Well, I only just realized that by creating characters on the Mekkatorque (EU) server on the Beta, I can make characters who are already at level 100, and in full epic PvP gear (the realm appears to be designed for PvP testing.)
So I created female versions of my various characters and decided to test out some of the new talents and see how things worked with a full complement of perks.
This is by no means comprehensive, as there are plenty of specs that I did not look into, but the overall sense I get is that the perks are somewhat transformative on some specs, but on others they're not really much more than an across-the-board 20% boost, just handed out one ability at a time.
The talents, however, are mostly pretty darn cool.
Death Knights:
One interesting thing here is that they clearly want Frost to use Cinderglacier and Razorice. I think Dual-Wielders are going to want one of each, and right now it seems that Razorice is for 2-handers, because of the big chunk of weapon damage the frost-damage effect deals.
Talent-wise, Breath of Sindragosa is the only really new ability, but seems like you'll have to be careful timing it - you'll want basically full Runic Power. Defile is really cool, but is pretty much just a souped-up Death and Decay. Necrotic Plague is interesting, but the one frustrating thing about it is that you can't refresh it - you need to let it fall off before you can reapply. Still, it means that Frost and Blood only have to use one rune now to get their diseases up, but on the other hand, you'll have to keep a closer eye on it to maintain it.
Paladins:
Prot and Ret feel the same as they do now, with the one major exception being the removal of Inquisition. I'm not exactly sure what the intended use for Seraphim is, but it looks like it could be a kind of short-term cool down. I didn't play with the Seal-dancing talent, though, because it looks like everything I'm glad I haven't had to deal with since Burning Crusade.
Warriors:
Ok, the major thing I wanted to look at is Gladiator Stance. And yes, it works pretty well. The one thing I'm noticing is that I seem to be Rage-flooded, but that's ok, because I guess that's what Heroic Strike is for. Protection in general still has one too many buttons, I think (given how gutted Arms is, you'd think they'd look at Prot,) but it's very cool to imagine doing DPS with a Sword-and-Board.
Hunters:
I tried out Marksmanship. It's actually a very simple set of abilities now, with Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot, and your level 90 Talent as your Focus-Spenders and Steady Shot as your generator. The new ammo abilities work very much like Rogue poisons, but I think it's designed for specific circumstances - Frost Ammo for kiting/PvP, Fire Ammo for AoE and Poison Ammo for Single-Target. With Marksmanship's new Sniper Training Mastery (which was once a Survival Talent, if I recall) I actually think Focusing Shot will be attractive - as you're encouraged to stand still anyway.
Shamans:
Whether it was a combination of Echo of the Elements or some kind of perk I didn't see, I felt like was blasting away a whole lot more with Lava Burst than I used to on Elemental. Elemental and Enhancement have the same talents. The one I think I like the best is Storm Elemental Totem, just because it gives us a third Greater Elemental to have attacking our foes. Enhancement now has a proc that can reset the cool down of Lava Lash, which is good, as I think they've done a lot to speed up the Enhancement Rotation.
Rogues:
Assassination's biggest new feature is that Slice and Dice is entirely passive now, so you just need to track Rupture. I tried out Death from Above, which is pretty cool, and looks like it should be substituted in for Envenom/Eviscerate when it's off cool down.
Monks:
Overall Brewmasters look about the same (though the healing orbs from Gift of the Ox are now gold instead of green.) I tried out Chi Explosion, which replaces Blackout Kick and has a greater effect the more Chi you spend. It's reasonably intuitive, and will probably be great for Windwalkers who get flooded with Chi.
Druids:
I tried out Balance, and I have to say that with certain talents (Balance of Power) the spec gets a lot simpler to play, which I'm fine with, as I always found it to be a bit fussy. Also, there's now constantly a sun and moon eclipsing each other above your head, which is a cool visual representation of the cycle.
Priests:
I only play Shadow among Priests. Largely, the spec remains unchanged. However, with the talent Clarity of Power, it gets very strange. I tend to take the passive proc talents (the ones that make Mind Spike and Mind Blast activate) and with Clarity of Power, I seemed to be proccing the instant, cool down-reset version of Mind Blast off of itself, meaning that I was getting to hit Mind Blast five times in a row. Granted, without the DoTs one does need to get more damage out of these spells, but it seemed a little insane.
Warlocks:
The overall feel of Demonology Warlocks is pretty much unchanged at 100. While it's very cool to summon your Doomguard/Terrorguard or Infernal/Abyssal as a permanent pet (and they get names!) I actually think I might steer away from that, as at least for now, the Super-Summon Demons don't really have any interesting abilities. Demonology does get access to Demonbolt, which I think will actually have a big impact on Demo's rotation. Given that Demonbolt hits very hard and can only be cast in Metamorphosis mode, I actually think we'll start seeing Demonology use up its Molten Core procs in caster form, and save the Demonic Fury for Demon Bolt.
Mages:
There are certainly some impactful perks for both Arcane and Frost, largely increasing the number of stored-up procs you can have. Arcane Orb is a talent that will be semi-rotational, as it has only a 15-second cool down. Comet Storm, on the other hand, has a somewhat longer cool down, but will probably also be used whenever it comes up.
For AoE, Frost gets a very cool perk that makes Blizzard reduce the cool down on Frozen Orb every time it does damage, meaning that in large groups, you'll probably be able to shoot off another Orb very soon after you send the first one. See, this is far better than running in and spamming Arcane Explosion. For single targets, the Water Elemental gets a cool new ability called Water Jet, which it channels at your target. While he's doing that, every Frostbolt or Frostfire Bolt you hit them with will generate a Fingers of Frost charge. You can set this to auto-cast, but I think the real pros are probably going to want to control this manually (we'll see how I go.)
100:
As you can see, I have only scratched the surface here, as there are tons of specs I haven't even looked at, as well as many of the talents. Likewise, this is all probably subject to change. Still, it's cool to see some of these new ideas emerging.
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