World of Warcraft Cataclysm talents and masteries previewed, clarified again

If you are still patiently waiting to join the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta, then at least there is a steady flow of information concerning the expansion for you to keep yourself busy. The latest news from the Cataclysm forums concern the talent tree changes and an update to how the mastery system will work.

Talents are being thinned out from the trees so that there will only be around 20 unique talents per tree with the highest level talent requiring 30 points to have been spent within the tree already. They are going back to the good ol’ vanilla WoW days when we only had 31 point talent trees. The whole point behind this is to make things more simplistic and easier for newer and casual players. Starting at level 10, you will be able to gain a talent every other level for a total of 41 at level 85.

To teach new players that the 31 point talents are vital, you be required to fully specialize in the tree by spending 31 points before you can move into the other two trees. It will all start off with level 10 players choosing their specialization tree which will grant them passive bonuses and an active ability. The active ability will be something that is vital for that specific specialization without having you wait until the later levels to be able to play as that role. For example, Resto Shamans will get Earth Shield at level 10 and Prot Warriors will gain Shield Slam as their active abilities.

The Mastery system is being changed from bonuses given out depending on the amount of talents being spent in the tree to the flat out passive bonuses mentioned when choosing a specialization. The Mastery skill will be trainable from class trainers at level 75 and will be affected by the Mastery Stats found on gear. The Mastery Stat will be found on gear from zones level 78+ within Cataclysm.

There is a chance if you are one of the lucky beta players that you will be able to see these changes in action in a few patches.

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