The cosmetic overhaul Hero Specs need

Community General Discussion
1

Hero specs are cool, and having the option to play as these new archetypes without needing a massive influx of new classes or seperate specs is very nice. However, there’s one problem that was overlooked with their implementation:
What if someone doesn’t want either of the available hero specs for their chosen class spec?

To this solve this loose end, I think it would benefit the game a lot to add a 3rd hero spec choice for every class spec in the game. One that is specifically tailored towards leaning further into the basic class fantasy.

For example, what if a Marksman Hunter didn’t want to be some kind of magic archer thing? Well, they should get access to a third hero spec like “Sniper” that leans into the basic physical damage ranger archetype, and replaces a lot of their magical leaning abilities like Arcane Shot, with something more grounded in nature, like “Quickshot”

Survival Hunter could get an option like “Wildsman” that brings back an optional specialization in dual wielding, which used to be an option for hunters before the weapon slot rework, and never returned when survival hunter became a melee spec (AND WHICH REXXAR IS STILL ABLE TO DO)

This could be used as a way to bring back all kinds of lost playstyles people have asked to return like that, or 2h enhancement, but more importantly, it’ll offer a method to, in a sense “Opt Out” of hero specs, if none of the existing options suit your fancy.

I know I’m disappointed for my marksman hunter as I picture him as…well…just a really skilled marksman…not a dark ranger, or an elven magic sentinel…just a guy who’s really good with ranged weapons. For every couple fantasies enabled by hero specs, there’s one that’s kind of taken away by making you choose one of these new options.

EDIT:
To elaborate further, I wouldn’t suggest this as something to happen simply on its own. While some classes definitely have this problem as is, others have the exact opposite problem: none of their specs feel like they matter at all.

This feels like it’s a well intentioned mistake of trying to make sure players aren’t forced to play something that feels like an entirely new spec. If there are third hspecs, however, that are specifically designed to be nontransformative in this way, it removes the creative ceiling on all the other hero specs to be made more interesting.

I made a post in the beta feedback forums a while back with a bunch of ideas to do just that, so let me see if I can remember some of those ideas:

Sanlayn - Reskin the color of your eyes and many more abilities to be red and vampiric themed

Spellsliger - Able to use ranged weapons, and spells will now be cast through the weapon instead of sheathing them on your back to cast

Shado-Pan - Able to use Greatswords, and your punching/kicking abilities now all use your equipped weapon or weapons

Soul Harvester - Now optionally a necromancer with demon summons replaced with undead equivalents

Keeper of the Grove - Shapeshift into a keeper or dryad

Sentinel - similar choice node to rider of the apocalypse, where you could be a mounted in combat in the open world, but you ride your pet as a mount (and it still attacks if you bring it close enough). Replace Aspect of the cheetah with a divine steed esque skill that temporarily jumps to and mounts your pet for a speed boost

Templar - Able to dual wield as Retribution, or use two hander/shield as prot

Before, I suggested all of these as choice nodes, but with a third spec, they don’t all necessarily need to become choice nodes anymore, since there would be hspecs dedicated to not needing to use them

1 Like
2

i’d rather have dark ranger for survival, take back what is rightfully ours

3

arguably, black arrow was never rightfully belonging to survival hunter. It was borrowed out of lack of a more suitable option, just like warlocks formerly having death coil until death knights were added

4

They routinely fail to balance the amount of spinning plates they have now.

5

i dont even notice mine on warrior and rogue.

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6

right, that’s kind of a whole nother issue this could help fight, where some hero specs are just complete nothing.
If they added an option for each spec that was INTENDED to be highly nontransformative like this, then they have more wiggle room to make the more disappointing options more interesting. Make herald of the sun more than just some passive benefits for retribution, really push the flavor of the specs to where they feel as cool as things like rider of the apocalypse

monk is another good example. You add a third hspec for each cspec, you can have the new hspecs for, lets say, brewmaster and windwalker, simply lean further into fists and feet, while shado pan could evolve to be a weapon wielding monk, so blademasters can finally be a legit option for players, aside from just “blademaster themed transmogs for warriors”

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7

Balance for the current hero specs is horrible. Some of the worst balancing Blizzard has ever done.

Just make hero specs cosmetic and add a whole bunch more. Your DPS shouldn’t be penalized for playing with the visuals and thematics you like.

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8

I’d be ok with that, except there are some thematics that don’t work as just a visual change, like Rider of the Apocalypse.

In some cases, making them cosmetic only WOULD be liberating, and allow blizzard to make some specs cooler, like the suggestions in the edit to OP I just added, and let players choose to use or not use them just based on their theme.

In others, like rider, though, making them purely cosmetic limits their coolness. How could you make “permanently mounted while in combat” a cosmetic only feature without it feeling sluggish and tedious?

If they can somehow reconcile that, then yeah, I’d say go for it with the cosmetic class skins approach

1 Like
9

It would be an incoherent mess.

Take warlocks. Affliction uses dots. Destruction uses dots. Their shared hero tree: replace their spec-exclusive dot with a new stronger version. Demo doesn’t cast Corruption because that is too weak to bother with. It has no way to spread dots for that hero talent to work in AOE.

Druids the same. Balance could use catform, but there is no synergy whatsoever, it would be a complete waste of a choice because it’s just turning them from a ranged dps to a worse melee one. Same with feral & lunar. Resto could conceivably use the Claw hero tree, but only badly since pure damage doesn’t assist their role. And tanks have no business EVER being in catform without the Claw tree.

So no. It completely goes against the design and would have to start over from scratch. That’s not happening post-launch, just use Dark Ranger and get over it.

10

i think you’re misunderstanding what I’m suggesting.
I’m saying the new options should be one per spec. Marksman would be the only one able to pick sniper. Survival the only one to be able to use wildsman. One hero spec focused on just staying “the base class but with some new passive buffs” for each standard spec

11

That’s also not at all what hero talents were ever designed to be. Creating a whole new 36 of them IS starting over from scratch.

12

well some of the EXISTING hero specs don’t currently even fit the idea of what hero talents were designed to be, so may as well move the “nothing specs” to a dedicated “this is supposed to be a nothing spec” spec so the rest can actually grow to fit what theyre designed to be

Plus, the whole idea I’m suggesting here is SUPPOSED to be “an option for people who don’t want to use what they designed hero specs to be”, so…yeah, you’re kinda right, that’s the whole point

13

I think they need to clean up the imbalance first between a lot of hero talents. A lot of them either need visual or gameplay changes. Take for example Pack Leader for Survival and BM. It was very well received… before the actually talents were introduced. There’s a lot of different routes they can go to actually make it worthwhile. All the rogue ones are dull and unimaginative visual wise. Void Weaver for Spriest is strange because you are pushed to not use void eruption to line up with the cool downs and Archon is pushed to use VE over Ascent… it should be the opposite.

14

oh yeah, absolutely priorities to consider, but in the long run, if this is gonna be evergreen, i think adding an option that essentially serves as an “opt out” by leaning into the fantasy that the other 2 options abandon is gonna be needed down the road

15

So instead of playing one-sixth of a class, we can play one-ninth (on average)? Hero specializations are cool cosmetically, but very segmented and divided…

16

so what do you want then? enough talent points to completely fill the talent tree and then move on to filling out the entirety of all the other two specs’ trees? Sometimes not having everything at once is for the best

17

Just add to the existing hero specializations like Blizzard already said they plan to in Midnight…

18

even expanded, they’ll still be divided and segmented. I’m just not sure what your complaint…is

19

I know math is hard for the average forumite, but surely you can work this elementary problem out… I’ll let you work on that in silence until you solve it. Cheers.

20

I don’t know if you realize this…but if they add more to each hero talent tree…the math stays the same. You will still have access to the same fraction of each class. I was trying to politely figure out what you were upset about, but since you’re gonna get uppity about it.

I know math is hard for the average forumite