Total talent-system revamp

[Scryll]

Ok, this one is big. Real big. This has to be one of the biggest system changes they've ever announced, certainly the biggest change to Class systems.

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.

I frankly don't know how they're going to pull this one off. I took a quick look at some of the talent trees I'm most familiar with. Some of them can easily have their interesting elements squashed back down into a 31-point framework. Others, like Assassination for rogues, or feral for druids, look like they might be a bit dicier. And one of their examples of a passive, the current dual-wield talent in the rogue combat tree, actually has frightening implications, since that talent is taken in almost every single rogue build out there. Reducing the offhand penalty to damage is a LARGE part of any dual-wielder's damage from talents.

On the active abilities front, Blizzard is starting out with some pretty interesting choices. Some are obvious, like Mutilate and Shadowstep for rogue assassination and subtlety specs, or Penance for Discipline priests. Others, like Thunderstorm for Elemental Shaman, or Water Elemental for Frost mages *Frost is now a pet class from level 10 on?* look. . . well, rather less obvious.

At present, they indicate we will still be able to put points in multiple trees, but only eventually, you first have to reach the bottom of your "primary" tree first. We will see through further iterations if this means we can gain the passives and signature abilities from every spec by putting some of those later points into both of the others, or whether they will change things so that you can only put points in two. Or even reduce the number of talent points slightly and let us only take one talent tree, a true singular specialization.

[Kailand]

I'll have to see how it actually plays out, but I think that these changes will be better in the long run, and it will make various spec's and classes easier to balance than they are today.

[Martok]

I don't like this one bit. Every MMORPG out there that has done huge, sweeping, radical changes has ended up on the dust heap. Ultima Online- 3d upgrade (and before that, Trammel). Star Wars Galaxies: NGE..... the list goes on and on.

I'm hopeful that Blizz knows what they are doing.....but we'll see!

[Waldonnis]

I can see why they would want to do it, especially after staring at the druids' feral tree in beta. A lot of the hybrid classes especially have just a TON of bloat and crap sitting around in there, with many talents just giving flat boosts to something. A lot of those talents end up being taken in 99% of the cookie-cutter specs out there, which removes any sort of "choice" anyway, so removing those (and the points that would go into those) makes some sense. Even the pure classes have similar situations, where talents are just too valuable to NOT pick up...which makes them mandatory in a way. Let's face it, most of us don't truly have 71 full talent points...it's often more like 40-50, with 20 or more spent in "mandatory talents", whether that be to pick up obvious boosts in power or just to spend so we can get further down in the tree.

The tricky part is really how well they do with redesigning the talents themselves. It's no secret that each talent has its own "budget" already, but if they hope to keep some of the functional elements in the game by baking them into the core class mechanics (so they can eliminate the current talents that provide them), then it could lead to some wacky balance issues. Classes like rogues and mages are relatively easy, but some current talent effects going baseline could significantly bolster a lot of the hybrid classes' power even when they vary from their primary role. The only way I could see them pulling it off balance-wise is to pile bloat up on the mastery bonuses...which is just a bad idea.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Waldonnis