Patch 4.0.1 : Talent Tree Changes, Class Mechanic Changes, and more

Although the official release of patch 4.0.1 has not been officially confirmed, various previews and hints do hint at the most likely release of patch 4.0.1 tomorrow after the weekly scheduled maintenance.

Blizzard has announced several changes coming with patch 4.0.1, among them being Talent Tree Changes, Class Mechanic Changes, new Launcher, and the new glyph system.

Class Mechanic Changes:
Blizzard announced today of several class mechanic changes that will be done to a few classes in patch 4.0.1. Here is a rough overview of what will be done:

Death Knights:
- The Blood Tree will now be a dedicated tanking tree.
- Runes will no longer refresh simultaneously, instead they will refresh in an orderly manner. For example, if you use two frost runes then your first rune will fill up before the second one starts to fill up.
- Runic Empowerment: Mechanic that allows runes to refresh instantly allowing rune refreshment to be unpredictable.

Druids:
- Eclipse is a new mechanic for balance druids. Next to your health bar you will receive a new bar. As you cast arcane spells your bar will move to the solar element until you reach a solar eclipse in which you receive a nature damage buff. As you cast nature spells, the bar moves closer to the moon element which in turns triggers a lunar eclipse which buffs your arcane damage.

Hunter:
- Focus is a new mechanic that works like a rogues energy. Refreshes at 6 focus a second.
- Can now use Call Pet to call up to 5 different pets and stable masters allow up to 20 pets.
- No more ammo

Paladin:
- Holy power is a new mechanic that work like combo points. Once holy power procs( a yellow glowing effect) it can be used to buff existing abilities.

Warlocks:
- Soul shards are being removed.
- Soul shards will now be used to for a new spell “Soul Burn” which will buff the next spell cast. Every spell that can be used by “Soul Burn” will have a tooltip attached stating the effects “Soul Burn” will have on the spell. Every warlock may only carry 3.

Warriors:
- Rage will no longer be generated by the amount of damage done by auto-attack. Off-hand weapons such as shields will generate 50% of the rage done by main hand weapons. Also, rage generated will now be based on warriors health.

New Streaming Launcher:
Those who have played on the Public Test Realm have seen the new launcher that Blizzard has developed. It allows you to play the game while game data is still being downloaded. There are 3 levels of the launcher: Setup, Playable, and Available.

Setup: While it is in the setup stage, you cannot play the game due to the fact that not enough game data has been downloaded. It is represented as red.

Playable: In the playable stage you will be able to play the game while the game streams game data in the background however you may experience mishaps because some of the game data still has not been downloaded. It is represented as yellow.

Available: In the available stage most of the game data has been downloaded and you will experience minimal problems. It is represented as green.

Blizzard has announced that this new launcher will go live with patch 4.0.1.

Talent Tree Changes:
Every class will experience changes in their talent trees. Death Knights will now have a dedicated tanking tree, talents such as Might of Mograine, Hysteria, and Sudden Doom will be removed to make room for new/improved talents such as Crimson Scourge, Bone Shield, and Improved Blood Tap. Other changes include Lunar Shower for Balance Druids, Bombardment for Marksmanship Hunters, Cauterize for Fire Mages, and Light of Dawn for Paladins. A full comprehensive list can be found at the source at the bottom of the page.

Glyph Changes:
There will be a new introduction of Prime Glyphs into the Glyph system.

Prime - Prime glyphs will typically provide direct increases to damage or healing throughput. Examples of prime glyphs include Glyph of Howling Blast, which will cause the death knight ability Howling Blast to infect targets with Frost Fever, and Glyph of Insect Swarm, which increases the damage of druid's Insect Swarm ability by 30%.

Major - Major glyphs will typically augment spells and abilities to offer additional utility. Examples of major glyphs include Glyph of Silencing Shot, which will cause a hunter to instantly gain 10 focus when successfully silencing an enemy's spell cast, and Glyph of Ice Block, which will reset the cooldown on Frost Nova every time a mage uses Ice Block.

Minor - Minor glyphs will typically provide players with additional convenience or cosmetic changes. Examples of minor glyphs include Glyph of Righteousness which will reduce the mana cost of Seal of Righteousness for paladins by 50%, and Glyph of Levitate which will remove the reagent requirement for a priest's Levitate spell.

Along with the new tier system, glyphs can now be learned as single-item spells instead of permanent spells. You will need to place a glyph into the desired slot to activate it.

In other words, once you learn a glyph you will always have access to it. For example, if you have Glyph A that is activated but you want to replace it with Glyph B, you can simply deactivate Glyph A and activate Glyph B. You will not destroy Glyph A like in the current glyph system, it will simply be deactivated.

With all the changes announced by Blizzard over the 4.0.1 patch, you can tell that they are definitely getting prepared for Cataclysm and with the World of Warcraft community almost certain that patch 4.0.1 will be launched tomorrow, be prepared to re-learn your classes and get ready for the impending Cataclysm on Azeroth.