Blizzard has tweaked gameplay again with Cataclysm, rewarding players for making better choices in combat, and penalizing sloppy play. High-level players will see some significant changes to the way they have to play their characters.

For example, group leaders (tanks) will find it noticeably more difficult to hold the attention of their attackers (threat), with damage-dealing players able to easily steal that threat away if they aren't careful. And casters, especially healers, have also seen a marked difference in how they use mana--they're much more likely to run out unless they choose the right spell for the job every time. If you've gotten used to running through the high-level Lich King dungeons with one eye on your monitor and one eye on "Big Bang Theory," prepare to die.

Every class now has a choice of three different paths to take when choosing talents. For example, a priest can choose the holy path for healing, the shadow path for damage, or the discipline path which lies somewhere between the two. After choosing a path, a player cannot add talent points for any other path until 31 points have been spent (around level 70). Fewer talent points are allocated to each player now (one every other level, rather than every level), and talents have been revamped, so lower level players will see some big differences, but this change has not had a major impact on high-level play.

In previous versions of WoW, Talent Mastery was reached by using talent points at the bottom of the talent tree. Now, Mastery is a skill that your class trainer will teach you, and high-level items may also add Mastery stats to your bonuses, giving you additional skills. (Your mastery skill is now listed in your spellbook.)