Talent Tree Changes Article

#0 - July 7, 2010, 5:43 p.m.

Just read the long blue post about Blizzard's goals for the talent tree changes being made to accomplish a goal more similar to what they had discussed at Blizzcon.

I think it is too early (Especially since we haven't SEEN these new trees) to say ZOMG BAD or ZOMG AMAZING with where they are going, but I do think it is worth bringing up.

1. Being asked to choose why "type" of class you want to be BEFORE spending any talent points.

Response: This is an interesting idea. I do remember leveling a shaman and speccing enhancement right off the bat and feeling something very similar to what they described in their preview. I felt like an elemental shaman/resto shaman until around 30ish.
This change I do not see changing high level gameplay too much, because at that point the talents and masteries will be so fleshed out that it's very clear who and what you are.

2. Not being able to branch out to other trees until your 31 points in your primary tree have been used.

Response: Again, too early to get angry but I see this becoming a little bit of an issue. In order for this to be successful, Blizzard needs to do at least 1 of 2 things. One, they need to make sure that talents that may be favorable to another tree as well (Such as Twin Disciplines being in Disc tree for Holy priests) are redesigned so that people do not feel suffocated when going to make their talent choices.

"Awww! I know I spec'd elemental but this increased mana pool from Enhancement sounds so great since I'm having mana issues! Oh well, I guess I have to wait til level 60 before I can get it!" - Not a great scenario.
Two, make the differences between the tree's so vast that there would be no way a discipline priest and holy priest would want to cross talents. Why do I keep bringing up priests? They are the only class that has TWO healing trees. But the same philosophy goes for a lot of dps classes as well. Arcane/Fire, Assassin/Combat, etc.
In my opinion, the first option seems more realistic.

Hopefully when these trees are released Blizzard will provide us with the details such as "You will gain 1 talent point every X levels and these are the conditions under which you may spend it."

Thanks for reading =)

#1 - July 7, 2010, 6:02 p.m.

It's ZOMG AMAZING. We wouldn't go through all the work it is taking if we weren't convinced it was 100% win.

On your first point, too many of the specs didn't really feel like their spec until they had spent a lot of talents in the tree. All mages pretty much played the same until level 30 to 40 or so. Even with the Cataclysm changes, a Holy, Prot and Ret paladin would pretty much be using Crusader Strike and Judgements until they had several more abilities unlocked.

On your second point, we know some players liked the option of spending some points in the first tree and then some in the second tree. Often this was just a trap for new players though because it delays your getting the 21, 31 and other "gold medal" talents that really define your tree. Experienced players might learn to get a 5/5/5 build or whatever and then respec once they could reach the 31, but we could also just make better trees that didn't ask you to do that.