Draele

My guess is you're going to simply visit a class trainer and they will have a "switch specs" option(at of course no cost). Switching back and forth like that inside of a dungeon is past the point of trivializing the whole concept of talent specs. Visiting the trainer doesn't bastardize the talent tree system like that IMO- even if there's no cooldown on it it's not something that should be done "in the field"

Now don't get me wrong I'm not against the idea of switching between specs. It will help curb the lack of tanks/healers and let people respec for PvP, etc but I just don't want to see it devolve to a point where they design encounters around forcing people to do their on the fly respecs to meet some sort of requirement. For some their main talent spec is the essence of their character and to be expected to change this because of more stringent requirements (that can and will be exercised due to a respec on the fly system) is only going to ruin the experience for many. Like having an encounter require a Fury Warrior to respec Prot to meet some sort of tanking demand that otherwise wouldn't be present if not for the fact that he has the ability to respec on the fly-

It will eventually, and mark my words, make it so you can no longer say "I'm a Fury Warrior" but will degrade into a generic "I'm just... a Warrior" It will remove character talent spec identity by ultimately forcing respecs to the point where that identity is lost.

Rantings of the Afflicted, a Warlock blog: http://draele.blogspot.com/

 

Gokey

Couldn't that person just pay for a respec then?

 

bv728

Which, while time consuming, is no worse than it is currently for someone to show up for a raid in the wrong spec (happens occasionally). Respeccing would also make sense to reset your cooldown.

But, really, there are a million possible permutations available, and Blizz will choose the one we don't want first, then swap later on.

 

Hildegard

If respecs become significantly more expensive or the hearth stone is on cooldown maybe not. Especially when being in an instance with respawn behind you and no warlock present. For raids it will be much less of a problem. I think a short cooldown would most likely be better. Switching inside the arena is an quite more complex issue.

Hildegard Sprigglespruxx - Wissenschaftlerin am Institut für Pfuschkunde

http://forscherliga.wikia.com/wiki/Hildegard

 

Gokey

I think you missed my point. I was simply referring to him mentioning that a person could potentially get locked into 1 spec due to the cooldown between the two.

On another note, I think this may be a potentially good money sink for players if Blizzard decides to go that route.

Hasn't it already 'degraded' to that point?

 

Samsonite

I don't think it would be wise for a money sink. One of the large problems with BC leveling was the shear lack of tanks and healers, everybody was specced for leveling and it was a huge pain (I leveled as a holy paladin in BC because of it /shudder). I see it as more of a convenience thing more than anything, and doubt it would be game breaking at all if you really sit down and think about it, ie 15 min cooldown, and disabled in arenas / bg's. This will also by no means be the end of respeccing, several classes have many builds covering pve/pvp. On top of this it may also solve some of the 10 man balance issues, and open up a more complex encounter design for the smaller raid without sending people back to a capital to respec.

 

PSGarak

In a raid situation, sans ZA portal bans and timed runs, people would treat a one-button-press respec and a trip back the trainer and functionally equivalent, and with good reason. Visiting the train would limit in-the-field switching while leveling, grinding, or spontaneously PvPing, but it wouldn't even really change anything for 5-man instance runs. But that's about how restrictive normal respecs are right now, so either they're offering relatively free-er respecs with some semblance of character permanancy, or normal respecs are getting more restrictive.

http://armory.mmo-champion.com.nyud....88847noszh.png

 

• songster

If I understand rightly, WF totem will now give people a buff, just like all other totems such as GoA. This has three consequences:

1) Ferals can benefit from WF totem
2) Rogues can now use MH poisons and WF at the same time. Warriors can use weightstones, etc.

3) Totem twisting just became impossible

The whole reason totem twisting works is that the WF totem sends out pulses putting up a temporary weapon imbue. If you convert that to a standard buff, then it'll disappear as soon as you swap totems.

 

◊ Praetorian

But if SoE also gives you Agility like GoA, then what would you even want to twist? TA, I guess, but that's pretty situational.

 

Zyz

with totems being raidwide, it won't be an issue

 

• songster

True, assuming the new SoE/GoA is an Earth totem. It's possible however that in future there may be a second desirable Air totem - which won't be twistable with WF. My point is simply that the whole mechanic of twisting no longer works, so Blizzard doesn't have to worry about it as a factor.

Edit: Thinking about it - the obvious answer to your question would be Tranquil Air. Extra aggro reduction / higher DPS threshold would be a pretty solid thing to twist with WF, even with SoE and GoA being combined.

 

◊ Lord BEEF

I figured they'd handle the respec issue one way or another and I'm happy to see it confirmed.

Being able to switch from healing to dps at no gold cost, while wearing most of the same gear will be great for caster druids, shamans, and priests.

Plus with the saved bag space I won't mind carrying a tanking set around with me too.

 

• Playered

They dont want people needing to twist to be most effective, the same as how they dont want people to time their Steady/Auto Shots (granted this is somewhat more of an annoying mechanic) in order to do the general intended DPS.

This isn't intended as a dig, but they said their vision was for classes to be 'easy to learn, hard to master', and im not quite sure what their meaning of mastery is.
Once I learn the basics of "Spam Steady Shot", "Use Aspect", and "Make my pet attack my target" - what is there left for me to master to enhance my performance and advance my skill? knowing itemization?
Im not saying this is the case for all DPS classes though, but it seems beyond gimmics (interrupting, tranq shot..) there is not much for me to show my finesse off in any meaningful way.


Obviously this is more of a DPS concern than a Healer one as responsive reactions, spell utility, and intuitive knowledge will be far more prominant as a Healer in showing off my encounter knowledge and class mastery.

 

Tunch

And yet the dps output of hunters(whatever class, really) across the world varies greatly, while they all use the same three basics you listed, and given comparable gear. Although a lot of it I'd just chalk up to general game aptitude/ability, as opposed to hunter-specific ability.

 

Tacitus

Not to mention that their definition of mastery propably includes the area you are currently in. Farming solo is hardly similar to PVP or raids, yet most still do damage the same way.

Brotherhood, Peace, Unity

Welcome back, Comrade

 

• Playered

Im willing to say that group and raid composition will pay a very heavy role in the differences you see though, it's not something easy to check as the people with the top end gear where you can easily compare you would expect roughly equal skill level at this stage of the game too, but will be something to investigate.


The implication of Hunters was more of a WoTLK concern though, with the SS changes from a timed/macro ability into a mash ability that you spam regardless.

 

Trouble

Is there any place that's recording the panels at the WWI and/or written copies of them? I'd like to watch the Anatomy of Dungeons and Raids but I'll be damned if I'm going to stay up until like 4am to watch it.

 

Addled

Only healers/hybrids would have to pay 10k gold just so they can be viable in all areas of the game? That doesn't sound very balanced. What would the money sink be for the pure DPS classes?

 

Tacitus

WOW Insider is doing liveblogs of all wow related stuff at the WWI. On a different note, I'm up at 3 AM replying to you >_>

PVP specs. No matter how hard Blizzard tries, people will try to optimize their spec for something and PVE and PVP don't match specwise.

Brotherhood, Peace, Unity

Welcome back, Comrade

 

• Playered

DPS classes generally have PvE and PvP specs too, although im sure at this point you will bring up that Hybrid classes also have these and thus are punished or something and require more..

Please keep in mind there was nothing beyond the fact they are intending to implement a talent shifting system into the game, we do not know if it will cost gold, its intended purpose or what yet.

 

spanko

All I'm saying about the talent thing is that the point of it has to be to alleviate the annoyance of having to go to a major city for every respec and respend your points. Thats all respeccing is right now, the 50g cost is totally meaningless and irrelevant. So any change they add that entails having 2 specs that you can switch between has to be something you can do wherever you are, its a convenience change. Obviously you woudln't let people switch specs in combat or in an arena, that should go without saying.

 

PSGarak

You're making the assumption that respecing your two swappable specs will remain as easy as it currently is, something I'm suspicious of.

You're right that swapping between the two specs will have to be considerably easier than changing either of those, but you're forgetting the possibility that they may make the normal respecing more difficult instead of, or in addition to, making swapping easier. I'm expecting at the least an economically nontrivial full-respec cost, if not a cooldown as well, while the swap-cost will not be greater than running back to town and possibly spending a trivial amount of gold and/or a small cooldown. Field respecs are a touchy subject but you're right that they're for practical intents equivalent to humping it back to the NPC.

http://armory.mmo-champion.com.nyud....88847noszh.png

 

Shakes

Cross spec gear and free respecs I think all tie into the whole raidwide buffs thing. After all, currently if you happen to have two of the same spec, you can at least make do and have them buff another group, even if they may not be the optimal spec in that slot. With utility going raid wide, now all a second of that spec brings is sub-par personal DPS.

To me it means we'll be seeing guilds with rosters having a moonkin, and a resto-kin: resto druid who goes moonkin when the moonkin can't show.

I'm not sure this is going to be a completely popular change, a lot of people are very set in only wanting to play one spec. The pure class = dps, hybrid = utility thing is all well and good to an extent, but it's a bit of a pain that you can't have more than one of a hybrid spec. Requiring more than one is bad, but requiring you have one and one only is in many ways worse. Too bad if you have a couple of friends who both enjoy enhancement shaman, they can't raid together, seems a pretty harsh policy.

 

Feanoro

- Timing can make a huge difference.

- Latency can be our best friend or our worst enemy. Imagine having a let's say 2.5 weapon speed, but due to lag, you need it to be 2.7 or more to compensate. What do we do? Pull out a spare bow? Swap gear around? No, we grit our teeth, curse quietly, and try to manually adjust all night. Fuuuuuuuuuuuun.

-Group composition can make a huge difference. Imagine a melee group with and without Windfury. Now imagine a hunter group with and without LotP.