Are Talents Trying to do Too Much?

#1 - March 31, 2017, 11:12 p.m.

The following quote from the Rogue class fantasy insight post intrigued me...

03/30/2017 05:19 PMPosted by Seph
But we lean on our talent trees to do so much more than just let you choose between 2 thematic paths for your spec fantasy - they have to offer simple passives vs. added complexity via new buttons, single target vs. AOE mechanics, playstyle/pacing customization, and more.

...and makes me wonder; is the current talent system being asked to do too much?

Should another system be developed or an existing one re-purposed to let players better focus their class theme and flavor, while the decisions that affect mechanical depth and playstyle remain the primary job of talents? How much of a class' theme and flavor is purely aesthetic and how much relies on the interactions of discreet abilities?

Obviously this is a very broad question with no clear answer, I just wondered if it got people thinking.

Sigma

Game Designer

#2 - March 31, 2017, 11:21 p.m.

This is indeed something we talk about a lot, especially as the number of talent rows that are custom to an individual spec's rotation is now up to 4 or 5 on nearly all specs. You might not need 5 ways to customize which aspect of your rotation you'd most like to emphasize, or want to change 5 things to better optimize from one raid boss to the next. The broad question of "how do I want to make talent choices, what do I want them to be based on, and in what situations is it fun to change them?" is good for some open-ending thinking.