Cataclysm : forecasts

Recent updates on the beta have confirmed most of these info

I recently got to 83 on the beta and I saw how fast my main stats dropped. I've done some dungeons along the leveling from 80 to 83 and I can definitely say it becomes harder as you level up.

Obviously we are used to loose a lot of crit and haste when it comes to leveling but in Cataclysm it seems that the gap is huge. Developers said they wanted us to manage more our mana, using our spells with care and in precise situations. Finally it begins to take shape.

Yesterday I worked on predicting values and rating at level 85. I used common formulas to make forecasts based on statistics. Because this is forecasts and we only have access to the values from 80 to 83 I had to stick to integers numbers and average increase rates. But on several points we have regular increase rates which make me believe I'm not far from reality.

Just keep in mind this isn't perfectly accurate but we can expect something like +-10% close to reality. Unless they make drastic changes I'll trust these numbers. However I've always been told to explain the results I got.

It doesn't matter if it's the exact values or not because we will have the accurate information before the release. What is interesting is the way we will progress through the first stages of Cataclysm.

I already dropped my Blessed Cenarion Boots to get some green quest items with insane stats on it. Yes it's 264 and that's probably why I didn't drop everything else yet. But we can figure out how good the items from lvl85 dungeon and heroics will be. We probably won't be able to raid with all our 277 items from ICC and Halion as we did during the transition from BC to WotLK. We will keep some good items but we will change everything else.

As promised, HP and Mana pools have been increased a lot, but also spells mana cost. Spells potency depends on spell but remains the same or a bit reduced, however with the increase in HP and mana cost it seems a lot less powerful.

I will bring information about our new gameplay and stats priority later as we will have access to more content.