WoW Petopia Community

To me it sounds like they created WoW, then they released BC and made WoW bigger, then they release WotLK and made it even bigger. Now they are looking at this huge cobbled together monstrosity and saying WTF!? This thing is a nightmare. Let's take this expansion and fix it instead of adding to it. [...] I honestly think they are trying to tame a beast of their own making and in my opinion are doing a fine job of it.

Kalliope wrote:Let's put it this way: I have a better feeling about this than the Real ID forum changes. *snicker*

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.

Shinryu Masaki wrote:Did some of you actually read the post? Here's something that got me really excited about the change.

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.

I mean, seriously? Stuff like that at level 10 instead of 60 or somewhere in between? There's hope right there that Beast Masters can tame Exotic pets at level 10!!

Sarayana wrote:

Chrizesu wrote:You know that this means that while leveling we probably won't be able to find any healers at all.

I disagree. I've looked at the shaman and druid resto trees as they were up until this change, and both have lots of offensive boosts in there. It's very clear to me that the new resto talents are geared towards 1) making it easier to solo as resto, and 2) making it easier to pvp as resto.

As for this change... I dunno. I honestly don't understand why they're overhauling things to such a degree, but it looks to me like they're taking this (Cata) as an opportunity to "fix" things they consider bugged or broken. Whether we agree with that assessment or not, I mean.

Ryai wrote:

Sarayana wrote:

Chrizesu wrote:You know that this means that while leveling we probably won't be able to find any healers at all.

I disagree. I've looked at the shaman and druid resto trees as they were up until this change, and both have lots of offensive boosts in there. It's very clear to me that the new resto talents are geared towards 1) making it easier to solo as resto, and 2) making it easier to pvp as resto.

As for this change... I dunno. I honestly don't understand why they're overhauling things to such a degree, but it looks to me like they're taking this (Cata) as an opportunity to "fix" things they consider bugged or broken. Whether we agree with that assessment or not, I mean.

And 3: Making people think they can heal/tank with dps/pvp talents. No offense.

Vephriel wrote:

Kalliope wrote:Let's put it this way: I have a better feeling about this than the Real ID forum changes. *snicker*

Lol, QFT. I'm keeping Real ID crap out of my opinions for actual game changes like this. I do love the timing of this announcement though.

/Real ID forum announcements
Players: "RRRAAAAGGGGGGEEEEEE"
Blizzard: "Uh oh!"
/Blizzard casts Misdirect on Talent Tree announcement
Players (aggro shift): "Oooh look at that!"

Sarayana wrote:As for this change... I dunno. I honestly don't understand why they're overhauling things to such a degree, but it looks to me like they're taking this (Cata) as an opportunity to "fix" things they consider bugged or broken. Whether we agree with that assessment or not, I mean.