#0 - July 7, 2010, 5:57 p.m.
When we first announced our design goals for class talent trees back at BlizzCon 2009, one of our major stated focuses was to remove some of the boring and “mandatory” passive talents. We mentioned that we wanted talent choices to feel more flavorful and fun, yet more meaningful at the same time. Recently, we had our fansites release information on work-in-progress talent tree previews for druids, priests, shaman, and rogues. From those previews and via alpha test feedback, a primary response we heard was that these trees didn’t really seem to incorporate the original design goals discussed at BlizzCon. This response echoes something we have been feeling internally for some time, namely that the talent tree system has not aged well ever since we increased the level cap beyond level 60. In an upcoming beta build, we will unveil bold overhauls of all 30 talent trees.
Talent Tree Vision
One of the basic tenets of Blizzard game design is that of “concentrated coolness.” We’d rather have a simpler design with a lot of depth, than a complicated but shallow design. The goal for Cataclysm remains to remove a lot of the passive or lame talents, but we don’t think that’s possible with the current size of the trees. So to resolve this we're reducing each tree to 31-point talents. With this reduction in tree size we need to make sure they're being purchased along a similar leveling curve, and therefore will also be reducing the number of total talent points and speed at which they're awarded during the leveling process.
As a result, we can keep the unique talents in each tree, particularly those which provide new spells, abilities or mechanics. We’ll still have room for extra flavorful talents and room for player customization, but we can trim a great deal of fat from each tree. The idea isn’t to give players fewer choices, but to make those choices feel more meaningful. Your rotations won’t change and you won’t lose any cool talents. What will change are all of the filler talents you had to pick up to get to the next fun talent, as well as most talents which required 5 of your hard-earned points.
We are further taking a hard look at many of the mandatory PvP talents, such as spell pushback or mechanic duration reductions. While there will always be PvP vs. PvE builds, we’d like for the difference to be less extreme such that someone doesn’t feel like they necessarily need to spend their second talent specialization on a PvP build.
The Rise of Specialization
In addition, we want to focus the talent trees even more towards your chosen style of gameplay right away. We want that first point you spend in a tree to be very meaningful. If you choose Enhancement, we want you to feel like an Enhancement shaman right away, not thirty talent points later. When talent trees are unlocked at level 10, you will be asked to choose your specialization (e.g. whether you want to be an Arms, Fury or Protection warrior) before spending that first point. Making this choice comes with certain benefits, including whatever passive bonuses you need to be effective in that role, and a signature ability that used to be buried deeper in the talent trees. These abilities and bonuses are only available by choosing a specific tree. Each tree awards its own unique active ability and passives when chosen. The passive bonuses range from flat percentage increases, for example a 20% increase to Fire damage for Fire mages or spell range increases for casters, to more interesting passives such as the passive rage regeneration of the former Anger Management talent for Arms warriors, Dual-Wield Specialization for Fury warriors and Combat rogues, or the ability to dual-wield itself for Enhancement shaman.
The active abilities unlocked with the initial talent tree selection are abilities that are core to the role being chosen. Our goal is to choose abilities that let the specializations come into their own much earlier than was possible when a specialization-defining talent had to be buried deep enough that other talent trees couldn’t access them. For example, having Lava Lash and Dual-Wield right away lets an Enhancement shaman feel like an Enhancement shaman. Other examples of abilities players can now get for free at level 10 include Mortal Strike, Bloodthirst, Shield Slam, Mutilate, Shadow Step, Thunderstorm, Earth Shield, Water Elemental and Penance.
Getting Down to the Grit
The talent trees themselves will have around 20 unique talents instead of the (roughly) 30 talents of today, and aesthetically look a bit more like the original World of Warcraft talent trees. The 31-point talents will generally be the same as the 51-point talents we already had planned for Cataclysm. A lot of the boring or extremely specialized talents have been removed, but we don't want to remove anything that’s going to affect spell/ability rotations. We want to keep overall damage, healing and survivability roughly the same while simply providing a lot of the passive bonuses for free based on your specialization choice.
While leveling, you will get 1 talent point about every 2 levels (41 points total at level 85). Our goal is to alternate between gaining a new class spell or ability and gaining a talent point with each level. As another significant change, you will not be able to put points into a different talent tree until you have dedicated 31 talent points to your primary specialization. While leveling, this will be possible at 70. Picking a talent specialization should feel important. To that end, we want to make sure new players understand the significance of reaching the bottom of their specialization tree before gaining the option of spending points in the other trees. For all intents and purposes, we intend to make sure dual-specialization and re-talenting function exactly as they do today so players do not feel locked indefinitely to their specialization choice.
A True Mastery
The original passive Mastery bonuses players were to receive according to how they spent points in each tree are being replaced with the automatic passive bonuses earned when a tree specialization is chosen. These passives are flat percentages and we no longer intend for them to scale with the number of talent points spent. The third Mastery bonus which was unique to each tree will now encapsulate the Mastery stat, found on high-level items, and Mastery will be a passive skill learned from class trainers around level 75. In most cases the Mastery stats will be the same as the tree-unique bonuses we announced earlier this year. These stats can be improved solely by stacking Mastery Rating found on high-level items.
To Recap
When players reach level 10, they are presented with basic information on the three specializations within their class and are asked to choose one. Then they spend their talent point. The other trees darken and are unavailable until 31 points are spent in the first tree. The character is awarded an active ability, and one or more passive bonuses unique to the tree they've chosen. As they level they'll receive a talent point around every other level, and skills available from their trainer (ideally) when a talent point isn't given. They'll have a 31-point tree to work down, each talent being more integral and exciting than they would have been in the past. Once they spend their 31'st point in the final talent (possible at level 70) the other trees un-darken and become available to spend points in from then on. As they move into the level 78+ areas in Cataclysm they'll begin seeing items with a new stat, Mastery. Once they learn the Mastery skill from their class trainer they'll receive bonuses from the stat based on the tree they've specialized in.
We understand these are fairly significant changes and still have a lot of details to solidify. We feel, however, they are more in-line with our original class design goals for Cataclysm and are confident they will make for a better gameplay experience. Your constructive feedback is welcomed and appreciated.