Dual Talent Specs - At last
In case you haven't heard, Blizzcon was last week and a lot of interesting announcements were made. Here's a short summary of what were the biggest announcements, in my opinion:
What does that mean? It means you'll be able to save 2 different Talent Specs for your characters, and that you'll be able to switch between the two as much as you want, any time you want, besides while in combat or in arenas.
This change made me smile, because it's something which should have been done years ago, and I actually had tried to push for this change back in 2005!
In 2005, before I even started to write guides, I was a warrior and I was the main tank for my guild, we were raiding The Molten Core and Onyxia. As the main tank, I was full protection specced, which meant that I was doing as much damage as an asthmatic clam. In short, outside of raids, I couldn't do anything with my warrior, I couldn't farm gold and I couldn't PvP well either. The only option was to respec during the week-end and then respec back to full prot for the next raid week.
100 Gold spent on respecs every week was really a pain in the butt. Not to mention, I was still unable to farm gold or to pvp during the week, as I could only afford one re-spec per week, and I'd do it on the week-end to get the most out of it.
I wasn't alone with this problem. All the healers in my guild were complaining about it too, they were having big issues with their repair costs and being unable to farm decently.
So I made a big post on the blizzard forums, suggesting that blizzard should allow everyone to have 2 talent specs they could switch to or to drop the respec costs to something reasonable such as 5 or 10 gold maximum. It was a very long post, well argumented and it clearly showed how unfair it was for Healer/Tanking classes at that time.
Sadly, the post got immediately jumped by a bunch of immature posters, their sole arguement being "LOL u can't hav everything u know... u can't be the super main tank 4 ur guild but also be the super pvp star..." or "It's called talent SPEC because u have to CHOOSE for ur character.... what's the point of choosing if u can re-choose as much as u want???"
Basically, the post got ugly and disappeared quickly despite my efforts to keep it bumped and to get support from other players. No Blizzard poster ever read it I bet. I was angry and swore to never post again on those damned Blizzard boards (I broke that promise not so long after, but anyway :P). I couldn't understand why people where so blind and couldn't see the glaring issue at hand with the talent specs.
This got even worse as time passed. When the Arena system was added to the game, people wanted to be able to do a couple of arena matches in the evening after the raid was over. My guild had a lot of problem with people showing up on raids with PvP specs, because they didn't want to respec everyday, and they didn't want to be gimped in arenas either.
Finally, 4 years later, they are going to add this feature. I'm not saying I'm some kind of super visionary here, because seriously, this was obviously needed from the start! I can't believe it took so long, and I'm glad it's finally there (almost!).
If we're lucky, this will be added in the first content patch after the release of WotLK. And that means December maybe, in the best case scenario! But knowing Blizzard, it's more likely to be somewhere in the middle of the first trimester of 2009.
In any case, this is a great change and I can't wait!
- Diablo III, the Wizard Class was revealed. Wizard Trailer | Gameplay Video
- Patch 3.1 will be the first content patch of the expansion and is already done. It will include Ulduar, a new raid instance (10 and 25 Man)
- Patch 3.2 will add another raid instance to the game. Still unknown.
- Patch 3.3 will introduce the Icecrown Citadel and should also resolve the storyline of Ashbringer.
- Blizzard's "secret project" is confirmed to be a new MMO with a brand new universe, but we won't hear anything about it before a while. My hunch on this is that this MMO will take place in a futuristic universe, involving space travel and conquest and all that stuff. World of Starcraft anyone? :p
- And my personal favorite: Dual Talent Specs. This new feature should be added to the game in one of the content patches following the release of Wotlk. Hopefully in Patch 3.1.
What does that mean? It means you'll be able to save 2 different Talent Specs for your characters, and that you'll be able to switch between the two as much as you want, any time you want, besides while in combat or in arenas.
This change made me smile, because it's something which should have been done years ago, and I actually had tried to push for this change back in 2005!
In 2005, before I even started to write guides, I was a warrior and I was the main tank for my guild, we were raiding The Molten Core and Onyxia. As the main tank, I was full protection specced, which meant that I was doing as much damage as an asthmatic clam. In short, outside of raids, I couldn't do anything with my warrior, I couldn't farm gold and I couldn't PvP well either. The only option was to respec during the week-end and then respec back to full prot for the next raid week.
100 Gold spent on respecs every week was really a pain in the butt. Not to mention, I was still unable to farm gold or to pvp during the week, as I could only afford one re-spec per week, and I'd do it on the week-end to get the most out of it.
I wasn't alone with this problem. All the healers in my guild were complaining about it too, they were having big issues with their repair costs and being unable to farm decently.
So I made a big post on the blizzard forums, suggesting that blizzard should allow everyone to have 2 talent specs they could switch to or to drop the respec costs to something reasonable such as 5 or 10 gold maximum. It was a very long post, well argumented and it clearly showed how unfair it was for Healer/Tanking classes at that time.
Sadly, the post got immediately jumped by a bunch of immature posters, their sole arguement being "LOL u can't hav everything u know... u can't be the super main tank 4 ur guild but also be the super pvp star..." or "It's called talent SPEC because u have to CHOOSE for ur character.... what's the point of choosing if u can re-choose as much as u want???"
Basically, the post got ugly and disappeared quickly despite my efforts to keep it bumped and to get support from other players. No Blizzard poster ever read it I bet. I was angry and swore to never post again on those damned Blizzard boards (I broke that promise not so long after, but anyway :P). I couldn't understand why people where so blind and couldn't see the glaring issue at hand with the talent specs.
This got even worse as time passed. When the Arena system was added to the game, people wanted to be able to do a couple of arena matches in the evening after the raid was over. My guild had a lot of problem with people showing up on raids with PvP specs, because they didn't want to respec everyday, and they didn't want to be gimped in arenas either.
Finally, 4 years later, they are going to add this feature. I'm not saying I'm some kind of super visionary here, because seriously, this was obviously needed from the start! I can't believe it took so long, and I'm glad it's finally there (almost!).
If we're lucky, this will be added in the first content patch after the release of WotLK. And that means December maybe, in the best case scenario! But knowing Blizzard, it's more likely to be somewhere in the middle of the first trimester of 2009.
In any case, this is a great change and I can't wait!
Posts
Jame,
That is great news! I had heard rumours about the duel-talent spec options but then I was told it was going to be dropped. I was very disappointed, though now to hear that it will in fact be implimented after launch makes me smile.
I too understand the pain of respec costs, as I have played a holy priest for a long time raiding, and having the issues of respecing for pvp. I wonder, will the feature be available before the launch of the new arena season?
This will also mean it will definately be worth while rolling for offspec loot now that offspecing will be much more viable. The question that needs to be asked is now duel-spec will be implmented, will gear competition (especially between casters with the combined spell power stat) increase due to this, or will it still remain even amongst the classes? Give me your thoughts on this.
I guess it depends on the guilds. I know that in my guild, we don't allow people to roll for offspec loot if someone needs it for his main spec.
But for other guild I can see this become a bigger problem than what it was before :P
Hey Jame, nice post, very interesting to read.
I have a question: with the upcoming patch (tomorrow, 15th of October ) the Experience required to level from 60 to 70 will be decresed with a constant curve. So, 60-61 will require 40% less xp and 69-70 is only 3% less. What do you suggest to people who are thinking to start your outland guides?
Bye.
Hey Matteo. Actually it doesn't change anything for my guides. People shoudl still follow them as they are and hit level 70 at some point. Then it's their decision if they want to finish the guide to get headstart before going to Northrend.
Going to Northrend halfway to level 71 has many advantages. The sooner you ding 71, the easier the quests become for you.
Also, if you ding 80 early on Northrend, you can then finish the Northrend quest hubs to get a lot of extra gold, which never hurts.
Basically it's the same as before and I'll advise people to finish my Outland guides before going to Northrend.
Thanks for the answer :)
I've got it, basically the same you said when TBC went out... I'll follow your guides completly and then I'll move to Northrend.
Slightly offtopic, but have you decided on glyphs for levelling yet? Since i'm going to powerlevel inscription on an alt today I'd like to prepare some glyphs. Since I'm going to be Unholy I currently tend to Glyph of the Ghoul but am torn between Glyph of IT or DS. IT damage isnt that great anyway and 10rp might come in useful. DS should be helpful for elites and AOE. SS looks nice too but will probably just mess up rotations and most mobs won't live long enough while levelling.
I've been toying around with Glyphs and leveling, but I don't have a final list yet, I'll release one ASAP though so that people can prepare it before Wotlk release.
So far, the glyphs of Death Strike, Bone Shield and Ghoul are the top contenders.
Ok thanks, looking forward to it. I created several of each of the mentioned now just to be sure since it was neccessarry for skillups anyway. So far I got 12 of 21 major glyphs. Looks like the rest will only be available with the grand master trainer in Dalaran or BT :/
Jame,
While we are on the topic of professions, what are you current views on the 'best' professions to take for the Death Knight? Prehaps you could break it down to PvE: tanking, PvE:dps, and also for PvP.
I've been reading abit on the topic so far at http://elitistjerks.com/f15/t29288-wotlk_profession_thread/p35/
The Elitist Jerks theorycrafting forum. It still seems inconclusive though.
I was thinking prehaps Jewelcrafting, as 3 dragon's eyes i believe you can stack three of 1 type, not just 3 of any, which would mean possibly 3 x +attack power gems, or the flexibility of a mixture (hit or crit etc) Then again, blacksmith sockets also present an attractive option.
This might warrent its own topic, I leave this up to your infinite wisdom Jame /bow :P
I'll take mining and JC right from the start and will switch mining for BS at 80 after I collected enough mats for it. JC first because I think it provides better effects at the beginning (e.g. the Emerald Boar at 75, filled with 2 dragon eye gems at 80). Also the boe JC epic ring and necklace will for a long time only be available to JCs because of the dragon eye req (which requires JC tokens that can only be obtained by JCs and are also neccessary for receipts). Last but not least the dragon eye gems allow for easier meta requirements (since they're prismatic) like the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond (2x blue)
But that's just my 2 cents :D
Now that's a tough one, and there are so many different answers for it :P
It all depends what kind of player you are (casual, pvp'er, raider?) and what kind of role you want to fill (tank, farmbot, dps?)
I really can't say right now, this would deserve a guide of its own for each category, and I haven't delved into this matter enough at this point to even write such a guide. So, time will tell, and I'll let you know what my views are on this subject as soon as I feel I'm knowledgeable enough about it.
Jame,
Ok that would be brilliant, at a later date to review professions. I know you're probably busy with other aspects of the class so thats totally fine.
I'm a semi-casual (hardecore in the fact that I would play at least 3 times a week, most likely alot more than that, but not hardcore as in hardcore 5-7 days raiding commitment) with a middling interest in arenas (causally arena that is). My main priority will be in my casual raiding guild as a pve dps (either blood or unholy, whatever your final verdict is regarding usefulness for the DK's role in that regard - im guessing blood for the health return though unholy might also be taken for the anti-magic zone and what seems to be higher dps)
@Michael,
You raise an interesting point. Its true that almost every craftable BOP will eventually be replaced by raid loot.
Blacksmithing has yet to have any BOP epic craftables revealed (at least that I'm aware of), so far its been the sockets, which may or may not have issues with other enchantments. Jewelcrafting has the craftable amulet and trinket (which boasts 2 sockets!) and as you mentioned ,the luxurary that Dragon's eyes grant with socket bonuses etc.
I can see the wisdom behind dropping it later on when the epic gems replace the dragons eyes (according to the elitist jerks link). Right now we can only speculate.