The Future of Warcraft Announcements -- Talents and User Interface

Min/max’ers will always find the BiS build. Because it’s impossible for one not to exist. But more choices does lead to more player choice. I’m really hopeful that across a raid tier or PvP/M+ season we don’t see 100% use talents. There should be a single target build, and AoE build, a survivability build, etc.

I really feel that if the talents in the trees are well designed and balanced (with frequent tuning to over/underused talents) that this system can work well. With what little we know about it it will be very exciting to experiment with!

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Hello! We have seen a lot of questions about the talent system preview, here and in other feedback, and want to start answering what we can. Note that it’s still too early for a lot of specifics (including, we can’t post complete trees yet for people to peruse). There is still a lot to discuss about our approach and goals for the system.

Primarily the latter. We’re still experimenting quite a bit with drafting trees, but currently the majority of nodes are 1 point, with some 2-3. It turns out that the game has a lot more custom abilities and bonuses to potentially award in a tree, than it did many years ago. Multi-point passives still exist, although even there, most are more class-specific than simply giving stats. Think of the sorts of passive bonuses that have existed in systems like Conduits, Artifacts, or Azerite. More complex than a plain stat bonus, but simpler than the sort of thing that would currently be a level 50 passive talent or a Legendary. 3-point passives can still have important purposes for doing things like balancing different paths.

Very, very roughly speaking: think something like 2/3. In general it is fine for people to have quite a lot of “stuff”, especially considering that the tree contains many different kinds of things. Some are comparatively basic abilities/bonuses that many players of a given spec will have, some are the more advanced optional bonuses that currently live in systems like Legendaries, as well as optional utility of various kinds. Players need to be able to spend enough points to have some things from all of these categories—having a class/spec that is complete in the way that a current live class is, albeit much more customized. At the same time, enough of the tree has to be left unselected at max level to make the choices between different paths matter, where the points you’re leaving out still include some potentially high-value options. Usual design maxim here: if you feel torn because your last point is leaving out something you’d want, no matter what you do, we’ve probably done it right.

This is a feature we currently have listed as something we’d like to do, though it’s still too early to say anything more.

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Thanks for answering questions :>

I have a lot of questions about hybridisation, which I think is great that we’re going to get back! I assume we’re still going to have to choose specs much the same way that we do now, it was mentioned that they’re going to have a few points in the class tree filled out already, and then we get access to the spec tree on the side?

And how well hybridised can specs actually be, can you spec into a lot of damage as a healer spec, and can you off-tank in your DPS spec if you really want to? And do you have to follow the progression paths as they have been filled in already by your spec choice, or can you start at any node from the top and work your way down?

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In addition to Sigma’s thoughts above, We have gathered several questions (mostly from players on Twitter asking Desvin). Here are our answers to those:

When do talents become available?

  • The talent system becomes available at level 10 when you choose your Specialization for your class. For the Evoker, because they are starting at a higher level, the talent tree will be made available at some point during their starting experience.

How many talent points do you get, and how do you get them?

  • Talent points are obtained by gaining character levels. You gain one point every level, alternating between a talent point for your class tree, and your spec tree. In the pre-patch, at level 60, you will have a total of 51 talent points to spend, with 26 in your class, and 25 in your spec tree. When you reach the maximum level of 70 in Dragonflight, you will have 61 total talent points to spend, with 31 in your class tree and 30 in your spec tree.

Can I get all of the talents in the class and spec tree?

  • No, you will not be able to obtain every talent in these trees. Similar to the current system, max-level builds will have to make decisions about what to include and exclude.

Can I spend points in a spec tree that is different from my current spec?

  • No, you will not be able to spend points in a spec tree different from your own. If you put points into the Restoration Druid tree, and swap to Balance Druid, the effects from the Restoration tree will no longer apply to you. You will have new points to spend in the Balance tree!

How does spending points in the talent tree work?

  • You must obtain talents in the top row of a tree first. Then, after obtaining all ranks in any talent, you may spend points in subsequent talents in the tree (indicated by an arrow). If a talent has multiple arrows leading to it, you may obtain it after fully buying at least one of the prerequisites.
  • Your class tree may grant you 1 or 2 starting talents automatically before you have to start spending points, based on what specialization you are. These do not cost any talent points and are free.
  • Certain rows don’t allow to you progress beyond them until you have spent a certain number of points in talents you have access to.

What do the shapes of the talent points mean?

  • Squares are active abilities. Circles are passive effects. Octagons are choice nodes, where you get to pick one of multiple options in that talent node.

What are the diamond shaped abilities on the sides of the tree?

  • Those are a mechanic that, as of this writing, we are not planning to include. We will give further updates as needed, as we continue making changes to the set of features and mechanics in the system.

What are those talents with a small arrow on both sides of it?

  • Those are talent selection nodes where when you hover over that node, it will present multiple options for you to select one of. These choices can be either a new active ability or a passive benefit.

How do talents with multiple ranks work?

  • Talents that have multiple ranks will require additional points to be spent per rank of the talent. Currently we don’t have any active abilities with multiple ranks, only passive effects. The value of these passive effects may not linearly scale with points invested. You must purchase all available talent ranks of a multi-rank talent to progress further down the tree from this node.

Will some talents be in more than one specialization talent tree?

  • Where this makes sense, yes. For example, both Feral and Guardian might have the Berserk talent in their talent tree, while Restoration and Balance will not.
  • Note: We know that Berserk is not exactly the same for Feral and Guardian, but want to be clear that talents do not have to be exclusive to one spec tree or another because it is in the spec tree, and not the class tree.

Will the class talent tree change at all when changing specs?

  • With very few exceptions, nothing will change in the class tree when changing your specialization. One such exception might be Counter Shot, which will change to Muzzle if you choose Survival. They are both the interrupt button, but are themed differently and have different cooldowns. Keeping that distinction is important.

Is the class tree just utility and the spec tree is where all of the throughput is?

  • No, there can definitely be some throughput-increasing talents in the class tree, but the spec tree likely has the majority of them. One of the main purposes of the class tree is to give you a place to explore parts of your class that are not focused on your main role’s throughput (such as utility, or abilities that are more closely connected to other specializations), so we limit the pressure to make throughput optimizations in the class tree.

Are all talent points new abilities?

  • No, most of them are existing things from the current or past game, but there are also new active and passive abilities in the new class and spec trees.

What about the abilities you gain when you level up in the new player experience on Exile’s Reach?

  • Exile’s Reach is remaining unchanged for the most part, you will still obtain many fundamental class abilities from completing the quests and this content. Your interaction with the new talent system will begin after you reach level 10.

What about some abilities that are super important for gameplay, such as interrupt abilities, that you don’t gain from the starting experience?

  • We are currently trying to focus as many combat-altering abilities as possible into the new talent trees. This can include things such as movement abilities, interrupts, dispels, hybrid healing options, defensive abilities, etc. Our goal is to set up the trees and paths so that there opportunities to choose between different types of utility, but not to, for example, abandon all utility choices entirely in order to maximize your DPS. If you choose not to have an interrupt, it is likely because you traded it out for some other type of utility or CC that you believed would be more useful in the situation. The inverse is also true—specializations that do not have a certain capability in Shadowlands (such as an interrupt) may be able to obtain it by giving up something they currently do have.

Will there be some sort of talent loadouts or preset trees we can swap between?

  • Yes! This is an important tool for you to have when dealing with a more advanced talent tree system. You will be able to save and name many different talent loadouts and swap between them with ease.

Won’t people just go to a website and find a build and just use that instead of experimenting with the talent trees?

  • We’re sure that this will happen. We’re also sure that people will make fun and distinct builds that work for their own style of playing the game.

This talent tree looks very complicated and overwhelming to me compared to the current version of talents in Shadowlands.

  • This is a frequent topic of discussion for us. This new system is definitely more complicated, but also allows for significantly more freedom in you choosing what is important to the activities you are doing while playing the game. There is a cost to this new complexity and depth, but we feel that the benefits of the new talent system are strong enough that it is worth the cost here. We are trying to make sure that new players face a more limited number of choices in the early rows, so that you don’t have to wrap your head around the whole tree until you have spent some time leveling a class. In addition, the easy ability to respec in town means that you don’t have to analyze the entire tree in order to make immediate decisions, as you can simply reallocate the points later if you decide you’d rather be on a different path.

How much of my class is going to be in this talent tree compared to other add-on/extra systems like legendaries, covenants, conduits, soulbinds, etc?

  • We’re trying to put as much class related stuff as we can into this new talent system as a singular place to manage your character. There will still be some abilities that are granted to players from leveling up, but significantly fewer. We recognize that abilities such as Eyes of the Beast, or Astral Recall, or Teleport: Moonglade, aren’t combat altering choices you’re making, and you would be hard pressed to spend a talent point to obtain this ability again. Those abilities are not going away, they are not going to go in the talent tree, they will just be a bonus spell you get while leveling up. Other than that, we’re trying to put as many combat related abilities in the tree as we can, which does mean you are going to have to invest talent points into the system to get your current abilities back.

With the above statement that we have to spend talent points to get our current abilities back, does that mean there is nothing new?

  • Absolutely not! There will be new some new abilities to Dragonflight, as well as returning Artifact traits, set bonuses, legendary effects, etc. The new system also opens up some opportunities for you to get some abilities that were otherwise locked behind a spec choice, or to possibly have combinations that were impossible in Shadowlands, such as multiple talents from the same row at the same time.

Does this mean that I can get talents from any spec on my class with this new system?

  • No, there will still be plenty of things in the spec-specific talent trees. Guardian druids will still see plenty of tanking related things in their spec tree that a Restoration druid cannot obtain, and vise-versa. A Restoration druid can invest more points in the Bear related abilities on the class talent tree for more defensive options just as much as a Guardian druid can invest points into more healing options from the class tree. The new spec talent trees will be heavily focused on your combat role of healer, tank, or DPS.

If a Shadowlands covenant or legendary ability is in the talent tree, and I also have that covenant ability or legendary equipped, what happens?

  • The plan currently is that these nodes will still exist in the talent tree and you can obtain them, but your Shadowlands covenant or legendary ability will override it. You won’t have multiple versions of the same spell to cast, or double stacked legendary effects or anything of the sort. Not every Shadowlands covenant ability, legendary, soulbind, or conduit effect will be staying in the talent tree.

How does respeccing work?

  • Respeccing should work relatively similar to how it currently does in Shadowlands with you being able to swap talent builds around. As far as removing a few nodes and spending them elsewhere, we’re still working on that flow, but want to make it as simple and easy as we can.

What about PvP talents?

  • PvP talents will continue to work the way they do now, there will be PvP talent choice nodes on the new talent UI frame where you choose extra effects while in PvP situations.

What about the API for talents?

  • This is a great question that I’m sure our UI team will work out. You are not forgotten, addon authors or users!

Will (my class) be getting (ability) in the new talent trees??

  • Maybe. There’s a lot of work to be done still, and we need to be careful about how much stuff we’re adding to these trees. If we just put all 21 talents from Shadowlands into the tree, that’s a huge amount of extra stuff your character can get.
30 Likes

Please reconsider tying interrupts to a talent. If you have to, why not make it so interrupts all have a base cooldown of 1 minute, and the talent would instead change it to the cooldown that it is supposed to have, be it 8 seconds, 24 seconds, etc.

If there’s one thing Shadowlands taught me, Torghast in specific, interrupts need to be baseline for every spec. The ones that don’t have one right now suffer immensely in places like Torghast because they can’t interrupt spells that you have to interrupt or you die. Except now this will happen in raids and dungeons, where toxic players will kick players who don’t want to interrupt because they didn’t spec into one. It’s one thing if someone is just lazy and doesn’t interrupt, getting “yelled” at will usually make them interrupt. But if they don’t even have the option? That’s a problem.

And, the above mentioned, in content like Torghast, if you continue to make solo player stuff, not having an interrupt can literally mean the difference between it being a chore and it being fun. Doing Coldheart Interstitia as a Mistweaver right now, for instance, is literal hell. I can’t interrupt the fear. At all. Doing Layer 13+ as a healer other than shaman? Same issue. Those little Automa casters? You can’t interrupt them, they will delete you. Like, I’m talking they do 60% of your health in a second delete.


I understand you guys want us to have more choice, but the explanation you guys gave just makes it sound like you stripped power from us just to give it back as a talent, but will restrict how much we can get back, effectively making us feel weaker than before just so we can feel stronger as we level. This is how borrowed power feels, except now you’re doing it with core abilities of a class like interrupts. And on top of losing our borrowed power, we’ll also lose core abilities? It’s going to feel double bad.

The fact a new player can accidentally not spec into core spells if they don’t look it up, is going to be horrible. Likewise, this talent system is very new player unfriendly from what we’ve seen so far for the above reason. I realize you say that the class trees will start with certain talents learned for free for each spec, so I assume things like Rake for Feral, Starfall for Balance, etc.

But that won’t help new players who don’t know what’s best. They might decide “Oh hey, the these melee abilities look nice” as a guardian, and end up speccing into feral talents, and missing on 100% required spells like Ironfur. Or Balance could miss out on Starsurge, their main damaging move. (This is just guesses based on the images provided) You might think “They’ll learn through mistakes” - and yes, some might. But the more likely scenario is if a Guardian Druid doesn’t use ironfur and dies too much in a dungeon and gets yelled at and called names, they’re more likely to just stop playing - if you spend time in general discussion, you’ll see this is a very common thing, even now with a more simplified system.

If I might suggest, since you mention not using those diamond icons, why not use them, but make it so clicking them will auto-fill in a suggestion for their current spec (something you guys would have to code I know but still), and they can branch out and experiment on their own once they’re more comfortable? That way there’s a “default” spec by the game new players can use until they’re comfortable with a spec, and for people who are overwhelmed by the tree in the pre-patch or returning also have a starting point without sorting through guides who will very clearly (based on the menu of saved specs) be varied based on raid, dungeons, M+, PvP, etc. It will be overwhelming to navigate.

Having a base spec would help, and make it easier for people to explore and branch out on their own.


I am very cautious about this system because it can go very badly, as I’m sure you know. It can be great too. But it comes down to how it ends up handled, and if feedback is listened to on the alpha/beta forums once it’s out.

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This is actually a great idea. Have a “suggested” path which hits the major points, but that is fully customizable, both for new players and alts that people don’t have the same experience with as their mains.

However, I think having interrupts as a talent is fine - especially where it seems like there will be options under the same slot? There are fights, like halondrus for example, where interupts are never used, it would be nice to have another option on a fight like this.

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That’s why I suggest having interrupts baseline but with a cooldown of like a minute.

Then have the talent be a cooldown reduction - that way for fights it’s not necessary on, you can choose other utility.

But you are never without an interrupt. (This will also help the issue of keybinds constantly changing because you spec out of an interrupt or such)

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Can we get more info on this are we seeing old talents return? nerfed abilities reverted? Reworks staying ? More than 3 choices? Seems to be different messages between the PvP video and this statement

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Something I’ve been thinking about for a while that I think would be neat to take advantage of in a system like this - bringing back Ranged Survival while keeping Melee Survival fully intact as well. - Keep in mind, I love melee survival and for me, it’s the most fun Hunter in general has ever been. But I also understand that people loved ranged survival, despite my belief it wasn’t much different than Marksman, and bringing that back should still be an option, and shouldn’t be too hard.


Currently, the only melee skills Survival has is Raptor Strike and Carve. The rest are talents.

So if you take advantage of this new talent system, which is build around player choice, as you have said - why not allow the choice of speccing into a ranged version of survival?


For instance, an Explosive Shot talent that replaces Raptor Strike, and takes its spot in the main rotation. A Multi Shot talent to replace Carve, that includes a Serpent Spread talent locked behind it that makes Serpent Sting AoE, like the current Hydra’s Bite talent. (or like Serpent Spread from WoD that just outright makes multi shot apply Serpent Sting)

You can add Black Arrow as a talent that both Ranged and Melee Survival can use, so it doesn’t really need to replace anything in the toolkit, and act like it did in WoD - each time it does damage, it has a chance to grant lock n load - which can change based on your talent. If you have Explosive Shot? resets CD/charge on Explosive Shot and lets you use for no focus. If you don’t? Resets the CD/charge on Wildfire Bomb and lets your next Raptor Strike not cost focus.

Likewise, you can add talents that people can use to de-range survival if they wish - for instance, Flanking Strike. You can make it replace Kill Command, and function like it did during Legion - as our focus generator.


With these new talent trees, the ability to make both Ranged and Melee survival co-exist is available, and I hope you guys embrace that.

And for those saying thing type of thing would be too hard to balance - it already exists in other classes, for instance, Frost DK. There’s 2 dominant builds with wildly different playstyles - Breath and Obliterate.

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I agree with you that we should have a talent point enabling a switch between range and melee!

What I disagree with is the approach.

Before I go on, I’d like to lay out my way of thinking and how I’m looking at this issue. Generally, I’m a “big picture thinker” – I look at the forest over the individual trees – and I also tend to think long-term over short-term.

This means I’m looking at the whole Hunter class, and the general experience as opposed to solely focusing on MSV (Melee SV. I will use “RSV” when talking about the old Ranged SV spec).

I just wanted you guys to understand where I’m coming from! :smiley:

Now, as I said… I do agree with the idea of having a talent point right off the bat! What I disagree with is making SV the melee spec.

SV should return to being ranged, which will bring it in line with the other two Hunter specs – and therefore in line with the class identity. THEN, Blizzard can give both SV and BM a talent point to make them melee specs.

(Seriously, this is so easily done with BM. BM uses like 3 shots. And it’s also easy with SV, which is already “mostly ranged” aside from a few spells.)

The reason I’m bringing it up is because – aside from the class identity thing – it’s just plain inconsistent to have a player roll a Hunter, played an entirely ranged playstyle from level 1 to level 10… and then when they spec into SV… wham!

They suddenly lose the ability to use ranged attacks?? Then they have to “talent” back into ranged attacks??

It’s just illogical to me. Imagine the confusion that new players would experience when they spec into SV and suddenly lose all their ranged attacks!

Now, people have brought up the Legion artifact weapon before… but I’ll be frank here:

Legion artifact weapons barely matters those days. Every time I level an alt through Legion, I end up using the heirloom weapon and/or blue weapons. The artifact weapons were horribly weakened when Blizzard disabled the talent trees on them – and the only way to “upgrade” them is by relics. But! The relics that we get through leveling aren’t strong at all. There’s a reason I stopped using artifact weapons when leveling through Legion.

That is “looking at the tree and missing the forest,” in my opinion. Legion is old content, and it’s only going to get older. Artifact weapons are never going to matter ever again… and for the players who wanted to get the appearances, it’s an easy solution! Make that melee talent point in the first tier, so players can immediately choose to switch to the melee playstyle if they want.

Again, I have to point to class identity. Blizzard said that the “spec identity” approach of Legion was a failure… and the Hunter playerbase numbers certainly bore that out. I haven’t forgotten how Hunters literally dropped from #1 to #5 in two weeks after the Legion pre-patch launched.

If Blizzard really is serious about returning to a class-based identity for Hunters, then they’d make all three Hunter specs ranged AND more dependent on pets.

Then make Lone Wolf (yuck) optional for MM and melee optional for SV and BM…

I completely agree here!! I just think that the default SV spec should be RSV, not MSV. :slight_smile:

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