As Blizzard promised, the Cataclysm Class Preview for Paladins has arrived a little earlier than anticipated, but a little later than all of the other classes. The new high level spells have a little bit for all Paladins, be they Holy, Protection, or Retribution.

At level 81, Paladins will get Blinding Shield, which acts as both an AoE damage dealer and an AoE crowd control spell. As it requires a shield and will be talentable to instant cast in the Protection tree, the spell should be useful to Holy and Prot Paladins, but Ret can always slap on a shield to get one off in a pinch.

Healing Hands is a new AoE healing spell for Paladins to utilize, which will radiate heals from the Paladin when activated. Lasting 6 seconds on a 15 second cooldown, it should provide a very welcomed gift to Holy Paladins who are currently lacking any significant AoE healing. A Ret or Prot Pally might even be able to throw on Healing Hands to help with particularly heavy AoE damage.

The final new spell Paladins will train up is Guardian of Ancient Kings (can’t wait to hear people scream “Popping GAK!”), a temporary guardian type pet for Paladins that will be another cooldown that depends on the spec of the character. Holy will get a guardian that heals, Prot’s will absorb damage, and Ret’s guardian will deal damage. Another nice bit of flavor for those blessed by the Light.

Paladins have a lot of other changes to look forward to in the next expansion including the combining of Blessing of Might and Blessing of Wisdom and the addition of both Crusader Strike and Holy Shock as trainable spells.

Check out all of the changes after the break!

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Leap of Faith turns Priests into babysitters for people who stand in the fire.

Priest information is coming in awful late for us in the Western hemisphere, but Blizzard did say they were going to stagger releases so that all fans around the world would get something to read at an appropriate time. Nonetheless, there are some interesting changes as you might expect.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice a lot of the same language they used earlier in describing how Shaman healing would change. And like that class, a new healing spell will be added early in the game to make newbie Priests feel more versatile long before they ever have to start raiding. Mana usage will also have to be monitored more closely.

As far as new spells go, there’s Mind Spike (a new “fill-in” damage component for Shadow spec), Inner Will (a self-buff that increases movement/decreases mana cost of instant spells), and Leap of Faith (a utility spell that allows you to pull party/raid members towards you to get them out of trouble). I love utility spells like that because, when encounters are built around them, it means the game is a lot more about skill and less about chewing through numbers.

I actually found two of the new talents more intriguing, though. Power Word: Barrier, which Blizzard says functions similar to a Death Knight’s Anti-Magic Zone, seems like it will be integral to Discipline play. Chakra is a new mechanic in the Holy tree that allows Priests to switch their healing priority by casting three spells of a certain type in a row. Say you cast three Greater Heals in succession. Chakra kicks and and gives you an appropriate buff, temporarily specializing you in tank healing. Think of it a little bit like shifting gears on a car depending on what you need to do at any given time.

Of course, there are many more spell and talent changes than I’ve discussed here. Hit the jump for the whole shebang. Continue Reading