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  1. #1
    Jeremiah's Avatar Former Mod
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    Blizzard Talent Tree Revamp: Reactions

    Blizzard announced that they will change Cataclyam class talent trees in accordance to a new design philosophy, which goes something along the lines of what Blizz poster Zarhym calls "concentrated coolness".

    Blizzard basically wants to cut down on talent tree complexity, but add depth to simplicity. This statement seems oxymoronic in and of itself. While I'm all for making WoW more accessible to casual players (and marketing wise, what company wouldn't be?), but the way that they are revamping talent trees seems to warrant not only a pushback to the Cataclysm release date, but an idea of pointless simplification, without focused attention on the foresight of the new system's implementation.

    To get a better understanding. you can read this:
    (Alternatively, you can read the TL;DR version at the bottom)


    Originally Posted by Zarhym
    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 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 since we first 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 tree size. 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 the 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 that required 5 of your hard-earned points.

    We are also 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, so that players don't feel like they necessarily need to spend their second talent specialization on a PvP build.

    The Rise of Specialization

    We want to focus the talent trees towards your chosen style of gameplay right away. That first point you spend in a tree should 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 specializing in a specific tree. Each tree awards its own unique active ability and passives when chosen. The passive bonuses range from flat percentage increases, like 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 initial talent tree selection unlocks active abilities that are core to the chosen role. 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 role-defining 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

    Talent trees will have around 20 unique talents instead of today's (roughly) 30 talents, and aesthetically will 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 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. We intend to make sure dual-specialization and re-talenting function exactly as they do today so players do not feel locked into 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 by 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 Mastery bonus that was unique to each tree will now be derived from 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 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 chosen tree. The character is awarded an active ability, and one or more passive bonuses unique to the tree they've chosen. As they gain levels, they'll alternate between receiving a talent point and gaining new skills. They'll have a 31-point tree to work down, with each talent being more integral and exciting than they have been in the past. Once they spend their 31'st point in the final talent (at level 70), the other trees open up and become available to allocate points into from then on. As characters 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 that these are significant changes and we still have details to solidify. We feel, however, that these changes better fulfill our original class design goals for Cataclysm, and we're confident that they will make for a better gameplay experience. Your constructive feedback is welcomed and appreciated.


    TL;DR:

    - One talent tree is focused upon and chosen at level 10. Until you fill that talent tree with 31 points (which is the new maximum), you cannot dip into other trees.
    Analysis: This will kill any sort of creativity in leveling talent specs, which means that specially-built AoE grinding specs and hybrid specs will essentially be rendered impossible to emulate below a certain level, which is very bad. Blizzard suggests that the upside of this is that they are eliminating "worthless" and "boring" passive talents, which will instead be implemented into the mastery system. These include talents such as passive +Hit, +AP, and other bonuses.
    -All of the talent trees will no longer have "boring" passive talents, and will be filled with spells and other useful talents from that tree.
    -Mastery rating, which allows you to spend more mastery points in your mastery tree, will be a stat on items level 78 and above. Basically, Blizzard will be giving you the ability to spend the mastery you get from new upgrades on the stats that you want to focus on for your build. This is a good change.
    -Talent points will not be given at every level, but every "other" level. If you didn't do the math, that means you will have to be level 61+ to begin building a hybrid spec, since you will only be getting a point every two levels.

    All right, let's try to see it from Blizzard's point of view then, and not jump the gun. Blizzard is removing PASSIVE talent bonuses from the trees, which means that warriors won't have to dip into Cruelty, as +Critical strike will be available in the mastery system. What Blizz is trying to do is streamline the trees, so we pick our spells from the trees, and our stats from mastery.

    This won't be too bad for high levels. I'm just worried about how it will make leveling stale. How fun will it be to stay in one tree while you're leveling? To me, it doesn't sound very fun at all. I had a blast with my prot/fury hybrid spec on my warrior.

    Pluses:
    + This will allow for deadly hybridization of trees at level 85. A hunter will be able to essentially grab Explosive Shot and Trueshot Aura at the same time, for example.
    + It will make the classes more streamlined and easier to understand for newbies who play WoW.
    + Mastery is a very good idea.

    Minuses:
    - Oversimplification will kill creative hybrid leveling specs.
    - New system and trees will take a lot of fine-tuning and balancing.
    - Blizzard could possibly push Cataclysm back to 2011 in order to fine-tune the new talents and mastery system, in order to ensure that a disastrous launch like 3.0 (With Ret paladins and DKs murdering scores of players in BGs) won't happen again.

    Comments? Leave them below. What do you think about the new Blizz design philsophy?
    Leecher -> Active -> News Team -> Contrib -> News Team Leader -> Moderator -> Former Mod
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    Blizzard Talent Tree Revamp: Reactions
  2. #2
    Mr.Jebus Christ's Avatar Banned
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    I personally think that should make it 40 talents for each spec with 51 talents total so it will be like the pre-tbc days where everything was kinda balanced.

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