Beginning today, Blizzard has decided to give in-depth previews on the Class Changes for Cataclysm. Today they cover Shamans and Warlocks, with the Priest preview coming sometime later today

Blizzard has decided to kick off Wednesday with a bang, as they will be posting some in-depth class previews of the changes that will be coming for players in the new Cataclysm Expansion. Currently speaking, there are plans to cover three class previews per day, for the next three days, and then to cover the Paladin class, which is still deep in development, on April 16th. Today is the day for Shamans, Priests and Warlocks, although Blizzard has yet to post the new Priest previews, tomorrow they plan to discuss the Warrior, Death Knight and Rogue class, and on Friday, they plan to address the Hunter, Druid and Mage classes.

In regards to Shamans for Cataclysm, Blizzard has made some new additions to the Shaman's AoE arsenal, both in regards to offensive and defensive, with the addition of Earthquake, a deep Elemental Talent for "targeted and persistent AoE," and Healing Rain, an AoE Heal-over-Time spell that "calls down rain in a selected area, healing all players within it." Elemental Shamans will be cheering about Totem of Wrath replacing Flametongue Totem for all Shamans, and Elemental Shamans will be able to get a talent that lets all Fire Totems provide +10% spell power, thus allowing them to drop Searing, Magma or Fire Elemental Totems without losing their spell-damage buff. Finally, Enhancement Shamans will see some love as well, as the team hopes to "free up Enhancement global cooldowns to make the spec more dynamic to play." One interesting addition will be the new Unleash Weapon ability, which will provide the Shaman with another instant damage / heal spell, as well as give a buff to the Shaman; the effects of both are dependent on what Weapon Enchant spell the Shaman currently has on his or her weapon.

For Warlocks in Cataclysm, they will be receiving some interesting mobility-oriented spells and abilities that will bolster their offensive arsenal while also giving them more spell options. Specifically, the addition of Fel Flame will certainly bring a smile to the face of most Warlocks, as this new spell is instant and it will refresh the duration of Immolation and Unstable Affliction. Of course, with Cataclysm also comes the much-promised Soul Shard system overhaul, and Blizzard has delivered on that promise. Warlocks will now have three Soul Shards to be used in combat, and they will have the opportunity to use one of these three Soul Shards to bolster the effects of their next spell. You can read about some of these effects in the Class Preview post, but this basically means that Warlocks will have to be more creative in their choice of spells and what three spells they choose to use with their Soul Shards.

Of course, with so many changes to be implemented in Cataclysm, there are a massive amount of new changes that we haven't even gotten to, so be sure to check out the specific Class Previews to see just what exactly Blizzard has in store for your class! You can also read about these class previews after the jump.

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Warlock

Fel Flame (level 81): Quick-hitting spell dealing Shadowfire damage. This is similar to the mage ability Frostfire Bolt, in that the lower of the two resistances (in this case shadow and fire) on your target will be used for calculating its damage. Additionally, Fel Flame refreshes the duration of Immolate and Unstable Affliction. Our goal for Fel Flame is to provide a spell that's good for mobility and for use by Destruction and Demonology specs. Also, did we mention it uses green fire? Yep. Instant cast.

Dark Intent (level 83): Increases the target's chance for a critical effect with periodic damage or healing spells by 3%. When the target lands a crit, you get a buff to your damage for 10 seconds. This effect stacks up to three times.

Demon Soul (level 85): Fuses the warlock's soul with his or her demon. This provides warlocks with a self-burst cooldown to use. The specific effects granted by Demon Soul depend on the demon chosen. Demon Soul lasts for a certain number of charges or until it expires (around 20 seconds), depending on the demon used. 2-minute cooldown.

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Soul Shard Overhaul

This major change regarding Soul Shards was previously announced at BlizzCon 2009. Soul Shards will no longer be inventory items, but instead a new UI resource mechanic. Warlocks will have 3 Soul Shards that can be used during a fight and will not be able to gain additional shards during combat. Soul Shards will not be required outside of combat. Soul Burn will consume a Soul Shard resource, thereby allowing you to use the secondary effects of some spells. Soul Burn has no mana or health costs and is off the global cooldown. Planned secondary effects are outlined here.

• Summon Demon + Soul Burn = summon the demon instantly.
• Drain Life + Soul Burn = Reduces cast speed by 60%.
• Demonic Circle + Soul Burn = Increases movement speed by 50% for 8 seconds after teleporting.
• Unstable Affliction + Soul Burn = Instantly deals damage equal to 30% of its effect.
• Soul Fire + Soul Burn = Instant cast.
• Healthstone + Soul Burn = Increases total health by 20% for 8 seconds.
• Searing Pain + Soul Burn = Increases the crit chance of Searing Pain by 100%, and subsequent Searing Pain spells by 50% for 6 seconds.

Next you will find a list of some of the warlock spell and talent changes for the release of Cataclysm. There will be further changes, but those revealed below should offer some insight into our goals.

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Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

• All warlock damage-over-time (DoT) spells will benefit from crit and haste innately. Haste will no longer act to reduce the DoT's duration, but rather to add additional ticks. When reapplying a DoT, you can no longer "clip" the final tick. Instead, this will just add duration to the spell, similar to how Everlasting Affliction currently works.
• Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom will be converted into Bane of Agony and Bane of Doom. Bane spells are considered magic instead of curses. This means you will be able to cast one Bane (e.g. Bane of Agony) and one Curse (e.g. Curse of Elements) on a single target.
• Hellfire will no longer deal damage to the warlock.
• Imps will lose Fire Shield, but will gain a new ability, Burning Ember, which is a stacking DoT.
• The succubus melee range will be increased. The succubus will no longer have Soothing Kiss, but will instead have Whiplash, which knocks back all enemies within 8 yards.
• Voidwalker Torment will do increased damage and generate a lot of area-of-effect (AoE) threat. Suffering will become a single-target taunt.

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New Talents and Talent Changes

• Pandemic will now cause Drain Soul to refresh Unstable Affliction and Bane of Agony on targets below 25% health.
• The ability Fel Domination will be removed (because Soul Burn accomplishes the same effect).
• Demonology will gain a new direct-damage spell, Demon Bolt. Demon Bolt will add a debuff that improves the damage done by the demon to the target.
• We plan to add a new talent, Impending Doom, which will give certain spells a chance to reduce the cooldown on Metamorphosis and Curse of Doom.
• Metamorphosis will no longer be subject to demonic crowd control. Furthermore, abilities available only while under the effects of Metamorphosis will be altered to put more emphasis on the warlock's own spells.
• Shadowburn will now do additional damage to targets below 25% health.

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Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Affliction
Spell Damage
Spell Crit
Shadow DoTs

Demonology
Spell Damage
Spell Haste
Demon Damage

Destruction
Spell Damage
Spell Critical Damage
Fire Direct Damage

Shadow DoTs: The damage caused by Shadow damage-over-time spells is increased.
Demon Damage: The damage caused by pets and Metamorphosis is increased.
Fire Direct Damage: The damage caused by Fire direct damage spells is increased.