Posted by iTZKooPA on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 - 20 Comments
Tags: 3.1, design philosophies, dual spec, ghostcrawler, patch v3.1, PvE, quality of life feature, raiding
A few weeks ago I dished out some controversial viewpoints on the upcoming Dual Spec. In no way shape or form was I saying that the ability to easily swap specs wasn’t a useful feature. Hell, I know I could get some use out of it, especially when I decide to PvP again. The reason for the post was to express my concerns for what the feature could mean for the future of certain classes in raiding, namely Mages, Warlocks, Rogues and Hunters - the non-hybrid classes. Some agreed, a handful took offense, but everyone formed their own opinion, which we are entitled to.
Many other bloggers out there brought up an entirely different point. Would the additional of Dual Spec change the way that Blizzard designs Talent trees or encounters? In short, these players were worried that Blizzard may do some funky things in the WoW’s future. Such as having one spec be the PvE spec and another dedicated as the PvP spec. On the PvE side of things, the designers could envision a fight requiring the use of 10 tanks while every other encounter remains at the two or three mark. The thinking behind such madness is simple, you can always just respec right after.
Thankfully, Ghostcrawler put this one to bed. In a post on the forums he flat out stated that “we are going to design instances and talent trees while pretending this feature does not exist.” Greg Street for President!
Blizzard will be ignoring the feature because they do not want to assume that everyone will purchase it. In fact, they expect that only the more “high level” players will bother dropping the 1000 gold. Instead of treating the mechanic as something the design team can play with, they are viewing it as yet another quality of life feature. After all, it only stops players from hearthing back, dropping 50 gold and distributing their talent points after they are summoned back.
Blizzard could have used the feature as a way to extend their options for encounter design, but have decided - at least for now - to stick with their current toolbox. What do you think, should the company keep the extra hammer in there, or did the correct call get made? Normally I would be all for new encounter mechanics, but I think such a radical shift would upset the majority of the populace. Before you scream that they are placating the casuals, the decision is also sound from a design standpoint. You shouldn’t design something based on a feature that isn’t available by default.
Related Posts: BigRedKitty: PTR Dual Spec Video, Ghostcrawler Reveals Dual Spec Details, Dual Spec: No Reagent, No Cooldown, Requires Level 40, Dual Talent Specialization to Cost 1000 Gold, Dual Spec Is Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be,
By Aisha on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Cant wait for dualspec tbh
By Josh on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
i do agree with your first post about drops. I have dealt with hundreds of ninja’s who say they are going to respec because they want some item. I just look at their talents and say no way josé. Now with dual specing they can just say yeah my other talent is holy and there goes a well needed shard.
By jacob on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
well im still a bit nerves from it but cant wait untill i can both pve an pvp without having to pay 50g vry time
By Alayea on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Still taking a wait-and-see approach to this whole deal. >.>
By Ironhoof on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I believe that this is the right thing. This has no effect on boss encounters. The dual spec spell is an out of combat spell. So you can’t switch talents and items from tank to healer or dps in the middle of the encounter. For now it’s a good call. In a few weeks from the 3.1 relese we sould see if a change is needed.
By Razius on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I’m feeling just like Alayea,there’s no way to predict how this will come out,untill it does
Or you play on the PTR
By Thorrhan on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
I think dual spec is an awesome feature, not only for hybrid classes, but for the normal classes too.
Talent trees made specifically for PVE and PVP, may be a cool idea. Though, that may remove the skill of appointing talent points when speccing for PVP and PVE.
I ‘ve personally respecced many times, the 50G doesn’t bother me as much as it did before, but they do add up!
By Silver on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
i can’t wait for dual spec, but i’m glad their not going to make instances/encounters based on people having it because not everyone will get it i’m sure and then it goes back to needing more specific groups, to make sure you have people geared enough in specific spec just to get into the instance
@ Josh
i would never tell someone not to take an off spec item just for a shard whether their going to respec soon or not, at some point most hybrid classes want a change and respec. shards aren’t all that important compared to gearing a potential other spec for someone.
By Lawman30 on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I think that people who worry about how this will affect looting in PUGs are really going overboard. Any PUG i’ve ever been in has been roll for the spec ur running. If there have been situations where everyone passes and someone asks if they can have a piece of gear for their offspec, it’s never been a problem. I have never heard someone lament losing a piece of gear to an alt spec as losing the shard it would have produced. Dual speccing will only increase the frequency with which people might ask to roll on gear for an offspec if it gets passed over by all the main specs in group. How is that a bad thing?
By Voldenmist on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 3:06 pm
This will put alot of minds to rest, while I do think the right decision has been made, I think it would be cool if for some encounters they made like an “alternative mode” of a boss or something. Like w/ the same loot and all, just a different and perhaps an even more fun way to do it, such as w/ ten tanks. I think that would take advantage of the mechanics of Dual Spec, but would not require it.
By cocopuff on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
you selfish bastards just becasue it doesnnt work for you doesnt mean its not good wow is one big femily and some times you have to take one for teh team i my self am working on ym tanking set if the tank in my group wants i give it to him if he doesnt i take it their are lots of much bigger problems in WOW than this are you realy gointo bitch about a few lost shards? the money you loose from these shards you will get back by not having to pay for a respec these shards arent even worth that much i got a bunch of am in my bank and i am not even an inchanter so stop whining
By Jeff on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Someone correct me if I’ve missed the plot on this one, but I was under the impression that Dual-Specc-ing would allow my L80 Warrior (for example) to remain Fury for PvE & switch to Prot. for Instances & Raids - something my Guildies (in various Guilds) have wanted me to do / be as my MAIN specc.
Oddly enough, I have a shield in the bank, but only because I could make it, as I’m a blacksmith.
If this is still the case, then I’m looking forward to it, albeit that I doubt I’ll jump in feet first, as I’m gonna have to learn a totally new set of abilities if I start d/s for Tanking.
Long story short… will dual specc-ing be for the above kinda scenarios…?
By Sean on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I’m pleased now.
By PROJECT LORE ROCK!!!!!!!!!! on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 5:24 pm
P
PR
PRO
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PROJE
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PROJECT
PROJECT L
PROJECT LO
PROJECT LOR
PROJECT LORE
PROJECT LORE R
PROJECT LORE RO
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By cocopuff on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 8:07 pm
yea it will
By Kayoken on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 8:48 pm
WTF tim, take that link down
By Elwero on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 7:13 am
All the people that complains about having a dual spect, are people who doesn´t understand how the mechanic will work for this.
For the price of 1000 g we are going to buy another glyph sheet, talent sheet and slots for armors (there is no sheet in here xD) that we will swap with a button when we are not in combat. But I think that we will still need to pay 50g to respect each talent tree.
And also, I was thinking, some of the DPS classes are going to buy the dual spec so they can go full PVP or PVE because those two are really opposite; in PVP you fight with another player using mixed techniques, and in PVE its all team work.
Nice post, PROJECT LORE 4 EVER xD
By Shala on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I stand corrected! On an earlier post on Dual-spec I made it clear that the reason for dualk spec was the opposite of this new news from GC. While this makes me happy that i won’t have to worry about picking the right off spec for most of the encounters in new content, I’m a lil sad due to new possibilites of strategies this would’ve made on some fights. But this will be just fine.
By dagimp007 on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Paladins and druids will be the number 1 most requested people for raids… you will have your tank and a easy swap healler… a DPS weasy swap tank…
i think blizz should have it be a pve spec and a pvp spec.. it makes more sense, and doesn’t put pressure on classes that can do everything to spec as 2 pve specs
By Yvrael on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
as i already stated on one of juggys posts, this isnt about gear. this is about being able to switch to heals before a mainly heal fight (while out of combat of course) or to dps on a dps fight. this is for the people that spend half their time in arenas and then the other half in raids. obviously these people (myself included) find it tedious to hav to continually respec. it isnt about the money, its about the time. say u hav no lock, the summoning stone is possessed by the opposite faction, and you hav to respec. obviously you cant. someone would hav to leave raid and queue you for a bg and fly back. all of which takes time. especially if your pugging, because the people probably wont wait for you. not evryone will want to do this. that is why blizzard is treating the talent trees as though there is no duelspeccing. its not somthing evryone needs. some people stay the same and even if they on a rair instance hav to respec its easier to just pay 50g and call it quits.
lol i think itll be fun (^ - ^)
project lore ftw!