World of Warcraft Cataclysm Stats and Attributes Changes

Written by: Jesma • Edited by: Michael Hartman
Updated Aug 30, 2009 • Related Guides: DPS | Blizzard | Mana Regeneration

At BlizzCon 2009 we heard a lot of announcements about how stats and attributes, particularly those found on items, will be changed or completely removed. We also learned about a new talent Mastery system that will be implemented along with the stat changes, allowing talents to be more interesting.

Attributes Changed, Some Just Downright Removed

If you've been playing World of Warcraft for awhile then you've probably noticed that as you reach higher levels, the stats you find on items become a whole lot less straightforward. At early levels the five core attributes are the stars of the show. It is fairly clear which ones you want for your class and spec, and which ones you don't. The problem is, as you level higher and higher, you start to see some new stats that can just be downright confusing. Haste? Armor Penetration? Defense? What do these things do for me?

Hunters will no longer use Mana or Intellect

click to enlarge

The folks at Blizzard are on the same page as us - finally. They've realized that the current state of stats and attributes (not just on gear, but on consumables, buffs, etc) is a disaster, and that hitting some of these numbers like the hit cap, defense cap, and others is a total nightmare for fresh level 80s. So, they've promised to streamline the system. Several announcements were made at BlizzCon 2009 that shed a lot of light on where they're going with stats and attributes in the very near future.

As always, keep in mind any and all of these things are subject to change anytime before the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion is actually installed on your computer - and even then, not even that is safe because of Patching. Enjoy.

Hunters and Enhancement Shamans

Before we delve right into the stats discussion, I need to mention one thing. You may or may not of heard already that Hunters and Enhancement Shamans are no longer going to use Intellect or Mana. Both are being converted over the the Focus system that Hunter pets use currently. This makes great sense for Hunters, and is being ported to Enhancement Shamans purely because of the fact that they share gear. So, congratulations guys, the worst part of your class is being fixed. Hooray!

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Bookooball Sep 21, 2010 10:32 AM

Trolls will troll

Complaining, I see it wherever I go. Before burning crusade, stats like hit and haste didn't exist. After burning crusade people never shut up about how WoW was better before the expansion. We are 2 almost 3 expansions deep and they are taking it back a step as far as stats go because things were getting out of hand and now they want to complain about that? Doubtful any of them will actually quit playing. It's a fun game and it always has been. I have been keeping up on the cataclysm news releases and announcements out of excitement for the expansion and I must say so far I'm impressed with the work they've put into it. Activision is the reason the game is gotten out of hand and I'm glad blizzard is fixing it before it falls apart. The same people complaining are the ones running in the spellcleave teams that can nuke a person in an arena in 2 globals, feel good about themselves and think they are skilled, and now that blizzard is making them actually use more than a nuke them before they nuke you strategy and dungeons aren't going to be an AE everything down as fast as you can, people are crying. CC, arena tactics that make people think, these are what work that grey muscle in your skull and I for one am not complaining that they are putting a little brain work back into the game where it counts and taking the math out where it doesn't.

zomg Jul 11, 2010 12:07 AM

HAH !

I too share the concerns of this so called "improvement", especialy for the whole remaking of shamans and paladins since they have healing spells and other stuff that is handy to have for critical situations. GL getting that balanced by any means. I understand why us hunters getting rid of mana and become that physical they should have been from start. But i dont get why BM or SV isnt a melee spec, it would be cool, it would be nice to have druid options (oomking,kitcat), so we dont always fall behind in a fight where our dead zone will be forced upon us. And even in pvp it would have been a fresh breath of air for our class, instead our improvement relys in the removal of Mongoose and Raptor Strike, of which im having trouble to see where the improvement in that relys. WE ARE NOT A FULLY RANGED CLASS, our deadzone should have something aswell since we cant heal or go lolblock or put on some awesome absorb barriers. Fingers crossed they dont also decide Wingclip must cost 100 focus and have a 5% hit chance.

simon Apr 7, 2010 12:48 AM

Gignoid

I think people are jumping the gun abit here, aspects of MMO's always change, its how it works girls & boys. These changes in some respects right now seem abit NAF granted, but thats because you don't yet have the full story yet, you haven't seen this talent Specilization system to compare it all together with. I personally think its a good idea and your still going have other stats i.e. crit rating, haste...so not going to be ruined choice.

I personally think see what its like first, not whine before you have full story layed out for you to actually look at, don't critise what you haven't got fully story for, simple as that lol

Sidney Feb 13, 2010 4:32 PM

A Response to Sci

Sci, I agree with your statement that Blizzard wants WoW to succeed (obviously, their income relies on it). However, i think that this change is just another ploy to bring in more players of a wider age range, wider social background, educational background, etc., etc. My point being I'm a crazy elitist piece of crap that doesn't want all sorts of fail players in my raid! (Not that it matters anymore because they'll probably make that easier too...and less skill oriented. Hell, pretty soon they'll give players the ability to put their character on auto-pilot...) WoW's not that tough, people....just try to use your brains?

Sidney Feb 13, 2010 4:27 PM

Changes are not appealing to WoW's Hardcore players.

I would first like to state that I've been playing WoW since its release, and though I have changed realms and factions a dozen times, I've always loved the game. However, after reading about these stat and talent changes I have to ask...what is Blizzard thinking? WoW is not complicated as far as MMO's go. Is it really necessary to "dumb down" every aspect of the game?

One of the things that made WoW unique was the fact that every single character became incredibly unique after achieving the level-cap. I believe that the reason for this variation is due largely in part to interesting and unique itemization, gem stats, and most importantly the analysis and choice-making that these characters have to do to be the best that they can be. The fact that a character cannot just glance at an item and know whether or not that item is an upgrade for them is wonderful. The change and elimination of supplementary statistics will dull the individuality of characters across the board. Basically what this article is telling me is that any item of the same iLvl, which is designed for one class and specialization will be EXACTLY THE SAME in every instance across the iLvl bracket. Think about it....what stats are there to vary? If each item of the same iLvl has to have the same "sum" of stats, itemization and individuality will suffer greatly.

For those of you who don't understand, here's an example. You have an item of iLvl 300. Your spec is for DPS and you wear plate armor. The iLvl 300 item has...oh, say, +200 strength and +300 stamina on it (completely hypothetical statistics). If you were to go out and win a roll on another iLvl 300 item designed for the same class and spec, would it have more or less str or stam on it? If so, the only way that it could vary would be in the distribution of THESE TWO STATS - ONLY. How boring is that? Too obvious that the one with more STR is a better upgrade for DPS. Plain and simple: simplification doesn't help WoW at all.

Wow's best player Jan 18, 2010 2:07 PM

attributes

i think they are making this game way to easy and taking all the fun out of it. They are making it to where the people that just hit 80 are going to be just as good as peoplewho have been 80 for a long time. They are going to lose alot of people cause of this. Blizzard please don't make any more "improvements"

Thiago B Jan 12, 2010 11:38 AM

Armor Penetration

Hummm, I hope that Armor Penetration come like a passive stat-related, because I want to still continue use Armor Penetration such a Protection Warrior PvP Player...

AngryHank Jan 4, 2010 3:59 PM

Outstanding Read

Dude! Wish I had had these guides of yours a year ago. It would have helped with the learning curve for all my toons! Thanks for a well written article.

Matthew Oct 2, 2009 8:27 PM

Kiss 1000% of jewelcrafting patterns post-BC goodbye if they're eradicating AP, SP, haste, etc... I am going to stop wasting my time on the 400 days worth of dailies needed to get post 3.2.2 patterns... Glad I read this now, thanks Jesna!

Sci Sep 11, 2009 10:21 AM

Quitters again

I see people complaining already

Do you know how many people complain every day just for a simple patch?

This is nothing new.

WoW is still a dominant game that is played by millions worldwide, it is going to gain more popularity with this patch.

I look forward to the changes and think it will be interesting to see how Blizzard actually carries their ideas out.

Have fun with whatever you decide to do, but don't act so surprised and think that Blizzard is ruining the game, they want the game to succeed, they wouldn't waste millions of dollars with something that hasn't been tried and tested (by players even: PTR), etc...

Aion is going to probably be cool but I wouldn't bet on it yet, there's not enough known yet and it could be another WAR.

Mcwolf Sep 4, 2009 11:06 PM

dont like this

Seems like they are trying to dumb this game down, and as to changes to block, Well at heart Im a AE tank and love it, Ill be canceling my subscription when this happens.

Takameanie Sep 2, 2009 3:54 PM

Glad I bought Aion

Glad I cancelled my WoW subscription and preordered Aion. Can't wait for it to start up, WoW's just going way downhill :(

World of Warcraft Cataclysm Stats and Attributes Changes

Attributes Changed, Some Just Downright Removed

Hunters and Enhancement Shamans

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