, we’ve run into increasingly complex issues with the current stat system. Many stats are inherently confusing, and the way they interrelate can feel convoluted. Attack Power, for example, currently translates to damage, but so does Armor Penetration. Defense provides five different statistical benefits of varying utility. Mana regeneration involves understanding multiple stats and rules and often ends up being irrelevant anyway. In addition, the difference between a “good stat” for a class and a “bad stat” can be extreme. Some casters want Haste but not Crit; hunters want Armor Penetration but not Haste. There are other overarching issues, as well, such as Intellect not being very exciting for casters despite it being a core stat — and these are just a few examples.
Cataclysm – Everybody wants Goblins? No, we don’t think so.
Blizzard has a nifty little poll up about which character race/class combination people are most looking forward to.  The results might surprise you! One big thing I was thinking about is Worgen PVP Warriors with their 70% sprint for 6 seconds.  This is going to be insanely powerful.  Thoughts? The vote is constantly ongoing and can be seen here.
Blizzard Healer Discussion for Cataclysm
Ghostcrawler has been busy in a rather length thread about healing in World of Warcraft now and into Cataclysm.  Sure a lot of it has been mostly rehashing on concepts that have been gone over time and again, but its always nice to be able to take a look into their heads.  Some of the things that have been discussed are mana management, downranking, and health vs healing vs inc damage.  The thread has been going for over a week so there is definitely a lot of reading to catch up on, so let me start you off here. The general theory behind healing in Cataclysm is that you’ll no longer (see also less often) be spamming heals like a mad-man.  To accomplish this, Blizzard is making it so tanks won’t be one or even two-shotted.  At the same time, healers will not be able to one or even two-heal a tank from low to full health.  This will, of course, lessen the stress of healers to heal or die.  And at the same time, the efficiency of healing compared to mana pools will be significantly reduced, making not healing an important aspect of the healer’s job.  Sort of a pick the time and place of your heals.
Ghostcrawler on Rogues
Since Tim fired up a brand new duo of rogues, I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at what he’ll be walking into in the future.  Ghostcrawler recent made a lengthy post about what goes on in the minds of the design team when it comes to everyone’s favorite stunlocker.  Of course, you have to remember Cataclysm is far from final and what Blizzard “plans” and what they “do” sometimes can be quite different.  Enjoy the look into the state of the rogues. Ghostcrawler: Ultimately, we’d like for more talent trees to look like Subtlety. Trading utility A for utility B is an interesting decision. Trading utility A for more dps is not an interesting decision; the latter is always going to win.
Amazing guide to WoW 3.3 patch
WoW.com has an amazing guide to the WoW 3.3 patch.  Below is a table of contents of sorts with links leading to some amazing, if not highly speculatory, information about the 3.3 patch.  Also, the 3.3 patch is rumored to be launching in approx. 1 week! Patch 3.3 is the final major content patch for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Three new 5 man dungeons and a new 10/25 man raid will be introduced at Icecrown Citadel, along with a ton of other changes to the game.
WoW Guild Leveling – Yup, it is coming in Cataclysm
This may be old news for some, but it happens to be the first time I’ve heard about it.  Blizzard released a couple videos about guild leveling for Cataclysm. Your guild will get experience for players earning rep, killing bosses, doing dailies, getting achievements, Arena and BG wins, crafting, leveling up, and more. The top 20 earners in the guild each week will have their contributions turned into XP. Previous contributions won’t factor into a particular week’s XP, so every member of the guild has the chance to be a top earner each week. Guild experience, once accrued at the end of each week, will be converted into guild currency, which can be used to buy a myriad of items, including reagents, tabards, pets, profession recipes, heirlooms, and Guild Talent points. Guild Talents will be things like a Mass Resurrection spell on a 30-minute cooldown, removal of reagents for buff spells, and increased gold drops in the world and instances. Guild leaders can respec guild talents, though the method and cost (if any) is currently unknown.
Blizzard explains some upcoming changes in 3.3
Blizzard is teasing us once again with reasonings behind balance changes, tank shortages, and general upcoming updates in 3.3 and Cataclysm. Kirin’ Tor Rings in 3.3 Item level 251 versions are currently planned for patch 3.3. I’m not sure what the cost to upgrade is but it will probably be similar to previous upgrades. We are only upgrading the existing ring types, not providing a new one, so that means no tank version. (Source) Tank Shortage The “shortage” is caused by a lot of people not wanting to tank or not spending the time to gear up and tank – and if they don’t want to gear up at all then they probably don’t want to tank anyway or maybe don’t want to spend the time learning it. I still think the new Dungeon System will help with this through the faster turnover rate and random heroic feature, but overall we can’t force people to play something they don’t want to play so there will likely always be a shortage of tanks or healers to some degree.