05-04-2006, 05:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-04-2006, 06:23 PM by MongoJerry.)
It seems to me that most of the changes are designed to free up talent points to allow mages to choose more talents than they previously have been able to. Evocation has been changed to a trainable ability and Arcane Explosion will now start off as an instant cast spell. That frees up some talent points right there. Plus, many other talents require fewer talent points to have the same effect. Otherwise, the changes seem like minor adjustments. Arcane Power has had its damage and mana cost reduced by 5% while other abilities have had their strengths slightly increased. I'm not seeing any new "toy" abilities like priests got with Power Infusion, Lightwells, or the new versions of Spirit of Redemption or Holy Nova. Maybe more mages will get Blastwave now, because they don't have to spend so many points elsewhere? That's about the only playstyle change that I can see coming from this. I do see that going Ice/Fire will be more viable in the future.