Pushback has always been the bane of spellcasters and Hunters everywhere, be it in PvP or PvE. The slightest bit of damage, even the environmental kind, can make a quick 1 second cast somehow stretch into eternity. However, as of the latest Beta build, the eternal cast time may be a thing of the past thanks to some new spell pushback rules.

When you're casting a spell, the first two hits will add .5 seconds each to the cast time. Every other cast will have no effect. For channeled spells, the first 2 hits will take 25% each off the total duration, while all subsequent hits will have no effect.

This sounds like it should be a pretty awesome change overall, especially for solo or small group PVE, where one who has drawn aggro or otherwise lost control of their target can rest assured that it will take them only a single second longer to get off a heal or cast a crowd control spell. Here's hoping this is one change that makes it to the live servers.

Of course, it's probably still worth taking that pushback protection talent if you can. There's no use tempting fate, and that 1 extra second can be a surprisingly long time when you're under pressure.

Thanks to everyone who pointed this out!

I remember the day that patch 2.3 was released. I got out of work at six PM as was stoked to get home and try some of the glorious improvements. I had a 25 minute commute then, north on I-15 right past the Las Vegas Strip. Usually by six most of the traffic had cleared and it was pretty smooth sailing- except that day. Some genius decided that it was a good idea to reduce the four-lane freeway to one. My left leg aching from working the clutch and blood pressure rising from impatience and a bit of road rage, it took me about an hour and a half to get home. I should be used to pushback though; I play a caster in WoW.

Debigmacca of Aman'Thul believes that Wrath would be a good time to do away with spell pushback. His argument is based on the number of stuns, fears, and assorted other of immobilization effects that abound in the current state of the game. There was some agreement with the original poster that spell pushback is unnecessary as casters often quickly fall prey to melee DPS. There's only so much a trinket can do.

Spellpower of Malfurion posted on the Priest forums that spell pushback is an indication that Blizzard prefers melee classes over spell casters. In his thread, the original poster used the example of a sixteen-second actual cast time for a second and a half spell due to spell pushback. This greatly reduced the effect of casters against melee classes. Songbreeze of Dragonmaw echoed this sentiment with the response, "Welcome to World of Meleecraft."

Other posters disagreed. Some stated that many PvE encounters favor casters. Nemarra of Tichondrius pointed out that melee characters have an equal disadvantage at range. Casters also have access to instant spells and abilities such as Blink, Frost Nova and Curse of Exhaustion to help them get out of melee range. Others have access to Power Word Shield and Earth Shield that mitigate the effects of pushback. If you're concerned about spell pushback, you should pay particular attention to how your spec can mitigate it.